The Wellness Prepper

It’s not Just the Water….

We’ve lived on our farm for nearly 24 years. When we first moved here, our hometown, Anna, Texas was population 900. Today, I believe it is pushing 10,000. Although we’ll likely never move, we’ve learned some valuable lessons about buying property, utility companies, and government. All these things would play a part in a ‘do over’ if that were possible in life.

Little towns everywhere (but especially those within an hour or so of booming metroplexes) are frequently the assailed and hostaged of the aforementioned entities. Things happen. Deals are made behind closed doors. Money exchanges hands. The voices are too few to fight back. In a town of 900, those who try to fight are easily outnumbered by big business and big government. It is tragic. There is a difference between growth and what I can only call a hostile takeover of urban life. Residents in small town USA bear the brunt of the outcome. Continue reading “It’s not Just the Water….” →

21 Mar 2018 3

Coming up for Air

Lordy, the first quarter of 2018 came in like a lion, and then took over my life. Here’s a toast (of raw milk) that 2ndQtr 2018 will be a little gentler on my time. The good Lord only gave me 24 hours in a day, and they’ve been filled to overflowing. Thank goodness I’ve been blessed with a fast metabolism and have access to NingXia Nitro.

Rain: Henceforth known as “The Great Flood of February 2018”. While we desperately needed rain, in this part of Texas, the weather is feast or famine. It’s either scorching hot, windy as heck, insanely beautiful, or swampy wet. February was cold and wet. In fact, it was too wet to be muddy some days. The mud came later tho….. Continue reading “Coming up for Air” →

6 Mar 2018 3

The Language of Love

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Honestly, as much as Charlie and I love each other, we are not huge proponents of this particular advertising holiday…. ’cause we just love each other every day, and do our best to show one another that we still do #evenafteralltheseyears. I mean, why limit your love to just one day? Of course we both fail spectacularly on occasion…. but the point is, that we both do try. Continue reading “The Language of Love” →

13 Feb 2018 0

One ‘flu’ Past the Cuckoo’s Nest

It’s Tuesday January 30th. Tomorrow is Elsa’s one month birthday, and I feel the concern about her living (or not) washing off of me. She is a normal calf in all ways barring her cleft palate. Scratch that… well, maybe not exactly normal. She plays with the dogs, loves human attention, and follows me around like a toddler when I’m outside. Her feeding schedule is now on official every 8 hours (whew!). In my book, that makes her better than normal, right?

Does all this milk make my butt look big?

Cutie pie!

Elsa’s mouth is a little off center. She frequently has her tongue out on the right hand side.

those eyelashes!

As in all other aspects of my life, when the major stress is over, that’s usually when my body lets down its guard and my immune system fails me. No better time for that than smack dab in the middle of flu season. I have been praying that my body does not succumb. It’s particularly nasty this year if you haven’t heard. In our area of Texas alone, entire school districts have been shut down for days at a time, and the lingering effects include a hacking barky cough that lasts for weeks on end. I’ve got no time for that nonsense. Continue reading “One ‘flu’ Past the Cuckoo’s Nest” →

30 Jan 2018 5

Behind this Farmgirl….

……. stands a man who supports me in all that I do. My farm guy and I have been married for 25+ years, and he truly never ceases to amaze me with his support, care, and love.

I’m not gonna lie, these past three weeks have pushed me to the limit and have brought out the cranky side of me. I feel like lack of sleep has called out my evil twin. Charlie has been awesome despite all this, and has picked up where I’ve had to leave off to keep Elsa fed and cared for. (She is doing INCREDIBLE by the way… and feedings are now spread to every 5 hours!) Continue reading “Behind this Farmgirl….” →

23 Jan 2018 4

Elsa/ Day 6

It’s actually day 12 of Elsa’s little life, but it feels like day 30…. she continues to grow and progress. We’re still settling into a new normal around here (ie: rearranging ALL of our sleep patterns and everything else that comes with a special needs baby that requires attention every 4-5 hours). I continue to try to teach her to ‘figure out’ a way to nurse, and although she tries, she simply cannot get enough nourishment simply by sucking on her mama’s teat. The negative pressure required to get the milk out is not easily achievable with a cleft palate. Continue reading “Elsa/ Day 6” →

11 Jan 2018 2

Red Pilled

(I’ll post on Elsa update a bit later, but I needed to get these thoughts out of my head first!)

Many many sermons ago, our pastor talked about the movie, The Matrix. I’ve never seen it…. not a huge fan of science fiction…..but the allegory intrigued me. Hollywood does tend to mirror real life, even in science fiction.

Lately, I’ve heard the term ‘Red Pilled‘ bandied around. It didn’t even occur to me that this phraseology was again a nod in reference to The Matrix. Continue reading “Red Pilled” →

9 Jan 2018 1

Following Elsa

My world has come to a standstill…..at least it feels that way. I take my hat off to all those mama’s who have (human) babies. The 24/7 is real….. even more real when you’ve got one with a health problem.

Elsa’s entry into the world, while received happily by us has been fraught with issues. The last two days, we’ve been unraveling the problem(s) that have plagued her. Continue reading “Following Elsa” →