HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE SHEPHERD!

Somebody turned 60 today.

Looks pretty good for an old guy doesn't he?

Oh, that's right, 60 is the new 40, right?

Happy Birthday, two ewes!!






HE'S HOW OLD???


(Now, Neelix, that's not nice. Ha, ha, ha)

Crazy days, crazy night!

Just a quick post at the end of my lunch - remember in the story of Neelix's big adventure over the 4th of July that I said that the Shepherd had come home from work on the 5th because he just didn't feel well? So things got worse from there - he did go to the dr. on Friday, but they just said it was a virus and to wait it out. Well, 3 days of 102 fevers and then Sunday it seemed to break, but by then, he seemed to be kind of congested - called the Doc on call for our clinic -"Oh, this stuff just takes 3-5 days to go away" she said.

Monday, Marsha came and gave Loreena a haircut -(That's a whole 'nother story to follow later this week) - & with the hot weather we've been having (high 80's - it's 92 degrees right now) he just hasn't been able to pick back up where he left off - and last night he kind of went into a respratory distress - couldn't breathe, etc. - so I called the doc on call again(different guy this time) - he said "load him up and take him to ER - chances are that he'll only get worse over night" OK, fine - at 10:00 pm I loaded him into the Jelly Bean (the affectionate term for my 91 Ford Festiva) and set off for St. Joes. I must say, a middle aged white guy with breathing distress gets pushed thru pretty fast - I think they might have thought he was having a heart attack or something, cause when we left, there were still a lot of people sitting in the same places they were when we went in.

Well, long story short? He's got pneumonia. They started him on antibiotics last night and he's feeling better - he slept on the couch so he could sleep sitting up - every time he lays down he starts to cough. "Dr Mom" says he will not go back to work til next week - that's for sure -

So everybody send us LOTS of healing thoughts OK - and speaking of work, I'd better get to it.

Two handsome dudes -

The handsome dude on the left is our neighbor Al.

The handsome dude on the right is the love of my life

They were both born in 1947 - Al will be 60 on Monday,

John will be 60 in November.

They're HOW OLD?

Pondering sheep butts

Ah, yup, that's what I said - Pondering sheep butts.


However I thought it would be more polite to show you the beautiful daffodils that are blooming in our yard, before we get down to business.



And, drum roll please, for the first time in six weeks, we had a drug free day! Just a couple of Advil liqui-gels to combat the achey back! Now, could someone please explain to him WHY he cannot go picking up things that are heavier than a darn gallon of milk - We've had several impassioned (on my part, anyhow) conversations on how he needs to let his back heal before he starts being mr muscleman again & it's beginning to get a little stale...



Anyhow, back to the subject at hand...

Of course, the first place that John wanted to go, after he was "Up & attem" from his surgery was the barn - does that surprise anyone? One of the primary reasons was to teach me what to look for as Regina & Susie get more & more pregnant -

Here's my chores helper - for some reason Neelix just loves chicken scratch - put a little pile of it on the top of the feed bins and he'll munch it down

Here he is, guarding the hay until I get back with the feed bowls....











Oops, this is supposed to be about sheep, isn't it...



Here they are - Sheep butts - Lookin pretty pregnant - of course poor Anna D (in the center, just WANTS to be pregnant - a case of mastitis that has since cleared itself, kept her off the dance floor this year -) Isn't she the prettiest color?


















Oh, Regina, how rude of me, I should have gotten the hay crumbs off your face before I took your picture - yes, I know it feels good to itch you there... and there too, huh?




Regina is probably the friendliest of our girls - although she is highly motivated by scritches - and would gladly keep me held hostage for hours, "oh, rub there, that's the spot" - I think she is probably about a week away - she isn't walking in circles and gnashing her teeth yet - then I'll know that we'd better set up the jug (pen) - Ruben got the panels out of the greenhouse for me last weekend - now we'll have to figure out how to put them together without John lifting anything - poor guy, we're going to drive each other nuts over that one, I can see it coming.

But we had a good day - not only a drug free one, but a trip to Home Depot, Farmer's Co-op, the grocery store AND the Hilltop for lunch - (yum) And a nap to boot. Made black bean soup for dinner - maybe I'll write down the recipe before I forget it - it was pretty good!

Speaking of recipes - check out the neat sugar cookies that Michelle from Boulderneigh made - her sister sent her the coolest "sheep" cookie cutter - Fun, fun, fun!
http://boulderneigh.blogspot.com/2007/03/snack-for-shearer.html

That's all I've got to say for now - It's past time to go to bed, and I have church in the morning -I'd like to take the day off, but it's the newsletter deadline, and I suppose I'd better be there to collect any stray notices, etc.

Since our minister is part time, occasionally a member will volunteer to do a service - Of course I did - And the Title of my service is "Blogging, Communication & Communities in a new century. (or something like that) Anyhow, I'm putting out a call to all my blogger friends -
#1 Why do you blog? #2 What do you get from it? and #3 Any specific point that you'd like me to make? - I'll quote everyone, unless they ask to be anonymous - I'm kind of excited about it - I have gotten permission from Susan at Farmgirl Fare to use the story of her lamb Cary for the kids story - http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2006/11/daily-farm-photo-11606.html - and who knows what else I'll come up with :-) Nite -

The guardians

Neelix is taking a break from guarding the hallway to our bedroom by checking out the newly blooming crocus (croci?) in the front yard

He also supervises my trips to the barn to make sure that I do the chores correctly.

But his favorite job is sleeping - and yes, he does look like a big upside down dustmop, doesn't he?

Sinda, on the other hand, has totally supervised the bedroom. She has barely left John's side and when she does, it's with complaint, and you surely shall know about it. Poor thing, she has such a hard life - ha, ha, ha...

But soon, their work shall be done - John is improving, seems by the hour - (he's presently planning a little work party for Saturday) - we'll keep you posted, won't we kids.

Patient update

Quick update - My sisters came yesterday to help & cheer me up - mission accomplished. John actually ate dinner with us, while SITTING AT THE KITCHEN COUNTER! This a.m. he was up and around, had breakfast out in the kitchen & was talking & planning about when he could go back to work when I left to come to work myself. YaHOO! A light at the end of the tunnel.

Home again, home again......

Real quick to let you know that (as far as Dr. Baker was concerned) John's surgery was a SUCCESS! Apparently there was a bone chip or spur and the nerve had somehow snaked around it where it wasn't supposed to be - the bone was pressing on the nerve and that was what was what was causing so much pain - They removed the offending piece of "kaka" and that removed the pressure on the nerve. They didn't have to remove any disc material at all. Whew.

A couple of hours in the recovery room and we are back home - I think he really wanted to stay there longer, but I told him that I hadn't made any arrangements for someone to feed the sheep, because I thought we'd be home in time - and voila' - he screwed up his fortitude and here we are.

I am eternally indebted to our minister, Rev. Nan, who not only came this a.m. to take him to the surgery center, but spent the entire day distracting me from the worries at hand, and then piled him back into her Suburau and brought him back home. Thanks so much Nan, I don't
know how we'll ever repay you. AND, it was still light, thanks to daylight savings time, so I didn't have to do chores in the dark.

And the beat goes on........

We started on his third refill for the painkillers today. I had reduced him down to 2 pills every 6 hours or so - but now that he is up and moving around, it seems to iritate his hip and he has, what I call "pain surges" - poor guy.





He got a card from Skittles the Ram who lives with our friends Kathy & Ralph at Sheep Thrills Farm in Flagstaf, AZ. Kathy has back problems herself and has been very helpful & sympathetic to me as we go up and down on this merry-go-round that we've been on for the last MONTH!

Anyhow, Skittles invited him to come down and visit - and I think that John was more touched by that card than any others that he has received - it was really a very funny card too, about duct tape being good for all kinds of things - putting a patient back together being one of them - Skittles dictated a very nice note to his "mom" - John really liked it (thanks Kath) - AND, he is saying that maybe we might have to take Skittles up on his invitation!

Our friend Nancy took the boys to the auction on Monday a.m. - I had a really big cry about it after she left. I'm not much of a farmer, I'm afraid - and if I had to kill my own meat - the reddest thing I'd be eating would be beets.

Well, I shall leave you with this peaceful scene from a week ago Wednesday - it was so beautiful out - I had John's big work boots on so I wasn't too afraid of falling - just had a great time out in it.

News for "Inquiring Minds"

I realized tonight that I have begun to measure days by John's drug log. (I keep a log of every pill I give him & when) & it is now the 1st of March - could someone tell me where February went?

March has certainly come in like a lion - it has snowed all over western Washington tonight - it looks like we have about an inch of "popcorn" snow - it's 30 degrees out - I'm hoping that it just stays cold so it's not slippery when I go out to feed in the a.m. I also have to figure out how to get a new bale of hay down. Should be interesting.

I had a "close encounter" with Gizmo this a.m. He decided he didn't like where I had my hand, and I wasn't paying attention and BAM! My right hand is pretty - all black & blue - I am very lucky that he didn't break my knuckle - I bonked him really good on the noggin with the feed bowl, but instead of looking contrite, he looked defiant. Little shit!

The big news of the day - Dr. Baker's office - the neurologist that we were referred to - callecd yesterday and they had a cancellation for today - could he be there at 1:30 - Several things fell into play here -

* It was payday for me - ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that I could take the day off - 40 people depend on me for their paychecks and no one else knows the program.

* Nan Geer, our minister from Free Church Unitarian, had already planned on being here to give John his lunch & meds - so she was very accomodating and was willing to take him into town in her Suburau - because - - -

***!!! He walks - he stands - he sits - kind of shakey, mind you - but it seems like in the past 4 or 5 days he has improved 100% every day.

* Our neighbor John R. was nice enough to come over to help Nan in case John needed help getting out to the car. Their biggest problem was getting him to go to the car and not take a little side trip thru the gardens...

* Our dear Friend Nancy, who is a retired nurse came over to help Nan too - so here we are - all three of us sitting in the exam room with John. Dr. Baker must have wondered what kind of a deal he got into here LOL -

*I need to go to bed, as it is almost 1:00 a.m. - but I wanted to tell you the biggest news, that surgery is scheduled for March 12 - so save the date - say your prayers that it is successful -

I'll give you more news in a few days when I find out more about what they will be doing. It will be up & at 'em early tomorrow - John is convinced that he can take care of himself - including getting his own lunch (mind you - the lunch fairy will have it all ready to go in the fridge - but this is someone who wouldn't/couldn't even get out of bed 5 days ago. YAHOO!

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!)