Hurting, family and guests, Christmas

I spent the entire weekend hurting. Sometimes doubled over in pain. Brittany Wycoff had to reschedule helping me process the chickens. She was covered up at work and would not get off at her normal time. I was not concerned. That can wait a few more days. I was not moving well and may not have been able to offer the help I should have. In lieu of processing chickens, I went with Mama to deliver two puppies. The meet was set up at In-and-Out Burger in Alliance. Really that area is North Fort Worth, but some people call it Alliance. That is about thirty minutes from us in light traffic. It is often a tossup to go to Denton or to go to Alliance. Both of the drop-offs and all of the shopping stops went smoothly, but I was hurting the entire time. Both new puppy owners were thrilled by their purchase.

Sunday morning, the pain in my colon was far worse, but I struggled through both services with the added time of a church-wide breakfast that morning. I ate very little trying to sit quietly through the hour, careful to not betray my pain too obviously. It was a long morning followed by lunch at the restaurant. When we got home, I changed and collapsed into the recliner, finally got the pain under control and slept soundly for a couple hours. the evening service was much quicker, but we went back to the restaurant afterwards because the girls, who had gone to church with us that evening, were hungry. Once finally home, I closed up the animals and was shortly thereafter in bed. It was a horrible night. The pain, which abated some through the night, returned this morning. With a vengeance. This too shall pass.

Becky, Bridgette and Mike are planning on driving over after Becky gets off work this evening. It is about a six-hour drive – no matter what route you choose. They will be in very late, so they are staying at a hotel for the night. They are scheduled to be at the farm for breakfast. Staying through lunch. Leaving before or right after dinner. They plan to drive back to their home Tuesday night. Squeezing out the day was the best they could offer. Mama and I will take it. We have been able to see Bridgette only infrequently. This will be a good time together – we hope. Grandma and Grandpa are coming over for a visit to see their granddaughter and great granddaughter. Trace, Krystal and the boys were invited over for lunch as well. I am not sure if they will come, but we will have enough to feed them as well. That will pretty much be our Christmas.

All the while we are dealing with a neurotic mommy dog whose puppies are all gone now. She is constantly whining. She is not house broken. She has started tearing things up in the chef’s pantry where we have pinned her up when needed. So far, the damage has been minor, but the frustration of not knowing where she will pee or poop next is very disheartening. Mama knows I hate that dynamic and it only contributes to her frustration. We are trying to rehome the mommy but have had no success do far. I do not want her and after the last few days neither does Mama. It is one of those situations where you wish things would work out, but we do not have the patience or the time to devote to making her a good dog. Someone else will need to take over. Soon.

Christmas Day will be very subdued. Hopefully, my pain will have abated by then.