Please note - the most recent entries are at the top

If you want to read this in Chronological order, start at the bottom and work your way up.

Thanks.... the management!

Click here for Journal 2006.

6/16/2007 - Been busy lately.

It's been a little more then 4 months since I last posted.  Let's see - Ian passed 5th grade and made A's and B's Honor Roll.  He got to go on the attendance trip to see Spiderman 3.  The 5th grade class trip was on the Heartland Express (Amtrak train) and then a very long bus ride back to the school.  Ian even went on his first overnight camping trip with the boy scouts - something he loved.

My arm has healed well.  I only occasionally have to wear my brace.  The plate and screws are a permanent addition but they shouldn't cause any problems with metal detectors.

Our sad news is this past Tuesday (June 12th) we had to euthanize Teza (click the link for her page).  She's been sick for a while and despite treatment, she went down Tuesday and we could not get her back up.  Her final resting place is under her favorite tree in the big pasture where she used to stand when the sun got too hot or the wind would be too harsh. 

We are planning a little memorial area for that spot, however the plans have to take into account that anything will have to stand up to the rest of the horses.  We've discussed putting an angel statue up but the one we were looking at was plastic (looked real good though) but we figured Jack or Ayashe would play with it and cart it off.  A cement one would probably not be carried off but they'd use it as a scratching post.  Anybody with ideas can email me with them.

For those who are frequent readers of this journal you've read how often I've complained about the drought.  Well, we may still be in a drought but we are getting a bit more rain.  I don't think we've gotten enough to get out of the drought but we've gotten a bunch.  The hay fields are looking good - they've already been able to get at least one cutting and maybe even a second cutting.  I'm definitely hoping they get a third cutting in before winter (crossfingers your/say prayers that we get enough rain at the right times for us and they may be more then that out of the hay fields).  The more hay they get they less they may charge for it - that would help everybody's budgets.

Currently I'm taking meds for hives - it seems that I have found another sun screen that I am allergic too.  I used a sun screen on my face and ears while waiting for the vet to arrive (see above sad news).  Well I have hives all over my face and in/around my ears.  Fun Fun Fun.... Itch Itch Itch.  Such a great way to look for celebrating Father's Day and your Wedding Anniversary.

Since it's now mid June - I can only look forward the weather getting hotter and dryer (unless our prayers are answered).

When our tax check came in we got most of our bills paid off (YEAH!!!) and had enough left over to put in an electric cross fence in the big pasture - and installed a higher powered solar charger (went from 4 volt to 12 volt).  Jack was causing a little problem trying to get to the nice green winter wheat on the other side of the fence and the 4 volt charger just didn't seem to be able to convince him to stay off of the fence.  So we decided to up the charge especially since we were going to be extending the amount of fence we were putting on the charger.  It so far seems to be working.  I may even decide to extend the hot wire all the way to the end of the pasture fence where it adjoins the wheat field.  Jack has such a long neck that he gets quite a reach over the fence - despite it being barbed wire. 

Today was the Medical Reserve Corp exercise at the local hospital and they had contacted the boy scout troop for volunteers.  When Ian found out that he'd be made up to look like an accident victim he jumped at the chance.  His injury was deep lacerations on both arms.  They glued on his arm a big "deep laceration" and added some smaller lacerations to both arms.  He hammed it up, especially when they were generously spraying fake blood all over the "victims".  He had a really good time.  That was until he got home and mama wouldn't let him in the house with all that red stuff on him.  I hosed him down outside until most of the stuff was off and then he took a bath. 

That about does it for this entry - if I think of anything else I'll post it later.

2/15/2007 - BRRRRRRR!!

This past Monday it was in the 50's for highs, Tuesday, Wednesday and today the highs were in the LOW 20's to High Teens.  Tomorrow - the high is supposed to be in the high 40's (maybe even the low 50's).  Oh, the winds have been hovering in the speeds between 20 to 30 MPH with the highest wind gusts being around 50 MPH.

Doctor's visit - I'm still in a splint but I have the go ahead to do some more exercises with the arm.  The doc also told me that I'll be in a wrist brace by this time next week.  YEAH!!!! I can gently rub the arm to start getting rid of the old dead skin.  Well, at least getting the rest of it off.  I took the opportunity in the office while the splint was off to do a little skin rubbing (GRIN).  Oh that felt GREAT!!!!!!

2/13/2007 - Needs versus Wants.

Recently during a talk with the Almighty I asked for his help in getting through some particularly tough times both personal and financial. 

Here's the scoop - a while back I'd  been diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic but due to money concerns and a lot of denial I'd gone off my medications.  Not a smart idea.  The doctor I'd originally been working with had prescribed some rather pricey meds (which along with the price of hay, feed, gas, propane, etc going up just burst the budget).  One other thing was that I didn't feel as I had a connection with her.  This being the case I went off my meds.

Well, be careful what you ask for ..... the help I got was the broken arm.  Now a lot of people wouldn't think of a broken arm being help rather then an additional problem.

When getting help from the Almighty its usually the help you NEED versus the help you WANT.  What I needed was to be back on my meds - and through the auspices of my needing surgery to repair the broken bone, the orthopedist requested I see another internal medicine doctor.  This new doctor and I had a good discussion and I really felt as though he heard me and my concerns.  In the end I walked out of the office with a prescription for new meds.  The visit to the pharmacy was a bit better -  all 3 of my meds for a month came to under $10 for the month. Where on my old meds - it was just 2 meds (she was going to add the third one  later) was running $75 for the month  - I can only imagine what all 3 would have cost me.  Sixty-five dollars is a major difference and one I can live with.

 So I did get what I really wanted - hopefully a better and healthier life.

Talking about the arm - it's in a splint that I'm not supposed to remove (and I haven't ... totally).  It's been about 3 weeks since surgery and the usual dry and peeling old skin is making it itch underneath the splint.  My hand looks like a shedding snake - with little bits of old skin peeling.    I go back to the doctor soon and I think we are to take x-rays again to see how it is healing.  Hopefully it won't have to remain in the splint too much longer - it will be nice to be able to button and zip.

2/3/2007 - ruminations

You've probably noticed the fundraiser link I placed above.  I went through my house and a friend gave me a number of things to sell also.  This money's going toward paying the hay bill for the horses.  I may also be adding a few more items as I come across them in my effort to trim down on the excess stuff I have.  Or if any one else has anything they wish to hand over for this purpose.

Typing with the broken arm is getting a little better (see below if you've not been here before).  But it still hurts quite a bit.

Ken's been slipping also - I actually got all the way to the fence yesterday before he complained.  But I got to pet several horsy faces over the fence.  I had a little competition as the neighbor's new puppy was interested in the horses as well and they were interested in making sure that the pup was properly respectful of their pasture. 

2/1/2007 - Reflections.

While taking a look at my calendar for January, I noticed that on Jan 17th of this year I broke my arm.  On January 17th of 2006 - Strider injured his leg.   I think I'll be a bit  more careful this time next year.

I had my follow up visit with the orthopedist - post surgery.  Here's a picture of the x-ray as displayed on the computer screen in his office.  Its taken with my arm in the palm UP position - the "T" is the plate he installed.  It was actually a broken arm (radius bone of the forearm) that was broken into 3 pieces.  Not a broken wrist.

Ian's response on seeing this picture? "Mom! Now you have a 'T-bone'!" 

1/28/2007 - I've been SCREWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I now have a metal plate and screws installed in my arm to repair the more serious break - surgery went well.  I'm going to try and get pics of the results if at all possible.  But whatever was installed is permanent - that should provide me with some interesting travel experiences in the future.  

Ken suggested that the doc didn't tighten all the loose screws I might have had.  Perhaps there were too many to find them all.

It's quite boring being restricted to the house - Ken has been enforcing the "rules" very well - in keeping me out of the pasture.

1/22/2007 - The brat is staring at me......

So obviously I need to make room for her (Punkin) on the love seat.

We spent most of the day at the doctor's office and then the pharmacy but I'm all loaded up with pills (prescribed).   All the tests came out as expected or okay and the go ahead was given for surgery which is scheduled for later this week.  If all goes well it's to be a couple hour engagement.

Because of the rain we had over the weekend the ice coating over the numerous inches of sleet finally broke down some and our cars actually made tracks in the frozen stuff on the ground.  We've made several trips out in the cars, they just haven't made any dent in the stuff.

1/20/2007 - My luck didn't hold!

This past Wednesday my luck failed and I fell on the ice - twice.  And broke my arm in two places.  This is going to need surgery.  We are currently working on getting everything under control and arrangements made.  It should be scheduled  for sometime this next week.

On a better note - Ian got all A's and B's during the 2nd 9 weeks of school.

The horses area doing well, munching away on the hay or using the trees as a wind block (even though we have a perfectly good loafing shed for shelter).  Ken's been feeding them for me.  Well, he's actually restricted me to the house refusing to let me go anywhere near the pasture.

The dogs and cats are being overly needy as well at this point to - since I've not been able to keep up with my normal routine of spoiling them.  But until the arm gets set permanently and securely they will have to deal with a little less spoiling. 

1/15/2007

There are inches of sleet on the ground from the recent winter storm.  I much prefer the sleet to the specter of having inches of freezing rain all over the power lines.

I got out today and took picture of the house and the horses.  Froze my tush off as it was only 22 degrees and still a little windy.  Check out the various horse pages for the newest pictures.

Here are just a couple of the pictures:

The horses just vegging out after a breakfast of grain.

Okay some interest in the "over dressed" human walking out to see them.

OOOOOOPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSS!

Forgot my ice skates - I mean cleats!

This was the best picture I got - from the ground.  Yes that is the leg of my insulated coveralls in the lower right corner of the picture.

I imagine them as saying "Gosh!  What an idiot!"

And here is a little evidence as to how much sleet came down and how hard it is - the horses barely make a dent in it when walking over it.

Here are some other pictures of the results of the storm.

	The Drive way - I can't see if but I know it's there.  It took nearly a week before our cars actually made tracks in this stuff.
	I'm standing on several inches of the sleet - and there is NO sinking in to it either.
	A look at the house - the tracks were done on Sunday before the ice and sleet really got to going.
	Another look at the house and cars.
	The road looking to the east - even with all some traffic having moved on it between wave one (Friday) and wave two (Sunday) - you ca just barely see the ruts.
	The road looking west - same comments as above.

Luckily, we got mostly sleet so we have kept our electricity.  For that we Thank God.  We also pray that those affected most by this well be able to stay warm and safe.

This is the Christmas present for the horses - a new 14 foot gate (on wood posts) for rolling the round bales of hay into the pasture.

Due to recent moisture (yes we are getting some rain but we need more) we've had a problem rolling the bales into the pasture.  The water collects in one of the area we have to go through and it was making it hard to roll the bale and getting the bale wet with mud as well.  Now, with the new gate being placed farther up the hill, we have a much drier area to roll the bales through.

We've also moved a portion of our round pen panels into this area to make a staging area around the waiting bales so that they are more securely stored.  We also will cover the bales with tarps to keep them dry - hopefully reducing the amount of hay wasted due to molding.

1/13/2007

Hmm.... minor mistakes.

I should have paid MUCH more attention to the video games that arrived in the house this past Christmas.  Here I am sitting quietly watching TV enjoying the warm house (during a winter ice storm) and having to listen to .... I'm not sure what type of music it is coming from the video game Ken and Ian are playing.  I think it is one of the car race games with some very LOUD music.  NOT to mention the loud revving of the engines.  I should really have looked more at the packaging.

The one good thing though is that Ken and Ian are getting some time together - something I've been trying to get them to do.  I guess I can put up with the noise for that.

We've been through part of the first winter storm of 2007 -  the high temp for Thursday was 71 degrees.  The high for Friday was set at 12:00 AM and was in the 50's from there it dropped to 25 degrees by 9 AM and pretty much hovered there for the rest of the day.  They'd predicted freezing rain but we have been lucky enough to get loads of sleet rather then freezing rain.  We got enough sleet to look like snow on the ground.   The prediction for the rest of the weekend is for more precipitation - freezing rain is what they said last night.  So we could still lose power.  The temp currently is about 20.  For this coming week the highs are to be in the teens and twenties and the lows near of below zero.  Fun, fun, fun.

Freezing rain would be prettier but it would be more likely to take the power lines down - something that I don't want.

Now if only I can find my insulated leather gloves I'd be set.

1/8/2007

Well, been a while again since I've made any updates.  Opps!

At the current moment I'm at one of the local libraries that just today announced that they were providing Wireless internet connections free to anyone looking to bring in their laptops.  It's great to have a free high speed connection - even if it is just for a little while.

I'm experimenting here at the library while waiting for Ian to get through with his regular Boy Scout meeting.  If this works out and I get the new AC adapter in soon I may turn this in to an every week thing.  It's also a good time to get updates for the computer software - the forever thing that Microsoft makes you do.

Let's see, Christmas was good - Ian again made out like a bandit - lots of Superman stuff, Game Boy games, computer games, books and cash.  I got a paper shredder and a garden wagon and a couple of blouses.  Ken and Ian got some shared PS2 games.  Ken traded in his old Xbox (and nearly a van load of games) for a new Xbox 360 (okay he used his Christmas cash too).

We had a guest in the house for Christmas - Chad - a good friend of the family.  I think he really enjoyed the festivities - and was a little surprised to be included for a couple of small gifts and a Christmas Stocking, as well.

One of the best gifts though was from my sister, Nancy, who sent the horses a gift card to Tractor Supply.  In a discussion with the horses it was decided to use it to add another gate to the small pasture.  This one further up the driveway where we can roll the hay bales in without having to roll them through the swamp (an area of Oklahoma red clay, horse manure and water that doesn't drain well).  We'd been rolling them through there on top of some old wood planks but they still got a bit wet.

The gate is in now (come back soon for some pics) and the horses are loving the less dirty tasting hay the new gate provides.

New Years was quiet - and low key - stayed at home and tried to stay awake.  We celebrated by Chad and Ken having a beer, Ian having Root Beer and I had (nursed all night long) a wine cooler.

Yes this internet connection is great.  Heidi's gonna love it when I start messing with her site again.

 

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Missy

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