Just need to talk to my friends ,(193)

Lorita

Ron, thanks for posting the page from Doug's stuff. So very true. There's always someone with more problema than we have. Brought tears to my eyes. During my time at the VA Hospital I saw so many veterans with the sane attitude as the young man.

You know I have never seen a bluebird except in pictures. I think there was one in Song of the South.

Thanks, Sara, I don't know all that's going on but when I talk with Sarah I hear how she strains to talk and the pain in her voice. I've tried and tried to have her get into Hospice. I think that might be a comfort to both of them. It worries me every time my phone rings.

Had a nice visit with my cousin's wife. He passed away in early 2023. She is having rehab on her arm. She had a really bad case of shingles in July and it was so bad on her arm she quit moving it very much so it sort of froze.

Stormy has been upset this morning because of the driveway alarm -first Toad feeding and then FedEx. Just got settled and the propane man came to fill our tank. I called and he came an hour later. The woman said they were busy and a driver short so he must have had other customers in this area to deliver. Glad I called when I did. Got the dishes done and am thinking about making the peach cobbler.

Sara, Darwin would enjoy being on the front porch with us. He actually has been many times.

Iris L.

Lorita, abandoning a patient is unethical! I'm angry for her!

What is in the girls' feed? How is the hay kept dry in the rain and snow?

I keep an eye on all my cats while they are eating because they may all try to eat from the same plate. I feed them on paper plates so that I have less to clean.

Iris

Mimi50

Iris my husband and I have one cat named Ellie. She is tiny and full of attitude. We have our dog Buster too. He is brown and just so sweet.

JeriLynn66

Oh my this wind is blowing so cold today, heavy rain starting early evening. I keep telling myself Spring is coming even though Winter is barely here. My DH gets a little stir crazy when he can’t get outside. We should’ve built a bigger barn to include a workshop for him ( I tried, he said no. Who was right? Lol)

We see occasional bluebirds at our place. Symbolic of happiness, hope and renewal! Everyone needs that.

Lorita, I have to agree with Sayra about the Doctor releasing Sarah from Care. Something doesn’t add up. But we’ll continue to pray and hope for Sarah that she finds the right person to lead her care.

Iris, I found a nice Avocado Oil on sale today and was happy to get such a good price.

We took a new Bread Machine to one of the granddaughters today. I sent another Granddaughter an Amazon order of TP, paper towels and trash bags . With young families they always can use household staples. My 19 year old granddaughter and I have planned a trip to New York City for April!! I’m so looking forward to this 😁

Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee was 1/2 price today so I’m going to make myself a cup now..

Mint

Iris i looked into can a physician in Ohio discontinue their relationship with a patient. They can and there is a procedure to follow. The physician must notify the patient, and there’s certain ways they have to notify the patient. The patient is made aware they have 30 days to find a new physician and they will no longer see them after that 30 days. My understanding is this is a state thing so it’ll vary state to state as to what the rules are.

An example I have is I worked with a physician that was competent, respectful of staff and patients and I had never heard him raise his voice. One day I was working in ICU and I heard his voice being extremely loud. He was telling the patient if he signed himself out that he would get a letter from their office, and he would have 30 days to find himself a new physician and they would not be caring for him anymore after that. Found out the reason behind the tirade was the patient just had some kind of a major cardiac procedure, and was going to sign their self out. I didn’t have anything to do with that patient and I’m not sure if they signed out or not but I know I had never seen that physician like that before. So obviously he knew the Ohio Law.

jfkoc

"HER PCP called and told her he wasn't going to be her doctor anymore. Can't do anything to help so he drops her. This has happened before. What has happened to compassion for the patient. How the medical profession has changed since I worked with doctors. What do you do when your doctor does that?"

In Oklahoma;

• What are the reasons a patient can be dismissed? SoonerCare members can be dismissed from a PCP’s panel with good cause and written request. Cause for dismissal must be one or more of the following:

▪ Rude or disruptive behavior

. ▪ Non-compliance with medical regime.

▪ Deterioration of provider/patient relationship.

▪ No-shows. ▪ Inactive member = member not seen by provider in at least 24 months

Mimi50

I feel like I am among friends too.

Lorita

Mimi, you are among friends. We all care for each other and worry when someone doesn't post. Glad you found the thread.

Iris, I'm angry, too, but there's nothing I can do. I've listened in on a couple of doctor's visit and didn't hear anything disruptive - Judith has also been at a couple of the visits.

About the hay - the bales weigh 1800 lbs. and are wrapped in three layers of netwrap to keep the hay tight and the wrap sheds the water so it's much better than the heavy twine that was used before the netwrap. When we feed, we take the bale out to the hayrings, cut the netwrap off and put the bale in the hayrings. They're 6-8 ft. across. The last ones I bought were so heavy I could barely lift them up to get them over the hay. The hay doesn't stay dry when it's being fed - the girls eat it anyway. I can remember several times years ago when we had freezing rain and snow. Charles and I had to beat the ice off the bales so we could get the netwrap off.

I'm not sure what all is in the feed. They grind their own - I know there's corn and I think he said roasted soybeans plus other things. They also put antibiotics in it to prevent illnesses in the winter as much as they can.

When we were feeding we used 50 lb. sacks of range cubes. They also had corn and other grains in them. We used to feed the big ones - about l-3". After we fed one day one of the girls got choked and died so after that we started using creep feed - about 1/4th the size or less than the cubes. Much easier for the cows to eat and it took longer so the amount of feed each one had was closer to the same. You know about the cow who died - there were other cows around her -she had a little calf and one of those cows took her baby and raised it along with hers. I always felt like that was something unusual like the cow knew the other one was gone so she wanted to care for her baby.

When Charles and I fed we also kept liquid feed in tanks so the girls could lick the licks that would bring the liquid up to them. Also kept out mineral tubs and creep feed for the little ones. I really miss doing all of that but lifting those sacks after Charles was gone got to be really hard. He used to lift and put them in the bunk feeders and I'd open the sacks and empty them.

Toad has a feeder on his truck where they put the feed and he drives up by the feeders and opens the chute and the feed goes in. Much easier that way. So that's feeding in a nutshell. I know that's more than you wanted to know but I got started and couldn't stop.

So far they don't have creepfeeders out for the babies nor the liquid feed. The mineral feeders are the same as the liquid feed - just cooked until they have to lick it.

Iris, I also feed our cats in paper plates - much easier. How's Simon?

JeriLynn, I've never used avocado oil. When we still had the grocery store in our town I looked for it and they didn't have it. I'm sure WM probably does. I better stop and see what's going on. Finally got Sheena and Stormy outside before dark - it was so cold. The wind had blown some of the gates in the corral almost closed so had to go out and open them. The girls will go into the barn if it starts to rain - says it might early in the morning. It looks like most of January will be really cold and snowy. Maybe the persimmon seeds were right.

See you all tomorrow. Sleep well.

JeriLynn66

Lorita, the Jack Daniel facility near here in Lincoln County Tennessee has a feeder program that farmers use to feed sour mash to their cattle. Saves the facility money as they don’t have to pay for disposal of the whiskey byproduct. It stinks to high heaven 🤣

Iris L.

JeriLynn, are you saying that the Tennessee cows are allowed to get drunk? Just kidding, I know they don't get drunk, I don't think.

Lorita, you told me quite a lot about cow feeding. I only think about cows eating grass.

Simon is still hanging in. He eats well, and wants to eat the regular cat food along with the pureed cat food that is special for older frail cats. He is supposed to be on a kidney disease diet, but he refused to eat it, so the vet said to let him eat what he wants to eat. He's been living with kidney disease for almost two years. Kidney disease is progressive and terminal in cats. But he is doing okay, so far.

Iris

Bluebird

Iris my cat kidney disease. Your cat is doing much better than mine. Mine only lived about 6 months.

We had snow last night so I think I’ll make taco soup like someone mentioned earlier.

Thanks for those of you who told me about the librarian, Mychal Threets. I have not heard of him. He sounds amazing.

Mimi50

Good morning to all of my porch friends. I am going to be gone until Monday. My Nanny job awaits. My sister has A 10 year old daughter. 7 year old son. Our son Joshua will be caring for his Dad while I am gone. Keep my rocking chair seat available. I will be back.

harshedbuzz

Good morning.

It's the calm before the storm here this morning. We've got weather coming this afternoon but right now it's not especially clear what we're getting. I live along the I-95 corridor which is a dividing line for weather here; as is often the case the weather maps seemingly cut through my back yard making it anyone's guess which side we'll land on. It's weird, I am 5.8mi north of my mom's house and we often have rain when she's dry or snow when she's got rain.

Once when my son was in kindie, he got snowed in at school. His bus had slid off the road into a ditch coming to collect the kids along with a few other bus incidents, so they canceled transportation. By the time we were notified it was too late to safely pick him up even in the Jeep Wrangler. The head of school kept calling insisting it "wasn't that bad" and 10 miles north of the school we had a 3' snow drift in front of our door. Around 10pm, the main roads were finally mostly cleared enough that we were able to get out of the neighborhood. There was way more snow than forecasted near us, but by the time we crossed I-95 there was barely a dusting. The head of school lives about 4 miles north of us. He left when we picked DS up and it took him almost 2 hours to make it home in his little Toyota.

At the moment, my watch and phone are giving snow @2pm switching over to rain by 5pm. DH says TWC is calling for 5-7" of snow here. EPAWA says 2" slush with rain by 8pm. WU says 3-4" snow starting at 1pm and changing over around 5pm. AW says a coating starting around 5pm. My money's on EPAWA.

I need to take my trees down. I'll miss them-- especially Barbie. It's a bit of color in an otherwise dreary time of year. I think I'll send my son out to take down the outside lights before whatever precipitation starts. He and I kind of phoned that in, so it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes.

HB

jfkoc

We have reached the last of the 12 days of Christmas. Time to pack it away until next year. Sigh...

Interesting about feeding cows. Still do not understand about all of the gates. Does Darwin have as many as you?

Mint

We will save your seat Mimi.

Some of you mentioned you like to share recipes. A lot of us here like that too.

HB hope you don’t get too much snow or worse yet ice. It’s just starting to lightly snow here. We are not supposedly going to get a lot.

Fixed a country style rib with vegetables for lunch and had a small amount of my homemade sauerkraut. It turned out nice this year. Made a peach galette it turned out nice. Baked it in a cast iron skillet though so had to remove it once it was cool. Kind of tore it up doing that . Looks a bit more like cobbler. It tastes good though. Had a little for lunch and will have a little with ice cream for supper if Im not too cold lol.

Take care everyone

JeriLynn66

We are in the middle of nowhere Alabama picking up more lumber. 😂 The rain has moved out but it’s gloomy more wind (50 mph) on Monday. Yuk. I may need some retail therapy 🤑

Lorita

Morning, Not a pleasant one - cloudy, damp and cold. Stormy went out early and when he came in his hair was wet. Girls heard Toad's truck on the road east of us and thought it might be feed day so they sort of followed him along until they came to a fence. Now they're down in the NE pasture grazing - I imagine the heifers are also.

HB, in Oklahoma it seems we have three cut-off areas for weather; I-44, I-40 and I-35. I worked about 30 miles from home and many times it would be so bad here that I couldn't even get to the highway (7 miles) and when I'd call in, the weather there would be fine. Frustrating.

Judith, I can't think of any farm around here that has a cattle barn with a corral around it - that's the reason for so many gates - having the ability to confine them in separate places if the need arises. I think there's eight separate places including the barn. In the pastures, the crossfencing with gates is to rotate them through the pastures. We used to do that and Buck (remember our horse?) used to make them change pastures. Darwin's barn is for equipment only - he has a corral about half a mile from his house with several gates.

I know I can't do anything to help resolve Sarah's problems - only suggest and most of the time she doesn't or can't follow through - example is hospice. I know part of it is because she's so sick and just doesn't have the energy to do what needs to be done. Todd is depressed, I'm sure. He can't work because he has to be there with her. He's overwhelmed as we know caregivers can be. It's a very sad case.

Sara, your food sounds really good. Charles used to smoke country style ribs and they were really good. Hope you don't get much snow. They're not sure what we'll get either - depends on how far the front goes - south and we'll get snow, farther north and it'll be rain.

Mimi, your rocker will always be here. Enjoy your time away.

Not feeling on top of the world this morning headache (sinus problems I imagine) and sniffles (goes along with it). Yesterday and the day before thought I might be getting a UTI so stayed away from pop and sweets and forced water. This morning it's okay.

Iris, I agree with the vet and what my grandma always said - if you can keep food down, you'll be all right. We've lost two dogs to kidney failure - just remembered they were both from the same litter, a few years apart. I found seven little puppies someone had put off in a ditch in mid summer. No water, no food. Brought them home - discovered they had mange - so dipped them and got them through that. We gave five away and kept two. Those were the ones who had kidney failure. Really hurt to let them go, too. I'm glad Simon is still eating and doing pretty well.

What you think about cows eating grass is probably what most people think. There's a lot to running cattle - they come first, before what we need - and it's expensive, too. Toad and Mike start feeding about 6 a.m. and don't finish until about 9 - rain, shine or snow. He said they feed about 5,000 bales of hay during the winter. But we love doing it.

Darwin was a big farmer north of here and when he moved down here he bought cattle and grew to really enjoy it. He tells me he misses working with his cows, too. Patsy once told me she had learned a lot about cattle - she had thought they were just dumb, old cows out in the pasture. They are not - they're very smart.

JeriLynn, I bet there's a lot of contented cows in Tennesee.I bet that does smell bad - wonder if it affects the taste of the milk. I know some weeds do.

Better stop before i lose this. I'll be back. Need to go to the mailbox and check the girls.

ronald71111

Went yesterday to the dentist for mouth appliance due to not being able to tolerate cpap. Come to find out that mouth appliance really need some teeth to attach to. He told me he would do what he could, but without teeth he didn't feel it would help. I told him when I was talking to the sleep Dr I had my dentures in and he probably thought I had teeth. We ended up talking about inplants and he thought it might be possible to do upper as well as the lower. Before oral surgeon said I didn't have enough bone for uppers. This Dr I talked with yesterday was the head of dental clinic and took new impressions and xrays. Told me that he, oral surgeons and staff would discuss what they find from xrays and 20th of Feb I will come back to discuss my options. Also, tommorow I meet with Gastrologist to discuss the 2nd pet scan 6 months after the gastroscopy with ultrasound didn't find a nodule and pet scan still showed one at the gastroesophageal junction that was still 2cm. At least whatever it is, it's not growing.

Lou has been real good the past few days and hopefully I'll make it to church tommorow. Still soggy and wet outside and no more rain till Monday.

Ron

Lorita

Back again - Ron, hope it all works out for you to be able to get something to help with your sleep apnea. So glad Lou has been easier to care for the past few days. Seems it comes and goes - Darwin has the same problems and he's always so happy when things go well.

I just did an in-home covid test. I mentioned I wasn't feeling too well and I've been kind of worried about being in closed cars with people (salesmen). It's negative. At first it was all sort of pink, then the line showing negativity appeared.

I've been watching Planet Earth shows. The first one was about Africa and it mentioned that Mount Kilimanjaro has lost 80% of it's ice. He said in a few years there won't be any ice on any of the mountains in Africa. How can anyone doubt global warming.

Later it showed a piece about mirages. Have any of you ever seen a mirage? I have a couple of times - each time I was on my way home from work, late afternoon on an east-west road. All of a sudden a mountain appeared in front of me, probably a mile or two down the road. As I got closer it disappeared. There are no mountains in this area - just a few big hills that we call mountains. I think it's usually water people see. I think my mother told me she saw one on her way home from work - water that time on a south-north road. Really weird.

JeriLynn, be careful out there. Wood - for a fireplace or fences?

Lorita

JeriLynn66

Lorita, this load are all 2x6x16 pressure treated boards for flooring the trailers we use to haul stuff. 1 board at Lowe’s is $38. He got these for $14 each. We did find a little country cafe for plate lunches while we were out. The food was delicious!!

Lorita

JeriLynn, you got a really good buy. Good for you. Ridiculous how high lumber is.

You know sometimes those little. Country cafes have the best food. We've found a few of them. We were way down south of OKC when we saw one and it didn't look too awfully good but there were cars there(good sign,) So thought we'd get a cup of coffee. We ordered breakfast and like you said it was delicious.

Just put the additives in the PU, went to the mailbox, saw the girls and learned a little more about the car.

I was lucky to avert what could have been a bad thing.. I was getting ready to go, put on my shoes, got up and for some reason lost my balance and fell against the chair arm, into the chair. The chair arms are hard and it peeled about an inch and half of skin off the top of my right wrist. I could have broken it but didn't. Got most of the bleeding stopped, put on Neosporin and bandaged it. I was lucky but there will be a scar, among others. It's chilly and cloudy so I'm in for the night- I hope.

Caro_Lynne

Lorita, glad you are ok! Same thing happened to my LO except I don't know how or where he fell; it was overnight. Anyways, coincidentally we had an appt. with his PCP a couple of days out and she said not to cover it. Said it will heal faster and just watch for signs of infection if it gets red around the edges. Gave me script for antibiotics in case it gets infected.

Hope anyone in the path of the winter storm(s) stay safe. xo

Lorita

Thanks Caro. I'll put a loose dressing over it when I go to bed. The loose skin is still there,- thought I could get it back over the skinned place but couldn't.

Glad your husband's fall wasn',t too bad. Hope he gets along okay.

It's not even 4:30 and it's almost dark. Filled both water tanks so the girls will have water if they go to the barn tonight. The float valve was a little frozen but got it started. Girls and babies are stopping by for a drink before going to the hay. Kind of anxious to see the weather tonight.

jfkoc

I was told to count to 10 when I stand up; when you shift from lying down or sitting to standing, your blood pressure drops because blood pools in your legs temporarily when you stand up, and it takes the body a moment to compensate by squeezing blood out of the large veins in your legs and revving up the heart a bit. 

Mint

Has been a very dark evening here too Lorita.

My mom used to talk about their cow eating wild inions in the summer and then they couldn’t drink the milk.

Lorita you may already do this but if i keep my ears covered especially when windy seems to help a lot with the sinus issue for me.

Isn’t it nice Ron when we get a break in behavior for a few days?

Have never seen a mirage Lorita, that would be odd. You be real careful.

Iris L.

Yes Lorita, you should try to pause before you stand up. I'm sorry you got wounded! I have to pause when I get up at night because my legs are stiff and don't move well. Last night I awoke at 3 am and could not fall back asleep until 6 am, then slept until noon. I don't like to sleep the morning away. It's 3:30 pm now, and I'm still in my pj's. I can't seem to get myself going.

Ron, every night I have been using the CPAP, but last night I forgot. I would like to use an oral mouthpiece instead of CPAP. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks with the sleep doctor, I'll see what he says.

Iris

Lorita

Thanks Judith and Iris. I will try to remember to do that. Also, Sara, I bet that would help.

Iris, I had my gown on until I went to the mailbox. I'm back in it now. No need to change unless we're going somewhere.

I took the bandage off and tried to get the skin back in place but only got about half back. It started to burn so put a loose gauze dressing over it. My long sleeves bother it. Also. Noticed a small cut and bruise on my wrist bone. It's a wonder I don't fall over Sammy who is always walking in front of me and laying down.

Supposed to be in low 50s tomorrow with rain Monday night and Tuesday. Lows in teens end of week. Not ready for that.

Sara, I grew up on raw milk and sometimes in the summer the cows would eat bitter weeds. Made the milk taste awful. Have you ever heard of blue john in relation to milk?

Iris L.

Lorita, I have learned to shuffle my feet in the evening, or when I go into the hallway or a dark room. This is because one of my cats is dark gray and he is always underfoot, I have stepped on him several times, so far he hasn't been hurt. But I have fallen! That's why I shuffle. We can't afford to get hurt at our ages. If you keep the wound clean and dry, it should heal nicely.

Iris

Mint

Lorita i think i remember my grandpa calling milk blue john. Think he was referring to milk with fat removed. Is that correct?