Spring Finally Springs and Skipper Teeters

  It seems to be finally Spring! Ok, so it snowed on Thursday. But on Friday it was warm enough to hang laundry outside. I also worked around the yard. I picked up trash out of my yard for the THIRD time this Spring. (We live on a corner, so the neighbourhood's trash always blows into our yard,and it's been a VERY windy Spring.) I pulled up the rest of the old growth from last year out of  my hostas,peony,mint, and garlic. I had already pulled up some of it,but some of it wasn't dried out enough. If you pull it up when it's not ready, it takes the bulb out of the ground with it,or roots, in the case of the peony and mint. I even mowed the yard. So to celebrate Spring, and the other thing I was finally able to do that day,(Take some doll photos outside.),here is a very Springy Sausage Curl  Skipper.

She is wearing the Skipper fashion Teeter Timers.

The fashion came with a teeter board.
 

I saw the endocrinologist earlier this week. That was pretty much pointless.

  She is already telling me stuff I have no faith in. For one thing,she said my thyroid is not enlarged,as I was told by the other doctor who had the ultrasound done. Ok, she should know better on that one. However,she also said the four nodules I do have aren't big enough to be causing the swallowing trouble I've been having. Well, I  suppose there could be another reason I feel like I'm being strangled, and I choke on my own saliva, and can feel a lump every time I swallow. On the other hand,the two larger nodules measure 1 1/2 and 2 centimeters! How can something that size NOT cause you swallowing trouble?! I have to go back in about a month to have the nodules biopsied. When we see if they are cancerous we'll discuss what we're doing about them.
   Her only suggestion as to my feeling strangled etc. was to send me for a swallow test. What's the point of that? I know I'm having swallowing issues,and I can feel that larger nodule every time I swallow, just where she said it is. That pretty much says the nodules are my problem. So I turned down the swallow test for the time being since I can't afford it, and we haven't checked out these nodules yet anyway.
  For another thing,I've read that thyroid problems can be caused by iodine deficiency. Vegetarians can sometimes have an iodine deficiency because they don't eat seafood. When I tried to ask her about iodine and tried to tell her that I've been vegetarian for 30 years, she wouldn't even listen to me. She just shut me up and started saying how in this day and age it is almost impossible to have an iodine deficiency because iodine is added to everything. As she said,fast food,processed food,and soft drinks all have it added. Ken pointed out to her that I rarely eat fast food,or drink soft drinks,and don't very often eat processed food. She ignored him and just told me to go buy some over the counter prenatal vitamins because they have iodine. Well I read that most processed foods etc. don't bother to use iodized salt in their preparation. I have also read that it's dangerous to take an iodine supplement without the advice of your doctor, because you can easily get too much. Shouldn't they test my iodine to see if I have a deficiency,and how bad it is, so a dosage could be recommended? So I'm already not trusting her much.
  So that's where it stands at the moment.

On the good side of things, even though we have had snow and freezing temperatures lately,things are budding around here.

These little flowers are blooming in my yard,as are the wild violets.

My pear tree has buds.Apparently they were camera shy though.
 

The lilac bushes have buds.

The peony is about a foot and a half tall now. The Rose of Sharon hasn't come to life yet, but when it does it will bloom well into the Fall. The Dogwood tree has little blooms too. It's a Spring bloomer,so it should perk up soon. It's beautiful,with tons of pink flowers. It blooms early and then drops leaves ALL summer. How can a tree even do that? You'd think it would run out of leaves at some point. But that thing drops leaves until all the other trees join in and run out themselves.

I'm hoping the strawberry plants Ken won last year will come back this year. SO far they aren't looking like that's going to happen though.
  See you again soon for some doll goodies.