A great feeling

A while ago, unbeknownst to me,  I was nominated for the South Dakota 4-H Hall of Fame.

A couple weeks ago, I was notified that I had been chosen to be inducted into that Hall at this year's State Fair.

If you would like to read the article in the home town paper, here is the link....


Four Named Hall Of Famers: Four long-time 4-H leaders from Marshall County will become Hall of Fame members on Monday at the State Fair in Huron. Mike and Rose Kraft of Britton and Julie Symens

I can't believe how the years have gone by.  Thirty one years as a leader is mind blowing to me :)

Each year was focused on and accomplished and it's added up to many youth, adults, and groups that I've been involved with.  Couldn't be prouder.  It's a great feeling to know that others have noticed.

All for now.
JULIE

A beautiful day

I've returned from my trip to Colorado.

My daughter got married!

Beautiful cool day for an outdoor wedding with a couple of sprinkles to shower blessings on them.
The local sheriff was the officiant - he did a wonderful job for the newlyweds.

The location was near the river in a grove.  Justin made the arch, and Leah put together the decorated steer horns.  You can tell it is an agriculture community.

My daughter Leah and my new son, Justin.  This is the ONE PHOTO I took all week :)

We had a good time at the reception.  Simple decor of white tableclothes with mini cowhide centerpieces with wooden boxes, succulents and silk flowers.  Roping dummies for the kids to mess with, and a DJ for dancing by the adults.

The venue was the 4-H barn where the fair was held last week :)  Very appropriate!

I struggled a bit the early part of the week with fatigue and some muscle pain in the left hip.  I had to have my mom bring more pain pills as I hadn't thought I'd need them.  I was still taking 2 antibiotics all through the trip, so the stomach didn't always cooperate.  Finally took the last dose of one yesterday, and tomorrow afternoon the other kind will be gone, too.  

After that will be the time to hope.  Hope that all bacteria inside has been taken out.  Hope that I don't have a relapse. Hope that this has finally taken care of it all. 

I believe I will attempt a small craft event in a couple weeks.  It's a first time event, but it's close and it's inexpensive.  I have to get back to doing life.

All for now,  JULIE

Bright spots

I've been trying to find a bright spot in every day.

Post surgical has been rough.

My hamstring and incision aren't so bad. 

I left hospital with a picc line - twice a day infusions of an antibiotic.

Please no contact with cows and horses, and outdoorsy types of things was the doctors request.

A week later, they added another antibiotic orally.

The two together have been, how shall I put it,   HELL.

These little guys, and 3 more, made an appearance.  Momma cat is quite wild, but has decided we are a nice source of food.  I can't say they are tame, but they are getting used to people and that we have yummy food to share.  Fun to watch and on occasion I get an opportunity to nab one and snuggle.  Only a few hisses :)

I didn't quite get to 3 weeks on the IV drug, before side effects made the doctor agree for a discontinuation.  Thing is, he added a different oral antibiotic to replace it.   So I'm still taking 2 different drugs.   Suffice it to say, my stomach is not happy, my head is not happy - headaches- and my general overall state of affairs is ICK.  

Tomorrow I have a recheck and I am going to campaign for a drug break at least so that I can maybe enjoy my trip to my daughters wedding.  I waited a bit too long to book flights - I was feeling so crappy, I couldn't begin to focus on it- and now I'm gonna pay through the nose for my tickets.   Oh, well. It is what it is.

Every couple days, I've found a bit of energy to check my horses water source and last night, the calves and cows came over to see what I was doing.  

I think they are so cute with their curious ways.

It always makes me smile when i get to watch these little guys.

Plans, what are those?

I'm a planner and contingency maker.  I don't really care to fly by the seat of my pants.

I at least like to have thought about how I'd like things to go, and a few alternatives if that's not possible.

So this week, plans were thrown out.

Monday I went in for same day surgery to remove the metal anchors that seem to be the starting point for my hamstring issues.

I ended up being in hospital until Thursday late afternoon. URG

Original plan was a friend drive me to and from for the day and recuperate at home.  I sent her home and spent the 4 days alone at the hospital ---

Finally, enough cultures and test results came in, and enough details for my medicinal plan were ironed out and I could call and find a ride home.

So now, I have the wound in the buttocks area to handle, plus twice a day antibiotic home infusions for the next 4-5 weeks.

I also have to visit a facility once a week for blood tests to check on med levels and get dressing changes on my pic line.

I've been told weaving probably not a good idea while the line is in.   No cattle, no horses, no going to work.  Right now I'm not feeling like doing any of those, so it's not driving me too crazy yet. 

I'm just hoping this is all over and done with before my daughters wedding out of state!

All for now,
JULIE

Checking pairs

This morning I drove out to check pairs.

Cow calf pairs, to be precise.

This is something we try to get done each day.

The bulls are out with the groups.

The cows are harvesting grass that makes milk to feed their babies.

What I'm checking for is any obvious distress.

Mamas looking for a lost baby.

Someone not feeling well.

Making sure the bull is attentive and doing his job.

This morning I found an extra calf in our group....

Not sure where he came from - we'll have to call neighbors.

How can we tell he's an 'extra'?

Each calf has an eartag with his mama's number, and 

this calf had a tag that was a different color than 

what we use.  He didn't seem too worried, so maybe

he was just visiting for a bit.

Summer is busy - my son took some days off from his work and is helping

us replace the roof on our detached garage.  It had it's original 

wood shake roof.  I spent time on the roof pulling staples

to prep for the new roof.  We are going with a metal roof.

Only reason I've been able to help at all, is because the surgeon that is going to

do the procedure to try again to fix me, went on vacation. I'm scheduled for Monday

to finally take the original hardware out, clean up the area and start over.

I'm thinking it's gonna be a little tougher after than the previous revision surgeries...

All for now,

JULIE

Changes

 

I find it fascinating watching what colors do.

 

What colors pop when put against another color.

 

Or disappear against another.

 

Sometimes a warp color will look totally different,

 

depending on what it is put against.

 

Things change depending on circumstance.

True in life, too, I guess.

I'm currently waiting on scheduling for another surgery.

The last one looked like it did the trick, but nope, 

just in hiding for awhile.

My surgeon has washed his hands of me and sent me to someone else.... says I need fresh eyes on it.

So new facilities, people, and how to manage everything will need to be figured out.

Location will be the opposite direction and away from my kids who help me with day of surgery stuff.

Will need to figure out who can help, and who will.

All for now,

 JULIE

Pretty Good Guess

 From this sectional warping of 70 revolutions per section...

And three baskets of weft possibilities... (two baskets actually consumed)

 

I produced these 26 runners,

plus 2 that have already gone to their new home,

and one DUD that is going to be taken apart.

I had guessed, when asked, that I would get about 30 runners from my warping.

Dang, pretty close!

If the last one had worked like I wanted it to, I would have had 29 finished runners.  

And in reality, that last one was way longer than I usually weave -

So I should have gotten 30...

Just what I guessed :)

All for now, JULIE