The Things I've Learned...

to view the world through the eyes of a child,

to enjoy the moment,

and how to feed a bottle baby through a crack in the door.

I have learned there is beauty,

even in destruction.

Treasured moments make memories,

and new life flourishes in bullsh**t,

and some days,

even web worms can wear diamonds.

Farm Fun...

proliferates.  After hubby's return from the hospital, I have debated many ways to end his suffering and mine.  I stupidly gave him a bell!!!  I was beckoned by the sound to put his socks on.  I have made him tiny cups of jello.  I have assisted him in the shower.  I have spoiled him rotten.  When I finally take a nap, he disappears from his recliner and is out driving the Mule.

I am bottle feeding Lovely (named by grandson, Jake)  Hubby slowly, painfully advances to the barn to observe Lovely's  feeding time.  It has been three days since hubby has seen Lovely.  I am feeding her through a crack in the stall door.  Believe me, this is the only safe way.  I go in the stall to open a window so Lovely can enjoy some sunshine and fresh air.  Lovely is butting me all the way, I am pushing her back, roughly and it makes no difference to her...I am the one that brings the milk.  I finally get to the window, which needs two hands to open.  Hubby is watching.  Lovely runs between my legs and lifts me off the ground!  Where's the milk, mama?

Hubby is greatly entertained and regretted the absence of a movie camera.  He said she never does me that way...well, hubby you have been outta the loop.  He says, she has grown, bet she weighs a hundred pounds...no kidding!!  I safely escape the stall and feed her the rest of her milk through the stall door.  We HAVE to get her on a cow...this is killing me.

THENNNNNNNNNNN, while I was in the barn, the outside gate blew open.  The horses escaped.  Quietly grazing, I knew/thought it would be no problem to get them back in their pasture.  The two Borders are working them quietly back to the barn.  Ki appears and scatters them to the wind!!!

OH, great!  Ki's not listening, the horses aren't listening, they are galloping around the valley and all I can think of is Beverly's garden.  I must keep them out of the garden!  I quickly grab some dog food in a bucket, whistle, and they are still galloping every where.  Andrew comes out and captures the trouble making dog. 

I shake that bucket and get Knot's attention.  I whistle, I call, I say whoa.  They are clear to the creek, milling in excitement.  They decide to gallop my way, straight toward me.  I bravely stand, shaking the bucket over my head.  I have huge animals running toward me and like an idiot, I stand.  They whirl around me and I start giving handfuls of dog food and head walking fast to the barn because the horses are still dancing.  I have four excited equines dancing around me and I am lost in the herd.  I am handing out dog food and walking fast.  These beauties probably have a collective weight of 4000 pounds.  Did I mention I was too trusting?  They run up to me, slammed on their brakes, veered around me and I just keep moving to the gate handing out dog food.

Marcy has noticed the problem and has arrived with a bucket of sweet feed and is shaking the bucket in the horse pasture.  Marcy stepped behind the gate as I lured the wild horses in.  She scattered feed on flat rocks and they were still dancing!!!  I said, out, Marcy, while trying to keep them away from her.  Big excited animals can produce accidents...thankfully that did not happen.  Marcy left closing the gate behind her, I scattered feed and also left, locking that gate behind me.

I can't stand much more excitement and Ki is still on my sh*t list!

The Power of Water...

The power of moving water is devastating.

We are very, very lucky.

Many others were not so lucky.

Instead of napping when I knocked out hubby,

I walked and looked.

We do have a home and noone lost their life,

for that I am thankful.

This was pasture.

This was a fence.

The water was shirt-deep as I walked up the creek.

I was checking on the culverts I posted about a few weeks ago.

This is where they used to be,

this one landed WAYYYY down stream.

Can't cross here any more.

To give you an idea how large these are,

This is my foot as I am climbing over.

We were blessed with a beautiful day.  Promise of more rain in two days makes me uneasy.  All pond levees held and the terraces did their jobs well...it could have been much worse.  Mother Nature has reshaped the land and we will work with what we have.

The road out of our valley is more like a pioneer trail,

but the sky smiled today.

Dam, Dam, Lake...He's Home!

On the way to the hospital, I pass the Norfork Dam...and you thought I was talking dirty!  This is the first time ever that I have seen this many gates open.  They are generating power with the overfill of water in the lake.

The white you see is water!!

The geese enjoy their picnic area.

There are roads and campsites here somewhere.

Here is the beach (imagine...it's under there)

 and the swimming area.

The skies were beautiful part of yesterday

but you can see the bad ones moving in.

After smashing my arm between the gate and the stall wall,

I hope I am through with boo-boos today.

Hubby, the unhappy, after surgery whiny man, is home.

I suspect they gave him enhanced whine through the IV.

God love him!

I have picked up special groceries,

made his favorite ice drink,

massaged his neck,

helped him into the recliner

and turned the tv on the western channel.

Maria was here, cleaning house again

and preparing for our return.

Luke has fed the calf.

Both of my girls have been a great help.

When the pain meds knock hubby out,

I am taking a nap!!

Damages And Injuries...

First I thought I would report the injuries...some for me.  While I was helping Hubby after surgery, the keys in my pocket hung on the foot of his bed.  My pants acted like a bungee cord and jerked me back.  When the keys turned loose of the bed, my left hip bone slammed into the foot of the bed...man, that hurt!!  I have a bruise as big as Texas and it still hurts.  When I sit a while, I have to let it wake up and then it works after two or three steps.  One minor injury, after driving hubby to hospital with a tiny bit of worry on my mind and then driving back and forth to see him during thunder storms, I have noticed my wrists, my arms, shoulders and neck are killing me.  Just the result of a little tense driving, it will leave soon.  Or could that be the result of when I went to barn to bottle feed, stepped in some clay mud, fell down in cow manure and cut my knee in two places?  I had my mud boots on!  But my nightshirt did nothing to protect my knee.  Hey, did not drop the milk!  I am good.

Now, for the interesting tale of Hubby's transport.  Ambulance from one hospital to another, arrive at second hospital, attendants are transferring from one gurney to the other.  The gurney rolls from under Hubby!!!  The EMT caught Hubby and prevented his head from striking the floor but the rest of his body hit hard.  He was in so much pain, he is saying there are no injuries.  A fall versus a burst appendix, naw, the fall would not hurt.  That generated some paper work for the staff and ambulance. 

I think that covers the personal injuries stories.  Don't worrry, I will have some to add soon.  Bev says, the day's work is not complete until Gail gets an owie...so that will be another story.

High water and damages is what we will peek at now.  Who knows what we will uncover when the water is down, and we were just finishing cleaning up from the ice storm and tornado of years past!

Back corner of Marcy's house!!!

Here's some irony...the boat shed.

Hubby is trying to turn the water.

Normally, all you see here is green grass.

Under this water, lies a fence, really.

These culverts were installed by Entergy.

See the wisdom in their construction?

We told them they would never hold.

The water is going over,

which makes the water on the far side about eight feet.

This is a dry crossing, only for pond overflow.

At least, we got two new culverts...somewhere

and maybe,  two gates.

I am grateful for the rain.

The ponds are full.

The houses are still standing

and my family is safe.

Lappy Appy, TummyTuck, More Flash Floods...

Surgery day was a beautiful sunshiny day.  The drive, long but beautiful.  This is Norfork Dam, yes, I do drive and snap pictures out my dirty window...watch for a Maroon PT Cruiser and get way over!

I arrived at the parts removal shop and could not find hubby.  All that remained in his room were sweat pants and his cell phone...they took him away early!!  I tracked him down in pre-surgery and they let me sit with  him til cutting time. 

Hubby was aggravated because they took his underwear.   He was drugged, I was nervous so the sick jokes flew through out the room.  He was complaining about how much they shaved...he wondered if they are working here, why did they shave way down there.  The RN said, when it starts itching, don't blame him, Blame the doctor!

The surgery began.  The desk told me, my friend had come to sit with me but I was not there...and I'm thinking, who knows what is going on, I have told no one.  Well, the postmaster who I had awakened at five am to find replacement help for me was checking in...Thanks, Diana.

It was done the simple way, with tiny slits...letting the tiny surgeons down on a rope to remove the offending organ.  Then they used the tiny fire hoses to flush the space.

He also had a hernia repaired while he was under the knife.  Hubby has never had an innie navel and asked Doc to make him one, so he complied...I guess, you can say, he had a tummy tuck.  Hubby has never experienced the joy of hidden ticks or belly button lint so I guess that was kinda his dream...now he has an innie!

I think I am "punch drunk"...when you get so tired nothing comes out right and every thing seems funny.  Hope this makes sense and no one is gagging from the wonderful picture I have painted.

Hubby sent me home since I had not slept for, I forgot how long.  Came home to my children, their family and my sister cleaning my house...I may schedule more surgery for hubby if my house gets cleaned!!

We had two more storms come through, so two more flash floods in the valley...but we are very fortunate, many people in many places have not been so lucky.(Warning:  many pictures to show!)

Hubby had called earlier and told me to rest but I need to hit the road.  Thanks for all your healing thoughts and prayers.  I hope every one is staying safe from the storms that seem to be hitting many states...and as I type the clouds darken!

The Morning After...

First,, I would like to thank everyone for your kind thoughts and words.  Prayer and healing thoughts do make a difference.  Since I am running in and out, I will reply this way, this time only!  I like to keep in touch personally but since I am working for two and complaining for two, I will just post an update.
The doctor was able to do it liproscopically.  The nurse called it a "lappy appy".  The offending body organ was removed successfully...and it had ruptured!!! Doc said, we washed it out good, so I guess that's good news. Den asked Doc if he could blame it on Melissa for driving so fast in the Mule while he was holding the new calf in the back.  Doc said, you can blame it on anything you want...so hubby is  having a hey day with that.

Hopefully, he will be home today and I will over load you with disgusting information.

Thank you again for all your words of kindness.

S**t And Shinola!!!

The day started wonderfully, warnings of storms and rain.

Took hubby to doctor and, while there,

 the tornado sirens went off.

We ske-daddled to the house,

hit the basement with everyone.

This greeted us after the last downpour.

More details on this later.  Hubby's fever spiked during the night, I rushed him to the hospital.  Appendicitis...have no ideal if I spelled that right or not, still hurts no matter how it's spelled.  No surgeon on staff that was not booked, so hubby rode in ambulance to Baxter County and will have surgery at eleven today.

I had to come home, feed the bottle calf, get Andrew to his track meet (Marcy took him), Bev had stayed with him through the night.  Maybe a dozen phone calls to find someone to cover the office.  Now, off again to attend the surgery...without a drop of sleep.

If you think you are having a bad day, I might trade you!

Easter, Jake's Birthday and Tornado Warnings!

Marcy's flowers,

food from the garden,

and basement time!

Jake and Zander playing in mud

after the storm passed.

Marcy fed us very well!

Family and friends filled up her dining room

and filled their plates.

We had music played

and play in general.

We also had a birthday boy!

Happy Birthday, Jake!!!

A Few Things We Grow...

Pears,

fish,

pawpaws,

fried chicken,

lettuce,

and mulberries.

Thankfulness...

for sun and rain,

salad gardens that are rooster proof,

and Beverly who keeps them growing.