Category: Animals

I’m obviously looking for lots of positive reinforcement here to affirm the decisions we have made.  We have determined the people who can look the other way, have no regrets, and never look back have it way easier than we do.  They have it way easier because they don’t have this:

now residing in their pool house!

Six new kittens on the ride home from Grandma’s.  The seventh one arrived later because we couldn’t find him the first time around.  We just couldn’t sleep knowing we had left one lone kitten all by himself.  So that afternoon we ran back up to Grandma’s and dug him out from under the brush pile they had been residing in.

I just flipped the lights on them.  They have that “Mom, it’s early” look about them.  One of them was already on his way over to greet me, so the picture is short one.  *Sorry it’s fuzzy…..I guess we were all a little fuzzy this morning.

They get warm raw milk mornings, first thing when I get home, and right before bed.  They haven’t quite mastered drinking from a bowl yet.  There is a lot of snorting and sneezing going on.

Max and Murphy really do love each other.

Who doesn’t need a good rabbit-kick in the face to get them going in the mornings?

We are forever shaking kittens off our legs.  Good thing it’s not shorts season.

Everyone has adjusted well.  There is less hissing and snarling going on. Cooter is still a streak of orange out the pool house door in the mornings.  He is ready for his independence outside away from all the little ones by the time 5:00 am rolls around.

Have a wonderful day!

So Friday Ebony and I loaded up in mom and dad’s pickup and headed north to a new vet to have her eye checked out (for a second time).

Isn’t she adorable?

Below are a couple picture of Ebony’s eye.

We took Ebony to a vet when she was just a little lamb.  He told us, “I’d send her to the butcher pen.”  I covered her ears and said, “not right in front of her.”  We paid our bill and left.  We knew that wasn’t an option, so we headed home.

Vet Number 2 had a slightly sunnier diagnosis.  He said he didn’t think it was hereditary, it would be fine to breed her, it shouldn’t get any worse, and won’t hurt her in any way.  She is blind in that eye, but manages just fine.  He said she has a small eye due to missing the iris/pupil of her eye.  Micropthalmia is the term he used.  It is just a rare condition she was born with.

Here is Ebony as a baby with her brother, Ivory.  They were bottle lambs we brought home from Dad’s to take care of and raise.  We actually suspected something was not quite right with her eye from day one.

“Normal” is so subjective.

Randy spent the better part of a day creating a safe space for our ewe lambs to go if it storms, specifically hails.  At first they weren’t so sure about their new pad, but once their mineral and protein tub made it’s way underneath they were left with no choice but to brave the unknown.

Aren’t the chickens cute all nestle on top of the sheep!  Now you see why I’m thinking it’s going to be hard this time around to put them in our freezer. 

Before the tub was moved under cover.

Have a great day!

Long story short, my Grandma has the typical farm cat overpopulation problem at her house.  So, Randy and I went up there a few evenings in a row until we finally caught a kitten from her newest litter (of seven). 

We named the little guy Murphy.  He was clearly sick when we first got him, so I ran a stool sample to the vet.  She ran the test and reported she had never seen a slide so full of coccidia before.  She assumed he had worms, but said the slide was so full of coccidia she really couldn’t tell if anything else was wrong with him.  A bottle of ear mite medicine, 3 days worth of antibiotics, and a syringe of de-wormer later I was out the door.

Randy and I decided to try to catch another kitten to keep Murphy company.  Also, knowing how sick they were we thought we could at least afford to save another one. 

Off to Grandma’s we went.  The first try was futile.  Murphy bit Randy the first time around, so it was only fair that I got mine this time.  Max bit me so hard and in the perfect location, right on the side of my fingernail.  I let him go.  The next time we returned in our suit of armour (or at least gloves).  The cats and kittens were all on Grandma’s back porch eating and scattered when they saw and heard us.  None of them ran to the wood pile where we had previously caught them, so we assumed our chance was out the window again.  As we were walking away, Randy glanced into the window well of the house.  There they were!  We both reached in and sure enough both caught one.  Max was spitting fire…..the most mean and hateful little thing you’ll ever see.  Macy was very small and fairly calm compared to the other two.  Neither one of us had the heart to let one go knowing how sick they were.  We sat on the back porch with Grandma trying to calm them down before jumping in our loud pickup and hauling them home.  Macy calmed down okay, but Max was a mess. 

We arrived home with them and went to the pool house to show Murphy who we had brought home with us.  He came busting out of his cat tower when he saw them.  He was so excited!  Cooter, however, was not pumped about the first kitten (Murphy) and wasn’t exactly doing backflips when we brought the other two in.

Cooter and Murphy, can you fell the love or what. 

Max is still our problem child.  He is so afraid.  It’s really sad to see him so unsure about us.  He finally started to come around last night.  I broke out some Pitter Pats, and his little world started to changed.

Macy is still a little unsure when we enter the pool house, but for the most part is taming down nicely and just as cute and sweet as she can be.

They have all been treated for coccidia and de-wormed.  They look so much better and are finally starting to get those cute little kitten bellies. 

Soon we will have them fixed and vaccinated for rabies.  For now we are just trying to spend as much time as we can with them to tame them down, so they can venture outside soon.

We clearly needed more animals on our farm, specifically 3 new cats!  We love them though.  Hopefully once they are released into the wild they can catch the gopher who is slowing making the lawn outside the pool house door look like a prairie dog village.

Have a wonderful day!

Okay, funny story…..Last night when I got home I got the dog’s food ready and fed them so they could get back outside and enjoy the nice cool weather.  When Randy walked in the door he said, “Mmm, it smells good, what are you cooking?”  We add garlic and cod liver oil to their dog food in the evenings.  He smelled that garlic and thought I had been slaving away on dinner (for him).  I could have dished him up a bowl, but he wasn’t interested.

 Speaking of dogs, this is what I left at our house this morning…

You just don’t know what you are missing out on if you don’t have a dog (or dogs).  Yes there is dog hair here, there, and everywhere.  Yes it is an added expense.  Yes as puppies there are accidents on the floor, chewed up table legs, and scratched hands from puppy teeth.  But there are also wagging tails and smiling faces everyday when you walk in the door.  You have a partner for ball or walks anytime you feel like it.  There are snuggles with no words or opinions whenever you are just having one-of-those-days.

If people rescued/adopted a dog rather than buy from breeders?  If people would spay/neuter?  If there were tighter restrictions on who and how dogs are bred (puppy mills, individual breeders with absolutely no training or knowledge on breeding dogs, etc.)?  Would there still be overflowing shelters full of abandoned, abused, and neglected dogs?

We love our’s!  Even with three and and a baby on the way (via adoption) I still don’t think I could drive by an abandoned dog or puppy along the side of the road and just look the other way.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

We finally took the dogs for a walk the other evening.  It was a nice cool evening, so we put leashes on Thai and Koal and let Ash go on her own.  For anyone who knows Ash or has heard stories about Ash, this will seem shocking to not have her on a very short leash.  However, this is her (possibly only) area of expertise.  She trotted along about 5-10 feet in front of us the entire time.

Thai has some listening issues we are still working on, and Koal is a cold-blooded killer that would have been shoulder deep in every hole/den we passed had it not been for Randy keeping him above ground.

It was a peaceful night at our house since everyone was worn out from the walk.

Have a wonderful day!