Thursday, October 25, 2007

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell Oct. 31, 2007

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell Oct. 31, 2007
Home remedies are something that has always been around. Each family has their own thing. My Grandma Cary liked to use menthol and camphor. But my dad’s family remedy was to use laxatives for everything that was wrong with you. It did not matter what ailed you, from headaches, upset stomach, sore muscles, fever, coughs, colds, flu, poor vision, the cure was always the same, a laxative- if it did not work, you did not use enough of it.
Lately, I have had some neck problems- it was a kink that would not go away. Not really a stiff neck but it was getting there. I have been whining around the house, especially in the mornings. It felt like I had something out of whack. I hate to go to the doctor so I have been putting ice on it, and making Jim rub out the kinks. I even considered Dad method, but had not gotten that desperate. Now I have a remedy for my problem. I would not promote this particular method as I think that maybe the side effects may be worst than the disease. In fact- I am telling you this should not be tried at home- but this is what happened. We gathered our calves this past week to send them to market. After we got the calves loaded on the truck we were going to work the heifers that we kept back. And since I had a couple of baby calves we would work them also. When we work calves my job is to catch the head and Jim pushes them down the alley and into the chute. Well, the heifers were too big and I am not as strong as I once was, if I could catch the head she kept lifting me off the ground while I was trying to pull the head catch down. So Jim and I traded jobs- he would catch the head and I would get the heifers in the chute. This was working great until one heifer decided that she was going to back up- that was not so bad as I had put a pipe behind her so she could not go too far back- but I was on top of the corrals and so how- I do not know how this happened - but she some how knocked my feet out from under me and I was falling backwards and my knees caught the pipe so I fell backwards with me on one side of the pipe and my knees and feet on the other side and a heifer that kept going backwards and forwards again and again. When I hit the ground I first thought that maybe this was it- but after seeing the heifers behind coming at me, I was sure that I was definitely still among the living and I was about to get in real trouble. The heifer did not, however, go over the pipe, for which I am very grateful. Every time she came back I kept kicking her forwards. Finally she went in the chute and I got up and dusted myself off and took inventory of all of me. I seemed to be alright. That night I had really bad muscle spasms in my neck and I took some pain relievers and went to bed. The next morning my neck was better and I now I feel much better. So if you have a neck problem just fall off the top of corrals and land on the back your head and shoulders and you could possibly knock whatever is out, back in. This is not a perfect solution and again may not work every time but does anyone know how do you get rid of double vision?

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