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.

Rusty, and Why I Won't Be Able to Sleep Again Tonight

Rusty, pictured here, was in an email forwarded to me tonight by a friend who will just not stop sending me these emails, no matter how hard I beg. Rusty is living in a mud floor kennel with no roof or shade in heat that is killing people and animals every day. He is a very desirable golden retriever mix, three and a half years old and just as cute as a bug's ear - don't you think? Rusty's owner has decided he doesn't want his dog any more and so he is going to shoot him.

So how, you might ask, did I find out about this? Well, because a local rescuer is trying to find a place for Rusty to go before his lovin' owner shoots him. In this day and age, when we are all connected, an email from a rescuer in rural Missouri can reach virtually all of the rescue groups in the state, and beyond, in less than a day. And we are all full. Every group that I know of, is full of dogs that are not being adopted out. These same groups are worried about how to pay the vet bills, to boot.

Do you know of anyone who could love a sweet golden dog, even if only for a few weeks, while we find a spot for him? Puleeeese? Someone out there must have extra space even a kennel with shelter and access to air-conditioning would be so much better for this boy.

I do have another reason for not sleeping tonight. My baby Timber, the little Bottle fed Lamb that is living in my bathroom is sick. He is showing some of the same symptoms as an Angora goat that I recently lost. Keep your fingers crossed for him won't you?

Hopefully the next blog entry will be a happier one.

New Beginnings

Today was a day for the record books. At the adoption event, Huck, the yellow lab who was in the car accident with his foster mom, got a new home. And not just any new home, but a home with another rescue person who will provide lots of updates about this super dog.

Another foster dog of ours, Jack also got a new home with his very own boy. Every dog doesn't need a boy, but Jack seemed to like this boy a lot, so I am hoping it works out.

Moses, the starved dog off of the city streets started eating yesterday and met Logan the big sheep today. That's the two of them saying, "hello" over there on the left.

My friend, Lisa came over tonight to help shear Logan. It was a very untimely shearing as he is not due till spring, but I may start shearing twice a year as I just don't see how he would make it through this very hot summer with out a hair cut. I will try to get a picture of the naked Logan for the next post. I think he looks wonderful and cool, but the other sheep are not so sure! The wool that I kept will go into the wash water tomorrow. I think it will be "mine all mine" as it is somewhat shorter that can be expected and well, that makes it mine, right?