As a homesteader, it is easy to drive to work, have a great day with coworkers and patients and drive home.  I have been asked if I have a social life.  Since I am homesteading alone, do I ever get lonely?  I would say that I am with people all day long, so no, I don’t get lonely.  I am a Physical Therapist Assistant or PTA .  I was working per diem in two facilities depending on where I was needed most.  One was in Redding, and the other was in Anderson, California.  The rehab department is made up of PTs, PTAs, OTs (occupational therapists), COTAs (certified occupational therapist assistants) and STs (speech therapists).  The physical and occupational therapy staff often co-treat on difficult patients for safety.  We are all strong, but sometimes it helps to transfer a patient with two people.  We have a lot of fun working together and with our patients.  

One day, when I had been gone for a couple of weeks from the Anderson facility, I walked into the therapy room and was instantly greeted by Natialia, a Russian COTA, with a big hug.  She actually missed me!  That made my day and I will always remember her kindness.  

Tammie, my other COTA friend, I found out, had a paddle board and she liked to take it to Whiskeytown Lake.  My son had gotten me a kayak and so we got together for a special time on the lake and even went to a small island which we got to explore.  

When Covid-19 hit, I was laid off in April.  It was an immediate shock to not be around people all day long.  On April 10, I received a text from Tammie asking me to go to the lake again.  This time, Natalia, who was Tammie’s roommate, also came along and we had so much fun on the peaceful lake.  It helped to remove a lot of stress and cement our freindship.  

We did our best to maintain our 6 inches of social distancing.  Who wears masks on a lake?  When we first got to the lake, I let Natalia use my kayak while Tammie was blowing up her paddleboard.  

Tammie got the paddleboard blown up and showed how easy it was to balance on it.  I tried it the time I went to the lake with her the first time and it is not easy.  Natalia got to try it and found out how hard it is.  

The girls got to ride the paddleboard together and I got the following picture of them resting.  They took a picture of me in my kayak.  This was a very bonding day.  After this, I invited them to come to my property.  Natalia was able to come by herself.  She was so amazed at how I was living.  She also enjoyed swimming in the creek and got to do so twice.  The second time, she came with Tammie.  They got to see how I was dismantling my piano.  I told them that it was badly water damaged and moldy and that I couldn’t save it.  So, now I needed to take it apart to get rid of it.  They offered to come back another time and help me move it outside and dismantle it more.

It is easy to say they want to help me, but will they really do it?  Well, with Natalia leaving soon, they thought she couldn’t come again, so I went over to their home to visit and we had a lovely dinner together.  Then they announced that they wanted to come in a few days!  These are true girlfriends and they did show up and the following video will show how 2 COTAs and 1 PTA used brain and brawn to get this piano out of the house.  You can watch the video on here or click the button below the video if you would like to watch it on YouTube so you can like and subscribe.  I really can’t emphasize enough how important it is for homesteaders to have helpful friends and if you have something heavy to move, don’t rule out the women friends.