My adventure

One way to get the most out of life is

to look upon it as an adventure.~William Feather

OK so that is how I am going to look at it... I went on an adventure this week. I awoke Sunday morning to my arm feeling like it was outside of the covers and the rest of my body was warm. I moved and found out that my arm was under the covers. Hum okay I tell myself it is time to get up. I stumble and I mean literally stumble to the bathroom. I feel like I slept on my left side all night and I have pins and needles. Sit down to do what nature called me in there to do and realized one of these things aint like the other and by that I mean butt cheeks. One was normal and the other was numb. Okay, still not awake but 1/2 way able to store this info. Finish in that room and stumble to coffee pot realizing if I lived in a round house it would be so much easier as I was walking toward the right. I felt like I was drunk. I would tell my body what to do and it would do what it wanted.

Woke the man to give him this news. Not wanting to be an alarmist, I figured I would watch tv and see how I felt. He went to do the animals and I decided to walk out to see him. Remember the round house well we should have round property also, so while circling I did run yes literally again run into him. As he likes to hover, I told him I was going to call Gwen to take me to the emergency room. Not that his hovering is bad but I am starting to get scared and he would try to take care of me but not be able to as is not a dr and I would get irate...Can you believe it!!! Yes I know he is there because he loves me and wants to make me better and I am a mean bitch but at least I know that and don't put us both through it. Anyhow, Gwen is someone who will take control for me while I just lay there and feel like crap and she is savvy in medical. Call her and tell her what I want and that I am going to take a shower and will see her in a few.

I don't call nobody because I will be home in an hour -I can walk, talk, carry on adult conversation and I was able to squeeze both of Gwen's hands with equal pressure.....They see me coming and don't even make me sit down and sign in but take me right to the back of the double doors for processing. In minutes I am hooked up to an EKG and the Dr is poking and prodding and asking tons of questions. I have a FALL RISK wrist band on the left and a ID band on right arm. Headache is starting to come back...rolled down for CT scan, stop by for chest Xray. They are talking, head is pounding, Gwen has taken over and boy am I glad. Blood is being drawn out of one arm, IV installed in another and a dose of something was shot in....Hands grab for the back of my head because I know without a doubt that is is going to lift of my freaking shoulders. Nurse tells me the druggies like this effect --what a bunch of masocistic jackasses.

I'm put in a room, given Aggrenox as they suspect TIA's (mini strokes) caused by the migraine. In between Sunday and Thursday afternoon when I returned home I had more drugs than in the last year or more. I had been given more Aggrenox, Prednisone, Imitrex and I do unfortunately remember an anti nausea suppository or two.

I was sent down for an MRI right after they gave me a prednisone shot and an imitrex. The MRI was not open. I itched like I was sitting on an ant nest and the noise of that machine...do you know how long 1 1/2 minutes is? It is a really really long time. Thirty minutes later I was returned to room. I remember getting a needle at 8 PM and by 9:30 I wanted another, the pain was just so bad. They ended up diagnosing it as a status migraine.

I was sent home with prednisone to wean me off and Percocet to help if I get another. They are unsure if it could happen the next migraine or 100 from now or if it will ever happen again. But during the MRI they found that I only have one artery in the right side of my neck where I should have two so I guess some things happen for a reason. I have blisters from the meds inside my mouth, I still have tingling on my leftside and still walk like a drunk, a slightly less inebriated one but still a drunk. Gwen took off for less hectic grounds (visiting family) and the man delivered me safely home to a clean, smooth running house. The numbness is suppose to subside and my balance return to normal. Not bad for a small adventure.

Riding home I was amazed at the changes that accured during my adventure. The forsythia bloomed. The lovage grew ALOT it was just nubs coming out of the ground before my big adventure. The hops is reaching for the sky. The bleeding heart, the peony, the daffs, the cowslip. I see radishesand spinach and I have asparagus!!!!!!!!!!! I am in heaven...and it isn't the "final resting spot" or a drug enduced one just springtime enduced.

I woke up this morning long after the kids got on the bus, listened to the man ticking off the turkeys walking the ridge, and then to the birds, looked out on green grass and baby chicks which had also grown some and truly appreciated the Drs and their meds getting me back here. I hate taking medicine but I am truly glad it was there when I needed it. I am extremely lucky and I guess this was just another adventure to make me realize it. The tomatoes will eventually get started, the lettuce and mustard transplanted and all the other menial tasks done but for now I am just going to sit and get back my energy.

Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,~Mr. Rogers

The temperature was perfect and we got alot accomplished so it was an extremely beautiful day.

This morning I woke up with a migraine but with the help of some Tylenol I was able to get the ducks pond dumped, scrubbed and refilled. While I was doing this the man was rototilling the greenhouse garden.

Then we left to take our one goat Snowflake to a new home. She is going to a camp until November. We also gave Farmer Dave two rabbits as youngest daughter found they are a lot of work. While there we helped him load the animals that are going to the camp and picked up some baby chicks.

We got 27 chicks, two dozen Cornish Roasters
to raise for the freezer and 3 Rhode Island Red for future eggs.

After getting them all situated the man decided he wanted to go fishing. My head was still throbbing but I didn’t want to just lay down and go to sleep so I joined him at his “secret spot”. He caught a trout on the second cast and another right before we left. I brought my knitting and finished the sleeves on the baby bolero.

We left for home as it was growing dark, dropped the fish off at a neighbors and got in just in time for NASCAR.

And now it is Good Night to a pretty productive day.

Tomorrow

"Tomorrow is another day." ~ Scarlet O'Hara Gone With the Wind

And so it is another day, and one which so far has not dropped one single drop of rain! This storm was very fickle. We got almost almost all rain (approx. 6 inches) while people 3 miles away have 3-4 inches of snow and places within 50 miles have 18+ inches of snow.

Now Debey has asked me for a photo of the greenhouse and I haven't gotten it up here for her as I kept forgetting to take the camera out with me. But this morning the mind was actually functioning, so here it is...
I am standing between the gates to the garden when I took this picture. The greenhouse is 8X10 and has 6mm polycarbonate panels. There is the sliding door and two roof vents. I would eventually like to have the automatic vent openers but that is at the bottom of a long list. We just added the "barn" on the north side. There are a couple of compost bins behind the barn making for easy clean up. The barn is used by my ducks and chickens. Their old living arrangements just had a door and was dark and without much air circulation. Right now they go in and out via the door you see open but will eventually have a little door on the backside which will make a nice cross ventilation and help keep it dry as the ducks are quite messy with their water. I figured this would work better for them by also giving them more light thru the greenhouse and would be warmer in the winter. There are rain barrels coming off both sides to help with the watering of both the animals and garden. Their pool is further back and to the right.
I should have taken pics of the inside but on the right is the wall shared by the greenhouse and "barn". Here is my stool and tall basket with stakes, shovel and clippers etc. stuck in it. The left wall is wire shelves. The man built them for me. The bottom shelf is about knee high and the top is waist high. Under the shelves are totes with the rest of the flats or individual pots in them, coffee cans and 2 liter soda bottles. In the back wall is a shelf about waist high but with a mixing area for mixing the soil with compost or just dampening it. Under that mixing sink is a solid shelf which has a stack of clay pots, cans with twine, popscicle sticks, pens, ziplock bags, paper, hand clippers, scissors, trowels etc. In the right hand corner, under the top shelf is a trash can which my bags of potting soil goes into. The shelves are all one unit which came out of my old greenhouse and we had to actually build this one around. I have a ventless propane heater that I would lke to put in but I don't think it will happen anytime this year but maybe next. I would also have to balance the cost of the propane vs what I would be able to get out of it. It isn't much but it gets done what I need to get done. It should have been taller as the man is 6'4" and can't do more than stand in the middle so tends to stay out of it OR did I plan it like that so I have peace and quiet! Hopefully this week while it is warming up I will be able to get in there and plant tomatoes.
But until then I finished the cormo and now I am preparing to find what fiber I am going to use to make the baby bolero and stash handbag. Both of these are in the new book my sister sent me (another enabler...I love it!!!! :^D) Anyhow the book is called One skein and it will help me get rid of the bits and pieces I have.

Say it isn't SNOW!

When it rains... it floods!

Last night I innocently went to sleep, proud in the fact my basement wasn't wet. This morning reality slapped me upside my head with a 2x4! But after borrowing a huge pump from the local fire department and pumping it out, all seems well...a little muddy but well. The freezers with all the meat were set up on blocks just in case this happen (smart man)! We still need to test the man's generator and compressor and some wood we were going to use got wet but it could be ohhhhhh soooo much worse. So we will set up the torpedo heater and dry it all out.

Then the rain turned to snow for a while and the woods started to look like this...

and now it seems to have gone to a mix. I actually would prefer the snow as it takes time to melt. The rivers are all up and streams are appearing where there normally are none. The rivers are suppose to hit flood stage about noon today.

Of course even in the midst of lifes little adventures, you need to find something to laugh at... We drove up to a NPS guy sitting and monitoring the river and the man being the smart ass that he is very straight faced asked him how the trout were hitting. The guy laughed his butt off, said they were all hiding behind rocks!

And lest you think I have been doing nothing...childs ear flap hat, baby's cupcake hat (really awful picture) and bib overalls. The last two need finishing details.

and I am spinning up the rest of the two pounds of cormo. I should have that finished today.

Happy Easter

Awake, thou wintry earth--
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness! Christ is risen. ~Thomas Blackburn

We sat with our coffee and watched the kids and the news this morning. Seems like after today the earth is going to warm up in our little neck of the woods. I started thinking of Easter's when I was a kid and how cold it was. I remember one Easter when I was young, we hunted Easter eggs in the house because like today, it was too cold to do it outside. The Easter bunny had hid an egg in the pocket of my coat and nobody found it--until I was standing in church and reached in my pocket! I think everyone in church knew by the time we left.

Another Easter we did a show at school and I was the bonnet wearer - as in....In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.- Irving Berlin The bonnet was an Easter basket sat upside down on my head. I was talking to a school mate from that period in time and they said their mother still has a copy of that. I told her it was okay to lose that photo.

Another Easter, we got a solid chocolate cross from Sunday School. We went to a friends house and my mother kept telling me not to eat all my chocolate as I was going to get sick....I didn't listen (whatelse is new!!) I got sick....numerous times! My mother keeps using that as a way of teaching my children. That is also one reason my children don't get alot of candy at Easter.

Now I am off to hunt eggs in the cold (24 degree's) because as Easter bunny told us to toughen up and hid them outside. I wish you all a Happy Easter and I hope you all have an Easter egg finding Easter instead of a chocolate cross one.

Poor

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son."So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father. The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them." The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

I have received this same email several times. I keep it for a while, usually until I do a big email cleanup. At times I wonder if I keep it to justify my life style or to remind me how lucky I am. So when I got it again, I decided to figure it out.

Poor means to have little or no wealth and few or no possessions... We are poor and I mean financially poor. We live from pay check to pay check and some weeks that check is stretched mighty thin.

On the other hand we aren't poor. We have no debt. The house (when it is done) is paid for. We have a 2005 truck and a 2000 car which are paid for. We have trappings. I have four spinning wheels. The man loves his 50 inch and 27 inch HDTV flat screens, the kids have Xbox 360 and DS’s and walk around in name brand sneakers and clothes.

There is no way I will see England or France. Our vacations have been to see my daughter finish basic training in SC and leave for Iraq from MS or to the MDS&W and Rhinebeck. The same daughter did send us to PR last summer which was great.

It is my choice not to work. It would give us more money, but we would use it to buy the food that I now grow and can or freeze. The man could get a better paying job, but he would be gone an extra 3-4 hours a day and I love having him around. I miss him when he is gone.

I think our’s is a checks and balances life style. We work hard enough to get some of what we want, but not so hard that we lose sight of what is important. We have everything we need and most of what we want. We don’t have tons of clothes, some of which we won’t ever wear but we have enough that we don’t walk around naked. We don’t have a boat or a summer home, but we do have the luxury of being able to be girl/boy scout leaders, soccer coaches, volunteers, etc instead of having to work overtime to pay for the boat/ 2nd home. We have the time to appreciate what we do have.

So my muscles are aching today but yesterday I spent the whole day with the man building a chicken coop. So menial yet so satifying. So, I guess I should keep it just to remind me that we indeed are very wealthy. Wealthy-rich, marked by abundance, well supplied.