Lots of Rain Last Night

My gosh did we get rain last night, well it was actually early this morning but still time to be in bed. We had our driveway wash out badly for the first time in years; there is a chasm about 2 1/2 feet deep and 3 feet wide where the stream bed crosses it. The water is still flowing in the big creek that is usually dry. We needed to get hay today and that is not gonna happen. Our neighbors from South Dakota put in a couple of metal culverts (called tin horns exclusively around here) across that creek to "improve" the drive up to their "south 80" a few months ago. I know Ron told them they won't stay there when the water gets up. And I know that at least one other person told them too, before they put them in. I would not be surprised to find out that numerous people told them they won't be there long. Those folks have been her at least 8 years now and one would think they would have started listening to locals about the way things are. Most of us around here were figuring they would last about a year, until next spring when we usually get high water. Surprisingly, however, the tin horns did not wash out last night; they washed out two nights ago when we had about 2 inches of rain. They were on the next property over. Unfortunately, I do not think they had yet retrieved them when we got hit last night. Those tin horns are probably in the next county now.

These are the same folks that called up the electric company, after they went through replacing poles, to come get the "garbage" off his property. The garbage was the old poles which the power company leaves behind for the farmers as a favor because they can be used for all sorts of things, such as corner posts for fences. The electric company guy asked us if we wanted them. Yep, sure do. Two weeks later, the folks from S. Dakota went out and spent a couple hundred dollars on wood corner posts. Pretty much the same thing they threw the hissy fit about getting the "garbage" off their property. I just don't know about some folks.

A little over a month ago our internet speed was increased. We are finally able to "stream" videos. I didn't really know why it sped up and so I didn't say anything to anybody because I thought it would go away again as it showed up. But it is still here so I feel like we have finally caught up to the end of the 20th century. We do seem to be having more trouble with our phone lines since then. Actually I am surprised we have phone or internet today. We are lucky we have power. It went out in the storm a couple nights ago. I wound up spending a few hours staying up with Tink and a flashlight. Back to the internet speed…Since we can stream videos now I have been watching a lot of documentaries on YouTube. I mean a lot of them. I didn't realize how much I missed them. PBS almost never shows documentaries anymore because there are cable stations devoted to them. There are still so many more I want to watch but I think I am going a bit loopy and need to watch something else for a break. Right before I realized there were real documentaries on YouTube I had watched some old Match Game episodes from the 70's. That was a great game show; I love it. Maybe I'll watch a few more of those.  

Ron went up the hill to open the gate between our property and a neighbors so the cattle can have some graze since we have no hay--with permission of the neighbor, it was said neighbors idea. That is nice. When he comes back down we need to start work on the driveway.

Good and Bad News

The good news: I got a vacuum.

The bad news: All the turkey poults died.

I don't really know why they died, t was after a slightly chilled night but I didn't think that it would be too chilly. The next morning one did not look so good and I thought it might have been on the bottom of the pile and got a bit squished; sometimes they survive that, sometimes they don't. The day rapidly was warming so I knew they were not at all chilled by then. All others were chipper. I go back an hour later to check on the one and it was dead as well as four others with the last one not looking good at all. I am not terribly upset, I didn't want to have to take care of them anyway. But I am sad over it as well as a bit confused.

The vacuum is not the one I wanted but it wasn't the cheapest one either, in the range of second cheapest as there were two or three that were within a few dollars of each other. Got it today and it is not put together yet since very shortly after returning home from town some neighbors came over. When they left I tried calling my dad, it is his birthday, no one answered, and then I had to water a section of garden and another neighbor came by as soon as I started that. It is getting dark and I do not like vacuuming after dark (it can make winter vacuuming a little difficult) so it sits in its box in the living room.

I wasn't sure I would get a vacuum this month, not even a cheap one, because the mortgage inadvertently got paid twice. We were a tad scared there for a few days because we really cannot afford a double payment and would have suffered toward the end of the moth, but it did get refunded pretty quickly.

I hve a toothache. Arg!

It has been hot but not as bad as some parts of the country. We are a little low in rain now.

I was feeling a bit poorly the last few days but better now. I have been feeling much more myself recently, the last few days were nothing compared to the last few years. I have discovered hunger pains again; it is an interesting sensation that I almost failed to recognize. The first one was like, "What the hell is that? Oh, great, a new pain. Why does it feel vaguely familiar? Oh! I know what that is!" I can eat more than one meal the size of a snack a day now. The portions are close to normal and I put something in my stomach at least twice a day. I have more stamina and can actually do things. Not bad.

Fourth of July, the Fifth, and So On

For the 4th we set off our own fireworks in the driveway. It used to be that town set them off on the 4th but when they switched from the golf course/industrial park location to the fairgrounds a few years ago, they set them off on the Friday closest to the 4th. And last year they didn't set them off at all because of the bad dryness; that is understandable but they could have cancelled them earlier in the day instead of waiting until dusk to cancel. Anyway… we had a a nice show for ourselves. Some years a lot of people come over, some years a few, this year was just us; it hasn't been that way in years.

So we went to town for their fireworks the next day. The show was alright, as good or even better than most small towns around here put on, but it was not as good as it usually is. So it was a bit of a disappointment--especially since they should have had last years and some new this year to shoot off. Oh well, still better than a lot of the local shows. Usually my town of address, which is not a town at all, does fireworks during the community picnic but we heard today they are not going to do it this year. We don't know why yet.

 Oh yeah, my Tinker threw up on the way home from town Friday night. We don't know why on that either. She was feeling a bit down Saturday, a little less on Sunday but by today seems back to normal. The reason I bring this up is because she threw up in a cup instead of all over the backseat or her sister or me--which is how I used to find out she was nauseated, she would throw up in my face the first time. And while I am speaking of her, I have absolute proof she is grasping the concept of "tomorrow" and there is a good chance she is understanding the days of the week. Which is not an easy task at this house even for those of us that are not autistic. If she wants to go to town and is told tomorrow, she might still be "irritable" about not going on that day, it is the next morning when she gets up she gets dressed herself. And she is always the first up so we wake with her dressed (and irritated we are not ready to leave yet). If she doesn't know it is a  town day, she does not get herself dressed without being told.

Sunday we had a hatch of turkey poults. I hate doing that to a hen but Ron set the eggs under a gal when he was still taking care of the birds. Turkey babies act different than chicken babies and they talk a foreign language. Nine poults hatched.

At 10:30 this morning all 9 were in the nest with mom still. At ten 'till 1:00 this afternoon mom was dead and there were only 3 poults in the nest. I found 2 more poults running around and knew there was one I couldn't seem to catch. There were 2 other active setting nests that all of the proper eggs were in but the moms-to-be were running around scared. I could figure out what happened. About 20 after 1:00, Ron went out back with me to try to catch that last one out running around. While I was trying to catch one that had already been caught and escaped again, Ron noticed a huge blacksnake in one of the nests that had had 5 eggs in it 15 minutes before but there was only one left now. The way the mom-hen looked makes sense now, she was protecting the babies and he got her head and neck in as far as he could and then disgorged it. We killed the snake; nothing else to do once they find a coop. And this explains the uneven egg days--snake got 'em. I did manage to catch that loose poult a couple hours later. That plus a few other more mundane irritants, like the vacuum biting the dust, was making this out to be a not so great day. And I still had a town trip to do. For some reason, I forgot to take my pain pill before leaving. I usually take it right before changing clothes so  it has time to start working before we hit the road. I carry a few emergency ones in my purse but there was nothing to drink in the car and I can't take pills without fluid, it is hard enough with something to drink. I never could make it as a pill popper--"Hey baby, want some reds?" "Do they come in gummy bear form?" Ha ha ha. So I could get something to drink as soon as we get to town, or sooner if the flag is up at the country store, but I decided not to unless I HAD to. While I did have some pain, if was laughable compared to what that ride felt like before my last surgery. I made the whole trip without my usual mental litany of "take me back home, no never mind just let me out and I'll walk oh no I can't walk that far and it's getting farther just take me home no just let me out…"  About halfway to town I pointed at a spot on my belly and said, "It hurts right there." and I really did start laughing. Ron couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do. So while the day was not going great I did find out I do not have to fear a car ride. And I had feared them, for a few years it was torture.

I need to get a new vacuum. Our fireworks would have been less if it would have busted a few days ago but I don't think we can get one until next month now. I suppose it depends on the one I choose. The one I want I have to wait, one that will do we might be able to skinny through the month. I hated this last one we got when the one I wanted was $20 more than it is now plus shipping cost and the wait time of getting it. Now it is cheaper and at the store. I don't know what to do. I guess the hair build up will make the decision for me.

Fathers Day

Today we went to the semi-local Renaissance Faire; it takes an hour and a half to two hours to get there. It is the first time we have been in a few years. I think it has gotten smaller. I hope that does not mean it will be going away like the old one, that was closer to us, did after a few years. There were not many people there when we got there, about two hours after it opened, but it was pouring rain. After a couple hours more people had shown up and it had stopped raining.

Right after we got there we were in one of the booths that sells costuming. Right before we got there the folks that ran that booth had to poke a hole in the roof because it had been collecting water and starting to bow down in the middle. So water was pouring into the center of the little shop in a stream about the size of a half dollar. My Tinker walks up to it with her mouth open to catch the water. I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her and told her not to do that. She gave me such a look of pure Irish stubbornness, stuck her hand in the water stream and started using it as a cup to drink the water. This kid does NOT drink water, really. I am very glad the water was clean, relatively clean, because she got about five handfuls before we got her to stop (only by leaving that booth). I couldn't help laughing at the look she gave me. The people there were a bit confused at the whole interaction. I saw an opal necklace that really struck my eye. I really don't wear jewelry and didn't want to spend $20 bucks (very reasonable actually) for something I wasn't going to wear so I did not get it. It still calls to me though, odd.

Oh, and they had something this time I had not seen before. I saw him at a distance at first and thought he was the Grim Reaper. But then he was closer and turned toward me and I saw the ridiculous bird mask--A plague doctor! If I were not absurdly interested in history and on top of it being interested in plague and leprosy in history, I would not have a clue to what he was dressed as but if one walked up to him he handed out a little pamphlet telling people about plague doctors. It also gave me the idea to dress up as someone with plague for the fair next time; it could be fun.

We foolishly did not get anything to eat while we were out, except fries for Tink. Both Ron and I were tired and didn't feel like cooking. Morg and he had frozen pizza and I open a can of clam chowder.

Speaking of rain, Springfield got nine inches in a couple hours yesterday, we didn't get any; I sure do not mind not getting nine inches. We did get some today here, about a quarter inch, less than the Ren Faire got. We did get a light and sound show that was awesome. It is nice to be getting rain, this time last year we were in a drought. There has already been more hay cut this year than all of last year. The big sigh of relief of everybody is audible--echoing in the hills. There should be blackberries this year too!

Rainy Day and Killer Cat

I saw one of the oddest things I have ever seen today, and I have seen some odd things in my life. One of the cats, a really good hunter, made a kill of a large rat late this morning; that is not so odd, he does that, kills big rats. What was odd about it is that it was a two-in-one kill. I was working in the garden a little, trying to get something done before it started raining. I heard a noise over by the trash pile and looked up to see my little cat with something in his mouth that was almost as big as he is. As I try to focus on it to see what he had, I see either a rat or squirrel depending on which of the things was its tail. It had what appeared to be a fuzzy tail and a thin mostly hairless one. Meanwhile the cat is walking at a quick clip to a better place to torture his prey.  He stopped just outside of the garden and so I walked over to clarify to myself what I was seeing. It was a rat, a big rat, and hanging off its rear-end was a smaller rat, fully furred but only about 1/5th the size of the big one. The little one hung on to the big one through quite a bit of abuse before it finally got knocked off. It was still alive but barely moved, maybe injury, maybe just plain fear. The cat walked a little ways away to finish off the big one and by this time he had collected a bit of an audience, me, Ron (and his eldest daughter via phone), three dogs, and two other cats. One of the cats tends to wait until "the hunter" is done and cleans up most of the remains, not that he doesn't hunt himself, it is just he gets more this way. I took a stick and flung the small rat his way, he got it. At this point it is starting to sprinkle and the odd spectacle of the double rat catch was over--I still don't get the little one hanging off the big one through the grabbing, the 5o or so yard fast-paced walk to the killing ground, and then the five or so minutes of abuse; it was not a baby, they are hairless, it was too small to consider mating with the big one and that is not the way it was hanging anyway. Just really odd.

Speaking of my little hunter, he has a funny thing he does. If it is dark or the weather really bad, he wants to bring his kills inside, many cats really try to do that, but I, of course, do not let him/them do this. But I discovered one stormy summer evening when I could not keep him out of the den, he would accept a box for it. I got a box big enough for him to move around but not too big, about the size of a case of bottled beer or soda. I put him with critter in mouth in the box, he jumped out at irst but I put him in again and he got it. Now he comes in and verbally demands a box instead of asking to go inside or letting it loose in the den where it could get lost. One time, not that long ago, we didn't have a box and he showed his disfavor by using a laundry basket, that was nasty to clean up. Now we make his boxes live longer by putting newspaper in the bottom and they can usually be reused.

The rain has stopped and I really ought to go see if there is any gardening I can get done. Because of my surgery the garden is way behind. We are going to have almost nothing this year. We do have some seedlings that need planted out and I do want to start some beans even if it is late, but the garden isn't ready for them yet. It is a really good thing we do not have to depend on it to eat (just to eat really good food) because last year we had a lot of stuff planted but so much got that weird curling and didn't produce well and now this year we just couldn't get done. It has been cooler than usual also, some things that enjoy heat are just stuck in limbo waiting for it to warm up. This is the only year I can think of that, when we have had an A/C, we did not turn it on in May. I can only think of two days I even considered it but it was already getting late and the sun would be down soon cooling everything, so it just never happened; here it is more than a week into June and still haven't used A/C. As a matter of fact, it is not supposed to get out of the mid-70's today. The first day of June we didn't make it out of the 60's. It is supposed to get into the 90's this week though so we will probably close the windows and turn the A/C on.

I am really starting to see why the surgeon kept saying about my hernia being big. I was loosing a lot weight prior to the surgery because I was having such trouble eating. I lost any fat I had and my muscle was disappearing, I was getting real skinny yet when I would sit, my belly would be in my lap; I didn't understand that but… Now, even though there is still a hint of swelling from being cut on, my belly is not in my lap. It is not flat, never will be again after two kids and the surgeries, but there is a significant difference. And I had an appointment, my last, with the surgeon last week, it is the first car ride I have taken in years that has not been an experiment in torture. I won't say it didn't hurt but the difference in pain is significant; the difference in an uncomfortable ride and living in fear of having to get into the car. And, yes and, I have not felt the eels in my guts since the surgery. Eels is the only thing that really describes the feelings, not worms, not snakes, it was eels and they are not there anymore. No wonder I was having so many problems, half of my guts were on the wrong side of the muscle wall.  

Gallbladder and Computer: Casualties of April

I guess the surgery went well. The gallbladder was toast and had apparently been bad for some time and was in the process of giving me another bad attack (blocking the bile duct of the liver with a stone) on the day of surgery. And the hernia of the small intestine turned out to be "quite a bit bigger than originally thought," according to the doc, who mentioned this quite a few times to stress the point. I have pictures but I am not going to post them--gross. I left the hospital "against medical advice" because I felt like I was no longer improving and was gong to get worse if I stayed. My blood oxygen level was dropping little by little and I was having trouble breathing. As well as the stress of being there was keeping my intestines locked up (in other words, I wasn't pooing yet) and the doc was monitoring all output so I was not supposed to flush but after the first day no one seemed to check on the little toilet hat thing until I would complain it was about to overflow. Problem was is that my potassium was *very* low. The doc prescribed me supplemental potassium and wanted me to come back in two days for a check. The pharmacy didn't have the right stuff until the next day so I put off the appointment for another day -- from my POV I was supposed to have a full day on the potassium before having blood labs -- and got yelled at by the doc for not coming in when she said. The potassium prescription didn't really work, probably because I would just throw it back up. I was having a horrid problem with that, throwing up that is. They couldn't figure out why I was throwing up all the time, I think it was because of multiple reasons and that it why it was so difficult to track down. Anyway, she pretty much convinced Ron that I should go back into the hospital, I didn't agree but he was the one driving and the doc threatened to fire me as a patient… so back into the hospital. By this time though, my bowels were moving a little and there was still a no flush order. Same as before, well monitored the first day but by the second day the bathroom smelled a bit like an outhouse in summer. I hate hospitals. I won't even begin about the stuff I was being served to ingest. I was released after two days but I think I would have been better off if I would have stayed home where I was less stressed and a lot more comfortable as well as food that I could eat. I had to quit taking the potassium because it was the last thing left making me throw up. I couldn't take it as prescribed anyway because it had to be taken with food and I couldn't eat three times a day and when I did take it I would just loose it and the food I ate. My potassium did recover anyway; I think it was because I was able to eat, finally. That and eating lots of creamy tomato soup.

It has been just shy of six weeks now. I guess I am doing okay. Things are hardly normal as far as my body goes, if I stand or walk for any length of time it feels like my guts are going to fall out. I guess that is not too surprising considering how much my belly has been cut into but I really hope it goes away. Eating is much easier than it has been in a couple of years, honestly, but it makes my belly hurt for about half an hour to 45 minutes. I am still achy and slow but I guess that is normal at this point as I am still not supposed to lift anything plus I was a bit malnourished to begin with. I am starting to get anxious though.

In between my hospital stays, I used my computer to pay bills. When I came out after the second stay Ron said the computer wouldn't turn on. This happened before, late last year, where I couldn't get tit to turn on for days; one light would come on and that would be it. After a few days it came back on. So we waited and hoped, it didn't come back on. Since it was getting close to bill time again it was decided to find someone to look at it--not a promising endeavor in this area. The person we took it to didn't know why it wasn't getting full power and since it was so old (five years) he probably couldn't find parts. This was better than claiming he could fix it and screwing it up (as the last computer person we took it too did when it needed a new fan). He said he could transfer the info from it to another computer though. Fine. I had some money left over from a gift from my dad months ago in prep for this or another sudden need so I got another computer. The guy said he would have it ready by the next morning. He didn't answer his phone all the next day. Finally at about 5:30 pm he finally "finished" it. None of the music file were transferred and there are a couple other files I haven't found that had been on my desktop. Other than that I guess it was worth the $40 we paid him, at least he didn't try to steal the old computer (that happened at another computer repair place around here). I do not like Windows 8 operating system. It is too focused on social networking, videos, games and other such. We do not have the internet speed for games or streaming videos and I do not do social networking and it is hard to get to programs installed after the computer comes home. It has tablet computers and smartphones in mind, not to mention fast internet speed. In the time without the computer and getting used to the new one, I have gotten even less into sitting in front of it. A lot of it is also, probably, is that I have been pretty much an invalid and tend to avoid people and news and other things when I am not feeling good. For instance, I started this blog almost a week ago and got interrupted then just couldn't manage to get back to it until I forced myself today. 

Catching Up

Yesterday, Thursday, we had wet snow and a lot of it. Most places measured 4 inches but everything was, and had been, so warm when it started a bunch melted. On the backyard glass table I got a 7 inch measurement and still think more than that fell because it was almost 40 F when the snow started. Too much for the rain gauge to keep up with so I don't have a clue to the rain equivalent. A lot melted today so now it will be slick tonight and expecting more rain/snow tomorrow. Making up for the drought of last season.

My new glasses are great but I do not like the bifocal line; I have yet to decide if it will cause any real problem as there have been other things going on but it has been nice to be able to see clearly again even if I do have to look around a line. It does bother my neck a bit because I have to use it more where I would just move my eyes but now get the line or the wrong lens. Funny, I did not realize how much I do that.

I do not recall, nor am I going to look back in my blogs, how much I have mentioned my eating problems of late. I love food plus am the main food preparer for a household that has no microwave and uses almost no pre-processed foods. So, I think about food in one way or another for the majority of my waking day. It has been making me sick. Yes, even thinking about food in most cases nauseates me anymore. If I can get past that, I have really bad teeth since my cancer treatments and it can hurt to chew. Then it goes to the stomach that really doesn't want it but cares less which way it sends it. If it sends the food further down, my small intestine seems to like things to hang around until it builds up enough to force it through my ileum which has seemed to have turned into some kind of goalie and tries to keep stuff from passing through without giving it it's painful all. If I don't eat enough food to force more through it starts to ferment, I assume, and develop a bit of gas which will push the last bits out if I do not eat more; this can take days. There really is already "too much information" and what happens when food gets to the remnants of my large intestine gets graphic but, trust me, it is not comfortable in any way, nor slow like the small intestine. So from start to finish, eating has mostly been not worth it. Enough to stay alive is pretty much all I have been eating; I can't ever remember being weaker in my life.

Then on Saturday March 9th I couldn't even keep down water. It was time to do something, I went to the ER in Mountain View. It is a  nice place, small hospital, they told me it would be kind of a long wait. It wasn't that long after  they realized I could not sit up for long. I got a saline drip for dehydration, they discovered I had bottomed out on my potassium so they gave me some of that.  And they gave me something that made my tummy stop turning; that was heaven. The blood work also showed something rather humorous if it hadn't meant I had to go to the West Plains ER to have an ultrasound for something I told them from the start was NOT the problem. I had a possible positive pregnancy test. They would do nothing else, and no one else would either, until it was proven, by visuals, that I was not pregnant. There was no way I could have been, for three reasons, shy of parthenogenesis and I do not believe it is  possible in humans.  Okay, so shy of walking out against medical advice, which certainly would not help my case, I was stuck going to West Plains (I won't get into West Plains hospital but it is scary). Rather than go by ambulance, I had Ron come to get me, I had sent him and the kids home hours before. On the way to get me some idiot dumps a dog on the highway right as Ron is coming over a hill. They pull off, the dog tries to follow them but… Ron stops, opens the door, he said the dog looked after the other car as it pulled over the  hill and then jumped in. He is about 7 months and just got neutered today. Morrigan named him Fire Cloud. He is going to be a big dog. I curse those people with nightmares. Ron is a sucker and I told him so; he also knows I would have done the exact same thing he did. So We travel with the dog to West Plains where it was supposed to take less than two hours but actually took about five to find out that indeed I was not PG. Finally, home again and with enough anti nausea stuff that I can drink and try solids in a few days. Follow up with regular physician.

 I saw a doc on Monday, not my regular but at regular clinic. He took blood. He also mentioned that two of my liver enzymes were way out of whack in the blood draw at the ER. He prescribed some potassium and more stuff for my upset tummy and then called in a couple days to tell me that my liver enzymes were even further out of whack. By this time I was able too see the test results myself and out of whack was putting it mildly. It was scary. Since I am sending this to my brother, like I usually do my dad, I will put in the numbers because my BIL is a doctor.

ALT: norm 15-37, 1st draw 197, 2nd draw 252;

AST: norm 30-65, 1st draw 251, 2nd draw 447

Anyone can see this is a little scary. So they wanted me to have another ultrasound but this time of some other organs besides my uterus. They saw something and didn't tell me. I think they should have. In interest of knowing oneself, I should have been told about this thing they saw--apparently I should have been told in 2008 when they first found it then told again when they saw it in the ultrasound and I could have put their fears to rest. I was told about it today after a CT scan, even though the ultrasound was close to a week ago. I can't remember what she called it, hema-something, which by the sound of it sounded like Latin for blood-filled-sack, and the doc told me I was almost spot on. I have a blood-filled-bubble? attached to my liver, doc says from birth, that straddles the two lobes of my liver. It is under two inches and they seldom do anything with them unless they get to be bigger than four inches. I should have known about this and they should have looked deeper into my gut files but…this thing has nothing to do with the liver enzymes. My last blood draw, Monday, showed My ALT at 126 and my AST at 74; not normal but way more normal than it had been. So, since the "tumor" they thought they had turned out to not be my rectal cancer spreading to my liver, they figure I must have passed a gallstone into my liver that blocked things up but then passed out of the liver by the time they saw it in the ultrasound and CT. I am on for dealing with the gallstones they also found in the second ultrasound. That seems to be a major part of the problems I have been having for the last few years that had just been passed off as remnants of my cancer treatments. On top of that, I have a hernia at my belly button that is affecting my small intestine and I have been complaining about pain there for a while now. I am scheduled for surgery on April 1st; it seems fitting. I could have gotten it done this next week but we just shot the bull and he is hanging. Next week we need to be cutting and wrapping. I can't lift but I can cut and wrap.

Well, that is about it.