Merry Christmas!

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I hope everyone has had as good a Christmas as I've had. I bought myself a laptop, and received an 8 GB high speed USB 2.0 drive for added memory, a numeric keypad for calculating, and an external CD/DVD burner. With all that, my laptop can do anything but print, and when I'm home, with our wireless network, I can print too. Since I spend days away from home, I can now keep up with email, etc.

Husband Mike is getting an international phone so he can use it overseas. The grown children received gift cards for their big present, and small, fun things to fill in the gaps. Grandson has made out like a bandit, what with being the only grandson for us, and having other cousins, as well as uncles and aunts to buy him stuff. We bought him some jeans, a warm jacket, Transformer PJs, a set of sheets and a comforter for his bed.

We had Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve, so that Michael and Amy could spend Christmas Day with her family. It was nice to sit down, all together for a meal in a home instead of a restaurant.

Here are pictures of Michelle's new horse. She has been at the farm since May, when her previous owner died. We were going to sell her for owed board, but Michelle really likes her, so she asked for her for Christmas. I put a red bow on her, since she was a gift. She is a 12 year old 1/2 Arab.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

When I'm done here, I'm off to work for 3 days, sleeping in my horse trailer, and returning Sunday evening. Today and tomorrow the expected high temp is 79-80. Sunday's expected high is 47. Burrrrrr!!!! Going from summer to winter in 24 hours is hard on you.

Mike made it home. He is at the Dr right not, having his bleeding checked out. He also has, according to his blood and urine tests, a bladder infection. Before all this happened, I set us both up with a consult with a gastoenterologist as a first step to having a colonoscopy for both of us. I had one at 40 due to a family history of colon cancer, and my baseline at 40 was fine. Mike has never had one. I'm hoping the bleeding was due to a hemorrhoid, as he doesn't eat enough fiber, and said he was slightly constipated at the time.

We have 2 new animals here at Little Moon Farm. Both were free. We have acquired another old, crippled, mare. The two will be company for each other. Picnic is a 25 year old Thoroughbred with a contracted tendon in her right front leg. This makes her hoof grow funny, and she can't be ridden, though she can move around fine. The other new animal is a second inside cat. We now have 2 inside cats, Jezebel, and no name. Both are spayed and declawed. No name came from a vet tech school that gets shelter cats, spays/neuters, and declaws them as well as giving them all their shots. At the end of the semester, they find homes for them. No name is about 5 years old they think, very sweet and loving, and the spitting image of Kenney's old cat Shamen.

My test results were unremarkable. I'm almost 55 years old, and inspite of my brush with cancer, I still take no prescription meds. I still have the colonoscopy to look forward to...

Husband Mike...

...is coming home a few days early due to blood in his stool. He has a drs appointment for Friday morning. He said that it tappered off and stopped, but he doesn't want to wait till he is back in the USA to make an appointment, cause next week is Christmas. Fun and Games (NOT!)

Life changes...

Well, I've been thinking about switching to part time at work, so that I could concentrate on getting the town house ready to sell, and get the work done at the farm quicker. Well...we were informed on Thursday afternoon that, due to the downturn in the economy, the shopping center where I work is changing our contract to just Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, a total of 28 hours if I work all 3 days. I'll have lots of time now. The downside is when I go to an SCA event, I'll get no work that week. As soon as we get the house on the market, I'll look for a part time job, during the day, during the week, to make up for the money I'll be losing out on.

I was part of the show at a very small ren fair in Ingleside, near Corpus Christi over the weekend. I had a great time jousting twice a day, for the last 2 days. In addition to the fun, I was paid for my fuel, and we got to introduce Birdie to some of the SCA games and jousting. He is going to be great!!!

news, etc.

I'm writing this on my new laptop computer, at work. I bought it for myself from WalMart, for $400.00. I can now check and and answer email while I'm sleeping away from the farm.

Nothing new on the law suit, or from my physical. Test results of course are pending.

Grandson has "Topped Out" of his kindergarten computer lab reading program, and will be starting on a first grade one next time. He is very proud of himself. He has more to be proud of than he knows. Only one student finished before him, and 2 others finished the same day as him, but these students weren't in "In School Suspension" for 6 weeks, and kept out of the computer lab during that time.

It's snowing at the farm!!!!

Click on a picture to see the snow flurries. They were taken with my phone, so the resolution isn't the best.


Twinkle Toes playing in the flurries.


The cranky old mare, Princess Buttercup. She has a new blanket to keep her warm.



A close-up of the snow on her ear. Sorry about my glove in the corner




Nippers and Miss A.


Snow in a flowerpot.


This is Birdie.


This plywood has a small spot of snow on it.


Grandson's pony, Nippers.


Miss A...


Rosie

Today it has been snowing all over town. I took some pictures of the snow falling on the horses, and some of the objects around the farm. There won't be much chance of it accumulating, but it is very rare for us to have snow flurries.

Wed. 12/10...

I have a Dr's appointment in the morning. If I learn anything I'll post later.

No news...

No news on the law suit yet.

Husband Mike is back in Spain until the 19 or 20th. He will be home for most of the month of January, and we are hoping to finish emptying the house and start on the repairs. We paid for the new fence at the house in town, but they did a bad job on it and we aren't happy.

I'm working long hours. I'm feeling good, except for heartburn from the naproxen sodium I'm taking for my back pain. I have an appointment next week with my primary care physician, for my annual poke and prod. MCACC recommended I have a pap smear, and a colonoscopy, as well as standard blood work, urine test, etc. I'm going to ask him if just taking over-the counter antacids will keep me from developing an ulcer, or having other problems.

Grandson has grown several inches this past year, and he can now trot his pony without fear. As a matter of fact, he wants to trot all the time, and we have to ask him to please give Nippers a break, and let him walk. His legs are now long enough to reach past the saddle blanket/saddle flaps, so when he uses his legs to ask his pony to move, Nippers can feel it.

Happy Turkey Day

I must admit that this Thanksgiving was a great improvement over last year. I spent most of last Thanksgiving in the MDACC emergency room with a fever. This year we joined some of Son-in-law & daughter's friends for a pot-luck Thanksgiving dinner. I ate till I was more stuffed than any turkey. Everything was great! I'll be back to my diet tomorrow, today was a vacation, and I had more sugar and carbs in one extended meal, than I've eaten in a month.

I'm Thankful for my return to health,
my 3 healthy, grown children and 2 children in laws,
my grandson,
my husband of 34+years
my extended family, and good friends.

Husband Mike is returning to Spain on Monday. He will be returning right before Christmas, as the boat yard is closing down for the holidays. We will be planting a memorial tree for his mother over Christmas, when both he and our older son will be home. I'm working the next 3 days, so need to sign off and head to bed.

Busy couple of days.

This was our second stop, at the "glass bridge skyway", pictured to the left in this picture. What a rip-off! You aren't allowed out on it with either a camera, or a cell phone,(you must lock them in a locker)and they charge over $30.00 per person to walk out on it. They will take a picture of you on the bridge, and sell it to you for $25.00 more. I didn't bite.


Looking down from the edge makes you a little dizzy.


Another view over the edge.


If you click on this image, it will enlarge, and you will see where I drew white lines on it. There are rock formations that look like a sleeping dog, on the top of the butte, and an eagle with it's wings spread, between the peaks, below and to the right of the sleeping dog.

We just spent the last 2 days at the other house, packing up and sorting out stuff to be moved. I discovered that the carpet in the family room is damp-to-wet under the cutting mat and the chair mat. I have a large, plastic cutting mat for fabric that is in the middle of the floor, with fabric and other stuff to be packed on it, and a chair mat, for a rolling chair, in front of my sewing center. When I moved them today, I discovered that the roof had leaked, and the carpet is wet. I sprayed it with a disinfectant spray, to kill any mold, and had a fan blowing on it most of the day. I did get the sewing stuff mostly packed up and shifted to the storage container on the driveway, along with the 8 ft tall sewing center built by my husband Mike. We also set out out 2 old sofas to be freecycled, and a pair of large speakers. The speakers were gone in less than an hour, but the sofas were still there when we came back to the farm this evening. I've got someone picking them up tomorrow.

Mike spent a good part of today driving back and forth to Drs. He needed a physical for work, so went first thing this morning. That Dr said, due to his being 55, that he needed a stress test EKG, but they couldn't do it there. He came home, called our regular Dr, made an appointment for 3:00, and helped move and pack for a couple of hours, then he was off to see this Dr, who ordered his stress test for Monday.

I'll post some more of my pictures from the Grand Canyon now.

pictures from Grand Canyon...

from the bus, on our way to the grand canyon.





The strange looking tree I'm beside is a Joshua tree. They only grow about 1" per year, and are protected by a stiff fine if you damage one.



Here is a close up...


we changed buses and proceeded to the canyon by 14 miles of dirt road to save about an hour of travel time...



Our first stop at the canyon was at the airport. Some of our party were flying over the canyon by helicopter, and this was where they disembarked. These ladies were dancing on the patio of a gift shop...



First view of Canyon...

I'll post more pictures later...

...try try again.

Hurrah!!! The picture posted!!!

I'll post more later. It is well past my bed time now.

Pictures, I hope...

I'm still not able to upload pictures to this site. I'll upload them to my My Space account.

I'll keep trying every couple of days...

It has been a very busy weekend. We returned from Las Vegas on Thursday, and slept that night at the house in town. My daughter had been driving my truck while we were gone, but had gotten it stuck in the mud on Tuesday, and since it had started raining on Monday and didn't quit until Thursday afternoon, it was still stuck. She picked up my husband from the house on her way to work. He drove the Bronco back to the house. We packed more stuff into the Pack-Rat storage unit, washed some clothes, and headed to the farm to meet the horse shoer at 1:00. While he worked on Indy and Miss A's feet, Husband and son-in-law got the truck out of the mud, so I could hitch it up to the trailer, to take 2 horses & 3 dogs to the vet by 3:00. The horses needed their teeth filed down, and Miss A and the 3 dogs needed their rabies shots. We made it right on time. When we finished there, we stopped at the feed store, which is right next door, to pick up 5 bags of feed for the horses. Then it was back to the farm, unload the animals and the feed, and go inside and sit down for a bit.

On Saturday my husband and I went to the Texas Ren Faire. My good friend Janet, who died in May, was having her ashes spread there, after the fireworks, and we wanted to be there. We had a good time at the fair, said our goodbyes, and got back to the farm around 9:30PM.

Today we spent the day in God's wonderful outdoors, fixing the fence between our property, and the next door pasture, trying to keep the cows on their side of the fence. We also rode around for about an hour on 3 of the horses. My Grandson has finally gotten tall enough to really control his pony. He learned to back him up, and how to ride a trot. He trotted more than he walked, and had a wonderful time.

I'll be going back to work tomorrow.

Still...

can't post pictures. I don't know why. I'll keep trying. I thought it was my computer, but I was able to upload to My Space, so it is a glitch in blogger. I need to do some outside work today, so I'll try again this evening. If blogger still won't work, I'll post to my space.

Home again, home again...

We returned from sin city Thursday night. The convention wasn't over, but Mike's company's part was, so we are home. Between us, our net loss at the casino was about $200.00.($169.00 after the player's credit) I played the slots, and earned $31.00 towards our meals, that we charged to our room. Mike played poker, and they don't give player credits for that.

I took a bus trip to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday. It was my first time to see it, and it was awesome!!! We drove across Hoover dam to get there, so I also had a mini-tour of that, without leaving the bus.I'll post pictures from the trip later. Blogger isn't letting me do it now.

We are going to the Texas Ren Faire today. They are having a wake for our friend Janet', and scattering her ashes, so we are going to say a final good-bye.

monday 11/10

We are on our way to Las Vegas today!!!

I'm Back...

This is Arthur. He belongs to a friend.

I was carrying my 2ND lance to the far end of the list before the first run.

These aren't in order, and two different people took pictures at the same time from different angles.


These two horses are keeping each other calm, while others are jousting.
This was from the earlier segment of the competition. I had speared a small "pig", and was discarding the lance.




I love this picture. You can see the intensity on both our faces...


I really only made 3 jousting passes, but, as I said, 2 different photographers posted pictures...


I guess I can say I'm all the way back. I went to an SCA event last weekend. The competition was in three parts. I didn't win, but I made my presence felt, and had a wonderful time, as you can see from the pictures...

I spent today at MDACC, having blood drawn, seeing my oncologist, and having my boobies squished in a mammogram. The technician said that everything looked fine, but I'll get the official word later. I go back tomorrow to see my radiation oncologist.
Mike gets home tomorrow. He has been in Spain for 4 weeks. He will be home for 4 weeks, then back to ...

We are going to Las Vegas next week. PGS is sending him for business, and I'm tagging along for fun.

Busy week...

It has been a busy week. Worked 3 ten hour shifts, Tuesday, Wed. & Thursday. Friday I nnloaded, cleaned out and reloaded trailer, did laundry and packed for SCA event. Left farm at 2:00 PM with 2 horses in the trailer, headed for Austin. Arrived about 6:00. Settled horses, and set up my camp, then visited other friends around the site. Had a friend from work joining me later, and camping in my trailer with me. She didn't arrive till 1:30 AM Saturday morning. We needed to be up by 6:00Am so that I would be ready to ride at shortly after 7:00 AM. She wasn't riding this weekend as she is recovering from back surgery. She used to be in the SCA when she was in college, but hadn't been active in about 15-18 years. She has been trying to get to an event for about 2 years, now, but there has always been a conflict. She had a wonderful time, and is looking forward to recovering, so she can start competing at events.

I didn't win the competition, but had a wonderful time.

I have appointments at MDACC on Wednesday and Thursday this week.Wednesday with my oncologist, and for blood work and a Mammogram, and Thursday with my radiation oncologist.

Mike is coming home on Thursday. I'm working Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and maybe Sunday. On Monday 11/10, Mike and I are flying to Las Vegas for a week. Mike is going for work and I'm going to play. Woo-Hoo, vacation!!!

Busy Monday...

This has been a very busy day. I dropped the trailer from my truck, and went to MDACC for my check up. My surgeon is happy with my progress. She said everything looks good. She wants to see me again in 6 months, I don't know why. I figure I'm as healed up as I can get. Oh Well...

After my appointment, I early voted, stopped at the house to get the mail and I went to pick up a free standing yard swing that I found on Craigslist, for $15.00. While I was there, I also picked up several pave stones, a 6 foot chain link fence gate, 4 plastic deck chairs, a booster seat, and some scrap lumber to use for critter houses. The home owner is getting a divorce, as well as taking her medical boards, and her mom is in town helping clean up/out the house, now that her husband is gone. They were throwing out all the stuff but the swing. I wish I had taken a picture of the truck before I unloaded it. The swing has a sun shade attached to the frame. I swung it straight up and down, and we loaded it into the truck. We then loaded the gate, and tied it to the swing frame, not thinking about the high winds we had today, and the sail effect. It was quite an adventure driving the over 30 miles to the farm, thinking that the whole shebang was going to blow out of the bed any minute.

I made it home about 5:00. I unloaded the truck, and set up the swing, then drove to Tractor Supply to get antibiotics for our old mare, who has another abscessed hoof. This time, I bought twice the amount we will use, so that the next time, we will have what we need on hand. Since May, this is the 4th time we have treated Buttercup for an abscess, so it is a good bet that she will have another one.

Saturday 10-25

Just a quick update-I have to leave for work in an hour. We have our little car back, with a newer engine. It runs good.

The hearings are over, we are waiting for the judges verdict. We should know something soon.

My old horse shoer and friend Ray Brock died on Thursday. His son said it was a heart attack or a massive stroke. Ray was 65-66. He was a smoker, but appeared in good health when I saw him last, about 2 weeks ago. He was scheduled for a hip replacement, and was looking forward to being able to move without pain. He is without pain now. God speed Ray.

I weighed in at 182 this morning!!! Yeah! I have a 6 mo follow up appointment with my surgeon on Monday morning. I'm feeling fine, and working hard.

no news...

Aside from working long hours, and spending little or no time at home, there isn't much happening. I've lost another pound. My first child had a birthday. I don't feel old enough to have a daughter 31 years of age, but the facts don't lie.

We had to put our little car in the shop. It needs a new engine. We found a used one that has only 8,000 miles on it, from a junk yard. Buying a brand new engine would have cost $6,000 plus $2400, for installation. We had just about decided to look for a new car, when my mechanic came up with this option. It will still cost us about $4,200.00, but that is better than a new car payment. This will cost us $100.00 per month to pay off.

My health...

I'm feeling great! I'm down to 187 as of this morning. That is still too heavy, but I've lost about 25 pounds since July 15. I love Dr Atkins's diet! I'm never hungry between meals, and I get to eat things like bacon, and cheese. I'm eating lots of salads too, but they are layered with shredded cheese, real bacon bits, and ranch dressing, with about 6 ounces of chicken or beef fajita meat on top. I'm taking lots of vitamins, and extra fiber, too, cause this diet will bind you up in a heart beat, since most high fiber foods are carbohydrates. I'm increasing the fruit I'm eating, cause I'm trying to slow the weight loss a little. I'm losing about 2 lbs a week, and that is too fast, or so I've been told, though I'm feeling fine.
For a treat, I've discovered DIBS. They are little, thumb nail sized, chocolate covered ice cream nuggets. Each one is about 1.5 carbs. I can eat 4-5, be satisfied, and not trash my diet. The trick to Atkins, is to stay in ketosis, where your body burns stored fat. If you eat too many carbs, your body will begin burning/storing them instead, and the weight loss stops.

I'm scheduled to return to MDACC on 10/27 for a check-up with my surgeon, and on 11/5 & 6 to follow up with my oncologist, have some tests run,(like a mammogram), and a follow up with my radiation oncologist.

Sunday evening...

I've got lights!!!! The inside lights in my new trailer wouldn't work. I checked the fuses under the dash, and they were all good, so I figured the wiring harness plug was wired differently than my old one. Friday was the first chance I had to take it to my friendly trailer fixer. I went in with a book, and a cold drink, thinking I would have a wait. I was in and out inside 30 minutes, and they even put more air in my tires. Turns out there is another fuse, under the hood of my truck. It must be a big one, cause it cost $5.00, but I consider that cheap for working lights in the dressing room, tack and horse areas. With the power port my husband moved from the old trailer, and the splitter I bought, I can plug in my 12 volt fan and charge my phone at the same time. That is what I call living!

New trailer...

This is the dressing room. The grey area in the lower left corner, is a built-in "Boot" box storage area.




Rear view...


rear tack area...


The dressing room is on the driver's side. This is a switch from the other trailer, and the spare tire is inside the dressing room.

While in S. Carolina, Farmers Insurance sent out an adjuster from Atlanta to inspect the damage to my trailer. He totaled it on the spot. We then proceeded to load it down with furniture, and drove back to Ike torn Texas. It took several days after we returned for the insurance company to decide how much to pay, and find a local, Texas agent to handle the claim. We were back in Texas by Friday, 9/19, and I didn't get the check for the trailer till the following Wednesday. I missed a couple of days work because of having no trailer, and, when we got the trailer unhitched, the ball on the hitch was bent. I took the truck to where the hitch was installed, and they inspected the rest of the hitch, which is under the bed of the truck. Aside from the bent ball and a bent eye bolt for the safety chains, the hitch was fine.
I found a used, 4 horse slant load trailer for $2,000 over what the insurance company paid me. Sounds bad, right? Not so. The "New" trailer is aluminum, with a rear tack, larger dressing room, taller inside, and a nice upgrade from my old steel one. I had hoped for one with an electric jack, to make hitching, and unhitching easier, but I can deal with that. The new trailer is a 2003 model, Excess Sport. I love the larger dressing room, and the rear tack means my saddles aren't in my camping space. The old trailer had a walk-through door between the dressing room and the horse area. The new one doesn't, but with the larger area in the dressing room, I can have my potty, my chair, and still have room to move around.

On a different note, Birdie passed his mounted patrol test, so I can now work more hours. He has been ridden at work 4 days, and is starting to get the idea about "Potty Training". This is a good thing, cause at 16.2 hands, he is hard to get on from the ground, and if he "goes" in the wrong place, I have to dismount, clean it up, and remount.

Daughter and son-in-law have filed their law suit on behalf of their son over his right to wear his hair in 2 braids, outside of his shirt. The judge called for a hearing the very next day, and he is back in the regular classroom, until the next hearing. Yeah!!! He is on a field trip today that he would have missed if he was still in ISS. The next hearing is a week from tomorrow.

I'm Back...

I finally have my computer at the farm, and working at normal speed. My hard drive was giving out, and needed replacing, which had slowed everything down to a crawl.

I have a new trailer. I'll post pictures tomorrow, and bring this up to date on my life, but I drove truck, trailer, and horse 7+ hours today, and I'm tired.

Home again, Home again...

Though the hitch is bent at an angle, it swiveles OK on the ball, so I was able to haul it to SC and back.

Here is a view of the driver's side.

Look at the angle of the hitch, to the bed rails. It should be 90 degrees...

This is the truck that hit me.



We returned from S. Carolina Thursday evening. Since I last posted, a lot has happened. When I left on my trip, I was accompanied by thousands of others fleeing hurricane Ike. While exiting the freeway in Carthage Texas, I was rear-ended by a 1 ton dually pick-up truck, hauling an RV, bumper-pull trailer. Traffic ahead of me had stopped, so I stopped too. He wasn't paying close enough attention, and plowed right into the back of my horse trailer, totalling it! No one was hurt, except, maybe his dog, after the fact. He had a small, terrier type dog with him. She was fat, and looked old. She drank some spilled anti-freeze. I told him it was likely to kill her, and he said, "I guess she'll learn not to drink it then."

The back door on the trailer was pushed into the trailer, the frame is bent, so that I can't get the tack room door open, the roof has a half inch crack in it where the weld let go from the impact, and the hitch, which should be at a 90 degree angle with the truck bed, is at about 35 degrees forward of the ball. I was able to continue my trip to S Carolina, but the trailer is toast. We couldn't dis connect the truck from the trailer but we did get the back door open, so we loaded it up and came home. I now need to go trailer shopping, cause I need my trailer for work. I'm adding pictures of the damage, and one of the truck that hit me.

We were very fortunate! Ike was a bad storm, but the farm, where no electric, means no water, or septic, never lost power. The house in town was without power for 3-4 days, but has no structural damage. We lost some fence in the back yard, and several banana trees, but other than the contents of the refrigerator, and freezer, and the shed we stored our feed in, we haven't lost anything to the storm.

update...

Just to touch base with those who read this, we are living at the farm now, but the computer is still in town, which means I don't get on line more than once a week.

As of last Tuesday, Grandson has been placed in" in school suspension" (ISS) due to his hair not being confined to one tight braid, and tucked inside his shirt. A letter of protest has been sent to the board and the superintendent, but, so far, no response has been made. At the request of their lawyers, daughter and son-in-law aren't talking to the media, though it is really hard, as someone calls everyday to see what is happening.

I'm working 40+ hours a week. I tested a second horse for work and will find out if he passed next week. Thursday I leave to drive, solo, to South Carolina. Husband Mike is flying in there from Spain, and will be there before me. We have to help settle his mom's estate. She has some furniture we want, so I'm hauling the horse trailer over. Her house will be sold, but it needs a good cleaning, first. We will also visit the grave yard in Union, and take pictures of the family graves for daughter's genealogy project.

There are days when I don't think about having had cancer. This I see as a good thing, as I was obsessed with it for so long. My health is good. I've lost a total of 18 lbs, and continue to work on losing more.

I've got to go. I still have ...miles to go before I sleep...

First day of school...

I just got a call from my daughter. Grandson is in class. No tears. He walked in, was seated at a table with 3 girls and another boy, and had already made friends before his parents left. She said everyone was very polite. The Superintendent was there, and shook son-in-law's hand, even though they put grandson's hair in 2 braids, and the school board said it had to be in one,very tight braid, down his back, and tucked into the back of his shirt.

School starts tomorrow...

Grandson starts kindergarten tomorrow. I'm sleeping at the house in town tonight, so I won't get to see him off on his first day, but his mom is taking the morning off so that she can be there. This will be his very first school experience. He has always stayed home with dad. No day care, preschool, or mother's day out.

We have a phone line at the farm house, but we haven't moved the computers yet, because we just don't have everything right for them yet. I'll write here when I can, but it won't be daily.

We worked on the fence this morning. The neighboring cows come over every day to eat our grass, drink from our ponds, and scratch their itchy hides on the new house. They knocked part of the skirting off, and pushed over the phone box. This means war! I bought my son-in-law a pellet gun so he can pop them and make it uncomfortable to be on our side of the fence.

Hi there...

My life is spinning so fast...

I'm not able to answer email, or post here from the new place. We haven't moved the computers, because we don't yet have a phone line there. That is supposed to change today. I'm working again. I ride 2 days in a row, have a day off, then work the next 2 days, have 1 day off, and so on and so on. I have to do laundry on my day off,as I only have one good uniform shirt, and shop for anything I've used up, like salad stuff, and drive to the house to check email. That doesn't leave much time for anything else, like working on packing up the old house, or mending fences at the farm.
Mike is still in Spain, though son Michael is back from his first trip.

We are finally getting rain at the farm. The ponds just might fill up again. That would be great!

I'm all recovered. Still have numbness in my armpit. That may be permanent, but my strength is almost back to normal. I'm still losing weight. 196 as of yesterday morning. That is down from a high of 212 during chemo. Yeah!!!

Well, I need to shut this computer down, and head to the store...

I survived...

the weekend with just me and grandson. It wasn't bad, he was very good over all, it was just hard to spend 4 days with no one to talk to over the age of 5. My grandson is great, and very smart, but he is still only 5.

He is now enrolled in kindergarten in Needville. We shall see what happens on the 25th. Will they allow him to attend with his long hair, or will they send him home? They made an offer of letting things go if we stopped talking to the media. That was met with a resounding NO.

I'm back to normal health wise. I've been working the last 2 days, and they were 10 hour shifts. I made it through without trouble. I'm also down about 13-15 lbs on my diet. I'm basing this on my top weight of 210-212, during my treatment. I so hated gaining weight when I had spent the last 10 years fighting to keep it off.

We are about moved in but not moved out if you can understand. We have what we need to live in daughter's house, but not all the furniture and stuff we will need in our own house. That still needs weeded through, sorted, and what we will keep packed up. I'm trying to dispose of as much as I can, but some things I just can't do.

The dogs are out on the farm now. The birds are still at the house in town. We need a large, outdoor cage for them at the farm before we move them. The dogs have a small run behind the house where they spend the day when no body is home or when we are too busy to watch out for them. They stay close to the house, but daughter is afraid they will take to chasing the neighbors cows, or get into other trouble, since they can get out of the perimeter fence. When we finish fencing the yard, they can stay out most of the time. They are brought inside at night, and put into individual crates in the laundry room, to avoid barking all night under my window, or chasing coyotes.

I'm not able to post on here or answer emails every day right now, as we have no Internet access at the farm right now. I come to the house on my days off, and spend time on the computer catching up with whatever has come in during the days I'm working.

Saturday 8/9/08

Well, It's just me and the kid. Husband is off in Spain for the next month. Daughter and Son-in-law are in Fla. for a business weekend. They left very early Friday morning, and are returning Monday evening. I'm dividing my time between the farm and the house in town. I've got tons of packing to do, and lots of furniture to move. Some of it will go in daughter's house, and some of it will go in storage till we get our own mobile home.

The phone line was run on Friday. It isn't connected to the house yet, but it has been run to a hub at the corner of the pasture near the double gates to the barn area. I could tell someone had been in with heavy equipment when I arrived back at the farm after taking the travelers to the airport, and collecting the dogs from the house. We spent all morning and some of the afternoon waiting on the yard man to come, because we needed to lock the dogs on the back porch while they cut the back yard. They never showed up, so I loaded the dogs and their crates into the Vibe and took them out to the farm. We have a small area fenced off for them, so that we don't have to worry about them when we aren't outside. They started barking at bedtime, so I set up their crates in the laundry/mud room, and they slept inside.

Tuesday 8/5/08

Well, we had the second tropical storm of the season hit Texas, and we still haven't gotten enough rain to refill the ponds. I was hoping we could stop watering the horses from the wells for a while, but...

I met with the realtor at the house, and we decided that it needs all new floor treatments, and painted inside and out. She also said it would be better, since we plan on refurbishing it, to pack up all the furniture now, and show it empty. She said it is often an advantage for the buyer to see that it is all ready for them to move in. She did say that she likes the size of the bedrooms and the closets, as newer houses have smaller rooms, and closets. All 3 bedrooms have lighted walk in closets. She knows some contractors, and will call me tomorrow about meeting with them to get estimates for the work. We may rent a paint compressor, and do the painting ourselves. I would rip out the carpeting, mask and tape all the woodwork, light fixtures etc, then rent the sprayer, and "let her rip".

Well, I've worked 2 days. I'm very tired today, but I made it through. I'm working the next 2 days, then I'll be on grandson duty for the next 4, as his parents are flying to Florida for business. Hopefully, I can pack up more of the house, since it looks like we may be carting it all to the farm sooner than I figured.

Aside from some numbness in my armpit from severed nerves from the surgery, and a small patch of dry skin around my scar, I'm all healed up. I'm very thankful to have come through this as well as I have. Thank-you for all the prayers and good thoughts. They were appreciated.

Friday 8/1/08

I'm scheduled to start back to work on Sunday. Yeah!!! Not that I want to work on a Sunday, but I'm finally picking my life back up.

We are busy trying to get the house packed up and moved to the farm. Not all the furniture is moving now. We are going to leave most of our furniture in place, and arrange it for the best showing for selling. When it does sell, we will order a P.O.D.S type container, pack our remaining furniture into it, and have it moved to the farm, to await the arrival of our mobile home. I'm sorting through years worth of stuff, tossing out some, and freecycling the rest that I've decided I can live without. I've gotten rid of a large garbage bag of clothes so far, and I'll have more clothes to give away soon.

My skin continues to improve, though, due to the radiation destroying sweat, and oil glands, as well as hair follicles, I'll have to moisturize my right breast and armpit for the rest of my life. On the bright side, I won't have to shave or put on deodorant on that side.

My husband leaves for California on Monday, and from there, he will be going to Spain on Wednesday, to begin working on outfitting his new boat. It is still in the shipyard.

Wed update

Well, the younger generations of this family are sleeping at the farm tonight. They dismantled grandson's bed and packed it, as well as his dresser, bookshelf, and toy bins, and hauled them to the farm, along with several sewing machines from Daughter's collection.

My horse shoer came out this morning, and put shoes back on Indy so that I can go back to work. As soon as he was finished, I hitched up the horse trailer, and hauled it home, to be used as a moving van. We have a couple more days to use it for that before I go back to work. Saturday will most likely be the earliest I'll actually be working.

Packing up after 15 years is hard. I've started weeding out clothes I haven't worn in more than a year. It will be freecycled. I've been donating books to the elks lodge, and tossing out those that I got from a dumpster behind a bookstore.

We aren't moving all the furniture out of the house right now. We are only moving what will be staying in daughter's home, and the bare minimum needed for husband and I to live in her house. The rest will be arranged to look as good as possible while the house is for sale. We will then rent a portable storage unit to pack it in till our own house is ready. They will bring you the unit, you pack it and they then move it to where you want it, or store it till you need it. We will have them take it to Needville, and have it all ready to put in our new home, once it is assembled on the property.

My skin is improving each day. I've stopped using the gel dressings. There is a small area still to heal, but the gel wasn't staying in place, so it wasn't helping anyway. My hair is very soft, and seems straight, but is a dark dishwater blond. No grey, though.

Pictures of Daughter's house

Here are pictures of my daughter's new house. They turned on the septic system today and put on the skirting around the bottom.

Click on a picture for a closer look.




The garden tub in the master bath

The lower of the 2 sinks...

The taller sink...


The front door, and a close up of the window in it.