We lost a couple of little battles this week. Earlier this summer we had a couple of surprises in the chicken yard when one of our little Old English Game hens hid in a wall with some eggs and managed to hatch them. We got two adorable little chicks, but didn't get any pictures of them. This week one became paralyzed in her legs and we had to have her euthanized.
Last year another Old English hen hid with some eggs, and brought forth the little brood you see in the accompanying picture. Most of them were roosters, but one little girl who did not develop fully, we named Runty. She was tiny and delicate, but sweet and personable as are most Old English Game chickens. We looked out for her carefully as she was so much smaller than the other birds and could easily get beat up on or trampled. She got sick earlier this year, but pulled through okay, then last week she got sick again. This time we lost her. In spite of all our best efforts our sweet, innocent little Runty went over theRainbow Bridge. She was strong and held on for quite a while, but finally let go on Friday night. I cried a lot. She did not deserve this ugly, lingering end. In retrospect I wish I had taken her to the vet as well. I hate death but it is a sad fact that we live in a broken world and it will not be better on this side of Heaven.
After euthanizing the first chick earlier this week, the vet suggested we might want a necropsy (autopsy) done. We concurred and signed the consent papers. Yesterday I spoke to the vet and he did not yet have the results of the histopathology but the person performing the necropsy saw nerve swelling suggestive of Marek's disease, one of the more dreaded things your flock can contract. I am very sad. We used to have a clean and healthy flock, Marek's is forever. I feel tainted, like we have the plague and should be ostracized from polite (and disease-free) society.
It seems that I am spending most of my blog time trying to raise awareness about the political absurdities currently swirling around us. Here's another; though Obama's cronies are trying to downplay the idea of "Death Panels" associated with the health care plan under congressional consideration, one must not take their objections seriously.
It has come to light in Britain that sick people are being placed with great regularity on the "fast track" toward death. Wasn't it former senator Tom Daschle (among others) who made headlines by saying it was the duty of old people to get out of the way and die?
They are trying to put nice, sweet euphemisms in place of what they are really doing. They are killing people before their time. What kind of monsters have we become?
This is a must-see video. A police officer in Reston, Virginia, tells a protester to get rid of his anti-Obama poster. When the man tries to assert his Constitutionally protected right to free speech, and reminds the officer that "this is the United States of America", the officer responds "it ain't anymore".
We are in seriously frightening times in this country. The political actions we are seeing mirror what the Nazis did before World War II in Germany; I have it on good authority from one who was a young adult at the time. The sun is setting on our freedoms and there is a huge contingent of wack-job socialists who think it's a good idea.
There are a lot of rumors floating around the Internet regarding the shortage of natural thyroid medication.
Some who have been in contact with the FDA say it is due to past problems with a heparin compound that was recalled because it contained ingredients manufactured in China and contaminated with the same melamine that became known for killing countless thousands of pets back in 2007.
Some say the shortage is due to FDA halting production until such time as the drugs can go through the FDA approval process, even though (as others say) the drugs are supposed to be grandfathered.
I sure hope someone gets with the program and puts an end to all of this. Bottom line is, a lot of us are going to get sick. If this is even a shadow of how things will be under Obamacare, we all need to be afraid.
I ran across this video today at the Sister Toldjah blog; moved me to tears, and as the parent of an American Infantryman (just out of the military) I appreciate the call to express our gratitude to those who do the hard work of defending our freedoms. 'Nuf said.
I was sitting in my chair this morning with the obligatory second cup of coffee. I love my morning coffee ritual; it is soothing and comforting, especially when my husband is out of town as he is today. I pondered the Internet and checked all my RSS feeds, nothing new. I looked at Google News, nothing new. I checked out Fox News, nada over there either.
Then my daughter sent me the most amazing link. I wondered how I had survived more than 15 years of Internet without seeing THIS IS WHY YOURE FAT. Be sure to go through all the pages, lots of creative stuff there.
If all that fatty, awful food grossed you out, get over it with a visit to CUTE OVERLOAD !
I am in utter disbelief. The companies HERE and HEREthat make my thyroid medication will not be able to get it into my pharmacy until 3 months from now. Do they have any idea what is going to happen to thyroid patients all over the USA? It is outrageous that they can play with our lives and health this way.
It took me YEARS of struggle and experimentation before I finally started feeling reasonably well after contracting thyroid disease. Doctors drag their feet diagnosing it, and don't do a very good job addressing treatment.
This is why I would suggest (and I don't know if it's legal or not) that thyroid patients everywhere stockpile at least a 3-month supply AT ALL TIMES.
For more information on the problem you can read HERE. Mary Shomon has done a great job staying on top of the problem.
Seriously. Would they do this to diabetics? If a diabetic cannot get insulin they will be dead VERY QUICKLY. Is this what the brave new world of health care is coming to?
Be sure to check out this website where a doctor has given a brief, but clear-headed discussion of healthcare bill highlights.
This is the most far-reaching, freedom-destroying legislation we have ever faced in this country. If we get this jammed down our throats, our freedom is all but dead.
My relatives did not shed their blood on many foreign lands to defend the likes of this.
The government has asked citizens to rat out their neighbors, friends, and internet places they frequent. The government wants to go after people engaging in free speech as they protest the coming healthcare legislation.
As I was checking out my hit counter I noticed my Christmas countdown. Only 170 days left until Christmas!
Being without income we didn't do gifts last Christmas; I made pajamas for everyone though. We had a lot of fun even without presents! Maybe I'll skip the Christmas shopping this year too! At least it will be a choice and not because I have to.
It's been a very long time since I've posted here, and I don't really know why I haven't written. So, here I am. I guess I left off with the great plumbing leak of '09, that was all resolved.
The big exciting news today is that my dear hubby's first paycheck in over NINE MONTHS just went into the bank tonight. I did not think it would be a big deal but it was an emotional moment for me to see that deposit in the account history. I can't believe I sat in front of my computer monitor and CRIED! Silly me.
I am grateful for the grace of God who gave us peace through this scary time. We learned we can say "if the Lord intends for us to lose everything, so be it" and we can really mean it.
That's all I'm going to say for tonight, it's way past time for sleep!
An amazing thing happened this morning. Most of the world would probably laugh derisively that I assign any importance to this, but to me it is an almost imperceptible sign that in the midst of our struggle to make wise decisions as our financial security wanes, (among other issues!)the Lord is at work keeping His promise to meet our needs.
Around mid-morning I busied myself in the kitchen wiping crumbs, stacking dirty dishes in anticipation of later having 20 minutes of running water, and making a fluffy pureé out of canned cat food. No, we have not been reduced to eating cat food; I do this for our dear little cat whose teeth no longer allow her to chew.
Close to noon my husband broke away from the computer where he had spent the morning searching and applying for jobs. We assembled a small lunch and sat down at the table to eat. Before turning off the television news, he watched tape of the morning's opening at the stock market accompanied by discussion of the current economic crises. He turned to me and said (I kid you not) "I just had an interesting thought this morning...I was thinking about whether there was anyone in the world I'd trade places with right now, and there really isn't anyone. All of our struggles could be lifted in a moment. There are so many people whose pain can't be fixed in this world; there are so many people suffering so much worse than we are...then I thought about Jesus in the garden praying... we aren't facing anything like that."
Let the world laugh, between the two of us we had a misty-eyed moment and felt the comfort of the Lord being nearby. I need nothing more than that for this day!
This morning I sat down at the computer. Newly poured cup of steaming, aromatic coffee at my elbow and tiny space heater at my feet, I settled in and prepared to surf.
Clicking to my first stop, I caught up on the latest news in the post-post-evangelical world. I moved on to some wonderfully inspirational blogs, checked out what's new in Indian cooking, then went into the job-seeking routine. Craigslist, newspaper want-ads, local employer websites and the state unemployment department yielded nothing today so I wondered what to look at next.
I could think of nothing else I wanted to read. Did you ever feel that strange sense of realization that there might actually be an end to the Internet? That, considering the endless supply of websites out there, it might actually be possible to run out of things to read?
Maybe it's just my frame of mind this morning. Maybe it's spring fever. The rare-for-Oregon stretch of dry days we have right now are turning my mind to the garden. I think I have time to go outdoors and prune roses, grapes, apple and pear trees.
Today the men in my life braved the dark, cramped space under our house in search of the elusive water leak. It took them some time but they finally found it. They tried to close the hole with solder but couldn't do it so we still do not have running water. My son says the space is to cramped for my husband to get to, so we're not quite sure what we're going to do now.
We cannot afford the hundreds of dollars it would take to have a professional make repairs, so it looks like we're going to have at least another week of water rationing.
Situations like this sure make one appreciate the simple pleasure of brushing teeth or washing hands thoroughly. The same for laundry and dishes.
And I am starting to feel like some unseen, sinister force is working to make my life increasingly uncomfortable. I have hurt myself in the most unimaginably strange ways this last week or so! I want to crawl into my bed and hide under the covers till the siege is over.
I still say, "Be Ye Glad!" Here are the lyrics I promised (and another link to the video in case you didn't catch my post from yesterday):
In these days of confused situations. In these nights of a restless remorse, When the heart and the soul of the nation, lay wounded and cold as a corpse. From the grave of the innocent Adam, comes a song bringing joy to the sad. Oh your cry has been heard and the ransom, has been paid up in full, Be Ye Glad.
(Chorus)
Oh, Be Ye Glad, Be Ye Glad, Every debt that you ever had Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord, Be Ye Glad, Be Ye Glad, Be Ye Glad.
From the dungeon a rumor is stirring. You have heard it again and again. But this time the cell keys are turning, and outside there are faces of friends. And though your body lay weary from wasting, and your eyes show the sorrow they've had. Oh the love that your heart is now tasting has opened the gate, Be Ye Glad.
(Chorus)
So be like lights on the rim of the water, giving hope in a storm sea of night. Be a refuge amidst the slaughter, for these fugitives in their flight. For you are timeless and part of a puzzle. You are winsome and young as a lad. And there is no disease or no struggle, that can pull you from God, Be Ye Glad.
My house is a mess. My halls are lined with 5-gallon water jugs, storage boxes and other assorted debris. Everywhere we go we trip over something. What happened?
I opened my water bill the other day and was unpleasantly surprised by the balance owing. Why had my winter usage increased significantly from summer? We are not maintaining a garden, we are taking fewer showers, our household has decreased by one member. It doesn't make sense!
Not long after viewing the bill, dear offspring number 4 reported that she heard noise in the walls as if someone had left a hose on. Granted, I sometimes do leave the hose running after filling my chicken waterers, but after examining the faucets we determined there were none open. "There's a leak somewhere" said my husband. "The water meter is spinning like crazy and there are no water outlets turned on."
We scoured the house searching for puddles or stains but found nothing. We did discovered a "rushing" sound emanating from the floor vent in our kitchen. "Got to be a pipe under the house" said my husband. "I'm going down to look." To reach the access door we had to empty our bedroom's walk-in closet of storage boxes, bags of clothing, piles of shoes, old kids' toys, a stack of unframed posters, stuffed animals, the huge box containing my wedding dress. That done, Les went into the abyss.
Thirty minutes later his dust-covered body emerged, grunting, from the crawl-space. He said he saw nothing but that he did not get as far as the kitchen. The crawl-space access is at the opposite end of the house from the kitchen and the space under our house is very confining. We would need to send our wraith-like son down there if we wanted to see more. Dear son no longer lives with us and we would have to wait a couple of days till it was convenient for him to get here.
Recalling a leak outside near the water meter several years ago that cost us plenty, Les decided to dig a trench and check the repair. After opening a 4-foot deep by 4-foot long trench he found the old repair holding but a root had punctured another section of pipe. We turned off the water at the street and shlepped over to the local home improvement emporium for a couple of parts. At 6:30 PM the store was devoid of customers, but we encountered sales people at every turn asking "Can I help you?" I sized them up one after the other...too big, too young, too old. "Nope," I think to myself, "you can't get under my house." It was dark by the time we got home; the leak could not be fixed till the next day, but we figured we could do without water for one night.
Next morning my dear husband went out and battled stiff and uncooperative pipes. "I hate plumbing!" he declared, repeating a mantra developed over 32 years of home ownership. Despite the negative sentiments he persevered to completion. We confidently turned the water back on at the meter and watched. The repair was holding! We looked at the meter and saw it spinning; we returned to the kitchen floor vent where the sound of rushing water met our anxious ears.
Suspicion turned to the valves under the kitchen sink and pipes feeding the dishwasher. We've had mysterious water there before. Investigation proved the 20-year old dishwasher to be leaking badly, and the wood underneath it beginning to rot. We decided the dishwasher was not worth repairing and yanked it out.
We are on our third day with no running water, we can only turn it on at the meter long enough to fill jugs; then off it goes again. In our fourth month of unemployment we have no money for plumbers, no idea where the leak is, and now a gaping hole where my dishwasher used to be.
I am reminded that I am to be thankful in all things. If we look for them, we can find things for which we ought to be thankful in spite of difficult circumstances. I have much for which I can give thanks.
I have a song ringing in my head right now; it is another song from that wonderful ensemble, Glad. The title of the song is "Be Ye Glad".
I'll post the words in another blogpost but here is a link to the Youtube video:
I am in my late middle-age years, mom to 4 young adult children. I am first and foremost a Christian, tending towards Reformation theology. Because of my own autoimmune thyroid disease, I advocate for thyroid patients and do my best to educate people on this poorly treated condition. Favorite things: Family, Kids, Cooking, Reading, Music, Quilting and Crochet. Oh...and Border Collies. I do NOT like city living. I may write about any or all of these things in this little blog of mine.
