Weekend report

We had a busy weekend. Saturday, when we went to the farm to get ready for the work day on Sunday, we discovered that the electricians installing the last of the meter poles had broken our auger. That was bad, because I was at the farm right after they finished, and they didn't say a word about it being broken. If I had been told, we could have gotten it fixed before we needed it this weekend. Then husband Mike decides he would hook up the brush hog so we can mow the pastures. The grass is growing, but there are lots of weeds and scrub plants that survived the winter, and haven't been eaten to golf green height, and we need to cut them back to give the grass a chance to choke them out. We discovered that the connector to the PTO is "boogered". We had a hard time getting it off, and now we can't get it to go back on. That is 2 of the main things we had on the list to work on this weekend.

On the plus side, we had about 20 people show up to help over the course of the day, and got much work done. Anything that could be mowed with the lawn tractor, was. Much dirt was moved around, the lists fields were smoothed up, and marked out. The drainage ditches near the ponds were weed eaten/ mowed. The 2 rolls of fence we have were put up, some trees were planted, brush was trimmed back from where other fence will be hung, and the archery area was chosen and marked. We also battled high winds to hang 2 16x30 ft tarps to the roof edge of the pole barn, to be used as awnings, to extend the area shaded by it, for use at the event. This will give us a usable area about 45x34 ft for arts & science display, children's activities, resting areas for people without pavilions of their own, and in case of rain, we will have an area where we can eat feast, and hold court out of the weather.

We will have another work day the weekend before the event, to mow the list fields, and finish up anything else we need finished before the event.

The port-o-potty was a life saver! We couldn't have used the Murphy Bucket for that number of people.

The gentleman who was building the foot bridges came out right before we were ready to go home. He built 2 foot bridges to put across the drainage ditches near the ponds, so women wearing long skirts, can cross without dragging their hems through the mud. He is amazing! The base of each bridge is mortas and tenon joined with wooden pegs. He then layed boards along the length, and nailed them down, leaving a nails width between each board, so that any rain water would run through. Thank-you Thomas for the beautiful bridges.

We have a privy!!!

Well, what a difference a day makes. I got a call back from one of the port-o-can companies at 9:40 this morning. Her company delivers to Needville, and I was told they could have one out there Monday for me. I said that was fine, and proceeded to tell her my tale of wough, and about all the people who would have to use a bucket this weekend. Low, and behold, they delivered one to the farm this afternoon. Woo-Hoo!!!

Pissed off!!!

I'm very angry. The port-o-can company doesn't deliver to Needville, but didn't bother to call and tell us. I didn't find out until I called them to see how long it was going to be till they arrived.
No Port-o-potty this weekend. The earliest will be next week. I didn't find out in enough time to call other company's before they closed for the weekend. They got an angry email from my daughter, who had set this up, and told them repeatedly that it was for Needville.

I have compiled a list of possible companies to call on Monday. Meanwhile, we will have a number of people out at the farm working and camping this weekend, and they will have to use the Murphy Bucket.

On the good side, Centerpoint Energy delivered the power poles we need. Yeah!!! Now, if they will just come out and install them, and hang transformers, and hook us up to the grid...

I don't want much, just electric, so I have running water, and lights.

Update on farm, etc.

The vet is coming out tomorrow for routine stuff on the horses. Mostly teeth floating for 3 of mine, and Nippers needs the works. Teeth, shots, coggins test, general check up.

We are also taking delivery of a port-o-potty. No More Murphy Bucket!!! Yeah!!! It is cheaper by the month than renting for a weekend, so we will keep it until we are able to build a restroom for visitors, in the barn. They will come out and service it weekly.

Centerpoint energy told me on Tuesday that we should have power in about 2.5 weeks.

The electricians will be out wiring the barn on Tuesday, and hooking up the well to the meter pole. Centerpoint already put in that transformer, and drop to the meter pole, but without hooking the well up to the meter, it is useless. Things are moving along towards getting moved out there.

I'm gaining strength since my last chemo. I took Tylenol Arthritis today, and it really helped my back pain. Since I'm finished with chemo, masking a fever doesn't seem that important to me, and being pain free is.

We have scheduled a work day for Sunday to get some work done by the SCA on the property, to help prepare it for the event next month.

Easter monday

I have been too tired to write the last few days.

Saturday we took our Grandson to an Easter egg hunt at the Elks Lodge. He had a wonderful time. He has so few opportunities to play with other children, this was his BEST EASTER EVER, he said. Later, at the farm he tried his hand at climbing a tree for the first time.

Easter Sunday was spent in the splendor of God's nature at the farm. Mike mowed more of the area around the barn/ponds, and then changed the auger bit on the big tractor, and set about 8 more posts, with our son-in-laws help. I wasn't much help, though I did spend some time cleaning tack.

Husband Mike is off to Mineral Wells for 3 days, for work. He left about 10:00 AM.

Centerpoint Energy set the transformer and dropped the line for the well today. Now, if the electricians can hook it up we will have water at the farm. This is for the old, 90 ft well. Not something I'll want to drink from, but will do for cleaning, livestock etc. We are still waiting for the poles to be set for the main lines for house and barn.

I have to purchase some florescent fixtures for the barn tomorrow, and deliver them to the farm.

I'm going to start back on my supplements and see if they will help with my back pain. Since it has been diagnosed as arthritis, the joint supplement I was on before may have been doing me more good than I knew. I'm so tired of being in pain, and unable to stand or walk for more than a few minutes with out hurting so bad I just want to sit down and cry. Since I'm through with chemo, I want to start back on all my vitamins, etc.

Good Friday

Mike was off today, so we drove to Alvin TX to look at the houses that were available to be moved, that the moving company had already removed from their original locations. There wasn't anything there worth our time, though they have 2 in Belaire that haven't been moved yet that might do.

We went to the farm from there, fed the livestock, and Mike moved some dirt around with the repaired tractor, after hitching up the trailer for me, so that I could pick up the landscape timbers that I had purchased on Monday. It is a good thing I went in when I did, because the price has already gone back up to $4.50. I paid $1.97. The store was almost out when I got there Monday, but they were expecting a truck on Tuesday, so I paid for them. They only got 2 bundles in on Tuesday, which is how many I bought, so the manager put them up on the top of the rack for me, and I now have the 154 fence posts I need to finish my pasture, my arena, and my round pen.

When we got home I fell asleep on the couch, with the TV on and a book in my hand. I'm beat!

Last chemo!!!!

I had my last chemo treatment to day. It was as bad as I remembered! I'm feeling nauseous, and tired. On the plus side, this too shall pass, and I don't have to go back for more. There is a bell that patients ring on their last chemo day, and Mike took my picture as I rang it, but I'm too tired to figure out how to download it from my phone. I'll post it here when I do.

I have the results of the MRI on my back. I have arthritis in my lumbar spine area. There are 2 disks that are just slightly wonky, too, but not enough to be causing the kind of pain I've been having. Next week, I'm going back on the Replenex. I'll also start back on the Aliev, too.If they don't control the pain, I'll see an orthopedist, and see if I can get copies of the MRI pictures to show him/her.

The ultrasound of my tumor shows no shrinkage since January, and it is possibly, slightly bigger. I'll still be getting breast conserving surgery, followed, after 3 weeks healing time, by daily radiation, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks.

My oncologist said I may be a candidate for a case study of an FDA approved medication for osteoporosis, that may help keep my type of cancer from coming back. Since I'm post menopausal, I'll need to do something to keep my bones strong anyway, so I'm considering it.

Sunday evening

Husband Mike has a new toy. We bought a lawn tractor. The big tractor is great for bush hogging the pastures, but we needed something a little finer for around the barn, ponds, and the houses, when we get them. He cut around the big ponds today. It looks nice!

I'm going to buy a bunch of landscape timbers tomorrow. They are on sale for $1.99, and will make great fence posts. I'll need about 150, or more, for fences, arena, and round pen, not to mention as bases for foot bridges across drainage ditches. You can't beat the price!

Tuesday I'll be at MDACC most of the day, for some tests, and Wednesday is my last scheduled Chemo, with a follow up shot on Thursday. Yeah!!!! Then, about 4 weeks later, I'll have my surgery, to be followed by 6 weeks of daily radiation. I understand you can get a nasty "Sun Burn" from that. I'll have to see what is recommended, to treat/prevent it. I'm not looking forward to the chemo, cause it really wipes me out for about 5-6 days, but I AM looking forward to being finished with this part of my treatment.

Possum relocation part 2

Well, after talking to my sister, I decided to take them to the near by, (6.6miles) state park to let them go, since it is a wild life sanctuary and all... Wrong! They said we couldn't turn them loose there. Does that make any kind of sense to anyone? Why not turn them loose in a park where they won't bother anyone, and they will be protected? We ended up turning them loose along our back fence where there are a few trees, and they are far enough away that hopefully, they won't come closer, and bother us. Here are pictures of them being turned lose. My 4.5 year old grandson took the one of my husband propping open the trap.

She sure had a mess of babies hanging all over her. The pictures didn't come out in the order I wanted, and I don't know how to rearrange them. Since she had been in the trap over night, as soon as she came out of the trap, she headed right for water, drank her fill, and headed for the trees, as fast as she could waddle, carrying her babies with her.

Possum relocation

I have a cage full of opossums to release tomorrow, near the farm. The welding shop where Amy works was cleaning out a shed when they found this mother opossum and her babies inside a box, lined with a plastic bag. Amy planned to take them, and turn them loose today, but we had already fed the horses, so she brought them to us. We put them into a humane trap, and fed them some dog food, We will release them out in the country, away from our farm, but not in any one's backyard. Baby 'possums are cute. They don't stay that way though.

We spent several hours cleaning in the garage today. I freecycled some things. I love freecycle. I hate to throw away anything useful, even if I can't use it. This way, someone gets the use of it, and it stays out of the landfills.

It was HOT today! In the 80s. Summer can't be far behind. We will spend tomorrow at the farm, watching the grandson, and getting some stuff done.

I hate tax time!

Sorry for not writing, but I'm hunting receipts and canceled checks. With my job, I get great tax deductions, but I need to be able to document the expenses. Usually, I have them all stowed away in an organizer, but not this year. With the hunt for property, and my cancer diagnosis, it just didn't happen. I'm stuck hunting up bits of paper. GHRR!

No more freedom for Nippers

Nippers is my grandson's pony, and the oldest horse on the property. Usually, you can leave him loose once the other horses are tied up to eat, give him his bucket, and he stays right there, eating and minding his own... Not today! Today, Diego kicked at Indy, and Indy broke his lead rope, so he was loose. I was going to use Nipper's halter and lead rope for Indy, but Nippers decided he wanted to stir the pot, and went in search of a bucket he liked better than his own. I tied Indy up with Nippers lead, and chased Nippers back to his own bucket. Did he stay? Nope. Back he went to Indy's bucket, and Indy backed off, and would have let Nippers have his dinner. Now, Indy is a pretty easy keeper, and he gets less feed than almost any other horse out there, but he does need his feed. So off I go chasing Nippers back to his bucket, and then I go to find another lead for Indy, so I can tie up Nippers with his own halter and lead. Meanwhile, it is drizzling rain, and I'm getting wet, which just makes me very happy. I finally get them all tied to their own posts, and I decided, No More Freedom for Nippers. After this, he can stand tied like everyone else.

I saw my surgeon today. I'll have my breast cancer surgery on Wed. April 16th. I opted for breast conserving surgery, if, when they get inside, that is still an option. This will mean I'll have to have radiation, following the surgery, but for me, I'd rather, at this point, keep as much of my breast intact as possible. Early on, I was ready to have a double mastectomy, and reconstruction, but, when I heard from a friend of my uncle's that she did that, and still had a recurrence, I decided the conservative approach was the better option for me. My tumor seems to be continuing to shrink from the chemo. I'll be having another breast ultrasound on Tuesday, 3/18, as well as an MRI on my lower spine, to see what is going on with my back pain. My final chemo will be on Wed 3/19, ans a follow up shot, to boost my bone marrow on Thursday, then NO MORE POISON FOR ME!!! YEAH!!!
If my oncologist says it is OK, they will remove my port at the same time they do the other surgery, and they will biopsy my lymph nodes on the table to see if there is any sign of cancer in them. If they look clear, that will be that!

I'm so ready for this to be over, but the radiation will be another new experience. Every day for 6 weeks I believe they said.

Pray for me, to what ever God you pray to, that the lymph nodes are clear. I don't want more lymphedema on the right side, now that the left side seems to have resolved itself.

Sunday evening.

We've been very busy. The tractor is on the fritz, so we worked on the electric fence, and repaired an area of the barbed wire fence where Indy ran through it awhile back. I had patched it up somewhat, but I was working alone and it is hard to stretch the barbed wire and fasten it to the post at the same time. We had already walked the electric fence line repairing, tightening, and replacing insulators, to get it back in working order. We also cut and chopped out a bunch of Chinese wisteria, also called rattle box bush. It grows like a weed, and every part of it is toxic to animals. Once I was sure the wire wasn't grounded anywhere, or broken, I sent Mike to turn it on, and the switch on the fencer box wouldn't work. We brought it home, and I'll return it to the store where I bought it.

Today, grandson walked out to get his pony, so he could ride him, and one of the other horses followed him in to the barn/pond area. When my daughter went to try and shoo her back out, instead of turning around and running back, she turned towards this fence, and jumped it, which put her in the neighbors pasture. She broke the top 2 strands, where I had patched it together before. Her best buddy in the herd is a 1/2 draft my daughter calls a 4-legged bull dozer. I watched him put his chest against the fence in a different spot, and begin to push his way through to be with Raven. All the other horses were right behind him, waiting to see what was up. I managed to stop him by running, screaming, and waving a shovel at him. I could just see the entire herd of 7 horses, running through the neighbors pasture, chasing their cows.

We decided, after catching Raven, and dropping the fence wire so we could get her home, that we needed to do a better job on the fence, to keep the cows on their side, too. My daughter, husband, grandson, and I replaced, and patched up the barbed wire, as well as cleaning up some very rusted barbed wire that was tangled around some chain link fence that was used to reinforce the old fence. From the looks of the old fence, it has been years since anyone has done anything but patch the old stuff, or put a stock panel across any gaps, and they never picked up the old stuff, just left it laying there.

Everyone is tired. I'm the last one awake, and I'm heading for bed now.

My Birthday...

Today is my 54th birthday. I'm going out to dinner with family and friends. I got a hammock from my grandson. Here are pictures of it. I'll try and take some pictures at dinner, and post them later. The first picture is one I took of myself. It is hard to get a flattering picture when you are holding the camera, trying to frame a shot looking at the back of the camera in a mirror, and smile all at the same time. Being bald, and having no eye brows or lashes, doesn't help either. Oh well, next year all will be different, and that is why I took the picture. This will all be behind me, and I want to remember.

Here are pictures of the guests at my birthday. They look serious because we were discussing the primary elections, and where we are heading. Serious stuff for a birthday party, but oh well...

It was fun to sit down with the whole family and eat a meal together. It has been more months than I like to remember since we were all under the same roof at the same time.

Thursday evening

Had a pleasantly busy day. I met my husband and about 18 friends for lunch. These were guys, and some of their wives, who worked at Shell with Mike 15 or more years age. They get together once or twice a year, for lunch, to catch up and see how everyone is doing. It was really nice to see old friends.

After lunch, I exchanged a shed light that didn't work, at Northern Tool, and stopped at the book store, for a gift for my "twin" sister, Linda. Went home between showers, and played with the grandson for a few minutes, before he went down for his nap. I read a little, and watch some TV.

I went to dinner with my "twin", and had a great time catching up. She has been out of work for months, and just started a new job, that seems to be great. 2 days can be too soon, but...

Got home about 9:45, and my grandson brought me my birthday present. I now have a brand new hammock! I'll hang it under the pole barn, and take a nap, when I get tired, at the farm.

I seem to be the last one awake again. I don't know if the insomnia is chemo related, or menopause, or just old age. Since I'll soon be finished with chemo, I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday evening

We spent the day at the farm today. The electricians set the first meter pole, and got our tractor running. It was on the fritz last weekend, and after changing fluids, filters, and everything else, they ran down the battery, and couldn't get it to start.

The well company men were out finishing off the well, setting up the tank, and the pump. They have been paid in full, though they will be back to hook it up to the power when it is run.

The feed store delivered today while we were there, so I could show them where to stack the feed out of the weather. They put it in my horse trailer last time and several bags got wet. I managed to salvage most of the feed, and only lost about 1/2 a bag altogether, but boy was it a pain to dry out slightly damp feed without getting any mold in it.

I had a massage tonight after being out all day. I'm heading for a shower and bed soon. Tomorrow, Mike and I are meeting some of Mike's old friends from Shell for lunch, and I'm meeting my friend Linda for dinner. Her Birthday was yesterday, and mine is Friday, and we always try and dine together to celebrate.

My family and I are getting together on Friday evening to celebrate my birthday, by dining out together.

Monday I'm meeting with my surgeon, to discuss what kind of, and when, I'll have my surgery. My last chemo treatment will be on 3/19, with a follow up shot on 3/20.

Tuesday evening

Busy day today. Voted, went to Wal-Mart. Last night, in the wee hours of the morning, the handle on my toilet tank broke, and in order to flush it, you had to remove the tank lid, and pull the chain by hand. I bought a replacement, and a new flapper, and fixed it good as new. I also bought a new mouse for my computer. There was a short in the cable to the old one, and it would stop working every few seconds.

I also washed 2 loads of laundry, and did 2 loads of dishes. I'm beat!!!!

The electrician is coming out to install the first of the meter poles. This one is for the old well. As soon as it is there, Centerpoint has said they will come out and put a transformer on the last pole, and drop a line to the meter pole. We will soon have running water at the farm!!! Yeah!!! Now, if we can just get them out there to set the other power poles, and get us electricity for the new well, the barns, and the houses...

Monday night

The bog is still draining!!!! I went out to feed the critters, and there is still water running out into the roadside ditch. I cleared a couple of mud clods that had fallen into the ditch, but it was flowing around them.

It has gotten colder again. They said it could get close to freezing tonight, and the wind chill will be below freezing in the morning. I know those of you who live to the north think we are wussies, but, for us, this is cold!

I'm starting to recover from this last round of chemo. My stomach is still uneasy, but I'm feeling stronger. My arm is still not swelling. I'm happy.

Sunday afternoon

We are back from the farm. We had some clean-up to do from the BBQ after the work was done for the day. The bog is still draining into the road-side ditch. YEAH!!!!

Here are some pictures taken yesterday by Amy.

Even my grandson helped. He snuck off with his shovel, to go help with the digging. He was playing in the dirt pile left from the septic tank install, and just decided to walk to the front and pitch in.

Saturday night

We now have drainage from the front of the property, to the road! The boggy area is draining as I type. The cattle had filled in the ditch and culvert that runs alongside the driveway at one spot, and the water had no place to go, and just backed up into a bog. After much work, it is cleared, and the water was still flowing to the roadside ditch as we headed home.

Son-in-law cooked up a brisket that was so tender you could cut it with a fork, along with potato salad, macaroni salad, and cole slaw. We ate well, and sat around a campfire, relaxing from a hard days work. Thank-you to all the friends who showed up to help. You are all awesome! I'm the last one awake, and I'm heading to bed now.