The Old Folks Home

[sharron]

Clue, having no idea how those cookie are made or the work involved with all that frosting, they look like store bought to me! Nicely done! I am now officially diabetic by the numbers so much as I'd like to try one, I'll save you the postage costs to send here. I also have to comment on the keyboard issues... Damn... like brain surgery! Who knew? I find the cheapest wireless one and buy it. If it breaks (when) Repeat previous. Lit keys? unlit keys?, fancy sounds? feel? When I slam the key and the symbol appears on the screen, I'm happy. I don't type in the dark, and I'm not a keyboardist... I hunt and peck with 2-4 fingers. When they stop appearing, time for a new KB.

VA doc appt didn't go well. They called me several days in advance and asked me to change the appt time from 2pm to 12 noon. I said OK, despite the fact that it really messes with my animal chores and timing of everything (2 hour drive). Got there before 10am to leave plenty of time for the labs to get done before seeing the doc, to find they DIDN'T change the appt time Top that with: My doc had just returned from India that day so was on admin for the day to get paperwork caught up. So had to see a new doc who knows nothing about me or history. Anyway, he was nice and seemed to really care, want to help me.

Been in a lot of pain recently (a lot!) and I guess there's a blood test that shows "pain cells" called PSR or RSP or some such. The avg person reads below a 7. I came in at 235. This has been getting worse and spreading for over a year & I finally came right out and stated that this is NOT gout or arthritis. (Uric acid count was ~4, well below the 6 that starts crystals) I need them to do what needs to be done to figure this crap out! There is something wrong and it's muscular/tendon related, not joint ligament. I KNOW what gout feels like and how it presents... I've had it now for 15 years + I told him I want to know if maybe MS or MD or even ALS, or something else. This is getting ridiculous. Anyway, he put in for various consults... He said it's most likely an autoimmune issue and I may have to use a biologic like Humira... I said let's not jump there before we know what we're dealing with... biologics worry me.

So, Diabetes... the magical cut # is 6.9 and that's exactly what I registered, so no longer "pre diabetic" I'm now official. Doc said it's not like a major deal at this point as I'm right on the boundary, so no insulin or anything, just have to really get serious about cutting back on sugar and sweets, lose weight, try and get more exercise. (Yeah... exercise when it's almost impossible to even walk due to ankle/feet pain! and hands and wrists that don't work... )

Got a couple big bags of dog food and a 50# bag of goat pellets on the way home from the VA (hurt!). Then Tuesday went and got the 12 bags of pellets, 25# of mineral, and a 3'x3'x8' (800#) bale of hay. By the time everything was unloaded/put away, I was wiped. Didn't finish breaking down and moving/stacking that hay inside till well after dark. The final bit was pure torture. Could barely walk last night. Extreme pain. Have spent most of today in bed dosing on NSAIDs to moderate the pain. Am able to get around and function, but at a cost... It hurts. Am forcing myself to move to do animal chores but little else. Have so far NOT taken anymore oxycodone (morphine based). Have also avoided starting another 5 day pack of steroids. It's tough.

OK, wasn't (aren't) crying for sympathy... just letting y'all know what's going on here. Hope everyone is enjoying a better hump day than I. 76° and very humid, had to turn the AC on this morning to get the temp down in here and eliminate some of the moisture. OK, time for me to go back to horizontal.

hoping they can find out whats wrong and fix it for you

 

[sharron]

Awhile back, I mentioned I needed a cockerel/rooster that was SOP, BA, from SQ stock. I finally was able to get one. Dd #2 went with me to the rendezvous to get him. He's did his quarantine time, and went out with the hens today. He's a beaut. In the meantime, the same daughter got on e-bay. Some lady was selling BA hatching eggs. Dd asked her which hatchery the stock originated from. The lady told her they were not hatchery stock. She said her mother got the parent stock from a breeder, and she used to show them. The mother developed medical issues, and was unable to care for herself, or the chickens. She moved in to take care of her mother, and she takes care of the chickens. She doesn't know anything about breeding, or showing them, but moved them all into a large pen by themselves, so they're easier for her to take care of. She knows the eggs are fertile, and decided to see if she could get $10.00 a dozen. We have no idea if any of her story is true, or if only parts of it are true, or what. My daughter ordered a dozen eggs from her, and had them sent to her house.

When they arrived, here she comes with these eggs. The egg carton had shredded newspaper in the egg slots, the eggs were nested in that, and more shredded newspaper on top. There was 1 egg that had a small crack, with the membrane intact, but the rest of the eggs were perfect. She insisted I hatch them. We used a blue birthday candle to seal the crack in the 1 egg. With trepidation, I put them in the incubator. Trepidation, because I have top quality stock, and don't want a bunch of "whatevers". Around midnight, it will be day 1. Thursday will be day 0. Every dang egg is rocking, 4 have pips, and there is cheeping.

I'm fit to be tied. I recently spent $55.00 for a dozen eggs of the desired quality, and they arrived totally scrambled. My daughter explained that because she lives close to the airport, where the mail comes in, all the roads are paved, the houses are close together, so the mail trucks mostly coast from house to house, the eggs are much less likely to be damaged, as compared to coming to my house. Everyone out here has amile or longer driveways. Most are not paved. Most are full of potholes. The mail carriers have time constraints to get the mail delivered quickly, so they're flying down the driveways at 45 mph. As a result, it would be like putting the eggs in a blender. By the time they go through several hundred driveways, for 3 hours, before they get to me, they're scrambled beyond recognition. She told me the next time I ever order eggs, have them sent to her address.

Awhile back, I mentioned I needed a cockerel/rooster that was SOP, BA, from SQ stock. I finally was able to get one. Dd #2 went with me to the rendezvous to get him. He's did his quarantine time, and went out with the hens today. He's a beaut. In the meantime, the same daughter got on e-bay. Some lady was selling BA hatching eggs. Dd asked her which hatchery the stock originated from. The lady told her they were not hatchery stock. She said her mother got the parent stock from a breeder, and she used to show them. The mother developed medical issues, and was unable to care for herself, or the chickens. She moved in to take care of her mother, and she takes care of the chickens. She doesn't know anything about breeding, or showing them, but moved them all into a large pen by themselves, so they're easier for her to take care of. She knows the eggs are fertile, and decided to see if she could get $10.00 a dozen. We have no idea if any of her story is true, or if only parts of it are true, or what. My daughter ordered a dozen eggs from her, and had them sent to her house.

When they arrived, here she comes with these eggs. The egg carton had shredded newspaper in the egg slots, the eggs were nested in that, and more shredded newspaper on top. There was 1 egg that had a small crack, with the membrane intact, but the rest of the eggs were perfect. She insisted I hatch them. We used a blue birthday candle to seal the crack in the 1 egg. With trepidation, I put them in the incubator. Trepidation, because I have top quality stock, and don't want a bunch of "whatevers". Around midnight, it will be day 1. Thursday will be day 0. Every dang egg is rocking, 4 have pips, and there is cheeping.

I'm fit to be tied. I recently spent $55.00 for a dozen eggs of the desired quality, and they arrived totally scrambled. My daughter explained that because she lives close to the airport, where the mail comes in, all the roads are paved, the houses are close together, so the mail trucks mostly coast from house to house, the eggs are much less likely to be damaged, as compared to coming to my house. Everyone out here has amile or longer driveways. Most are not paved. Most are full of potholes. The mail carriers have time constraints to get the mail delivered quickly, so they're flying down the driveways at 45 mph. As a result, it would be like putting the eggs in a blender. By the time they go through several hundred driveways, for 3 hours, before they get to me, they're scrambled beyond recognition. She told me the next time I ever order eggs, have them sent to her address.

 

[bruceha2000]

Got my ayam cemanis to lockdown. At 23 of them, plus 3 from my flock.

Ripley had a bad day. Someone ate the toilet paper roll (again) and framed her (again) and then she got off leash and chased the children next door for about a half hour. At least she wore herself out doing that and is now happily snoring on the couch.

We have to keep the toilet paper in a drawer, DD1's cat likes to shred it.
I don't suppose the kids next door kinda liked Ripley chasing them around

Every dang egg is rocking, 4 have pips, and there is cheeping.

Good luck, I hope they are the quality it seems they should be.

 

[bruceha2000]

Ugly weather last evening. Freezing rain everywhere.

DD2 called about 6:15 stuck on the road about 10 miles from home. No one could move up the hill she was on, the people that would be coming down didn't dare to try knowing they would have no control (SMART people!). In normal weather it would take her about 20 minutes to get home from there. And normally she would have been 20 minutes from work. Already took her 40 to get where she was.

The state has a "plow finder" website that shows where they are. We could see that there was one maybe a mile behind her, cell signal (though the companies say the state is very well covered ) is pretty spotty so while we could tell her it was there we didn't know when it would go by since it hadn't reported for at least 10 minutes. But she saw it coming and it passed her in the other lane due to the cars in her lane being in the way. So of course the salt it was spreading ended up in the other lane and off the side of the road (*). Apparently there were people that got out of their vehicles and were kicking salt over into the northbound lane and after the salt started working were slowly getting cars moving. We thought she might call when she got moving again. She showed up about 7:45, having left work about 5:30.

I went to bed about 11, looked like there was a car coming up the road slowly. About 1:15 DW hit the bathroom and saw there were blue lights and a tow truck up the road, about the same location. Don't know if the 11 PM car was related to that one. Heard the town plow go by after a bit. Got up at 6 this morning and sanded out to the cars and the road (trash day), walking low and slow! DW left about 6:20, called back to tell DD that there were 2 cars off the road, it is 3/4 mile to the paved main road. When they went off is unknown but DD didn't mention them last night so either later than when she came through or the early birds this morning. DW didn't mention people so I assume last night.

"Fun" trip down to the barn with my sand can and the animals' water. No way I could walk on the ice (downhill slope) between the barns, had to stomp through the clear ice over the snow that was still on the edges from when I shoveled last week. Supposed to be above freezing later today through tomorrow afternoon. Not warm enough to clear much ice though I don't think. The sanding and maybe some wood stove ash will probably be needed again.

And ... I think the chickens' heated dog water bowl has bit the dust. It was a solid block of ice yesterday (about 11°F) but it looked like the plug was maybe a bit out. The outlet (tested OK) is above a "workbench" and I know the chickens get up there and knock things around. There was a skim of ice on it this morning, 28°F.

* they have spinners on the drivers side of the rear of the truck and normally the salt ends up in the middle of the road and both lanes.

 

[bobbi-j]

We have to keep the toilet paper in a drawer, DD1's cat likes to shred it.
I don't suppose the kids next door kinda liked Ripley chasing them around


Good luck, I hope they are the quality it seems they should be.

I kind of thought the same thing. Our dog is very high-energy (we think he's a Redbone Coonhound cross), and only one time did I see him get completely worn out. We had soem friends over, with their 10-year old twin boys. Those boys took turns running around the yard with the dog chasing them. One would run until he got tired, then the other one. I don't remember how long it took, but the dog finally gave up and flopped down in the yard, refusing to move.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning all all flustered this morning opened the page to tons of ads now I just paid for a year but it is not showing up yet sent an email to Nifty see if he can help

 

[superchemicalgirl]

The kids love Ripley that's how she got loose.

Similar ice issues here this morning. Couldn't get up the hill to do chores had to slowly crawl up the unshoveled part and pray not to die.

It warmed up and bf spent the morning treating it so it's much better. Just in time for more ice tonight into tomorrow.

 

[bobbi-j]

The kids love Ripley that's how she got loose.

Similar ice issues here this morning. Couldn't get up the hill to do chores had to slowly crawl up the unshoveled part and pray not to die.

It warmed up and bf spent the morning treating it so it's much better. Just in time for more ice tonight into tomorrow.

Maybe you could schedule play dates for Ripley and the neighbor kids!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Bloodhounds are not recommended to be off leash - they will find a scent and follow it and many get lost or run over this way. So unfortunately I don't want to trust that the kids are more interesting than a scent.


I have a public service announcement for those who haven't done their taxes yet: it's a real treat. Apparently in December 2017 there was a new tax law that significantly reduces deductions.

The things I've read on the tax law make it seem like you'll be fine if you're a normal human being and your house is less than 750k (my apologies to anyone normal who has a house worth more than that) but I am nowhere near that figure and I was not allowed to deduct most of my mortgage interest.

 

[getaclue]

scg, Dh said the same thing about not being able to deduct the mortgage interest. There is a "household" deduction too, but no per-person deduction. Doesn't matter if you have 1 or 20 kids, the deduction is a flat rate amount.

Update: 7 are out. #8 is almost out.