Oh what a week.

Sorry for the sideways picture. Tilt your head to the right to see how it really looks. I'm traumatized.

There is only one  picture in this post, because my hands are still shaking and I think I developed carpal tunnel in my hands and elbows and left shoulder from all the events of this last week.  Let me begin with last Monday. DS had the day off from work and hadn't yet begun his research job at the university (yay for research grants for college kids!!), so the plan was for hubby and I to go over to DS and wife's new country house (the house isn't new, just new to them),  and start building a chicken/duck pen. It isn't a coop, it's an enclosure in an already existing outbuilding. It sounded so simple, and for anybody with a thimble-full of experience, it should have been an easy task. For rank amateurs such as ourselves, not so much. But we were full of optimism. The ducks needed to be out of the city house garage, like yesterday. Soooooo, we began. Monday came and went and we had made some progress, but had much more to do. Tuesday found DH and I back over there, but this time our daughter-in-law was helping out. The morning went well, but halfway through the afternoon, I stuck a rusty screwdriver in her eye. Let me repeat that.  I STUCK A RUSTY SCREWDRIVER IN HER EYE!!!!!!!!!!   My advice to anyone reading this is to never do this to anyone. First order of business is to wear safety glasses. Good grief, why didn't we have those on??? It happened innocently enough and so darn fast. I was pulling on the bottom half of the top section of hardware cloth, and she was below me, fastening the top part of the bottom section to the 2x4 that ran horizontally through the middle. The screwdriver slipped out and hit her in the eye. Of course immediately she clutched at her eye, and within just a few seconds, I knew we had to skedaddle and get it taken care of.  THANK GOD my brother-in-law is an opthalmologist.  After a brief stop at the local clinic, we went on up to Decatur and found him at home, trying to relax after a stressful day of surgery. He met us at the office, and with a couple of other staff members, he sewed up her conjunctiva and determined there was no puncture wound, just a surface scrape. HE CLEANED THE DEBRIS FROM THE RUSTY SCREWDRIVER OUT OF HER EYE. (I'm trembling as I type this...if you're going to stick a screwdriver in anyone's eye, for God's sake, make sure it's a new one).  She was given some drops while there, and a pressure patch to wear for 24 hrs.  Wednesday we went back up to a not-so-Express Care facility so she could get a tetanus shot. We waited over 90 minutes for that to happen. We had a prescription for eyedrops to get filled, but of course Walgreen's was out of them. Our local pharmacy could have them first thing in the morning, which would be Thursday, so that was good enough, since the eye patch didn't come off until Wednesday night. In-between running around, we kept on building the enclosure. Thursday, we were back over there, eyedrops in hand, and the eye was looking better. The enclosure was far enough along that she and I made the trip back to the city house to get the critters. They were happy to have fresh air, fresh water, and lots of running space.  Friday found us back in Decatur for a follow-up eye appointment. The Dr. said the eye looked great.  It could have been so much worse. I am so very thankful it wasn't.  We are finished with the enclosure, too. It isn't a work of art, but it's built like a fortress to keep predators at bay. I forgot to mention the half day it took to make a ready-made door fit the opening we'd allowed. I'm thinking white paint might make things look nicer.

Now, after all this, let's bake some bread, cakes, and cookies for Farmer's Market and the church bake sale. Whew!! 

I think I need some B vitamins. Just sayin'.
Blessings, blessed, giving thanks, and more,
Brenda