Monday, August 11, 2014

A summer catchup post ~ this will be long

I have gotten some tatting done.
The first is Renulek's Summer Doily 
done through round 5.  The thread is size 40 hand dyed for me by Monica Braxton of NAGstudio on Etsy.  I think it is turning out like I was thinking of a field of wild violets. 

A friend of ours lost his mother last week, so I tatted bookmarks for the family.
The thread is size 20 and the pattern is one I do by memory, I do not know where I picked it up, I have done it so many times over the years.

I also purchased 3 new shuttles the last couple months.  Did I need them?  No, I did not, but I wanted them.  he he,  not really smart money management, but they fed the need.
They are all Elite Creations Slider shuttles.
Top side

Bottom side

from the side.
I really like the Teal and Rose Burl shuttles, they are short and I can go really fast with them.  The cross bookmarks each took my only an hour and a half to tat them. 
The India Ironwood is a bit longer and I poke myself occasionally when tatting at speed.

Now onto other subjects, so if you don't want to read any further, you don't have to.

I have been absent from blogging for a long time.  Some of you know that Farmguy was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and underwent Prostate removal surgery on April 30.  It was to have been an overnight stay.  well, things didn't go so well, and he didn't get out of the hospital until Jun 28th.  I lived in his hospital room with him, it made his stay go so much better, he didn't have to wait for nurses to come help with much of what he needed. We did nearly lose him once during surgery.  7.5hrs on the table for surgery #2, and 5.5 hrs for surgery #3

During that time he underwent 2 more major abdominal surgeries.  Both caused by complications that developed during recovery, not due to additional cancer.

He is recovering slowly but still has a long way to go.  He came home with 5 drains,  and umpteen pills and shots.  He has been able to get rid of 1 drain, but still has 2 nephrostomy tubes draining his kidneys into bags strapped to his legs, and both and Illiostomy and a Colostomy glued to his abdomen.
During his stay in the hosp he lost 40 pounds,  he now weighs 153 on a 6' frame.  

Last fall he bought a new tractor and a new combine, will the tractor was brand new, but the combine is new to us,

he had a chance to drive the tractor doing some spring tillage and a bit of planting before he had to go to the hosp, but never got a chance to drive the combine.  Wheat harvest will be going full bore in a couple of days so since the tractor was easy riding this spring, he thought the combine might be too, well not so much.  His hopes of running the combine during harvest were shattered today.  He is not healed up enough.  So, he will have to sit on the sidelines at least for wheat and likely next month for soybeans, but is hoping he can help with Corn harvest in  late October/November. 

Because of his recovery, I have received permission to work from home so I can take care of him, and give him his meds, one of which is a shot that he gets 3x's a day.  So much fun to poke a needle in him. 

My garden this year got lost in the weeds while I was at the hosp so you don't get to see that this year.

Our old dog died last year, so this year I decided to get chickens again.  I ordered them before things got out of hand with Farmguy. 
This is what 75 baby chicks looked like on May 16th, when they were 2 days old.




Did you know they mail your baby chicks to you?
This is how they come
And here is what they look like in the box, you can't tell, but there are 25 Buff Orpingtons and 50 White Cross

And 3 months later, this is what they look like now


White Cross Rooster and Hen

Buff Orpington
The White Cross roosters and most of the hens will be headed for the freezer next month.  The Buff's and a few white hens will be a new layer flock. 

This is what my chicken house looks like.  it is very old, it was old when we moved here in 1976.  I think I need to give it a coat of white wash this summer so it will be brighter this fall and winter. 

It is only 12' X10' I am standing in the door and there are 2 windows on the same side as the door, and the one window you see is facing west.  The chickens spend most of their days outside in the pen, we can't let them run free range, there is a fox den out in the pasture not too far from the yard.  If they ran free the fox would eat them.  And there are eagles nesting near the river a mile north, they would eat good too, so they are confined to the house and the pen. 

Well, this is long enough, but gives you a bit of catch up on me for the past couple of months.
Happy Tatting.





19 comments:

  1. You had an very unusual summer and praise God Farmguy is still with you. Your tatting with never cease to amaze me but not half as much as your strength and grace under difficult circumstances. You are one heck of a woman Jeanne!~Marybeth

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    1. Thank you Marybeth, all with the help of God and as you well know, it is simply putting one foot in front of the other, day by day.

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  2. Praise the Lord that your Farmguy continues to be other half of your whole. Loved seeing the chicken house!

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    1. Thanks Tatlyn, I have been thanking God for his continued recovery.

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  3. One foot ahead of the other - yah - but YOU do it very well!

    Glad to see you are still tatting - it is a very pretty piece. Your new shuttles rock and so do your lovely chickens.

    Wishing Farmguy lots more good healing and sending you big hugs!
    Fox : )

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    1. Thank you Fox, your hugs are so welcome, some days they are really needed, and your postal ones have come at the most needed times. Thank you dear friend

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  4. Lovely summery doily. My best wishes to Farmguy for a speedy recovery. 10 years ago I went through a similar experience, with complications of surgery leading to more and more, and I have had a colostomy since then. If I can help at all on that score, shout. The chickens look happy!

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    1. Thank you Jane, I may do that at some point. Right now the Iliostomy is the more important outlet, he won't gain any weight until that comes out. Fortunately it may be taken out in the next few weeks.

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  5. What a summer you have had, my hubby also has prostrate cancer but only in the beginnings and so far it's on the very low scale numbers. What you have been though is totally amazing, and I am so pleased that he is hopefully on the road to recovery. I hope he continues to recover well.
    Your crosses are lovely, I hope that it brings the family some peace. I am at the moment making some crosses for the nurses who looked after my mother before she died in recent weeks.
    Your chickens look in good health,
    Lovely to see you back blogging.
    Margaret

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    1. Good Luck with your husband Margaret, farmguy's PSA was above 20 but since the surgery his PSA has been 0 so that is awesome news as it means all the cancer is gone.

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  6. By God's grace a person can get through so much and bear more than one thought manageable. So glad to see you hack and see your post. We, too, got chicks this spring...but only 6...and we had no existing hen house and so building THAT has been an adventure. It has been fun though and good for the girls. Love your field of violets and while I am always partial to tatted crosses yours are really lovely! :-)

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    1. Thank you Julie, enjoy your chickens. It is amazing to see them grow so quickly can't wait for the fresh eggs, they are so much better tasting and better for you than store bought eggs.

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  7. Oh, man, was your husband put through the wringer. I'm sorry to hear it's taking so long for him to heal, but hopefully he continues to regain strength and health. How hard on YOU, too.
    Those chickens look so pretty--and probably taste pretty good;)
    I was just thinking the other day how much I enjoy that beautiful bookmark you gave me as I moved it from a book I finished into the book I started reading. You have such skill.

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    1. Thank you Green Girl, I am glad you like it. You should try some chickens, give team Testosterone some chores to do. he he

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  8. Hi Debbie, thank you for your kind words, the shuttles are available from Elite Creations. If you go back up to the post and right above the first picture click on the words "Elite Creations Slider shuttles" that is a link to their website

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  9. So glad to see you again! Please know that Farmguy (and you) are in my prayers!

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    1. Thank you Michelle, we found out today, he has a big test tomorrow. If he passes, then they will remove the iliostomy. so prayers are very much appreciated for tomorrow.

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  10. You have certainly had a lot going on - best wishes for some thorough healing for FarmGuy, and some stress-free days for you as well.

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  11. Oh, you did get some chickens! When you visited my blog in 2014, you said you were going to. They are good looking.

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