Driving My Life Away

We had a lot of fun these past few days.  The easiest thing to do here is quote my dear wife (I've added a little bit):

David had his 3rd transfusion today.  We received the results from the blood tests sent to the Mayo Clinic.  Apparently, David does NOT have thalassemia or Hemoglobin F issues so those are scratched off the list.  He is still shedding lots of prophyrins in his urine and that's a whole other set of hemoglobin issues but the hematologist is still scratching his head since David doesn't have the other symptoms of these disorders.   So....

....they are talking with a Dr. at Sinai Hospital in NY.  The UNM Dr is hoping this new dr. will be so intrigued by David's "weird" symptoms that he'll do the blood test genetic sequencing for free.  That's what the Mayo Clinic had done so maybe this Dr. will too.  By doing the sequencing they can see if and where there are mutations.  So at this point they are saying he has an idiopathic hemolytic anemia since his bone marrow is producing red blood cells but something is destroying them.

Well, we just got home and it's after 11 p.m. We left the house at 5 a.m.  Our Suburban transmission went out between ABQ and SF this afternoon on the way home from the doctor. [the transmission refused to shift down, causing the RPM's to go sky-high]  We limped to Bryan's mother's house in SF and "borrowed" her vehicle.  The suburban took up so much room in the garage that we left the trash bin locked in the entry porch.  We plan on taking a trailer to pick the truck up and bring back home to get it repaired.



And sure 'nuff, Friday morning found us heading back to Santa Fe where we loaded our crippled 'burbie on the trailer and hauled it all home.  A new transmission is going to cost between $3,000 and $4,000.  I'm really debating on whether to just call it quits with the Suburban and put that money into a new car (something actually car-like that gets 25+ mpg).  The 'burbie does have 182,000 mi on it.  However, as-is, it's worth nothing and a Suburban with a new transmission (100k mi and 3 yr warranty) IS worth $4000, esp since the engine is not giving any problems, we have new shocks, and new front end stuff.  It still gets close to 20 mph on the road and has tons of room.  The paint's in great condition and there really are no other issues.  

Plus, our cattle season is way behind and income may be an issue this year.  And then there's David's medical expenses to consider as insurance only covers some of it.  I would not want to spend $10k on a newer car and then hit a financial wall this fall.  So, I guess the plan is to fix it, but start looking and saving and if we survive the summer and fall finds us okay financially, then we'll move to a newer car.  I still think the Suburban would be useful for a lot of things, even if we get a car.  I mean, if it's worth only $4000, I'll turn it into a hawking truck or something!

Chevy towing Chevy

My new falcon is doing really well.  We're just working with her in the hawk house and she's jumping down off her perch and coming to us for food.  That's a great start for a bird I've only had since Tues night.  I spent all day Weds hustling to get my hawk house back up and it's still only partially done.  It's really ugly right now, but I'm waiting on some metal which I'll use to cover the outside.  When I do that, I think it'll look pretty sharp. 

UGLY!!!  But just wait...

More panels waiting to go up.  When done, it'll be 8' x 24' long.

Wendy in her new home

Here's a little video that David shot with my phone:
Video of falcon training


I'm hoping to take my peregrine this Thurs or Friday. 


In other activities, we're slowly getting cattle in- about 600 on the ground.  We normally have close to 2,000 by now, but this is the driest spring I've ever seen.  I'm taking a lot more active role than usual in moving the cattle to places with grass and so far, we're doing okay.


We're also getting ready for the 58th Annual Camp Meeting.  This is a preaching, eating, fellowshipping thing that goes on at a nearby ranch.  I've been chairman for 3 years.  Attendance has been dropping steadily for the past 10 years and there's thoughts of quitting, but so far, we're still doing it.