Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

Oh, dear, my comments ran over, and now this may push us over to the next page. Anyway, here's the rest:

Heidi, what an awful morning, with Patch sliding into the pond, finding a calf that didn't make it, retrieving Gil's truck and having a possible leak with yours. And all that on top of the snow-covered ice! At least you had a healthy heifer calf born, up and nursing!

Possible good news for Heidi from DevilOrAngel, if the leaking fluid is indeed antifreeze!

Suzy, Alie's soggy scab sounds gross. Why is she even trying to look at her throat? Anyway, I hope she is feeling better!

Vicki, it's nice to see you again! Wow! what a busy time you've had. How is your mother doing? Hopefully she isn't too demanding of your time. With luck, work concerns can be left at work, as you certainly have plenty to occupy you! By the way, Kevin sounds pretty typical of many husbands. You're right, having words rarely produces improvement. I find it's often just easier to go do something else that needs to be done. Do drop in when you have the time! {{{HUGS}}}

I should think about getting to bed. But first, here are the usual {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, prayers, positive thoughts, healing vibes, and for everyone! Good Night!

The most dangerous risk of all - the risk of spending your life not doing what you want to do on the bet that you can buy yourself the freedom (and time) to do it later. We procrastinate at our own risk. Dreams are to be lived. That's what makes life a wonderful adventure.

(This was shared on Facebook today by my friend Sanja.)

Great thought, Julie. Thanks for sharing it with us.

We're leaving in 15 minutes for the funeral. I plan on taking Sheila (the widow) aside and letting her know that I'll cover the balance owed on the funeral. Other friends are giving her donations towards it, too.

Heidi, my appointment with pain management is March 17, a week and 5 days, not that I am counting or anything. St Patrick's Day. I will miss the party here, but that is fine, means I will not be tempted with food I am not eating at the moment.

Sorry to hear about the poor calf. Like you, I wonder why the cow does not at least pick a better location, even if she cannot pick a warmer day. I agree with D or A, green fluid dripping from front of a vehicle is usually antifreeze. If you can touch the liquid get a smell, antifreeze has a very sweet smell to it.

You did not say how the lunch you prepared for Gil's meeting went. any feedback? did they like it?

I am surprised that he went into the pond to rescue Patches. Would have expected him to just come tell you about it.

Suzy, my children ate more healthy food. The high sugared cereals we called silly cereal, and they knew it was not for them. Candy was a rare treat, and both my girls if offered a choice of a carrot or candy would choose the carrot! Fruit juices were mixed half water to reduce that sugar, too.

BTW, anyone besides me laughed at people paying premium prices for '50% less sugar, no artificial sweetener' orange juice? Read the ingredients, first one is water, yep, just watered down juice. I applaud the less sugar, but cannot believe people have not figured this out!

OOOPS, time to go to grocery. I have put it off for 3 days. I really need to go this time. Will have to go again over weekend, because come Monday I can start to add back some carb containing foods, and I must see what I need to buy. but if I wait to do that today, I will not make it to grocery today.

Catch you later, hugs to each of you, with extras.

Back from the funeral. Sheila cried when I told her that I'd pay the balance of the funeral.

Off to the calving pasture. There's a little calf out there that we suspect isn't getting enough care from it's mother, so we're gonna graft it onto Doll. Doll loves to raise any calf she can get hold of. She normally raises 2 every year, whether or not she has twins.

Gil has a particular fondness for Patch. He calls him HIS dog. But I would have thought he would have gotten me first, too. I am proud of him for that.

About that lamb luncheon I prepared.... It got raves. Everybody flipped out and ate a LOT.

Hi all.
Heidi..you have a very generous kind heart.
Wouldn't it be nice to give Doll another baby to mother after losing her twin babies.
I am going to do day 2 of orientation in the Drs surgery treatment room. So much to learn and thoroughly interesting.
Have a good day everyone.

Heidi, I am thinking of you and remembering our cook out as I eat an Angus burger patty, one like we grilled. the grilled ones were better, but this is still mighty good! Easy to prepare while I was putting cold foods away. Served with sliced tomatoes, cheddar cheese and dill pickles, a cheeseburger with no bread hehehe.

Peek A Boo!!!

Yep I am still around.
not much to report.

Last weekend was a long weekend here in the West, Hubby and I went camping in the Caravan with another couple, to a local caravan park south of the city, in a beach suburb.
Lovely time had, would have been nicer if the weather was more kinder.. ie not sooo HOT!!!

a week and a day till K & J are at my house!

Good to see you, Rolanda.

The saga of the calf continues. We got her in the stall with Doll, and Doll immediately started licking her. Acceptance. The calf wants nothing to do with her, though. I held her up to the teats and she refused to nurse. She has no suckle reflex. So I'm having to feed her by stomach tube.
We did have a normal, healthy heifer calf born today, and I'm on my way out to check on a cow in labor. March needs to improve it's calving record. It's only the 4th, and we've lost 3 calves, have one on bottle and only one healthy one.

We just had the cutest visitor.... a 6 inch tall rufous Screech Owl in the garage! He calmly sat there and let us study him from 10 feet away. Then we left to do a cow check. Once we got back, he was gone. SO cute! Reddish brown, with big ears and huge eyes.

Greetings! I'm here for a quick read and replies.

Heidi, it seems Shiela has a number of friends, but your offer to pay the balance will have a large impact on the coming weeks and months for her. Thank you for being you!

Suzy and MizT, we also limited food in the house to healthy food. When the kids were in grade school, we went to a 5-day family music camp which was held at a college. We stayed in dorms and ate in the college cafeteria. For those 5 day we placed fewer limits on their food intake. Yes, they even ate 'silly cereal.' (It helped them 'fit in' with their friends.) But they also ate a lot of fruits and vegetables. They (and we) survived.

MizT, we also notice that water was the first ingredient in the 'reduced calorie' orange juice. We bought it once with a good coupon, but after reading the ingredients and tasting the 'juice,' probably the only way we would get it again would be if it were free. (One of hubby's meds is supposed to be taken with orange juice.)

Heidi, I was also surprised that Gil rescued Patch from the pond. I suspected there might be a special connection between them. Good luck with the calf with no sucking reflex. Will it develop as it gets bigger and stronger? Apparently it's inability to thrive wasn't the fault of its mother. I'm so glad the luncheon was a big hit. Of course, the next time it's Gil's turn to provide the meal, there will probably be requests.

Nola, I'm glad all the things you need to learn are interesting! That will make it easier to learn more quickly. Good luck and enjoy!

It's so nice to see you, Rolanda! Too bad the temperatures were so hot while you were camping in the caravan with friends! Please give K and J {{HUGS}} from all of us when they arrive next week!

Heidi, were you able to get a photo of the screech owl? I guess it was looking for temporary shelter from the elements.

The evening is slipping away from me, so I must call it a night. Sending prayers, positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing vibes, and for everyone!

I haven't read yet, I'll save that for after I use my new Voltaren gel...but I had to share this because it is hilarious! Tahli has powers of observation and a sense of direction at 2 that Aunty Alie didn't have at 12!!! Today I picked up Dana and the kids and dropped them in town while I went to the gym, then I went back to pick them up. Because I was dropping them off I turned right into the parking lot I hate to park in so I could just let them out in the 5 minute zone. Tahli winged because she knows where I park the car. In fact, if we drive past the parking lot without stopping (it is on the road we take from our place to Dana's) she has been known to complain. When we go out of the parking lot we go right then right again to Dana's house, or left for mine. The second right always leads to screams.. Today I went a different way to Dana's because the traffic was different at this later time. I turned left instead of the first right. I swear they could have heard Tahli a mile away. She started to scream and scream and bellow...and she didn't stop until we took her out of the car. The thing is we've gone that way maybe twice - how did she know??? And it's not that she prefers us over Dana, if I take her without mum she says 'oh no, gone'.

At 12 Alie couldn't get from one shop in town to another without someone to lead her and had no idea which direction was home. It was so bad I was always scared she'd get lost!

Going to put something on my shoulder now...

That's confusing. The second set of left and rights was after I went back and was parked in my usual spot.

Sorry, I have been reading but not much time to say very much.
Heidi, the weather certainly is not helping with the spring calves. Tricia and Heidi hope all the new pain relief comes soon. Nola, enjoy your new responsibilities and those free days that will be filled to overflowing. Ask Julie and all she does.
My cupboard is coming along well. It has about 4 coats of shellac. When it has about 10 I will sand it back with et and dry sand paper and then give it about another4 coats. Not the best polish job as I did not use grain filler, get rid of some of the bumps and stains etc but it will be better than it was. I will even put the door back the right way (the outside was put inside!)

Gekko my friends.
Way too tired to comment.
Luv and Jugs.

Morning all.
June, wow, 10 coats to get a good result must be so time consuming.
Suzy, I also think that kids are quite clever now. Greg is teaching Kailah music and she can memorize
the tunes. He may have to make it harder so that she has to read the notes.
Heidi..it is a real buzz to see animals in the wild. Just lovely. What a shame that Doll would have mothered the calf but it is not to be.More work for you now.
Rolanda,,the weather could have been kinder for your caravan trip,couldn't it. So you are playing host again! K & J are certainly covering a lot of the Aussie country.

One more day in the clinic and then I have a week off.Yesterday I watched many surgical procedures with a Dr that enjoys teaching. There were 2 circumcisions, excisions involving, burning, freezing,punch biopsy and found it very interesting.
Time flies when you are busy.
Thanks everyone for your positive encouragement.
Catch up again soon.

I gave up trying to graft that dummy calf on to Doll. Doll was willing, but the calf is uncooperative. Doll finally cleaned, so I turned her back out with the herd, so the dummy calf is in a horse stall by itself. I tried to feed it by bottle earlier today, but she fought me tooth and hoof. I ended up sitting on her and force feeding her again. This is gonna be an ordeal if she doesn't cooperate soon.

I have my fingers crossed that I'm gonna last until the epidural in 5 1/2 days. I've gotten to the point where each half hour's work requires a minimum of 3 hours in bed immediately after. That calf, in particular, is destroying me. But I refuse to quit. We've lost 3 calves in March already. I don't want to lose another. Besides losing a life, each dead calf loses us $1,000.00.

Oh Heidi, such an effort on your part is creating havoc with your body.Knowing you dont want to lose calves but your back is so bad, that it must be a real hard decision. You will make the right choice after weighing up all the options.Pain verses determination.

I was late paying for membership to the site and hope that I haven't lost my few personal smilies.
Today was a breeze, now that I have learnt THAT part of the clinic in Aged Assessments.
I am not a quick learner but get the hang of it eventually.
7 days off now, which I hope to make good use of by getting some garden work done.
I will only get outside until it gets hot, but there is plenty to do inside also.
Catch you later. I am going to put the sprinklers on and water the fruit trees.

Hi, Everyone! I'm falling asleep, so no reading or comments. Just sending lots of {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, , positive thoughts, healing vibes, and prayers.

Good morning all. Nothing of real interest going on here. I got the results of my MRI back and they were good. No tumors or stroke signs. Seems like the double vision may have been for many reasons but most probable is an ocular atrophy of the veins. The doctor will do an occasional visual check to be sure all is well. Now tomorrow, armed with this news, perhaps we can move forward on the gallbladder resolution. One of these days I may do something other than see doctors..lol. Oh BTW, the weather held nicely for the memorial celebration of the first year since my niece died and all was wonderful. Good times remembered and lots who have been touched let us know.
Nola, glad you have mastered the clinic work you were working on...always helpful to learn slowly but fully.Have a great week of catching up on things you want and need to do. If membership of the site is lost temporarily, smilies will show up again once things fall into place, so no worries.
Julie, hope you were able to get some much needed rest...I remember when I too would push myself to that point, but I no longer am able to go that long.so I', sending you some of those hugs and vibes, as well as prayers right back to you for some 'me time' to get yourself set for more stuff..lol....BTW, hubby's included in that wish.
Heidi, I know your determination is strong, and the cost are high, but your back pain is so bad...as much as you have worked through pain, you have never said the price you are now paying was so high....needing 3 hours of bed rest for every half hour's work is really bad and such a high cost. I won't ask you to stop...only you will know to do that, but I will pray that you are able to hang on without doing more long-term damage to your back until you can get some treatment. Hope the calf becomes more cooperative soon.
To the rest who read and post but I have not answered directly...please know that my poor brain can only recall bits at a time...but my heart holds you all true..take care and fond thoughts abound...Peace.

Heidi, can you receive photos on your cell phone? Yesterday at scrabble, I got 51 points from just 2 letters down, took a photo at Mary's insistence. she said I should show you! I pulled the last letter from the bag, late in the game. It was an X. Was able to place it on a triple letter score, and make a word both across and down, 8x3x2! an all time best for me! But even with that boost, I did not win the game!

WHINE ALERT:

I came home from scrabble hurting, that at 5:30 pm and it has not stopped. Weather is bad again, cold, damp, rainy. Wish the weather would just make up it's mind and settle down. I am supposed to go to Shannon's office to get help filling out the stack of paperwork for pain clinic (brain does not work well when I am hurting) but instead I am going back to bed. For some reason pain meds just are not working. I did get to sleep about 3 am and slept till 8, not enough sleep and aware of pain even in my sleep. I am so tired of this, would just sit down and cry, but that would make it worse, not better.

I will come back later when I am fit company. Hugs to each of you, with extras.

Gil has finally realized how much pain I'm in, and is starting to help me with the calf. He's rolling around on the ground with her trying to restrain her while I do the tube feeding. He doesn't know how to insert the stomach tube down the esophagus instead of the trachea. I do. Which makes me worry about what will be done with the calf when I'm laid up.
Two calves born this morning. The count is now 16 live calves 94 males, 12 females) and 3 dead calves. Usually by this time, we're much more than half way through. We're far behind with 43 cows bred for calving now.

Great news about the MRI, Mama!!!!

What fun at Scrabble, Tricia. Wish I could have seen it. No, I have not figured out how to receive photos on my phone. I don't know if it even does.

Oops. That wasn't supposed to say ''94 males'', it was supposed to say ''(4 males''.

IH and I had a long discussion on the importance of him learning to tube feed a calf. As he's been helping me with this one, he's realized that there's not any realistic hope that she's gonna take a bottle any time soon. We are gonna have to tube feed her until we can train her to drink from a bucket in a couple of weeks. In a few minutes, I'm gonna make up another 2 quarts of milk replacer, and we're gonna head out to tackle the little bugger again. First, I need to show him how to straddle the calf, then wrap the left arm under the calf's head with the hand securing it. Then I need to show him how to use the right hand to carefully slide, not force, the tube down the left side of the throat so it winds up in the stomach, not the lungs. Then he needs to learn how to hold up the bag of milk with the right hand so it runs into the calf's tummy, while still immobilizing the calf, who will be struggling violently through the whole procedure. I will do it tonight, and let him try it tomorrow morning, taking over if there's a problem. He will have to do it twice on Tuesday, twice on Wednesday and maybe on Thursday as well, depending on how I recover from the epidural. The dumb little calf doesn't realize that we're saving her life. Fortunately, this kind of thing is very rare.

A new skill learned on my pad. Unfortunately I still lose most of the posts I try to make, but I think I have successfully uploaded a photo of Alie's latest project.

We had an Hawaiian night at the club. Two pigs roasting on the spits and I won the best dressed woman. A bottle of red wine.
Tomorrow I am going tot he City to meet up with some people I worked with back in 1963.

Morning all.

Nice nails, Suzy. It must be very time consuming.

I had my eyes checked yesterday because I was having a bit of blurring, and the news wasn't so great. I have cataracts in both eyes; the right is worse. I have to have eye surgery on both eyes, with the right being done first, in the very near future. There's always something to disrupt life ... sigh.

FIL is holding his own. He's still a bit confused, some hallucinations, and slurring and mumbling (he's very hard to understand). It's doubtful that he will be going home again, but you never know. he has surprised us in the past.

I have the girls today as it is a PA day. Next week is March Break and I will be watching them on the Thursday for the day. They are still asleep ... and I must say, they certainly are well behaved when they're sleeping!

Oh, no, Theresa! Eye surgery now! I think you are owed a huge backlog of good luck. This has gotten a bit much.

hi all.
Heidi...how did Gil go feeding the calf? Just helping him wouldn't have done your back much good.
Theresa..Glad to hear FIL is ok. Wishing you well with the cataract surgery,it nearly always produces
wonderful results.
June...you always seem to be so lucky with winning bits and pieces.Enjoy your x-work gathering.
Suzy..With a bit of practise, Alie could make a fine nail technician.Quite clever of her.
MizT,,great score for your scrabble. Hope the appointment with the pain clinic helps tremendously. How are the pansies going?

Greg got up late, so it was already quite warm before we got outside. He had a ladder and was cutting dead palm fronds down until we found a few wasp nests. He also has a sore back, so we gave it a miss for the day after piling up the green waste that he managed to cut down.
Solar power will be installed on Wed.

Mama...great news that the MRI showed nothing serious has occurred. Glad that the memorial was a day of reflection and a healing process for the family.
Julie..as usual you are very busy and thanks for calling in with your well wishes. Have fun.
Cyn...you must be busy also, as I haven't seen you for awhile.
Broni...we are waiting for more info on your holiday!

I am looking forward to meeting Kathy and Jane at the end of the month at Bronis.
Being to Melbourne,Perth,Tasmania and Sydney before Brisbane,they are really traveling vast distances and seeing more of Aust. than me. Good on them!

That ends my CP.
Have a good day/evening all.
Having the week-end off is just a real treat.

Maybe I broke the site, as no action here all day.

I popped in a few times, but didn't say anything because I don't want to bore everyone with my constant yammering.

I got the RV in to the dealership today to start getting her ready for the Spring travels. I'm not traveling for a month yet (back to Florida), but I may be lending it to a friend from Florida who is planning on visiting in 2 weeks. The RV will be used like a motel room.... since there aren't any hotels or motels within 30 minutes drive in any direction. So Florida in April, and Wisconsin in late May. Who knows where after that.... maybe back to visit MizT. Or out to the east coast to see Maxines SECOND child, due to be born next month.

Good Evening, Everyone!

Another day/night with no time to read or comment. The alarm is set for another early start, so I need to get some sleep.

{{{{{HUGS}}}}}, prayers, healing vibes, positive thoughts, and in abundance for everyone!