Sickness, Turkey Eggs and Bees Oh My

Vulnerable...That is the only word I can think of to call Challenged Acres the past few weeks.  I had a lot of couch and bed time to think of what if's the past couple of weeks.  What if we were already in a SHTF scenario and all of us were sick at the same time.  Yes it can and did happen but we muddled through it.  Grandson brings a lot of little germies home from school.  The minute he hits the door we make him change clothes and wash hands all the way to elbows.  This time he had a ear and sinus infection which just happens.  I don't think either of these are catching.  I called my nurse practitioner and took him in for an exam to get an antibiotic.  Nurse Practitioner gave Grandson a note to take the rest of the week off from school and then it's off to Walmart to get the prescription filled and there you wait around among all the sniffling, coughing folks waiting for their prescriptions to be filled. 

Two days later Grandson is feeling so good he is bouncing off the walls.  I sneezed 4 or 5 times that evening and thought it was allergies and went to bed.  The next morning I get that little nagging burning sensation I get just at the top of my chest when a lovely bout of Bronchitis is fixing to hit.  Hit it did and hit me hard.  In spite of a round of antibiotics, homemade remedies and Musinex I coughed so hard that I tore a stomach muscle.  I have never in my life tore a muscle like this.  If any of you have had surgery where a muscle was cut through and you have to cough....well, this is what I have been going through.  It hurts so bad that you can't help but cry out loud each time you cough.  Nothing to do but rest it and take Ibuprofen for the pain.   I have been sleeping in the recliner as it hurt too much to lie in bed.

Two days into my illness Papa Bear tells me that his stomach hurts and a few hours later he is in the bathroom praying to the ceramic god.  A stomach virus has hit him.  All of this time we are wearing mask and hitting the germ-x bottle before going into the Marine's room trying to keep all of these woes away from him but he still gets the nasty cough and high fever..  Thanks God we have a good doctor for him.  I can just call and actually talk to him and get a prescription called in.  Daughter picks it up after school and brings it to us.

Mom lives in a small trailer on our property and wants to help but I sure didn't want her with any of this stuff at her age and I told her to stay away that I would call her if I had to.  She still managed to sneak in fruit and a big pot of soup. She also made a run to the store in the dark for ginger ale and crackers.  Mom doesn't like to drive at all let alone in the dark.. 


During our illness there were still chores to do. On a good day things can get hectic but when you are sick it seems to take 3 times as long to do anything.  The Marine has to be turned every 4 hours, meds and food needs giving every 4 hours.  Animals that needed feeding, eggs to be gathered and a neighbor needed saving.  That's another story I will tell later.

 Papa Bear found our first turkey eggs today!  I don't know if first eggs are fertile or not but I am going to see how many I get this week and incubate them anyway.

 I finally opened the smaller of the 3 boxes that were delivered a couple of weeks ago from the Bee place.  I feel like a kid at Christmas with all these new toys to play with.  I've still got to pick out the location for the two hives and get them set up.  The bees will be here in April and April will be here before I know it!

Many of my little seedlings I started did not make it due to lack of care.  I should have had them in the ground by now.  I hope by the weekend one or the other of us can handle the tiller and get our garden show on the road!