New Address

http://fatbottomfarm.org

Goodbye Blogger...

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I have had a number of blogs here on Blogger over the past four years, but it just doesn't wag my tail the way it used to.

Wordpress has been tempting me for quite some time, but I was a little intimidated.

Until now.

I have officially made the plunge.

I was scared at first, I would be lying if I said I wasn't, but I did it anyway and even though things are still unfamiliar, the results are worth it.

So, pack your bags we're moving again, but as usual, it should be a fun trip :)

WWW.Fatbottomfarm.Org

Diagnosis?

We are back from another trip to the Hospital

They called this morning to check on how Wyatt was doing and when I told them they told me to bring him in.

He isn't responding to any of the medications that he has been given including Vicodin,

(like I really want him taking Vicodin anyway)

Neurontin, NSAIDS, or even Tylenol.

Once again his blood tests look o.k.

The Doctor gave him a once over (again) and after not finding anything (again) referred us to a Chiropractor or Acupuncturist until we could see the specialist who she was sure would know exactly what was going on.

I opted for Chiropractor first.

We were ale to get in with our family Chiropractor this afternoon so we drove Wyatt there and wheeled him in.

I wish I would have gone there first.

Dr Cracker, short for bone cracker, looked him up and down, asked us questions we hadn't been asked yet, pushed, pulled, turned and tweaked and then had this to say...

Wyatt's lymph nodes are swollen.

His throat is berry red and inflamed.

His belly nodes are swollen and painful to the touch.

It is not just joint pain, but also and mostly muscle and tendon pain.

Dr Cracker is 90% sure Wyatt has Stills Disease which is a type of JRA.

Stills rarely presents in any type of blood test rather it be SED, ANA or even RA specific tests.

Here's what we do...

Take his temp in the morning when he wakes up, and at night before bed.

No tomatoes, potatoes or peppers.

Cod liver oil three times a day.

And, everyone's favorite, follow up with the specialist on Wednesday.

There isn't anything more we can do to control the pain until we meet with the specialist, so it's continued rest and NSAIDS until then.

I feel SO much relief in knowing that someone, ANYONE has some idea as to what this could be.

For now I am putting all my eggs in the Still's basket and hoping for even more answers as the days go by.

I wish I could do something to show our appreciation to everyone who has been so kind to us and showed us so much love and support through this.

Thank you ♥

Not Your General Hospital

I can't believe it's already Thursday.

We spent a better part of the day in the Emergency room yesterday and you know how time flies in a Hospital.

Wyatt continues to get worse and yesterday was horrible.

I decided to move one of the adjustable beds into the living room for him so he could get off the couch. He can't sleep in his water bed because it's impossible for him to get in and out of it.

Moving the bed out required that I first move the couch to the other end of the room so Wyatt would have to sit in a chair while the moving took place.

There were tears running down his face the entire time and he was gasping in pain.

I had called my pediatricians office at 9:00am to get some relief for him.

They called me back around 10:30 and then never returned my call with any solutions.

Mind you, the good doctor that we had seen last Saturday was off yesterday and it was the stinky foot gym loving doctor who was on call.

I decided to do something that I knew was wrong.

I gave him a Vicoden.

And then I called my Mom.

My Mom said it was time we went to the Hospital.

We went.

Wyatt had to ride in the car laying down in the back seat because his hips hurt to much to sit.

To say the least he's lost his bend.

At the Children's Hospital in Portland they have valet parking.

You pull in, a guy runs out to assist you out of your car

(in our case with a wheelchair.)

We walked in, I checked Wyatt in and before I even had a chance to sit down they wheeled him into pediatric emergency and within three minutes of that he was in an exam room with a nurse waiting to take all of our information.

From the time we pulled in to the time we saw a doctor was under 15 minutes.

Amazing.

They did more blood work, gave him some more pain meds to break the pain cycle, and did a bunch of physical examination.

In the end, they said we needed to follow up with the JRA specialist, keep him off his feet and keep him comfortable with pain medication.

So, now Wyatt is in a bed in the living room, using a wheelchair to go to the bathroom and we are counting the days until we see the specialist.

Good times on the Farm.

Anyone want to mow my lawn?

What's Up With Wy...

I know, it's been awhile and I haven't meant to leave anybody hanging.

If you're on Facebook you have been getting little updates, but there is so much going on it's hard to keep up.

First I want to say thank you to everyone who commented, Facebooked me and emailed me about how serious Wyatt's pain could be.

If it wasn't for all of you I would have continued to believe

(as the doctor had told us two years ago)

that these were just growing pains.

I called the doctors office the day of my last post and everyone jumped into action.

Wyatt was seen first thing the next morning and the LNP informed me that what Wyatt had could be a number of things, none of them growing pains. She sent us immediately to the hospital for blood tests and made us a follow up appointment with one of the doctors.

The doctor we saw turned out to be the same one that we had seen in November 2008 and the same one that had diagnosed Wyatt's pain as growing pains. It was obvious that she still believed that's what we were dealing with especially since Wyatt's bloodwork had all come back negative.

She went on to inform me of all the other patients she had seen who had suffered with this kind of pain simply grew out of it after a year or so.

I reminded he that she had treated Wyatt for this two years ago and that it has only continued to get worse.

Way worse.

She ordered more tests, gave him a medical release from school, a prescription for muscle relaxers and referred us to a juvenile rheumatoid specialist.

Then she went on for thirty minutes about her gym, what exercises she does and her kids.

I nearly had to carry Wyatt from her office to the car.

I got home and called the specialist and made an appointment for... May.

Great.

I called the doctors office back and asked them what the hell I was supposed to do in the meantime.

The doctor phoned in another prescription, Elavil which is a very old anti depressant used for sleep and pain issues.

I told her I didn't want to sedate him for a month, I wanted him treated.

Well, it seems that's all she could do for me.

I looked at my son who was now unable to walk without assistance, who cries at night as he sleeps from the pain and who gasps from the pain as he changes position on the couch.

The pain is in his right foot, right knee, left hip, right elbow, right shoulder and his neck.

When she applied pressure to those spots in her exam Wyatt had tears running down his face and would cry out every time she touched him.

I decided that doctor could... Well, I decided I didn't care what she said and made an appointment with another doctor in the clinic.

Yesterday we saw Doctor R.

She examined him for over thirty minutes.

She did physical tests that the other doctor hadn't done.

She found out that he has very limited range of motion in his shoulder.

She found out that anywhere below his right knee he can't differentiate between sharp and smooth, but can only feel pressure.

She is calling to get us in with the JRA specialist... Before May.

She told me it wasn't growing pains.

She told me she will find out what it is.

She ordered a wheelchair to get Wyatt to the car because he couldn't walk.

I cried most of the day yesterday.

I cried because I was scared, because I was relieved that we found someone to help and because I was tired.

You see, it seems that the world doesn't stop, even when you need it to, it just keeps turning, and life keeps throwing things your way and you just have to keep your mitt out there and catch whatever comes.

Except for yesterday.

Yesterday I laid in bed and watched the Earth s l o w l y spin on the Dish Network Earth Channel and it gave me time to breathe.

So thank you Dish Network for bringing me the Earth and thank you to everyone who has held us up and supported us.

I'll keep you "posted"

:)

Peas

Growing Pains

Growing pains...

Has anyone else suffered with this childhood handicap?

Wyatt has been home for two days almost unable to walk to the bathroom. His joints hurt, his muscles hurt, everything pops and cracks and he looks like Benjamin Buttons on a bender. He sits and cries because the pain is so bad and I just have to wonder if growing pains are really this bad or if maybe he has bad bones.

I really need some feedback on this, we don't have insurance right now and I would hate to take him to the doctor only to have her tilt a condescending head towards me and say all of this is normal.

He goes through this everytime he grows. Remember when he stayed home from school for a week with his feet taped? We did take him to the doctor that time and I defiantly got the head tilt.

I just don't know.

I sent him to school today so he can at least be counted and not have to repeat the fifth grade, but I excused him from gym class.

I never had to do P.E when I was in school because I had bad knees.

I always considered bad knees a good trade off for big boobs because I would have been mortified in the shower room.

I'm getting the carpets cleaned on Monday!!

Believe me, this is cause for celebration, they are G.R.O.S.S.

My Grampy had two weak bladdered poodles that totally wrecked the carpet, add to that a few muddy black and white dog filled winters and you have yourself a situation.

Not the Jersey Shore kind, but almost as bad.

You see, the plan was to get new floors throughout the house, but then #6 went on an unauthorized spending spree and now here we are broke with bad carpet.

Oh well, live and learn.

I guess everyone f*#@$ up sometimes, it just makes me so mad that he ruined my plans for fabulous floors.

Well, way more than floors, but we won't go there.

Buddy gets "fixed" tomorrow!

I haven't told him yet, so when I wake him up early and load him in the truck tomorrow he's probably going to be really excited and think we're going to school to see his friends and learn some new tricks.

He sure will be disappointed to find out the only trick he's going to see is his nuts disappear.

He is doing so well in school, and we have also been using a training collar at home to teach him boundaries. He will run right up to a fence now and stop whereas before he would have gone under it, over it or through it. He still goes in the lower pasture, but stops at the outer fence.

What a good boy :)

The chicks are growing up SO fast.

As soon as the weather warms up a bit I'll put them in the coop and let them see the world and be all that they can be. They are making so much noise in their brooding room and the goats are pretty puzzled as to why the little red house makes so much racket now.

Pearl is going to be really p.o'ed when she gets her walking papers and has to go back to her pig house, she has it pretty cush in the coop.

It's hard being a diva pig in a fowl world.

Have you seen Up in the Air?

Don't tell anyone, but I didn't like it.

Did you watch Idol last night?

Don't tell anyone this either, but I don't like Mike.

It would have been o.k with me if he went home, but I CAN NOT believe it was him and not Tim.

I think if the people vote someone off the judges shouldn't be able to save them.

Is dumb K8 still on DWTS?

Peas

Random Stuff

Dinner last night was so great!

We had semi fresh crab, cesar salad, sauteed asparagus, and penne pasta with red pepper, garlic and cilantro.

Yumm. Eee.

Wendy found her Easter basket without any help from Wyatt, although you can be sure he offered. She loved her ugly easter bra and super cute pajamas and even shared a little of her loot with us.

After dinner we all played Brain Teasers and I was saddened to find my brain age was not as sharp as I had hoped, yet relieved to find it was better than Wendys!

She told us all about beauty school and all about all her friends and convinced me to come in and get some work done. I guess I could let her cover some grey, but hearing her rave about the purple streaks she did in someones hair leaves me leery.

Oh well, purple highlights would make for good blog fodder.

Wyatt is home today with growing pains again.

I swear he has shot up six feet in six weeks and every time this happens he gets horrible joint pain.

He's taking Ibuprofen and sleeping it off, which is another thing that happens when he gets a crazy growth spurt, he sleeps like the dea... well, you know.

I set everyone in the barnyard free this morning to do a little yard work for me.

#6 called from Iraq just as I came inside and was warning me that they would eat more than the grass.

Apparently he failed to realize that I had been very specific with them in regards to the work I wanted done.

Dancing with the Stars.

Dumb.

I can't stand Kate and I'm sorry if you like the show, I won't judge, but really, it was painful to watch last night.

General Hospital.

What do you think is going to happen with Beater Kiefer on the side of the road?

I'm glad Alexis hit him with her Prius (obviously a case of bad brakes) and I'm glad Kristina is telling the truth, but I bet Sonny will take the fall for dead Kiefer.

Ciao'

Monday Morning Update

Well, Easter 2010 is almost packed up and put away for another year.

Wendy is coming out for dinner tonight and that'll wrap things up for us, but what a fun time we had. In case you live under a rock and haven't see our pictures, you can find them here...

Easter Flickr

We made cookies, ate cookies, dyed eggs, hid eggs, found eggs, ate candy, played new DS games, watched all the Mummy movies had a great dinner and went to bed early!

Ok, so listen to this.

Remember last year when I quit sugar and caffeine and quit smoking?

Well I started again with the caffeine and sugar sometime in the late fall, but I never started smoking again.

Anyway, after watching a few to many "where your food comes from" movies I am completely grossed out by meat and dairy and have given it up. It wasn't even hard to do, every time I thought about a steak I just invisioned a broken down old cow in a feed lot standing in poop up to his ankles, and then how long it takes for said cow to get to my fridge after he's been cut up and wrapped and then how long he sits wrapped in my fridge before I put him on my grill.

Don't get me wrong, I would still eat meat (I think) if it came from my pasture but the thought of eating it six months after he's been knocked off still kind of gives me the heebes.

Ok, I know you think I'm nuts, but here's the deal...

We haven't had any meat or dairy for almost two weeks, well, a smidge of Parmesan on pasta, but that's it and really, I feel pretty good. I've even been making my lattes with vanilla rice milk which means I don't need to flavor my coffee with sugary syrups, and I even made cookies with rice milk.

We've been eating a ton of veggies, nuts and fruits and having fish for dinner.

~Be sure to only buy wild fish not farm raised.Gag~

Here's something amazing that has happened.

The dark circles I've had under my eyes my WHOLE life...

Gone.

Maybe I've had an allergy to dairy all along and just never knew it.

Also, the best part is, I don't feel all pusy, pudgy puffy anymore.

I can see my ankles and my face isn't bloated like a Macy's parade float.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still a fatty, just not a bloated fatty.

The first few days were a b!tch. I was really sick and I think I may have even been a bit cranky.

Don't ask Wyatt, just take my word for it.

It was the same way when I quit caffeine though.

Ok, thats enough about that.

Now for some

BIG NEWS!

My niece Fahren got engaged over the weekend!!

I am SO happy, you can't even believe it!

I love first weddings, they are so exciting and so fun.

I remember mine like it was yesterday.

I am dying to see the dress, and find out what colors she chooses, and see how she wears her hair, and what color she polishes her toenails and rather we'll get to eat fish or chicken and what the wedding cake is going to look like and where they'll go on their honeymoon and where she registers and what am I going to get them, maybe I'll crochet them a rug or make them a lifetime supply of soap or crochet them matching grocery bag bags, there is just SO much to think about!

I know, I know, she isn't my daughter and it isn't all about me, but it is kind of about me and it's even better than Wendy getting married because Fahren's fiance has a job and a nice family and a drivers license!

I think I'll get a perm for the wedding : )

Bacon and Eggs

This week when I've gone out to feed and collect eggs I have been repeatedly disappointed at the lack of eggs the ladies have been leaving me.

I wondered if it was the weather, or if I needed to turn their lights back on, or maybe they were striking over the same hum drum diet.

I just couldn't figure it out.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday I went out earlier than usual and things were still pretty quiet in the barnyard.

The goats were still asleep in their boat and Gina the cross dressing rooster was still on the BBQ*.

As I started rustling the feed bags and filling the buckets everyone quickly came to life, everyone except for Pearl that is.

I looked all around and didn't see her anywhere so I began calling her name, casually at first but then a little louder as I began to worry.

I was sure she would stick her head out of her house at any moment, but there was no movement in the pig house.

Then I heard her.

I heard her, and then I saw her...

Coming out of the hen house.

That sneaky pig has taken up residence in the hen house which must be like a 5 star bed and breakfast for a pig.

Comfy cedar bedding, wood floors and fresh duck eggs every morning.

As she emerged from her new digs covered in shavings, she looked at me as if to question my intelligence, like maybe I'd never seen a pig with good sense.

But there was still the question of the missing eggs, Pearl can't reach the roosts.

The pig house.

I stuck my head head into Pearls abandon crib, and sure enough, up on the snack shelf, sat a weeks worth of eggs.

Apparently the hens got the hint and packed up and moved out, and I suppose I better keep an eye out or there's gonna be a pig in a king size fully adjustable craftmatic with heat and massage taking over the remote.

*Gina SLEEPS on top of the the BBQ.

Water Woes

A few weeks ago I received a letter from the county saying our water system for the mobile spaces was in violation.

I wondered what the problem could possibly be and called right away.

The problem was, no samples had been taken since the system was put it forty years ago.

I talked to the people at the county who were very nice and explained to me that it was a very simple process but that I may want to have someone show me how to do it the first time.

I called up the local water guy who knows the property and has done all the maintenance on the well and septic for years, and before he did the work, his father did all the work and was the one to originally put the lines in place.

The first thing I noticed when he arrived and stepped out of his truck was that he was handicapped.

I felt badly as he made his way towards the pump house in the cold and rain struggling to not fall over and wondered to myself why he didn't use some sort of assistance like a cane or walking stick.

It wasn't until he got to within twenty feet of me that I realized that he wasn't handicapped.

He was drunk.

Very Drunk.

As in drunk as an f'ing skunk.

He smelled about as bad as a skunk too.

Great.

Oh well, he did what he needed to do and showed me how to take care of things and get samples and as far as drunks go, he was one of the nicer ones I've met.

Part Two:

There hasn't been any outdoor water from the pond to the mobile spaces for the last few months because when it was so cold last winter #6 disconnected the pump wires so that nobody would go and flip the switch to turn the pump back on and burn it up when the lines were frozen.

Let me re-phrase "nobody" to Jackass know it all, further referred to as just Jackass.

~Jackass has lived in the mobile spaces for many years and has appointed himself king of all things~

The day 6 left for Iraq, Jackass headed straight to the barn to reconnect the pump.

Not having any idea how to reconnect the wires, he just started connecting them willy nilly and only stopped when sparks flew and and smoke billowed.

So, do you know what that means?

NO outside water from the pond.

Do you know what else that means?

Jackass will not be able to wash his cars, his house, his driveway, his dump truck, etc...

Do you know what ELSE that means?

I'll tell you what else that means...

It means that f'ing Jackass has been using binoculars for the last month to look and see if I'm home or not before he washes his cars, his house, his driveway and his dump tuck with well water!

Jackass figured he was really cutting a fat hog and pulling one over on me.

He decided he was so smart he would brag about how smart he was to his neighbor.

I decided he's pretty stupid if he thought the neighbor wouldn't rat on him

Busted.

Now I just need to figure out my next move so I can catch him in the act without revealing my source.

Soaking

Ugh, enough with this weather already...

I know, I shouldn't complain.

We didn't get piles of snow this year and we only had that one week of bazzilion degrees below zero when we almost froze our a$$es off but really, this wind and rain has got to stop!

Every time we get a gust I'm sure it's going to be the one that blows the top off the barn, and the rain makes the ground so slick I feel like Tonya Harding figure skating out to the henhouse.

My floors look like we've been guest hosting the Oregon Zoo with all the mud that gets tracked in and my little little green clean machine is about ready to go t.u.

It just can't keep up.

I think when we replace the floors we'll go with something waterproof that has a drain so I can just hose the place down.

The other problem is that as soon as it quits raining and the sun comes out the grass is going to grow faster than my waistline and you know what that means...

John Deere and I will begin our summertime love hate relationship.

I will love the fact that I'm not pushing a mower and hate the fact that I'm riding one.

How is it that #6 made all this look so easy when he did it and I'm pretty sure it will be the death of me???

Seriously, the inside stuff and a flower bed here and there is plenty enough for me and now I have to figure out how to do all the outside stuff too?

I think the place is going to look like Sanford and Son by the time 6 gets back next winter.

And then, to top it all off, Wyatt has been home for the last week AND today for spring break.

Remember all of those tender endearments about wanting to home school because I miss him so much when he's away?

Yeah, well scratch that.

I'm ready to enroll him in boarding school in Switzerland.

I hear they have great health care there.

No Moo

I'm not quite sure why, but recently I have become repulsed by meat, eggs, milk and cheese.

Why do you suppose that is?

Last night I made an omelet for dinner and found myself puking in my mouth a little as I cracked the eggs into the bowl. Then, when it was ready and we sat down to eat I was so pukey all I could eat was my toast.

It. Made. Me. Sickypoo.

This morning I made my latte and that made me gaggy.

All I could think of was my latte being dispensed from cow boobs and the article I read about the pus levels in milk.

Ohhhh ... It's happening again.

Gag.

Last week I started thinking about meat.

Figure this...

A cow from some place far less than a lush green meadow is knocked off and sent to the cut and wrapper.

Then it's put on a truck and sent to the market.

Then it's more than likely rewrapped and shelved.

It sits in the store for a day or so.

You purchase it and take it home.

You may or may not eat it that day.

Lets just for arguments sake say you toss it in the freezer for a week or so or more.

Now you take it out and thaw it in your sink for the afternoon or in the fridge overnight.

The ground beef your having in your spaghetti tonight could be almost a month old, IF not more.

I'm forty two years old and for the first time in my life, the food I eat grosses me out.

I feel like a great big pusy lump of fetid funk.

I went to the store today and bought rice milk and a bunch of veggies and when I walked down the meat isle I got a huge case of the heebes so I spun around and bought some of those dumb garden burgers and some "tofurkey."

Now don't go thinking I've lost my mind, I'm not going all PETA Green Peace or anything, I just think I'm going through a phase.

I'm sure I'll be back on track and ready for a big thick grilled rib steak real soon, but for now I have to go get some air, this post has made me pukey.

Tax Time

Today, is farm tax day.
I NEVER put taxes off this long, but this year my plate has been full and taxes are the peas that I pushed to the side to eat last.
If you have been reading my blog since the beginning of time, you know what tax time on the farm was like before my Grampy moved to the big barn in the sky.
He would get EVERY slip of paper he had collected throughout the year and make 507 stacks on the kitchen table.
Tax preparations usually started in early January and would end with an extension sometime mid Mayish.
He would have receipts from the sausage egg mcmuffins that he shared with the dogs on Tuesdays and the receipt for the new washer for the faucet for the sink in the utility room.
There were stacks of every electric bill (big house, little house and barn) phone bill, cable bill and car insurance bill.
Saved slips from the dogwash, the barber shop and every restaurant we patronized during the previous year, and for months they would make the daily slide from one end of the kitchen table to the other to make room for every meal, and without fail my Grampy would say these words, "Beans and Rice that's alot of GD paperwork, I need to get that sh!t together and into the tax lady."
Except, he didn't really say beans and rice.
Or GD.
And he didn't really spell sh!t with an exclamation point.
Needless to say, I have simplified the process.
I will use my Mac and be done in about thirty minutes and then take my folder into the tax lady.
I might even take the dogs to McDonalds on the way home just for old times sake.
So, I would love to sit here and talk to you all day, but I have sh!t to do.

Peas~

Another Great Day!

Holy Cow!!
My mail man lady must think I'm a rock star with all the packages I've been getting :)
Today in the mail I got a cat door from my friend Sara who read on my Never blog that I may or may not need a spouse to install a cat door in the pumphouse.
Boom!
She fired one off in the mail to me THAT day.

I'm excited to put it in, but I may wait and have my friend Becky do it when she comes for a visit.
She's really good at handy work like that, and you know what Red Green says...
"If they don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy"

Wendy is coming for dinner tonight!
Well, she said she was coming so I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I didn't tell Wyatt just in case.
That way, if she does come, he's happy to see her and if she doesn't come he doesn't think she's a buttface liar.

I swung in to the feed store today to get a pin for the pin to hold the wagon on the lawn mower, so Wyatt doesn't have to ride in the front of it to hold it down.
While I was looking through the gagillions of hardwarey pieces I heard the faint sound of chics in the back of the store.
Well, of course you know the rest of that story...
Two white ducks are now in the tub with the chickens who got their walking papers to the brooding room in the henhouse last night, but they rallied against me in protest.
I am only one but they are many.

This is one of the new baby ducks.
I bet you would keep these guys in your tub too.

Wyatts home, gotta go,

Eye Heart Ewe Fahren

I am SO happy!
I got the pasture leased out to some really nice cow people.
This means that now the fences will get fixed and I won't have to mow pastures this summer.
Also, I love the fact that they're Border Collie people. They have two, Molly and Millhouse, so Bart and Buddy will really be looking forward to their visits.

I got a package in the mail today from my favorite sister J.Carlson.
Do you want to know what it is?
Me too!
I'll go get it and see...
I think it must be gold or diamonds or jewels or something because she has enough packing tape on it to keep the pirates out.
Hang on, I have to get a knife.
If I cut myself with the knife I'm going to kick her ass.
K, got it...
Oooooo, it looks like something good...

Getting close...

Closer...

It's a MUG!!

Made by my niece FAHREN!!
Ok, I'm confused...

It says "Happy Birthday MYFAM" (My Favorite Aunt Marilyn)
Ok, wait, now I'm cring and canr see very well.
I love you lots too Fahren, and there is NOTHING better than an early birthday present!

I am the luckiest girl in the world because not ONLY did I get this stellar gift today, but yesterday Shelley sent me a box FULL of goods too.
Even a package of chicken gravy and you know what they say... You can never have too many packages of chicken gravy.