Happy Birthday Brunel and Oops ... Double Trouble!

 Today our boy, Brunel, is 4 years old! He's very happy, we sang "happy birthday" to him and he had a cupcake, later he'll have ice cream. He is our darling.

He's the little brat who tried to make me think I'd killed him the day we picked him up. We'd stopped by TSC so that I could get the 6 week puppy shot ... and as soon as I gave it to him, he zonked on me. It was a tense few minutes, and then he woke up and was ready to go again. That was his way through puppyhood, go nineteen to the dozen and then stop, drop and zonked. Apparently dogs do that, who knew?

He is aptly named as he is very obstinate. Despite going through 2 lots of training classes (and abiding by most of the commands) we have never managed to stop him from jumping up people. He just loves everyone and wants to hug them ... but I, being afraid of dogs (yeah, I know, that seems a bit weird but it's true) appreciate the fear that a dog his size, running and jumping up somebody, could cause in a person like me. Hence why we've worked so hard with him but nothing has worked.

That said, he is a loveable goofball with his daddy's sense of humour, and KNOWS he is smart, lets us know that all the time!

No sooner had I made up the dog food pan than 3 puppies came haring around the corner of the barn, with mama sat aways back and watching.

The only problem ... these were 3 DIFFERENT puppies to the ones we'd already seen. So, it would seem that mama had six babies! 2 boys that were darker than the other 2 we'd seen before and a white spotted little girl! 

She has a very similar face though to the one we've already grabbed. Just now we are looking at twice as much work to get them vetted and adopted. That said, I did try to get ahead of the game and I mixed wormer in with the food today so these 3 and mama have had a worming treatment. I figure, we know they'll all be riddled with fleas and worms, so at least I could do a basic worming to help get that started, prior to taking each to the vet.

While we were over there, our 2 boys were out wandering around the field and browsing on bushes and tall grasses. I love just sitting and watching them, and it's so funny when they come running, calling for me, and jump up my car window like a dog would. Yeah, all of my animals are crazy and have identity issues.

These boys are so beautiful, they are def growing and filling out, but look so small in the field. Both are def teenagers, that's for sure. Solomon is the leader but Max doesn't always follow, he wanders where he wants to wander.

They are def bonded together now, and will be the daddies of my future babies, in a couple of years. For now, I am focused on letting them grow into who they are going to be, and growing a few inches taller. They will eventually be the size of a deer.

The Best Laid Plans ...

 We took the puppy to the vet yesterday and she was riddled with fleas and worms. Thankfully, tested negative for parvo, so that was a blessing. They treated her for the problems and gave me a chewie for today and another (Bravecto, a once every 30 days) for tomorrow so as to ensure that we get rid of both completely and set her up for future protection. The vet said they wouldn't do her shots until next week, when she's a bit healthier.

So, knowing that, we took the pet carrier over to the property, so thatw e could steal the boys, but Mark had had a doctor appointment this morning so we were there later, and didn't see any of the dogs today. No worries, we left food and water and, since it was so hot, we figured they'd be by later when it cooled down a bit. The goal though, now, is to get the 2 boys vetted since they probably have worms and fleas too.

The little lass is a character. She is penned but can see our dogs, and she has them all hooked. This afternoon, with the storms rolling in, we brought Maisie and Sunshine in to the other pen that we put them in, and she wasn't sure what to make of them. She sniffed at them through the crates, and they peered at her, it was quite funny.

She has won my great-granddaughter's heart, Samantha played with her in the kitchen while I cleaned the crate earlier. She is a darling, that's for sure, despite being quite vocal on and off throughout the night. I hate that she was missing her mama and brothers, but I wanted to be able to build her up a bit since they hogged the food as was shown by the way the boys pushed her away from it, yesterday, more than a few times.

I contacted Anakins about the possibilty of them trapping mama and her sister/daughter (not sure which) but haven't heard back yet. They can come back to ours, they live there and we're ok feeding and watering them. Maybe - in a few months - they might decide they want to be more to us, and that's ok too.

Hubby planted some tomato and pepper plants out, and I watered everything on the front porch, but it was so hot that we really didn't do much else.

Unfortunately, our red hen succumbed to the heat. We didn't know how old she was, since a lady came by one day and, seeing our others running around, asked if we'd take her. She'd been the only survivor of hawk attacks. So now we only have our white one left. She's 5, I hope she doesn't get depressed having lost her sidekick. I may look for a friend for her, but I don't want to raise any chicks until next year.

We're going to try to go down earlier tomorrow but we are both still pretty exhausted from the events of the last couple of weeks, so whether we make it early or not remains to be seen.

Look Who Came To Meet Us Today!

I'd just finished getting the goat food pan done and Mark whispered "look Rose" and I looked up to see 3 puppies skedaddling around the corner of the barn, and heading for the goat food pan!. I immediately started doing the dog food pan with dry and canned food and put that down, and they dived right on in!

Mama then came sauntering around the corner and sat by my car, watching them eat. They were so hungry they didn't care that I started stroking them. It was amazing!

I'm so proud of the stray mama for bringing them over. She looked at us like "ok, I've done my bit, here they are".

She waited for them to finish eating and then started eating herself, and then the puppies came back and were eating with her. Meanwhile, the one that we think is probably Mama's sister, came and ate from the other pan that we'd put farther out. She is not yet as trusting of us. 

This is the runt of the litter. It's the only girl, and her brothers bullied her a bit while eating, so we've brought her home with us and have a 3pm appointment with the vet for shots, deflea (I bathed her in Dawn and got rid of a lot but I think there are still a few left) and a general check up, and to enquire about the cost of spaying. We're going to try to find a home for her through the vet office.

This is one of her brothers, and even well fed, he is still scrawny. He's the growly one when they eat. His twin is more complacent. 

The other boy, slightly less gregarious, bit more timid as can be seen by the ears back, but happily sat near my feet and looked up at me.

Well-fed, they just collapsed in a heap near my feet and zonked. We'd have liked to have grabbed all the puppies but it would have been too much today. We were in my car and no pet carrier, because this was totally unexpected. I'm hoping to get the others over the next few days, and maybe it's better for Mama if we take them one at a time.

Then, it'll be asking help trapping Mama and her sister

so that they can be vetted and spayed, and returned to the property. They seem happy here and I worry how they'd fare in a shelter situation, so they can come back, live as they have done on our property and be fed and cared for by us ... with no possibility of future puppies!

Definitely a surprise today, and so thankful it happened, because I had honestly worried about how I'd ever find Mama's puppies, and I wanted to make sure they'd be ok before trying to trap Mama and her sister.

Oh What A Week!

If anyone had told me, last week, that the following eight days would be such a roller coaster, I would have taken a pass. Instead, I went through a very tough couple of days, playing nursemaid to Mark after his eye surgery on Wednesday 17th June. 

I struggled to keep up with his eye meds, putting the erythromycin on his eyelid stitches and the drops in his eyes, with me tottering around holding on the bed and then trying not to be leaning on him while I was doing the drops. If you'd been a fly on the wall it would have been funny, I can look back and seethat now. At the time, it was extremely difficult.

Then came Saturday morning. I'd let the dogs out around 5am (they are still on Mark's work schedule and he's been retired since January!) and then gone back to bed after feeding them and putting fresh water down. I woke up a couple of hours later to the dogs whining again, so got up to let them out again ... and found they were whining at Mark who was collapsed on the floor in the hallway bathroom, having been puking and basically passed out. When I went to flush the toilet, it looked like somebody had emptied coffee grounds in there. I've seen plenty of vomit in my life, and had never seen anything like it. I googled it really quickly and it said it was internal bleeding so I told him, "we've got to get you to the ER". I hosed him off on my shower seat then got him dried and dressed, and thankfully, Jel was just out of the gate and leaving for work so she came back, and she helped him out to my car, with him actually using my walker for support.

I got him to Hillcrest, and they immediately took him back immediately, into a room and got him on IV meds and fluids. The staff were brilliant, the doctor ordered a CT scan and then said he was going to transfer Mark to Memorial as he needed an endoscopy to see what was going on. 

I left around 2pm to head down to Belton to take care of the goats and chickens, and was on my way back and called Hillcrest to find that he'd been discharged but was still en route to Memorial, so I headed to Memorial. When I got there, I needed valet parking but they don't have it on weekends, so I gave the security guard Mark's eye meds from home, and said I'd be back the next day (not realising that there'd be no valet parking then either, as they don't have it on weekends).

Apparently (which I didn't find out until the next day), he was admitted to Memorial at 7.09pm and promptly had projectile vomiting, scoring a record for distance and the height it reached on the wall ... with the nursing staff still talking about it when he was leaving! Because of that, and again it was the coffee ground looking, which is blood, they gave him 2 units of blood and did an emergency endoscopy at 1am,  cauterizing 3 wounds, apparently one was an ulcer and 2 were vascular bleeds. They then clipped them, to ensure they had a second level of sealing.

Unfortunately, despite fluids, and the transfusion, his haemoglobin started dropping again, so he had another transfusion, and they kept him on fluids only just in case they needed to do another endoscopy. Thankfully, his haemoglobin did stay stable after that second transfusion, although it didn't really improve, so - right up until the day they discharged him - they weren't sure if he was going to need another surgery to make sure everything was ok, or not.

Meanwhile, Jel and Samantha helped me a couple of days with Sunshine and Maisie at home, and Dylan and Lily took care of the chickens, and Solomon and Max for me. Without them, I'd probably never have managed to do everything I needed to. My lack of mobility makes so much of what I do difficult without other people helping me with aspects of what I need to do.  Opening the gate for the boys, opening their pen because I can't get my car close enough to be able to go down the car door to get the pen door; getting into the pens to get food and water bowls ... because the ground is uneven so I'm having to hold on to something and cannot pick them up; until you can't do things that you used to, it's hard to understand. It sounds like nothing and yet it's so much.

The good thing is that I brought him home yesterday, and he's doing ok. A bit doddery getting around, but def on the mend. I am very thankful for all the prayers, and all the help from everyone.

Plenty Of Thanks To Go Around

 Suffice to say, I've got a whole lot of thanking going on. 

Beginning yesterday, when the nurse at the opthamologist's office walked me out to my car and put my walker in the back for me (before bringing Mark out after his surgery) until today, when my grandson (Dylan) and great-granddaughter (Lily) came over to help feed the goats, chickens and stray mama because I was stressing about doing it with hubby being basically blind, and not supposed to be upright, right now. 

Inbetween, my great-granddaughter (Samantha) helped me with the 2 girls here with feeding and watering, washing off a crate tray, and helping get the crate in from outside, since we have some serious weather coming in and their outdoor pen bed area tends to get soaked, despite tarps. So they are indoors, crated, bedded down, fed and happy right now.

I also have to thank my hubby for being patient with me. I have 2 speeds, slow, and "is she even moving?" so his CNA is def not speedy and is accompanied by grunts and groans of her own. At least I can put his eye drops in and the ointment along his stitches, he'd be poking his eye out trying! His coordination is def off at the mo. I'm also good for food, drinks, his meds and setting up his insulin shot at night (since he can't see to calibrate it), although I can't give him his shot, it gives me the willies. Itry, and as I often say, I can be very trying.

The worst of it is that it puts my heart rate up, all the back and forth, so I have to lie down to let it go back down, and the same with my BP. I don't even take it until I've lain down for 10-15 minutes, so that then, even if it's high, it's not high enough to spook me and raise it all the more. A girl's gotta do what a girls gotta do!

Now, about to let the dogs out, before the rain comes in, and then rest for a bit. I deserve it!

Goat Life, And Other News

Goats are awesome, even when they are being obstinate and strong-willed. I know, back in 2016, we had said "never again" after losing the last of our 4 back then, Sadie, but just 6 weeks in with our new babies and I can't imagine being without them. 

Such distinct personalities too:

Sunshine, definitely little miss obstinate with an "I'm going to do whatever I want to" attitude.

Solomon, "hey I love everyone, oops there's my blackberries, bye". He LOVES blackberries!

Max, "I love everyone too but I love daddy the best!"

And then, our poor little Maisie, who is very shy and even after 3 days with us isn't sure that she can trust us.

Although, when I sat and held her today for some lovings, she actually looked at me and didn't try to hide her head in my armpit, so that's progress.

Plus she follows Sunshine around and even approached Mark, tentatively, when he was sitting down on the driveway, so - again - we seem to be making headway slowly. I just want her to be a happy goat and feel safe with us.

Meanwhile, over at the property in Belton, the boys had fun being outside their goat field. They chased the tractor and scared the poor stray mama again. All it took was a loud bleating, and she scarpered.

She'd been happily eating her food and only about 5 or 6 feet away from me. I'd even been talking to her, telling her she was safe with us, telling her she was a good girl and then - one loud bleat - and off she ran. She came back later with another female and they stood watching me. Knowing there were 2 coming around today, we put out extra food.

Hubby put together a milking stand today, for milking later on but -for now- for me to use for hoof trimming as that'll put them at a height where I can sit and do it. I'm not stable enough to try to stand and bend over. Thinking ahead, and trying to figure do-arounds for things that I know will be a problem for me.

Tomorrow hubby has his eye surgery, they say they won't be bandaging his eyes but he will see blurry tomorrow, and for the next few days after that will look like he's been brawling! Big black eyes apparently. They are trying to open up his squinty eyes as they think they're limiting the light getting into his eyes, and that's affecting his sight. Hopefully this will help improve it.

I'm nervous that I'll get lost en route. We know that is one of my many talents.

Welcoming Maisie

So, this afternoon, we picked up our latest little one, we're going to call her Maisie. She is 8 weeks old, and a Boer/mini Nubian cross and she has BLUE EYES! She snuggled down against me, in the car, while we were talking and then snuggled into Mark while I was driving. We assumed she'd be like the others (and cleave to us as the only familiar thing) when we set her down, outside the car, to meet Sunshine. Aha! Not so, she decided to go explore ... but away from us and just ran farther when Mark tried to catch up to her. Sunshine managed to "call" her back though

and they are both now together in the pen. As you can see from the pic, there really isn't much difference in their size right now, but she will probably grow to as big as Solomon and Max are at the mo, but Sunshine won't grow much more at all. 

The boys are getting on well, and they went walkies again today, over to a shady bushy area that will eventually be fenced in as an additional grazing area. They follow the tractor ... until something else takes their attention and then we have to double back to get them following us again.