Nancy's Stay

 Mark found just 1 mushroom late yesterday, that was put in the fridge in some salt water and this morning cooked with his breakfast.

Joan kept us updated on Nancy for last night. They were still having some trouble with her blood pressure. Ruth went up at 7:00 am so Joan could come home and get some sleep. No walk obviously but I needed to move Lily, her colt, Missy and Tatiana out of the pasture next to Evan's and into the pond pasture. Lily stops at the hay, Tatiana stopped at the waterer and Cookie forever hangs with Lily's colt. This morning that colt was rearing up on her and biting at her trying to get her to play with him. She is just way to patient. He isn't pictured below, he had just gone in the shelter when I took the picture.

The wind was really blowing on the way out to Middle Grove. This trip was just to check udders as I can't get out for the next few days. This time I was going to hide the car and walk in except the horses weren't in sight and I ended up driving all the way up the jeep track up the farthest hill. I could see them in a distance and quickly backed the car up before getting out hoping they wouldn't see it.

There was no way I wanted them to smear up the car again. 

I got out and the wind was blowing so hard grabbed my sweat shirt but it was flapping making it hard to get on. The horses saw that strange black thing flapping and the blue roof of the car and freaked out. They would run to where they could just barely see the roof of the car (I had backed it some down a hill), stare intently then whirl and run away. The video is a little shake was fighting the wind.

It didn't take long to see that not one horse has an udder filling up. We may not be having any foals until late May or June. Below is Blueberry who is due the end of May and may or may not be pregnant. 

Below are Missy and Rosalie both look pregnant from the front but not from the side view. 

The picture below was as I was getting ready to get in the car to drive away.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from Middle Grove click HERE. 

I got home from Middle Grove with enough time to eat some lunch then leave for the hospital. I planned on being there by 2:00 pm but kind of got lost in the hospital. I was in the wrong building but was following signs for zone 7. It turned out Nancy is in the Forest Park building. Believe me each person I asked would point me in a different direction. It took 15 minutes to get to her room. On the way back though it took just 5 minutes. There is a short cut from the parking deck. Nancy got markers as a gift. She and Ruth were having fun coloring this morning.

We had a quiet afternoon. She was ready to take a nap in her bed. She slept some then it was time to sit in a chair. 

About then I realized she needed her hair brushed so she changed chairs.

We went for a long walk around this floor before coming back to wait for dinner. That didn't arrive until almost 7:00 pm. Nancy is in a double room and the neighbor had the television on. Each time a food ad would come on Nancy would go "oooo that looks delicious" Poor girl she was really hungry and very happy when it finally arrived.

Rachel arrived by 7:30 pm. Right about then Nancy's private room was ready so we moved her over. Below Rachel is playing games with her.

Rachel sent the picture below of maybe a forbidden treat. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down and so do ring pops.

Below is a video of some of Nancy's day.

I left for home once they were settled. I'll relieve Rachel in the morning, then Ruth will relieve me, then Rachel will relieve Ruth and Diane will relieve Rachel and finally Joan will spend the night tomorrow IF she doesn't get released. They never did the echocardiogram that was supposed to happen today. I got home from the hospital and Mark is not yet home from church. They went to Culvers and his credit card got declined. It turned out he ordered a lithium battery today and CEFCU thought it might be a fraud and put a hold on his card until he calls the fraud department. Poor Mark, not literally, he really isn't poor but poor enough that he had to have his sister-in-law pay for his meal. He isn't home yet but I have to go to bed as I need to be up early at the hospital.

Nancy Scare

 On our walk this morning Nancy's home called to report she was having trouble breathing and her blood pressure was very high. They were taking her to St. Francis. As I was taking mom and Aunt Jinnie to the Berean office and Joan was helping Karin move furniture, Ruth volunteered to go be with Nancy. She brought Nancy a gift of a magic maker and a coloring book that would show different colors all with that same marker.  Mom, Aunt Jinnie and I had a good time at Berean. We were all busy and were glad to serve at that office. 

We finished and were home by 11:30 am. I left mom and Aunt Jinni with Karin then drove to the hospital to relieve Ruth. We switched places and about that time the nurse came in and gave Nancy a dose of lasix in her IV. Not long after that I asked the nurse where the bathroom was as I was SURE Nancy was going to need it. The nurse looked at me kind of funny and said, "Its the same one you just used."  Then I was confused and told her but I just got here.  She thought I was Ruth. It wasn't long before they came to take Nancy for a CT scan. Of course I went too as there is no way we wanted them trying to explain to Nancy what she would have to do and not understand that she was not understanding. It was a good thing I went too. They thought she couldn't walk and were going to strap her to a board. I convinced them to let her get up and walk over to the machine, lay down and was able to hold her hand throughout the entire test. She did well with that. Back to the room and back to beeping alarms that kept going off because her pulse ox kept going off each time her oxygen level dropped below 90.

Jen Gabriel was with her from the home but needed to leave. Her first nurse was Samantha

When she left after her shift her new nurse from the ER was Tate Wyss. Both of them are from the Washington church, pretty cool. Of course I had to ask who their parents and grandparents are now that I'm almost 70. That's what all good old AC ladies do you know. Joan arrived around 6:00 pm to relieve me. Nancy was still in the ER but had been assigned a room it just wasn't cleaned yet. Joan said she was moved to room 2738-2 at 9:00 pm When she given some food Joan wrote "I thought it smelled delicious but Nancy ate a few bites then said she was full and didn't want anymore!  I've NEVER heard her say that.  but she really just wanted the chips that were there and then she proceeded to eat the entire meal anyway." She will spend the night with Nancy then Ruth will be relieving Joan at 7:00 am. I started for home but wanted to stop to get some food but the only food available that was not fast food was at New China Kitchen. I picked up a couple meals and we ate that once home. Oh my what a crazy unexpected day. Tomorrow Nancy is to have an echo cardiogram. The CT scan showed no blood clot which was what they thought was the problem. She has heart failure and fluid around the heart but that doesn't explain the blood pressure spike. We should know more tomorrow. 

 

All FIxed

 Diane joined Ruth, Joan and I by phone on the walk and told us a little more about her fish story. It really was awful. Ruth and I stopped in at mom's to visit but even before going into the house I took a picture of her flowering crab tree with the log cabin bird house. 

It really is extra pretty this spring.

After the walk breakfast was made and today we had something special. Mark found a few morel mushrooms on his walk so those were soaked in a milk and egg mixture then covered with ground up crackers and fried in bacon grease. They were served with the bacon, fried potatoes, an egg and a kiwi. BTW Mark cut the kiwi. I'm compulsive enough that I didn't want to include it in the picture after all everyone knows a kiwi needs to be cut the other direction so the star shows. 

After breakfast Mark loaded up an old battery into my car so I could drive to Washington, IL and pick up a new one for the golf cart. I left at 9:00 am and got home around 11:00 am. The battery was dropped off at the golf cart 

then I left for Sam's to pick up the treat for Berean tomorrow. That was dropped off at the Berean office. Lukie was out weeding and I offered to help but she told me no. When I got home Mark had all of the batteries out of the cart and the new one in.

We went to work and got all of the batteries installed again with all the hookups. At one point something started honking over and over. We thought it was the golf cart except this one doesn't have a horn. It turned out it was the car. The fob was in Mark's pocket and he bumped the panic button on it. We just had to laugh. I was pretty thrilled that after it was all put back together it worked as it was supposed to. I gratefully drove it home.

The kids gave me a couple books yesterday.  This afternoon I read Chasing the Horizon by Mary Connealy but found out only after finishing it that this is just the first book in a series and the WORST is that the second book isn't yet written. Who DOES that. I only found out because I went on ebay to buy the second book only to find it isn't yet published. Kind of like waiting for season 4 of the Chosen to come out on live streaming only to find out that was delayed and who knows how long. Two pictures showed up in my memories today. Both were taken the same day. Rhoda and Sarah with their husbands enjoying a summer day ride about 5 years ago. 

Beautiful Sunday

 Today was summer Sunday. We really did have summer weather, perfect, sunny and 84 degrees. We picked up Rhonda for church as Spark needed to be at the jail early.  Mike Kaisner had the morning message. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. Craig Stickling had the afternoon message click HERE if you would like to watch that. It was wonderful weather when we walked out of church. Berlica, Dafna and Jasper rode with us as Joan had the wheel chair van with mom, Aunt Jinnie and Mackenson. We dropped the girls off at Joan's house.  Diane sent a text that she ended up the emergency room down in Gulf Shores. She was walking on the beach and stepped on a catfish head. The spine went deep into her foot and the venom was awful. It took the doctors over an hour to get out all the pieces and she ended up with 5 stitches. 

They gave her a pain killer and a tetanus shot along with antibiotics but she told us it still hurts and the worst is she can't take any walks on the beach OR sit in a hot tub. We think she may as well come home since her vacation is ruined anyway. 

Mike sent the video below a couple days before they left for Gulf Shores. He and Diane were at the cabin at Middle Grove and looked out of the window to the creek and saw these 2 drakes fighting over one hen duck.

The kids all brought supper tonight. They ordered my favorite, fried chicken and it really was delicious.

Right after supper it was just to nice out side we all went out. The kids took the golf cart to go summer sledding.

The golf cart died in the field. We had a lot of kids and it was working so hard it melted one of the terminals on a battery. Mark came over to help and decided we needed to leave it in the field until morning and only then did he see the car, the windows, sides and roof all slimed up from the horses. He thought the grandkids did it and was trying to figure out how and why. I'm laughing so hard as I try to type this. I finally showed him yesterday's blog post so he knows it was the horses not the kids but his reaction was just so funny. Poor Mark, just look at who and what he has to live with (me). He even mentioned that he couldn't even yell at me as today is my birthday. Tomorrow will come soon enough and of course that is when I'll have to figure out how to rescue the golf cart and fix it up again. 

The big kids played volleyball.

Then came fun on the trampoline.

After the volley ball games were over Rhoda brought Cookie out and gave some of the grandchildren, anyone one who wanted, turns to ride.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from today click HERE.  All of the family left by dark. Rhoda and Lee were going to take Nancy home but Joan took her to dinner and the hymn sing at the fellowship hall. I think Molly and Gabe were going to take her home from there. Below is the video from today.

 

Another Trip to Middle Grove

 Another beautiful day, a perfect day to go to Middle Grove to check on the mares. That went well at first. I was able to drive right up and that turned out to be the mistake. Not because of car trouble, nope it was because the mares were fascinated WITH the car. I was busy checking udders when I turned around and saw my car surrounded. Those horses were trying to peer into the windows. They were not just peering. They were using their noses to slime up the windows, the hood, the back and even the roof of the car.

They were shooed off and the car was taken down to the gate to hide it.

The horses were all fine and no udders were filling.

We currently have 20 horses at Middle Grove.

IF you would like to see the rest of the pictures of the horses from today's trip click HERE. When I got home I could see the chain saw taken apart on the patio table.

I could see the tractor left over by the manure pile. The golf cart was gone so I took the other one up to see that Mark used the tractor to pull the big gate from where it was installed but no longer needed all the way to here so he could replace the old gate in the back of the middle paddock.

I found Mark and Mackenson taking down branches.

Berlica and her friend had Cookie in the round pen.

Lily was put out to graze while they were working with Cookie.

In the video below first Berlica rode Cookie so I could see how she was acting and then her friend got a lesson on Cookie.

The horses were moved into the other pasture today. Below is Tatiana grazing with Evan in the background showing off trying to get the mares attention.

On the way back to the house I took a picture of the redbud tree.

We have one lone tulip blooming at our place.

Mom called and asked me to also take pictures of her flowering crab apple tree.

Mom has lots of tulips blooming in her yard.

This evening Ralph and Jamie came for dinner. We enjoyed the food and the fellowship.

They would really like to breed their Valiant daughter Legacy to Evan this year. Dakota was bred to Valiant in 2015 and actually delivered at our barn on Sept 2nd, 2016. The pictures below were taken the morning of her birth. The problem was they didn't get her registered. I found the date of her birth and the pictures below and sent them to Kayla the lady in charge of the Friesian Heritage Horse Registry to see how to go about getting her registered.

Below is a picture of her when she was a year and a half old.

Legacy is 3 years old in the picture below. She was trained under saddle by the Berlingers.

She is all grown up and now and just gorgeous!