Ever Heard of This?

We are having a problem with moles in the ground at the farm. The soil is loose and sandy (duh.. Sand Flat Farm). They get in my garden and tear everything up. We also find that we have a little field mouse or two in our home. We went to Dollar General last night to get some sticky traps for the mice, and a young mother with no front teeth and a baby on her hip and a toddler in her cart offered this advice:

"My grandma always had moles in her yard and her garden. She said all you have to do to get rid of 'em is to stick a piece of Juicy Fruit gum down in their holes. They love it, but it stops 'em up and they die. It'll take care of mice, too! It's alot cheaper than sticky traps."

I'll let you know if it works. I gotta go to Walmart and get some o' them big ole packs of gum... If any 'o ya'll have helpful hints on gettin' rid o' moles/mice, lemme know...

We Interrupt Our Broadcast for this Important Announcement...

MY LIFE HAS CHANGED!!!

I've been on a blogging hiatus as you can see... I had cardiac catheter ablation last week for my tachycardia and the Dr. says that I am CURED! GOD HAS ANSWERED MY PRAYERS!!! It was the easiest procedure I've ever had done, albeit a little more risky. But my Russian, Jewish, New York BRAIN of a Dr. - Stanislov Weiner, has successfully ablated the extra electrical pathway inside my heart which was causing me to have racing spells and causing me all kinds of problems and wreaking havoc in my life (and the lives of my family) since I was 11 years old.

It was getting worse - it was getting restrictive - I was afraid to travel, especially outside of the country - outside of our hometown, even. I had to carry my medicines with me at all times, & my cellphone. I would not lock doors at home or at my office when I was alone (I work alone). I did not want to stay by myself. I was so paranoid that something was going to happen. It was completely debilitating. I never knew if my medicine was going to stop it or I would have to call EMS. I couldn't have a stomach virus or get too hot outside for fear of getting the least bit dehydrated because my heart would take off racing.

It all came up kind of suddenly. I went for my regular cardio appt. with my cardiologist in February, and we talked about this option again. We tried it 11 years ago with no success. But with a different Dr. and new technology, it appears that I am cured! I've had so many people praying for me here. God is so good!

I cannot begin to tell you all how this will change my life. Not only will I be freed from this burden, but I can enjoy things that I've done without since my early 20's. 30 years of NO Caffeine, no coffee, no tea, no chocolate, no concentrated sweets, no cokes. In the hospital last week, the evening after my procedure, my friends and family members brought me goody bags of all kinds of chocolates, flavored coffees & cocoas, teas, fruits, a chocolate pie and soft drinks. I ate a HUGE Hershey bar and drank a real live COKE and savored every single second!

I have since begun drinking coffee and sweet tea. My dear sweet husband warns me of indulging too much, of course, but I have alot to catch up on!!!

I can travel! I can continue to go on Mission trips to Mexico with our medical teams! (I have often thought about what would happen if I'd had to go to a Mexican hospital...) I don't have to carry my meds around in my back pocket anymore. I can be alone. I can lock my doors. I can be without my cellphone!

Dr. Weiner is nationally recognized, http://www.tylercvc.com/weiner.htm grew up in Russia, studied there, and graduated cum laude from Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the Bronx as well as studied Medicine in Russia. He has an interesting acccent to say the least. His Grandfather was one of the Russian scientists that put the Sputnik in space. He comes from some purty smart stock, to be sure. I can't say enough good about this guy. And the technology has come so FAR in how they map out your heart and the electrical pathways.

I would be remiss if I didn't tell you all that if you or anyone you know has a problem with arrythmia, please check into the ablation. You can read all about it on the internet and there are even videos on YouTube you can watch to know more about it. It has saved my life. Thank God for giving me the desire of my heart!!!

Silly Game

I'm playing along, too. (I'll show you my giveaway on my next post - I'm still working on it - it's not quite finished, yet!) Vee at A Haven for Vee had a cute game on her post this morning and I thought I'd like to try it! It originally came from Kathy @ A Shocking Pink Thread. I was in a playful mood today, so here goes...

1. REAL NAME: the Other V (you already know my name...)

2. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's and father's middle names): Jean Douglas

3. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad): Cecil Travis

4. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name): Feavi (WHAT?) http://www.flickr.com/photos/fondofelves/1810594879/

5. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Turquoise Horse

6. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, town where you were born): Lynn Tyler

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning): The Blue Milkshake (now I'd like to see that flying across the sky!)

8. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name): Vife (am I "fly" yet?)

9. STREET NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie): Jamoca Almond Fudge Reeses (Is that considered death by chocolate?)

10. ROCK STAR NAME (pet's name and street where you live): Tia Royal (sounds pretty good, huh!)

11. EXOTIC NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on): Trinket Don

12. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus-izzle): Vicizzle (to da mo'shizzle)

13. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets): Black Bug

Would you like to play, too? If so, consider yourself tagged! I'd like to see what you all come up with!

Blurb on Ethan

I just wanted to give those of you who are interested an update on E. He's still running a low-grade fever and they think he may have a little infection that has traveled to one leg. He's been having pain in his leg, but not enough to keep him from having wheel-chair races with the nurses in the pediatric unit. He's getting bummed cuz he has to be fever-free and infection-free for 2 weeks before they can implant his permanent pacemaker and he can start thinking about going home. Please pray for his immune system to strengthen and fight the infection so he can get his pacemaker. Oh yeah, he started his schoolwork, too. . .

Countdown to 100th Post - YEA!!!

Ok, here's #97. 3 more to go and I'll be at 100 and have my giveaway! Check back for the next post and I'll show you what I've decided to give away!

Not much to post about around here the last few days. Only thing out of the ordinary last night was that one of the cows in the pasture behind us got out and tromped through our back yard and left us a huge cow-pie. The barbed wire fence is loose and they've come through before. You should see me out there in the yard waving a broom and chasing these freaked out cows trying to get them to go back through the fence! Quite hilarious I'm sure! We didn't know one got out last night...

Also, when I got up this morning I heard the most awfulest (is that a word?) racket from the back of the house. I opened the door, and there was a band of coyotes howling, barking & chattering out in the pasture behind our house! They were hidden in the grove of trees, but they sounded like they were in the yard. We hear em all the time, but not this close! I kept a close eye on Bug (the chihuahua) as she went out to do her business this morning.

Ok, today the temp's supposed to get up to 78-80 or so. Pretty warm for February. Wish I didn't have to work today and could go to the farm and work on my garden. I started getting some seed and little plants to set out. The onions will go out first and then after the last cold spell, which is usually around Easter, we'll start setting out the rest. Altho Easter is a little late this year, may have to start before Easter. I can start the taters pretty soon, too. We were going to have our garden tilled up last weekend, but Princess's car konked out and we had to go trade cars with her at her college town. So, the garden had to wait til this weekend. I'm hopeful that everybody's garden will do better this year. 'Round these parts, something was "off" last year and alot of people's plants did not do well. Mine didn't either. And if Daddy's doesn't do good, then nobody's do good.

Here's a couple of before and after photos of the farmhouse. I was looking through them last night and am still amazed at the transformation. You can't appreciate the way it is now without seeing how bad it was before.

Amazing what a little paint, elbow grease & of course $$ can do. We did most of it ourselves except for the siding, windows, and central heat/AC. We've also taken that stupid satellite dish down. I hate those. I guess they're necessary but not for us.

Well, guess that's all for today. Our plan for this spring/summer/fall is to get working on the outside of the house. We have to paint the front porch and rails - it's so humid here most of the time, we had to let the wood dry out before painting. We've got flower beds to do, shrubs, the garden, and other landscaping stuff. I'm looking forward to it greatly. I love being outdoors.

I need to go by the chemical place and see if they have something for moles. It's so sandy out at Sand Flat Farm that we've scads of 'em. Somebody told me to put poison peanuts down in their holes, but we've got dogs, and don't want them finding the peanuts. Other than traps, I don't know what else to do. Traps can only work if you have a very fresh mound and if you can find the burrow. Maybe about 50% of the time. Any ideas you could throw my way would be greatly appreciated.

How come this goofy blogger leaves such huge spaces between paragraphs! I arrange and re-arrange several times, and it still does what it wants to!

Gotta get busy! Work's calling!