Dr. Google isn't much help

Before I explain the cryptic title of today's post, let me say how thrilled – thrilled – I am to have not gained a zillion pounds last week and weekend. Beginning with the unexpected restaurant meal Wednesday, when the power was out, I ate in restaurants four consecutive nights. Two of those meals ended with dessert. This morning I weigh one pound more than my lowest for the year, and 10 pounds less than January 1. In addition to thrilled, I'm shocked.

I've been super-busy in the garden. All 31 bags of barn-floor straw have been spread in the garden. There's a smallish section that is still open – I didn't have enough cardboard to cover it – and I'm going to till the hell out of it and plant something there. The edamame is beginning to burst through the dirt, the tomato plants look great. We have way too many zucchini plants at the garden center so I brought some of those home and put them in the ground, along with some paprika peppers, the fruits of which are meant to be dried and ground into powder. That should be interesting.

Intense, sustained activity both at work and in the garden/yard here at home are responsible for this round of maintenance/slight loss. I have to wonder what the scale might have said if I hadn't had dessert. (Not really, I haven't had tiramisu in 10 years and it was well worth it! And, well, you have to eat cake on your birthday, right?)

So last night after dinner I was finishing up a book my son sent me (Barnheart: The Incurable Longing for a Farm of Own's Own). (The book was very good. While the author longs for sheep, her book makes me want chickens.) I was kind of lounging sideways in a comfy chair, and felt fine. I closed the book, put it on the end table and swung my legs down off the arm of the chair when I was suddenly hit with EXCRUCIATING burning pain on the inside of my right leg, a couple inches above the knee.

I've never felt anything like it. My husband was napping and I tried not to cry out, but I couldn't help myself. He woke up and came out to find me doubled over and in tears. Neither of us could do anything to stop the pain. I couldn't put any pressure on my right leg

Five to 10 minutes later (who's counting?) it was a dull ache, like a bruise, and half an hour later it was gone. And it's still gone this morning. The only residual effect is that my right foot feels numb, which it frequently does anyway, but either I'm more aware of it after the painful episode or the numbness is a little  worse.

When I could sit at the computer again, the first thing I did was consult Dr. Google. I didn't find much. Most results (I searched for 'excruciating pain inside thigh above knee') were for knee pain as the result of an injury or for blood clots, which typically are in the groin area.

The likeliest cause would be dehydration; I had been working in the hot sun for five hours with just half a glass of iced tea about an hour before I finished. But I'd been inside for three hours, had a couple more large glasses of tea, showered and eaten dinner. At any rate, we're going to start keeping Gatorade on hand, and I'm going to eat more potassium-rich foods. And hope it never happens again. Very scary.

I hope the last day of this holiday weekend is a good one for you. I'll be working, and I expect we'll be kinda busy. The forecast is for rain later in the day, but only a 40 percent chance. Around here, that can mean anything from torrential downpours to a few sprinkles to severe sunshine. At any rate, I'll be outdoors in it all afternoon.

Oh, and dinner tonight will be some kind of chicken stir-fry, homemade by me, with the first fresh snow peas from the garden. Crops! Can't wait.