08-31-2012

   I went by today to see Don and Barbra, but Barb was taking chemo and Don was home cleaning. We chatted for a while, I could see in Don's face he was worried. He says Barb is holding her own, the tumors are still shrinking, but they think maybe it is in her bones (bone marrow) or something like that. It didn't sound good, but if anyone can beat this thing it's Barb.

  Tammy & Jerry started bringing the hay today, 40 rolls the last I counted and I think I told him 120, but maybe 140, I'm not sure. It will take him several trips to bring it, looks good so far. The Wooly Worms I've seen so far this year are black, Mark has seen the same too, signing a bad winter. With that many head plus what will be born we will need extra hay this year. I kept counting 24 cows/calves as I unlocked the gate, so I drove up to take a look see. First time for everything and today was it. One of the twins had somehow got stuck between 2 trees on the top of the hill. I'm not sure how long it had been there but it took some doing to get it out, lol. It went back to it's mom and sibling, weak but determined.

  Looking at a picture Megan took of me eating a Muscadine, I am going on a diet, less Mt Dew, smaller portions, and more movement. I can't fix the ugly part but I can the fat. :)    

08-29-0212

  Pushed about as far as I could, hit the wall today. It seems like this time of year I live on Prednisone and Benadryl (spelling ?). The gardens have all been out for a while now, and that ain't a bad thing, lol. Bush hogging though has begun again, and even with a bandanna covering my mouth it takes it's toll. I've learned to do it in increments. This will be the 3rd and hopefully final leg of it when I recover again, maybe 4 hours left and I'll skip the steep side of the hill. I have about 20 acres done so far. I get done with this I'll get to bless the dump truck again. I tried cussing it and that didn't work. :)

   Megan came up with a solution to a problem tonight. Most people who've had or have throat cancer have a hard time swallowing large pills, but also small. I have no idea why but small anything is a choker. Rice or stuff like that don't do well. Too stringy or too small or too smooth. The Prednisone is the hardest thing I have a problem with. Tonight Megan suggested Coconut Oil, and it worked great. It has no flavor at all. Good for you and could slide a cow out of a tree, though I've never seen a cow climb a tree. Today me and Megan just chilled, watched some TV (unusual for me), and baked mom some Sour Dough, Denise some Herb & Cheese, and me some regular white bread loaves. Denise wants me to go to the doctor, but the rotation of follow-ups start in October I think she said, I can wait. The little finger I broke I think I didn't do too well setting it, still a little tender and crooked.

  My oldest daughter Misty has started her blog and has had some hits. She wants to blog about Brandon's Autism and hopefully will find others and they can gather advice and strategies to help her and them with it. There is always strength in numbers and as prevalent as  Autism has become, many have wisdom to share. At the same time, it will let someone else know they are not alone. I think that is important in any battle because sometimes we feel so isolated and alone, even though we aren't. Battle anything long enough and you wear down.   

09-26-2012

  No sleep tonight, Aurthur has come home tonight, lol. I think I've looked about a dozen times to see if rain is near but it's not, so I guess the seasons are changing. If thats it I can expect this until it completes it and then only on wet cold days. Sometimes I wonder if Iron Man has this much metal in him, lol. I can set on the computer and guarantee I won't go to sleep or lay in the bed and toss and turn.  I bush hogged some more this week and it takes a few day to a week to get the swelling down in my throat, but I only lack about 4 more hours and the field will look good. Still need to mow the gardens up and have been prepping the one where the Garlic goes, that may be all I plant next year.

  I have a new link I put on these sites and I'll put one on my Facebook site, Moms Autism Journey. Misty called and said she was thinking about placing a blog up on Autism to see if she will have people respond back and maybe they could learn from each other. Misty is my oldest and her son Brandon is 10 years old and has Autism. He is actually smart and sweet, well sweet most times. I think we're all like that though. It's hard for a child to get the right help and hard for the parents when they don't. Personally I think it is a great idea. If for no other reason than to vent or say things she normally wouldn't say in person. Those feelings that come from way down inside that we all have to get out. Questions that arise. It's new so she hasn't put much up yet and she is a good writer, then again she has her teaching degree whereas I still think a pronoun is a noun that went pro. I am good at adverbs though, especially when working on something. I can add more verbs than one can could, or probably wish to hear.

  Please check out her blog and if you have a child or are an adult with Autism join it. There is always strength in numbers and enough people holding a small candle up can illuminate the world.      

08-18-2012

  Whatever I got into or next to, probably both don't like me still. My eyes are not as matter but energy is low. Thats probably from the yeast once again in my throat from the Predinsone (spelling ?) increase I done for swelling from whatever that is. I bush hogged the field, well about 5 acres anyway that got it kicked off. Jerry wanted the driveway widened before he brings the hay, so Thursday I build a wider entrance on one side and torn the old fence down. I've never seen a jungle but I imagine at the gate looked probably like one. I bet people didn't know there was a gate there, lol, do now though. I still have to finish cleaning up the debris, I ran out of time. Pulled the dump truck up and decided to install the speakers and radio, and the fuel pump quit. Today it finally started after I rewired the connector at the tank and other than the Inertia Switch reset, I have no idea what kicked the pump back on, lol. I could have pulled it with the tractor except I nosed it in and the truck blocked it. Megan wanted to help with the fence but mom called and said, plus I read about it, West Nile Virus and mosquitoes. They love Megan and Denise and the pond full of them is beside the entrance, so I couldn't take the chance and done it solo. I tell Denise I'm too sweet, so they don't bite me, lol.

  I said bye to a long time friend. I hatched him 21 years ago. He never was named and at the time we had a hatchery and about 3500 birds plus chicks. He kept the snakes away at the garden and chicken coop and his brother at the other garden. They were the last 2 Peacocks left and I could call them like any of the animals here. He has been sick for a while, that or old I guess, and I've babied him, even caught him and trimmed his beak. I knew something was wrong, normally they keep their beaks trimmed when turned loose. His brother is the last one left. I told Megan we'd build another aviary and who knows, maybe even restore one of the old ones and buy a pair of peacocks, well actually a trio, clean up one of the incubators and breed them again. We will get some Guineas too. Nothing like we use to do but raise a few. Until we get about 30 guineas and 20 peacocks.   

08-15-2012

Me and mom travel to West Knoxville for her check -up. I'm sure knowing mom a trip to Sams in order, me and Denise just went there last week. Rain was forecaster for today and once again they missed it. I needed it though, still tired for yesterday. There is something I'm having a reaction to out there. I'm not sure by what. Worked out well so far, I'm tired. So I stayed pretty much in and shelled green beans for seeds next year.

  Last Tuesday we took the cows off, 6 bull calves in total. With the drought everywhere we kept the heifers, I figure they will need new breeding stock replacements. Mark too his this week, hopefully he will get good for them, but corn prices were announced already, he may not. I noticed when he left out there was a taillight not working. I have almost 5 acres bushhogged, about 20 more to go. I got both yard moved an some of the beans shelled.  Bird dog also got out front gutter usa (rnex Cantreall) . They done come and gone. If I have time and if the weather hols up, I'll stretched thta, lol.

  Its good

08-12-2012

Happy Birthday Megan!!!

  Where your name came from. We originally picked out Megan, as a honor to Margaret. Mae from your mom's grandmother. Her eyes were blue like yours. All was picked out and well into the normal stage, no problems were shown on the monitors. Suddenly I heard the words double nucal (spelling ?) and people started to rush around. The doctor who was young at the time had also delivered Annie and this was the first time I'd seen him get excited. He and the nurses worked hard to cut away the umbilical cord and get you resuscitated. His name, Kim Collinson. So naturally we wanted to honor him too.

  We knew that you would be our last, ones of us was getting fixed to make sure, but we now had three people we wanted to honor. Mae is a short name, so is Kim. So we went back and forth and what sounded good while honoring all three was Kimmae, actually I think we spelled it this way, Kimmae'. Now you know the name origination, we created it. So when one day whoever thinks name meanings up, you can say it means "honor, respect, love." Created special for someone special, unique for someone unique, just as we all are. I Love You, Dad    

08-04-12

  It's been a wild week. Right after we got the good news and stayed on the road all day Annie called late that night worried that mom's BP was high along with her pulse. I asked Denise to go and check so off she went. Denise called back and between us three we talked mom into letting us take her to the hospital, which took some doing. We took her to Ft Sanders in Knoxville and while mom was in there Denise said she had A Fib. I actually think they'd let you die in ER, oh wait, they did two days later let a man code. It amazed me that probably only a few people actually needed medical care there, most seemed to need a fix. It was more like Springer meets the side show. One guy I wanted to knock out just to shut him up, I think everybody did. I keep thinking there has to be something that could be done for somebody other than feed an addiction.

  They ended up sticking her on the eighth floor, the cancer floor where you go when you have people extremely sick. At this point I'd like to thank UT, you all done a great job when I was there, and I saw just how excellent the care was now. Annie spent the night with mom and we came home and caught about 3 hours sleep at best. I was quite surprised and impressed with Annie. Her devotion and knowledge, especially being a new nurse. Charts were not filled out, orders not sent, they even took her BP by placing the cuff upside down and taking temperatures by sticking the thermometer in her mouth as she swallowed iced tea. To beat it all, the other RN lied like a dog, which didn't last too long as Denise and Annie both caught and confronted her and the other RN. Funny how they'd change their summation then go right to the next lie. We finally got her transferred to the cardiac floor after the main RN on the oncology floor stated they were a cancer floor, not a heart floor and they weren't prepared and didn't know how to care for a patient with heart issues. That lead me to say, wanna know a secret, you not only suck at heart care, but you suck with cancer care too. The Cardiac nurse told mom that if she had went to UT she would have been home in 24 hours or less, we're now working on day three. They were day and night on that floor difference. The nurse's station actually looked like a nurse's station. No charts strung out and it didn't look like prat girls gone wild. They actually were watching the monitors, organized, and working. Covenant Health Care has a long ways to go, and that includes doctors there too. Might want to curb those advertising dollars for quality, I expect better care for my animals.  

  It's taken until now to get back on track from all the excitement and lack of sleep, Denise is still wiped. Despite all of that, the week has been good overall. I pulled the biggest Banana Melon out of the garden I've ever seen or heard tell of, weighing in at 10.5 lbs. The biggest and best I always give to Denise's mom and dad, especially her dad since he is confined to a wheel chair and cannot raise them anymore. The look on his face is enough to make this year's heat and aggravation of the dry and wet season worth it. We took them some other stuff like Tomatoes and pears. Mom wanted some Nitro, which the doctors failed to prescribe. I'm of sure if she needs it after a successful stress, but I think it makes her more at ease knowing she has it, so I gave her mine. I forget to carry it most of the time anyway, plus it's mom. It did ease her off that night and her BP is still high, but no A Fib, I think thats what Denise said it was. Heart out of rhythm, like mine did the first few days after the heart attack. Misty and the kids came in to see her. I miss them.

  So that brings us to today. Yesterday I picked about a bushel of pears and this morning I thought I'd surprise Denise by peeling, coring, and cooking one. Had the recipe and it was simple. It was like saute in a pan with butter and some Cinnamon, poached I think it was called. It ended up being more perched than poached, lol. I remembered the great taste when Granny would cook them... that wasn't it, lol. I think Denise ate what she did to save my feelings, but her taste buds got the best of her. She had that look, I probably did too, of a mule eatin' briars. I watched what appeared to be a smile as she took the first bite, didn't take until my bite it wasn't a smile, more like a snarl. Me and Megan tried to make Ketchup and made some great Grilling Sauce, except we don't know what all we used. I can grill, make cookies, and pizza good and that is about the extent of it. I'll probably try that again as soon as our taste buds heal. :) It's all good, except when I cook it.