SUN...SUN...YAAIIIII

Longer sunny days at the farm...


Wow! The last three days have been beautiful and sunny. The snow has disappeared all so suddenly, and the ground is actually dry. It is wonderful. I hung my laundry out at 3 pm, and it was dry by after service tonight!

course now all the junk we left last year is showing up from under the newly melted snow...but we love it...I am itching to get out and clean everthing!!

We had short and to the point prayer meeting tonight. Thomas led worship; Ben led the prayer service.

Patrick made it home from his Cordova trip. The night before Patrick came home, Griselda dropped some firewood on her foot. Pat Lou and Peter decided that Gri needed to be taken to the Tok clinic the next day in our new ambulance.

Tok has “given” us an ambulance to aid injured people on the road near here or for our usage. We had to have drivers for the ambulance, other than the EMT people. Last night the designated drivers went to Tok for a class on ambulance driving. Of course Pat is and expert now...hehe...

We had another excellent service with Bobby and Cathy Owens on Sunday. Sis Cathy continued with her theme of reflecting Christ’s life. We had a ladies’s meeting at Kim’s in the afternoon with Sis Cathy.

Rus and Millie leave tomorrow for a couple of days in Wasilla visiting their grandkids. Jannis caught a ride to Big Lake with Sandy Sutherland; then she will ride home with Rus and Millie.

Have a great remainder of the week,

The lazy servant takes eight steps to avoid one.
~Proverb, (Portuguese)~

OUCH!!

Hello there!

Well.... things happen when u least expect it...

As u all probably know my husband Pat has been down in Cordova, a small fishing community only reached by ferry or plane, tuning pianos. This time because the ferry broke down he was a day late taking it from Valdez (another fishing community and the place where the Oil Refinery is situated), so long story short, Pat has been gone for almost 10 days, which is unusual for him.

So I have been home with Annie (16) and Rob (11 and DS), Rob has been sick with a croupy cold and flu things that has been going around for the past few weeks...actually folks have been sick with it for quite a while ever since we came back from our trip down south. Staying at home was kind of a bummer but we managed OK I guess, knowing that everybody was going to come back eventually. Because of our almost 3 weeks down south visiting relatives, Rob has been out of school for almost a month!

Yesterday, Sunday, both my older kids Pat (21) and May (19) came back home from being at the clinic in Tok, working and getting more hands on experience as EMT 3's. Big Pat called saying he was on his way back home too.

Well.... everything was hunky dory and I was enjoying listening to the big kids tell me about their Tokian adventures. We had just come back from the Tab having enjoyed a scrumptious Mongolian Moose dish put on by one of the Sunday cook crews....

At about 10 pm. the big kids May and Pat went outside to do some hatchet throwing with May's new hatchet and I proceeded to stoke the wood stove one last time before we all turned in. I have been doing this for many years and what happened next is totally unprecedented for me...I consider myself an Alaskan- bush-mom-veteran by now after over two decades living in this semi primitive environment.

...But as the fates wld have it...when I opened the wood box door which is about 5 ft higher than the floor, two huge green pieces of firewood which were apparently propped up against the door (and shouldn’t have) attached me and came flying out of there and fell on my unsuspecting right foot....
The pain was severe as I hopped around the living room uttering unmentionables.... I finally hopped out on to the porch and summoned my two kids who were merrily playing with their tomahawks...

Fortunately for me, they are not both EMT 3's so they went into immediate medic mode and carried me into the house again. Pat was in command; he amazed me with his strength (I am no fairy princess) and efficiency, as did May who kept the records and vitals going. They called their instructor at the Tok Clinic and asked her advice as to what to do…I was given a morphine pill and the foot was elevated and iced accordingly. Amazing what a pain it is to have to hobble along with crutches especially at our cabin with all the different levels…. May helped me take a shower and then helped me get to bed. So in a few minutes my normal bedtime routine was turned into something short of a nightmare…

It was a weird feeling to be taken care of by my own children…I kept thinking of them as babies and when I was nursing them or taking care of them…. had these flashbacks of when they were all little and so dependent…and then I wld look at them and realize that my babies are all grown and responsible young adults…can I take some credit for that? I hope so…although it does take a village…. as the saying goes…

We tried to get in touch with BP who had disconnected his cell phone (bad habit)…and woke somebody up close to where he was staying thinking that he was there. Anyway word got around and he must have been notified of our family emergency and called us.

Anyway long story short is that after giving me the morphine pill I was finally able to get to sleep and then the next morning we asked Annie to miss school and stay with Robin so we cld get to the clinic.

The neat thing about it all is that because my kids are part of the EMT TOK EMT squad they have given our community a fully equipped and operational (second hand) ambulance, so Pl drove the ambulance to Tok and May rode behind with me checking my vitals. I found out that this was their first run in our own ambulance and that I was their first real patient. Together with Jon Squires they got me onto the gurney and into the ambulance.



The trip by ambulance was very bumpy, I think I prefer the chopper ride I got when Robin was born 11 years ago.

The staff at the clinic was quite efficient and after I was examined some X-rays were taken while May and Pat waited outside and filled in their paperwork and reports. It was determined that I suffered a bad traumatic impact and nothing was broken. Again, it was neat to see the rapport and camaraderie that my kids enjoy with the medical personnel at the Tok EMS clinic. Who wld have thought? My Kids? EMT 3’s…makes a Mom sooo proud!

So I was prescribed some pain medication, bought a nifty air Velcro splint and sent back home in the ambulance with Pat as my driver.

All in all quite the experience and hopefully my foot will be good not too far off, after some R&R…

So glad all this happened when May and Pat where here to take care of me….
☺

SORRY NOT MORE FREQUENT...

MY SWEET SIS ALEJANDRA AND SELF...WE HAD SUCH A GOOD TIME!







Hi All,

Life has been hectic up here on the farm....after our trip life started getting messier and messier, tons of folks were sick with a nasty virus which first attacks the bottom half of u and then goes up to the top half of you. Kids out of school, teachers too, classes cancelled.
Usually my hardy Welsh/Argentinian/Italian ancestry weathers these kinds of things well, but this time even I got the bug slightly. Only lasted 2 days for me. Robin is another story...he NEVER gets sick...and I am not used to this. It has been a whole week for him since Open House at School. Nasty croupy cough which wont go away. Girls have asked me to let him sleep downstairs on the couch poor thing! So he has been holed up for a while now.

Pat Sr. has been in Cordova working on pianos for a week too and still has another 4 days. PatLu has been at the clinic in Tok for 2 weeks catching up and getting hands on time...May left today with Jon and Joey to take some additional courses at the clinic, and Annie is out doing the cattle run/rodeo...here I am with Rob trying to catch up...

OK NUFF' ABOUT THE BUONGIORNES, SOME FARM NOOS NOW .....

Good morning everyone! It’s been way too long since I’ve written. Sorry about that.

Just a few minutes ago, my house was all quiet while everyone snored (quietly) away; now, in a matter a minutes, it is a quiet again after a five minute burst of doors slamming and some yelling. Tommy, with the help of whoever would go out, is moving his beef cows and calves across the road. Before my kids left, Chris and Cody were sitting on our porch humming and singing waiting for Seth (who I was supposed to wake up). I guess they are going out to catch and harness the horses being used for the round up.

Bobby and Cathy Owens are here for the weekend. They preached last night, and they will preach again on Sunday.
Sis Cathy shared on being a reflection of Christ.

Yesterday we woke up to a fine layer of beautiful, unwanted snow. Yesterday was terribly gray day. This morning, I can see a few sunrays making it through the clouds. I know I haven’t mentioned it, but spring has finally arrived to the north; the snow is slowly melting.

We had school open house last week. It was a great event, as always. The kids always love it the most; but the adults are the ones who make it fun for the kids – thanks for all the great participation from you all who live here. I do have some pictures, but don’t count on seeing them ever – I’m so back logged on my pictures.

Patrick B is in Cordova tuning pianos for 10 days.

Several people here, including me, got this stinkin’ flu bug, but we’re all getting better, and hopefully, it quits passing itself around. (That’s a great run-on sentence.)

Steve and Judy will be back home before I ever mention that they’ve gone to the states to visit their kids for a few weeks. Sorry Bro Steve and Sis Judy – hope you’re having a fabulous time!

Ben is in Fbks at another show this weekend. I think it was held on Eilson.

Merlin has finished building his house that he has on a plot in Delta. He has put the little plot with the house up for sale just this week. Even though I helped him make the fliers, I can’t remember what he’s charging.

The greenhouse is up and running. Kathy Casey and Wendy with the help of Bro Rus and others have seen to that. Jarred got the batteries in our well house replaced. We have needed that to be done for awhile. Yeah for Jarred!!!!

As u probably have heard my two nieces have gotten job in Fairbanks and living with their mother. Erica who graduated with my May is taking a one year accelerated beauticians course offered by UAF and her younger sister Kelsey is working as a landscaper thru the summer months to save up for her Paramedic career int he future...

I’m sure there is more news, but I should get myself moving along here. I hope everyone is doing ok.

The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it,
to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not,
and never persist in trying to set people right.
~Hannah Whitall Smith~
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *