The Farm

I have great memories of being on my grandparents farm as a kid. My Mom was a school teacher and every summer her and my sister and I would travel by minivan up to Western Pennsylvania to stay on my grandparents farm for three weeks. I looked forward to this trip more than anything else all year. I loved the serenity and nature of the surroundings, the calm quiet, the daily chores to keep the farm going, the animals, the simplicity of it all. Here is a picture of me petting one of the barn cats in the barn where I spent a good portion of my time.

Looking back now I realize what a phenominal place it was and the hard work that my grandparents put in to keep it going. My grandfather was known all over for his amazing flowers. Every year he would plant five huge circles of flowers lining the driveway plus all along the front of the house. The tall middle flowers I remember he would dig up and keep in the large greenhouse he built through the winter then re-plant (perhaps it was just the bulbs? not sure) when spring rolled around. People would come from all over to see his flowers often stopping to take pictures. Now that I am older and giving my green thumb a go planting and caring for my own flowers I realize the dedication this takes, even for what little I have. I wish I could go back and tell my grandpap how proud I am for all his hard work. I also wish I could go back and take notes because he sure had a knack for growing big beautiful flowers!

To the left and above are a couple pics - one taken from the driveway looking down to the house and the other with my Grandma standing in front looking up towards the road.

Not only did my Grandpap plant and maintain all these beautiful flowers but he also had a huge garden... and I mean huge. At one time I think it was almost 2 acres of all kinds of fruits and veggies. The front half of the land was rows of every kind of vegetable and ground growing fruits like cantalope and berries. Then the back part was where he would grow pumpkins for the fall. Eventually when he started having heart problems, or maybe it was the fall from a ladder that broke his hip, he stopped growing pumpkins. But that didn't slow him down. In fact I don't know how he did all that to begin with, keeping in mind he was in his 70's during this time. Before that he also had in addition to the flowers, pumpkins, and vegetable garden, a full farm with animals such as cows, pigs, chickens, sheep... the pigs and cows were my favorite! And this was what he called retirement!!! Here are some pictures of the garden. He had everything from tomatoes, to green beans, potatoes, green peppers, broccoli... you name it! I can tell you one thing for sure we always ate good when we were there. Every meal included salad and veggies fresh from the garden. I wish I realized how lucky I was to have this exposure as a kid. I also remember my grandparents were never wasteful. I don't even think they had a trash can. My grandma kept an old cooking pot and all the food waste (food peels etc.) and things like that would get dumped into her "compost" (it wasn't exactly a compost but they had an area in the woods next to the house where they would dump these things). Then they had a separate area for paper trash. This would get burned at the end of each day. Whether or not this was such a good idea environmentally I don't know but to them it was less trash. Everything recyclable (cans and bottles) would be just that, recycled.

I also loved all the animals I got to be around when I would visit the farm. There were always the barn cats to take care of and they loved the extra attention when I came around. As a child I remember trying to climb through the fence so I could ride the cows. Good thing someone was always there to stop me. I also remember always asking if I could get in the pig pen and play, but I was never allowed. I think my love and animals grew from these experiences. When I got a little older (around 10) and my Grandpap had to cut back on some of the things around the farm (like the pumpkins) he decided to sell the animals. It was at that point the horses came. My grandpap had a nice barn (which of course he built himself) and he figured rather than letting it go to waste or just becoming storage for the tractors he would rent it out. So a few local ladies with horses moved their animals in. He always had anywhere from 5-8 horses boarded. It was always the same ladies and after a few years of becoming friendly with them (remember I was always in the barn, especially around feeding time to lend a hand!) I was allowed to ride. This was a new highlight for me! I had ridden horses a little before. Some neighbors had an old (I think quarter) horse and I would often go ride her. But this is where I got my first experience ridding english saddle. It was lots of fun!

I definitely miss the family farm. My Grandpap passed away when I was 19. He maintained a sized down version of his garden, the greenhouse, and 2 flower beds up until then even through heart problems and a replaced hip. My Grandmother stayed on the farm for a few more years until the winters were too bad for her to be out there alone. I was heartbroken when the farm sold. My dream had always been to live there and follow in my grandfather's footsteps. I am glad I have the memories to hold on to.

Nursemaids Elbow

Never thought I would be posting about something called Nursemaids Elbow but unfortunately I got a first-hand look at it today and I can tell you it wasn't happy or fun! My poor little guy was climbing up to sit on the chair next to me at the kitchen table this afternoon as I was clipping coupons. This is a new favorite pastime of his - climbing in general! I found him on the kitchen table this morning and he is even able to climb into the car and into his carseat unassisted (of course with some spotting from Mom)! We have affectionately started to refer to him as the family "dare-devil". Well today the dare-devil met his match!
Like I said before he climbed into the chair to my left and as usual sat right on the edge of the chair. This always makes me nervous but I have found if I move him myself he will usually do the defiant toddler thing and move right back so I left him where he was. We were listening to his favorite children's folk music cd so I am not sure if he started dancing or just slipped but I caught him in the corner of my eye and I grabbed for him but only got his hand/arm while the rest of him took a tumble. In retrospect he probably would have been better off just falling off the chair as a whole, arm included because 30 minutes later we were in the doctor's office having his Nursemaids Elbow looked at. Thankfully she was able to maneuver his arm a bit and his joint I guess popped back in place. Nevertheless it provided for a very upsetting day all in all.
Of course when he first fell I scooped him up to console him, not yet aware of the severity of the incident. Being the dare devil he is we have gone through these motions before a few times. He usually cries for 10 seconds and then he's back to climbing again! But this time I could tell there was something more. I started to try and undress him to see if I could see where the injury was and I realized that he was having lots of pain whenever I tried to move his right arm. I thought for sure I must have dislocated his shoulder by grabbing his arm when the rest of him was falling. I felt horrible that I couldn't console him. Later at the doctor's office she asked if I could nurse him to soothe him. Boy I wish that had been an option! I have tried this in the past but ever since we stopped using the Lact-Aid after his first birthday he won't nurse unless it is in the middle of the night to help lul him back to sleep. And even that he hasn't wanted any part of for the past few weeks. It seems to frustrate him more than anything so I didn't want to add insult to injury. It did make me think of some other moms I know who are recently weaning their children from breastfeeding. I would give anything to be able to offer my own milk as comfort to my child let alone nutrients. Although I hate to admit it I even have a hard time being around them lately, I think because for one I am jealous and second I am sad they don't see the breastfeeding relationship for what it can mean to the child. Especially with Luke even rejecting comfort night nursing.
But I regress... So after we shed some tears (I felt horrible! I have never seen my little guy in pain and it was heart-wrenching) I called Dave and asked him what I should do and we decided Dr. Punger would be the best place. I can't stand the ER and choose to avoid it at all costs! And thankfully she was able to fix him right up! He cried the whole way there (I felt terrible putting him in the carseat!) and off and on while I consoled him in the waiting room but after she manuevered his arm he was miraculously healed! I almost felt crazy, like I over-reacted! But of course I didn't.
Then when I looked up Nursemaids Elbow I saw it is something usually attributed to nanny's or babysitters? What does this mean? And I wonder if all the problems I have with my joints has been passed on to my little guy? I sure hope not. That was a pretty good fall and unfortunately my grabbing for him led to a pretty good tug of his arm.
Well that is the summary of my day. My two guys just woke from their nap so I gotta go. Hopefully next post will be about something happy!