Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

''I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.''

~ Galileo Galilei

I installed a new cat door into the feed room in the hope that it will baffle that skunk. It took a little time to teach the kittens how to use it, and I think they've figured it out now. I hope they don't show the skunk how to use it, or I will then be forced to trap and kill the skunk.

DEAR SANTA.

I’VE BEEN GOOD
ALL YEAR!

MOST OF THE TIME.

ONCE IN A WHILE.

NEVER MIND,
I’LL BUY MY OWN STUFF…

Exhausted I finished dismantling the old sheep working facility, using the tractor, filled in the post holes, then carefully cleaned up all the debris. That meant removing every single nail and staple from the wood, stacking the wood neatly, salvaging the usable portions of livestock paneling and adding the busted pieces to the trailer of scrap metal. Then I used the tractor again to stack the fence posts out of the way, where they can be reused. Mike showed up while I was working and was amazed at how much I got done. And it's a good feeling to do a good job. That old sheep chute was a hazard to cattle, since it was on the edge of the weaning area, and when ex-IH left, he wrecked it while stealing some gates, and left some holes and sharp spots.... intentionally, I believe. It's FINALLY all cleaned up, and I'm proud of myself.

I pretty much took today easy after yesterdays hard work. I don't want to hurt my back.

Right now we're having a thunderstorm. The temperature is in the mid-60's but will plummet to near freezing tonight.

Tomorrow morning is Robert's appointment with the neurologist to get back on his epilepsy meds. It's taken this long to get him the appointment. I'm taking him, of course. None of his relatives will.

Great TOPP, Heidi!

Wow, Heidi, that's a lot of work you got done. You deserve taking it easy (well, easier) today! I hope Robert's appointment with the neurologist went well and he will be able to have the epilepsy medication again!

It has been another crazy-busy week. Brother's cancerous tonsil was removed a few weeks ago, then MULTIPLE lymph glands/ nodes removed. PET and CT scans are reported to be clear, but they're still considering radiation. Then sister's 17-year-old grandson was diagnosed with a rare cancer and had to have a testicle removed. His PET and CT scans are also reportedly clear, but they're talking about 6 months of chemotherapy. Last Tuesday I had a right lumpectomy (left lumpectomy was 14 months ago). We're waiting for biopsy results. Tomorrow hubby has an Upper Endoscopic Ultrasound tomorrow to check on a spot on his pancreas. It seems like the only thing getting accomplished around here is doctor appointments and tests.

Thinking of Everyone and sending lots of {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy, , prayers, and positive thoughts! Please, take care, Everyone. Stay safe and healthy.

Oops; seems I was absent longer than I thought.

I hope JackRussel was able to get the help he needed, thanks to DORA steering him in the right direction.

CynB, it's good to know that your vision is stable! On the other hand, I'm sorry to hear (though not surprised) that Col feels he has done all that he can to regain his vision. He certainly has been stoic about it and put in quite the effort. Although the desired results have evaded him, he luckily has his vision in the other eye - and his good health. I suspect it will be a bit of a relief to no longer have all of those appointments and procedures behind him.

Heidi, it seems that there is often something unexpected popping up on your farm. The disappearing bull and the skunk who fortunately didn't spray you are just 2 of so many. It certainly keeps you on your toes!

And now, off to bed. Good Night to Everyone from here.

Countdown to Christmas

Can't Wait?
How long 'til Christmas?

18 Days
14 Hours
0 Minutes

...But who's counting?

On the ''other side of the line'' subtract a day........

I got Robert to the Neurologist today, and he's been put back on epilepsy medication. We stopped on the way home and picked up his prescription, so he's good to go. My good deed for the day.

Julie.... your health issues sound scary. Please take care, and I hope everything goes better than expected. Are you trying to give Midge competition? ((( HUGS )))

I have a routine appointment at Pain Management in the morning. No epidural. The last one, with the amount of medication increased, really did a phenomenal job. The meds are enough to keep me comfortable.

Hard to believe it was 68˚F / 20˚C yesterday. It's getting down to 24˚F / -4.5˚C tonight and tomorrow's high is only getting up to 36˚F / 2.2˚C. That's a big change, quickly.

Since nobody else is posting.... I got well stocked up on feed today. I'm gonna be gone most of tomorrow, at a concert several hour's drive away, so I will be feeding early. Everybody has plenty of feed and water out. I let Mike know my plans, so he'll be checking everyone right before dusk.
I checked on Robert today, and the seizures are back under control.
My thumb is feeling OK. I accidentally tore it open yesterday while feeding the bulls and considered going to urgent care for stitches, but decided that I could probably patch it up myself well enough for it to heal. I had plenty of non-stick surgical pads, antibiotic ointment, sterile wrap and co-flex (in purple) to cover it. I'll bring them all with me tomorrow in case I have to change the bandage. You never know when a bandage will get accidently ripped off. Better to be prepared.

I'm falling asleep at the computer, so off to bed I go.

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

I changed the bandage on my thumb, and it's healing well. the gash is almost an inch long, but there's no sign of an infection, and it's staying closed. It shouldn't leave nuch of a scar.

I'm off. I'll probably be back in 10 hours. Thank goodness I have dogs guarding the place.

Enjoy your concert, Heidi!
I've been absent for days, haven't I? It's always so busy this time of year with Christmas fast approaching. I think I have covered most of my Christmas shopping. Went to a Christmas party for my Art Group. It was a Hawaiian themed Christmas party (remember our Christmas is warm and tropical) and was great fun considering we are all 'elderly people'. Every year we have a challenge. This year it was to bring the favourite memory of your youth, I won, with my ticket stub to a Beatles Concert in Brisbane in 1964. My best memory!
We have bought a new car (or rather a 2020 car, 18 months old). I have loved my Prius for the last 16 years but we want something we can take on road trips that is built for purpose. The new one is a Subaru XV Hybrid AWD SUV. Picking it up later today. It's got all the bells and whistles, especially in it's safety features. The Prius is staying in the family, It is going to Hayley who hasn't got her licence yet. Her boyfriend will teach her. The Prius is a perfect car for her. It is easy to drive, has great fuel economy, has been regularly serviced and still looks good. I'm happy that she's taking it. I'll miss it.

Memories, CynB. I remember sitting on the lanai, having Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, in Hawaii. Was that really nearly 50 years ago?

I'm so glad that Hayley is getting the Prius. It sounds like a good, safe car for her..... and you know it's service history, which is important. Have fun with the new Subaru SUV.

I enjoyed the concert immensely. Good friends, good music. But a BIG crowd. I was careful to wear a mask the whole time. Only about a third of the people there were masked. It's hard to believe how much people tempt fate, especially with the new extremely contagious Omicron variant now starting to spread.

Robert came over today and we got all the concrete removed from the 2 dozen wooden fence posts, then neatly stacked them along a fence out of the way, saved for future reuse. In a couple days, after the bad weather passes, I'll put the bucket on the tractor, and pile all of the concrete chunks in it. I'll use them to fill in a small sink hole forming in the front pasture.
We have strange weather setting in. Right now it's foggy and 69˚F / 20.5˚C. In 4 hours a nasty storm is due to hit with torential rain, high winds and possible tornadoes. But the low tonight is only supposed to go down to 60˚F / 15.5˚C. But then tomorrow the temperatures are due to plummet down to freezing again. We don't seem to be getting anything between those extremes, like we should get this time of year.

It was a bad night with all the storms. A LOT of tornadoes touched dowm. 17 Counties had tornadoes, including 3 close to me. They know that about a hundred people were killed.

I haven't looked, in depth, at the reports of the Tornado damage, but came here to check. Glad to see you ''check in'', Heidi. Thoughts and prayers for those affected. Especially those who have lost everything...

Today I got all the concrete chunks picked up and dumped into the hole in the front pasture. Then I caught the bulls and penned them up for Mike to pick them up. They're gone now, so that's one less group of animals to take care of.... until we wean calves on the 15th.

Al really ned to do today, besides regular chores, is run to the feed store for chicken and turkey feed. So it's a quiet day.

I've heard that hundreds of people are still missing among the rubble from the tornadoes. They've confirmed just over 70 deaths so far, but they're expecting a bunch more.

I changed my mind. I have enough chicken feed to last until tomorrow, so I decided to go them and stay home today. All chores are done except feeding supper to Buddy and the cats in a few hours, so I'm going to relax and read.

Heidi, we saw the devastation left by the tornadoes on our news last night.
How frightening and awful. Our weather worldwide is getting worse, but, as usual with the deniers - Climate change, what climate change?
I feel for everyone affected by the tornadoes. So many people's homes were shredded like toothpicks. Not to mention those who lost family members or have people missing in the rubble.
Very sad indeed!

The confirmed death toll is at 64, in Kentucky, with over 100 people still missing. And 7 states were hit by tornadoes that night. Kentucky was hit the worst.

I finished up filling the sinkholes in the front pasture. I thought there was only one new one, and I put the concrete chunks in it and decided to cover them with compost. While doing that, I discovered another one. It was only about 3 feet (~1 meter) across, but it was deeper than that and was a danger to calves. Both are now filled, packed down and smoothed out. The first calf is due to be born in about 2 weeks (an accident.... the neighbor's ugly bull jumped the fence and bred my heifer) and I want the calving pasture to be safe. Even though I will NOT keep this calf, it's still money in the bank once it's sold.

The Kentucky Tornado death toll is now up to 74, including 12 children. And there are still many people missing.

And I found out that the closest tornado to me was an F2, less than 15 miles away. That was almost too close.

Hi, Everyone! Just a quick visit after a busy day. Not much news, so that's good.

Heidi, I'm glad you missed the tornados! Or I guess they missed you.

Thinking of Everyone and sending {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, prayers, healing energy, and . Take care and be safe!

I've got the cattle all caught in the small holding pen adjoining the barn and working facility. I'm just waiting for Mike to show up.... he's running late since the Vet Clinic was really busy today. So I'm glad I can make it easier on him by having everything ready to go. We'll be sorting out the 8 (I believe) calves we want to wean, as well as the older heifer who's due to calve in 10 days. All the cows will be getting preg checked, as well.

Done. I'm tired. Most of the cattle cooperated, all except one of mine I refer to as the Red Bulldozer. She has a great disposition in the pasture. produces excellent calves. But when we need to work her, she has one gear.... plow forward over everybody and everything. No reverse gear. She drove us crazy.
We weaned 9 calves. We sorted out 2 open cows of Mike's to take to the sale barn after the holidays. And sorted out the heifer about to calve, as well as 2 heifer companions, into the calving pasture. Everybody got vaccinated, dewormed and treated for external parasites. All this took 2 hours. Then we had to put everyone where they belonged and do clean-up. That took nearly another hour.

The weanlings are doing fine. They got their first grain feeding this morning since they were weaned, and once they figured out what was happening, they gobbled it up.
I'm battening down the hatches for the cold front moving in later today. It was 70˚F / 21˚C yesterday with a low last night of 60˚F / 15.5˚C. It's presently 65˚F / 18.3˚C. In about 5 hours it will be below freezing. And it's supposed to rain (with possible sleet and snow) for the next 3 days. I don't mind the cold, but these temperature that jump from one extreme to another every few days can make people and animals sick. I'm sure glad all the cattle got their boosters for everything yesterday.

Now they;ve changed the forecast. The freeze isn't going to hit until Saturday. Better. It's supposed to cool off slower than originally predicted.

The weanlings were particularly noisy last night (they bawl like crazy for the first 3 days they're separated from moms). I got up at dawn to discover that they had torn down three 10 foot sections of wooden fence (5 foot high) and had gotten out, but only into the alpaca pasture. So I had to rebuild the fence and reinforce it. Then I put a bucket of feed in their feeder, got behind the calves with my bullwhip, snapped it a few times and they went back into their pen.

Finally, a Barbie we can relate to!

No-More-Wrinkles Barbie -
Erase those pesky crow's-feet and lip lines with a tube of Skin Sparkle-Spackle, from Barbie's own line of exclusive age-blasting cosmetics.

Today I finished reinforcing the weaning pen fence by lining all the wooden fence with cattle panels. It will take a tornado to wreck the fence now.
The temperature is plummeting right now. It's barely above freezing. And it's been raining for the past 3 days, so the mud is awful.

Wow, life has been busy this week. Even though I am not entertaining here at all, I still have had lots of Christmas stuff to organise, As well as that I have been getting used to my new car. It is a bit more difficult that I hoped. I have driven the same car, and no other car, for 16 years. It was almost a part of me. Now I'm getting used to a bigger car with a bigger engine. Every time I go out in it, I find it a bit disconcerting. I know I will get used to it and it has so many (good) safety features. It tells me if I drift out of the lane, I can see by a yellow light on the side mirrors if there is a car in my blind spot (so good). But the gears and hand brake are different and I have to have my wits about me. This is where older age really shows up. I am just taking it slowly.
I hope everyone is feeling well and getting ready for Christmas however you plan to spend it.

Oh, it's the end of the page - let's take it over.