All in a Day's Work

We spent most of the day and then late into the evening cleaning up a portion of our woodland. We were creating a 'lane' for the gelding mules to get back into a little meadow and some woods. The mares will use another lane...adjustable, to get to the BIG meadow.
We had to stop work for me to run in for the MRI. This adventure was not too bad. I had to lay perfectly still for over an hour. After about 20 minutes my shoulder starting giving me intense pain. It took a lot of mind over matter to deal with not moving an inch!

We worked until after 10PM by the light of the truck's headlights. The long awaited transfer to greener pastures should happen today.

While I was in the 'tube' I started thinking about Dad and Hawaii. Now isn't that strange? I couldn't get him off my mind. I felt like he was watching over me. Huh. I sure do miss him...I guess with the anniversary of his demise coming up...well maybe that had something to do with it.

Couldn't sleep

Wild Flowers a burst of yellow
Originally uploaded by Xena~

So I went into all the tools on the blog site and began to play with colors and fonts...It is frustrating not to be able to enter a pretty banner like I see on WordPress. Just not ready to make a jump to that yet. I love Rachel's blog set up, it is so slick. If you want a gander go to the sidebar and click on it.

I'm comfortable here, but may look at my options when I have more time.

Today is the MRI day. Ok, no big deal there, just an hour inside a clanking machine.

Today we are also putting the mares and donkeys, and some of the mules on summer pasture. Today's photo is a good sample of how pretty the meadow is right now.

Oh what a day...

While most of the midwest was coping with disasters in the form of winds and bad weather, we coped with a day disasters here at our little farm too. What began as a good working day turned into an afternoon of frustration.

Mr. Farmer, my hubby, was pushing dead apple trees out of the summer pasture, prepping it for the transfer of donkeys...with his New Holland skid steer. Now he is a whiz at moving things around and I'm pretty much in awe of his skills. There wasn't much I could really do but *supervise*.

One of my supervisory skills however didn't work so well, as he was pushing dead trees towards a ditch ... I flagged him down and told him that there was an old rut that he'd get hung up on if he wasn't careful. Just past the rut was the DROP OFF to the dry run. He gave me a wave that said *Yeah, yeah, I know what I am doing.*
[So you know what is going to happen next, don't you?]


Mr. Farmer gets slightly overzealous and pushes one last time...and I gasp as the skid steer tips forward into the ditch now resting on just the bucket and the front wheels.
Uh-huh. Oh shit.
So what does Mr. Farmer do now? Get on the 'gas' and give 'er hell. You betcha, just get that puppy stuck harder and deeper, dig them wheels in...after about 45 minutes of that, he shuts off the skid steer and gets out to look at the situation.
Being a supervisor and all, I suggest perhaps we get some logging chains and *winch* it out some way.
Mr. Farmer shakes his head no, but gets the tractor and tries to pull it out. After two hours of this scenario, I say again.
*Could you use the come-a-long thing and pull it out?*
Nope.

Now we have a truck attached to the tractor, the tractor attached to the skid steer...[do you see where this is going?] Uh huh. The truck spins its wheels, the tractor spins its wheels, and the skid steer sits happily in the ditch.

Finally Mr. Farmer says. *Take the truck and go get the 4 ton come-a-long, and another logging chain.*
I return and chains are stretched from the frame of the tractor to the skid steer. We put the come-a-long on.
Mr. Farmer then gives me a lesson in *skid steer* operation. Cool. As he yanks the CAL, I give her heck in backing up. Soon we establish a rhythm and the skid steer walks out backwards and up out of the ditch.

So what did I learn? I learned that with patience, a man will come around to reasoning. I learned to operate a little skid steer. I really dug making the bucket go up and down. I love the way you pull on little levers to make it go one way and another.

My reward for helping? Morris and I got to ride in the bucket back home. I think we all had a good laugh over the whole deal. I will learn how to operate the big tractor one of these days. Maybe he'll fix the steering on the little tractor and I can run that eh?
Yep, what a day.

Into the Tunnel of MRI!

Ox Eye in the Sky
Originally uploaded by Xena~

Oh boy I get to spend an hour inside the MRI machine on Saturday afternoon. Gee, I can't wait. Ever been inside one?
It has the weirdest clanking and bunch of strange noises that are almost deafening even with the expandable earplugs they give you.

Oh yeah and you cannot move or be claustrophobic, it will not help.

Of some concern...

Evening approaches
Originally uploaded by Xena~

My test results of the EMG came back negative. The pain in my [mainly] right wrist and fingers IS not carpal tunnel, the test came back negative.

However. There is always a however, isn't there? Last year when I had my shoulder surgery on the left side they did an MRI on my neck also. There had been a note about arthritis and a bulge that wouldn't be affecting my left side, but if anything,...it should affect the right side. Hmmm.

Randy the PA, said that he read further into the notes on the MRI of the neck and the bulge is pushing on the cord? Eh?
My choice, did I feel okay and not want to do anything? But when the CTS came back negative, he felt there could be some involvement in the neck. So there you go.

I said, well since you have to MRI the right shoulder for Dr. L anyway, can we just include the neck and see?
Yep.
So my mysterious pains and clumsiness may get explained after all, but I'm not so sure I really want to know.

However the damage--bulging--herniated disc---whatever!!! The symptoms are fairly common to what I've been going through for a while now. And it has been getting worse.
Of course after an MRI is done then I'll know.

Well now, all those times over the past two and a half years, I've said repeatedly...*Is there something else that can be causing this?* I don't blame anyone at all though, just would be a relief to know what is going on.

Link about it here, in case anyone really cares.

A place to rest...

Welcome waters
Originally uploaded by Xena~

...on my birthday and dwell on 51 years of age. Am I smarter? Not necessarily, am I happier? Well heck yeah. I am sitting on a mossy rock with my dog panting in my ear and watching the sun dance on the creek water.
What could be better than that?
Oh yeah and it rained the rest of the weekend!

Adventures...

Twin fawns 2
Originally uploaded by Xena~

This past weekend was absolutely one of the BEST! I got to see my oldest son and his wife, got to play with grandkids, got to go riding TWICE!
My second ride was the most awesome ride I've been on. Of course my DIL came along on Fred. We found twin newborn fawns hiding in the grass. I've still got a wonderous feeling [don't know if that is a correct word or not...but that's how I feel].

Yesterday I got THE call from the orthopedic office. Surgery is scheduled for July 27th. I think I'm in better shape for this time, last year my left arm was practically useless and so weak it was pitiful. I am losing strength but continue to exercise so that I will have a speedy recovery.
No endurance rides at all this year...bummer. But I am doing that to give me a chance to prepare both shoulders and the upper body for the stresses of a race. I'm so sick of injuries!

Tomorrow is my b-day. Looks like rain, but I may sneak in a ride anyway to celebrate. After all what is a raincoat for? Hikes in the rain are always fun too.