On Tuesday I drove to Statesville to get rabbits. I’ve been trying to make the trip during the week because on the way home I stop by the feed store and get milk goat food.  Even though it’s very expensive, I’m very happy with this food.  The goats are all doing well on it.  I meet my rabbit supplier in the Lowes parking lot.  On the way out, I always stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and get a bacon, egg and cheese bagel as well as six donut holes.  Because it was getting hot, I planned to leave at home, but he had other ideas.  Before leaving I put him up, quickly went into the house to fill my cup with iced tea and came back out.  There was Gel, sitting in the back of my car.  It didn’t take him long to climb out of his run.  I let him go with me and he was very happy to share my Dunkin’ Donuts treats.

On a whim I decided to swing over to Home Depot which is across the highway from Lowes.  Since early spring, I’ve been looking for Russian Sage and have been unsuccessful in finding it.  I love Russian Sage and the goats won’t eat it.  I drove by the garden shop and there it was in all its beautiful purple glory.  Gel and I went in and I bought four plants.

When I got home and got everything unpacked I broke out the lap top and wrote that darned article.  I don’t know why I had such a mental block about writing that article, but once I sat down and started writing, I finished it within a couple of hours and sent it off to the editor.  What a relief to have that done.  I turned off the lap top and went outside to plant my Russian Sage and found Rain cleaning off a new baby, a light red doe kid.  All seemed well and I felt sure she was going to deliver another one so I stayed outside and planted the Russian Sage and repotted ferns. 

Wally got home and we did a few chores around the house.  The chickens were harassing Rain and not allowing her to rest so we put her up in Gel’s run and went in the house to have supper.  Around 8 PM we went back out to haul water down to the sheep.  Rain still hadn’t delivered another baby and the chickens were getting ready to go up for the night so we put Rain back into the fenced-in area.  My landlady had stopped by and I was visiting with her when I noticed Rain on her side straining.  We watched her for about 30 minutes when Wally said I had better go into the house and get some hot water and soap because there was likely another baby stuck.

It would have been better on Rain if I had been the one to straighten out the baby, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  That poor doe screamed horribly when Wally put his hand in her vagina to straighten out the baby.  He managed to pull her out and we both expected it to be dead, but it wasn’t!  I ran back into the house and got towels and we dried her off.  She was a lovely black and white paint.  The problem was that her head was bent backwards and both of her front legs were bent at the ankles.  We milked some milk into a bottle and tried to get her to nurse, but she just flopped around.  She also was having trouble breathing due to liquid in her lungs.  We stayed with them until we were sure Rain was okay then went in for the night. 

Neither of us expected that kid to be alive the next morning.  I went out and she was lying on her side.  I walked in to pick her up, expected to feel her stiff body, but she was still alive and somehow she had managed to nurse during the night.  I went back into the house and got a bottle to milk Rain into and offered it to her.  She sucked some and was quite lively.  Both Wally and I had to leave the house at 7 AM so we didn’t have a lot of time to spend with her.

Again, when we got home from work we expected to find the baby dead, but nope, she was up with her front legs bent under her.  We offered her a bottle and she nursed quite well.  She was also able to nurse some off Rain.  Obviously, she is nursing to some extent otherwise she wouldn’t be alive.

Apparently it is not unusual for a young animal who was stuck in the birth canal for any length of time to have the front legs bent over like this one is and from what I’ve been told, it usually straightens out.  Her head is now in a normal position and she’s no longer wheezing.  I gave her a bottle this morning and she did well on it.  I’ve also seen her nursing and a few hours ago, I saw her almost stand up on her front legs.  I was told to gentle massage the front legs several times a day.  Hopefully she’ll survive.

Rain has been wonderful.  It’s no surprise that she’s a great mother.  We have her separated off from the rest of the goats in what we call the sheep house (the 30 foot long covered dog run) and she seems happy with that.  I don’t want the other goats in with her until the baby is able to get around.  The light red doe kid is doing fine.  When I go in to feed the black and white baby, the light red baby climbs into my lap as well.

I’m off today and have done a good bit of long overdue house cleaning.  It’s pretty hard having only one day off from work.  You are not able to catch up on what needs to be done and get any rest.  I work Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week, then am off Monday, then work Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Yesterday, I told the Assistant Manger who schedules the cashiers that I wanted to go back to 16 to 20 hours a week until October when my unemployment status will change.  It is my understanding that there is another extension due me, but it likely won’t be as much money as I am getting now.  I’m getting seriously burned out working as a cashier.  It’s rather scary thinking about the job market.  There are simply no jobs to be had.  Hopefully things will get better in the next couple of months.

Time to head out and check in the babies and try to get some milk into the black and white baby.  Hopefully her legs will straighten out and she’ll go on to thrive.  Part of me thinks I shouldn’t be hand feeding her, that if she can’t nurse on her own, then I’m perpetuating weakness by helping her.  I also wonder if it was the light red baby rather than the prettier black and white baby if I’d be hand feeding her.  I don’t know, but I’m very fond of Rain and I’m glad she seems okay.

Until later …

This has to go down as one of the best birthdays after.  I got the most wonderful, thoughtful presents including several sets of chimes, plants and other decorations for my sitting area from local people as well as a stainless steel milk tote from one of my very good old friends from Massachusetts.  Wonderful!  No more fighting the flies to keep them out of my milk or worrying about the last goat I am milking kicking over a full bucket of milk.

Probably the best present was no abuse from either the customers or cashier managers at WalMart.  Yea.

Until later …

After I fed the rabbits this morning, Ted jumped into their pen and started to eat from their bowl of rabbit pellets.  I ran back into the house to get my camera, but unfortunately, missed the shot.  One day I’ll learn to keep the camera tied to my waist so I won’t miss shots.

I did take this one. What’s wrong with this photo?

Here’s the rabbit patio.  You can see the hay feeders in the background.

I did find something cool for breakfast: cereal with fresh goat milk and fruit.  It’s not yogurt, but it will do.

They keep coming!  I suppose I should be glad of that, especially since today is my birthday!  One more year to be in my 40s and then I suppose it’s all downhill from there.  I have to work today, I wish I had it off.  I’d love to stay in bed and sleep all day.

Wally and I spent a good part of the day yesterday putting a second ShelterLogic building together.  I got this one at a huge discount.  It will be used to store hay.  While we were buying grain on Saturday, we checked with the owner of the feed mill to see when he’d be cutting his alfalfa and he told us this week so we figured we had better get the shelter up.

How the seasons change.  When we were putting up the first shelter, we were doing it in a cold rain and when it came time to put the cover on it, we had to battle wind.  This time it was in blazing heat and I feel sure when it comes time to put up the cover, we won’t be battling wind.  I think I preferred the cool rain, but I can do without the wind.

I shaved the dogs’ bellies and britches last week and they look pretty odd, but they are cooler.  Why the britches?  Kessie was very matted and I tried to rake out the mats, but she was being very uncooperative and given how she swims in the pond and then rolls in the dirt, I knew in short order, she’d have herself matted up again so I figured what the heck, shave them off too.  Now they all have baboon butts.  What I do to those poor dogs.

I haven’t gone out to see how many chicks hatched.  When I checked last night, there were two.  The first hen still has her five babies and there are two ducks sitting in a brush pile.  I hope they manage to hatch our their eggs without getting killed or their eggs stolen.

The rabbits continue to do well.

We harvested summer squash from the garden last night and I fried it up southern style.  I can’t say I cared for it too much and I really didn’t care for standing over the hot stove frying it.  The next time I serve it, I’ll make it Yankee style and see how Wally likes it.  If nothing else, it will be healthier.  In addition to the squash, we had lamb chops and roasted potatoes and onions.  It was a very tasty meal, however, we both decided that with the next lamb we butcher, we won’t have chops made, just steaks and ground meat.  Some of the tomato plants have little tomatoes on them.  It is perfect weather for growing tomatoes.  I’ll have to take the time to water the garden this morning.  No rain in the forecast for the next week.  At least the humidity will be down.

You know, the best way to loose weight is to avoid processed food and do farm work.   All of my clothes are falling off me these days.  When I have time, I go to Goodwill and buy some that fit better, but shopping at Goodwill takes more time than I’m usually willing to give up.  Wally’s lost a lot of weight as well.  He was having knee and back pain, but that’s all but gone with the weight loss.  I feel sad for all the people in the US who are carrying 50, 100 or even more extra pounds.  I don’t know how they get around.  Some of the women at WalMart are extremely overweight.  I don’t know how they stand on their feet for eight or more hours.  They have to be in excruciating pain by the time they are through.  I also think it’s rather disgusting that they are advertising several new reality shows focusing on overweight people.  One is a show similar to Bachelor and the other one a dance show called Dance your Ass Off (or something like that).  It’s as if they are endorsing obesity.  There is nothing healthy about being overweight, eating processed food or living a sedentary life.  If more people went back to their roots and had to work for their food, there would be less chronic obesity in this world.

It’s all very sad.

I had better get the show on the road and get my chores done and then figure out what I’m going to eat for breakfast.  I have no more yogurt in the refrigerator.  My last two batches didn’t come out.  I believe that’s because I had the oven temperature too high.  On Saturday, I bought a used Salton yogurt maker off e-Bay.  We’ll see how I like that.  Tomorrow I’ll go and get some more cow milk to make more yogurt, being more careful about the oven temperature this time.  I don’t like to eat hot breakfasts in the summer.

My last batch of cheese came out perfectly!!  I switched udder washes.  I was using iodine in water, but I switched to a splash of bleach and a few drops of Dawn dish detergent (this recipe came from Fiasco Farm, which is a wonderful resource for natural goat husbandry and cheese making).  The cheese making supplier thought the problems I was having were due to bacteria in my milk.  That may have been true.  Darned sensitive dairy goats: the first day I used the new udder wash, Luna was snorting and carrying on.  I think she was objecting to the “new” smell of the bleach.  She really didn’t like having her teats dipped.  I’d love to use some of the cow milk and make mozzarella, but right now, it’s too hot to stand over the stove.  I should get my sourdough starter out and play with that.  It’s perfect weather for sourdough, well, except for turning the oven on.

Until later …

This afternoon Wally and I went to bring water down to the sheep and brought all three Border Collies with us.  I sent Gel down into the thicket to bring out the sheep.  He came out with about two-thirds of the flock so I sent him back.  It took a few minutes, but soon the rest of the flock came up.  I saw the hair peeling off some of the sheep so I started to pull it and asked Wally to help.  As we worked, I noticed the sheep were pushing in closer and closer to us.  I looked up and there was Fern pushing them in.  Several times I asked her to lie down, which she did, but she soon got up and kept pushing them in.  Good girl.

I’m still on the fence about breeding her. I know of a man in North Carolina who has some good, solid working farm dogs. I may give him a call and see about using one of his males. I did some checking around and I do have a couple of people who would be interested in a puppy off Fern so maybe it would be worthwhile to breed her once, then spay her. One thing I will not do is all the tests I did with Gel. I know that’s the “responsible” thing to do if you are going to breed a litter, but as far as I’m concerned, most pre-breeding tests are only worth the paper they are written on. The only inherited disease I’d worry about would be CAE, but the dogs of the breeder I’m thinking of are CAE clear and Fern would be clear via parentage.  Regarding hip dysplasia, I’m quite convinced that disease is more environmental than genetic.  I know of an awful lot of people who bought dogs from “reputable breeders” from parents who were certified either good or excellent and they still went on to develop hip dysplasia. Plenty to think about.

The chicks belonging to the second hen began hatching out today; so far only two have hatched.  Darned they are cute and the mother hen is hell-on-wheels.

I tried.  I went out there with good intentions, but we accomplished nothing.  The sheep came out of the ElectroNet on their own and headed into fresh grass.  I sent Kessie around them to fetch them back to me.  They ignored her.  She’d move one or two sheep a few steps, but that was it.  I walked in closer, but that didn’t help so I backed up and let her work on her own to see what she’d do.  She managed to move sections of the flock a few feet towards me, but she never managed to get any of them to me.

I called her off and took down three of the four lines of ElectroNet and tried again.  Same results.  By then I was getting carried away by mosquitoes and was ready to go back to the house so I called Kessie to my side and we drove the sheep up to the gate.  Once we got to the gate, I sent Kessie around them a few times to pull them off the gate.  She was able to move them there.  She has no problem moving around stock in tight places. 

When we got on the property, I tried to work her a bit more, but had the same results.  I called her in to me and we drove them towards the fenced-in area, but the flock got split.  We put up the first group and I sent Kessie for the second group which was about 50 yards away.  I waited, and waited and waited.  The sheep continued to graze.  I walked up to them to find out what Kessie was doing.  She wasn’t there, she had gone on past the sheep into the pond.  Great.

I went into the house and got Fern who promptly gathered the sheep and put them up.

Kessie does not have a sense of group.  If the flock splits or a sheep or two gets left behind, she does not go back, she continues on the with group she has control of.

Perhaps I was doing nothing more than setting Kessie up for failure by bringing her out to the back field this morning.  Gel and Fern can take the sheep out of the ElectroNet and bring them up to the house with little trouble, even if the sheep are hungry and want to break off and graze.  It’s sometimes hard on them, but they always manage to get the job done.  The sheep have had plenty of forage all night so I know they are not overly hungry.

She needs confidence, I guess, but I can’t help feeling that that incessant flipping back and forth in front of the fence that she’s so prone to doing has decreased her effectiveness on stock.  Why should the sheep move off her when they are so used to watching her flip back and forth?  These are not heavy wool sheep either.

When Kessie was about eight months old I had her sold to a woman in Nevada.  I ended up backing out on the deal and giving her to Wally because I didn’t think that Kessie had enough presence to work western sheep.  I didn’t want Kessie passed on to handler after handler.  Sheep are not stupid, they know when a dog doesn’t have what it takes to move and control them.  When I sent Fern for the second group this morning, they moved off her without hesitation.  This isn’t saying that Fern is any better than Kessie, but I need a dog than can move and control stock.

I’ll see if I can’t spend some time with Kessie in a just a couple of sheep in a smaller area with fewer draws to see if her confidence doesn’t improve, but I’m not so sure it’s going to get better.  Factor in that she ran past the sheep and to the pond makes me think I shouldn’t waste any more time on her and focus solely on Gel and Fern.  If something happened to Gel, we’d be up a creek without a paddle.

I worked from 10:30 to 7 yesterday.  I really don’t care for that shift because it takes up most of the day.  Other than normal chores, I can’t get too much done before going to work and the same for after work, especially when it’s as hot as it was last night.  But it was all okay.  My back was driving me mad during the beginning of my shift, but after my lunch/dinner break, it stopped.  Amazing.  I got home and discovered all the sheep were loose in the yard.  Great.  The gate to the duck pasture had come loose and they took advantage of it.  Luckily, they didn’t do any damage.  Luna is walking on the foot that she was previously lame on.  Fern was willing to help bring the sheep down to the ElectroNet.  I thought the television had died, but I pushed a bunch of buttons on the remote and now it’s working again.  Hopefully that will continue.  I hate to say it, but I couldn’t live without cable or television.

We need to move the fence this afternoon when Wally gets home from work.  Not looking forward to that too much, but it needs to be done.  I milked Rain this morning for what I hope to be the last time before she kids.  If I do have to milk her again, I’ll need to keep her milk separate from the rest of the milk due to the colostrum which will give the milk an off flavor.  As I write this, the goats are out grazing, the sheep are still down in the ElectroNet and all three Border Collies are in the house.  It’s not even 9:00 AM and it’s already 76 degrees.  I’ll need to go down and get the sheep and Rose soon.  The next place we are going to set the fence will have shade so I’ll be able to leave them all down there 24/7.

I really need to get that article done and today I feel like I can do it.

I wrote my homeopath yesterday morning telling her I didn’t think the remedy she switched me to was working, but now I think it is.  My back isn’t bothering me at all this morning.  I was feeling a lot of tingling in my hands, sometimes even feeling like I was getting an electric shock while milking, but that didn’t happen this morning.  My fingers are flying over the key board and I’m not making the spelling mistakes I normally do.  I wrote about cognitive dissonance as it related to Gel’s homeopathic treatment.  Is it any surprise that I’m now on Gel’s remedy?  I suffer terribly from cognitive dissonance.  When I told my homeopath about Gel’s escaping his run, she suggested that I redose him, which I did on the same day I took the remedy.

Last night when Wally got home from the auction, I sent Gel out to help put the goats out (I left them out in the front pasture until he came home).  I watched Gel work from the sliding glass door.  He’s matured so much over the past year.  He’s become a solid, reliable worker.  Hopefully Fern will work through her funk as Gel did.

I expect most people wouldn’t put up with a dog that is doing what Fern has been, which is exactly what Gel did at her age.  I almost sold Gel numerous times and as Wally said every time I talked to him about selling Gel, “I’d have to come over and drag you out from under the bed.”  I would have been miserable and I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself if I sold him.  I think about selling Fern, but I know that would be a huge mistake.  It’s all there, I just need to let her work through her issues.  It’s nothing more than a life stage.  She’s not even two, she has plenty of years left to work, as does Gel of course.

Kessie … she has so much “want to” it isn’t funny.  She’s just like Cian.  If only I could get her to work with some thoughtfulness.  Wally and I call her the bumble bee because that’s what she looks like when she’s allowed in with stock.  She flits around and around and does virtually nothing to move the stock and they pay her about as much mind as they would a bumble bee.  She can move the sheep, unless they decide they’d rather stay where they are and eat at which point, she flits back and forth and back and forth and the sheep go no where.  She cannot move the goats.  Maybe in time that will change.  I should bite the bullet and work her some, but … well, there’s the cognitive dissonance in play.  Maybe the remedy I am on will help me move past this.  Maybe I should go out and work all three dogs before it gets too hot.

Oh, I don’t “work” dogs, do I?  I do work and use my dogs to help.  So, maybe I should take the bumble bee down and let her bring up the sheep, there’s a thought, then I could use Fern to take them back down again …. hmmmm ….

I work tonight from 6:30 to 11:00 which I am not looking forward to, but it’s a short shift and it should be pretty busy.  We need to get up early tomorrow AM to go to Wally’s mother’s house to help install a new washer and drier, then we’ll go to the Farmer’s Market and then come on home.  We don’t have any set projects planned for this weekend, but I’m sure we’ll still be busy.  I work Saturday 4 to 9 PM which shouldn’t be too bad.

I’ve rambled on quite enough for one day.  Off to get some things done and maybe play with the bumble bee for a while.  I know it would make Wally happy to see me work her some.  I know it would make Kessie happy to work.

Until later …

It’s going to be dangerously hot over the next couple of days with little chance for rain.  I woke up having anxiety attacks over it.  We are going to need to move the fence on Friday and I am not looking forward to being out there in close to 100 degree heat.  Of course we could not move it and make due, but I’m hard-wired to take the best possible care of my animals that I can.

I have to work today and in a few minutes I’ll go down and bring the sheep up for the day.  The plan is to put them in the chicken and duck pasture which was recently mowed.  I cleaned out and filled two water buckets for them and placed them up on cinder blocks so the ducks can’t get into the water.  Give ducks access to a  water source and they’ll have it fouled in record time.  Chickens are not much better.

Last night we took a really close look at Luna’s hoof.  When Wally trimmed and cleaned it out we discovered a small abcess.  She was not happy about having the hoof attended to.  I’m sure it hurt.  When we finished trimming and cleaning we poured some hydrogen peroxide over it.  She seems a bit better this morning.  Hopefully it will continue to improve.

Until later …

Great!  I just got a couple of extra days to finish the article so I can write a bit more here before going back to it.  I am writing this on my lap top and darned it’s hot on my lap!  It’s way too hot to be in the office on my desk top.  This heat cuts down on my computer time.

On Thursday I made another attempt at a livestock tractor.  I call it a livestock tractor now because it has attempted to be both a chicken tractor and now a rabbit tractor.  It was also used as a cold frame.  Its only successful use so far has been as a cold frame.

The rabbits are in a small dog run with an outside ”patio” made using an x-pen.  First I moved the rabbits out of the dog run and cleaned that out.  I initially put wire fence on the floor of the dog run and used straw as bedding.  Big mistake.  Cleaning out the straw was not fun.  I took the fence out of the dog run and had the brainy idea of using it to enclose the former chicken tractor/cold frame.  By the time I got around to working on that, it was getting hot so I decided to move the production, including the rabbits, to a shady area.  I was doing okay moving the rabbits in the x-pen, but Frog (a rabbit with misformed rear legs) was having a difficult time.  I picked him up and was trying to move the rest of the rabbits in the x-pen using one hand.  It didn’t work out too well and soon I had ten rabbits running around loose.

How useful can three Border Collies be when there are ten rabbits running around loose?  They all worked hard, especially Fern, but rabbits just don’t herd.  Even Ted and one of the calicos tried to help out.  Luckily, the rabbits were drawn back to the dog run and eventually I had them all captured.

I got both ends of the tractor enclosed before I realized getting the rabbits in there might be difficult … unless you have a Border Collie that is willing to help push rabbits out of an x-pen into a tractor.  We had a few escapees, but eventually we got them all in.  I sat in the shade and watched them start to dig, perhaps only to get to cooler earth, but rabbits do dig.  Great!  Now I needed to figure out how to cover the bottom of the tractor so the rabbits couldn’t dig out.  Once again, I enlisted a Border Collie to crawl under the tractor and push the rabbits back into the x-pen.  We lost a few more during the move, but we caught them again.

It is surprising that I still have twelve living rabbits after all this.  They are all back in the dog run with the x-pen patio and we are back to the livestock tractor drawing board.

On Sunday morning while we were doing chores I saw one rabbit loose, then another, then another!  Likely one of the Border Collies had pushed on the side of the x-pen and made a hole big enough for them to get through.  Wally got to witness the beauty of Border Collies herding rabbits.  It’s really quite spectacular to see.  Luckily sheep cannot run through a dog’s front legs.

We did manage to develop a good hay feeder for the rabbits.  We used horse wire which has two inch square holes and made two, two-foot high tubes and stuffed them full of hay.  They work quite well.  We can stuff them with fresh grass as well.

It has been enjoyable keeping the rabbits and it is going to be difficult when it comes time to butcher them.  They all seem to be growing well and quite happy with their digs.  It can be difficult keeping rabbits in a warm climate, but since these rabbits can stretch out on the ground, they seem to tolerate the heat relatively well.

On Monday night when it cooled off, I observed Rose chasing Casper (Penny’s four month old buck kid) around.  Twice she caught him and had his leg in her mouth.  What the heck was she up to?  Previously we had been tying her out when we had the sheep up in the fenced-in area during the heat of the day, but I realized that wasn’t the best idea to keep a livestock guard dog tied away from her charges.  The ducks had been trying to nest in what was remaining of a round bale of hay in the fenced-in area so I took the cover off that feeder and let the sheep and goats have at it.  This stopped the nesting attempts which was the primary reason why I was keeping Rose out of the fenced-in area during the day.  She still hasn’t given up on chasing ducks.  She’ll try to catch chickens, but they are a bit faster than the ducks, but still, it would likely only be a matter of time before she caught another chicken.  Unfortunately, I didn’t properly expose her to poultry as a puppy.

Chasing Casper, however, and pulling on his legs, was a serious problem.  I’m sure she was just playing, but an unacceptable form of play, especially when the next day I found a small puncture wound on Casper’s leg.

Yesterday, we attached at two and a half foot long piece of three inch PVC to a chain and attached it to her collar so that if she runs, the PVC hits her in the legs and belly.  She ran once with it on and was immediately corrected.  While this may sound harsh, a livestock guard dog is useless if it chases or harms the animals it is supposed to be guarding.  Rose is still very young and when it cools off, she gets very frisky.  When she goes down with the sheep at night in the ElectroNet, we take the PVC off; she only wears it in the fenced-in area.  She’s with her charges, as she should be, she just can’t run without getting hit with the PVC.

Poor Luna has been lame for a few days now.  We have been unable to figure out what she injured.  Hopefully she’ll recover soon.

Rain is about a week away from delivering her babies and is still producing milk to the extent that I have to milk her out every three days or so.

We sold two of the three remaining bottle babies, keeping only the Alpine buckling named Basil.  He’s done well for as long as we’ve had him and he’s an awfully nice buck.  We haven’t castrated him yet and I’m on the fence as to whether we should or not.  He has a good energy about him and I don’t think we could go wrong breeding him back to Penny and Luna this fall.  Given her age, I will breed Champagne to a purebred Nubian so if she has a nice doe, I have the option of keeping something from her.  Penny is still young and I have a doeling off Luna to breed next year.  As with everything, we’ll see how it goes.  I probably won’t breed Rain for another year.

I’m having a bit of a hard time with the new rennett and starter, but I think I have mastered it.  I wanted to make another batch this morning, but elected to wait another day or two.  I have quite a few packages of cheese in the freezer and if I am not able to use them up soon, I’ll likely defrost them and feed some of them to the dogs.  I intentionally haven’t sold any milk, cheese or eggs lately and may phase that out completely.  I’d rather find ways to use what we produce ourselves rather than selling it.  I simply don’t care to deal with the public.

The garden is doing wonderful.  Yesterday, Wally and I went to the local farmers market and was I ever excited to find Cherokee Purple tomatoes for sale.  If you ever have the opportunity to try these wonderful heirloom tomatoes, do so.  They often look ugly as sin, but are they ever flavorful.

As I was writing this, a blue car pulled into the driveway and a woman got out with a disposable camera.  What the heck I thought.  I almost didn’t open the door, but I did and she reminded me what she had been out here with my landlady over a year ago looking at the old foundations on the property.  She wanted to photograph them for her brother who is a history buff.  She came with open sandals and didn’t have covered shoes so I took the photographs for her.  Before she left, she bought a bag of cheese.  So much for not selling cheese.

Until later …

Things have been a bit traumatic here.  Wally spent Friday night and a good bit of Saturday AM in the emergency room with kidney stones.  I’ve never been around anyone suffering with kidney stones and I hope that I never see it again.  That poor man suffered terribly.  The emergency room sucked, sucked, sucked.  We waited for almost three hours with Wally in excruciating pain before they finally administered pain medicine.

He’s better now and he will be consulting with my homeopath in the next week in an effort to make this his last episode of kidney stones.

Spending time in the emergency room and watching the care that Wally received made me remember just how much I dislike and distrust conventional medicine.  Let’s hope this was the last time we’ll spend any time in the emergency room and hopefully the last time I see Wally in so much pain.

This morning, my homeopath has switched out my remedy.  On Monday, my sciatica raised its ugly head.  Sciatica is an incredibly irritating condition.  As I write this, however, the pain is much less.  Hopefully it will be gone soon.

I have not written the article which is due today for Animal Wellness.  It’s in my head, I just haven’t put it on paper. 

Luckily, I haven’t had to work at WalMart since Saturday.

Off to try to get that article on paper …