Hello

I know it's been awhile since I last posted. It's been a pretty busy 3 weeks here. I really would like to say thank you so much to all of you who have sent good wishes and prayers for my step dad, Gary, and my mother. I am so thankful for all of you.

Gary has had a very rough 3 weeks. In the ICU for a long time. Up one day, back down the next. He was put in a private room last Monday. Stayed there 4 days. Then back in ICU again. Yesterday, the doctors were optimistic about his recovery. They were saying all they needed to do then was to get him to eating and moving again. Even mom went home early last night at 5. She's not ever done that. She called at 8:30 to check on him. The nurse said he was doing good.

Then at 1:00 AM a nurse called and said mom should get there as fast as possible. They only live a few blocks away. But she didn't make it in time. He passed away about 1:15 this morning. I went and stayed with her last night and have been there all day.

We had to go to the funeral home to finalize the arrangements. (Thank goodness, they had bought funeral insurance and had all the paperwork. We had just gone to a funeral home here last Thursday to give them all the paperwork.) He will be cremated and we'll have a memorial service sometime the end of June. My brother will be here from Colorado Saturday for a week. I'm so glad. Mom will be so happy to see him. He said he'll be helping her with everything that needs to be done there.   Then my sister and her 3 daughters will be here the end of June with my brother.

Mom and Gary were married 34 years. That's a long time. She's a strong woman but this will take a long time. One day at a time is the way we'll take it.

Please continue to pray for my mother. She will need prayer and strength to get through this time.

And I also wanted to say, that no matter how much a person irritates you or says something or does something that either hurts or makes you mad, just get over it and make amends. You just never know when something like this will happen. Then they're gone. Just like that. Gone. So please, go hug you mom or dad, sister or brother. And your children. Love one another. And be there for your family.

Thank you all again.

Dogs:3 Possums:0

 Bubba and Stella, the hunters. A possum in my milk room! Not any more. And all my little meat chicks in the yard behind them, free ranging.

Stella looks like she is proud of her self. Not many creatures leave this farm the way they came in, thanks to Bubba and Stella. They take care of their farm. They aren't afraid of anything. Good dogs!

Stella Bella Luna STINKS!

I do not know what this stinkin' dog got into this morning, but it was pure nastiness. She stunk! Bad! When I went to put her in her crate before I left to go back to the hospital, I noticed a nasty smell coming from her direction. She must have rolled in something out on the driveway. It really was nasty.

So when I got home, Kansas helped me give Stella, the stinky, a bath. It's nice to have help. Stella was really good and stood still the whole time. Kansas scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed some more.

Then poured more water on her.

Then scrubbed some more. Til she was finally clean again!

Jim and Bob had to see what all the fun was about. They are nosy pigs, these 2 boys. And they love water and were probably wondering why they didn't get a bath too. I did put the water hose on them later. They are happy pigs!

And the chicks had to come check out all the commotion too. I had let them all out of their little pen this morning. They finally ventured out a little later. Then followed me right back in to eat their dinner. Happy chickies!

And here's Kansas, drying off the clean doggie. She'll be clean for about 2 hours and 26 minutes. The dog doesn't like being clean. But we are all happy people! Oh, the life of a farm dog.