My headache has diminished somewhat this morning, as has my neck ache, but my gut hurts and my mid-to-lower back is extremely painful. I can barely bend, and not without groaning in pain, but had to wash the empty water bowl and fill it for the thirsty cats and dog. I also had to get a fire going in the woodstove; it was completely cold and had been out since shortly after midnight, when I went to bed. No one was awake to feed it more wood. The house is chilly. There were only two sticks of firewood in the house when I got the stove going this morning. I politely asked Toad if he would get up and close the damper if I call him once the wood is burning nicely. He said that he would. And he did. He went back to bed for a short time but Foxy wanted to go out, so I had to wake him. I gently mentioned that we have no more wood in the house and that maybe he and Foxy could pick up a couple of sticks while they were out. They came back in with the newspaper but no wood. He said "I'll get some 'after'", meaning later.

Toad says he feels "horrible, not good at all". He has said that for years, though. When I pressed him to describe what exactly he means he said he feels like he wants to throw up and feels anxious and cold all the time. He says he hopes he is not "passing on". He moves very slowly and uses the four-pronged cane all the time in the house and once took it outside with him. Yet he eats well and still makes sandwiches and heats egg rolls for himself throughout the day, before and after meals. He's always been a complainer, a drama queen, so it is difficult to know whether he is actually physically worse or not. Mentally he is definitely worse. And he does sleep most of the time. I had to remind him to take his morning meds and put his patch on just now (10:26am) even though they were sitting on his keyboard as he was scanning his monitor for something. He went back to bed afterwards.

It is still winter and we still have typical winter weather--cold and dreary. The forecast for this week is more of the same. It sure would be wonderful to have a sunny day with blue skies to break up the monotony. It's a good day for indoor work. If only I felt up to doing some. I did today's jigsaw puzzle, a cat face!, and then bribed Toad with the offer of some oatmeal in exchange for him fetching some firewood. First I cooked for the chickens, and then I made us some oats on the stovetop. While the oats cooked I did a bit of light work in the kitchen. When the oats were nearly ready I got Toad up and asked if he would fetch the wood before he ate, knowing that once he ate he would not want to do anything but lie down. He obliged, although he did not bring the wood inside, he left it on the back porch. The oats tasted good with lactose-free milk and bit of syrup to sweeten them. I hope they don't hurt my gut; it is bad enough as it is. It is 2:15pm. I've sweet-talked Toad into taking the warm spaghetti-veggie stew out to the chickens.

I was just thinking of the proverb "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." It may not be true for flies but it is for toads, well, for my Toad at least. Sweet talking in a soft voice is far more effective than speaking to him in my normal conversational tone of voice. Any hint of criticism, intended or not, is met with looks of disgust, glares and defensive yelling and cursing. I feel so phony using a "little girl" voice with him but seems to be the way to get him to respond most positively. Unfortunately HE continues to complain, rant and rave as much as he wants and I cannot change his negativity. All I can do is try to ignore it. No wonder I am so stressed.

The DVD Maudie/Maud that I ordered arrived this afternoon at 2:30pm and I can hardly wait to watch it. I just cancelled the hold I'd placed on it with the library, noting that there were still fifteen people ahead of me at the time. I also noted that the library has mailed me several more items from my holds, which means that I'll have a pouch to pick up from the mailbox either today or tomorrow.

It took me longer than usual to do three Strengthen Skills exercises via Duolingo this afternoon due to my worsening headache and trouble focusing causing me to make stupid mistakes over and over. But I persevered so that I could re-gold the three units on my French tree that had lost their gold and maintain my streak (now 115 days).

We did watch Maudie/Maud this evening and enjoyed it very much. I have two library books about her to read that will no doubt differ from the movie portrayal, but I wanted to see the movie before reading them.

Thanks Be For: A more peaceful day than usual, thanks to the honey dripping from my tongue

I'm Reading: A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara

French Lesson Sentence(s) of the Day:

•  C'est la bonne décision.  Meaning:  It is the right decision.
•  Je suis désolé d'être en retard.  I am sorry to be late.
•  Je ne vois aucune différence.  I do not see any difference.
•  C'est un mensonge !  It is a lie!

Photo(s)/Capture(s) of the Day:

Today's Jigsaw Puzzle