Happy Birthday

Mia called at 6:30 am to wish me happy birthday. When I opened the door to my classroom I saw little gift bags and flowers. I knew my colleagues had done it again - they made me feel so loved. Gretchen knitted me a fabulous hat with Peace Yarn and filled a bag with chocolate, a mega-sack of Starbucks, ginger bath salts and a replacement Pride and Prejudice DVD. Laurie gave me a feed store gift card (how did she know?) and a nifty eco shopping bag that folds up into a tiny zipper sack. Ted (AKA the Italian Stallion) gave me Starbucks, and so did Robin. Jennifer gave me a yard of cute cotton fabric for wrapping soap, and Santana made mini-cupcakes. It was a no-stress Friday with a class trip to Price Chopper to get groceries for our classroom. Matt pulled himself out of his sick bed to go to the mall and get me some slinky fire-engine red pajamas and a bathrobe along with a piggy birthday card. He included an Andrea Bocelli CD, arias and duets from Carmen. It's wonderful to listen to. The pajamas and robe are so pretty I was tempted to put them in a tote and save them if I ever needed something decent for a hospital stay! He managed to find British Country Living and a Mary Jane's Farm for me. We met at Michael's for an early dinner and went home to the farm. Birthday or not there were still chores to be done. The pigs were running wild around the farm and had to be rounded up and penned. It took a bit of doing but they were so happy to get their feed and slop all to themselves. Tommy Boy had pulled himself out into the mud. I gave him another dose of Dexamethasone (to hopefully decrease swelling of the spine) and pulled him through the mud and back into the barn on a tarp. He's not safely confined in a pen where I can give him meds, food and water. We'll see what happens. At his advanced age I can't expect miracles. He's so beautiful I paused and watched him munch on his hay and delicious sweet feed. When TB was a baby the only hay I had available to me was 100% alfafa and he grew enormous. Matt helped me finish chores and I received calls from Hannah and AJ. The stars are exquisitely bright and plentiful tonight - a lovely birthday present.