Is it Arizona, or is it just me?

Once upon a time I had been (mockingly) called a "doctor-bill".  Not a nice name and I would appreciate no one calling me that now.  I had seen more than my fair share of hospitals, and plenty of doctors offices.  I've had 3 hernia surgeries, 2 kidney stones and half dozen ER visits, all this aside from having 2 pregnancies, and births; none of this is bragging and if you know me, you know I HATE this kind of attention, if I want any at all.

For a several days now I've been having this pain that at first seemed gradual then it seemed like the next day I could barely do anything without doubling over.  Because I'm afraid as coming off as a wuss, or that I do things for attention, I decided I wasn't going to do anything about it, just let it run its course.  My last kidney stone, which this felt similar to, came and passed without me seeking medical attention, and no one knew I had it apart from those at home.  After a few quiet hours on Thursday while Sheila, my mother-in-law, watched the kids, I thought it could do it.  After Stephen came home, had dinner, and changed he decided we should go.  Dropped off the kids back at grandma's, at 8 in the evening, we headed for an ER visit.

First I had a CAT scan.  They told me I do have a kidney stone; its small, and "tucked away" in my kidney, but it wasn't the problem.  I had an ovarian cyst on the right side.  They needed to do another test.  Its a hemorrhagic ovarian cyst.  I was told that as far as cysts go, its pretty common.  Just check up in a few weeks to see if its gone away.  For now, stay medicated to control the pain.  Funny, since I had tried that, believing it was a stone, and wasn't able to harness the pain any.  Don't worry about me though; I'm alive and mobile.  My kids can't tell that there's anything different about mommy, and I can still cook and clean.  I just am on a more fervent search for sanity during my day.

Bittersweet

One thing I have learned from the movies "Julie & Julia" and "Motherhood" is that a blog doesn't have to be long, not even more than a paragraph, to make an entry.  Now having said that I will tell you that this blog won't be just one paragraph, but I'll try to shorten it.  Besides, shorter blogs might mean more entries.

Franklin will be turning 3 on Saturday!  I can't believe the time has gone by that quickly.  I remember, after pushing for 2 hours, the first thing he did was pee on my doctor.  When they handed him to me I was so tired, and so frustrated that it took so long that I didn't want to hold him; not till I had a breather.  Last Saturday we had a small party going bowling with Papa Reed, Heidi, Sam, Reyn and Tanyth.  Franklin LOVED bowling.  He caught on pretty quick that we all had a turn, and he was pretty good at waiting for his; most of the time.  He did not want to leave the bowling alley, but at least after 2 hours of being there, and with Grandpa Reed, he was able to leave with less crying than the day before when I went to reserve.

He's definitely becoming more his age.  Lots more English comes out of his mouth.  Just this morning, after putting Lisette down for a nap, he picks up a cat toy.  "Kitty's turn!  Kitty, where are you?  Where'd that kitty go?  Come here kitty!"  Of course Rizzo is the cat he's looking for, and his favorite place to nap is under Lisette's crib.  He's also potty training.  We are on official day 2 and he has told me 3 times now, before he has wet himself, that he needs to go.  I'm so thrilled, and I know that this isn't just a coincidence.  However, I'm not sure he's (aka: I'm) ready to tackle this when we're out and about.

You say: How can she know that he's got it?  Simple, Franklin has some obsessive compulsive behavior and has a particular way about things.  Doing routines with him is so easy and this would be one of them.  We've gone through several isolated mornings over the past 3 months that I tried and gave up.  I always had an excuse; running errands was the most common. 

Monsoons are over, pretty much.  I'm very sad about that.  I love rain and seems I can never have enough.  However, now that things are drying up, and the rain is no longer coming down, the "lakes" out front are drying up.  That mean no more screaming frogs!  I've had 3 nights of silence, and it has been bliss.  I realize that I took silence for granted.  I should say silence at night, when the kids are already sleeping.  I haven't taken silence for granted overall.  I'm a mom; lets be realistic.

Howling Dogs and Screaming Frogs

6 days a week our neighbor has a friend that drops off their dog.  When this first began we weren't sure what breed it was, not that it mattered, but it looked like a large Jack Russel Terrier.  Now that it has been a few months we now realize that it is a mix with a greyhound.  As if I needed one more reason to feel better about my cats never going outside again. That dog can jump the fence like it was laughing at it.  It runs all over the place, and across the road (and its a very well traveled road). 

We both used to be very impressed with that dog.  It wouldn't get too close. It has zero aggression.  It never barks.  I was impressed.

This dog now howls; all the time.  From almost the minute it is left for the day, till someone arrives back at that house in the afternoon, that dog will howl.  At first I was unsettled, thinking maybe one of its friends died; after all its not the only dog next door, and those chihuahua's I once mentioned I have not seen in a very long time. 

I was afraid of what I might see if I went to check on that dog.  It did run in the road a lot; maybe it was hurt.  I have a horror story of a cat I came upon that had been hit by a car.  Stephen and I were living here in Thatcher, when we were first married.  The cat was alive, and I was so horrified that I ran off to pull Stephen out of class. I couldn't just do nothing, but I also didn't want to pick it up.

Anyway, back to my story. 

That dog was just howling out of loneliness.  Nothing was dead, no one injured.  So I scolded it, and every few minutes went back out there to tell it to shut up.  I have kids sleeping and I'll be danged if some stupid dog will wake them up.  This still continues, but a few days ago I heard it whining as if it really was hurt.  "What now!!?"  I had to laugh.  My neighbors either got sick of nearly running over it, or someone heard me, but they now keep that dog tied to a rope in the back yard.  I've watched it longing at the fence, dying to jump over.  Sucker!

The monsoons have been awesome.  We've had some amazing lightening storms, and so much rain.  I'm so glad that my parents have given us the leftover rock from one of their projects; such a life-saver; no more trekking through inches deep mud to get to/from our vehicles.  For any of you that know where we are located, or have been to our home (thanks for visiting, we love having visitors!) we have water treatment ponds nearby.  True, a northern wind doesn't smell pretty, but we do have lots of wildlife, also thanks to the river less than 1/2 a mile away. 

We were watching a movie the other night, and I about had a heart attack.  I heard screaming!  I instinctively wanted to dial 911 but thought I'd make sure I wasn't the only one hearing it.  We paused the movie, and then I realized I was hearing a lot of screaming, not just one voice.  Stephen laughs and tells me its the bull frogs outside.  Stupid frogs!  Ugh!!  They aren't all that loud, but I thought it might have been a murder going on, or maybe one of my kids cries was being muffled by a pillow.  Stupid amphibians!  Just like those stupid peacocks that sound like they are crying "Help!". 

hmmmm...

I've got an idea for a cruel joke.  Get a peacock, and at least 3 bull frogs and put them in someones back yard in the middle of the night.  I can just picture it now...

War of the Sunflowers

Ever since I planted sunflowers, back in April, I have been battling forces to let them grow and keep them alive.  Our home is surrounded by fields, and because we live in farm country we have gophers.  Not just one, or two.  Stephen has been able to catch and kill 6.  The first one Stephen get it stranded by filling its tunnels with water, and it was either drown or face instant, painless death by Stephens hands.  Does that keep them away, or diminish their numbers? Never!

My first sunflower to survive through the first sprout fell prey to those pests.  It was over 2 feet tall and I believed it was going to make it.  Nope.  One gopher ate right through the main root.  We even tried transplanting it into a bucket, but that was a wasted effort.  Out of complete frustration as more sprouts were shriveling up from heat and lack of water and we saw more and more dirt mounds piling up (a sign of more gophers) I bought more seeds.  I planted the seed every 6 inches in hopes that with more sprouts there would be more that could survive all at once. 

A week later I lost another 2 feet tall stalk to a different gopher, a smaller one that I don't believe we have been able to catch.  Because I saw several new sprouts I wanted them to have a chance, as well as all of my existing plants that were still living, I went to war.  We first purchased this funky stake thing that you put in a fuse, light it, and toss it in a gopher hole.  Essentially it gasses them out, or kills them.  We lit one, and for a day or two we didn't see any new mounds.  That supposed victory was short lived.  We tossed in 2 stakes in 2 holes that were 20 feet away from the other.

It was like that gopher that took down the second stalk was mocking us.  4 hours after lighting up a stake there was movement around it.  It returned for the remaining roots and water.  I was so angry!  I was losing this battle, and at this rate I would never have a single bloom; not if the gophers kept eating through any stalk that was big enough to produce one.

So I got 2 of these babies.

And guess what!...

There are 2 blooms on that one stalk, with about 5 more close behind.  And I'm not worried that it'll be taken down by any gophers.

Of course seeing that many blooms on one stalk made me realize that planting seeds 6 inches apart from the next was far TOO close for these gigantic plants.  However, now that I've purchased a 3rd gopher repelling device I'm going to extend my line of flowers all the way to the back fence, and maybe even around the corner a little.

I do have to report that though I've won the battle against the gophers, the war isn't over.  The previous tenants were so kind as to dump oil in random places throughout the property.  The biggest dumps sites are along the fence line.  One reason why no weeds have been growing there, and another reason why my sprouts keep dying. 

If you look in the picture of my bloomed flower, the stalk in the foreground is the one suffering from the oil.  The rest of the sprouts (and seeds that never sprouted) have died.  So on Saturday Stephen dug out 10 (5 gallon) buckets full of oil-tainted dirt from that spot, leaving the sad looking sprout.  Today it is already perking up, and its newest leaves look stronger and fuller.