Sunday, July 29, 2012

20/20, dirt bikes and riding

Another long and busy week.


I know I've posted about this subject it before, but since I never employed the labels function on blogger, I've no idea where the post is, so here we go again. lol
Chyann has amblyopia and has been treated for it since she was 3 years old.
Her doctor in AK got her in a study called PEDIG - Pediatric Eye disease Investigator Group.
Her vision at the time in her left eye was 20/2200, which is pretty much blind. She started wearing glasses at age three and we patched her right eye to "make" her left eye see. Basically turning it on and creating new neurological connections in the brain from the left eye to the seeing center in the brain.

As you can probably imagine patching a 3 year old's only seeing eye was pure hell!

Crying, running into walls and falling down because she couldn't see, stressing her enough to make her have outbreaks of shingles and a host of other guilt inducing shit.

(when we moved to WI we started seeing a world renound doc at the Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN)
We persevered and over the last 11 years her vision has steadily improved.

We took a road trip to visit her doctor on Thursday at the Mayo Clinic and he gave us the fantastic news that her vision is now 20/20 in her left eye!! Right eye is even better at 20/16!

Imagine that!!

The study she is in will be over when she is 15, but will continue to see this doctor at Mayo forever if I've got anything to say about it.

Interestingly enough this condition is totally treatable if caught early and IF you treat it consistently. If you don't treat it your child the vision imparement could be lasting. New studies involving adults who have untreated amblyopia are currenly underway and some participants are showing slight improvements, which is great!

When the study is over she could quit wearing glasses.
Sounds like the study folks are putting together another study on what happens to these kids when they quit wearing their glasses - will their vision decrease? if so to what degree? should they always wear glasses as a precaution to protect their vision from changes? and a host of other questions.

Her doctor says weather we participate in the new study is up to Chyann and what her future aspirations are. Like what kind of occupation will you choose? something that requires sharp crisp vision? or something that may not require fine detail work? If it is something that requires the best vision, like an orthopedic surgeon or vet (which is what she is currently leaning towards) he says we shouldn't take the chance that she could loose valuable vision - keep wearing the glasses.

So, we'll see when the study ends what happens...

In the mean time, we are soooo proud! 20/20 vision!!! YAY!!
Doing some testing in funky glasses.

In other news...

Caden got a new/used dirt bike.
The Hubby has been looking for just the right one for a while.

The Hubby is the deal master and was able to get this one for practically nothing.

Got to love a good deal. 


As you can imagine Caden was thrilled!

And no, we do not let him ride in the attire shown below, but he did get to sit on it wearing the shorts before his first ride.

Long pants, proper shoes, jacket and HELMET are a must!

We've had cooler temps this week so Chyann and I have been doing quite a bit of riding.


I took Scotch since he'd not been out in a while. I'm sure I look dorky as hell on him, but that's ok. Truth be told he is my favorite horse to ride now days.
He is practically spook proof, although he did give a bit of a jolt when a deer sprang out in front of us and Jenny jolted a bit too and turned away, but didn't freakout at all - thankfully.

And they both were nose in the air for a bit after we came upon a flock of turkeys.

Scotch having a bite of corn.


Picture of the area we would have had to traverse on the road had we not found another area to go through. A little poking around and we found an alternate route that will be perfect.

Another picture of my favorite tree.


Came across this rock pile in the middle of a field that looks suspiciously like a grave. Didn't get a good picture of it though.


Looking back at Chyann and Jenny.


Caden also had his last, really the last, baseball game last week as well and his team won 7 to 3!
Was really close for a bit and both teams got three outs when they had bases loaded.
Very exciting!
I LOVED this baseball season!

A good, but busy week.

Currently it is raining. A nice soaking rain. My garden is gulping it in.

Have a good one!
Toodles :)

Monday, July 23, 2012

Back to the grind and pickles

I had computer problems most of the weekend that ended my good blogging streak - drat!

We went to the farmers market on Saturday and got enough little cukes to make two batches of sweet and hot pickles.

I found the easiest recipe here.




Slice cukes and onions. Soak for two hours in salt and water, then rinse well.



Only thing I did differently was instead of dried cayenne peppers I used 2 jalapenos, 2 hot banana and 2 sweet banana peppers from the garden.


And on the second batch I added a small sprig of fresh dill to each jar.
Hardest part is going to be waiting the recommended two weeks for them to age.


Back to work today, unfortunately.

I really enjoyed my time off.
Spent some fun time with Chyann and Caden.
Didn't get to ride horses as much as I would have liked because it was so hot. Hopefully we will get some riding in this week since we've got some cooler temps heading our way.  

Colton made his return from Rock-Fest this morning.
He had a great time. Highlight of the trip for him, other than seeing a bunch of great bands, was getting pulled up on stage and singing a Guns N Roses song with a cover band in a beer tent. I am hoping some of the folks he was with will produce a picture or video of that!

alas, I must mosey off to bed. 5a comes entirely too early when you are coming off a good vacation.

night, night


Friday, July 20, 2012

Nice day

Shasta Breeze loves to fetch her ball.
She will play for hours.



Caden is off at a friends house to spend the night.

Colton has gone to Rock-Fest.
He wont be home until Monday and I am trying not to worry too much about him. He is smart and hopefully wont find himself in any trouble or tight spots. He has orders to call every day so we know he is ok.

So it was just Chyann, the Hubby and I.
We went into town and did the weekly shopping, even got some school supplies.
Came home and took a little nap.

Then Chyann and I took a ride.
 I rode Scotch since it had been a while since he's been out and you could sure tell. If he didn't have his nose in the air, he had it down trying to eat. Drove me nuts. Chyann riding Jennifer had the same problem.

Our usual riding area has been changed. We don't own a lot of land, but are friendly with the neighbors and they let us ride on their property. Apparently they are gearing up to put about 20 cows on a section of land and fixed/installed a bunch of fencing. They said we can just take it down when we want to ride, but I'd sure hate to screw that up somehow and have the cows get out. So we scouted a new route.

To get around the fenced area we are going to have to ride on the side of the road for about a quarter mile. I don't care to ride on the road especially with some of the big ass sand trucks coming and going, but we've got to ride somewhere so we will figure something out.We do have a trailer, but rarely haul anywhere - might have to change that.

No big plans for today, other than mow and pull some weeds.

also, question for you.
How do you store pictures taken with a digital camera?
Just looking for a better/different way to store mine.





Thursday, July 19, 2012

Habits and rainbows

It rained off and on all day yesterday, which made for a nice and quiet day.


My BFF Krissy stopped by when she got off work and we made plans for do a 5K together in September.

Yeah, I've never ran before BUT have always wanted to. 

I see those gals alongside the road just flying along and think I wish I could do that.

Kris has gotten into exercise as a way of promoting a more healthy lifestyle (and hey the new dude in her life is probably a big motivator too lol ).

As you know, I park my arse in front of computer for a minimum of eight hours a day and you wouldn't believe how hard that is on your body. Last February I started doing an exercise DVD on my lunch breaks and got an elliptical in March. I've lost a few pounds, but the major thing for me is that I totally feel better. No more achy left heal, knees, hips, lower back, shoulders or neck. Fewer headaches too. This is not to say I no longer have aches though, in fact I have a raging case of basal thumb arthritis in my right hand. That has actually hardly hurt at all this week I've been off  ~ YAY!

Somehow even when you are tired and think you've got no energy for anything but a nap, exercising helps you feel better. Lubes the joints good and helps release all that tension/stress we all have.

I'm still trying to make exercising a "good" habit.
 I'll go for several weeks staying in my routine, then somehow get out of it for a while. Only to start again when the aches and pains begin to make themselves known again. 

So we'll see if I can maintain my "good" habit long enough to develop some stamina (and confidence) to actually do a 5K.
I've only ever had bad habits - smoking, but hey i did quit so that has got to count for something! drinking - yes i love a good cold beer or two maybe three.


Towards evening the sun came out and we saw a double rainbow.
Looks like Shrek is about sitting on the pot of gold.


Tried goofing with my camera to do a panoramic shot, but it didn't quite come out. Apparently you have to pan left to right and not right to left.


And by the time I got that figured out the second rainbow was gone.

Speaking of habits, I saw this saying on a T-shirt a while back -
Bad habits are like a comfortable warm bed; easy to get into, but hard to get out of.

Have a good day :)

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Come take a wet walk with me

The storms woke me up at 130a and I'd only just gone to bed at midnight.

Closed all the windows and unplugged anything in the house that could get zapped by lightning.

Managed to doze off until about 3a when the house started shaking from the high winds. Must have had some hail in there somewhere because it sounded like a machine gun hitting the house.

Up again at 415a when the Hubby went to work. The thunder just rolled and rolled. Lightning continually lighting up the sky and the wind howled.

Finally dozed off at 530a when Colton got up for work and slept in till an unheard of 9a!

My morning walk in photos as follows:

Boy did we get some rain. No idea how much but at least a couple inches I'm thinking.


The pool is FULL and needs to be vacuumed.

Tomato's look like they got a good drink. Not so stressed looking.

Of course the barn area totally washed out again AND the damn fencer got blown.

Trippy, the three footed cat, is happy to see me.

Casper is demanding his breakfast! Bring on the food already!

Think I'll bite Scotch too. The pecking order is changing with Cowboy gone. I'm tempted to call his new owner and see how he is doing, but don't want to seem like a weird horse stalker.

Start pushing that wheel barrow!

Fed them up on the hill since their feeder is in an area that got washed out and is really sandy now.
Picture of that didn't turn out well.

Soon as I'm done with my coffee I'll be taking my shovel out to fill in those washouts before one of them breaks a leg.

The cows on dry land, nice and happy.

Cookie sure is getting big. I didn't realize when I took these pictures that it was so grey and dreary out causing the auto flash to kick on. The animals look eerie with their glowing eyes.

Socks looking on as well.

Our little herd.

Millie, who is just over a year old now.

A bit of washout along the driveway too.

I'll let the Hubby deal with these.


The corn looks ever so much better after the rain this morning.

Yesterday when I looked at the corn I was thinking the title of this post would be DROUGHT! We are still on the dry side here in western WI, but this rain sure helped give farmers some hope of having a corn crop this season.

Looks like we could get even more rain throughout the day as well.
Bring it on!

Happy Humpday!


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Hot weather activities

Yes, I got the carpets shampooed yesterday.
It about freaking killed me even though I got it done relatively early in the day. That rotten chore is done for another year. I don't know why, but it always surprises me how gross our carpets get. No doubt a huge majority of it is because we have pets in the house.

NO MORE HARD or SWEATY PROJECTS ON THIS VACATION!

I vow to only do shit I want to do.

Like nap, which I've already done today or go through the pictures on my computer and have them sent off to be printed finally. I take a shit load of pictures and rarely get them printed.

Came across a few cute ones I thought I'd share.

Caden the powboy


Chyann posing for a picture in a patch of lady apples next to a pile of horse shit. Only at our house.

Colton and the sweet Benny. Who mysteriously disappeared about a year ago.


I love looking at old pictures.
We have a good life.
The kids may not realize it yet, but they are as fortunate as fortunate can be.

Time for a break and a dip in the pool!
Bye :)


Monday, July 16, 2012

A good start to

A - My vacation. Nice weather, a few projects completed

and

B - My gardens are looking great!

That tomato? damn did it taste good!


I'm going to make some Mexican tonight and use fresh green peppers,


jalapenos and


hot banana peppers! Pretty cool that these guys are growing straight up, eh?



Check out that watermelon!



Pumpkin too!

A look at the small garden. Green beans, zucchini, yellow crocked neck, beats, dill, cabbage and brussel sprouts. Anybody want some squash??!!


A hot day on tap, but I think I might shampoo the upstairs carpets since I'm off and mark that chore off my list.

Have a good one :) 


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Was harder than I thought

Cowboy was sold yesterday.
I cried.

I've been saying for a few years that we needed fewer horses or more riders at our house, but none of they boys have been interested, so I made the decision to try and sell Cowboy. It didn't take long to find a buyer who I thought would be a good fit for him.

His new owner and her grand kids will take the best care of him and give him lots of love. Even knowing all of that, I was sure sad to see him go. I think our other horses miss him too.


Anyhow.


It's been another busy week. Still warm, but with less humidity so quite comfortable.

It rained here three times yesterday and they were all good soaking rains, which we really needed.

I'm off all this next week for vacation and am not really sure what, if anything, I'm going to do. If all would have went as planned I'd have been sitting in my mothers kitchen right about now drinking coffee with her after just having eaten the best breakfast of biscuits and gravy with sliced tomato's on the side. I miss you mom.

Have a good weekend!







Sunday, July 8, 2012

Cold front and relief


Friday when I got off work I had to do the dreaded weekly grocery shopping in Chippewa Falls, which is about 15ish miles to the SE. The van thermometer read 102*!
That is the hottest temp I've seen since the summer of 2002 when we moved here, then it was 106* and I was miserably pregnant..... anyhow..

Just about sundown the cold front moved through with lots of wind and bringing much cooler temps. We went from the high 90's to about 75* in a the space of an hour.

Major relief.

Looking out the dining room window to the NW more cool clouds.

From the back porch looking SW


Yesterday and today we are back to more normal temps of mid 80's with humidity that is tolerable.

The garden is growing well. The mulch sure helps cut down on the weeds, but as you'll see I've definitely got some pulling ahead of me now that it's cooled down some.

Hot banana



The big garden looking west to east.
The pumpkin are flourishing, only one cucumber left - think the bunnies got the others, beans getting ready to flower, hot peppers, sweet peppers and 40 tomato plants.

At the edge of the garden you can see the tarp we put down on the lower third of it. We loaded it up with manure, mulch, lime and tilled it good. Gonna try spuds there next year and wanted to really enrich the soil so we'd get a good crop - sans the freaking Colorado potato beetle. Fingers crossed it works because if it doesn't I'm not going to mess with taters again.


Lemon boy tomato just about ripe.


It is going to be a bumper apple year. All the trees are loaded and looking good.


Cowboy, Jennifer and Casper waiting for me to feed them some apples.


Looking forward to doing some riding again this coming week since the temps have fallen.

Back to school ad's are already being printed in the newspaper and heard some on the radio too.

The whole family played baseball at Caden's practice yesterday morning since only three kids showed up. Was the best fun I'd had in a long time!

Think it's time for a nap. Bye :)

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