Author: cahall63

Kidney Stones!

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Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling a little “off”. My stomach hurt and I felt a little queazy. My first thought was the reintroduction to dairy we had done on Monday had not worked as well as I thought, and my second thought was that the awesome shrimp we ate the night before was not so awesome.

Ed felt sick too, so he called in to work, and told them he wasn’t coming in. However, as the morning progressed, he felt better, but I was getting much worse. The pain in my side and lower abdomen would not let me lay down. I was nauseous and had the cold sweats. Ed called the doctor. They said to bring me right down.

I dont know how long it took me to be seen; I’m sure it felt like a lot longer than it actually was. The doctor’s concern was written all over her face, and she told Ed I needed to go to the emergency room, preferably in Liberty, an hour away. She would call and tell them we were coming. We went back to the house to get Katherine and headed to Liberty. Did I mention, the doctor’s office is about a half mile from the house?

I spent the first half of the trip, trying to find a comfortable position in the cab of Ed’s truck, and gently reminding Ed that a speeding ticket was not going to help us. About half way there, the pain lesson significantly, and I felt much better by the time we got to the ER. Wouldn’t that be a heck of a note; drive all the way down here, and then be fine!  It didn’t last, The pain returned with a vengeance. Thankfully, they gave me something for it right away.

After going through all the urine and blood work, they ordered a CT scan that confirmed their suspicions: Kidney stone. A big one. So they admitted me, kept me well medicated, and the next day, removed it. They let me come home Thursday evening with a bunch of instructions, medication, and a stint that will have to be removed next week. Trust me, you don’t want to know about that.

I’m slowly recovering. I’m still sleeping a lot from the drugs that I have to take for a few more days. Ed missed two days work total, and Kat, three days of school. You know she’s just heartbroken.

Ed and I both think it was the Lord’s doing that made Ed feel just sick enough to call in, so that he could be here when I needed to go to the doctor. Again, the Lord took care of us, getting us down there, and getting us seen. On top of that, I have to say the nursing staff at Liberty Hospital is phenomenal! I have not been treated so well in a hospital for a very long time.

Now, I just have to get better so I can catch up on the bazillion things I didn’t get done this week. I’ll be back soon,

Connie

Writing 101: Things I Like

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Today’s assignment for Writing 101 was:

“Today, write your own list on one of these topics:

  • Things I Like
  • Things I’ve Learned
  • Things I Wish”

So here is my list of things I like, in no particular order:

Having all my children home together.

Music of all kinds, but particularly those pieces that, without words, stir something so deep that they bring tears to my eyes, and I don’t even know why.

Singing

Playing piano and guitar (I don’t do either one very well, but I’m learning)

Jammin’ with family and friends.

Big dogs.

Strong black coffee

Reading

Books. This is not the same as reading. I love physical books, especially the old ones. I love how they feel in my hands. I love sitting amongst bookshelves, taking in the smell of old books. There is something comforting about that to me.

Junk, aka Antiques. Discussing the subject with my dad a few weeks back, he said, according to my step-mother, “If it’s in the house, its an antique; if its outside, it’s junk. We know where I got my love for junk.

Repurposing said junk. I love picking up something that most would consider trash, and turning it into something useful, beautiful, or just plain fun.

Musical Theater, particularly from the 1930s and 40s. Love Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy!

Being able to go outside my house, pick something growing out there, whether planted by me or by God, come back in and use it for food or medicine.

Hanging out with God’s people.

Thunderstorms

Exploring book stores and junk stores with Ed.

Wood stoves

Baking, although that’s kind of on the shelf now. I have promised my daughter that I will bring it back for the holidays.

Beading.

Puzzles

Connie

Why Do I Write?

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The first assignment for the Writing 101 class asked the question, “Why do you write?” To be honest, I hate that question.

Why do I write? Why do I breathe? One is as natural as the other and sometimes just as difficult. Anyone who has suffered from asthma or pneumonia will understand. Writing is something I’ve always liked to do and sometimes it’s been something I had to do. Not because of an assignment, but because the words themselves demanded to be let out of my head. To keep them in would be like swallowing poison. Some of my best writing has come when I didn’t think about it too much…that has been some of my worst writing too!

Yes, yes, I write because I enjoy sharing my thoughts with others and because I feel I have a story to tell from which others could benefit. That is really such a small part of it though, because for many years, I wrote what no one read. I still write many things that no one sees, and some that I wish I hadn’t seen either, let alone anyone else. Sometimes writing is therapy, sometimes it’s prayer, sometimes it’s expressing joy. I write because it helps me gather my thoughts, else they fly away from me in scattered pieces, never to be found again.

Cleaning Up

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There were going to be pictures with this post, honestly there were, but by the time I realized I hadn’t taken them, it was dark. “That’s ok, “ I thought, I’ll just take them in the morning, and post then. It sounds like a great idea, except that it is raining buckets. So, forgive me for the lack of pictures, I’ll post some when the rain stops.

Saturday, I decided that the house and yard needed some serious attention so every thing else could wait.

Katherine and I painted our yard art additions, until we ran out of paint. I have two old tires and two wooden bushel baskets with the bottoms gone. I painted them and put the baskets inside the tires. We also painted an old bicycle. I’m thinking about turning the basket/tire combinations into fairy gardens. I was going to put the bicycle out with the red feather morning glory, but the ground isn’t level enough to support it.

My little tin man lost and arm, so he’ll need surgery soon. I need to build another one too. Our former pastor from our old church asked me if I would build one and donate it for the Buckner Mayor’s Christmas Tree auction. I told him I would, so I need to get on it.

Back to the house: The second task was Katherine’s room. Organization is not one of her strengths. It’s really not one of mine either, but I’ve taught myself as I’ve grown older. She just needs to figure out what works for her. To help her not be so overwhelmed, we took a lot of stuff out of her room. She has her furniture (although I took a small table and plastic drawers out), and the stuff she uses every day. Of course, we left the books on the bookshelves, and the knickknacks that are on the recessed shelves, because they aren’t going anywhere. They just keep the Beta company. We dusted, emptied out drawers full of stuff that she had forgotten she even had. She likes the openness of the room, and she also likes the “ambiance” (her word, not mine) that comes from having a thicker curtain hung that keeps more sunlight out. And what is this new curtain, you ask? It’s the top sheet from her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sheet set. She never uses it and it always ends up on the floor, so I thought, “Why not?”

She has her laptop, her Kindle, her violin, her bow, and her drawing supplies. When she decides she wants something else, we will come up with a plan for storing it so that she can keep track of it. The down side to all this is that all the stuff we took out of her room is in my living room, along with all the stuff I pulled out of my craft closets. There is just a path through the living room. It will probably be like that until I can get the Shelf Elf (Ed) to build me some shelves. I would do it myself, but that is a skill I don’t have.

Ed will be off Monday and Tuesday, and has promised me a blog post, so I hope you will hear from him soon. In the meanwhile, I’m taking a couple more classes from Blogging U, starting on Monday, with Writing 101. Some of what you see over the next few weeks may seem like it doesn’t belong on a homesteading blog, but please bear with me, and go along on this little side trip. In the meanwhile, lift me up to the Lord for really good time management skills, because I am going to need it!

Oh! One more thing. Ed and I finished the Whole 30. I lost 8 lbs, and Ed lost 20! The weight loss is exciting, but the way we both feel is the true reward! We’re going to stay with it.

Connie

Let the Horror Begin!

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That is what Katherine said as we started school this morning. Yeah, that was encouraging. Well, we made it through the day with only one meltdown. Although, I guess you could call it a double, because we both got pretty hot. Fifteen-year-olds with attitudes are so much fun. Yeah, right.

The rest of the week was just as busy as last week. I did get my herbs harvested, but haven’t done anything with them yet. I got the strawberry bed mulched, and cleaned out the mess in the driveway that runs into the basement/garage. We had stuff sitting out there covered with tarps, and the tarps were useless. The garbage man had a busy day. Oh well; it’s just stuff.

harvested sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley, basil and mint.

harvested sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley, basil and mint.

Katherine and I pulled out some old tires and an old bike we’re going to turn into yard art, and scrubbed them down with dish soap. Now, I just have to get the paint.

scrubbing the bike, tires, and other things.

scrubbing the bike, tires, and other things.

Speaking of paint: We have a ton of paint left by the previous owner. Most of it is interior latex paint. Any ideas about what to do with it? She and I have totally different tastes in color schemes. Most of it is pastels, except for a really bright “melon”. Not my thing at all.

I do want to share a few things with you that I’ve learned in the last few weeks. You know I can barely stand to throw anything away if I think I can do something with it. Well, I have been reading for years about things to do with toilet paper and paper towel tubes, and have a bunch in a bag. Last week I was fighting with two different glue guns and a glue pot, trying to untangle their cords. I was about to roll the cords around their respective owners when the bag of tubes caught my eye. Ok, it’s not pretty, but it really works! As for the pretty part. I covered coffee cans with scrap book paper and old dictionary pages to make tube collectors that sit on the back of the toilet.

cords in tubes

cords in tubes

tube can

tube can

Since I keep all glass jars and bottles, I have spent a lot of time trying to remove labels. Then a few weeks ago, I read this blog post. She is absolutely right. Wow that works! Only don’t leave them to soak over night. Your jars will be clean, but the cold washing soda will set up in the bottom of your sink around the drain plug. Using, vinegar, running water, a table knife, and about thirty minutes time, we finally got it out.

washing soda hard as rock in the sink

washing soda hard as rock in the sink

petrified washing soda

petrified washing soda

Some time over the last few weeks, and I honestly don’t remember where I read it, there was something that said you could spray a table spoon of Epsom Salts diluted in a gallon of water on your peppers and they would produce better. Since mine weren’t producing at all, what did I have to loose? So I sprayed them. Of course, it could be a coincidence, but my peppers are blooming like crazy and I actually have a few small peppers growing. I’ll keep you posted. I took some pictures, but you can’t tell what from what with all the green.

Oh, here is a picture of our pitiful potato crop. Our neighbor, Mr “A” says he doesn’t “fool with potatoes”, for that very reason.

pitiful potatoes

pitiful potatoes

The other day, I noticed something growing in front of the barn doors that I thought I should know. I had to wait for blooms to be sure, but it’s mallow! I’ll tell you about it in my next post, as well some info about preserving herbs.

Mallow!

Mallow!

Connie

Yes, We’re All Ok

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It’s just been a crazy week.

In the last 10 days, Ed has had one day off: yesterday. Of the nine days he worked, he has put in mostly nine and ten hour days, in addition to the hour or so drive time. The drive time has extended too, due to road construction. He’s spent what little spare time he’s had, building the chicken coop. I know he’ll want to tell you about that, but I will tell you that it’s finished enough for the chicks to be in it, in relative safety.

Since yesterday was his only day off, we had to run all day. First was a trip to the vet for Libby. I was concerned because she seems to be losing weight. She’s always had trouble with flea dermatitis, and I wanted to take care of that too. It was our first visit with that vet, and it won’t be the last. He was very good, and he didn’t charge us an arm and a leg. He said that Libby’s issues are more than likely flea related and he put her on the flea pill. We took care of her shots while we were there. He told us we could just bring Meeko over and he could get his shots and a flea pill. He wouldn’t charge us for an exam. You can’t beat that.  We brought Libby home, and headed back out for the hour drive to Liberty. We were home long enough to put groceries away before I had to be at a Sisters-in-Service meeting at church, and Ed the men’s Bible study out at the preacher’s farm. It was a long day.

What am I doing while Ed is working?  To be honest, since we started the Whole 30, I’ve spent most of my time in the kitchen. Since processed foods are out (as well as grains, dairy, and legumes),  I am spending a whole lot more time cooking. There is no “grabbing a sandwich”. There is a whole lot more clean up too. The up side is that I have energy to do it all. Looser fitting clothes are a bonus too. We have ten days left before we enter the “reintroduction” stage.

When I haven’t been cooking, I’ve been planning for school, which we start next week. I did have one day where I was able to get outside and do some clean up. That is when I got our Thursday picture of the week. I went out to the barn to look for something that I had misplaced (that happens a lot), and saw this guy on the door. I called Kat to bring my camera, and we used hers for scale.

Kat and the praying mantis as long as her phone

Kat and the praying mantis as long as her phone

Lord willing, I’ll be able to get the herbs harvested tomorrow, and set to preserving them. Oh, we harveseted the potatoes this morning. It was disappointing. I’ll share more about that next time.

Connie

Picture of the Week Thursday: The Moth

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This picture was actually taken last week, but when we took it, I knew I had to save it for today.

Ed was working outside and saw this.

Moth on 1x6 board

Moth on 5 1/2 inch boar

Of course he had to come get us. I have never seen one this big up close. We thought it was dead at first, but eventually, it flew off.

Isn’t it beautiful?

This second picture is to show some scale. Those are Ed’s work gloves. The moth was about five inches wide.

Ed's gloves and moth

Ed’s gloves and moth

Connie

Words Crush Wednesday: Waldo Gustafson

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Picure of Andy Gump car by http://www.liveauctionerrs.com

My great-grandfather came here from Sweden some time around the turn of the 20th century. He married my great-grandmother in 1919, and they had five children; my grandma being their oldest child. He loved this country, and July 4th was his favorite holiday. Although he died before I was born, I know these things about him because I was told over and over again. That’s is how family traditions get passed from generation to the other. I also know that he never lost his heavy Swedish accent. This Words Crush Wednesday quote isn’t from him; however. It”s from his oldest son: my Uncle Walt.

I lived with my great-grandmother quite a bit when I was little. It was from her I heard many of the family stories that I have passed down to my own children. Several of those stories had something to do with Uncle Walt. When he was maybe three or four years old, he often spoke English with a Swedish accent, just like his daddy. Around the same time he had an Andy Gump truck. I have never seen the truck, the picture above is an Andy Gump car.

One day, Uncle Walt got into some mischief and Grandma started after him to spank him, tripped on the cast iron truck and stubbed her toe. You know it hurt like crazy! Uncle Walt, solemnly looked up at her and made the pronouncement:“Well, dahts what you get for doing daht!” Meaning she deserved to stub her toe because she was chasing him to punish him. Yeah, he got it worse after that.

Of course, the telling of it forty years later, was hysterically funy. The phrase stuck. Any number of us have been known to pronounce our own good-natured judgment of sorts, when someone’s behavior reaps undesired consequences. “Well, dahts what you get for doing daht!”

Uncle Walt went to be with the Lord last year at the age of 94, but I have a feeling that four-year-old Waldo Gustafson is going to be quoted for many generations to come.

Connie

Murder Most Fowl

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It was a beautiful Sunday morning when I went out to move the chicks from the garage where they spend the night. About halfway there, I saw Meeko come around the side of the garage. After verbally expressing my irritation with him, and physically putting him back in his pen, I went back to my original plan: I got the cage full of chicks and sat them outside. I made sure they had food and water, and went back to the house. About thirty minutes later, the phone rang. It was Mrs. “A”.

“Do you have your baby chicks in that little cage?” she asked.
“Yes…”
“Well, your big black dog has got that cage, and he’ll kill ’em”
“Okay, thanks!”

I dropped the phone and ran outside, screaming for Meeko as I went. The cage was not where I left it. Following a path that would take me to Mrs. “A”‘s line of sight, and still yelling for and at Meeko, I found him (he was actually coming to me) and the cage.

The cage was upside down, and three of the five chicks  were still inside. One of those was dead. I don’t really remember a whole lot of the next few minutes. I did get Meeko back in the pen, and the cage turned right side up. Then I went to look for the other chicks. About that time, I heard Ed inside the house (he had been asleep…Friday and Saturday are late nights for him), and met him as he was coming out the door; dead chick in my hand. He took that one and the one other that we found, and headed (still barefoot) out to the dog pen.  That left me with the task I dreaded most: telling Katherine.

I went to her room and told her to  wake up. She saw my face and asked what was wrong. I told her Meeko killed three of the chicks, and she asked which ones. I told her I wasn’t sure and she flew out of her bed crying “my babies…my babies!”  The little chick that so loved to roost in her hair was one of the casualties. She found the last missing chick, and when Ed came back from chastising Meeko (which I believe included some aversion therapy) and tying him up inside the pen, we found a small box and had an impromptu chicken funeral.

When I said there would be more chicken stories,  I expected there would be some like this, but I wasn’t expecting them so soon.

Connie

A little Garden Update

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Well, the garden is still intact. The new chicks kind of put all that on hold. Additionally, I think something out there read the blog and told everyone to shape up or else! We got more from the garden yesterday than we have for the last month, but it’s still not a lot. The only plant I really want to leave is the basil. I always plant basil and marigolds near my tomatoes to deter horn worms and other nasties. I bought a basil plant this year, and then found the seeds I had saved from two years ago. I planted those just to see what they would do, and they didn’t do bad. I’m thinking I will harvest the leaves from the plant I bought and then let the other produce some seed that I can save for next year. I have one die hard marigold too!

Basil among the weeds

Basil among the weeds

Die hard marigold

Die hard marigold

The front yard is doing much better. We harvested the three little cabbages that survived from the seeds Kat and I started indoors last winter, and turned them into a nice batch of slaw (whole 30 compliant, of course). The green beans out there are still steadily producing. I am thinking about leaving them now, and using what else we get for next year’s seed. The strawberries are sending out runners everywhere, and I am looking forward to seeing what we get next spring. We also have sunflowers growing from saved seeds. They are working nicely as a trellis for our best producing cucumbers.

sunflowers and cucumbers

sunflowers and cucumbers

just about ready

just about ready

I have been working on covering the strawberry and herb beds with newspaper, cardboard and mulch to cut down on weeds and provide some nourishment to the soil. So far, most of the mulch has come from grass clippings, and it has been a slow process. This week, I was determined to get finished. Technically, the herb garden isn’t much of one yet, although most of the transplants I put out there have done well. So, I was out there, pulling the bigger weeds, and covering the smaller ones with newspaper and cardboard, when I came across a vine with some interesting, feathery leaves. Then I noticed a few red blossoms. I headed in the house to see if Google could shed some light on my mystery plant. Success! They are rose feather morning glories, and they are rare. Considering where I found them, I think a previous owner had to have planted them. So they can stay for now. I just mulched around them.

Rose feather morning glory

Rose feather morning glory

mint

mint

Rosemary and thyme

Rosemary and thyme

Oregano getting ready to bloom

Oregano getting ready to bloom

Sage

Sage

Rosemary

Rosemary

more oregano

more oregano

Since Ed has decided that he can rake grass a lot faster than I can, he started helping with that last time he mowed. Yesterday, he determined that it was just going to take too long to get enough grass to finish the job. We have a ton of old hay in the barn. So, we went and filled the truck bed with hay and quickly finished the mulching. I just hope its dead enough to not try and give me new growth in my herb bed, next spring.

Tossing hay from the loft

Tossing hay from the loft

036

mulched herb bed and extra mulch

Oh, and here’s a little chicken update:
As Ed said, Katherine has already named the chickens…much in the same way she names her drawings of dragons and My Little Pony characters. They are Free Fall, Sunrise, Noon, Dusk and Moonrise.
Here is a pic I shared with our facebook friends.

Kat and baby Moonrise

Kat and baby Moonrise

Today, she came inside, grabbed a pair of plastic gloves and headed around the corner toward her room (and the bathroom). She came back a few seconds later with a wet washcloth, holding up her gloved hand which now displayed a dark runny streak. Yep, she had just been pooped on by one of her “babies”! As I struggled not to laugh, she did too. Then she begged me not to tell Ed, but he figured it out when he saw her wiping her hair down with the wash cloth. I have a feeling the chicken stories are just beginning!

Have a blessed weekend!

Connie