We have had the most wonderful visitors come as they are to the farm recently. This is probably one of my most favorite things, is when we are able to share the love of the farm animals with others.
Brooks
First up, we were fortunate enough to care for Brooks for a whole weekend while his Mama and Papa went on a mini weekend vacay. I'll start by saying that if we could have just stayed outside the entire time, he would have. One of my favorite things is also one of Brooks favorite things: outside. Brooks will come grab my hand and lead me to the nearest door all while saying "outside". He knows what he wants and I'm here for it.
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| Pure joy |
He played in the sprinkler which was extra exciting as it was his first time to do this type of old fashioned water play. It seemed to rank right up there with his bomb pop eating experience he had recently. I suppose it's like getting in a time machine and heading back to the 1970's when we all played in the sprinklers in our yard and got bomb pops from the ice cream truck that would come singing down the street. Nana Poppins is going to teach him games like Red light/Green light, Tag and Mother May I, too. Well, as he gets a little older. We can get in that time machine any time we want, right, Brooks?
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| A boy and his dog (at least for the weekend) |
Brooks loved all the animals. Well, not all the animals. There's something about the sheep the scare the tarnation out of him. It's their loud Baaaa's I think. He loves the chickens esp, all the dogs, esp Buddy. He loved the horses and pig. Yet, by the end of the weekend, his two newest favorite words were Buddy and Maybe. Both of which would allow pets (under supervision of course, as Brooks is 1 1/2 years old and does not yet have the understanding that what he does may not be well received by a dog).
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| Must touch fish |
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| Best fishing day ever |
And then there was the fishing. Brooks' mama was not keen on this idea nor the thought of hooks flying through the air around her baby. Not to worry. This was a well controlled situation, and Brooks was all in. Luckily, since the pond was stocked last year, the fish are biting. And I mean biting as in even if your hook smells like bait, they bite. As soon as the hook and bait go in, a fish hits it, and boom, you got a fish and another and another.
He really wanted to touch the fish and had not one ounce of scared-ness in him. He's definitely going to be a fisher-guy. We are starting young around here.
Another highlight of this weekend was all the sounds Brooks would mimic. Every bird noise, chicken noise, turkey noise, horse and pig noise - Brooks did it. He would cock-a-doodle doo, oink oink and neigh neigh relentlessly. My only question is why does this child not live on a farm.
Sadly, Sunday came and Brooks had to go back home. No need to worry though, Mothers Day was coming up and we got another opportunity to spend a day with him again. We thank both Lauren and Ryan for so readily sharing their most precious and greatest gift they have. We cherish every minute. And news flash, Brooks has changed our names from Nana and Pops to Nay Nay and Pop. I should have had grandchildren first.
Brooke
C3-er's get ready. We had the most delightful visit from our ever-famous C3-er, Brooke. I know, I was just as surprised as you are. We have been waiting for this moment and Brooke did not disappoint. Brooke never disappoints, as you know. We had the best time! We went out for a yummy Mexican food lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall place. Then we went and laid hands on and gave pets to all the animals. Brooke of course knew every animal's name and history.
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| I think she's a secret chicken lady |
It's like she's been there all along. And she has, virtually, and now here she was in person: Brooke 2.0
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| She got all 5 sheep in this shot, nice job |
Besides the lunch and visit to the farm, I must tell you one of my favorite parts. You see, we had a family friend who happens to be a mother (Jessica) of 4 children who was coming over so that her children could fish in our pond that afternoon. As you can see it in your own head......4 children, 4 cane poles with hooks, and catching fish back-to-back is a recipe for organized chaos. No need to fear, Brooke is here.
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| Tessa caught the biggest, a catfish |
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| Safety is not an accident |
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| Jacob caught so many of these blue gills |
Thank you, Brooke for helping us set up and manage a tricky operation of fishing with 4 children all under the age of 9. Let's just say that when the day was done, and the fishing was complete, and everyone was home, we were MORE than grateful for the magnificent day of wonderful visitors and that no one got hooked with a hook - except many, many fish.
Come back again soon, and we'll fish some more, take more selfies with farm animals and eat more yummy food.
Best Friend Buddy
I'm happy to report that 5 month old Buddy (aka David's Dog) is now taking on the livestock guard pups, as I guess the sheep and pig seemed to not be as interactive as he'd like. ** Excuse the janky video
Buddy's favorite playmates are officially Dutch and Penny. Mainly Penny. They used to harass Buddy, but things around here are a-changing. Buddy is pretty much terror on 4 paws.
Even Smoky, the barn cat who can be a meanie to the other cats at times, is now having Buddy force-play with him. Smoky probably thinks the world has turned upside down, because nobody messes with him. Surprise. You have a new friend.
Happy Mother's Day
Here's wishing you all a belated mother's day, and I hope it was wonderful!
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| Still surreal, my baby with her baby 💕 |
Cancer Update
As David's PET scans are looking good, I'm happy that he's retiring and going to live life a little more. We are able to do many things in life, and are most grateful for that. After spending quality time at MD Anderson, we never go a day without appreciating just how precious time is, and that every day we wake up and brush our teeth is a gift. I go to Texas Oncology every month (sometimes every 2 months) and have my labs drawn. When I went this past Wednesday, my hematocrit was creeping up again because my blood cancer is one of which causes my bone marrow to make blood, more blood, and even more blood. It just never stops. This increases a chance of a vascular event such as a stroke, heart attack or blood clot hence why I take 2 different blood thinners each day. And the treatment to lower the amount of blood in my body, for the meantime, is phlebotomies. It's a lifestyle for me. They take about 500 ml's of blood each visit that it's indicated. Yeah, having fairly large amounts of blood taken from me on a regular basis has a number of side effects. Everything from increase in platelets, decrease in iron, other lab values out of range, and a myriad of other things (think fatigue, and swollen spleen due to blood volume) that happens when your body has not-normal things happening to it. It's just part of my life. If I didn't do it, the life span with this cancer is 1-3 years. To prolong life, it's either regular phlebotomies or the consideration of a chemo agent. That is likely the next step in treatment as there is no cure for polycythemia vera at this time. It's a progressive disease, so it's hard to know what the future holds. And since it's considered a rare cancer, there is not funds going to research for it like there is breast or colon cancer. But then again, millions of people have those cancers, so I get it. I know how lucky I am that I have amazing health care available to me, and am able to seek treatment(s) for my PV. David and I both understand the gravity of it all. Some days it's heavy, other days it's light. It's part of our lives - not all of our life. And for that, we keep going and doing things and thankful that we are able to. With so many wonderful things in our lives, we find that we don't focus on this too much. It's kind of like a gift we got that has taught us so much. And there's no returns or regifting.
AFGO
As things change around here yet stay exactly the same, I'd like to tell you that when I recently told David that I was going to take a blog-break for the summer, he was a bit surprised. Rightfully so, as I had been thinking about doing more reading, running and biking as this hot weather is my kind of weather, and David had no idea I had been bouncing that thought around in my mind. I told him I wanted to take some time to listen to more books and grow my knowledge in the field of writing and blogging.
What I didn't realize was what David would do. He announced to me that he would like to be the guest blogger for my blog-break. I looked over at him (we were driving in the car at the time we were having this discussion) and I realized this was a afgo moment. You know, another f*cking growth opportunity. Look at him grow. He even informed me that he had ideas of what he'd like to cover in his first blog post.
So, my dearest of friends and family, I'm happy to tell you that you are about to start hearing a whole nother side of our life from a different viewpoint and perspective. Retirement Day, June 30th is coming up quickly, and David will likely deliver his opinions and feelings on retirement, plus who knows what else.
Oh goodie! I can't wait for this. I hope he blogs soon......
Much love,
Cyndi
