I Miss Dairy - Update Post

I started getting sick on Friday the 9th with a cold that exacerbated my asthma to the point where I called my asthma allergy specialist in desperation on Tuesday morning. My ribcage was wracking with pain due to the coughing and my throat was so sore I was sure I would be coughing up blood eventually. I was terrified the soreness in my chest meant pneumonia and terrified of the thought of being sick for a solid month. Kev started working recently and DH's business is finally picking up, and I barely made it through the last bout with pneumonia (in 2002) and they were both taking care of me. So that is mainly what prompted me to call my doctor, I had to prevent getting pneumonia, if at all possible.

DS1 was on a course of Prednisone last June and my doc asked I had any on hand, I had coincidentally just found the Prednisone, I thought DS1 had finished it all. He told me to take Extra Strength Tylenol for the pain and start on the Prednisone, and use DS1's nebulizer to do breathing treatments using Albuterol every 2-3 hours.

And asked me to come in the next morning. He put me on a 10 day course of Prednisone. He wanted to put me on antibiotics, he insisted I had to have them (when I asked exactly how necessary did he think they were) because he said he heard "crackles" in my lungs and I could be getting bronchitis. I decided the Prednisone was enough of an assault on my immune system and body, and gave myself two days taking natural antibiotics before going with his prescription drugs. I made it through without the allopathic antibiotics and am actually feeling much better today, although I am working from home. I am having trouble sleeping, I believe due to the Prednisone. I am trying to make healthy choices for eating, as I know Prednisone can also cause voracious hunger. When I first started getting sick, I wasn't too worried about it, because I've been sick with a cold since I've been diagnosed with asthma and I've always been able to handle it just fine with extra usage of my rescue inhaler, even as often as every 2 hours, but this time the rescue inhaler wasn't cutting it. The nebulizer treatments weren't affecting my wheeze much either, that is why I panicked and called my doctor. Anyway, I wasn't too worried and so I continued to eat dairy products which I know gunk me up but I love dairy too much to let that bother me. Well, when I couldn't control the wheezing even with the nebulizer, I stopped dairy. And sugar.

I've had dairy one time in the past 8 days. DH made a noodle dish using a "little bit" of sour cream and "little bit" of cheddar cheese. It made a noticeable effect on my breathing status, so I became even more determined to stay off it until I'm completely better.

I miss dairy. I miss sour cream, cream, and cheese. I even miss milk, but not so much for drinking but for cooking. I've been eating a lot of chicken soup - DH made some of his famous stock.

Kev is also sick, this is his second go round. He was sick first, then I caught what he had. I am praying that DS1 doesn't get it, because it will probably affect his asthma in the same manner.

A couple of other things of note to mention. I got my tomato and eggplant seeds planted (yesterday in the seed cage in my master bathroom), and am preparing my seed purchase list for February/March plantings. Time flies! The garden is doing great, I just wish I had more energy to get out there and work in it.

Also, I don't know if it's the anti-inflammatory components of Prednisone, but my feet are not hurting me at all! I like to think it is because they have finally healed, after the energy injury last July. I am able to walk on my bare feet to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, without falling over from the pain. I am continuing to wear my "casual" men's shoes that are oh so comfortable. I don't ever want to experience foot pain like that again. I am finally able to sleep at night without having to wear that uncomfortable brace on my foot. It is so lovely to just lay in bed peacefully, my feet nestled together, sleekily, without the brace holding one foot taut.

Until next time.

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Final Update for Today

I continued on working throughout the day. I did lie down for an hour and tried to nap, but my sinuses are so thoroughly clogged (I wore a quality brand name dust mask when I was messing around in the dusty shed) that I had to lay there gasping with my mouth open. I have a very hard time sleeping with my mouth open, so I didn't really sleep all that much. My sinuses are still clogged... I wonder if I have any hydrogen pyroxide... I read about something on the Internet about putting hydrogen pyroxide in the ears to help with illness. I took one dose of grapefruit seed extract, I should take more of that tonight. I have to do something to try to get my sinuses to clear or I'm not going to get much sleep tonight.

Let's see, here's what I accomplished. I restraightened the living room, and vacuumed one area. I took the blades off the dining room ceiling fan and washed them in the sink, then washed the entire fan (it had fly poop spots all over it and was just grungy and covered with chunks of dust). Having the stepladder in the house is coming in handy. I still need to clean the living room fan. I'm not following FlyLady at all, but I want to! I just have been needing to focus my energy on specific areas in the house in order to be ready in time.

I also tackled my bedroom, just one small area, about 10 feet by 4 feet. But I got it all picked up and vacuumed. Ds1 and I did the Sunday "room blessing" we started doing on his room ever since we got it cleaned up. I did give him the chair I bought the other day, he was happy about that. I washed his bedding and clothes, and I washed my bedding and two loads of my clothes and laundry.

I think that is it. That kept me busy for HOURS. Ds2 relayed to dh by phone that all I do is sleep. Hmph. Even though I know it was said for the effect of detering dh from thinking we are cleaning (we are SUCH slobs here!! Just take a look at that living room before picture, geez!!!! Talk about CHAOS [FlyLady's acronym for Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome]) it still got on my nerves a little bit, since I have being going without naps and enough sleep just to work as much as I can on the house.

Between today and yesterday, ds2 tackled the dining room area and gleefully threw away LOTS of things. He is feeling blocked since our TWO trash containers are now full. ("Mo-om! There's nowhere to throw anything away!") I don't know how much they hold, but they must hold at least 65 gallons or maybe 80. Two weeks ago we ordered a second can from our trash company for three months so we can work at throwing more stuff away. I fear we need another rolloff. And yes, I am donating what (little) I can, that isn't completely destroyed by mice. I have an entire set of Woman's Day Cookbooks in my vehicle. I already checked on eBay. One person sold a set of 12 for $3.99 recently. My version is 1979.

Here it is 8:20 and I still have to pull my clothes and bedding from the dryer, make my bed AND wash my two work dresses. I have decided to dress at least halfway professionally tomorrow as my job is having a tour for one of our major funders. I have been dressing down for the past 5 months. I have not had the energy to dress up, and I've grown fatter so most of my clothes don't fit me.

And on that note, as I go to bed with a glass of chocolate milk for dinner...

Until next time.

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Relapse

I'm sick again!! I seem to recall at least two people telling me I should be extra careful with myself in couple of weeks after being sick because it would come back on me again. Well, on Thursday evening my throat started feeling sore, this time my tonsils felt swollen. I began taking my "get well" stuff, to include echinachea/goldenseal, vitamin C, vitamin B, cod liver oil, and whatever else seemed logical. I have also taken some L-Lysine because I know it helps with healing mucous membranes. Speaking of mucous... I've also had to take that Guaifenesin stuff. It's supposed to help the mucous thin out. I don't know if I'm having more trouble for having used this stuff, but it seems like I've needed it every day. I'm also fully on my asthma meds (Flovent *and* Albuterol).

But so many things have happened in the past week. First off, dh will be back home with us in two weeks, we are all so happy that he will be back with us. It is hard to fill the shoes of another person who does a major portion of the household, yard and critter responsibilities!

Our air conditioner stopped working about a month ago. I discovered we should have something called a low ambient cooling kit on our unit since we run it year round, no matter how cold it is outside. Dh has mentioned it is "hard" on the unit to run during the winter, but I don't remember him ever mentioning the low ambient kit as a solution... anyway... we finally got the house cleaned up enough to feel comfortable having a guy come out.

About that... the first guy I called verbally attacked me during the conversation. First off, he charges $85.00 for a checkup on the system, and $65 per pound of freon. I'd called another place a week earlier and they charge $55 and $12 per pound of freon. I knew the $65/# was very expensive. After I got the information I needed I said I'd have to give him a call back. He then says to me, "You've already called twice before, are you going to have me come out and fix your AC or not?" I was flabbergasted and responded with, "Excuse me?" As the conversation went on, he demanded to know if I was working with another shop. Finally he seemed satisfied that I wasn't someone out to get him and he said, "Okay, I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing recon for another company." Whew. It was so distressing to me once I got off the phone I started crying a little bit. Wishing we could just wait until dh gets back home so he could take care of this for us.

Then I called the other guy who advertises in our local newspaper. He said he charges $59.95 and $28/# for freon. He was much nicer. We were still going to try to wait until dh got home, but then it got up into the high eighties and was nearly 90°F in the house. It was making all of us cranky, especially ds2. So I talked him into calling the guy out on Friday morning. He came out, and he was a really nice person. We ended up talking a bit, and come to find out his wife leads a church in town. We want to start attending church, and we might try this one out. We went by the church on Friday late afternoon and the daughter was there. She is probably 18 or 19 and getting ready to attend college. So back to the AC. It was kind of weird because he didn't actually fix the unit. I'd mentioned that dh can repair AC units, but he doesn't have the gauges, etc. So this guy says he would be happy to let dh use his tools. Dh doesn't understand why the guy would do that... but I think he was just trying to be nice and give us a break. So he ended up putting FIVE pounds of freon into our unit. From what I understand... if you need less than a pound in a year's time, that's almost normal. But five pounds? That means you have a leak. The guy told me there were two ways to find the leak, but it was expensive. So I guess because I didn't say "find the leak" he didn't want to charge us as much money as it would cost. He also thinks it still might be the inside coil is dirty, deep down in the coils and he told me about a cleaning solution that I could get from Home Depot, which he says is about $4.00 a can. But he charges $120 to do the cleaning, so he told me how to do it. It ended up being $8.xx per can, and he said to buy one for each side of the coil. We haven't tried cleaning it yet.

What was happening with our unit is the inside coils were freezing over, which was in turn causing the unit to run and run and run and run and in spite of running constantly the temperature in the house was staying the same. That's a very bad sign. Air conditioners are very costly, running into the thousands to replace. Most people don't understand all the care that goes into them and wonder why they break so often. It's because air conditioners need regular attention. We have been using these cheapy filters and I wanted to buy something that was washable and found these on the Internet. When I first saw them, they were $70 each and they recommend you buy two. I asked dh about it, and I'm glad I waited! Sheesh!! I was looking around at Walmart yesterday and found they have washable, reusable filters for under $4.00!!!! I bought two, so we can let one soak and be thoroughly cleaned and have a clean, dry one to put in.

Ds2 asked me when I was going to start doing a "Song of the Day". I guess I will start, but his SOTD is one for every single day that he posts. I don't see being able to keep up with one song every single day. So today's "Song of the Day" is tobyMac's Lose My Soul from the Portable Sounds album.

As a surprise for me on Wednesday, ds2 switched out my toilet for my new one. Unfortunately, it is flushing veeerrrryyyyy slowly. You can see here in the photo to the left how very close the water is rising to the top of the rim. We have done a bit of troubleshooting, but this might be one of those things that wait until dh returns. It could be a number of things wrong. Ds2 says the back part of the toilet foot is sitting on carpet, which could cause the carpet to be unbalanced, which could cause a slow flush. Or there could be something in the toilet pipes, which is causing a bit of a clog. The holes under the rim could be clogged, although I poked through each and every one of them with a nail. Anyway, lots of things we could try, but we haven't had the time or energy.

Ds2 has been cooking like a mad fiend all week long. He made himself a daily menu and stuck to it, really liked the idea and the ease - no stress each day "What's for dinner?" so he's asked me to generate a meal plan each week. AGH. Like I need one more thing to do. I figure if we have four week's worth of meal plans we can just do them over and over and over again. Right?

Let's see, he's made Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo ala Alton Brown. He also made my version of Posole, made with chicken instead of beef. The first time we had it was with a good friend, I believe it was her birthday and her neighbor made the dish for her, which was one of her favorites. That version was made with beef, but I prefer mine made with chicken breasts He's also made a very expensive, rich, but tasty Salmon with Cream Cheese Dip. Pineapple Upside Down Muffins, which brings me to another thing that happened this week. Ds2 cut his thumb pretty bad. I'll spare you the closeup, gory pics he took with the cut laid wide open. You can trust me, it was GROSS looking. He cut it with a serrated-edged knife whilst trying to open a jar of maraschino cherries. I was out milking and I heard this, "Raaahhhh!" sound from the porch. I thought... "Is he trying to scare me? What was that about?" He disappeared right away, and I put the girl away I was done milking and got the next one out. Then he comes to the porch again and yells, "Come see all the blood!" GREAT! I left the goat on the stand and went inside to see what was going on. He tells me he cut his thumb to the bone. He was letting it just bleed all over the place, so I asked him to rinse it so I could see how bad it was. I really don't think they do stitches in fingers or thumbs, so I told him I didn't think a visit to the ER was necessary. I had him rinse it, checked it out and then had him hold a paper towel to it. He said he wasn't feeling so good, so I had him sit down so he wouldn't faint on me. He was pale looking by that time. We got the bleeding to stop and I went back out and finished milking. When I came back in, I immersed the bucket of milk into the chilling bucket and did a bit of Internet research. I then took a trip to town for butterfly bandages, steri-strips and other assorted bandaging items, plus some finger cots (a small condom-type covering to place on your finger if you need to wash dishes and don't want the cut to get wet or exposed to bacteria while cooking).

I got my sister's birthday gift sent off to her in time to reach her on her birthday! I took a clock and made a new face for it, using a picture of her children when they were younger. A picture from four years ago. She loved it, and she cried when she saw it. She has it in her kitchen. I'm so happy she likes her gift.

On the knitting front... I've actually made a bit of progress on the newest baby sweater. I started out last week with a goal to knit for 30 minutes each evening, but that was really far too much relaxation time spent on knitting, for it was cutting into sleep time after all the chores were completed. I did get another few inches completed though. It takes me about 15 minutes to complete one inch. So it will be slow going on this one, but at least I'm staying with it. I have felt so crappy I haven't even had the strength to knit. Ugh.

I heard that a young lady who helps with blood draws for goats was in town yesterday. I asked to see if she could squeeze me in. Thank God, she never called. I do want to get all the goats tested again for CAE. The only little girl that we sold last year has come up positive for CAE. But the gal who owns her, had a lot of babies from that time period show positive for CAE. She called to let me know, and ask me if I wanted the little girl back. I told her we didn't. It is too hard to deal with. I'm pretty sure our herd is negative, as we keep a closed herd and the only doe we've brought in from was a CAE-free herd. However, we haven't tested for 2-3 years now. And this disease can pop up unexpectedly. Your does might be clean one year and positive the next, simply because immune systems are weaker and they succumb to the virus. At least, this is what I've heard.

On the FlyLady front. I've done NOTHING. I have been too tired, and sick. I have not even shined my sink in probably two weeks now. I have continued keeping ds1's room clean, and today is the day we clean his room again. I still feel tired this morning, and don't want to get any worse so I am not sure what all I'll get done today. Ds2 asked me yesterday, "Why do you put so much pressure on yourself to get things done? Why not take it easy?" Well, easy to say my dear son. He knows how much work it takes to keep this place going.

Let's see, anything else... oh yes. Yesterday I went to a rummage sale. I got a few things there.Coffeemaker for dh. It's a Black and Decker Spacesaver model, $5. Hope it works! His old one leaks and make a black mess on the counter. There are eight of the glasses, $2.00 for the set. The Crockette was $1.00. The two necklaces and two bracelets were a quarter each. Both necklaces look well made and ds2 saw 14kt on the serpentine necklace. (I wonder if they are worth anything!?) There is a 14kt on the heart necklace, that one cost $0.75. There is a pair of hoop earrings that look like 14kt. I've been wanting a pair of hoops, but haven't wanted to pay the price for them. These were $1.00. My ears will be able to tell, since I can't wear anything less than 14kt or my ears start itching and turning red. A brand new, never been used Windows keyboard for $2. Always good to have a spare on hand. Two Reader's Digest magazines for ds2 which the lady let me have for free. I spent $16, or maybe $14... what else did I get? Hmmm... I think a couple of things were left out in the car.

Well, I think that about catches me up for now. So many more things happened, like on Friday it was so hot that the critters drank up all their water and when we got home after being gone for six hours their buckets were turned over and bone dry. Now we have to get either more water buckets in the pens or start filling them every single day. And now it's time to throw hay.

Until next time.

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Sick Again Already

I normally don't get sick for a year or two at a time. I was sick with a head cold back in October and now here I am sick with a head cold again. I know why, because I haven't been taking care of myself properly. By that I mean I haven't been getting enough sleep, and have been drinking coffee just to stay awake.

My typical day for the past couple weeks has been getting up at 3:30am, I'm driving and away from home for 11.5 hours, coming home milking, then getting to bed at 9pm if I'm lucky. On Friday night I started feeling like my throat wasn't right. Just a bit scratchy. This has been my last 24 hours.

5am - 7am Cleaned kitchen, swept floor. The kitchen wasn't too bad, but it did take me 2 straight hours! I have not been able to "shine the sink" this entire past week. Daily upkeep makes a HUGE difference in weekend cleaning time.

7am - 7:15am Threw hay.

7:15am - 9:30am Sleeping.

9:30am - Noon Finished knitting the scarf I started on Friday. Don't remember what I was doing but I was up and awake and busy.

Noon - 3pm More Sleeping.

3pm - 8pm Awake. Helped ds2 clean coils on the outside part of the air conditioning unit. Cooked dinner (chicken soup with homemade egg noodles). Paid ds2 (who was not showing any signs of being sick yet) to milk. Watched a terrible Pay Per View movie called _Crank_. Yuck.

8pm - 2:30am Sleeping.

2:30am - 4:00 Hungry, warmed up some chicken soup. Computer time.

4:00am - 7:15am Asleep.

7:15am - 7:30am Threw hay.

7:30am - 8am Tidied up, vacuumed ds1's bedroom. Washed his bedding. He did very good this week. Not even *one* dish in his room! And he used his garbage can all week long. Very nice job.

8:00am - 11:00am Not sure what all I did... but do remember one outstanding thing. I sewed with my new machine. I made a cover for the top of the sewing machine cabinet, to keep it looking new. My new machine is incredible and amazing. I can only say the smoothness of it makes me think of cutting through butter. The motor is quiet and it is so smooth.

11:00am - 3:20pm Back in bed, more sleeping.

3:20pm to now Some computer time. Also dragged the old three story rat cage off the porch. Started my clothes in the washer. Heated up some cream of chicken soup for ds2 who is now sick and very thrilled about it. He's the weirdest person. He longs to be sick and looks forward to it. He got lucky this time. Normally he doesn't get sick. He's been sick maybe 8 times in his 17 years. I attribute his strong immune system to two things. Extended breastfeeding, and no vaccinations.

I was stressing because our air conditioner is not working. It is icing up on the coils. We cleaned the coils both inside and out. We were so excited to see how dirty the outside coils were, because we were sure that was causing the unit to ice up. But alas, once we got it all nice and clean, the unit still started icing up and is not cooling the house down. It just runs and runs and runs. I have learned more about air conditioning units in the last few weeks than I've ever known in my entire life. What with dh not being here, he is the one that usually keeps up with the maintenance on the a/c unit.

Speaking of another thing dh does, the oil changes on my vehicle. Now that ds2 is sick, he isn't going to be able to change the oil this weekend for me. I think I'm already past 5000 miles. Agh. Now is not the time to start falling down on oil changes - my odometer just turned over 200,000 a month or so ago, and now it's close to 204,000. We've been very faithful with oil changes at 3000 to 4000 miles for the entire time we've owned it. It has been a wonderful, reliable vehicle. I would always recommend Nissan Pathfinders. Mine is the 1996 model. Very lovely vehicle. The nicest I've owned in my entire life.

I just talked to ds2 and asked him how long he thinks we can go without the air conditioner. Reason being, it is stressing me out because I'm sick, he's sick and I don't want anyone coming into our home without a bit more work on our part. The boys' bathroom still needs some serious attention. It is a terrible mess. I wouldn't want to have someone come over and need to use the toilet and see that disaster area. Also, ds2 did some decluttering in the livingroom yesterday, cleaning out a shelving unit and threw away four bags of "stuff". It was really annoying as I was on the computer for the first time in days and he kept asking me if he could throw this or that away. He was behind me, so I had to keep turning all the way around to see what he was talking about. He did a great job decluttering though and even cleaned up and vacuumed the living room after he was done. So the living room is fairly clean. Except he put four bags of garbage on the back porch, which is the main entryway to our home. And the garbage can is already full. So I have nowhere to put that garbage. Plus 2-3 loads of bedding and clothing from last week's cleaning of ds1's room is still sitting on the porch.

See I was thinking I need to get someone out immediately, since it is already starting to heat up here. But ds2 said he didn't think we'd call anyone out for a couple of weeks at least. That really takes a big load off my mind. Because now I don't have to force myself to clean the boys' bathroom, the porch, etc.

It's time like these that I embrace my faith, refusing to let life get me down. This is all I need, is to be sick. I have always thought the reason I rarely get sick is because of my devotion to getting the proper hours of sleep for my body. I have been running myself ragged the past couple of weeks, and now it's time for me to cut way back on the things I'm doing. As much as I hate the thought of it, I am going to have to. There is also the worry of getting so very ill like I was back in the summer of 2002.

Did I mention here yet that my job finally approved my extra day each week? That's what you call cutting back, yessiree. ;-)

Seriously, we need the money. Speaking of money, I haven't had time to look at our money for weeks again. I have no idea how much we owe and to whom. I should get off this computer now.

One more thing. I'm doing all I can to keep this virus from getting any worse than it is now. It basically feels like a head cold and I'm just really tired. Every time I exert myself physically I start to sweat and then I get really worn out tired. Even sitting at the sewing machine made me really tired.

Until next time.

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I Love Disco

I know, I'm weird. At least, that's the impression I get from most people when I tell them that I love disco. Even people my age. They act like I'm saying I like liver or something, for heaven's sake.

Of course now disco is referred to as "oldies" from the 70s and 80s. I used to listen to a radio station in the morning and the DJ grew up in the big city in which I grew up and he'd reminisce about things that happened when he was a child and teen. He used to roller skate, he used to enter competitions even. He would be teased about wearing a scarf. I always laughed a lot in the mornings. The other DJ was about 15 years younger and he was always appalled by the dorky things the older DJ did. Anyway, the radio station changed their DJs around, and they put the older DJ's cousin in his slot. The whole atmosphere of the program changed, becoming more focused on partying and playing pranks on people. I stopped listening around the end of November. That's when I started listening to KLOVE. Ds2 had been listening to this station for at least six months, but I was really reluctant to give up my "oldies".

After listening for about two weeks, the music started to grow on me, and I started to find some favorite songs. My first favorite song was by TobyMac, Made To Love. Then the next favorite which quickly became my top favorite was Nichole Nordeman's What If.

Ds2 ordered some CDs last week, some of the Newsboys and TobyMac's Welcome to Diverse City. Track 7 on WTDC is TobyMac's son Truett aka Trudog. Oh my gosh. What an adorable song. Trudog is very young, maybe 3 or 4 years old. Adorable baby voice, just very cute.

I was reading TobyMac's bio, which mentions his "hip-hop roots". OH yeah. I love hip-hop as much as I love disco. I know, I'm weird! I just love the music, love dancing to it! I think my favorite track on WTDC is 11, Burn For You.

Until next time.

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What Kind of Flower Are You?

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Hmmm... it says, "Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

I guess I do try to make people laugh. But I don't think of myself as a prankster.

Wait a minute. I took this quiz earlier this year. Back in September. I was a violet then: "You have a shy personality. You tend to hesitate before trying new things or meeting new people. But once people get to know you, you open up and show the world what you are really all about."

THAT is actually more like me. I don't think this quiz works very well.

Until next time.

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Which One is the Pitbull?

Did you know that most people can't even identify a "pitbull" from a group of pictures with dogs that are often mistaken for pitbulls? I couldn't, when I first saw that page. Did you know that "pitbull" isn't even a breed of dog? It's a term used to describe three breeds of dogs.

We were thrown a few curve balls; things got so busy and overwhelming that I had no energy left at all for blogging. Although I feel a keen longing at the moment, so here I am.

It continues to be busy. I have not had one moment to even lay my hands on the baby sweater, although I continue to carry my crocheting bag with me wherever I go. It would be nice to have it done in time for Christmas.

I have had some revelations and as a warning for those who will be grossed out or intensely offended at the mere mention of God, my blog may begin to contain more religious references as I continue my journey in life. Stay tuned or change the channel, your choice. ;-0

Until next time.

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Thanksgiving

Last year we raised our own turkeys. We overgrew them actually... here is a hen and a tom. This tom ended up weighing 70 pounds and took EIGHT HOURS to pluck. I'm serious. My dh spent four hours immediately, but wearied of the process, so once I got home we both tackled the thing and sat there two hours plucking pinfeathers. He was a dark feathered bird. We learned that white feathered birds are much easier to process.

We had hoped to raise Bourbon Red turkeys this year. Our hen sat on eggs two or three times, but she had little success. We ended up taking some of her eggs and managed to hatch out two. One perished when it was only a few weeks old, and the other one managed to thrive. So now we have two toms and one hen but we don't want to have only one tom, in case it happens to die.

So that left us with a store bought bird this year.

Until next time.

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