Amish Aims

Neighbors not being neighborly

I have Amish neighbors.  When I moved into the area over 23 years ago, there weren't any Amish in the area.  Then some of the dairy farms brought in very hard working and dedicated Amish families to run their local dairies.  Then more Amish people moved in.  Then there is an Amish school.  Then we started having road signs up warning about horses and buggies.  Than a few years ago, a newly married Amish couple bought the farm at the end of the private lane that goes between my property and the neighbor's property.  Then they moved a furniture factory there.  Then  another young Amish couple built a home on the property and moved in.

For the most part they are quiet neighbors.  However, traffic up and down the private lane has increased from a car or two a day to a steady stream of horses and buggies, and hired vehicles and drivers with pickups and van loads of Amish.  Now they have started  a discount grocery down the lane with a hand letter sign with a red arrow pointing down the road.   Now semi trucks come in the wee hours of the morning making deliveries to the discount grocery and we have even more traffic.

I live in a rural unzoned area.  I really don't mind that the Amish want to make the most of their investment in their land.  Yes, I was relieved when I heard they decided against putting a sawmill right behind us, but other than the increased traffic everything has been pretty OK until the big truck traffic started a few weeks ago.

The private lane is a one lane gravel road.  Its purpose is for access to two properties behind me.  It was never intended to carry semi truck traffic or two lane traffic.  My next door neighbor that shares the easement is fed up.  Semis have been turning into my yard and across the corner of his yard and tearing up the unprotected lawns because the turn INTO the lane is way too tight for a semi to make.  My neighbor went to talk to the Amish neighbors about the semi tearing up the yard issue.  Our Amish neighbors have always been pretty OK to talk to - I only see them when their horses or cows get out in my yard.  They are cheerful and friendly if in a sort of distant way.  My neighbor reported that he was told that he could let the Amish buy him out, or take them to court but the semi's were going to keep pulling across our yards regardless.  He is not happy at all.

My neighbor is a retired truck driver and a Vietnam veteran.  He is a take action kind of guy.  He said for the non-violent sort the Amish are really aggressive.  Who knew?? So now he is going to fence the lane to the boundary of the easement and put a gate across it.  The semis can still come and go, the Amish can still come and go, the neighbors behind me can still come and go, they will just need to open and shut the gate every time.

Since I don't use the lane I don't care if it is fenced (it was when I moved here - we removed the fence because it was in bad repair) or gated.  I foresee crushed fences from wide turns and lawsuits commencing, but I fear an accident on the hilly one lane road with the increase in back and forth traffic too.

I'm more of a "if you can't beat them join them" philosopher and thought maybe I should put a discount bakery, and a discount tobacco store, and a discount liquor store and a discount animal feed store and a dollar store right on the edge of my property. That way everyone who visits the Amish discount grocery store will already have spent all their discount money at MY stores! I think it would be just too much work now opening and shutting that gate. Another dream gone.  Sigh. 

The Amish neighbors have more than one set of roads in.  I think they like the private lane by me because it is only about a half mile off the state highway.  I am hoping they will rethink their road position and go for the path of least resistance - annoying the neighbors on the other side of their acreage.  I think my Vietnam veteran neighbor has put his Missouri mule foot down about using his yard as a roadway.

Health wise with the flu, I am better. I am still sleeping sitting up tonight.  My fever has gone down some but is still there. I can't breathe if I lie flat.  I can't breath if I walk, I can't breathe even now just typing.  I sound like I have one of those squeaky toy wheezers stuck down in the bottom of my crunchy crackly lungs.  I have increased my fluids hoping maybe I will start coughing up my squeaky bits soon. 

Hoping to get to rest a few hours tonight, better than last night.  Hoping you all have a great, non truck in your yard kind of week.  Who knows, by next week I may have fencing like a prison with barbed wire topped defenses holding back all comers!

Down for The count

Up and Ready for Round Two

Caught the flu either on the flight to Michigan or at my uncle's funeral.  Have had a week that is just sorta hazy right now.  Respiratory virus I am sure.  My sister who had this a few weeks ago was told it was a cold, not a flu, so the flu shot doesn't cover it.  Bummer.

I hate that I was stuck traveling, spewing virus everywhere I went.  I would have been sick at home or at work, so the sick part doesn't matter, but I hate possibly exposing people to this.  I ran high fevers Friday night after getting home, and all day Saturday, so sick I didn't want to move.  Today I am still very sick, but the fever is down some and I can breathe a little better.  I sincerely hope I have not given this to anyone else.  I tried to be SO careful, kept cleaning my hands with sanitizer, covering my mouth but I must have been a large bag of escaping viruses on Friday coming back on the plane.  Just hoping the lower respiratory part doesn't get worse that is where it seems to be stuck now.  Plenty dehydrated, trying to stock up on fluids having a hard time getting them down.

Had some unnecessary drama I won't go into here when I got home from the funeral.  That on top of traveling, on top of being sick, on top of being on my feet, on top of not being able to breathe, on top of having to drive drive drive makes me feel like I have been run over by a steamroller.  The IM phenergan did keep me from throwing up all through the central United States on a plane, but giving yourself those shots sure hurts!  I am getting tired of being everyone's solution to every crisis, but maybe that's because I'm SO DARNED SICK!  I guess I'm just whiney today. sigh.

At least I am at the spot in the cartoon where (after being run over by the steamroller) you come out pressed flat and pop back to three dimensions!!!  Woo Hoo!

Flu

Not a Good Thing

Last week my younger brother had the flu.  Hard as he tried to avoid giving it to her my mother now has the flu.  She is very short of breath and this is just day one.  She won't go to the hospital, where she could get anti virals prescribed and get checked for pneumonia.  She agreed to call an ambulance this evening, but when they got here she declared she did not want to go to the hospital, although they said one of her lungs did not sound right.  Big sigh of frustration.  Big frown of worry.  Hoping this will be OK - have had to take her in the past at 2 or 3 in the morning to the ER after she refused help the evening before.  Maybe I'm over cautious but I have seen her get really bad really fast before.

Ambulance rules have changed since the last time I had to call them for Mom's breathing issues a couple of years ago.  Then the ambulance crew would give nebulizer treatments in the home, and I think that was what Mom was looking for.  I tried to persuade her to go to the ER and get a treatment but no go, as did the ambulance crew.  They made her sign a statement that they asked her to go to the hospital and she refused, and then required me to witness it.

I checked the Missouri flu website, and flu cases are up this week compared to last, and the number of senior citizens with flu are up markedly.  The federal flu website also urges seniors to get antivirals as soon as possible because of the severity of the flu virus' going around this year.

My nephew who has been so sick on his return from China has been told he might have had a SARS like illness.  Another classmate who was on the same flight is also sick, but not quite as bad.  Not looking to be a very good year fluwise so far.  Hoping that my flu shots are good for what Mom has, so far this year not even a sniffle.  At least something works right with my body!

Going to have a sleepless night tonight, checking on Mom every so often, but better to be reassured than too late to help!

Tired of Being Tired

Ready for A New Day

Have been reaaaally sick the last few days, bad enough I made a trip to the ER about 4 in the morning early Monday. I'm left feeling very tired.

This will be the fourth round of antibiotics I have had in the past month and a half. I'm running out of antibiotics to take, and I am very very very tired (oh, did I mention I'm tired?). It's the kind of tired that sleep does not help. On the up side The Headache is having a good day today and The Belly only complained once.

I actually got out and planted some flowers and pruned a few tomato plants last weekend. I've been too sick to tend to them since and by this afternoon the flowers were looking a little sad. I did get some water on them this evening so maybe they will be more perky tomorrow. I got enough sun Saturday I have my first sunburn of the season.

I feel so bummed that yet another illness is upon me. The ER doc thought this still may be the aftermath of the flu I caught a few weeks ago. Double darn. The antibiotics seem to be helping, and I am sure tomorrow (or today) will be a better day than yesterday!

Still Sick

Tired of Being Tired

Woke up this morning determined to go to work. The Headache was roaring but I thought I can tough this out, it's not to my I can't work anymore point. I felt pretty good and had for quite a few hours. I headed into work a little late because I wanted to see if I could keep down breakfast. I got almost all the way into work (about 38 miles driven) when the nausea started up again. I pulled into work, stopped at my desk to disinfect everything I had touched, and left again with the blessing of my coworkers who had no desire to be sick on their three day weekend. I threw up my partially digested breakfast in the parking lot of a defunct restaurant I was driving by on my way back home.

I was running a fever again by the time I drove the 40 miles back home. What a waste of time and gasoline! I was so sure I was better. I am worried about my Mom because she is looking a little wan today. I'll take her to the ER tomorrow if she still doesn't feel well. I tried so hard not to expose her to whatever the heck I have.

The Headache was better this afternoon. I have noticed there are definite fluctuations of pain during the day, and still the ever present exacerbation of pain every three to four days. I am still holding out from taking the indomethacin, but am paying the price with decreased functionality and increased pain levels. The indomethacin never totally killed the pain, but it did bring it down to where I could function most days (truthfully I guess it really was just "some" days not most).

I swear my IQ is dropping as the pain increases. I think the synapses are so tied up sending pain signals my thunker signals are getting rerouted to some nether region. As I used to say when I was a stupidvisor, "let me sit down for a minute - if I not sitting on my brain I can't think!"

Besides the IQ droppage my empathy meter is hovering near zero. My tolerance tank is empty. My fatigue basket is full with new items to add to the ones already there. My fun settings are set to low. My humorometer has switched from hilarity back to tragedy. My compassion is compressed. My "why me" wattage is through the roof and I think I've got "optimist's block" where my glass has suddenly become half empty. Where did my half full part go?? And who can I blame all this on? Do they rent scapegoats by the hour?? I don't know if I could afford a full day.

Flowers Are Blooming

Ready for Summer!

The flowers are blooming in the yard. I love iris flowers, and have several different types and colors. Not as elaborate an assortment as my next door neighbor, who has planted iris in about every color in the rainbow.

We have had flocks of gold finches and indigo buntings feeding in the yard, with some sassy woodpeckers and nuthatches thrown in. A very shy pileated woodpecker is in the woods back of the house, and occassionally lands close enough we can watch him through binoculars. We also have our usual flocks of cardinals, orioles, and blue jays.

I hope the same mamma deer that has had her fawns in years past in the hollow behind the big brush pile comes back this year, and has another cute baby. Last year she and her fawn ate all my green beans from the garden, but they were so interesting to watch I was glad to sacrifice the beans. In the fall we sometimes get little herds of deer moving through the back acres, and they will come up and drink the water from the outside dog dish.

We have a fat groundhog living in the brush pile, and I see about six cottontailed bunnies every morning being herded by my old border collie mix doggie Bingo. She doesn't kill them, she just very gently moves them away from the garden area.

Grey and red foxes run in the woods at night yipping away, and coyotes run in the field across from the house. The raccoons play over there at night; we can hear them "talking" to each other from the house. I saw a weasel last year, but no sightings so far this year. Weasels are shy and hard to sight because they are sooooo quick and low to the ground.

The annual turtle exodus has not started so no box turtles in the yard. I see armadillos in the area, but Bingo herds them away from the yard. For some reason she does not like armadillos. When I moved here 23 years ago, there were no armadillos - they have moved in recently and are quite the diggers. If I find one, I catch it in a garbage can and relocate it down at the creek where it can dig to its hearts content and bother no one.

No sightings of copperheads yet and I hope not to see any. I don't mind friendly snakes like bull snakes or black snakes or garter snakes, but I draw the line at deadly vipers.

I am relaxing on a beautiful spring evening, glad to be feeling better. I think I am over the flu or whatever I had. It was nasty and I got awfully dehydrated, and my blood sugar got way out of whack, but I'm rehydrated now and tomorrow should be a work day!!! Yeah! The Headache is still with me - I was irrationally hoping it would disappear with the flu. :( I'm thinking maybe Joe Biden was right - avoid public transport if you want to avoid catching what's going around. My fellow travelers shared a little too much with me. I just hope I haven't passed it on to someone else.