No news is...boring

Ah, it's been a crazy ride here at Alberti farm. The girls had their birthday. They chose to celebrate it on a single day as they have since they were babies. I love it that we only have to get one cake though this year they chose a Baskin Robins cake so it cost about as much as two cakes anyway. The only thing Rissa wanted for her birthday was a snake. Is this my child or what? So I sent Greg after a 4 and a half foot long Ball Python. He's just as tame as he could be and Riss walks around with him on her neck or sits with him in her lap. Unfortunately, she also leaves him snuggling in the couch cushions or on the bed or on the floor. The cats, always secure in their superior "top floor pet" position, are now on constant alert for the predator in their formerly safe haven. The little gray cat is afraid of the couch and the big black cat is leery of jumping on my lap if I have a blanket on as he is certain there is a killer under my cover. Poor kitties. Of course we've had our first incident with Satan as the snake was appropriately named. We warned Riss that the snake would bite if he was stressed, cold or hungry and told her not to have him out for too long but sure enough she was playing with him and he bit her when he'd had just about enough. I knew she was afraid to approach him after that so I very matter-of-factly went after him and picked him up speaking endearments and snuggling with him. Riss took him from me and has not been adversely affected by the experience.
I know my dedicated readers love to hear about the happenings on the farm but I've had a wee problem that prevents me from reporting too much about the outside world. I went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. The x-ray showed the root of the tooth touched but did not enter the sinus cavity and he warned that if he cracked the thin sinus bone I might get a sinus infection. After the tooth had been removed he proclaimed the sinus bone intact and told me I would not need antibiotic as I was in no danger. Yet, a few days later while cooking breakfast, I felt a curtain go down on my hearing. No sudden explosion, no pain, it was just like a theatre curtain going down after last act slowly but surely ending the hearing in my ear. I was surprised but not worried, it had to be that sinus infection the dentist had warned me about and I had an appointment with him the next day so all would be rectified soon enough. Monday morning, dizzy now and completely deaf in one ear, the dentist again confirmed that my sinus was probably not the problem but I may have developed an ear infection on my own so he prescribed some antibiotic "just in case". Five days I faithfully took the antibiotics with no relief from the frightening vertigo or the buzzing silence in my left ear so I determined that I would go see a doctor to see what was wrong. It's funny, you can go several days telling people that you can hear absolutely nothing out of your ear but when the doctor tests your hearing and he tells you that you have 100% hearing loss the reaction is stunned disbelief. Really, no hearing at all? The doctor told me it was not an ear infection but I should go see an ENT immediately as it was an emergency. The very next day I went to see the ENT who also did a hearing test. Call me naive but I'd gathered some hope during the night. You see, the doctor had a little hearing tester gadget that looked like something Billy Mays would hawk on the home shopping channel. "And if you call RIGHT now we'll send TWO of these amazing little hearing tester thingies for the incredibly low, LOW price of $19.99!!!" I just knew that with the audiologist's fancy technological toys they'd find that I had some vestige of hearing left, something that would say my ear wasn't entirely dead. Again my hopes were dashed when the assistant came in astonished as it had been a very long time since she'd tested anyone who was stone deaf. Gee, so glad I could ruin those stats. My doctor is running the playbook and has prescribed steroids (SOP for ENTs with pts who have SSHL) and an MRI but she isn't giving me a lot of hope that I'll hear again just that the vertigo will clear up and maybe that low, buzzing, ocean tide sound will go away. So, I'm not getting outside much. I can walk around inside so long as I move slowly and don't move my head around a lot but when I go outside the world gets so big that my spatial perception goes a little awry and the dizziness is intensified.
But the girls have been harvesting some peppers and zucchini and they tell me that the tomatoes are going to be overwhelming. The little chickens (not so little anymore) are now laying eggs faithfully so we have little green and brown eggs to add to the big white and huge brown eggs from the older chickens. I can see the geese and turkeys and they are amazing. My Rosie tom turkey is magnificent when he puffs up and struts and the geese must surely be a daunting target to any passing predator.
The baby horses are so very big and so very funny when they play. Juno is so awkward looking with her too big head and too long legs but little Scarlett looks perfectly proportioned. Juno is still the tamest one and she longs for human affection and touch. Scarlett has gotten less afraid but she is the wild child of the bunch. I can't help but think these girls have amazing things ahead of them but I guess every proud Mom thinks the same thing.
Well, I've bored you long enough dear reader and it bothers me to have my eyes flying back and forth across the page so I must close now and go find something that I can accomplish.