And all's well

It's a crisp and clear 20 degrees this morning.  For the last several days, we've had a thaw in the late afternoon- and that's about it.  Otherwise things are staying frozen.  It's time.

Some of the goats are having a rough adjustment to the idea of dealing with icy buckets.  They pretty much have to wait for me to get up in the morning to break ice or bring water from the cabin, and it's throwing them off their feed.  So yesterday I bit the bullet and ordered a 250W tank heater/de-icer.  It won't run overnight, but maybe if I insulate a cover for the stock tank it will help enough.  

All my hens are locked in the newly expanded chicken house right now, getting them used to roosting indoors with supplemental light and heated water and lots of feed.  That, too, is hard for them to get used to, but they're doing okay.  Having them all contained gives me a good chance to sort through them and filter out some who are done laying, as well as some roosters.

There's been a bit of excitement around here... as usual, all the epics happen when Ben is gone guiding and flying- this time to the coast of Prince William Sound for our remote mountain goat and brown bear hunts.

I'm starting to feel like a decent vet tech.  A couple of days ago, my freshest doe had no milk.  I tried to drench her with baking soda in case her rumen was too acidic, but it turned out that she couldn't swallow at all.  I quickly realized she had a fully blocked esophagus, put together a rudimentary rescue kit, and saved her life.  I'm so thankful it all worked out.

On the same day, I found a meatbird with a major sinus infection.  He's living next to our woodstove while I work on him a couple times a day.  Yesterday I decided to do surgery and unpack his impacted sinus... there's a first time for everything.  So far so good.  He'll have to live or die under my care, because antibiotics are not on the agenda for our food.

Then yesterday, a woman called and wanted to come out right away to meet and buy my big Romney ram.  Oliver is a gentle giant, but it took everything I had to get him into the trailer to take down the mountain.  Of course, they fell in love right away, and now he's in his new home with 5 llamas and a goat and 4 kids.  I love it when things work out that way.  

I ran the pump for what is probably the last time this fall, topping off every container I could find with water while it's still easy to get.  Today will find me installing a new bilge pump at the spring, and putting together a water wagon so I can haul one 55 gallon drum of water at a time until spring breakup.

Other things on the list today include installing a propane heater in the cheeseroom, harvesting a bunch of birds, and getting as much picked up outdoors as possible because there is snow in the forecast for this weekend- and who knows, it might not leave until April.  

Comments

[Laurie Constantino]

I read your blog posts and read them again and am constantly amazed and impressed by all yo do and all you get done. I used to think I could do anything, but I know I couldn't do what you are doing. Especially with the good grace and sense of humor you clearly possess. Just amazing.

[[Lisa Rae]]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Laurie. I think we all surprise ourselves when we step up to a challenge, and we can't succeed unless we try. And if we can't laugh at ourselves, we're in serious trouble...