Tag Archives: environment

General Posts

Monday Morning Ramblings

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This weekend was a roller coaster to be sure.  On Friday, Dad called me around 8:30 or so to tell me that Mom’s oldest bulldog has torn her stitches and that Mom needed help.  I headed out there as quickly as I could, not sure what to expect.  I hadn’t even known that the dog had been fixed earlier that week, so I really had no clue what was going on.  When we got there, the scene was pretty bad.  There was blood everywhere, and the poor dog had vomited two or three times.  Mom was understandably upset, so we both tried to get her calmed down and assess the situation.  Then, we saw the dog.  I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but it was at least 100 times worse than I had anticipated, and I hope I don’t have to see anything like that again anytime soon.

The vet got there not long after we did.  He rushed the dog to his truck and did surgery on her for 2 1/2 hours.  She seemed okay that night, after he got her stitched back up, so I went home and was in bed by 1:00 AM.  The next morning, I had to attend graduation, so I got up early, drove to the Expo Center, and sat through the ceremony, all the while daydreaming about the nap I was going to take that afternoon.  I got home from graduation about 1:00 PM and ate lunch.  About 3:00, Dad called to say that the bulldog had just died and asked if I could come back out and bury her.  We think she threw a blood clot into her lungs.  Hopefully, it wasn’t a painful death because she had already been through enough.

I headed back out to the farm, where I dug the hole and buried the dog.  Mom was pretty sad but okay.  She handled it much better than I had expected.  Once we got that taken care of, we made it back home around 7:00 PM.  Needless to say, I was pretty wiped out.  The worst part is that this dog was one the sweetest and most loving animals you could ever hope for.  She was really a sweetheart and a good dog.

Today, I’m tidying up my office before heading out to the farm to work more on the drainage ditch behind the building.  My goal is to have the drainage problem completely fixed by the end of this week.  Then, I can get back to repairing the front wall and cleaning up the inside.  I’m excited about getting to focus most of my energy on the farm.

Remember, there’s big news about book three coming soon, so check back regularly for the announcement.

General Posts

Saturday Afternoon Ramblings

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Once I got to the farm yesterday, I saw these trees fallen across the springhouse.  The biggest one was at least 75 feet tall and when it fell, it took at least two others with it.  The roof of the building is destroyed, but I couldn’t get close enough to see if the walls were damaged.  They didn’t seem to be, but the trees were so big, I couldn’t see much of the building.  While this is disappointing, it isn’t too much of a setback for the farm because we weren’t planning to use the springhouse for a couple of years, at least.  It’ll take a lot of work to clear those trees, but there’s no huge rush to do it.  All things considered, that’s not too much damage considering the severity of the storms.

We’re taking this weekend off from the farm to work around the house and go to my niece’s 10th birthday party.  I’ve already gotten most of the mowing done, but there’s still a lot of weed-eating to finish, and I’ve got a mountain of grading to do.

Once I make it through finals, hopefully I can write more, but for now, I’m just trying to get through the next week.

General Posts

Friday Morning Ramblings

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After the storms on Wednesday, I’m grateful that all we lost was one tree.  I haven’t been out to the farm to assess the property there, but no major cells went over that area, so I’m not too worried about the building.  All in all, we were very fortunate.  One of my colleagues at the college lost her husband and she has been in ICU.  Her house was completely destroyed by the F-2 tornado that struck Greene County. Her daughter, future son-in-law, and two grandchildren live with her, and thankfully, they are okay.  All I can say is that Wednesday night was a terrifying experience, and I hope we don’t have another one like it any time soon.

The college is accepting donations for the family.  They need clothes and baby items, especially.  Here is the list of sizes the college has forwarded: Susie (large possibly sweat suits or gowns since Susie will probably have to go through extensive rehabilitation for her leg injury),  Sheena (Susie’s daughter)- XL  16-18 clothes  shoe size 9,  Brian (son-in-law) large possibly sweat suits,  3 toddler size boy , and 6-0 month size girl.  I’m sure diapers and other bay stuff would be welcome, too.

If you can donate anything, just drop by any WSCC campus and tell them you have items for Susie and her family.

In less somber news, the semester is almost over.  All that’s left is Finals Week and a furious round of grading to get grades posted by the deadline on Friday.  The last two weeks of any semester are the most difficult, especially for Comp teacher because of the time crunch for reading and grading essays.  All in all, however, I’ll take this round of grading over what the alternatives could’ve been Wednesday night.  Overall, I have nothing to complain about.