Say It Ain't So

 

289 and FM121
Busy intersection in Gunter 

We've had the most amazing pleasure of living in Gunter for over 5 years now. In my opinion, it's been one of the best moves I've (we've) made. I love having cows as neighbors. I love the unpredictability of which of my farm animals have gotten into some unexpected mischief while I went to town (people still say that out here). I love getting on the mower and spending some time thinking only about the 10 feet in front of me. I love the quiet of outside, the sound of nature outside and that I feel like I'm a part of it all. I love running and biking on country roads where dogs will chase you and that's part of the deal. I love having a barn. I love all the lessons that the farm animals teach. 

And now, I love it that Gunter is getting a traffic light. Our first one. It's much needed, as the population out here has grown, and the main intersection in town has gotten very busy at times - and dangerous. The light will save lives. I've avoided that intersection at all costs for awhile, yet soon, I will travel through that area knowing that it's a much safer place for everyone involved. 

It’s happening here. A real light in Gunter.

Wait, what, there's more?

The road only stays “okay” for awhile.

We are also getting a road that's paved. What?! For over 5 years, we've only had dirt/gravel roads that take us out into the world. It's a repetitive cycle of huge holes to dodge, then the county comes and fills the holes, and then the holes are there again. Holes that you could lose a cow in. Cows need to be careful not to leave their pastures and get lost in these holes in the road, which takes us to the main road (289 or 121). I mean look at this.....

It’s flat, the craters are gone and it’s 
starting to be a real road now.
Not yet paved, but prepping for that.

It's a slow process, but we are getting a paved road. The county and city does nothing quickly, but they get full credit and all the gold stars for starting the road project and working on it, seemingly whenever they feel like working on it. Prior to this improvement, no matter which way we turned out our OWN gravel road from our house:

We are responsible for our own gravel road 😃

Once we turn off our own little gravel road, we do have pavement for about a quarter of a mile before we hit that janky county gravel road again to proceed to what I like to call, a main road. So it goes like this: Pull out of the garage, drive on gravel road to a paved road. Then shortly after you think, "I love this paved road", the paved road turns to gravel road with pot holes (keep small children away from this road or you may lose them, too). Then once you bob and weave the craters, you do eventually get to the main road which is only about 1/2 mile away but takes a fair amount of time to maneuver getting there.

What I'm trying to say is, no matter which way we turn to get out to the main road to go somewhere in the world, our choice was either a county road that was rocky and holey or a county road that was rocky and holey. I say county road because we are just outside of the city limits, and it's maintained by the county. So it seems the county and the city have come together to pave some of this road. I'm beyond elated. I don't know what I'll do if I'm not dodging and weaving my way up to the main roads. I will get back hours in my life and free up space in my mind whereby I have memorized the current hole patterns in the road. I'll never ask for anything else for Christmas again. I pinky promise. 

Wow, a traffic light and paved roads. The increase in my taxes is well worth these treats of real roads and safety. Thank you Grayson County and the City of Gunter. From the bottom of my pocket book, I may actually be buying less tires and having the alignment corrected on my truck far less now, and I thank you.

I can actually drive straight now, but watch for trains 🚂 
Look at this almost-real road. I'm loving it!

I wanted to point out one more thing before I leave this topic. I used to be 'that person' who never understood how people could be hit in their cars on the railroad tracks. Now I completely understand how someone could be hit in their car going over a railroad track. We don't have levers that descend down with bright lights telling you to stop for the train. Nope. We have no lights flashing. Nope. We have a RailRoad Crossing X sign that reminds you that a train COULD go by. And trains go by all the time. If your music is turned up and you are thinking about 6 other things as you fly by on this soon-to-be paved road over the RR tracks, you can actually miss the train whistle and bad things can happen. Add in that the road is wide enough for 1 car and 1/4 of another car. It certainly keeps things exciting out here.   

Country Mouse City Mouse

We’ve figured out some farm hacks around here over the last 5 years, many of which I randomly post and somehow feel that I’m the first person to do a certain something. I’m not. I’m usually just happy to have implemented something that saves time or money. If I was to tell the former version of myself (I’ll call her City Mouse) about these exciting what-I-think-of-as-farm-innovations, I'm pretty sure city mouse would simply roll her eyes and judge, judge and judge me some more. But my former city mouse can judge all she wants, because the country mouse is doing things. City mouse had her day. Country mouse is who I was meant to be all along. I just had to go through the city to get to the country.

This has been waiting for me at Tractor Supply 
for 5 years. Country Mouse finally found it. 

So simple, right? Why did I not think of this before? An automatic dog water bowel for the chickens. Yes, for the chickens. They love it! Fresh water all the time, and it's plugged into the water faucet in the barn. Done and done. I mean, we did this for the horses, so why did it take so long for me to think about a version of it for the chickens in the barn. Otherwise, we are constantly filling up water bowls and containers for the chickens, esp during the summer months. I can't answer the question of why it took me 5 years to do this. I was probably busy chasing down sheep trying to escape, fence mending/moving and other silly silly misc activities which I have likely documented in this blog. But this is life-changing for David and I. Just like the paved road. 

Not so fly after all

Hope all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Remember the fly mask for Hope? It was somewhat helpful when she would keep it on, but fast forward to the flies bothering Hope's body. Why Dora does not have these same fly issues as Hope is a puzzle I'm unable to piece together. It was suggested by my farrier that I consider getting Hope a fly covering for her body. I can do that, I'm thinking. I mean, she wouldn't keep her fly mask on, but somehow I'm convinced she'll keep her fly dress on. Makes sense, right?

It’s a little tight, but just trying to get her to keep it on. 

Despite that, David and I needed to help Hope with the pesky flies that torture her daily. So we bought her a fly dress. It's a mesh cover that protects much of her body from the flies. This is going to be great, I just know it. 

After dressing Hope for prom, she looked beautiful and we sent her back out to the pasture to show it off to her friends. And darned if she didn't have it on for even a full day, and pulled that dress off. Maybe she was mad we didn't get her the matching shoes or necklace, but either way, the velcro and buckles are no match for Hope. I guess she'd rather have the flies bothering and biting her than wear a dress. Seems silly to me, but we tried. Fly dress fail because that mare is not having it. 

Which reminds me. David and I are continually trying to fix farm things that we are convinced we can fix. Yet, we are shown over and over that our 'Farm Will' will not be done. We can try and try, and push our own will and desires on the Graves Farm. But nope, not everything is meant to be. But we keep trying. Just like these two outside dogs, Whisper and Winston. 

Whisper (white), Winston (black)

When the storms come, they both fit their big bodies through the doggie door into the laundry room and squeeze into the back closet and hide together. Thank goodness Levi (head guard dog) stays on duty even in the storms, while his associates ride out the storm in the closet. David and I just roll with it, and allow them to feel safe when they need to feel safe. I mean, who doesn't like a laundry room that smells like wet dirty farm dog(s). 

Be My Eyes

So I have this app on my phone called Be My Eyes. It's fairly new to me.

Have you heard of it? It's an app that connects the visually impaired with volunteers who are willing to take a FaceTime call and assist with issues that a visually impaired person might have in their day. For example, if someone who is blind needs help around the house (what color is this sweater? I can't find the so-in-so in this kitchen drawer) they can call on their phone using this app and a volunteer can help them. The call comes through similar to a FaceTime call and you can see what they are trying to show you, but they cannot actually see you. Duh, Cyndi. I signed up and got my first call from someone the other day. My phone lit up with "You have a call from Be My Eyes". I answered it, and I could see that the person on the other end of the line was holding up something for me to see. The man immediately begins asking questions about this piece he is holding up for me:

Lauren is texting, and I’m trying
to figure out the size of this thing. 

He was holding up some sort of metal hole saw/cutter drill thingie and was asking me what I thought the size of it was. Hummmmm, my first Be My Eyes call and it's a man asking me about power tool accessory. Of course, he can't really tell if he's holding it up in front of his camera on his phone because he can't see well enough to know that. So after I stutter a bit, I ask him to move it up some, now turn it around to the right, okay stop there. Okay, now hold your phone closer to it. All the while he's asking me the size of this Lenox round hole cutter. He says he's trying to place all the various sizes of his hole saw cutter kit pieces back into each other (for storage) and this particular one is not fitting, and if he knew the size, he could figure out how to get them all back in the case where he keeps them stored. I'm thinking 1) did he open the case and they spilled out, 2) did he use a power tool and drill a hole in something, 3) that for me to try and guess the size or dimension of any power tool is not my speciality. Okay, I say, slowly turn it around, and I'll look for the size on the side of it. He attempts to do so, but since he cannot tell if the tool is in my view of vision, we are both trying to communicate to get the answer he's wanting, bantering back and forth. So what do I do next? I find David. He'll know. He knows power tools, drills bits and things like that. "David! I need you to help us please" all while David is looking at my phone like it's a meteor from Mars. 'Why is this person holding this metal hole cutter and asking these questions'. David is completely and uttering perplexed. I tell David we are this man's eyes, and he's asking what size this metal hole cutter is. David, still confused, asks the man to turn the piece a certain way and after a few more turns by the man's hand, there's the size, engraved on the side of the hole cutter. But the man just keeps turning the piece. Wait! Turn it back the other way. The man does. David quickly takes a screenshot of the tool, and at the same time, I get a text from Lauren. BUT, we can now tell this man the size of this hole cutter. Turns out, this man had ordered one and had it delivered, but is unsure if it's the right size because it's not fitting in with his other sizes to fit back in his tool case. 

Something so simple, is so hard when you can't see. David, I, and the man on the phone all agree on the size of this hole cutter, and the man is now understanding that he may have received the wrong size in the mail, and so on, and so on. He says he'll now call the company he ordered it from and go from there. He had his answer. We say our goodbyes, and hang up. David looks up at me with the look of WTFrick was that all about. After I explain, he remembers I have this app on my phone and that visually impaired persons may call at any time and ask any random questions. I, on the other hand, am amazed at the genius who thought of this App and that people like me can help others at any time. They in their house, I in my house. I bet there's a gazillion other App's that help people in many ways I cannot even imagine. The world never ceases to amaze me. I look forward to what the next question will be. Hopefully it’s a question about chickens, or clothes, or something I might know something about. 

Put ice on everything

This is the one piece of advice I would give as my takeaway from my close encounter with school nursing. I really thought I was going to be a school nurse. I had even gone to HR to get my badge and do the things. I had ordered a School Nurse book that arrived that same day. But another interview that very same day changed all that. 

The thing about nursing is there's so many options right now, which is a wonderful thing. I've been looking at a couple of options lately as I lean towards a return back into the workforce. I've been taking an intentional work break for about 6 weeks now. I'm very used to the every-day-is-Saturday routine, and although I'm not sure I really want to give that up, I have been interviewing. Practicing interviewing is what I tell myself. But the thing is, people want to offer jobs. So, at a same day interview with Cook's Children's, I knew I would be putting the school nurse opportunity on hold. I just knew it during the interview, and felt like it's where I was meant to be. Luckily though, I still have about 2 more weeks of Saturdays, as I don't start until Aug 30th. And after all those YouTubes of school nursing, I now have a good understanding of what they really do. They do everything. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. It's no joke. I had no idea what all they do. And it's everything. 

David Update

Dante (of Tender BBQ) has been a friend of David's for some time. When Dante opened his first Tender BBQ restaurant, one of the things David did was make a Texas flag for the wall of his new restaurant. 

Seems there are particular dimensions for flags.
How much red, white and blue areas.
How big the star is. 
There’s rules to follow for it to be right
and look right. 

Then, David made another one for the Frisco location. Now, Dante is about to open up his newest location of Tender BBQ and David finished the flag for that location. 

It’s 4 X 6 foot 

It’s hard to tell how this will all blend in, but Dante always makes his restaurants look amazing, warm and welcoming. 

This is something David absolutely loves doing. Making things, esp for other people. I find it fascinating how one minute he's making a flag from wood, then another time he's doing flower arranging, and then stained glass, and wait, a Christmas wreath, and the list just goes on and on. He's artsy fartsy and I love that about him. When Lauren was growing up, David was always painting murals on the walls of her bedroom with the theme of her choice. And this weekend, David is starting a bedroom mural for Jeni's little Vince. I'm not sure what the topic of choice is, but we'll see soon enough. 

Also coming up next week, David heads back to Houston for his PET scan and MRI at MD Anderson. As you likely know, this will continue every 2-3 months for awhile. We are grateful for this follow up, and David readily moves through this process as it's his life line and compass in life. 

The thing about cancer is it's a guessing game. Many cancer patients live scan to scan, knowing that it's those followups that keeps oneself on course. You can go rouge and see what happens. I mean, people do that because it's easy, and staying on course can be costly and tedious. I, myself find the rouge option appealing, yet know what that means therefore I also stay on track with my cancer care. David and I were just having this conversation recently that taking care of oneself with cancer weaves a path in your daily life. Whether it's medications, scans, follow ups, or self care, cancer requires you to be on-guard full time. And at the same time, gives you a false sense that you are who you once were before cancer. It's tricky like that. Labs and scans look good, until they don't. We are endlessly hopeful for David's scans to be clear. We find it nearly impossible to think otherwise.

And in other news, David recently decided it was time for he and I to take country and western dance lessons. Yep, he sho did. David signed us up for real dance lessons at a real dance studio and there we were - learning to two step. Fast, fast, slow slow. Turns and all. We have rolled up the rug in the living room, propped it up in a corner, and pushed the furniture to the side. Our living room is now a dance hall. We turn on Willie or Garth and 2 step around the house in the evening. This dancing stuff is not as easy as it seemed. David's biggest obstacle is finding the beat. Mine is being a follower to his lead. It's a new team effort that had we tried this about 15 years ago, it could have been grounds for divorce. Now, it brings us together in a new way that strengthens our bond and encourages us to cheer each other on. And, since Dante is getting married soon, and his 'western themed dance' reception will be our first public dance appearance, we are getting ready to actually dance at a wedding reception (30 years later). Until then, we keep practicing. Trying not to step on each others feet, fall, or step on a dog. 

As you know, this means our living room went from housing our kitchen things TO a dance hall. Although our kitchen is still not officially complete (it's close!) - at least the kitchen has all it's kitchen things back in the kitchen. I'm still finding I cook less, but have come to embrace the idea of cooking less. I'm fine with cooking less. Or maybe even not at all. When everyday is a Saturday, aren't Saturday's meant for eating out? 

After

After

 

I’ll remind you of the before pics just for funsies. 

Before. Not too awful, right? 

Before. I wasn't a big fan of the fridge placement prior. 

In summary, I, too, have an oncologist appt coming up. Lauren and Ryan each have a birthday coming up. I'll start work again. My Ironman triathlon in Augusta is coming up next month. Brooks will turn 1 in October. David's season of UT football will start soon and he plans on being at the games as usual. We are all having a blast living this great life. You are. I am. And we are all actually doing it together. Thanks for coming along for the ride with us. We have many wonderful things on the horizon, and I know you do too. But first, let's see what this moment brings.

Much love to you,

Cyndi

Question of the day:

David bought new lighters at the store. Then, once home and opened, I noticed this. I’m not sure if his new labeling system should be offensive to me.