Raisins and wreckage

Thursday I got so much done! I picked grapes, then prepped them for drying. It's best to steam them a couple minutes and poke the skins, so the moisture can escape. I dried some a few years ago without blanching them, and they had no flavor at all. Anyhow, once I had the grapes in the dryer I froze a few peaches, just a quart. The figs were finished drying, so I put them in jars. I don't have many, but at least I have a few to use for later.

After I finished with the fruits, I was feeling pretty tired, but I seem to just keep moving, even when I know it's time to stop. I finally laid down, but felt a lot of pressure in my chest. I couldn't get comfortable, and found myself in tears. Reluctantly I called the doctor-after the 2 heart surgeries last summer I figured I should be more careful. They wanted me to come in, but not drive myself, so I had to call David to come home. We went to the doctor, by then I could barely stay awake, or conscious, I'm not sure which. He sent us to the Emergency room.

The doctor there ordered an ECG, which looked fine, and also some blood tests, also fine. I was struggling to stay conscious, but made it through the intake and tried to answer the Dr.s questions, but frankly, I wasn't feeling too good. About 5:30 I felt like someone was sitting on my chest for a couple minutes, and a stabbing pain in my back. It happened again about 10 minutes later, and then I woke up. I still had some pain, but suddenly I was conscious again- it was really weird.

All the tests came back fine, but my blood pressure was pretty eratic, so they kept me over night and did an echocardiogram today, which was also fine. Since I've had a lot of problems with my gut, the doctor suggested it was that, but I know it wasn't. Maybe it's scar tissue, since it's pretty sore under the ribs where they took my pericardium off. Either that or I just needed a little extra attention??! You know how I love hanging out at hospitals.....

The cardialogist came in this morning, and I told him I should still be under warranty, since it's been barely over a year since the last problem. He told me he was sticking to the 'crazy lady' theory-huh, could he be talking about me? They don't know what happened, and I know it's not just heartburn, but I'm home now and recuperating. Guess the trip to San Diego is out for now, though. I really want to go with Mom to see her brother and his family, but I'll have to wait until things settle down.

Weekend adventures

Well, we've had more company this week! Our good friends Sharry and Gina Barton came down from Utah for the long weekend, and darned if we didn't lose Gina and Nic on Saturday. He said he wasn't lost, he just got bad directions. Umm, guess who gave the directions? He wanted to take her for a drive and get lost, so I just did my part to help. I told them about the drive to Cherry, a little wide spot in the road in the mountains near here. Problem is, I told them to take the old Cherry road, and Nic heard take the Old Cherry Road. The difference is one is paved, one is kind of a cattle trail, and Nic drives a Jetta VW. He followed directions, turned off on Old Cherry Road, and when it passed the last house it becomes a 4-wheel drive road. He pushed forward, looking for the paved part of the road; dropped into a washed-out creekbed and moved carefully to the other side. As he was driving up the washed-over road up the hill, he steered around a big rock only to have another one smash up into the oil pan.

Luckily his cell phone worked, and he called David. "Dad, can you bring some duct tape and a case of oil?" We loaded up the truck with tools, oil, water and yes, duct tape. When we got there we realized the rock had cracked the whole oil plug out of the pan, so a little duct tape and JB Weld wasn't going to fix the problem. We brought the kids home Saturday, and will have to rent a car dolly to haul the Jetta home.

They thanked me profusely for giving such good directions and allowing them such a pleasant afternoon! ha ha. I'll never hear the end of this one, I tell ya. Today when Sharry and Gina were getting ready to leave, Sharry asked for directions to the interstate. Gina and Nic just looked at me, like- DON'T SAY A WORD! So, I had David give the directions.

It's been raining hard here the last couple days, so Nic took the old pickup out today, looking for a mud slick to play in. Before they left, I told them "Now look, I am not recommending this road, and if you get lost or stuck, It's Not My Fault!"

Family, Family and Family

Wow, it's been a busy couple weeks! Jared flew in from New Hampshire last week, so we had 10 days to spend with him, it was great. He enjoyed being home for a few days, got to hang out with Nic every evening-Nic had to work all day, but they spent lots of time playing Madden football, cracking jokes, just being brothers. They are really close, and it's fun to be around them, they spout comic lines from countless movies, horse around and just have a good time. Jared helped me finish tiling the kitchen, yippee! I'd laid tile through the kitchen, but hadn't felt good enough to move the fridge and big cabinets last year, so we've had 2 colors of linoleum in there for a year. Finally it's all one style, a stone-inspired gray tile. He did most of it himself, and it looks great.

We've been helping Trish move that past couple weeks. Last weekend David, Jared and Nic drove down to Sun City and helped her load a 24 foot Uhaul truck. They hoped to be finished by noon, instead they were just getting the truck home. Seems Uhaul didn't have the truck at the right location, so they had to drive to downtown Phoenix to pick it up, and instead of getting it at 9, it was nearly noon, at 105 degree temp. Whew! I was able to recruit a bunch of men from the church to help unload it on Monday evening. 8 men showed up to help, and with the Farr men, they had the whole thing unloaded in 1/2 hour. Trish was so impressed! Now she's in the process of unpacking, never much fun, but her house is looking good already. I helped, I brought Fruittuti's from Taco Bell, not once but twice!

We had Dakota all day last Saturday while Jared was here, we had a fun day. She loves the Lego blocks, and built a big building with it- check out the slideshow. Then she played in the pool, and directed Nic and Jared in a game of catch. She would blow her flute to start the action, and play music while they tossed the ball back and forth. It wasn't long before the bubbles came out, and Dakota decided to practice her fencing moves, slashing the bubbles right out of the air. I think she'd been watching the Olympics, because she has a good fencing stance, and stabbing moves. It's so cute! I got some video of it, but haven't figured out how to load it on here yet. Bess, David's sister, and her husband Tom, were here Friday evening and Saturday morning, so they finally got to meet Dakota. We have some cute pictures of them and Mom Farr with the boys and Dakota on the slideshow too.

My Mom came by too, the same weekend. We had Tom and Bess, Grandma Madge, Dakota, Jared and Trish coming and going last weekend, in addition to going to Sun City to move Trish on Sunday. Mom came back up Thursday evening, she's helping a friend drive back to Kansas this weekend. She left the motorhome here, and rode with Laura, who's Mom just went into hospice. She didn't want to drive back alone, and Mom is such a good friend, she dropped everything and went with her. We'll be going to San Diego to see her brother after Labor Day. Mom's only surviving brother, Marvin, had a stroke 10 days ago, and he's doing pretty well. Right now he's in a Rehab unit, and she wants to go visit him. I volunteered to go with her, so she isn't driving in all that traffic alone. She's a really good driver, but doesn't like driving in heavy traffic, so maybe I can help there.

As busy as it's been, to me this is what life is all about- family taking care of each other, and enjoying one another's company. We tease each other a lot, but I love them dearly and absolutely love to spend time with all the family.

Backyard reverie

It's Wednesday morning, I'm sitting on the backporch, reading the paper. It's small town news, the latest woes of the local economy are undermining efforts to build a community center, the farmer's markets are in full swing. There was a tragedy- a head on collision near Camp Verde killed the driver and injured 3 others. Mostly it's about the local happenings and opinings of the public. I love to sit on the porch with a smoothie, reading the paper and watching nature in the back yard. We get 3 papers a week, so it's not an everyday occurence. Two hummingbirds are fighting for the feeder, the doves and finches are swinging in for a nibble and a bath. Lizards are creeping around the patio and brick wall, slurping up bugs. I love lizards! I've seen several big butterfly, swallowtails, I think. The clay pig, cow and frogs are grinning at me, tucked into corners of the garden. They are cute, but right now it's too hot to put little plants in them- they'd cook within a week, so I've tucked the pots under roses and other plants to pretend there are flowers in them.

The dogs are adjusting well to each other, Cara is the youngest but the biggest. She is energetic, and the other 2 little dogs are still a little leary of her. Chica is starting to play with her more, instead of growling at her from the safety of David's lap. Sugar just watches all the excitment from her rug in front of the tv. When it gets too noisy there, she retreats to the front room where she has a pillow. We indulge Sugar, she's 15 now and slowing down a lot. She has a lot of cysts over her body, I'm afraid some of them may be cancerous, so we know our time with her is limited. She is absolutely the sweetest dog we've ever had, and we've had some very good dogs. She was an adorable puppy, given to us by a friend that rescued her, then decided she wasn't good with dogs. She asked us to watch her for a couple weeks while she was traveling, back in 1993, knowing full well that the kids would fall in love with her. The rest is history. She wasn't the brightest bulb on the tree, but definitely the most loving and sweet natured. She is all white, except for the times in Colorado that she found a manure pile, then she'd be gloriously green! She loved horse manure, and would roll luxuriously in it whenever the opportunity arose. EEuww! That was not a pleasant bath for the unlucky person in charge!

It's a little cloudy, and there's a good possibilty of rain today. I hope so, we've had lots of clouds and little rain. It just cruises in, teases us for a while, then blows south east to the Mogollon rim to dump the contents of those pretty clouds. Fun to watch, I can see lots of lightening flashing around, but not as satisfying as a good rain in the desert.

Me and Maxine

There are days I look like Maxine (the comic book version). I have a great straw hat, ok a couple of them- one's a beat up cowboy hat, that's my favorite. The other is a wide brimmed summer hat. Then I have the wrap around sunglasses, an old t-shirt and a pair of baggy capris, plus crew socks and tennies that give the illusion that I'm 4 1/2 foot tall. These are my 'embarass the children' days, but it's comfortable and I don't care if they get ruined. I was rebuilding part of the drip system, trimming the grapes, sweeping the porch. It's messy, dirty work, not a beauty pageant!

There are 3 dogs here now, and they have to be in the back yard while the chickens are out in the side yard. We all know chickens are dumber than rocks, so they are happily pecking around the yard while 2 of the dogs are sniffing excitedly at the gate, the fence, hoping for a chance to check out those chicks up close....

We have figs! We bought the tree 6 years ago, and have had the beginnings of fruit on it every year, but this is the first time they actually grew and ripened. It's a black fig, and so delicious! They don't ripen all at once, just a few every day, so I've been eating 3-4 a day all week long. The grapes are ripening, they'll be ready by next week maybe. There are tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and cucumbers coming on too. I planted 3 tomatoes, 2 peppers, 4-5 cucumbers, a few green beans. I had several squash, but David was weeding a couple weeks ago and thought they were weeds. Either that or he didn't want that many squash... It's not a big garden, enough to eat fresh veggies from but not enough to can. Luckily, Hauser's Farm in Camp Verde has the best corn, so we have fresh corn when we want it. In fact, I think it's time for a corn run. Maybe I'll wear my Maxine outfit!