Hope Everyone Is Having A Great Holiday!

Just sent Zoe and her BF, Brandon off to England for a week or so.............They arrived extremely tired, but safe and surely will have a good time. Our Holiday has been a good one thus far and we just booked our tickets for another England trip in April.........

The horse girls are weathering the weather, so to speak, drinking plenty of water and enjoying loads of hay.......Time to get them trimmed again soon. And I've decided to pull the posts this spring that divide the arena from the paddock since Kola's large bottom has snapped the wooden post which held the gate to separate the two, oh well.........So I opened the other end and neither one of them has discovered the circle they can make yet, force of habit, I suppose. I'll have lots to do this spring, that's for sure...........

Note: At the top is our new Jenny goat, Jess needed to find her a home as she was her last remaining goat and was quite lonely, so we added her to our boyz. All seem to be getting along fine. So, Jenny is our rose among thorns, LOL.....

Congrats, Zoe......Magna Cum Laude

Zoe graduated last Saturday, Magna Cum Laude with a major in Political Science and a minor in Sociology. We are so very proud! Zoe and her boyfriend, Brandon of several years both graduated Mizzou last weekend! We are very proud of them both. It was exciting. Of course now comes "what next?" . She has applications out for Teach for America, Americorps and grad school at UW Madison.........We'll see what comes of it all. She and Brandon will be off to visit her brother and sister in England in just a few days as their graduation gift from us.

In other breaking news, we have taken on Jess's Jenny goat & dropped in with the boy goats. Herman has taken poor little Jenny as his own, Good Grief! They seem to be getting on for the most part, except that I came home from work this morning to find blood all over in the goat pen. I couldn't find the source. My guess is that Pumba has crusty little horns that originally were not burnt off entirely and often when he gets to head butting which I witnessed him doing even this morning, he'll loosen the half arsed horn and bleed. We'll keep an eye on it. Everyone is eating and they all are getting shelter...........So that is the latest breaking news in this place! Hope everyone has wonderful Holiday!

Just A Reminder To Winter Critter Keeping........

Our dogs go outside to do their business several times a day, We keep it in rather short bursts when the temps outside warrant it. Recently we've had single digit numbers Fahrenheit, so that's cold on their tootsies and there have been more than one occasion when we've had to carry them up the stairs because they've turned themselves over like bugs at the bottom of the stairs because they just couldn't take it anymore as much as they love frolicking in the snow.


Goats have got shelter and bedding within that shelter for winter and they do have their daily grain to start their chilly mornings and of course hay.


The horses have their shelter and winter turn-out blankets on them. I've found a Weaver brand that does it quite well. They are a mid-weight, water proof, fleece lined at the withers blanket with leg straps to hold them in place and the usual criss-cross under belly straps as well. Also a tail flap. They work well in this weather for the girls. And they cannot get them off. And let me tell you they try to remove them from each other.

The shelter is simply a lean-to. These girls will not be stalled, however, I have it set up for stalling if it becomes necessary as it did last year. No more pasture time for these girls as I do not want to risk another injury like last year. They have plenty of room to move around between the paddock and arena as it gradually becomes one area rather than two separate areas as Kola's large bottom has eliminated the gate and post. I'll be pulling more posts this spring. I do still need to spread straw for bedding in their "lay" areas. I'm a bit behind on that right now. But, the straw will go this week. There are about three different areas they lay in and I will make st aw beds for them there.

Plenty of fresh water. I keep a 100 gallon trough with a heater topped off and cleaned weekly for the horses and a 30 gallon heated bucket filled for the goats. I use the outdoor spigot and keep the hose indoors until use. Once I use it, I detach the hose from the spigot which keeps everything from freezing and allows the water to drop back down to the well. I learned that lesson along time ago. Of course the girls generally keep the same feeding regime, however, in the cold, I do up the hay a bit. Anything I forgot? Please feel free to add your winter horse, goat, critter keeping ideas and plans as I'm sure we all have things that we do that works and any ideas I haven't heard , I'd like to.................

Well, This Has Been One Crappy Weekend ..........

She came to us in early October of 2006. A little blind thing crawling between Stephen legs at our local hay farmer's barn, "Mew, mew, mew" . They seemed to get louder. I scooped her up and said, "Stephen, we can't leave her here." Bill, the farmer said, "Ya know, if you don't take her, she'll be dead by morning, her mother rejected her." Our heart strings tugged and I slipped her into my coat as we finished up and drove home. I spent the first 3 hours with her bundled in my arms trying to clear her crusted shut eyes with warm water compresses and then when I had finished discovered what I considered a bonus and shouted to Stephen, " Steve, come look, we have a bonus! She has extra toes and lots of them!" He had never seen that before. The next several week, I fed her warm milk with an eyedropper and we made several trips to the Vet for various meds to try and save her sight, which to no avail, did not work, so we accepted our blind little kitty and began to "baby" proof the house with gates and chicken wire and wooden barriers built to keep her from falling from one floor to another and it worked.

Over the few years we've had our little Liliput, who turned into a very large Liliput, she became accustomed to her surroundings. Clearly she knew where her food was kept, the litter pan and her safe hiding places. Because she was blind, she could be a little over sensitive and only gave out her kitty cuddles when she decided it was ok, generally when one of us was in the bathroom. 24 claws balancing on a bare lap, but purrs you couldn't resist.........

She had an acute turn of events for the worse over this past week and in an effort to force some meds down her, she bit my thumb, rather badly.........Of course, we initially had kitty vaccinated, however, since she was indoors strictly and anytime to try and get her into a cat carrier was like battling a bag of razor blades, we figured the risk of her getting rabies would be low as all of the other animals who routinely go outside or live outside are vaccinated up to date. Something had made her ill, congenital, her overweight issues, I do not know, but Liliput had to be euthanized regardless and sent to the state lab for rabies testing. It more than likely would have happened this week even without the bite as something started an acute illness........Trust me, this was not an easy decision nor was it at this point really ours entirely. I don't think even if we had her up to date as we have the others, she still would have been ill and this still would have happened. I'm glad we gave her 4 years that she wouldn't have had if I hadn't have tucked her into my coat and I am glad she gave us 4 years of uniqueness, her own very different personality and kitten kisses. Rest in Peace my always little Lilput...........We miss immensely...........And if I cry anymore, it probably still wouldn't be enough..............So sorry, Miss Put, so sorry little one. You will be missed so much......................

Our Little Dusting of Snow Today..........

Temperatures dropped drastically last night, but not before I pulled out the blankets and donned the girls. Funny enough, neither one of them objected as I draped them and puttered around adjusting straps and such. And what was mud has now frozen solid and the poor girls are gingerly stepping around it all. Thankfully, no frozen crap balls stuck in their feet yet and I have a fresh delivery of hay in the barn. Those typical looks on their faces, "Well, ya big jerk, are ya going to waste time taking pictures or perhaps you'll get to dinner any time soon!". Oh, they crack me up. I am glad I put their blankets on though. I tossed around the decision whether it was cold enough or not and looked at the weather reports and pretty much timed it perfectly. I love it when a plan comes into place and so do they.