It's Been Interesting Around Here

the last couple of days.

We got snow on Monday.

It has been very cold. Husband has been worrying. Not only does he farm corn, soybeans and hay, he also raises a few beef cows. He worries about getting his crop harvested. He was able to get a couple of wagons of corn to the elevator before the roads got too slick. He also has to worry about making sure hydrants doesn't freeze so the cows have water. Winter chores just take longer and it's COLD.

Late Tuesday night the phone ran. That is never a good thing. It was FIL, he was having pain on his right side that was keeping him from sleeping. He thought it might be a hernia, which he is prone to. It was after midnight by the time we got him to the ER. A CT scan showed a large kidney stone. There is no urologist at this small hospital so he had to be transferred by ambulance to a bigger hospital an hour away. It was after 4:00 AM by the time that happened. We came home and SIL took over. She's recently retired from a long nursing career so she will be right on top of it all, medically. She kept us pretty informed until mid-afternoon yesterday. They scheduled him for the procedure to remove the kidney stones (they found another on when reviewing the scans) for late yesterday afternoon. We haven't had any word since then. Lack of communication from her is not unusual.

Wednesday one of my good quilt friends was scheduled for knee replacement surgery. A group chat was set up to keep all her friends and family informed. Last night we heard surgery was successful and she was doing well. This morning we heard she had a good night, therapy this morning and will be released tomorrow. Yay for good communication!

The sunset was pretty again last night.

Today my farmer took the rest of the corn to the elevator and is now harvesting the last field. 

Please excuse the poor quality of these photos. I took them through my kitchen window. Too cold to be outside.

I have had a little visitor today. I was pretty sure I had seen this little critter the other night, but it was so fast I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me. 

No, and it is so fast I can't catch it. We live in the country in an old house with cracks in the foundation. We have plugged all the openings we could find, but apparently we didn't find them all. This happens every year during harvest and when the weather turns cold. I have learned to keep certain things in plastic containers that can't be chewed through that keep my items clean - like silverware and food items that aren't in cans or jars, q-tips and cotton swabs which make great nesting material. I once found moisturizer and toothpaste tubes that had been chewed through. I know those things might smell good, but I thought mice didn't like the smell of mint. And I would have thought they would not taste good. Dental floss had been unwound and was tangled in all the items throughout the drawer. What a mess. I threw it all away, sanitized and now have covered plastic tubs in my drawers for storing those items. Growing up my brothers were always bringing home small creatures they found - snakes, frogs, bugs, etc. - so I am not bothered by a few mice. I don't like them, but I am not afraid of them.

Yesterday and today I am working on cleaning out a hall closet that contains everything from candles to office supplies to linens to cleaning supplies. It has four shelves. So far no mice :)

The quilt frame makes for a good place to put everything while I decide what to keep and what to toss.