Surgery Update

It went very well. The surgeon was able to remove the stoma and reconnect her colon with her intestines. He also fixed her very large hernia which she referred to as her third boob; he removed lots of scar tissue. Surgeon said it was his hope that this would be the last surgery she would need. She's wearing a truss to make sure that everything stays in place.

It took about 4.5 hours. We finally got to see her at about 3:30 today. She was coherent and actually funny. It's obvious the hospital recognizes that they need to get this right this time. She's in an isolation room because she tested positive for some Super Bug so she can't mingle.

By the time we left tonight she had sat on the edge of the bed and dangled her feet. We all applauded. She has a low grade fever but apparently that is to be expected right after surgery. It was already going down when we left.

Tomorrow she sits in a chair and takes a few steps. It was such a relief to see how lucid she was by the time we got to her room.

I'm so glad we took lots of egg salad sandwiches and fruit to the hospital today. I just couldn't eat the cafeteria food. I've had a bit of dinner and two glasses of wine; I'm ready to sleep through the night.

Once again your prayers, energy, good thoughts and Reiki are working. Please keep them coming. She could still leak. I'll have more tomorrow night.

Brrr!

It's -17 F. this morning but the sun is out so it doesn't seem that bad until you go out.

Went out for dinner last night with my sister, her husband (Saint Neil), her son Adam and two friends. We feasted on Texas barbecue. We looked like we belonged there because my rental car has Texas license plates.

Not doing much today. I just spoke with the surgery nurse and gave them all of Vicky's history and answered a bunch of pre-surgery questions.

We have to be at the hospital at 5:20 a.m. tomorrow morning. That's all for now.

Artichokes And My Sister

The first artichokes have arrived at my local organic food market. That to me says spring like nothing else, well maybe asparagus at the farmer's market. That will happen. They are from Castroville, which is down the coast from San Francisco near Monterrey.

We ate everything but the heart last night so that will be part of our dinner tonight. I finally found a whole wheat bread recipe that does not turn out like a small, but tasty, brick. This one is light and sweet with lots of wildflower honey from nearby bee farm.

On top of the delicious bread I will pile thin slices of barbecued (last night) rib steak, a small slice of smokey bleu cheese and an artichoke heart. On the side will be a simple salad of lettuce and avocados with a lemony dressing.

The bread recipe came from a blog I really like. She calls herself Mangochild; her blog is http://livinginalocalzone.wordpress.com/ Her recipe is amazingly simple. It might be the plain yogurt that helps make it so light. I was skeptical at first but Kerry pronounced it delicious this morning.

It's the last meal I will fix for Kerry for a while. I just hope he will eat healthfully some of the time I'm gone. There are some things in the freezer that should get him by but he and any one of his vehicles have trouble passing up fast food.

I leave tomorrow on an early flight to Minneapolis to be with my sister for her next surgery. It's on the 12th. The surgeon will rejoin her colon to the whatever you rejoin a colon to. She is terrified. I am too. We have both been having dreams related to the surgery. I am just anxious to get there tomorrow.

I'll post when I can to update you on her progress. I just want this to go well for her. Your prayers, energy, Reiki and chants are most welcome. We take any and all help.

A Peak Inside My Food Life

Several bloggers have barred all by showing their refrigerator contents. I have to say that mine looks better in a photo than it does in person.

My freezer, which is on the bottom of the refrigerator, really reflects my commitment to eating locally.

The deli tray on the bottom is where the eggs, deli meats and cheeses go.

I'm not too embarrassed to show this. At least you can't tell the last time my shelves were washed.

The jug wine is on the door.

Just Say No To Monsanto And Food Irradiation

Food safety has become a real issue in the past few years. That means Ag Secretary Vilsack's appointments to that part of the USDA are critically important. Currently there are two people being considered for Food Safety and Inspection Service. Once is from Monsanto (boo) and the other believes that irradiation of food is the way to go to protect consumers health.

I hope you will consider sending the e-mail below. One more reason to buy your food locally from people you know.


AgSec@usda.gov

Dear Secretary Vilsack,

I ask that you take the lead in helping America protect the safety of its food supply by appointing a real reformer at the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) position and advising President Obama not to name Michael Taylor to any position in the administration.

Please appoint someone other than Michael Osterholm, who has proven to be too biased in favor of a single technology that has been ineffective in stopping food safety outbreaks and is something that most American consumers don’t want.

I took the President at his word when he said he would close the revolving door in this new administration and I know that you want to lead a new era at the USDA. Please appoint true reformers to positions within the USDA to help you transform America’s food and farm system for the 21st century.

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Snow Day For CCI Dogs

George and Lorrie Moore host the CCI dogs for a snow day each year. They live outside of Truckee, CA near Lake Tahoe.

A week ago their backyard was nothing but mud. Now it was filled to the brim with fresh snow. That's those late California storms.

As a Minnesotan, I should remember these things, but I didn't. Snow does not necessarily support you. I sank up to my knees in it. Harleen and the other dogs, until they got the snow good and beaten down, sank up to their bellies. The dogs raced around, played, pooped and created yellow snow until they couldn't move.

There were four people in attendance who are CCI service dog recipients. It was great to see just how well these dogs do and how they help the individual needs of each person. One is a high level quad who has a ventilator. At 6,000 feet that must have been a challenge for his caregiver who I think is his mother. He's been at other CCI events.

The solar panels in several of the photos support most of the electricity needs of the house. The house is huge.

Harleen came home, took a nap, ate dinner and hasn't moved much since. When she does move she makes these little moaning sounds. I think her muscles are sore. She did get to play with her brother Heron. They just find each other and romp around.

The last photo is when things were winding down. The puppy raisers had feasted on a delicious array of potluck items and the dogs were just plain tired.

It will be an early night for Kerry and me. We are both sunburned from the reflection off the snow. One of the dogs had sunglasses. Very cool.

My Latest Mini-Quilt

This was all made from fabric that I had in my stash. I love the Mardi Gras masks. My sewing machine is going to the hospital while I'm in Minneapolis. It's doing a few things that it just shouldn't. Hopefully two weeks will be enough time to set it right.

Also, I have two black eyes. I noticed this when I was putting my contact lenses in this morning. They are from my sinuses and my most recent cold. I have been coughing and blowing my nose a lot. Kerry wanted to take a picture of them. I declined.

The blackness is on either side of the bridge of my noise deep in the corners of my eyes.

It's Good To Be A Dog

No stress in her life. Not sure how she got into this position; I looked over when she snored very loudly and then just had to take the picture.

Saturday we are taking her up to the mountains for a CCI snow day. All the pups, graduate dogs, breeders and change of career (aka pets) will be there. Should be fun. I'll take pictures.

It's Square Root Day: 3-3-09

But that's not what I want to write about. Although it is amazing that I realized that. I am math compromised.

Corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are the number one enemies of people who want to be healthy. As the cartoon says, "I'm in everything." Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivores Dilemma" spends a lot of time talking about corn and how many places it shows up in our diet. The growing of corn is highly subsidized by the federal government. When you have a lot of corn you have to do something with it. Pigs can only eat so much; ethanol is not turning out to be the next great fuel. Also, it depletes the nitrogen in the soil faster than just about any other crop. So we get it in all kinds of foods.

The other day I wrote about wanting local fresh corn in the winter; that doesn't mean I want corn syrup. Real sugar is more expensive so companies add this cheap substitute to make stuff taste good. If you can get your hands on a can of Coke that came from Mexico and is made with real cane sugar, you will know the difference immediately. Corn syrup is like white bread, nothing to it and it won't make you feel healthy.

So when Kerry and I began our "locavore" journey the first thing I tried to do was eliminate corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup from our diet. Sometimes they are both in the list of ingredients. Nearly everything you find in the middle aisles of your grocery store has it in it. Want to know why diet salad dressings taste so good...you got it, high fructose corn syrup. Just about anything that comes in a box in the grocery store has it. When I do go to a chain grocery store, which is pretty rare these days, I just stay in the outside aisles: produce, milk, butter, cheese, eggs and meat.

I got really good at reading labels. I'd been doing it for years because I'm allergic to MSG, but now I have a new culprit to locate.

As I've said before, locavorism is something you ease your way into. So start reading labels and find out where the corn is. It's great in the summer with butter and salt. It's not so good in your cereal.

Another Chapter In Our Locavore Living Story

I bought a "Seal-a-Meal" gadget.

Several times this winter I've thought about fresh corn, peas and asparagus. But they weren't in season, at least not within 100 miles of my kitchen. I vowed to freeze and dehydrate more of this stuff and other things during the upcoming growing season. I already have a dehydrator; it's great.

Plus another of my favorite bloggers, www.urbanhennery.com is always writing about meals she prepares that include some of my favorite vegetables that she froze last summer. That was another impetus to expand our locavore living.


I found the National Center for Home Food Preservation thanks to one of my other favorite food blogs: www.simplespoonful.com It doesn't sound that hard to freeze fruits and vegetables...except for the potential for freezer burn. That's when I thought of seal-a-meal.

We started down the road to "locavorism" after we read Michael Pollan's book "Omnivore's Dilemma." We had no idea, however, where it would lead us. I guess that's the way it is sometimes when you try something new. If I had thought the whole thing through I might not have done it. But expanding our "locavore thinking" over time makes it seem pretty easy. Plus the food is delicious and we've gotten to know some wonderful people.

My plan is to look at what's at the farmers' markets and in my CSA box (go to www.localharvest.org to find a CSA provider near you); then figure out what I'll freeze or dehydrate that week. It will be a bit of extra work but having locally grown asparagus and other things in December and January will be worth the work.

All of this could further reduce the time I spend in chain supermarkets. That's a worthwhile goal too. They have enough customers; I won't be missed.

Applique Block Number Two

This is the second one for my Baltimore Album Quilt. Appliqued most of it in Palm Desert. Click to biggify.

Weird Vegetable

Romanesco, pictured here, has got to be one of the weirdest looking vegetables I've ever seen. It grows locally so whenever I find it I buy it. Yesterday I made a soup with it. Also added potatoes, carrots, broccoli, leeks and lots of garlic. Put it all in the crockpot with lots of homemade vegetable broth. Ten hours later I had a mushy concoction which I pureed just a little and then added a Roue of flour and butter plus some very sharp cheddar cheese.

The romanesco doesn't seem as flavorful as cauliflower but it certainly is both beautiful and weird.

Had lunch yesterday with a quilting buddy, Deborah. The place we wanted to go is closed on Monday and Tuesday so we went down the street to the Horseshoe Bar and Grill. I had a scrumptious portobello mushroom and blue cheese sandwich with sweet potato french fries. The habanero dipping sauce that came with it was a bit too spicy for me so I stuck to ketchup.

Then I went off to Bloodsource for my platelet donation. That went fine. Came home, took a nap and then finished up the soup for dinner. All in all it was a great day. Today I am spending the entire day with fabric. It will be another great day.

Harleen's Harley And More

On the way back from puppy kindergarten a couple of Saturday's ago, Kerry stopped by Sierra Community College. Every weekend the college turns its parking lot over to people who want to sell a vehicle. Anyone who wants to sell a vehicle can be there.

Kerry really wants a Harley so he took this picture with Harleen lying next to one. Maybe he thought the Magic Fairy would arrive and say that he should be given a Harley because he was such a good person for raising a service dog.

Well, his Yamaha motorcycle is still right where he left it. No Magic Fairy turned it into a Harley. Judging by the picture, I'm not sure that Harleen is really into Harleys.

In other news, my sister is having more surgery. Yes, my sister who nearly died last year as a result of surgery.

It's time for her to have what's called a "downturn." That's when they reverse her colostomy. While she hates the thought of surgery, she hates the colostomy bag even more. Surgery is March 12th. I'm flying to Minneapolis on March 10th and will be there for two weeks.

So, I'd like to ask once again for your prayers, energy, Reiki and anything else you believe to help get her through this. She is terrified. I am too. But she has a new surgeon who seems like he understands what happened to her last time and will do everything in his power to make sure it doesn't happen again.

This will not be the last surgery. She still has some giant hernias that need to be fixed. When will this ever end.

Photos From Palm Desert

If you live somewhere that's cold right now, I hope these photos will warm you up. Kerry, me and Harleen in front of the Marriott Desert Springs Hotel where our timeshare is. A view of the golf course with the snow-covered mountains in the background. The lobby of the hotel including the boat that will take you to your restaurant in the evening. We had a great time, but glad to be home.

My Design Wall: Three Projects

I've been very busy this week trying to get ahead because we will be gone all next week.

Photo No. 1: Baltimore Album Quilt block one. This is another block-of-the month type thing. We meet the second Saturday of each month. Between meetings we create a block using applique techniques. This block will end up being about 15 inches square. Click on it to see the special applique technique we learned for the flower buds.

Photo No. 2: Another block of the month project but this one is just traditional blocks. Each block measures 12 inches square. I've done the two here so far. All the blocks will have the star affect on the outside row. We will end up with 12 blocks in 12 months.

Photo No. 3: Stash busters quilt. One Wednesday a month we meet to get a pattern for a small quilt. The trick is to use up the fabric stash that all quilters have somewhere in their sewing room. I really like the way this quilt turned out. Last month was sort of a bust, I thought. I still have to add backing, batting and quilting. I think this will hang on the wall somewhere in the house. Don't know where yet.

Tidbits

• Harleen is not having surgery on her eyes. Turns out she has "ectropion" eyes not "entropion" eyes. The former just means she has droopy eyes, the latter means that her eyelid actually turns in. So no quick trip to Santa Rosa this week.
  
• I got the flu on Monday night so missed out on Quilt Guild, dinner with friends and my book group. I just felt lousy; stomach upset, achy and chills. Feeling a little better today.
  
• We are finally getting some rainy weather; supposed to rain for the next 10 days.
• We head for Palm Desert to the family time share on Sunday for a week. It's not supposed to be very warm there either. Harleen will have fun anyway.
  
• Been busy working on quilting projects even though I haven't felt good. With a week away from my sewing machine I had to get stuff done for classes after I get back.

As I read back over this post, it's pretty boring. I'll try to do better tomorrow when I post what's on my design wall. Stay tuned.

Cherry Eyes

Harleen is going to have surgery this week on her eyes. See how the bottom lids droop and you can see some red stuff. Cherry eyes is hereditary.

It should have been caught at CCI before we picked her up. They can do something when they are small that is less invasive. Our vet figured it out two days later when we brought her in for a check up. She made note of this in her chart.

So we are waiting to hear which day we take her to Santa Rosa. She will have the surgery and return home the same day.

I'd like to get it done before we go to Palm Desert next week for our twice-a-year stay at the family time share. Harleen loves it down there so don't want her to miss it.

One Year Ago Today...

my sister had surgery. It was supposed to remove a cancerous nodule in her colon, but instead it nearly killed her.

She spent 8 weeks in the ICU in a medically induced coma and paralyzed, on a ventilator and dialysis. All together she spent 8 months in various hospitals and rehab centers.

She's home now and working every day to get stronger.

So today I'm feeling joy because I still have a sister; she is working so hard to become whole again. This took a terrible toll on her body and mind. Many, many of you bloggers prayed for her and sent cards. Her husband, Neil, was deeply touched by your concern for a complete stranger.

I guess no one is a stranger when death is lurking right outside the door.

She still faces one more surgery to undo her colostomy, which was done after the first surgery. I'm going to Minneapolis to be there for that.

We never know what the day will bring, but today it brings me great joy. Don't know about tomorrow and don't really care.

I love you Vicky.

It's Rainy And Cold

So I have a beef stew in the crock pot. It's a good day for something warm and comforting. The picture at right is not my stew but one I found on the web. My crock pot is oval.

I sort of followed the recipe: stew meat from a local ranch, leeks, carrots and potatoes from local farms, tomato sauce that I made from last summer's tomatoes and then froze, burgundy wine from a local vineyard, garlic (not sure where this comes from because Kerry bought it at Costco), and lots of spices. I'm probably going to throw in a handful of either raisins or dried cranberries later in the cooking process.

I'm not going to be home for dinner tonight. My friend Jean and I are going out for our once-a-month glass of wine and appetizer at a local Italian restaurant. At first I was going to leave Kerry to his own devices, but when I saw how cold and miserable it was, that just didn't seem right.

We will probably finish it up tomorrow night.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of my sister's surgery that went so badly. Tonight I'm going to write a special post dedicated to her. I'm just so glad she is alive and at home healing.

Where's My Handerkechief?

Those were the words that our house guest Steve uttered yesterday morning after he got out of the shower. He and his wife, Janet, searched everywhere. No handkerchief. Their Labrador puppy named Zoey, they decided, had probably eaten it. She was the only one in the bathroom with Steve when it disappeared. After several vet calls, Kerry and Steve headed for one that they thought could help. The long and short of it is that Zoey threw up the handkerchief, which was given back to Steve. $127 later and Zoey was fine.

We had a wonderful lunch at Whole Foods in Roseville, walked around the farmers' market there and wandered through some shops.

Later in the afternoon we noticed that some of the cattle that graze the 80 acres behind us were actually on our property and more were coming. Before long the entire herd was on our property and heading for the road. That's not a good thing. I frantically called the sheriff, animal control and the brand control guy for the county. We didn't know who owned the cattle. We eventually found out.

Kerry tried to round them up and get them back over the fence, but his ATV just wasn't enough to do it. Finally the owners arrived with a Border collie to get them back into the pasture. It is sort of alarming to look out your front door and see a huge steer looking back at you. They were wandering everywhere. The two guy fixed the hole in the fence. Meanwhile the cows (all 50 of them) stood by the recently mended fence looking slightly pissed off that they were missing our grass.

It got dark so we couldn't see what was happening, but they probably broached the fence once again shortly after nightfall.

So this morning we woke up to cows all over the property again. Some of them were on a neighbors property as well. The cowboys returned, this time with two dogs. The round up took place again. Now there is an electrified fence between our property and the pasture. I wonder what the skunks, possums, raccoons, coyotes and cats will think of that. Stay tuned for the next installment. It's never dull at our place.

Meanwhile we have many very large cow patties everywhere. Dogs love to roll in that stuff so we have to keep an eye on Harleen. I'm going to take a nap.