Windy day

Kris and I had planned on going to see some of our high school team members and friends' kids play in their Friday night basketball game.  (We'd been trying and trying to go see them, and we finally were able to schedule it!)

He didn't come home, so I decided the boys and I would leave without him.  We ran outside into the gale force winds to see the tree limb in our yard.

Kris called when we were about to see the game, and when I got home he filled me in on the events of his night.

First of all, the wind caused the plastic to blow off half of the corn silage pile!  Kris said that the plastic was moving him even as he was standing on it, trying to put tires on it.  Kris and the guys had to get the plastic and tires back on in the crazy wind.  It's difficult even when there's a breeze ... this wind made it almost impossible.  Russ, our friend and vet, even helped the entire time.  He didn't have to do that as a vet OR friend!  That was incredibly nice and helpful of him.

Then, one of the drive-through gates blew in as someone was closing the giant garage-like barn door. The door wouldn't work after that.

That meant Kris had to climb up the highest ladder we have to the top of the barn.  First, he chained the bottom of the ladder so that the cows wouldn't mess with it, bump it, and accidentally knock him off and fall to his death.

He said he climbed very carefully, and when he got to the top, he held onto the brace post while he tried to fix the garage door opener.  He thought, "If the ladder falls, and I'm still holding onto this ... how am I going to get down?"  I helpfully suggested that he would have eventually had to jump and broken both his legs and possibly pelvis. (Spoiler alert - he didn't fall.)

He spent a long time working on it, with nothing working and eventually fixed it by ... unplugging it and plugging it back in!  The solution of so many problems!

Today I read the news:

"Buildings were evacuated in downtown Chicago this afternoon as 69-mph wind gusts whipped glass out of under-construction skyscrapers, smashing them into nearby buildings and shattering them onto streets below."

and

"Heavy winds are beating up on the roads and powerlines throughout the area. Multiple reports are coming in about heavy winds causing trees and powerlines to crash into the roads.  Consumer's Energy says thousands of people have lost power tonight -- the largest outage being in the Holt area.
According to the outage map, power won't be completely restored for at least another 48 hours, which includes the more than 1400 people who were in the dark this evening in Holt."

Today was also windy, but nothing like it was yesterday.  As a result, we managed to do all our plans.

Luckily, the basketball season isn't over - maybe the weather will cooperate with our next game!

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Mercy, mercy, MRSA

We had a huge wind and rain storm here last night.  Nothing like poor Washington, IL.  (Did you see those pictures?  Awful.)  But a mess.  Steel blown all around the barn area, dead trees down ... we ran into a Farm Bureau Insurance agent tonight and he told us they had over 1000 claims so far.  One of them was a friend whose combine caught on fire! 

Besides a messy barnyard, our patio table blew over and snapped the umbrella.  A few years ago an identical table blew over and shattered, showering glass into our pool.  Apparently these tables are not wind-approved.

The top of one of our evergreen trees snapped off and landed in our yard.  Nothing was harmed, except our ability to have ANYTHING NICE.  No, wait.  I meant nice greenery.  I was having a flashback to my childhood.

Just a trim, please

But aside from the weather, which farmers are required to discuss on a daily basis ... I also wanted to talk about MRSA. 

When I was growing up I would always point to the injuries on my dad’s hands and ask how he got them.  He never knew. 

When Kris and I moved here, he naturally has the same thing happen.  He has no recollection of how he has cuts and chunks taken out of his hands.  When you’re working with your hands, you can’t help it.  (Same goes for many hands-on jobs.  Cooks burn themselves, mechanics gouge themselves, and depressed artists seem to occasionally slash their wrists.  Work-related hazards.)

Since skin is a great barrier against bacteria, there’s always danger with an open wound.  And without it, there are things like MRSA. 

MRSA is so IN THE NEWS right now. Recently, three NFL players contracted it – national news.

It's a potentially deadly staph infection called Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.  It's a "nasty bacteria that is resistant to most common antibiotics, and if it takes hold in deep tissue, bone or the bloodstream, can cause intense flu-like symptoms and potentially lead to amputation or even death. MRSA is present on the nose and skin of about one-third of the general population ... and an infection/transmission generally occurs when a cut or skin abrasion is not cleaned properly."

Recently, our dairy farmer friend got MRSA.  He went to the doctor when his cut started to get infected.  He took antibiotics and is fine. 

(If you want to see what MRSA looks like, there are plenty of horrible Google images here.  But you probably don't.  Unless, like me, you're using them to show your kids why they have to wash their hands.)

So - it goes to show, other than the pay, hours, and fame ... NFL players and dairy farmers are almost exactly alike.  No wonder this Fuel Up to Play 60 works so well.  We're sharing health philosophy AND bacteria! 

That's the weather and MRSA report for the night.  Steer clear of glass patio tables, unstable treetops, and scratching your scabs.