Merry Post-Op

Here we are on the cusp of the new year, and I am finally getting around to posting about all the happenings on and off the ridge over the past couple of weeks.

My thyroid surgery went well on the 22nd.  I had a drain in immediately after surgery, and they needed to check my calcium serially to determine that I didn't have parathyroid issues, so I stayed overnight.  The surgeon was in bright and early the following morning to pull the drain and report that the calcium levels were ok, so I was able to head home by 10:30 or so.

I didn't have very much pain, but it was uncomfortable to eat and swallow for a couple of days.  We decided to go ahead with Christmas dinner with my parents on Christmas day:  beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, tossed salad with mandarin oranges and cranberries, and a flaming plum pudding for dessert!  The girls enjoyed opening their presents in the morning.


It took a while to get pictures...

Girls & Stella in their Christmas jammies

 We ventured out on Monday for me to have blood drawn again at the Hospital - still ok.  I see the surgeon back next week.

L turned 11 on Tuesday.  She helped me make the ice cream on Monday (Chocolate Hazelnut), and the cake on Tuesday morning (Tres Leches.)  We went out for Indian food with my parents that evening, and then returned for cake and ice cream (delicious) and presents.  I think she had a good time!

 

On Wednesday we watched Star Wars episode IV in tribute to the late Carrie Fisher.  Consequently we have watched the next 2 episodes over the next 2 days!  We had our friend, C, out for the day, and the girls spent several hours playing with their new chess set.  Snow was forecasted, so JP put the snow plow and chains on his lawn tractor, and hauled water again.

 

Speaking of water, the well drilling men were out for a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon.  Apparently the water pump on the rig had frozen, and they were waiting for parts.  Once they arrived, they fixed the rig, and fired it up momentarily...haven't seen them since...

We got about 3+ inches of snow overnight last night.  The girls, Stella & I spent a couple of hours playing in it this morning. 

J and her Snow Totoro

 

L and her Snow Fort
 

It is cozy here in the house, sipping cocoa and watching Star Wars VI.  We have plenty of water, and plenty of wood, so we are set for awhile...not that we are snowed in, the temps are due to rise into the 40's tomorrow!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you all!

Bring. It. On.

We got freezing rain overnight.  J stayed over at a friends' house, and L had a friend staying here.  Mid-morning we needed to make the switch - drop off  C, and pick up J.  We only had to travel a total of about 2 miles, but getting down the ice slick otherwise known as our driveway was the tricky part!

JP put the chains on the van, but after sliding a few feet down the drive, we decided to go off road, and drove down through our neighbors' field.  No problem.  Dropped off C, picked up J, tried to go up the driveway - no go.  Tried to go up the neighbors' field - no go.  We ended up parking at the bottom of the driveway and hiking up.  Good exercise!

We still didn't get water (due to the ice issue), so no cleaning or laundry happened.  JP caught rain/melting ice water off the barn roof that we are using to flush toilets.  We're managing!

Since we couldn't (and didn't need to) go anywhere today, I thought it was the perfect time to get the Christmas baking done.  For the past couple of years, we've only been making 4 varieties - we each pick one type.  That way we don't get inundated by cookies, plus we have a few to share!

Here is our assortment:

Counter-clockwise from upper left:  L picked Haystacks (peanut butter/butterscotch no bakes), J's choice was Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies, JP likes Chocolate Chip Surprise Cookies (there's a Hershey kiss in the middle), and I tried a new recipe from Cook's Illustrated called "Millionaire's Shortbread".  It might not look like a million bucks, but it tastes pretty doggone good!

So everything is done.  The decorations are up.  The presents (Christmas & Birthday) are wrapped.  The cards have been mailed.  The baking is finished.  The girls get out of school at 1:00 on Wednesday.

My surgery is first thing Thursday morning, and I won't come home until some time Friday.  Then I will have a little over a week to recover and everyone will be around to help out.  It's all good!

Confession

I have to confess...I'm bonkers.

To many of you, this will not be a new detail about my life.  What I'm hoping is that talking about it will make it easier to live my day to day life without a breakdown.

I am completely focused on, freaked out about, and obsessed with the water situation here.  Understandably, it's been a huge thing to tackle on many levels.  The financial cost is pretty ginormous, but that doesn't bother me as much as the conserving water or budgeting time to haul said water on a weekly basis.

The well drilling rig came out Monday afternoon, and after the guys spent about 30 minutes setting things up, they disappeared...haven't seen or heard from them since.  In the meantime, it snowed an inch or two, and the temperatures dropped into the single digits.  This means that the snow is staying, and where we've driven up and down the driveway on it repeatedly, it's gotten pretty slick.  Consequently, it is a bit dangerous to drive the non-4WD truck up and down it multiple times to haul water. 

I'm getting really tired of conserving as well.  I'm grossed out by unflushed toilets, and I freeze in the shower where I spend only 3 minutes under hot water, and the rest of the time soaping, shampooing or conditioning & shivering.  It worries me to use extra hot water to thaw the frozen water-ers from the below freezing chicken house.  I finally broke down today and did a load of laundry because I put on my last pair of clean underwear this morning.

It is taking it's toll physically.  I am not sleeping well - I wake multiple times a night and think about what I need to do that uses water, whether I'll be able to do it, and if I might be able to haul a load or two in the upcoming days.  I have a chronic headache, and I'm starting to get a chronic stomachache.

It sucks.

This is how I used to feel every time I saw a forecast for a winter storm for a few winters after the one that left us in the dark and the cold for over a week.  (Oh yeah, there's one coming tonight, so the driveway will not be getting less icy any time soon.)  That anxiety is better now, especially since I have this new obsession to focus on.

I'm not sure how to deal with this.  I'm trying to make use of the nervous energy by tackling all of the end of the year projects I have.  I've tried to distract myself by listening to podcasts or reading, but I can't concentrate.  If I could just SEE someone out here, starting work on the well, it would do a world of good...for a while.  In the meantime, send all of your warm weather this way.  That and some Valium might just do the trick!

Well, Well, Well...

Look what arrived on Poplar Ridge this afternoon:

We are FINALLY on our way to a new well!

Hunting Season

The girls had no school today in honor of the first day of rifle season in Pennsylvania.  JP, my dad, and I all sat out for varying amounts of time.  The first week of deer season in our area is buck only, and none of us saw any eligible males!

This guy was hanging around the girls' swing last week, but I never saw him before or after.

I sat in the tree house this morning, and watched the sun come up.

Lizzie joined me after awhile, as she typically does.

This afternoon, I sat out in the old chicken barge, so that I could scan the woods to the east.  It didn't prove to be an advantageous position either.

J went to a movie with friends on Wednesday night, we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with my parents on Thursday, met up with old friends for Mexican food on Saturday, and had our honorary 3rd daughter, C, out on Sunday.  Our break was packed with comings and goings.

Tomorrow we are going back to school and work after a marvelous 5 1/2 days off.  That thought  makes me want to be independently wealthy so that I can have a manservant and lounge around all day (I have been reading the "Jeeves" books by P.G. Wodehouse.) 

Seeing as I fill the shoes of manservant the best around here, I guess I should get off my butt and pack some lunches for tomorrow.

I hope that your Thanksgiving breaks were equally lovely!

Tis the Season

It always seems that Halloween ushers in a flurry of activity that lasts through the end of the year.  It has been no different this year, although I think we had a single week with nothing happening after school except for music lessons.

Last week, L began having Basketball practice 2 nights a week, but they begin right after school, so I only have to drive out once to pick her up.  Last weekend, we also attended a presentation of "Little Shop of Horrors" in one of the neighboring cities.  (It was fun, but the venue was not great and we didn't get good views of the stage.)  The following day, we had Mom & Dad over for a meal (homemade pasta, turkey meatballs and sauce) with cake and ice cream for dessert for Mom's birthday.

Yesterday was J's 14th birthday.  She was not feeling well - and has actually been somewhat under the weather all week.  She rose to the occasion, however, and managed to enjoy a tiny slice of cake and opening her presents when Mom & Dad came to join us after dinner.

 

Next week we will be celebrating Thanksgiving, and since JP is on call, we will be staying home and feasting with Mom & Dad.  Hopefully we will be able to meet some old friends for a meal later in the week as well. 

The Monday after Thanksgiving is the first day of Rifle Season in our neck of the woods, and I feel woefully under prepared for hunting anything this year. 

I just received notice that we were approved to hold L's Birthday party at the HS pool on December 10th, which is really just around the corner.

That will be followed by my thyroid surgery, which is scheduled for Dec. 22nd, and will involve an over night Hospital stay.  At that point I will need to be completely ready for Christmas, and L's REAL birthday (Dec. 27th), since it will literally be hours away from my discharge.

SIGH.

In the meantime, we are still having to haul all of the water that we use, as we have not had any progress on our new well yet, although the "PA One Call" folks were out to mark the buried electrical and telephone lines.  I spent 4 hours doing it on Friday, when the weather was a lovely 70* and sunny.

Today it looks like this outside, and we received an estimate for the well (which is higher than my guesstimate that I was HOPING was high, and does not include the actual pump.)  Good news though - he may begin work next week.

It's November 20th, and I'm already stressing about the Holidays.  Sheesh.  I think it's time for a cup of tea!

Dumbstruck

In light of the Presidential election results, I am sticking to the policy: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything."