Forecast 1-3 inches starting at 7am

Well, thats how it was supposed to be, what really happened is that it started at 3AM and by 7AM there was 3 inches all ready on the ground and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon...So David was out sanding and plowing and Adam also, Chrystal woke me up at 6:00 with the kids so she could go to work...I tucked them all into bed with me, hoping we could all go back to sleep for a little while....that wasn't happening, so I turned my tv in my bedroom on to their kid shows and "rested my eyes" (Mom!!) for an hour, then we all got up..I sent them down to wake up Liz, so she could go feed the cows this morning and I bundled up to go feed the chickens. "Little Red" and I had a usual go around this morning, though I was yelling louder that I was going to put her in the pot and cook her!! She is a feisty one!! The snow continued all day and I noticed the cows were running back and forth, kicking up their heels and playing. I had been watching Clara- who I knew was going to be coming into heat and our bull, who we got 2 weeks ago was paying extra attention to her...so I was hopeful that she would be pregnant soon...The kids and I went over to Jenn and Marks to play with their Nintendo Wii, since they had gotten some new games. While we were there, Mark saw something go by the kitchen door and he looked out and said, " A cow just ran through our back yard!" My heart goes in my throat whenever I hear the phrase, "A cow is loose!". So as we are all getting dressed to go out, because it is not as easy as throwing your coat on, or just running out the door. There are boots and gloves to be put on...so finally I am the last (of course) to get out the door, but I have already called Liz who is at home, to tell her someone is loose. A white pickup truck has stopped in front of the house, probably just witness this steer running across Jenny's front yard, snow spraying up all around him, probably looked damn lovely!! He asked if we were going to need any help and i said, "No, I am sure he is not going to get far from the herd, but thank you." He said, "Ok" and drove away. Liz meanwhile had herded the rest of the herd into one paddock and Ike (the fugitive) was waiting near the fence line. Jenny and Mark had walked up behind him to block any escape route. Liz dropped the other fence board and he ran back in with the rest of the herd. We have this one place where we can slide the fence boards and corral the cows in a certain area and those are the ones that he had managed to knock down and escape. Thank God the whole herd hadn't decided to escape with him...He was snow white (and he is a black steer) He had been running everywhere, his hoof prints were throughout the woods and all through Jenny's backyard. I was so worried, because a few snowstorms ago a bull up the road had gotten loose and someone had hit it with their car and killed him..That is a scary thought for bull or driver!!! So now everyone is back where they belong for the day!! David just came home for a hour (7pm to 8pm) and it has started snowing again, so he was called back out!!! I didn't tell you about our bull story...no really... it is a real BULL story...
We haven't been able to catch our cows when they come into heat to have them artificially inseminated..the only one we did catch in heat was at Christmas Day, the only day they don't come out!! So we decided we would advertise for a bull, to lease one for a few months. We put a ad on Craigslist. We got a few answers, one person was a livestock dealer and he was going to pick up a red angus bull the next day, so he would rent him to us for a couple of hundred dollars for a month..but he didn't know what his temperment was and would let us know..Then we got reply from someone who had a 18 mo. old Hereford bull, who was in with pregnant cows and was related to them, so he was going to have to be sold or he was going to market..He needed to get $450. for him...(we were shocked, what a great price...then we thought,what was wrong with him...) So we made a date to go and look at him, their farm was in Woodstock, CT...a 25 minute ride..so we went and found ourselves at this huge farm with rolling fields and stone wall fences...beautiful..We had to walk through this big, old barn..built in the 1700's and it was as sturdy as every, full of dust webs..it smelled GREAT!! I just loved it!! So we walked throught the barn out this one door into a big field, where 3 horse and a Mule came to great us, then we trudged across the field, full of snow, to these four cows that were on the edge...One was the bull that we were coming to see, they were kind of down hill and when, Fred, (the farmer) approached the bull (his name is Eddie) he sniffed him and then just looked away, we were impressed..not aggressive at all...he said he knew he was a little small for a bull, but his Uncle was just like him and is now a big bull, would we like to see him, we said, "Yes", so we trudged back through the field, by the way, the wind was whipping across the field making it alot colder than 18 degrees...we walked to the back side of the barn, where Fred said, Uncle would be in the horse stalls stealing their hay..as we approached the opening in the back barn, someone yelled, "Watch Out, here he comes.." and this damn big, big bull came running around the corner and stopped short when he saw all of us...his head was so huge , in fact he was so huge...all our mouths just fell open...then he looked at all of us and calmly walked away...We made the deal to buy Eddie and made arrangements to pick him up in a week...So the week passed with rushing around to register our cattle trailer and getting ready for this bull. David was worried that he was to short and would not be able to fulfill his duties...Liz kept telling him, that he was looking at Eddie downhill and he was not that short..The Saturday came to pick him up and we had arranged to pick him up at 1pm..there was a snow storm coming in at 4pm and we wanted to get him and have him settled prior to David having to leave..So we get there and Fred says, you are going to have to drive through the field and down around the back where they have Eddie locked in a smaller corral...David looks at the field, with its new ice coat from the last storm and says that he needs to walk it, because he doesn't want to get stuck in there...so that should have been a clue, that this was not going to be a piece of cake!! So finally David comes back and says, "The only real icy part is the beginning, then the rest of it should be ok..there is plenty of manure and hay about for traction,if we cant break through the ice crust on top of the snow...so he put it in 4 wheel drive and we proceeded through the gate and into the field...all the cows wanted to know what we were doing, so they proceeded to get in our way and then there was the horses and the mule....all walking in front of us....what a nightmare!! and all the yelling from the cows, because they knew something was going on!! and Eddie was yelling back at them!!!..so we finally get around the barn and start to back up to where Eddie is and the truck starts slidding...I am praying with my head buried in the seat...and all the cows and horses are in the way!!! finally we are able to back up to the location...everyone gets out but me, I am staying in the truck!!! The mule has her head buried in the bed of our pickup because there is corn residue form the silage that David gets for the cows...and the others are all around the trailer and the fence line watching and yelling to Eddie, the corral they have him in is too big and gives him plenty of room to run away from them...we had put hay and grain in the trailer and finally that is what got him in ...it was at least 20 min. of trying to get him loaded...then we have to get out of there...the other guy is trying to move the cows and horses, so that we don't slide into them, but they keep running back in our direction, I am yelling for David to watch out for the horses and cows, David is asking me to quiet down (well, he didn't exactly ask me, nor did he use the words "quiet down") so that he can concentrate but he can't turn the truck around it is too slippery, he is sliding into a stone well cover in the ground which will ruin the tires, so he decides he will back out...so he is backing up and I am still hiding my head, my heart is pounding and I am thinking awful thoughts of what could happen!!! then Liz says, "Oh my god, Uncle is walking beside the truck and keeps getting closer, look at the size of his head!!" Meanwhile, Eddie is in the trailer, yelling to everyone...and Uncle is right next to the truck...I am asking myself, "Why did I want to come along? What possible reason did I have to think this was going to be fun? What the hell was wrong with me?" We finally get out the gate and then David stops the truck so he can pay Fred and get any necessary paperwork...again I stay in the truck because I feel like I can finally breathe, I am just not brave at all and I hate when David says Uh oh!!, I immediately go into panic mode, now everytime Eddie moves in the trailer, I can feel it in the truck..I am anxious just to get home and I look out and David and Liz are chatting away with Fred and the other guy...I can see Eddie pacing back and forth and yelling...finally David comes and we head off home...it seemed to take forever!! David keeps on saying, "Wow, I can't believe how big Eddie it, I really didn't think he was that big! I really thought he was smaller!!" Liz said, "I told you that you were looking down hill at him and he is not that small!!" I am just thinking, lets get home and get him unloaded...and hopefully it goes well. So, We finally get home and everyone is in the barn taking their afternoon nap...just as we pull in the driveway, Eddie lets out this big MOOOOO..and eveyone comes running from the barn...Mooing and running around...so now we have figured that we will pull up the driveway and open our gate and connect to the trailer and it will go perfectly...so we get all set up and open the trailer gate....and we wait....but Eddie is not getting off....so we wait...no more movement...Clara comes around the gate and looks in the trailer and we have to shoo her away...finally David gets a stick but before he can use it, Eddie decides to get off the trailer...Thank God!!! so we close up the gate and all the cows are sniffing and head butting and checking out the new additon...amazingly it all goes well!!! Eddie (who we now call Edward) is doing fine and he is not aggressive at all...not that we will every trust him completely, we don't turn our back on him and we never get in between him and his intended love...this had really worked out nicely...and even though we do not know if he is a proven sire...we have a few months to find out...and we can always send him to market if we want...but if all goes well we might keep him for a few years...either way it was a great price and he seems to working out real well..I think we feed more food than he is used to getting, in fact from talking with Chris, we seem to feed more than we need to...but it keeps them warm and happy...So that is all for tonight...it is still snowing we got about 7" already and are expecting another 4" so much for the forecast...Love to you all...

Soooo Cold Brrrrrr

It is so cold out today, yesterday was cold but not as cold as today. I was getting up for work yesterday and put my shirt on ,then a sweat shirt, then my thinner zip jacket and got my gloves and hat ready, made myself breakfast and it was really hot in the house, of course, it could be because I had so many clothes on! Then I left for work and got half way there and realized I had left my jacket at home!!! Can you imagine!! So today, I repeated the process but I made sure I had my winter coat on before I left!! I went out to feed the chickens today, I had closed up their coop last night because it was so cold..I have one chicken who hates me...a Rhode Island Red...she just can't wait to see me and think of ways to attack me...she is a hateful little thing...but in a way it is pretty comical..I don't know if you have every seen a chicken when they get mad, all the hair on their neck stands straight out!! She lays in wait for me, just waiting for me to open the chicken coop door and she is there!! Lunging at my hand to peck me and if I show any signs of fright, it just pleases her more...so i have devised a way to put their feed inside, I just hold the container of water in front of me and push it in the coop first, so she pecks at that..The rooster will protect me from her if we are outside, but when they are in, all he sees is my hand coming in, with the container first so he is not really sure if he should be alarmed or not. so her and I continue to play this game every morning, seeing who can outwit who...When it is warmer, she just attacks my legs and beats me with her wings. They are pretty strong, but I always have boots on so it all you really feel is the pressure of her wings...When she looks at me you can actually see the dislike on her little face...I always say to the kids, "Look at her, she is saying, "come on, come closer, come in here". I forget how that sounds to the little ones, Emily thinks I can talk to all the animals..She said to me once, "Mema, will you tell Olivia (the cat) that I like her because I don't know how to talk cat." I guess I have to watch what I say, like when the kids are rubbing Mel's belly (the dog) and she is wagging her tail, the kids will always say, "what is she saying Mema?" and I will say, "she is saying, "I just love when those kids come and rub my belly, it feels sooooo good!" and they will laugh...I am going to sound like a crackpot in a few years don't you think..they will wonder why they believed I knew what the animals are thinking!!! They will have me committed!! All the cows are enjoying this weather, they were all playing and running around...The cats and dog are all in the house, not going out much at all, only to do their duty!!! and then right back in... The kids were with me tonight, because Adam had to work on a water main break for the town and I just put on Craigslist and went to Farm and Garden section and John just clicked on all the equipment that had pictures...every five minutes, he was yelling, "Quick Mema, come look, look at this backhoe, look at this tractor, look at the snowblowers!" I told him I needed to do dishes, so he moved the laptop around on the table so that I could see it from the sink, so he could show me all the wonderful and neat equipment he could find!! He spent at least 2 hours at this...it really was cute.. I said to David, "Gee, I hope Adam has enough warm clothes, you know how he gets when he gets cold!" Emily pipped in "Do you mean crabby, Mema?" I said, "No, I mean his hands get numb if they are cold." She said, "Oh, because he is usually crabby!" She said it so matter of factly!! I chuckled under my breath... Emily and I will play games online, we take turns on the different levels, she is very funny...tonight she helped me dry the dishes..she is getting so big.. I do enjoy the kids so much. Jenny and Mark bought a Nintendo Wii and I never had so much fun...We played tennis and Jenny was pretty impressed that I could play so well.. I was really surprised on how much exercise you get playing, because you actually have to move your arms like you are playing, so you build up a sweat pretty easily..and then we played bowling, my arms were killing me!! We decided we are going to have to have a game night, even the younger kids were good at it.. The have skiing and snow boarding games, I always wanted to ski, but I am afraid of the lift...it the fear of heights that i have..so it should be fun, i was told that your leg muscles really hurt after playing the game, because you actually stand on a board and the way you move is how you move on the game, it is really amazing how they do all that....I hope you all are keeping warm and I will write again soon...Love to all

A Very Sad Blog :(

Tonight I covered for a few hours for another EMT and we got a call to a residence that i knew for a elderly man who had a seizure. My heart went in my throat!! On arrival we went in and the first thing I saw was Mrs. M, who looked like she was about to crumble and she whispered my name when she saw me, I quickly gave her a kiss and a quick hug and proceeded into the living room..Mr M. was in and out of it and his daughter was there and I believe it was the older Son also...Mr. M. did not want to go and he was making all kinds of angry sounds...she said sometimes he is not coherent..We wheeled him out of the house and I was carrying the bags and Mrs. M. looked at me and gave me a hug and I gave her a kiss, she looked so frightened. When we were on our way to the hospital, all i kept on thinking about was Dad and all the fun times they had together, all the singing and parties...It was so sad to see this frail man, he can't weigh more than 88 lbs..(the name Porky fitted him no longer).When we got to the hospital, his daughter was waiting as she drove ahead and walked with us in the hospital..When I stood by the side of the stretcher, Mr M. looked at me with some recognition and I said, "Its me Patti" and he said, "whats wrong, what happend" and I explained it to him, then he just kept repeating the same thing. I rubbed his arm and wheeled him into his room, as we were unbuckling the straps, I noticed a tear coming down his face and I reached up and brushed it away and caressed his face. I thought for a moment I was going to break down and cry, all I could think of was Dad...This is so hard to see someone who was such a strong man reduced to a frail and frightened man...my heart was breaking for him. I don't think I like seeing our parents and their friends come to this point in their lives, it is very hard for me... So I came home and proceeded to cry over what i can't control or cant stop from happening... Thanks for letting me share. Love to you all....(I had to change the names, so as not to violate HIPPA laws.)

Lifes Lessons

As you all know, I have been complaining about the Fedex drivers and my delivery of parts so that I can fix my stove..Well, they finally came in...they were not delivered to my house, but to Jenn's (so much for the intelligence of the fedex driver) I could understand if her last name was still Furno, but it is now Gosselin...so I fail to understand why my parts were delivered there, but I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth..so I installed my new heating element and then I replaced a infinte switch (it controlls the burners on the stove part, mine was just staying on high) I was so proud of myself...I really must give credit to Dad..he gave me the courage to try fixing things...I believe it was after I complained to him that David couldn't fix anything, that was a real shock to me...I really thought all men knew how to fix everything!! So anyway....I finished fixing everything and David kept on saying," I hope you know what your doing, we don't want to be blown up if you put it in wrong...blah, blah, blah...." So as I was going to replug the stove in, I had a moment of anxiety, (had I really fixed it, did I really know what I was doing? What if I get shocked? ) I looked over to David and he said "What's wrong?" I said, "I am just a little nervous about plugging this in?" He assured me he was sure that I did everything right....go ahead and plug it in...again I started to plug it in and again I was unsure and I looked over to David and this time he looked over at John (Liz's boyfriend) and said, "John, you want to come over here and plug the stove in?" John assured him, that he did not!, after all he said you need a good witness to tell exactly what happen.. Then it dawned on me!!!..after all these years of marriage, David would not risk his life for me..he would not take my place if any danger was going to befall him...He would give me all the encouragement as long as he came to no harm!!! He would watch while I was electrocuted!!! and John would record the moment as a good witness!! Later, Liz told me I should have given him the broom, so he could have knocked me out of the way of the cord if I was being electrocuted...I am sure he would have done that as soon as he was far enough away!! So I took a deep breath and plugged it in!!! No sparks, no fire....just perfect...and my brave husband, my soul partner, my confidant, my friend...smiled at me and said, "See, I knew you could do it!" and then he helped me push the stove back in place!! One more eye opening day for me....
FYI...the fire the other night...I ended up going over to their house to take pics with David's brother John (deputy fire chief) and ended up calling Liz to come pick up their fish...they had a huge fish tank and all the fish were dying from the cold...so we put them all in a bucket and Liz set up a new fish tank and transferred all the fish...we only lost 2...they were really cold and hardly moving at all...I gave them my number, for when they wanted their fish back, they were so grateful that they had someplace to send them...It is really sad, when something like a fire happens...Their poor home was just a mess with soot and everything was frozen...they were waiting for the insurance company to call and send a contractor over, they were so afraid all the pipes would burst from the cold. We offered them our camper, if they were having trouble getting something from the insurance company, but we did not hear, so I am sure they are ok..It was all so sad.

1-1-09 to 1-2-09

It is now 3:10 am and i have just returned from rehab for a structure fire...can it get any better??? It is 8 degrees and i couldn't find my long johns, so my legs are frozen under these thin emt pants...I have 3 layers of tops, plus my coat and hat and the only gloves i could find are thin dressy ones....STORY OF MY LIFE...NEVER PREPARED!!! That is my new moto.. Jenny and I went shopping today, and I was telling her how I can't seem to get anything done (cleaning wise) so she suggested I make a list of things and try to do at least one each week. I told her that wouldn't do as I would just keep adding things to the next week because I wouldn't do them, so my list would just be longer and longer.. She said she would love to help me, but I would have to agree to throw some things away...I told her, "thanks anyway, but I couldn't bear it if you threw stuff out." and then we both laughed..
Back to the fire, it started out as a chimney fire and then spread into the walls...luckily everyone got out and the house was not a total loss...The woman who owned the house told me the fire detectors were not working, but they started to beep and just a singe beep but constant and they woke her up...she usually is a heavy sleeper, but the constant one beep drove her crazy, she said she was so surprised when the house was full of smoke...good lesson to us all, change the batteries in your smoke detectors!! They finally admitted they have lived in the house for 4 years and never had the chimney cleaned...(bad idea!!) But I told her, you can replace all the material things, but everyone got out safely and that is all that matters...She has a 13 yr old daughter, who had a friend sleeping over and a 11 yr old son who was sleeping over a friends house...everyone was safe!! It was just sooooo cold...but no wind, so that was good...we were there for about 2 1/2 hours..so here i am, can't sleep so i am writing my blog as my older sister told me I should...thanks for the advice Margaret!! I really think I am going to like writing all this stuff, I hope you all enjoy reading it..Well I am hoping for my parts delivery from FedEx tomorrow, I need my stove back!! They really are a bunch of sissys!! Maybe it will be to cold to deliver, you never know..I am writing this with the cat snuggled, purring next to me..I just love that!!! Well, thats all for now, I am going to try to get some sleep.