Stephanie's surgery

Yesterday Stephanie had surgery on her leg and foot.  The Achilles tendon was way too short.  It had caused a lot of problems with her foot and the way it grew.  She has been in severe pain when walking or standing so it was time to go in and get it all fixed.  

We got there at 7am and they checked her in and had her mark her foot.  Maybe this is because with everything they have going on they don't have time to remember trivial things like which side is left and which is right. :)

They prepped her for surgery.  It took awhile to get her ready.  Jacob came along to support me while I supported Stephanie.  But mostly I think he came for the free juice.

We were all very brave until right when they gave her an IV med to start the process of going to sleep.  The nurse said "Ok, you should give your mom a kiss good-bye"  Terrible wording.  Made us both start crying.  Then they added the med to her drip and wheeled her away.  The surgery lasted about 4 hours.  The first couple of hours she was on her stomach while they fixed the tendon.  That incision is about 10 inches.  The 2nd half of the surgery they rolled her over while she was sleeping and that is when they did the bone cutting, straightened the bones out and put in the plate and screws.  The incision in the top of her foot is about 8 inches.  Rolling her over with her breathing tube in place ended up causing a sore throat but it was better than being awake for half of it which was her other option.

Jacob and mom had breakfast in the cafeteria, watched The Price is Right in the waiting room.  Played battle ship, talked on the phone and texted to pass the time.  Once they came to say the surgery had gone well and that Steph would go back to her room in half an hour we snuck to the cafeteria for lunch.  That was about 1:00.

Then we went to her room and she was already there but still asleep.  So we took a picture of her leg.

It was a bit rough coming around and getting ready to go home so we didn't get out of there till about 4:00.  They gave us a nice photo for the scrapbook.   This shows the plate and pins mid-foot, holding everything together.

We got Papa Murphys for dinner.  Got home around 6:00.  We all watched Tangled and then crashed.  It was such a long day.  I would have taken a picture of the end of our day but I was just too tired! 

Today she is doing well.  Taking some meds for pain and keeping her leg iced and elevated.  We made her ice bags using several layers of wal-mart bags so they wouldn't leak and packed them around her leg.  This is helping with the pain and swelling. 

I have received so many offers of help and meals.  Thanks everyone.  We are doing well. We have so many helpers here.  But we will take you up on offers of prayers for a quick recovery and as little pain as possible.  Pain is an issue and just part of the process but our Lord and Savior is already granting peace and strength. 

Thank you Father God for bringing Stephanie through surgery safely, and for guiding the surgeons hands as he worked.

Homeschool Science

Well, with all the craziness this week we haven't gotten much done in the way of Math or English but we hit Science pretty good!

In addition to all the learning we have done about bees and their habitat, life cycle, colonies and honey we also have had the chance to study some physical science.

Jacob got two science kits this week.  Thank you Grandma!  The first is a wind power kit.  He built a windmill which powers a little light.  Today it was windy enough to power the light.  It worked!  Good job Jacob!

His other kit uses water and pumps to power gears.  He did a great job with this one too.

Physical science has never been my favorite thing to teach but these made it really fun and Jacob jumped in and taught it to himself and shared what he learned with his sisters. 

Did you know?

The first windmills were used to grind grain in Iran, then known as Persia.

Windmills were used by American colonists to move water, grind grain and cut wood.

Windmills were a significant source of power in rural America in the 1920’s.

Windmills come in two types, vertical and horizontal.

Vertical windmills look like upside down eggbeaters.

Horizontal windmills look like what you’ve seen on television or in books, i.e., the traditional structure with a wheel of blades perpendicular to the ground and spinning.

Wind power plants are typically owned by private companies, which sell the power to traditional utility companies.

The United States gets roughly 17 billion kilowatts of electricity each year from wind power.

This yearly wind power production is enough to provide all the power needs of the City of Chicago.

Bees coming soon...

The Stetson house is busy this week getting ready for Stephanie's bees.  They will come this Sunday, just a few days after her leg surgery.  There is something for everyone to do.

We are getting wild flower seed mixed with sandy soil to plant out near their hive.

The bee boxes came this weekend.  Some assembly required!

Thank you Michelle and family for coming and helping us build the bee boxes!

Done! 

 Ready for the bees to leave a security deposit and move in!

New babies!

With the goal in mind of clearing more of our property this year we brought home some new babies....

5 day old nubian bucks

They need to be fed 4 times a day right now.

Thankfully we have lots of helpers.

We are taking name suggestions.  Old Testament names or cities or ?  If you have ideas post in comments!

Spring!

After months of peering out the windows waiting for spring....

It has arrived!

Trees blooming

Rhubarb poking through the soil

Little ones enjoying the warmer weather

Check back this weekend for an update to the blog.  Some new babies are coming to Rainy Day Acres!





Chicks are here!

We got our baby chicks yesterday!  For the last 8 years we have kept chickens for eggs.  If you have never had farm fresh eggs you need to try them.  You will never want to go back to pale, tasteless commercial eggs again.   Other years we have hatched our own chicks but this year we bought a batch at the local farm store.  We got Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks and Araucanas.  We are going to try to raise some meat birds later this year too.

The cost of Bacon

As many of you know our little piggy (named Bacon) went to market a couple weeks ago.  Today we went to pick up our meat.  It really is a LOT of meat.  Our freezer is full of healthy, homegrown pork.

Unfortunately the cost when added up was disappointing.  About $4.80 a pound when we factored in butchering fees, feed and other costs.  The kids want to raise more pigs so we are researching ways to keep costs down this time around.

We are happy to know what went into our meat.  And we know he had a much better life than a commercial hog.  But we need to cut some costs.

Did you know: A 20 pound piglet will weigh 200 pounds in only 4-6 months!