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.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
One Year
It's been a year, a year since Dennis passed away. A year of learning, growing, grieving and just being. It certainly hasn't been an easy year. I have missed him terribly. I think about how he would have done this or that differently than I have done it. Or just things that he could have done around here that I cannot do. He was a big presence.
I'm thankful for friends and relatives who have been so helpful over the past year. It is interesting those who have remembered the day & mentioned it or sent a card. Those who perhaps remembered but didn't mention it..............and those who have no clue when it happened beyond the fact that it was in November.
Thank you to all my relatives & friends who care & who have helped over the past year. Praise God that He is with me & guiding me daily.
I'm thankful for friends and relatives who have been so helpful over the past year. It is interesting those who have remembered the day & mentioned it or sent a card. Those who perhaps remembered but didn't mention it..............and those who have no clue when it happened beyond the fact that it was in November.
Thank you to all my relatives & friends who care & who have helped over the past year. Praise God that He is with me & guiding me daily.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Busy busy
I know, it has been a month since I have written anything. It has been a very busy month.
We had our first snow. It was beautiful, but I'm glad it melted.
Willie totaled his car a week ago. Luckily he was ok as were the people in the car that he hit (or that hit him, although he got the ticket).
Mom was growing weaker & losing a lot of weight over the past month. Last week was much worse. She passed away early Tuesday morning. My sister from Gunnison came over Monday night & we spent the night with Mom. The funeral plans are not final yet but we are looking at Thanksgiving time.
Hopefully within the next month I will be able to post on a more regular basis.
We had our first snow. It was beautiful, but I'm glad it melted.
Willie totaled his car a week ago. Luckily he was ok as were the people in the car that he hit (or that hit him, although he got the ticket).
Mom was growing weaker & losing a lot of weight over the past month. Last week was much worse. She passed away early Tuesday morning. My sister from Gunnison came over Monday night & we spent the night with Mom. The funeral plans are not final yet but we are looking at Thanksgiving time.
Hopefully within the next month I will be able to post on a more regular basis.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Mice again
I have found the answer to the "mice" issue. A friend told me to get a live trap so they are trapped live. I wasn't much interested because then I would have to kill the mouse (strange isn't it when I'm still killing it with a trap). Then my mind cleared & I got the answer. I went to Co-op & looked at their live traps..............I found one -- Havahart ex-small traps with 2 doors!! I bought two and tried one out the first night. A FROZEN mouse!! That worked.
Last night I tried both traps. TWO MICE, one alive & the other well, perhaps frozen, at least it was dead. I took the traps out in front of the house & brought out Jamie & Malen. Jamie handled the first one just fine. She doesn't eat it, just takes care of killing it. Malen's was already dead, but she got the feel.
So redo the traps this afternoon & I'm sure I'll have two more every night until all of them are gone (and then put them out again when they repopulate & return).
I really like these traps & am very thankful that Jamie & Malen will take care of the rest of the problem for me.
Last night I tried both traps. TWO MICE, one alive & the other well, perhaps frozen, at least it was dead. I took the traps out in front of the house & brought out Jamie & Malen. Jamie handled the first one just fine. She doesn't eat it, just takes care of killing it. Malen's was already dead, but she got the feel.
So redo the traps this afternoon & I'm sure I'll have two more every night until all of them are gone (and then put them out again when they repopulate & return).
I really like these traps & am very thankful that Jamie & Malen will take care of the rest of the problem for me.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Felting
Last weekend we had a felting workshop. On Friday a number of us made felted hats out of alpaca fiber. On Saturday we made felted scarves out of alpaca fiber & other items. It was a great time. I have pictures but of course have not downloaded them. I will work toward that later down the road. Tomorrow we are going to the Taos Wool Festival. I missed last year because I had a sore throat & was having surgery the following Monday. BUT I'm headed there tomorow.
Fall
Well, it seems like forever since I posted anything. Somehow I need to make it short & sweet to cover everything!!
The mice are about the same. The glue paper doesn't work worth anything. One fell into the 4 way sweet mix, which is usually closed but somehow it was open enough that one fell in. That same day I caught one in a trap. So I threw the one out of the sweet mix & Jamie took care of that one.
Mom is doing better mentally this week, less confused. But last week a CNA left her alone in the bathroom (a big no no) and she tired of waiting, got up & promptly fell. She broke her scapula. I was extremely upset & emailed the administrator, director of nursing & regional director that night (before I knew anything was broke). The next day she saw her Dr. & got x-rays. When we got the results I ended up spending about 30 minutes with the director, & the administrator came in during part of our discussion. The aide was suspended for 2 weeks & everything had to be reported to the state of CO. I did not make any requests as far as the aide, etc. the way it sounded to me I thought if the state allowed her to keep her certification they would keep her on. Well I found out today that they fired the aide. She called me to "apologize". I accepted her apology BUT she never did say: I left your mother alone in the bathroom & it is my fault that she fell & broke her scapula. She tried to pawn a portion of the situation off on another cna. BUT Mom is feeling better so that is the good part. It is frustrating that it happened though because there were 5 big time major indicators that Mom was high risk for a fall. Besides the fact that the cna had cared for Mom before at least twice and has listened to report every day & should have known. Anyway it was the strangest apology I've ever received.
Onward to the next problem. My roof. Now about 2 years ago I told Dennis that there were water marks on the spare bedroom ceiling & I was concerned that we had a roof leak. Later I found spots in the dining room. Dennis went into the attic & looked. He couldn't find a leak anywhere, did some talking around & decided we needed to put foam in the attic. Luckily he had not done it before he died. I had the person who repainted the house check everything out about a month ago & he felt for sure we had a leak or a number of leaks. The north side of the roof has 4 layers of shingles on it & then the tin roof. There is much too much weight AND there are places where the roof is kind of pushed in. Then my neighbor, who we bought the house from told me that the boards under the roof on the south side of the house were OSB. Well, if you put screws into OSB & tighten them, they strip the hole & will not keep the screws in. That explains why we cannot keep the metal roof tight to keep water out!!! Amazing isn't it!!! People do the strangest things. Anyway we are now in the midst of pulling up the metal roof, fixing what is below & making sure NOTHING will ever leak again.
It is cold every night & was 12 degrees last night. BURRRRRRRR. I'm not ready for winter, but it is coming, that's for sure!!!
The mice are about the same. The glue paper doesn't work worth anything. One fell into the 4 way sweet mix, which is usually closed but somehow it was open enough that one fell in. That same day I caught one in a trap. So I threw the one out of the sweet mix & Jamie took care of that one.
Mom is doing better mentally this week, less confused. But last week a CNA left her alone in the bathroom (a big no no) and she tired of waiting, got up & promptly fell. She broke her scapula. I was extremely upset & emailed the administrator, director of nursing & regional director that night (before I knew anything was broke). The next day she saw her Dr. & got x-rays. When we got the results I ended up spending about 30 minutes with the director, & the administrator came in during part of our discussion. The aide was suspended for 2 weeks & everything had to be reported to the state of CO. I did not make any requests as far as the aide, etc. the way it sounded to me I thought if the state allowed her to keep her certification they would keep her on. Well I found out today that they fired the aide. She called me to "apologize". I accepted her apology BUT she never did say: I left your mother alone in the bathroom & it is my fault that she fell & broke her scapula. She tried to pawn a portion of the situation off on another cna. BUT Mom is feeling better so that is the good part. It is frustrating that it happened though because there were 5 big time major indicators that Mom was high risk for a fall. Besides the fact that the cna had cared for Mom before at least twice and has listened to report every day & should have known. Anyway it was the strangest apology I've ever received.
Onward to the next problem. My roof. Now about 2 years ago I told Dennis that there were water marks on the spare bedroom ceiling & I was concerned that we had a roof leak. Later I found spots in the dining room. Dennis went into the attic & looked. He couldn't find a leak anywhere, did some talking around & decided we needed to put foam in the attic. Luckily he had not done it before he died. I had the person who repainted the house check everything out about a month ago & he felt for sure we had a leak or a number of leaks. The north side of the roof has 4 layers of shingles on it & then the tin roof. There is much too much weight AND there are places where the roof is kind of pushed in. Then my neighbor, who we bought the house from told me that the boards under the roof on the south side of the house were OSB. Well, if you put screws into OSB & tighten them, they strip the hole & will not keep the screws in. That explains why we cannot keep the metal roof tight to keep water out!!! Amazing isn't it!!! People do the strangest things. Anyway we are now in the midst of pulling up the metal roof, fixing what is below & making sure NOTHING will ever leak again.
It is cold every night & was 12 degrees last night. BURRRRRRRR. I'm not ready for winter, but it is coming, that's for sure!!!
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