Hair today, gone tomorrow!

My hair is starting to fall out in buckets. I'm letting you know this way because some of you won't see me for a while, and it might be a surprise otherwise. I'm 25 pounds thinner (not thin - thinner) and soon to be bald, but don't be alarmed. It's still me. I've been telling Justin they will have to fatten me up with the pigs in the spring. That will be a nice problem!

Today

Last night I was experiencing quite a lot of abdominal pain and back pain in the night - could be because of having done too much yesterday. I went to the doctor and he sent me to the hospital lab in Maple Creek to have some testing done. Don't know the results, but he prescribed a different painkiller, for which I am eternally grateful.
One blessing in all this for me, is that now people are more likely to believe me when I tell them that I know God is good, that He cares for us personally and that He brings good out of everything. I always want people to believe me when I tell them that, and yet, if everything goes well for you all the time, it doesn't seem as though people are so likely to believe you. It makes sense that our faith has to be tested by suffering.
I don't believe that God always heals us when we have enough faith. I believe that these times are opportunities for us to choose Him and thank Him, even if we are not getting our "druthers."
Sometimes God heals people best by taking them home to Heaven.
Having said that, though, I believe that Love is requiring me to pray earnestly for my healing for the sake of Peter and the boys. I actually think I will come through this - I have good reason for hope, mostly because of all the prayers. I'm sure my wonderful doctors have been answer to somebody's prayers for me, and the success of my surgery and all the other signs of God's love.
I hope I don't sound too much like Pollyanna - I certainly wasn't sounding like Pollyanna in the night. (ask my husband) However, these blessings are good solid blessings.

Early Thanksgiving!

Today, at about 11:45, my friend Jane, who knows we eat our big meal at noon, showed up with a complete turkey dinner. I mean complete - with potatoes, carrots, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, cake, cookies, jello, plus some already cleaned and shucked vegetables from her garden. It was absolutely amazing. I just stood and said, "Wow. WOW. . . WOW!"
It seemed so funny on a Saturday at noon to be sitting down to a turkey dinner. Funny, but very good. Mark came in for dinner, and I ran a plate out to Peter in the combine.
A number of years ago, I remember hearing a talk about serving with the Midas touch. That means not just serving, but really making an effort to make your service shine.
It is bringing home to me again how God blesses us abundantly. I keep getting convicted about how thoughtless I've been in the past, how I don't deserve any of this, but God does it not because we deserve it. He blesses us because He loves us. There is absolutely no other explanation. At first, a few weeks ago, I kept thinking, "Now what can I do to pay this person back, or that person," but I've gotten to the point where I've completely given up. There isn't anything I can possibly do to pay anyone back - it's WAY beyond me. All I can do is be grateful, like a little child, and maybe pray for everyone.

Better Today!

I'm still vaguely achey, but I feel much better today. The boys and I got up and went to Mass this morning and it was great to see all the daily Mass crew.
We even stopped in at Elena's for coffee afterwards. Ordinary things are very precious. I'm enjoying seeing all my nieces and nephews again and to be home with my boys is an incredible blessing.
House - messy
Yard - messy
Me :)

Ooooh, my aching everything!

The first five days or so after chemo is when a person experiences the side effects. I'm having aching bones and am spending most of my time lying on the sofa.
Fortunately, my friend Marilyn called this morning. She went through this last year and told me about a particular kind of pain medication I need to ask for next time I'm in the city, that will greatly alleviate this problem. In a day or two it should have completely passed anyway until next treatment.
There was a march on Sunday of Ovarian Cancer survivors Marilyn told me about.
It's still amazing to me how God has provided so many people to provide support just when I need it. Our house is a disaster, but boy do we have food to eat! I just have to get up to warm something up at regular meal times. The boys are doing all the dishes. Our local home care nurse is a good neighbour, who brought over some lasagne.
I'm hoping one day soon I can get up and help the boys with some school or something, but other than that, we're doing all right.

Every day in every way we are getting better!

I want to go on record as saying that I'm extremely grateful for all the support I've received while here in Saskatoon because of my Ovarian cancer.
My parents have fed me and looked after me, my friends and family have all been an incredible support for me, and I have felt the grace of the prayers that are being said nearly all over the world.
I had a very dramatic surgery, and I have to say I felt quite a lot of immediate relief from the discomfort I had been experiencing over the past several months. Lost 20-25 pounds in one afternoon! Today I started chemotherapy and I actually had quite a lovely day. Even though I was somewhat psyched up for it - knowing I'm doing everything I can do and using all available resources to fight the cancer - I was rather dreading today. Because of big black irrational fear, really. I have to tell you all that there really is nothing to dread. I lay in a comfy bed watching Flipper, Lassie and doing crossword puzzles and snoozing all day while they fed me my medication intravenously. I felt well and, besides somewhat sleepy, completely comfortable. The nurses were great - I enjoyed my own assigned nurse, who reminded Peter of Carol Burnette. The worst they want me to suffer is feeling somewhat run down - anything worse than that and they want it dealt with quickly so that I can eat healthily and be ready for my next treatments. Nearly every time I talk to anyone they say "Oh Ovarian Cancer - my mom had that 35 years ago, or my sister had that 10 years ago, and she's fine now." When my mother died of Ovarian cancer 45 years ago, they did not yet have chemotherapy, and in recent years they have really fine-tuned the chemotherapy treatments for every kind of cancer.

So you see, everyone, there's lots of reason for hope and gratitude. Nothing to fear except fear itself. God is in control.

Thank -you all and God bless you!

Gopher it you gulls!

My father-in-law says there are more gophers this year than he has ever seen. I almost didn't plant my garden because I'm quite sure it will get eaten the moment it appears above the surface. It hasn't appeared yet - is that suspicious?
Our parish priest has come out several times with his gun to shoot the little pests (oops - are there any environmentalists reading this?) He says he has shot well over 500, and my brother-in-law has shot some, too. My husband uses strychnine, in low enough doses so that it kills the gophers but not the birds that eat the little dead bodies. We think, actually, the gophers have developed a taste for it. When everyone is done shooting and poisoning, then the gulls come around and clean up all the remains. I wish they would do their own dirty work!
I'm getting a little alarmed at the damage all this is doing to my character. When driving on the highway, I used to get a little traumatized at the demise of each little rodent who got in our way. The other day, when Daniel was driving, he swerved and hit a gopher on purpose and I laughed maniacally.

Our International Moose Incident

Yesterday, while Peter was out in the field combining, he noticed two moose running like crazy across the field, over a fence and off into the west. He radioed us all to get our attention. Unfortunately, the boys and I were on our way out the door to voice lessons and karate, so we had to miss the whole thing. Apparently, what happened later was quite spectacular.
Not long after Peter alerted us, my brother-in-law, John T., was walking in the field and he happened to notice two moose heads bobbing up and down inside a large water tank that surrounds one of the gas wells on our land. He alerted somebody - not sure who - and soon the whole countryside was out here, cheering for these moose and trying to help them out. They were as mad as heck as you can well imagine, so it was not too easy to get close. Some brave soul eventually managed to cut a chunk out of the tank and free the moose.
Today, we went and had a look at the site of the event. It looks quite peaceful now, with a nice square-shape cut out of the tank and not too much evidence of a struggle. Nobody has seen the moose since. They probably decided there is better swimming somewhere else in the world.

"Oh, there's nothing halfway..."

A couple of weeks ago, I went to "Music Man" camp with my two elder sons while they auditioned for roles for the November production in Maple Creek. It was quite fun, really. I sewed 6 vests and an apron on a serger, and moved a number of buttons. They have stacks of old costumes at Camp Shagabec, where they always hold their music camps, and every year a number of seamstresses get together and try to adjust them for the current performance.
Daniel will be a salesman in the beginning train scene, then he will be the bass singer in the quartet for the rest. Joseph has several roles - he will be the train conductor at the beginning, the constable for most of the rest, with brief stints as the farmer in the Iowa song and a townsperson in the Wells-Fargo song. He also gets to dance and sing in "Shipoopi" which will be fun.
After I finished all my sewing, I moved to the kitchen, where I mostly sat and watched the professional cooking staff do their thing. Thank Heaven they liked just having company in there, because I wasn't much use for anything else. I did get to clean windows at the end, though.
Now we're off to Maple Creek every Sunday afternoon from now till the performances in November.

Playing in the dirt

Give me a pile of manure and another pile of gravel and I'm entertained for weeks.
Peter brought me over a pile of manure not long ago and I've been busy spreading it wherever I take the fancy. I made a new flowerbed out front and I've been preparing a row of soil for a lilac hedge we will be planting in the fall. The day before yesterday I dug all the grass out from around our present hedges, put manure around each tree, and yesterday I set up irrigation hoses for them. Now I can sit in the kitchen and drink coffee while watering.
I also plan to set up another flower bed so that I can plant some perennials in it this fall.
As yet, Peter has not brought me a pile of gravel. oooh! I can hardly wait!

those musical types!

Two of our boys had the great opportunity this summer of performing in a Gilbert and Sullivan musical, directed by a young man and a young lady from Maple Creek area. A local family hosted the out-of-town performers for the eight days of preparation for the performances.
On the way home from Eastend, after the first performance, some of the participants were listening to music on an i-pod, and when some music came on that they found inspiring, they pulled over to the side of the road and started dancing in the road allowance. This was about 11:00 p.m. on a Thursday night.
The parents who were hosting the performers, saw the vehicle pull over and were alarmed. "It looks like something dreadful has happened! What are they doing?" So they pulled up behind them, and their son jumped out of the van and ran over. When the parents caught up, their son informed them: "They're . . . dancing."
My boys, of course, were right in there, enjoying the whole thing.
We have many happy memories of our week and a half of preparation for this musical, and especially of the people we met.

FVPD

We had a kind of comedy of errors in Fox Valley recently that led to the successful arrest of a wanted man.
Police had discovered a stolen vehicle by our sodium sulfate plant and searched the building to find the man who had driven it there. They discovered a number of stolen articles in the vehicle.
Meanwhile, Ron B. was driving from his farm to town with his wife and daughter in the vehicle, when they came upon a lone and rather desolate man in the rain. They thought maybe his vehicle had broken down, and they offered him a ride to town, which he gladly accepted. While they were driving along, Larry H. from town phoned Ron to mention that there was a wanted man named _____ on the loose somewhere in the neighbourhood of their farm and would they please keep a look out for him. Ron said "We just picked up a guy. What's the name of the man they want?" Larry said, "It's Larry _____". So Ron turned around and asked the man in the back seat what his name was. (does this seem like a good idea to you?) He said, "Larry." Then Ron said to Larry H., "Can you please call the police?" Larry said, "Okay, just take him to the Valley O." ( local restaurant) Ron dropped the wanted man off at the Valley O and warned Audrey, the manager, who was there all alone, "Keep him here until the police arrive - he's wanted." So Audrey took a long time cooking his dinner, then sat down and made small talk with him until the police arrived. The police came after a while, handcuffed him and searched him and discovered a gun.
The only thing we can figure is that "Larry" must have been so desperate to go home (jail) that he acquiesced in all this. Now that it's all over and no one was hurt, we laugh.

O Folio!

A few blogs ago, I was doing some advertising for the excellent trivia quiz 4marks.com puts out every Monday. I'm here to mention they also have a wonderful "facebook" called "folio." It seems to be very much like facebook in every way except for the sometimes bothersome images that pop up (on facebook, I mean.) My boys were running into problems of that sort with facebook occasionally, so we decided to cancel. Folio is great! Except that none of you are on there yet, so we can't visit so well. So, come on over and check it out. 4marks.com/folio

Gophigure!

Holy Mackerel, have we a lot of gophers this year! We notice in the country that when there is a plethora of some creature, soon there is a corresponding plethora of a larger preying creature. Hence, the years we have been overrun with grasshoppers, we expect to see frogs, etc. later. I'm surprised there don't seem to be as many large birds of prey around as usual - maybe that's why the gopher binge - but maybe we'll have some later. Hmmm - what else eats gophers?

I was reading an article in the Maple Creek Advance Times the other day about rattlesnakes. A man from Burstall area has several rattlesnake dens on his property and he likes it. He says he never has the trouble with gophers that other farmers have. I personally think I would rather have the gophers.

Renovations Part III

Well, what a disaster we had here the week before last! I am now sufficiently recovered to talk about it. Only just!
We were installing ceramic tile in our kitchen. Peter and I (yes, we're still married!) did it ourselves, with a little help from our boys. We were SO careful about how we spread the adhesive, only applying enough to lay a tile or two at a time. We stayed off the tile for the requisite 24 hours, then I applied the grout. Oooh, that's messy! Like making mud pies.
We applied the last of the grout on Thursday, the day before we were expecting four guests - the Face to face team - for a parish retreat. By the end of Thursday and all through Friday, it was becoming very apparent that many of our tiles were not sticking, some of them were cracking, and the grout was crumbling. Since we were having company and I was helping to run this retreat, we had to leave everything for Monday, and I had to put my oven back so that I could actually cook something for somebody.
While this was going on, we were also looking for a new vehicle. For the past couple of months we have been borrowing vehicles every time we've gone out - shopping, to Karate, voice lessons, Mass, piano lessons, etc. Peter made a deal on a suburban from Saskatoon through a dealer in Swift Current. "Yes, we have an eight-seater for you. Yes, you can come and pick it up on Thursday." So in the midst of everything at home (oh, did I mention calving?) Peter's brother John made a special trip to Swift Current to drop us off at the Dealers so we could drive our new suburban home.
John took off, then we discovered our suburban was a 7-seater. We have to have an 8-seater so we can take Peter's parents with us sometimes. Peter had to go and tell the salesman that 7 and 8 are not the same thing and 7 won't do. Unfortunately, our dealer was not there. We managed to get ahold of John, who was on his way home already, and ask him to come back to get us. As a result, a quick trip to drop us off turned into a day-long shopping trip for him, since we had a "few things to pick up."
We got home safely, our company arrived and we had a lovely visit - until the plumbing backed up. Oh yes, it did. What a mess!
We had to tell our guests "Sorry, no showers, and please don't flush the toilets anyone."
Happily, we were out of the house all day Saturday, and didn't need the plumbing. Peter got to stay home from the retreat and scour the countryside for an available lagoon-pumping person. (What do you call those?) Eventually, our lagoon got pumped out, the plumbing was back to normal, and we all had a good weekend, except maybe Peter.
Then, on Monday, the car salesman, who was feeling somewhat remiss, replaced the back bucket seats with a bench, thus turning a 7-seater into an 8, and sent two of his employees to Fox Valley to deliver said vehicle in person.
All's well that ends well, eh?
Now, if only we can fix the floor. . .

We're off and running!

Well, the bedrooms are done, except for the trim - baseboards, etc. Yahoo!
Now all we have to do is move the washer and drier downstairs, make our old laundry room into a storage room, rebuild the roof supports in the space above the garage and build new bedrooms in there, then build our "shop" in the present garage. We want our new shop to be a place where the boys can build things, we can set up our ping pong table and Peter can work on projects. Having all the boys home during the day is wonderful, but it requires a little more space. Our house would probably be adequate if they were going to school.
Unfortunately, everyone's run out of gas after this last stint, so I'm not sure how to get us up and running again. Maybe a whip? Hmmm...
Oh I forgot, we also got ceramic tile for the kitchen floor. Our old vinyl tile is worn right through in places.
Hopefully, with the proper inspiration (see whip above) we can get all this done before we hand down the house to our sons. (except for the trim.)

Let There Be Pieces (and Peace, too)

This year for our last-minute pre-Christmas project, we thought we'd finish the basement bedrooms and paint the boys' bedroom upstairs, then shuffle all the boys around so they all come out with one bed each. Sounds simple, doesn't it?
Our older two boys have been helping and have actually done the painting in their own rooms, and our third son has helped with all the painting in his room also. Peter's in charge of finishing closets and ceilings, and my official position, though I have helped a little with painting, has been that of "Stuff Manager."
We removed all the "stuff" from all three bedrooms, and I have it carefully organized in the family room downstairs. However, it did not all fit in there (some of it was falling out) so I began to surreptitiously add pieces of "accent furniture", such as night tables, chairs and double beds to the livingroom and kitchen. This is a kitchen that already has one church organ too many!
It's all very organized. I know just what I'm going to say at midnight on Christmas Eve when we are setting up the bedrooms. "Dearest, where did you put the screws for the light switch covers for Davy's bedroom?" I'll say, "They're on the bookshelves." "And where are the bookshelves?" "They're in the back corner of the family room under the double bed mattress and drum set."
One would only hope it could be the drum set which will get lost and not the bolts for somebody's bed!
God bless you all with a very happy Christmas and New Year - think of us and count your blessings! I had better get back to work.

Gone all yin and yangsy!

That's right - we're into Karate now. I bought uniforms for Daniel and David, who are our karate enthusiasts, and got them home only to discover the yin and yang sign on the fronts. I was panicking for a while because I wasn't sure that would be an excellent Christian witness, but have been assured by several people whom I trust that the yin and yang are from a Chinese philosophy, not a religion, and that there doesn't need to be any religious significance attached unless we make it so.
We love the Karate lessons, though. I was even thinking about taking part myself, except I'm afraid I might have a coronary after five minutes. They have to do about 50 situps and crunches all together, except if you lean on the wall of the "dojo" - then you have to do 30 more. The instructors are very kind and helpful, except for their penchant for situps, and our boys are really enjoying the workout.
So, the next time you see us watch out for your knees. Hi-ya!

Trivial Pursuit

I just about live for Mondays. Well, maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I do quite look forward to Mondays. The reason is that every Monday, 4marks.com comes out with a new Catholic trivia contest and I always try out. There are always 40 questions and they're often related to the season of the church year. The quicker you answer the questions, the more points you get, too, so my nerves are a little on edge until I hear my weekly verdict. If a person completes the contest early on Monday, he or she could find him or herself in the top 40, or even the top 10. After that, of course, more people than 40 or 10 have participated in the contest and one tends to slide down in the chart through the course of the week. I actually came in first once, all week long, but usually I have to content myself with finishing in the top 100.
Besides the trivia contest, 4marks.com has ongoing catechism classes. It's a great website for all who teach catechism.

The Running of the Bulls (Fox Valley)

I headed out for my daily walk yesterday. As I was walking through the farmyard my little niece, Olivia called out to ask if she could come with me. This four-year-old has my sixteen-year-old son, Daniel, in tow just about constantly when she visits the farm. Yesterday they were out in the "fort" building a house for Olivia when I happened along.
I was a little reluctant to take her along because, well, I need the exercise and I didn't think having a little one along would permit me to go my usual speed. However I found it difficult to explain that to her, and, in the end, I invited both Olivia and Daniel to come with me.
Whoa! Olivia ran just about all the way. Did I mention, it's about a mile to the end of the road?
The only break she took was when Daniel whisked her up and spun her in the air a couple of times.
It's very sweet to me to see those two spending time together. A most unlikely pair, in a way.
We got almost to the end of the road when we looked up and noticed four bulls running in our direction. So, just like that we turned and started running in the opposite direction back to the farmyard. Just like Pamplona! We didn't actually stand a chance of beating the bulls there. Well, maybe Daniel and Olivia could, but not this old lady! Shortly however, my husband Peter drove up in the truck and drove us back to the yard where we opened the gate for the bulls and waited to usher them into the pasture.
This was one of those ordinary things that happen, that turn into a big adventure without any planning on my part. I almost missed out on it by saying "No" to Olivia.