Stella's Social Club

[The Sheriff]

I have been thinking. Ya know, I loved - LOVED - having my chickens and I loved the challenge of setting up breeding pens and so on......

But, since Michael died, I simply can not regain that interest. Why is that? I wonder if I am (subconsciously) trying to "erase" anything that was present at the time of his death? I dunno, just wondering. I have also been "downsizing," other areas of my life, too - so may be it is just that.

My closets and dresser drawers are much more manageable now!

For whatever reason - I now prefer less. Less is more to me now. It is not hard for me to part with "things," now. I feel no attachment to things. I think that may have to do with his loss, but not sure. It certainly is a change in me though.

Kathy, first thing

.

Next, I copied this right from Compassionate Friends website for Parents Suffering the Loss of an Adult Child.

"One of the most demanding challenges you will face is to refocus your life. The loss of purpose and the thought of living the rest of your life without your child can be frightening.
Reexamining priorities and even questioning belief structures is not abnormal."

It sounds to me like this is to be expected after suffering a life changing loss. Heck, this even hints at the fact that you may be normal. Who knew? Maybe it is the mind's way of clearing out the things that obligate us, to give us the time and space to deal with the loss and figure out how to go about living again. I wish with all my heart you weren't going through this. I am just glad you stayed here with us. I miss you and worry when you're away too long.

 

[The Sheriff]

Deb, how is your arm? Sound like inflammation from the injection.

I hate to share another horror story but I got a plague vaccination before going to live in Taiwan. The vaccine failed to dissipate into the muscle and just sat there and rotted. There was just horrible pain, no redness, swelling, heat or anything. After several weeks it got hot. The doctor said it was fine until the morning I flicked off a little flake of dry skin. I won't go into details, but I had advanced gangrene that had spread through the muscles of my upper arm. Treatment was horrible but I kept the arm and all that is left is a skin depression and small scar.

The moral of the story is if you still feel it isn't right get another opinion. I hope it's getting better.

 

[crazyhen]

Ditto for the last two post.
Kathy, I am so glad too that you have stayed with us. I love my chickens from you and treasure you. All things sort of rearrange themselves after a loss. Priorities get shuffled. I too use less, clothing and just gadgets and stuff as I age. Love you
Deb, it really does sound like something is going on in there. it shound NOT be that painful otherwise. Watch it carefully. Are the glands under your arm swollen or sore?. That would be a dead giveaway that something was going on.

 

[debs_flock]

Deb, how is your arm? Sound like inflammation from the injection.

I hate to share another horror story but I got a plague vaccination before going to live in Taiwan. The vaccine failed to dissipate into the muscle and just sat there and rotted. There was just horrible pain, no redness, swelling, heat or anything. After several weeks it got hot. The doctor said it was fine until the morning I flicked off a little flake of dry skin. I won't go into details, but I had advanced gangrene that had spread through the muscles of my upper arm. Treatment was horrible but I kept the arm and all that is left is a skin depression and small scar.

The moral of the story is if you still feel it isn't right get another opinion. I hope it's getting better.

It's amazing what some of these vaccines can do. In my youth I was doing some third world travelling and had typhoid/typhus vaccines before leaving. Now THAT was a reaction. I had terrible swelling, redness and heat from those.

I actually might have a bit of improvement today (or it's positive thinking). This morning I rolled onto my left side to see if it was possible. I was just lying quietly to give it a test and suddenly there was a loud pop in that shoulder joint. The severity and number of shooting nerve pains have somewhat decreased since then. I'm speculating that the inflammation in the deltoid muscle was causing a nerve to be displaced and pinched. I rubbed in a lot of the anti-inflammatory/steroidal cream that he gave me several times yesterday. Maybe it somewhat reduced the inflammation in the muscle, allowing the movement.

It might be wishful thinking, but I'm hoping to be on the road to recovery, finally! Unfortunately, I had a lot of chicken moving to do today for a buyer coming by tomorrow. They want more sheep, the alpaca, some roosters and a few hens. I want those animals moved out, so if I have to do all my catching/carrying one handed......I will!

 

[crazyhen]

Bless your heart. That will be difficult at best. I hope you can get some help. Take care

 

[1muttsfan]

It is easy to understand why you would want a quieter life for a while. While I enjoy my birds (and cats, dogs and the horses) immensely, they are still a responsibility all the time. It has been many years since I was free of restrictions on my time, and sometimes less dependants seems like it might be nice.

Be kind to yourself Kathy, and do what you need to until you get a chance to sort things out. Some wounds heal very slowly.

 

[drumstick diva]

has anyone heard from Dar? Maybe his wife made him join Chickens anonymous , so he had to give up his old friends that might lead his astray AGAIN.

 

[Jake Levi]

A whole lotta love here with you folks.

You're special blessings, and I hope and pray He will give you all many more.

 

[The Sheriff]

Can you believe our heat is out again? Two weeks after the home warranty expired! After having the inside part of the heat pump replaced, we finally had A/C most of the summer after a long freezing winter without heat. Boom! We stop using the A/C, have a few days of heat, now nothing but blowing ice cold air again. That was a waste of $4,000.00, $1700.00 of it ours and the rest from the home warranty. Back to using space heaters until we can get someone out to check. I would guess we have had it "repaired" 6 times now. I hate being cold. I go outside to get warm!

Oh, and good morning everyone! Did you set your clocks back?

 

[lawatt]

Can you believe our heat is out again? Two weeks after the home warranty expired! After having the inside part of the heat pump replaced, we finally had A/C most of the summer after a long freezing winter without heat. Boom! We stop using the A/C, have a few days of heat, now nothing but blowing ice cold air again. That was a waste of $4,000.00, $1700.00 of it ours and the rest from the home warranty. Back to using space heaters until we can get someone out to check. I would guess we have had it "repaired" 6 times now. I hate being cold. I go outside to get warm!

Oh, and good morning everyone! Did you set your clocks back?

brrr, it's only 41 degrees here -- i've got the furnace on but might opt for the woodstove at some point today, it's so chilly out! will try to send warm thoughts your way, Mary...

...and in the meantime, baby chicks are hatching! so far only 4 of 18 are showing any action, but one marans is out, another is actively trying to unzip right now, and of your isbar eggs, Mary, one has pipped and a second is vibrating wildly, trying to make that first crack...

my cat pearly is trying to help by encouraging them from above: