Like Cloud Nine

Well thank God, things have turned around in the calving department. We have over twenty calves on the ground now and no new gory stories to relate. Thank God.

I am sitting here trying to type this while "ADELE" is blasting out of the speakers. I have no stereo in the house so the only time I can listen to my tunes is either in the truck, travelling, (pity poor Robert, he has to listen to me screeching along to the music) or when I  am on the computer.  I would love to own one of those BOSE music systems but I can not justify the cost. I have no children to harvest body parts from, ahahahaha...that comment was in poor taste I know...so sue me....

I have, for the past month now, been having a problem with dizziness.  Serious dizziness, light headedness and a feeling of floating... I check my blood pressure during these episodes and it is usually perfect...118/70 but one day, Robert helped me put the cuff on because I was so spacey...and it was 110/56.
My blood sugar was good...at 5.4.   So I thought it might have been dehydration, I drank enough water that afternoon to fill a pool and the dizziness slowly went away...but two days ago...I was dizzy when I awoke and it got worse throughout the day...by late afternoon I was whacked...Robrt asked me to watch a heifer calve...and she did, but I don't remember seeing it...I had to concentrate on staying standing...my head wanted to loll to one side and my eyes kept trying to roll back in my head...I felt like I was walking inches off the ground...and had to hold onto the fence to get back to the barn...needless to say I headed to the house because I was only a liability out there in that state...the dizziness and light headedness lasted all night...blood pressure was normal, sugars were good and I had drank lots of fluids that day. so I have no idea what is causing it...yesterday was much less dizzy....but if by next Monday it hasn't gone away, I will have to give in and see a doctor.

I was bending metal today, rebuilding a shield for a heating element in one of our antique water bowls....the element that keeps the water bowl from freezing burnt out and we had to retrofit a slightly different one but in the jimmy rigging of that the rusted/rotten portion of the original shield fell away so I was given the task of coming up with a way to attach a new piece of metal...I did not a bad job, if I do say so myself.  Robrt was duly impressed I could tell...hahaha   Last week I build from scratch, a calf processing table...when a new calf is born we have to tattoo their ear and give them an ear tag as well as put a rubber band on the male calves testicles to castrate them and Robrt gives them two vitamin shots.  For thirty years we both have always just thrown the calf to the ground and sat on them...while the other one did the deed.  But due to old age and physical limitations we needed to change our practice...So I drew a few plans and we changed a few things over the period of a year and this winter I put the plan to plywood and built this table...it hooks on to the pipe of a gate in the barn when in use....there are two belts that are attached to the table and have hooks on the other end...the calf is walked up to stand beside the plywood and the belts are lifted under its bell and groin to hook onto the same pipe....the table is lifted and legs drop down to hold the plywood up. the calf's head is tied down with a halter and its feet are secured, more for our safety than its. We can then do the things we have to do with the calf up at waist height.  It works pretty slick...I am thinking of patenting it....maybe I'll get rich...

I am working on this jigsaw puzzle,  YES it is THAT time of the year....but this one, man is it tough...I knew it would be...but I have been working on this 750 piece puzzle for a week now..some times for hours...when I can't sleep. and I am about half way done...one piece every two hours.  Argh !!!!!!
It is of a blue jay (bird) sitting on a snow covered spruce bough, with blurry spruce boughs and snow in the background.  Oh boy is it tough...

Other wise my days are spent trying to think of interesting things to eat, I am so tired of the same old stuff...I mean to say, I am trying to find some new things to make for meals....we've had stew, spaghetti, ham dinners, chicken dinners, soup and pizza...and the other day I made the most fabulous Mac n'cheese with Salisbury steak....mmmmmmmmm it was deliscious... our friends happened to show up for that meal...chocolate cream pie for dessert....with graham crust made with splenda, fat free/diabetic pudding and a tiny dollop of fat free cool whip... it was pretty good.

Well I should go and work on that damn puzzle again...

On the dog front, I refuse to pay a thousand dollars for a puppy. So we are limited to what run of the mill dogs are available for a couple hundred bucks... some sort of collie or lab cross I would think....although I am not a big fan of border collie's since they are a high energy dog that need lots to do other wise they will chase cattle or cars...and we live to close to the road for that to not be a problem.  I will keep my eye open...