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Countrymouse, you're right...she asked, I think, because she didn't anticipate I would respond...lol...so I guess that was a shocker...and after, the lightbulb came on and it hit me...no one can change another person..they are what they are...I am what I am...and for now, I am the one here taking excellent care of Mama, they are out there having a blast living their lives and not giving a hoot or a holler about anything and that is ok...I can't make someone like me, care about me, behave one way or another...so I am going to let these folks be who they are and I will be who I am. I have told them that going forward, unless I call the social worker, I will not be needing them...this is our home and even though I know they may mean well, I am not allowing folks in here who disrupt the peace and enjoyment of my Mama ....or me.....

I finally got the VA thing cleared up and thankfully the appeal has gone through and the corrected amount has been adjusted and the retro pay has been deposited into Mama's account. While I started not to inform my brother that everything was done, I decided, No, that is not who I am. I am not hiding anything so will just let him know I have it handled. He was estatic..and said...wow, I'm so happy for yall...now I can visit and enjoy the visit... ????????? I'm guessing that means now he doesn't have to feel guilt or something...I don't even care anymore...
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Hope and CM, hang in there....we're always here to listen when you need to blow off some steam, and it sounds like you have a lot of "heat" creating the steam to blow off right now! ((hugs))

I'm thinking there's a black cloud over my head right about now. Dog is sick with diarrhea since late Sunday night and no idea why (no blood, nothing like that, just appears that nothing stays in his system for long), so I came home from grocery shopping to a MESS to clean up - and for once, it wasn't Mom that caused it! (Yes, all over the nice newly refinished hardwood floors - they got a real initiation!) Last night I found out my oldest son is considering giving up his parental rights to his toddler son, whom he never sees or even bothers to pay child support on. Don't get me started on that one. Today, my cell phone decided to just turn off by itself and now won't turn back on. Battery is fully charged, and I was downloading some music - something I've done hundreds of times without problems.

Just a small break, God....that's all I ask!
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Darn it, I wish we could edit our posts.

Dog will go to the vet this weekend if he doesn't get better. I've been on the phone with the vet daily and they say to keep watching him until then and continue the Immodium for another 24 hours - that there's a wicked virus going around in dogs around here that causes these symptoms. The problem is that he seems better for 12-14 hours, perky, playing, back to his old self - and seems interested in food, so he has a LITTLE plain boiled chicken and white rice (vet recommended) - so I think he's getting better and feel relieved. But within 30 minutes to an hour, he's back outside, getting rid of it in the most unpleasant way possible. (sigh) He has had all the "home" remedies recommended by the vet - immodium, chicken/rice, 24-hour fast, etc. This is horrible stuff. :-(
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Feel for you Susan - what we used to refer to as an AED, or Amazing Exploding Dog. Our collie cross, as she got older, reacted like that to raw red meat (not something I deliberately gave her, but she had resources…). Never did track down the reason for it. He couldn't have picked up a parasite, could he? Or a rotovirus? Poor little feller - and Poor You!!!
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Thanks Susan...and also so sorry about your pup....bless his heart...and yours...I'm not as atune to ailments with dogs...experience a LOT of stuff about cats...but I know their symptoms and such are not always caused by the same issues...

I keep reminding myself that I believe the closer you are to doing things right or the closer you are to something really good happening, the harder the devil will ride you....and I feel like he has a saddle and harness on me lately...I am bone weary...BUT Mama is happy and doing well, soooooo I remind myself of that as well and know that the other stuff is just stuff..and I need to file it away in the "useless worries" pile and forget it....it is so easy to get off track...and always seems like "someone" knows just which buttons to push...it is an absolutely glorious fall day out there so I am going to get out there and be thankful...Mama has been talking today...I am always so happy to see her like this...so all that other mess just does not matter...it hurts...but in the grand scheme of things, it just doesn't matter...
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Thanks ladies....at this point, we've had 2 trips outside today that have been pretty unpleasant, but he's holding steady right now. Fingers crossed that *maybe* he's getting better. I almost hate to say it, because every time I think that, he just gets worse again. But he's not at all perky - he's pretty lethargic right now. Everything I read online says this could be an intestinal infection.
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what a day so far . done the colonoscopy , got pulled over driving home and a ticket for driving while suspended . i guess 3 yrs ago when i got the pill charge i became sr - 22 status . insurance didnt refile my sr - 22 in aug . got it straightened out but will probably still have to pay the 200 dollar ticket . still lucky they didnt throw me in jail for dui . im not sposed to drive after the procedure but i took the chance . i wasnt impared by mine and the 3 cops ' judgement but being up all night and then cranked full of KO meds had me pretty glassy eyed . they even checked my arms for needle tracks . glassy eyed = heroin usually . someone from the farm had to come get my truck , they wouldnt let me drive home .
the farm foreman gave me about 75 pounds of frozen , packaged venison so ill begin canning it this evening . i gave him 40 bucks for it but its worth considerably more .
the colonoscopy looked great , one small pollyp removed .
two steps forward and one step back i guess . had i felt at all impared today i wouldnt have drove at all . as always , be considerate to the cops and own your screwups and they usually reciprocate with kindness .. i told em i knew dam well i wasnt supposed to drive home . if id have lied or played stupid theyd have beat me all the way to jail . cant say id blame them . i dont like liars -- ill pay the ticket ..
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Capt I am surprised they let you out of the hospital with out a driver but you probably told them Aunt Edna was out in the truck to drive you home.

Hope if the dog is still bad see if the vet will give you some steroid for him.. I would hold the chicken just give him the rice with some plain broth. Meat is too much to digest. Ask Bobi she has had the same problem herself!!!!!!!!!!!!! As I have. it is not quick to get over. Don't give up on him too fast unless the vet thinks he has cancer but that is another story.
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Cap, glad your procedure went well!

Talked to the on-call vet tonight after the dog had horrible episode outside - I won't go into the disgusting details, but suffice it to say there were new and very alarming symptoms that scared the heck out of me. I lost a dog to Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia several years ago, and my current dog just suddenly developed almost identical symptoms, with a major step-up in the severity tonight. Vet says I can bring him in tonight, but to be honest, he thinks it can wait til tomorrow to save me the ER visit fee (bless him!). He thinks it's colitis, but not ruling other things out, due to his age and breed. So he goes to the vet tomorrow and hopefully, we get things fixed. I have to say, though, this makes me sick to my stomach. Last time I took a dog to the vet with these symptoms, thinking she had something that could be "fixed", I came out of the vet's office having to bury my dog.
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Oh, and vet says not to feed him anything tonight, try to get a "sample" (ew...) and give him 2 more Pepto tabs tonight to try and calm things down in his gut. Now *that* was fun....this dog takes all other medicines like a champ, just swallows them right down. Not Pepto tabs. I had to shove them down his throat with my finger and stroke his throat so he'd swallow. Went through 6 tabs before I got 2 of them down him!
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Captain, bless your heart..hate you encountered all the problems getting home, but so glad your procedure went well....

Susan...will keep good thoughts for your pup..and for you....hopefully it is just an intestinal bug. Good thoughts and prayers for all....hope everyone gets a good nights sleep
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Thank you all for the good thoughts! My dog is going to be ok. He has colitis and should be feeling better in about 24 hours now that he has some meds on board. So relieved that it wasn't more serious.
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That is great news, Susan.
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Susan, yay! So glad he'll be ok. Give him an ear scratch for me :)
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Thanks butterfly and looloo! I was very relieved. I was so worried I was going to lose him. That happens soon enough with our pets, no need to rush it!
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My whine today is, why do people who do not deal with this disease always have to give their advice and opinion. oh just do this, and oh just do that, and oh don't ever lose your temper. They come over for a few hours a week and they know better than anyone else how to handle it. I guess I am just so exhausted today, I needed to vent
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Vent away, Fligirl58. We know what you're feeling. It's extremely hard not to lose your temper now and then or get frustrated. I've had more than one night where I've had to leave the house (only to stand on the deck), and it was all I could do to not slam the door right off the hinges. More than once I've gone to my room for the night and cried for a half hour out of sheer frustration. Just yesterday, when Mom refused to go to the bathroom before laying down to take a nap, and I saw that her pants were soaked and so was her chair pad - and she STILL wouldn't go and clean up and instead laid right down in her bed that way - I just about lost my mind. It took everything I had to control my temper as I very sternly told her (once she got back up) that this has to stop - she may not like it, but she either has to listen to me and do what I ask her to do, or I will be hiring someone - a stranger - to come in during the daylight hours and make her go to the bathroom. *That* got her attention.

Just hang in there.
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Susan, I am just now learning that a sterner approach, when necessary, is far more effective that pretending it is all okay. Of course, they do get ticked off at me but I hope I am getting through in some small way that I am a human being with feelings...just as they are. I still must walk a fine line as I am a niece, not one of their children, & I live in their home.
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man . i cut / split wood for 5 . 5 hrs today , went to visit edna and ended up back at the farm discing a field for 3 more hours . i have the headache from h*ll . its from those infernal KO meds at the va . you know its some wicked stuff that will blank your mind in a matter of ten seconds . va called this am and asked if i was ok . they asked me if i remembered the results of the procedure . yea i did . i was not impared on the way home , just had some skagged out looking eyes . theyre still skagged out looking today .
oh well . skewed gabba levels or no , im building steam in the old pressure canner tonight for the first time in 15 years . hope no jars break . thats a real drag when your canning meat .
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Canned venison chunks in quarts? 15psi? how long? any spices? Share the recipe! If you have a good marinade for jerky, rsvp.
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10 psi for 90 minutes pam . i dropped some red pepper flakes into the bottom of each jar and nothing else . mostly im trying to get a cellar full of nonperishable food because altho im not really an alarmist the world economy is not looking good at all . theres a very lengthy story tonight on der spiegal news online about the failure of many stimulous measures in the last 7 years and the western govts have about ran out of corrective options . this old guy plans to survive . it isnt by accident that my new woodstove has a panoramic front door large enough to cram tires into . if the economy really went off the rails id have the best bartering material in the county -- i can make the booze .
ive canned beef before and it is fork tender when you take it out of the jars . some of the jars im running right now have two hunks of deer loin in them . i know thats going to be delicious no matter what dish is made with it .
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hopefully when my g kids visit next summer theylle walk into a brightly lit root cellar filled with preserved food . they are at such an impressionable age that the image will never leave their minds .
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i read online last night that the electricity used for canning is miniscule in comparison to running a deep freeze year round . id never thought about it in that light before . ive just never felt the same security in having a freezer full of food that could go bad in a few days without power as the security i feel with a cellar full of preserved food .
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Pam we are at 1600 feet so all pressure canning has to be for longer and at 15 lbs per sq inch. I have an old canner with a weight would like to upgradw but can't justify the expence.
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Veronica - funny you should mention the old canner. I very distinctly remember my mom using one of those to can concord grape juice - her first attempt - and somehow, one of the jars broke inside the canner and the pressure sent the weight flying off and ricocheting around the kitchen, followed by a solid stream of scalding hot, deep purple liquid shooting out of the top of the canner like a grape geyser! She had purple-stained tea towels for years.
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Not an outcome I am planning Susan but I do remember many accidents in the '50s when pressure cookers first hit the market of explosions. there were even some deaths if I recall. The secret to not having jars crack is to heat the jars and fill with hot food before placing them in hot water in the canner.
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i had a couple of jars of venison break last night . it was because i heated the canner too quickly . i heard them snap as the cycle was starting . the bottoms came out of the jars neatly and without a stray shard . i carefully salvaged the meat anyway . the venison is so tender that a person with no teeth could eat it . ill run 7 more quarts tonight and put another spacer in the bottom of the canner and of course bring it up to temp more slowly . i noticed all the loudmouthed jars i used were old mayo jars too . fine for water bath but no go for pressure canner . my electric range sucks too . it regulates by coming full on and then shutting off periodically . that isnt helping one bit .
ill get it right . its been 15 years since i pressure canned anything .
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I bet that it was pressure canner mishaps, not regular pressure cookers, that are what people remember when they tell you they'd never have a pressure cookers. And captain, your grandkids will have good memories of "putting things by" - I canned, sun dried, pickled, did cloth diapers and my kids are have integrated all they osmosed in their lives today. It really is critical that our kids learn these skills like gardening and seed saving -
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Capt can you put something on the hot plate so the canner is not in direct contact while heating up. mayo jars are definitely not strong enough for the pressure. i use regular jam jars for jam and the original lids. It you fill them as full as possible the lids will seal themselves as they cool and suck the center of the lid down. It keeps just fine that way no need for refrigeration or anything. Works for hot pickles too so if you have the lids those mayo jars can be used that way.
What are you going to do for power when TSHTF? Just curious - I have my own ideas
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i have a gasoline generator veronica but part of the reason im canning is so i could live fine without power if necessary . ya know i always meant to test my moonshine in a small gasoline engine to see if it would run but its something i just never got around to . we are led to believe that creek water has too many parasites for human consumption but im saying BS . our family lived most of my childhood drinking and bathing with " filtered " water from our muddy pond . by filtered i mean it was only strained thru a few tons of pea gravel before being pumped into the house .
i dont think civil unrest will ever be an issue in the usa . law enforcement is incredibly powerful and have the ability to arm millions of deputized civilians in a matter of hours . im not paranoid of law enforcement . the dealings ive had with them in the last few years show them to be pretty civil if you treat them with a bit of respect . at one hearing i had for petty vandalization the judge asked me right away if i was in a position of elder care . they were taking that burden into consideration when i myself didnt realize the potential for frustration and lashing out that came with the caregiving gig . i was thrown in the slam and given a semiprivate cell instead of being thrown into an overcrowded drunk tank .
i have 7 more qts of venison on but this time im bringing the temp up very casually .
in ww11 the germans had fuel availability problems and they built double chamber wood stoves to run their trucks . the wood fire in the bottom chamber done nothing but scorch wood in the top chamber . the gases from the scorched wood were combustible enough to run the engines .
ive read that in the event of a complete breakdown in society that kids / teens would be your worst potential enemy . they wouldnt have sense enough to barter so they might try to take what they want by force . im way ahead of em . i plan to cook em and eat em .. suckers !!
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