Happy Anniversary

Happy 23rd Anniversary Denise!!!

 We got back early this morning from an overnight stay in Pigeon Forge. We stopped at Lodge Cast Iron store and bought some skillets and a press for the burgers. Ate at Red Lobster, hit Krispy Kreme (like we needed that), then headed back to the room. Watched a little TV in the Jacuzzi and ate donuts. Then it got funny.

  Denise fell asleep first and I watched Doomsday Preppers or something like that. Amazing what one will watch when in a small space. I actually got interested in one and the next thing I knew was Denise telling me to "get on my side". I am not the most alert when I first wake up, especially if I'm awaken. I think it's after raising kids that one learns to repeat ones self. So I herd that phrase at least a few times before I actually get my body to cooperate with my mind. I feel for the end of the bed, it's King Sized so there should be enough room. Sure enough, there is only about a foot left, so I say, "I'm on my side". Sooo, I heard, "NO GET ON YOUR SIDE!" So I say pretty stern back, "I am on my side. Theres only about a foot left". I hear, NO, Turn On Your side. Your snoring is keeping me awake."  So I sat up on the edge of the bed and hear, "Where are you going?" "To the bathroom". I hear, "Do you know where your going?" "Yes to the bathroom". "Then I hear do you know why your going to the bathroom?" I say, "No, just thought I'd go figure out why that seat has a hole in the middle. Yes, I know why I'm going to the bathroom."

  Now this was repeated pretty much every other hour if not every hour on the hour, all night long. I did hear one time something different. I awoke to, "Get Off Me". I look and I'm not on her, but I did manage to be in the middle of the bed. "I'm not on you. " Then I hear, "Not now your not. I moved you. You are worst than listening to a chainsaw. They're quieter." The final time was about 6:45 this morning and I figured it was time to go. We left about 7:45, ate breakfast at Shoney's then headed back home. The walls at the motel were paper thin and Denise heard young girls giggling and what sounded like a mortar round fired all night long. We laughed though that whoever was on all three sides, listened to me snoring and Denise and me fussing back and forth, definitely came out on the worse end. And that is why we have separate bedrooms. We got home and decided not to go to church, Denise hit my bedroom and I hit the couch. The next thing I heard was the phone ringing and it was mom telling us to come on to celebrate Baby's birthday. I remember when we were young coming back tired but from different circumstances. :) All in all though, we had fun. It was a good day but next time we will get a cabin again.This is the second year we've had that I would not have thought we would have together.

  We enjoyed the company of Matt, Misty, and the kids and for a moment it looked like home again. The kids all seem to love it there and the school system has far more to offer than it does here. Although White Oak Baptist Church has worked circles around Brandon's Autism and gets the credit for his remarkable turn around, the school system there doesn't have to be fought like it does here to do what is needed. Misty said Megan would have been a lot better off with her hearing there than here where we constantly battled for every inch of what little she received. I can't imagine what she went though on her end, but I know it wasn't good. I think it will be like this until schools quit the emphasis on sports above all else and learn that just because someone was good for the school system doesn't mean the title and job automatically goes to the heirs.

  The Non Hodgkins Lymphoma also is better than it was. I've increased Vitamin D and oddly enough, I believe that the Hot Tub thing at Hot Springs seems to have helped it. I felt my skin burn when we were there and that oddly enough is a good sign with this junk. I'm still not entirely for sure but I think we'll do it again soon and take Megan with us this time.

  In a sour note, this marks two years since dad died. Sad for us but happy for him.      

       

03-17-2012

It's late or early, depending on the perspective. I found the wall Wednesday and so Thursday I thought I'd do a hard push to extend that wall. Things are needing done faster than I have been doing them with an early spring. I tilled the second pass on the neighbor's garden and then headed for mine. Whoever designed the front end loader for the 231 Massey Ferguson had to have been young. You have to sky dive off it when you dismount. I was tilling the ground and decided to come off backwards since the ground was soft. With Neuropathy it's hard to walk on soft surfaces or uneven places, I should have jump forward, lol. My hand slipped and all 230 lbs crashed my forearm against the loader frame. It was one of those thought I was going to throw up pains. I tossed the big rock from where it was away and climbed back on and just laid there slumped over for 10-15 minutes collecting myself. So I start again except using the right arm as little as possible. When I got done I saw the blood all over the tractor. I think the pressure just burst the skin or cut it or something. It's still swelled pretty big and painful even tonight. Now comes the funny part. I went on the hill to toss out 50lbs of grass seed and the cows thought I had sweet feed. I have two aggressive Charlotte that maybe weigh like 1200-1500 lbs each that will butt you and sometimes even charge you. She got pissed and here she came. I used my forearm to try and lessen or deflect the blow, but I still went airborne and landed on the other side of the truck. Where did she hit? Same place on the same arm. I checked Millie too while I was up there. Squeezed her teat and she has blood tainted yellow milk. I figure she is about to come fresh soon.

  So today I rested so I could celebrate mine and Denise's 23rd Anniversary and Baby's 6th birthday. Without my family nothing means nothing. Both arms have lacerations on them from wire too, so I look like I've been in a fight with a barber, lol. I did finish mowing the yard I started though today. Got Rex in twice and fixed that fence... I hope. Fed the chickens, checked the cows, fed the stray kittys. Then watched the boobe-tube. I'm still not sure how we can have that many channels with nothing on.

  For Denise's gift I got her.... Oh yea, I caught you reading this the other night. So what I got was a _ - - - - - - - -. I think you'll like it. I got it on sale for $. Yea, busted, you thought I put it up here in advance. Gotcha! You'll have to wait. :)     

03-13-2012

Happy Birthday Baby (Alexandria). Big number 6. 

  I got that date right but got our Anniversary and the anniversary of dad's death wrong. It is the 18th and not the 17th. Denise corrected me. Again, and again, and again, lol. Luckily for me she kind of expects that. I'm busted and caught without an excuse. I thought about claiming Old Timers but I keep forgetting to use that one, lol. Sometimes I think weellll... and then again I just don't know. :) 

  

03-11-2012

Man what a day Saturday. We started by going to Hot Springs, NC and set in a hot tub. We've rode bikes there once, heard about it all my life how those natural warm springs in the tubs feel so good, but I never imagined that good. Fastest hour I've spent in a long time. I think me and Denise both needed that. This will have to be a repetitive thing and the next time we take Megan. Denise said it'd be fun to ride the bike up there this summer and do it again, but I was so relaxed I'm not sure I'd make it back. We came back and picked Megan up and went to Cheddars in Knoxville and ate. Denise has wanted to try there for a long time too. Definitely another place to return, just not order so much food the next round. Then we headed to Sams and restocked back up. We go there about every two or the months. Then Tractor Supply, dog food was on sale, then Megan wanted to go to Wally World. I am going to pay for this day.

  This week will bring joy and sadness at the same stretch. It will be Baby's sixth birthday on the 13th and our 23rd Anniversary the 17th, but also the 17th will mark two years since dad died. This year we will probably go away for our anniversary, maybe. We use to but then the cancer set in and I was too sick, then dad died. Last year it just wasn't in me to go even though I know he would have wanted us too. I guess we will wait and see. Maybe a nice quiet dinner. I hate for mom to be alone on that day. Life is bitter/sweet. I suppose that is the way it is meant to be. We wouldn't appreciate the sun without the rain or the peace without the strife. We wouldn't appreciate the thankfulness without the need, nor the good moments without the bad moments. A strange balance it is, this life. The solstice comes from knowing no moment lasts forever, be it good or bad, for all passes away. Therefore we cherish the good and endure the bad, all while knowing this too shall pass away.      

  I go for a chest scan this month and hopefully get another clean bill and won't have to do another for six months. I haven't started the Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy, I know I need it but it's a long drive to St Mary's and I just ordered a new pair of glasses. Thats my excuse this week anyway. Plus it is getting close to garden season, oh how I have waited. Then there is still the two garage roofs plus the two outbuildings roofs that need replaced from last year's storms. It hasn't dried up enough to work on them and hopefully Al is still for hire to help put them on. I'm not sure if I can do it but I have to try, neuropathy and roofs don't mix too well and I'm getting too old to heal up, plus I don't bounce like I once did. It ain't the fall I'm worried about, it's the sudden stop.

  I've tried to contact Mary Lou Clark but unable to get her on the phone. She has always answered the phone, so I'm worried about her. I've grown to trust her over the years with her predictions, she has a rare gift. She has never missed a thing, and I'm talking extreme details. Like the time she told me I had something bad wrong with my throat. A year later the throat cancer was found and they said it probably had been there a year. The time she said I'd buy a black vehicle but it wouldn't be called black from a short salt and peppered hair man. Three months later I bought our bike from that man, named Joseph, but it wasn't until I was titling it I saw that the black bike we have is officially called Bronze by Kawasaki. The last time was before the two storms, she stressed storms. Said I'd hire someone to work on the houses. I laughed and said I have to work on them, I'm too poor to pay someone else. That week or the next the two storms came and I ended up hiring people to work on both houses. And the list goes on. In her book she tells about drowning in a pond as a child, meeting Jesus, then a week later again, and has this gift. In Biblical days they said to test the spirits and if they were ever wrong they were from the wrong side, but if they were always right they were from God. She has never been wrong since 2000 on one thing she has ever told me, not once. 

  Me and Megan planted some 18 trees (mostly fruit) and still have four to plant and two more to dig, unless I buy some more. I ended up bleeding through my bowels for a couple of days, think I may have overshot that one a bit. Day one of the being down we sat inside but come day two I have enough energy that we went to look for a dump truck in Middlesboro, KY. We did end up sitting on the road side twice from double vision, but we made it through. We also went to Pinesville, KY. Pretty cool town. It's nice to see small towns like there and Hot Springs, NC haven't changed much. That America still have places that multinational corporations haven't ruined. I didn't find the one I liked enough to buy, but sure did meet a lot of nice people.

Lord I'm going to pay for this tomorrow. But it was worth every moment.     

03-01-2012

This month starts a round of tests and possibly the Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments again. I'm not sure though I want to do them again. The nutty doctor is gone that ran it, someone said he died of cancer, but those long trips to Knoxville and those long treatments... I just don't know. Garden season is so close. Need to finish the repairs from last year's storms. Teach Megan to drive and get her in some classes. I could make a list a mile long. Tomorrow though I think I'm headed down, body says no but mind says try. Then a part of me wants to breathe and talk normal again. We will see.

  Tonight though  I went and bought trees, lost of tress, to block and create a privacy fence to where certain people couldn't harass them again. Friday the signs are perfect for that, in the breast.

BB (cousin) is doing good after his surgery. I think it's the Hill blood in him. He said Janet (wife) took excellent care of him, she is a nurse too.

  We picked up the checks, me and Megan, plus Mark's for him. Traveled to Mascot to Knoxville Livestock Barn. The 6 we took of mine brought enough to pay Mark, Megan, the Property Taxes, and reimburse me the 2840.00 in hay. They fell short on other feeds and supplies. They will also pay my hospital bill off, then we're back out of debt once again, for a time. Megan wanted to go there so we saw no use in 2 vehicles going towards the storms. We done just fine. We still have 10 more, God willing, to sell later on. For now though I'm spent. Time to recover. 

  Below is a film Megan made of last night as the storms spilt and missed us, thank God for that.

02-28-2012

Been a wild last 2 weeks. Misty, Matt, and the kids have moved away now. Matt got a job away with benefits and other reasons I won't go into. They are doing good. Misty say she and the kids miss home, I told her we missed them too. They couldn't take Rex with them so I asked they leave him and when they visit the kids can play with him. Rex looks so lonely, we're going to get him a buddy. We're going to get him a buddy though, in the meantime.  Some of the stress was relieved that they were all adjusting and things were working out, still I miss them a lot. Mom sets and cries over it.

  I saw BB and he had to have surgery on his small intestine, but doing good after a bout with that. He was in good cheer and when this heals he needs shoulder surgery.

  I mowed mom's yard yesterday and when the rain subsides Misty's yard the ours. Today we loaded calves for the market, Mark came and helped. It was Megan's first time loading and she done great. Megan manned a 11-12 ft x 5 ft tall stock panel, unattached to anything except her and one other panel. The largest bull about 750 lbs) hit it and she stood him down. He was a little gentle and not totally wild. Then he hit mine and I stood him down too, except briers or metal, could have even been a hoof sliced my leg in two places, one about 2 inches and one about four inches. Camo always hides the blood if it don't wash out, so I was good. Once the first jumped into the trailer the rest followed, Mark came swinging one door and I the other. Six all together and they suggested I sell them as a group, said it'd pay more. First time I even did that, usually I sell the individually. Mark guessed we had at least 3500lbs in the trailer. They were a wee bit larger than they like them, so top dollar I'm thinking is out of the question. I trusted their suggestion at Mascott so we will see. So far there are 10 more to go, just not now.

  We've had a few beautiful days, I needed those. Days like this help the depression go away. The garden area wasn't dry enough today, plus we had the cows to do, but I'm itching to get a garden started. I guess now at 1am I have to lock and load and look around for prowlers again. It is what it is.   

2-17-2012

  Misty came through her surgery great and in a couple of weeks should be healed and they will know if another surgery is needed.

  I busted an ankle last, don't remember if this is the first time or the second. I've debated on telling the unusual dream and way it happened. At the rate I'm going I think graceful is out of the question. I figure I'll give it another week to see if it improves. Next month I visit Dr. Panella, after a scan, plus I said I'd start Hyperbaric O2 again... maybe. I really don't want to. It is been a month, a long month. Seems sometimes when it rains it pours. Some personal issues that I won't go into. But also next month Baby will have a birthday and it will be 2 years I think since dad died, same day as our our Anniversary.  23 years this one.

  But I will end this with humor and something to ponder, as to the ankle bang. I was sleeping well. Most dreams I never remember them, actually I don't think I do dream, but this night was different. I've not had a dream like this before. I just started walking on a dirt road into a town like area like Mayberry, RFD. Now I saw no signs or anything but it felt like it. Dad was standing, smiling, glad to see me. Slowly as I approached I saw more and more loved ones. Dad was standing there, looked in his 30s. Annie and Papa were there along with Keith to the right side, then other kin slowly walked from the mist. People began to come forward toward me. I hear a couple of them. There were people who I haven't yet met, yet I know them too, and they knew me as well. They all seemed in their 30's. They walked closer to me and I them I awoke. It was great, and for some reason in black & white, like a gray scale like old TV shows were. As I got closer suddenly it felt like somebody tossed me in a spin, three times to be exact, and I felt my ankle hit twice. Once on the top of the night stand and once on the top of the humidifier. I stood the humidifier back up. It's about knee high and water was coming out onto the floor.     

  I'll eventually have to make a move with the Non Hodgkin's, one way or the other as it has expanded quite a lot this time. Thank God for Neuropathy sometimes, my feet look kind of rough and the patches have advanced to where they would hurt. Funny how sometimes what looks like curses can become blessings. Sometimes I hit a wall though and just want to scream, except I haven't that ability anymore. Maybe this is one of those stages one goes through, growing pains, except the pain is real, so is the fatigue. I think most days the thought of there are many people worse off helps keep one focused. Other times it is just words, depressing words. I heard a person on the radio say "Use me oh Lord", and I thought, believe me you don't want that. Course you could also land healthy as a horse at a beach, but that probably won't happen. Add to the bothers though is that once again we're out of hay and it is too muddy to load the calves that should have been taken last year off.  But before the dream end and could touch a force in the dream ended just as fast. I must have taken  a fast roll off the bed , from a distance. I landed about 2 ft from the Bed and relented to go back to. It felt like I flipped 3 times. I crashed either my foot or ankle on the corner of the night stand, then landed on the humidifier. I was in pain, yet nobody heard that. Somehow though I got back up and into bed, in pain but at the same time a good feeling. I started this post on the 17th but never finished it. Even now I hesitate about actually posting it. So if this don't make sense thats why. I reread the first part and it looked like primitive English. I tried to correct it and then saw later on I had explained things later. I'm going to be lazy and just post it as is.