JUNE 2020

ELLEN:  Karen did speak with a second doctor at Slone Kettering and they told her the procedures her doctor was doing was correct.  No word about not bothering to speak to her though.  Doctors never talk about other doctors bed side manners.  Her doctor did finally call her and told there that the new treatments "may or may not work for you".  She has no answers.  Karen is still torn about what to do.  Heartbreaking decision.

Poor Loretta was so scammed by a "poor Veteran", who took her money & drove her into bankruptcy.  We just couldn't stop her from sending them money and she refused to go to the police.  We did all she would allow us to do to try to help her.  She is at peace now.

CB:  Good luck with your teeth, what a nightmare you are going thru.  There is nothing worse than a nasty dentist that causes pain.

Trudy, I don't know what I would do in Karen's situation. I'd like to think I would be willing to participate in a study of experimental drugs that might help somebody else. That's easy to say while I'm sitting here perfectly healthy, but is that what I would actually do? I don't know.
Years and years ago, I knew of a man who had leukemia. He did go into an experimental program. It didn't save him, but maybe it saved others who came later.

Monday was a great day here.......it's hot in the afternoon but soon to be hotter at 110 at 4P. The mornings are still very nice.
Horses are shiny and happy. T is doing great in PT so inch by inch he's better. Because of covid we're sticking close
to home. The only place we go is PT........We order food in at times.

We had a BBQ yesterday............sat about 6' apart......mostly in the pool.......we laughed a lot and
had a great time. We had 7 people and 3 dogs and about 4-7 cats......cats are neighborhood feral cats
so it's hard to know exact count. Anyhow, we had fun. AND, stuffed our selves..........

That's it for now folks...............

I just discovered that the Royal Ascot is happening, yesterday through Saturday. NBCsports channel, 8:30 to noon EST. No fans in the stands, but the races are going on, just like racing here in the states.
I like to watch the races, but I will miss seeing all the pre-race pageantry, with the queen riding in her carriage down the race course, wearing something pretty.

I just discovered that the Royal Ascot is happening, yesterday through Saturday.  NBCsports channel, 8:30 to noon EST.  No fans in the stands, but the races are going on, just like racing here in the states.
I like to watch the races, but I will miss seeing all the pre-race pageantry, with the queen riding in her carriage down the race course, wearing something pretty.


OOPS. I managed to post this twice. Sorry about that.

Raining, raining, raining.  We are almost a foot ahead of normal rain fall for the year.   It's flooding again around the region.  Our property is not in a flood plain where the house and barn are, but the mud is getting intense.  We took our trailer pulling truck, BART, to be fixed this afternoon.  I followed Donnie in the other truck so he wouldn't have to sit in the garage for 2 or 3 hours.  It rained the entire time, sometimes heavily.   We sat in a parking lot and ate a hamburger.  Such fun..

Our hayfield isn't going to look too good when we finally get to mow it.  It's going to be long and stemmy.  I just hope the sun shines for a few days so we can get it up soon.  Rain is predicted almost every day for the next week.  

ELLEN:
 Were the races good?  I saw the Belmont being advertised on t.v. today. (Or was it the Preakness?)  I wonder if they will have fans present?  I wouldn't go, but I am a Covid chicken.  

CB:
 How are you feeling?

GRAYMARE:
 Your weather is a bit hot, but I wouldn't mind a bit of that sunshine!  We've been in the 50s and 60s all week.  I am glad to hear that TL is getting better!!

TRUDY:
 Poor Karen.  It is too hard to have to figure out treatments when one is in the middle of the terrible disease.  I hope she has some good help.    When I was so sick, nearly 8 years ago now,  I don't think I could have functioned.  Luckily I had Donnie to watch out for me.  Big hugs for Karen....


So the dog, Shadow, ate something he shouldn't have and blew up all over the kitchen floor. (Tile, thankfully.)   His long hair was matted with unmentionable stuff.  Donnie earned my eternal thanks and whatever else he wants by cleaning it all up and washing the dog and trimming his hair.   I was busy with the other animals and trying not to barf up my breakfast.  Usually I am the one in charge of horrid animal care,  but Donnie saved me this time!   The dog is better now,  I am better now, and Donnie can have whatever he wants!  

Ark, The Belmont will be this Saturday, without fans. The Derby will be the first weekend in September, and the Preakness two weeks later. They are planning for the Derby to have the fans since the big hats and fancy clothes are so much a part of it.
U.S. horse racing has pretty much opened up again with very limited access to the tracks. They are finally letting the trainers back in to the tracks, and the owners are campaigning to be allowed back in. Since the horses had to be taken care of and exercises, with or without virus, several of the tracks never closed.
Fox Sports 1 and 2 have been showing the racing from some tracks, and NBC Sports has been showing from a couple of other tracks - Thursday through Sunday afternoons.
So far, three of the top Derby prospects have been pulled out because of condylar fractures. Two of them may eventually race again. Nadal will go to stud. It looks like Tiz the Law is the favorite now.

We are having a little stretch of really nice weather. It's going to be hotter over the weekend, but nothing much out of the ordinary for this time of year. Mornings outside, afternoons in the AC.

I just watched the Ascot Gold Cup. 2 1/2 miles! Stradivarius won again. It was interesting to watch his jockey just cruising along, in the middle of the field, doing very little until the last quarter mile. Then, he just loosened his hold and the horse swallowed up all the others in front of him. In the last furlong, he began to scoot and boot and that horse just flew! It wasn't even close. He won by a LOT! This was his third win in the Gold Cup.
What a magnificent horse!

Some good news here in PA.  I got George a hair appointment for today.  YAY My appointment is July 7th...boooooo but at least I have one to look forward to.  I told Ruth give the first appointments to the ladies who are freaking out about their hair, I can wait.  I look like my Auntie Edna now.  LOL   She told me you can't imagine how rude people are being to her when she can't schedule them right away.  How sad is that?  

My dentist called and moved my cleaning appointment to Jan 2021.  WHAT???   She said they can't get the products they have to have to clean teeth, only emergency procedures can be done.  Because they are a small office, the larger offices get the equipment.

Church opens up on Sunday.  Can't wait to get back in church with my friends.  We are going to be singing to Heaven.

Karen has decided not to continue her treatments.  So sad for her & Rick.   I took her to Bible study with me last week. She asked for prayer over her decision.  Still praying for a miracle.  

Stay safe and healthy....

Trudy, we've been able to get haircuts for about a month now.  But, the gal who does mine said that people were freaking out about getting appointments.  I had told her in a message, to just schedule me for whatever day at whatever time and I would be there.  She thanked me for being flexible.
As for teeth cleaning, do you use an electric/battery tooth brush?  I've been using one almost since they first came out nearly 50 years ago.  They do a much better job of daily cleaning, almost as good as a professional cleaning.  To this point, I've only had 2 cavities in my life.
I will continue to pray for Karen.

Summer heat is here, although compared to some areas, it isn't too bad.  I turn on the AC late in the afternoon and turn it off at bedtime.  I love having the house wide open as much as possible.

Tiz the Law!!!  There better be some good horses in the Derby and Preakness, or we will have another Triple Crown winner.  None of the others were even close.
He's owned by the group who owned Funny Cide. They will be taking a big yellow school bus to the Derby in September, like they did before.

Racing just isn't the same without the crowd...........Tiz The Law ran beautifully..............

Yeah. The big crowds make it a lot more fun. They are planning for the fans to be back for the Derby.
I sort of liked the one-turn mile and an eighth with the long run to the turn. It gave all of them a lot of space to sort out their positions without crowding and bumping.

ELLEN:  Yes, I have a electric toothbrush BUT I can't use it, it always bangs it off my teeth, it shocks them and they are afraid of it now.  LOL  I have 2 different styles but you can't teach an old gal new tricks.  LOL

I saw the end of the race, that boy can run...Triple Crown contender.

Made it church yesterday, it was a strange experience.  Our church is a very upbeat active hugging type of church and everyone was just standing around arms locked to their sides.  Not many people were brave enough to attend.  Mask or no mask our choice. Maybe 100 people in the first service.  It was still wonderful to be there.  George didn't go, he is in the middle of allergy attacks and was afraid he would clear the church if he started one of his non stop sneezing attacks.  Even Ace leaves the room when he starts sneezing.  LOL

I'm off to sit with Karen today, I may take her to her favorite store Walmart today if she is OK to leave the house.  Her balance is getting much worse.  She has decided to stop all treatments and live out the rest of her life drug free.  The drugs make her so sick.  Pray for her and Rick.

Tomorrow I get the second lazer eye surgery. The floater in my right eye finally disappeared on Saturday. It was so annoying. Glad it's gone. I kept thinking it was a gnat flying around.

Due to a massive increase of covid 19in AZ our church did not open for human access.............so, it's still online.
Because of our situation, we are still in semi isolation.......just family and close friends, and going to PT.
We wear masks when out.

We had pizza for Father's Day.........what else?

We're going to get some wifi extenders to increase our signal.......We have so many people online in the hood
we need a boost.

Mallory and Mallard are back enjoying our irrigation and shade trees.

TRUDY:
How did your eye surgery go? Hopefully you will be seeing much more clearly now. I understand about George not wanting to scare people to death with his allergy coughing. I have been getting worse with hay dust, smoke, and any other kind of dust lately and cough. I have been trying to time our visits to the grocery or dentist to when I am not reacting to dust. I do wear a mask in public, but more and more people here are not doing it now. Big hugs for Karen....
I am so glad I gave up dyeing my hair years ago! Now I just trim it myself and since I see so few people, I don't care that my hair isn't perfect.


It rained today, of course, but not all day. Donnie is planning on cutting our lower field's hay tomorrow. I won't see much of him for a few days, it is a thicker field to cut and it is harder to dry, so he will be fluffing for hours every day until it is baled. If it rains, more fluffing for more hours....sigh....It's been a difficult hay season with over a foot of excess rain so far this year. Feast or famine when it comes to rain....

I rode Ivan a couple of days ago for a mile or so in the arena. He gets bored after about a mile of going around it. With another horse in the arena, he can go a couple of hours. I am measuring our distance with Endomondo to make sure we are getting in our distance for the WarHorse Challenge on Facebook. Doing trails is so much easier to get distance in. My riding partners are getting few and far between here, I need to find some new ones.

Trudy i hate those floaters...hope all went well.
Prayers for Karen.

I finally got all my stitches out...he couldnt tell me why i had my cheek stitched to my gumline....no wonder it pulled anh hurt. But now my cheek has fallen and droops in my mouth. ENT appointment 7 \30. In boise. Maybe i can get answers.
We will take our truck and stuff in storage at yuma az over to NM in july so it will all be where we will be staying for the winter...and come back here for appts. We will be in NM by oct 1st....i keep telling myself that...lol
Hot today...broke 100....ugh.

CB, I'm so sorry you are having so much trouble with your teeth and mouth. Cheek stitched to gum?!? That does sound a bit strange.

We've had several really nice days. The deck and step are all cleaned and ready to be stained. I'm hoping we get a couple more dry days so we can get that done. I did some of the railing posts today and will try to get several more of them done in the morning before it gets hot.
That pretty well tells all the excitement from here.

Ellen...i thought it was odd too....but yep...
My cheek on inside is still so swollen. Who knew going to dentist would cause more problems than what i started with huh.

We are going to take truck to az...pick up stuff we put into storage at yuma and move it all to elephant butte nm.
Then come back here for two appts end of july....and then be gone. We will have our camper to sleep...eat...potty in. Have wipes for gas pumps....so will be keeping away from people pretty much.
I have itchy feet...been in one plAce tooooo long.

After pressure washing the deck a few days ago and getting it back to bare wood, we started staining the railings and post today. We got all of that done, and Handyman Kent did the border all around the deck. They'll come back the next dry day to do the main part of the deck. It shouldn't take too long to do that. After dithering around about the color, I do like what I finally wound up with.
I think it's going to look really nice when it's done.

ELLEN:  
So what is the color you chose for your deck?  Choosing colors can be hard.  It took us about 6 months to decide on the color of the tiles in our house.  Tiles are kind of permanent and we had a hard time committing.  We ended up with a dark terracotta color.  

CB:
 Wow.  I cannot imagine your pain thru all of this.  I hope you are feeling better.


Donnie is still out fluffing hay in the lower field.  He may be doing the windrows now.  He talked about baling this afternoon.  He hasn't come up for air in several hours.  It's going to rain on Sunday, so he is working hard to get the hay dry.   Here he is when he started mowing the field:

Karen made her decision on Tuesday to stop all treatments and be in hospice care.  They brought her a hospital bed yesterday so she doesn't have to go upstairs any longer.  She spoke with her doctor freind who assured her that she is making the right decision, the other doctor is just using her as a guinea pig with experimental treatments that are not helping at all.  She also said based on her exam that Karen's time with us is going to be short.  So very sad...

I did take her to Walmart on Monday, it was quite an experience.  Luckily a very wonderful Walmart employee brought us a wheelchair when he saw me struggling to get her into the store.  What a great guy and he helped us on the way out too.  I almost upset the wheelchair coming outta the store.  LOL  She laughed and said "if you dump me on the ground I'm going to say" "I've fallen and I can't get up."  She still has her sense of humor.

All my eye lazer surgery is finished. I can see really well, especially the floaters..dang...I do have a couple new floaters that drive me nuts.  Hope they go away soon.

CB:  That is awful about your mouth issues.  OUCH and double OUCH.  Praying you get that fixed and healed.

Trudy, I pray for peace for Karen and you, as her friend.

Ark, choosing the color turned out to be a fiasco. I could not get what I really wanted, an oil based stain from the local Ace Hardware (good store) or from any of the other box stores, so I ordered it from Amazon. It took Amazon more than two weeks to ship it. It got all the way from Tennessee to Indianapolis, and then for some stupid reason they decided it was undeliverable and shipped it back to Tennessee. I think Amazon decided that my odd address isn't legit. That meant I had to make a quick trip to Lowes. I wanted a stain that looks like wet wood, with the grain showing well.
At Lowes a very nice employee helped me figure out what to do. So, I wound up with a different oil-based stain that I think is going to do what I wanted it to in the first place.
So, in this case, Amazon messing up has turned out to be a good thing.
We probably won't be able to finish up for a few more days since it's supposed to rain for a while. I would just like to have the main part of the deck done before the 4th of July. It won't be a catastrophe if it isn't. It will eventually get done.

Ive lost so many friends and relatives....i hate hospice but yrt love it too. Spend time now becuz it wont be long before sleeping a lot occurs. It is a good thing when a patient is in pain. Give her a hug from me...wish i could have known her...she sounds funloving and brave. Thats a good memory you will have with the wheel chair.
Its hot!...
Took rv in to get a broken window replaced...window was replaced but the guy bent our fram...window wont open and a gap between frame and opening....cant get to us until friday. So much for leaving this week. What is it that is keeping us here in idaho....what force is holding us.

TRUDY
I am sad about Karen, but think she probably made the right decision. I hope she has some really good days.

CB:
If it's not one thing, it's something else....(Rosanne Rosannadanna)...In your case, it seems to be several things. I hope all your ducks line up soon!

ELLEN
Well that worked out. A deck near a lake has got to be very nice. I'd like to have one on the front of our house, but we always have too many projects going to get to that one. It would be nice, though. We need pix of yours!


Donnie baled 202 haybales today. We have about half of them in the new hayshed and a few in the barn's hay room. Thankfully, a neighbor showed up to help load it and will come back tomorrow to finish. He just turned 21. He had a lot more energy than Donnie and I put together! The hay is a bit stemmy since it is late being done, but looks nice. The horses should like it. Our total first cutting this year is 269 bales. Donnie has spent about 7 hours a day in the field since Wednesday. He is a tired guy.

Good thing he is a retired guy...Ark!
Nice neighbor.

Ellen...cant wait to see pictures.

I can eat some real food now...yay.

Still have hard time pronouncing words....but less pain.
Double YAY

We have covid cases on the base now....may have a lickdown again....if it werent so serious i would laugh. If we are here for winter...i will cry...so loud yall will hear me.