Some people just don't get me.... or my special talents. hahahaha
I was showing off my numerous benches last night to a couple friend of ours whom we hadn't had over for a couple of months... I invited them for supper when they called to arrange them coming to pick up a kettle we bought for them at costco... I made Prime rib roast with gravy and Yorkshire puddings...mashed potatoes and creamed peas and carrots, with pickled beets and coleslaw as sides...it was delicious...and for dessert I had planned an ambitious lemon jelly roll....but ended up making a purse from a pigs ear when my thin cake cracked into pieces upon trying to roll it in the towel...it happens to the best of us..... I've made dozen over the years with great success. So, since I had the lemon spread and cool whip made...I tossed it, along with the broken cake into a crystal bowl and called it lemon trifle...hahahahaha they loved it...
But, back to the benches.... I have my lovely blue one sitting by the front entry for people who wish to sit while donning their shoes...they used it but where rather bland in their appreciation of the workmanship and paint technique....Robt wanted to take them up to the barn to show off my giant garden bench that I had just crowned with it's final coat of polyurethane....but they declined, citing they would have to put their outside gear back on if they did....a lame excuse, we thought...so we dropped the subject and sat down to table to enjoy the last roast in the freezer until we butcher again and boring conversation about our male guests imminent retirement in June...and how great it's going to be for him...
We need to find some more friends...and spread the joy around...
today Robt is bringing me some more old fence boards and I will commence ripping them down into the dimensions I need for my latest bench project, and I figured out how to use my tenon cutter and hope to create a new patio table with birch log legs...making the dowelled ends myself...
My head is full of ideas...I just wish I could make money with them...hahahaha
K i j i j i here I come....
Splendor
March 17, 2012
March 12, 2012
Wowzers !!!
I finished my big garden bench...with R's help, lifting it and tipping it so that I could finish securing the seat boards and arms. Actually, that isn't giving him enough credit...if it wasn't for his unflagging encouragement and "fire" dousing I would have set fire to the damned thing long ago. I have to meekly admit that this particular project was beyond my tool limitation abilities. That means that to do justice to this bench and the mans plans I needed a wider variety of power and hand tools than what I have. In spite of R buying me an random orbital sander when we can't really afford one...It did a lovely job of sanding...but all I had to work with was a table saw, skill saw, and ancient jig was and a drill. Making the cutting out of the back legs and arms a nearly impossible challenge. Ideally a scroll or ban saw would have got the job done in a couple of minutes... I even resorted to using a reciprocating saw to hack away some of the excess wood, not a pretty scene...
Besides the tools or lack there of, the other really big challenge for me was limited to using the rough weathered planks off the fence we tore down last fall. Originally I envisioned this adding to the character of the bench, and it does but holy hell, what a pain in the arse to work with...some planks cupped...some planks split, I chose the best out of about sixty boards but they were still far from perfect specimens...I can see that if I had stuck to the plans a bought the planed lumber the project would have gone much smoother. But I think, and I could be wrong, that my bench looks 50 years old ...and not brand new, which is what I wanted....I hope to stain it with a gray stain and polyurethane it so it lasts for a long time.
When we had it all assembled R couldn't wait to put it on the floor and try it out, so there we sat the two of us cuddling on our courting bench in the office of the barn, barely enough room to stretch our legs out in front... it is super comfy even without cushions and we can both fit with generous amounts of room to spare WE LOVE IT.
when I have it varnished I will post a picture...right now wouldn't do it justice in the office part of the barn...it's up on saw horses again surrounded by water lines, pressure tanks and tool boxes.... but soon...I will have pictures.
Orthopaedic surgeon appointment tomorrow at 8 am...and I am wondering what form the humiliation will take this time... R is quite mad at the rheumatologists phone message and has advised me not to bother going to the May appointment. That says a lot I think, since it takes a lot to get R that mad. But this second to last appointment and then the nerve doctor to look at my arms and then I think that's all.... I plan to take a sabbatical from all appointments medical if I can. Fingers crossed.
March is a super busy month for us...vaccinating cows, hoof trimming guy is coming to trim, the vet is coming to semen test bulls and these doctors appointments along with the guy coming to butcher two steers for freezer beef sales.
They are rebuilding the road just north of the one we live on...this road they are working on is the one we use to access our other property...in fact our property is all along this road and they have removed all the fences and are cutting down all the trees growing along the fence line and mulching the roots then they will dig it all up...to build the road again and then building new fences... It is stressful for R, since that fence was one of the first ones he put in when he bought that land 35 years ago...and there were some lovely big trees along the roadside...oh well, it seems nothing can stand in the way of progress.
Besides the tools or lack there of, the other really big challenge for me was limited to using the rough weathered planks off the fence we tore down last fall. Originally I envisioned this adding to the character of the bench, and it does but holy hell, what a pain in the arse to work with...some planks cupped...some planks split, I chose the best out of about sixty boards but they were still far from perfect specimens...I can see that if I had stuck to the plans a bought the planed lumber the project would have gone much smoother. But I think, and I could be wrong, that my bench looks 50 years old ...and not brand new, which is what I wanted....I hope to stain it with a gray stain and polyurethane it so it lasts for a long time.
When we had it all assembled R couldn't wait to put it on the floor and try it out, so there we sat the two of us cuddling on our courting bench in the office of the barn, barely enough room to stretch our legs out in front... it is super comfy even without cushions and we can both fit with generous amounts of room to spare WE LOVE IT.
when I have it varnished I will post a picture...right now wouldn't do it justice in the office part of the barn...it's up on saw horses again surrounded by water lines, pressure tanks and tool boxes.... but soon...I will have pictures.
Orthopaedic surgeon appointment tomorrow at 8 am...and I am wondering what form the humiliation will take this time... R is quite mad at the rheumatologists phone message and has advised me not to bother going to the May appointment. That says a lot I think, since it takes a lot to get R that mad. But this second to last appointment and then the nerve doctor to look at my arms and then I think that's all.... I plan to take a sabbatical from all appointments medical if I can. Fingers crossed.
March is a super busy month for us...vaccinating cows, hoof trimming guy is coming to trim, the vet is coming to semen test bulls and these doctors appointments along with the guy coming to butcher two steers for freezer beef sales.
They are rebuilding the road just north of the one we live on...this road they are working on is the one we use to access our other property...in fact our property is all along this road and they have removed all the fences and are cutting down all the trees growing along the fence line and mulching the roots then they will dig it all up...to build the road again and then building new fences... It is stressful for R, since that fence was one of the first ones he put in when he bought that land 35 years ago...and there were some lovely big trees along the roadside...oh well, it seems nothing can stand in the way of progress.
March 6, 2012
The Finished Product
Well here it is ! My finished bench. Simple design, distressed paint, with outdoor finish coat to brave the elements.....hahaha sounds like a sales ad.
I had so much fun building this little fellow, and painting it was ubber easy. I love the finished product...Robt gave me the best compliment ever...when he saw the final paint job....he said " it makes me want to paint it".....awesome... you know you got the distressed look just right when it looks like it needs a new paint job...and has that really worn look, and is as smooth as a babies bottom.... Tell me what you think.....please... my arm isn't nearly sore enough from patting myself on the back...hahahaha
The bench I am working on now is super complicated...a big garden bench with arms and back... I am making it out of weathered fence planks so it has that ancient look about it...I am hoping to have all the cut edges facing down so you only see the silvered barn wood surface....maybe I will splurge and buy a cushion for this one so we can sit and have our lemonade under the shade of the trees and be comfy. Oh....I see a foot stool in my future.... back to my sketch pad the moment I am off the computer.
It is kind of a curse to have all these ideas and plans and neither the money, the place or the time to do it all.... Robt is very supportive but then he just sees dollar signs...one of his first comments after I made the first bench was how much would it sell for... But I am very anal about the stuff I make...I mean, I like it but what if no one else does...that's why I haven't sold any paintings either... I don't want to be disappointed when no one buys them, so I won't even contemplate going there..... nope...I'll have stacks and stacks of canvases leaned against the wall and will never have sold a damn thing... benches up the wazoo and never sell a one...hahahahaha sales, isn't really why I build them, it is the challenge...to prove that I can do it...I like seeing the finished thing, as good as you could buy in any store, and know that I made that... it's empowering.
So for this big bench I had Robt bring me some old planks from the trash pile...but the challenging part is every one of them is a different thickness and width...so I have to constantly measure and change the saw settings...and do a lot of planning ahead to know where to cut so that the new wood edge won't show when I assemble it. This bench, in the plans is made of 1" wood, but I felt that it was too flimsy...for two heavy weights to sit on so mine is made from unplained or rough 2 x 6 planks. mega strong...and the wind won't blow it off the deck. I'll show you when it's done.
Got a call from my Rheumatologist last Friday....good news/ bad news scenario... good news is nothing showed up on the MRI I had....the bad news is NOTHING SHOWED UP ON THE MRI I had.... all that trauma, ironically I feel like it was a waste of time and resources... hey I never said I made sense...
I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon next week about my broken ankle from last year...it took just over a year to get this appointment....and I don't want to go....I feel like it would be a waste of time for both us and the doctor but my family doc, says to go...so I will go...reluctantly...I know it will not solve anything. it's not bad enough to need surgery but not 100 % to walk on either. She'll recommend a brace, that I can't wear and physio I won't go to... and if I could drop a shit load of weight that would only be a good thing. Like I don't know that already...
and then later in the month I have to go for a bone density and mammogram and then an appointment with a neurologist about my numb hands....I suspect they will want to do carpal tunnel surgery again...and I won't want it... and then that is it....I AM OFFICIALLY DONE GOING TO SPECIALISTS...they can't figure out what the problem is...I am tired of going...so I'll just suck it up, quit complaining so much and get on with it....
thus my wood therapy.... if I keep really busy...there's no time to think about how much my arms hurt or my ankle hurts...etc.... the only fly in the ointment of this genius plan will be when something nasty happens, like another stroke in my eye or anywhere else for that matter, a nasty allergic reaction or
The bench I am working on now is super complicated...a big garden bench with arms and back... I am making it out of weathered fence planks so it has that ancient look about it...I am hoping to have all the cut edges facing down so you only see the silvered barn wood surface....maybe I will splurge and buy a cushion for this one so we can sit and have our lemonade under the shade of the trees and be comfy. Oh....I see a foot stool in my future.... back to my sketch pad the moment I am off the computer.
It is kind of a curse to have all these ideas and plans and neither the money, the place or the time to do it all.... Robt is very supportive but then he just sees dollar signs...one of his first comments after I made the first bench was how much would it sell for... But I am very anal about the stuff I make...I mean, I like it but what if no one else does...that's why I haven't sold any paintings either... I don't want to be disappointed when no one buys them, so I won't even contemplate going there..... nope...I'll have stacks and stacks of canvases leaned against the wall and will never have sold a damn thing... benches up the wazoo and never sell a one...hahahahaha sales, isn't really why I build them, it is the challenge...to prove that I can do it...I like seeing the finished thing, as good as you could buy in any store, and know that I made that... it's empowering.
So for this big bench I had Robt bring me some old planks from the trash pile...but the challenging part is every one of them is a different thickness and width...so I have to constantly measure and change the saw settings...and do a lot of planning ahead to know where to cut so that the new wood edge won't show when I assemble it. This bench, in the plans is made of 1" wood, but I felt that it was too flimsy...for two heavy weights to sit on so mine is made from unplained or rough 2 x 6 planks. mega strong...and the wind won't blow it off the deck. I'll show you when it's done.
Got a call from my Rheumatologist last Friday....good news/ bad news scenario... good news is nothing showed up on the MRI I had....the bad news is NOTHING SHOWED UP ON THE MRI I had.... all that trauma, ironically I feel like it was a waste of time and resources... hey I never said I made sense...
I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon next week about my broken ankle from last year...it took just over a year to get this appointment....and I don't want to go....I feel like it would be a waste of time for both us and the doctor but my family doc, says to go...so I will go...reluctantly...I know it will not solve anything. it's not bad enough to need surgery but not 100 % to walk on either. She'll recommend a brace, that I can't wear and physio I won't go to... and if I could drop a shit load of weight that would only be a good thing. Like I don't know that already...
and then later in the month I have to go for a bone density and mammogram and then an appointment with a neurologist about my numb hands....I suspect they will want to do carpal tunnel surgery again...and I won't want it... and then that is it....I AM OFFICIALLY DONE GOING TO SPECIALISTS...they can't figure out what the problem is...I am tired of going...so I'll just suck it up, quit complaining so much and get on with it....
thus my wood therapy.... if I keep really busy...there's no time to think about how much my arms hurt or my ankle hurts...etc.... the only fly in the ointment of this genius plan will be when something nasty happens, like another stroke in my eye or anywhere else for that matter, a nasty allergic reaction or
March 2, 2012
Now, Where was I.....
I am still aghast at how fast my computer works now with High speed, it truly is horrifying to me just how slow my dial up Internet was in comparison. Shocking.
I am paying nearly the same amount per month...but with wireless the service is astronomically better. That's right, dial up was costing me just pennies shy of $40 per month and now for unlimited high speed I pay $45 per month....and I have to buy Norton's for security. But it is all well worth it to see how much Robt wants to browse the auctions and equipment sites....kinda funny....so we are thinking of getting a lap top too, so that he can browse while out in the living room. we'll see, I say we won't even think of getting one until Christmas maybe....
I had an MRI two weeks ago today.....I even took an Ativan (Valium) but it was horrible....for some one with really bad claustrophobia, that whole coffin experience is horrendous....and then add to that being of heavier build and the tube was hideously tight...so tight that my arms, at my sides, went numb from the pressure being forced on them..I hyper ventilated...silently wept, bargained with myself and even hummed show tunes to try to endure the 60 minutes...yes 60 full minutes of hell..... with a very unsympathetic technician I might add. Who took it upon herself to remind how lucky I was that in my present physical "volume" to even be able to fit in the machine....honestly if I hadn't been squeezed into that tube from head to toe like breakfast sausage in sheep intestine I might have tried to throttle her....but it did give me incentive to make it through the ordeal just so I could punch her in her smarmy fucking face....sadly though, by the time I was pulled out of the damned thing the only thing on my mind was getting the hell out of there and finding Robert....my rock..
As soon as she said i could sit up when ever I was ready....no easy feat on a board about 10 inches wide...with no edge to use as leverage...I resorted to throwing my legs in the air and swinging them down for ballast to raise my upper body...not a pretty picture I am sure but by this time I didn't give a shit who saw what....me in my little gown with only my panties on to preserve my sensibilities...hahahaha she was blabbering on about results and how well I did, when I ripped the hair net off my head, and angrily tossed it in the trash as I staggered down the hall....I got a very bad electrical shock off the metal locker my clothing was in and the cloth curtain on the change cubicle kept trying to stick to me with static cling....I was desperate to get dressed and get outside so I could breath....and began swearing under my breath at the curtain...when the technician, who had come down the hall to get another victim....shrieks " now what's the matter ? " so I said this f 'ing curtain won't stop clinging to me. She told me to come out so I grabbed up my clothes...my pants were on but not done up and I was bare from the waist up with my clothing clutched to the front of me I was paraded across the inner waiting room (luckily with only two other women there waiting at the time) and shown into a cubicle with a wooden door....I got inside and fell against the wall, and had to take several deep breaths because I was on the verge of crying by this time. I dressed, walked out to the outer waiting room for Robt and we both sprinted for the entrance of the hospital....once I hit the cool fresh air I lost it, I am embarrassed to admit I sobbed on Robts chest, and pretty much all the way home off and on. I had bad dreams about it the first week and even now still have the odd nightmare about the whole thing.... I have sworn on my son Davids grave that I will never willing allow them to ever put me in that machine again....and if they want to sedate me or knock me out completely they will have to physically fight me to administer the drug... never, ever....I promised myself in there that I would never ever make myself do this again....I felt violated, raped and assaulted....it was like the intelligent adult part of me (my brain) bullied my emotional, sensitive inner child to do something abhorrent, and violated the child's trust. I still, when I think about how I felt in there and had to plead with my self to not lose my shit and start screaming, I had tears running down my face for Christs sake....that when reason wasn't working, I bullied and threatened....it was horrible....horrible.
I had a black eye last week....only 5 days after my MRI trauma....I was outside with Robt and we had just watched a cow birth her calf and we had decided to go to the house for our lunch....I turned and started to briskly walk back to my work shed to close the doors, I was off the beaten path and walked right into the end of a 16 foot wooden plank...that was leaned across a pile of wind fence boards...the far end of the plank was frozen in the ice and so the damned thing was immovable...it hit my face just below my right eye...on my cheek bone...split the skin a bit and my face instantly swelled up...my eye swelled shut and by morning was black and blue...with a deep red gash underneath that....oh I looked quite the sight... I garnered some queer looks when I had to go to a couple of meetings later that week....I wanted to stay home but Robt made me accompany him.... The bruising is nearly gone now and the cut is healing.... but my cheek bone is still very tender....I wonder sometimes if I didn't fracture it.... Robt said he heard the WHACK of my hitting the board from where he stood. I have to admit I barely remember that part at all...I was in shock, it was such a shocking thing to have happen and we had been having such a nice, lovely morning so far....hahahahaha
Oh dear, I really am a handful, am I not ?
I am paying nearly the same amount per month...but with wireless the service is astronomically better. That's right, dial up was costing me just pennies shy of $40 per month and now for unlimited high speed I pay $45 per month....and I have to buy Norton's for security. But it is all well worth it to see how much Robt wants to browse the auctions and equipment sites....kinda funny....so we are thinking of getting a lap top too, so that he can browse while out in the living room. we'll see, I say we won't even think of getting one until Christmas maybe....
I had an MRI two weeks ago today.....I even took an Ativan (Valium) but it was horrible....for some one with really bad claustrophobia, that whole coffin experience is horrendous....and then add to that being of heavier build and the tube was hideously tight...so tight that my arms, at my sides, went numb from the pressure being forced on them..I hyper ventilated...silently wept, bargained with myself and even hummed show tunes to try to endure the 60 minutes...yes 60 full minutes of hell..... with a very unsympathetic technician I might add. Who took it upon herself to remind how lucky I was that in my present physical "volume" to even be able to fit in the machine....honestly if I hadn't been squeezed into that tube from head to toe like breakfast sausage in sheep intestine I might have tried to throttle her....but it did give me incentive to make it through the ordeal just so I could punch her in her smarmy fucking face....sadly though, by the time I was pulled out of the damned thing the only thing on my mind was getting the hell out of there and finding Robert....my rock..
As soon as she said i could sit up when ever I was ready....no easy feat on a board about 10 inches wide...with no edge to use as leverage...I resorted to throwing my legs in the air and swinging them down for ballast to raise my upper body...not a pretty picture I am sure but by this time I didn't give a shit who saw what....me in my little gown with only my panties on to preserve my sensibilities...hahahaha she was blabbering on about results and how well I did, when I ripped the hair net off my head, and angrily tossed it in the trash as I staggered down the hall....I got a very bad electrical shock off the metal locker my clothing was in and the cloth curtain on the change cubicle kept trying to stick to me with static cling....I was desperate to get dressed and get outside so I could breath....and began swearing under my breath at the curtain...when the technician, who had come down the hall to get another victim....shrieks " now what's the matter ? " so I said this f 'ing curtain won't stop clinging to me. She told me to come out so I grabbed up my clothes...my pants were on but not done up and I was bare from the waist up with my clothing clutched to the front of me I was paraded across the inner waiting room (luckily with only two other women there waiting at the time) and shown into a cubicle with a wooden door....I got inside and fell against the wall, and had to take several deep breaths because I was on the verge of crying by this time. I dressed, walked out to the outer waiting room for Robt and we both sprinted for the entrance of the hospital....once I hit the cool fresh air I lost it, I am embarrassed to admit I sobbed on Robts chest, and pretty much all the way home off and on. I had bad dreams about it the first week and even now still have the odd nightmare about the whole thing.... I have sworn on my son Davids grave that I will never willing allow them to ever put me in that machine again....and if they want to sedate me or knock me out completely they will have to physically fight me to administer the drug... never, ever....I promised myself in there that I would never ever make myself do this again....I felt violated, raped and assaulted....it was like the intelligent adult part of me (my brain) bullied my emotional, sensitive inner child to do something abhorrent, and violated the child's trust. I still, when I think about how I felt in there and had to plead with my self to not lose my shit and start screaming, I had tears running down my face for Christs sake....that when reason wasn't working, I bullied and threatened....it was horrible....horrible.
I had a black eye last week....only 5 days after my MRI trauma....I was outside with Robt and we had just watched a cow birth her calf and we had decided to go to the house for our lunch....I turned and started to briskly walk back to my work shed to close the doors, I was off the beaten path and walked right into the end of a 16 foot wooden plank...that was leaned across a pile of wind fence boards...the far end of the plank was frozen in the ice and so the damned thing was immovable...it hit my face just below my right eye...on my cheek bone...split the skin a bit and my face instantly swelled up...my eye swelled shut and by morning was black and blue...with a deep red gash underneath that....oh I looked quite the sight... I garnered some queer looks when I had to go to a couple of meetings later that week....I wanted to stay home but Robt made me accompany him.... The bruising is nearly gone now and the cut is healing.... but my cheek bone is still very tender....I wonder sometimes if I didn't fracture it.... Robt said he heard the WHACK of my hitting the board from where he stood. I have to admit I barely remember that part at all...I was in shock, it was such a shocking thing to have happen and we had been having such a nice, lovely morning so far....hahahahaha
Oh dear, I really am a handful, am I not ?
March 1, 2012
Holy Crap
High speed wire less internet will , I suspect change my life...Robt has me already looking up tons of stuff that we never could before.... of course I have to use a new email address
rcmakepeace@hotmail.com
my blog loaded so fast this time...there is a story behind us getting wifi....and I will write about it over the weekend.
Had an MRI two weeks ago that has possibly scarred me for life...I am still having nightmares about it.
heee heee heee... I have highspeed internet....
rcmakepeace@hotmail.com
my blog loaded so fast this time...there is a story behind us getting wifi....and I will write about it over the weekend.
Had an MRI two weeks ago that has possibly scarred me for life...I am still having nightmares about it.
heee heee heee... I have highspeed internet....
February 1, 2012
Sawdust Therapy
I've had a grand week, busy tagging calves and spreading straw with a pitch fork. It has been so mild here that I have even had the urge to work in my shed. I found plans for a bench, that were nice and straight forward. I've wanted a bench for quite a while now, in the mud room so R can sit down while he puts his boots on and off. His hips are bad enough that bending is painful for him. Any of the benches I looked at in stores were either too flimsy or too expensive. So.... necessity being the mother of invention, off I went to wood pile and voila...MY BENCH...
I will paint it dark green to go with the trim on the house but for now it sits in the mud room for R to use... I plan to make several more, a couple for in the house and couple more for the deck. This one is the prototype and is made from rough wind board that I ripped down on the table saw and then sanded to within an inch of its life.. but I hope to buy planed wood for the next one, like the plans required...and see if it is as sturdy as the one I over-built. If it isn't then it's back to the rough wind boards. hahahaha
Robert is very impressed with my attempt and thinks I could sell them if I wanted to. He uses this one many times a day and that is the biggest compliment he could give me. I can still surprise even myself.
The only draw back to building this sort of thing for sale is that I made this one in one long day....with a table saw and a drill, but the job would have been so much easier if I had had the other tools they said were necessary, like a mortise saw, a palm sander and a angle screw hole jig....but I can't afford that stuff right now...so I made due and my effort is pretty awesome even if I do say so myself.
My wood working will have to wait a bit because I did something really stupid last night....after working outside most of the day with Robrt. sorting cows and babies to go out to the bigger paddocks and feeding and spreading straw, tagging a few new born calves and dealing with a set of twins where the girl calf is smart and the boy calf is to stupid to live...(he doesn't know how to pick up the tit) robrt deals with that while I muck out the pens...spread lime to dry the floor and put new straw in each one...(there are ten pens in all) I throw it to the centre alley and then we push it out the door with the tractor.
Any way, I was exhausted by the time I came in at 8 pm for supper...I had the where with all to slap a stew together in the slow cooker in the morning so we had something hot later in the day....I grabbed a quick shower to get the barn smell off and then Robrt was in and I was hurrying to get his supper on the table because he said there was a cow calving and he needed to get back out side...I grabbed the slow cooker to move it to another counter, the lid was off and I picked it up and moved to step across the kitchen when it nearly pulled out of my hands because the damned thing was still plugged in...in the mean time hot bubbling stew and gravy had sloshed over my right hand...It hurt like a son of a bitch...but I had to put the slow cooker down and then rushed to the sink to wash it off.... Robrt was kind enough to clean the two or three bowls of stew that fell on the floor while I cooled my hand off and cleaned the slow cooker off...
We ate and he hurried back outside... leaving me to nurse my poor scalded hand...it swelled up really badly, and the skin raised as if in welts. but no blistering, thank god....very very red... Polysporin and Tylenol and then to bed...and this morning the skin is still a bit red looking and very sensitive, but I had a lucky escape I think...it could have been much worse, if I hadn't reacted so quickly...and got it under cold water.
Off in another direction now....a fellow came yesterday afternoon from the county...to get our signature on a form giving them permission to remove our fence along the road while they rebuild the road...we are excited about it because we will get a 40 yr old fence replaced with a brand new one...yeehaw...
the road is in terrible shape and needs to have work done on it badly...they may need dirt to build the road up and have asked us if we would allow them to take some off our land...we said yes if they would dig us a dugout...he added that to the contract....so we shall see. They plan to start brushing and removing the fence next week...
I am also excited and very happy for Maggie and David, who have just announced there will be a new member of their family arriving in September.
I can't remember if I posted this picture of my last painting or not so I will show it again..
I finished this in September...hahahaha and haven't started another once since...although I crave painting like an addict...there just never seems to be time...and I am not afforded the luxury of sitting in the house anymore since the doctor told Robrt that I don't have LUPUS....they aren't sure what is the matter with me, they just agree that there is something the matter.
A guinea pig, that's what it feels like... try this, try that...oops stop taking that....In May when I see the specialist again I plan to cut through all the bullshit and ask him to shit or get off the pot..either I am sick or I'm not...if I'm not then leave me the fuck alone....excuse my language... because if what I feel everyday, this aching pain in my muscles and bones, sharper pain if you move the wrong thing, is normal and everyone feels like this every day no wonder there is so much killing and violence in the world...because it wears you down, it kills my spirit, and I have to force myself to do anything, because it all hurts. Even building my bench, my hands were swollen and stiff for three days afterwards because of using them so much.
Robrt can tell when the pain is bad because sadly I tend to be short of patience and he gets yelled at...I can usually ask him to just leave me alone but if we are working on something together and I am sore and frustrated I lash out...so yes, poor Robrt.
Why am I frustrated you ask....it frustrates me because I have a man who unless you slap him in the face and the doctor puts a label on what is wrong with me, will still ask me to work everyday...more this past year than since I first started seeing doctors. It's like, "oh she doesn't have a disease with a label, then she isn't sick" but nothing has changed, I have all the same problems that they originally sent me to the specialist for...but the first one jumped to a quick conclusion and since she retired the new guy is questioning all her conclusions, so I am back to square one...and until I can put a label on what is wrong with me I can't get any disability pension.
I am not a lazy person, if there is work to be done, I will do it gladly. I suspect that is what has landed me with the physical challenges I have now is that I was worked like a slave and my body is worn out. Robrt is better than my first husband but still is used to my being able to do everything he can do, like I did when we first met...and the first few years of our marriage and in MY MIND, I can still do it all, I WANT to do it .....and I can.....but there is a hefty price to pay when I do...and I find that more and more...I resent having to pay that price for a farm that barely keeps it head above water. That I am constantly having to delve into personal savings to bale it out. Soon that won't be an option as the saving is whittled down. I should be retired already...my doctors look at me like I am insane when I talk about shoveling grain and cleaning the barn with a pitch fork...hammering planks on the fence with 6 inch spikes, hundreds in one day...so that by evening my fingers are numb from the pounding.
They are reducing the dose of some of my meds to see which ones the first doctor prescribed are actually doing any good and it has come to the dose where I am now waking myself up in the middle of the night with my moaning and groaning in pain...I woke up whimpering and crying two mornings ago...
So they need to do something, or leave me the hell alone...and Robrt needs to grow some F'ing balls, man up and start making some changes around here , because I honestly don't know how much longer I can push myself to do this shit...I feel, quite often like I am going to lose my mind...it hurts so much and nobody gives a fucking shit....as long as I can do my work.... when I complain that I am in pain...he brings me extra strength Tylenol and a glass of water and then tells me what he wants me to do that afternoon....
ANYWAY, maybe I will ACCIDENTALLY TRIP AND FALL INTO A LIFE BOAT and float away....
can you believe the story the cruise ship captain came up with ....I mean, what a moron.... Every time I hear about it I burst out laughing because it is so fantastically ludicrous...
I'm done whining now....admire my lovely bench and remember it cost me two-three days of barely being able to bend my fingers after building it.
I will paint it dark green to go with the trim on the house but for now it sits in the mud room for R to use... I plan to make several more, a couple for in the house and couple more for the deck. This one is the prototype and is made from rough wind board that I ripped down on the table saw and then sanded to within an inch of its life.. but I hope to buy planed wood for the next one, like the plans required...and see if it is as sturdy as the one I over-built. If it isn't then it's back to the rough wind boards. hahahaha
Robert is very impressed with my attempt and thinks I could sell them if I wanted to. He uses this one many times a day and that is the biggest compliment he could give me. I can still surprise even myself.
The only draw back to building this sort of thing for sale is that I made this one in one long day....with a table saw and a drill, but the job would have been so much easier if I had had the other tools they said were necessary, like a mortise saw, a palm sander and a angle screw hole jig....but I can't afford that stuff right now...so I made due and my effort is pretty awesome even if I do say so myself.
My wood working will have to wait a bit because I did something really stupid last night....after working outside most of the day with Robrt. sorting cows and babies to go out to the bigger paddocks and feeding and spreading straw, tagging a few new born calves and dealing with a set of twins where the girl calf is smart and the boy calf is to stupid to live...(he doesn't know how to pick up the tit) robrt deals with that while I muck out the pens...spread lime to dry the floor and put new straw in each one...(there are ten pens in all) I throw it to the centre alley and then we push it out the door with the tractor.
Any way, I was exhausted by the time I came in at 8 pm for supper...I had the where with all to slap a stew together in the slow cooker in the morning so we had something hot later in the day....I grabbed a quick shower to get the barn smell off and then Robrt was in and I was hurrying to get his supper on the table because he said there was a cow calving and he needed to get back out side...I grabbed the slow cooker to move it to another counter, the lid was off and I picked it up and moved to step across the kitchen when it nearly pulled out of my hands because the damned thing was still plugged in...in the mean time hot bubbling stew and gravy had sloshed over my right hand...It hurt like a son of a bitch...but I had to put the slow cooker down and then rushed to the sink to wash it off.... Robrt was kind enough to clean the two or three bowls of stew that fell on the floor while I cooled my hand off and cleaned the slow cooker off...
We ate and he hurried back outside... leaving me to nurse my poor scalded hand...it swelled up really badly, and the skin raised as if in welts. but no blistering, thank god....very very red... Polysporin and Tylenol and then to bed...and this morning the skin is still a bit red looking and very sensitive, but I had a lucky escape I think...it could have been much worse, if I hadn't reacted so quickly...and got it under cold water.
Off in another direction now....a fellow came yesterday afternoon from the county...to get our signature on a form giving them permission to remove our fence along the road while they rebuild the road...we are excited about it because we will get a 40 yr old fence replaced with a brand new one...yeehaw...
the road is in terrible shape and needs to have work done on it badly...they may need dirt to build the road up and have asked us if we would allow them to take some off our land...we said yes if they would dig us a dugout...he added that to the contract....so we shall see. They plan to start brushing and removing the fence next week...
I am also excited and very happy for Maggie and David, who have just announced there will be a new member of their family arriving in September.
I can't remember if I posted this picture of my last painting or not so I will show it again..
I finished this in September...hahahaha and haven't started another once since...although I crave painting like an addict...there just never seems to be time...and I am not afforded the luxury of sitting in the house anymore since the doctor told Robrt that I don't have LUPUS....they aren't sure what is the matter with me, they just agree that there is something the matter.
A guinea pig, that's what it feels like... try this, try that...oops stop taking that....In May when I see the specialist again I plan to cut through all the bullshit and ask him to shit or get off the pot..either I am sick or I'm not...if I'm not then leave me the fuck alone....excuse my language... because if what I feel everyday, this aching pain in my muscles and bones, sharper pain if you move the wrong thing, is normal and everyone feels like this every day no wonder there is so much killing and violence in the world...because it wears you down, it kills my spirit, and I have to force myself to do anything, because it all hurts. Even building my bench, my hands were swollen and stiff for three days afterwards because of using them so much.
Robrt can tell when the pain is bad because sadly I tend to be short of patience and he gets yelled at...I can usually ask him to just leave me alone but if we are working on something together and I am sore and frustrated I lash out...so yes, poor Robrt.
Why am I frustrated you ask....it frustrates me because I have a man who unless you slap him in the face and the doctor puts a label on what is wrong with me, will still ask me to work everyday...more this past year than since I first started seeing doctors. It's like, "oh she doesn't have a disease with a label, then she isn't sick" but nothing has changed, I have all the same problems that they originally sent me to the specialist for...but the first one jumped to a quick conclusion and since she retired the new guy is questioning all her conclusions, so I am back to square one...and until I can put a label on what is wrong with me I can't get any disability pension.
I am not a lazy person, if there is work to be done, I will do it gladly. I suspect that is what has landed me with the physical challenges I have now is that I was worked like a slave and my body is worn out. Robrt is better than my first husband but still is used to my being able to do everything he can do, like I did when we first met...and the first few years of our marriage and in MY MIND, I can still do it all, I WANT to do it .....and I can.....but there is a hefty price to pay when I do...and I find that more and more...I resent having to pay that price for a farm that barely keeps it head above water. That I am constantly having to delve into personal savings to bale it out. Soon that won't be an option as the saving is whittled down. I should be retired already...my doctors look at me like I am insane when I talk about shoveling grain and cleaning the barn with a pitch fork...hammering planks on the fence with 6 inch spikes, hundreds in one day...so that by evening my fingers are numb from the pounding.
They are reducing the dose of some of my meds to see which ones the first doctor prescribed are actually doing any good and it has come to the dose where I am now waking myself up in the middle of the night with my moaning and groaning in pain...I woke up whimpering and crying two mornings ago...
So they need to do something, or leave me the hell alone...and Robrt needs to grow some F'ing balls, man up and start making some changes around here , because I honestly don't know how much longer I can push myself to do this shit...I feel, quite often like I am going to lose my mind...it hurts so much and nobody gives a fucking shit....as long as I can do my work.... when I complain that I am in pain...he brings me extra strength Tylenol and a glass of water and then tells me what he wants me to do that afternoon....
ANYWAY, maybe I will ACCIDENTALLY TRIP AND FALL INTO A LIFE BOAT and float away....
can you believe the story the cruise ship captain came up with ....I mean, what a moron.... Every time I hear about it I burst out laughing because it is so fantastically ludicrous...
I'm done whining now....admire my lovely bench and remember it cost me two-three days of barely being able to bend my fingers after building it.
January 26, 2012
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...
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...
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