Jun. 11, 2003 ~ This and that
Today is College Boy's 22nd birthday! Happy Birthday, Son! Yesterday a birthday card arrived from Afghanistan, which really made CB's day. Son has to go to school and work today, but we will have cake tonight. Store-bought, per his request. He likes that ultra-sweet icing on the bakery cakes.
No word yet on Mr. Billy. It's early morning still. Hopefully he's doing fine. (Written later in the day -- He's home from the hospital now. Don't know what the problem was yet, but the important thing is that he was well enough to come home. Thanks so much for all your prayers!)
Speaking of early morning, I just did such a dumb, dumb thing. I was supposed to go to the doctor to have some blood drawn, and I knew this, absolutely. Had written myself a little note, right by the computer... two notes, actually, that say, "Blood work early, no food!" Usually I sit down at the computer and at least check email before heading outside. But it was thundering, and the weather forecast was that it just might rain (fat chance!), so I went out and shuffled animals around. Horses into one pasture, cows into another. On the way back to the house, I picked a few plums for our friend who is planning to stop by this morning. And as is my habit when picking fruit (can you see what's coming?), I popped a small sweet, ripe plum into my mouth. No sooner had I swallowed the juicy pulp than I remembered the tests! Too late. I'll have to go tomorrow morning instead. I am mentally kicking myself. Thirty minutes later and I would have been heading to the doctor's office! It usually takes two days for the lab work, which means instead of having the results on Friday, it will be Monday. That means a delay in treatment or medication, if anything is needed. sigh...
Husband has accidentally eaten, on the morning of his tests, so I always put a LOT of notes out for him. On the bathroom mirror, kitchen table, refrigerator door, etc. Guess I'm going to have to do the same thing for myself tomorrow. Maybe I should put notes on the fruit trees, too!
Doc says tendonitis in both the elbow and hand, though for the life of me, I can't figure out how that could happen. The elbow hadn't even hurt until he pressed on a certain spot. He mentioned a possible shot in the elbow joint. Husband asked why I hadn't taken it, since a similar shot had helped him so much. But I couldn't have a shot in every joint that hurt, so what would be the point? Ah, well.
Our hay supplier has had his first cutting of hay baled. Because of our lack of rain, there is not much grass, and not much hay. We're only going to be able to get half of what we need for the upcoming year. And as our friend pointed out, if we don't get some rain pretty soon, we're going to have to start feeding hay NOW. Instead of November. You can imagine the financial damage that would do, to me, to all of us. It has never made sense to me, but here's what happens. Drought means there is not enough grass or hay for the animals, so people start thinning out their herds, which drives beef prices down. You will not see any change in the grocery store beef prices, though. The lack of rain also means higher prices for us at the feed store, so people start thinning their herds even further. Beef prices drop again, though you will still not see a change at the stores, except that the prices of cereals and grains may go UP. Grocery store prices do not make sense to me, based on what I see. When beef is plentiful and farmers and ranchers are paid very little for their animals, grocery store prices don't seem to change. But when beef is in short supply (usually the year after a drought) and we receive higher prices for our animals, the store prices seem to shoot up right away. Go figure.
Hay is such a challenge. We used to have our own pasture baled, but have just about given up on that. We still refer to one of our pastures as "the hay meadow," though we haven't baled hay there since a two-year drought wiped out the grass. We've replanted several times and it's grassy again, but while waiting for the field to come back, we learned the value of buying hay elsewhere. There's an expression, "You've got to make hay while the sun shines." Well, you do. You can only cut hay when the weather is right, and then you have to pray that it doesn't rain on the cut hay before it can be baled. In the summer, there is nearly always a chance for scattered showers, so the hay business is one big gamble. I feel sorry for the ones who cut and bale, because sometimes they labor all day, hot and sweaty, riding on tractors in bumpy fields, only to have a major storm ruin the cut hay. Usually, they have to take the loss. They are usually paid by the bale, and if there are no bales, they don't get paid. We fertilized our hay meadow, and if the cut hay got rained on and ruined, we were out the money for the fertilizer. If we buy hay, though, we are buying a sure thing. Someone else is taking the risk, and it's really about the same cost as if we cut our own.
A new hay guy did the work this year, and he baled much tighter, heavier bales than what we are used to. We wonder if our tractor will be able to lift them.
Well, I think it's time for an early nap. That's enough rambling for now.
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