Fairs and Fires

On Saturday we went to the Utah State Fair. We spent 4 hours walking around looking at the animals, home goods, and art exhibits.

William really liked the animals, especially the chickens and other poultry. I held him up so that he could see some baby chicks that they had in one of the cages.

One of our favorite things at the fair is the giant butter sculpture. We didn't realize it before (mostly because we weren't paying attention) that Paul's cousin Matt is one of the sculptors who make these butter creations each year. The only reason that we know now is because we caught it on a local news story one morning.

Here is this years 700+ pound sculpture of two cows and a goat eating ice cream.

These cows are as big as a full grown man!

This was the information card that they had out next to the sculpture. It has a picture of Matt and the other sculpture who worked on the display.

On Sunday Will and I spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa Noble's house. They had been out of town for over a week touring the west coast. Grandma and I took Will to play at the park for a bit but it was really hot and windy so we cut that a bit short.

Late in the afternoon we noticed that the foothills west of their house seemed to be on fire. As the day went on the cloud of smoke kept getting bigger and bigger. After dark you could see that the entire mountain was ablaze. It was starting to get really low and looked as if it was going to start overtaking the town of Herriman, which is just on the other side of the highway from Mom and Dad's house. We stood out on the back porch and watched the flames spread from hill to hill. The fire was so big that we could actually see the flames without using binoculars.

When the news came on we learned that the fire had been sparked by a machine gun training exercise at a nearby military firing range. Since the wind was blowing so hard (up to 50 miles per hour at times) they were unable to put it out and it had spread off of the training grounds and into the nearby scrub brush.

I didn't have a good angle to get pictures with my camera so I've posted some of the shots from the local news website.

This was the view from across the valley just before sunset.


This one must have been taken from somewhere just west of Mom and Dad's house because this is pretty much what we saw.

These are some of the local residents who were evacuated from their homes.

The news reports this morning said that in all more than 1200 homes were evacuated and at least 4 large homes have burned. They still do not have even a percentage of it contained, but at least the winds have died down this morning.

The only good thing is that no one has been injured thus far.

Like I need a hole in my head.

This morning I had my CT scan at the ear, nose, and throat doctor's.

The first thing that happened when I got there was a very nice assistant took me back to an exam room and proceeded to spray a combination of Afrin and Lidocaine up my nose. For the next 10 minutes I was told to sit there and wait while the entire front half of my head went numb. The only good thing was that the Afrin opened my breathing passages more than they have been for the last 3 years.

It's weird to all of a sudden be able to breathe again.

Anyway, after that I was escorted to the CT scanner, where I had to sit perfectly still with my head strapped a chair. That was probably the longest 40 seconds of my life.

Then there was more waiting while the doctor read the scans.

He finally came in to show me what my head looks like from the inside out.

(For all of you waiting with baited breath, yes, I do have a brain in there.)

He showed me the images of my nasal passages and even my untrained eyes could tell that my septum is severely deviated. Turns out that I also have a bone spur getting in the way.

So, the doctor recommends that I have surgery to straighten things out and remove the spur.

The only problem is that I used up all of my paid time off to go to all of the doctors appointments. It will be at least 2 months before I have enough built back up again to take time off for surgery. Not to mention that I will need to have some time off saved for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Sigh...

At least now I know why I've been having problems.

As I was sitting in my chair working on a crochet project tonight I was looking at the hook and thinking about the ancient Egyptians. When they would mummify someone in ancient Egypt they would use a small hook to extract the person's brain through their nose. I started to think that if I got a small enough crochet hook and wiggled it around up there I might be able to fix it myself.

Either that or might end up giving myself a full frontal lobotomy.

Maybe I will let the professionals handle this one.

When good cats go bad...

We officially own the worlds dumbest cat.

His name is Doofey.

Last week I left a crochet project out on the kitchen table. When Paul got home he found Doofey attempting to eat my project.

That stupid cat had managed to swallow more than 6 feet of cotton yarn!

Paul pulled most of it back out (YUCK!!) but Doofey has been sick ever since.

On Sunday I finally broke down and took Doofey into the emergency vets office. They did x-rays and gave him medicine to make him feel better. However, they were unsure of whether there was more yarn left in his system. They wanted to keep him for observation and more x-rays, at a possible cost of $700-$1000.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my cat... but that is a stupid amount of money to spend on him.

I told the doctor that I would take him home and monitor him there. I also promised to take him in to our regular vet on Monday morning so that he could have another x-ray to see if anything had changed.

I then paid the emergency vet $350. (YIKES!!)

Yesterday morning I called our regular vet and told them that Paul would be bringing Doofus in for more x-rays. I also figured it was also a good time to get Butters updated on his shots (since the groomer doesn't like getting rabies from an angry Butters when trying to trim him). The vet said that we could leave Doofey with them for observation and x-rays, and bring Butters in that afternoon for his shots.

So... yesterday afternoon I took in Butters for his shots and to pick up Doofey. The doctor showed me the new x-rays of Doofey. They were still inconclusive as to whether there was more yarn in him. They informed me that the only way to know for sure would be to do an ultrasound, which would cost about $350.

At that point I started to think that maybe I would just help Doofey go into the light by hand...

Anyway, I told the vet "no" because it cost too much and thanked them for their help. I then wrote another check for $300 to the regular vet for everything that they did for both cats. (DOUBLE YIKES!!!)

So, now everyone is back home. We are still on watch with Doofey. I did confirm that there is yarn in his system last night, because I found some in the box. (SUPER EEEEWWWW!!)

All of my yarn is safely stored away in drawers now.

Paul says that if Doofey survives this he's going to kill him.

At this point I might help him with that...

Smiling William

Sometimes even the most simple moment makes a great picture.

This morning we were leaving for daycare when Will requested his new sunglasses... even though the sun wasn't really up yet. It was cold this morning and he already had his jacket and hat on. I thought that the glasses just made him look more like a snowboarder.

So, we had to have a picture.

New Sand and Water Table

We finally got Will's new water and sand table put together this weekend. He spent hours playing with it. He built "sand castles" and watered pretend flowers.

I enjoyed sitting in the shade and watching.

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out. Paul had Saturday off so we got to spend some time with him, which is always nice.

Yesterday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Noble's house to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Will helped me bake him a cake and ran around yelling "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" all evening.

Head Colds and Car Accidents

I freakin' hate the universe sometimes.

Yesterday I finally got in to see the ear, nose, and throat doctor about my chronic sinus issues and head colds. He gave me a whopping does of antibiotics and wants me to come back in 2 weeks for a head CT scan.

I started taking the meds last night and I was starting to feel better.

However...

This afternoon as I was coming back from making the daily mail run at work I got into a car accident. A guy in a truck made a left hand turn right in front of me while I was doing 40 mph. I noticed him just in time to slam on the breaks, but we collided anyway. The entire passenger side front end of my car is crunched.

Luckily no one was injured.

So, now the van is at the body shop and I am back at work. The adrenaline is slowly working its way out of my system and I am now in desperate need of a nap.

Should you come looking for me this Labor Day weekend I plan to be in my backyard, lying in the shade, with a fruity drink in my hand... and safely away from moving vehicles.