T-minus 30 days and counting...

My knee surgery is August 2.  I'm not ready - what a surprise!  It's not that I'm not ready for the surgery - I would do it tomorrow if they'd let me!  It's all the prep stuff at home that's fallen behind.  In an effort to make it easier on my wonderful caregivers-to-be, I need to get the animals situated.  Let me count the ways:

1. I have to build a turkey house and run.  I'll rent the auger this weekend and hopefully get the posts in and maybe get some of the roof rafters on. 
2. The horses need to be separated so that at feeding time, they don't knock my dad down (he's 86 and coming to watch over me - he's in better shape than I am!).  Turns out, he's somewhat afraid of horses, and my two are not small ones...  I was feeding the other night and they were rumbling around me, and somehow I got in the middle.  I saw a big brown butt swing by my head and slapped it as it went by.  It brought home how much I am able to read their actions, but even I am not always on it - my dad doesn't have a clue about how to read them.  I need to divide my pasture - Merlin and the alpacas on one side, The Big Guy (more on his name later) on the other.  I can do it with t-posts and hot wire, but it still takes time.
3. The Pigs need to be moved so that I can build the turkey house (maybe this should have been #1...).  That's not hard, I can feed them, lock them up, move the electric fence after turning it off, turn it back on and let them out.  Also need to come up with a better feeding arrangement - they move their trough around, and they're getting too big for me to get in there with them!  I did the other night and the biggest one ran between my legs (don't know why and it surprised her, too!), and almost ended up on my butt...  Don't want my dad (or anyone else) having to deal with that, so I'll need to secure their trough to the fence somehow.  Also need to come up with a better way to water them - they like using the 50 gal. stock tank as a wallow, and get mud and ... in it, which requires emptying it daily.  This is not fun!  Any suggestions would be welcome - remember that pigs are bulldozers on legs, and gladly tip anything over that they can...
4. I need to finish readying the house so that I can navigate through it easily when I'm mobility compromised.  I've started this one, rearranging my bedroom so that I no longer crawl into bed from the foot, but have lots of books (where did they all come from?) to move and arrange in the other bedroom, which needs to be done so I can set up the spare bed for my helpers!
5. I need to put in a couple of tons of hay so that I don't have to go get it while I can't.  I also need to stockpile feed for everyone else, and it needs to be in a rodent-proof container.  I kind of hate to do it, but I think I'm going to have to break down and get an old chest freezer to hold all the extra stuff.  I may hire the young men from the farm down the street to unload it for me, otherwise it would take me all month just for that!
6. I need to get a new camera.  I was awakened the other night by a buzz-click-pause-buzz (repeat).  Turns out my camera had a seizure, and was turning itself on, pushing out the lens, pulling it in and turning itself off, over and over and over.  Dang.  Looks like Craigslist for that one!
7. I want to cook a bunch of casserole-type things, put them in seal-a-meal bags and freeze them so that dinners (or other meals) aren't a big deal for me or my helpers.  I have lots of hamburger, ground sheep, pork chops, canned chicken on hand, so it's just a matter of doing it.  I'd really like to have a bunch of bread made, too, but it's just not as good after it's been frozen.  Since I use the bread maker to do the dough, I guess I can make it fresh when I need it.

I had my first pre-op appointment yesterday - I gave blood for myself.  I do that again next week, along with the pre-surgery class, then a couple of doctor's appointments the week after that, and then two weeks to wonder and panic before surgery.  I have 4 weekends (this one's a long one, though) before I go in to the hospital, and with my knees hurting as they do, it's hard to get stuff done.

Correy reminds me that it's ok to ask for help, even though it's really hard...  This is a skill that I don't always appreciate, preferring to do things my way.  I think I need a crash course in this!  Also, rather than hurting, and moping around because it hurts, I need to take drugs and get to it, with rest periods, of course.

Most of all, I need to ride my horse - I haven't ridden The Big Guy since the day I brought him home.  I made contact with his former owner - she's a traffic technician in Bend!  We had a nice talk, and turns out he responds to Chris (his registered name is Chrisnesian), or Big Guy.  Since the latter really fits him, that's what I've been calling him (Stryder brings no response whatsoever).  I finally got a bridle that will fit him (and it's this pretty sage green), so I'm going to try to do that tonight.

I know that when I get home from the hospital it will be quite the trial, but the good news is that the end of knee pain is in sight - YAY!  True to form, I want it now...