Round and Round

I call my trips to Los Angeles my gratitude trips because I come home nicer.  I come home grateful and aware of the blessings I have here on the farm.  I worry about my animals because the dearly beloved does not nurture the animals the way I do.  I am learning to accept the things I can't control, to control the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.  I know that the animals will be fed.  They won't be pampered and doted upon but they will be fed.  They are farm animals, they are foragers, they were fine.  Gus, the prince of Shih tzus was alive and greeted me at the airport.  He went right from the groomer to the airport.  He jumped up and down and ran around, excited to see me and ran right outside and rolled in the horse manure.  So much for pamering the animals. 
I missed autumn.  I'm sad for that but I am grateful  for the warm weather in LA and the good food.  I am grateful for the opportunitiy to work.  I'm blessed to have opportunities.   

Country girl gone to Los Angeles

I got called away from the farm for work in Los Angeles.  This is a challenge as I have to give up control of all of my precious animals until further notice.  My animals are my loving pets and not considered "farm stock" and the fear of losing any of them is troublesome.  I have to trust that my dearly beloved is going to take good care of them.  I am fully aware that they need not be cared for with anywhere near the attention I give them.  They are foragers.  They do not require the constant nurturing I give them.  My baby, Gus, is another matter.  He is very accustomed to, and in need of, the attention I give to him.  I bet they all manage fine without me for a few weeks.  For me this is a lesson in giving up control.  They won't be petted like I pet them, they won't be doted on like I dote on them but they will be good.  I will come home with a new appreciation of country life like only spending time in the city can cause.

Animal Control

I received a call from Clay, the animal control guy.  He said someone had been complaining about Mister and Sister running in the pasture across the road from the house.  We are surrounded by about 400 acres of cow pastures.  While it is true that Mister and Sister run in the pastures, so do all the other dogs in the area.  For some reason my dogs have been singled out and threatened with time in the dog pound.  I see Tornado the black lab walking up the road every day.  And Daisy the 15 year old mut doesn't even get out of the road when you honk.  The beagle at the end of the road chases the car every time I drive by.  Mister and Sister are in exercising the cows.  We need to have healthy, fit cows in Tennessee.  By the time Mister and Sister are done running them through the fields, they've been sufficiently exercised.  Buddy Welch, the cow's owner  knows the dogs hang out there and he's fine with it as long as they don't nip at the cows' heals.      We installed the invisible fence a few years ago to keep the dogs at home.  The stepson was weedeating under the fences and he cut the wire which rendered the invisible fence useless.  Repairing the invisible fence is on Fred's to do list of things to fix around the farm but it's WAY down at the bottom of that list.  I'm all about keeping animals responsibly immunized, fed and contained, but we are surrounded by several hundred acres.  It's a little weird to keep them chained.  Being the reasonable, responsible, respecful woman that I am, (anyone who knows me, please wipe the grins off your faces) I agreed to keep them chained up until Fred fixes the invisible fence.  As I am chaining them up, I am fully aware that these dogs could possibly be chained to that fence for two years.  Fred does intend to get to it.  He intends to get everything done on his to do list.  Trouble is that the list grows much quicker than he completes each project.  So I am going to take a picture of my poor pitiful farm dogs sulking in the corner of the yard, completely demoralized, defeated, and depressed.  The chickens come right up to them and peck the food right out of their bowls.  The goats wander by and eat the leaves from the trees by the fence that they are chained to.  The horses wander by and eat the grass all around their dog house.  They just lay there sulking.    

Here Comes the Vet (bills)

We were sitting around the breakfast table with the family this morning enjoying farm fresh eggs, bacon, sausage and fluffy biscuits when I looked outside and noticed that Abigail had drool pouring out of her mouth.  She had liquid gushing out of her nose as well.  I pointed it out to Fred.  We watched her for a bit as we cleaned up the breakfast dishes.  She didn't appear to be getting any better.  We started calling every horse afficianado we knew.  It's 10:30 on a Sunday morning.  Everyone is at church.  Finally I was told that there was a rodeo bronco rider who happened to be speaking at the Cowboy Church.  I jumped in the truck and flew down to the Cowboy Church just as church was letting out.  I found the cowboy, explained my situation and he agreed to follow me home.  At first he thought Abigail had gotten into some clover.  I happened to be missing the head to my scarecrow and I thought she may have eaten the head which is made out of styrofoam.  He admitted that he had never seen liquid pouring from a horse's nose and suggested we get ahold of a vet.  Delightful news to hear on a Sunday morning. 
This is a picture of Abigail and Dr. Smith standing in the rain on a Sunday afternoon.  He tranquilized her and ran a tube down  her throat while Fred held onto her.  We did not find the head to my scarecrow but there did appear to be a feed blockage.  Alls well that ends well.  The patient is doing well.  Dr. Smith will be taking his wife out to a very expensive dinner tonight.  Fred and I will be eating leftovers.  HA

Welcome Autumn

It's Autumn.  The weather is cool.  The mornings are downright chilly.  It's fun to get up early, put on a sweatshirt and go off to feed the animals.  Today I was getting an early start with some bulbs for spring and cleaning up the remains of the summer garden.  Scotty (the California computer geek) got my scarecrows out of the barn rafters for me and laid them on the ground.  Andy the horse started eating their arms and legs.  We quickly moved them to a safe spot outside by the mailbox so all hay eating critters couldn't get to them.  Scotty  says I look like Dr. Doolittle the way all the animals follow me everywhere I go.  I like to believe that they're all just lovin' me but I've got a feeling it's the food....I guess it's a trust thing.  They trust that when I'm walking up to them, I've got food.

This is a picture of Andy.  He's really a cool horse.  He's bad and is constantly trying to get into the chicken pen to get the feed.  He's knocked the lids off the

chicken, goat feed and corn quite a few times.  Thankfully I've caught him before

he's eaten himself to death.  He's got some bad habits but they make him very endearing.  He's got lots of personality.  Abigail is a bit more reserved.  Her feet still hurt.  The farrier comes out again tomorrow so she should be doing better in no time.

Runaway Horses or The Domino Effect

I asked my stepson to cut the grass on Sunday.  He chose not to.  He snuck out and went to a friend's house.  I called my husband at work when I realized that the stepson was gone.  He called his son and demanded he go gome and immediately cut the grass.  The stepson returned home with two of his buddies and decided it would be more fun to shoot birds with his gun (a big no-no) instead of cutting the grass.
When he shot the gun it spooked the horses who broke the fence while attempting to jump over it as they escaped. 
One of the neighbor boys eventually caught the horses about a mile down the road.  The boy's dad called me and told me the horses got out.  I was in my car, about ten minutes away with about 20 minutes left of daylight.  I quickly drove home, grabbed two lead ropes and raced back to the location of the horses.  I  negotiated with the boys to help - a. get the car back home and  - b. get the horses home.  My stepson, always prepared to get out of too much work, opted to drive the car home while the other boys and I walked the horses through the water logged pastures (the rains ceased on the 8th day). 
It is now seriously approaching nightfall, the pastures are flooded, the horses are minimally cooperative and I can bearly see to find my way through the pastures.  After about 45 minutes of trudging through calf high water we made it to the back gate of my pasture, encouraging the horses along with a bucket full of sweet feed just beyond their reach. 
In the dark that has now engulfed us, I have to close off the back pasture because the horses broke the fence.  Early the next morning I have to buy a new gate for the middle pasture (10 foot galvonized gate at Tractor Supply Co. $95.00) because the old once is completely rusted and broken.  I have to move a 50 lb bag of chicken feed, a 50 lb bag or cracked corn and a 50 lb bag of goat feed to keep the horses out of it.  I have to lock the front gate to keep the horses from running into the road.  I have to keep the chicken pen closed to keep the horses from hanging out in there trying to eat everyone else's feed.  This prevents the goats from being able to access their feed as they are fed in the chicken pen. (Are ya'll following me....I'm still repairing everything from the domino effect of the stepson's initial irresponsibility.)  Has anyone observed up to this point in this story that the stepson isn't fixing the fence, hauling the 150 lbs of feed around or buying a new gate? 
Today as I'm caring for the horses I notice that their legs are cut up from the barbed wire that was around the fence that they broke through trying to escape from the noise of the gun that the stepson shot off instead of cutting the grass like he was asked to cut some 10 hours earlier. 
Soooo....I ask....who has to pay the vet bill?   I bet it's the same person who bought the goat feed, the chicken feed, the cracked corn, the new gate and the fencing to fix the broken fence.