Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

''Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.''

~ Dalai Lama

Good TOPP Heidi!
I always carry a few Masks in my bag wherever we go.
I'm not sure if we have to wear them in the airport and/or on the plane, so I will make sure we are both covered.

Gemma is getting to ne a real handful. A couple of days ago, I collected the eggs as usual, and set them down in the barnyard while I fed the horses. Gemma saw me do it, found a tiny hole in the fence, and when I turned around to pick up the eggs, she was laying down next to it with her head in the basket, eating eggs as fast as she could. Then last night she stole my brand new glasses off the kitchen counter. I still can't find them. I may have to order a new pair on Monday. This puppy doesn't miss a trick.

We decided to work the cow herd on Saturday, June 4th.

So Heidi has an ''egg suckin'' dog ? ....

Egg munching puppy. All my dogs like fresh eggs, but the others wait politely to be handed the eggs.

Hi, Everyone! Just a quick hello. Things have been crazy here. It's late, and I'm off to bed.

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

Spent the extremely hot day (mid-90's) alternating between yard work and resting my back in the A.C., and listening to an unabridged audiobook of The Lord Of The Rings. I also delivered eggs to the Food Pantry (not as many as usual, thanks to Gemma), fresh strawberries to a friend, and ordered a replacement pair of glasses. I still haven't found the new pair that Gemma stole.

Gemma sounds like a delight. She will keep you on your toes Heidi.
We are having the opposite to you but not as cold as you get in winter. Our first day of winter brought some snow to the hills near us but not much. We usually only see a little bit each year but the wind chill is breathtakingly cold.

Smiling today - my son was missing in Sth Korea for a couple of weeks and we couldn't contact him. He rang on WhatsApp today and is going o.k. Just got preoccupied with work and doing the hiking trails. Has moved from Seoul to Sadang for 10 days and then to Busan. Soulds lovely over there . He said the covid restrictions are still in place and the people are very respectful of each other.
My brother is still very ill and I am waiting to hear if he is going to be moved to a more major hospital in Brisbane. If so, I will be going there this weekend.
No 2 son off to Thailand again on Sunday for a few weeks - great timing. We still have a huge mess and boxes everywhere. Daughter off hiking in the Grampians - seems like my family scatter when there is work to be done.
Hope everyone is keeping well.

Good news on your formerly missing son, Midge!
We're working the entire cattle herd tomorrow. Vaccinating, deworning and fly tagging everybody. Castrating the bull calves (all are bulls except for 3 heifer calves!). One cow and 2 calves need their tags replaced. Strangely enough, both of the calves thar need new tags are heifers. And sorting the entire herd into 3 breeding groups. That will be the hard part because we need to make sure that we sort the correct calves with the correct cows. So we're working them slowly and carefully to prevent confusion.

Baby turkeys are hatching out!!! So far I've seen Blue Slates and Black Spanish poults.

I'm exhausted. I have no idea what shape I'd be in if Robert hadn't been such a huge help. I caught the cattle and sorted them into the order we needed to work them in for maximum safety to people and cattle. I also got each one onto the working chute for Mike The Vet. Mike did all the treating and worked the head catch. Both of us double checked where each anumal needed to go . Robert walked back and forth opening the correct gates we told him to open... or close... and moved the animals into their correct pastures. It was labor intensive..... BUT.... nobody got hurt and NO mistakes were made.

Mike was due to arrive at 2 PM. I started off after I penned up the alpacas at 1 PM in their inside pen, with a high powered fan on them. Then I needed to put The new Red Angus bull, with #12 and her calf in the weaning pen while I brought in the Black Angus bull and the Hereford bull. They were in a nice shady spot a quarter mile away from the barn and didn't want to leave it. I had to walk down there with a bucket and a little grain and bring them up. Once caught, gave them some water, then I moved them into the working pen in the barn. Ince they were locked in the working pen, I moved the red Angus bull and his 2 companions into the holding pen in the center aisle of the barn. This was Packer's first time inside the barn and he was unsure of it, but #12 calmed him down. She's an old pro. Then, Robert helped me put out 30 lbs of feed in the barnyard and 50 lbs in the weaning/ holding area, and we brought the rest of the herd into the barn lot. Once the gate to the barn lot was locked behind them, and they'd polished off the 30 lbs of feed, we moved them into the weaning/holding pen. Then I opened the gate to the outside chute and holding pen and carefully cut out cow #1 from the herd and put her into the outside chute by herself. I call her The Red Bulldozer. When we work cattle, she has one gear only. She plows forward and tramples any animal in front of her, so she cannot have anyone in front of her.
At that point, it was 2 PM and Mike arrived. We worked.... or tried to work... his 2 bulls first. The black bull was too big to fit in my chute or head catch. He fit last year, but he's grown a LOT. We had to give him a pass and just run him into his new pasture. We did work the Hereford bull and put him where he belonged.
Packer didn't want to go in the chute next so I loaded in #12, and he happily followed her. Her calf was easy to work. Once the 3 of them were let out of the barn, we worked the Red Bulldozer without anybody getting run over, and she joined Packer and #12. Then we worked the rest of the herd. I seperated all the cows from the calves and we worked the cows, sorted them, then worked all the calves so no calves would get stepped on by overly excited cows. Robert made no mistakes and everybody went easily into their assigned pastures onto fresh grazing.

Afterwards, the dogs got the Rocky Mountain Oysters! Gemma thought she had died

I over-ran.

Gemma thought she had died and gone to heaven. I know she ate at least 6 of them, and probably more. Previously, she thought eggs were the ultimate treat. I hated to tell her that there will be no more of these delicacies until next year.

To prevent accidents, I'd also kept the chickens and turkeys (including poults) locked up for their safety. I didn't want them getting trampled as the cattle moved through the barnyard.

If I needed any reason(s) to avoid getting into ranching at this stage of my life, this was surely it. Sounds like a LOT Of WORK!

DorA's tip for the day......

Do not fail to remember,
not to forget
to put the cup in place
before pushing the brew
button on your
Keurig coffee maker
and walking away.

You will regret it -

I did a 'test' and the drip tray isn't
big enough to contain 10 oz. of coffee.

Mama turkey has 4 poults with her. One isn't very strong. She gave up on the rest of the eggs. I think she's doing well for a first time mother. I'm going to let her try to raise them and guard them herself. She hatched them in the chicken barn, and this morning she threw a major fit wanting to take them outside. She's very protective of them and won't let a single chicken or cat near them.

Mama turkey is down to just 2 black poults, but they look very healthy. They stay with her across the pasture while she forages, so they're learning to be turkeys. Mike is fascinated with the Black Spanish turkeys. With their red heads and necks and black bodies, they look like Turkey Vultures.

My legs are still very achy and shaky. I have an appointment at Pain Management on Monday (at 8:20 AM) for a consult, and will discuss this with the doctor. This doctor is a fill-in since my regular doctor has just gone out on maternity leave.

We still have real cowboys. You just don't see them often from the highway.

https://www.wlky.com/article/oklahoma-city-cowboy-wrangles-loose-cow-highway/40214005

Crews have been repaving the State Highway that goes past my farm. In the process, they accidentally tore through the nice new buried lines that provide telephone, internet and television to the area. So much for checking before you dig. I just got service back. I didn't miss it much. I just relaxed and listened to audiobooks.

Hello there, we are back from our 'relaxing' break. We did everything but relax. We had a great time - we went out to some caves at Chillagoe that have been there for millenia. Saw some indigenous paintings in an outside hollow in the rock. we visited a coral cay out on the reef and saw the treasures of the reef in a glass bottom boat. We went up into the Daintree Rainforest National Park towards Cape Tribulation. Beautiful almost pristine area. Only access is by ferry across the river, On the Atherton Tableland we saw crater lakes, waterfalls, and many other natural attractions in and around the area. Definitely a place to visit for anyone who gets the chance.
We are exhausted but happy. Home in time for our 34th wedding anniversary today.
It's nice to have our own bed, our own armchair and good wifi.
Col still has another week off before he gets back to the daily grind.
Glad to see all seems well with everyone on here.

Happy Anniversary to CynB and Col...

Happy Anniversary to CynB and Col. ❤️

There's no place like home, no matter how fun sightseeing is.

Pain Management thinks I may be developing blood clots in my legs. I have an appointment scheduled for testing on June 24th.

Wow, very quiet on here in the last few days.
Heidi, I hope that your leg problems are sorted out soon. Blood clots? That doesn't sound good.
I had the misfortune to do my back in early this week. I cannot seem to get it better. It gets worse every day. I'm lucky that Col is home this week, he has been having to do everything. I feel guilty even though he doesn't seem to mind.

To MizTricia1, she who started Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

Happy Birthday MizT - hope you have a lovely day and more to come.
Sounds like you need a holiday CynB to get over this one. Hope the back improves.
Heidi - after reading all the work you have done in such a short time, I am not surprised your body is telling you something. Next Friday seems too lng to wait for that sort of test.
I am back from Mooloolalaba (Qld) after visitng my brother. He was very low when I arrived and has slowly stabilised over the past week + . We came home last Fri night and today I heard he may be able to go back to his partners' son's house on the Sunshine Coast for care. He will have to have ascites drain every few days. At the moment the last drain will not heal and he has a stoma bag as he is constantly draining. He has so many multipile problems all revved up by the blasted staph infection. I hope to see him again in a few weeks. At the same time, my sister (just turned 80) has Influenza A and is in hospital not far from us. At least I can help her partner who is also recevering from flu. Was hoping this would be a better year than the last.
Been a while since Julie has been here - hope all is o.k.
Cheers for now

Midge, wishing your brother a continuing recovery.

Julie isn't the only one missing of late. Where is Heidi?

I'm at that age where
my mind still thinks
I'm 29, My humor
suggests I'm 12 while
my body mostly keeps
asking if I'm sure I'm
not dead yet...

Wow, over a week since Heidi posted. I hope she's okay. She mentioned blood clots in her legs.
Thinking of you Heidi and hoping you are just busy.
Midge, your brother sounds very ill. I hope he gets some relief. And I hope your sister is recovering well from Influenza A.
DorA, I'm at that same age.
No news from here, my back is a lot better but not healed. Col is back at work - with a bad back. Honestly our holiday knocked us out!

Need a Holiday to recover from the Holiday, eh?

Just feeling crappy.... legs are hurting, and I'm sleeping a LOT. My appointment at the hospital is in 22 hours. I hope they can find a workable answer as to why my legs hurt so much.

Heidi, good luck with that appointment. I hope they sort your leg problems out.
Thanks for lettung us know what is happening.

Hi, Everyone!

Heidi, please take care of yourself. Blood clots are not to be ignored.

NOTICE AND FAIR WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MAY BE DIFFICULT TO READ! FEEL FREE TO PASS ON BY.
The last few weeks have not be kind to our family. My husband has had increasing neuropathy and weakness in his legs since winter. Neither the neurologist or primary care doctor have been helpful in trying to figure out why. On June 5 I left my husband in the bedroom to go into the kitchen & check my blood sugar. In a matter of minutes I heard him weakly call me & went to check on him. He was struggling to breathe, so I quickly called paramedics. By the time they got to us he needed oxygen & was quickly transported to the hospital. We were told he had a large clot that went to his lung. He spent 10 days in ICU (and lost over 20 pounds), then was moved to rehab. In less than 5 full days he lost more weight and went rapidly downhill. He was sent back to the ER with either 104.3 or 103.4 fever, which indicated a major infection. They did several tests but didn't determine if it was pneumonia or sepsis before we had to make a quick decision whether to return him to ICU or begin hospice within the hospital. The nurses in hospice were thankfully wonderful and far more attentive than rehab personnel. He passed away on Wednesday afternoon. It was just more than his weakened body could take. He had a kidney transplant 23 1/2 years ago, and we were told at the time that it may only last 10 to 15 years, so we feel lucky that he was with us as long as he was. (We celebrated our 51st anniversary in May.) Our girls and I talked almost continually, played music for him, and told him that we would take care of each other and love each other and be okay. (Hospice nurses encourage us and told us that hearing was the last sense to go.)

I apologize for putting a major damper on things here, but couldn't just say, 'My husband died.' I'll drop by as I feel comfortable doing so. In the meantime, make the most of your time with loved ones!

I am so sorry, Julie. I can't imagine your pain. At least you got to say your good-byes.

((( HUGS )))

Oh Julie, my sincere condolences to you, your girls and your grandchildren. It's a loss we all dread, to lose a life partner. Hopefully your grief will subside into happy memories in time. It's at times like this being a cyber-friend is useless. I can't offer practical help but I know that you must have family and friends nearby. I send my love and cyber hugs to you. We are here in cyberspace when and if you need us. Much love and (((hugs))) to you.

My Condolences Julie
((((Big HUGS))))

So sorry Julie - your husband certainly was given a gift to have the transplant for so long. This has given you many beautiful memories and a lifetime together which will help when this awful time moves on. Drop in when you can and let us know how you and your girls are going. {{hugs}}

Thank you so much for so many kind thoughts! I apologize for being a Debbie Downer, but we've all shared so many special thoughts and memories and I couldn't really think of a way other than honesty to explain my absence. CynB, I don't underestimate the value of a good cyber hug. Caring comments and love, whether from relatives and neighbors or from cyber friends, are all cherished. And we have all experienced the death of a parent, cherished relative, or special friend, or 4-legged family member and can benefit from learning of others' experiences and ways to deal with grief. I told our girls that everyone experiences grief in their own special way, and it can take a lifetime. Five, ten, twenty years from now something can trigger a flood of emotion, sometimes with no discernible reason why, and it just happens. Today I called to try to reschedule an ophthalmologist appointment I have scheduled for next week. The next available date was in September - on my husband's birthday. I barely held it together long enough to say that I would just keep my appointment next week. I know he was letting me know that he was thinking of us. Again, thanks to Everyone!

I'm glad, if that is the right word, that you shared this with us, Julie. We want to be here for you and we really do care. Even if all we can do is provide simpathy or a figurative shoulder to cry on.

I heard back from the doctor. No sign of blood clots or circulatory issues. The EKG came back normal as well. We're going to try some new anti-inflamatories and see if they help. They want me to give them a trial until July 5th before calling back.

Early this morning, one of Mike's bulls (the Black Angus) went on a rampage and tore up a bunch of my nice 5 board wooden fences,... including the one that separated him and his cows from my Red Angus bull and his cows. All cattle are now intermingled again and I have major repairs to do. Basides the fact that Packer doesn't have exclusive access to my cows for one 3 week cycle. So I won't have a calf crop bred only to Packer. And that Black bull when after me when I tried to stop him from tearing up the fence, I had to beat him off me with a bull whip. I hate having to ask Mike to get him off the property, but I no longer trust that bull. I'm going into town in an hour or 2 to get the supplies I need to repair the fence and make it even stronger. I'll be getting my new meds at the same time.

No crias yet.