Hard to Leave

 We left the house for Thanksgiving to go see our families. It’s always hard for us to leave without at least one of us staying home to make sure the animals are taken care of. We have only left one other time and they were taken care of. It still is hard for us. We had a girl that came by several times to watch us feed and water and trusted her with the animals. She did a great job and literally lives right beside us. I am so grateful for the help. I know next time I will still text and call whoever is caring for them just to check in. All went well. They were taken care of and were happy to see us. 

Coyote Scare

 Ronnie came home the other day and gave me a scary story. He said he was fixing to leave for work and he looked out toward the pig pen and saw a coyote lurking around the pen. That in itself scares me. I do know there is barbed wire buried at the bottom of the fence and it is a tall fence. I have lights out there for them just for this reason and they have shelters. Ronnie did shoot at the animal, he didn’t hit him but wanted to scare him off. Luckily there has been no more signs of the coyote. He also said the donkeys weren’t near there but they took off to where he was shooting and not away from it, so that’s a good sign. It still terrifies me. 

Funny Sight

 I went out to the barn to look for eggs. The egg situation is dwindling down due to the weather change. I look though a spot in the barn and see a funny sight. I saw Hercules standing beside the chicken roosting fence with chickens standing on his back. It looked like Hercules was trying to help the chickens get up on their roosting post. It really was a funny sight. You never know what you will see around here. 

Sick Jeb

 Jeb, the horse was the first to get sick. I went out one evening and noticed his eyes and nose were running. He had that look that said he didn’t feel good. Luckily we had some meds and Ronnie was able to give him some rounds of antibiotics to make him feel better. He wasn’t really active and just looked like he felt bad. Ronnie told me a story about how bad Jeb must have felt. He said one afternoon he was looking out the window and saw Jeb laying on his side and Chief was standing overtop of him like he was protecting him. Ronnie said he got nervous and went out there. Jeb was just sunning but he didn’t look good. He had already had a shot of antibiotics, but he made sure to give him the recommended doses to make sure he started feeling better. After about a week, Jeb did start to act like he felt better, thank goodness. Bless his little heart. I felt bad for him, but he is back to normal now. I am glad we have Chief. I’m really glad Jeb and Chief get along so well. 

Weather Changes

 The weather around here has been nuts lately. It’s that time of year. It’s hot in the daytime and cold at night. This wrecks havoc on the animals sometimes so I take an extra long time checking them out. I hate when any of them get sick but I keep meds on hand and the vets number handy this time of year. This is part of caring for these animals. They do get sick sometimes and you have to be prepared to treat them. This time of year and in the spring is usually when it happens. We do our best around here to ensure all of the animals are happy and healthy at all times. Pray for them and us this winter. 

Impatient Spam

 It was starting to get cold out. I decided to put more straw in the pig houses. The only problem was, it was already dark. I didn’t think anything about it since I have lights out there. I started dividing it up to get it in the houses. One of those houses, I have to crawl in the house to put straw in the back. As I was crawling in, Spam couldn’t get past me, but I didn’t know that at the time. As I was crawling out, backward, I feel Spam bite me on the back of the calf. Now, I know she just wanted me out of the way and she didn’t go through my scrub pants, so I know she didn’t do it hard. Those pants are thin. There was no mark on me. As soon as I got out of her way, she ran in and started moving straw around. It’s a good thing I love that girl. 

Chicks

 I have been out of town the last several days. It got cold out. I called my husband everyday to check on the animals. He told me it had gotten cold out and Suzie Q had lost her 2 of her chicks. When I got home I was looking for her and sure enough, she only has one chick with her now. I’m not sure what happened to the other 2 but my guess is they got too cold. Poor things. This is the part of the farm life I’m not good at.