Week 26 - Half a Year Already

Can you believe it?  Half of the year is already done.  Half a year, folks.  It makes me feel old.  

Mom and I went out to lunch with a friend earlier this week and we then stopped at Target to do a bit of shopping - you know the kind I'm talking about - just wandering along the aisles with no particular list and picking up stuff that caught your eye and your brain said, "Oh, my, I MUST have that!".  I got a wonderful rolling cart (which Mr. Wonderful put together this morning!) so I can have most everything I need for the day by the side of the bed without asking someone (mom) to wait on me hand and foot and get me stuff.  We also saw this:

Really? I've seen 'by the pound' and 'by the case' but never, EVER, by the each'.  Sheesh! 

This Tuesday is Bionic Day...I'm getting a new right knee!  I've been excited about this ever since the doctor said it was time to do it. I'm getting a bit nervous but I think it's because of the idea of surgical incision pain and therapy pain.  I am comforted by the idea that the surgical pain and the therapy pain are only temporary and then everything will be right as rain!  I'll check in next week and let you know how it went!

I've got several knitting projects set aside for recovery time as well as some machine embroidery items.  I'm not counting on using the sewing machine right away because the pedal uses my right leg and that's going to be somewhat limited for a few weeks.  So knitting and machine embroidery (all I do is push a button to start and stop the process) are my diversions of choice for the next several weeks.  And catching up on movies that mom and I want to see that John isn't too enthused about (La La Land and Beauty and the Beast come to mind).  

And reading...lots of reading.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.  You know how you have all these plans for your time off work and how you are going to get all these things done and when you look back, all you did was sleep and paint your nails?  I'm hoping NOT to get nothing done and instead get lots done.  I'll report in how that's going for me, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Week 25 - Single Digit Countdown

Yes folks, we are down to a single digit countdown.  Only 9 days till my knee replacement surgery. I can hardly wait.  I had my pre-surgery admissions workup earlier this week.  Everything is a GO!  The Nurse Practitioner told me that the pain from a knee replacement is quite high. I told her that the pain not having the knee replaced is quite high and is constant.  The pain from the replacement surgery is only temporary...I can hold out on the temporary if I know that the pain will go away.  Not having it will only result in more pain.  I go into the hospital early on the 27th of June and will probably go home late on the 29th.  From there it's all good!

We  bought a cow!  Well, really we bought a cow that we originally owned.  Garnet is the first offspring of our Ruby (Ruby went to live out her life somewhere else about 4 years ago).  When Garnet was first born, we gave her to our neighbors as a thank you for letting us keep our cows on their property while we were putting up fences.  That neighbor has had her for 12 years now. He recently decided to go with a different breed of cow and we offered to buy her.  Last week we officially bought Garnet back and she is now at Sex Camp for the next couple of months.  Garnet is the black cow in this picture.  The brown cow next to her is her daughter, Aggie.  Aggie is going to Freezer Camp next month.  And sometime in the Fall, our neighbor is getting some Dexter cows.  

Garnet produces some really nice looking calves...And being only 12 years old, she has another 8 or so years of breeding left in her.  That would be about 4 more calves....

Currently the only cow we have at our place is Beast.  He belong to our son. Beast is scheduled to go to Freezer Camp on September 1st.  The other cows, Rosie and Belle are at Sex Camp till mid-August.  Hopefully, when we get the girls back. they will all be pregnant and we will have new calves in about 9 months.  

It's overcast with periodic rain this weekend.  Just the kind of weather I like.  The humidity is a bit high, and I don't like that much.  But we need to rain and it's perfect for bringing up the water table.  We depend on a well for water so rain is a good thing, not only for keeping the well going, but for making grass for the cows.  

Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 24 - Our Summer is Beginning

It seems that our summer is beginning here in the Ozarks.  The temps are getting more and more toward normal, as well as the humidity rising.  By normal temps, I mean it is getting hotter and hotter every day.  Thank goodness we got the air conditioner replaced last week...it would have been miserable this week if not for the a/c.

I was telling mom the other day that I counted how many sock pairs I have in progression right now and I was horrified to know that I have 6 pairs of socks on the needles....SIX!  I've never had that many pairs in the works...ever.  I can say I've had 2 pairs, but not 6.  I made the decision right then to work diligently to get those 6 pairs done, ASAP!  It would be great if I could get them done before I go into the hospital for my knee surgery - that's a little over 2 weeks away.  And most of the pairs already have one sock done.  So it's doable...I want to take a mindless pair of socks and a mindless shawl to knit while I'm in the hospital.  Wish me luck!

Row by Row starts on the 21st of June and goes thru September 7th this year.  I must say, there aren't a lot of rows that are calling to me this year.  That's probably a good thing.  I've not worked a lot on all the ones I have from 2014, 2015, and 2016 and it would be a shame to add to the already huge pile of UFO's. 

 I leave you with this cute picture of a kitty sitting pretty!

Gilligan always makes me smile!

Thanks for stopping by!

Week 23 - a Short Post

This post will be short and sweet...we are having major computer modem issues and the new modem will be arriving on Tuesday...until then, it is hit or miss on getting an internet connection. While I have internet right now, I'm going to post really quickly before it goes down again.

The biggest news I have to share is that I am have my right knee replaced on June 27th!  I a so excited about this...really I am.  The pain and uncertainty of the knee holding me up has been going on for many years and I finally decided not to put up with the pain or that fact that I've been taking narcotic pain relievers for several months now...time to do something about it.  My surgeon is wonderful and he didn't even hesitate when I told him I thought it was time to replace it.  He never even recommended therapy or shots or anything...went straight to a new knee.  Our military insurance approved it right away and I can't be happier.  So mark your calendars for June 27th and pray for the medicos to all have a good night's sleep, be in the best of health themselves, and that there are no tornadoes shutting down the hospital while I'm there.  Me?  I don't need any prayers - I'll sleep thru the whole thing!  A total of 3 days in the hospital and I will be going home.  

We've had quite a bit of clouds and rain this past week...really good for the grass we grow for the cows but not so much for mowing or driving on the flooded roads.  Our grass is incredibly green (and wet)  and John took 2 days last weekend to mow the 3 acres that surround the house.  The rest of the 10 acres is grassland for the cows.  

Our air conditioner sprung a leak and we are having to get a new one - tomorrow!  They say "if it's not one thing, it's another" and this week that saying sure has proved true.  Air conditioner, internet modem, knee....I think that's enough, don't you?  

On the off chance I'm going to lose internet connection soon, I'm going to leave you till next week.  Know that we appreciate you coming to read this little nonsense and love hearing your comments.  

Thanks for stopping by.