Don't Fence Them In

Amish Iron Curtain Started

My neighbor has begun the building of the Amish fence (at least that is what we are calling it). Not an Amish built fence, but a fence to keep our neighbor's Amish enterprises to a degree of ambition equal to the state of the private lane that leads to their property. Since they drive by here with lanterns on their buggies at all hours of the night, I am glad that my neighbor has left the brand new gate open tonight so there won't be any drastic buggy accidents.

Since my neighbor is a retired truck driver, he has cleverly designed the gate so it will require a trucker to turn his rig on a dime to get into the lane. I'm not sure most truckers can even make the turn without ending up in the drainage ditch on the other side of the farm road. I guess they shouldn't have kept running over his yard. The welder was here with his portable welding rig and the gate seems to be finished.

The gate is painted a low visibility blue which looks great in the daytime but is not too visible at night. I am thinking my neighbor is trying some stealth tactics against the 3 AM drivers across his yard. Again, I am glad he has left the gate open so we don't have a buggy disaster tonight.  I don't know what a buggy crash would sound like but I would think there would be a lot of horse neighing.

For the last several days Amish traffic has been down. None of the Amish drivers or passengers stopped and asked what was going on, although every other neighbor and passerby did. Maybe the Amish are gathering their collective legal fees and planning on filing in court. Not sure if they have a leg to stand on if access is not restricted. Since their horses and cows have escaped several times due to their inability to keep a decent fence on THEIR property I guess trapping their livestock in the lane before they get out into traffic is not too bad. I guess we will find out as the drama unfolds. With my luck I'll get dragged into this, although the fence is on the same property line it has been for 30 years on my side.  I'm sorta feeling fenced in myself.  Sigh.

Took my brother to Walmart for a prescription and The Legs gave out on me. Having a bit of pain tonight. I just can't walk very far any more. The coughing from the flu is pretty bad when I move also so a double whammy of pain and lack of air!  Durn those Walmart pharmacy bargains and the large emptiness of the Walmart Parking Lot. I probably should have used a handicapped spot to park but there had to be people in worse shape than I am. I am pretty sure I saw a few jazzing around in their sleek shiny electronic chairs. 

I was glad though that there was no pukiness today and The Headache is better also.  Glad that episode is over! Now if I can just stop coughing I will be in seventh heaven.

My brother-in-law who had a very bad stroke a couple of years ago has been told he needs to have an operation to open up the carotid artery on his non-stroke side. It has closed an additional 10% in the last three years.  This is a life threatening operation for my BIL since they had difficulty getting his carotid artery sewn back together on the other side a few years ago and may have the same or worse problem with this one.  I am not sure what my BIL and my sister will decide.  They are going to meet with the surgeon and find out what options they have other than surgery.  It may be there are no other options than just wait for the next stroke.  My BIL has a hereditary condition with premature hardening of the arteries which makes these kind of issues more difficult than for the average person.  I worry for them and am praying for guidance to help with this difficult decision.

Meet with my PCP tomorrow, will see if there are any steps (ha ha) for The Legs before seeing Dr. House in April.  Hope you all have a great week - it looks to be cold and maybe stormy here.

Priestess of The Potty

Incessant Incontinence

Day 3 of going back on the neurontin has the digestive side effects taking front and center, or is that to the rear and at the bottom???  Wasn't able to get to work because I couldn't get away from the toilet long enough to go.  I have a 45 minute commute with a couple of opportunities to pull off the road and find a bathroom, otherwise it is hop out by the side of the road time.  Unfortunately with already having diarrhea from the radiation treatment in 2004 when I crank up the motility making food move even faster through the digestive system I become a one woman poop machine. 

I can't hold anything back because the radiation has ruined my pucker power so I had to make many clothing changes today because I didn't get to the bathroom in time.  I am trying to keep the liquids going but have to balance that with increased output - I get to where the more liquids I take in the faster I dehydrate.

Thinking with envy of getting a big diaper butt from disposable incontinence britches, but got to thinking - what kind of huge-mongrously large diaper pail would you have to have??  That would take even more room in the luggage if I traveled for work than my extra large bag of meds. I might try these though because they do wick moisture away from the skin. I have to watch it because the skin starts to degrade after a while if you don't keep everything clean and dry, just like a baby behind.

The Legs are a jiggling this evening, so most of my neurontin power has gone into my gut and seems to be ignoring The Legs.  They don't seem to like that.  I may have to take a pain pill tonight, since it is three am and all is still in turmoil.  One advantage of pain medication is that it sloooooooows down the digestive system which for me is a welcome side effect.  The eyes have behaved today.

My next door neighbor has been measuring, marking, and getting ready to fence the private lane.  I don't think the Amish know (or maybe don't care) that my neighbor grew up here, is related to almost everyone and knows everyone else, is a reserve police officer, and his wife has worked at the hospital on the hill for about 30 years so she knows everyone too.  I watched (in between bouts with the bathroom) pickup after pickup stop and visit with my neighbor as he supervised the marking of the underground gas lines, phone lines, and power lines before getting ready to dig.  I am sure word is out about the fight over the semi traffic.  I have noticed a slight decrease in vehicle traffic going to the Amish property but that could just be a non-related lull.  In small town America this type of thing is like throwing a pebble in a pond - you don't know where the ripples will end up but you sure know something was dropped in.

Going to bed. Hoping for a better tomorrow.  Will have fun watching my neighbor get to tell the story of the fence and the gate over and over again as traffic continues to stop to visit.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

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!