Ned

 Ned has seemed incredibly unhappy here. I have considered finding him a new home just so he will be happy. It is absolutely heartbreaking for me to think of this for several reasons: 1) he came in and is bonded with Red, or that’s what I was told but they seem to fight a lot. 2) he has not been here long and may just need more time to be happy here. 3) I rescued him and don’t want him to have to move yet again, it’s too hard on animals, but he seems so unhappy. He should be named Eeyore. 4) he needs to be fixed and that might help the issues. 5) I just don’t want him to go through all of that. I even had a lady stop and ask to buy one of our donkeys recently. I don’t know her so definitely not without references. Today I figured out the problem which I am going to have to address. He hates the goats. There are only 3 in that pasture with the donkeys, but Ned hates them. I watched him try to literally run over 2 out of the 3 a couple of times today. We are working on halters so we can take the donkeys to get fixed, but it d

oesn’t happen over night. I’m not loving this right now and really not sure what to do at this time. I can separate the goats from the donkeys but that’s my option right now. 

Having a Pig

 Having a pig, or 9 of them, is not an easy task some days. They all have unique personalities and they are moody. Today I was out trimming hooves. They really don’t like it all that much. I was able to trim at least one foot on most of them. I will continue to go back and do another foot for the next several days. I don’t like to stress them out more than necessary when trying to trim because they remember and the next time is just harder. I could hire someone to do it, but I know how my pigs are and they truly don’t like new people so I just continue to do their feet as they tolerate it. Darla let me do all 4 feet. Gus is usually my easy one but I only got one foot done. Doing one on Spam and Treat each and I had to dodge some teeth a couple of times. Brutus is fine until Gus comes around. Gus doesn’t like him.  They just hate it. I don’t exactly love to do it but it’s necessary for their care. Next I will be deworming since that needs to be done every 6 months and it’s time. I sure do love these guys but some days they are more temperamental and need extra care. Gus, Treat, and Spam will be getting their own space before long and I cannot wait for that. 

The Egg Game

 These chickens are something else. We have a constant egg hunt around here. I know they don’t want me taking their eggs, however, if I don’t, something else around here will. As soon as I find their laying spot, they switch it up on me. I found 18 eggs in one spot, once I gathered them, they won’t lay there anymore. So, every evening I search the barn, the shop, the baby goat pen, behind water troughs, in the chickens’ shelter, etc. some days I find a bunch, some days it’s just a couple but the eggs are usually spread out over several places. It’s entertaining having an adult egg hunt every night. I do hate it for them, but the chickens don’t sit on them to hatch, so I know a predator will grab them up. Everyday it is something new. 

Integrated Again

 I decided to put Carlos back with Hercules since he seemed lonely. Hercules is hard to get along with. But, since Carlos had been back over the fence with Lucky, now Lucky wasn’t happy. I was a little concerned since Lucky was still on the mend from being so sick and then unable to walk, I wasn’t sure I should put him in there with them. I decided to try it. Hercules behaved and those 3 are back in the same area. It so nice to see them playing together again. Hercules is still a bully but not as bad. Lucky is healthy enough Hercules hasn’t tried to kill him anymore. So there is that. Those 3 have been together for around 2 years. It’s nice they are back in the same area. I’m so grateful Lucky is doing so well. 

Pedro

 Pedro came to the farm with Red and Ned. They came from a kill pen. I had decided to get Red and Ned and had been speaking to two different people about the donkeys. When it was time to pay, both of them were asking me to take Pedro. I really didn’t understand why. They dropped the price quite a bit so I decided to go ahead and pay his bail, too. He was brought here with them. I am not sure how long they have been at the house now, maybe a month more or less. The last couple of weeks I am starting to see why they wanted him out of there so bad. One of them had told me how sweet he was and sent pics of him snuggled up with her daughter, which I appreciate. When he got here, obviously he was a little shy and unsure of what was happening. He was the healthiest of the three. Let me tell you, I am so grateful for those ladies and their persistence because Pedro is the absolute sweetest thing. He wants attention and he loves us already. I am so grateful he is here. 

Hard Days

 Some days are just hard. There are no other words, it’s just hard. I had one of those days yesterday. On those days I’m grateful for these animals. They know when I’m upset. They know those hard days. They try to surround me with their love and attention. Of course, I do it for them also. Noma and Ned even ate out of my hand yesterday which is a big step. Neither of them have ever been really friendly with me. I do hope over time that changes but I needed it yesterday and I guess they both knew it. It helped me some yesterday. With all the stresses of life, these animals help everyday. 

Texas weather

 This weather is crazy!! Since moving here, I have seen more snow and ice then I have in years in Arkansas. In a matter of 24 hours here, I have seen a nice sunny day turn to a dust storm to a thunderstorm with tornado watches, hail and back to sunny. When the thunderstorm started, the rain came down so hard that it was actually coming into the house, looks like we need to fix some weather stripping. I am amazed at the dust storms. In Arkansas, we don’t have any of that, but here it seems like a normal thing. It’s like the sky turns red and the dirt will literally hit you in the face. I’ve really never seen anything like it. However, surprisingly enough, I am still liking it here. I am loving our little place with all of the animals and being able to live here with my husband everyday is better than imagined. I do still get surprised by the weather, maybe one day I will get used to it. It has hailed a couple of times in the last 2 weeks, so we are having a carport built as we speak. Crazy weather. Now let’s see how summers in west Texas compare to summers in Arkansas. 

Separation anxiety

 oh this is no fun. As you know, I separated Noma and Cracker Jack from the other donkeys. Cracker Jack is fine with the goats. That’s where he has been for 2 years now. He is happy with them. Noma seems happy that she is able to relax and not deal with Pete (her son) and the other males. Pete on the other hand is really having difficulty. I knew it was

going to be hard on him since he has never been away from her. He is having separation anxiety for sure. He brags at her at all hours. Once he starts braying, the all start braying. I’m sure our neighbors hate us. It’s been almost a week since the separation. Pete was laying by the fence trying to get close to Noma the first few days and they still do walk the fence line together some. The braying is still going often but not as often. I think they are getting used to their new spaces and they are starting to accept it. I really hated to do it, but it was necessary, at least until I get all the males fixed which is on my agenda. It’s hard to watch Pete being so stressed but him and Red have become friends. While they are separated, I’m trying to get Pete to be more friendly. He still doesn’t want to be, but he did eat out of my hand this week and I got to let him for just a second also. I know he will come around but he and Noma are tough to get to break out of their shells. I wish I knew why. 

Separating Donkeys

 When we got Red, Ned, and Pedro, we knew we would have to separate Noma from them. I was watching for when it was time. Well... it became time to separate them. I wasn’t ready. I had a spot I wanted to put them but the fencing isn’t ready and I didn’t have a shelter. It didn’t matter. I have a female going into heat and 4 unaltered males. That will be remedied very soon. I found a vet finally and we will be getting that completed. Thank goodness. I am hoping we moved her in time. Ronnie and I had a plan to get her out of there. It did not go as planned, but what does?? Noma and Pete (her son) have never been apart so I knew it would be hard. Somehow Pete and Red have become close so that’s good. We did get Noma, Carlos, and Cracker Jack in another pen. Hercules is the only goat in the other. When I say pen, those guys probably have 30 screws with the barn. That means the rest of them have about 12 or so. It’s plenty for them. My only stress was shelter. Maybe I’m weird but I was so stressed because they didn’t have shelter. I opened up the barnish place the chickens and Lucky have been staying in and there was plenty of room. We had an extra water trough so it was perfect. It’s defi a change but I’m glad it’s done. We will eventually get that fencing done and add another barn in the back pasture for them. Once that happens, I’m hoping the small goats will have grown some more and put them back there as well. And... since all of these guys are over here now, Lucky is so happy. He is able to be with them. Him and Carlos and Cracker Jack we always friends so he is happy to be back with them. Change is not always a bad thing. This was for the best for all of them. 

Lucky and the babies part 2

 Lucky was still up on his feet this weekend which made me really happy. Ronnie and I have worked hard at keeping him alive after being sick. Then the cold weather and Lucky not being able to walk. He has really worked hard at getting back to where he was. He wanted in with those babies so badly. So...I let him in the pen with them. Well, Lucky was not as strong as we thought. Lucky is a buck and so is Waldo. The fight was on. I will be getting them both fixed very soon after the scene I witnessed. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t a fun thing to watch. Lucky got beat up on, so I got him out of there and decided to put him back in with the chickens. I really hated to do that because Lucky seemed a little lonely but I thought he would be okay. I was still letting him out and he was hanging by the fence with the babies. He needs to be stronger. 

Surprise

 I went out on Tuesday to feed when I got home. Ronnie was gone so it was just me. I went to get Lucky out first before I fed all of the other animals so he could get out in the sun for a bit before I locked him back in so he was protected at night. I could not believe my eyes. Lucky was standing at the gate looking up at me. It had been since before the ice storm that he was able to do that. His leg was completely better and he was able to stand on both front legs without difficulty. I opened the gate and he walked right out. No problem, no limp. I was completely surprised by this. He wasn’t able to do that the day before. He even ran a little bit. I was shocked. I was so excited to see this, though. I had certainly prayed he would get better. We had given him all kinds of meds and supplements. This showed me we were going on the right direction. I was so happy. I called Ronnie and he already knew. He said he had done that when he went out in the morning. Lucky is so much better. We will continue to keep him by himself for a while so he can get stronger. 

Lucky and the babies

 Last weekend I let Lucky out after working with him on walking. He was still wobbly and had a limp. He would take a few steps and fall over, that was last Saturday. On Sunday, Lucky still has a limp but he made sure he made it over to the babies. He would stand and talk to them. Then he would lay down next to the fence. I didn’t want to put him in there yet. I wanted to make sure he was stronger first. He wanted in there so badly. He finally gave up and went back into his spot with the chickens. I knew he was getting better and I was so glad. 

One Mad Cat

 

Well, I have really done it now. When Oreo came into the picture for us almost a year ago, the deal was we would eventually have a barn and he would live in the barn. At the time we took Oreo off of the streets, we had no plans to move. We ended up starting the process to move a few months later. We went through the terrible time of introducing him to our other inside cats. Terrible isn’t the word, it was a catastrophe. However, they have all decided to be friends now. When we moved, I did not want him outside alone in a new place and so on, so he stayed in the house with Persia and Bubba. Now that we have other outside cats, who are loving it here, I thought I would try to introduce Oreo to Earl and Rona. I really hated the idea since Oreo has been in the house for almost a year, but I truly think he misses being outside. I held Oreo while trying to introduce him to Rona. It did not go well. I know it was only for a few minutes but I’m not going to do that again. There was so much hissing. I decided Oreo would stay an inside cat. When I got him back in the house, he jumped out of my arms and ran. He hid for hours. As I was reading right before bed he came and snuggled beside me, it was almost like he was thanking me for not leaving him out there. Poor guy has been through a lot. It won’t happen again. He is finally settled in with Persia and Bubba so he will stay inside.