Our family has been down with the Influenza flu since Friday. Camryn and I dropped first Friday afternoon and Cade followed on Monday. Thankfully our doctor called in Tamiflu for Jay when he called in Cade's so hopefully that will keep him from getting it - or at least not getting it as bad. It has been fun, fun, fun around here!! The last time I remember getting the flu like this I was Cade's age. That was 25 years ago. If I wait another 25 years to get it again that will be fine with me.
The Tamiflu has worked wonders. I was going to try to forgo it and work through it myself. But when I saw how quickly it turned Camryn around I was sold. Even though I had almost waited to long I felt remarkably better by Monday. Almost too good because then I got a little cocky...
Jay left the den of sickness with Camryn to go get a hog house. That is its own story for another post. Cade was finally resting so I thought since I hadn't been outside since Friday I would walk to our mailbox. It was dusk so I thought the Jammie's, wild hair and no makeup wouldn't been seen by anyone. I was going straight to the box and right back in the house. That was until I was greeted by our bull standing in our front yard. Great...and our neighbors weren't home.
Since I had on Jay's house shoes I had to run back in and change. In that time Charlie found the bull and managed to chase it across the yard. By the time I got there I was afraid Charlie was going to run him through our fence. I picked up a stick and would've beat the dog...if he wasn't so good about staying in that radius of just being outside my reach.
Did I mention it was almost dark? And the lighting out in our shop has quit working? That again is something for another post titled "farming on a tiny budget and even less time." Jay can't find where the short is at. Anyway I stumbled out to where we keep the feed to get some in a bucket. Except there was no feed. The bull followed me and I could tell he wanted in but couldn't figure out how to get back. Then Charlie showed up again and the bull doged into our woods. I then had to pick around the electric fence and everything else just waiting to make me fall and break my neck to get to the bull. Then he took off again and was almost to our other neighbors house.
It was at that moment I heard the sweetest sound in the world...our neighbors diesel truck. People who knew what to do! I picked my way back through the woods and knocked on their door. Later in the evening it dawned on me how bad and weird I looked. No wonder Heather kept a far distance from me...zebra pajama pants, sweatshirt, no makeup, nothing done to my hair. And the crazy part...I was carrying an empty bucket and a stick. I'm sure John and Heather wondered how I planned on using my arsenal on the bull. They said they'd meet me over there and I told them I was going to run in and get a coat. Yup- sick with the flu and I was chasing a bull with no coat. I turned around and walked a few steps and realized the back of my pajama pants had slipped down. I'm pretty sure John and Heather may have saw a large portion of my underwear.
While I was in grabbing the coat I called Jay to find out if this bull was halter broke. John had asked and I couldn't remember. Of course later in the night when I was replaying the whole situation I remembered that I did know the bull was halter broke. I just couldn't recall that fact at a time when I wouldn't like so much like a bumbling fool. But none of that mattered because all of the halters were in the truck...which was somewhere between here and Lamar hauling another show piece to add to our property. But I did learn why the bull got out from Jay. And again this goes under another post of being on a low budget/no time to fix things properly/make do post- but Jay had unplugged the electric fence...so he could plug in the tank heater. The choice was water for the the bull and Bailey or keeping them in the fence. Which that all goes back to our electrical issues.
With two more people blocking the holes the bull went in the fence very easy. It took the three of us longer to figure out how to plug in the fence. Of course my ignorance was on display when John was asking questions that I had no idea the answers to. Like where we needed to plug the fence in. We all moved around in the dark and finally got it figured out.
I am so thankful for good neighbors. John and Heather have their house up for sale. They would like to move back to Texas. Of course we want their house to sell so they can - but boy will we miss them. They are wonderful neighbors who are always so willing to help us out. Especially me since I usually don't know what I am doing. So if you are looking for a house and want some good (although slightly crazy) neighbors have we got the place for you! Actually it really is a nice place to live. As long as you ignore that pesky Covenant, Rules and Restrictions that comes with it. Which we all do- except I've already got my arguments laid out in case someone new moves in. We can keep animals as long as they are pets. What is more of a pet than a show cow...or a pig...or her soon to be born piglets...I'm struggling a bit with the chickens though. Chickens are just nasty and mean. Who would want to have them as pets?
But back to the original story. John and Heather left and I headed back to the house. I was beginning to realize I wasn't nearly as ready to be out as I had thought. The cold air had set my lungs on fire and I was exhausted. I headed in. When Jay got home a little later the first question he asked me was "where is the mail?"
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