Today is my forty-ninth birthday. Good grief. Is that right? That sounds so old. The big F minus one. Yechh.
Of course with the way I'm hobbling around, I actually feel like I'm eighty-nine. I could probably go toe-to-toe with Dad on a foot race about now....and he'd probably win.
No big plans. Just another day.
Forty-nine. Nope. Not liking the sound of that at all.
My brother and I finished up the baling today and then my brother finished planting the final two rounds of soybeans into the stubble ground. Then it started to sprinkle. It has been lightly sprinkling all day. I decided to opt out of the hometown parade due to my injuries. I went over to my neighbor's house for their annual 4th of July celebration. They are going to set off their fireworks once it quits raining.
It sure has been a dreary 4th of July.
Today I fell off the wagon. No, not that wagon...the hay wagon. I was unloading the straw from the hay wagon down to my brother on the barn floor. A bale started to fall off the wagon, I grabbed it, and me and the bale of straw went tumbling down onto the cement landing on my tailbone. I also sprained my wrist. After I caught my breath I went to the house and put ice on my ass. My brother came by an hour later to check on me. I told him I thought I could drive the bailer, but no way could I load the wagon. So I tucked the ice bag down my pants and to the wheat field we went. We loaded four more loads with me driving the baler and my brother loading. We will finish baling tomorrow morning.
I don't think I broke anything, and there's not a lot that can be done for a tailbone injury anyways. In the meantime, I'm eating Tylenol like it's M&M's.
Now I remember why I have a desk job.
Today, my brother, brother-in-law, and I baled straw. It was 68 degrees outside and cloudy. I have never baled straw in 60 degree weather. It was wonderful. It was actually more pleasant stacking the bales than riding in the cab tractor (where the a/c is broken). I'll take this climate change!
Dad called my brother today to ask him if he needed a driver on the baler. My brother told him that he had it handled. My father is in no physical or mental condition to be driving the baler. He is really feeling left out.
Dad drove the baler last year with mixed results. I remember on the last day, Dad kept jamming up the baler by driving into huge piles of straw. It takes about 10 minutes to pull all of the straw out of the hopper each time. By the third time of stopping to unplug the baler, my brother returned to the field looking for a load of straw. We only had a few bales loaded. I was hot and pissed off. I told my brother either me or Dad was going to the house. My brother sent us both home and then he and a neighbor finished up baling last year.
We had to quit early because the baler stopped threading the twine for some reason. They are predicting rain for Saturday. We are hoping to finish baling tomorrow if we can fix the baler.
Today is my fourth blogiversary. Wow! Who'da thunk?
This blog has been a great way of meeting some fine folks. Also, it's been a good way to document the events that have occurred while I've been back in Indiana.
I also wanted to thank all my readers for the outpouring of prayers and kind thoughts about Mom's death. It means a lot to me.
Onward and upward into the fifth year!
Today I went down to Mom and Dad's before I went to town. Dad met me in the kitchen and said, "Come in here, I think something's wrong." Mom was lying in her hospital bed and she didn't appear to be breathing. Upon closer inspection, she wasn't breathing. Her skin was still warm. The home health care worker had just checked on her five minutes before. She died very peacefully. We knew the time would be coming soon, but still, it was a surprise. I'm just glad she no longer has to suffer. Mom was 92 years old.
Mom was very alert on Thursday and had a bit of a cough. The last thing she ate was some chocolate cake with strawberries. That night it turned into a really bad cough and she was vomiting. We called Hospice and they came and gave her some medicine and some morphine. But the cough persisted. We were just getting ready to make the decision whether to bring in some oxygen to help her breathe better. Her body just finally gave up the fight. Dad is taking it pretty hard. He and Mom were married just short of 62 years. My sister and I will meet with the mortuary tomorrow to finalize the funeral arrangements.
Mom fell and broke her shoulder six years ago this month. She has had quite a time of it since then. Lots of falls and trips to the ER. Mom was also diagnosed with dementia about this time too. Once in a while she would get agitated, but for the most part she was usually in a good mood.
This Bird has flown to heaven now. I'm sure she's getting it all straightened out up there. Maybe she's even baking a homemade apple pie.
Rest in peace, Mom. I miss you!!!
Last night, my sister and I made cherry jam. Three batches worth. My Aunt Mary showed me how to make jam down at her house (the jars with the pretty lids). This time, we were flying solo for the most part (with an emergency call to Aunt Mary). Making jam is not difficult; it's all in the timing. But that 60 seconds where you have to stir the hot jam at a full boil...whew, that's hot! And it's a sticky damn mess. You may as well make several batches while you have all the equipment out. There's actually more sugar than cherries in the jam. It's not low-cal. But it tastes sooooo good.
All total we made 11 pints and 9 half-pints (we already ate 2 half-pints...yum).
Thanks, Aunt Mary for all your help!
Today I picked cherries. We got about six gallons this year, way down from prior years. Last night I pitted cherries for the duration of a movie. That produced four cups of cherries, enough to make a batch of jam. My Aunt Mary gave me a tutorial on making jam/jelly. I learned that jam contains the pulp of the fruit, whereas jelly contains only liquid. I never knew the difference. We made a batch and that produced 3 1/2 pints of jam. I've got lots of pitting to do yet.
Here's the chief cherry picker standing on his old beater truck. Makes a nice platform for pickin'.
Well, it's finally here. The analog stations are gone now. I've got a portable TV/Radio that is now just a radio. I've got a few TVs at Mom and Dad's to dispose of yet.
Tomorrow I will reprogram 7 DTV converter boxes to make sure they pull in all the channels, and get rid of the analog programmed stations on the TVs. Just a neighborhood service I provide.
Digital reception is just so-so at my house. The antenna is in the attic and I don't get certain stations. I hooked up an old set of rabbit ears and actually got better reception. I've been reading on the internet how you can build an antenna out of coat hangers that will perform better than antennas that the stores are selling. Might be worth a try...got lots of coat hangers!
I posted this a while back before the cutover was delayed. It's still funny. Link
Guess what I'll be doing this weekend.
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