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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Reprieve.

Apparently, severe head colds are going around -- the woman and her husband who were taking part in the Great Llama Swap this past weekend, were both felled by it.  This did not bother me one little tiny bit.  It gives me another week to enjoy His Fuzziness.  I did manage to get him wormed which was like a mini rodeo.  Hey!  Another Olympic Farm Sport - llama rasslin.  Thank goodness I had the presence of forethought to keep his halter on.  He forgave me after a couple graham crackers.

Cookie continues to heal and is almost totally back to his large, sweet, normal self.  He is still bewildered that the kibble dishes aren't magically filled and persistently remain empty.  I have found that his being hungry is the best way to insure that he eats his twice-a-day canned food so fast he doesn't notice the crushed amoxicillin mixed in it.  Ditto with Bernie's twice a day, hidden-in-the-(insert here) pills.  We've gone through the cooked ground venison and just finished the cooked organic chicken livers.  Next is the free ranged cooked chicken.  Heaven knows how I'll top that -- she gets dosed until February 10!  Maybe I should hard boil some of Melanie's quail eggs and hide the pills in that...or a little pate de fois gras?  Shingles on toast?

Sunday morning brought a temperature of 1 degree.  Thank goodness the sun came out and raised the temps to the low 20s by afternoon.  This morning - same time - the temperature was 30 degrees.  Is it my imagination, or is this one wild winter?  Rain is forecast by the time I get to drive home.  Sigh.  I am hoping it doesn't start freezing.  If it does, I may just hang up my Muck boots and get out my skates.  I'll give that Apolo guy a run for his money!

Since none of my planned activity happened on Sunday, I took advantage of the free time and finished up my seed order.  I am expanding my raised bed garden again this spring - one more long bed that will run perpendicular to the five existing beds.  This one will be about 10-12' long, depending on how long the boards are that I have amassed in my 'wood pile'.  I am going to use this bed for squash planting.  Thanks to Hoosier and the sheep, their old paddock is about 6" deep with a glorious mixture of old hay and manure.  Black gold.  All I have to do is shovel it up and cart it out of there.  Yeah, right, that's all.  I think I might start looking for a hardworking, non-whiny high school kid that doesn't feel entitled to $30/hour. 

I'm finally starting to get into the swing of winter - I'm reading (!) at night, there's knitting on the needles, and my garden is getting organized (on paper).  There would have been fires in the fireplace, too, but with temperatures plummeting overnight, I cannot bring myself to allow all that heat to go up the chimney while I'm waiting for the embers to cool.

12 comments:

Sue said...

I used to tell people all the time to hire out some broke kid....but no more. Gone are the days where a kid would work for cheap---let alone WORK.
Love the idea of a garden expansion! More goodies!

Candy C. said...

Llama wrestling should definitely be added to the Olympic sports program!
I'm glad the critters are doing better.
Garden planning is fun! I have been working on seed orders too!

Carolyn said...

I'm telling ya...you need to do some posting on youtube of your Winter Olympics!

And, may I be so bold as to ask for a picture of Cookie? I haven't seen any blog cat pictures and I'd like to see the face of the kitty I've been thinking about since his little dental visit. Yea. I'm a pain.

Mama Pea said...

We love pictures! We all love pictures! (I think that allows us to be legal Peeping Toms.)

Glad things in the animal kingdom seem to be going well. What would Bernie like next to disguise her meds? How 'bout some steak tartar (sp?)?

Our weather has been just the same roller coaster of temperatures as yours. This truly IS a wacky winter. (Ha, after our wacky summer last year we expected a normal winter??)

Carolyn said...

Oh, and by the way.....if I need to take any pills or medication, I'd like YOU to give it to me (with a side of steak tartar or quail egg, thank you).

Susan said...

Sue - Yes, the idea of actual "work" is enough to have them running for their mommies. If I had more time, my entire front yard would be raised beds. I'm working on it..

Candy - It's a great way to get your cardio-vascular workout, let me tell you. Those necks are strong!

CR - I can't promise the YouTube videos, unless I can train one of the animals to use a video camera - but I will put Cookies perfect puss on a post soon. You may want to let Black Susan know he doesn't have a girlfriend.

Mama Pea - You are all ganging up on me! Wah! I believe there is a venison tenderloin in the freezer with Bernie's name on it (and Scrappy's by default).

CR - Dr. Susan is at your service!

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

I have recently had to take up cooking all of my old dogs meals. She had to go on a low protein diet, so twice a day I am cooking up her hot meal of starches, vegetables, a little protein and serving it up on a plate. Oh what we will do for these animals. I have to cook up her breakfast before mine or I get a very angry bark for taking to long. See what it is to be a softy? At least Bernie and Cookie dont seem to be demanding. Yet ;)

Tombstone Livestock said...

I have a dog that is very difficult to medicate, I put her pills in a piece of cheese or a hot dog, and she will almost take my fingers she gets so anxious to get it, never notices something stuffed inside.

Susan said...

Jane - As soon as I THINK about getting their breakfast/dinner ready, Scrappy is in my back pocket. Neither dog will bark at me, thank goodness, but it gets dangerous in the morning - OnceSlim is Velcroed to my ankles and Scrappy is a half-inch behind me at all times. Bernie just looks expectant.

TL - I used to put Bernie's pills in Velveeta. But she now knows that the only time there is Velveeta, it has something to do with pills, so she won't eat it. Hot dogs! I hadn't thought of that!

Prairie Cat said...

Every time I get into the swing of 'winter' things, the temperature gets up to 60 and all of my plans fall apart! What a crazy season this is turning out to be.

Erin said...

Wow you are done with your seed order? I'm further south and haven't started yet, aaarrrrgh!!! I have a very naughty border collie that will work for free, then run circles until the next chore, I'll pack her bags right now and send her your way LOL!

Susan said...

Prairie Cat - It's hard to make any plans outside, so I've thrown in the towel. I've got plenty to do inside!

Erin - Yes, but up here in the icy north, we NEED our dreams early!