:::blows layers of dust offa this thing:::

Wow, I've kinda forgotten about this thing, haven't I.   Most days I just don't feel I've got that much to really say or share that's of any relevance.   Anyway, I'll just blather on

The girls have been out of school for almost a month now.   Monkey's class ended in early May, so he's been out for a while longer.    They're all doing well. 

Rosebud is still my home-body.   She'd rather spend her days at home and in her jammies.  She'll protest each and every time we leave home.   She is looking forward to our 'camping' trip in July, though.   However, keep in mind we'll be using our camper, which is like a little home-on-wheels.   Again, I suspect she'll spend most of her time in her jammies....just like home. 

Demon is well.  I need to call the dentist and schedule her for a cleaning and checkup and assess the two-front-teeth issue she's got.  She still has a huge space in between her teeth, just as I did as a child.   The dentist wanted to give her mouth a while longer to see if the teeth would move together, but they haven't.  So now we're going to have to do the procedure to remove the obstructing tissue.   Hopefully the office has procured the equipment he was wanting that would make this procedure very easy; if not, he said he'd refer us to someone who does have the equipment.   It's a matter of using traditional cutting/stitching techniques versus the new-fangled way, which is apparently faster and has a shorter healing time.   This is gonna be fun (NOT!) unless we have Demon drugged outta her gourd LOL.

Pixie is still her usual self.  And I still have to remind her many times a day to lower her voice.   I'm beginning to suspect that strange "dull looking" eardrum in one ear has translated into hearing loss.   I should follow up with our doctor about that.    Yeah, I should do lots of things...someday I might actually get them all done

Monkey boy.   ahhhhh, what a different little boy he is these days.   He's overcome much of the speech deficit and most of the sensory issues.   There are still some episodes with his Pica stuff, and he will need speech therapy for a few more years.  But, WOW! has he ever progressed in the last year!   Most days he acts just like a typical 4 year old boy...complete with storming in on his sisters, running and jumping, and even having in-depth conversations about his favorite shows.  

Hubby has mostly recovered from the shingles nightmare of last summer.   He does still have some lingering neuralgia issues.....if he's outside in the wind or a breeze, he needs to turn that left side of his head away from the breeze.   It'll leave him with an earache/jawache.  He says the scarred areas on his face are a bit more sensitive, but they aren't necessarily painful anymore.   And there are some days the scars are very noticeable, other days they blend in a bit better with his skin tone.  He's still having to follow up with the eye specialist every few months.  Apparently there are a few scarred areas that are being watched, as well as now having increased pressure in that eye.   He's not having to do the glaucoma eye drops yet as his pressure is borderline....yep, an effect of those horrendous shingles.

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Farming-wise we've had an awful time of getting the crops planted this spring.   We've had rain rain rain rain rain rain and more rain.   We're finally dry right now, and in another few days they guys will have the re-planted acres done.   We had a few fields that were underwater/flooded for a while.   One area has a high-water mark of about 8 foot....yes, the entire field was under that much water.   And yes, the corn planted down there is gone gone gone.  *sigh*   Closer to the house, the creek escaped it's banks and did some big flooding.   The drainage ditches couldn't hold all the rain, so the roads were flooded as well.   The cows and donkeys really didn't appreciate the flooding in their pasture.  They love to lounge around in the south end, but for days the south end looked like a lake!

With having a wet, rainy spring that alternated between warm and cold, I feel very fortunate I didn't lose any more birds than I did.    I've upped the headcount too.    There are a bunch (and I mean A BUNCH!) of youngsters that I bought as baby chicks in February, as well as hatched a few in the incubator . The youngsters aren't laying yet, but with the older ones I'm collecting around 3dozen eggs each day.   I've also been hatching guineas, raising them for a month or so, and then selling them at auction.   I do plan to keep a few here, but they'll be moved out to the barn.   My older ones now keep going back to the old chickenhouse, even though I keep booting their funky butts outta there .     With a young batch, hopefully they'll consider the barn as "home" and spend their days there and in the pasture, doing a good job of keeping down the insect population.

I've also been very pleased with the peafowl I've added to the flock.   Bob (the resident peacock we've had for years now) has finally discovered the others and now spends most of his days showing off for them.  The younger ones have also learned to fly out of the enclosure and join Bob in the yard around the chickenhouse.   As they become a bit more confident of their surroundings, they'll venture a bit further.  Yesterday we saw them round the corner of the garage and stumble upon the dishes of cat food.  I'm hoping that Bob will eventually convince them to join him in the barn....it's a good, safe roosting area for them. 

I've also got a batch of meatbirds growing too.   Just yesterday we moved them from the nursery tank and onto the floor of the new chickenhouse.   They have the center section to themselves.   When they get a bit bigger (yeah, probably in just a week!) I'll open the access door and let them have a secure yard to roam in as well.   It's only for about 4-6 more weeks, then they'll be ready for butchering.

Ohhhhh yeah, forgot to mention another lovely after-effect, aka neuralgia.    The virus has also apparently damaged some of the nerves in his middle ear.    He does have some pain in his ear, but what has been most noticeable is the severe motion sickness he's suffering.    Every single time we have to put him in a car (which has only been for required medical visits) we have to be sure to pack along a barf bucket and try to keep some dramamine/bonine down.     Thankfully the last two trips everything stayed in his tummy until AFTER the car stopped and he could dash to a bathroom.

And the kids have had to learn that when daddy is sitting in one of the rocking recliners, DO NOT! begin to rock said recliner.   Again, that will result in a mad run to the bathroom or need of the barf bucket.   So even if the pain gets under control, we don't know if he could even TRY to drive a car, tractor, or combine.

Time for me to step up on my soapbox and give a good, long, bitch-filled rant on the woes of shingles.     Shingles is the secondary infection of the chicken pox virus.   Guess what?  If you've ever had chicken pox, you could experience a re-activation of the virus in the form of shingles (also called Herpes Zoster).

Ya know what could prevent this?   Not ever having a case of chicken pox.   So all of you with children, GET THEM VACCINATED!!    So what if it's not a life-long immunity or an absolute guarantee that they'll never ever have so much as one pox.......I'll gladly and happily line up my kids for boosters, if there's a good chance I could spare them from the agony their father has endured.

Let me back up a bit to mid July.    Hubby was sorting out the soybean stuff.  In the course of dealing with the big boxes, a lid came crashing down and hit him in the forehead, leaving a pretty huge bump and a deep gash.    Not much problem, we cleaned him up and glued the gash and covered it with butterfly closures.

A week later he starting having some pretty bad headaches.   A few days after that his left eye was watery and bloodshot.   A few days later he was in such agony that he asked his employee to drop him off at the express care clinic, thinking he just had pinkeye or something and an infection at the now-healed gash site.    They took one look at him and send him to the ER.   Diagnosis:   shingles.    Affected area:   forehead, cheek, nose, eye, scalp, and neck - all on the left side.

We left with directions for care and scripts to have filled.   I then stopped at the pharmacy.   $500 later I walked out armed with 10 days worth of meds.    Yes, $500 freaking American dollars.

Oh, but wait!   We're not done yet!

The pain was so intense, he spent the next week in bed, emerging only for mad dashes to the bathroom to barf up what little food he'd managed to eat.     Well, I did drag him outta bed for a trip to the eye specialist who insisted he come in that.very.day. becuase apparently this infection of the eye can be very serious and even lead to sight loss and blindness.

So here we are, now four and a half weeks since the first symptom (the headaches) and we still aren't done.   It's been one trip to express care, one trip to ER, two trips to regular doctor, four visits to eye specialist, five trips to the pharmacy (to the tune of over $600).    BUT WAIT!   It's still not over!   At least he's not spending all day in bed, he does spent short amounts of time up and about before retiring to the couch or recliner.

It's now nearing the end of week two of a painful complication called "iritis" which is an inflammation of the iris of the eye.    Three different eye drops, staggered through the day, and one of which is administered every two hours.   Our house is now not-so-lovingly referred to as "The Bat Cave".   Because of the severe sensitivity to light, all blinds and shades are now blocking as much sunlight as possible.   Those that aren't light-blocking (but instead are light filtering) now have dark sheets or towels covering them.   Every.single.room.is.dark.    Even artificial lights must be kept very very dim.

He still has intense pain, requiring narcotic pain relievers every six hours.

We now have the official diagnosis of Post Herpetic Neuralgia.   Gee, thank you, nasty little virus, for damaging the nerves so that now he could very possibly be suffering this debilitating pain for up to a year.  

Yes, boys and girls, that's right.....up to a year.   

And debilitating.  Did you catch that word?    A grown man, who has a known high tolerance for pain, has essentially lost four and a half weeks' worth of his life and is facing a completely unknown future of continued pain.    Can you imagine if he weren't self employed?    Well I sure hope he'd have a good bank of time off days socked away to cover this.    Can you just think about this future for your children?    "Oh I'm sorry you're in pain, but you haven't been able to work for weeks, so now you're fired"

Oh but please don't feel sorry for me.   I've been taking up the slack around the farm.   All of the chores that he has always done must still be done.   Each.and.every.day.    So that means in addition to my wife/mommy/cook/maid/laundry/etc duties, I now get to work in doing all the things that hubby does, and also played nurse to the ailing man.   Every two hours - administer eye drops.    Cater to sick man, bringing snacks, food, drinks to him.   Cleaning/sterilizing the bathroom frequently.   Super frequent change of bedsheets and pillowcases (those oozing lesions were disgusting!).    Accomplish my daily chores, accomplish hubby's daily chores, and try my best to handle the business (phone calls, money matters, rental issues, etc).   Oh yes, I have just thoroughly enjoyed the last month.

But hubby?   Yep, he's still in pain.    He's still not sleeping well.   Which means *I* don't get to sleep well.   This is not isolated to his discomfort but is affecting the rest of our family and home life, has a deep effect on our business.

So I may have to continue being "The Man" and take over harvest.   At the very least I'll be splitting the time with hubby.   If he's able to drive anything (which hasn't been the case now for a month) he most likely will be unable to work for longer than a few hours at a time.    Gee, if he can't see now and can't drive a car and can't even be in a moderately-lit room without wearing dark sunglasses, and can't hardly see out of one eye, do ya think he'll be able to operate a very expensive and very large piece of farm machinery for 12+ hour days????

In conclusion, PLEASE PLEASE think of your children's futures.    They could suffer this fate.   They could not only lose their ability to care for themself or their family for the acute stage, but the lingering pain could be debilitating.    All it takes is a simple vaccine to save not only the lost time, wages, and enjoyment, but could save them from enduring this agony and the cost of medications.

I'm beginning to go crazy.  And I'm taking my family with me!

Mmmmmmmmm.......chocolate!

http://nestlechocolatier.fanspeak.net/?C1853_561741

We're home!!

It's wonderful.   I'm so exhausted and we've still got so much more to unpack, sort, and put away.   But, we're here!

And, very importantly, the internet grid was installed, set up, and connected to the computer

My back aches, my feet hurt, and I'm so tired.   But it's so terrific to be back in my home.   I did have to relax a bit in the soaking tub .    Ya know, to soak away some of the aches of the day.    My little demon girl joined me while the other two girls soaked in their tub.   After a while the other girls joined C.  They kept hopping out of one tub, running through the house to hop into the other, then do it in reverse a few minutes later.

I'm HOME!!!

I know I shouldn't secretly hope for a day of rain that keeps hubby outta the field, but I really am hoping the little sprinkles we got turn into a little more.   No downpours or floods, just enough to keep the tractor in the shed for today.    I've got my supplies to paint the new staircase and I'm really itching to get it done!   Actually, it really truly needs to be done today.   If I paint today, let it set and cure tomorrow, then on Monday or Tuesday the builders will install the treads and handrails!   It'll be easier (and quieter!) if I don't have to take all the children with me when I pain...and if hubby's home, then I can leave them here...or at least leave little Monkey Butt Boy.   At 2 years old, he doesn't quite understand "Don't touch that!  It's wet paint!"   Then if time allows, I'd really like to get the linoleum installed in the pantry.  

Some people just ain't happy unless they're engaging in a pissing contest.

Piss away, babies, piss away.

I'll now be doing Protected Posting here.    If you want to be added and don't see another post entered after this one, please email me.   Sorry to do this but...well....I feel it's best at this time.

Sorry to worry you, gals.   An online community blew up.   I'm still sorting out information and my feelings on everything.    It sucks.   And some people really suck.    But one thought helps comfort me through all of this.....

Karma, baby.

Forget human nature.  Human nature would have me wishing horrible things on certain people.  I just calmly remember that someday the wrongs you've committed will come back to you.   One way or another, a few asses are gonna get bitten.   To those people I say....hey, have fun with that.

So, now I've been once again questioning friendships.   What friendships are real?   Who is really a friend?   And who is just waiting for the chance to hurt others?

but whatever....

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On to happy subjects.

The house.    The shower is having its glass wall constructed.   This is how it looked last week.

Over the weekend the rest of the tiles were added to the curb, and then grout was done.

On Monday the glass guys began.

And yesterday morning the wall looked a little different.

Once again I feel like another proverbial bomb's been dropped on my head.    Ya know, it really sucks.   No warning, no time to prepare, not even a hint that anything was brewing.  

Shocked.  Confused.  Sad.