There has been so much activity lately that I can’t even think straight let alone make myself write for the blog so I apologize for the huge gap in news. To start off I have some sad news that our dog Gabby has disappeared. She has been my family’s dog for years and when my parents moved overseas she came to live with me. Sadly, I think some predator or something may have gotten her. We have had a lot of fox sightings recently and also coyotes roam the area frequently. On the bright side my life has been filled with many other animal adventures and distractions. Tulip, Michael’s bulldog has been getting chewed alive by Buster, the Boston Terrier pup. He plays plenty hard and she doesn’t care but she was looking really tough so she made the move from Michael’s house and the pecan orchard over to my house for some R&R. The barn cat, Yellow Cat, also got into a scuffle with an unknown creature and has been in poor shape for weeks. We finally brought it to my house to recuperate and it has gotten so much better. It also helped taking it to the vet for some more formal TLC. Hopefully before long she can move back out to the orchard.
This past weekend my chickens arrived. There are two groups, some larger than the others. The oldest were born on or around March 29 and the other group was born on or around April 12. They are so cute! There are also SO many of them! With being so small they have to be taken care of and watched pretty close so the solution for that was they have moved into my house. They live in different sized large Rubbermaid containers in one of my spare bedrooms. Let me tell you, they are fun but make racket all night! Their chirps are cute and the babies sleep a lot but the bigger ones do not! The bigger lot will move outside to the chicken house this weekend. It is time for them to go! With a bulldog, an injured cat and 25+ chickens my house is getting a little crazy.
To add to the madness I have also gotten 2 bottle calves. One is about 4 days old now and the other was just born yesterday. These calves are very hard to care for and their chance of survival is sadly not very good. However, I am doing my best to keep them going! They get bottle fed twice a day with milk replacer and a colostrum supplement. They are about the cutest things ever. I am not naming them until they are at least a week old because I want to be realistic about the situation. They are doing so well though! The older one is especially looking great. She is a big heifer calf that eats like an elephant (If you would let her) and is already drinking water out of a bucket. She even comes when I call her. The younger one was born a little premature and is defiantly going to have a bigger hill to climb. I just got her yesterday afternoon but so far she took a bottle last night and had one again this morning. As long as she keeps eating like that things should stay positive! It also helps that Michael is experienced in all of this. On day 2 with the older calf she got sick. The stress of the move and everything gave her a cough and a runny nose. Michael was able to treat her twice though and the next day she was 100 times better. We were a little more proactive on the younger and treated her right when she got to the house so hopefully we stay ahead of her and her very likely poor health.
All of this combined with a visit from my mom, wedding planning, a full time job, church activities, a garden the size of Rhode Island and 4 horses to care for I am pretty darn pooped out. Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday! We have an LWML (Lutheran Women’s Missionary League) rally so that will be a fun morning of fellowship and Bible study! After that it is back to work with more garden planting and finalizing the chicken coop for move in! It seems as though my life is quickly transforming into a funny farm/future petting zoo and I love it!
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