A Little creativity and Friend time

I finally made my first log cabin quilt with Bonnie and Camille fabric. Love red and teal together.  I gave it to Pamela to give to her nursing friend Amanda who is having a baby girl.  She has 2 boys and now she's getting her girl. Hope her baby girl becomes her best friend like Pamela has become mine. Amanda's boys love Pamela. I think Pamela loves them back. I love my embroidery machine. I can now make my quilt labels and them not fade away.

      

My good friend Donna at Donna's Lavender Nest did the quilting for me. She always does a beautiful job on whatever I have her quilt for me. I had a fun taking pictures of the quilt. My knee was cooperating with me so I moved around a little easier. I had just finished PT so that helped.  Sometimes I can never decide which setting I like best to show off the quilt. It looks like the little girl is showing the old man the quilt.  This last picture shows off the quilt the best.

Yahoo our fan is working. LOL. Okay I know this is a crazy video to post but the fan has been down for almost a year. David had started trying to fix and ordered a part only to have it trashed by Jerry our donkey. Our front gate was closed so the UPS or Fed-X truck dropped the box over the gate. Jerry found the box before we did and chewed up the box along with the part. Well okay not so much the part but he probably stomped on it. The part didn't work. Now, was it because of the donkey or was it just not the right part who knows. Then David called the manufacturer for some help but work got in the way until now. He did some more magic and Thursday he put the fan back together and with fingers crossed turned the fan on..... And it works. These fans move a lot of air.

Friday (5/14) our friends Pam and Kevin came in from Austin to stay with us. Our first visit since before COVID hit.  It was great. David and Kevin drove in to Rockdale to get some BBQ from Brett's BBQ. Very yummy. We decided to go out to check out the blackberry patch in the pasture. David decided to wear some gloves while picking but Kevin was was brave one and did it bare handed. He also got pricked several times.

Pam and I stayed in the golf cart. LOL. Jerry guarded us. He was hoping we still had some carrots for him. Anyway We found a couple new cactus growing near by with bright yellow flowers.

  

So far the cactus by the front gate look pretty frozen. David was thinking of pulling them up anyway.

We had Pam all turned around when we driving on the back roads and showing them the country sights. We hung out on the back patio until time for dinner. We took them to Central Avenue Bistro in Cameron. It was a beautiful night to sit on their outdoor patio for dinner. David had the yummy roasted red pepper salmon, Kevin order the pulled pork nachos, Pam and I got the shrimp dinner. Food was great and so was the service.

Saturday we got up and went to the New Baden General Store for Breakfast. Love living in the country. When we got there there was only a few folks in the wide open space of dining area. No problem social distancing. After breakfast we drove to Calvert for the farmers market only it didn't have many participants yet. May be a little early for much produce availability. 

David bought me some ground coffee at the Farmers to Market Calvert Coffee Co.  It's pretty tasty. Now I drink it cold with a creamer but I'm sure if I were a hot coffee drinker it would be good too.  

We walked from one end of town to the other.

And the best part is my knee allowed it. It was tired and it tried to give out a couple time on the uneven cobblestone sidewalks but no pain. Yay. We did stop at En Gedi Winery in town. We all got a glass of wine before leaving Calvert. We drove down another back road to get back to Gause and down 2095 to go to 4C Brew Barn. It was late enough to order a bite of lunch so we had a pizza. David and I got the one with everything and Pam & Kevin got one with ...mmm I forgot but it was just the right size to share. 4C makes their own craft beer and David and the others chose their flavor and I got a frozen strawberry daiquiri. mmm so good. 

And yes it's frozen and yes it's different than  the frozen margarita that I drank when I went into Afib back in October. LOL how is that you ask? Well it's all in my mind really. I associate the frozen margarita with my Afib. It's like a former friend of mine that was eating a Clark candy bar and went into labor. She hasn't eaten one since. It's psychological. 

While looking for my selfie stick to take a picture of all of us, I snapped this picture in my sewing room testing it out. 

I handed the selfie stick to David to hold while I snapped the picture of all of us.  He was such a mess. He held the phone up above us and the phone only saw sky then the ground. Finally I got him to find us on the screen.  I do believe he did that on purpose. We were all definitely laughing for this picture. Then my Apple watch died so I had to reach out to hit the camera button on the phone instead of on my watch.  Go figure.

Lilley didn't want to be left out and neither did Jerry.

David mowed all the yard except this patch of wild flowers by the hay bales.

  

David had bought a couple of peach trees before the snow and they were still in pots and they survived. In fact they have some peaches growing. I hope that when he plants them they don't go into shock and die. You may have to look hard but the peach is slightly lighter than the leaves. Can you find them? There's at least 3 of them visible.  Check out the wild lilies we saw on the side of the road just down from us. I don't think anyone planted them on the fence line anyway but then maybe.  They're pretty. Love the country.  

Welp that's it for now. 

Until next blog...It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love and Fun is in the Air

David's little sister Glenda watched her youngest son get married to the love of his life... Congratulations Kevin and Alyssa. Even the pups got involved. Don't you love the backdrop? It's their back yard. They had a small intimate wedding.  Wishing them the very best. 

Then 10 days later she watched her oldest son Phillip married the love of his life, Jessica. May they always be as happy in the future as they are on the day of their wedding. Congratulations Phillip and Jessica.  Now that's a lot of Love in One Family.  I did ask the girls if I could share their beautiful pictures and their happiness.

On April 29th Pamela rode with me to go to my Knee procedure follow up and before we went we met up with my former co-worker/friend Samara. for lunch. It was so good to see her. I haven't seen her in over 16 months.  Covid has kept family and friends apart for way too long. 

On April 30th we received our first calf of 2021.   #4 Betty is a good Mommy. Her baby keeps her on her toes. It keeps bouncing around and she just wants it to stay close by.  They were at the bottom of the property so I couldn't get a good picture.

The next day it had been raining and when we walked out to start grilling we saw the rainbow. Don't you love rainbows. 

On Cinco de Mayo I went to PT like usual but dropped off the pups first at the groomers. It's so funny it must be hard work getting beautiful because they'll always so tired. Lilley was the first one at the end of the day to be put in the car. Next came Bri. She is the most energetic and rarely shows signs of being tired. Then came the pillow Princess

Sophie is just happy to be back with her furless Mom Pamela and everyone else. Look at that sweet face.

On our way to Pamela's David texted that we should have some Mexican Food for Cinco de Mayo. Being silly he said I could pick up some Tacos from Jack in the Box. 

But his next text had a better suggestion and said we could go to El Charro in Cameron. Pamela wanted to go too. She followed me down the road to the farm. From there we went to El Charro. This is one of those stories where you had to be there to laugh. Pamela and David had Margaritas. Pamela went for a strawberry one.

After PT on Friday the 7th I went to get my nails down. I picked one of my favorite nail colors. When I got home David tells me my names match my new crocs... I thought nay but yep they do. LOL

David and I decided it was a good afternoon to hang out on the patio.

The pink flower are in the water tank now planter. The cold weather didn't hurt them at all. In fact they are full and vibrant.  

        

For Mother's Day David and Pamela took me to lunch at Messina Hof Winery. The Vintage House Restaurant. We actually went on Saturday to avoid the crowd. We had heard good and bad reviews. We already knew we liked the wine and now we can say we liked the food.. 

I had shrimp scampi, David had chicken parmesan, and Pamela had Gorgonzola steak pasta.. No complainants from us. The service was great too. David finished the chicken before I got a picture and Pamela had already tore into hers too.

Okay so we posed for our picture but David tried to not smile.

  

More good news this month. My nephew Zachariah and Bailey Jo in Missouri are expecting another boy. Then we found out our nephew Zachariah and Jordan are also expecting another boy. Boys everywhere. LOL

An on May 10th we received calf #2. Her Momma Ginger took a while to recover. It's her first calf. Now she has to get her out of the water.

This is a closer up picture of Betty and her calf born on April 30th.  We have at least 2 if not 3 cows that are looking kind of pregnant. Our herd is growing..... These 2 make 19. We really need to get rid of some Especially if we have any more babies arrive this year.  These little ones are so fun to watch now that they are up and bouncing around.

Well that's it for now.

Until next blog.....There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved

 

Pain or Relief that is the Question

 David and I were out and about and found this huge field of blue bonnets. We were thinking they were starting to die off but not here. 

My week started off with David officially retiring. Yahoo! And then the began the fun.  Continue to go to Physical Therapy. Doing gym work instead of aquatic since for almost 2 weeks the pool heater was broken and the water was really cold. And surprising enough doing the actual gym did not cause any extra pain. And after Friday I won't be allowed to do aquatic therapy anyway.

Friday (4/16) arrived. My knee procedure was supposed to be at 1:30pm and then it was move to 10am and the day before it was moved to 7am at a different location because the one in the Woodlands became unsterile.  What 7am!?? Umm can I have one at a different later time. Holy crap that means we have to leave our house by 4:30am to get to Humble by 7am. So much fun. NOT! We got there at with 12 minutes to spare. The next 40 minutes was spent filling out papers and then they took me back and David stayed in the waiting area. The next hour was not fun. My veins said nope you're not touching me and disappeared.  They poked me several times and slapped my arms trying to get my veins to pop up. All this left me bruised.

More bruising showed after these pictures. Not that I was surprised.  After they finally found a tiny vein and it held the IV I was wheeled back to the surgery room. Where I gave the doctor a bad time about lying to me... telling the prior injections would only be a pinch and burn. So I asked about the procedure and he said I shouldn't feel anything. Of course I said I don't think I believe you.  They gave me the injections to start deadening the area which hurt like HELL! 

Finally some relief and I only felt uncomfortable pressures. Then it was over and I had a new piece of leg jewelry but my leg wouldn't keep bleeding. Great. Took a while but it finally stopped. This whole time poor David was sitting out in the waiting room wondering why a 30 minute procedure was lasting 2 hours. No one had gone out to tell him the first hours was spent trying to a vein for the IV and the 30 was spent getting the bleed under control before they could release me. When the surgery center called for a brief survey I let them know how unfair it was to keep a loved one in the dark and letting their imagination go on it's own.

Walked from the wheel chair to the car wasn't bad at all but I couldn't walk totally normal. 

On Wednesday 4/21 I headed to PT and about half way there I got so sick. I felt like I was almost high but every time I breathed I wanted to barf. The only thing I did different was take 2 new pills from the nutritionist.  It was horrible. I refuse to take them again. I suffered through the PT and then..... I got my 2nd Covid vaccine.  I kinda slept the rest of the day after that.  On Thursday we met the Sprint PNS rep in Brenham so she could show David how to change the bandage on wire insert over the nerve.. There is a wire inserted in my knee to block the nerve sending the message to my brain that I'm in pain. The pack on the right side of the picture is a battery that sends electric impulses continuously to the area. Crazy huh? I have to really concentrate on my walking to walk normal without a limp or wobble. I haven't had the pain when I walk so that's a win but the swelling makes uncomfortable/weird. But hopefully with time that will all ease up. We'll see. I felt fine most of the day so I suggested we take a drive.

We left the rep and took a drive towards Warrenton. We drove by an area we seriously considering buying to build house and checked out all the new build on our drive. We were driving along and I was about to say what kind of cow is that and stopped.  It wasn't a cow! It was zebra's and one was a a baby zebra. This was so crazy to see Zebra's in there with these cows.  And then I saw the baby calf. 

It would never turned around because he/she was a hungry little guy or gal. It was so little up against these big ole cows.  And this big gal was very interested in what I was doing.  

And we drove on down the road and found the field of blue bonnets.

On Friday I spent the day down and out. I think the covid shot did me in. I was worthless but by Saturday I was finally feeling better Thank Goodness!

I go back for a follow up visit this Thursday the 29th with the Pain Management Doctor in the Woodlands which is about 1 3/4 hours from my house but I have plans for the day and it all works.

So that's it for now...

Until next blog...§  “Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.” ~Roy Goodman