365!

I did it!  I managed to make my 2022 goal of posting every day for an entire year.  Unbelievable.  My next closest year was 2014 with 267 posts.  2021 was pretty sorry with only 129.  I will try to not back slide that far, but don’t expect every day.

 And what better way to spend the last day of 2022 than a two hour ride around the farm on Otoelene.  Draper is short a shoe so we are waiting until Monday when the farrier can come out to be able to ride her again.  There was a 60 degree temperature change from last week, 80 degrees if you count the wind chill. 

The weaned calves were very curious.

And there was yet another down tree.  Of course it went across the fence.

The goats were out and about.  They all looked good.  Then when we went up the gravel road, the four Rhodesian ridgebacks came barreling down the hill barking their heads off.  I stood and waited for them to all get down the hill before riding past.  Otoelene didn’t seem to mind them at all.  I’m just glad they can’t seem to get through the fence.

After lunch I went back with Joe while he cut the tree off the fence.

And then spent awhile trying to patch it back.  

We have been working on some goals for next year.  Several of mine involve traveling and vacations.  Joe said if you write it down you are more likely to do it.  So I am writing down - travel to Ecuador to visit Emily this summer while she is there for 10 months.  There, now it should happen. Happy New Year!

Happy 2nd Birthday

Look who turned two today.

 Sadie!!!!!

I picked up Allie in the morning so Sadie got special attention from Mike and Virginia.  She went to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  Then came here for the afternoon.  Virginia made a cake which we enjoyed after dinner. 

I think Sadie had a good day.

The Cat Leash

This cat was brought into the clinic yesterday.  The owner said they couldn’t find their carrier or a leash.  

I can think of a hundred things I would grab before a charging cord.  There were lots of jokes in the back about supercharging your cat.
 

Guest Photographer

Emily went birding while visiting her Grandmother.  She had seen where a rare duck was spotted in the area.  It took two trips, but she finally saw it.   It is a Harlequin duck.  That made her 200th bird for the year. 

Although there are an estimated 200 000 to 300 000 Harlequin Ducks in the western population, the eastern North American population today consists of fewer than 1 000 individuals. Historically, the endangered east coast population had been estimated at 5 000 to 10 000 birds.

 

Family Photo

We had a crazy time trying to get a family photo this year.  Joe missed out on the picture last year, and Mike missed out this year.

 Virginia and Emily behaved.

But Sadie was too full of herself to hold still.

She would fight and squirm, get down and start laughing.

I could barely hang on to her.

Then I was laughing too hard to smile right.  Then I switched with Joe since Allie was being good.

Joe didn’t fare any better.  Allie isn’t sure what to think.

This one may be the keeper.

Subbing For Daycare

Daycare is closed this week so I am trying to help Virginia a little by keeping Sadie today and tonight.

She had a ball playing with her new kitchen set today.  But she didn’t wear her new purple helmet like she did yesterday.  I also didn’t remind her about the helmet because I had too much to do to go riding.  But we did go out and pat the horses.

And we walked to the barn when Joe fed the dogs.  Even if she isn’t walking, Sadie still wants to carry a bucket.

Then it was inside for supper, bath, books and bed.

Merry Christmas, Sadie, Allie and Kit Kat Sunday

 

A Few Less Decorations

There were no big parties planned for this year so I said I would cut back on decorating.  

But that is a very difficult thing to do when I like my Christmas decorations so much.

 You might not be able to tell, but I did actually cut back some.   Merry Christmas Eve.

Change Of Weather

The Arctic blast arrived around 3 o’clock this morning.  Our power flickered several times over the next couple of hours but didn’t go out, yet.  

We had a few small trees and branches in the road but I got through ok to go feed the bulls Joe asked me to.  

Joe spent the morning feeding everything else. 

Wind gusts of 50 mph, and now the temperature is minus 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit.  At least the mud is gone for now.   Then for lunch we had reservations at the local theater for dinner and a Christmas show.  The meal was great and we were enjoying the show.  Then with three songs left, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate.  Sort of an abrupt ending.
 

Christmas Wrapping

I may be going overboard.  It began last year when I started embellishing my packages using a glue gun and and old plastic wreath.  Now I have found all sorts of bits and bobs to use. 

Stick on gems and little plastic snowflakes,

Left over upholstery trim and and origami tree,

Foam lights and that plastic wreath,

My favorite, trim from two old bedspreads and a piece of ribbon,

A Christmas card,

A fabric ornament I made but didn’t like well enough to use on the tree,

A very old pick and some yarn, 

And a candy cane with some Santa erasers.  I am seeing a theme here.  And it might be that I keep too much random stuff.
 

Freak Accident (warning graphic images) Long Story

Joe had a freak accident feeding the cows yesterday.  After setting down the round bale on the front spear, he went to back up so he could turn around and get the bale with the hay unroller on the back of the tractor.  But when he started to backup, he felt the tractor bump into something.  That something was a cow that was now straddling one of the arms of the unroller.  Joe said she was struggling and bawling, he was trying to lower the unroller but she had too much pressure on it for it to go down.  He said she then lunged forward and the spike of the unroller split her hide and some muscle from her udder to her last rib. At first, he didn’t want to bother getting her up, but relented and I was able to help him get her out of the field.  We had to get her through two more fields to get to the barn.  Hugo and Otoelene were in the first field and Pep, Draper, and Jessica were in the second.  So you know if the gate was open, instead of the cow going through the horses did.  Now Hugo is running around in a field he hasn’t been in before with two other horses he hasn’t been with before.  Somehow, running up the hill, he fell down.  I didn’t even think he was near the two strand electric fence on the far side of the field, but the next time I looked (I was still working on getting the cow), Hugo was on the wrong side of the fence.  I could see him panic and he dove back through and took back off running around with the other horses.  There was nothing I could do about any of that.  Joe had gone to open the gates at the barn and came back to help get the cow.  We finally got her in the barn lot.  Joe went to repair the fence Hugo dove through, and I went to go get what I needed to suture up a huge wound.

The pictures don’t do it justice.

 The bottom part was just one long flap while the top was split into two flaps.  There were also some torn muscles in all that mess.  I gave her what should have been a just sedation dose of a sedative but she decided it was a recumbency dose,

and lay down in the chute.  And of course, she shifted onto the wound where I couldn’t get to it.  The only thing we could do now was wait for the sedation to wear off and for her to get back up.  That took about 30 -40 minutes.   When she finally got up, I was able to start suturing, starting with the torn muscles.  Then I started on the skin.  The biggest problem was seeing the dark blue suture against the black hair.  I only had one pack of pink suture so I used that when I started getting to the more difficult area closer to the udder. But by that time the cow had had enough and started kicking.  I ended up leaving about 6 inches open.  I figured it would at least provide an area for everything to drain out.

Can you see the blue sutures? 

It should eventually heal.  If the sutures hold it will heal faster, but there is a good chance things will fall apart and we will be back to square one.  But at least we tried.  And Hugo is ok.

Last Garden Treat

I finally gave up on my broccoli.  I told Joe if we were living in a post apocalyptic era, then I probably could have gotten a couple more edible pieces.  But since we aren’t, I didn’t. 

What I did do was pull up the plants and throw them over the fence to the goats.
 

They came running and acted like it was a special treat.