MFA Mama

I am still out of sorts; here is a cute fuzzy bunny

Figure One: Nine days and a little fuzz makes a BIG difference! Much cuter now.

Figure Two: And here is a bonus photo; I think it's one of the best I've ever personally taken. This is one of the MFA Honeybees working the borage in the front strawberry bed. Borage flowers are delicious in salads and on cakes and cookies. Bees love them too, though, and will buzz your head aggressively as you pick.

eight of 'em

Figure One: Yeah, not so cute. Give 'em a couple of weeks.

magic eightball says: ask again later

   Lots of stuff has been going on that I can't tell y'all about QUITE YET, but one thing I CAN tell you is that Pfeffer is VERY PREGNANT. Like, as in my original research suggested that rabbits COULD kindle (what it's called when they give birth) any time between twenty-nine and thirty-one days' gestation. HOW EFFICIENT!

   Well, today is day thirty-one of Pfeffer's pregnancy and so far? No babies.

   She's DEFINITELY pregnant; you can feel the little buggers squirming around in her belly when you pick her up. In fact, they seem to go almost up to her armpits, so I'm thinking she might have A LOT OF BABIES in there. 

   So I asked Dr. Google, DVM about rabbit gestation length again, because we know what day Haas and Pfeffer got busy (yes, we spell his name with two As, because with one it looks like the past tense of the verb "to have" plus MAYBE HE IS NAMED AFTER OSTER HAAS, THE EASTER HARE, DID YOU EVER THINK OF THAT? OR EVEN THE AVOCADO. Just because Pfeffer is Pfeffer and they're rabbits doesn't necessarily mean his name is Has. This just goes to show you what happens when you ASSume things, people). According to one source, thirty days. According to another, twenty-nine to thirty-one. A third states that first-time mother rabbits can go as long as thirty-FOUR days. 

   What. The. HELL?

   So basically nobody knows how long rabbits stay pregnant, poor Pfeffer just has to wait it out, and I'll keep y'all posted.

ENT

*   The ENT office was huge and cushy and efficient, and ran on-time. The very nice ENT, Dr. JewishName,** first came in to meet me and have a cursory look into both ears/tap around on my face and head. He pronounced my GP to have "dropped the ball" and Bad Ear's eardrum to be "not as awful as I'd expected," and sent me for an immediate hearing/audiology workup. My hearing in Bad Ear is diminished, but I didn't TOTALLY bomb the hearing part of the test. The sucky-puff thingy to check eardrum flexibility showed a diminished range of movement on Bad Ear's side, but apparently only to the degree that's to be expected in a recently-ruptured eardrum, not to the point that it's not moving because it's stretched tightly outward with fluid or infection. It's just stiff and creaky like everything else on my body right now. "You should have come and seen me a month ago," said the nice ENT. "I would have been a hero. I could've relieved all of your discomfort and speeded your healing by popping a tube in that sucker," said the ENT indignantly, while pinching and manhandling the area around the former pustule (it drained en route to the appointment, apparently, and is still a little sore but Dr. JewishName felt no tract or swelling of the underlying tissues and said to just keep using hot compresses and topical stuff on it unless I spike a temp/grow a horn). "Open and close your mouth a couple of times, please...ohhhh. Yep. I think this is coming from your temporomandibular joint. Are you under any extraordinary stress?"

*   Dr. JewishName then took me to a "procedure room" and had me lie down. He crawled Bad Ear with a microscope, then torqued my head and neck around some thoughtfully. "How's THAT?" he asked, digging the tip of his thumb into my head directly in front of my tragus. "GAHHHH!" I yelled. "Uh huh. Yep. There's nothing I can do for this. I treat it sometimes with steroids, but if those haven't helped and you haven't developed a fever it's most likely not autoimmune or infectious, and I'm going to say it's PROBABLY musculoskeletal, which is usually stress-related. You're going to have to see an oral surgeon about this. All I can do is give you some pain relief you can safely take before a potential surgery...NSAIDs...mishegas!"

*   So, you know, the appointment wasn't a waste of time. I both showed up and walked away with a plan to see a specialist who should hopefully FIX ME, yes, but at least now I have something to take at night when I am not working or driving or doing homework or kicking the garden's ass. 

*   I am VERY IMPRESSED that I cleared the residual resistant bugs from Bad Ear with nothing but my native immune system, Ciprodex drops, regular neti pot rinses and everything-the-innernet-said-to-try-that-didn't-sound-dangerous. GO, ME! It's nice to feel like I had something to do with that what with all of the positive dietary and lifestyle changes I've been working on making. Over all this is FABULOUS NEWS, not only in that I went into this appointment with all of my pills, my mouthguard, and a spare pair of panties in my purse (because I was so sure I'd end up either in Club Med for IV antibiotics or having surgery) and was able to then leave the office and meet my kids coming off the schoolbus and hug my husband, but also in that MY IMMUNE SYSTEM DID ITS JOB FOR A CHANGE!

*   I am less excited by the news that this is most likely a result of chronic known issues, and there's no five-minute fix to the discomfort to be had, but oh well. I have an appointment April third with the oral surgeon Dr. JewishName recommends, and in the meantime I am doing all I can to keep my stress levels down. 

*   The fact that Hotter adjusted the "new" fridge shortly after I replaced as much of the spoiled food as I could afford to and froze it all solid (exploding a glass water kefir bottle and all of the eggs in the process)...well, shit happens. We'll figure something out. 

*   The way Pfeffer escaped from her hutch and climbed onto and devoured much of what was on my seedling and cutting propagation table...well, I can't kick her ass over it but SERIOUSLY OMG IT WAS LIKE FLUFFY WHITE GODZILLA. Still. Calm blue oceans. Noooo stressss...

*   One more day of steroid tapering. Zen. Thoughts.

*   And how are all of YOU?

 

**   I don't know what it makes me that I was so relieved when I found out the ENT I would be seeing had a very Jewish last name. I felt like one of the little old ladies from my granny's Jewish Old Folks' Home who would reportedly roll into the ER and screech "GET ME A JEW!" But I found it immensely reassuring, and did the equivalent of throwing Ashkenazic gang signs by putting part of my oral history into Yiddish, and at that point the doctor did slow down and seem to become even more compassionate and attentive so GO TEAM ABRAHAM!

home

   Just a placeholder. The nutshell version is that I am past any need for immediate ENT surgery and not in any current danger, but (etc. etc. inflammatory etc.) and I need to see a different KIND of surgeon for this. Plus pain pills. More tomorrow. The end.

once more into the breach, dear friends

   I hate that that's what's in my head as I prepare for another work-week, but there it is. I love my job, I do. But I'll be working long days at PseudoCorp to make up for the missing day (holidays are for the rich), and at least one day at Weekend Warrior Job during the week (I know, the HELL, but I can't afford to turn down work). I'll HOPEfully also have some Fairy Sweatshop Job stuff to do, although I'm not counting on it, and that is my least-taxing job because I can do it while helping people with homework or talking to Hotter, so not really any added strain, I just...well. I wouldn't have it any other way right now but it kind of sucks not having any of your waking hours be your own.

   Today was a day of largely playing catch-up at home. Doing work-laundry (I wash my own work-clothes because Hotter can't tell what color things are or read the tiny washing instructions on tags), making dinner to give Hotter a break from cooking, cleaning the rabbit-cages and clipping the rabbits' nails (yeah, you have to do that), giving the dog a bath, feeding the snake. Scrubbing out the tub so I can take a bath, because I stupidly told a friend who also has autoimmune issues on Friday that despite all the stress I wasn't hurting, and apparently the gods of inflammation were listening, and now? Oh boy, NOW I hurt, a lot.

   Tomorrow I go in at six, if I can get the snow and ice off the minivan that early (yes, we had snow, oof). And you?

turnip, sprouts, worms

Figure One: NBD, just holding a turnip THAT I GREW!

   Today I weeded, amended, and turned a row in the garden, and found that not ALL of our turnips had failed! Look at that perfect root vegetable (pictured without its largest leaves, which I immediately pulled off and handed to Hotter to give to the rabbits). And just like that, for the first time our garden fed our bunnies (I have already planted a ton of bunny-fodder that'll replace hay in their diets when this bale runs out).

   The cover crops are already sprouting. Yeah, the ones I planted like, the day before yesterday. I don't even know.

   I was reading about rabbits and vermiculture, and had a moment of "wait, I paid good money for some worm poop, and I have rabbit poop..." and the next thing you know I was improvising a worm box with some alfalfa stalks the bunies had scorned layered with organic potting mix and rabbit poop...we'll see. If nothing else it'll make feeding our wormsnake easy when it's super-cold out. It would be awesome if I could make my own potting mix next year with MFA compost and worm casings, along with store-bought peat moss, and vermiculite.

   Work was fantabulous today and I have picked up an additional side-job, so all in all things here are going well. It's nice.

plant all the things!

*   Y'all might get sick of it, but now is ze time on Sprockets ver ve list vat ve planted: Red clover, white clover, common vetch, and alfalfa, separately, in pots, and everything but the vetch as a cover crop in the two large containers I use to grow lettuce when it is warmer (you are not supposed to use vetch as a cover crop before lettuce; I have no idea why but read it in several places so ALRIGHTY THEN! Vetch has much larger seeds and needs to be planted deeper than the other stuff, which is all wee bitsy seeds that you can broadcast onto loosened soil, so it would've been a pain in the arse ANYWAY). I figure that stuff'll all make for good bunny-fodder as well as fixing nitrogen into the soil and aerating it. I also planted Premier kale and repotted my ailing dwarf Meyer Lemon.

Figure One: No, YOUR desk is covered in plastic and pushed up against a South-facing window being used as a plant hospital!

*   Today I overheard something I wasn't meant to at work. I was lost in the cubicles (it happens at least once a day still; I try to orient myself within the building by remembering which side I can see the river from at my desk but end up lost on the way back from the loo on a regular basis) and two young Turks were conversing and one of them said "OHHHHH you know The One Who Dislikes MFA Mama? Who works in X department? Yeah!" and made an obscene gesture that I believe was meant to convey carnal knowledge thereof. Which, well, the fellow wasn't bad-looking, but mostly I felt a) scandalized by the vulgarity, because apparently I am eighty now and b) bad for her that he was bandying it about in such a manner. I even made a mental note to add "kissing and telling" to the round of "YOU DO NOT DOs" next time I'm lecturing my boys on The Importance of Being Non-assholes, because yeesh!

*   Speaking of star-crossed lovers, the bunnies are eight weeks old now and I decided it was time for them to go all Heloise and Abelaard and move into separate quarters to avoid a too-early breeding stunting anyone's growth. I kind of hated to do it, since they SNUGGLED and it was ADORABLE, but it's for their own good and I positioned the cages so that their food-loft platforms are next-door and they can visit through the bars. Has is enjoying having a clear shot at the food and water. Pfeffer the Heifer didn't want to move cages and I ended up hauling her out by the scruff. She was pissed! Poor bunny. I gave each of them an old sweater to snuggle up to, and they took to those immediately.

*   The new hoe is all I'd imagined, and more. I arrived home and immediately shouted out "WHERE MAH HOE AT?" It's so excellent for both hoeing and cultivating; I <3 my new hoe.

*   How are all of YOU?

blah day

*   Today I had to go into the office late because our pharmacy doesn't open until an hour after I typically start my workday and I had to get a prescription for someone at home before leaving for the day. This made me cranky, and I realized that I am officially an old person, because I seriously did some fist-shaking over the damn pharmacy not opening at 6 a.m. Hello, I am MFA Mama and I am apparently in my eighties!

*   Work today...ehhh. It was a productive day, which was good. The main guy helping me with IT for my project is really nice, and we were able to solve a major problem that was holding up progress on my work-project, so that was a happy thing. My co-workers all asked after Middly, which was sweet of them. I don't know what my problem was though, because I had this overwhelming feeling of "GET ME OUT OF HERE" all day long...this may have been because it was GORGEOUS outside and I wanted to start digging in my garden. 

*   Speaking of which, I ordered all of my seeds this morning while I was waiting for the dadgum pharmacy to open, and also some kelp meal, some worm castings, and a new hoe. What's NOT to love about a new hoe, AMIRITE? I ordered my stuff from here, and I am very, very excited about it. They have organic seeds! THEY HAVE TRIAMBLE SQUASH SEEDS! Also, hoes shaped like squids. You know I got that one, because come on: SQUID!

*   Also ordered today? Hotter's Valentine's Day gift. He's going to love it. He's going to cry real tears of gratitude, and I'm going to have to tell him to pull it together and be a man. I can't wait.

*   BUNNIES! Has (pronounced "Hoss") is the sweetest thing. He's super-cute and likes to be held and petted; I swear he purrs. Pfeffer, a.k.a. "Pfeffer the Heifer," is less cute. She pretty much just eats and gives you the pink side-eye. One of her ears is kind of messed up (the one with the rabbitry tattoo on it--the tattoo goes ALL THE WAY THROUGH HER EAR which I don't think it is supposed to do), and I guess maybe she was struggling when the guy did the tattooing and injured the cartilage or something? She doesn't seem to be in any pain from it, but the one ear is permanently at a rakish angle. It makes her look cranky. Pfeffer doesn't care if you pet her. She don't give a shit! She's like the honey-bunny. Naturally, she is Hotter's favorite.

undaunted

   Y'all are disappointing me so far with the lack of garden porn in the comments of the previous post (except for Winecat--THANK you, Winecat, I think I will try growing lemon cucumbers this year!). Undaunted, I just ordered this: 

 

Figure One: Right up my alley!

   I also ordered the following seeds to start indoors soonish:

Figure Two: Organic seeds are very pricey, but I read somewhere that UNLESS you order organic seeds you are most likely getting seeds that have been genetically modified in some way. That skeeves me out because some types of GMO vegetable pollen have been shown to be toxic to honeybees, which is bad news in general but particularly in MY garden, since we're getting bees this spring.

   I offset most (yes, most!) of the cost of the above by using Swagbucks to purchase Amazon.com gift cards (the rest came from a birthday Amazon GC from a sweet friend--this order did not cost me anything out of pocket, which is pretty thrilling to me). If you don't already do Swagbucks, you should totally sign up through that link so that I get the referral credit (and also because you want Amazon GCs and other fabulous things too, right?).

   This year's garden is going to be our best yet, I think! I'm hoping that diverting household greywater to a rain barrel for watering will result in better yields (and allow us to finally grow some decent corn, because I've promised Hotter that if I don't have any luck with corn this year I will quit trying--it's not ME because I've grown fabulous corn in the past in another location, and it's not the soil because I've improved it and grown lots of other things succesfully, it's just that we haven't been able to water as much as corn needs). 

   Also? Rabbit poop.

   That is all :)