Funny thing is

Isn't it funny how one thing turns into something else then morphs into something quite different and then you end up somewhere you had no idea was even a pliable idea and then what happens is completely unexpected and never had it on your radar in the first or second place. 

It all started with a chicken party. Savannah, my great niece who is a fellow chicken lover was turning 8 years old this month, at the same time Brooks was turning 2 years old. The birthday bash for these two kiddos would be celebrated on the same day with Savannah requesting a chicken theme and Brooks a car theme.

As you can only imagine, I would be buying Savannah chickens (chicks who are almost teenagers actually) and gifting those to her to have on our farm. I had gotten her 5 silkie chicks whom I then allowed to age and grow up a bit before the big party, so they would be nice and hardy for plentiful handling by children. 

These 5 silkies have no idea of the 
birthday party to come 🎂

Three white (and two grey)

 

David would be in charge of the chicken cake.

Chocolate eggs, cotton candy for the nest,
and a chicken cake mold helped bring this
all together. It's one-of-kind.

David would also make a car cake for Brooks although we did not buy him a new car for his birthday, he did get three car toys instead.

Can you imagine that one day.......
he'll be getting a real car.

The big day of the party arrived and we celebrated Savannah turning 8 and Brooks turning 2!

The happiest birthday twins 💕

Celebrating multiple birthdays at once has
become a favorite activity.

Brooks was intrigued at all the gifts.
Savannah and Declan are the most
wonderful cousins who share and care.

It's hard trying to figure out what being 
"Number 2" means. 

We all had so much fun on the farm as Savannah played and played with her chickens, collected eggs in the barn (regular 30 minute chicken egg check) as she stayed outside as much as possible. 

This is what I live for.

She handles her chickens with love and grace.

And each time I looked up, I would also see Sheryl off in the pasture giving treats to the mini horses, Maggie the Pig and the sheep. I noticed all the farm animals surrounding her in a perfect circle waiting their turn for their treat. Then, Sheryl would be back in the house again rummaging quietly through the kitchen, looking for animal-grade treats. And then I would look up and see her back out in the pasture again, providing more tasty treats of cake, veggies and anything that looked extra-and-edible from non-suspecting party goers who appeared to be done with their plates. There's always leftovers at a party, but on this day, if you walked away from your plate too long it would become a farm animal treat. 

As we celebrated with hamburgers and hotdogs, cake and ice cream, and chickens. It was sometime during mid-party that things took a turn. Kristin, my niece started talking about taking Savannah's chickens home, getting a coop, setting up a chicken area in their back yard and then begin asking questions regarding the caretaking and keeping of chickens. Yump, I thought, that's certainly an option although we are happy to keep them here on the farm for her (original plan). I am also happy to see them available to Savannah for safekeeping at her house and them taking care of the 5 birthday chickens, loving them, holding them and having them right in their own backyard. I hadn't thought of that option, but as the party progressed, that option became the decision. 

How can you say No to this?
(chick via a hatching set of eggs in
our own silkie flock)

Since they would need to get their chicken coop and fencing set up, we would keep Savannah's chickens at the farm until the following weekend and then make the chicken-transfer at that time. 

The chicken and car birthday party eventually came to a close and as Savannah said Bye to her chickens, she knew that in about a week she would then have them in her own backyard. 

I thought, how cool is this!

Then the fun part starts......with Kristin, Sheryl and Gene trying to decide on a coop, where to put said coop, how to protect them from predators and other backyard chicken discussions. We texted back and forth with chicken questions and answers, coop options and logistics of the chicken pickup the following weekend.

Turns out, since Brooks is 2 years old he's having a 2nd birthday party at Lauren's house the following weekend with her friends and Ryan's family (and us). Side note: Ryan was at a previously planned camping trip the day we had Brooks birthday party at the farm. So it's fitting that if you are 2 then 2 birthday parties are in order.

While we are heading over to Fort Worth it would be perfect timing to pass off Savannah's chickens to Kristin, Sheryl and Gene. And that we did. We made a chicken transfer to them along the way to Brooks 2nd 2 year old birthday party in Fort Worth, this time.

They had been feverishly setting up chicken-shop for the new arrivals. They put together their coop, set up fencing, placed out lots of chicken toys such as ladders, a swing and a mirror. And wa-laa!

But then this happened! Now, how really cool is this.

First look and first hold in her new chicken world.

What started as a chicken party at the farm also ended up being a chicken party at their house too. Savannah is the best chicken mama and her backup team of her mom, Kristin, along with chicken-grandparents of Sheryl and Gene makes it all magical and wonderful. 

This story reminds me that we live a life of surprises. Bad surprises, good surprises and surprises that you could have never imagined. This was one of the best surprises I've seen in awhile. Chickens who were to be Savannah's here on the farm are now in her own backyard. It warms my heart and soul. The best surprise chicken surprise unknowingly that another chicken surprise would be on the horizon.

But you mentioned bad surprises.....

Yeah, I did. You can't have all the good and no bad. You can try - but in my life, I'm about 70-30 on good vs bad surprises. Maybe even 60-40 because living on a farm increases your chance for a bad surprise. Regardless, I did encounter a bad surprise recently.

Remember when I mentioned about David and I would be going to our MD Anderson appts? We were to leave early and I mean early on Monday morning the day after the chicken and car party. But after reading an email that we received early Friday prior (from MDA) reflected that David was now considered cash pay AND my insurance showing no deductibles had been met for the year. 

First, David and I had both met our deductibles and out of pocket maximums. The surprise was that when my company changed health insurance on all our employees on October 1 (this year! yes, late in this year!) that the "promised" information such as deductibles/out of pocket maximums and other important health insurance information did not actually get transferred over as all employees had been told it would.  

Let's just say (due to my jaw being tight and tense right now because I am still mad and sad about this whole event) that David and I both tried all day Friday, Monday and Tuesday to get this health insurance information issue all squared away to no avail until Tuesday when it was too late. And even now I'm not convinced things were ever squared away with the health insurance situation. Needless to say, we had to abandon our MDA appts and not go at the very last minute due to this change in my health insurance and their inability to provide the proper and valid information to MDA. David's amount due actually said you'll need to cash pay $26,000 when you arrive for your appts. He has a PET scan, MRI and all the appts with his multiple oncologist. I think I had fire shooting out the top of my head as my company could not get their $hit together and figure out how to correct and reflect all this health insurance data properly. It was truly a $hit $how that I had no way to be the supervisor of it. It was out of my hands and we were at the mercy of a company who could not get their own stuff together. I was furious.

Back at work, my company is still struggling to fix the health benefit insurance botch that is affecting everyone. Yes, this is not just a me thing. It's an every-employee thing. No one can use their existing deductibles and everyone is paying money all over again when they go for their own health care appts. The people are inconsolable. The company has f'd this one up real good. I'm not sure that they really care - but I think they may lose employees over this one. They did this one up real good. 

Thus far, David has rescheduled his MDA appts and I have not. My oncologist is not available for 2 weeks, and they've already got David all rescheduled so I'll likely stay home on the farm while he travels to Houston on Nov 7 and 8th. That seems like the easiest thing to do, as I also have my usual BESREMi injection that day at Texas Oncology (and he won't be back from Houston in time). But we'll get it all figured out. It's just unfortunate that this happens in this day and time of technology.  

What I've learned is that it's not a surprise that the people working at the insurance company and in the HR dept that administers this plan do not care. They do not care about the employee who needs her IVF treatment, or the cancer patients who need their care, or the employee who needs to take their child to the pediatrician. Every employee is left out to dry, hanging and pulling out their wallets to pay while we wait for the deductible information to be corrected and other misc issues to be resolved along with that. I'm told that it will be all resolved by 10/24. But no, that was a lie too. So for these last 25 days, anyone seeking healthcare had 2 choices.....wait - or pay again. We were given a 3rd option to call and ask HR to call our Provider/Facility and explain the insurance situation, but that in itself is a mess that I've found makes everything worse. 

Rant complete. Bad surprises are bad. 

Let's get back to a good surprise, shall we

I'm happy to say that at my last appt with Texas Oncology that "my numbers" (that's what I'll call them to spare you the nitty gritty details) are looking marvelous! It's actually been 2 Tuesdays that I've gone to Texas Oncology and had my labs drawn along with an injection that's now at a steady dose of 150 mcg of BESREMi. I've been feeling good after the injections. The nurse at Texas Oncology and I are on respectable and good terms - and she actually gives me my shot each time I go now. I'm so glad that she and I can put the past behind us and move forward together in a positive light.  

I've seen my oncologist at Texas Onc who is pleased with my results from the treatment of BESREMi. It's been a nice surprise. A wonderful surprise that I could not have predicted weeks ago. My numbers specific to PV are looking great with my liver and kidney indicators showing improvement. The overdose of BESREMi had taken a toll on my liver, esp. But considering everything, my body is stabilizing very well. 

You are likely asking how I can have all this at Texas Oncology with my insurance f up. Well, I had applied for financial aid (back in Sept when my insurance was about to change and I did not know if my cancer treatment would be covered) at Texas Oncology so that when your insurance does have a hiccup, the financial aid will step in to help cover cancer patients costs and allow them to continue their current care and treatment. Amazing, huh? That, too, was a nice surprise and has brought me much peace in this madness in which certain companies apparently do not properly handle their insurance things and deliver: 1) what was promised and 2) what you paid for.  When you think about changing jobs because it might be an easier fix for your health care insurance issues.....that's when you know things are bad. 

All the thanks to Texas Oncology for stepping up to the plate to assist their patients and meet their needs. I've encountered clinical issues and insurance challenges and not quite sure which is worse. All I know is both get in the way of progress. But you know me, I keep pressing on. 

Chick-A-Dee

It was in my last blog post that I had mentioned Rusty, the silkie rooster who is making time with my silkie girlz who are now sitting on their eggs. Well, those eggs have begun to hatch. Thus far, we have 5 little chicks. 2 yellow (likely will be white as an adult), 2 grey and 1 brownish. They are each a few days apart. 

Look at that little grey thing.
Careful putting your hand in here,
these mamas mean business.

These chicks love their mamas and typically
don't stray far.

Hardly 1 day old. Waiting for sisters and brothers.

Even with the cooler weather, the rain and the back and forth of the temps - these chicks are thriving because the silkie mamas take such great care of them. Silkies are intense and dedicated mamas. It's a joy to watch them raise their chicks all while still sitting on their remaining eggs. 

Even though we do not know how many eggs remaining are fertile and will produce a chick. We wait. We watch. We stay out of the way. That's how best to do it and it's taken David and I many mess-ups to understand this. Don't touch anything, move anything around or change their process. Just give them food and water and let nature do it's thing. So far, so wonderful. Did I mention that farm life brings more surprises? 

Mainly though

Despite all the surprises whether good or bad, what farm life brings me is love, therapy and peace. 

I love happy surprises for my animals, too. We surprised the livestock guard dogs and Winston with new warm dog beds for wintertime. 

Winston owns this bed. 

Although on Hospice, he lives his life well.

A warm bed for Blackie, litter box close by,
and pets each time we enter the Tack Room.

We surprised Blackie with a new warmer bed for winter and even hung one of the (chicken) heat lamps above his sleeping area in the tack room of the barn. I just want him to be comfortable. He's by far the sweetest cat we have here, well, except for June Bug. She's my heart. But these sweet sweet kitties are a reminder that love lives outside of me. And this type of love makes me whole. They do not care if I have cancer or a pimple on my face. Their only focus in life is to live and love in this space at this time. When I reach down to pet any one of them, I look into their eyes, I inspect their little face, I make a memory of what they look like in that moment. I never want to forget it. I never want them to leave. 

Yet as their bodies - and my own body changes and ages, it's inevitable. My surrender comes in the form that I will see them again when we do depart one another. I already know that it's Bridgette that I will be looking for when I step off the curb. 

Forever my girl 💟

Mr Retired is full of surprises

Bridgey-Bear, I'll be looking for her.....

This photo of Bridgette will be hung in the laundry room whereby David is re-tiling it at this time.

June Bug wants to know why everything
is everywhere 

The cats are demanding their Cat Room
be placed back in order please

We picked out a white wash tile and I love how it's going to brighten the laundry room, better known as the Cat Room. Despite it all, I'm excited to have new tile in there. Mr Retired is doing a fabulous job, thank you sir.

The best part is when I get to put the laundry room back together. I'll hang the photo of Bridge up, along with the one of Sugar.

This face 

Once the laundry room is complete and back in order, I'll set up the Cat Space again so that they are ready for the cooler weather and have a place to be safe and warm, should they so desire. The barn and outside cats do frequent the laundry room via a doggie door. But the laundry room is closed off to the rest of the house. 

Mr Retired is also working on several projects in the garage like sorting his fishing gear, he's also working on gates and fencing around the property and the list in his head just gets longer and longer everyday. He's laid out irrigation tubes up by the pond for burial and water diversion. He's painting things, cooking things and doing whatever fills his soul on any given day. For him, there's not enough hours in the day. For me, there's this wonderful benefit of a new tile floor, projects progressing that I've only thought about, all while coming home from work each day to listen to his detailed outline of what a day in the life looks like. He's enjoying his volunteer work at the Community Garden Kitchen in McKinney and as more of his time frees up, I'm guessing that more volunteer work will be on his agenda. It's just who he is.

Then another surprise toed up…..

Lauren and Ryan did find out his toe is not
broken, which is nice. But this is
Day 1 and we are on Day 5 and it's 
officially a hot mess now……

Sure enough, after a fun and exciting birthday weekend, Brooks dropped a (heavy) water bottle on his toe. That's enough to spoil the birthday high he was having, but in true form, he stayed strong and we'll see what happens next with it. I'm sure it will be a surprise. 

So as I watch a new chicken family develop.....

Savannah reading a book to her chickens

and wait and see what comes next, I realize that there's everything about all of my life I love. Yeah, things can be hard and heavy sometimes. Yet, when I walk around outside and there's no one around, this pleases me the most. I want to always and only live with animals. I know that would be seen as an oddity. So if I cannot have only the animals, my family is where my heart lies. There are first and foremost even though I say it's the animals. And as Lauren and Ryan move down their path of finding their peace and quiet in the country as well, I welcome them with open arms to the joy that is here in the country. David and I cannot imagine it any other way here. We will soak up all the minutes in this gift of serenity we call the Graves Farm or the Sunshine Senior Resort, as really, we are both. And I am most grateful.

Sometimes the things that make us whole are not us,

Cyndi

 

So where does time travel when it leaves us each day.