Toffee Treats and Ortho Appointment

Just what I needed after my crazy week. A package was delivered to my house with my name on it. When I realized it was from English Toffee Anytime, I was so excited! Andrea from Swamp Suburbia had invited her readers to enter a contest to be the first of 40 readers to receive FREE toffee. I entered at the last minute, but was immediately contacted by Ron as being the 39th person. Woot!
And I cannot say enough good things about this decadent, rich toffee. It is the best toffee I have ever tasted, honest! It is the kind of toffee that you can feel generous about when giving to others as a gift. I love that the ingredients are pure. I asked for the dark chocolate version and the only ingredients are almonds, semi-sweet chocolate, sugar and butter and pure vanilla. The pieces are huge and delicious to the last bite. The quality truly shines through. Check out English Toffee Aytime to order some for yourself NOW!


Mmm...After wiping the chocolate off my lips, it was time for my hubby to drive me to the hospital in Albuquerque to the Orthopaedic Department, for my first visit to the Dr.
I was feeling pretty good seeing all the equine magazines, while waiting in the exam room. I realized that my Dr. must be a horse rider and/or owner. And he is.

Dr. Atler gave me a physical exam by manipulating my leg and knee. Some of the swelling has gone done a bit, but the knee is still very tender, painful and 'loose'. So the exam was quite uncomfortable.

Dr. Atler believes I've damaged or torn my meniscus.
I learned that there are two C-shaped pieces of cartilage known as the menisci (plural:meniscus) that curve around the inside and outside of the knee to stabilize and cushion the joint.
Any activity that causes forceful twists or rotates the knee can lead to a torn meniscus.
Signs and symptoms of this type of injury include:

~Pain (CHECK)
~Swelling that occurs slowly, as long as 24 to 36 hours after the injury. (CHECK)
~Inability to straighten the knee; the knee may feel locked in place.(CHECK)
This is a drawing showing the knee and miniscus.

The knee contains four ligaments — tough bands of tissue that connect the thighbone(femur) to the lower leg bones(tibia and fibula). One of my collateral ligaments — the one on the outside(lateral collateral ligament) is most likely sprained. The anterior cruciate ligament(ACL) stretches diagonally from the thigh bone and connects near the front of the shinbone. Dr. Atkins believes my ACL is torn.
An ACL tear is likely to cause:

~Immediate pain that worsens when trying to walk or bend the knee (CHECK)
~A popping sound (I CAN'T REMEMBER)
~An inability to bear weight on the injured knee (CHECK)
~A feeling that the knee might buckle(CHECK)

An injury to the anterior cruciate ligament can be a debilitating musculoskeletal injury.
Continued activity on a knee with an ACL injury can have devastating consequences, resulting in massive cartilage damage, leading to an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis later in life.

The ACL primarily serves to stabilize the knee in an extended position and when surrounding muscles are relaxed; so if the muscles are strong, many people can function without it.

The term for non-surgical treatment for ACL rupture is "conservative management", and it often includes physical therapy and using a knee brace. Lack of an ACL increases the risk of other knee injuries such as a torn meniscus, so activities with cutting and twisting motions are strongly discouraged. For patients who frequently participate in such sports, surgery is often indicated.

And for me, my Dr. recommends knee reconstruction and repair surgery.

The surgery is typically undertaken arthroscopically, with tunnels drilled into the femur and tibia at approximately the original ACL attachments. The graft is then placed into position and held in place. A variety of fixation devices are available, including screws, buttons and posts. The graft typically attaches to the bone within six to eight weeks. The original collagen tissue in the graft acts as a scaffold and new collagen tissue is laid down in the graft with time. Which is why the graft takes over six months to reach maximal strength.

After surgery, the knee joint loses flexibility, and the muscles around the knee and in the thigh atrophy. Treatment requires extensive physical therapy to regain muscle strength around the knee and restore range of motion (ROM). Often the lengthy rehabilitation period may be more difficult to deal with than the actual surgery.

A rehabilitation period of six months to a year is required to regain strength and use. After surgery no athletic activity is advised for 6 to 7 months. Whether the ACL deficient knee is reconstructed or not, the patient is susceptible to early onset of chronic degenerative joint disease.
I'm still waiting for my MRI and then we'll know the exact damages. I'm a realist, but I'm going to try thinking positive and hoping for the best outcome possible.

Here's a diagram showing the ACL location.

For some reason I believed the rehab period would only take about 6 weeks...not 6months to a year! Gah! That's half a year to get back to normal. And worst of all, that's 6 months before I can even sit on my horse's back or ride the trails again.
I was on bedrest for a month when I was prego with my twins and thought I would go insane! And it's only been a week since my fall, and I am SO through with these freaking crutches and not being able to go freely up and down the stairs. I'm already tired of being tired, sore, and weak. I'm fed up with having to let everyone else do the things I used to do.

I sat in the exam room with tears streaming down my face, letting the news sink in. I felt like an elephant had sat on my chest. My heart ached. Not being able to play with my goats, snuggle with my llamas, feed my sheep, gather the chicken eggs is tough enough.

But having lost the ability to groom my beautiful painted mare, give her cookies, apples and carrots, halter her and take her for a walk, wrap my arms around her neck, tucking my face into her fuzzy fur and breathing in that earthy
horse smell is absolutely killing me.

I consider myself a pretty tough cookie, but I can't help from crying, especially when I see my horse and other critters out in the paddock. Please. Can someone tell me how I'm going to survive this ordeal?

I know this picture is awful, but can you sort of see my mare trying to figure out where my voice is coming from? Too cute! Do you think she misses me as much as I miss her?

John took this photo of me as we were leaving the hospital. My face was a puffy mess after all my crying.
And you can bet that, as soon as I got home from the Ortho, I burrowed into the English Toffee Anytime box. Made me feel just a tiny bit better.


Happy New Year from

Went to the Goat Show and.....

...................

and all I brought back was this lousy t-shirt!
Well, actually it's not all I brought back, and it's not so lousy either.
My family is now officially members of the SouthWest Nigerian Dwarf Goat Club!

I had hoped to take Moon Pie and show him, but because we had such cold temps and snow, I didn't want to trim all his fur. So instead I decided I'd just go and observe and get ideas for the next goat show in July, and show Moon Pie at that time instead.
I can't wait to wear the shirt in July!

While at the Goat Show I visited with my friend, Deanna, of Cornerstone Nigerians who sold me Moon Pie. She also sells handmade goat's milk soap, too. Her soaps smell and feel so rich, creamy, milky-buttery I just wish I could let everyone touch and smell these amazing soaps! The richest, sweetest smelling and creamiest is the Clary Sage Flax Scrub. I also like the Cucumber and Jasmine Gree Tea Soaps, too. What a treat!
And then I recently made a new friend, via Craigs List, who's son raises chickens. So I was able to purchase a dozen fertile eggs from him to give to our Speckled Sussex hens, which have gone broody over the past week. There are several Polish eggs, a couple Ameracauna, Black Australorp, and a few others which I can't remember. After labeling them with an 'F' for Fertile, so we don't accidentally remove them before they possibly hatch, we placed the fertile eggs in the nest box.
I had to scoot out our Speckled Sussex, Kipper, who wasn't all that happy about it. But she's still sweet and gentle and tolerated the move. I got the eggs all situated in the nest box, but I'm wondering if 12 eggs is too many? Our other Speckled Sussex, Spotty Dotty, isn't as dedicated to the next box afterall. And only 6-8 eggs seem to fit comfie underneath Kipper. Hopefully we'll get some chicks in a month, but if not then at least it will be a good learning experience for us.
Kipper waiting patiently for me to finish up with 'her' eggs. Wish us luck trying to hatch out some baby chicks from these eggs.

But the real surprise that I came home with, are these feathered cuties!!!

Previously I had no plans to bring home anymore chickens, but Sugar Creek Farm and Critter Farm's adorable Polish chickens made me yearn to have some of our own cute fluffy headed chicks. So, we bought some from my friend's son!
We ended up buying a Buff Polish, a Golden Polish and two White Silkies! Aren't they adorable?!
They are just 2 weeks old and have feathered out a bit.
The Golden Polish sleeps frequently and quite heavily! The Buff Polish is more active and likes to stretch it's wings alot.The Silkies are just the sweetest things and have odd little feet with extra toes,and feathers that already resemble hair.

All 13 and a Fart Egg

The other day, all 13 of our chickens laid an egg for the first time. Our chickens are now 26 weeks old and have been laying for several weeks now, so this is a big accomplishment.
The only negative thing is that the 13th egg was a fart egg (basically a shell with a gelatinous center and no yolk), and it's obvious who the slacker was due to color of the egg: a brown leghorn pullet. (my least favorite of all of my girls).

But on a positive note, we are now selling between 4-6 dozen eggs a week with a waiting list, too. Our girls need to get busy laying more eggs to keep up with the demand! hehe

Eggs 'a Plenty

Our girls are now 23 weeks old and have kicked their egg laying production up a notch.
We can now usually count on gathering between 8-12 eggs per day from our 13 chickens. And finally we feel like we have more than we can eat and can benefit by selling some more often.
Right now we have 6 dozen eggs in our extra fridge in the garage and have several people lined up to buy them this weekend and early next week. We got the word out through posting an ad on Craig's List and a local Message board, as well as through word-of-mouth, too.
Surprisingly I had to place several people on a waiting list because I received such a good response and have already 'pre-sold' all 6 dozen.
I am very excited about this new venture into chicken raising and egg production. On of the things I truly enjoy about having our little farm is how every day is something new and is often full of surprises.

Ready to Sell

I recently posted a wanted ad for egg cartons on our local Freecycle group and got an almost instant response from a kind lady who had about 75 cartons she had saved for her own chicken's eggs. Unfortunately, about a year ago her hens were attacked and killed by a bear and other predators, and she wasn't planning on getting anymore hens. She only lives about 15 minutes away up in beautiful and rugged Cedar Crest.I truly enjoyed meeting her and look forward to gifting her with some eggs soon, too.

Amazingly, she also answered my other wanted ad looking for a goat staunchion. I figured it would be a long shot asking for one, but put it out there because it would make my life easier having one to work on our current goats and provide a place to milk our future La Mancha dairy goat, too.
My hubby had even agreed, sort of reluctantly, to build a stanchion for me from the free plans I found on the wonderful Fias Co Farm website.
But being gifted this handmade one is even better, knowing that someone put their heart into it and used it to milk their own goats, too. Plus I love recycling and reusing any chance I get.

This stanchion is pretty sturdy, but it will need a bit of tightening up and just a couple modifications for what I'd like to do with it, but I'm so grateful to have it and look forward to sharing some future goats milk with the kind lady that gave me this, and who is now a friend.
Here's the stanchion in our barn.

The wooden stool in front I bought at a local feed store. It's really heavy and strong. And I love the idea that a local person built it. It will make a nice milking stool, I think.

Sold our First Dozen!

Now that our lovely hens are giving us between 6-7 eggs a day, we are finally feeling that we can share a few. And finally our chickens can start paying for their feed. haha!
We sold our first dozen eggs to one of our neighbors yesterday (notice the green egg we included for St. Patrick's Day). We charged $3.00 because this seems the going rate for farm fresh eggs in our area.
But I am very interested in hearing what others charge for their chicken eggs in different parts of the country. Please share!!