Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

Glad you found her!

Thank goodness their dogs left her alone!

Thankfully, their dogs are getting really old and they keep them inside most of the time.

Had a follow-up with my shoulder this morning and am going to have an MRI....ugh. I think the cortisone shot has worn off because it's giving me considerable pain again. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with being on the tractor for six hours on Saturday.

Hens are on strike and I've got customers clamoring for eggs. On top of that I've got hens trying to go broody left and right and of course they stop laying when that happens. I keep pulling them off of the nests, scatter the hay, and tell them what bad hens they are but they keep insisting on going back and sitting on absolutely nothing. They don't even are if there's an egg in the nest - they just want to sit. Lazy girls!

I have one that's already raised 6 chicks and is sitting on eggs again! I don't have time to try and break her, so I might as well get some chicks to sell.

This is the second go around for the silkie. She was on 14 eggs, lol. She can't cover that many so I took some away from her and gave to another hen. I'm sure now we'll have staggered hatches and I'll probably have to finish some of them in the incubator... ugh. I need to get out there and candle them so that the bad ones don't blow up and contaminate the others.

I haven't been milking lately. I tossed Splash out in the pasture to dry up because she's just such a pain. She's great on the milk stand and she's really easy to milk with big ol' teats....but she's hard to catch. And, every day it was the same thing. I've got some others that are much easier to deal with so she got the boot! Now she's regretting it because the pasture goats only get fed once a day instead of twice like the barnyard goats.

Last weekend I separated Red from her triplets a couple of times and got a half-gallon every time I milked her. I'll bet that if I pulled her kids she'd produce a gallon+ a day. Her babies are old enough, but if I pull them I'll be forced to milk daily and I'm enjoying the break so I think I'll leave them on her and just milk when I need to. I've got Sparkle up in the barn yard too and can do the same thing with her. PLUS - Cocoa and Glimmer just kidded a couple weeks ago and when it's their turn that'll be the plan for them IF I need that much milk. I've been making yogurt lately and DH and I both love it. So, I might need to milk more than one.

I saw some green beans in the garden that need to be picked. I was beginning to think I was only getting blooms and no beans - but it looks like I'm going to get some after all. The peppers and cucumbers are cranking out pretty well, but the squash - not so much. Still fighting stink bugs for the tomatoes so I'm seriously considering cutting the plants back some in hopes that the stink bugs will give up and move away. Stoopid bugs...

I haven't had a problem w/bugs yet this year. Hope I don't get them!

We alI know that today is our nation's independence day, but I've gotta proclaim July 2 as my personal independence day. Here's the story:
I have a lump in my neck. I noticed it last summer when I had a tooth problem. I pointed it out to the dentist who wasn't the least concerned - said it was a lymph gland reacting to the infection in the tooth. I even pointed it out to my primary care doc who said the same thing. It'll go down - don't worry....

So this summer, a year later, it's still there. It's time to find out what's going on. It didn't seem to really be growing so I waited until DH was healed from all his challenges before beginning the quest to find out what MY issue was. Some weeks back, when I saw my primary care doc for my shoulder problem, I pointed out that this lump is still here. She puts on a glove, poked around on it and said it is very likely a lymphoma and ordered a CT scan. Did she give me any kind of physical exam besides poking the lump itself, nope. Didn't check my other lymph nodes, didn't look in my mouth or ears. Nada. Did she even bother to refer me to an ENT - nope. Just indicates that it's probably cancer and walked out of the room. Hey doc - thanks for your caring, comforting bedside manner.

The next week I changed primary care docs to the internist my DH uses. I love him! He offered another idea - a parotid tumor. Thankfully parotid tumors are benign about 80% of the time. He also did a real exam. I have some pressure in my right ear - right above the lump so I was wondering if it was exerting pressure on some nerve that goes to the ear. Not sure about that - but he did say I have fluid in that ear and significant scarring in both ears. No wonder I can't hear, lol. And, he referred me to an ENT but told me to get the scan first. For whatever reason - my insurance company authorized an MRI instead of a CT. My new doc was ok with that so off I go.

I had the MRI on Tuesday. The report was ready and had been sent to my doc on Thursday afternoon. The doc offices were going to be closed on Friday so my DH, who is a nurse, gets on the phone with the radiology department and arranges for us to get in after-hours to pick up the report ourselves. Nurses take care of nurses! What a long drive to that hospital. We got the report, went to the car, said a prayer and opened it up. Praise God! It's not a lymphoma, it's not a parotid tumor, it appears that it is a lipoma which is nothing more than a fatty tumor and non-cancerous. Whew....!

I still need to see the ENT, and it's likely that she will order a needle biopsy just to be absolutely sure, but I'm feeling confident that it will all be alright. I hadn't told anyone but my DH. Didn't really want to worry anyone unless there was a reason to worry. I was concerned, but not overly worried because I felt fine nd healthy through all of this. And, I had already given it to God.

Other news: Worming baby goats again, and re-treating for cocci. Got my old gal wormed too. Her eyelids were pale, pale, pale. Garden is still cranking out peppers and cucumbers and an occasional green bean or squash. There is an extremely noticeable, and sad, lack of bees around. Green beans have a zillion blooms but without a pollinator they're not making a lot of beans. I need to investigate hand-pollinating, but oh man, what a pain.

I have noticed a few honey bees on my fig tree. Figs started out great and I got a couple of good pickings before a massive storm came through and wiped out a bunch of them. Any fig that was even almost ripe ended up on the ground. The ones that were on the tree took up too much moisture, have split open, and are bland and watery. At least the bees and butterflies are enjoying them. I'm really hoping the remaining figs hold on to the tree and ripen well.

We have been invited to a fish fry this afternoon, but DH has had a sore throat since yesterday and had a bad hypoglycemic episode this morning so I'm guessing (and secretly happy) that we will spend the day at home. His mom is flying back in from New York tonight and he/we will need to pick her up at the airport and bring her back here to spend the night so I guess I need to get busy cleaning this house. Then - never ending yard/garden work will be on the list this evening, (if I don't go to pick MIL up), when it cools off a bit.

GRRRRRR - just heard the weather report. Expecting more thunderstorms this afternoon. UGH

We had a cloudy day, w/a couple of showers. At least we didn't get a ton of rain.

Busy, busy week and I'm glad it's done! I love the summer schedule at work which is three day weekends from mic-May through mid-August!

I did some grocery shopping on the way home from work yesterday and got the biggest part of the mowing done so I'm a little bit ahead already. I'll probably do some more mowing and work a little in the garden today.

Need to move some chickens. Came home yesterday and found THREE dead Black Orpington hens. Black chickens and heat do not do well together. They have shade in their pen, but these gals had crowded up together in their igloo and never made it out. That stinks! I've got customers clamoring for eggs and I lose three layers....

I need to get my lazy butt outside and feed then separate some does and babies so I can get some milk. I'm kinda liking this milking on weekends instead of all week. I'm able to milk a couple does over my three day weekend and get enough milk for the week.

I need to start thinking about getting some hay for winter. I'm going to store my round bales in a different place this year. The spot I've used for the last couple of years proved to be a bad choice last year when we had so much rain. The bales were covered with a double thickness of tarp - but they were in a low spot and soaked up water the entire time they were sitting there and were more bad than good. That will change this year!

This upcoming fall/winter I'm also going to change the entire layout of the place so that all the goats are housed 'out back' except for maybe a kidding doe. I'll bring them up for the big event - but then move them to new pens out in the big pasture. Reason being - I can drive to the big barn and unload feed straight into the barn....but the smaller barn in the 'inside barnyard' is more difficult to access and feed has to be hand carried, or pulled in a cart, to get to the barn/feed room area. Too much work for an old lady!

I've got several "to do's" on the list for inside work today too, ugh. I'd rather be outside any day, all day long. But, I need to get figs in the dehydrator and figure out something to do with alllll these peppers. I want to dry them too, but certainly don't want to try drying figs and peppers at the same time... can't imagine that would impart a good taste to the figs, lol. Might slice up some peppers and throw some in the oven to dry.

Well, none of this is going to get accomplished if I keep sitting here on my behind. TGIF!

Well, well, well - it has been a productive day so far. I had an ad on Craigslist to sell a buck and I ended up selling three bucks and two does! Yay for a lower feed bill!