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eskielover · Jun 19, 2010, 07:01 PM

Just thought I would give an update as to how crazy life has become around here......ready to dig a hole hide from everything to recover a little, but always ready to come out of my hole to trail ride in the country & visit with my wonderful friends.

The farm where I trail ride had graveled their road with large size gravel this spring.....the tires on my truck were old (56,000 miles on 50,000 tires). One of the rocks punctured my front left tire....somehow I drove back to my friends farm pulling the horse trailer. I knew my steering wheel was pulling like a low tire, but had no idea just how flat it really was. I managed to get my truck to a place to have it plugged.....but knew that new tires had to be handled soon. I kept postponing it.

About a month later, I went out to just drive over to trail ride & found that tire down 10 pounds of air, so I got out my compressor & sat there getting the air into it. While doing that, I ended up walking out to my mail box (don't always get there every day). Got a lot of mail, but one from the IRS telling me graciously that they took my tax return & applied it to my back taxes even though I had been paying the monthly agreed on payments......so there went the money to pay the CPA for doing my taxes & extra money for saving for the tires. I put a call into the IRS to ask them about it. They said they could waive my next payment, but their computer was down & I would have to call back later that night.....of course, that was after hanging on the line for 20 minutes waiting for them to answer my call in the first place.

So I drove to have lunch with my trail riding friends & go out riding in the afternoon. Good lunch, great ride. Driving out of the farm, I had my windows down in my truck & I heard a pop & a hissssss. As I drove, I hear the hisssssss, silence, hissssss, silence. I knew it was a tire on the other side of my truck, so it wasn't the plug. I realized I couldn't make it home with the air going out like that. I drove up to the road & stopped & sure enough, my tire was already flat (the rear right one this time). Well, several of the women were coming out behind me with their horses in their trailers. I got my truck across the road into that driveway so they could get out. One lady took her horses home (she lives only a few minutes away) & was returning to help me change my tire to the spare......& the other lady helped me get the spare down so we could change it. I got out the "HOW TO" manual & had my cell phone out thinking I might have to call my auto club which I had already almost used up this year just in case we couldn't get it changed. We managed to get the spare down from under the truck bed & I got it out & ready to put on, we got the truck up on the jack & the lug nuts offthe tire, just as we were trying to get the tire off the wheel (which wouldn't come off), along came a guy in his truck & stopped to help. A few heavy kicks & some good strong muscle & he got the tire off the wheel & got the spare on & tightened. With many thanks, & one of the ladies reminded me to get the manual & jack back into the truck & not leave anything laying on it, I was off to the tire store to see what prices they could get new tires for. Just my luck, my Dodge truck takes the largest light truck tires possible. When I arrived at the mechanic that my other friend suggested I go to (they are honest & the the other place had a bad reputation), I realized that I didn't have my cell phone & it wasn't in my truck........dang, I thought I had picked up everything just NOT my cell phone. Well, I got a good price on Cooper tires (several hundred less than all the other brands) they have a good reputation, just not paying for the name, but made in the USA. Ordered them for the next day & then I went back to find my phone.....somewhere in the several miles of road I had driven.

I was hopeful to start with, but ended up walking the 1+ mile road & found nothing. One lady mowing her lawn along the road loaned me her cell phone to dial my phone incase it was hiding under the grasses......but NO LUCK. I got back in my truck & decided to drive the main road very slowly, hoping to find my little cell phone somewhere along the road side. The busy road at 5pm, I drove slowly with my emergency flashers on.....not a car came up behind me. Slowly driving down the road about a mile & there I saw my little phone laying just on the side of the road. I pulled off into the ditch to avoid causing an accident & walked back to make sure.....& sure enough it was my phone. The thing about my cell phone is that it's the only phone I have....no land lines in my home (couldn't afford to have both anyway). It has some one & only phone #'s on it & some special puppy videos of the last 2 litters of Destiny's. I couldn't imagine how horrible it would have been if I had completely lost the phone besides needing to call the IRS that night to take care of the business I needed to handle. A true miracle that I found it let alone that it was still working & not broken....an answer to my prayer.

Took care of the IRS & got it oked to not pay the next month so I could pay the CPA. Got my new tires the next day (had to dip into my emergency fund again). Later that week the internet was down, so I couldn't get more money transferred over to pay a bill, but went in on Saturday to get all the money in place. Later when the internet came back up (storm had blown it out for 3 days), I found the bank had charged me a fee for not having the money when the change came in as a hold, but was in there by the time it was processed. They refunded because of the internet situation....& my electric company refunded the late charge because of the same.

Over the winter, my garage door roller had broken & I had to get that fixed.......was finding that the field mice seemed to be coming in through the partially open garage door along with one night when I heard a noise, I opened the kitchen door into the garage & found an opossum tearing apart my garbage. I chased him off that night, but he kept coming back. I had caught most of the mice that had been wandering around my kitchen, but there was one mouse that wouldn't get caught. I watched him one night & found out that he was so big, he could to into the humane mouse trap by stretching out all the way to get to the back & keeping the door open until he got everything out of it......watched him bopping around my kitchen under the noses of my dogs without them doing anything even when I told them to "get the mouse". That mouse terrorized my kitchen....ate the labels off all the cans & even ate holes in the lids & plastic spice jars......got into my up above cupboard & got into everything I thought was safe. Didn't realize that they were coming in over my stove where it vents out & ran across the top of my cupboards & then they hadn't closed the part of the cabinet that connects to that & they could climb down into the cupboard from there. I now have that taped over, so they can't get in. I managed to trap 3 more mice that came in after the fields were mowed in the spring & one last one kept avoiding getting caught. The other night when I was putting away the tools from fixing my garage door, I saw the mouse run in my dining room where I was working. Leo was right there with me & did'nt even blink an eye. I told him to get the mouse under the drawer I had sitting there. I lifted the drawer & there was the little mouse hiding under it. It ran behind more things in the dining room. I put up blocks so it couldn't get out of either doorway. Leo & I chased that mouse around that dining room at least 5 times when I finally got a large trash can with a lid & Leo got at one end of where the mouse was & I got on the other & we chased him into the container. Sort of a seethru plastic, Leo was having a blast tapping at the mouse & being a brave dog when he knew he was safe from the mouse chasing him (a trauma he had when he was a puppy at the California ranch where my horses were (& are boarded). I take the mice miles down the road & across the creek so they can't make it back here.....not that others don't come in but I just can't kill those cute little guys.

Ah yes, the garage door. I bought a new roller for it, but had to completely take off the bracket to get the roller replaced & one of the hex screws wouldn't come loose even with tons of WD-40 sparyed on it. I needed my power drill/driver to get enough pressure to get it undone. I managed to break the ratchet driver trying to undo it & had to put that back together after finding all the parts that flew across the garage when it broke. While working on the garage door that had to stay open about 2 feet from the bottom all winter & until I got it fixed, I noticed that there was a bird that kept coming in the garage. I finally found out it was a wren & he was taking moths to mommy wren that he had built a nest for in a large plastic container that I had a tool holder wrapped around without any tools in it at that time. I checked out the nest & it the bottom of the container was filled with grass & twigs & a sort of cave like area was made where mommy wren had her eggs & babies. I couldn't close the garage door even if I had been able to fix it at the time. I finally got the attachment so I could use my power driver & got the roller repaired. When I tried to get the automatic door to work, something is hanging it that I still have to figure out what's wrong. Since then, the baby wrens hatched & were so quiet until one day, all 5 of them were out in my garage learning how to fly......by the end of the day, they were all gone. I had been so worried that my looking at their nest had disturbed them, but one night after that, I went out into my garage & turned on the light & daddy wren had been purched on the garage door rails. He flew off his perch & into the wall of the garage. I hurried back into the house turning out the light immediately so he could go back to sleep. What a good daddy wren he was.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a deer in my back yard just in front of the woods. I walked out to my deck & it caught her attention. She just stood there for a few moments, then started making this huge blowing sound out of her nose. She kept this up for several minutes as she looked around to see if she could see me....my scent much have blown onto her along with the sound of the door. She slowly moved toward the woods, making that huge blowing sound all the way. I read on the internet that that's their way of warning other deer that there is danger that they can't see around. Wow, was that interesting as I had never heard a deer do that before.

So much fun here in the country....things I never experienced living in the city.

My mommy eskie (Destiny Dreamer) had a small tumor in the mammary gland area of her tummy that I found during the winter. I promised that I would take care of it as soon as spring/summer came & my bills got less. She decided to make me take care of it when she decided to chew on the lump, causing it to get infected......Got her into the vet & had surgery 2 weeks ago. She was so bouncing & feeling good when I picked her up that evening compared to her dragging self that morning......but I found out that it was not just a mammary gland tumor like her previous one...this turned out to be a cancerous tumor, but the pathology report seemed to indicate that all the cancer had been removed with the surgery. Of course, one never knows about what might be hiding in the lymph nodes or into the blood system after the surgery.....but praying that she will be ok......she is already 14 years old & would hate to put her through any horrible treatments at her age anyway.

Had a strange thing happen a few weeks ago also. I was on our PC chat Bible study around 11pm when I heard a barking. Initially I thought the coyotes were out in my yard, but as I listened, it sounded more like a hound. That went on for about 5 minutes. Then I heard a shot. I yelled to find out who was shooting. The barking continued after the shot, so it wasn't the barking dog that was shot as there was no yelp & no sound from it like it had been hurt. There were no cars or anything in front of my house. It took me about 15 minutes to find my flashlight & the courage to go out & check the area. While doing that, people who are renting the farm house on the large farm across the street came home. They drove up the driveway & stopped part way up. Then they came driving back down because they thought someone was looking around my farm with the flashlight & wanted to make sure I was ok (first time I knew I had neighbors as that house had been vacant for over a year) We never did find out that mystery. Guessing that someone was tracking a raccoon or something with their dog & the dog must have treed it & they shot it.....but have no idea & never went to the farms around me to find out if they knew anything. I get so nervous about shooting like that from my California background, knowing that stray bullets can fly anywhere & end up hitting in houses even across the street. It just gets my nervous feelings going & not feeling safe......but haven't heard anything like it since then.

Shaker Village, a beautiful historical area about 2 miles from my farm, had an adventure day a couple of weeks ago. Bird watching & identification along with wild flower identification along with trail riding was all part of the day. I ended up going on the wild flower hike & found out that what I thought was Queen Anne's Lace was actually Poison Hemlock.....that I have growing my my front flower garden. Just this last week, I decided to get it out there & cut it back before it goes to seed......so while cutting it back, I came across this stuff that they had also identified during that hike as poison ivy......eeeekkkkk, 1/2 of that flower garden that I had cleaned out my first year here, is covered thick in poison ivy. Sure glad I was made aware of what it looked like on that hike.....but just to make sure, the water meter reader was driving by at the time & I asked him if that was really what I thought it was.....he reassured me that YES, it's covered in poison ivy. I was so careful not to touch it, but guess I managed to get some on me from one of the other bushes I cut down in the middle of it. When I was out riding yesterday, I noticed a rash on my arm right above my elbow showed up. I was out by the lake & decided to walk down to the edge & get a hand full of mud to put on the rash from the poison ivy. Everyone else was telling me to put on benedryl lotion, but I went for the mud because it has always seemed to work before. Everyone thought I was crazy. My friend had picked me up to go riding while my truck was in having the rear brakes replaced & it wasn't ready when we got back from riding, so I went to help her with the horses & then we went out to lunch at the DQ. I washed off the mud as it had about an hour to dry. I came out from the ladies room & there wasn't a sign of the rash......she was really impressed by how good the mud worked. After lunch, I got back to my truck....they got my breaks done (had no idea it was going to be as expensive as it ended up being). Should have considering I had 56,000 miles on my truck & no idea of what work had been done since I got it at 32,000.

Very frustrating as I seem to work one day & need several days to recooperate......so I am still getting my Christmas decorations down, & still working on getting my front porch painted & the wood deck sealed. Hot weather this year...much hotter than last year & no AC working at this point, waiting for the grant money to come through the beginning of July to replace the heat pump unit that was installed faulty from the crook that I hired to install it several years ago. Don't want to spend the money to have them hot wire the unit for the AC when it's going to get completely replaced anyway.....so that doesn't help with my energy level. The bugs have been horrible this year. Between the mosquitoes, & spiders, & I think a few chiggers have gotten their bites in also, I itch constantly at the bites even with the spray....probably because I'm so hot. The heat is bringing in the red wasps also.....seems like I find 5 flying around my bedroom window every day.....they must be coming through the vents from the duct work. Wow, how many would blow in if I had the AC on & air blowing them through the duct work......ugh. Not to say that I have come across several ticks.....a couple on my dogs & a couple on me (luckily I have caught them before they bit)

I still love it here in KY & am much happier than I ever felt living in California.......I actually enjoy the little critters that show up around here even if I want to chase them out of my house. My yard has grown so much......I keep the grass cut in front of my house, but can't seem to get all the rest of the mowing done with my lawn tractor.....it's at the point it needs a bush hog now as the grass is over my head & takes so much cutting with my lawn tractor.....but it's really pretty anyway. Do hope that the killer spray I sprayed on the poison ivy leaves ends up working over the next few weeks. I need to get rid of that stuff. I have no idea where it even came from as there is no other poison ivy on the front part of my farm. Some little birds must have brought the seed there & since I didn't clear out the flower bed last year, it must have taken over.

Well, such is the life that's going on here in KY. I haven't had much time to be on PC lately even the days when I'm trying to recover it seems there are too many other things going on or I am trying to catch up on sleep as I am still not sleeping well except when I really have a good workout during the day. Seems that if we have a thunder storm in the middle of the night even if I was sleeping, my dogs land on top of me letting me know that there is thunder present somewhere within their hearing range (definitely not in my hearing range unless I listen very closely).

The other week, I was in doing my grocery shopping & got out just before the storm hit....the rain drops started coming down as I was trying to get the bags into my truck. Drove over to get the gas at their gas pumps & Leo jumped out of my truck as I opened the door a huge clap of thunder hit & he flew. Ran across the parking lot in pouring rain & into the first set of doors to the grocery store.....I was running after him & he opened the next set of doors & flew into the grocery store where DOG'S AREN'T ALLOWED......he didn't read the sign. He ran down the isle with people trying to stop him along the way. He ran all the way to the back of the isle when one of the workers came at him. He turned & ran right for me for safety at that point. I picked him up & carried him out of the store, scolding him for not reading the sign that he wasn't allowed in there. I now have a leash set up to attach him to so that he can't just jump out of the truck after that.....ugh. By the time we got back to the truck that was sitting there in front of the gas pump, we both were drenched & dripping in rain. I threw him into the truck & stood shivering, trying to stay out of any more rain while I pumped the gas into my truck. I was afraid to get back into the truck for fear he would jump out again.....so I just stook there dripping & shivvering. Grrrrrrr. Thunderstorms really freak out my poor California puppies.

So goes the saga of Kentucky life for eskielover.......I really do love it & wouldn't trade it for anything else. Therapy seems to be going well. Have the best psychologist that I have ever had since I started with therapy in 1994, so this is very good also & the pain specialist is better than anyone I had in the lofty UCLA California specialists. The only thing that will make it better here is getting my horses. I will probably end up selling this farm & getting a smaller house with horse facilities & then I will be able to get my horses here....but will have to see what the prospects are in selling this place but I will not be leaving KY. It is beautiful & such wonderful people that have become part of my life.

Hope this novel doesn't boar you to tears. I felt bad that life got so complicated that I didn't have much time to be here at PC much lately, but wanted to give you all a peak at what's been going on lately. I miss having the time to be here, but living in an area where we only have so many seasons to work in, I seem to be controlled by my environment.