The heat-waves have taken a break for a while, it's almost too cool, but it does a world of good for the tomatoes and the cukes, they are getting ready to reward me with abundance. The flowers are faded and cooked, the water-shortage this season has taken it's toll. Because of the water situation I haven't set out annuals at all, as a rule they are the ones to brighten up the late summer garden; I miss them. One advantage of not watering: no mole activity. All the song-birds have left by now, the winter-birds have not yet arrived. The wild turkey babies are almost as big as their mothers, they come to the pond (puddle) to drink and wander all over the property, scavenging in the horse arena, annoying Ralph, and scavenging in the goat area. The quail are bringing out their young, grouping together, having one or two males as look-out, when they give a signal call, the whole lot of them take to the air, the little ones right along with their parents. It is getting "early" later and "late" earlier, shadows are lengthening and the light is changing. In the coldest parts of the property the poison oak is turning red. Firewood has been delivered and is getting stacked - looking forward to El Ninio and the rainy season, the Earth is dry and thirsty, looking for replenishment.

Hi all! Sorry I've not been around. I've felt rather out of the loop and haven't wanted to keep taking up thread space with whining. I have to have another CAT scan to see if the fusion is progressing as well as it looks to be on regular xrays. I'm still in a lot more pain than I should be 90 days after the surgery. My Surgeon thinks that perhaps since the screws they use are rather large and my bones are rather small, that the screws are irritating the underside of the muscles. If the fusion is as progressed as it seems to be, I'll have another, not quite so major, surgery to remove the screws and see if that fixes the problem. If it hasn't progressed far enough, I'll have to wait until it does to have them removed. The CAT scan will also show us if arthritis has settled into the hip they took the donor bone from and if the micro-fractures have healed or if it just keeps re-fracturing. If it has continued to re-fracture, that may become a real problem. At least with the surgeon being really concerned about this and wanting to know why I'm still in so much pain helps a lot. I was starting to wonder if I was just mentally amplifying the pain or I was addicted to painkillers and my mind just creating a reason for me to need them. I've been off of all meds for about two weeks now. Two weeks of sheer hell. The surgeon told me that no, I wasn't creating a justification for the pills, that he could see in my eyes and face, as well as how I was moving that I'm in a great deal of pain still. He gave me a lessor narcotic painkiller than I've been on. That was a relief. This is mainly to help me sleep at night and for times during the day that the pain just won't stop. He and Cliff both read me a riot over not taking the pills the way it's prescribed. My surgeon assured me that they would keep a close eye on me and how I use the pills and how often. He understands that I'm really scared of being addicted. So, how is everyone else? Melissa- I still wanna know where you got those instant chai latte teas that you sent me a while back. Those preserves sound yummy! Dan- Cliff got me one of the Flat Rate Box shirts that ya'll wear on Wednesday! I kept threatening to steal his and one of his supervisors sent him home with one for me on Wednesday :) I kept telling him I had more to do with FRB's than he does, so I needed a shirt too! Becky, hows it going? Gosh, I really miss being in such close contact with everyone! I'm gonna go tend my farms and gardens on facebook and myspace, then go rest with a new book Cliff bought me yesterday. HUGS to all of you! Kathy

Major Problems in the History of American Medicine and Public Health (no author)

This has been so enjoyable and fun to see he creativity and interesting items people have. I've missed a few days due to us being out of town, but was still following along and thought about what I would post if I had been home. Here are some quilts. The first 3 were made by my great grandmother. The first 2 have some damage so I only display them. The 3rd was quilted & finished by my grandmother after my great grandmother died and is my 'gotta have it when I'm sick' quilt. It's just a patchwork of scraps with a cool plaid backing of red, green and navy. It's been washed a lot. This quilt was made by my dear aunt about 8 or so years ago. She put figures representing our 6 grands doing something they enjoyed on our farm. Can't see much detail but they are really cute. And one more, a flannel lap quilt made by DD for my birthday a few years ago. She is quite good at making these and has made several baby quilts and college-themed fun quilts as weddings gifts for friends. Great for lounging on a cool night.