Family, Friends, Feathers, Fun

Our last night on the beach was blessed with a beautiful sky.  (You can also see how calm the water was.  It was pretty much like that the whole time.  I was able to take Sadie and Allie out one at a time, to float on the boogie board.  They loved it.)

Anyway, back to our last night, we went for a walk down the beach.  Sadie wanted to go the the pier (1 mile away) but it was too late to make it there and back.  I reminded her that I asked for her to take a walk that morning.  At the time she said, "you are wasting all my play time by taking a walks."  After the walk, she said she didn't know it would be so much fun.  

Because you just never know what you will see.  Harley the parrot was out on the beach showing off again.  I saw him last year.  You can check that out HERE

And there were two turtle nests that were being watched for hatching.  We didn't go back to check but it was interesting talking to the official watchers.  

Yesterday morning was our last chance to play.  I had gotten this flying rubbery disc at the Big Bin Dealz Store.  It was much easier to throw and softer to catch than a frisbee.  

Allie was particularly good at it.  Unfortunately, we left it on the beach.  Good thing it was only a dollar.  

Our sand castle building improved.  The last one was the best.  

And Birdie even made the "surf squad" necklaces out of shells she and her mother had found on the beach.  

Sadie and Allie showed them off for Mike and Virginia when they got home. 

Well, maybe Allie was more interested in riding her bike.  

As a bonus, Carol and I got one also.  I've never made a friend at the beach before, but Birdie's mom was awesome.  I guess there is a first time for everything.  
 

Sunday At The Beach

Sunday morning got off to a good start with bacon, eggs, toast and jelly for breakfast.  But on our walk in n the beach took a turn. 

Sadie reached down to pick up something out of the surf and got cut. 

It was a rusty fish hook. (She is fine).  But that was the worst thing for the day. 

Sadie’s new friend Birdie came out to play.  They played in the surf, 

and build sandcastles under the tent. 

After Birdie went in for lunch Sadie looked for shells with Birdie’s mom. Allie had already given up and gone in with Carol. 

I was finally able to pull Sadie away from the beach and we went to Shaka Taco for lunch. Afterwards, we went shopping for new beachwear. They needed something to cover more of their rear ends to keep from burning worse. (Just a little red from the first day). 

I found Allie a cut swimsuit. But couldn’t find anything for Sadie but a dress made of swimsuit material.  She was perfectly happy with a dress. 

 We ended the day on the beach flying kites. After dinner we watched Jumanji.  Allie said she wasn’t old enough for it so she went to bed. Sadie watched the whole thing and wanted to watch it again this morning. We ended up watching g 1/3 an hour of Boss Baby for Allie after breakfast this morning. Now we are on the beach again. 

I Did NOT Fall

I initially thought was that this would be a short update. But there has been so much going on it may take some time. Plus, I can’t remember what I told to who since becoming so popular. 

This was my view from Monday evening until late Tuesday night. 

Then they moved me out of the trauma ward to a room and this became my view.

Ah, something different to look at.  I can’t decide between a cockroach or a cricket. Let’s hope for the cricket. I was scheduled to have surgery sometime between 1-4 on Wednesday unless a life or limb threatening case arrived.  I prayed for everyone in the area to stay safe.  It worked!  But they came in at 11:00 am instead and rushed me to the OR. I said it was the most excitement I had had since being here.  The nurses were talking to each and said “he is  already mad”,  I said I hoped it wasn’t the surgeon. Apparently it was because they said uh oh and stopped talking. But we were already there in record time.  

They said surgery went great. But he was only able to get two of the screws in on the right side instead of 4 so he is supplementing the stability with a back brace.  This was my view post op.  I was actually able to have the bed raised up and look around normally. Surgery was about 3 hours and I was back in my room around 4. I will just say it was a rough night.

The next morning I broke my 32 hour fast with some chicken broth. At 10 occupational and physical therapy teamed up to get me out of bed. 

This is the pain chart in my room.  See those involuntary tears on #10. That is what I rated the pain on getting to a sitting position on the edge of the bed.  They said that would be the worst and it was.  Things eased up some and I was able to stand with help and use a walker to go brush my teeth. Then they let me walk a short way down the hall and back.  I sat up for the recommended 2 hours then in back to bed.  They wanted me up to do that 3 times but I only managed two. 

Part of the rough night after surgery was that so hot from the leg circulation devices and the plastic tarp they had me on to help roll me from side to side.  They said I could have a fan.  I said I did not need one since they took off the leg things and got me off the plastic.  A box arrived today and the nurse opened it and said “your fan is here.”  I said I didn’t need it but she said it was now mine and I could take it home. (Wonder how much that will cost) This nurse also suggested that I could take it to my next horse show to cool off the stall.

Can you tell she is a horse person?  Most everyone would say “so you fell off a horse?”  I would strongly correct them and say “NO, I did not fall, I was thrown off.”  Anyone that rides will tell you that.  This nurse was there when I said that to someone and she took off talking about all of her horse experiences.  She has broken 43 colts, re homed off the track race horses by retaining them to be hunter/jumpers. Trained an Icelandic pony the list goes on and on.  Apparently, at 9 years old when she wanted a horse, her parents got he an untouched 10 year old horse and said deal with it if you want a horse hoping she would quit.  She didn’t and she sounds tough as nails. She even started pulling up pictures of some of the successful race horses she has worked with.  Horse people love to talk about their own horses.

One big surprise was when I got to the OR, a good horse friend of mine that had done an endurance ride with us years ago was the nurse checking me in. You can check out that exciting ride HERE.  She greeted me with “Kay! Which horse threw you!?”  Horse people know. 

 

Sadie’s First Show

First, happy 3251 blog post, another prime number.

Today was a beautiful day for a horse show.  Unfortunately, I did not have a chauffeur.  But I decided to take Sadie to watch so she could see what a show was all about.  She has been lining up her play horses and saying they were at a show. 

This show lineup was very kid friendly. The first class was stick horse.  The daughter of a girl at work was there.  Sadie had met her before at the clinic Christmas party.  Isabella has been to a lot of shows.  I told Sadie to just follow her.

They made a very cute pair.  

And even though we didn’t take a horse, Sadie was still able to go in lead line.  Another girl that I knew said her nephew was supposed to ride in lead line but didn’t come, so Sadie was welcome to ride Joey instead.  I actually met Sarah, Joey’s owner, several years ago when I found her blog.  I recognized the arena in her pictures and found out she was a local.  Funny how things work out.

Joey was a dream and Sadie acted like she knew exactly what to do.

But we might have to step up our show attire to keep up with Isabella.  She was so adorable with her mini and she even did the costume and driving classes.

Sadie will be talking about Joey for a long time.

She got two ribbons and two $2 bills!  

She wanted to wear her ribbons, so I pinned them onto her jacket.  We ate lunch from the food truck in the back of the car.  We stayed for a few more classes.

And I left before Sadie got too worn out with the show.  Then, back home, she wanted to ride Otoelene.

This time I let her hold the reins and start to learn how to steer. 

Next time she wants to take her own horse to the show.

Emily’s Home

Emily came home today with her friend Keiran for the weekend. 

Keiran has made a bow out of hickory.  He did some target practicing and showed Joe a little bit about it.

Joe got the hang of it and hit the target several times.  Keiran was more of a pro.  I managed to eventually hit the bank somewhere near the target.  But I gave up before I hurt myself or anyone else.

We all enjoyed the fire pit this evening and everyone except Joe enjoyed some s’mores.  
 

Very Busy Day

It started with an early trip to town to pick up Walker.  He has been wanting to come over and help with the animals.  We ended up having him help work the 60 head of fall calves that we had recently weaned.  He was very good help but I forgot to bring my phone to the barn to take pictures.  Despite the heat, he still wanted to go riding afterwards. 

Joe brought Sadie to the barn and helped Walker get Hank saddled up.  Walker said he has grown 8 inches in the last year so he used Joe’s saddle and we didn’t even have to adjust the stirrups.

Joe thought Sadie might want to take a little spin on Hank. 

But he was wrong.  

She is not ready to go solo yet.  She much preferred riding Otoelene with me.

Walker on the other hand, was in heaven riding Hank.

We ended up taking an hour long walk through the woods, up on top of the hill then around the backside of the hill and on to the red barn and back. 

Hank had not been ridden since the last time Walker was here sometime last year.  But he went along like he has been ridden every day.  He is a very special horse. 
 Walker left at 12:30 and I then spent the rest of the day getting to visit with Virginia, hold Allie and play with Sadie while Mike helped Joe with some farm chores.  A very nice day.

Christmas Parties and Match Stick Chairs

I finally stopped decorating last week and took time to have 2 parties on the weekend. 

I have always loved this reindeer set from my aunts.  It just seems so retro. 

Baby S and her first Christmas with the R's

J's family came Saturday, a limited number because some are still fearful of covid and some had other engagements.

But we  had a nice visit with the ones that were able to come and thankful for another year together.

 We miss those that were not able to make it and are hopeful for a summer get together. 

I had J cut the tree entirely too early.  A cedar is just not meant to last a month.  I love the sand dollar ornament E made for me last year.  It's a very special reminder of her time on Cumberland Island and our visit with her there. 

And a new ornament for this year, Arches National Park.  Another reminder of a visit with E and a wonderful trip with 2 of my sisters.  

My second party was Sunday night with 4 other couples.  Another great meal and time to visit, until...

One of the chairs turned into firewood.  We had finished eating and the men stayed at the table to talk while the women moved to the living room.  After about an hour, crash!  Sam, who has had a double lung transplant, had a ear removed for cancer and skin graft from his leg to repair the defect and ended up with bell's palsy , got covid and was in organ failure and is now on dialysis 4 days a week,  was down.  He said he shifted his weight ever so slightly and the chair just collapsed.  Thankfully, he was ok.  He had a doctor appointment the next day anyway and I don't think had any issues from the fall.  This isn't the first time for one of these chairs either.  Sister C had a similar event a couple of years ago.  I see some new dining room chairs in my future.