Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

We do not remember days, we remember moments.
Cesare Pavese

After talking about childhood memories I had to find an approproate quote.
It's amazing how just a word can bring back so many memories. Yesterday I was remembering about the eggs and the strawberries. Going up to the farm also meant I got to ride a bike along quiet country roads for miles. My Dad never let my sister or I have a bike even though our younger brother had one. A bone of contention at the time! Also on those holidays at the farm which was beside a river, we would swim in it after the chores were done. I am not a strong swimmer but it was then that I got enough confidence to swim across the river and back. It was such fun.

Heidi, thanks for the explanation about the broody hen. I wondered if hatching and raising the chicks would help solve her broodiness.

Heidi, I hope your Sebright Bantam chicks arrive soon and in good health!

It's great that you could take Robert to his GP appointment and to Lowe's to get a birthday present for his father. As if that weren't good deed enough, you returned to pay for the extra bin you had inadvertently brought home. It's amazing that both you and the clerk had miscounted, but definitely the right thing to do to go back to the store and pay for it!

Great TOPP, CynB, and so true!

That's another great memory, CynB! What a wonderful experience that must have been - spending time at your uncle's farm!

Your mention of riding the bike triggered a discussion we had a few days ago. Our 5 1/2 year old grandie has learned how to ride without training wheels. Neither hubby or I ever had access to a bike with training wheels. I learned to ride a bike around age 8 at Marcia's (my neighbor-across-the-street's) yard on her bike. I think I was in high school when I got a bike of my own, bought second-hand and painted light blue all over. When I was 15 and 16 I rode it back and forth to my first job - possibly 2.5 to 3 miles each way. Hubby learned to ride a bike when he was 10 or so - on a discarded bike.

Thinking of Everyone and sending {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , healing energy, positive thoughts, and prayers for all! Take care and stay safe!

You are all bringing back great memories for me too. My school holidays were mainly spent on a sheep farm in Merrijig - I bought the local baker's horse which was a bit lame and walked her back to my uncle's farm much to the annoyance of my mother and amusement of my uncle. I was about 10yrs old - so much freedom then. She lived until she was in her late twenties on that farm - better than the knackery which was why I bought her. She was a sweet, gentle horse. in my teens I also had a small motorbike (Honda 180) which I had great fun on around the paddocks and hills. Kept at the farm so my parents never knew about it.
Son no. 3 is back from Darwin to arrange their furniture to be moved - but, guess what - lockdown again!! His partner is in their apartment with camp beds and a chair. Looks like he may be with us for a while as lockdown is being extended.
My favourite alpaca seller is closing (Adagio Mills in Orange, NSW) - I used to have a large stash of alpaca wool which I kept in storage at my mother's. One time when i was in hospital, my sister, who has no idea of quality, gave it all to charity as she thought I would never use it. I hope someone who appreciates good wool bought it. I have just ordered some of their limited stock for jumpers. Have just finished a couple of 'gumnut baby' jackets for my D's friends (no grandies in sight here). Just can't stand sitting and doing nothing and with my hips and back playing up, can't do very much.
We are having a cold spell for the next week and surprisingly my hyacinths have poked their heads up - about 2 months late. I always gave these to my mum and mil each Mothers day in May.
Hope everyone can keep well and avoid the latest Delta strain.

The chicks were shipped this evening, and I should be picking them up at the Post Office hub tomorrow night. I'm all ready for them.

You will have some great fertilizer on your farm Heidi. My father used to?
put chook poo in a big container, add water and let it brew for a while - great on the veggie garden. Hope the chicks settle in well. How are the cats - are they getting used to you?
Another week of lockdown has just been announced (for now).

HI EVERYONE.
After the plea's to come back and chat, I wanted to let you all know that I read every now and then.
I cant remember what was happening in my life, when I last posted, but here goes.
Greg's Dad, moved in with us at 90 yrs and he is now almost 93 yrs old. He was in a Nursing Home in NSW.
I retired 1 yr ago from Nursing and absolutely love being home and free of the stress. I just retired in time to miss most of the Covid lockdowns, mask wearing etc etc.
We are renovating our home with a new kitchen going in mid August. New flooring has started but until the old kitchen cupboards are removed, we cant go any further. The driveway has been concreted and we have a new carport. Gardening is where I enjoy most of my time.
Unsure if you knew, but I had a much needed knee replacement which I couldn't be happier with. Now no pain at all.
Cyn, Heidi Midge and Julie, you are doing so well keeping the site going. I enjoy reading about your lives, so I will try to post a bit more of mine.

Wow, Nola, so pleased to hear from you and how you and Greg are doing. I'm glad all is well and that your knee replacement has been successful. I think that is in my future but not looking forward to it. It's starting to affect my mobility.
That's kind of you to take in your father-in-law. I suppose your nursing experience helps. And I guess he doesn't have dementia, that is difficult to deal with at home.
Good luck with your kitchen renovations, it will be worth it when the new one is finished. We renovated our kitchen (and bathrooms) 3 years ago and I still marvel at my new kitchen.
Keep calling back in to chat to us. I'm so glad I came back after several years away.

You have my ultimate respect, Nola! Giving your father-in-law a real home instead of a nursing home is one of the most loving things a person can do. And you're setting an example for others in your family. Bless you.

Everyone I've ever heard from who has had a knee replacemrnt is glad they did it. Their only regrets were that they waited longer than they should have. Congrats on that!

I'm looking forward to having you stop in a little more often, even if it's only to say .

I took Robert to another doctor's appointment this afternoon. I just learned that shortly after I got home, there was a train derailment that blocked the interstate that I drove on to take Robert to his appointment! So lucky to have missed that mess. I will have to drive that stretch again in a few hours to get the chicks, so I am relieved that they just announced that the highway is open again.
From what I've heard, nobody was hurt.

Thanks Heidi. Other family members were not in a position to take Pop, but we had the room and Greg was home all the time. Pop has some dementia like massive forgetfulness, but the only other problem is his need to be independent and risking falls when he forgets mobility aids. About 5 months ago, he broke his collar bone. All OK now.
Cyn. I remember your kitchen reno pictures. Nice to know you still are in awe of it.
I tried to have a knee replacement over 10 yrs ago and was told I was too young at approx 53 ys. Yes, I wished I had had it sooner too.
Kids are all good. Daughter Renae is 45 and son Paul is almost 43 ys. Where does life go. Funny that I still call them my kids.
Have a good day/night all.

What a delight to see comments from Nola and Midge. No time to read them now, but hope to get back here earlier tomorrow.

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

The chicks are here and all look healthy.

I, on the other hand, am having serious ear infection troubles again, and have decided to go back to bed.

They're still kids to us Nola. My eldest was 50 in January - that was a wake-up call! His sister is 49 in September. And I have 4 out of 5 grandies that are now adults. The youngest is almost 16. Time flies.

It could be the end of the road for Col and his eye today.
He goes to the opthalmologist and has a yellow dye put in his eye. They take pictures and compare the before and after results. The (3) injections over 3 months into his eye were supposed to help restore vision but nothing has really changed, so while he can see light, movement and colour he cannot see anything clearly. These injections were a last ditch effort to restore vision.
If that's the end, the next step is to close his Workcover claim and be given a compensation payment. If he doesn't think it's fair, he can then fight it in court - another few years!! To my mind, he should be given a d@mned good payout. 3.5 years of unsuccessful treatment, 3.5 years of stress and waiting, and 3.5 years plus a few more in the future until he retires, of substantial loss in wages ($25,000 per year). He's not the happy man he was. I want my real husband back.
(And, of course, what can't be taken into consideration was the Bowel Cancer and Chemo in the middle of it!)

I feel like cr@p. The ear infection is acting up, and I'm light headed, dizzy, aching all over, slightly nauseous, and very tired feeling. I need to take my mower in to be repaired, but I just don't have the energy or strength to load it up onto the trailer. It refuses to start, or even turn over. So all I'm doing is keeping food and water in front of the critters and spending the rest of my time lounging in bed, listening to audiobooks. There's no point in calling the doctor since this infection no longer responds to antibiotics.

The chicks are all doing well. I ordered 20 Golden Sebrights and they threw in a free rare breed chick. It's a feather footed bantam and is a chocolate brown, so I'm curious as to what breed and color it will be once it's grown. Right now I'm thinking Partridge Cochin. But I could be wrong.

Off to the Gate shop to buy two 10 foot long corral panels and two 6 foot corral walk thru' gates. These are for inside my barn to make working cattle MUCH easier. It'll make the alpacas and horses happier, too. And cut down on accidents to humans.

Got the panels and gates, got them unloaded and set in place. I just tied them in place temporarily since I'm too tired to drill and install the hardware to attach them firmly to the barn. I made a small mistake in measuring (I hate number dyslexia) and one panel is a foot too long. But I was able to slide it between the barn wall and the back door, and it will work for now. I'll have to get a 9 foot corral panel made before the dead of winter, so I can seal off that end of the barn against the cold, But until then, there's really not much of a problem. I can make this work.

Got the mower into the repair shop today. I also worked on pulling up old fencing and posts from the sheep facilities, which were no longer usable. Then I filled in the holes from the posts with compost so animals wouldn't step in the holes and injure themselves. I got half of the job done today.

My turkey poults are supposed to ship in the next 2 days. They'll go in with the bantam chicks, who've had a one week head start on them. In 3 weeks, they'll all go out to the pen in the barn. They'll be locked in there for a little over 1 month, then get free range during the day.

Hi everyone.
So sorry to hear that you have still got ongoing problems with your ear, Heidi. You soldier on regardless though. I love all the coloured eggs you get from the different hens. WOW.
Cyn, If Col's eye treatments dont work, it would be a blessing to get it all behind you and an out of court settlement. Best wishes.
Midge. How is your mental health with the 5th lockdown in Melb. Sydney is now the big worry and Queensland could also be in trouble. Roll on vaccinations.
Julie. Busy, busy as usual.

Yesterday, Greg and I were loading the ute with the old flooring, to take to the dump, and Sonny (Jack Russell) caught a mouse that was underneath it. One got away though. They were building a nest in the garden where we had temporarily left the floor piled up, but they hadn't had babies yet.
Greg says he is finally earning his keep.
Beautiful sunny day but a little cool today.
I hope all stay safe with the wild fires over there. Really scarey.
I am enjoying some of the Olympic games but must get a few things done. See you later.

It's too bloody hot outside to do much. I'm taking it easy in the AC, and trying to give that ear infection time to let up. We were supposed to have thunderstorms yeterday, but except for hearing rumbles in the distance we got nothing. So no front came by to cool things off.

Col's eye - the photos taken last week show some improvement to the back of Col's eye - which is great but it's not transferring into improved vision. The upshot is that he's going to be given another 3 injections over the next 3 months. So this drags on yet again. I'd like to be optimistic but I'm way past getting my hopes up. Not that I say that to him, I try to encourage him when he doesn't want to continue - just try this, you never know.

Nola, I keep forgetting to watch the Olympics. It's sort of got lost on me this time. I usually watch them. I must try harder, I seem to have missed some excellent gold medal wins in the swimming.
In 11 years Brisbane will be hosting it, so exciting - but if I'm still around I'll be 84, can't see me actually getting there but it would be lovely. Maybe even to get a spot to watch the marathon, that could be done! I'll keep my fingers crossed.
If the Games were on here today I would not get there. At some stage last night before I went to bed, I hurt my back so badly I can hardly move this morning. I'm about to limp off painfully and have a nice warm shower in the hope of easing the pain.

Doesn't sound good CynB. Hope the warm water helps. Last Friday I had CT scan which showed sciatica, bursitis - it's a bug**r getting old. Can't get around too well but being in lockdown at least I can't go anywhere anyway.
Whilst unable to go anywhere, my sister had sunspots lasered off her face - she looks like someone has attacked her with sandpaper - so sore.
Hope the chicks are still doing well. Can you put some more photos of your 'pets' on site Heidi - would love to see them.
Good to hear from you Nola - would love to have some of your weather now. We used to have 5 acres next to Purlingbrook falls int he hinterlands - wish we had the foresight to build and stay there in the 70's. Getting too old for the cold here in Melbourne.
That is good news about Col's eye - can understand how frustrated he must be as it keeps on dragging on but this last lot may be just what is needed.
DorA - how are you going with the clearing and settling of your property?
Julie - how are you both going? Glad to see you are back at your cello - must be pleasing to have such a lovely sound around. Have decided to give my piano away - hasn't been used for many years and I can't play it anyway. Reminds me of a great old 75 record - Life Gets Teejus Don't It.
Prof. Brian Cox is coming back to Melbourne - hooray - have thoroughly enjoyed being made to feel minute and inconsequential in his presentations on the universe. Looking forward to seeing him again next March. Have rounded up 2 of my 4 kids to go - my daughter has been with me each time and is also looking forward to his lecture.

The fct that Col can see light and dark, and some movement, in that eye is incredible, after that initial injury, CynB. He could have easily lost the eye completely and have to get a prosthetic. As long as he has some function at all, he's better off.
The bantam chicks are doing great.
The turkey poults were shipped about an hour ago and will probably be here about dawn on Wednesday.
''Imp'' the little black kitten has settled down with me, and associates me with good food. I've let him/her loose now, and whenever he/she sees me, runs up meowing for more canned cat food. Inky and Gremlin escaped from the pen by tearing a hole through the chicken wire, but they are hanging around and eating the cat food I leave out. I have caught a couple of glimpses of them. They're going to stay completely feral. Imp will gentle into a pet eventually.

The turkey poults are here. I picked them up at the post office at 6:30 AM. They sent one extra Black Spanish, but two of the Bourbon Reds arrived dead. So I have 6 Bourbon Reds, 5 Black Spanish and 4 Blue Slates. I contacted the Hatchery about the 2 dead ones and they've already sent me a refund for them.

Well, that's been a few awful days. On Monday night I twisted my back, almost imperceptably, but it got worse during the night and on Tuesday. At the same time, Colin had his first AstraZenica jab - and as things go with him, the unluckiest man in the world, he got so sick, much sicker than I did when I had mine. He was shivering so much that he was shaking, he had a headache that felt like it was exploding. He was coughing and was sore all over. I can't help thinking that if that was an example of what it's like having Covid, it's terrifying. I could do nothing for him, nothing helped at all. That lasted for just over 24 hours until he started to feel better yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile my back was so bad that I was crying and could hardly move. What an miserable day we both had and were not much help to one another.
All good today, he went to work and my back feels lots better this morning. Phew!

CynB... that's what a mild-to-moderate case of COVID is like. I have the feeling that with his weakened condition, a full case of COVID-19 would have been quickly fatal for him. Remember, he needs the booster. That's what creates the real antibodies and gives him protection. There's only the mildest of short-term protection from the first shot. What he went through may have been awful, but it beats dying.

A friend recently taught me an interesting oriental treatment (I can't remember what it's called), where you hold the index finger of your left hand in your right hand, fingers gently wrapped around it. For some reason, it eases up back spasms. It's supposed to be some special pressure point. It does help. What do you have to lose by trying it?

Heidi, exactly! That is why I have been trying to get him to have the vaccine. He always has this 'wait and see' attitude. It's very frustrating and didn't matter that I survived it, he needed confirmation elsewhere before he decided to do it. I am glad that he has had it now and he knows that the second one should not be as bad as the first. He'll go along to that happily
.
Thanks for the oriental treatment advice. I have copied it to my journal so that I hopefully will remember it if/when I need it.

There are a lot of Americans who have refused to have the COVID-19 shots, out of massive ignorance. They actually believe it's a political plot of some sort!!! Large numbers of them are now catching the Delta variant, and while in the hospital, are begging the doctors to give them the vaccines. Doctors are having to explain to them that it is now too late for them. The vaccines cannot help them once they've caught the virus and are extremely ill.

Baby birds are doing great. It looks like I'm going to have to move them out to the barn earlier than I planned. They're going to need more space by the time the turkeys are 2 weeks old.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/29/health/louisiana-covid-19-hotspot/index.html

Just finished filling the hay barn completely full. I believe that this supply will last 2 years.

I can't believe how hot it is outside, especially since we had a surprise thunderstorm at 3 AM, with high winds. I'd hoped it would cool things down a little, but we have a heat index of 103˚F / 39.4˚C. I step outside and am immediately wringing wet. I went to the feed dtore today, as well, but am going to wait for a few hours before unloading the feed.

Well, we've just gone into a 3-day hard lockdown because of the Delta Virus which has been passed into a family, who unknown to them, have been spreading it into their schools workplaces and public areas. We are only allowed to leave home for - essential work, medical reasons, essential shopping and exercise. Of course, even though the supermarkets are well-stocked and staying open - there was the usual panic buying. I just can't understand it. Bit worried because the original virus-carrier of this particular outbreak was a tutor to one of the children and goes to the same Uni as our Hayley and catches some of the same buses to and from there, I told H to go get a test asap. If H was carrying it from this girl, she's been home to my son's place, then he in turn has gone to work with Colin. The chain goes on and on.......
I will be extremely surprised if this lockdown is over in 3 days. Sydney is in lockdown and Victoria has just come out of one , I think. Most state borders are closed. It feels like it was back in 2020.

Talked to the lawn mower mechanics. They still haven't had a chance to look at my lawn mower to figure out what's wrong. I told them I understand that it's their busiest time of year, and I'm not worried. They're known for doing good work and for being honest. It's not the end of the world that my lawn is getting long and deep.

We are coming out of our 5th lockdown - very slowly - I can go to a restaurant with 40 strangers yet I cannot have one of my children visit us in our own place. Nola, you asked about my mental health - it was o.k. before and now I think I may have turned some sort of corner. We had a house fire last Wednesday during the night and we are now staying in a 2br apartment nearby. Front of the house was gutted and the other 3 levels were badly affected - all clothing and furniture covered in black soot. Insurance guys today estimate about $300+k for the building and they have decided it will cost more than our contents insurance is worth so they are paying us out the $133 for that side and leaving the cleanup and replacement for us. Grrrr . A big wake-up reminder to check you are accurate with your insurance estimations. The important thing is that we are all o.k. and it was probably time for a fresh start.

CynB - have heard that sort of reaction to the vaccination is good - my nephrologist said it shows your immune system is well cranked up. I had no reaction which was expected as I have immuno-suppressants.
Heidi - sorry to hear you still have that horrible ear infection. Hope it can clear and you are more comfortable asap.
Beautiful sunny day but a bit cold - just nice not having the rain and wind for a while.

The ear infection is still knocking me for a loop. I have a bit of a fever, am lightheaded, dizzy and achy all over. I hope it lets up soon.

I'm going to call the mower mechanic tomorrow and see if they've had a chance to check it out yet.