Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Feb. 10-16, 2016 Root Infection, Black Hen, Snow, Power Returned, End Eye Drops

Feb. 10-16, 2016 
Root Infection, Black Hen, Snow, Power Returned, End Eye Drops



Hello Friends!
Happy Valentine's Day
A rough week.  It feels like the past year has been exceptionally difficult, and this is coming from someone that has a lot of hard times.  When I am stressed or upset I clench my jaws really tightly at night especially and with the loss of my aunt and the decision about whether or not I could go really stressed me out. 




 I ended up getting some sort of wicked infection up in the roof of my mouth from an old root canal root going bad; I won't find out exactly what is wrong until my appointment with the specialist next week.  I guess old root canals can still cause problems; I had no clue.  I poured out my heart about this decision to travel or not with my Sunday School ladies group and asked them to pray for me to make the right decision. 


Church: Thankful for Fellowship of Kindness 
Speaking of my Sunday School church group; man, are they amazing.  You know, I received two Valentine's Day cards are they were both from that group.  One of the cards was from LouAnn, and my heart aches to say this, but, she wrote and sent me a card when her husband is struggling with cancer.  What kind of astonishing Christian is that?!?!  It just blows my mind.  I am beyond blessed to have such a mind blowing Sunday School group of ladies.  I honestly don't even have the social skills to know how to respond to such nice people and am *often* at a loss at what to do and what to say.  I'm so blessed to have an opportunity to learn from them.  So, no matter how many little things keep going wrong right now, I know I am a child of God and actively being blessed by these women.  And, they are also teaching my Dd in Youth Group and helping me raise another child of God---priceless.





 By Tuesday my teeth were killing me.  Wednesday I drove through un-plowed roads to get to a doctor to get checked.  The doctor said it was an infected tooth, not sinus, and put me on penicillin.  She also told me to call my dentist as soon as I got back home; which I did, but, they couldn't fit me in until Friday.  I laid in agony Wednesday and Thursday, in bed, while the antibiotics started working.  I hate spending a whole day in bed, much less two days in bed.  I did have enough "umph" to do the morning chores for my chickens and Dd and Dh did the nighttime ones.   Luckily I felt good enough to drive myself to the dentist on Friday.  It is amazing how much antibiotics can help take out the pain from infections; I've had this problem before and am thankful for the decrease in pain.  The dentist on Friday took two X-rays and told me within three minutes that I needed to see a specialist and called to schedule me in with him.  Unfortunately, the specialist isn't open until next Thursday...talk about hoop after hoop after hoop.  And waiting to have your root canal re-opened and cleaned out while it is all swollen and surrounded with puss isn't something you want to dwell on day after day; I'd rather just get it over with, if possible!


Can you make out all the deer tracks throughout the snow?  It is amazing to see in person.

Decision: Funeral
Last week I was lamenting whether or not I should or could fly out to be at my aunt's funeral.  I'm relieved I didn't buy tickets immediately because I wouldn't have been able to go.  After losing our power, we were on our generator most of last week and had two more ice storms headed our way for this week as well as a winter storm headed to Boston on the day we would have flown there, so logistically it just felt like a bad idea.  Dd offered to stay home alone and take care of the animals while Dh and I went, but I didn't feel right leaving her alone when ice storms were heading our way.  When our power goes out we have to 'roll' our extremely heavy generator from our outbuilding to the far side of our house; which isn't easy!  Then there is the re-filling it with gas every 6 -8 hours---not easy.  Also, since we live up a big hill with a long winding driveway we have to snow blow the drive throughout the week.  All of that, plus animal care would really be a big job for her since she doesn't normally have to do much.  THEN my mouth went crazy on Tuesday and I was glad I hadn't bought the plane tickets.  There is no way I could have gone in the amount of pain I was in.  I really wish I could have gone, but things just all went backward this week.


Black Hen:
My sick black hen died, after about a month of slowly getting worse.  I've only had one other chicken die on me before and she had something wrong with a lodged egg I think.  This poor girl was struggling for weeks now and wouldn't take any help from me so I was pretty helpless in getting her to improve.  I've been able to hand feed and pay special attention to languishing birds, in the past, and bring them back up to thriving.  I've taken pride in how well I've cared for my chickens and feel awful she got so sick, worse I feel relieved she isn't struggling anymore.  I wish I knew how to administer antibiotics; I'm sure she just needed a little help to get over the illness, which I think was pneumonia.  Maybe somewhere along the way, I will be able to acquire more knowledge and be able to care better for them in the future when they get sick.



Power Back:
Monday at 3:30 pm we finally had our power returned.  The chickens got to get back to their normal cooked rice!  



It made me happy to be able to cook for them again too!  It was great warming the house back up past 61 degrees!  I know many people across the U.S. were really cold compared to us, we have a pretty big generator that allowed us to do more than just 50 degrees.






Snow:
Tuesday was back to major snow again, those ice storms behind us, and I was back on snowblowing duty both in the morning and in the evening.  The snow was so heavy and wet it took me almost 2 hours each time I went out, but I have to keep the driveway clear for Dh to get back home each night.


This Red Squirrel crawled INSIDE my sunflower feeder to eat!


Broke Snowblower:
Friday Dd had to snow blow as I was under the weather and don't you know; it broke!  We had to manually shovel our really long driveway to get our van back up to our house and to clear the path so Dh could get up it when he came home.  It was a very challenging job as under the snow was ice.  Dd and I both tried and tried to drive the van up the hill but we couldn't get any traction and had to reverse and go back down.  




After getting shovels and digging down through the ice to dirt and rocks we were able to get the van up the hill.  It does make me appreciate the snowblower and the Subaru!  Our van just wasn't made for driving on snow or ice.  We really need a second auto that can drive in the snow.  Dd and I have been home without a usable car for most of the past month, now that Dh is back at work and needs the best car for the long commute.  Hopefully, at some point, we can figure something out so we can have two cars that drive in the winter.  When Dh finally got home he was able to fix it!  Thankful!

Dd's Felt Bird:
Dd gave me the felt bird she started last week as a kindness for my sadness for the death of my aunt.  I am always impressed with how carefully and beautifully she makes things, her bird is the prettiest bird so far this year.



Dh's Eye Drops:
Dh had another appointment with his eye doctor and he had his last day of eye drops on Friday!!!  I'm so glad he is finally winding down all his work towards keeping his eye.  Next week when he goes back he doesn't have to see the doctor, just the nurses, who will check his eye pressure to make sure he is doing fine without the drops.  




My Bible study currently is Beth Moore's book and Bible Study, both titled To Live Is Christ.  The odd thing, they aren't connected at all?!  I'm almost done with the book but just started the workbook/bible study.  Our Ladies Sunday School has been doing Entrusted by Beth Moore; which is on Paul and the book of 2 Timothy.  So, this Bible study is a bit redundant and I've ordered a new study for me by Priscilla Shirer called: Armor of God that I should receive next week.




Dd's Academic Progress:

Bible:
Church, Sunday School, Youth Program and daily Word of Life Teen Bible study.  She has ordered another Bible study: 
Awaken: 90 Days with the God who Speaks by Priscilla Shirer



Volunteering:
Story Time at the library: 1 1/2 hours
No Olympians due to bad weather again this week.



Physical Exercise:
Treadmill x 2 this week



Grace Classes: 
Cultural Geography (BJU)
Algebra I (Saxon)
Spanish I (BJU)
Introductory Logic
Exploring Economics by Ray Notgrass


I love searching for where the deer bed at night, this picture has two spots where deer slept, but you might find it difficult to make it out in picture format.


Fun Reading:
The 100: Book One by Kass Morgan: In Process
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: In Process
(We re-watched Pride and Prejudice this week, the one with Keira Knightly...love it!)



Next Week:
I'll be having my appointment with the oral surgeon about my infected root.  I'm praying it goes alright and they can fix whatever is wrong and infected; without too much pain and agony.  I had to return our two audio's (My Antonia and Jane Eyre) to the library because they were due back, but we will be getting them back again and can hopefully get closer to their conclusion.  I hate not finishing a book once started!!  I'm also hoping this week the weather won't be as bad as it has been, I need a break from snow blowing and shoveling, especially with this infection bringing me down.

..........