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  • Peeing Down My Leg... Twice?!

    Hay there! Long time no write! Been a little crazy again; let me explain.... Several weeks ago, Katy managed to cut her paw open, right between to the 2 top toes. Of course, vet visit. Katy only really knows Handsome and I. There's the fault in not getting out more and taking your dogs with you. When they go to the vet, they don't know other people. She was so scared. She stayed in my lap and trembled. And peed; right down my knee, shin, calf and down onto my foot and into my sandal and onto the floor. Thankfully it all flowed forward and not backward. The vet tech was amazing and wiped up our mess. I didn't move; I didn't want her to get any more scared or think she had done wrong. We all laughed so hard, it really was funny. Katy found out that there's more ladies than Momma that are nice to her. It went a long way towards getting her more comfortable. Vet treated her and sent her home with strict instructions not to go outside and get anything all over the bandages or in the cut. He also warned me that it would take atleast 2 weeks to heal. That meant she stayed in the house and I was getting out the puppy pads. She hated the cone but she wouldn't leave the bandages alone without it on so we struck a compromise and managed to get her paw to heal nicely in about 3 weeks' time. Fast forward to this morning. There are several stalls in the barn and while normally the big turkeys would be held in their own stall, I've been letting them run around because it's been so blasted hot out. Different parts of the barn are different temps throughout the day. They can find shade and a breeze easier than me redirecting them several times a day. I have never had animals that are as curious, get into everything, and cause chaos as badly as these turkeys, not to mention their poo. This morning, that chaos extended to the supply area (previously not of their interest). They knocked over the disinfectant and it (of course) leaked to form a puddle in the middle of the work table, underneath a bunch of stuff. I shooed the crazy birds away and went to grab a towel to soak up the mess. Of course, in the few seconds it took me to turn around and grab the towel, one curious bird had gotten up on the table and tasted the puddle. Cue me, shrieking at the rest of the birds, grabbing this 20 pound idiot and running to the sink to rinse off her beak, tongue and face. What was my thanks? She liquid poo'd down my left leg, right into my shoe. Lesson learned, make sure (even when it's animal-safe) to put away all the things. I'm starting to wonder if they are going to be opening cabinets next... Have any of ya'll gotten peed on lately?

  • Seeing Green

    Back in the day, I would grow dozens of broccoli plants and put up 30 gallons of frozen broccoli each year. That hasn't happened for a very long time. Earlier this spring when I was so gung-ho about the garden and how great it was going to be, I planted quite a few cole crops. Let me tell you, the broccoli and kohrabi showed out. The broccoli heads were larger than my own head and the kohrabi were as large as soccer balls. Amazing what a little bit of chicken shit will do! (Handsome had to come on his lunch break and cut the roots off the kohlrabi as I wasn't strong enough!) It took 7 hours to chop, blanch, and package all this bounty. I ended up with 7 gallons of broccoli florets and 6 quart of kohlrabi. To process both crops: Purchase some bags of ice. Set a very large pot of water to boil. (I used my water bath canner.) Fill your kitchen sink with cold water and lots of ice. Cut up your veggies as desired ahead of time. (I cut the florets into large forkful sizes and the kohlrabi into 1 inch cubes.) Add a layer of veggies to the boiling pot, replace the lid and set the timer for 1 minute. Once the timer goes off, use a large strainer and dip out the veggies. Immediately add them to a sink full of ice water to stop the cooking. Leave in there for a few minutes. Place onto cookie sheets to finish cooling. Repeat the blanching process until all the veggies have been worked through. Package as desired and freeze.

  • Check Yourself

    During one of the vet trips with Tom, I found myself quite hungry. There was a fast food place a block away and I decided to stop there to eat. It was indeed, not fast. There was a line, the A/C wasn't working, and the folks behind the counter seemed discombobulated. I felt like shit and I was already upset about the cat. Add in this new sensation of abject hunger and I was a ticking timebomb. I had finally gotten up to the counter and the large lady that was running the register was sweating profusely through her shirt, no bra, her hair was greasy and pulled back and she had a mustache. At first, my judgy self kicked in and before I spoke, I took a little look closer. Thank heavens I did. Once I spoke with her I had already adjusted my speech, smiled, and asked her how she was and how she was handling the heat inside and outside the building. That woman is a warrior. She's fought and won battles already, in addition to working fast food. She's missing a breast. There's a twist in her back and her belly is protruding not as if pregnant but that there is some sort of gastrointestinal thing going on. No wonder her hair is greasy and slack. No wonder she has the mustache going on; you can only wax so often. Of course she is carrying extra weight and I'm sure whatever is going wrong with her back is not being helped by her job. But she was still there; working. She was trying to keep going. Were there things she could have done about her appearance? Probably. These types of battles don't come with an instruction book. I'm sure there's been an effect on her mental health along with everything else. I made sure to smile big and thank her for her help with my order. She smiled back. That was my reward. On that day, she reminded me of a valuable lesson. You cannot judge a book by it's cover. Dad preached that to me over and over as a kid. While I have always tried hard to follow that; on that particular day my guard was down and I was beyond my normal capability of grace. She reminded me to dig deeper for a little bit more manners and a little bit more understanding. Isn't that the issue with alot of what's going on with folks nowadays? Being kind and keeping yourself in check is hard. Far more difficult than just letting whatever you're going through spill out onto other people. Everywhere you go, people are on edge. They are stressed about almost everything. If you happen to be in the path of that one extra thing that sets them off; watch out. They will unload and make you feel just as awful as they do. Try removing yourself or even just your words from situations that are getting to the edge of your limit. Don't worry about the expectation placed upon you by society, family, the public and yourself to "get it all done". When you feel yourself at the point of being on edge; step back. Give yourself atleast a moment to think, examine and re-route the feelings that are welling up inside. Even if all you can do is step out of the line and walk away with a hand wave for a moment. Isn't that better than spewing more nastiness into the world and making someone else feel crappy too?

  • Fancy Crappy Food

    During the sickness, I spent alot of time beating myself up for not being able to work like I normally would. While that is certainly not a mentally healthy course to take, it did spur me to attempt to work a few days. Nutrition has been the furthest concern during this time as just wanting to eat has been an issue, let alone availability of meals. Handsome was working and grabbing as much overtime as he could. As for cooking, the man can run a microwave, fry an egg, and go pick up from the restaurant. He is skilled at all 3, I can verify! I've basically eaten like a little kid for 3 months. I knew I wasn't going to be able to prepare meals in addition to sitting up and working. What's the go to in this situation? Hot dogs and frozen pizzas. You can jazz them up so they aren't so blah. I don't like froufrou on my hotdogs, just ketchup. To make them more palatable, boil them in half beer/ half water. Boiling takes alot of the salt and crap out of the hot dogs. I suppose you could broil them after boiling like brats, but I wasn't big on effort at that time. Frozen pizza... it doesn't matter what kind, always add more cheese. Use whatever kind of cheese you have. I like to use slices because they are less messy than shredded. I always sprinkle on some Italian seasoning while I'm at it. There you go. That's how to amplify junk food meals. I just knew this was amazingly helpful, mind-blowing information... You're welcome. :)

  • Taters For My Sweet

    Handsome LOVES sweet potatoes. He very often orders a baked sweet potato when we go out to eat. I was determined to grow some for him this year, even if everything else was a flop. I've often heard it said that when man plans; God laughs.... By mid-June, the entire original garden and the vagina garden had completely grown up in weeds by the time the sweet potato starts could be planted. Handsome moved some topsoil for me and even though it took me a week of trying and resting, I was able to get the potato mounds built. Then it took me a few days to get them planted. (Nothing fancy in the planting, no eggs or even extra fertilizer; I just wanted to get them in the ground.) I still had some room in the rows and since the soil was already mounded up, I decided to plant some winter squash, watermelons and honeydew melons in between the sweet potato plants. Everything was really tiny, it looked ok.... I knew I would have to keep the whole area watered well to get any results at all and added it to my daily flower watering chores. We've been quite dry here most of the spring and summer; up until this weekend. A couple weeks after planting, Foxy came back and brought some raccoon and opossum friends along. They decided that digging up and breaking off my little sweet potato starts was fun. While I wasn't able to catch Foxy, her friends were encouraged to join the afterlife. Finally, the starts that were left started to grow. The squash and melon plants had come up and were putting on runners. All these poor plants were having to survive with no extra nutrition than plain topsoil and tap water. It took a very long time for them to get going. We caught a rain 3/4 of the way through July. That really got everything going. Finally the sweet potatoes that weren't getting shaded by the squash started to put on runners. The squash took off and started taking over. I had saved some seeds from a typical sized white pumpkin a few years ago and those were one of the hills I planted. Well... Ursula has decided to take over the entire space. She has 3 kids on board now, 2 of which are larger than the original white pumpkin and 1 that is almost as large. Who knows what sweet potato plants will survive under her. She has huge leaves that are shading the entire area that she is inhabiting. She is reaching south and heading for the yard, probably 20 feet long at this point. The watermelons have set 2 small fruit but are starting to succumb to squash borers so they may be done soon. The honeydew melons are the size of turkey eggs as of this morning. There's a baby butternut squash attempting to grow next to Ursula and it has set an adorable little fruit. You can't see very many sweet potatoes at all anymore. The few I can see are about 12 to 18 inches across and just aren't hacking the lack of fertilizer and competition. Since I've been feeling better, last week I added some liquid fertilizer to the watering. After all this rain, they will need more. I will be surprised if we get much in the way of a sweet potato harvest. I'm sorry babe....

  • Tale of a Tom Cat

    No, this isn't a picture of Tom, it's just a stock photo. I have them but they still upset me so.... This is a very emotional and sad tale. If you don't want to read it, please don't. It's hard to write but I feel it's cathartic and a bit of a memorial to do so. All this spring, I've had kitten fever. I didn't need a kitten but I wanted one. Every time an opportunity presented itself to get one, I turned it down. Sometime during the chemical sickness, a stray gray tabby cat showed up in the yard. The dogs actually found him and I thought for sure he was going to pass away. He was obviously paralyzed completely on his right side. His head was turned and neither his front nor rear leg on the right side worked. The dogs were out playing in the yard and scared him so badly that he ran and fell and ran and fell and ran and fell several times until he got under the shed. I felt so bad that we had scared him and of course didn't have a way to get him out from under the shed at all. After putting the dogs up, I left bowls of food and water outside the spot where he went underneath the shed in the hopes he could physically get to it somehow. The next day, some of the food and all of the water was gone. Praying it wasn't a raccoon or something, I refilled them. This went on for a couple nights. Then one morning, the food and water was still there. He must have passed on, I thought. I hated that he had been in pain and discomfort and this was all the help I was able to give him. Couple days later, I walked past the well house and I hear a meow. WHHHHAAAATTTTT???? It was the same cat, he was up on some boards that are stored in there. I immediately went and got the food and water and put them in there with him. He made no attempt to approach me even though I meowed back at him. I named him Tom and we went about talking to each other for a few days back and forth as I would refill his bowls. Then one morning he lumbered towards me. His right side was still paralyzed a bit but not as severely as when we first saw him. I was ecstatic but had no idea if he was wanting help or to thank me or even bite me. I meowed back at him and he stayed right where he was. I didn't try and reach towards him that time. But the next morning we repeated the process and he came close enough to pet. When I say emaciated, I mean it. He had the body structure to be a 15 pound cat, easily. He was covered in ticks and fleas. Where was all the food going that I was feeding him? He allowed me to pick him up. I was heartbroken at how light he was. Not thinking about anything but getting those ticks off him, I went for the medicine and treated him. I then called the emergency vet. They could fit us into the schedule. Tom allowed me to put him into the pet carrier no problem. He rode to the vet clinic just fine but would fall asleep in weird positions like his head tilted up or one leg stuck up in the air. A couple times I pulled over because I thought he had died. My heart was absolutely in my throat. I left him at the vet clinic for the doctors to evaluate him and see what all he might need. They called back that next morning to tell me he had a severe ear infection in his right ear (explaining the head tilt) and there was a polyp underneath all the crap they cleaned out of it. His left ear was infected too but not as bad as the right. I was able to go pick him up and they armed me with the medications to continue treating the infections. At this point, I was still under the assumption that he could eat on his own. He continued to do well for the day or so and I would watch him bury his face in his food bowl, still feeding him kibble at this point. Pees and poops were good and he was great at using the litter box. 2 days later, everything changed. While his ear infection was getting better, his body was going downhill. I had spent enough time with him that I could tell he wasn't getting enough food into his system and he was not drinking as much as he should. Turns out, he couldn't move his tongue to lap up the water. When he was burying his face in the kibble, he was trying to jam the food to the back of his throat to swallow it whole, he couldn't chew it. This time, I called the vet and just told them I was coming. Tom was literally crying for help and I had no idea what to do. The vet was very concerned he was even going to live through the day. His eyes were so bright, I couldn't make the decision to put him down yet. He had fought so hard to live already. They did some xrays and decided on an antibiotic regimen, gave him a B vitamin shot and sent us back home with a bevy of canned food, syringes, and some prayers. (Dr Google filled in the blanks that he might be a lyme disease cat, which is rare.) I started making a slurry out of the high calorie food that they sent home with us and syringe fed it to him. The excitement on his face to understand that he was eating was amazing. I also syringed several cc's of water into him every hour. Tom really started to improve! That meant that his fight was coming back too. He started to push the syringe of plain water away. He had started to be able to move his jaw and was eating can after can of the wet cat food. He still couldn't lap the water up with his tongue and without the slurry of water in the food and without syringes of plain water, he was going to dehydrate fast. I called the vet clinic and asked for fluids that I could give under the skin. They agreed and got it ready for me to pick up. That got my boy going. After the first 2 rounds of fluids under the skin, he no longer wanted anything to do with that mean needle and crazy hooman that was trying to poke him with it. After the 3rd round of fluids, he had enough oomph that he started to drink a little on his own! Good deal, that's what I wanted anyway. All through this process of recovering, this cat made biscuits, rolled over to the best of his ability for belly rubs and as he had gotten stronger on his feet, would rub against my leg. It's summer time, I feel like crap anyway. I was wearing my crappy tshirts and cut off shorts most days and was barefoot or in my flip flops. The next evening, he lightly bit my left ankle. I didn't think much of it because it didn't seem like an attack. The next morning he bit my right ankle and my right arm and the arm bite was a break the skin bite that drew blood. With cat bites, that means infection and cellulitis. You have to get to the hooman doctor fast to get that treated or you will be in trouble. So I went to the doctor and we went on with life. I started wearing my farm boots and long sleeve sweatshirt to take care of him. Tom was eating and drinking extremely well at this point and had started putting on weight. I spoke with the vet clinic at length about his biting me and we all agreed that maybe he had a stroke or something that would take far more time to heal. Something that we couldn't fix fast without a specialist. That Sunday morning, Tom bit me very badly right above the line of my boot on the backside of my leg. I was still on antibiotics from the arm bite so I was covered on that front but I was at a loss as to what to do about him. It was definitely not safe for me to continue caring for him like I was. It was such a bad bite that it will still oozing blood the following day. At this point I was putting on my farming coveralls, sweatshirt, leather gloves, and boots to take care of a cat that was finding it fun to attack me. He would roll around on his back wanting belly rubs and then lunge to bite. He still required treatment for the ear infections and I was attempting to do that without getting bit; along with giving him oral antibiotics. I called the vet and we spoke at length again about what I could do for him. The vet agreed I could stop with the other medications as this was a larger problem. We decided on a nerve medicine and I happened to have some on hand for my older dog anyway. I was to crush the pills and mix it into the food in the morning. This little cat was getting the same amount of the drug as you would give a 40 pound dog. And it helped. My biscuit making, belly rub wanting TomTom was better. I treated him without incident that day (yes, still in all my safety gear). The following morning, Devil Tom was back. I mixed up the drug and fed him breakfast. He snarfed it down like usual and a couple hours later, he was a sweet boy again. But by that evening, he had already started lunging at me. The next morning it was hard to even get the dish with the mixed food set in front of him, he was already on a rampage. The vet was at a loss of what could further be done for him. I could only think how confusing the roller coaster of emotions had to be for Tom. I got online and looked at every university veterinary clinic within a 6 hour driving radius. 4 different states, 5 universities, and not a single damn one had a support program for tough/unusual cases. I felt like he would atleast have an opportunity to teach some students. One week after the leg bite, because of my personal safety, I decided to let Tom rest. He's buried in the yard and I planted a large expanse of wildflowers to commemorate him. It broke me to make the decision to let him go. He was such a fighter and I fought with him. Because I was feeling so crappy, I NEEDED Tom to get better. We both lost. I'm assuming that Tom was originally dumped at my property because of the ear infections and somebody couldn't afford to treat him. It also occured to me, while I was writing this, that he could also have been doused or affected by the farm chemicals. When I say that I miss him, I truly mean it. He was trying to get better at the same time I was trying to get better. He gave me something else to focus on besides being so sick. I am so thankful that I knew him. I am so thankful that while he was with me, he did receive love and care. For many weeks since, I have gone into the bedroom expecting to see him sitting on his heating pad and tilting his head to look at me. If I meowed at him, he would meow back and that room was now silent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fast forward several weeks and I was outside watering the flowers in the evening. I started to walk back into the house and I heard a cat screaming. Loud. Oh no, the house cats got out... I went inside and both of them were sound asleep on the couch. Hmmm..... I went outside and meowed back. And got a response. I walked to the end of the driveway. The sound was coming from the Northwest so I started walking across the front lawn. RUNNING towards me, as fast as his little legs could carry him, was a gray tabby kitten about 10-12 weeks old. Loud meowing, purring, making biscuits. Jumped into my arms. PERFECTLY marked. In PERFECT condition, no illness, no fleas, no ticks. There is nothing wrong with this kitten. There were no other humans present. No vehicles had recently gone by. All I could do was burst into tears and laugh at the same time. It's a boy. I named him Traveler.

  • Finally!

    It's been well over a month since I've posted anything. I completely missed July 4th so here is my belated "Happy Fourth!" I am feeling quite a bit better. I was finally able to see my doctor and he ran bloodwork to make sure nothing was showing up; meaning effects from the poison chemical. He felt that I was probably going to be ok since I was actively recovering but warned that I should not allow it to happen again as I may not be able to recover a second time. He also thought that the reason it took me so long to feel better was because everything was doused in the chemical and with it being residual, it was still coating the environment as it slowly degraded over time. I didn't have any way to contact the neighbor farmer so I hoped to see them around the community. They ended up showing up! We now know that my home, myself and the animals were doused with an atrazine-derivative herbicide. I don't recommend going through what we all just did for about 12 weeks. The chemical is very toxic to birds and fish. Thankfully I don't have a pond on my property. I did lose 6 chickens to the chemical dousing. The remainder of the animals appear to be fine; there really isn't a good way to tell what effect they will have until they have it. Long term effects from this chemical are breast cancer and heart problems. I'm sure there hasn't been as much research as there should be for long-term effects on humans before this chemical was pressed into use. While I have no personal experience with actual chemotherapy, from the symptoms I would equate the effects to be similar. (My heart goes out to the folks that have to go through it.) I am so very thankful to be feeling better! 2 weeks ago, I had 4 good days in a row (I was so excited!) and spent that time catching up on running errands, cleaning, and laundry. I did get a good bit of Bible study in during my down time and while I'm not caught up with the group, I've made significant progress. Food was an issue for sure. Handsome ran and got food for us more times that I can count. Basic chores everyday took all day. I would do a bit and go rest and do a bit and go rest. I didn't want him to have to do those too. Handsome's workplace is notorious for sending germs home and Handsome is great at infecting us both. Since one of his coworkers traveled over the 4th of July holiday, they brought back the C-bullshit. No we didn't test for it, everybody was sick and every single person had a different set of symptoms which is how we knew what it was. It was round 4 for Handsome and round 3 for me. Now that we are both better; it's a 100 degrees outside this whole week. We are battling the effects of heat stress on everybody and everything. What's your weather like there? Please keep everyone healthy and cool!

  • INVASION!!!

    It's been very very dry here. We have had little rain for many weeks. I shudder to think what my water bill will be for using the sprinkler on the garden and orchard.... One thing we get around here when it is either very wet or very dry are water roaches. Ugh.... Shudder..... I generally have a staunch countenance. I can really handle most gross, gooey, sticky, smelly, bloody or yuck things. One thing I cannot handle is roaches of ANY kind. Total girl-shrieking, lose-my-shit freak out. So of course, since they were looking for water, guess who decided to come visit us through the sewer line.... And I was not prepared. When I moved in, the biggest threat I had in the office was little tiny ants. I had the exterminator come and he set it up on a monthly visit and off we went towards bug-free bliss. I cannot afford to have the bug-man come take care of this anymore and also hadn't given it much thought as there wasn't anything needing taken care of anyway. Spraying just to be spraying isn't really my thing; I'm not pro-chemical anything. I knew the name of the spray he used to use and was able to order it online without an applicator's license. I paid for the fast shipping. In the meantime, I cleaned out any fresh food items, put any cooking items and dishes away, removed the kitties' food and the kitties from the office. (They stayed in the barn for a week until the smoke cleared.) I turned off the air conditioning and any fans. I made sure I had a route of spraying in mind that led me out the front door. This spray is used for both outdoor and indoor applications so I knew which way I was going to turn when I went outside. I just generally got prepared for the spraying to happen. It had been in the high 80s for a few days prior to spray day so I knew the whole ordeal wasn't going to be pleasant. When I was in college, part of our training included a chemical application course. That prepared me for what to wear and how to suit up for this particular pursuit. While I didn't have professional garb for this, I'm sure I was quite a sight to behold. My winter shoes, long pants tucked into my socks, long sweatshirt with my hood up, and yellow latex dish gloves because that's what I had on hand. I topped the whole look off with a disposable mask. The farm-chemical dousing had already happened and I wasn't about to get coated in anything else. I had also purchased a brand new gallon yard sprayer just for this. You know the kind that you fill up and pump the handle to make pressure? Yeah... the damned thing didn't work (which I didn't find out until I had it filled) and I had to make a flying trip to get a different one. I wasn't about to strip out of said hot outfit to do it either. Once that portion of the activity was settled, I went about my spraying. What I wasn't prepared for was the sheer amount of spray that would come out of the thing. Let me tell ya, every nook and cranny got filled with the mixture; especially the drains. Then I made it outside and sprayed the entire perimeter of the building. I locked up and stripped off my outer layer of clothing, being careful to not touch anything that had come in contact with the chemical. I let the office marinate in that for 24 hours and came back to turn on all the exhaust fans and ran back out again. A couple days later I came back and got the place opened up and attempted to get back to work. Once I knew all the smell was out and everything was dry (the chemical is rated to be pet and human safe once it's dry) and I had mopped everywhere the kitties touch, I brought them back to their home. It even smoked the fruit flies! Bug-free bliss achieved! Or so I thought. One more water roach showed up but passed quickly either from the chemical or my foot, I'm not sure if he was already dead when I squished him. THEN I had one come up the bathroom drain in the house! We finally got some rain overnight so hopefully they can go back to living in their regular yucky places and leave us the heck alone. I don't want to have to uproot the kitties or suit myself up in my spraying garb again anytime soon.

  • Fits and Starts

    Hi! Been awhile.... First I have to apologize for being away from the website for so long. I've been feeling pretty poorly for several weeks. Haven't been very effective as a person, let alone a blogger.... Please let me explain. A couple months ago the neighbors planted their corn field which backs up to my house. This is normally not an issue. This year they decided to spray a pre-emergent corn chemical on said field; also normally not an issue. The problem lies in their timing of spraying said chemical. The chemical we believe it was is legally not supposed to be sprayed up to an hour before dusk. It was almost 8pm when Handsome and I arrived back home from going out for supper. The entire yard was engulfed in the cloud of spray. The house was full of it as well since the windows were all open. Handsome promptly got in his truck and left, thank God. I had to live in the cloud until it cleared. It doused everything, including all the animals. It was a situation I was completely unprepared for. I really didn't know what to do first. I wanted to move the animals but they had already breathed in a huge amount of the spray. I also didn't need to go out and inhale even more of it. I was already nauseous and of course, exremely angry. I don't keep a respirator on hand for such an occurence. I had clothes on the line. And the cloud just kept creeping across the yard.... The first thing to do was to crank the ceiling fans up to get the mist out of the house as fast as I could. Then I went and got the clothes off the line so I could start rewashing them. All I could do was wait. I wasn't going to leave home and not be there for the animals. I continued to check on them throughout the night while I switched out loads of laundry. I didn't end up barfing but my gut was a mess for several days following. It took a couple hours for the majority of the smell to disappear. There wasn't much for vegetative damage as the garden is on the far side of the yard. I was more concerned about the long-term effects we all might endure. The damage was already done; now I needed to know what might be coming later on. Dr Google wasn't very helpful as it just said the immediate effects were nausea and vomiting; well no-shit Sherlock. In the following days, I talked to some farmer friends to try and figure out what it was that might have been sprayed that behaved that way. Once I had that information, I contacted the legal team and also started digging for research on the chemical. NOTHING I found stated that the chemical is an endocrine disrupter. But in the future, Lymphoma is a possibility. In the following weeks, I continued to feel worse and worse. I contacted my doctor and am still awaiting the designated appointment time. The animals all came into heat, even if they had already had a heat cycle very recently. My own cycle was messed up. I put on a whole bunch of weight really quickly. I added a third chin and a second spare tire in no time. My energy was completely wiped out. It was just a general feeling of being unwell coupled with exhaustion. Fast forward several weeks, I'm starting to feel better. It's changed my body. I've always been hypoglycemic. Now my blood sugars are all over the place; I'm battling with that everyday. I've completely changed how I eat and even the supplements I take. My cycles used to be very heavy and painful; the last 2 since the dousing have been far milder and not so heavy. When I have a good day, my energy levels are up and I'm beginning to feel like myself again. The good days aren't everyday yet, but they are slowly increasing in number. By the time I make it to the doctor's office, I will probably be over it and there will be nothing to do for it. Sounds good to me, I'm so tired of feeling like crap! The extra weight and inflammation is beginning to fall away. The third chin is still partially there and I am starting to be able to see my feet again with the second spare tire lessening. Clothes are starting to fit the way they used to. The animals all made it through everything fine and appear to be ok. I don't believe they would normally live long enough to develop a Lymphoma anyway. I'm really not sure what to make of the whole situation. Maybe the whole thing was supposed to happen? You hear of people getting struck by lightning and their ailments go away....

  • Trash Talk

    Inside each trash can, down in the bottom, is the entire roll of trash bags. I can pull one off and reset the can really quickly without searching for the roll of bags. This works so well for me that I've started using this same system in all the cans, even the large trash can in the barn that takes 54 gallon bags. That many rolls of bags is expensive to have to replace all at once. I buy a box here and there to spread the cost out. And it means that I've got bags on hand when I need them at any given time. I figured up the other day that my favorite scented trash bags are 13 cents apiece now. WHAT?! Gonna have to start thinking outside the bag on this. I keep trash bags on hand all the time; it's a thing. I don't know if other people are as "trashy" as I am but I need to be able to tie that string and get that trash out to the dumpster or burn pile. Drives me nuts. There are feed bags in the barn that I use to clean up messes there. Anytime I get a good box that I don't have another use for, I use it for trash or compost pile additions. I remember using feed and seed sacks for trash bags inside the kitchen cans when I was a kid. I haven't been able to bring myself to that but it might be coming. They just can't be easily tied closed to hold everything in. I have alot of wind where I live and that makes the feed sack to trash bag conversion a bit difficult. A 5 gallon bucket is kept handy for larger canning jobs and it fills up quickly with good stuff to add to the compost pile. What are your tips and tricks for handling daily trash?

  • A Truck Full of Blessings!

    "You're not supposed to thank me for the flowers!", she said. I knew it and I forgot; I was just so grateful. It's an old wives tale. It means that if you thank someone for plants from their garden that the plants then won't grow right or flower for you in your garden. I dunno who started it. It's been shouted into my brain over the years from helpful, more seasoned gardeners as they pass along their plants. The only ones I could never get to do well were the Hens and Chicks.... Still can't, even when I buy them. I rode with Old-Timer the other day to the auction he attends every week. That left his Mrs. home by herself for the day without interruptions. When we got back, she had been digging in the dirt and working her tail off. She had a wheelbarrow full of perennials that she wanted to share with me! I was flabbergasted to say the least. Was I not just praying about being able to start filling up the Vagina Garden with some flowers? I have a few to move from an old flower bed but nothing else is established in my yard. Seedlings of the perennial kind are expensive this year. Most everything is going to have to be seeded from scratch. I've been far more focused on planting food crops and mulching those. The backseat floorboard of the truck was filled with Iris, Coneflower and Phlox! What a blessing! The auction was alot of fun. If it was agriculturally related, it was sold at the sale. Everything from lawnmowers to boots to coveralls and then all the animals. We didn't even stay for the hoofstock, just the small animals like rabbits, chickens, turkeys, etc. I learned so much. I got to pet several little farm dogs and hold the most adorable 4 month old chunky farm boy. What did I buy at the sale? A dozen Pink Brandywine tomato plants to pass among friends (Mrs would only let me give her 2) and 2 quart bags of really nice white onion sets to fill out the onion bed. I was a big spender, $24. These folks live an hour from me and the sale was another hour of travel time. Since I was so far from home; there were a couple places on my want-to list to stop at on the way home. One is a concrete statuary manufacturer. I was able to get a couple small pieces for gravesites. I did fall in love with the lawn dragon, it's a 3 piece extra large dragon that looks like it's floating in the grass. Kinda like the Loch Ness Monster, but for your lawn. A bit too pricey for me but $350 isn't bad for something that large. Then there was the independent greenhouse that still functions on the honor system. Not only does it apparently work for them; but their prices are far less than the big box stores. If I can frequent a small business over a large corporation, I will. I had wanted some old-fashioned petunias for between some broccoli plants in one area of the VG. Then they had gallon perennials, for the right price. I was able to get 3 to help fill in some more places in the VG. I hope the bees like them; a deep red Corepsis, double Shasta Daisy and a fuschia Daylily. (This is not a color-coordinated area. I want every color flower to have vomited all over the yard.) Can you go wrong with Sun Gold cherry tomatoes? No. So I got those too. At this point the backseat was completely full and I still needed to stop at the grocery store, get fuel and some supper. It took me a almost an hour to unload and take care of everything before I could go pick up the doggies. Made for a great day! What have you done out of the ordinary lately that you learned from?

  • Dishes and Laundry....

    It's never ending! Dishes and Laundry! In fact, I'm avoiding doing said dishes and laundry by taking time to write this post! Ha! I'm tired (again). I rode with Handsome in the work truck yesterday; he woke me up at 3am to load up and head out. He's not in great shape today either. I don't know if it's because we are both over 40 or because of regular health issues that neither of us can do 16-18 hour days anymore. We also haven't traveled that many miles, in a day, for a few years now. Boy was I thankful I had made Sausage, Taters and Onions the other day. We were able to eat as soon as we got home, do have-to chores and then head to bed. I tried going to bed early the night before and fell asleep earlier than usual. That also meant that some of the regular chores didn't get done. Today is catch up day and I'm just not feeling it. As soon as I finish the dishes and laundry, you know there will be another dish to add to the sink again and a towel that ends up in the wash basket. Ugh. This afternoon is filled with errands. Tomorrow is going to be crazy again as I'm riding along with my favorite Old-Timer to the auction. The doggies are NOT going to be happy at being left behind again....

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