Mrs R goes to Washington, or something like that

A few months ago, some stakes appeared in our yard that were an ominous sign, especially for my pine trees.  After calling the city, my fears were confirmed: the stakes represented where near curb and gutter would be put in, including a new sidewalk and parking strip.  I know this sounds like a positive thing, and ordinarily, it would be.  But, I had a beef with the placement.  For a street the size of mine, I'm supposed to have 35' between my house and the sidewalk. I would have 25 feet. Which sounds decent sized, but really, it would take out a good chunk of my front yard and driveway. On the plus side, the have to move the power pole, and the public works guys are working with me to make the power company move the pole so it's not in the middle of my driveway.  The other sad thing is that my two enormous pine trees would be cut down.  It all seemed fairly needless, since across the street is just an empty field.

It could be worse though; my neighbor on the corner will be less than 9 feet from the sidewalk. She is renting and can move when her lease is up.

I decided to address city council with my concerns, and I brought a few neighbors along. I woke up yesterday morning, knowing I was on the agenda, and felt really depressed and hopeless about the whole thing.

My neighbors all spoke to the council, as well as I did, bringing up really great points. The city council seemed genuinely appalled at how close our houses would be to the road, and the safety impact.  However, they also saw my hopeless side- we are growing, and as much as I'd like to pretend otherwise, my road is a collector road and needs to accommodate the growth. They acknowledged that the situation was lose-lose, and the only way to truly fix it was to go back in time and build the houses further back. If they were to go west, the cost was pretty prohibitive. That sucks, and I can understand why that's not a viable alternative.

Feeling like my concerns were legitimate made me feel a lot better, even if I wasn't terribly happy with the compromise. And honestly, if I were an objective party, I probably would've come up with the exact same compromise.  We will not have a parking strip, just sidewalk, curb and gutter. It makes the yard at least that much bigger, which will help.  They will also paint lines in the road, which will give a 9' parking lane on either side, which will hopefully slow traffic down a little.

My friend who was at the meeting now thinks I should run for city council- there's two seats opening up.

If you can't say something nice...

I know that I have been very bad about updating this blog. It's a couple different reasons. First, I've been very busy with life, the kids, my mini "farm", work, girl scouts, boy scouts, girl scout cookies, etc etc. So, there's plenty of fodder to write about. The things weighing most heavily on my mind are things that I have difficulty talking about on a public forum, like this. I try to be sensitive, just in case the subject of a blog post is reading. But, I'm not the NICEST person I know, so I end up opting to not say anything at all. I'll try to sum up the past month.

M turned 13 on 2/28. He got a bunch of camping gear, since his troop goes camping every month. He held his birthday party a couple weeks late, and they played video games and had a lot of fun. Michael also took 3rd place with his science fair project, which was pretty neat.

S finished up her girl scout cookie sales. She only sold 500 boxes this year, which is down 100 from last year, but considering how cold it was and sick I was, that's pretty great. Even though our troop had less girls selling this year, our overall numbers were up, which was great.

Both K&M were on the National Academic League at their school. It was introduced to their school back in 1995. This year, they were the undefeated district champions, which was a first for the school, so it was very exciting. They went to Nationals. They won their first game against AZ, but lost their second game to Baltimore. It all took place via video conferencing. I felt like their loss to Baltimore wasn't exactly fair, but what do you do?

K was just named student of the month from the music department, and we're going to a special breakfast to honor her next week.

Z's birthday is tomorrow, and he is so excited he can hardly see straight. He is still big-time into legos and playing on the Wii.

J has taken up a very rigorous bicycle training program- he plans to ride a century (100 mile) bike ride the first weekend of May. I'm being slightly more sensible and only riding 50. However, I haven't been training like he has, so I'm getting a bit concerned.

I joined a new gym where they teach pole dancing, aerial silks, aerial hammock and other unique fitness. I think aerial hammock would be my favorite, but the class times are really inconvenient, so I've only been to one of those. I've been to several silks and pole classes, and have had a lot of fun.

Our neighbor and her cow tenant had a big falling out. He got all of his cows off the property a couple days ago. I was informed that once that happened, she did not want to share pasture anymore. (Ever since she's had animals, I've let her graze them on my back pasture, since I wasn't actively using it. But, she wants some separation now, so I'm respecting her wishes.) All of the cows back there did some damage to the fenceline, so last night, we had our other cow owners come over and help us repair it. So, we just have our two little cows on our property. It's a lot quieter now. Hopefully it'll stay that way. We have no gate, so if they do happen to escape, getting them back in the field will be a bit of a trick. The fence seems very sturdy though, so I think it'll be ok.

Our city wants to improve the road in front of our house. Unfortunately, I hate their plans and feel like it endangers our house and family. It also takes away our two huge pine trees and a good chunk of the front yard. Setback from our house to the sidewalk is supposed to be 35' by code. If their plan goes through, our setback will only be 25', so I am feeling very apprehensive. It could be worse though- my neighbor on the corner will have less than 9 feet from their building to the sidewalk. That's not even enough to park a car! I'm on the agenda for the next city council meeting. I am hoping I can get them to alter their plans so it's safer for us residents.

Our good friend and neighbor two doors down, Margaret, died of cancer a couple weeks ago. She'd fought off breast cancer a couple years ago, and people thought she was doing ok. But, on March 7, they discovered cancer in her femur and her spine. Her doctors gave her anywhere between 6 weeks to 2 years. She only lasted about two weeks. I think that once she realized it was terminal, she was done. S has really had a tough time coping with her death.

Summer Plans

Last year (and the year before), for our wedding anniversary, we took a trip to Zion National Park.  We had a wonderful time.

This year, we've decided that we're going to hike up to King's Peak, which is the highest peak in Utah. It measures in at 13,528 feet (4,123 m) above sea level. We plan to go with some other friends, most of whom are experienced backpackers. Both of us have done backpacking trips in the past, but not since we were married. The trip will be a leisurely one, taking place over 3 days and going around 29 miles total.

I can't believe how much things have changed in the past 18 years. The last backpacking trip I went on, I borrowed a pack from a friend who was about 5'10. He probably had a size medium pack. I learned recently that I'm a size XS in backpacks (woohoo!). I'm sure that's why you could see the outline of my hip and shoulder straps in bruising after that last trip. Everything is so small and lightweight.

J is like a little kid waiting for Christmas with this trip. He's purchased both of our backpacks, really nice sleeping bags for both of us, a camp stove, a water filtration system, tent, and groundcloth.

Today, I get a text from J.  It read, "Don't set up the tent without me". 


Ummm, ok?  We have a foot of snow on the ground, and I'm crazy busy. He really thinks I want to set up the tent the moment it arrived? The tent arrived via UPS around 3:15.  I have to admit that a devil perched on my shoulder, and if I hadn't been so incredibly pressed for time, I would've set up the tent in the driveway (the only clear spot in the yard) just to tease him.

This is what our couch looks like:




In case you're wondering, our packs weigh in at 10 and 20 lbs. They don't have our clothing, food, water or cosmetics.





Just a few minutes ago, J called me to come down to the basement and see something. This is what I saw.



Now from the sound of all this, I'm betting you're thinking that we're leaving on the trip this weekend, which would be insane, considering there's hundreds of inches of snow up there right now. Does it make it seem any less insane when I say the trip is planned for August?


I haven't seen him this excited about anything in a very, very long time. It's really cute.

Bloat in a pregnant cow

So today, I was relaxing at home when I got a knock on the door about 2:15pm.  A guy was standing there and told me that one of my cows was hung up on the fence, and he was worried it was hanging itself, and in really bad shape. Uh oh. He lives in the property behind mine and actually hopped in his car to come knock on my door because he thought it would be quicker.  I thanked the guy for telling me, pulled on my boots and ran back there.

As I went, I called KC, telling him what had been reported. If I could free it myself I would, but odds are I'd need him to come over. I would call him right back.

When I got back there, I could immediately see that it was not hanging itself on fencing. It was a cow (as in, female cow), and she looked like she'd had the bloating that had killed a steer a couple months ago. She was laying on her side, moaning. From the look of the feces around her, I bet she'd been that way several hours. KC had mentioned in conversation that most of his adult cows were pregnant, so I figured this one was pregnant too. So, it either had bloat, or it had some pregnancy related complication.  KC had better get over here.  I was quite proud of myself that 1- I recognized it was a cow (as opposed to steer) and 2- that it probably had bloat. My knowledge of cows was increasing!

As usual, he was here within 5 minutes, and he agreed that it was bloat. Because she was in fact pregnant, he was afraid to cut into her upper abdomen (kind of by the spine) to relieve the bloat as he normally would. He called the vet. His favorite vet was unavailable, so the back up vet promised to come right over, but their office was about 20 minutes away.  Several times he actually picked up the knife. The cow was obviously suffering, and he felt like he could relieve her pain quickly, but was afraid of complicating things.  Usually the vet will stick a tube down their throat and get the gas out that way, which is obviously the more hygienic way to do things. We tried to move her legs and massage her belly, hoping to get her to burp or fart. She did burp a few times, but her stomach was getting bigger, and it felt like a drum to the touch.

While we waited for the vet, he flipped the cow over a few times with my help. Flipped a very bloated, pregnant, 1200 lb animal is not easy. Not very clean either- she was in a pool of feces. So gross!

Vet finally got there about 3:20 or so, and with one look, she felt like cutting into the cow was the best route because of the emergent nature of the situation. The cow's breathing was getting more labored, and she seemed really in distress. So, she shaved a section of the cow, towards the top near the spine, about the midpoint of the left flank. She then sterilized the area as best she could, and then did what I guess is called an emergency rumenotomy. She then put a valve sort of thing on it. It looked an awful lot like a giant red corkscrew. She even screwed it in. As soon as it was screwed in, a sound like air escaping a tire sounded.  We could actually watch her belly go down. She still seemed a bit swollen, but a lot better.

The vet then gave her some antibiotics, and then a shot of something else that I guess gives them energy and makes them feel better.  The vet expected the cow to jump right up, but she didn't. She continued to lay on her side and moan. She wished us the best of luck and then left.  Honestly, I expected her to stick around until the cow was standing up again, but this was the first time I've ever actually seen a vet around a large animal, so what did I know? KC later confirmed he would've liked that better too.

After an hour of turning her occasionally, massaging her belly, and generally harassing her, trying to get her to stand up, or at least lay on her stomach instead of her side, we FINALLY got her standing. Her front legs were very very wobbly, but she was up!!

She only stayed up about 2 minutes and then laid back down, but at least she was laying in proper, healthy cow position. She was breathing much better, much more quietly. She also looked very angry and irritated. I'd been petting her and comforting her the whole time, and she seemed to like it. But now she really didn't want us touching her.

Finally, about 5:15 or so, two of KC's friends showed, really cowboys who definitely knew their way around cows. So, I left the cow and KC in their capable hands and went inside to shower because OH MY GOSH I stunk!!!!

She is 7 or so months along, and the vet did check on the baby while she was there. Baby was doing well, amazingly enough. I told KC that I'd love to watch her calve when the time came.

Further proof that I am not really a grownup

I have to admit that I was beginning to feel pretty smug. I was all the way into January, and I hadn't gotten sick. I was pleased that I was taking my vitamins, being healthy, washing my hands enough, blah blah blah.  To make it worse, J had been fighting off a cold for weeks.  Well, Karma can be a real *itch, and she smacked me down but good.

So, last Monday, I was feeling the tiniest bit of a sore throat, but didn't think it was any big deal- I blamed it on the smog/inversion in the air.  Then I woke up Tuesday. UGH.  So sick with a cold. Absolutely miserable.

Wednesday was even worse- by day's end my right ear was starting to hurt, and my voice was starting to go.

Thursday, I had no voice and my ear hurt even worse.

Friday, I managed to drag myself to a closing, even though I couldn't talk at all, and I was completely distracted by the pain in my ear.  I finally went to an instacare Friday night, hoping they could "fix" what I was sure was an ear infection.  The doctor didn't seem terribly impressed, but did say it was infected and gave me some antibiotics.  I mentioned that I'd started to notice a little bit of fluid coming out of my ear, and he asked if I'd been using ear drops. I said I had, but that there was more coming out than I'd ever put in. He noted that it was unusual for an adult to get an ear infection, and even less common for their eardrum to burst.

Saturday morning I woke up with all kinds of scary creepy goo coming out of my ear, and almost completely deaf on that side. Greeeeat! To make it even funner, my balance was completely gone, and I had a pretty good case of vertigo.

The weekend passed much the same way.

On Monday, I had a friend take me to an ear/nose/throat specialist, who confirmed that yes, my eardrum had burst, and yes, it probably had been really painful. He gave me stronger antibiotics (he very diplomatically said that he disagreed with the course I'd been given) and antibiotic ear drops.

I'm finally feeling comfortable driving- vertigo is pretty much gone unless I turn my head too quickly. Loud noises still bother me a lot, and I'm still mostly deaf and in some pain. But, I am starting to think I'll recover.  The doctor feels that my deafness is temporary.

Feeding the cows

I have to admit that I am quite the slacker cow mom. The cow guy has made it very, very easy. He loaded all of the hay he bought into the loft of the barn, bought an enormous tank (like small pool sized) for water, a big heater for it, and a big trough at the edge of the barn. He's got a pretty nice system to feed/water the cows. Because they're a herd, it's impossible to just feed his, or just feed mine. So, he's been feeding/watering all of the cows. He's said that when he runs out of hay, we'll move our hay over to the loft and go from there. We've got it covered pretty good with a tarp, so hopefully it'll be safe from the elements.

Anyway, yesterday, he called and said he was going out of town for the weekend, and would I be willing to feed/water the cows? Sure!  I've been feeling guilty that he's been going there twice a day and doing all the work. I definitely don't feel like he's getting the fair end here- doing all of the work. So, I jumped at the chance to feed them.

The cows were pretty excited to see me arrive to feed them. Bali, the bali steer was standing lengthwise in the trough, which made getting hay into it rather tricky. You can see Casanova on the far right, which Tbone right next to him. Tbone is still a pretty little guy, but he is getting bigger. He looks tiny compared to everyone else because he's several weeks younger.

I started to toss the alfalfa down, and hoped that Bali would get out of the way. Nope. None of the cows were terrible interested in moving, so by the end, Bali looked like a green monster.

Mermaid Costume

My seven year old, S, is obsessed with mermaids. She loves the show "H2O" and watches it frequently. When she swims, she tries to swim like a mermaid. When she bathes, she pretends to be a mermaid. She desperately wants to BE a mermaid.

For Christmas this year, I decided to make her a mermaid costume that I'd seen online.

It was going to be a little tricky, because I wanted it to be a surprise.  I bought a monofin from amazon. I bought 3 yards of swimsuit fabric at the store. I want to make a matching swimming suit to go with it. I borrowed an old one piece pattern from my mom, but I'm thinking I'd like to have it be a tankini. But, I'll admit that 3 yards was definitely overkill on fabric, so I could easily make 4 or 5 swimming suits with the leftover fabric.

Then, I got a large piece of butcher paper, and told S that I was going to trace her body on the paper so she could make a life sized mermaid version of herself to color as a fun activity. She thought it was a great idea, and had a blast making her mermaid.  She made her mermaid, cut it out and decorated it.

When she was distracted with other things, I measured her waist and cut out an elastic waistband from that. She was busy coloring her mermaid tail, so she didn't really even think about what I was measuring her waist for and why.

After she went to bed, I folded the bottom fin up, since I'd just guessed how that would be shaped. Then, I laid the monofin and the mermaid paper on my fabric, and cut it out like the directions. I used a sharpie, and drew about an inch bigger than the paper, and a little bit less on the thinner part of the fin.













Sewing it up was surprisingly fast- I had it sewn within 10 minutes. 

 Christmas morning came, and I was so excited to see her reaction.  She was just as thrilled as I'd hoped she would be. She can't wait to go swimming while wearing the fin. I plan to be right by her side because the mermaid swimming can be kind of tricky, and frankly, I am not sure she'll actually want to do much swimming with it on. For now thought, it's been a lot of fun for her.