Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

Heidi, sorry about the loss of a calf. Real life in Kentucky is not a bit like the TV vet show, 'The Incredible DR Pol'. No such thing for him and his practice as a vet not available, be it day, night or Wednesday. According to TV, someone always responds for farm calls as soon as a call of a 'stuck calf' comes in. Sometimes, he even arrives soon enough he saves them So glad the cow is OK, and can breed again next year, and that she dropped the dead calf before the vet arrived. No vet bill, same outcome.

Suzy, hope you and hubby enjoy the anniversary and your Mexican food. Most of the restaurants here serve white rice with Mexican foods. What do you prefer? I am not a fan, white rice is too many carbs for me. I order foods that do not come with rice and refried beans. Glad you have a surgery date. Hope the surgery is 100% successful.

June, I saw the photos of the baseball trip on FB. I hope you are able to rest enough to enjoy the trip back next weekend. Sending all good wishes, thoughts and prayers for your cat scan results, hope it is the best report yet.

Yes, DORA, we here have the best taste in having a friend like you! Enjoy your jokes and sayings, they often give me the first (or last) chuckle of the day.

Julie, you surely have been busy! Thanks for catching us up on your happenings lately. I hope you did enjoy the cello festival, maybe even more than if you were playing? I know how nervous you get before a performance. Still keeping up with duties for the wood turning club is over and above the call of duty to them, with all you have had on your plate. I do hope the members appreciate you.

Time for breakfast. Then dress for the day. Tanya is planning to come, must go get my car tag (plates?) as it expired yesterday. I thought of it early Feb, when Tanya was sick with the cough sore throat that lingers still, then with headaches and the procedure to get done and then more headaches, it slipped my mind. Was reminded yesterday when a friend showed me the ticket she got. Pulled over for a tag that expired 8 months ago! Costing her $185, a lot on Social Security income! I will leave my car parked till we get the tag one day this week, hopefully today. Tanya also bought fresh salmon to cook for lunch for us, and I get the leftovers yeah! Baked salmon, steamed brocolli, and cherry tomatoes on the menu tody, sounds good.

Yesterday I froze my head for a couple hours, keeping ice on it, but moving it about so never on any one area for more than 20 minuets. That and increasing the muscle relaxers, tylenol, and headache seems much better, actually was without it part of the day. I mean, I even did laundry, OK, only one load, and not all folded, nothing put away, but I DID LAUNDRY.

Did I tell you, I will have Ann, the best housekeeper I have had, back again? she is the one who fell in our parking lot and broke her ankle or leg, I heard both mentioned. she should be back next Tuesday. During the changeover, I miss

Was not expecting that TOPP.

'Be Silly, Be Honest, Be Kind.' Ralph Waldo Emerson

Back to your interrupted programing . . . .

During the changeover, I missed having housekeeper yesterday, so reason I had to do laundry. My basket was full, no room to put more, that is a real necessity hehehe.

Hugs to each of you, with extras.

We have only one large animal Vet in the county, and he has a mixed practice... both large and small animals, so he stays busy. Then there's one in each of the surrounding counties. So it can take an hour to get one of them out here IF they're available for an emergency. We NEED more Vets.

My truck is in FINALLY getting the door latch replaced. It's been a pain in the butt having to roll down the window to open the door from the outside to let myself out every time I exit the truck. The job should be done before 5 pm.

I've got my truck back. It's so nice to be able to open the driver's side door from the inside! I also got new wiper blades. The old ones were in shreds. Useless.

Anecdote: hubby is having a weird time at work right now. You need to leave early to help your daughter, no problem. You need a day off to go to the doc and help your daughter, no problem. You need remote access from your laptop even though we don't do that, no problem. Your paddock grass is too high for your mower because the horse is gone and it won't stop raining, can I mow it for you? I swear he could ask for the moon right now and they'd try to give it to him. It's wonderful to see how supportive they are being.

Anecdote: Alie and Bren came down tonight to deliver some more of her stuff and help hubby unload the trailer from his trip up yesterday. They were heading back tonight because Bren has to work tomorrow, but only got a few kms away and his wiper blade motor died. It's pouring so there was no way they could go 70 km with no wipers. The car they could take was limited because the Mazda is booked in for a service and rego check tomorrow. All this means that tomorrow morning I will drive hubby to drop off the lawn mower for a service, push mower, not the ride on, then drop him at work, then take my car in for its service. Hubby won't be able to take me home so I will probably be stuck in Bunnings drinking coffee until the car is finished. Sigh.

Bring a good book, Suzy.

The calf count is now up to 9 bulls, 8 heifers. That's 17 live calves. 18 cows calved. The maximum we will have is 13 more, unless we have twins. But I think I sold the one expecting twins.

Now off to buy food for my birds.

I find it hard to believe that I submitted those goose smilies 2 months ago and they haven't been approved yet. But during that time they happily accepted my payment for supporting membership. No response to my emails, either. Bummer.

Heidi, having twins can be a mixed blessing, right? Increases your calves for sale, but twin births can be more dangerous? More twins do not survive than singles? Yes, it sounds as if you need more vets. Do you ever see the TV show I mentioned? Dr. Pol? There are 3 vets in that practice, as many as in 3 of your counties. LOTS of vet techs who can handle minor office stuff on the small animals, too. I do enjoy watching it, he is an old fashioned vet who will go to great lengths to save a calf or foal. Congrats on the 17 calves on the ground now. Very happy for you that the truck door now opens properly. what a pain that has been for you.

Suzy, so glad that hubby's work is being so very supportive of him now. Accept the offered help and just say 'thank you' and if ever you can, pay it forward.

Today I worked in the garden a bit, and did not suffer from it, yeah. I cut out all the old, last years dead stems in the daisy bed. Well, half of the bed. When back started to get tired, I just stopped. I can do more tomorrow. I have LOTS of woods violets coming up and in bloom. I have tried for 4 years to get a good coverage, ground cover, in the garden out back. Under the roses, lantana, azaleas, hydrangeas, and the mature tree/shrubs. One year they were sprayed with roundup, and killed them all. Next year they were pulled up, when the lawn care people were asked by the boss to clear out the weeds. VIOLETS ARE NOT WEEDS. But by the time I saw what had been done, they were carrying out huge bags of my violets, and all I could do was shed a tear for them. Last year, they were cut by the weed wacker, same lawn care co, different crew. I HOPE we can keep these this year, it appears they will be a thick and thriving ground cover and really keep down the weeds.

Our azaleas are beginning to bloom, Pride of Mobile, a beautiful large, pink single. I snipped a few for a bud vase today, so the residents who cannot get outside can enjoy them inside.

I am very sad. One of our long term residents has been moved to an assisted living facility, into a lock down unit. her mind is just going, she is no longer able to care for herself. This is Margaret, who for years has been busy about the property, always busy, doing things that no one else would do. Every morning that the waste removal co picked up the dumpsters, emptied them into the truck and part onto our parking lot, Margaret picked up the trash. she swept up the broken glass when a pickle jar fell out and shattered. she washed off the tables on the patio. she walked dogs for any resident who was temporarily unable to care for their dog. She made the coffee in the kitchen, and loaded the dishwasher with all the dirty cups, ran it once or twice a day. Margaret was always busy, walking to grocery, fast food restaurants, to the bank, but Margaret has not been well for some time. She has lost half her body weight, she forgets to eat, went from 168 to 87 pounds now. She has an eye infection, but forgets to take her meds. she sleeps in a friends apartment, from dinner time till the friend goes to bed around midnight, then walks the halls all night. Her family and staff here tried everything to help, to keep her here, but yesterday at noon, Margaret moved, and she hates being confined to one small section of the facility. We all shall miss Margaret.

Oh MizT, that really sucks! Can you visit her there? Alie performed in a lock down unit once. One of their charity things. There were instructions on doors about not allowing people to leave etc. we had to use a bell to get in, but I don't remember how we got out.

Anecdote: Dana just called me, Isobel apparently reeked so Dana asked her to come to her for a diaper change. Ugh fine, says Isobel with a teenage like inflection. I forgot to ask if she rolled her eyes. Payback is occurring!

Just a quick Hello. Yesterday and today have mostly been without computer, but I'm here in time to greet all of you and send healing energy, prayers, positive thoughts, {{{{{H:UGS}}}}}, and !

Anecdote: hubby's surgery is being done 70km away because our local private hospital doesn't have an ICU. He said, you don't have to stay, I'll only be sleeping anyway. I laughed and laughed and laughed. He hasn't had major surgery before so doesn't know what he is in for. I said, it will feel like as soon as you go to sleep someone will wake you to check your temp, blood pressure and oxygen sats, you'll drift back to sleep just in time to be woken so someone can check your temp, blood pressure and oxygen sats, and repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Julie, I worry about you. You seem to spend your life burning the candle at both ends. I hope some of the energy you send heads back your way too. Hugs.

Ps. How is hubby?

I was thinking about old age and decided that old age is when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too tired to bounce it.

Good Morning everyone, hope you are all feeling great. Seeing my family tomorrow and I'm excited to see how they all are! Youngest daughter has just finished her uni course - she wasn't interested in more study - till she heard how much her friends were making ... ! She has a new young man in her life, but we haven't met him ... yet?
Second daughter is about to finish work to take up parenting! This will be very exciting for all of us!

Our son is going through a tough time dealing with builders, but it may work out this time ...? If it does he and his wife might come to live with us for a while ... (feverish cleaning, packing up and throwing away!)

Eldest girl has just been on a trip to Central Australia - we'll see her tomorrow, but we think it went very well! (Hooray!)

Rob has gone to a four-day week, and he celebrates by trying fit in everything he possibly can! Next week we will see a bit more of our beautiful country ... (Labour Day long weekend) He is planning to retire fairly soon, and is working out what he can so ... (Be afraid! Be VERY afraid!)

That's all for the moment! Love to you all! ♥

Greetings, Everyone! Hello to Suzy, DOrA, and Judy! Exciting times in your life, Judy!

Suzy, my guess is that you might be staying with or near your hubby during his surgery & initial recovery. It's hard to get much sleep for both patient & family member. Depending on type of surgery and surgeon, my hubby has been assigned to either a private room or has had 1 roommate. We held that 1 1/2 hours on the road each way was not a practical solution for us. The hospital allowed me to stay in the room with him when he had a private room. When he had a roommate, I had to move out to a 'lounge' area on the floor. My last night there I was one of 4 people trying to get some rest. The prostate surgery was deemed successful, though he is still needing to self-catheter 3 or 4 times daily. His primary care doctor suggests that might improve as swelling goes down. He had a drop in blood pressure this week, which has happened before. This time is didn't respond as well to drinking fluids and resting/sleeping. The nurse at the call center his primary care doctor is affiliated with suggested that we should head to the ER. From there, he was admitted to the hospital for further observation and more tests. Nothing significant was found, so their assessment is that he was dehydrated, and he was sent home. He's feeling fine. We didn't even let family know until he was back at home, as we didn't feel it was particularly significant. (And I'm trying to find time for more sleep, so I'm off to bed now.)

Judy, all the best for your family members!

DOrA, the alternative to advance in age is less appealing, so we're learning to deal with age-related changes.

Sending healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, prayers, positive thoughts, and for everyone!

My love and ((( HUGS ))) to all.

Two more calves born this morning. One of each gender. The cows seem to prefer calving anywhere from mid-morning to early afternoon. Yet horses prefer foaling between 11 pm and 2 am. I wonder if there is a connection between that and the mother's ability to defend the baby? Probably is.

Judy, your life sounds exciting right now! Your kids sound like they have a handle on this life thing. I wish mine did....

Hubby will have 2 to 4 weeks off soon, but I don't think we'll be doing much. I will be learning how to cook.

Julie, I'll stay with Bren and Alie. They tell me it is walking distance but Alie walks miles to do shopping so her idea of walking distance and mine might not be the same. I doubt I will stay the night at the hospital. It will depend on how he is. If he's not doing well I'll hang around. If he's okay I'll get some rest myself.

Heidi, congrats on two more healthy calves. Your probably right about the protection thing.

My on this day on tos brought back a memory from when mum was in hospital. She was briefly in a room with 4 people, one of whom was a lawyer. I commented that lawyers should be required to have single rooms. I can't remember exactly what she was talking about but I do remember that it was obvious why she was a lawyer. She talked loudly, nonstop. One of her visitors was also a lawyer and I remember there was an in depth discussion about something she was researching, her divorce maybe. That rings bells.

Message from MizT on TOS
My computer is down again
We think it is monitor. Only 7-8 years old. :) I hope to be monitor shopping tomorrow. Could someone let S.A. friends know I will be ofline a while?

I have been away for a while, back decided to give up on me, didn't like me painting the side deck floor. Feeling much better now just have to be careful, never want to go back on to Endone lost a couple of days off with the fairies.
Hope you are all well and happy.

Please be careful with that back, Broni.

No calves born today. I wish there had been. The weather was delightful. I was able to wear a sleeveless top today.... unthinkable for early March, usually. We normally have a blizzard during the first week of March here.

Hi, All! Just dropping by to say Hello and leave good wishes for Everyone! So, here are the daily , {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy, prayers, and positive thoughts!

No more calves yet. Looking forward to calving being over. I feel like we're in the final stretch with only the stragglers left. The first cycle is over, and we're on the second cycle now. (Cows come in heat every 3 weeks, so now calving starts with the cows that the bulls missed the first time around.) Most of the cows I sold have already calved, so the bulls didn't miss many the first time around.

Hi, Everyone! I hope everyone is well!

Sending healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , positive thoughts, and prayers!

Broni, I'm sorry to hear you hurt your back. I'm glad it's better though 😁. Hubby was on endone for a few days and complained about his brain not working too. You must be very happy to be done with that! 😊 ❤️

Daylight Saving Time starts, in the U.S., this Sunday, March 12. 'Spring forward' one hour at 0200.

Good Evening, Everyone!

No time to read, so sending healing energy, prayers, positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and

Having a few days R&R on the South Coast. Wish the weather was a bit better. Showers of and on. Hope to catch up with Suzy tomorrow. Saw the oncologist yesterday. The markers have not dropped as yet. A CT scan Monday and I find out on Wednesday if an operation is possible. If not I will go onto heavier Chemo. A cocktail of three drugs. Either way I think my feel good days are nearly over. Both remedies will not be very easy.

Two more calves born today, in gorgeous weather. One of each gender. That gives me a total of 21 calves so far, with bill calves outnumbering the heifers by 1.

I spent the morning in court. My first time ever appearing. My case was in among those of violent offenders and drug dealers!!! I did plead guilty to my crime. What was it, you ask? I wasn't wearing my seat belt!!!!! I actually had to appear in court for that!

((((( HUGS, June )))))

I had coffee with June. She is looking really well. Tough times coming no matter what though. I'm hoping they are not as tough as the doctors say.

Heidi, how strange that you had to appear in court for not wearing your seat belt. Stuff like that just ties up courts. I've been once. When I had my big car accident. The magistrate read the charges, read over the witness statements. Said, this doesn't make sense do you have anything else? I plead guilty because I had no memory of the accident so couldn't defend myself even though it made no sense to me either. The judge ended up dismissing the charges under some first offence thing.

Greetings, All!

Sending prayers and positive thoughts your way, June!

Heidi, I'm surprised you weren't using a seat belt. Temporary lapse? I hope the judge didn't 'throw the book' at you!

Suzy, thank goodness for the judge's common sense in your situation!

Off to bed, so sending healing energy, prayers, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , and positive thoughts for all!

Anecdote: the magistrate who dismissed my charges was the man who married hubby and I 4 or so years later. I doubt he remembered. I think he also performed the ceremonies for both of my brothers too.

I don't believe in wearing a seat belt. I don't feel that the government has any right to dictate what we do in our own property. It hurts nobody else. It interferes with nobody else's rights. And I consider them dangerous in some situations. Yes, they're helpful if you're hit from the front or back. But a seat belt will kill you if you're hit from the side. Back when I was 13 years old, my mother and youngest sister were hit by a semi truck, going high speed, while they were crossing an intersection. The car was crushed to less than a foot wide. Neither my mother nor youngest sister were wearing seat belts, and both were thrown from the car. My sister didn't have a scratch on her. My mother was in the hospital for 6 months, but she recovered. The police officers at the scene said that they would both have been killed instantly if they had been wearing seat belts. That made a strong impression on me. Since then, I have a panic attack if I have to wear a seat belt. Since they passed that stupid, invasive seat belt law, I've tried to remember to fake it by throwing the belt over my shoulder, unfastened, so it looks to passing police that I am wearing mine. But sometimes I forget. That's one reason I prefer driving after dark. Nobody can see that I'm not wearing a seat belt.