Virus Rant

So the virus has been doubling here in the Ozarks. But all they care about is getting back to normal and getting the kids back into schools. Americans are so angry about everything these days. Jobs, makes, politics, and whatever topic you can think of. We have masks available here in the Ozarks lovingly sewn by locals and no one uses them. And the numbers keep going up. By the end of summer the rest of the USA might become like Italy. I hope and pray it does not.

These are weekly graphs generated by Mike Holloway. It is all fact based and has been going on since the outbreak.

The numbers for Missouri are going up.

These are the Missouri Counties. When we isolated in March there were 0 cases. Then Kansas City and St. Louis started, then after July 4th the numbers exploded and have been doubling daily.

And those who do not die and "recover" face a long battle of recurring exposure, limited lung capacity and lifelong health problems. If everyone wore a mask, social distanced and washed their hands, the virus would die out. But stupidly we spread it here for selfish reasons. 

Brother from another

This is my older brother I never knew I had. Until October of last year I was the oldest child in my family. But one day a letter from a stranger and a DNA test changed my life.

This is us. We drove to New Orleans to meet my older brother only five years older. Same mother, different fathers. But to be honest, he could be my twin. He was put up for adoption 7 days after our mother secretly gave birth to him. She never told anyone about what she had done. He was adopted, removed, adopted, had a very hard life. But he grew up into a really good person. I shared all I knew and let him learn about his cousins and uncle still living in the same area. He now has a sister, cousins and uncle to share his life with. A family that he has yearned for and what I never knew I had.

 

He has worked very hard his whole life. He is not afraid of anything nor anyone.

This is our maternal grandmother and grandfather. He did not get to know them but you can see he looks just like grandma. He got street smarts from both of them and a mechanical ability we both share. We both can figure things out and create from nothing. We both love mechanical anything and how to make it work.

He can fix anything he comes across. He works very hard for what he has. He can do anything he sets his mind to do. And very tough and loyal. 

And he has a dark side, something we both share. That missing bit of why this happened to us. But now that he is a grandfather, husband and good guy, his life can have some answers. And I have the gift of an older brother. Something I really needed after being the oldest but never feeling like I ever was. I am a middle child and that explains a shitload of things. Pardon my French. It is good to have family again.

July Harvesting

The dill is 4 feet tall and fully crowned in seed heads for pickle making.

Tiny pots of zinnia are blooming

The thornless blackberries are full. I pick about a quart a day. I fight the junebugs with a spray bottle of dish soap and water.

After too much rain we now have a 2 month drought here in the Ozarks. But I still water                                  and get some tomato each day. We have well water and so far, so good.

We are staying home since this virus began back in February- no church, no out to eat, no nothing.  We use and app to order Walmart groceries curbside pick up. We make a list of what we need, they have it waiting at a certain time, they load it and no money is exchanged. When we get home, we clean everything and out stuff away. We do no other shopping, straight home. Mask on and hand sanitizer following.

The virus is now hitting every state hard including the Ozarks. The death count is climbing and starting to hit home. When you have a town population of 500 and only 2 people wear a mask, you can see how this will play out. They think they are immune to the big city problems out here. But with summer travel, summer visitors, aged population and lack of social distancing things are getting real here. They are so in denial and wanting things to get back to normal out here as in the rest of the USA. The only normal has been the seasons and nature. Our town is 40 min. away from a hospital that has only 20 beds and no on site doctor. The big hospital is almost full and it is 2 hours away.

But the Ozark spirit will hopefully push us through this pandemic. At least we have a farm, food to grow and eat and that is all we need.

I am busy finishing up a quilt project and sewing masks as needed. No one wants a mask to wear here so I do not bother making any until asked. But I have made some very special ones that are machine washable for friends having to go through chemo. It is pretty sad how resistant everyone is all over the USA about mask wearing. Like a bunch of spoiled children. This pandemic has shown the world just how dumb our country is right now. But I can't worry about how the world see us. I can only deal with my world, Ruthlynn's World for the time being.

Smell Box

Over the years I have collected old boxes here and there. Usually at a yard sale or a thrift shop. This one looks old but is actually only about 5 years made in China made box. It is too small to use for anything and is weakly built, but it looks neat. 

I also have perfume samples I get from Olfactif .The ones I like to smell, I keep all -over the house. I wanted to have them in one place, easy to get to and use. So my husband measured the vials and the box and added an island graphic to the wood vial holder. Perfect fit for the vials and nice to look at. This was done using our Glowforge.

Now I have all my samples protected from sunlight and easy to get to in one place. This worked much better than drilling holes into a block of wood. He laser cut into a thin piece of wood and I peeled the tape off. I glued tiny legs to keep the wood holder in place. The blue ribbons are if I need to lift the holder out of the box for any reason. He will add another copy of the island scene on the inside of the lid. That way I can see the island scene. I like that I up-cycled this ok box. It has become a treasure box to me, a smell box.

Personal Storms

We volunteer at our church and have done so for years. When the pandemic arrived we made sure to keep open communications available for church service via internet source. I kept a newsletter going to keep everyone up to date as to when and how church would reopen. Church did but with many changes in place namely mandatory wearing a mask and social distancing. And it worked great for about a month. Then an older couple at our church complained to the priest about having to wear a mask in church. This couple, who are older and smokers resented the need to pray and wear a mask. So they complained enough that the mask wearing is strongly encouraged and not mandatory. And do you know what has happened, yep, the virus snuck in thanks to a granddaughter visiting from the city brought the virus with her and when to church without a mask. She is only in college and has the virus. Her family here is in quarantine, she was in the hospital. Her family is older and high risk. And now since mask wearing is optional you can guess what is now happening in the town just 40 minutes away from us. But it is not these people alone that are the problem. It is the lack of caring about your fellow humans. It is so selfish for you to not wear a mask, give dirty looks to those who do wear masks. When we have to go out with people, we mask up. We don't want the virus and we do not want to spread it. But people we thought were our friends gave us cold shoulders and hostile looks. I have not felt this out of place since living in Houston, Texas.
I keep on sewing masks and I keep washing my hands and wearing masks. We stay away from most social events and live off our farm as before the virus began. Just hard to feel so alone in the fight to ward off this virus.

Healing Cats

Last week three of our cats came down with an upper respiratory at the same time our eldest cat died. Turns out the older cat may have had herpes that showed up as she was dying. The rest of my herd picked it up as a virus and started coughs and congestion. Two different vet trips later and now our cat family is healthy again. I gave antibiotics, used hot shower steamy bathroom time and they healed up. It was a guess about the herpes virus and our eldest cat. They could have picked up the virus from a stray. It was a scary event that has never happened in the many years I have raised and fostered cats. Our vets out here do not have the labs to check if it even was a virus or not, only CBC of the blood. I am happy the herd is back to normal. Now back to garden work.

Croc O' Donkey

We have been dealing with our donkey, Shelby (yes the race car) and her bad feet for over 10 years. She came from a farm with white line disease. Basically is it crumbly feet. When we had three weeks of rain from the recent hurricane, her feet went really bad. They crumbled into powder in my hand. She would not walk and was in pain. Facing the reality of putting her down, I dove into research. She needed hoof stability while the new hoof grew in. Local farriers do not do this kind of specialized work herein the Ozarks. So I ordered a hoof resin kit, cut up a pair of kids Crocs and call the vet. Our vet came out and trimmed her feet and I mixed the resin. My first resin experience was crafting two new hooves in fast setting epoxy with window screen mesh. We took turns holding up her hoof till dry set in 15 min each hoof.Then we slipped on the crocs and the epoxy set the crocs onto her hoof. Then I wrapped orange duct tape around the crocs. The vet said she can stay this way until the boots wear off. 

This was my third attempt at securing her padding for her feet. She has super tiny feed only 3 inches wide. I have about 6 pair of children shoes I have cut up and placed on her feet all over the pasture. The secret I discovered was the quick set hoof epoxy and an extra set of hands. They do make sneakers for tiny feet but they are very expensive for something the donkey will tear off and spit out. These crocs were perfect in size and material and cheap used price. Shelby is a lot happier and keeping up with the herd again.

Chinese Strings

We recently upgraded my computer. I have been saving my music collections and had forgotten a few gems. One time on a trip I got to listen to a concert by Ann Yao playing a guzheng, which I also play.

She has a wonderful album Musical Brocade. Her live performance was so unique and relaxing treat for the ears. So peaceful. 

Sailing Away?

So plans have changed. Over the last year we have been studying and making plans to go to Japan.

But with the language issues, culture shock, and now the virus, plans have changed. Thanks to YouTube we have learned about cruisers and cruising on the ocean.  I am not talking about a giant party ship with 10k people crammed aboard. I am talking about a catamaran we hire a crew to take us on a journey someplace warm and with some paradise for a week or so. Thanks to Project Atticus, Parlay Revival and Sophisticated Lady they show what real life is like working and living on a boat. We want to learn the lines and also have a good vacation with a small group of experienced sailors and crew. I want to catch a fish learn to filet and cook it, snorkel in clear water, swim in the warm salt water, watch sunrise and sunsets and learn how to run/operate a catamaran and navigate a ship. We are both excited as we try to find a group that does this kind of private working fun vacation. We are not ready to buy and run our own boat, but want to learn and have fun. And see if sailing is our cup of tea. If you have any recommendations drop me a line at rmuhoberac@gmail.com.

Sign of Three

Three of our cats now have sinus cold upper respiratory infection in our household. Puff, seen above here is taking is badly. She has a short snout and always had sinus issues. Since we do not leave the farm we think the cats caught this from the woods. Some virus they got at the same time has made them lethargic and mucus filled. The good news is that they are on an antibiotic and I am using steam and heat to work it out of their systems. Takes 7-10 days for a cat to get over this. Puff gets to stay in the closed steamy bathroom while we take showers to open up her sinus. I did not need this blow after Pepper last Friday. But we can deal. This has never happened for our adult cats at the same time. Even with the many sick kittens we fostered over the years, our adult cats never got sick. 

We hope this is a one time event and they get better soon.

Tribe Trouble

On Friday I let Pepper the eldest cat outside on to our deck. She has a mini cabin that has a heating pad in it. I checked on her every hour and saw she was in the last throws final gasps. I picked her up and let her pass. It was hard to watch but I have seen death before. After a bit we got the auger on the tractor and took her out to a nice spot under a tree and dug out a deep hole and buried her. She lived a long well traveled life with us from Texas to Missouri. She was not in any pain so there was no need to have her put to sleep. So that was a hard weekend.

On Monday our two youngest cats developed an upper respiratory problem. We took them to our vet of 10 years and after a CDC test, antibiotic given, vet seemed to think it would pass. While waiting in the office for the test there was a lot of yelling from or vet and his office manager. The same two people who were just with us moments ago working on our cats peacefully. There was a plugged up drain and the vet cursed a long diatribe at his office manager to get that job,done like any moron could (insert curse words). They both then walked calmly back into the office to give our cats a shot. I was floored and angry. I know both of them for years and never heard this kind of belittling. After the appointment I went up to pay and quietly talked to the office manager about this verbal abuse she received from the vet. She laughed it off and said he is like a father and we banter like this often. I reminded her he never talks this way to us nor other clients. She said it is fine, he is "just like this".But I am not happy with this. We will be leaving and taking our animals to another practice. A person who talks profanely to employees while being nice to clients is not a good person to do business with. I do not like drama but I can't abide by poor behavior by a person who is old and experienced enough to know better. This is a toxic environment for her and the animals of this practice. End of rant.

Turning Japanese

We bought a Bloodgood Japanese maple online. Along with a willow, flowering cherry and Chicago figs. They seedlings are small and have some growing to do. The plan is to remove my flower bed and install a rock garden. Rocks are something the Ozarks have a ton.

These are not my photos but ideas we are using for our small flower garden.

This is a closer photo of our set up, few boulders, flowers and rocks. I am taking out the soil, putting down fabric and putting rocks in the bed. I will plant the Japanese maple and small plot of iris and rocks to fill the bed. My flower bed has become a lot weedier this year. And I can't keep it looking nice. It is the first thing we see out the window and it needs to be pretty again. And I love rocks and rock collecting. Our cats enjoy climbing the rocks and hiding in the larger rocks. Plus it is nice to sit on a boulder in the shade of a small tree that changes color though the seasons. The willow will go by our pond and the figs will go somewhere, not sure yet. Figs do grow here in the Ozarks. I am looking forward to more fig trees.

Some weeks are stones

I have not posted in a while as we had been busy putting in landscape fabric, veggies, and irrigation. I got all the spring summer veg in and now it is project time.

But as we have stayed at home for 2 months going on 3 we did have to go outside and provision up. It was neat in that WalMart has a phone app where you can order your grocery and they will give you a time for pick up slot. You go in your car at the time, park, tell them you are there and a worker comes out with your order and loads it in your car, done. We did that, it was wonderful. We hate to shop and this works out great for a time saver. We put in an order over a few weeks here and there for one single provision pick up. As we waited in the allocated parking for pick up we noticed no one wearing masks. Walmart employees had mask on but none of the shoppers did. And here we were in our car waiting with masks on. With the virus in our area being very low people were acting like life was normal. I felt like I was on the wrong planet. But we got our order and came home. We washed up, sanitized our grocery and put everything away and washed up again.

Life on the farm is always happening and sometimes death comes for a visit. Our older German Shepard is getting slower and eating less. She sleeps a lot and hardly gets up. Our eldest indoor cat who is around 18 years old stopped eating and drinking last week. She gets up from her heating pad to walk about then sleeps all the time. And then our donkey in all the weeks of raining developed a horrible hoof infection. There is nothing for the farrier to can do. The hooves are in a bad way. But donkey gets up and eats and keeps moving. So I give her meds and treat her feet daily. She might pull back from this and she might not. We need drier weather for her feet. Since none of these senior animals is in pain we let them live until they decide. It is hard when it is one animals, very hard with three at once. But I am happy we can take care of them. They have all their needs met and can enjoy their life. 

It is stressful to watch news and deal with the virus and farm all at once. So I stopped reading the news and focus on projects. I take care of the animals and the veggies and life goes on. Our church reopened and mask are optional. We stay away for the time being. Too risky as the virus is just now happening here in the Ozarks. I am looking forward to summer but worried about how the citizens of the US are so full of anger. The riots, destruction and anger in the cities makes me grateful we live in a farm in the middle of nowhere. I am hoping the coming weeks become diamonds instead of stones.