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.