Aug. 29, 2003 ~ Herding Cats
I never had much interest in alcohol, as I don't like the feeling of being out of control. And pain pills are not for me, as I can't stand that "spacey" sensation. I used to be... well, confident of my physical strength and endurance. It was not a problem to unload a half ton of feed, alone, or put a similar amount of hay in the barn. This, they say, is why I have the spine of a much older person. Live and learn, right? You young whippersnappers, be careful of that heavy lifting! Right. Like anyone will listen. I never really believed I was invincible, but did think of myself as healthy and capable.
What bothers me most about having health problems is the loss of control. My once-strong body now seems like a collection of parts. And those parts, at times, are like a bunch of unruly kids going wild in a classroom. Just when I think things are going smoothly, one part or another will decide to act up. Do I speak gently with these "problem children," or should I take a firm approach?
"Little Wrist, what seems to be the problem now? Are our tendons giving us some trouble again? And what is happening with you, Thumb, and you, Hand? My goodness, weren't we all getting along so nicely just yesterday?"
Gains are slow in coming, and sometimes easily lost. I'd done just a tiny bit too much, recently. You see, it's hard to know just exactly how much is too much. It's trial and error. I'd picked up a nearly empty sack of feed, tentatively, and decided it would be okay. But it wasn't. It wasn't nearly empty, and it wasn't okay. Now bear in mind, it probably only weighed 15 pounds, but that was too much for my back. And maybe it was that same sack, or maybe it was picking up a can of vegetables at the grocery store, but something made my wrist and hand start hurting worse, just when I'd been commenting on their improvement. One thing gets better, and another, then various parts go a little wonky. Trying to keep everything running smoothly, well, it's those unruly children again.
And maybe it's a bit like herding cats.
Much as I would like to be in control, I'm not.
So I will try to control the things I can, and try to be strong in other ways, if physical strength is momentarily (or permanently) lacking.
On a positive note, I was able to walk out into the back pasture this morning and visit with the herd. Do you remember our last sick calf, the heifer who was so terribly ill? She'd lost her sight, and could barely move, and for a while I had to bottle feed her, because she couldn't even stand up. Oh, and that's bad, feeding them when they're lying down. It's to be done only as a last resort. So. She's now about a month old, at least, and while she isn't a bouncing, healthy girl, she is still with us. Her vision seems to have returned, and she gets around pretty good, though she creaks and crackles when she walks. The infection damaged her joints, it seems. She does run, sometimes, and play with the other calves. Her "switch" is gone, the hairy tip of her tail. So she is left with this stubby tail, a disadvantage when swatting flies. A cow could have stepped on her switch, injuring it, or a dog or coyote could have bitten it off. Unfortunately, that happens. They chase the cows and bite at their legs, sometimes sinking their teeth into flesh. Or tails.
Susan agrees with my theory about how the babies might be getting the infections. Newborn calves do not typically drink from a pond, nor do they usually even set foot into a pond for a while after they're born. But twice we've had newborn calves walk out into the water, and both calves wound up with serious umbilical infections, which became systemic, and could have killed them. Older calves and cows have some resistance to germs, but newborns are much more vulnerable. I don't know of any way to keep calves out of the ponds, if this is indeed what's causing the infections, but at least it would explain it.
It is 94 degrees here now, which qualifies as a cool August day. I am SO ready for fall! I love spring and fall. I have never really believed the calendar when it came to the seasons. As far as I'm concerned, summer happens when school is out, and fall should start whenever school is back IN. Well, it would be nice if it worked that way!
Did you see Mars? Someone mentioned it in a journal entry I read last night, so I got up from the computer and stepped outside. We've had cloudy nights this week, but last night there were clear patches of sky, with lots of stars shining through, and sure enough, there was Mars! I didn't know what I was looking for, had no clue what it was supposed to look like or where it was supposed to be, so I just looked for something different. And found it! It was the biggest, brightest thing in the sky, other than the moon, and it had a yellowish-orange cast. College Boy came out to look at it, too. Then the clouds shifted, and that was that. I looked online, and it turned out that Mars was exactly where it was supposed to be, and looked how it was supposed to look. So sometimes you don't need to know a whole lot of details to notice something special.
The headlight fits on College Boy's car, and in fact, it's clearer than his other lights. It's truly from the same model car, it's just that the plastic parts of his lights had aged and yellowed, somehow. They had some problems with condensation. Tiny cracks, maybe? This one is in better shape. Maybe we should replace them all? We'll have to see about that.
Hope you all have a nice weekend. Be careful out there!
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