Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Things are Starting to Return to Normal





Believe it or not we are actually beginning to get some dry spots once again. The Alfalfa field is coming back pretty fast and my neighbor was out harvesting his Spring Wheat today.

Mrs. PP got a clean bill of health from her doctor and plans and going back to work part time next Monday. I seriously think this is a mistake but she isn't listening to me once again. She is now off most of her pills and one of them was the agreeable pill that made her say "Whatever you think honey".

I want to figure out which pill that was and make her keep taking it.

She has like, get this, 6 months worth of sick leave even after using up almost 3 weeks already and over 2 years of vacation built up. I pointed out that if she felt well enough to go back to work she had about 3 weeks worth of catch up she could be doing on all the stuff I had to let go around here and I could stop pulling double duties as well. She gave it the old college try today though and refused to take a nap every two hours as well. Which kinda makes me think perhaps it was more a side effect of some of the pills they were making her take. Hard to believe she had brain surgery just a  little over three weeks ago though.

This turn of events allowed me to start catching up on some of the stuff I had been letting go as well.

I threw the 38 bales of Alfalfa I had under the tarp up into the hay loft and stacked it all nice and neat. My son was busy today so I did this all on my own by throwing 3 or 4 bales up then climbing the ladder into the loft, stacking em and going back down for another round. It took a lot longer but they were forecasting rain again for tonight and it had to be done. Only a couple of bales showed any sign of any mold and those were all very minor. For the most part it dried out quite well I must say.

I then had to drive into town and pick up my sister in laws dead cat. She has had this cat for over 20 years and it finally kicked off from old age. Of course she couldn't just toss the body into a dumpster or bury it herself as I think it is against her home owners agreement anyway so I became the cat cadaver funeral director and burial staff. With all the strays we get it isn't like I don't have a place already for that type of thing. Made her feel better about the whole thing so it was worth the trip and effort.

It was then time for me to turn my attention to the riding lawn mowers. You might remember me posting about how everything was working on the Small-Hold not to long ago. Well the grass needed mowing and I had to take Mrs. PP to appointments and my Mother was screaming for a honey pull and I was pressed for time so Mom volunteered to at least mow the grass on the riding lawn mower. I knew this was a big mistake as she never gets close enough to anything to really save me any time and 99 times out of 100 she ends up causing some problem that takes me longer to fix than if I had just done it myself. She refuses to move anything out of the way but just mows around it and by the time she is done it looks like complete crap.

This time was no exception.

When I left she was on the Husqvarna mower. When I got back big orange was stuck in a low wet spot and the Craftsman mower was sitting in the driveway so clogged with grass I think she wore out a belt. Not to mention she left the key turned on and so the battery was dead and only about half the yard was mowed. End result was it took me about twice as much time to actually finish the yard than it would have if I had just done it myself. I had to use the tractor to pull the Husqvarna out and then roll the Craftsman over to where I could put the battery charger on it while I removed the clogged up grass clippings from the under the deck.

The barn is still pretty wet as it rained so hard a couple of times the water over flowed my drainage ditch and ran under the sliding door right into the barn itself. Cleaning all that wet stuff out is a real chore and takes forever so I am putting down some new straw so the ewes have dry spots to lounge on. Luckily there is a high spot behind the barn on one side that is totally dry now as well so the flock is able to lounge in the shade there in between munching sessions. I walked them out to a new part of the pasture to keep them away from any areas that might still have worm egg infestations and am checking them at least twice a day now.  So far no new signs have showed up but the ewe that died didn't really show any outward signs until a few hours before death.

The fly plague is back in full force too.

We are predicted to have thunderstorms for the next three days once again. I seriously hope they pass us by though. We really need about 2 weeks of dry, sunny days to get things back to normal around here.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!


8 comments:

  1. Good news on Mrs PP, if you identify that pill, let me know.
    You may have hit on a money making service to offer suburban pet owners by offering rural funerals for pets. For an added fee you will plant a dwarf fruit tree on the grave and soon you would have a pet fertilized orchard and everyone would be happy.
    Many tasks around here are better done by me as help does seem to create more work in the long run. Like when the wife's boys cut down a bunch of bushes and I later found that they filled up a drainage ditch with them.

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    1. Sf - I am almost certain it was a side effect of her anti-seizure medicine. Something named Nimodipine. She stopped taking it two days ago and today she was a bit more bossy and disagreed with me a couple of times. I need to get some things done before the effects wear off completely.

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  2. So glad Mrs. PP is better. If I were her, I would definitely milk some of that time. Wish we could roll over sick & vacation days. Oh well, I won't have to worry about that soon. Sounds like your Mom should just stay off the mower. My FIL mows for us sometimes but even with a 60" mower it takes him 8-9 hours where it takes one of us 3-4. But, he's meticulous about it it looks great but an 85 year old 8-9 hours on a mower isn't good. Hope you just get a few passing showers the rest of the summer.

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    1. DFW - Ya I don't get it but she says she needs to go back to work although the day before the brain exploding she was bitching about how much she hated it. I could understand if she didn't have a lot of sick leave of vacation but she could sit out for 2 and a half years right now and still get paid.

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  3. PP,

    Take a deep breath and realize all the work that needs doing will eventually get done!!!!
    I'm very happy to hear your sweet wife received a clean bill of health and can go back to work. If your wife had all of this time on the books, I think I would have stayed out a couple more weeks. My husband went to the neurosurgeon on Monday, he also received a clean bill of health. He can drive now, and return to work on light duty TODAY!!!! He will have to go back to the doctor in 4 weeks for x-rays, and follow up. The bones should be totally fused in about 12 to 16 months.

    The grass is terribly thick, and wet making it at times impossible to pass through. When done cutting, the deck on the mower was just thick with grass....so were the tires. Talk about a mess to clean up. SO............I do understand the mess you had to contend with after your Mom cut the grass for you.

    Again, so sorry to hear about your one lamb passing. I hope all the meds for worming helps take care of the worm issue.

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    1. Sandy - So far the sheep are looking fine. No more telltale signs but we got mroe rain today which means the dry spots we had forming are now wet once again.... grrrrrr.

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  4. oh PP - i am very glad to hear that Mrs. PP is bouncing back so quickly - but yes, i agree that if i had that much accumulated time that i would be taking a few weeks off. however, she might just be feeling that she has to get back to doing something productive, or something that she feels is productive - she might be trying to prove something to herself. anyway, let her go back for a month and then ask her to take a few weeks vacation and relax a bit.

    i was going to say i am glad that you are getting some drier weather until i read your comment back to Sweet Sandy - sheesh - you really are getting a lot of rain! and i, too, am sorry that you lost your lamb. but i am glad that it seems that the rest of the sheep are ok.

    man - you've been seriously busy this last few weeks. you need a bit of a break, buddy! your friend,
    kymber

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  5. Glad to hear Mrs. PP Is doing well. Less glad about the rain. My heart tells me we need it, my brain tells me "Enough Already!"

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