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I wrote the following on August 2 about two horses at the end of my road. My FB friends know the outcome. Below is the background.
There’s the pasture at the end of our road that’s cursed. That’s my explanation for it anyway, since every horse that goes in there ends up dying or abused or “in a bad way” as the saying goes.
Currently there are 3 horses in there.
One is a bad ass miniature stud. He’s one of the tiniest minis I’ve ever seen, I don’t think he comes up to my knee but he’s viciously evil. I don’t know who he belongs too, but I’ve never seen anyone out messing with him at all.
Another one is a Mustang gelding… or at least I’m fairly certain he’s a gelding. He’s lovely but seriously abused. I heard from one of the neighbors that he was sent for “training” which evidently consisted of bagging (basically tying a plastic grocery bag to a whip and shaking it at him until he quit freaking out… only in his case it just made him scared of the sound) and beatings. He has scarring on his face and his teeth/mouth look very suspicious to me.
The remaining horse is by far the worst case. He’s a 2 or 3 year old Palomino colt that is considerably under weight. With a little effort I’m fairly certain Jim and I could pick him up. He has a possible stifle injury (his leg can rotate around to a surprising angle) and he has a horrendous bruise on his near hind hoof. His condition is, quite simply, appalling.
And the worst part? Animal Control/the Humane Society has been called. They said there’s “nothing we can do about it” because the horses are on what initially looks like lush pasture. They are indeed on a very green pasture, but it’s weeds, grown up higher than my head even! And they have access to a creek so they are getting water.
But they’re getting no feed, no minerals, no worming. And obviously the Palomino is desperately unwell and being abused by the miniature stud. And yet nothing can be done according to the authorities.
So… we made contact with the owner in an attempt to have something done for the horses, particularly the colt. He was sympathetic to a degree, and allowed us to go handle the horses to assess them, but when we stated that the Palomino was in desperate condition he blew us off. M asked him to state a price and instead of giving us a quote he headed over to craigslist and placed an ad… which is laughable… oh so laughable. No truth in advertising I tell you!
So I’m in a quandary. Part of me is hoping someone will come, buy them and get them the medical treatment they need… I know from the neighbors that there have been visits to look at the horses.
But part of me wants to bring them here.
Jim bonded with the Palomino right off the bat. The poor thing just took a shine to him and they were inseparable. Eventually, with proper nutrition and medical care I think the Palomino will grow into a nice tall horse, although I think he’ll always be thin… but that sort of horse would suit Jim.
And the mustang… oh how my heart breaks. He would look at me with deep soulful eyes, asking if he could trust me… daring to believe that I wouldn’t hit him… bracing himself for the blow he thought was coming and then slowly relaxing as he realized I just wanted to rub his face. Most all horses come running at the sound of feed rattling in a bucket. The mustang ran away, cringing at the rattling sound, so similar to the plastic bag he’d learned to fear.
I don’t know what to do. The price the owner is asking for the Palomino is ludicrous… the horse has better odds of dying than living and is very probably unsound. The bruised hoof will most likely, in my experience, turn into an abscess… that will prolong his unsoundness and will require a great deal of effort to heal. The price the owner is asking for the mustang is fair to frickin cheap. But how do I get a terrified horse from that pasture to mine without destroying trust or getting somebody seriously hurt in the process and furthermore… these guys can’t go into the pastures with my girls. They’ll have to be quarantined at least until they’re wormed and assessed fully, and in the colt’s case gelded.
And then there’s the horribly selfish part of me that’s upset that these horses are totally NOT what I want in a new horse. The Palomino will be great for Jim, but the Mustang is maybe 14hh and while stocky and broad… not exactly my size of horse (remember Aimee was a Percheron) probably a good size for Xander eventually… but I’m the one that’s been actively searching for a new mount and if these horses come here the odds are very good that my possible riding horse will no longer be an option since at that point we’ll be up to 6 horses (not counting Skye and the donkeys).
The owner never did contact us. We had to resort to some creative subterfuge to even speak with him about them, but in the end we purchased both horses and moved them to our farm on August 5.
As with most all my horses these two had a bit of a “rebirth” upon moving in. Chesney, the Palomino colt, became Leonidas, or Leo for short (Leonidas being the King that lead the Spartans against the Persians at Thermopylae. His name means “spirit of a lion” which I felt was appropriate for a horse with a golden coat). While Thumper (ugh!), the bay Mustang gelding, became Bucephalus, or Beau (Bucephalus was Alexander the Great’s famous warhorse. Since Beau will most likely become Xander’s horse I thought the name was appropriate… Xander being short for Alexander and all).
This was taken just after we brought Leo home.
Beau just after we turned him into the paddock with Leo.
I’m happy to report that Leo is gaining weight and my initial concerns seem to be unfounded… I’m not saying he doesn’t have some issues, but his hoof seems to be healing nicely and I’m no longer seeing the freaky stifle issue. We did have an issue with him laying down to sun and either he fell asleep and became overheated or was too weak to stand and became overheated… but either way I made a near frantic phone call to the vet for some advice and happily it all turned out well. We’re starting to seem some coltish behavior now that he’s getting enough nutrition to have the energy to be coltish… but on the plus side he seems to have a naturally mellow personality so the coltishness is quite rare. We found out that he is a TWH/QH cross… but honestly I’m not seeing the QH anywhere… this afternoon I watched him do the TWH running walk thing across the paddock… so he’s definitely TWH. I also think his age is way off. I think he’s barely 2 years old. And also I discovered that he’s not exactly a palomino! He’s actually a palomino roan. When I was grooming him I noticed that his golden coat was not purely golden. He has white hairs all throughout his coat and his mane is more of a strawberry blond than flaxen, although his tail is much lighter. Since he’s been having daily grooming his scruffy nasty coat has been shedding out and a shinier, healthier, more golden coat is appearing… but he still has the evenly distributed white hairs that continue to mark him as a palomino roan. I kinda like that he’s a bit unusual 
I’m also happy to report that Beau is settling in nicely. He’s still very skittish but he’s making huge strides every day! He’s now allowing me to pet his face without being lured in by a treat and this is HUGE progress for him! He’s allowed me to touch his neck and back and even girth-line while he’s eating, but it was with a great deal of apprehension on his part. Someone has beaten him, thinking they were training him and it’s going to take a lot of time to undo what was done to him. He’s got scars on his girth-line where he was incorrectly saddled and scars from spurs where he was “busted” I’m sure and he has scars on his chest where I assume he was hit with a whip or belt. He also looks as though he has been punched in the face and twitched on his bottom lip which wouldn’t surprise me considering the level of abuse that he obviously suffered. And even after suffering through all of that, he’s still willing to try to trust a human again.
I did do a little research on his BLM tattoo and discovered that he’s from a herd captured in New Mexico and the BLM estimated that he was born in 2002, which makes sense I guess now that I think about it. He won’t be growing any taller, but he’s very stocky for his size. I think conformationally he’s pretty good. He carries himself beautifully and completely in balance. I didn’t see it, but when we were attempting to catch him in his cursed paddock he jumped what he thought was a low fence and his form, I’ve been told, was perfect. He’s well muscled and very alert and very eager. I’ve been very impressed with him and I still have faith that with consistent handling he’ll come around.
So anyway, my days are now filled with forays out to the side paddock to talk to the boys and see how they’re doing So far I’ve taught them a couple whistle commands and they both know their new names. Leo is working on ground manners and leading and Beau is content just now to watch. All in all life is good and I really don’t regret anything at all
If ever I decided to (and had the funds to) open a bed and breakfast La Bastide would be my ideal. From the exquisite food to the beautiful rooms to the gorgeous grounds… it is truly amazing.
I had a marvelous time, and honestly I’m glad it was for just the one night as more than that would’ve been sensory overload (not to mention financial!) and I seriously missed waking up to the sheep baaahing for their breakfast (so much so that I woke up at 6am because I didn’t hear them)
Anyway… we stayed in room #5, which we heard is Kevin Costner’s favorite room when he’s up for the golf tournaments at the Cliffs and I can see why. It has lovely views of the mountains and grounds and as it’s the last room on the hall it has a bit more privacy. Honestly, I’m not really impressed with name dropping so the fact that Kevin Costner liked the room mattered not a whit to me. We kept teasing that now Kevin Costner gets to stay in our favorite room… isn’t he ever so lucky?
Anyway. Dinner was marvelous! I started with pistou, then duck breast with duck confit over wild mushroom risotto and finished with a chocolate lava cake. Jim had the Mediterranean salad, Filet Mignon with truffle frites and finished with the apple galette. We had a bottle of Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir (I think, it was on the house so I would have to ask Jim for specifics) and we had the ever fabulous Leopard Forest coffee with dessert (and to revive me after all that wine!!) and everything was wonderful!
I think one of the things I liked the best was how laid back everything was. I mean, yeah, the place costs a small fortune to stay there, the accommodations are exquisite, the food is phenomenal, but the staff are very friendly and open and funny! There was a marked lack of pretentious snooty people… sure there were a few there who paraded around like peacocks… but for the most part it almost felt like hanging out at a friend’s house… very comfortable. Jim and I enjoy fine things, but are by far more comfortable in our wellie boots out with the animals or in the kitchen making dinner… so for us to feel completely at ease and “at home” was a really big thing.
So anyway… here are a couple pics.
walking barefoot on the terrace while waiting for dessert and enjoying the herb garden.
A view of the vineyards from the terrace.
EEEK… we look scary!!!
View from our room. I think it was about 6:30ish when I took that pic… I couldn’t sleep… no sheep baahing… too quiet!!
The dining room set for breakfast… seriously beautiful!!
I didn’t take still photos of our dinner because the lighting was so very low that a flash would’ve been necessary and I thought that might be seriously frowned upon!!
But the lighting was good for breakfast!
Jim’s breakfast: Gruyere Omelet, grits, sausage, potatoes and spinach.
My breakfast: waffles with fresh berries and bacon. Very tasty, but Jim’s was so very delicious! I’d definitely go for the omelet next time!
I failed to mention earlier that we had the loan of a BMW X6 for the weekend as well. Jim had a blast driving his dream car all over the mountains!
He pretty much grinned like this the whole time!!
We cruised the Blue Ridge Parkway, slalomed through some torturous twisty mountain roads, and generally had a blast. I drove it from Bryson City to Travelers Rest and while I enjoyed it immensely I felt like I was cheating on Landy… so I left the rest of the driving to Jim.
Anyway… we had a great time and Sophie is already planning when SHE can go to the “Mountain Hotel” as she calls La Bastide. Matter of fact, she just came through with her little suitcase all packed… informing me that she was ready to go when I was! Gotta love her taste
This past week my brother, Kyle, his daughter, Iz, and M went on a whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh, Hershey, Baltimore and Monticello. Those of you who know me on Facebook know that I did not go on this trip, however I feel as though I did since I provided Shea*Star(tm) services the whole time… complete with restaurant suggestions AND directions.
Sigh.
The life of a virtual traveler.
Anyway.
M & Co. had a grand time! Kyle was speaking at the RPCNA Synod in Beaver Falls PA as a fraternal delegate from the ARP and had thought that M and Iz would enjoy exploring Pittsburgh while he was off doing the church thing.
First they had a picnic:
Then they crossed the New River Gorge Bridge (notice the haunted look of terror in Kyle’s eyes:
After a delicious supper at Abay Ethiopian Restaurant they saw this lovely church and decided to have a look around:
This is the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Kyle said it’s the most ornate Presbyterian Church he’s ever seen!
Kyle and Iz inside the church… the stained glass windows look so lovely!
M took this knowing how much I love thistles.
The next day Kyle was off to speak at Synod so M and Iz were off to explore on their own.
They hit Penzey’s
Happiness is a well stocked herb&spice cabinet. There’s a whole other side of the cabinet that I was unable to open due to a milk pail in the way so imagine even more spice-goodness and you’ll have the full picture The only thing that I forgot to tell her to get was more ground ginger… oh well… I can order that!
Then they went to the Carnegie Science Center where Iz got to meet the “for-real” R2-D2 and C-3PO (I won’t go into the hilarity of M explaining to Iz who the iconic robots are, but seriously Kelly… aren’t you a Star Wars fan??).
Don’t you love the look of confusion on Iz’s face… it’s one of those “O…K… Mamama… if you say so” kinda faces.
And while at the Science Center Iz got all turned around and ended up here:
which she quickly discovered was NOT the ladies room.
Anyway, while M was looking around the souvenir shops she found a little something special for Sophie:
And really, doesn’t EVERYBODY need a posable Albert Einstein Action Figure???
So anyway, it was a full day! The next day they left Pittsburgh and headed for Hershey.
Chocolate World… how I wish you were Valrhona and not Hershey…
Iz had a grand time on the tour (there are photos, but I’m already pic heavy on this post so suffice it to say there’s lots of chocolate) and making her own little candy thingie.
And then they went to Gettysburg.
At this point, those of you who know my brother know that this is a near religious experience for him. For those who don’t know, Kyle’s major at Erskine was history. And he’s a regular Southern history guru. He knows amazing amounts of stuff. Seriously. It’s amazing.
Kyle took this pic and I think it’s really great. Good Job Kyle! Especially since you were using the little point and shoot.
Here’s Iz at Pickett’s Charge.
And finally here’s a pic of Kyle and Iz in front of the statue of Robert E. Lee and Traveller
And then they were off to Monticello.
Where Iz hung out with Thomas Jefferson:
And they had a fabulous meal at Michie Tavern
I love the metal plates and cups.
And that’s about it. Or at least that’s all the pics I have. M brought me back a cookbook from Monticello and two glass dip pens with several small bottles of ink. Jim got a space-ink pen from the Science Center and the boys got super cool Thomas the Tank Engine Flashlights (with Morse code button) that have a (not so cool) whistle on the other end. M picked up several other this and thats along the way. Several books, some seeds and a really cool inlaid wood stamp holder that she got for Martha.
All in all I think it was an excellent trip both for real and virtually
Since I don’t post all that often anymore (why is that anyway?) I thought I would force myself to do an entry while taking a bit of a break from cleaning up. Yesterday I spent the bulk of the day making a birthday cake for one of Jim’s co-workers and in my typical style I managed to dirty nearly every surface in the kitchen. This morning I was determined I would work until I could find the bottom of the sink (and that’s saying something if you’ve seen our sink) and I’m now waiting on the dishwasher to do it’s thing before starting in again. At least my technicolored fingers are fading. Unfortunately the kids are still alittle hyped from the icing frenzy or it could’ve been the strawberry muffin they had with breakfast.
So anyway… M’s started pulling some of the potatoes. We’ve enjoyed all kinds of new potato dishes, my favorite being new potatoes boiled and then finished in heavy cream with chives. I think partly this is my favorite because everything in it was produced on the farm (potatoes, cream, chives and butter… all made right here!). Probably not something you could eat everyday, but definitely yummy!
M has finished up planting all the tomatoes and peppers and I believe that she’s made a second planting of greenbeans (the first didn’t do so well). She’s made all sorts of little lettuce boxes on the porch and I am very excited about having our first homemade salad! She also made boxes for carrots and radishes and for the first time that I remember we actually have little carrots coming up! The radishes have made glorious tops but no radish… not sure what that’s all about, but the greens taste good.
Let’s see what else is new?
We put up another clothes line. It’s much higher than the other one, although right next to it. Now I can hang out King sized sheets and they have no threat of touching the ground, which is a good thing. I love our clotheslines, we got them from Lehmans and it’s just too cool to walk out on the porch, roll out the laundry and not have to drag the clothes basket along with me. Yeah… lazy… I know.
Jim possibly destroyed his phone this morning. Maisie side stepped and kicked the bucket (not figuratively… she’s still alive) which caused a great tidal wave of milk to slosh over the side which somehow (and I’m a little sketchy on the details) his phone was completely drenched. I purposefully saved by old BB Curve just in case something like this happened… but here’s hoping that his phone is actually ok, otherwise he’ll be carrying around a pink phone and he’ll lose all kinds of man-points for that. Just kidding of course… if his phone is totally dead then I’ll give him my Storm and I’ll take back the old Curve. But I’m still hoping his phone is ok.
The pigs are growing nicely. They are soon going to outgrow the pen they’re currently in and will need to move to the “permanant” pig pen below the sheep paddocks. Only thing is, that hasn’t been fenced in yet. Good thing Jim is finished with school for a little while and can work on it otherwise I think the pigs are going to succeed in digging up that big dogwood tree in their current paddock!!
The pigs are so funny! I enjoy watching them and their pure joy whether it’s eating or wallowing in the mud… they are thrilled with themselves! They, unlike most everybody else, can tell the difference between my voice and M’s. I call them up with a good ole “pig, pig, pig, pig!” ala Farmer Hoggett’s wife (from the movie Babe) and if M does it they just sort of cock an ear and roll their eyes but if I call them they come running! Smart wee piggies.
I think I already mentioned that we put the new chicks out in the big poultry paddock. They don’t have that much longer before the meat birds are ready to be… harvested? what is the right word? processed? Whatever… I’m looking forward to it as the price for free-range chicken has gotten appreciably higher (most recently we payed roughly $6/lb for breasts). The naked necks will take a little longer to grow off, but the others should reach prime size by the end of next month I think. Again, it’s a good thing that Jim’s going to be off for a bit as we’re going to be mighty busy!
And in completely unrelated to the farm news: Jim and I will be taking our first ever just-the-two-of-us vacation. The only other vacation we’ve had was 9.5 years ago… when we got married. This vacation (and I use that term lightly) is only for one night and we still have to do farm chores (ie milk) so it’s not like an escape-it-all kind of affair. The hospital periodically has silent auctions to raise money for Rape Crisis services. This year one of the items was a night at La Bastide, including dinner and breakfast. Jim won that one and also the weekend loan of a X6 BMW. The X6 is made right here in the Upstate and I think Jim is just as thrilled about getting to pick it up at the factory as he is about getting to drive it for the weekend. Luckily too, La Bastide is relatively local as it’s on the TR side of the Cliffs. Also the chef there is big on sustainable cuisine! Anyway… I’m excited… even if it’s only for one night.
And the whole dressing up for dinner thing led me to realize that I have no shoes to go with the dress Jim bought me so I found myself at Belks since they were having a shoe sale. But unfortunately I had no Jim with me for a second opinion so I had to resort to this:
yes, a pic of the contending shoes…
complete with the little footie sock that the shoe-woman all but attacked me with. She’s a serious footie-pusher, and she almost got mad at me for the pics, but she let it slide… this time. Not too many weird looks… but there were a few. Hey… I don’t like to shop alone! The dress Jim bought for me is a black and white number. So what do y’all think… black shoes (which are comfortable-ish) or candy-apple red ones? which I will have to practice walking in as they are the highest heels I’ve ever worn… seriously I think I am well over 6ft tall in these jewels but they are soooo pretty! By the way, M, I bought the red ones, they were seriously on sale (like under $30). The black ones ended up being under $20 once all the discounts and coupons were added up. So I have options. Jim likes the red ones, probably because I have to hang on to him to walk in them! Xander, y’all might recall, has a thing about women and their shoes. My fellow KG APs will remember the fine shoes that most of the women sported over in Bishkek (I should’ve bought a pair of the pointy toed shoes… just so Xander would be happy!). Anyway, Xander has been most upset that I seem to have an “ugly” shoe collection (I sport Danskos as a general rule, although I’ll occasionally wear a pair of Keens just to mix it up… LOL). He has taken to pointing out women with appropriate shoes (and clothes) when we are out in town… going so far as to physically point me in the right direction when he’s spotted a particularly lovely lady. So you can all imagine his joy when he spotted me showing off my new heels to M. He was like “FINALLY!!!” everytime he sees them he grins and gives me a thumbs up. He likes the red ones too. I modelled the whole outfit for him and he was most impressed, telling me I was quite “prilly” but would be even “prillier” if I did my hair and put on my face.
Seriously.
So anyway… the dishwasher is done and I must return to the grind… especially since I now have 3 children telling me that they are starving and are desperately in need of lunch. Tacos anyone?
Waiting, originally uploaded by Tapsalteerie Farm.
This is my favorite pic from shearing day. Molly (or was it Storm?) was totally relaxed and just sat there with Jim waiting her turn. I love the hoof and leg up on his arm…
Lyle gets a shave, originally uploaded by Tapsalteerie Farm.
At loooonnnngggg last we finally had worked out a time for the shearer to come this past Saturday. All the sheep (Lyle pictured above) were greatly appreciative, even if there was a great deal of baahing and general confusion among the lambs who were unable to figure out which Mama was which without all their wool.
Unfortunately the bulk of our wool is pretty much trash this year. Too much felting in the tips for the most part. We do have about 8 fleeces that we’ll be keeping (the Cotswolds and the lambs) and I kept Lyle’s because I want to play with dyeing, and his wool, while exceptionally long, isn’t particularly matted.
It was a very long, very tiring day! Jim had worked the night before and stayed up until 3pm helping out. Unfortunately I was unable to find a sympathetic supervisor at his work, so he did have to go in as usual.
For the record, it’s exceedingly difficult to plan for a shearer to come. The weather has to be nearly perfect and several major and minor stars have to align… we’ve never had more than a day’s notice before shearing and we’re too afraid to reschedule for fear it’ll take months to do! This shearer didn’t even call to tell us he was on his way. We called to see if the conditions were ok and found out he was about 45 mins away!! EEK! The sheep weren’t up and nothing was really ready, so we busted our tails to get everything in order.
By far the funniest moment was when the shearer pulled up. Jonathon (the shearer) drives a red pickup truck. He has shocking white hair and a very long white beard. The boys were out playing when he pulled up and all of a sudden I saw the two of them get that elated gleam in their eye.
So my two boys, who most of the time are quite shy around new people, came running up to Jonathon’s open window and immediately started into explaining why they wanted new bicycles (their old ones are broken) with their hands clasped together and their faces angelic in their request/begging.
I immediately understood what had happened and no matter how much I’ve tried to dissuade them from the idea, the boys are convinced that Santa shears sheep in the “off season”.
Interestingly, they were exceedingly good for the entire shearing.
Anyway. The sheep were less than cooperative. M lost both her shoes and did a Hollywood stunt-person style fall/roll at one point. Actually I think she lost her shoes more than once… I lost mine once, but recovered quickly!
Jim was blessed among men in that he was able to catch Keegan not once, not twice, but three times… a feat that has never been matched. This is impressive because I’m fairly certain that it’s been 3 years since he’s been shorn… he’s that wily and simply impossible to catch.
Anyway. So now I have a paddock full of naked sheep. They look like they feel better, although a couple of the lighter colored ones did appear to get a tad bit sunburned that first day… but it’s all getting better. I’m amazed at how different some of the sheepies look! Harriet is barely recognizable and a couple of the musket/moorit ewes are no longer fawny brown but more of a creamy white… which is weird. I can’t wait to see the wool grow in. I’m seriously contemplating jackets for the sheep to keep their fleeces cleaner. We’ve had a horrible time with VM this year and it’s just annoying to deal with. Besides I think a couple of our black sheep would have truly incredible fleeces if they didn’t get so much sun-bleaching.
Anyway (again). Our friend Melinda was able to bring her four over and they had a shear too… their wool turned out lovely (I can brag, they used to be our sheep before Melinda took them to start her flock).
Julie and Kaedence came by as well, so it was a regular social day on top of a work day too! By the time it was over we were nearly ready to start evening chores and because of Jim’s work snafu I ended up milking solo (my first time!) which turned out great, but Maisie did try to act up a little but we did ok.
I was so exhausted that I barely remember my head hitting the pillow and I think I’m still getting over it all. The almost sun-burn isn’t helping either!
Be sure to click on the flickr link in the side column to view the pics. For some reason I’m not able to post pics to my blog anymore, so just click over there to see shots of a few of the fleeces and some of the shorn sheep!
Initially M was going to do a guest post about her adventure going to get the pigs. But she’s worn out from a 6 hour (total) drive, so I’ll have to give the highlights.
I was unable to make the trip down due to the most infuriating and inconvenient spraining/straining/otherwise hurting of my back (yes I did go to the doc, he gave me meds, so if my writing gets a little loopy, you’ll know why).
So M, Martha and the boys headed out late this morning for Sumter to meet Russell and his family and his pigs. Unfortunately it has turned out to be a rather cold and miserably stormy day so it wasn’t the most leisurely drive, but M with Russell’s help got there just fine.
M said they had great time meeting everybody and seeing all the pigs (LOTS OF PIGS!!). We got 3 Tamworth Duroc crosses, all 3 are barrows (that’s castrated males for the uninitiated) and are currently about the size of a small dog.
Anyway, M had taken some small animal crates to transport the pigs in the back of Martha’s CRV. They fit perfectly and they weathered the ride home fabulously.
But let’s take a moment to talk about the smell.
Oh do they ever smell. M opened the car door when they got home and the odor boiled out into the cool damp air. It just hung there like a visible veil! Martha, stoic as ever, said “well, you get used to it after awhile” and ambled off into the house. M observed that it wasn’t until you actually smelled fresh air that you noticed how very odoriferous the wee piggies were/are.
But anyway….
Jim and I had already worked on the wee pigs little paddock near the sheep paddocks. But we had not anticipated it turning off quite cold here tonight. So we ended up bringing up a wooden crate and bedding them down in it on the porch for tonight.
Here there are exploring their new bed.
Here they are settling down.
And here they are sound asleep.
I spent a few minutes getting to know them, scratching behind their ears and down their backs. Two of them really like the attention, but the smaller one isn’t too keen on being touched. He barked and grunted whenever I touched him which totally startled me everytime!
So the piggies are all bedded down, I’ve checked on them multiple times and they’re still snug as bugs. I feel like I have some super exotic and rare animal as we have no experience with pigs or anything pig-like. And seriously pigs don’t feel like anything you’ve ever petted before, unless you make a habit of petting your hair brush.
Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer and we can put them out in their paddock… look for more photos tomorrow!!
Dessie’s First Steps
So obviously I didn’t post right away as I had planned. Turns out Dessie is what the cattle people call a “dummy” or “silly” calf, meaning he didn’t have a suck-reflex. We tried leaving him with Maisie but after we were sure that he was not eating we decided to step in to help him and to keep Maisie from developing any udder complications.
We moved him from the cow paddock to the back porch (hey, at least it wasn’t inside… we have a history) so that we could keep a close eye on him. I’ll tell you, moving 60lbs of unwilling calf isn’t easy. When I attempted to pick him up he went all limp and boneless so that it was impossible to keep a hold of him so we ended up piling him into the back of the Polaris and trucking him down to the house. Getting him onto the porch wasn’t so hard, but luckily Jim was here to do that.
Maisie, being used to a dairy setting, wasn’t particularly upset that we took wee Desmond, she looked for him briefly and then went back to munching her hay.
Anyway, it took several days of back-breaking work but by golly that calf will suck a bottle now. He’s quite the imp, cavorting all around his little calf pen, sucking on people’s pants when they turn their back unexpectedly. He still has his great big giant ears, but he’s the cutest thing. No horns too! Must come from his 1/4 Holstein… I’m thankful for that!
We named him for Sophie’s b&d doc…. partly because he’s Irish and we picked Maisie up on St. Patrick’s Day and partly because of … well, let’s just leave it at the Irish thing
Here’s a pic taken on Saturday by Julie:
Kaedence and Desmond
About a week ago I found an ad in the GA Market Bulletin* for Jersey cows. We called, only to find out that all the cows were gone, BUT the guy who ran the ad was an amateur cow dealer (not in the bad sense) and had lots of connections in the dairy industry and felt certain that he could find us a “Springer” Jersey (Springer is dairy lingo for about to calve). A couple days later he called back to say that he’d found a prime A quality Jersey that was due any day and were we interested. Of course we were and we made plans to immediately go pick her up.
Only turns out our cow man has a conscious. He wouldn’t let us come pick up the cow until he had observed her for a few days to make sure she was indeed the prime quality that he’d told us.
So Tuesday afternoon we loaded the Rover, hooked up the trailer and headed down to Elberton to meet our new cow. She was indeed the quality we had anticipated and seemed to have a winning personality as well. We were quite pleased with her and after a brief scuffle loading her up, we were bound for home. We had thought about several different Irish names (it being St. Pats and all) but in the end we settled on Maisie.
Here she is all loaded up and ready to go.
So we got her home and unloaded into her new paddock and settled in for the night, but not before noticing that she was licking her sides and showing some signs of early labor. Interesting…
Next post: Meet Dessie.
*Market Bulletins are a great way to find local livestock or plants. The GA bulletin is free to view, but the SC one requires you to buy a subscription (whopping $10/year) to view the most recent bulletin… past bulletins are free to view. I try to regularly read the bulletins as you never know what’ll pop up!
Nothing Earth-shattering going on here. Xander did a “mock” up of pre-K this morning with me and he loved it. He suggested that maybe he could just stay home with me and Sophie and do schoolwork. I’m holding off judgement until tomorrow when I’m hoping I’ll be far enough removed from the incident to be more level-headed. Of course the fact that M’s started calling Xander “Mickey D” isn’t helping. And at least now I have a fairly good idea how we got this horrid cold. Oh and upon further inquiry Xander informed us that the PlayPlace was fun, but “icky” as there was POOP in one of the tower things. POOP. Yeah. Great.
Deep breath in…. exhale….
Poop.
So ANYWAY.
I’m planning on making a restorative batch of minestrone today. Nice happy, additive and preservative free soup.
Dang.
I’m telling you I can’t get away from the whole LITTLE DEBBIE CAKE thing either. I can feel my hair starting to stand on end and my elbows are itchy. That’s sooo not a good thing.
So anyway, SOUP. I’m making SOUP today and hopefully some kind of bread. M’s been on this incredible bread baking spree and it’s been heavenly. I’m going to start angling for more of the cinnamon bread that she made. She used to make it when I was younger but now with Vietnamese Cinnamon… it’s ohhhh so much more addictive!
Of course now I want sticky buns, and that requires brioche, that requires butter. Hmph. Did I mention I miss having a cow in milk? Did I also mention that every time I say that M and Jim glare at me as they were the ones that milked said cow? But doesn’t making butter and cheese count for something???
OK. M’s conceded that a milk ANIMAL would be nice, but she’s angling for a goat.
Say Goat Cheeeeeese!!!!
I miss Flossie. She was such a hammerific goat, complete with Nefertiti-esque goat boobies.
Apparently I need to lay off the cold meds and the flavored coffees this morning. Geez…
Goat boobies… *snort*
