Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018

This past year has been a typical roller-coaster of a year...some good, some not-so-good.  But we finish it up in fairly good health, happiness and joy that our family and friends are well, and the hope for an even better 2018 to come.  

Blessings to you all...see you next year!

Week 52 and a bit - In Between

Wishing you a most awesome holiday.

Merry Christmas from John. Sally, Bette, Brscoe, and Gilligan.

Not a bad haul for 3 folks!

Santa thought we'd all been pretty good this year!

Kitty is exhausted - perhaps from exercising?

Week 52 - A Final Week to the Year

Can you believe it?  This is the final week of 2017.  I know we all say this but this year went so fast!  I can't believe how fast time seems to be flying as I get older.  Scary, really. 

This past week saw last minute wrapping of presents, prepping for a minor storm (just in case of snow and/or ice) and delivery of neighbor gifts.  We are now all snug in the warm house (temps are supposed to be below 30 degrees all day and the winds have picked up so that means even colder temps.) Defrosting some red beans for cajun red beans and rice dinner to be followed by our traditional White Christmas film viewing.  And, of course, awaiting the arrival of the Big Guy!  

Yesterday I looked out the window and saw this:

Deer grazing along the fence line and wild turkeys in the field.  Add to this the chickens (which you can't see) and the squirrel family who live in the barn, and you have a true country Christmas!  

Wishing you and yours a truly Merry Christmas.  Hoping Santa brings you everything you want and does not leave any coal in your stocking.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 51 - A Short Break

Yes, I totally forgot to write a blog post this past weekend and yes, I am regretful of that.  I will post this weekend, for sure...or maybe wait till after Monday so we have pictures of Christmas.  

Check back next week.

Sorry.

Week 50 - The Reason for the Season

I know, it's a cliche....but it's always true in my book.

Mom and I played hooky on Friday and went to the movies.  We saw The Star.

It's the story of Christ's birth, but told from the animals' perspective.  A delightful rendering of the Christmas story that brought us to happy tears.  I highly recommend it.  Once it comes out on DVD, it will join our favorite holiday movies!

On another note, our Elf on the Shelf showed up - late.  Bernard arrived today, a full 12 days later than the other elves have shown at other homes.  I guess, since we have no children in the household, he didn't feel the need to hurry.  

He landed in the bookshelves - seems he's also a reader, like me and mom! 

My local yarn shop, commonly known to knitters as LYS, got a new line of yarns in that just make me giggle. Mom likes them, too.  ASS yarns.  Rather irreverent but still make me smile.  

Here you see from left to right:

Jack ASS, Scary ASS, Cute ASS, and Not Gettin' Any ASS!  Those were my absolute favorites in the entire line. Will try to remember to show you the socks that come from them.  

It is getting colder here, just about every other day.  Warm, cold, warm, cold, etc.  And no rain in sight.  The last time we had significant rain was back in August...we really need some precipitation, and soon!  But, as far as I'm concerned, the snow can hold off indefinitely!

Thanks for stopping by...

Week 49- Decorating

We normally don't decorate for the holiday season until the weekend of John's birthday.  That would be next weekend.  However, this year I'm hosting a Bunco Group reunion game night tomorrow nite and I wanted to have the house decorated for that.  So, Mr. Wonderful dragged the boxes down from the Christmas Attic and I set out to decorate.  

 Some of my treasured nativities, along with our stockings that I made for us.And let's not forget my reindeer and his trusty Elf rider.

 On the right at the bottom is my frog that croaks out Jingle Bells - quite annoying but endearing anyway.

And finally, some of our Father Christmases and the tree...

We are ready for tomorrow nite!  

We got a package in the mail from Utah yesterday.  It contained school pictures for the 3 middle ones (youngest doesn't get her school pictures till the spring and the oldest is still deciding on her Senior Pictures)...also included was a beautiful picture of the entire family taken in the rotunda of the Utah Capitol Building...and several other groupings of the family. I cried, of course...but what made me start to gutweep was the following:

I think if you click on it, it will embiggen...and you can read it.  That little girl is precious, just like her siblings.  Made me cry big fat tears!

Hoping you all have a wonderful week.  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 48 - Thanksgiving

I know, it's already over but I wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours.

We had a total of 10 folks celebrate the holiday this year.  Besides Mom, John and Me, there were Ryan and Terri and their girls, Erica and Shaylee, and Theresa and Jack and Mary.  John spatchcocked a 13 pound turkey. The only problem being that this was the largest turkey we could do the spatchcock procedure in the Big Green Egg and, sadly, there were no leftovers.  Oh, well, there were bones and bits that John will make the most incredible turkey noodle soup with, but no turkey sandwiches in my immediate future.  Sigh!

Moist, tender, and cooked to perfection in just about 2 hours!

We also had a ham (home-grown), dressing, candied sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans with onions, bacon, and slivered almonds, cranberry relish, spinach tortellini salad and assorted olives and pickles.  For dessert there was pumpkin pie, mince pie, and pecan pie - all with mounds of cool whip.  To say we were stuffed is an immense understatement.  

I love it when John's family comes for Thanksgiving.  We only see them once a year, in spite of living fairly close.  So getting together with them is really special.  

We both had a good number of days off work for the holiday.  John pulled down the Christmas boxes from Christmas attic yesterday and assembled the pencil tree (I wanted the slimmer tree this year).  I have any number of other boxes to unpack but I'm not in the mood yet.  It will have to be done before next Monday, the 4th.  I have my old Bunco group coming for a Reunion Game Night and want the house to be decorated for the holiday...I work better with a deadline!  

While pulling items from the pantry to make the dressing for our feast, I reached in to get the chicken broth and accidentally knocked over a jar of artichoke hearts...the small jar fell directly onto my foot and made me say bad words!  For a while I thought that middle toe might be broken but thankfully, it's only bruised. Yes, purple IS one of my two favorite colors but not on my toes, thank you very much.

My buddy, Gilligan, says to wish you a happy week.  He's contented and looking for a quiet place to nap.

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 46 & Week 47

I have no excuse...simply have no excuse.  I'll leave it at that.

Several days ago, I received a text from my daughter(-in-law) and it contained a photo...she was so proud and wanted to share it.

This is our son in the middle, with Satya Nadell (the CEO of Microsoft) on the left and Senator Orrin Hated (R - UT) on the right.  It seems our son hosted the annual Hall of Fame Gala the is put on by the Utah Technology Council.  These gentlemen had no idea they were in the company of such a wonderful man.  We are so proud of him.  And then we found out that John and Jill also took our two oldest granddaughters to the Gala...

Charlotte, Jill, John III, and Emily.  They make a stunning picture!

This comping week is going to go quickly...I only work on Monday and Wednesday.  Thursday and Friday is our Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday.  While I don't participate in the insanity of Black Friday, I can certainly appreciate having the day off!  John and Mom and I are going to do the Christmas decorating this next weekend.  

I found this the other day and liked what it said.  Enjoy the rest of the autumn season.

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 45 - Fast Internet

One of the drawbacks of living in the country is slow internet.  Yes, we have few neighbors...Yes, we see so many more stars than you who live in the city...Yes, it's quiet and peaceful.  But the lack of internet speed has driven Mr. Wonderful nuts all 13 years we've lived here.  A few months back he spied work being done on the internet hubs along the highway and stopped to talk to the workers...it appeared that they were upgrading the fiber to allow for faster service to the outlying areas.  This past week I talked to our internet/phone provider and found that it was up and running and we were eligible for the newer-faster service.  We had to change our home phone number to accommodate the bundled package but, since all the changes they required resulted in a much lower monthly price, we agreed to it.  Yesterday was our day!  Our home phone number has changed.  You can email me at quiltersal53@gmail.com for the new number. I honestly don't know if the internet service is as fast as they said it would be...by the time I logged on to my computer, it was late, I was cranky, and it didn't seem all that much faster.  But it could have been me...I'll wait to hear from Mr. Wonderful if he thinks it's faster.

The holiday season is upon us...that means it's time to think about decorating for Christmas...shopping for Thanksgiving dinner, and finishing up the holiday shopping.  I knew Mr. Wonderful was going to take a load of processed beef out to Nebraska a couple of weeks ago so I hurried and finished most of the 'big' shopping for the Utah family and he took it out and gave it to Young John.  That sure did save on the cost of shipping it all out!  I only have gift cards to mail to Utah now.  I'm almost, but not quite, done with the shopping and/or creating for the family here in Missouri.  Then I only have cards left to do...easy peasy!

Mr. Wonderful took all 3 of the lady cows to the vet this last weekend to check on their pregnancy progress.  Our Rosie is about 4 months pregnant, Belle is about 3 1/2 months pregnant, and Garnet is not pregnant at all. Evidently she is elderly (not normally a problem in an 11-year-old cow) but she's also quite fat and that stopped her from getting pregnant the last 2 times she was bred.  Our philosophy is that if you don't earn your way at Pieceful Harbor, you don't stay.  Therefore, Garnet has an appointment at Freezer Camp at the end of January (the first available date they could take her).  She is about 1800 pounds and will yield just under 1000 pounds of meat.  Some of the cuts one gets on a younger cow are not going to work for this older one...but those items can go into hamburger.  And I love me some home-grown hamburger.  We will most likely end up with around 400 pounds of the stuff along with steaks, roasts, brisket, cube steaks, and stew meat.  Now I need to defrost one of the freezers and organize so we have room for 1000 pounds of beef.  Frankly, that's one of the jobs that make me happy!

Here's a picture of my companion lately...he gets on my craft table and plops himself down in front of me so I can't knit, or work on the computer, or anything except pet him...smart boy!

Thanks for stopping by...

Week 44 - Same Old Things

You know how sometimes, nothing much happens, and yet time just flies by?  Well, that's what happened this past week.  It just flew by....and nothing of significance happened - NOTHING!  Well, not nothing...our furnace isn't working properly and we had our first killing frost of the season...it's still not resolved but John is working on it and we have several space heaters that are taking care of the chills in the rooms we happen to be in.  I'm sure it will be fixed by the time we REALLY get into the winter season.

I've been working on the menu for Thanksgiving.  We have 8 members of John's family coming - always a fun time.  I'm looking forward to seeing them all again. John is going to spatchcock a turkey - basically he will remove the backbone and splay it out like a butterfly - it all cooks evenly and we love when he does it to a chicken.  One of his sisters is bringing candies sweet potatoes, another is bringing her famous maple butternut squash, and still another is bringing the devilled eggs.  Our niece is making her yummy pecan pie.  I'm doing our daughter-in-law's Tortellini Salad ( the family always asks for that at Thanksgiving!) along with the homemade dressing and other assorted side dishes.  As usual, we will all eat far too much and still have room for pie!  And there's always leftovers so everyone can take some home for another day.

I recently was challenged to a 7 Day photo challenge....once a day you post a black and white photo with no explanation, and tag someone else to do the same for 7 days.  Here is my day 1 and day 2 photos.

Not sure what I will post for each of the next 5 days....stay tuned.  I'll let you know next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Week 43 - A Long Weekend

John spent the weekend on the road.  He left our house at 6:00 in the morning on Saturday and drove to North Platte, Nebraska with 3 huge coolers filled with beef.  Young John left Salt Lake City at 4ish on Saturday morning and met up with his dad.  They got to spend the afternoon and evening together, catching up, and then each left early Sunday morning to make their way home.  John got home just before 2 on Sunday afternoon.  It feels so good to help provide healthy meat for our son, his wonderful wife, and their children.  No hormones, no additives to the food, just plain grass.  It's the best meat EVER! 

I looked out the kitchen window toward the barn on Sunday and saw something in the 'window' of the hay loft.  Wasn't sure what I was seeing, but thought it might be an owl...

See the large 'window' at the top of the barn?  In the bottom right corner is the creature I saw....I got my camera and zoomed in, expecting to see a barn owl...

Nope, it's a squirrel...we have a barn squirrel!  

My office partner saw this picture and sent it to me...isn't it the greatest?

Someone had a lot of time on their hands...carved books into the tree.  Stunning.

Have a wonderful week.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 42 - How Did I Get to This Age?

I spent a good portion of this morning signing up for Medicare.  It is the law throughout this land that each person who attains the age of 65 years MUST go on Medicare.  And then they charge you for that privilege!  I'm expecting the bill soon - charged for 3 months in advance and Medicare will start on January 2, 2018, my 65th birthday.  How the hell did I get old enough to go on Medicare?  I certainly do NOT feel that old...and my own personal physician told me just this past Tuesday that I am in incredibly good shape for my age. Blood pressure, continued steady weight loss, all my laboratory tests show levels that meet criteria.  But the thought of Medicare makes me start to creek in my bones and need a nap!  I'm sure I'll get over this...it will just take time.

Remember when I told you that John had finished painting the bedroom sitting area and we had placed the furniture in there (aka bookshelves) and I was ready to unload all the boxes of books that had been stored away?  Remember that?  Well, I never did it.  It was truly a daunting task.  There were 18 boxes of books that needed to be unpacked, separated by author, inventoried, and then placed in order onto the shelves.  I told myself on Friday that I was going to unpack and place 2 boxes of books this weekend....just 2.  I figured if I broke the task down into manageable 'bites' I'd be able to accomplish it.  Well, my mistake occurred immediately I had John take 2 boxes into the sitting room.  I peaked into one or two of the boxes that were left and some of those books needed to be unpacked with the first two boxes....you can see already how this is going to go, can't you?  Yes, I had John take 17 boxes into our bedroom and jumped in to unpack, separate, inventory, and shelve the books.  Mom came in to help with the inventory and we got most of them done last night.  We finished the rest this morning and I did the last box.  Yes, a total of 18 boxes of books.. and here is the proof!

I'm so excited to have my books back and ready for me to jump in to read them again.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

Week 41 - The Calm

This past week has been so calm and uneventful that I'm starting to fear for the next few weeks.  The only thing that went wrong last week was the battery on my car died - at work!  It started a bit sluggishly that morning and I really should have headed my instinct to take the truck to work...instead, I shifted into drive and went happily off to work.  When I got off work, the darned car wouldn't start.  Fortunately, my office partner is also my next door neighbor and he gets off work an hour after I do.  He drove me home and after dinner, John and I went back into town to retrieve my car...he jumped the battery and drove it home.  A brand new battery was obtained and it's now running like a top!  

Mom and I spent yesterday running errands - that's what you do on a day off, right?  Here is mom's favorite intersection on one of the routes we normally travel when out and about.

North and south is "B" highway, east and west is "OO" highway. When they meet, it's BOO!  Makes us giggle every time.

Sending prayers to everyone affected by the fires in northern California...hoping rains some soon to help put those fires out.  This year has been just jammed with fires and hurricanes and other related weather conditions.  I, for one, will be glad when 2017 has run its course. 

I don't know about you, but I'm diligently working on getting my Christmas shopping completed...mostly for the family in Utah because everything needs to be shipped out to them.  John is taking Beast out to mid-Nebraska the weekend of the 21 & 22 of October and if I can get the gifts wrapped and labeled, he can take the box with him and give it over to young John at the same time the swap off the beef.  Wish me luck.

Hey, thanks for stopping by. 

Week 40 - Playing Around

Mom and I went to a play on Sunday.  It was put on by the Marshfield Community Theatre group.  They are a wonderful group of folks who have enough talent to put on several shows each year.  

Imagine if you will a convent - 71 nuns belonging to the Little Sisters of Hoboken.  Sister Julia Child, the cook, accidently poisons 52 of them with her vichysoisse soup.  The nuns haven't enough money to bury them all so 4 of the nuns are in the freezer until the sisters can earn the burial funds.  Time to put on a show!  This musical comedy is a romp that reminds folks of the angst of being Catholic.  We laughed so hard.  I can't wait to see the next thing they are presenting. Next month they are putting on an original play called "The End of Our Lives", a murderous soap opera comedy.  

I saw this online and felt it was a perfect reminder.

 For those (actually for me) as a reminder of a simple life.

Here is a Christmas stocking I recently finished.  I love doing these kits...I have quite a number to make.  Everyone in the family has one that I've made for them but still I have more kits.  I recently saw on a friend's blog how she makes these kits and then strings them across her mantle each Christmas...I'm stealing her idea!  I couldn't decide on which kit to start so decided to begin with the kit that I think is the oldest.  If my calculations are correct, this one came out in 1985.  I present to you, Rejoicing Angel!

She's pretty simple compared to a lot of the other kits I have but it was good to get me back into the habit of working on these.  

Sorry it took me till Tuesday to post my weekly Sunday blog post....will try to do better next time.  In the meantime, thanks for stopping by.

Week 39 - Fall is Here!

At 3:02 p.m. on Friday I had a rush of happiness that almost overwhelmed me....it was officially Fall or Autumn, as some would prefer the season to be called.  This is my absolute, without a doubt, no guessing about it, season of the year!  I love Fall.  I love the feeling of the air, the colors, the food (can you say Pumpkin Spice muffins or Pumpkin bread?) I'm especially fond of the colors of fall - orange, red, purple, yellow, rust, and yes, even some browns.  Autumn is my Happy Season!

John spent the last 3 days mowing and weed-whacking the property....he does that just before we get rain (or, rather just before we are supposed to get rain - you never know if the weather-readers are correct or not).  I can hear him out there now with the weed whacker....it's hot out today so I'll bet he is in heaven!  

Remember when I told you the Beast the cow went to Freezer Camp about 3 weeks ago?  Well, he came home to our Freezer yesterday...actually, he is in all 3 of our freezers....he ended up at about 639 pounds of meat.  I can tell you there is a LOT of hamburger in those freezers, along with roasts and steaks and ribs and brisket and I don't know what else.  John will be going out to Nebraska to meet Young John in a couple of weeks to deliver Beast to them...Let me tell you, there is nothing like home-grown meat...no chemicals, just plain grass and hay. Bon apetit, ma famille!

I leave you with this/

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 38 - Autumn is Coming

We decided to treat ourselves on Friday.  Our season tickets to Silver Dollar City include free guest passes to several of the festivals each year. Our two favorite festivals are the Harvest and Cowboy Festival in early September and the Olde Time Christmas starting in early November and going thru the end of the year.  BUT, the guest passes are only good for certain days during each festival. Ours were going to expire today if we didn't go before that.  We had an extra ticket so we asked John's youngest sister, Kay, to go with us.  It was her birthday yesterday so it was provident.  We had a wonderful time - eating and seeing the decorations they put up for autumn...

We ate lunch at the Lumberjack's Camp...mmm, good eatin'.

If you didn't know, Silver Dollar City attempts to replicate a village from the midwest in the mid-1800's.  And the Craftsmen and Cowboy Festival focuses on the crafts of the times.  Woodworkers and quilters and ironmongers and millers and basket makers are all represented there.  I was looking at the offerings of the ironmongers (wind chimes that made the most amazingly beautiful sounds) and this is the sign that was on the roof.  We live on Wilderness Rd.  Who knew we had a blacksmith down the street?

We've spent today moving bookcases into our sitting area in the master bedroom.  Now the real work begins - putting books back into the shelves and getting rid of the boxes.  I'm so excited to get that job started.  I've missed having my books.

Have a wonderful week.  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 37 Bye Bye, Big Guy

Thirteen years ago we got a call from our veterinarian asking us if we'd consider taking on another Golden Retriever (we already had 2)...He came from a litter whose mother never had puppies that got bigger than 35 pounds and he was smaller than her normal pups and the last of the litter to be adopted.  John said he'd go to the vet's office the next day and decide once he got there...after all, he only had 2 hands for petting and we already had 2 dogs!  When he came home, he had this adorable bundle of fur with him - 9 weeks old and 4 pounds...we named him Carson after the Carson City Brewery in Nevada - a lot of our dogs are named for beer brands...don't ask.

 This picture was taken about 7 years ago...Carson grew to be an amazing golden retriever. And he got to a weight of 85 pounds. So much for the runt of the litter.   He was smart and sweet and a true fuzzhead - he never lost that 'puppiness' that goldens seem to possess.  

As happens with goldens, he started to suffer from arthritis a couple of years ago so we put him on arthritis meds....he slowed down and slept a lot.  But on Friday, he went downhill very quickly....we took him to the vet on Saturday and they thought he had pancreatitis. We left him there expecting a few days of antibiotics and re-hydration would see him recover.  We got a call this morning that he crossed the Rainbow Bridge during the night - probably from cancer.  

Carson turned 13 last week.  We had him for all that time and he brought us such joy.  We can't be sad for him today - he is free of pain and romping in the grass and has his doggy smile back.  He had a great life at our house - we treated him more like family than a dog.  He will be missed.  

On another front, we have many friends in the path of Hurricane Irma and we send prayers for the safekeeping during the storm.  We had a couple of hurricanes when we lived in the Philippines so I know how scary and devastating they can be.  We were fortunate to only have lots of wind and rain to contend with and not the damage that Irma will be leaving in her wake.  Prayers go out to everyone affected and we hope for safety for all.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Week 36 - Bye Bye, Beast!

This past week saw Mr. Beast off to Freezer Camp...John didn't have much problem getting him into the trailer so it was easier than normal.  We figured he weighed around 1100 pounds but the scale at the shop was broken so we will only get the hanging weight...I'll share that once we get it.  

Last week, mom and I had the opportunity to purchase a used cross-trainer machine...we are so excited about it.  I use one exactly like it at rehab and when I saw it for sale, I jumped on it.  Of course, now we had to get the sitting area in hour bedroom finished cause that's where the machine is going.  So this holiday weekend, John (with a bit of help from me), painted the two walls of the sitting room that needed done before the machine arrives.  

I love this blue - it's called Favorite Jeans....now I can put the bookshelves in here and unpack all the boxes that have been in the other room...I just can't wait to get the 'library' put back together!What a deal!!!

We picked up the other color that is going on some of the walls in the bedroom today, also. It's called Proper Grey...don't you just love blue and grey together? Lowes is having a major sale and normally a 5 gallon bucket costs $85.00 but we got a $40.00 rebate so it will end up costing us only $45.00.  

Of course, every job needs a supervisor.  Gilligan jumped on that title right away.

Silly cat!  He was even able to get down by himself!

Hope you have a great week.  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 34 & Week 35 - I'm a Slacker

Yes, folks, I totally didn't get last week's blog post done...I'm a total slacker!  I could blame it on the eclipse but I won't.

We were not in the 'strip' across the nation to see the Total Eclipse but we were darned close.  It started to get 'dark' around 10 in the morning on Monday and by 1:13 in the afternoon it was just plain eerie!  One of the girls at work had a pair of eclipse glasses so we all took turns going out behind the library and looking at it.  I must say, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I wasn't totally awed like some folks but it was something to put in the memory book.

I saw this a few days after the eclipse.  Given the atmosphere around this country, I thought it appropriate.

On an entirely different note, the Hussies are home!  I don't know if any of them are pregnant - John plans on taking them in to the vet in November to have pregnancy tests done on them.  But Beast sure is happy to have his girls home again...he's been quite lonely all by himself for the last 3 months.  Let's not tell him that this coming Friday he is going to Freezer Camp...don't want to stress him out - it affects the meat!

From left to right you have Belle, Beast, Garnet, and Rosie.

I don't know if my readers in foreign countries are aware of the brouhaha going on here regarding Confederate statues...it's silly really.  Some folks want to remove statues dedicated to the period of time in our history that included the Confederacy.  It offends them....just like the Confederate flag offends them.  It's part of our history, folks...it really happened and we need to be reminded of it so it doesn't happen again.  I've decided to hop on the statue removal band wagon. Here is the one I want taken down permanently...

Thank for stopping by.

Week 33 - A Diganosis and a New Barn Roof

Shortly after we started building this house back in 2003, John was able to find the cornerstone of the barn that was already on the property.  You can see it in the header on this blog.  It appears the barn was built in 1937.  Yes, it's 80 years old this year.  She's a bit weather-worn...but she's a good barn none-the-less.  John has been systematically repairing all the windows, and a couple of weeks ago we had the roof re-painted and weatherproofed.  

 A lot of the companies in this area use Amish workers...it helps the economy of that group and they are an amazingly talented and professional group.  Anytime I hear that the Amish built something, I know it's quality work.  

The next barn project is to somehow re-do the doors to make them a bit more secure...then John is going to bring electricity and water to the barn and the gardens.  Currently, he uses hoses and extension cords to get water and power out there...during the winter it's a pain!  

2 of the 3 girl cows came home yesterday.  Rosie (on the left) and Belle (in the middle) have spent the last couple of months at Sex Camp and if they aren't carrying babies by now, there's something wrong with the bull they were dating.  John will take them to the vet in November and have them checked for pregnancy.  And, with luck, we should have calves being born in early spring - March-ish.  Our other girl, Garnet, decided she wanted to stay and play longer (actually, she got out of the corral and they couldn't catch her!) so she will hopefully come home next weekend.

That's Beast on the far right.  John went out early today to get some mowing done before the rains kicked in...notice those cows are not afraid of that big mower...yes there's a fence between them and the mower but, still!  They didn't even shy away.

I went to the surgeon on Monday for my 6 weeks checkup on my knee. Recover is still a bit slow but that's because of the ankle issue.  He took an x-ray of the offending ankle and it appears I have a 3 inch crack in the fibula - the thin, non-weight-bearing bone right next to the tibia.  It's used to stabilize the ankle bones.  There is noting they can do about that crack except let it heal on its own.  So I am left with pain and swelling (which is getting less and less each day) for the foreseeable future.  That being said, it has hampered the rehab of my knee cause some of the exercises I need to do involve the ankle and the doctor said to tell the PT folks to keep away from anything involving the ankle.  But, this, too shall pass and at least knowing what is wrong is helpful to my peace of mind.  It doesn't do a darned thing for the pain, but that's what pain pills are for, right?  

Mom and I drove to Branson yesterday morning.  I hadn't picked up any of this year's Row by Row patterns or kits yet and it is winding down.  We were gone a couple of hours and let me tell you by the time we got home, my ankle was not happy!  But knowing I got the kits I wanted from the 2 shops down there made me happy.  

Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by.

Week 32 - Rain!

This last week has just flown by. I'm still having problems with the right ankle - pain and immense swelling and then more pain - but I'm seeing my surgeon tomorrow for my 6 week checkup and I'll see if he can come up with some kind of plan for the ankle...I'm so tired of hurting!  And it's really putting a strain on the rehab of the knee!  More next week.

Rain in the Ozarks is sometimes a rare thing...sometimes a many-day-thing.  Right now, it's a many-day-thing.  We've had rain for the last 3 days and it's been wonderful!  It rained almost all day yesterday and today looks to be the same.  Gentle, pulsing rain.  Soaking the ground and not causing a lot of puddles.  At least not where we live.  Some parts of the Ozarks are under Flash Flood Watches but not us.  

Mom and I went into town yesterday morning.  I hadn't picked up either July or August's Block of the Month yet and those really need to get done.  I needed some embroidery bobbin thread as well so we made it an adventure.  Here's what we drove home in...

By the time we got home, it was so dark out that one would have thought it was closer to 8:00 P.M. than noon.  We had rain almost all day.  About 1:00 A.M. it started again and it's been going all day so far and it's only noon.  

John is making a big old pot of beef stew and some homemade bread for dinner...it sure does smell good in here!  

Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 31 - Progressing Apace

Life goes on here at Pieceful Harbor.  I went back to work last week and even started driving myself on Thursday.  I'm not as relaxed as before, cause I am constantly on edge in case I need to mash on the brake unexpectedly.  But as my knee heals, I'm sure I will become more relaxed.

We continue to progress on the knee...I evidently injured a muscle on my ankle last week and it's caused me to walk unevenly, thereby resulting in inflammation to several other, much used tendons/muscles and thereby some unexpected pain.  Sigh!  So PT concentrated on trying to loosen some stubborn tendons/muscles today and John gets to use a rolling pin on my thigh this evening to reinforce what PT did earlier.  Sounds worse than it, hopefully, will turn out to be in reality.  (She said with a great deal of hope in her heart!)

When I drove to work the other day, Beast was up at the corner of our property, grazing.  He is a really beautiful steer. He weighs about 1100 pounds so that means he will probably yield about 500 pounds of meat. He goes to Freezer Camp on September 1st...then John will transport him to a halfway point between here and Salt Lake City and Young John will drive to that point and meet his dad to pick up the meat and take it home.  We love being able to supply meat to our son and his family...our daughter-in-law clearly admits they are spoiled for store-bought meat!  No contest between ours and the market!  We win every time!

Speaking of our son, we got some fabulous news yesterday.  On August 28th, our son will be starting a new job.  He will be the CEO of the Utah Technology Council...a true step up for him.  He's been groomed for a CEO position for the last 10 years and it's truly his time to shine!  We are so proud of him.  He will be traveling a bit less and will still be able to perform his duties with the Utah Legislature.  Honestly, it's a Win/Win for everyone concerned.  Way to go, John!

Thanks for stopping by!

Week 30 - Back to the Grind

Sorry for the delay in getting this blog post done...I have no excuse except to say that Sunday got away from me...pure and simple.

Yesterday was my first day back to work in 4 weeks. I'll admit I was nervous to see how much work had piled up in my absence.  I was quite surprised to see that there was not as much awaiting me as I'd feared. I suspect with diligence on my part, I can get back to normal in less than a week.

One of my co-workers brought me a lovely vase of flowers and a hug to welcome me back.

While pink is not my favorite color, these flowers just made me smile all day long.

I'm still not driving yet...having to rely on my office partner/neighbor to pick me up and take me home...but I've been practicing and I think it will be soon that I won't need to rely on folks to drive me everywhere.  A bit scary, I'll admit...but sometimes one must do the scary!

Sorry for the short post....will try to post a longer missive soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 29 - Giggles

Sometimes the smallest things can make you laugh, or even just happy.  On Friday, the whole family went to the beauty shop for various reasons.  Mom and John got haircuts, I got a shortened version of a pedicure (I got my nails cut!)  Ali, the girl who does our hair, puts mom on a booster seat to wash her hair.  It made me giggle.

Physical therapy on my knee is coming along.  Not a quickly as I want, but all the medical folks on my team seem to be happy with the progress.  It continues to amaze me that while the actual PT is hurtful, sometimes to the point of making me cry, when I leave, I have no residual pain. I went in this morning for my session at a pain level of 0 and left 45 minutes later at that same pain level.  And he worked me crazy hard. 

I go back to work a week from today...can't say I'm looking forward to it, but it will be a nice change to my current routine.  I still am not driving yet, but that will come soon enough.

Sorry for the short post. I really don't have a lot to say this week.

Thanks for stopping by.