Sick (sniffle cough)

I'm sick.

I blame this very bad head cold on Don, who got it first and felt absolutely lousy for a few days. It was inevitable that I should get it next.

It's the usual head cold symptoms: scratchy throat, cough, sniffles, watery eyes, pounding head, bad sleeping. Don is on the mend, but I'm in the thick of it.

Ironically, the weather for the past few days has been gorgeous: sunny, warm, just begging us all to spill outdoors and get some spring projects done, especially since temperatures are dropping again starting tomorrow.

But Don is still recovering his strength and can't do much yet, and – as I mentioned – currently I'm in the thick of it, so it's hard to take advantage of the beautiful day.

So, to compromise, I did some writing outdoors. This allowed me to take advantage of the beautiful weather while still being productive. (I'm almost at the halfway mark for NaNoWriMo, so I gotta keep writing no matter how lousy I feel.) 

This too shall pass. Don's already feeling quite a bit better. I figure I have another day or two. Poor Older Daughter, though; she just came out and announced she has a scratchy throat. The next victim is chosen.

Hack cough

Sorry for the blog silence, dear readers. Don and I managed to pick up a bout of the flu (yes, just the flu), and we've spent the last few days hacking and coughing and having our very scalps feel sore. On Saturday, I even went to bed at 6 pm (unheard of for me!) and stayed in bed for 12 full hours, having the weirdest collection of fever dreams imaginable.

More when we're back on our feet.

Here's our strategy

A few weeks ago, a reader posed a legitimate question: "You seem to be taking quite a while to put in gardens, get the animals, etc. What is your strategy here?"

This person is correct. We're taking longer than we anticipated to get our new homestead up and running. What few people knew, dear readers, is Don has been having behind-the-scenes health issues.

Nine years ago, an unknown condition caused him to suffer acute kidney failure and he was hospitalized for three days. The issue, we learned, was an enlarged prostate that was literally choking off the urethra. Sorry to get graphic here, but such is life.

He had laser surgery which corrected the issue, for the time being. The urologist warned him the treatment would only be good for up to ten years. So here we are, nine years later, dealing with much the same thing.

For the last year, he's been having persistent blood in his urine, always a worrying sign. Sometimes it was due to a urinary tract infection, in which case he would take some antibiotics, drink loads of water, and not do anything for a while. Other times we knew it was prostate issues, that – again – lots of water and taking it easy would temporarily work.

This enforced "taking it easy" was intensely frustrating to him because there were so many projects he wanted to tackle! Garden, chicken coop, fencing, cattle infrastructure ... the list is endless, but he was forced to "take it easy."

Coupled with the crippling summer of heat last year, a lot less got done on the homestead than we wanted. It was shaping up to be a similarly slow year of projects until finally he was referred to a new urologist. (Unfortunately the urologist is several hours' drive away. Such is the reality of remote rural life when we need a medical specialist.)

Anyway, bottom line, Don underwent more surgery a couple weeks ago. The urologist used a new technique to address the overgrown prostate issue (the urological equivalent of a hot butter knife, or something like that), and took off a good-sized chunk of that troublesome organ, which was then sent in for biopsy. Don has been slowly recuperating from the procedure, dealing with more frustrating but enforced "taking it easy."

Today, just a few minutes ago, he had a follow-up tele-conference with the urologist who affirmed – praise God! – there is absolutely no indications of any cancer whatsoever. The biopsied tissue came back negative.

Now that Don has gotten a clean bill of health, he can ease out of the "taking it easy" routine and start tackling some of the projects he's been itching to get to. He still has to go slow, but "taking it easy" can be put aside.

And this, dear readers, is a long-winded answer to the "strategy" question posted above. Our strategy was to restore Don to good health. In that regard, our prayers have been answered.

Birds and bronchitis, bits and bobs

For the last week and a half, I've been coughing my guts out with a charming case of bronchitis. I've slowly on the mend -- at least I'm not having to get up in the middle of the night to go sleep in Younger Daughter's bed so I don't keep Don awake -- but it's been a slice.

Since my brain isn't functioning at full capacity, here are just a couple homestead snapshots.

One, the other morning robins started going nuts in the yard -- clucks of alarm -- and Mr. Darcy suddenly seemed interested in whatever the birds saw. I dashed out in the yard and saw a fledgling robin flopping around, with Darcy pouncing after it.

Poor Mr. Darcy didn't understand why I dragged him into the house. After all, he was just trying to play.

So I picked up the fledgling. Instantly his beak flopped open, revealing the bright yellow interior: "Feed me!" (Sadly I couldn't get a photo of this.)

I put him down on the ground well outside the yard, and he instantly flopped away, then paused and gave me a saucy look.

Meanwhile the parent birds fluttered around in agitation. The fledgling portion of their offspring's development must give birds gray hair. Gray feathers. Whatever.

I've also been keeping an eye on the blackbird nest I found the other day. On June 11, it had one egg.

On June 13, they were up to three -- one of which seemed much smaller than the others.

The parent birds, of course, flutter and fuss at me whenever I invade their privacy. Here's the mother:

Here's the father:

On June 17, there were five eggs -- one of which was definitely smaller than the others. I'm assuming it's a dud, though time will tell.

This is probably as many as the female will lay. Hatching takes 12 to 14 days, after which I'll get photos of the developing nestlings.

On another note, while weeding in the garden a few days ago, I came across the iridescent remains of a dragonfly -- namely, the wings.

These wings are really incredible marvels of construction and engineering when viewed close up.

It wasn't until I picked up one of the wing pieces that I realized the wings were slowly being harvested by some tiny, tiny ants, which couldn't have been over a millimeter in size.

When I checked back a couple hours later (hoping to photograph the wings in the sunlight), they were gone -- either they had blown away, or they were buried by the ants.

As a final piece of bits and bobs around the farmstead, behold the busy chipmunk, eating a not-quite-ripe strawberry.

And a cedar waxwing, also harvesting strawberries.

Harvesting strawberries is a very popular activity among the wildlife this time of year.

UPDATE: Readers have pointed out how the "dud" egg in the blackbird nest actually belongs to a cowbird, which nests parasitically (dumping its eggs in other birds' nests). They were absolutely correct -- it's a cowbird egg. However some articles suggested not removing a cowbird egg because cowbirds can actually act vengefully: If they find their egg missing, they'll ransack the nest and destroy the other eggs.

So, I compromised. I removed the cowbird egg...

...and popped it in the freezer overnight. Then I let it come back to room temperature and slipped it back into the blackbird nest. Hopefully this will work to everyone's benefit (except the baby cowbird's, of course).

Update on Polly

So many people have offered prayers, consolation, and advice concerning our sick Jersey cow Polly -- thank you all! I'm happy to report she seems much better.

She still had me worried yesterday afternoon. I stepped out into the woods and watched her -- she was nibbling the still-short grass, which was a good sign -- but she was still hunching and passing bloody urine on a frequent basis. (Don't be alarmed by how bony she looks -- that's just a "Jersey" thing.)

Last evening when Don went to feed, all the other animals bellied up to the feed boxes -- except Polly. At least, at first. After a few minutes and some calling from us, she made her way under the awning and, to our delight, began eating. (That's her calf Anna with her.)

This morning I went to feed the animals, and saw only four cows with their heads in the feed boxes. Four cows, not five. My heart sank a little -- where was Polly? But to my delight, she was right there with the rest of them, eating vigorously, at the far end where I didn't see her at first.

A couple hours later, I hooked her up to the lead rope and put her into the squeeze chute again. This time Don administered the antibiotic shots, and a very fine job he did of it too. After that, I backed Polly out and returned her to the herd. Her eyes are clear and the swelling in her jaw is down, and her urine looks much more normal.

We'll finish out the bottle of antibiotics on her tomorrow and keep an eye on her, but it looks like the crisis is over. She seems well on the road to recovery, thanks to the awesome power of modern medicine.

And reader support.

Polly is sick

Polly, our remaining purebred Jersey cow, is sick.

Yesterday morning when I went to feed the critters, I noticed Polly wasn't among them. I found her in an adjacent pen, looking miserable. Though she was facing away from me, something seemed unusual about her head.

I entered the pen and was horrified to find her face entirely puffed up, her eyes like slits and her jaw with a huge soft bulge. I ran into the house and placed calls to every large-animal vet in the region, only to find none available.

Meanwhile a man stopped by to visit some neighbors. Luis has something of a local reputation as a "horse whisperer" -- he's magic with equines -- and as it turns out, he's highly experienced with cattle as well. He looked at Polly and said she had a large infection, and recommended we get an antibiotic called LA 200.

We ran a string around Polly's midsection, a method for estimating weight in cattle. By this determination, we guessed she weighs 927 lbs.

I went into town and purchased the antibiotic. Luis promised to come out this morning to show us the best way to administer it.

This morning Polly's swollen face looked better, but she kept hunching over and passing bloody urine. Not good.

At least she's on her feet. A cow off her feet is very seriously ill indeed. But she's off her food, lethargic, and often just stands slumped.

Luis arrived this morning, and I walked Polly into the squeeze chute. LA-200 supposedly stings going in, and I didn't want anyone (bovine or human) getting hurt in the process.

Based on Polly's weight and the recommended dosage, Luis filled the syringe...

...then he injected her intramuscularly in three different places (apparently the medicine is best administered spread around).

Polly jerked a bit, but she's lethargic and didn't fight. I backed her out of the chute without a problem and returned her to the corral.

We'll give her the next few shots ourselves, repeating the dosage for the next couple of days. According to LA-200 information, she should show "marked improvement" in the next 24 to 48 hours.

I don't want to lose Polly so soon after losing Matilda. We'll be watching her like a hawk.

Medical preparedness

Last week, in response to a Friday Roundup photo in which I was organizing our medical supplies, I received the following comment from reader Prepared Grammy:

I’m weak in the area of medical preps. I have the usual first aid stuff. I would even say I have advanced first aid supplies. However, I know I’m weak in more substantial medical supplies. Can you help? Where can I get antibiotics? (I have some fish mox. One member of my family is allergic to penicillin, and another is allergic to sulfa drugs.) Do you have IV fluids? Where can I get that? What kind(s) of medical instruments do you have? I have members who can use these things, but I need to get the supplies. I don’t discuss it with them since they don’t see the urgency to prep as I do. Any advice and information is appreciated. Thanks.

I didn’t want to post her comment until such time as I had a chance to do it justice. It’s certainly worth its own blog post.

First, let me say we’re probably just as weak in the area of medical preps as Prepared Grammy is, in large part due to our lack of medical training. Beyond standard first-aid classes, none of us have a background in medicine or any medical-related field. (As a side note, if anyone is wondering what field would be the most valuable in a grid-down situation, I would put medical skills high on the list. Just sayin’.) So here are a few thoughts on medical preps from a non-medical person.

I urge people to pull together three things, which once again echo the “three-legged stool” analogy of preparedness (supplies, skills/ knowledge, community):

Supplies
We have a fair bit of layman supplies, which includes things we’re likely to face on a farm or in a candlelit world. This includes the usual cadre of bandages, antibiotic ointments, burn treatments, etc. We have supplies of over-the-counter painkillers, as well as things for internal issues (bowel, urinary, menstrual, etc.). We also have Benadryl and sinus aids, spare reading glasses, toothbrushes, dental floss, etc. We have a pair of crutches (thrift store) and some immobilizing aids for broken bones (splints, etc.) (again, check thrift stores).

(Sorry for the wonky angle; I was trying to fit everything into the camera frame.)

We have a reasonably substantial supply of fishmox antibiotics (try this source). We’ve geared our purchases toward what we’re likely to experience, including Don’s extremely predictable annual sinus infections. A list of types of antibiotics and what they’re used for can be found here and here (there are other online sources; these are just the first two to catch my eye).

Additionally, we all got tetanus boosters last summer. This is really important, especially on a farm where sharp things are everywhere.

We have a fair smattering of medical reference books as well, including the classics for every prepper:

• Where There Is No Doctor
• Where There Is No Dentist

Overall good reference books:

• Mayo Clinic Guide To Self-Care: Answers for Everyday Health Problems
• Honest Medicine: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases

Normally I don't pay any attention to herbal medicine, since it's too often linked with magic-potion no-need-for-Western-medicine mumbo-jumbo. But of course, humans have used herbal remedies for thousands of years. The difficulty today is separating the useful from the "magic potion" nonsense. Nurse Amy, one-half of the team which operates the phenomenal Doom and Bloom website, recommends the following two guides for sensible, no-nonsense herbal medicines:

• Prescription for Herbal Healing: An Easy-to-Use A-to-Z Reference to Hundreds of Common Disorders and Their Herbal Remedies
• The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook

The following book was written by our neighbor Enola Gay. She researched the topics exhaustively and had the material reviewed by a physician. An excellent gem for anyone's prepper library:

• The Prepared Family Guide to Uncommon Diseases

And this is a small old-fashioned home-remedy book Enola recommends. It was written in 1958 so it's dated, but sometimes looking back to (as the title suggests) traditional folk remedies can be useful:

• Folk Medicine: A New England Almanac of Natural Health Care From a Noted Vermont Country Doctor

But one thing to remember: no amount of literature on folk remedies or herbal medicines will substitute for modern medical knowledge. If you need your appendix out, you need your appendix out.

Skills/Knowledge
Medical skills and knowledge constitute our biggest gap in medical preparedness. We’re looking into attending a wilderness medical course. This would be pricey if we do it alone, but we might bring an instructor to our community to teach a course, with the costs shared among all attendees.

Sometimes it’s best to know our limitations. We don’t have the training to administer IV fluids, for example. This is something you really, really don’t want to mess up since it requires special training and equipment we don’t have (and can cause unspeakable harm if done incorrectly). Ergo, we don’t keep supplies for this.

Community
We have some people in our area with more advanced medical training (EMT/paramedic), and the wilderness medical training would boost the skills and knowledge among the whole community. We’re also members of LifeFlight, very important if you’re an hour away from a hospital (though admittedly useless in a grid-down situation).

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This is about all we’ve done as far as medical preps. One thing is worth pointing out: We live a fairly vigorous rural homesteading lifestyle, but it’s a lifestyle we would never have entered into (or continued doing) unless we were in good health. Although we’ve required medical care for a variety of issues over the years – who hasn’t? – we don’t have any special ongoing medical needs. Clearly this can change in a moment, but for the time being we’re doing okay.

For those with health issues, they will need to prepare as best they can within their abilities and requirements.

But here’s the thing: We can’t prepare for it all. Some things can only be treated in a hospital setting with modern medicine and skilled doctors. If we face a medical emergency when those options aren’t available, then our best medicine is found in John 3:16.

New and exciting medical discovery

Okay, I need to make a confession: I lied.

Last post, when I put up that cute little ballet video, I said I was having a "busy few days." I lied.

The fact is, I woke up Monday morning in extreme pain from a tweaked lower back. I have no idea what I did, but it hurt. I do not have a history of back pain, so this took me entirely by surprise.

So when I said I was "busy," what I really meant was, "I’m in too much crippling agony to write anything even remotely interesting."

All day Monday, I pretty much moved as little as possible, and whenever I did move, it was to show me what advanced old age will look like.

But we’re butchering today, so yesterday – bad back or no bad back – we had to negotiate most of the herd down to the pasture, keep a couple of other animals out of the way in a barn stall, and retain the targeted animals in the driveway area (which is mud-free and will be easiest for the mobile butchers to do their work). This meant, bad back or no bad back, it was an all-hands-on-deck shuffling of animals, always a kinetic enterprise.

Rather to my surprise, after our half hour of mobile excitement, my back felt considerably better. Afterward, Younger Daughter and I headed into the city for some errands. By evening, I would say my back was about 75 percent improved.

This morning, it was back to crippling pain. But animals must be fed and stalls must be cleaned. Now, as I write this, I feel about 50 percent better.

So while I don’t know what suddenly plunged me into the agony of back pain, one thing appears to be coming clear: chasing cows helps. So does mucking manure and forking hay, as long as it’s done slowly and within the boundaries of whatever it take not to jar me back into agony. I claim this treatment as a New and Exciting Medical Discovery. Maybe I'll patent it.

This afternoon, after the butchers have come and gone, we’ll bring the herd back up from the pasture and return them to the feedlot. Gosh, I’m sure it will make me feel much improved.

Bonus: We’re having the year’s first snowfall, always pretty.

Shaky but back...

Holy cow, I don't know what it was the Lewis family had, but it sure knocked us for a loop. It started with Older Daughter, then Younger Daughter, than myself, then our houseguest GG, then finally Don. Poor GG got it the worst and spent one whole night upchucking. The rest of us escaped that fate, luckily.

We've been gradually regaining our strength and going about our chores very slowly. Don's even tried to get some work done in the shop (since we have orders due) and can only manage about half an hour at a time. Our minds have been fuzzy and illogical and sometimes we even speak gibberish while trying to say something sane. Very strange.

The neighbors have all been so kind, calling for health updates and with many offers to do chores or cook meals. We haven't taken them up on anything because (a) we don't want to expose them to what we had, and (b) none of us have much of an appetite so meals aren't necessary. As I told a friend yesterday, right now we sound like a Greek chorus of the walking dead -- deep hoarse chest-rattling coughs, violent sneezes, etc. Wheee!

I'll try to get my brain to cooperate and get something intelligent on the blog in the near future. Meanwhile, thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes.

Please stand by....

The girls and I came down with a bad cold/fever over the weekend and I feel like ca-ca. Older and Younger Daughters are pretty much recovered, but I'm in the worst of it right now.

I had a lousy night's sleep (shivers, fever dreams, etc.) and spent much of the day in and out of bed, taking ibuprofen and eating scads of oranges

Please stand by until I've got some brainpower back!