Answered Prayers!!

If you are a regular reader, you know what my answered prayer is, a negative sternum biopsy, letting the stem cell transplant transpire!! I got the news this afternoon by phone from my guardian angel, Stacy, who said she was so happy when the news popped up on her computer. The suspicious spot was due to trauma, it happened my first night home from the hospital after Thanksgiving when I tipped the walker over, hit a wooden kitchen chair and then crashed into the fireplace. I had such a sore chest for weeks after, especially since I came home with a rhino virus and had a terrible cough, it nearly did me in.

But Dr. Lunning, reading the PET scan was unconvinced and gave it a 5% chance of not being lymphoma, those odds were disheartening and when I read the actual PET scan results, my heart sank to my shoes. I kept thinking how could it not be from the fall but was prepared for bad news and wondered what was next. 

I've not slept well the last few nights, lots of leg aches and that cemented the thought that is was something insidious in my body since that is what started the whole ordeal. It couldn't have been that I was contorted into an uncomfortable position under the cattle waterer! (That is another blog complete with pictures.)

I still can't believe the good news and may not sleep again tonight but for another reason. I remember the terror that came over me when Stacy outlined my previous pre-transplant schedule and suddenly didn't want to go through with it. What a difference this time, I told her we could be there tomorrow if they had room!

But it won't start till next Tuesday with outpatient appointments and nights spent in a motel with a tentative admission date of Jan 11 for the actual transplant.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart for all the encouragement and tremendous prayer team we've had holding us up.

I feel as though 2017 is going to be very good indeed!

(And I'm really going to have to clean the upstairs bathroom now, yeah, I know I said I would a week ago but you know how that goes!)

Christmas 2016 in the bag

We woke up to wind and rain that continued all day, it was a record rainfall for us on Christmas Day. We battled our way to Sioux City to nephew Todd, wife Mandy and son, Jaxon's house in Morningside, watching the temperature on the car fluctuate between 32 (freezing!) and 34 degrees, hoping the wet pavement didn't turn to ice.

We were invited by my sister in law, Susan, to their son's house so we were hoping she had told them we were coming since we were the first to arrive. Even if we weren't expected, they graciously welcomed them into their lovely home or another word for it is 'Legoland!' This is Jaxon with one of his coveted Lego's that Santa brought but he couldn't open it until he had the rest put together.

Have you ever seen inside one of these kits? There are what looks like thousands of itty, bitty, parts reminding me of the time Christmas was at my house at Whiting and several little girls got Barbie Dolls with all the trappings. For months after I found tiny little Barbie high heels and hair accessories.

Soon Ross and Sherri showed up from Nebraska bearing packages and bags but Jaxon was so good and didn't ask if any were for him.

After a very leisurely lunch of soups, sandwiches, munchies and lots of sweets, Bruce and I got to play Jaxon's fishing game, Bruce said he needed a net sometimes when the fish got off. Just like real fishing so buck up!

We played a fun game where you had try to unwrap a present while wearing oven mitts before the person next to you rolled doubles on the dice. I think we all ended up with something, I love my potholder/mitt combination. We also watched Christmas Vacation and The Christmas Story, I cringe when I think of him sticking his tongue to the flag pole.

It was time for presents and Jaxon got another nerf gun to add to his arsenal, this one had 4 cartridges each holding several nerf bullets. When we got there, the rule was that Jaxon could not shoot people, well, that went out the window when Uncle Ross arrived and started shooting Jaxon. But isn't that was male relatives are for, to corrupt the kid and change the rules?

We even got in on the annual family picture, even with the grousing from Ross, "This takes FOREVER!!" (It didn't.)

It was a fun and relaxing day and we reluctantly left as the day was drawing to a close and the fog was setting in again. How it did that with the way the wind was blowing is a mystery but we arrived home safely. As I was building a fire in the stove to drive away the chill, I realized what I should have asked Santa to bring.

 A new pair of Ove Gloves, my fireplace necessities, I've managed to set them on fire and both thumbs and one finger are burned off. They may withstand heat but sparks are a different story!

Happy Christmas Eve Day

Yesterday was biopsy day, I'm always nervous because some have not been a good experience but I should know by now that the crew at NMC does all they can. We drove to Omaha Thursday night because the weather was not going to be good at home late that night and early morning and it wasn't. This motel had a hot tub so we packed our swimsuits but by the time we got there, we were both out of the mood, after all, it was 7:30, nearly our bedtime! When we woke up and saw the cars with snow on top and wet streets we were glad we made that decision.

With any 'procedure' it's hurry up and wait, we got to the hospital just before 10 and my appointment with the surgeon was at noon. They looked terribly busy but surprisingly on time. This biopsy was a CT guided so I was scrunched up in the machine with my legs hanging over the end, my arms above my head, blankets tucked around to try to keep me warm but leave my chest exposed to the world. Then the nurse had the audacity to ask if I was comfortable, I just rolled my eyes.

Dr. Dafoe asked if I did well with sedation, I said I love sedation and he laughed so I was pretty fuzzy during the retrieval of tissue. Since my heart is right behind where they needed to biopsy, he went in from the side. It was scheduled to take an hour and they were right, I was back in my little cubicle when Bruce came in then watched me sleep for a couple more before we were set free. 

We drove in rain for awhile and further down the road we had a glimpse of what the morning commute was like. We saw a pickup and anhydrous tank on a trailer upside down in the west ditch, the pickup top was smashed and all four door were open. Just a little ways up or down the road I guess, there was a car in the medium still there. We were doubly thankful that we had not been in that mix master.

Today is the annual Wilcox Christmas get together with family and, after being up and around, I'm ready to go and spend a few hours. I might have to hang a sign around my neck, Hug Gently! Sister Sue just invited us up to SC for Christmas dinner, you can't beat that.

I've had this photo that I wanted to use, who is this masked woman?

Is she a celebrity trying to disguise her identity while skiing and hobnobbing in Aspen?

No, she is a dedicated farm wife helping her hubby do chores in -20+ temps in Iowa! Lisa is a great friend who has let me live vicariously through photos of her lovely decorated house. Knowing I wasn't going to get any up, she made me this cute Christmas tree out of clay flower pots and presents magically appeared.

It graces the dusty top of our TV armoire and makes me smile when I see it. I hope you all have the joy and warmth in your hearts that comes with this holiday season as we remember the birth of a tiny baby on that cold winter night.

Merry Christmas!

A roadblock on the road to the transplant

I couldn't write this until I had a lot of time to mull over the news we received yesterday, a (pretty) good nights sleep and a strong cup of coffee liberally laced with International Delight Peppermint Pattie creamer brewed with my new Ninja Single serve coffee machine. Finally I have a coffee maker that brews coffee hot enough, I don't have to put it in the microwave after! I love it!

But I digress.....Bruce and I traveled to Omaha yesterday for yet another PET scan and we were cautiously optimistic because my blood tests had been getting progressively better and I was getting stronger. I've come to really detest the PET scan but I was so hopeful this one would be my friend, it was not.

It takes a long wait to get results but at least we get them the same day, Dr. Lunning came in and said "I'm going to cut to the chase, there is a suspicious spot on your sternum that needs to be biopsied." The rest of the scan looked good and this was not there 30 days ago when I did the last one. Before he could go on I told him that my first night home from the hospital I fell in the night, crashing into a kitchen chair and the fireplace and really injured my sternum. It was terribly painful for such a long time, especially since I had the rhinovirus and was coughing my head off, when I sneezed it felt like my chest was splitting apart. It still is a little tender and I showed Dr. Lunning the spot and it's pretty much the same place they saw on the scan. He knew I had fallen, didn't know the entire story so he went back to call the radiologist and came back with the news that it didn't look like a fracture injury and they have to know for sure. 

Bruce asked him what he thought the odds would be that it is not lymphoma and Dr. Lunninng said 5%. He said he has given me the strongest chemo that they have in their arsenal and I don't do well with it. He said I would breeze through the transplant if I ever get there. But he has to have another plan and that would be to try to control the dragon, not eradicate it, perhaps using a pill based regime.

To my credit, I've had so many set backs that I no longer burst into tears at bad news and I'm sure that is a relief to Dr. Lunning! We were very quiet on the way home, each digesting the new turn this is taking. Beth, Dr. Lunning's nurse, called and said they got an appointment for Friday at 10, it's nice to have a Dr. with pull, otherwise it would have been next week. We will have to wait a week for results but at least we are a few days ahead of the game. We stopped in Correctionville and shared a pizza, then home and at 7:30 we were both headed up to bed, emotionally shot. In the night I was playing musical beds, to the couch with Clyde and back upstairs with Bruce, lots of thoughts swirling around my head.

In the end, the sun did come up this morning, the temps have moderated, the snow is melting and I'm reminded of this poem, it says it all.

WHAT GOD HATH PROMISED

WHAT GOD HATH PROMISED

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love

Author: Annie Johnson Flint 

Edited to add, don't sympathize with me, that opens the floodgates. I'm now dressed and ready to face the day and the first thing on my agenda is to clean the upstairs bathroom since the cleaning fairy, once again, did not show up last night and do it!

The best Christmas Pagent Ever

We are a hardy bunch here in Iowa, even though our car temperature read -27, we didn't wimp out and cancel church like some in the area. The wind did not whip up the fresh snow to blizzard conditions and we found, to our delight, that the county road to the west was finally open after having a bridge replaced, Yeah!!

It was our last Advent coffee Sunday, the first I attended since returning from the hospital after Thankgiving. Shirley and Cheryl provided a plethora of delectable treats along with coffee and hot apple cider.

Then it was soon time for the program and 5 year old Treton stole the show with his flawless performance. He knew his lines as he told the Christmas story, in plain words, such as "We had a baby, but it wasn't mine." 

(Do you think Joseph had a Superman robe?)

 ,

This was Treton's cousin, Isabella, who was the inn keeper...

....he didn't let the antic's of his sister, Addison, corralled by their father, Tracy, or runaway Isabella, even the camera couldn't keep up with her, interfere with his words or song. 

Tracy finally got the girls settled for the grand finale when suddenly Addison remembers baby Jesus by the stable. It was a great program and they received a rousing round of applause.

With no change in the weather, we did wimp out on the caroling, I wasn't going anyway, I didn't want to go to a nursing home not knowing what might be going around in there. The rest of the places we would have gone, we would have stood outside and that would really put a crimp in the night with the -0 temps. I had promised a pot of chili for the party after so we went home from church to a crock pot bubbling away, guaranteed to thaw our cold bones. Coupled with grilled cheese sandwiches and a cold glass of milk, it was a great meal.

Bernice, our church organist, blessed us with her yummy pickles, we know how much work it is and appreciate the effort.

This fat little squirrel was warming his hands, trying to get the courage to come down out of the tree and eat the spilled corn by the garage. With Mollie in the doghouse on her heated bed, he really didn't have much to worry about.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 30's, if you don't like the weather in IA, stick around a day and it will change and we are looking forward to a change like that.

These are the times that try men's souls.....

Days like these have Bruce thinking how much easier life would be without the cattle. It's very, very cold and he discovered a frozen cattle fountain and the pipe frozen to the fountain. To top it off, he discovered water in the bottom of the pit, which should not have been. My first clue something was wrong was when Bruce called to see if I had a sump pump and hose he could use, yes I did. Even though I had drained the hose, it still broke into a 6 ft. piece but it made it easier that way. 

Soon I got a phone call, "Can you come help me, I've called Grassy and dress warm." He had squeezed himself under the fountain and was dipping muck out of the bottom of the pit, when he tried to take the pipe apart, it broke, adding insult to injury. While waiting for Grassy, I took ice cream buckets of muck from Bruce and dumped into a 5 gallon bucket and then dumped it onto the floor. Soon Grassy came and took over and there was nothing for me to do but go back home to the warm house. My gloves were filthy with muck but not much else. Bruce's coveralls, on the other hand, were covered and went right in the washing machine.

He did not sleep well that night, worrying about what to do with the fountain and was up before dawn. He ended up calling Marcus Lumber, Grassy came back and helped him remove the concrete fountain from the base so that guy didn't have squeeze himself into the small hole that Bruce did the day before. It's a good thing because he was a big guy and had a hard time putting a new pipe in. Bruce said he was kind of grumbling but at least he didn't have to dip black, stinky muck out of the pit. They capped off the pipe, Bruce and Grassy put the fountain back in place to wait for nicer weather to hook it up. He also found out the water bowl had a small leak, that is why there was water in the pit and why it shorted out the electric heater keeping it from freezing.

Today Bruce is shopping for a new fountain, his grandfather bought all these fountains from Shorty Treptow in Cleghorn years and years ago. I agreed with him.

Tonight is going to be very subzero and the question is whether the wind comes up and produces ground blizzards and we have to cancel church in the morning. It's the Sunday school Christmas program so I hope not, I look forward to it every year. We put together the goody bags at session the other night and tomorrow night is caroling. I made a crock pot of chili and will make a pan of cinnamon rolls tomorrow, whether we have it or not, we will eat good.

Just so we don't forget what it can be like, Becky sent me a picture of her granddaughter, Ryann and I with Mollie and Murphy in the back yard.

Oh, those were the days.

From the inside looking out

This is a very different winter for me as I'm pretty much confined to the house because of very low energy, my hemoglobin was down and that causes lack of oxygen to vital organs. So I know I'm not just lazy. But life is pretty boring, I'm not out and about and taking pictures of snow and cold and the animals I love. Or Bruce! I spend a lot of time looking out the windows to see what is going on, late yesterday Mollie went crazy and I looked out just in time to see 4 or 5 deer run across the pasture, over the fence, across the road and on south. They were running like their tails were on fire so we assume there were hunters involved.

Bruce was heading out to the front pasture to cut up some wood when I saw 4 pheasants, two pair which is really exciting because we have very few around, tip toeing down the fence line. We hope they stay around the house where they are safe from predators like.....,

.....the two coyotes we saw this morning on the way to Cherokee for the latest blood test. One crossed the road just east of us and the other was standing in the field across from the pond. 

Why can't we just all get along?

I'm still fighting the mouse (mice) in the bee hive, I have two traps set with a mini marshmallow taped to the trigger. When the bugger(s) tripped one twice, I upped the game and put a sticky trap inside. But two days have passed and nothing has happened, I'm just hoping he found the package of poison I put inside also. It's way too cold to disrupt the hive to find him.

Speaking of cold and it's only going to get worse before it gets better, we have a quirky weatherman on Channel 4, T.J. Springer who must have come from a warm climate because as soon as the weather changed, his constant mantra during his report was, "Stay inside, it's too cold to be out there!" Well, how would our animals get fed? How would the bridge get built on our road? How would you ever get mail delivered? It was getting annoying and I think someone finally told him to shut up, because we have not heard that in the last couple of days. But the jury is still out when the temps are dropping on Saturday night to -18 or so. I'm glad that the chickens have a heater at night and all the animals have warm heated beds. I just wish all animals were so lucky. 

People are still being incredibly kind to us, we have a lot of food in the freezer to tide us over when I don't have the strength to cook. Knowing I wasn't going to get out any Christmas decorations, another friend, Lisa, brought us a mini Christmas tree she made from flower pots, it's so cute! And she brought food. The Christmas cards are coming in and I hope people understand that right now I'm not in the mood to reciprocate, maybe in the New Year?

Last night Becky called, concerned that I hadn't blogged or even emailed and I told her I was boring right now. So she told me I could even use the picture of Crazy Becky that I snapped a couple of years ago, how could I pass that up?

Merry Christmas!

Of Mice and Men......er.....Woman.....

Those of you who live in a vermin free house, count your blessings, for those of us living in old farm houses, it is a constant battle. Not only can they flatten themselves and slide through the smallest crack, I saw this for myself one night in the upstairs bathroom, we have Naughty Zoe who thinks it's great sport to bring a mouse in from either outside or the garage and dash to the basement or upstairs to play hockey with said mouse in the upstairs bathroom. They slide so nicely on the linoleum floor. (One got away and scooted under the tiny crack between the closet door and the floor, it was like Houdini, one minute it was there, the next it was gone. So at 10:30 at night I was tearing Bruce's closet apart to find the little devil, by that time Zoe has lost interest and it was up to me to whack him with my Croc and flush him down the stool.)

We hear mice in the walls and ceiling of the living room, Bruce said to put poison out but then you have to contend with the dead mouse smell. So after much thought, I bought sticky traps and installed them behind the door that leads to the plumbing in the upstairs bathroom. That worked pretty good, I was able to catch and dispatch 5 or 6 and the scrabblings are few but the war was far from over as we discovered when the dishwasher quit working.

We determined it was a faulty water intake valve, thanks to You Tube, so ordered a new one from our local guy. When Bruce pulled it out to work on it, there was evidence of a mouse party to end all parties. I knew Zoe had been very interested in the cracks around the dishwasher, I should have paid more attention to her. We set traps and caught 3 in about 5 days. They made a mess, there was evidence that they probably raised a family under there and that counted for the small mice that Zoe kept finding and taking upstairs to her playroom.

I was trying to clean out the mess from under the dishwasher and was concerned that there was water, Bruce replaced the water intake valve, started it up, shut it off and as the water ran out, we could hear drips. The darned mice had chewed on an outlet hose!!! When we called back to Ebert's, Mike said that he has only seen that trouble on Bosch washers, they must really like their brand of plastic. So I spent another couple of days, doing dishes by hand before the new part came in. We both held our breath when all the new parts were on and started the washer, water coming in, water going out and no drips, YEAH! We've heard that dryer sheets deter mice so tucked some around the plastic hoses and on both sides of the crack, just to be on the safe side, we still have the baited trap waiting.

Whew, I thought, I think we have a handle on things - au contraire, Murphy's Law interceded. I had not been to the bee hives for a long time, Bruce put the hay bales around when it got cold and I thought it was time to see how the sugar bricks were holding out. The first hive had finished their pan so I pulled it out. The second hive had a nasty surprise, a mouse popped out when I opened it, I tried whacking him with a top bar but he got away into the woods. That is not what I wanted to see. They still had a little sugar brick left that I pulled out and up popped another mouse head but he quickly retreated back into the hive. AAUUGGHHHH!!!! To make things worse, the bees started coming out and they don't do well in cold weather, I wasn't dressed to deal with them so we shut up the hive and went home.

I had to make sugar bricks, find where they got in and figure out what to do with the one or more, still in there and try to protect the bees from coming out. I messed up the sugar bricks, the sugar caramelized and that is not good so jettisoned both batches. I took the old car, with all my bee supplies in the trunk over later armed with mouse bait and a trap, hoping I could convince the bees to stay in with smoke while I ousted the mouse(s). The bees were not cooperative, they wanted to do battle with me so I left the poison in one end and the mouse trap on top and shut it up as tightly as I could. I thought the stiff piece of Styrofoam had left enough of a crack for the little buggers to get in.

I didn't sleep well last night, trying to formulate a plan and woke up to the snow that was predicted. Bruce found some rolled insulation to replace the blue, I took a flashlight, newspaper and the rest of the bag of sugar. Some bee keepers just lay newspaper down and put granulated sugar over it instead of making fondant or sugar bricks and they say it works well. I didn't want the hives open long so quickly stocked the first hive, when I put me ear to the top bars I could hear buzzing down deep so that made me happy. I had the smoker ready when I opened the second hive and was happy to find a fat mouse in the trap. I decided against moving any of the other top bars because again the bees were wanting to come out, I slapped down their newspaper, covered it with the last of the sugar, tucked it full of insulation, re-set the mouse trap, and made sure all the edges met with no cracks. As I was looking at the front, I saw a bee start to come out, one board had warped just enough to leave a crack that I'm sure a mouse could get in. I had run out of energy so called Bruce to the rescue, he brought a lathe and Makita and screwed it over the crack and called it good. 

I'm afraid that I would have lost a lot of bees, had I messed around more, now I can go over and quickly check the trap. Obviously the mice really like the mini marshmallow I tape to the trap. It wasn't what I wanted to find over there but in the grand scheme of things, it's also not the end of the world. Just another one of those potholes that seem to line my path.

Wind chill 9 degrees, hot dinner required

After an extended balmy fall, old Mother Nature did a switcharoo and opened the door to the cold north winds along with a couple of snow flurries. More is predicted this weekend but we hope the weatherman is wrong. While I hole up in the house with the fireplace going, Bruce still has to do his outdoor chores along with a few wrenches in the works, like a frozen fountain this morning in the cattle yard.

I know the easy way to thaw him out, with a pot of beef stew, easy, hearty and oh so satisfying! When Bruce was dishing his plate up he said, "You need to take a picture of this!" That was all I needed to hear.

'Beef, it's what for dinner!'

Did you notice my new pan? Yes, it is the square deep Red Copper pan that is all over the infomercials on TV. I took a long time to finally order one, in fact I waited until Cyber Monday to get a discount and I truly love it! I've used it nearly every day since it came and it's winner and believe me, I'm not getting paid to say this. I've always loved all my cast iron but they are heavy, this one is so light and cleans up like a breeze.

What goes better with beef stew than cornbread? But this is no ordinary cornbread but a Thanksgiving Sweet Skillet Cornbread, compliments of Heather (Waugh) Bircher. She has a special recipe in each of her hubby, Aaron's, newsletters and I saved this one and decided today was the day, and was not disappointed. Baked in a cast iron skillet, served warm with butter and honey, it was more dessert than bread.

But Bruce is a tough sell, as I was 'm-m-m-ming' my way through my slice, I noticed he did not say much so I asked him what he thought. "It is alright." That means he would rather have the 39 cent Jiffy mix or 89 cent Betty Crocker mix from the store, a travesty!

For your own comparison, here is the recipe:

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

1 stick unsalted butter

2 large (French Farm) eggs

2 tablespoons honey

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup sour cream

1. Whisk the cornmeal, sugar, baking power, baking soda, flour and salt in a medium bowl. (plan ahead so you don't have to use yet another, bigger bowl, like I did.)

2. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes.

3. Whisk eggs and honey in a bowl, and then mix in milk, sour cream and browned butter. Add to flour mixture and stir until batter is combined.

4. Melt the remaining butter over medium heat until it foams. Add to the batter. (I used my 10 inch cast iron skillet to melt the butter and then baked the cornbread in it.)

5. Spread batter in medium pan and bake at 400 degrees until the cornbread springs back when pressed, about 20 - 30 minutes. (20 was perfect for me. I learned the hard way you do not want to overbake cornbread or it is dry and unpalatable.)

6. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting. (Ignore #6 and eat it hot with butter and honey.)

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did and I think Bruce is going to have to get used to it.

I hope you are have your tummy full of warm, satisfying food.

Make their day!

Things are kind of boring around here, there has been nothing of note to photograph much less write about with me pretty much house bound. A bunch of chicken treats, leftover popcorn, bread crumbs, etc. had piled up so when Bruce was ready to go outside after dinner, I asked him if he would like to make my chickens day. 

He gave me the 'look' you know, the one that says, "HUH??" He just doesn't understand. I had the camera and stressed that he had to quiet going out the back door, if they hear me coming, they  stampede out the chicken house door and that is what I wanted to avoid until I was ready. Unfortunately the lens cap was stuck on the camera and I couldn't get it off, AAUUGGGHHHH!! So most of the girls were already milling around his feet, the black hen at the back is trying to get airborne.

They are still coming...

"Here chick, chick, chick!!"

Finally, the good stuff is falling and the little serama hen just out of the coop takes to the air.

The fastest way to get there and not miss out on the goodies.

They love the leftover popcorn.

He who eats the fastest, eats the mostest.

A latecomer, "Well, are you coming?" says Bruce

She wonders why no one told her about the party going on.

I've taken back the dog, cat and chicken chores, the horses are easy because Bruce has them on a big round bale self feeder, I just have to make sure they are upright and taking nourishment. The chicken coop could use a cleaning but it can wait, yesterday I stepped in and my eyes began to water, "What is that smell??" 

Broody Poop!!

The little red frizzle's goal in life is to be a mother and she is not to be deterred just because it is winter. She trolls the nests until she finds an egg that needs to be kept warm and settles on it, happy that her life is fulfilled once more - until one of us comes and rudely yanks the egg out from under her. Broody hens only get off the nest once a day and do their business and you know when they do it, you just need to watch where you step.