Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Toddler Talk

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Someone asked me recently why the blog posts had been few and far between.  Partly because I was distracted by medical appointments and then harvest and partly because I just wasn't feeling it.  Call it writer's block or whatever you want...there was just nothing in my head that was worth sharing with anyone!

Thank goodness for Cubby to get the old creative juices flowing again.  I do believe she is going to supply me with endless material over the next few years!!

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We've seen quite a bit of Cubby in recent week since Young Man is helping Captain in the field with harvest.  Being a whopping three years old now and possessed of a fierce will and strong opinions, there have been some interesting conversations!

One night after she heard me have a heated discussion with Captain that included me shouting a blasphemous expletive on the phone, she asked if Grampa was naughty, which I assured her that he was!  When she saw Captain moments later, the first thing she said to him was "[insert blasphemous expletive] Grampa, you're naughty!"  Ooops...bad Gramma!



Another day when she was in the house with me, we were scrolling through my Facebook timeline because she likes to see the pictures.  It happened to be Veteran's Day, and she stopped scrolling when she came to an image with the American flag and an eagle.  She looked at it for a minute, looked up at me, and bellowed, "'Murica!"  Man, I love this kid to pieces!

Later that same day when Captain and Young Man came in from outside to have lunch, Captain was moaning about something, and Cubby turned to him with her hands on her hips and told him, "Grampa, quit your whining!"  Could she BE any cuter?!  Out of the mouths of babes, eh?


I know Molly gets a little upset when I say this, but the Gramma gig is the best thing ever and I just had to share some of it with you!

Images used:
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Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Harvest Happenings

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Any of you who know someone who is trying to farm right now...you know how darn frustrating this fall has been! I’ve never seen anything like this weather.  We went from summer to winter with no really fall-like weather.  

And the rain/snow wet yucky stuff is not helping either.  If you didn’t have all of your soybeans harvested before that snow a couple of weeks ago...you may or may not have another opportunity to finish them this year.  I know this because we have 80 acres of soybeans out there waiting, but until it dries out, there is nothing we can do about it.  

We do have a bright note in our harvest adventures this year.  Cubby has joined the crew!

Sparky was not able to help us out this year due to a new job and different hours.  Everyone is sad about this.  

Young Man stepped up and agreed to help Captain with harvest at night and on weekends which has been most helpful.  Along with Young Man came Cubby.  

She has been most excited about "going farming" with the guys, and she has fairly firm opinions on things for a toddler. Case in point: If you see her, ask her if she thinks Grampa is any good at driving the grain cart.  

I’m not going to comment on maintenance, repairs, or parts runs so as not to jinx the situation.  I’ve done that before and learned my lesson!!

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My contribution, as usual, is taking over Calf Country.  This wasn’t a burden during spring and summer at all.  Then I got that 6-week break after surgery.  Now that all my restrictions have been lifted, I have resumed my duties...in the cold and dark.  

I can handle the cold okay because I have all the appropriate outerwear needed for that.  It’s that dark thing that throws me for a loop.  Scoff all you want...I get anxiety attacks when I am in the dark alone.  Maybe I should have my cell phone on speaker and call someone while I am patrolling Calf Country in the dark.  Hmmm…

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My other contribution is watching Cubby when it isn’t conducive for her to be in the field with her daddy and grampa.  I have learned something during the last couple of visits to Cubby’s house.

  • I think three year olds are smarter than they used to be.  
  • There is something out there more annoying than Barney.

Don’t believe me on either one of those things?  Here’s how I can convince you.  

  1. Give any three-year-old that you know a smart phone to play with, and they’ll master it better than you do.  
  2. Put in a DVD of Paw Patrol.  

I raised two kids who were crazy about that purple dinosaur, so I suffered for a couple of years watching countless episodes of him and his friends over...and over...and over.  

I’m here to testify that Paw Patrol is worse.  Trust me on this one.  I can't even pinpoint what exactly it is that irritates me so badly about it. I normally LOVE cartoons of any variety, but this one isn't doing it for me.

Apologies to Cubby and all others out there in Toddlerville who think Paw Patrol is the best thing since sliced bread.  We’re just going to have to agree to disagree on that one!

What happened to the good old cartoons like Scooby Doo (which, actually is a favorite of Cubby’s); Bugs Bunny; the Grape Ape; Speed Buggy; Rocky and Bullwinkle...where are they when we need some good honest entertainment?

Alas, harvest happenings mean I can’t take the time to figure that dilemma out.  Maybe when we are burrowed in over winter I will spend some time on that question.  Until then, stay safe in the fields pals of mine and prayers for a bountiful harvest!

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Images used:
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Thursday, November 2, 2017

Recovery Journey

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I went to my breast cancer support group last night.  These are lovely ladies who have all faced breast cancer and survived.  Their stories aren’t mine to share, but I will say that after listening to some of their stories, I am so thankful that my journey was as smooth as could be expected.

My stock answer over the last eight weeks when someone asks how I’m doing is, “I’m doing very well, thank you.”  

It’s a true statement, and sometimes when I realize how much worse my journey could have been, I almost feel a little guilty.  A variant of survivor’s guilt I suppose.  Why do other people have such terrible struggles and I pretty much just sailed through the whole process without a hitch?  I don’t know.  Yet.  But God had a reason for it, I’m quite certain of that!

My road to recovery was paved with quite a few laughs.  I’ve said all along it’s laugh or cry, and you might as well laugh about what you can.  Crying gets you nowhere.  

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Like when the plastic surgeon came into my hospital room for rounds the day after surgery and informed me that I had “very nice cleavage.”  Trust me when I tell you...that is the first time THOSE words had been uttered to or about me!  But...yay!

Part of my surgery was the placement of the tissue expanders.  These are basically rigid plastic air balloons.  Once those are placed, they strap on this torture device called a breast binder.  It’s a girdle for boobs.  I’m not sure what the logic is for putting major compression on balloons (wouldn’t they pop or deflate??)  but no one asked me.  

Under the binder were surgical dressings--one for each boob--and a foam shaper thing for each boob.  When it was time for me to take the first shower postoperatively, all of that had to come off and put back on again.  

I’m here to tell you that the foam shapers and the surgical dressings were no problem to get in place again, but to get that binder on was like trying to put an angry cat in a burlap sack.  It was pretty much a lesson in futility.  Poor Captain...I’m sure that wasn’t what he thought he’d signed up for when he agreed to nurse duties!

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Luckily I was able to ditch the dressings, shapers, and binder within a week.  That just left me with a drainage tube on each side.  At the point where the tubes exited my torso, there was a small padded and medicated foam disk in place to protect the incision opening from infection.  Over all of that was a rectangular TegaDerm dressing.

Turns out I am allergic to whatever is in that medicated foam disk, and I developed painful blisters underneath of them that have left scars.  Amazingly, that allergic reaction was the worst part of the recovery process.  

Once the drains were removed, recovery was quick.  I still had to take a nap every day which was a foreign concept to me.  I have just never been a napper because I always feel crappier after the nap than before.  After surgery, however, my body gave me no choice, and I would just nod off in my recliner about 2:00 every afternoon.  

By four weeks postoperatively, I was feeling almost back to normal, and as I look at returning to work next week at the 8-week mark, I can say with 100% confidence that I have fully recovered from the surgery.  

This means that all lifting restrictions are over and I am back to being in charge of Calf Country.  On a brighter note, I can also now pick Cubby up and hug her like I used to!  My PA-C tells me I can try to bowl next week, so we’ll see how that goes.  

I couldn’t get the implant exchange surgery scheduled until late January at which point I will have six weeks of restrictions again.  This actually works out well due to Captain’s impending hip replacement surgery in December.  This way, one of us will be hale and hearty when the other is down and out.  I guess that’s what that whole “in sickness and in health” thing was about in our wedding vows.  

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I am so very thankful for the smooth recovery process I had and for all of the love and support my family and I were shown in the last two months.  

For everyone out there who is on a survivor’s journey...my prayers are with you every day that you too can or will be able to say, “I’m doing very well, thank you!”

Images used:
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