T MINUS TWELVE

In just twelve days we pull out of our drive saying goodbye to our home, mowing, weeding, painting fences, fighting coons, picking cherries, apples, pears, blackberries, persimmons, paw paw and gooseberries.  I will miss all the free fruit.  But there will be farmer's markets year round!  How exciting is that?!?!


The house is looking a bit like a ghost house.  The only thing in the family room is my spinning wheel. The painting on the left has gone to reside at my niece's home.  It was painted by a great uncle and is very precious to me.  


I  must have inherited his artistic talents as there are no other artists in our family until me and then our oldest daughter happened on the art scene.  Karen's artistic talents were evident at the age of five! How wonderful is that?


Now.....to another topic....I almost titled today's blog The Dog of The Corn.  (aka The Children of the Corn.)  Did you see that frightful movie?  We did, with our girls.


When the camera went down the rows of corn, the leaves slapped the camera "in it's face?"  I had that very experience when Oliver awakened me to go out and "do his duty" around six forty five a.m.    


When Oliver goes out, he puts his nose to the ground and follows a scent.  I pick some gooseberries (mistake) and not keeping a good eye on him.  


Out of the corner of my eye I see him disappear at the edge of the cornfield.  I call "Oliver!"  No Oliver.  I pick gooseberries and call "Oliver!"  No Oliver!  This continues for about ten minutes until Olivia comes, but Oliver is not with her.  


I tell Olivia, go get Oliver and she stands at the edge  of the cornfield, looks up at me and says, "I'm not going in there!  They will get me!"  


I take Olivia back to the house, put her inside and alert John that Oliver is missing in the cornfield.  


OH NO!  THE COYOTES WILL GET HIM!


I had found that the Coyotes were sleeping in our back pasture last summer and fall..........until I mowed and found their spot.... A Coyote walked in front of me as I mowed.  I felt that my fears were justified....


I ventured into the cornfield.  Some of the corn was short since it was shaded by our trees.  Some of the corn was over my four feet eleven inches head.  As I walked through the tall corn, the leaves kept hitting me in the face and brought that nasty move to my mind.


I called and called Oliver.  FINALLY, I hear barking.  But it is waaayyy out in the field. (oh, joy)  I call, Oliver barks, I call, Oliver yaps.  


Half way through the field, I finally spot the little wandering dog.  The mighty defender of the homestead has "cornered" a baby Robin at the foot of a corn stalk.  


The poor little Robin has yet learned to fly. Momma is screaming from a distance.  Oliver is saying "look Mom,  see what I found for you?"  Geesh!  I scoop up the silly dog, call out to John that I had found the goof ball and begin to plow my way through the corn back to the house.  


On the way back to the house, I explain to Oliver that baby birds do NOT want to "play" with him.  Do you think he listened?  Heck no!  The next time out, Oliver heads for the cornfield for more adventures. 


 I QUICKLY PUT A HALT TO THAT NONSENSE!


The momma Robins do not know that Oliver has been to school and will obey my commands (if he chooses).  They dive at him, they attack him, I rescue him.  


BUT,,,,, HE SEEMS TO HAVE LEARNED HIS LESSON.  


He now stays with me when it is time to go  do "his duty."  kind of


So, life consists of physical therapy, packing, cleaning, getting wool ready to send to either the spinning mill or to the rug weaver,  arranging motorhome, planning trips around Indiana.  


Since John is in physical therapy, we need to be within driving distance.  He is making such good progress that we want him to continue his therapy as long as possible.  


Again, we want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, words of encouragement, positive thoughts, etc.  Without each and everyone of you, we would not be looking forward to the rest of our lives together.  You all made Father's Day a very special day for John and I.


God bless each and every one of you.  May He meet your needs....every one of them.  May He give you rest, peace, healing and joy.


N & J

  

ELEPHANT? THERE'S AN ELEPHANT IN THE HOUSE?

Well, that elephant had better look for another place to live............ as of Saturday morning WE HAVE ACCEPTED AN OFFER!!!!!  The house is not officially sold, but the paperwork is in progress!  We unofficially consider it sold.  


The buyer is the one that shot us such a low ball.  They finally threw in the towel, made us another offer and it was within five thousand of what we wanted....so we accepted their offer.  


A year ago, we had said we would be very happy if we could get what they offered, but this year we set our sights 5K higher.   Silly me / us..... 


It took two months and two days from listing to accepting their offer.  Who said this is a bad time to sell a house?  Karen in the Woods sold her house in about a week less time than we sold ours.  Answered prayer all around.  Why am I always astounded when things like this happens?  God is faithful, what else can I say?

Last week was full of physical therapy and doctor visits.   He is walking on the treadmill and learning how to breathe.

Are we having fun yet? 

He works on strength in his legs.  Pretty soon he is going to be able to leap tall buildings!

John with his "coaches"

I even worked out on the machine next to him.  I need the exercise too.  Sitting, reading a book while he is working out just does not seem right, does it?  

It's mandatory and in the rule book 

Don't tell anyone, but that recumbent bike is not fun.  Next time I am going to get on the regular bike.  I'm just too short for the recumbent.  I have not done these machines since my knee replacements and it really felt good to be at it again.  


 It seems that John is right on the line between diabetes and not.  His physician is sending him/us to meet with a dietitian and a nurse for "training."  I look at this as a perfect opportunity to re-learn how to shop, cook and eat the healthful way.  


I need to loose weight.  I have lost twenty-five pounds by using Zija and as a result of John's struggles.  I still need to get rid of more pounds.  


John's weight loss while he was in intensive care and at the long (short for him) term adult rehab hospital brought his weight down to where it should be.  But his doctor said if they did a body mass test, he would have too much fat and not enough muscle.  Guess where the fat is? So he needs to loose his middle and gain muscle.  I probably could do some of the same, but shave the weight also.  


Friday was vet day for our cat Noah.  When John came home from the rehab hospital, he and his buddy, Noah reunited and John mentioned that Noah had mats behind his ears.  


We were so busy running to doctor appointments and physical therapy that I gave Noah's mats no thought until last Thursday.  I called the vet and asked if she could take a look at them since I was unable to cut the mats out without cutting flesh.  


Friday, we went to Hillview Veterinary Clinic.  Noah has been a patient from the day Hillview opened and feels that he has the run of the clinic and hospital since he would stay there when John and I were at llama shows. 


This time Noah knew there was a big problem and decided to take up residence under John's chair.  Finally, he came out and let vet Jennifer look at his "bumps" behind his ears. 

 Jennifer began to remove the mats, but then the skin came off too.  It was not a pretty sight.  But soon Noah was "fixed up"  and sported a new neck band that remained around his neck until yesterday.  Today, he is looking as handsome as any twelve year old cat.  


Today, Oliver and Olivia went to the spa.  They were so neglected while John was sick.  Olivia got a drastic hair cut.  Oliver lost some hair, but not much.  He is much easier to comb out and does not mat like Olivia.  


I think that is the last of the problems that resulted from John's "adventure."  


And this is the last paragraph of a too long blog.  


Thanks for stopping in to read my ramblings.  God bless you and your travels or activities.