1.1.22
Happy New Year to all my dear friends and family! Goodness me! 2021 seemed to pass at quite an alarming rate. One minute we were bringing in the New Year, before we knew it summer was on the wane then Christmas zoomed in and was here before we could blink! Now a New Year, 2022, is upon us.
2021 was, shall we say, a challenging year. Thankfully both Darrell and I stayed on the healthy side of the coin for the most part. Darrell did have to have his aortic valve replaced in his heart, very successfully I might add, despite a surge in COVID cases in Central Oregon almost putting a nix on his surgery. I myself discovered, somewhat to my consternation, that I have developed a heart arrhythmia. It is somewhat baffling to the doctors since my heart itself is – in the words of my cardiologist – exceptionally healthy and I passed my echocardiogram and stress test with flying colours! The condition did slow me down a tad for a while, but I seemed to have bounced back although now am willing to take it easy when my ticker gets to tap dancing a wee bit too energetically! But other than these small bumps in the road, we have stayed remarkably healthy… thank goodness!
After selling off all our porcine breeding stock when Bell’s Palsy hit me in April of 2019, the challenge of finding weaner piglets to raise up where one did not have to drive miles and miles to procure them, prompted the reinstatement of pig breeding here on the Triple H. In fact, a lovely young gilt we raised up is in the farrowing house right now, due to pop out piglets the middle of this month. Hopefully then, the temperatures will be a little more conducive to pigging than the minus 8 degrees we have outside this morning. Yes, 8 degrees below zero (minus 22 C for those of my pals who follow that scale!) I am feeling rather thankful I shall only be hand milking Heidi this morning as I am sure my milking machine would have put up a struggle had I had to milk Lass with it in a couple of hours! I left Lass with her calf last night so he could take care of milking chores for me this morning. Heidi just had her calf on Christmas morning so with an udder still with a good supply of colostrum inside, I am just hand milking her morning and night to relieve her udder of some pressure. In the next couple of days, I will bring her into the milk parlor of a morning and her milking for the house will start!
Darrell is waiting patiently to get his new – well new to him – project vehicle back in the shop so he can pull out the old engine and replace it with a sparkling new one. Nessie, my 1955 Chevy is currently in there right now in various stages of disassembly, waiting for me to get cracking and install her new headliner so we can pop the back window in place. Then she will be ready to head to the body shop for her new, long-awaited coat of paint. Darrell can once again bring his latest project, a smart looking 1951 Chevy coupe, into the garage for the engine swap. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, his previous project, the snappy looking 1958 Chevy Impala, went to New Zealand this year! Yes, he sold it to a fellow over there! So, it is tootling around in the sunshine right now! I know we need the snow and cold temperatures, but a little sun would be welcome here too.
In a lot of ways, 2021, as quickly as it passed, also seemed to me to be a slow year. Maybe that was because the issue with my heart made me realize it really is okay to have days when, apart from feeding the animals and seeing to their needs, it is fine to just potter about. There were some days, earlier in the year, when walking to the barn from the house was an exhausting endeavour. Those were the days when Darrell would chivvy me back to the house, make me a good cup of tea and tell me to stay put in my easy chair. It was hard to see him taking on the full load of chores, but it also made me see that the old adage “Never put off ‘till tomorrow what you can do today” could easily be replaced with “There is always tomorrow…” with no appreciable harm done. The chores, as Darrell would remind me, would always be there. So what if the three pigs that should be hanging in the cooler are still enjoying extra days running about in their paddock? Tomorrow is another day. Yes, sometimes being forced to slow down is a good thing!
Another good thing that came with having to slow down for a bit, was a return to writing. I found myself eager to work on the sequel to my early life story, the autobiography of life with my father after he took me away from my mother. In that first book, ‘The Long and Winding Road’, I had not intentionally meant to leave readers hanging, anxiously wondering what happened next. Writing that first book had cracked open doors long closed on cupboards hiding emotional anxieties. I knew I would have to open those doors a tad wider in my sequel, yet I felt it was time. I was ready to clean out those cupboards. So once again I took up writing, allowing myself to open those doors wide. The result? The next autobiographical installment was sent off to my dear pal and editor Pat, to be readied for publication.
Right before Christmas the first copies of my ‘Bend in the Road’ books were printed and available for purchase on Amazon. I have been amazed and very humbled by the number of you who have wanted to read my story! Never really considering myself “an author”, since I have always written primarily because I just enjoy putting pen to paper, I now find a great desire building in me to write more. Darrell, my rock, encourages me, and so I will continue…
2021 has indeed been a challenging year. One that has often made one question so many things going on in our poor old world. Yet despite all the turmoil, the unrest, the fears, there is so much to be thankful for on this, the beginning of yet another year around the sun. As I walk back to our cozy house after checking on things at the barn, I look to the east and the brightening sky signaling the breaking of dawn. The dogs dash ahead of me, seemingly impervious to the cold, as the snow glistens and crunches squeakily under my boots. Inside, Darrell waits, coffee at hand and a cup of tea on the brew for me. What will the New Year bring? Goodness only knows, yet we will face whatever comes with a nod and a smile. After all, Life is what you make it… and what a wonderful life it is!
Happy New Year everyone!
