Monday, May 30, 2011

Long weekend in Paradise

I am finally getting around to posting the rest of the pics from a couple weeks ago.
But first a quick update on my own goats:

I thought it was time to put Jenny's Mom in with Jenny. They immediately got into a knock down, drag-out head-banger. Daphne is half Jenny's size, but she has been herd queen for years and she kept taking the high ground. Jenny wouldn't give up even though she fell down. I broke them up and took Daph out where she stood breathing hard for some minutes.

That means I probably will have to put one of the lesser does in with Jenny, but there is only one house and I don't think Jenny ever bunks with either one of the lesser does. And any of the wethers will most likely be able to beat Jenny up.

My other option is to start taking them on walks and letting her mix with everyone and see how that goes. She is not 100 percent yet as I could see in her bout with Daphne, but I don't like having to keep a goat separate.

Here are some more pics of Willow at the farm:

Willow and little Lori, her momma Lois behind, Maya mare in back.


Willow with Lori's "big Legs"


Willow and Jackson, the biggest goat at the farm.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Goodbye Thyroid

I had my blood drawn this week for follow up on Radioactive I131 treatment for Grave's Disease(hyperactive thyroid). I am 10 weeks after treatment.

My free T4 levels have dropped below normal. I went from 2.58 at treatment to 1.91 six weeks later to .79 this week. Normal range, according to my doc, is 0.91-1.71. I was immediately put on 75 mg Levoxyl once a day with more blood work in another four weeks.

Yeah, I've been feeling pretty lousy the last week. I think there were about 10 days in the last month I thought, "hey, I'm feeling good!" and my muscle tone started to recover a little.

Then I started freezing all the time (all this cold and damp, I thought) and the blues like no tomorrow (ditto weather) and tired tired tired (who isn't this time of year?)

Now I get to look forward to medication daily for the rest of my life. But I do get to phase off the propanolol, oops are you still on that? three days of a gradually reducing dose and that will be ended...three times a day was a nightmare, especially the afternoon one and sometimes the night one too! So yay to that, right?

well, considering I had free T4 of 5.7+ from October through January, I guess I deserve a little crash. I sort of wish the crash was in the winter, but sometimes things are outside of our control...

Friday

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Jenny the goat is much improved and the wayward hen has been staying put.

The ten days of gray wet weather caused a good slug crop, and they in turn have decimated many of my tender seedlings, including two rows of lettuce mix.

We had two glorious days of sun which was a cue for the mosquitoes hordes to come forth.

Now we're back to slug weather, fogged in since sundown last night.

Ah paradise!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

gotta love May Showers

But heating all month, too? We have had a very cool wet grey month of May! The slugs are loving it. The sun came out for about 5 minutes yesterday and the temps skyrocketed and the moisture filled the air from the saturated ground. I felt like a mole coming out of hibernation. Then the clouds returned.

The sun did come out for about 10 seconds this morning.

One of my goats ran into some trouble this weekend. She was a bit stiff in the rear on Thursday evening, but I had visitors at feeding time and didn't pay much attention. I was rushed Friday morning and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Friday night I had an unexpected guest right at grain time and Jenny was hiding in a house sitting on her rear like a dog. Her hind end buckled under her when I pulled her out of the house. I finally realized there was a problem.

I got rid of the visitor, secured and fed the rest of the herd, and made Jenny as comfortable as I could, and then ran an emergency divider between the house she was in and the rest of the paddock. My three children helped. One sat with Jenny's head in her lap, one ran insulators under my direction, and one stood ready to chase the other goats off when they came back from their hay.

Jenny seemed very disoriented and weak, and we ran watches on her falling down and getting stuck for two days. A goat friend was sure it was trouble with the hind leg. I thought perhaps a bigger goat had cornered her in the house and beat her up. Or rabies. Or brainworm. Or selenium deficiency. Or CAE.

She seemed slightly improved the second day, and finally I located some nutridrench for goats this morning and gave her 30cc orally. This afternoon she seemed much more aware of her surroundings and even managed to squat to urinate without falling down. She picked at her grain tonight and also her hay, and then I drenched her again. I also bought enough wormer for the whole herd and two selenium mineral blocks.

I'll check on her a few more times before bed tonight to make sure she hasn't fallen and hung up awkwardly against some of the big rocks in the pen. That was a real concern the first night as once I found her laying head downhill and unable to rise on her own.

She was obviously in pain the first 24 hours, so a goat may have been beating on her if she wasn't feeling well. Or just the stress of perhaps getting a leg hung up and then someone beating on her. Not really sure, and I don't feel out of the woods with her yet.

Her mother, Daphne, has seemed a bit upset and Jenny has seemed down. They usually bed down together and I had some thoughts tonight about putting her mom in with her. Jenny is still with the herd, just sectioned off alone. I think I will wait until Jenny is getting around pretty well and then put her mom in with her.

All this talking has made me want to go out and check on her. Prayers welcomed!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Gardening etc

Been busy doing outside stuff. A lot of the black gold compost was moved the last couple of weeks, at least 10 wheelbarrows onto the lawn, along with a bag of lime, and a dozen or so in the garden beds and mulching roses and grapes and perennials.

Lettuce is planted, peas are coming up. Squash and beans were daringly planted yesterday. Trying broccoli from seed, and collards, and beets for greens. Planted some flower seeds at the end of the road and in the bucket for the mailbox (which got a load of black gold compost and a small ring of hand picked-rock around the base.)

Started a war against the blackberries that took over the big perennial bed and then I was sidetracked. (translated: scratched bloody and retreated in semi-defeat for the time being)

I picked up all the leftover bits of wood and put them in a neat stack. Now for the bags and bags of bottles for the redemption center!

I spent the week outsmarted by a chicken. A white leghorn hen became an escape artist. You can see, with all that planting going on, that could be very disastrous to have a wayward hen in one's tediously planted vegetable garden!

Well, she kept escaping. I kept sewing possible escape routes shut with baling twine. The outdoor chicken run has become almost festive-looking. Each time I fixed it, I would chase her back in. That sounds simple. First one has to lock all the other chickens out, and then chase a chicken in that has no intention of going in. Chickens can run fast.

Last night I clipped her wings. I thought that would slow her down. She acted like I was killing her, sulked in the house for ten minutes, and then escaped again. Finally the Firebird saw where she was getting out. I fixed it today and it took three of us ten minutes slowly slowly acting like well-trained border collies to get her in.

We will see what tomorrow brings.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Happy Mothers Day


me with Lori's "Big Legs"


me with Sugreca's boy


Willow and Maya


Willow with Carmela's boy


Willow and Jackson