The Fall

     This Post is not about Adam and Eve's big mistake long ago, but mine, while horsing around on Sunday.  It is also fitting because of the season we have entered, which I am guessing got its name from the abscission of leaves from their stems this time of year.  This squirrel in the photo did not fall into the duck pond where many fallen leaves have landed.  He has been around more, cleaning up fallen acorns from the yard. 

     First I'll start with the beautiful fall day we had on Saturday.  Ralph, Joe and I were all up and at'em by 6:30.  I decided to feed and then turn out the horses, so I wouldn't have to corral them back in to feed later.  Since I was going to be home, Amiga and Zorro could be in their grazing pen all day. 

We moved them way out north in the front pasture.  This is a better field for all of them because it does not have the overly rich alfalfa. Roni typically grazes near the two who are still confined to small areas... less romping room.

   Ralph was on the road by 7:30 and Joe headed out shortly after that to pick up our frozen half of Sir Loin, who had weighed in at 1380 lbs, on the hoof.  I worked on grading the long labs I had collected on Friday, breaking it up with time outside doing pre-party clean up.

     When draining the duck pond, I found this egg.  It is a great example of osmosis.  It does not have a shell, sometimes they are laid that way, so when water diffused in, the egg really swelled up. I have no idea how long it has been lying in the murky depths.

     I went for a wonderful ride on Roni, getting this video and these photos.

       It was a bit windy, but with the warm sun, felt good.  We headed east, but turned to look southwest at Beck's beans and corn, seen here.




     We followed the tracks a mile down to Hutch's road.  The house by I-74 has this pretty little lake.  These beans aren't quite ready for harvest.

     We went down and across the road for a bit, which is seen on the video.  Then turned for home.  Roni always perks up when he thinks he is going home.  At one point, I wanted to get a picture of our farm, but he would not stand still.  So I hopped down and got these.

      I often tack up and un-tack here at the hitching post.  After I brushed Roni off and checked hooves for rocks, I let him stand here for about 15 min.  I wanted him to realize rushing home may not have great consequences.

     Joe mowed while they were combining corn at Beck's.

 





  

The fallen pears were harvested... 

but there are still tons more up in the tree.

     All of my plantings were in need of water and the grass, where there is no shade, is very dry again. 



     The blooming mums are a
     sure sign of fall.

       A few weeks ago I had discovered this path of bent and broken weeds in the back and wondered what had caused it and why.  During my ride along the tracks, there were similar markings.  I figured it was linemen trimming trees.

     I mowed the riding trail in the front pasture and snapped this shot.  You can see we did get enough rain to cause the seeded grass to sprout.  Much of this is volunteer, left from the very late cutting in June.

      Joe got the trailer loaded with straw and wood, we did chores early, and then headed to Sarah's hog roast.  Missy did not come along for the ride.

     It was a great party with lots of wonderful food and fun people.








     The bonfire was warm, welcoming, and beautiful.

      Sunday morning I awoke to a pretty heavy covering of frost.  It did not take long for the warm sunshine to burn it off.

 After working in the nursery and going to church, I scooted home in anticipation of a beautiful ride out at Moraine View with Marj and several others.




     This is when life as I knew it took a turn for the worse... temporally.
I broke my wrist falling off Roni, both the radius and ulna of my right hand... and it was completely my stupid fault.

     In fact, I am still kicking myself for being so stupid.  I tried to jump on Roni from the picnic table bench.  I usually get on him from a mounting block of some sort because this prevents pulling on his back and on my stirrup leathers.  Well, he was a bit too far away and I was in a bit of a hurry.  So I had to jump rather than lift my leg over.  That startled him, and as I was swinging my right leg up and over, it kicked him in the butt.  Well this really freaked him out.  I managed to pull up into the saddle as he was spinning, but momentum flung me off the other side.  I hit the ground hands first, then tummy and knees.  And Roni took off at a gallop across the camp ground.  He was too afraid to be approached and continued into the woods.

     I went after Roni on foot, not wanting him to get too far away, and Marj and the other riders were to catch up on horseback to help in the search.  I knew my hand was hurt, but did not want to make a big deal, cause I had already caused enough problems for one day.  I was much more concerned about Roni's safety anyways.  As I walked, my wrist kept hurting more and more and I realized I couldn't use my fingers and my hand had no strength.  I just held it against my chest with my other hand. 


      With the help of a deer hunter, I was able to track down Roni.  When I finally spotted him, he was standing quietly in the woods, just off the trail.  He had one leg through the reins and looked at me through his forelock as if to say, "Boy am I glad to see you".  I was thinking the same thing.  I stopped to talk to him, not wanting to scare him off again and he took one step toward me.  I approached, got him to step through the rein, gathered them up and headed back to camp.  We might have been about a mile out.  I took a better look at my arm and could see that my hand was bent funny and swelling.  I had phoned Joe earlier to give him a heads up, and called him again to have him come meet me at the camp ground. 

     Once back to the trailer, I un-tacked Roni and walked him around to be sure he was okay.  I had to do everything one handed and use my teeth a few times.  Once Joe arrived, we loaded Roni for Joe to take home and I drove myself to the emergency room. 

     Things went fairly quickly in terms of ER, and the x-ray soon showed the problem.  I had to take my shirt off (tight fitting under armor) so they could get the temporary cast on.  The male nurse stepped out of the room after bringing me a paper shirt.  In addition to being quite painful getting my tight shirt off,  I got it caught on an ear ring with my left arm over my head.
Thinking I would look hilarious if anyone were watching, I started cracking up.  But realized how helpless I was and still am. 

      It was good to get home, but already nearly dark.  I had opted not to get the pain pills but used Tylenol.  Knowing I would miss school Monday, I put together sub plans.  It was a lot of work because I had not done any planning for the week yet, and now I was handicapped (one handed, left hand, and hurting).

     I was up by 3 am Monday because of pain, took more Tylenol, and had juice and toast.  A bit latter I had a cup of tea, but for some reason refrained from cookies... later to find out it was a good thing because the Dr. who was going to set my arm wanted to do surgery.  I still had to wait till 11:30.  Surgery went fine.  I was under a general anesthesia so remember nothing.  They also did an axillary nerve block so I felt nothing in my arm once awake.   The Dr. put in a plate, so had to move all the tendons and ligaments and vessels over to get the plate on.  He said it was going to be very sore when the nerve block wore off.  So I agreed to let Joe buy me the pain pills.  Once home, I had to put together sub plans for Tuesday.

     Most of Tuesday came and went in a daze.  I took a half pain pill before bed Mon. and 4 more like doses during the day Tue. Life went on as normal all around us... with Becks now working on bean harvest.  I graded lab reports between naps, and kept applying ice.  The pain was much less than before getting the bone set back in place and stabilized, even after the nerve block wore off.    
                                  
I was feeling so much better by afternoon,














I helped water these 18 little cedar trees Joe planted.  But that was enough to wipe me out and get my arm to swell considerably more.


                                                          Joe drove me to school Wed.  It
was a struggle because my sub plans were not exactly followed, so lessons were all messed up.  Only having one hand did not help the situation any.  And I think I was still groggy, even though my last 1/2 pain pill had been before bed Tue.  It was good to get home... but school work was still oppressive.  The neighbor to the east had now started harvesting his beans.

    Thursday Joe drove me back to the Dr. to get my permanent cast on. Here is how my arm looked.  There are 15 staples.  Other than the normal swelling, everything is great.  I can be Frankenstein's bride for Halloween.

     Joe picked out my cast color, for breast cancer awareness month.  It is more comfortable than the temporary one, and smaller actually.  I got to school in time to teach my three classes.  Things never go as planned, this day having a student drop unconscious onto the floor from a peti-mal seizure.  But we both managed to get through it.

     Once home, I discovered that Baby had ripped off the top half of her toe nail and it was really bleeding.  I had to hold her tight and apply pressure for nearly 15 min. to get it to stop.  She was the first to sign my cast, in her own blood.

     Theses are not car lights on I-74, but fires Beck's employees had set and were burning for some reason.

     I drove myself to school Friday, and let students sign my cast.  After school I went to get my hair washed and cut.  Doing it myself in the bath tube was no quick or easy task.  Opposable thumbs are great, but two usable hands are better.

     Well, I have learned several valuable lessons  from this whole ordeal:
1. Don't over estimate your abilities... or in my case, try to jump higher and farther than capable.
2. Haste makes waste... Always move slowly, carefully, and methodically (especially with a hot horse)
3. Be thankful for what you have... I took my two good working hands for granted... but have been forced to become one handed with my left hand.
4. Look at the bright side... It's just a broken wrist, not a broken neck.
5. When Joe said "for better or for worse"... he meant it.  :-)

     He has had to work very hard all week taking care of me, doing most of my chores, and getting ready for tomorrow night's party and a weekend with family here.

      I am still struggling with lots of swelling, especially fingers and hand... but there is very little pain and I know all will be well.  This is not going to cloud my sunny fall days, and I am going to enjoy and be thankful for every minute of life.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7
.