Creeks became a river overnight and lesson learned

I can't believe I let life get in the way of my blog last year! I had a wake up yesterday when my phone bit the dust and all last year's pictures with it. My first thought was I will have some from my blog....but alas no because with some health problems Mom had last year and a few of mine I got busy and time got away from me and I just did not post. Now I don't have any records of births,  pictures of animals or family. I alway learn my lessons the hard way!
An important event took place this past December and we lost a dear sweet cow, Snowball, she drowned in the creek where they both meet at the lower end of our property. We were lucky that her 2 month old little girl was okay (we found her with the other cows) and she now lives in the barn lot with our mini horse and seems to be thriving. We named her Taffy when she was born because she is the sam color as her Mom. Taffy is another one that will always have a home here. We had so much rain in a 2 day period that our creeks sounded and looked more like a river and Snowball for some reason was down there and drowned. She has been a part of our farm family for 10 years and is missed. I have pictures of Snowball from previous posts but with my phone broke can't put one up of her here....
I have started a new hobby! I say new I tried this once before but for some reason it didn't stick anyway I usually try a lot of different crafts to keep Mom learning new things and to keep her mind busy but this one seems to have stuck. It's making lye soap, we started out just plain then went with essential oils. We are going to try coloring next but since I only use organic oils I have been looking for natural ways to color our soap so far it's looks like we will try clays. Well I guess I have said enough for tonight. Hopefully will have working phone by next week and can add pictures.

Worried and Sad

I wonder what things are coming to anymore, we live in a very small town, the next town over is bigger (Lowe's, fast food restaurants etc) but still small. Anyway we had a scare last week, my daughter was at the park, with friends (next town over) and these kids jumped out of their car and started beating up this older man. My daughter ran across the park screaming at them and waving her hands, as she got to them they jumped into their car and drove away. My daughter called 911 and held him on his side (he was chocking on blood) and waited for the ambulance. When the EMT'S got there one of them walked her to the ambulance and sprayed her down (she had blood on her arms and pants). Me being Mom was scared when she got home so I called the police and ask if the gentleman was okay and could I find out if he any blood disease's? I have not heard back yet but the police said if the person doesn't want to divulge any information there is no way for me to know. Her Doctor (small town) knows us well and did a blood work up on her and tests came back fine, this gives us a good base now she has to have another one in 6 months before we know if everything is ok. I understand his rights and freedom, but this is a 17 year old kid and he is 70 if he just would say he didn't have anything....I would still do the tests, but it would put our minds to rest (a little) while waiting! Now I have to wait 6 months and worry, she didn't have any visible cuts on her arms (The EMT checked and I did also) so that is good! I would never tell one of my kids to not help now or in the future in fact I have always said help if someone is in need but I have also always said be very careful if blood is involved. My daughter was just not thinking at the time (about being careful with blood) she just wanted to help him she said she didn't notice the blood on her until the ambulance got there.  I just don't understand what kids (and adults) are thinking anymore why beat up an elderly person? What do they gain from hurting other people, they apparently didn't even know the gentleman, one of the kids was just mad about something else (he told the police) and took it out on the first person that came along. Keep us in your prayers that her tests in 6 months come back okay.

Upset with the system

Have you every had a problem that feels so big that you feel like your running around in circles... because no matter what you do it feels like your hitting a brick wall?
My dear sister found out six weeks ago that she has some bad problems with her eyes (the problem started 3 weeks before but it took a bit to get her into a doctor). The doctor said if she does not have surgery in the next three to six months (of that six weeks have already passed) there will be nothing they can do to save her eye sight. She had really good insurance through her husbands work, but when he passed a few years ago they wanted her to pay $925.00 a month, so she had to cancel it and keep her fingers crossed. That worked for the last nine years but now this has come up. I have tried everything I know to try. She always said she would not ask for help but I checked with medicaid and with her pension (from her husband) she makes too much so they turned her down (not official letter, the lady said she made too much) and will get the rejection letter in the mail soon. They told us to apply for SSI, she was turned down last week (received rejection letter in the mail for that one already) we also applied for disability because until she has her surgery she is considered legally blind... but we found out that that has a 24 month waiting period (because she is only 61) if she will even be approved to get on! The Lions club said she makes $200.00 too much a month for their help, even with her adopted son counted and her grand daughter (its just the three of them at home one is 12 and the other 6) I don't understand she doesn't make an outrageous amount of money, just enough to pay her bills and a bit left over for groceries and gas! I am sorry I am rambling but I hung up the phone a few hours ago in tears. As a last resort I called her doctors office, the one that would be doing the surgery, and explained to the office how her finances are. He charged her $385 for the first visit that they said she had to pay in cash or check (she did) the second visit was a lot of testing and they said they gave her a discount but they still charged her $1,085.00 (again check or cash and had to be paid in full) now she only has $85.00 in her savings. I explained this to the office attendant and she said she would talk to the doctor and call back. She did... and in a very sweet voice....said the doctor will set her up on payments (I was so happy....for a minute) then she said: but she needs $10,000 cash up front for him and $3,000 cash up front for the surgery center and then they will set her up on payments on the remaining balance and that would be in the neighborhood of $15,000. I am sorry this is so long but I just had to get it off my chest, we help sooo many people even in other countries, why can I get no help for my sister when the help would save her sight?  I am just so upset and writing it down seems to take a little of the tightness in my chest away if only for a while. Please, anyone out there, can you keep my sister Pat in your prayers... that this will turn out okay and she will not loose her sight? My sister is such a sweet person she has in the past taken in so may children in need into her home and she even became a foster parent for a while until her husband died. I know there is not a magic pill out there. It's just when you have spent your whole life helping others like my sister has, and never ask for help for herself, the one time when help is needed you would think in this great country we live in it would not be allowed for someone to go blind and she would get help when surgery is all that is needed. Thanks for listening.

PeeWee

Sad day at the farm, we lost Peewee (our black Angus cow) she was 16 years old the vet came out but there was not anything he could do, it was her age. I know when you have a farm you have births and deaths, but every death hurts, it always makes me wonder was there something I could have done that I didn't do, maybe more vitamins in her feed etc..? We took her down the hill and buried her. I know when having a  farm there is birth and there is death. For me death is always hard to handle, each and every animal is cared for and I think they in their own way they care for us too. I enjoy their company and when they see me or hubby they run excited and are always happy to see us from the big animals to the small ones. There are very few things that I dislike with having a farm, but this is definitely one of them.

This was an older picture of Peewee, before the birth of her baby. She was always a loner a few days before giving birth and this picture was taken two days before having one of her calves.

Cookie

We had a sad day here on our little farm. We have been eagerly anticipating the birth of Cookie's baby/babies. She gave birth this morning. However, we are sad to say that they were born a little early and both kids did not make it. Cookie does not understand where they are so she keeps pawing the ground and yelling for them. I am horribly sad for her. On the up side though, she had no problems giving birth which means that physically she will be fine. My hubby came home this evening from work, so we buried them. =-(