Little Mowing Man

A couple weeks ago I tried to mow my yard but the mower was gone.  Then I got gout and could not walk.  After going to the ER and falling through my porch rail trying to get into my house, my nephew, Derrick, said he'd mow for me since it was getting really tall from all the rain we have had.  Not until you get the mower back from your hired man.  The next day Jeff brought back the mower and Derrick and Layne began mowing.

 



 After mowing some between the trees across the drive and a couple rounds in my yard with Derrick showing Layne how it works, Layne began running the controls by himself with his daddy sitting with him.  Then Derrick got off and let Layne mow all by him self in my yard.

 

Layne finished mowing my yard by himself with his daddy and great aunt watching.  He went slow enough for the thickness of the grass and learned where to drive the front wheel in order not to miss some grass.  When he would miss a spot when he turned around (I do that all the time) he would go back and get it the next time he came by or when his daddy pointed it out to him.

 

You can see that his 6 year old feet are not able to tough the mower deck by a good 6 inches but that did not stop him from being able to run the joy stick and mow.  He was so pleased with himself that he mowed their ditch which is flat (mine is not) and then mow in front of Grandma & Papa's house so they could see him.  



 

 I love to watch Derrick with his kids, especially with his son.  Derrick is such a good father.  Layne is such a little man as he follows his daddy and Papa around the farm and the little guy is a lot of help.  They will tell him what they want him to do and he can do it.  He was in the tractor 2 different times in the week or so as Derrick and Dad were working on equipment and Layne would pull levers or flip switches for them as they worked on the ground. That saves them so much time climbing up and down, in and out of the tractor.  All you need to do is explain it once to Layne and he knows it.  That is just like his daddy, Derrick, was and still is.  Layne will grow up just knowing how to farm work on equipment just by hanging with his dad and his great grandpa.  I love these three men in my life.

Now that Layne is learning to mow and Derrick wants him to do it more with him being there to watch and move things out of his way and to mow a perimeter for Layne, I may be soon out of my summer farm job.  Oh, well.

Rose

Wind Damage

Last evening we had a spring storm.  We were in a severe weather warning and high wind warning.  As the weather front moved through we had high winds that started from the north but also blew some from the west.  Winds were measured 70-79 miles per hour in some surrounding areas.  We got some hail with the rain.  There was some that was the size of a quarter to half dollar sized but, thankfully, there was not much of it.  I watched it a bit and saw it hit so hard on the north side of my house and bounced off and hit the garage.  Hail did crack a storm window on the north side of my bedroom window.  Within 15 minutes the rain and hail quit but the wind blew for a few more hours.  I saw a tree limb blown down against my fence before I went to bed.  This morning Brother Mitchell called to check on me and how I weathered the storm.  I went out and found a lot of limbs down in the yard.  Derrick's gate blew open breaking the main post against the house off but the gate did not break off.  Their yard tub was blown out of the yard onto the driveway and some of the kid's toys were blown around by the corral.  We only had .10 in of rain (very little).  At least that is all the rain gauge caught from the straight sideways blowing rain.  Fortunately the crops look good.  There does not look like there was any real damage to the wheat and the corn was laying over some but Dad thinks it will pop back up.  When I got home from church, Dad was picking up and hauling off broken limbs.  I pulled a lot out of my yard into a couple big piles for him then later mowed the yard and chopped up all the little twigs, bark and leaves.  Overall, we came through this storm not nearly as bad as we could have.  We have been blessed with much needed rain (nearly 7 inches) since the week before Memorial weekend without having hail or high winds.  This has helped the crops greatly.  For as bad as this storm was in many areas around us, we have been blessed again to not get harmed too much. 

 

This branch that landed on my fence had a base of 10-12 inches in diameter.  We could not see where any of these broke off the trees.  Dad said there were 4 different branches that fell on my fence and knocked over my bird bath.  Amazingly there was no damage to my vinyl fence except knocking off one little top cap which I had picked up from the driveway.  I had several branches that were 6-8 inches.  Thank you, Heavenly Father, all is well.

Rose

Full Moon

Today is June 13, 2014.  It is Friday the 13th.  It is a full moon.  What are the chances of that happening? 
The last time a full moon fell on Friday the 13th in June was in 1919.  The last time the full moon fell on any Friday the 13th was in October, 2000.  The next time a full moon will fall on any Friday the 13 will be in October 2019 according to an article in the Salina Journal but USA Today says the next Friday the 13th full moon will be in October, 2049. I guess we will see.
Is this a lucky day or are you superstitious?  I look at it as a really neat quirky thing.

This picture was taken last night with the cell phone and zoomed in as much as it could.  Sorry it is blurry but you get the idea.  I looked really neat shining through the leaves of the tree.

Rose

ER Visits for Dad and for Me

My father lives to tinker on equipment and fix things, change things to make them work better. He has an amazing way of seeing something and figuring it out and either fixing it or revamping it to work better.  He is a very happy man when he is not disturbed and can spend time working on things is his own time without any pressure.  Dad can fix anything.  He can look at something or listen to something and figure out what it takes to fix it.  He can get a phone call from a grand kid or neighbor or family members, listen to what they are saying, ask a few questions, maybe even listen to the noise the broken item is making, then tell them what is wrong and what they need to do to fix it.  Again, I'll say it: My Dad is amazing. 
For as amazing as he is, he is also just as stubborn.  He doesn't like to ask for help from anyone even though he will do anything for anyone.  I love to hang around with him to 'help' when I can but he will usually not come to ask me for help.

A couple weeks ago my father was working in the shed on a tractor and post hole digger. He did not want to come get me to run the hydraulics on the tractor as he changes the pin in the post hole digger so decided to use the tall farm jack to adjust the height to get the pin in.  As he was trying to adjust the jack, something went wrong and the jack slipped catching his hand between the top of the jack and the underside of the diggers main bar.  He was cut deeply.  He went to the house to wash it and thought he's just pull off the loose skin but it looked like there was flesh attached.  Mom wanted to take him to the ER for stitches but he did not want to go.  She called me to come take a look at it.  I went down and insisted we go to Colby for stitches.  He still did not want to go but we out voted him and took him to the ER anyway.  He hurt bad enough he was feeling sick to his stomach and was a little light headed so he did not fight us too bad but still grumbled. 

When the ER nurse looked at it they told him he definitely needed to have stitches.  They began to clean it up and it hurt so bad that he jumped, yelped, and kicked.  He was x-rayed to make sure there was no break in the hand which, gladly, there was not.  When the nurse practitioner came in, he began to clean it up deeper and irrigate it, he could see the bone in the hand and a blood vessel began spurting blood all over his gown.  They had to cauterize it to get it to quit bleeding.  At this point he noticed damage to a nerve and thought we may have to be transferred to a plastic surgeon.  Under further investigation he decided that the nerve was just nicked because Dad had full range of motion of his finger.  Dad ended up with 12 stitches in a horseshoe shape in the palm of his hand. 

After 10 days of keeping it clean and wrapped, he went in to have the stitched taken out.  they left in 3 and said he could pull these out himself in a few more days.  He is to leave it uncovered except he should wear a glove or some type of covering when working in the dirt or grease to still try to keep it clean.  It is looking much better.  My hopes are that from this accident he will think a little more about getting help.  I am happy to help him even if it is just for a few minutes at last minute notice. 

 

One week later I was in so much pain in my foot and ankle that I could not even touch it to the floor therefore could not walk.  It had been building since Wednesday but Sunday morning I could not take the pain any longer.  Mom took me into the ER.  It turns out that I have gout.  I was given a strong anti-inflammatory medication.  It helped a lot the first two days but not I am at a standstill.  Monday I could begin to move my toes and touch my foot to the floor to balance and walk with one crutch.  Tuesday I was able to walk without the crutch but limped heavily and walked as little as possible.  Wednesday I am walking a bit more but still have a lot of pain and some stiffness in the foot and ankle.  I go back to the doctor for a follow up next Tuesday. 

 

The worst part of it all except for the severe pain was trying to get me in and out of the house Sunday when going to the ER.  Because I could not put any pressure on my foot I was trying to use crutches to walk.  What a disaster.  Dad pulled the ranger right next to the steps of the front porch.  I used the hand rails to hop down the stairs to the Ranger then he drove me to the car so I could get in.  At the ER they got me from and took me back to the car with a wheel chair.  When we got back to the farm Dad, Derrick & Dana were sorting and moving cattle.  Mom finally got the Ranger and brought me into the yard by my porch.  As I was trying to hop up the steps with the crutches and hand rails and not touch my foot to the ground something went wrong. 

 

I don't know if my crutch slipped or if I just lost my balance or what but I began to fall forward and thought my head was going to go through the glass door.  Instead I began to fall to the left against the porch rail but I just kept going.  I tried to grab the rail but that did not work and I fell through the railing breaking the crutch that had wedged between me and the rail.  I ended up with my hips on the porch deck with my head on the ground below.  Mom was screaming, "Help, Help, HELP, HELP!!"   I was telling her I was OK but before I knew it Derrick had a hold of one arm and Dana had a hold of the other arm and they were lifting me up trying to scoot me back onto the porch.  "No, just pull me into the yard."  They did that and Derrick helped me roll over to my tummy.  I crawled on hands and knees around to the steps, up the steps, into the house, and onto the sofa.  I lay there panting trying to catch my breath.  I do have a skinned knee and a bruise on my upper left arm along with a few sore muscles but that is not bad.  At first I really thought I would be going back to the ER for head lacerations and stitches.  Falling through the rail off the porch really was not the worst that could have happened.

 

At the time my mother was scared to death and scared Dad, Derrick & Dana also.  Dad said Dana and Derrick flew over the top of the corral fence before he really figured out who was screaming and what had happened.  I am glad they came to my rescue.  Now it is really funny and we can laugh about it. 

 

A side note to this whole story is that I had to go to the bathroom before we left the hospital but I did not want to get out of the wheel chair.  We had to go to Wal-mart to pick up a prescription and Mom went in to do that as I stayed in the car.  After I fell off the porch and crawled to the couch I still had to go to the bathroom.  I did NOT wet my pants.

 

Rose