Here Piggy Piggy

This Saturday we picked up our pig. No, my wife would not let me get a real one. However, a couple of months back, we did place an order with McDonald Farms for one of their grade "A" pigs. We had Dewigs process it for us and I have to say it has been excellent. We ended up paying around $1.27/lb after it was all said and done. Our freezer is 14.4 cubic feet and it is about half full. My wife cooked a couple of the pork chops on Sunday for lunch and they were excellent. Pork chops for $1.27/lb, you can't beat that. 2 big slab of ribs are on the schedule for this week, hopefully. Next, we will be looking to get a cow.

Made in America.

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The Ameraucana

This is a video of the Ameraucana while I was building the new coop.  If you turn up the volume, you can hear her.

More Pics

Mack vs. Chicken

Jessica just loves it when Red digs in the mulch.

Barred Rock strut-tin her stuff.

The chickens automatically go to the coop as the sun sets.

The Dogs

We were just hanging out one day watching the chickens.  

Updated Pics of the Chickens by Will

 I got home one day only for my wife to tell me that the black chicken we had originally purchased had kicked the bucket.  She went on to explain that she threw it in the trash can.  If I ever end up missing, just look in our trash can. She didn't even put her in a plastic bag.   So, we pulled her out and gave her a proper burial.  Above shows the new Plymouth Barred Rock (from Newburgh, IN) and Red Star.  Red is an original and is definitely the matriarch of the group.  Red has even went so far as to catch a shrew/mole.  I tried to get it away from her, but she would just pick it up and run away.  The dogs gave chase because of the noise, but Red held them off.  The shrew/mole was squealing, but she did kill it by pecking it too death.  She tried to tear it apart to eat it, but I did manage to get it away from her before this could happen.

 The picture above is of a Rhode Island Red that came from Newburgh, IN.  She is the youngest of the group and has yet to start laying.

The best looking one is the Ameraucana which my father-in-law and I drove to Centertown, KY to retrieve.  The first couple of days she hung out in the garage with me.  Saws, drills, etc. didn't phase her a bit.  In the background is the new chicken coop I built in order to give the chickens more room.  It essentially matches the garage in color and design.

How to Find Mack and Minerva

We adopted two kittens last October. They have grown up and are coming out of their shells. They have their own personality, but many things are the same. Every morning around 6am, they come into the room with the dog to wake us up. They all stay in the room until we are off to our daily activities. During the day, they tend to find their favorite hiding/sleeping spot in the house. Sometimes you tend to wonder if they slipped out the door when you where coming in or out because they are not present. Over the months, we have found a way to get them to come out.

5/ Go into a room and close the door. Wait 2-5 minutes and within that time frame, you will see little black paws reaching underneath the door.

4/ Have an intimate moment.

3/ Go to the bathroom

2/ Open the refrigerator door or the door to the washer and dryer

1/ When all else fails, shake the cat food bag. It doesn't seem to matter if the bowls are full and have been all day, they come running.

Getting Old Part 3

Surgery was this past Tuesday. I noticed the pain in my left hip and left leg was gone when I woke up in the recovery room. That was the first thing I checked. I was up and walking within 5 minutes after getting me to a room and in fact, I got in trouble because they told me to walk around the unit, and I went outside and walked around the hospital. Needless to say, the nurse was not happy with me then and hooked my back up to the fluid/antibiotic machine because she knew I did not like dragging it around. I am at home and in some pain. However, this pain is no where near what I was feeling the weeks leading up to it. It's just a little stiffness. I am able to do anything as normal, but I cannot lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. I cannot drive for 7 days. I have a follow up today to review the sutures. He encouraged me to act as normal as possible with a few restrictions. The first day home, I was stiff, just because of the surgery, but no where close to what it was. Yesterday, I was doing everything as normal. Today, my pain is less than 1 and I have not taken any pain medication. The only time I have pain is after I sit or lay down and get up from either. It only bothers me for about 20 seconds. I cannot walk nearly as fast as I used to yet, but I am still healing. My worst day of recovery which was the day of the surgery was not even close on the pain scale. Before, I was taking 7.5mg Percoset every two hours and still had pain of 9.9 on a 10 scale. After surgery, my pain was 2 to 3 less medication.

In the future, he stated that cycling, swimming, and walking will be my best friends. I will not be allowed to do high impact activities such as running, jumping, or even lifting weights. He did say however, that I will be able to do push-ups, etc, and anything on the P90X program that does not involve the high impact. I will be reevaluated in two weeks and he says that will be when they determine I am eligible to return to work.


Overall, it was great. I woke up in the recovery room and immediately noticed all the pain was 99% better. Since the disc had been pushing on the nerves so long, they are still irritated and a little swollen and will get better with time. But no where near like it was. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

I researched this a lot as I d o everything before I had the surgery. It depends on 2 things. First, is the doctor good. Secondly, if you follow the doctors orders. Mom and I researched the doctor first and it is up to me to do the rest. I don't know if you have had an MRI or what type of surgery, but look for a good doctor.

Welcome to Getting Old Part 2

I got to meet with the Surgeon yesterday thanks to the help of my Chiropractor. He wanted me to have surgery this Thursday, but I pushed it off to next Tuesday. I do not want to put anyone in a bind including my employer. He was very informative and went through alot of facts. Things that he informed me of:

1/ He stated it would be outpatient surgery and I should be home that afternoon.
2/ He also told me not to return to work for 4-6 weeks. However, I do have access to all my files at
home.
3/ I will no longer be allowed to lift weights and in fact, he wanted me to look more like a cyclist or
runner.
4/ 8 out of 10 patients have immediate relief. 1 out of 10 takes a little longer. 1 out of 10 have
more than one surgery.

So, we will see how it goes. I am hoping to be in the 80% bracket.

Welcome to Getting Old

Its not a surprise to anyone that I have had back issues for 5 years now. In 2007, I had an MRI done and they told me that I had the arthritis of a 50 year old in my back. Since then, I starting going to a chiropractor that really helped the pain go away. Sometimes it would be 3 months and sometimes days. In February of 2011, I noticed pain traveling down the lower portion of my back, through my hip, and into my ankle. It would come and go without causing me to miss a beat. In May, I met with my doctor and he diagnosed it as sciatica. He gave me a prescription and sent me on my merry way.

This week, I met with my doctor on Tuesday and he no longer believes it is sciatica since it is still causing issues months later. It was really slowing me down because I felt like I could not put any weight on it and my back pain was getting worse. He ordered me to get an MRI on Thursday, gave me a prescription for Lortab, and said would contact me with the results. I had also told my chiropractor as well because he was concerned that my visits were more frequent and did not seem to help.

Friday morning, I went to the chiropractor. As he proceeded to work on my back, he asked if I had my MRI and of course I told him yes. He sent the assistant for the paperwork; he read it and ordered the assistant to pull it up on the computer. Here I am lying face down and he is clicking through the file, when out of the blue, I hear him say "Oh shit." The problem with that is he doesn't cuss. I realized technology is just amazing as he asked me to look at the file. It basically looks like a 3-D image of my spine and you can even do a birdseye view. Here is what he showed me:

1/ L1 was moved forward and up, pushing on the disk between L1 and L2.
2/ I had a bulging disk between L4 and L5, so bad that it had taken up 3/4 of the nerve cavity and pushing all the nerves into that section.
3/ All the disks above L5 were full of fluid.

He looked at me and said 9 out of 10 people with this condition have to have surgery and he immediately ordered his assitant to set up an appointment. I also had my medical records and MRI from 2007 sent to him as he had requested.

This Saturday night, the pain was so intense that it woke me up. I have been sleeping on the floor as the chiropractor had suggested. I could not get up off the floor and it nearly took me 15 minutes. It was so bad that I woke Jessica up in the other end of the house. Evenetually, it let up enough to where I could go to sleep.

Sunday morning, the pain was back and I told Jessica we needed to go to the ER. We arrived around 10:30 and the lady at the desk said "You seem to be in extreme pain, I will get you in right away." Of course, they asked me a ton of questions in the triage and I mentioned I just had an MRI. They send me back to a room. 15 minutes later, a nurse walks in and says "I reviewed your MRI and there is no way Lortab is going to prevent that much pain." She also went on to say that I will be having surgery as well. She had the assistant give me a shot and prescribed me with Percoset and Valium. As we got into the vehicle at 11:30 (can you believe it only took us one hour in the ER), I immediately noticed the pain going away. Although I feel some, it is not even a 1/10 of what it was and it felt good to walk.

Hopefully, I will find out tomorrow when I will get to see the back surgeon and when I will have the surgery. The nurse said in the ER I would be in the hospital for a couple of days (which sucks), but I would be back up and going within a week or two. However, it would be months before I reach a full recovery point.