Shearing...Interrupted

Yup, they are still fluffy - Marsha got as far as south Mt. Vernon and had to turn back - they had at least 6" of snow on the road and it was coming down like crazy - disappointing, but it's been pretty cold this weekend - there was slush on the back porch when I finally got out of bed this morning to feed the poor starving darlings (actually they were all napping, so no harm done).

On the bright side - John sat up on the edge of the bed this afternoon and didn't scream - he didn't even whimper! He did have to lie back down quite quickly, BUT, he also picked his own feet up off the floor! Yay! He IS getting better. He IS getting better. He IS getting better. (that's my mantra these days...)

Next? Ordering from the online seed catalogs. (I can't promise tomorrow, I'm singing at church in the a.m. & I've got to get John's hair washed somehow - he's starting to look worse than the sheep!)

Earth Angels

<- This is our friend Diane -

and this is our friend Vikki ->

They are Earth Angels. They came over today and kept an eye on John so I could go to work - - - They also cleaned our kitchen and guest bathroom. It made me dizzy when I got home, it was so white!

Thank you Diane and Vikki - more than you'll ever know!

The shepherd is still down for the count, but he stood up twice today - the first time for 5 minutes or so - Every day he gets a little bit better.

The damndest thing is that this morning I called the neurosurgeon that Dr. W. suggested - told the nurse that we needed to have Dr. B. evaluate John's MRI and get in to see him. They called this afternoon at 3:15 and told John (who was just woken up by the phone call and in his usual drug induced haze) "We can see you at 4:00 to talk about your options" Of course, he couldn't get hold of me at work, because I'd left for the day and of course, for the first time in ages, I didn't have my cell phone with me. When I got home and calmed John down and called them back, they indicated that the short notice was because they had a cancellation - I explained to the nurse (again) that John wasn't able to walk - and so we had no way to get him in there - Don't these people listen? Like last Friday when I told the lady at the imaging clinic - What part of "not able to walk" don't you understand?

So, he has the next available appointment - March 13 - and he is on the cancellation list. Hopefully we'll get a little more notice the next time - hopefully by the next time, he'll be ambulatory and able to sit in the car.

Well, I really want to go watch the end of Law & Order, but I'm pooped and I think I'll go to bed. Our minister is going to stop by tomorrow as well as another couple - hope it lifts his spirits. Later - T.

Houston, we have lift off!

Or, otherwise speaking, he stood on his own two legs, with out yelps of pain or anything - for almost two minutes! Yeah! Giant blessings for small steps - each day he's getting a little better!

Truthfully, it is easy for me to see how caregivers can so easily mistreat the ones they are taking care of - that person is so dependant upon you, it is frightening! And exhausting - I got up a little late this a.m. - (7:45!) - the sheep are used to getting fed at "0-dark-30" but they must have decided to sleep in this a.m. too, because when I got out to the barn they were all snoozing away - and gave me this look, like "what are you doing out here so early!" I came back in, got John some cereal & did a few things around the house - at 9:00 I decided that I needed to lay down - just for a little bit - Gave DH the paper to read, but he was snoring before I could get to sleep - and we didn't wake up until 10:45! And even then, I felt like I could sleep for another day!

Our friend Nancy came over this afternoon. It cheered him to have someone new to tell his story to, and she is going to come over on Friday at noon to help us with shearing. John is bound and determined that he will be out there to watch - maybe that is the one thing we need for him to get better - do you think?

Back to work tomorrow - let's hope that shearing day anticipation does its magic!

Later - T.

We are done with Day 5.....

and he's getting a little bit better every day - he doesn't think so, but tonight he scootched himself up in the bed and he didn't scream - to me that was a huge deal! I count every little thing as a success.

Of course, being on drugs, his mind is working way overtime - so far he has sold the truck, gotten rid of the boys, and several other things that I can't remember right now. It is hard not to laugh sometimes, like when he looked at me after sleeping about an hour yesterday morning and said, with all honesty - "I think that is the longest I've slept in days" - Ok honey, yup, you're right, is all I can say...

He's been eating well and drinking lots of water, pees alot, but still hasn't done, well you know - since Tuesday. Our friend Nancy, who is a retired nurse told me to buy a "fracture pan" - it is a bed pan that is shaped kind of like a dustpan - just slips under you butt and there you go, so to speak - I've been giving him those "red gel pills" but so far nothing has happened. I gave him the heavy artillery - Prune juice - this evening - boy he didn't like that one bit - but he did drink most of it. I don't want to comprehend the alternative if that doesn't work - and don't you DARE breathe a word to him that I put this on my blog - he would kill me - (and at this point, they'd have to bring him to the funeral on a gurney) - Sorry - I'm starting to get a very wierd sense of humor about the whole thing.

But I'm very lucky - John's boss came today with eight bales of hay - they are safely tucked in the barn - while he was doing that, I watered the greenhouse and after he left, I took a rake to the front pathway where the gurneys from the ambulances had left ruts. The weather has been pretty good - 50's during the day and only in the low 40's at night - it could be like my friend Kathy in Flagstaff - http://www.sheepthrillsfarm.com/ They had gotten a load of moldy hay and had to clean out their entire barn! And it's only in the 20's there at night, so everything is frozen brick solid! That's when I'd be saying - hey, I didn't sign on for this tour of duty!

Our friends Diane and Vicki from church are going to come on Tuesday and give him his lunch & mid day meds so I can go to work and not worry. Bless their hearts, they are going to do some house cleaning for me too. I am embarassed to tell you, I am a horrific housekeeper - things just seem to get away from me - hopefully they will still speak to me afterwards! They are going to do some weeding out in the yard too - that will really help ease John's mind. But he needs to hurry up and get well - the crocus are blooming!

I hate to do it but I have to go wake him up to give him his night time meds. I don't want him to get behind on the pain pills - then neither one of us will get any sleep. Gotta go - later. T.

Update on John

Well, we got him to the hospital for his MRI this a.m. - Instead of just going, having the MRI & having them read it some time this weekend & get the report to our GP on Monday, I told them that depending upon what it showed, we might want to admit him to the hospital. So, we had to wait a bit, but we got the results today. The good news is that there was nothing really "bad" - he now knows that he won't "die or sever a nerve" by getting up and getting around - the bad news was it showed a herniated disc in L1 & L2, & when I talked with his GP, he didn't feel that the problem was severe enough to admit him to the hospital - $1000 a day to have someone bring him a bed pan and give him his meds. Well I can do that, & I am free. His regular chiropractor, (who was nice enough to call today on his lunch hour while he is in Seattle for a conference) got the info too and he is going to probably give us a call tonight or tomorrow. John just loves this guy and I'm thinking that if Dr. K. says, "OK, buddy, it's time to start getting up and around a little bit every day" - he'll start doing that.

John was actually much better this a.m. than he has been since we took him to the ER on Wednesday, so, I'm feeling encouraged. The sun is out today and John's boss and good friend Kurt went and picked up 8 bales of hay for us this morning and he's going to bring them by the house tomorrow, so the bah, ram, ewes won't starve to death (god forbid they should be shorted on their hay - if they ate as much as they scattered around the barn, we'd be a bale or two ahead! LOL) They pretty much stopped looking at me cross-eyed when I go in the barn - but I can still get them to scatter - all I have to say is "booga booga" and they nicely get out of my way. I have been loading my pockets with animal crackers, but the only ones who really like them are the boys.

Keeping him in your thoughts and prayers will be much appreciated. T.

The Accidental Shepherd

This is my DH - he is really hurting right now - a combination of deteriorating discs in his back and (IMHO), bad chiropractic - I have nothing against chiro, believe me, it has kept him walking and working for years, but that was with a good careful & caring chiropractor, who was, unfortunately on vacation last week, so because he has been in pain for the last month - he finally went to the referral chiropractor - and it turned out to be not a good thing. He's "deteriorated" rapidly from the Monday appointment he had with this guy to the point that we actually called 911 on Wed. at 2:30 a.m. & had them transport him to the hospital, because he could not walk, he couldn't stand, or sit without EXTREME agony. Hospital ER doc looked at him - pumped him full of drugs & sent us on our way. Amazingly, he did walk out of the hospital, but that's the last time he's been up on two legs. Why we didn't have them do an MRI while we were there, I'll never know - I guess, because we had one scheduled for Saturday - and who knew that once we got him home, he would deteriorate so quickly. He's on Heavy duty pain pills - dilaudid - good stuff - I took it when they replaced my knee and after my surgery last spring - it is barely managing his pain. - Valium - 2 every 8 hours - (I'm giving him an extra one tomorrow before his MRI just in case he has a little case of the claustorphobes...) Prednisone twice a day -

So, he's got this MRI appointment tomorrow - How'm I gonna get him there if the cannot stand or walk or sit? There is a private ambulance company here in town but golly - they'd charge almost $1000 to transport him on a stretcher and our insurance wouldn't cover it! They said they were sorry and could see my problem, but they only paid for ambulance charges if the patient was being transported to the hospitan and so they couldn't help me! Shit! I called some friends and we were hoping that they might be able to help us - they have a Volvo station wagon - but there is still the problem of getting him from the bed to the car! - Then to top it all off, our doctor's office called at 4:45 this afternoon and the imaging clinic called them & CANCELED OUR MRI APPOINTMENT because I had told them that he was being brought in by gurney! They said that he needed to be able to walk from the door to the imaging table - now what kind of crap is that? AND why did that woman wait till the very end of the day to call our doctor's office?

I must say, tho that the nurse from our dr's office surprisingly stepped up to bat for us. She got us an appointment for tomorrow a.m. at he Hospital MRI - and then she got Dr. W. to OK that he will have them admit him after the MRI. (Unless a miracle happens overnight - anybody got one in your pocket?) I guess we're still going to have to go with the private ambulance place - but maybe because they are transporting him to the hospital, insurance might cover it. He just says it hurts too much to stand - and I already just about have him drugged into oblivion -

What about the accidental shepherd? Well, that would be me. The girls scatter like leaves in the wind when they see me coming and the little boys, well, they adore me as long as I have cookies in my pockets - can you tell I've spoiled them? I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it because of my knee, but it seems to be handling it ok, for the most part - But this getting up early part is for the birds! Oh, that reminds me I forgot to shut the chickens in tonight - they were still out bookin around when I fed the sheep - well hopefully the boogie possum won't get them over night.

The first picture of John was taken in 2004 in Hawaii. The 2nd one was last summer when the boys were out for a "little jaunt" by themselves, and the third is with our friend Kathy H. down on the Oregon Coast.

Thanks for reading my tale of woe - think positive thoughts, pray for a miracle, or however you communicate with higher powers. We need all the help we can get.

Thanks, T.

Starting to celebrate a little early -

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY !!!

Ok, so, I'm a little early - this just gives you an extra day or two to know how much I care! XOX to all our blogger friends! Tina & her DH, with Neelix & Sinda & the whole farm crew!

P.S. - got this great picture off of Webshots.com - they have great pictures that I send as E-cards all the time.

A Sad Day

We found out today that our neighbor Adelaid lost her battle with cancer yesterday. I meant to call her all last week. I wish I hadn't been so "busy".

I also found out today that our friend Kathy at Sheep Thrills Farm http://www.sheepthrillsfarm.com/ lost her kitty ZuZu yesterday too. Kath has written a very sweet story about Zuzu on her blog.

This sunflower is for Kathy, and altho I know that Adelaid's family will never read my blog, it is for them too.

Eagles, or here birdie, birdie, birdie...

You may have heard on the national news a week or so ago, that "they" (the bird counters, I guess) counted over 500 eagles in a ten mile stretch of road along the Skagit (the "g" is soft, like in Roger) River - this is an area about 50 miles to the south of us, and we've been talking about taking a drive up there for some time - so last weekend, we decided we'd head out early and see if we could catch a glimpse of some of these birds.






Oh - there it is - right in the center of this photo

Well, here, let me blow it up a little more... yup, that was it - well, really we saw about 5 eagles - big disappointment, but we were relatively close to home - there were some folks who had driven a hundred miles or so to see this "rare" event - and they had cameras with lenses on them the size of my forearm!






I really wish I had taken a picture of some of the "tourists" - they were going to get a picture of an eagle it it killed 'em (and carrying one of those big lens attachments around practically would) All in all, though, it was a very pretty day -











So, here's the deal - I think all those eagles were sitting up in these hills - watching - and about every 1/2 hour, the head eagle calls out to one of the other eagles: "Marge, (I'm sure there must be eagles named Marge) it's your turn to go get you picture taken by the human beans - so get out there and fly one for the gipper" or something like that... What do you think?