Catching Up

So, it has been such a long time since I have had time and patience with myself to sit down and write - or had a single coherent organized thought in my head!  I was very recently diagnosed with Adult ADD.  Ironically, the medication I am on now is essentially the same stuff I used to take to cram for exams.  What  a difference it makes, the most notable of which is that I can usually lie down to go to sleep at night and actually go to sleep instead of making lists of stuff I should do, stuff I forgot to do, stuff  I promised or offered to do for people and haven't gotten around to yet, books I want to read, things I am worried about, things I should worry about, great ideas to solve the world's problems.....you get the idea?

I think the loss of my beautiful mother was the motivating event for me getting to a counselor and eventually a doctor, which resulted in my diagnosis.  Mom's passing was not a huge surprise, but it was a huge loss, certainly to me, but to an awful lot of other folks as well.  The single most repeated comment I heard about Mom was that she was a lady.  She was beautiful, kind, loving and never had a harsh word for anyone.  I miss her so much.  On the right there is a picture of my mom with three of her her grand kids.  My daughter, age two at the time, is in her arms, and my niece and nephew are standing by.  Mom's huge smile is a great reflection of her heart, she loved her family and it showed on her face every minute of every day.  Her grandchildren and great grandchildren where the light of her life and she just loved to play with them and laugh with them.

It has been my goal for a long time to reduce the number of foster dogs here to just one.  A recent spate of illnesses made it obvious that I had to reduce the number of fosters here sooner rather than later. We finally managed it and  our one remaining foster dog is Salty the old coonhound over there on the left.     Salty is still reliably housebroken as long as he gets outside right after he eats and his favorite pastime is sleeping in the sun.  He is not a bit of trouble and hopefully he will find a forever home soon. In the meantime he is welcome to stay here as long as he wants.  He is a great old guy.

We have an adorable little mini-horse now at DogRush. A new friend gave us Breyer, the blind mini, in the hopes that the little horse would bond with my herd of goats and sheep. Well, it didn't exactly happen, but the little horse has found her way into my heart and I have bonded with her! Evenings, sitting on my milk carton stool in Breyers stall with a lap full of hay for her to eat are the highlight of my days. Breyer loves to have her eye ridges scratched and also begs for treats. She is a joy to be around and I am so glad she is here. I promise to post photos as soon as we have some spring color outside to make the little dun horse show up in the photo!

My new horse friends have been taking me trail riding and I am hooked.  I tried to learn to ride "english" some time ago - but my back and neck were not happy with me for my efforts.  However a gaited horse provides me with a very comfortable ride, so, I guess I am a cowgirl now.  Over there on the right is my official cowgirl's mount.  Loverboy is the horse I fell in love with and bought for trail riding.  He is a ,gentle eight year old Spotted Saddle horse and appropriately named indeed. I am looking forward to many, many hours on Missouri's trails while we explore the woods together.

There is a lot more catching up to do, and some more sad news, but it can all wait till next time.

Announcing a New Arrival - or two!

We have several spring arrivals at Dogrush Ranch.  The first is from our "oops" clutch of turkey eggs.  There were three full hatches from the original clutch of 15 or so eggs.  That is pretty good considering three turkey hens shared the nest, and that usually results in total failure.  In fact, I was sort of thinking that since the girls "tricked" me and had a dummy nest that they also laid eggs in, and I didn't want any more eggs, that I was just "humoring" them by letting them figure out the whole sharing a nest thing wasn't a good idea.  HA! 

My friend, Dorene took the first two to raise as "lap poults" I kept the third because I couldn't find anyone who wanted a pet turkey.  Imagine that!  So that is our new little guy or girl down there on the left.  He is

with one of the three moms.   You can see Wendell on the other side of the fence ignoring the goings on in the barnyard.  He's a good boy that Wendell!  The proximity of the dogs does worry me sometimes. We have used every inch of our tiny acre and a half and I have a terrible yearning for a bigger place with high pasture and wide open spaces.   Farm envy is a terrible thing. 

Which brings us to the second new arrival here at Dogrush.  When I went to get this new guy, his peeps had just moved to a new place.  They have lots of high pasture ( enough to bring in their own hay for the year) and wide open spaces.  The bulk of their investment seems to have gone into a huge, beautiful, pristine barn, fencing, huge  pens and so many beautiful alpacas it made my heart hurt.  Hopefully they will let me take pictures up there soon, and I can post them for y'all to see. 

Our new guy, Doc Holliday is over there on the right.  Isn't he a beaut?  Doc was having trouble with the other males at his home and was worried about them "getting to" "his girls".  Unable to accept the presence of the other herd sires, Doc decided to fight 'em all.  In a seperate pen all by himself, he was truely miserable, and it was decided to try to find a new home without girls to worry about.  Doc, is as happy as can be here!  YAY!  I call him Doctor Love, for obvious reasons. 

Doc has super soft fiber, a sweet disposition, big liquid eyes, loooooonnnnng eyelashes  and a beautiful face.  I am completely in love, and who  wouldn't be?  Of course he has already spit at my DH, but only because Eddie unwittingly made Doc feel trapped. 

Almost finished here but, here is a quick update on the four Toy Fox Terriers: They are all healthy and doing great!  Whew.  Now the big job is to get them socialized, crate trained and house broken.  That is a big, big job, one I am not used to. Small dogs are .....different, oh yes they are!

When the weather stays good for more than a day or two and I can get caught up with my outside work, I will have more pictures of a few more new residents.   Hope you are all surviving the awful spring weather we are having, be safe.

The Windshield and the Bug

I have this little bag of woe.  I've been carrying it around for a couple of weeks and adding to it now and then and it's been getting bigger and bigger .  I think it is time to empty it out before it turns into a full fledged Pity Party and takes on a life of its own!

Sadly,  all y'all are about to witness the great "woe dump".    It started with Hazel Rose, the cutest little Frenchie from a Missouri puppy mill.  She was a pricey little thing for a rescue to buy, but I was determined to save her.  Good thing, because, as you may have read a few posts back, she had a rotten tail that was growing down inside of  her and pushing into her rectum. She had surgery to fix the tail, but the spay surgery was a bit more complicated and there were several subsequent emergency surgeries.  Little Hazel Rose had had so many C-Sections that her stomach wall couldn't hold together anymore and was splitting open right and left ( literally).  But, her medical issues all were fixed and her new home was already chosen and they were waiting for their new little princess to arrive. 

Unfortunately,  two really important things were over looked.  A DHPP booster, and ( maybe) a heartworm test.  I say maybe because the vet's office told me it was done, but it was not documented, and I believed them.  Oh, it gets worse, so much worse.  

When the new family drove from afar to pick up the new dog that they had been waiting so long for, I noticed that little Hazel Rose had a "poopy butt".  I thought it was unusual, since she had never had this happen before, but I IGNORED it because I was so happy that she was going home.  Then, after the family left, my DH told me that there was diarrhea upstairs in the hall.  OH NO - I had to call the family while they were on the road and tell them that HR was sick with the runs. It gets worse, so much worse.

The next day I heard from the new family and they had had HR to the emergency vet.  OH NO.  That means a big bill.  The emergency vet thought it was a reaction to her rabies vaccine and the change in situation and the change in food.  Ok I thought,  had changed her food myself a couple days before so, that could really be it.  It gets worse, so much worse. 

The next day, Easter Sunday, I had a Parvo outbreak at my house.   See, when HR was for sure scheduled to go to her new home, I went to a puppy mill auction and rescued four Toy Fox Terriers.  On Easter Sunday, one of them broke with Parvo and was taken to a local vet to be hospitalized, in an intensive care isolation unit.  It is a very pricey place and I have now cost the rescue something like a kajillion bucks.   I should mention here that one of the other dogs in the same group, a tiny two pound fella named Rebel, had  broken his leg, at my house, in my care, when he jumped down from my love seat.  He'd been to the orthopedic specialist vet where it was discovered that the leg had been broken twice before and not been properly vetted if at all  The leg could not be fixed and had to be amputated.  The specialist bill was added to the growing pile of bills my puppy mill auction dogs had incurred thus far and the stack was probably nearing the ceiling of Ellen's office. 

So, now to recap, we have Hazel Rose who has already had the tail surgery, the spay surgery and three emergency surgeries, but is finally in her new home, where she is sick and piling up bills there. One Toy Fox Terrier with an amputated leg and a regular vet bill and a specialist bill, and one Toy Fox Terrier  in iso-intensive care with big bills piling up.  And it is still getting worse.

I had to call the family that adopted Hazel Rose to tell them that she has been exposed to Parvo.  Remember that we have no documentation of a DHPP booster, and for those of you that don't know, one of those "P's" in DHPP stands for PARVO.  The new vet also has no documentation that a heartworm test was done, and of course no results.  When the vet clinic calls our vet to get the Heartwork test information she is told that a heartworm test was not done.   So, now we have a vet in another city who probably thinks I am, at best, a scam artist and, at worse, a puppy miller masquerading as rescue.  As embarrased, mortified and humiliated as I am that  I have made such an embarassing chain of stupid mistakes, it is also reflecting back ( maybe ) on the rescue organization that I volunteer for.  Notice: I can't bring myself to name that organization here, it is at least one kind thing I can do for them. 

And finally, the two Toy Fox Terriers at home, two sweet little girls who are in my bathroom...broke with parvo the next day.  Fortunately , they spent a couple of days at our vet and got to come home yesterday.  That's them, over on the left, and I am so happy they feel better.  They are wicked shy, though.  I am sure that they will come out of their shells soon.  The chocolate one in the back is Bunny.  She has the greatest eyes that are sometimes gold and some times green.  Beanie is the one in front and she is the shyest of the two.  She has a great personality though, and the cutest "airplane ears"!

We have recieved a few phone calls from the folks who adopted Hazel Rose.  So far she is still continueing to feel better and has not broken with Parvo.  Her new owners are unhappy enough with how the adoption went that Ellen refunded their adoption fee in an effort to show them that we are at least trying to do the right thing no matter how badly the volunteers screw up.

Rebel, the little guy who had his leg amputated is with a new foster home who will, no doubt take better care of him than I did.  Danny, the last little Toy Fox Terrier with Parvo is still fighting for his life. Keep your fingrs crossed for him. 

And while I have you thinking good thoughts for Danny, please say a prayer for the rest of the Missouri Puppy Mill dogs who were screwed over by the legislature and our country governor.  If you have a good thought or a prayer left you might pray for the good folks of Missouri who have just been told by the good folks they elected that their vote does not now, nor has it ever, counted.

And lastly if there is a good thought left out there and you can bring your self to do it, I would like some as well because in the middle of all of my bumbling with the dogs, I got some very sad family news.

Hey! The pansies made it!

We had something like six inches of mushy snow ( it was pretty - and it melted fast). I was sure the planters would be toast, but they seem to have pulled through. Of course, the chairs I pulled out to paint didn't get painted and they are really hoosier-ing up the back yard, but maybe the two roos and the turk in the yard have that covered anyway, right? It will be a while before I get more planting done so, I really should do the painting. My friend Ellen found some really cool wrought iron in her woods and with a little paint I will have a free trellis. So , pictures of that will be ready for the next blog. There. I said it, now I have to do it!

I took some pictures today that I really like. Moses, ( the skinniest dog in the whole world), is always looking for someone to play ball with so I couldn't resist showing off how healthy and happy he is. He is really smart, too. I have been taking him off to the side to teach him some basic commands when I have time and he learns 'em in about 30 seconds. I just need to do that all over the house and in the yard to generalize his responses and, Presto! I will have a well trained pet. ;o) I don't usually have time to train the dogs around here so it is a relief when they are smart and learn a few things fast.

I also finally got a few good pictures of Nanabelle the Great Pyranees from our local pound. She is a beautiful dog - but hard to photograph because when ever you point a camera at her she wants to come right over and see, "whacha got there?". She did it today even though I was on the deck and she was out by the barn. I finally got this picture of her smooching Wendell on the deck. Isn't she sweet?

I got some new pictures of Hazel Rose through the always dog-smudged back door.

As embarrasing as it is to show my filthy back door, it is worth it to show you this adorable face. She is so cute and I am going to miss her when she goes to her new home. But that is just what rescue is all about, right?

Coonhounds are in the house and Winston has left the building

Coonhounds evoke mixed feelings in me. I fall for the sweet face and serious expression every time, I LOVE the sound of their voices, and the way they try so hard to make you understand what they want. And therein lies the source of the mixed feelings. These dogs are often called dumb or stupid, but they are anything BUT! When a coonhound drops its nose and picks up a scent, that enormous olfactory center in the coonhound brain turns on and the rest of the brain functions less efficiently. It is easy for me to relate to, because when I am involved in a good book with an enthralling story, I am dead to the rest of the world. Or, when you turn the music in the car down if you are lost and trying to figure out a map or written directions. Zeke Two, over there on the left is a beautiful Black and Tan Coonhound who came here emaciated and full of every kind of worm imaginable, including heartworms. Now that he is healthy, worm free and has gained some much needed weight, he has also found his VOICE! It's a big voice. Really big. Zeke loves his crate because when he first got here that was the only place I would give him food. He was desperate for food and would fight over any little piece of dropped kibble. Well, he has decided that the crate means food so when he wants to be fed, which is all the time ( coonhounds are pigs, and easily bored), he thinks that going to the crate door and sounding off is the way to 1) get fed and 2) have something to do. My normal training method for this would be to let him bawl and bawl and figure out that he is not getting what he wants that way, then reward him as soon as he is quiet. Well, since the master of the house works nights, that just won't work. It took me until this morning to realize that I needed to activate the nose. Long story short: I won several hours of silence by scattering and hiding pieces of kibble all over the basement. While the nose was working, the mouth was quiet. I am not sure how long that will work, but as soon as the weather gets better, I will begin to hide food outside for Zeke to find. I wish I knew how to train a dog to track/trail. This summer I can see me getting my little neighbor boys to lay track for me n' Zeke. They would love that! Our newest house guest is a return. Her name is Bella and she is a Redbone Coonhound. Redbones are cold nosed hounds, meaning they can pick up and run an older (cold) trail. Their trailing talents are similar to the Bloodhound, but they are a lot faster. I have an acquaintance in Kansas City who uses Redbone Coonhounds to trail folks with Alzheimer's. At least that was how she started out. Her dogs are so talented and reliable that she is now the "go to" tracker for the local police departments. Needless to say, she and her dogs lead an exciting life. I wish she would write a book! Bella was returned to us because she dug holes in the back yard. there were some other comments that I didn't understand about her being aloof and not fitting in. I suspect she was bored and spent a bit to much time in the yard, because here, she is leaping about and play bowing to all of the dogs trying to get them all to play. Bella also loves to eat, but she doesn't fixate on it the way Zeke does, and she doesn't howl and bawl for food the way Zeke does either.

Lets hope she doesn't learn any bad habits from her foster brother!

And lastly, Winston the French Bulldog terrible has left the building. When my friend Lisa lost her dear Michael Mcgee, she needed Winston more than I needed him. Lisa has a quiet household where Winston will have fewer opportunities to bite people. I suspected that Pinkie, the Toy Manchester Terrier that Lisa adopted from me was a bit lonely and shur 'nuff! That little girl is following her new boyfriend where ever he goes. This is going to be a very good move for everyone!

I will miss my Winston boy but I know he has a very important job to do at Lisa's house.

Just a quick note for you horse lovers

I realized today that one of my favorite blogs is not on my list of "Blogs I Follow". So I added it. It is called the "Life of Lynz".

I "met" this incredible girl at a dinner auction fundraiser for Ride On St. Louis, the therapeutic horsemanship center where my daughter rides. I "met" her because she had two incredible photographs in the auction, and I purchased one. She wasn't really there, but from the pictures she donated, I knew I wanted to get to know her.

Luckily her grandmother was present at the auction and came over to congratulate me on my purchase. I gave my email addy to the grandmother and hoped that Lindsey would contact me. She did!

Now you can read all about this fabulous girl and the horses she loves.

Enjoy!

Spring! ( thank gawd)

Temps are warming up and I am desperate for spring to be here all the way. So, I broke one of my gardening rules and planted pansies this year. I used to figure: "why plant flowers that are guaranteed to fry when hot weather arrives?" But, I am especially sick of winter this year so, the deck "ice bucket" planters got pansied! The stuff in the middle is curly ornamental grass and I have two whole justifications for buying it. One: when the pansies bite the dust, I can put some petunias around it and it can live on the deck all summer long. Two: when summer is over it will live in the garden for the rest of it's perennial, ornamental, grassy life. So - it is a bargain!

Notice Henri Roo in the yard behind the deck post. He and Sirkhan were living in the bathroom for a while as they both needed a bit of doctoring, but now that the weather is warmer the "sick bay" is in the garden, where it belongs. Yay for getting my bathroom back to myself, it is really really hard to share a bathroom with two roos, they lack sphincter muscles, you know, so there is no way to get them to use the toilet even though they are living in the bathroom. Eventually, I gave in and got chicken diapers for them. Yep, chicken diapers exist and you can read about 'em here: http://chickendiapers.com/ if you are so inclined!

Hazel Rose, my little Frenchie foster girl, had a tail amputation. She came from a puppy mill auction and her inverted tail was sort of rotting inside of her skin folds. It was a truly horrific situation with the tail growing straight down and pushing into her rectum. Our vet, Dr. Ivan did her usual magic and amputated the tail bone, but saved a little skin flap so our little girl looks like she still has a tail! Hazel is going home after her spay surgery in two weeks and I am going to miss her like crazy, but I know she will be the Queen of Everything at her new home.

The little Toy Fox Terrier that lived loose in the wilds of Jefferson County and that I was finally able to trap, is now a permanent resident at our house. She is a tiny thing and I marvel everyday that she was able to survive on her own for seven whole months, including a freezing spring and a blistering summer. Although she is still shy as can be, she loves cranky old Heywood, my twenty year old farm collie. Here they are together on the deck. She had to have him with her to venture outside and will eventually gain enough independence to leave his side. Heywood growls when any of the other dogs bother him, but he can be seen sleeping on the rugs in the hallway with his tiny girlfriend curled up next to him. Go figure. At night she curls up on the pillow next to my head and I fall asleep to the sound of her tiny heart beating away against my ear.

And speaking of new dogs, we did get few more fosters. I saw Salty dog on a shelter rescue site, and it was love at first sight. I showed the picture to my husband and got the "go ahead" to pull Salty from the shelter. Actually the "go ahead" was more like a shove out the door, but bless his heart he worries about dogs in pounds and once the decision is made to save one, I don't think he can sleep until they are safe. Salty was listed as a girl because his "boy parts" were hidden behind folds and folds of fat. We found out he was a boy and all had a good laugh about that. However, the general state of Salty's health is no laughing matter. He is at least thirty pounds overweight and at his age, it is hard on his joints to carry all of that excess poundage around. Since he has been here, he has already lost four pounds. I think his weight loss because he likes to walk around and smell things. As you can see, he wants back inside and on the bed once he is finished with his perambulations, and if the door doesn't get opened fast enough, we are treated to the coonhound song. Salty's voice is very deep with lots of soft "airy" bass in it. Very Pretty Indeed! Unfortunately, we just found out that Salty has heartworms and because of his advanced age and his physical condition, our vet does not want to treat him. We are hoping that some weight loss, 21 days of doxycycline and Heartgard will make him a better risk for treatment down the line. Keep your fingers crossed as we were not counting on having another permadog!

I will leave you with the image of Gabe with his bottom feet on the rung of the ladder to the hay loft. I was climbing up to get flakes of hay to feed the goats and sheep and I guess I was not doing it fast enough. Gabe was trying to cllimb up to help!

You can see my leg and barn boot on the ladder and both of his front feet are on the bottom rung. Look at that impatient look on his face - I can almost hear him calling, "hey hhhuurrry up, mom, we are all hungry down here!".

The fields are all greening up nicely but my lazy boys don't want to walk out for fifty feet to get the new green stuff. After all, why walk when mama throws alfalfa/grass mix from the loft. Sigh. Hope you all are having a good time in the fabulous weather we are having - I'll be back soon with more news of the great goings on at Dogrush.

I'm A Fan

Back again. Winter is not over yet but the sun is out a little more so I am (more or less) arising from the dead. Yep, I am a victim of the winter blues. I really need to get one of those sunlight lamps.

I was doing dog/housecleaning/volunteer stuff around the house tonight and had American Idol on in the background. DH and I used to watch it together, but DH is working nights (ah, yes, employment has arrived. More on that later.) Anyway, I kept hearing the judges say: " you know, I'm a fan of yours..." REALLY ? Oh C'mon. Surely everyone can hear the problem with that. If J'Lo or Stephen Tyler is a fan of yours, you already have a recording contract, right?

Even though I am not the judge of anything I wanted to share some things that I really do consider my self a fan of - and I can't get nuttin' fer nobody! But still, here are some of the things/blogs/stuff that I enjoy enough to share:

ROLLING DOG RANCH
http://www.rollingdogranch.org/index.html

The Picture is of Widget, the blind beagle. The place has won numerous awards, the blog is pretty well known, and the guy that writes it has such a knack for writing about - well, read the blog and you will get it. It is one of those blogs that makes you laugh out loud, or cry, or sometimes stand up and cheer.

You might be familiar with my friend Tammy the Shepherdess at Fairlight Farm. Tammy does her best to help strays (against all odds), and her little farm is a delight to read about. Try it, you'll like it!
http://musingsfairlightfarm.blogspot.com

At Tammy's place I discovered this lovely place: http://bluffcountryshetlandsandbackyardchickens.com

and the matching blog:
http://shepherdsvoice.blogspot.com

I have to confess that the Bluff Country Shepherdess has me drooling over her chickens.
Maybe I can get some hatching eggs and have a few of these Calico Cochins gracing my garden. Not to eat , but who could resist these lovely ladies? I am hoping to get some hatching eggs before spring is over and we will just have to see what the incubator can do with them!

By the way -if you visit the blog: whatever Dream says, it is probably really important, so you don't want to miss it. While you are there, look for the source of the ringling dingling sound.....

And last, but not least is the Queen of the STL SDP Bloggers: Kim and JTK (AKA Joey the Kid) Kim's blog is an inspiration to me. I suwannee, Kim takes pictures everywhere she roams. Her blog is full of really cute pictures, lots of thoughts on rescue from the perspective of a busy single mom ( again, I don't know how some people do it all!) , stuff about local St. Louis events, since busy Kim finds a way to participate in just about every thing with JTK and her various fosters. Her latest blog had pictures of the Mardi Gras Parade at Soulard. You can see it here: http://dogadoptionkim.blogspot.com

Something that I am a huge fan of , but have not spent much time with since the move to Jefferson County: My bike. It looked like the slick racing machine over there on the right when I first started riding it. But, a few hundred miles and a couple of wrecks later and it has been modified to more of an old lady's ride. I'm talkin' a padded seat, a really long stem and mountain bike grips. It is still a great ride, tho and I will put it, and me, through our paces this summer. For my birthday, I am taking on the Katy Trail. I figure a week long meander with lots of stops along the way should be a nice trip - unless it rains the whole time;o) Anyone care to join me? Really. I am looking for some riding partners so let me know if you are up for a ride - even part of the way? Hopefully between now and the summer I can figure out how to blog from my phone so I can keep everyone posted during my great adventure across Missouri!

Lots of updates!

I now have a working computer and a new monitor, so I will try to do a long blog with lots of updates - months worth!

I went out to the back field to visit at the barn, and decided to plop down with my camera for a while. I got some close up pictures of the goats and sheep and will try to share some here. There on the left is Hamilton, aka Ham or Hammie. He is doing his best profile for me and I just love this picture.

He let me get one from the other side, that's him below and you can see that he is a very special goatie boy.


When I went to the field none of the animals were around , but soon the two tom turkeys came to see what was going on. They wanted to see if I had food, no doubt! At the time, the two boys got along very well. Now, we have to separate them and I hate it. They were such buds at first. I have learned to dive into a turkey fight and snatch one of the boys off to the seclusion pen ( solitary confinement) really fast with out getting scratched, bruised or having my eye blacked as a result of a "wing whap". Turkey wings hurt!

After the toms came and went, the rest of the troupe came over to investigate, but they never stay for long. Somehow, I think the toms let them know there is no food to be had. But Nancy, the bourbon red hen always has a few words for me and I need to get a video of her chatting with me. It is one of the cutest things to see and hear, she is always so sweet and ernest when she is feeling chatty!

Pretty soon the goats and sheep come to investigate and then the real fun starts. My little guys never disappoint me and always find a way to make me laugh!

When I first got the shetland boys, Andy and Barney, from Tammy , they were not really tame. Now, they are the first little hooligans to come running, and Andy has climbed into my lap to sleep at times! I love my shetland boys. Here is a very, very close picture that I tried to take when they were running over to see me. I was afraid they wouldn't stop until they were in my lap so I held my hand out to try to get them to slow down. Barney was mostly out of the frame but you can see Andy's look of determination to get to "Mama" first!

Timber was not far behind and when he arrived he settled down one side of my leg, and Barney plopped in my lap. Andy was out of the frame here, but he is never far from his brother.

The goats are along side, alternately grazing and trying to chew my hair off. I try to tell myself that they are not making any kind of personal statement about my hair coloring expertise - but I am sometimes tempted to write the folks at L'oreal to let them know that "Light Ash Blond" looks like "Hay" to some folks!

Last, but hardly least, is Logan, my first bottle baby boy. He is such a calm sweet sheep. His hogget fleece was very chocolate coloured, like Timber's is now. But as you can see, he has lightened up to a pale moorit. Timber will also be morrit, but I don't think he will be as light as his uncle Logan.
That is Timber's fleece over there on the right. It is already much longer and I think he will have some primo spinning fiber at spring shearing.

That's it for now. I'll be back soon.

Clifford The Big Red Dog

Don't Weep for Me

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sun on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awake in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

Clifford the Big Red Dog left this earth last evening. He was a grand old guy who deserved better than he got. He is no longer in pain and I am sure he was met at the bridge by his former owner who preceded him in death and who loved him dearly.

I wish I could have done better for him.

I'm BAAAACK!

Computer woes have kept me cyber-silent for weeks. My screen is doing a flashy thing ( like a strobe) that is making it almost impossible to use. Collin, the computer wizard, is coming to have a look at it tomorrow, so, hopefully things will get better soon!

In the meantime I can now log on with Fire Fox and Explorer. So far, it hasn't made much difference except late at night when apparently I can type at least this much with out the strobe effect kicking in.

I have to tell you about Oscar and the great flea invasion. My good friend Lisa was on her way to my house one evening when she saw a dog limping along "the new highway", a big four-lane replacement for the little two-lane state road that we live on. She pulled over and was able to get him in her car. His collar had just "fallen off of him". (It had been unhooked and was caught in his fur for a while then fall off just as Lisa pulled over.) The collar had tags. Lisa scooped up the tired thirsty scared dog and pulled in my driveway.

A little detective work, a few twilight zone-ish phone calls and a really odd home visit resulted in the discovery that Oscar was in a really, really bad home and needed a place to settle. He had been dumped from a truck when Lisa came upon him. So, ( you just know what I am going to say - right?) he came here to be fostered for adoption.

Oscar had fleas. Millions of fleas. Fleas on his fleas. He got a flea bath, was neutered, waited a day and then Frontlined. By now, all the dogs in the house have a flea or two, so they all got Frontlined as well.) Then, Oscar got a home! YAY!!! Then, he came back because: HE STILL HAD FLEAS.

Hmmmm. Oscar got Capstar. The fleas died, but eggs were still there. Oscar got Frontlined (again). Every rug in the house got washed. All the bedding, (people and dog) got washed. Diatomaceous Earth was purchased and worked into mattresses, couches, chairs, the one nice unwashable wool rug, any cracks in the wooden floors, under baseboards. Well, you get the picture.

And, finally, Oscar is finally flea free. His adopters won't be taking him back, but that's OK. Oscar is a really easy going guy. He is completely housebroken and gets on well with kids, cats and other dogs. He loves to snuggle and is learning how to play with toys. Oscar loves to play with Moses and the big dogs. Most of the day my big black dogs are running and tumbling all over "the middle field". Thanks for coming along and helping to wear out the big boys, Oscar. You can stay as long as you need to.

There's a Breath of Fall in the Air!

Fall is slowly making its way to Missouri, and it's bringing some odd things in it's pockets! Yesterday when Eddie locked up the barn for the night he didn't look to see who was where, since the chickens and turkeys usually go to their respective houses. The chickens have a bolt hole that we just close for the night, shoving a concrete block in place to keep it shut. the turkeys are in horse stalls with wire tops.

This morning when I opened the big door to the chicken house, I found one very distressed turkey hen! Poor Nancy got locked up on the wrong side for the night. I can't imagine how she got in there, as she won't fit through the bolt hole, and it is hard to imagine not noticing a full grown turkey hen strutting through the big door along side of you. But that is what must've happened.

Then to top it off, over on the Turkey side, I found Henry, the big cinnamon and white roo who has taken over "roo duty" for the two "orphaned" Serama hens . That leaves poor Sirkhan the White Sultan roo with no hens to call his own and a big potential roo fight in the offing. Hopefully we will have peace till spring when I might be able to track down a few extra hens to keep the peace.

Fall chores are pressing now, the big center section of the barn needs to be mucked out one more time before winter deep littering starts and I am still working on getting straw and hay in and put up, and it's really late for hay! It is hard to get someone to deliver just the twenty or so bales that we need for the winter, and the ten or so bales of straw extra don't seem to make much difference to the folks doing the delivery! ( psst! I need a little trailer!)

Another thing that this early fall brought with it was my first ever sinus infection. I didn't know what I had cooking up there in my widdle head, so I think I let it go to long. Sheesh - what a mess. It is clearing up now with antibiotics and the good help of the voodoo doc, but for a day or so there I was ready to tell Eddie to dig my hole!

Woody and the Voodoo Doctor

I wanted to share with everyone that Woody had some very serious "lookers" yesterday. This is a great big deal because he has been with us for about a year, with no serious potential adoptors. I really like this family and hope they decide on Woody, but of course will be happy with what ever dog they pick because they are getting a dog from rescue. Some lucky dog ( maybe Woody!)is getting a great new home. A new home with the "voodoo" Doctor.

I have been looking for that exact sort of Doc for several years now, and even though a visit is probably not in the budget - I am going to make it fit in there because she ( the doc) does muscle testing ( I think the $20 word for it is applied kinesthesiology) and also some other techniques that have gotten me pain relief in the past. I go to sleep every night on a loveseat with a ton of pillows in order to be able to doze off for a while and I am hoping that better rest will make me less sluggish and maybe even get me back on the bike. Maybe improve my memory, to? OK maybe that is expecting to much even for a Voodoo doc!

Keep your fingers crossed for Woody!

Good News, a Big Mess and New Resolutions

That is just part of the big mess over there in the corner. There are fleeces ( unwashed in the bag - eeeek!), stash, stash, more fleeces and, oh yeah, more stash. I have a whole room upstairs that looks like this, and a bathroom closet as well. My stash runneth over. So, the resolution is to make a list, clearly visible on the dry erase boards in the kitchen of several things to accomplish each week. It was going to be things to accomplish everyday - but hey, I am taking this whole productivity surge slowly at first - I don't want to sprain something! The next thing getting posted is: Wash Fleeces. Then: Stash Management! If an organised person is reading this wants to help me get organised, I can pay you in - you guessed it - stash!

The good news is that some stuff seems to be a little more settled down here. The barn is getting back to "normal" after the series of terror attacks. The hens are once again laying eggs. The Turkey hens are probably finished with egg laying for the fall and winter and I for one think they deserve a rest. Timber is settling in and crying for his mama a little less. The new black boys, Barney and Andy, are getting more and more friendly. In fact, they are asking for head scratches and nuzzling for feed - so that is some big time progress. The boys are the softest fleeces ever and I really want to shear them now - but I don't trust the weather, darn it!

I had some time to enjoy my little farmlett this weekend and found this little guy lost in the garage.

I was happy to relocate him to a friendlier environment, but he was so cute, I had to get a picture of him first. While I was on the front porch scouting a safe place for Mr. Snail, I saw this pretty thing.

Yep - that is a moth. On my screen door to the living room wherein we have: The Big Mess pictured up there at the top of the page. The Big Mess contains unwashed wool and other tasty forms of wool that moths love to eat. See? I really need help with my stash, and right quick, before that moth and all of her pretty friends come in and have a winters feast! I wish the color came through a little better, the dots on her wings are a really pretty bright blue.

I also got to see a Norwegian Fjord Horse just yesterday. My daughter is riding him in her therapuetic horsemanship and boy howdy is he a cutie patootie! I hope she likes him and continues to ride him this session so I can see him again. When the job situation picks up around here - riding lessons will be back on my "to do" list!

For now, I am off to a good nights sleep.

Misery Makes a Decision

This has been a crazy time and I couldn't write about it as happening fast, and making me too sad to write about it.

Petie Pie was the start of it all. The little stinker got into the barn by body slamming the door hard enough to bend the inside lock while I was in the barn. I caught him, but not before a few unsuccessful and very painful dirt dives and also not before he killed a beautiful Cochin Rooster.

After that I wanted him to be placed in another foster home - but no one had room so we changed the locks on the barn door and figured the barn pets were safe. But they were not. Several days later, Petie and another dog dug under the barnyard fence and killed four chickens and a turkey.

Petie went to another home. The other dog with him was placed in an adoptive home and I hoped things would settle down at Dogrush. And, for a few days, things did settle. I had time to decide/realise that I have way to much on my plate here. Fostering is wearing me out and making me bitter, where it once made me happy and seemed to give purpose to my life. SO: (big announcement here) Dogrush Ranch is closing it's doors to foster dogs. Returns, of course will always be welcome back and we will still have the dogs that we dog sit for, so I imagine that it will take a while for the dog population to decline here. But decline it will.

Then Cammie died. I can't tell you how headspinningly blindsided I was. I had an idea that he was feeling poorly, but he went out to the field with his buddies for three days in a row, then just didn't seem hungry at night. Well, he wasn't hungry because he was bloated and full of fluid. He had bladder stones and couldn't pee. This went on until he died.

Here is the worst part. It is a HORRIBLE way to die, and he never made a peep. The vet told me that usually sheep cry and scream and kick at their stomachs and are just miserable when this happens. In fact, after the necropsy ( I HAD to know what happened,) the vet seemed really upset with me b/c ( I think) he thought I let my beautiful sheepie boy suffer until he died. But, I didn't know and Cam didn't let on.

So, life goes on here at Dogrush, with (hopefully soon) fewer dogs and no more death for a while. I am not afraid of death, but I really have a hard time with causing it - even if only through ignorance or lack of experience or just plain making a mistake.

There is a lot of happy stuff to write about but I will save it for tomorrow - PROMISE!

Finally!

Well, over the last ten days or so, I have had two goals: To get Maude groomed and to get a new blog up. I am just getting around to the second one, and darn-it, I am going to cheer like heck for getting this done!

We lost another Rooster to the heat. It was a Barred Rock cross and I think the stress of the heat and the mean guineas was just to much for the poor ole guy. I felt so bad for the nesting hen he was next to, though. There he was, keeled over and stiff as a board and there she was, in her nest, trying to lay her egg like a good girl with a dead roo next to her.

The sheep and goats are hanging tough and the few days of milder weather that we had gave them a chance to frolic a bit and leap on and off their spool toys. Little Timber got the handle to a plastic trigger sprayer stuck in his mouth, kind of like the spit sucker thing that the dentist hangs in your mough while he is working on your teeth. Poor little guy, couldn't get the handle off his lower teeth and when I found him there was blood and spit every where! He seemed to be doing better until he got an abcess under his lower jaw. Now the vet has me all freaked about CL(don't use the link if you have a weak stomach). But I am just sure the abcess is from the trigger that cut his mouth. But to I take a chance and move him to the barn?

Cam, pictured above, had a great day today. Poor Cam has a very bad rep around here for head butting Eddie and others. It was particularily scary when he went after a small boy who was visiting and knocked him down. But now Cam seems to have settled down and he was very polite to some barn visitors today.

The current fiber project is blending Cam's second fleece with Gabe's very white Mohair and making rolags to spin when the weather cools. And right there on your left is a picture of my big boy Gabriel, who looks caramel colored, but has a lovely white fleece after it is washed and carded for spinning.
I managed to get through today in spite of a broken sump pump in the basement and a broken car on a gas station parking lot. Fortunately, I was meeting Erin Seely, who supplies Wendell with his raw diet and she and her DH waited with me until my DH arrived to fetch me back home. Fingers crossed that the car can be repaired with in our budget!

Heres hoping that you all have a great weekend.

Everybody Wants to Be My Baby

Things can be a little crazy around a household with lots of rescued dogs and a lamb living in the bathroom. I know I already explained that little Timber is in the house because of his health issues, and that he will go to the barn as soon as he is safely able to. Lambs don't belong in the house, and now we have a lamb who thinks that people and dogs are his flock. Dogs can be the death of sheep and I would be more comfortable if Timber were afraid of mine. Instead, he tries to play with them, often head butting one of the smaller dogs and then leaping and twirling away, inviting them to a chase. Very dangerous, indeed.

Winston, the French Bulldog shown in the header photo resting his big head on Tulip, thinks he should be a bottle baby, too. Winston sticks close by Timber and never tries to hurt him - unless there is a bottle of lamb replacement formula in the picture. Then all bets are off an it becomes a real challenge to feed Timber with out having Winston grab the nipple and begin nursing! In this picture my friend, Lisa is in the Kitchen attempting to feed Timber with Winston trying to butt in.

When we were trying to transition Tim to the barn a few weeks ago, I fed him up there and Logan, a big Shetland Rambouillet cross from the same flock as Timber must have remembered his bottle baby days and insisted on trying to nurse from Timber's bottle. I wish I would have been able to take a picture of great big Logan trying to get anything out of that little red pritchard nipple.

I am off to an adoption event as this is our double event weekend. Wish me luck!

GRRRRRRRR

In the name of keeping this blog "entertaining" I am not going to post much this evening. I came home from my regular friday night with my mother and daughter to find Baby Timber in the bathroom crying at the top of his lungs. It is HOT in the house - again - and my -ahem- DH was sitting at the Kitchen table eating cornflakes and doing nothing. I asked, "Has he had a bottle tonight?" and received this reply: "Nah, he has been in there crying all night - I don't have time to mess with him."

Do you think he even HEARD WTF he said?

Baby T has been fed and has his 20 lb belly band changed. He was given fresh water, and creep feed. Then I went up to the barn to start the overdue night chores up there.

So, this shepherdess is going to shower and go to bed. I will have a happier post for tomorrow.

There is a Lamb Stuck in My Bathroom!

This is Timber. He is stuck in my bathroom. Not stuck as in: we can't open the door - nope we just can't get him up to the barn. It's a long story...

Timber was born the first week of May and his shepherdess was not sure he was getting enough milk from his mom. The shepherdess was leaving town and so little Timber became a "bottle baby" and the shepherd took over the feedings. That's where I came in. The shepherdess let me know that she had a Shetland/Rambouillet cross bottle baby for me if I wanted to take him. Uh, do I want a baby lamb...let me see now... cute , soft cuddly bottle baby tap, tap, tapping around my bathroom and kitchen in tiny diapers....what do you think I said?

So, you know. He was in the bathroom being bottle fed, and cuddled a lot. He was doing great. Then summer hit and we ( ok, not me but he) decided that we could weather the heat with no AC. We think little Tim couldn't handle the sudden change because he became ill. Very ill. Scary ill. Time to call the vet in a blind panic. We did antibiotics, probiotics and vitamin shots. I can't even remember what all we did. It took weeks to get little Tim back on track and we still don't know exactly what happened.

But Timber got better, started growing and spending time outside. He was eating all of the blossoms off of the plants in the vegetable garden, so we were anxious to get him out of the back yard and up to the barn.

We were starting the transition up to the barn, being VERY CAREFUL to not have him up there in the heat of the day. We made a little pen for him so the other sheep and goats couldn't beat him up. We made arrangements to get two little 16 week old black shetland wethers so Timber would have babies his size making the transition at the same time.

Then he came up lame, and sick, with a fever... back to the vet. (Now this shepherdess is totally freaking out and wondering what the heck I was doing wrong!) Turns out that with anitbiotics the fever went away but the limp got worse. Back to the vet and insist on xrays. Timber had a broken toe on his left front leg. Yep, Lambs have toes! Who knew?

I am going to skip the scary part where the vet talked about sending Timber to the University for surgery to the tune of THOUSANDS of dollars, and maybe not being able to do anything at all for him. I am also going to skip the part about how we ( the vet, me, a bunch of vet techs) spent a whole afternoon trying to glue a "block" to his foot so he could walk without putting pressure on his toe. Nothing worked and I took my limping lambie pie home.

The next day my absolutely brilliant friend, Lisa, got in touch with her farrier and together they hatched a plan to glue the "block" to Timber's foot. The next Saturday I met Lisa and her farrier at the barn and presto whammo - the block was glued with some magic brown stuff and it is stuck tight! After a few days of practice little Tim is tap, tap, tapping around my house again in a "belly band" because believe me, you might be able to get lipstick on a pig, but you sure can't get diapers on a lamb his size!

So that is why there is a Lamb stuck in my bathroom until: the toe heals, the vet can splint the opposite leg,* and the weather is a little less brutal so he can move to the barn. Where the two adorable black and silver shetland cutie pie sheepie boys are settling in nicely.

Whew! See? It was a long story.

I have LOTS more to tell you, but it can wait till tomorrow.

*Timber's opposite leg is growing crooked because of all of the pressure on it so he has Angular Limb Disorder in that leg now.

Whattaweek!

This has been such a busy week. First off, the golden retriever mix in my last post is safely settled in rescue. YAY!

Harley, a little black dog that I thought was a pot bellied pig ( for just a second, but still...) when I saw him in the pound, got adopted on Saturday.

My DH who has been out of work this entire year got a job and started on Monday. It might only be for six weeks, but hey, there will be money coming in! I am working really hard to keep up with everything that needs to be done around here - how did I ever do it when he was gone all day every day? Well, I guess I will just have to relearn the new/old schedule, eh?

I am sure this is news to no one, but this heat is killing animals. We lost two chickens to the heat, the latest casualty was Annabelle my little mixed chicken, and the oldest of the flock. I was so sad to see her go. Eddie buried her in the front yard by the hydrangeas. That's Miss Anabelle in the picture.

Moses, the skinny dog gained 17 pounds in two weeks and is just starting to look less scary. Our vet vaccinated him yesterday and he was posted on the St. Louis Senior Dog Project petfinder page here . Moses is a really affectionate dog who love to stay close to his peeps!

And, last but not least, Keesha came to our house to stay. Keesha was an abuse case and her wounds have still not healed. I am waiting to see how much I can tell you about her. I will post pictures tomorrow - they are not easy to look at though. I Promise pictures tomorrow.