Busy Fall

What a busy month November has been. It isn't an easy month to begin with. I turned 60 this month. My mother died a year ago this month. Dennis died 2 years ago this month. My father died 5 years ago this month. Besides all the emotional stuff to deal with.............well I did get a fair amount accomplished.

The entire block that my parent's owned in Center is finally on the market. I managed to get everything cleaned up & ready to go. Mom & Dad's house has been on the market for about 3 months. I feel like I'm finally getting some progress done & a big weight off my shoulders. I still have much to do with Dennis estate............well, not the estate as such, but moreover items of his that I want to give to his children.

In the meantime, here on the farm, the second loafing shed is done. My barn has new electrical wiring. The fencing around the new sheds is done. My wood room has been cleaned up & rearranged and I have two more cords of wood ready to burn. Oh, I had a professional chimney sweep come & discovered problems with the chimney. They are now fixed. I have gotten a lot accomplished that needed to be done. I'm looking forward to December & a new year beyond that.

Felting Class

On Friday the 26th of Nov. we will start at 10 am (that gives Lois time enough to come over from Ignacio that morning) and do scarves. I only have two people signed up at this time due to scheduling conflicts, so I can add one or two more if we find more interested.

On Saturday the 27th of Nov. we will start at 9:30 am to do the vases. I have 3 people signed up to do vases. We could potentially add one more to this class if someone else shows interest.

Anyone else interested? Please email me. Felting is so much fun.

Fall

As I said in my previous post fall has been busy.

I've had the workers that made the loafing shed tear down another old one & put up another new one. I'm very happy with their work. So I ask them to do a lot of handyman jobs that have needed done, some for years. They are going to start on that next.

I'm having the barn rewired. There are pictures in a book about Monte Vista, of the barn supposedly taken in 1887, so it is old. The old wiring frightens me as I know the barn could burn very quickly. So another project.

The two big ones I need to work on are Dennis' items from his parents farm in Spokane. I need a list for Dennis' children and working on Mom & Dad's paperwork items. Those are both priorities. Helping Mom & then her death messed up me finishing up Dennis stuff. So I need to restart this.

The hay is put up & I 'm almost ready for winter!!

Rusty

September came & September went..................busy busy.

Rusty is adjusting well. He still sleeps in his crate at night & sleeps quietly. He KNOWS that this is what is expected of him. So far he has done well in the house. He & Jamie are crated during part of the day depending on what I'm doing, etc. He is getting along very well with both girls, which is great. He knows the "plan" of the day & what we do that he is involved with.

When I go out to feed the alpacas & rabbits all the corgis usually come along. He joins in well with eating some alpaca food and eating rabbit poop. He feels the rabbit item is a special treat. So far he doesn't seem interested in the cat, where as Jamie is chasing Princess every time she sets eyes on her.

Malen is slowing down, I can see it more and more. She is still my sweetheart and I love her dearly.

My Feral Cat

We had a cat adopt up last winter. After a period of time of seeing it around I finally started feeding it once a day along in the late Winter or early Spring. I figured if I fed it enough to keep it around then the mouse population would be kept down. But I knew that sooner or later I needed to have it fixed so there would not be a large cat population....................................Usually I only see her in the evening but this morning I found her in the morning. She has always been somewhat friendly letting me pet her a little & purring .........so I had wondered if she was dumped. Who knows.

Anyway today I caught her & put her in a crate & took her to the vet so there would be no little kittens around. They had a lot of problems at the vet office today, so I got a call at 8:30 wondering if there was any chance that the cat had already been spayed.................. apparently I am going to pay for a spayed cat to be respayed...........!!! They could not find any suture line anywhere, but then again, as the vet said ............ if you do a good job there will not be a noticeable scar.!!! Poor kitty. (Poor $$$ me) : )

Rusty

Introducing Rusty. I know, I know, I must be crazy adding another corgi and a male at that. Dennis did not like male dogs at all. But I decided to do it. Do I need to explain why??? Well, let me say that Malen is 11 1/2 now, Jamie just turned 9. They are getting older & will not be around for a whole lot longer. I found this guy via petfinder. He was with a corgi rescue person in Santa Fe. He actually comes from Missouri & is from a puppy mill. Rusty turned 4 in April. He is also heartworm positive and has been being treated for heartworm. I wasn't suppose to get him until the middle of September..........but things panned out differently & Willie & I picked him up last Friday. We are working on house training & he is doing very well. The only issue so far is that he doesn't like being crated at night............but I don't want pee in the house during the night. So we are working on that. He makes a lot of noise at night wanting to get out. Hopefully he will continue to do well so he can join Malen & Jamie at night. He is a tri instead of a sable in coloring. He really is a sweetheart. He & Jamie are having fun together. Petfinder info said he didn't bark................I guess he didn't need to since there were so many corgis at this home. But he found his voice here. Luckily he doesn't bark near as much as Jamie and the pitch of his bark is lower, which is helpful for my ears............Jamie's bark is painful. Malen accepts him well so that is good also!!

Auction

Yesterday we had the auction for all the "stuff" in my parents home and also at Center Motor, the Ford dealership that my father had for many years. It was a sad day in many ways..........but it was also such a relief for me. The "garage" has been on my shoulders mentally & physically for over 4 1/2 years. It has been a burden & not a light one at that.

But it is all done now. The house was full & bulging with stuff. I do not know how many trips to the dump my sister & her husband made, but I would guess 3 or 4. Plus the 4 of us divided up what we wanted and removed it. There was still a house full of "stuff". I do mean a house full. My pastor amongst a number of other people came & helped move everything out. He asked where in the world all the stuff came from. He couldn't believe we got that much out of the house. It inspires me to toss & clean...................after I rest & recover from Monday & the previously weeks.

6 Years

I was going to post last Sunday evening, but got too busy doing other things. It is amazing to think that it has been 6 years, last Sunday since Willie & I made it to Colorado to live here. Dennis followed 3 weeks later. The years have flown...................so many changes. In the last 6 years I have lost my father, my husband and my mother. It has been a learning process and a painful process. I miss each of them very much. But I also put my trust in God as he guides and directs me daily. I pray that I stay in His will, listening to Him.

As far as other news, we are set for an auction at my parents home & at my Dad's Ford dealership on August 16th. As we (my siblings & I) have worked through all of these items this summer my stress level has fallen. I know once I make it through one more week, my stress level will have gone down a lot more. I have one rental house sold. There are people interested in my parents home and potentially one more rental. It has been hard to deal with all the stress over the past 4 1/2 years and there is still some hanging around...........but it is becoming so much better. I feel there is truly light at the end of the tunnel somewhere soon down the road!!!

Loafing Shed

This is our new loafing shed. It is almost done. The wind did a major job (bad damage) on the previous one. This one is about 20 feet shorter than the other one. But it is just what I need right now.

I'm thinking about replacing another loafing shed. It is ready to fall apart. If it falls apart it will damage two trailers and the baler.............so I need to work on it next (not personally you understand).

Seeing the Surgeon

Today I made the trip to Santa Fe to see the surgeon. He says the suture line looks wonderful. He took out the tiny stitches (he used very find stitching material) and covered it with steri-strips. NO CANCER everything was benign (praise God). Now I have labs to get in about 3 weeks & then an ultrasound & labs in 6 months. He feels everything should settle down well and that the left thyroid should take over just fine.

I have been remiss getting anything posted. So much going on.

First a "me" update. The GYN Dr. referred me to a surgeon. I managed to get a copy of my thyroid ultrasound to discover I had 4 nodules. 3 on my right thyroid & 1 on my left thyroid. I was given some names of surgeons in Santa Fe for a consult. I had my consult early in July and was given 3 options. One was a needle biopsy of one nodule.................. surgery to remove the right side, do a biopsy of the left nodule at that time & if cancer found remove all.........or to see an endocrinologist. I picked surgery.

In the meantime we had plans to get together as a family to go through the rest of my parent's items at their house & prepare for an auction. Plus I still had my Dad's Ford dealership with parts to find a new home for.

So things got quite hectic. We got rid of parts & cleaned up that area of the dealership. My siblings & I got together portions of the week of July 5th & went through Mom & Dad's house. We worked on dividing things up & packing things into boxes. We met with the auctioneers. Then on July 14th I had my right thyroid removed in Santa Fe. My sister who is a nurse was with me as was my brother & son. We spent the night after the surgery in Santa Fe (not allowed to leave in case there were complications). The surgery went well & so far there was no cancer found. I have a follow up appointment this coming week & hopefully all the pathology will be back.

In the meantime again we are still working on my parent's house & the garage for the auction. The date is set for August 16th for both auctions. What an absolute relief it will be to have this finished. There will still be a lot to do but nothing like before.

I am feeling well. My suture line is a little sore, but not bad. The first night was the worst due to the anti nausea medication not working. But when I got the correct medication I did quite well. So I am on my way to recovery.

I must add that I am pleased that my siblings and I have been able to do such a good job of working together at my parent's home. I have a wonderful group of siblings (& their spouses), I am proud to say that they are all great.

In the meantime there are other things to do "around the farm".

Getting Old

Yesterday I had an ultrasound of my thyroid because my Dr. found a nodule there. All the labs are good. I'll hear about the ultrasound either today or tomorrow.........then onward. I've done a fair amount of reading & suspect that a fine needle aspiration/biopsy is next. My friend Margaret says they just keep removing parts of my body & sooner or later it will all be gone!! : )

I said that was ok & gives me less to worry about further down the road.

So I'm hoping & praying that it will be benign & I will not have to worry about surgery this time!!

Old Friends

Tonight I received a call from an old friend, Cliff. Cliff & Virgie moved to Santa Fe in about 1974 & lived close to where John & I lived on the north edge of town. They were members of our church & we had a close relationship with them. Virgie died in about 1985 or so. I've kept in touch with Cliff over the years. We had such a good visit tonight. It has been ages since we have talked on the phone. Cliff turned 93 years old in November (we celebrate our birthday's the same month too). He is doing fairly well physically & excellent mentally. He is now living in what sounds like almost assisted living, he calls it a retirement home. He talked about his faith & his new found sanctification that he had never understood before. It was a really good visit. Now I need to keep in touch with him.

Shearing

Well, all my alpaca are sheared and we are working on friend's alpacas. It feels so good to have mine done. We have a new shearer who usually shears sheep. He will probably be our shearer from here on out. It is times like these when I miss Dennis even more....................

I've had work done on the barn so it will not get near as much snow in it and also will a little more weather tight............had to make it weather tight when there are at least 1/2 inch cracks between boards..............then again it was built before 1887, so a few cracks here & there are not surprising. I had a porch built off my back door on the North side. I'm not going to break up ice off the north porch in the winter any more with a pick. I was really tired of that last year.

In the meantime I cannot remember if I posted about my loafing shed being pretty much destroyed by the wind. I need to have it torn down & replaced. More to do more to do more to do.....all in time.

Otherwise things are going fairly well.......just busy.

Wind & more wind

Well, we have finally had some beautiful days..........still cool at night. Then along came today. Once again the winds have gotten up around 50 mph. Willie & I were gone this afternoon & when we returned I have quite a few problems to deal with.

The smallest one is, the top off the well house that Dennis made has blown off. It is quite heavy, so it didn't blow far........but it will take both of us to get it back on the well house & tied down.

The next one is the tin roof on the barn. I'm having some people to come work on it sometime within the next week or two. I had planned on them working on it to repair the holes, but now part of it seems to be trying to fly off...........not good. I hope it stays up there until I can have it fixed.

The last & worst problem is about 1/3 of the male alpaca loafing shed has fallen in. Not good. Luckily no alpaca were in that part of the area (praise God), but they are in the area tonight. I know it is really old & now I know how much work it needs............a lot. That was totally unexpected.

I hope the winds die down tomorrow, but I think it is suppose to blow all weekend. The only positive thing is that it is warm. I think we got up to 75 this afternoon!!!

lots of things to do though, the garden, the flowers, the lawn...........the field........on and on.

Spring headed to Summer

Well, perhaps the snake situation is better. I took 4 of them & drove them about 10 miles away about 3 weeks ago. Then Jamie decided that she needed to deal with them the same way she deals with mice. So she actually killed two of them. Now I just need to hope & pray that we never see a rattler as I'm sure she would go after it also.............which would not be good. No more snakes in the house that I have found. I'm extremely happy about that!!

Today I actually got the lawn mower out & mowed the back yard. Due to the snow & how it melts slower in the back yard, the north area gets green & long. So today I mowed. The front yard needs water, so Willie got the hoses out for me & tomorrow I need to get some water going.

We've had some wild wind lately, but at least it has finally warmed up & is running between 65 & 70 during the day. Summer is coming!!

Spring in the Valley

Spring has for sure arrived ---------- which means the wind is blowing & blowing. It has been blowing off & on for about a week now. But it has blown without stopping for the last 36 hours. I'm really tired of the wind.

Last week I decided we needed to get the hay in the hay shed. The last of it was covered with an extremely long tarp that had been pulled back & over & around. So Friday I had Willie get out & help me remove the tarp & move hay. Such fun. Between Friday morning & Saturday morning we moved 70 bales of hay. Luckily I used the pickup. Unluckily the battery was dead on the pickup. Luckily I know how to use the battery charger & got it working again. Luckily also the tarp was tied down to the back of the stack of hay pretty well. We left the tarp out Friday afternoon & night. Saturday morning we moved the tarp into the garage. Someday soon, when the wind stops blowing we will get it folded up. That is a challenge in & of itself to start with. Then moving it back in will be the next challenge...........but we did it last year, so it will happen this year.

The paw prints in the snow I do believe belong to a cat. A cat ran out of the hay barn last Friday morning..............so I think we now have a cat, we just don't see much of it. I'm leaving out a little cat food every day, but not much. I still want the mice caught if at all possible.

One more snake in the house last week. It was trying to climb up the side part of the new blinds that is attached to the frame of the window. I've had some problems with the side part & the white plastic come off the glue that is stuck to the magnetic strip. So this snake is trying to climb up the glued magnetic strip!!! What fun that was pulling the snake off the glue............ at least maybe he has learned something & will not return!!

I'm off to bed, the wind is now blowing at 36 mph from the south west. It is a balmy 48 degrees outside (nice, really nice for 10:30 at night). But be aware that there is still 2 feet of snow on the north side of the house.............it's about 2 feet high, by 4 feet wide by the length of the house. I'm hoping it will melt before May!!!

Paw prints in the snow

Well it was interesting when I went out on Saturday to feed the animals & start shoveling snow. There were paw prints in various places. I saw them around the barn, in the front area, near the hay stack...........but I couldn't tell what kind of prints they were. The debate was between a fox, a skunk, a cat or a dog. They were not big enough for a dog & there are no loose small dogs in the area. I haven't seen a cat around here for about a month. The skunk & fox I have seen in the last week.....................so I'm thinking a fox.

Wish I knew. I saw the fox this morning. so pretty. I know that there will be baby foxes sometime soon this Spring & hope they do ok.

My special son

Well, I wanted to give a quick update on my new son. I do not like to post a lot of specifics sometimes because you just never know who is reading, etc. But I will say his name is Chinsinsi. We have been "catching up" on so many things. Plus because he was only 6 or so when I first started being his sponsor there were things that I didn't tell him about me, or perhaps I told him & he forgot. It has been a long time. Plus there were so many years that we were not in touch.

It has been a wonderful time of getting to know him & his family again. I'm continually praising God for his goodness and am so thankful for being able to be in touch with him again.

Spring Snow

Well here it is almost Spring...................The snow was entirely melted off of the back yard & most of the field this morning. About 11 am the snow started, the wind blew & the snow hasn't quit. Luckily the wind has!! In some spots I have about 30 inches of snow & in other spots only about 1 inch. We'll see what we end up with by tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is my fiber meeting in the afternoon, so we'll see how many people are able to make it out.

The cap was blown off the top of the pipe coming up from my wood stove pipe this afternoon............ so I need to get that fixed tomorrow or Monday. Such fun. An well, another day another adventure.

Amazing Happenings

Way back in about 1985 my first husband John, & I decided to sponsor a little boy through our churches missionary effort. He was a pastor's son in Africa through the Nazarene Missionary sponsorship program. When Dennis died in 1987 I chose to continue to sponsor this young man. He was 7 years old then. I continued through his high school experience. I cannot remember for sure the last time I heard from him, but I think the sponsorship continued until around 18 & then I received a letter later. We wrote letters back & forth all through his schooling. All communication was through the World Mission office & that was the only way to reach him.

This morning I received a major surprise. I had a facebook message asking me to accept this young man as a friend!! What a shock. He found me. I've also found where he tried to reach me via Skype. It was a "thrilling morning" to be able to respond to him via facebook & say "YES" I am your friend & I am who you are looking for. It was wonderful to hear back from him.

I have found another "son" of mine. He is married & has a son himself. He is a pastor & is also working at one of the theological colleges in Africa. I am so thrilled by all of this. Technology has truly changed the world in a very short time. God is good.

Spring & Snakes

Well, all week I have been trying to catch up. Still not there-----------but I can smell Spring in the air. This week is the Sand Hill Crane Festival. I do enjoy it so much. The cranes have been flying overhead for a couple of weeks now.

On the negative side I have once again found snakes in the house...........or perhaps the same snake twice, I don't know. Luckily (praise God) they are water snakes BUT I still do NOT like finding snakes in the house. They were both about 2 feet long. The first one I threw in the mud out the back door. About 2 hours later I found the second one...........they were both up on the landing one in the bathroom & one in the hallway outside the bathroom. The second one hit the snowbank next to the mud. Perhaps he or she got the correct idea that I do NOT like snakes in the house. We'll see. I still have a hole in the wall where the water pipes froze behind the drier. I have a man coming next week to hopefully fix it. I'm wondering if that is where they came in. I hope so because if I get it fixed then they will not appear again!! We'll see.

Snow

It's days like this that Dennis is foremost on my mind. FOURTEEN INCHES, yes that is 14 inches of snow since yesterday at noon. Dennis would have loved it. He loved the snow & he especially LOVED being able to move the snow.........clean up the driveway.........work on the road out front........go over to Freda's & do her yard. He would get the ATV out with the plow on it & off he would go. He loved every minute of it. Well, today he would have loved even more because he would have had to have used the TRACTOR with the BUCKET on it.

There is toooooooo much snow to even try & use the ATV. I got the battery charged up & off I went. Well, I ended up getting the ATV stuck at least 3 times. Luckily I was able to get it out each time. Personally I prefer to look at the snow from inside the house!! I like to keep the fire going & watch................but not today.

Willie & I have plowed out by hand with the snow shovels all the way to the girls shed & then both the other sheds where the boys are. In fact it was most interesting when I was shoveling to the girls. Cinnabun finally started out to meet me. She walked almost halfway to the gate through the snow plowing her own path. I guess they were most anxious for me to get there & feed them!!!

Snakes & Snow

Well, I'll cover the Snakes subject first. There are a lot of water snakes around here in the Spring, Summer & Fall. Typically I pick them up & throw them across the road. Sometimes our Youth Pastor, Josh drops in & picks up a couple for his aquarium/terrarium. Well Tuesday evening we brought in a lot of wood to totally fill the wood box. About 8 pm I went to fill the fire & turned around -------- there in front of the fire was a SNAKE!! Quite a shock, especially since it was about 6 inches long & thinner than a pencil. Big head though. Yup, it looked like one of the water snakes. I was not happy about finding a snake inside the house in the dead of winter!!! I picked it up & tossed it outside. The weather took care of it by morning.

Snow, snow, snow.................we've not had a lot of snow here in the ground this winter. I think the most was about 2 inches & it melted. We did have a sideways snowstorm one night (with major wind). Who knows how much we had then since it was headed to Kansas. Today the second storm from California made it here. Started snowing at noon. Hasn't stopped. I haven't seen Monte since about 1 pm & usually I can look out the north window & see Monte day or night as it is only 4 miles away. Maybe about 3/4 an inch on the ground now.

I have alpaca friends who live over the pass to the west near Ignacio. They had 10 or so inches on Tuesday. I just called them & they have another 10 or 12 or 14 inches. Hard to say exactly how much. Wolf Creek, the pass to the west is being closed now due to the snow.

Bob, my hay man was suppose to come tomorrow & get two loads of hay........I emailed him last night & ask if he had happened to look at the weather as it was suppose to start snowing here this evening & snow through Friday. So I'm keeping in touch with him, but do not anticipate seeing him before Saturday at the earliest. I'm glad I'm in my house warm & cozy.

Happy New Year

Well, here it is 2010 & I haven't posted in over 6 weeks!! I've thought about it, but everything has been crazy. So I'll do some quick updates.

My Mother's memorial service went very well. It was good to see so many relatives and be able to visit with everyone.

I had another felting workshop with Lois. It was great once again. Poor Lois didn't make it home Saturday evening as they closed Wolf Creek Pass & she had to stay an extra night. But we had fun.

On a sad note the weekend of the felting workshop Firecracker got sick. We managed to get him in the back of my Edge & to the vets. He died early Sunday morning. On the necropsy they found he had a large abscess outside his stomach and a number of small ulcers starting. So he apparently had an ulcer that abscessed through. Not a lot of hope with that. Plus he didn't show symptoms until the end. This is typical of alpaca.

In the meantime we have been trying to change out some of Willie's seizure medications due to side effects that I have been trying to ignore. The first switch did not go well at all. I'm hoping to get him up to Denver to see what we can work on next. Prayers in that aspect of life please.

Christmas was good. After Christmas my siblings & I got together to work through items at Mom & Dad's house. We didn't have near long enough, but got a good start on doing things. I had read 2 or 3 books about how to do things & how everyone turns out to be awful. BUT in our case we devised our own way of picking (thanks Jim) and had wonderful time. I could spend hours telling you how wonderful my siblings are..............but I won't take the time. We worked well together & had a great visit on top of everything. Mom & Dad raised good kids!!

Now it is on to the New Year. I'm truly going to try and post more & post more pictures.

Onward we go.