NANA NOTES

2008 TOUR OF BELIEZE

And I quote, "Herring Gas Cycling Team shows out at International race--rides with the big boys and holds their own."    Ed Herring    

This blog will probably be one of which I know the least about the subject matter of any I have ever written, but it's written from the heart!  The Herring Gas Cycling Team has just returned from Belieze after a 5-day road race where they competed with teams from several countries. Herring Gas has sponsored this team for over 20 years--the longest single sponsor/team association anywhere. Team members have "come and gone" but the core members are like family to us.  We get together a couple of times a year with their families to cook out and listen to LOTS of bike race stories!   Our guys did quite well for themselves at this race:6th--Bain Foote, 8th--Michael Olheiser (King of the Mountain--polka dot jersey); 24th--Frank Moak; 29th--Ryan Boudreaux; 32nd--Tim Regan; 53rd--Chris Alexander; and 65th--Kenny Bellau. The guys said they were treated like rock stars--I guess they felt like them too--signing autographs! :)  I doubt very seriously that they had time to look at the scenery.

It would be cool to think that someday we might be watching some of these guys riding in the "Tour de France".  For now, we'll just have to wait for the dinner to hear all about this tour.  You can go to Herring Team to see what they have to say about the race.

$2.00 A DOZEN AND A NEW BABY!

We are a family that is used to having LOTS of "homegrown" eggs--big, beautiful, brown, yard chicken eggs!  Not too long ago I picked up the grocery list and read the word "eggs" on it.  Of course, I asked, "why am I buying eggs when we have a fridge full at the barn?"  That's when I learned about cold weather, length of daylight, etc. and egg laying!  Forget the fact that we're buying 200 lbs. of feed a month and they are still eating all day, every day--without producing!  And then like a miracle---aren't they beautiful?  See the little banty egg on the right?  I'm so proud of my sweet little chickens!

Last year we had a mare that didn't want to feed her baby.  I wasn't going to let it die so I became the "Mom" for a few days and bottle fed her.  I named her Dr. Pepper [because I had to feed her at 10, 2, and 4--you youngsters can get your parents to explain that to you!!]  Today Dr. Pepper has a sibling. We haven't been able to get close enough to tell what it is but like all our "newbies" it's beautiful!       This baby in the stall is "Pop A Top Charm's Dixie".  I've enjoyed getting to know her.  I can't wait to put a halter on her.  (You can click on the pictures and make them bigger).

"JESUS-BARBARA"

A very close "sister-friend" called me to tell me that she had been praying for me all the way home from Jackson on Saturday.  She said that she'd prayed so hard that she finally ran out of words and all she could say was "Jesus-Barbara".  I sort of laughed with her and said that was fine; He knew what she meant and what I needed.  It's been a week today since all of this started and none of us can believe what all has happened--a biopsy in less than 12 hours; the results in less than 24 hours; a doctor's appointment on Tuesday after only one call (and it's a perfect match of personalities and he's brilliant! checked out by two family members and others who matter--no bad results!!); tests on Tuesday; appointment on Wednesday; PET scan on Thursday; and no doubt I'll have a treatment regimen within hours of the scan results.  All of this is practically unheard of folks.  I even had an eye appointment today and everything is fine.  Do you have any doubt who is directing this show?  I don't!

I am one of the luckiest women in the world and I feel like the most loved.  You have no idea how much peace there is in my heart.

Please pray for my good local doctor who will be traveling for the next week.  He's been sick this week AND dealing with me.  I hope he and his wife have a wonderful, peaceful, spirit filled trip and that he comes back ready to "git 'er done"!

Oh, and by the way, if you run out of words for your prayers--"Jesus-Barbara" will work just fine for me! :) 

LETTER OF THE DAY

The letter "C"--caring, comforting, creating, cleansing, critters, crippled, crying,cousins, CROSS---lots of words begin with the letter "c".  None of these words are the ones I'm going to tell you about today.  Today I'm talking about the "BIG C", the one no one wants to hear about, the one every one dreads.

For the second time in nearly 14 years I have heard that word.  My cancer has returned.  The story is a long one and I will not bore you with details--just know that four months ago it was not here and because I have been diligent in knowing my body and having the BEST doctors we have found this very EARLY. Tuesday starts a process of trying to decide the best way to treat this beast. You [the ones that know me best] know that I fought tooth and nail to beat this before.  I will do it again.  I know who has my back and I have many angels surrounding me.  Ed is here for me and so are my children.  I only know where it is; not where it started.  Those are things we'll be finding out later. I'll keep you posted on how things are going, but I'll tell you now--this is not taking over our lives.  This is a bump in our road.  I ask for your prayers for me and for my family.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

MY "ALFALFA DAY"

If you've read Jennifer's blog [and mine] you know that we both had a bad day this week.  Saturday started out very good--new baby, beautiful day, etc.  I went out to check on the mares and found one down, seemingly caught in the fence.  Thank goodness our farm help was close by and helped me. Ed was at work; Shelly was in Liberty and said he would come as fast as he could.  He could tell that something was wrong and we got Dr. Pat out.  He thought she was colicing (?) and gave her a shot.  We moved her to the front pasture and watched her for a while.  Shelly gave her another shot and went after some more medicine while I walked her for an hour to keep her up.  It was very obvious she was in pain.  This morning things were not good.  I called Shelly and he said Pat was on his way.  We all gathered at the barn and I got the bad news.  We had to put her down.  "Lady" was one of two mares that we had gotten several years ago.  She wasn't my favorite at the time but she was a good mother and I was anxiously waiting for her baby to be born.  Yes, Jennifer, we're having "Alfalfa Days" but they're going to be OK!

A BETTER DAY TODAY!

Welcome Pop a Top Charm's "Dixie"!  She was born on Saturday morning. A good start to a very busy day!   It took every one on the farm to get the work done and Charm was very sweet to let us love on the baby. 

AND SOME DAYS ARE VERY HAPPY!

After our loss yesterday and my little head bumper incident, my day didn't go so well.  Today I woke up a little sore but that's ended up ok.  I'm just a little "one sided" on my forehead!

You can see that today we're very happy!  Star gave birth to a beautiful filly who seems to be as frisky as her Mom.  If you remember from last year, when Star had her baby she broke Shelly's hand when he tried to doctor on the baby.  We will all be more careful around Ms Star this year. 

I also need to make a correction about my post yesterday.  Perhaps it was the hit on the head or possibly ignorance [me?] but the baby yesterday was a stud colt. [ You can ask Ryan for the details on that one!]  I am just learning.

I don't know what her name will be but the word "Blessing" has definitely been on my mind the last couple of days!

SOME DAYS ARE JUST SAD

For the past several weeks every morning when I walk I have been "counting" the mares and looking for babies.  This morning there was a very heavy frost and I couldn't find one of the horses.  Something didn't "feel" right.  I finished my walk and when I returned home, I took the feed bucket out to the pasture to check the mares.  I poured the feed into the trough (per Shelly's instructions so as not to get kicked or hurt!) and went looking for the horses.

I came upon a sight that I would rather not have seen--a beautiful black filly lying still and cold.  She had been cleaned by her mother but there was no mother to be found.  My heart was broken.  As I was crying, I called Ed and Shelly who both tried to calm me and tell me that having animals has it's share of sadness. 

After I pulled myself together I rode on to check the mares.  I got out and loved on each one of them--they all seemed exceptionally friendly today--almost as if they understood.  I rattled the feed bucket to make them follow me and NOT paying attention to what I was doing ran smack into a tree--head on!  I now have a HUGE knot on my head; a skinned arm and sore legs.  Let's not mention what I did to the Ranger.  Now that it's over and I'm ok, it's really funny that there was one tree I could have hit and I did it.  Of course, when Ed got home and saw that I was ok, I got the sermon about "multi-tasking" and driving! :)  I think I got the message.  Dr. Brad said I should be very sore tomorrow but everything would be ok.

My prayer is that the other ten mares will deliver their babies safely and we'll have little beauties running all over the pasture this spring.  I love it.

PICTURES OF SCRAP RETREAT. . .

Scrapbooker's Dream--three days--nonstop scrapbooking!!  Was it a dream or a nightmare?  I've never seen so much "stuff" in my life---and I thought I had a room full. You can see that the "stuff" is packed to the top of the car when we got Terri loaded. And you know that someone was going to buy something at the retreat!!  It's pack up and go at the end and I let them do it.  Five chiefs don't do a good job so Libby and I were the photographers.  It was all packed up and in and no one got hurt.  We all had a great time and look forward to getting another chance to "scrap till we drop"!

SCRAPBOOKING BEACH RETREAT...

Look forward to a report on this wonderful weekend.  Five fabulous friends have been here at the beach--three scrapping 24/7--two beading and reading.  What fun we're having.  I'll post pictures later.  Gotta go for now.