A Family Visit

Ususally when Emily, Daren, Madison and Trestin come to visit...most of my pictures are of Madison.. You know being a little girl and all...

Well - not this time. For some reason, this time..most of my pictures are of Trestin...



..and before you ask, No, Daren did not ride the bike with the baby on the back!

Sorry It Took Me So Long...

..to get some good pictures up...but here is Esme and her 2 Mothers!

Update on Don..

Thank You Jesus!
We had our BIG appointment yesterday and found out that Don is CLEAR of Hepatitis!!! YEAH!!!!! We are so excited. What does this mean?

Here are the "specifics"
1. He only has a 10% chance of getting Hepatitis C again.
2. If he is showing clear again at his next appointment in 3 months, he only has a 1% chance of it reoccurring.
3. His liver function - as it is now is acceptable and if it does not get worse, he can live the rest of his life with it the way it is.
4. His red blood cell count is good. His white blood cell and his platelet counts are low, but will be low for the rest of his life.
5. There seems to be an equal chance that his liver function could either improve some, stay the same or deteriorate in the future.

We are just going to concentrate on it getting better!!!

..and the best part of all.. Don no longer views his (many) doctors as people to run from... but instead, he sees them now as his team mates - all of them working with him to keep him HEALTHY!

Something Unique ...

If you know me ...or have at least read my blog for long enough - yoiu will get the idea that I LOVE LOVE LOVE unique and handmade items....even BETTER if they have a Victorian flair to them....well here is something that just twisted my brain up...(in a good way!)

Look at these beautiful dog collars...


and leads.

and OM Gosh - even charms for the collars!
Sadly - I don't get any $$ or coupons or even a thank you for showing you these products.... I just think that they are really cool!

www.collierleeds.com

Meet Esme..

Our newest baby lamb. I will try to get some better pictures as soon as the sun comes out again!

Good News / Bad News

We have 3 ewe's that I know are pregnant. One was so large, I was sure she was carrying twins. Well this morning as Don was feeding, he heard the common deep "Baaaa's" and a little high pitched "baaaaa". He ran over to the sheep paddock to see a tiny lamb standing between the 2 older ewes that we have. Both of them seem to be protecting the lamb. I went out to see the new edition and caught sight of something else. Another small lamb lay dead further down by the fence. So now I am left to wonder...did both ewe's give birth last night or did only one give birth to twins with only one surviving?

On a brighter side, I entered these pictures in a photography contest sponsored by the Miniature Cheviot Sheep Assoc. I hope I win!

Poor Don...

..had to have 7 tubes of blood drawn for his next series of blood tests. Our next appointment is on Monday the 29Th of March. It will tell us if the chemotherapy he has been taking worked!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It is also my Birthday! Yeah - I am now Thirty-eighteen!

Hysterectomy Update..

As some of you know, I had to have a full hysterectomy last Summer. By "full" I mean that my Uterus and both of my ovaries were removed. I had fibroid tumors that were growing at the speed of light and my uterus was the size of a woman carrying a 22 week old fetus by the time I had my surgery. Anyway, this operation threw me into what is called 'surgical menopause'. I was fine for about 10 days and then WHAM! I was a basket case. I started taking a synthetic hormone since I do not like the way the mares are treated to excrete what is needed to make the Premarine (spelling??) hormone. (for those of you who do not know - this most popular hormone is made from mares urine)

The synthetic drug did NOTHING for me. I might as well have been taking sugar pills. I was miserable. I was having 10-20 hot flashes a day and crying my eyes out. My hot flashes did not feel hot like "temperature hot" but hot like someone had cut me open and implanted Jalapeno peppers inside of me!

I had no choice but to change my meds to a low dose patch of Premarine. It took about 2 days, but I felt much better on this drug. My crying episodes stopped and my hot flashes went down to just a couple per week.

Six months after my surgery though, I was still having hot flashes and they seemed to be on the increase - now at least 1 per day. Add to this, I felt a horrible sense of dread. Now - I am one of the most upbeat, positive, love to laugh people out there. I have never had a problem with depression, so this was quite new to me. I hated being alone. I found myself much more sensitive and easily got my feelings hurt.

I contacted my doctor and again we have changed my hormone meds. I was just wondering if any of you ladies have experienced this? If so, can you share your experiences with me. If you don't want to post it on the blog - please e-mail me at juliesize@yahoo.com

Thanks!

Enough To Make a Mother's Stomach Churn...

Yep...I am the one who introduced Joy to the fun of riding and owning a motorcycle..

..but she took it to a different level. Joy races her bike..Yikes!

..and this last weekend - she went down at the track for the first time....DOUBLE YIKES!Thankfully, she is totally fine. She went down in the grass instead of the pavement...but (GULP) this picture made my stomach flip over a few times!

New Story Posted ...

on www.equusgirl.blogspot.com

Sorry It Has Been So Long...

..since I last posted - but if you follow my sidesaddle blog www.ridingaside.blogspot.com you know why. I have been away at a show. It is peak show season for us right now and I cover 1 to 2 horse shows per month. My schedule can be crazy to say the least!

Anyway - I thought I would post this just for fun. It is called the Redneck Horse Blanket!....and NOOOO - this is not a picture of my horse!

Remember When I Said There Are 2 Things ...

that I always long for this time of the year ..well as you remember the first was a greenhouse..but the other is chickens!

This is the season for adorable baby chicks.

..that grow up into some of the most interesting characters..

..but without a sufficient hen house, any chickens we would have would be taken by a rather large hawk population we have in our area.

Okay - so I had to laugh when I saw this picture. I LOVE details, but don't think that any hen house we may own in the future will include a fancy light fixture like this one!

..but Oh - the bounty!

A New Chapter is Posted..

..on www.equusgirl.blogspot.com
in the "Buys a Farm" story if you are interested.