Farm Life, Flowers; TBT

 

The second time you write something that mysteriously disappeared into oblivion never turns out the way you initially constructed the thoughts in your mind.  

Some who checked in earlier saw that I had discovered right before posting that some of my text disappeared.  

Blogger gods were doing some mischief today. 

So, I'm just going to highlight what I said the first time I wrote this text for today's blog post. .  

Bridie and I did real chores this morning.  We're back into the farm mode with horses to feed for the first time since September.  

Bridie didn't skip a beat, going to her usual spot where she is tethered to a post on a long rope while I feed the horses or walk them to pasture. 

Her job is to watch but not to herd, and she seems quite content with that role. 

Anyway, today marked the first official day of morning and night time chores.  We'll be in that mode until fall when the horses go back for their winter boarding at Roxane's.  

 

Twas a busy day yesterday, bringing those three horses home, cleaning up the garden spot, buying posies and Akasha's lavender at the Flower Farm and hooking up the extension cord to the greenhouse. 

My Fitbit showed that spring work time keeps us on the go a whole lot more than all that television during the winter months.  

I walked nearly 25,000 steps yesterday, and I'll probably average that amount for a while until it dries out enough to mow the lawn for the first time. 

I love the BusYness of spring, especially when we have gorgeous days like yesterday and today. 

This is the so much to do, so little time of year, and it's all good. 

Happy Thursday.  Enjoy the photos and the TBT's below. 

Thursday Throwbacks . . . . 

Everyone loves the "Wild Irishman" aka Cliff. 

All-Fifties Reunion attendees. 

Good friends and fellow writers, Helen and Marianne

Annie maintaining a captive audience. 

I don't remember this crazy, fun-loving guy's name but he left an impression when we met him on a ferry ride.  

Our friend Mary Ratcliffe and her grandbaby.  

Mary lives on the Aran Island of Inis Mor. 

Below:  family members enjoying dinner with former Miss Idaho Genevieve Nutting. 

 Miss Idaho and our good friend Sue Haynes. 

Below:  our neighbors Trent and Terra. 

Howard and Mary Ellen Thomason, founders of the Selkirk Ranch and close family friends. 

Mary Ellen often had up to 40 cats that came to dinner on her deck.  All were named. 

Below:  my two big brothers, Kevin and Mike. 

My cousin Patti (right) has led a high-achieving life.

  Here she is being honored at a Seattle Seahawks halftime a few years ago for her leadership and good works. 

Today she is celebrating her birthday.  Happy Birthday, Patti. 

My sister Barbara doing some Pandemic horse training. 

Triplets 'R 23; Marianne On Steroids

 

I wrote a story for The River Journal about a set of local triplets (two girls and a boy) 14 years ago.  

Last night, while Bill and I were enjoying a celebratory meal at Mick Duffs, the triplets' father came over to our table to say hello and to update us on his life as the father of triplets. 

He was holding a bag of take-out meals and planning to meet up with them at their practice and transport them somewhere else.

They would eat their dinner during transport. 

While we visited, I told Clint that our triplets would be 23 today.  Our triplets include two grand nieces and one grand nephew:  Grace, Iusitina and Jacob. 

Like the Sandpoint triplets, these young people, with an extended family in Samoa, have provided their mom and dad a unique and always interesting story about parenting. 

And, of course, all their aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. have adored the experience of having the three of them in the family. 

Over the years, they have all followed their collective paths but each has also set off on their own unique journey.  

Seems like that's the way it should be, and it seems that we are all proud of them and, of course, that we all love them very much. 

So, Happy Birthday times THREE to Jacob, Grace and Iusitina (that order in the photo below). 

We wish you the best and we still savor the moments we get to spend with each of you. 

Have a wonderful day.  

In the text above, I mentioned a celebratory dinner.

I enjoyed a BLT and crinkle fries while Bill had a Philly cheese-steak sandwich.  Plus, I drank a beer--a Paddler ale. 

This was a big deal because yesterday I had finally learned what's been bugging my gut for several months.  

The information is now in my "permanent folder" pictured below.  I learned that, overall, I had passed my recent colonoscopy test 'cept for one anomaly. 

No cancer, no problems with the suspect enlarged appendix that had sent me to the ER in January, a couple of polyps removed and some other cosmetic stuff which is done only in the gut by the skilled hands of a local surgeon. 

The report showed only one wrong answer on the whole test, and, for a change, it was a most welcome answer. 

I have collagenous or microscopic colitis.  

It is curable, though for the amount of time I may have had it over the years, the doctor said that might be a challenge. 

Still, there is medicine in the form of steroids that seems to do the trick with allowing patients to have their lives back. 

I don't know for sure if this "demon" (yes, it's an evil, persistent demon) has been in my system for the more than 40 years that I've learned the location of every bathroom possible OR if it came on after my bout with ugly c.diff infection back in September. 

What I do know, however, is that it has been a miserable six months and that it has taken every ounce of inspiration each day AND ongoing support of family and friends and medical professionals for me to deal with the unfun prospects of how much time of each day would be spent in the bathroom.

It was a poignant moment a few weeks ago when my daughter Annie said, "Mom, I've never known you when you didn't have stomach problems."  

This winter was not fun missing most of my son's basketball games.  Once we started planning our recent family trip to Ireland, I was sure that the family would have to go without me. 

Happily, the step-by-step ruling out of some major maladies opened the door for me to use over-the-counter meds to help make it through the trip (the best trip ever).  

And, the family----they have provided the most powerful meds of all, as have several dear friends. 

It's called understanding and sticking with someone who hates more than anything to feel like a "high maintenance" nuisance. 

To say I've been humbled and that my empathy for others and their suffering has risen several notches would be an understatement.  

The unknowns over those months did a number on both my mind and body.  

Thirty pounds lost with no explanation and several attempts at diets (many feeling like starvation diets)  to determine if I was dealing with a food intolerance. 

In my mind, it seemed that no matter what I tried with diets, the problem prevailed, but in these drawn-out processes to find answers, one must give possibility a chance. 

Through this all, I have gained an ever-increasing respect and appreciation for the folks in the world of medicine who do whatever possible to find the answers. 

My neighbor Tricia is included in that group because she has patiently listened and guided me through some dark times.  

Paige Russell and Dr. Hannah Robbins and their staffs have stayed the course.  They've also been demanding when I needed it AND have added some rich new snippets of good humor which may appear some day if I write a humorous approach to this segment of my life. 

Today I'll start on a regimen for collagenous colitis and hope for the best.  Plus, life is looking pretty bright again.  Amazing what a definitive answer can do for the mind. 

Thanks to all for friendship, love and prayers answered. 

And, now it's time to start this new chapter of life and bring the horses home to the Lovestead. 

Happy Wednesday. 

Green Grass, Posies and Home

 

As we drove home from Ellensburg yesterday, I told Bill that Ireland probably held back on its rain so we could enjoy a taste of the typical Ireland on our home ground. 

The steady precipitation from I-90 to all the way to the Lovestead definitely reminded us of many past wet days we've spent in Ireland.  This comes after a trip where we were treated with eight straight days of brilliant sunshine.

That was okay because we spent a major part of the day in the car, and when turning onto South Center Valley Road, we were awestruck with the deep and striking shades of green that had taken over the bland fields we had left behind on March 28. 

Yes, we experienced a little welcome touch of Ireland for our trip aftermath with both the rain and the green. To know that these scenes will only improve over the next days made the welcome-home views all the sweeter. 

Little buds will pop out on trees and bushes, a few bright yellow daffodils will soon bloom, and the resident deer look especially pretty grazing or cavorting in their green-field backdrop. 

On our trip home yesterday, my interest in Kittitas heightened when I met a second person who lives there.  "It's just down I-90 from Ellensburg, she told me, and "don't blink when you're driving Main Street."  

So, of course, it was fun to take the exit and do a drive through of the Washington town (pop. 1,400-plus) I've always heard of but never seen.  

Bill and I were especially impressed with the size of the school.  It's a neat little town with wide streets and well-kept homes.  

We didn't spend nearly as much time in Kittitas as we did Washtucna a few years back.  Washtucna is not far from Ritzville, which is often a convenience stop on I-90. 

When we went to Washtucna (pop. 210), we took time to walk around and explore the little community where some of our neighbors spend time in the winter while grazing their cattle on winter pastures. 

Yesterday's steady rain and the desire to get home to pick up our canine beloveds kept us in the car and on the road. 

Now that we're home, the work begins.  Horses will come home tomorrow, so Bill will be flipping the valve that turns on waterers in the barn and the pastures. 

With a wing and a prayer, he'll be able to pull the horse trailer out of its soggy spot where it has spent the winter.  

I've accepted the fact that there may be tire ruts to fill when the ground dries out. 

I'm excited to have the horses home, and Bridie will be even more excited to see her friends which keep her vigilant with those Border Collie eyes. 

I felt the need to take a portrait of one of Bridie's paws.  

She and Foster both received the grooming treatment while staying at the Ponderay Pet Lodge. 

Pedicuring was also included and her paws look so beautiful.  

Both pups were a lovely sight when we reached the pet hotel.  Plus, they received good reports on how they managed the stay---calm and well behaved, the staff said. 

AND, they were happy to see us.  On a scale of 1-10, I'd say their respective and long-lasting greetings of face licking, whimpering and wiggling probably ranked a 14. 

We were equally thrilled. 

The deer did not issue us any enthusiastic "welcome home's" to what they consider "their place" these days. 

Still, this bunch waited a long time to run off when I slowly approached them in the hay field yesterday afternoon. 

So, it's home and on with the work of spring.  

All good.  

Happy Tuesday. 

Below:  this seems like a neat idea.  If only I had some colored Crocs.