Hello out there!

Who knew that having a puppy and a four-year-old in the house at the same time could keep me so busy?  Especially when neither of them likes to see me on the computer.  The four-year-old goes home in the evening and is usually only here four days a week.  But the puppy stays, and wants constant attention, which he can't get if I'm doing a blog entry.  I've tried holding him on my lap while I surf, but when he sees my fingers dancing over the keyboard, he assumes it's a new game, and that he is supposed to bite them.  This doesn't work too well for me.

Cliff is happy to see weekends arrive these days; he only has to drive to the city for radiation on weekdays, and he's glad to have a two-day break.  So far everything is going well.  He still isn't having any problems from his treatment, or side effects from the estrogen implant, if that's the right term.  I wasn't with him when the doctor talked to him about that, and am not sure what it's called; it releases over a period of six months.  However, in his weekly conference with the doctor, he was told, "You WILL eventually have hot flashes."

Our little girl is in Iowa with grandparents for the coming week, so I'll probably ride to St. Luke's East along with Cliff the next few days.  The trip takes fifty minutes one way; the actual radiation only takes six minutes, and they usually take him right in, even if he's early.  He goes by way of Blue Valley Parkway heading in (very little traffic), then takes I-70 coming home, which takes us past almost any store I might want to stop by, Costco being one I'm always happy to visit.  I might sneak briefly into Kohl's, since I've lost some weight and some of my jeans are getting ridiculously loose.  I'd order some on Amazon, but since each brand's sizes differ from one another, I'll need to try some on.  I HATE tight jeans.  Cliff has lost 28 pounds, I've lost 13.  As usual, we don't "diet", we count calories.  I take that back; I count calories for both of us.  Don't get the idea I'm bragging, because in my entire history of weight loss, I've never kept it off long.  Maybe this will be the time it turns out different.    

We got a little boost this week that worked for the cause:  A horrible intestinal virus hit us both on the same day.  I don't think it was anything we ate, because our little girl's dad had the same thing that hit him 12 hours before we woke up sick.  That child would be the common link for all of us, and her daddy mentioned early in the week that she had a brief problem, although nothing anywhere as bad as our bout with the scourge.  Thank you, Little Princess, for the extra two pounds I lost over a period of 24 hours... OK, it was actually three pounds, but one came back.

Our Holstein steers are a year old and will go to the butcher shop as soon as deer season is over; the shop doesn't take anything in except deer during the hunting season.  That's about all they can handle.  I don't think we will need to raise a calf for ourselves this coming year, but the grandson wants another one, and also my daughter and her husband.  The Holstein bull calves are really cheap now, $120 each, last time I checked.  At $40 per bag, buying three or four bags of milk replacer for each calf is where most of the other expense comes in.    

I hope I've at least caught everybody up on the goings-on around here.  

Peace.