Category: Dr. Julia

Work in Progress

Shirleyjdietz2 Comments

I am very much of the mind that my time on earth is really just a character classroom, a “dry run” for something later. I am a work in progress and am often gently reminded of that. In the area of work, how to view it, how to manage it and how not to be managed by it, I am not alone. We humans seem to fall into the lazy style on one end of the spectrum, and the workaholic style on the other end. It has taken old age, and a general lack of energy to push me more toward the middle.

Yesterday was Julia’s birthday. One of the gifts I wanted to give her was my time, toward some task that she hasn’t been able to get done. I know that jobs like that constitute a mental burden and weigh heavily over time. She thought for a moment and then explained that her garden full of weeds was exactly that sort of burden. On her days off, GwennieRu doesn’t give her the amount of time outside to do large jobs. I like working outside and was glad to adopt the project.

I have some views toward work that probably conflict with good practice. One of them is that if a job is worth doing, it is worth overdoing. The other is that I like to finish what I start. Both of these were happening yesterday as I worked in the garden.

North Carolina is full of vining plants, like wisteria and morning glory, that wind themselves around fences and other plants till there is no separating them. Tomatoes, asparagus and raspberry plants had been attacked by these vines and I started trying to free them. The piles of weeds grew and grew as I heaved them over the fence.

I also kept finding large rocks and wanting to move them. The garden is in a spot that evidently was where the original house was built on this property. The foundation was made of river rock, which gives an idea of their size. Many of these rocks are so big that I can barely move them, but that does not keep me from trying.

Back breakers

By the time I was finished weeding and hauling all that vegetation out to rot in the woods, I was exhausted, dirty, and dehydrated. It was 4:00 pm and time to go in and relieve the babysitter. The evening was a little more relaxing. However, I have successfully passed the workaholic gene to Julia who finished off her birthday by painting a room in the basement, after a full day doing veterinary work. No one stopped for dinner until 8:30 pm, but I was gone by then.

Today is marked by overall soreness and a headache. Hired help has the baby today so I was glad to tend to quiet tasks in my trailer this morning.

Moderation in All Things 101, is the class I can’t seem to pass. God worked hard for six days before he had to rest, but he is more spirit than body. I clearly am not God, and although it feels really good to finish a job, I should probably have taken at least two days to wrap this one up.

Before
After. It doesn’t look that big, but it was full of plants that didn’t want to leave.

At Riverbend Farm

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I am in North Carolina, sitting in my trailer listening to the roar of the pressure washer as Kevin washes Julia’s vet truck. As you can imagine, it goes in dirty places around the countryside and gets in need of a good washing. When I last saw her, Julia was walking around the yard with the baby, probably looking for the next project.

It has not been that long, Labor Day weekend actually, since I saw Julia, Kevin and GwennieRu in Wisconsin. They came at the last minute when they realized they were not going to be able to join us for Thanksgiving. While they were with us, GwennieRu pretty much gave up crawling. She is loving her freedom to roam.

But I had already put plans in place to be here at Riverbend Farm for Julia’s birthday (tomorrow), so here I am. I arrived Sunday, late in the afternoon, just in time to have dinner with the family and their invited friends. The invited couple, with their five children, got the tour of the farm, the river, the pool and the new picnic tables, where we ate dinner. I spent most of the time getting reacquainted with GwennieRu, and listening to all going on around me.

Yesterday was my day to get settled in with groceries and checking out the trailer. The guest bedroom and bath in the newly remodeled basement is nearly ready, and I could soon have that as an option. But that is a decision for another day.

JULIA’S DAY OFF

Today, I jumped into family life. The three of us, Julia, Gwennie and I went to Bible Study Fellowship. It’s Julia’s weekly group study and I got to sit in. Gwennie went to the SeaTurtles group for childcare, which she apparently loves. The Westover BSF in Greensboro has hundreds of women enrolled and the facility is large enough to get lost in. It’s impressive that so many women are interested in studying the book of Revelation, and going to great lengths to do so.

Next was a pediatrician appointment for GwennieRu. She had a good time tearing up the paper on the exam table, but did not like having her ears examined. We are happy to know that she is up to the 30th percentile in her weight, and 90th percentile in height. In other words, tall and skinny, but overall healthy.

Getting home around noon left time for the big project of the week, castrating sheep. If you will, please go back and read post August 1, 2024 where the sheep almost died. Dr. Julia did not want to repeat that story. Fortunately, it turned out well this time. Not only did one sheep get castrated, but two got fixed, or broken, depending on the point of view. They are both doing well. One other “guy” got a reprieve since he was anemic, and another was also allowed to remain virile – I’m not sure why.

I helped with the first one, but after that GwennieRu woke up from her nap and needed someone to play with. I find both jobs very interesting.

We are teaching GwennieRu to play soccer. She’s a natural. Gonna be a goalie.

This story has been interrupted several times today, illustrating how difficult it is for me to find time to write. It is now night and I must get to bed so I can get up again early for another day at Riverbend Farm.

August 1, 2024

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On this first day of August, 2024, I am at home feeling some unrest about a phone conversation last night with daughter Julia.  As careful as I try to be with words, sometimes I make the wrong choice. I know what I mean, but the platform of love from which I speak is not always what is heard. That is why I have been praying. I am asking God to be the communicator that I am not. 

I am also remembering the story she told me, over the phone, on Tuesday.  It was such an example of her unpredictable, eventful, and exciting life.  She was still laughing and smiling as she told it, and it gave us a chance to marvel with her. 

She has sheep, and has been learning to shear them herself.  One of her tasks for the day had been to get the woolly coat off the last young ram and then to castrate him. She is a veterinarian and has years of experience with this procedure, on multiple species of animals. However, sheep are surprisingly sensitive creatures. 

After getting his anesthesia, this poor little fellow stopped breathing altogether.  Julia started doing chest compressions and sent husband Kevin, who was watching while holding the baby, for some epinephrine.  I was trying to picture her doing chest compressions and rescue breathing on a sheep, but am not at all sure that I got it right.  I’m thinking it was somewhat of a miracle that Kevin found the right medicine, and that she was able to administer it several times, even right into the sheep heart. Reviving him was not quick or easy.  And then, somehow, Julia and the sheep were in the back of her truck while Kevin drove them to the vet hospital where she works. Fluids and a reversal drug seemed to put things in a better light.  The sheep survived and was recovering. 

Mom and I, my brother Gary and his partner Lyn, listened to her story while eating our ice cream cones on a bench in front of West’s Dairy.  It was kind of like having a treat while watching a good movie. 

This is a different sort of week for me. My car is at the car hospital having body work done and I am attempting to keep my appointments in town by biking or walking. We are having some of our hottest summer days, so I am arriving hot and sweaty to some places. And today it is raining off and on, which is another complication. I am supposed to mow grass at church, but for now I’m going to go help at the Resource Center for a while, and stay dry. 

Adventures at Julia’s House: Just One of the Pack

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In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, Julia is an equine veterinarian. But that does not limit her love of animals to horses, not at all. When I list the animals on Julia’s farm, cats and dogs are usually at the end of the list, and that probably does not give a true picture of the magnitude of effect they have on the family. Specifically, the dogs are an inescapable part of life at Julia’s house. I know, having tried to escape them. So, I will introduce them to you to round out the picture of life on the farm.

Tessa is the oldest, the diva of the pack. She came to Julia years ago as a stray, and has been her faithful companion through vet school and at least four different homes. She is getting stiff and sore, and a bit owly at times. I identify most with her.

You’re getting old when your eyebrows turn grey
Diva dog

And then there is Penney, who was added a year before Kevin and Julia married. I think they got talked into keeping Penney without full knowledge of her. Penney is a yellow lab and her outstanding characteristic is that she’ll eat anything. This was discovered early on when she filled her stomach and esophagus with rocks (yes, they were under the grill and they did taste good) and had to have them surgically removed.

Penney
Penney and rocks

Next comes Moses. One of Penney’s redeeming characteristics is that she is a pretty good mother. Moses was the family’s choice from her first litter of puppies. He is a labradoodle. All I know is that there is a lot of hair walking around and he is in there somewhere.

Moses, Penney’s fine son

All three dogs spend a lot of time in the house. Their favorite places are anywhere that food might be dropped – always the kitchen at meal prep time and under the table when the family meals take place. They also like the same relaxing places that people like, namely, the couch. They are big dogs. They have big paws and dangerous tails, well, except for Tessa. She’s never had much of a tail and no one knows where she lost it.

Life with the dogs includes lots of barking, lots of letting them out, letting them in, feeding, watering and petting them. GwennieRu is already finding them fascinating, particularly when they loom over her and lick her face. When they are turned loose from their kennels in the morning, there is a mad scramble up the steps from the basement and out to the kitchen – you don’t want to be in the way.

One day, I came upon Julia and Kevin discussing ways to find money to cover projects on the farm. I shook my head in amazement when I heard them talking about puppy prices, and how they could have six to eight more labradoodle puppies to sell in fairly short order. Talk turned to action and in a few days Penney was taken to visit her “puppy daddy”. Since mating was not an easy event to schedule, the male poodle came home with Julie and Penney. Now there were four dogs dominating the house, and of course, one of them was in heat. Interesting. Fittingly, the poodle’s name is Hanky Panky.

Hanky the poodle

He stayed for a few days, and kept Julia up all night with his lonesome barking and whining. We were glad when he got picked up and taken home. He did his job though. I have pictures but you’re not going to see them.

You might have gotten the idea that I don’t like dogs all that much, but really, I do. I don’t like the dirt they bring in, the hair they drop everywhere, the dog scaze on the windows, and the barking that wakes the baby and anyone else who’s sleeping. But I do like them as individuals, and they must know it. I have been accepted as one of the pack. In fact, I’m often the one they come to for food or water or petting. They are part of the adventurous life at Julia’s house, and in a couple months it’s going to get worse… just sayin’.

Penney “you’re going to drop some of that on the floor, right?”
You might have thought you were going to sit here, tough.
precious (and rare) moments

Adventures at Julia’s House: Basement Saga part 2

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The last time I wrote about the basement project at Julia’s house, the studs were being erected to compartmentalize the large open room. (Read about it here.) Since then, people who know about electricity and plumbing have been showing up. Our task was to be ready for the dry wall. We did our best.

It was the day of Gwennie’s doctor appointment last week. Julia, Gwennie and I had been in a rainy drive through the storm called Finn, and then a somewhat disappointing visit with the cardiologist. We were ready to go home and think about the day when we got a call from Daddy Kevin, back at the house. The call was accompanied by video.

“There is water coming in the basement. I happened to be down here and the leak started as I was looking. Did you see the video I sent? Oh, and the electricity is out so I can’t run the sump pump. They say we won’t have power until around 11 pm. Can you find a generator and bring it home?”

It is true that they had talked about getting a generator, because there have been storms before that took out power lines. But all the research necessary for getting the RIGHT generator hadn’t been done yet, and there was the matter of fitting it into the budget. And even now, the timing was not great on that account.

“Thank you God that we don’t have the drywall up yet.” This was Julia, being optimistic. “Can we just come home? We’ve had quite a day, with the storm and all. And I have the baby…”

“If you’re anywhere where there’s electricity, you’re better off than being here. It’s dark and uncomfortable.” That was Kevin, being not quite so optimistic.

So instead of turning off the highway on the road toward home, Julia kept driving north, while calling a good friend to get advice on buying a generator. I figured we were on our way to Reidsville, where the closest Lowe’s store was located.

I am deathly afraid of riding with Julia when she is researching things on her phone, so she graciously told me to look for generators for sale, and people who knew how to install and service them. I was reading reviews and giving her numbers to call. It turned out that it was not going to be easy to make this decision on the spur of the moment, and yet the vision of the water level creeping up the walls of the basement demanded some kind of solution.

I was hopeful when Julia went into Lowe’s. I stayed in the car with Gwennie, praying. However, she came out of the store later without a generator.

Back on the road, and still continuing north, I asked her where we were headed.

“I ordered a generator online from Sam’s Club. I had to choose delivery tomorrow because the order can’t be processed this late in the day. I did it online because there was only one left in stock. I didn’t want it to be sold out from under me! But we need it tonight, so we’re going to go get it.”

“But where are we going?” I asked this as we crossed the state line into Virginia.

“Danville, that’s the closest store that had one.”

When we finally arrived in Danville, the baby and I only stayed in the car a few minutes before she started crying (and before I had to go to the bathroom). By that time Julia was somewhere in the far reaches of Sam’s Club country and I couldn’t find her. After the restroom, we paced back and forth by the checkout registers, Gwennie, in her car seat, in a shopping cart, waiting and wondering.

Would the only generator in the store still be on the shelf? We were in a bad storm area and probably weren’t the only people suddenly needing a power source.

Well, some things about this story did turn out good. Julia appeared with a huge box on her cart. It only took about 20 minutes to find out how to change the sale from online to “immediate and off the shelf”. It only took two huge men to lift the thing into the car. It only took another hour to get home, and by then the power was back on anyway.

Remember, it’s all about the basement – that place that’s being remodeled so that someday Grandma can sell her trailer and have a room in the house when she visits. There will undoubtedly be another storm, and another power outage, and perhaps a need for a sump pump. But now, we have a generator, just sayin’.

Adventures at Julia’s House: Finn the Storm

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We found out, shortly after her birth, that GwennieRu has a ventricular septal defect, a VSR for short. The murmur that the doctor heard led to a cardiac ultrasound and it was seen that there was a hole between two chambers of her heart. Because of the kind of tissue the hole was in, it was fairly certain that it would not correct itself as she grew. But we hoped and prayed for that anyway, because it was still possible.

Gwennie had a cardiologist appointment last Tuesday afternoon. We were eager to see if anything had changed. Julia had made sure she was free to take her at 2:30 pm, and I wanted to come along. As the morning progressed, I wondered if the predicted storm would make any alterations in our plans.

Around 1:00 pm Kevin showed me the weather radar on his phone. “There’s a band of severe wind and rain coming across your path at just about the time you have to be traveling,” he reported. I wondered if he was thinking that we shouldn’t go, but no more was said.

I made sure Gwennie was ready and the diaper bag was packed as I anticipated Julie’s arrival. Then I got a text from her.

I think lots of things that I never say to people. In this case I was thinking…

Isn’t this kind of crazy?

We have a serious storm out there.

I have only driven your new fangled hybrid car once, and it made me feel stupid.

You feel okay trusting this old woman grandma to do this alone with this precious child?”

Pushing doubt, fear, and good sense aside, I decided I had better get going so I could go slowly and have time for all the uncertainties. Julia and Kevin thought I could do this, so maybe I could.

I packed up the child and carried her quickly through the rain to the car. Car frustration started at once. I discovered the car wouldn’t start until I buckled my seat belt. Halfway down the drive, I saw a warning from the computer. “Service required” it said with a picture of a tire and an exclamation mark. Knowing that service was not going to happen, I kept driving. It didn’t feel like a flat tire, so maybe one of them was a little low on air.

Weather alerts were coming through on my phone. Authorities were telling people not to go anywhere unless they had been ordered to evacuate. There was a lot of flooding on the roadways. About that time, I saw emergency lights ahead where a large truck was blocking my lane. A tree had just fallen across half the road and cars were taking turns going around it on the remaining lane.

The rain was coming down hard as I pulled into the equine hospital parking lot. Julia’s vet truck came in a minute later. I was glad she was going to be driving the rest of the way to the appointment. She scrambled in and we were on our way again.

This storm impressed us both. There was a lot of water on the roads. Sometimes there would be a low spot with enough water that Julia would suddenly grab the wheel tight to keep us going straight. Once, a car in an oncoming lane sent so much water flying through the air that it hit our windshield like a rock, shocking us. Almost every car had flashers on, and we saw several stalled cars when we got into the city.

Fortunately, by that time the band of severe weather was nearly past. The wind was calmer and the rain wasn’t as scary. We made it to the clinic. Julia let Gwennie and I out at the front door and went to park.

GwennieRu, none the worse for her harrowing ride, plays with her toes while waiting for her exam.

In retrospect, maybe we should have cancelled the appointment, but, as I said, it was an important one. We had so hoped to hear that open heart surgery would not be needed for tiny GwennieRu. That was not the case. Surgery was still the recommendation and the doctor made a strong case for it. It is scheduled for February 8th.

They say that children her age recover quickly, much better than older children. The normal progression is 4 days in the hospital and then home, with only Tylenol for pain. Complications are not common, and the expectation for complete recovery and full activity are the norm.

Thank God (and I do) that we didn’t die on the way to the appointment.

There is that element of risk, in varying degrees, to every adventure that I can think of. It’s the adrenaline rush, the seriousness of what one is doing, and what could happen that makes an adventure burn its way into our memories. I don’t think I’ll forget about this one.

Adventures at Julia’s House: Girl’s Day Shopping

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I could have titled this “Not the Usual Day Shopping”, or “How Much Stuff Fits in a Buick”. I settled for “Girl’s Day Shopping” because it was shorter, we were all girls this trip (Julia, GwennieRu and I) and we certainly did shop.

Sometimes I dream of taking a daughter to a nice clothing store, out to lunch, and maybe a stop at a nail salon or spa. These are only dreams though, and not really my style. Not really Julia’s style.

But I had offered to help Julia shop for her postpartum wardrobe, knowing that it is a difficult time when you’re no longer wanting to wear maternity clothes, but are still waiting for your body to return to normal. Every day can be a struggle in less than comfortable clothing. So shopping was in order.

We bundled ourselves up – it was cold – and went to town in my Buick Enclave. I had my empty propane tank in the back. Earlier in the week the store had been out of propane. I was hoping they had been resupplied. On the way to Tractor Supply for the propane, Julia remembered the order for animal feed that was now ready for pick up. Normally this would be a job for her truck, but, oh well. It wouldn’t hurt to try to get the 20 bags in the Buick as long as we were there.

Twenty minutes later, the back of the car was nearly full to the ceiling with 50 pound bags of feed and the now full propane tank sat in the second row seat next to the baby.

We were near Big Lots, a fun place to find odd things. I didn’t find much, but Julia found bleach on sale and got six gallons, and a few other things. We found room for them on the floor where they wouldn’t tip over. This shopping trip was already well worth doing.

Returning unwanted Christmas presents was on the list, so we went to what I would call a “ritzy” department store that actually had large departments for every age person, mostly clothing, and no carts for carrying anything like a car seat. I should have opted for putting Gwennie in the front pack, but she had looked so comfortable in the car seat, that I kept her in it and carried it in. I try never to disturb a comfortable baby.

We did the returns, and whizzed past what they called their “sales” where there was nothing we were interested in. I will say that they could do more for their customers by having a cart or two by the door. Why not?

We were hungry by this time and coasted around the outdoor mall for a while in indecision, looking for a satisfactory restaurant and a bathroom. Tropical Smoothie seemed right to Julia since she often drinks lunch. I ordered a salad and a side of sweet potato and thought to sat down and eat it, when Julia asked if I wanted to get going. I didn’t really mind, so the lunch went in a bag and sat on the dash, while we looked for the next store.

TJ Max was our destination. This time I put the baby in the front pack, which was not only easier, but more fun. All the people we met loved looking at Gwennie, and it was easy to go in front of a mirror and let her look at herself and laugh. Julia found a bunch of jeans to try on and disappeared into the dressing room. When Gwennie got bored, we went back out to the car where she took a bottle, and I ate my slightly soggy salad.

No trip to town is complete without a trip to the grocery store. Julie loves to buy groceries. I think it is her way of relaxing, since usually no one wants to go in the store with her. She can coast as many aisles as she wants to and consider all kinds of food purchases uninterrupted. This is rare and precious time.

When she came out with a full cart, to our already full car, we had a fun time figuring out where everything would go. My car cooler took most of the things that were perishable. Cauliflower, lettuce and assorted vegetables went in holes between the bleach and bags of clothing. I can’t remember everything we had but when we were done we high fived each other and felt pretty proud of ourselves. This kind of shopping trip is not for the faint of heart.

I was glad Julia was driving. She said yes, the front of the car did seem a little elevated because of the load of feed in the back, but not enough to impede our progress. We headed home. Shopped out. Well, not really shopped out but there was not room for anything else.

At home, Kevin came out to help us unload. He opened the back door and said “Wow!” We took that as a compliment and proof that we had done something significant. He started hunting for the baby which he knew was in there somewhere.

We found her. She was still smiling too.

And so ended our girl’s day shopping. We got a lot done. For now, that’s the kind of girls we are, and that’s how we shop. Just sayin’…

Adventure at Julia’s House: A Day in the Life

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Mommy = Julia, my daughter. Daddy = Kevin, her husband. GwennieRu = my 5 month old granddaughter. Written by me = Grandma

Last night I walked to my camper at 9 pm. There is a circular drive that I travel, going back and forth. It is graveled and my feet make crunching noises as I walk. Sometimes I walk to the side in the grass so the dogs won’t hear me and start their barking.

Most nights it is very black, with little ambient light, and the stars are amazingly visible and bright. Orion’s belt is directly over my submarine shaped trailer. I stopped and looked last night, and most nights, even though it was cold outside.

When I wake in the morning, it looks like this. Again I am trying to burn this scene into memory because it is so beautiful. I make the walk to the house. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

GwennieRu was lying in her crib this morning, playing quietly with some toys. As usual, it didn’t take much to make her smile. Mommy had gone to work. Daddy was going to a doctor’s appointment. Felix, the exchange student from Germany, had gone to catch the bus to school. For a while it was just Gwennie and me, having the house all to ourselves.

Her routine is very simple. We played on the living room floor, she spent time in the swing while I fixed her next bottle, we walked around looking out of all the windows, we touched the kitty and the doggie. When the fussing started, I gave her “breakfast” and she fell asleep in my arms.

Mama came home between appointments. We had coffee and talked a while and she finished some outside chores, before heading to the gas station to fill the cans with diesel for the farm tractor. Daddy was home by this time and it wasn’t long before he came to tell us something. Mommy had somehow locked both her truck keys and both her cell phones in the truck, with the engine running, at the gas station. She was waiting for a man to come and open the truck for her. Poor Mommy.

GwennieRu and I went outside for a buggy ride. I was pushing her along the wide right of way when Mommy drove past us. She stopped her truck and ran out to give Gwennie a kiss. Gwennie in her stroller is pretty irresistible.

There was another long nap in the afternoon, during which I did some cleaning for Mommy and some for myself. Almost every time I come to “red clay country” I have a new pair of shoes that gets ruined. This time I scrubbed them clean and set them out to dry.

I was determined to have dinner ready before 6 pm today. When Felix got home from school, and he and Daddy were talking sports and dogs (the usual topics these days) I let them know that dinner was in the oven and would be ready in 45 minutes.

That morning when Mommy got in her truck, she had smelled something good and remembered that last Friday (this is Monday) she had gotten a frozen Penne Toscana from one of their favorite restaurants. She hadn’t meant to forget about it and was a little worried that it might not be good anymore. I told her I was willing to eat it. I cooked it and it was wonderful. Mommy has this sign on her refrigerator in the kitchen. It is our hopeful motto.

Mommy had a management meeting after work so she didn’t get home until 7:30, and wasn’t able to eat with us. Gwennie was taking her evening nap. She and Mommy get most of their together time at night, after I leave.

And now, the dishes are in the dishwasher, the leftovers are put away, Mommy and Daddy are having a glass of wine together and talking about their day. It was a pretty good day.

And now I am ready to walk out on the gravel path under the black, star studded sky.

Adventure at Julia’s House: Basement Saga

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Today it is quiet (relatively) at Julia’s house. For the last two days we have heard pounding and sawing noises in the basement. Often I would feel the floor vibrating under my feet. Gradually the large open basement has become filled with stud walls, and duct work ceilings in preparation for the new office/bedroom suite/gym/storage basement of the future.

I say “large, open” in the description only to indicate that there were no walls previously. However, the basement was, in fact, full. For several years it held things from my Florida house that were still dear to me. It held a great deal of Julia’s pre-marriage household, and her husband’s pre-marriage household. It held two refrigerators, and a large freezer, mattresses, furniture, tools and workshop, several exercise machines and weight sets.

I won’t say that Julia considers herself a “prepper” but she does shop sales for things she uses and the basement was where much of it got stored. There were two large shelf units full of canned goods, bottled drinks, boxes of snacks, cereals, and pastas. Two more shelf units held kitchen appliances that didn’t fit in the kitchen. Paper goods, veterinary equipment, clothing, blankets, holiday decorations and costumes, pictures and frames from the past, and more. To be honest, we all have had places like Julia’s basement where we store (or have stored in the past) these kinds of things. These are places things go to be forgotten.

Forgotten, until we have to find another place to put them. This coming week the drywall crew is coming to work in the basement and the dust from years of storage will be joined by drywall dust a’plenty. Julia’s plan for today was to get as much out of the basement as possible, to make it easier for the men to work and to protect stuff from the dust. Box after box went up the stairs to be deposited in the upstairs living spaces. Chaos and clutter.

The food has now been dusted off and shelved in the kitchen, and that is a good thing. There are some scary expiration dates on a few things and having it all in plain sight is a good reminder that it was bought to be eaten while it was still edible.

There are boxes stacked by the front door to be given to Goodwill. Many things will just rest where they are until it is safe to go back into the basement.

Stuff waiting for a ride to Goodwill.

There is an air about this beginning of the new year. Things are happening. It might look messy and discouraging at times. As I sit here writing, there is quiet talk going on in the kitchen as Julia and Kevin discuss. For sure, there is a lot to talk about here at Riverbend Farm – the basement remodel is only one of many projects under way.

But experience tells me that the outcome will be good. Patience. Discipline. Throw in some fun. Oh, and a baby, four kids, eight sheep, six horses, two ponies, two donkeys, three goats, three cats, three dogs… and me, writing about it all, when there is time (just sayin’).

Part of today’s work. “Not a prepper”

Mama’s “what more could go wrong?” Day

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As told through the infant eyes of Gwennie Ru.

This was going to be a good day because it was Mama’s day off work. I was looking forward to having her feed me, rock me, and basically devote herself to my every need all day. It was going to be great.

And it did start out kind of like that. I didn’t sleep well during the night but I was having a decent early morning nap. I could hear the washing machine going in the laundry room. I could smell the faint aroma of bread Mama had put in the oven. I was getting ready to announce that I was hungry when Daddy came in from feeding the animals. He said one of Mama’s favorite horses had not come up to get his grain.

When a horse doesn’t come up to get its regular feeding something is really wrong with the horse.

Well, Mama went tearing off to find the horse. I tried to protest but she couldn’t hear me. I did the only thing I know how to do when I’m hungry. I cried. Daddy went too. I don’t get it, but then, I’m just a baby.

I guess the horse was really sick, and since Mama is a horse doctor she was trying really hard to save the horse’s life. After a while, Daddy came back. He was supposed to be working at his job, on his computer. He hadn’t planned on the horse getting sick today. Yesterday, Daddy and I spent the day together while he was working on his computer and that hadn’t gone too well. I think he was worried that today would be a lot like yesterday.

Daddy turned the oven off and took care of the bread so it wouldn’t burn. I was still very hungry and felt that crying was still in order. I knew it would get to one of them sooner or later, and I would get fed, but no. In a short while, Daddy put me in the carrier and strapped me to his chest and we went out to check on Mama and the horse.

She had pulled the sick horse to the barn and was trying to get it in a stall and give it medicine, but before she could, she got real excited about something else.

For a minute or two, I forgot about being hungry and watched Mama run out to where her little milk goat was standing in the road. She had some of the goat’s favorite food and was trying to get it to come to her. That reminded me of how hungry I was and I thought about crying some more.

Mama’s little goat that keeps running away from her.

Mama chased that goat from one place to another till she was satisfied it wouldn’t get run over by a car. She gave the horse some medicine. And then she came over to me and Daddy. I thought they had been having fun, but evidently not. Mama said to Daddy “What more could possibly go wrong next?” Daddy just looked over at our car and said “maybe that flat tire?”

I don’t know about grown ups. Why would a flat tire make them laugh? But I do know that I like to hear them do that. I also know that it is a very good thing when Mama and I sit down in the rocking chair because I know I’m going to get fed. As usual, I got full and fell asleep, but I could still hear Mama calling Grandma and telling her about me, the bread, the horse, the goat and the flat tire and her “what more could go wrong?” day.

A good cry and a full tummy always puts me to sleep.