Happy Fall Y'all!

Time for pumpkins, scarecrows, ghosts and goblins, beautiful tree leaves, and harvest.  Warm days, cool nights.  Everything is getting ready for that first snowfall.....except me of course!  I am trying to enjoy every minute of this fall season because it sure doesn't seem to last very long at all! 

 

Corn fields around us are being harvested causing all kinds of dust stirrings.  Sure isn't good for all of us allergy sufferers.  The deer are beginning to roam and soon the coyotes will be howling at night.  I feel sorry for the wild animals that make the farmlands there home during the summer.  With the number of shelter belts removed from farmlands, there isn't nearly as many places for the wild to live during the winter. 

 

We have a family of kittens living with us right now. Tiki, the mama, is taking great care of them.  There are five; three gray females, one buff yellow male and one orange male.  The orange one is quite a bit smaller than the others and he has a deformed front leg.  He can walk, but is slower than the others and he does fall because of it.  I'm sure he will learn to adapt with it but am sorry that happened to him. All of them are walking around and beginning to get into some mischief.  I am looking for homes so if any of you would like to provide a home for one - or more - please let me know!  I hate to say it but Christmas is right around the corner!  Great stocking-stuffers!  :-)

 

Tom and I are thankful for the great cardiologists at BryanLGH in Lincoln!  He was having some problems in September and a 95% blockage was noted in the diagonal branch off the LAD (left anterior descending) artery.  A stent was placed and he is doing very well!  Our daughter, Jenny, is an RN and works in the Cardiac - Vascular services at BryanLGH and she stayed with us through the procedure and made sure all was well.  So thankful to have someone so caring, efficient, and available for us - and proud to claim her as our daughter! 

 

Have a great evening and enjoy this fantastic weather!

 

 

One Never Knows......

One never knows what a day will bring.  Last Thursday morning started out like any other morning.  Up at 5 a.m. and Tom gets ready for work and I mix up some goodies for his lunch.  He makes his coffee and is out the door by 5:30 a.m.  Then, the morning takes a little bit of a turn......I went outside to turn the chicken lights on - Tom usually does this.  I took my time giving the birds a little wake up call and the roosters began crowing.  Then I went over to the goats and made sure they had hay for the day.  I watered Simba, my bunny and played with the dogs. As I walked towards the house I heard the house phone ring which made me realize I left my cell phone in the house.  I figured this was Tom calling to let me know something that he forgot to tell me.  Well, his voice sounded different and he asked, "Can you come get me?"  Oh, boy. Something is wrong!  I asked what happened and he said, "The car is in the ditch."  So, I go to my car, in my pajamas and Lucy is so determined to go with me.  She hops in the back and I start driving down the road.  I meet up with Tom and we headed south to where the car was.  He was heading south to go to work, but the car was heading north in the opposite road ditch.  He said the steering wasn't working very well and after he had stopped at a stop sign and began picking up speed and trying to figure out what could be wrong, the front driver's wheel turned cross-wise because the lower A-frame came off.  This was the cause of his ending up in the opposite road ditch.  There was also some body damage and the rear passenger tire was flat.  The radiator is leaking too. So thankful this didn't happen while he was driving down the highway at 60 mph! 

The car has been towed to our house and the insurance adjuster will come evaluate the damage the first part of the week.  We are fortunate to have three vehicles so Tom will be driving my car and I will be driving the pickup. 

This poor Chevy Malibu has been through just about everything!  Damages from hitting a fox, a raccoon, a deer, a pheasant shattered the windshield, and the transmission went out this summer in Bridgeport, NE on our way home from the Black Hills.  We just put 4 new tires on it 2 months ago!

Will keep you posted on the outcome of this Malibu.....Please put safety first while driving!  Buckle your seat belts, know how your car handles so you can detect when something is wrong, give 100% of your attention to driving and anticipate others actions.  This time of year be especially kind to farmers and their equipment.  Allow plenty of time to get where you are going! 

Have a safe and happy week!  Enjoy this beautiful fall!
Peggy

A loose screw???

Most of us are not fond of going to the dentist.  There are needles, drills, mirrors, mouth power washers, picks, polishers, clamps, pullers, and who knows what else, that are used to clean and repair teeth.  I wasn't blessed with quality teeth so have spent many hours in a dental chair since a child.  A few weeks ago I went for my 6 month check up and found out I had a chipped tooth that needed to be "fixed".  Not what I wanted to hear!  However, better than hearing, "you need a root canal"!  After this appt. I went to my periodontist for an annual checkup.  I just knew this appt. would be a piece of cake!  I had two implants placed 18 months ago and haven't had any problems.  Or, so I thought.  This examination revealed that I had a "loose screw" in one of the implants!  One would think this was bad news but, I was so excited because now I have a good reason for all the silly, crazy things I have been doing! - at least in Tom's point of view!  Lucky for me, this is an easy fix. :-)  Follow up appts. were made and today was the day.

My first stop was to have the chipped tooth repaired.  It was an upper tooth and from my previous experiences, they are the least debilitating as far as numbing goes.  Once I get past the needle used to numb the area I am usually okay.  The drilling, rinsing, packing, and polishing usually go smoothly.  I finished just before noon and was told I could have lunch!  Yippee!!! Just be careful to not bite into my upper lip!  I thought I could handle this without a problem.  So, the highlight of my day was meeting our daughter, Jenny, and granddaughter, Lauren, at Lauren's daycare.  Lauren was dressed in her Hello Kitty attire and was so cute!  Then, Jenny and I went to lunch at Grisanti's!  I stayed with the soft pasta manicotti and tomato tortellini soup! Heaven!  This was over all too soon and Jenny went to her class (she is working on her Master's in Nursing), and I went to my periodontal appt. to fix my loose screw.  No needles were needed for this and after some drilling, cleaning, and tightening a screw, the crown was reapplied and I was out the door.  As happy as I was to get all this accomplished in one day, I know I have a dilemma!  What excuse do I have for all the silly, crazy things I do??  Okay!  We will not go there!  At least not for the next 20-30 years - okay?  I am going to enjoy life and be thankful for all the good family and friends I have to share it with!

Have a great day everyone!!
Peggy

Happy Fall Y'all !!

What a beautiful day!  Windy, but sunny and gorgeous! Fall is my favorite time of year.  The hot, humid, sticky days have passed.  The night air is cool, crisp, and fresh.  The sunsets are colorful and the stars shine brightly. 

I love decorating with pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks, fall flowers, ghosts, goblins, scarecrows, turkeys, and pilgrims. Seems this season never lasts long enough.  Our animals love the cooler weather too.  They frolick in the pens and our dogs love to play tug of war with each other.  We have to extend the daylight hours in our chicken house to keep the chickens laying eggs daily.  We don't want them slacking off this time of year!  Farm fresh eggs are the best!

I have been spending time in my sewing room which is located upstairs.  It is usually too warm to work up there much in the summer so love it when I can get back to my projects. Working on some now and will post pictures at a later date.  This Friday and Saturday is Threads Across Nebraska in Kearney and I am planning to be there.  Quilts will be displayed and vendors will be there from across the state selling all kinds of goodies. I haven't attended this function before and am looking forward to it.

The sun has set for today and Tom is out mowing.  Probably won't have to do that to many more times this year!

Sweet dreams and blessings to you all!

Peggy 

Time Flies!

My how time flies!  I can hardly believe I haven't posted to my blog for over 2 years!  I try to take time to enjoy every day.  There are those days however, that travel at the speed of light making it difficult to track everything that occurs.  We are still in the goat business, Pygmy goats anyway.  We did make the decision to sell all of our Boer meat goats.  It wasn't easy but we do need to downsize so we can maybe find some time to relax.  Tom's daily drive into Lincoln is getting harder and harder.  Liking his job keeps him going.  I, too, like my job in York.  And we certainly LOVE living where we do.  We have done so much work on our house and acreage and there is still so much more to do.  I don't think anyone is every really done with upkeep to homes and grounds. 

I am going to make this blog short.  I will try to keep up more on a weekly/daily basis when possible.  I wish everyone well with God's Blessings!
Peggy

What Is A Quadratus Lumborum Anyway?

It is something everyone has and is used many times throughout the day. We use it to get in and out of bed. We use it when walking, especially going up steps. It's used when getting in and out of the car. It is also used with forward bending. I found out Tuesday morning while getting out of bed just what it is! It is a deep, back muscle that connects our iliac crest (hip bone) to our spine. It is irregular and quadrilateral shaped and broader at the base. It was all I could do to walk, shower, get dressed (just try putting on underwear, pants, socks and shoes without lifting your foot off the floor!), get into the car, drive to work, get out of the car, and function at work. My left leg was not functioning! Oh, how I was grateful to work at a Dr's. office! Thanks to Melanie, my supervisor, who brought patients back to rooms for me so I wouldn't have to walk the long hallways, an injection of 60mg of Toradol (and I haven't had a shot in the hip since Jenny was born 30 years ago!) and an Amrix pill was the only way I survived until getting into Physical Therapy at 12:30 p.m. This muscle would spasm when lifting my left leg and when attempting to bend over. How many movements do you make in a day that require you to pick up your leg and/or bend over? I guarantee you will know when that muscle acts up and spasms with every attempted move. While in physical therapy I performed many movements to identify the source of the pain. It was determined that I had referred pain to the left sacroiliac joint. Following an ultrasound of the area, I had interferential stimulation combined with a cold pack (which felt GREAT!) with manual massage to the area. I was fortunate to have a co-worker, scheduled for the morning only, stay for my afternoon shift. Thanks Lindsey! I managed to get myself home and slept in the afternoon. On Wednesday, I was able to bend over without pain. Still having pain with lifting my left leg, therefore, I encountered difficulty getting dressed, getting in and out of the car, and climbing steps. Ibuprofen and the heating pad were my friends throughout the next two days and nights. I visited my Physical Therapist friend on Thursday for ultrasound and massage. He placed a battery-operated medication patch to my lower left back which time-released a steroid into the skin. Today, Sunday, is the first day I have not had pain when lifting my left leg! Yippee!! I'm not marching anywhere yet but I hope that I will be able to do that soon!

Weaning Kids!

I'm discovering that weaning goat kids is much like weaning human kids. It's the Mama's that are most affected! When our two children were weaned I always felt like - "they don't need me as much". "They're growing way too fast!" Yesterday, Tom built a separate fenced area for our 4 baby kid goats to live in while the Mama's milk can dry up in preparation for a fall breeding season. We separated them yesterday and this morning the babies are lounging around on the shelter (yes ON and not IN) and the Mama's are close to their fence calling out to them. Hopefully, this won't last too many hours......did I hear someone say days???! At least our house is closed up and the air conditioning is on so isn't bothering us too much. And if you are neighbors to us, well, you better close up your house and run the air conditioning - or take a vacation?? (Now why didn't I think of that?!!!) Hopefully, it won't take the Mama's too long to figure out that they will always be friends and live together as the babies grow to adulthood - at least while they live on the Fritz Hobby Farm. For 32 years Tom and I continue to realize that our children, and our grandchildren, are the best part of our lives and, no matter what, continue to need us as much as we need them!