Updates

Isaiah: Isaiah had his surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids last Tuesday at Mayo. Surgery went well, though he was a wild child when he was coming out of anesthesia and pulled out his iv and other monitoring devices. I ended up sitting in the recovery room rocking him for over an hour before they would let us head to a room. After an overnight stay we brought him home to Nate's moms for a couple of days before making the drive home. So far so good, though it's a challenge to get him to eat, drink, or take his medication. It will all be worth it if we don't have the periodic fever and other symptoms.
BWCAW: Before Isaiah's surgery Nate and I had a quick trip to the Boundary Waters with our friends Andy and Mandy. It was a short camping and paddling adventure, but overall a good one. This was the first time Nate and I have gone camping together, along with the first time we have been away from the boys for that long of a stretch.
Animals: While we were gone we brought Feta to Geri, one of my spinning friends farm for a stay. She took good care of her and was happy with the milk. In other goat news, Feta's sister will be coming to live with us on Wednesday. Lots of goat milk here, anyone have any ideas? I'm currently perfecting a goat milk fudge recipe.
The baby turkeys finally hatched while we were gone, and then were eaten by a fox (assumed) before we ever saw them. My parents said they were a variety of colors, hopefully we will get one more batch this summer, and this time they will be caged.
The sheep are doing well, the lambs are growing fast with all the good pasture and clover this year. Nate took time tonight to go and mow down the thistles in the south field.
Daisy the donkey has been busy protecting her charges. She actually killed a woodchuck this last week. She loves when the goats are in her pasture, though Brie sometimes annoys her enough to get in a game of chase.

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday Braeden! Braeden turns three today.

Happy Birthday to our Daisy girl who turns one today! Kohen asked for a party, complete with a cake. We'll see what I can do about that. Daisy is turning into a wonderful donkey. Since she was weaned and we sold her mom Lucy, she has really come around and is very friendly and great with the kids and sheep. She still has her obsession with Scar, one of the shetland ewes. She will follow Scar around and chooses to graze right next to her most of the time. It's bizarre, but she is very gentle and never hurts her.
We've been trying to figure out how we were going to choose and get down to one donkey. We love Hee-haw, but having an intact jack donkey around isn't the best idea. We don't want Daisy bred when she is too young, and Hee-haw has a tendency to be unpredictable. Two days ago the boys and I were feeding some excess lettuce to the critters and Hee-haw decided to grab Isaiah's hand along with the lettuce, and hold on to the little fingers on his hand with his teeth. Not a good situation. Isaiah is fine, but I was not happy.

Well, things work out and I received a call last night from someone who had seen a photo and ad we had posted on the board at our local feed mill a year ago. She is very interested in him, and coming to see him tonight. We talked it over with Kohen, and he was not happy. Nate and Kohen finally reached an agreement- after the whole livestock are not pets explanation- that if she does buy Hee-haw, Kohen will get half the money, enough to buy a new bike "with a brake."

In other news, the boys and I painted the chicken coop yesterday. A nice deep barn red. Now to add some new white trim, and one more project is crossed off my summer list. More paint is needed before I can get the duck shed painted. I've also added updating the mudroom to my to-do list. New paint, cabinets, and maybe some curtains. Not sure what possessed me to add more to my list, but a girl's got to have goals.

We finally had a nice day weather-wise yesterday. But it got down to 40 degrees again last night. Temperatures that certainly do not help my garden grow. I processed and froze a batch of beets that Auntie'Laine sent up from Kasson. Thank goodness for relatives with gardens that actually produce. On the kitchen list for today is turning 1 1/2 gallons of pincherry's into jelly. Pincherry jelly is one of our favorites.

Silent Saturday

Too Long

HeeHaw, Daisy, & Lucy, longing to be on the side of the gate with animal crackers.

Ok, my apologies. It has been way too long since my last post. Since March 1st we've had some good and bad. To sum it up: a two day training in St. Cloud, a 16 month old in the ER and with RSV, nice weather, awful weather, impatience for lambs, lots of daddy time.

Yes, the family accompanied me to my ADOS training in St. Cloud. Isaiah had been having some bad coughing and fevers, which culminated in blue lips and hands and a speedy trip to the ER. Lots of stress for everyone, but he is finally getting back to normal. All it took were IVs, antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, ibuprofen, tylenol, and lots of cuddles and love from everyone. We've made the choice to pull him from daycare in hopes of getting his immune system built back up. Nate has been getting lots of daddy time staying home with him. Kohen is also staying home three days a week. Saves on daycare bills, but it also means that Nate doesn't have any income right now. A tough balance.

Last weekend the weather improved and we spent some time Sunday giving the sheep CD&T shots. I cannot believe how wide some of them are getting? I am getting so nervous for lambing.

Yesterday the weather was awful. It began snowing at 1:30, and by the time I left work at 3:00 we already had a couple of inches and horrible visibility. The worst drive I have ever had to undertake. I passed eight accidents in ten miles and was only able to drive a maximum of 30 on the highway. I was so geared up when I finally pulled into the garage, poor Nate didn't know what to do with me. He greeted me with a fresh slice of whole wheat bread, still warm from the bread machine. I love this man!

The picture above is the donkeys on Sunday. They were so cute lined up at the gate looking for their share of animal crackers. It looks like we've found a home for Lucy, but they would like a baby donkey next year, so Lucy will stay with HeeHaw for a while. I didn't even realize until after I took the picture that I had captured Lucy's pink tongue!

Happy Hee-Haw

Nate headed to a local farm yesterday and brought back a round bale of second crop. We need to increase the ewes rations to help their growing babies. We have been giving them the hay we cut off our field last summer. They love it, and it's a good mid-step between the hay they have been getting and the second crop. Granted the second crop hay was a 3x price difference over what they have been eating.

To make it more economical we decided that we would move Hee-Haw in with Lucy and Daisy and leave the gate open just enough so that the sheep can move freely between the two pens. We then shoveled and rolled the round bale into the pen the donkeys were now kept out of.

Hee-Haw was quite pleased to be back with Lucy, as witnessed by his reaction.

Lucy, on the other hand, was not so thrilled and spent the next hour kicking him, running around and staying out of his way. Daisy wasn't sure what to think of it all.

As Nate and I were rolling the round bale and being bombarded by sheep, I brought up the danger of bloat. Since they have been eating our in between hay, and had been fed earlier in the day we thought we were in the clear. Famous last words.

I looked out the window around 4:30 and grew concerned because Bunny was laying in an odd spot. I quickly threw on clothes and ran down to the pen. She and everyone else moved on, and did not appear distressed. Ok, I thought. I then turned to check out the new hay to see a horrifying sight. Four black legs up in the air. My first thought was, oh God, it's Anna. When I got closer I realized it was Demi, and she had the tell-tale signs of bloat. I quickly righted her, and ran to the house for supplies. I called my mom and asked her to come and watch the boys, and left a frantic message on Nate's cell phone.

Poor Demi had returned to her back while I was inside. I righted her again and started getting some solution in her and using a stick to get her working her jaw. You could hear the gas as I moved her around. I spent about 40 minutes till she seemed more responsive and stood up. Then the crazy fool started to eat again! I decided at that point that I better move all of the sheep out of the new hay. Some were more reluctant to leave than others (Anna, Kizzy, Fiona, and Ella.)

When Nate got home all he could do was laugh, and say how happy he was that he hadn't been here. We did frequent checks of all the sheep last evening, and about 8 pm Demi was looking worse again. I ended up bringing her into the mud room (temp. about 35 degrees) and administering more care. I wasn't sure if she would make it through the night, but this morning she is looking alert and ate some hay for me (not second crop!) Since it was 30 below zero last night I want to wait a bit longer before taking her back out to the flock. Oh the joys of shepherding!

We leave today for a training I have for two days. Our house sitter/animal caregiver will have to hall small bales of our hay to the sheep for the next two days. I don't want to have to worry while I'm gone (I'll do enough of that without the hay situation.) We'll have to try and ease Demi back on to the rich hay later when we are here to observe.

January Thaw

Today brought a blessed January thaw. Temperatures rose into the thirties. In typical Minnesota fashion it was overcast this morning, then beautiful sunshine, and then the wind picked up and blew in some rain. Wonderful. Of course the sunshine period occurredl while Koe and I were napping so we were not able to enjoy it. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the twenties, so we'll shoot for then.
I spent some quality time with the sheep and donkeys today. They were quite frisky with the nice weather. I brought some treats and earned lots of love. Poor Daisy somehow froze part of her ear and it's looking pretty rough. I guess I'll have a donkey with a not so long ear.
With the recent frigid cold weather (it was -30 four nights last week) we've had a few casualties. Two bantams (the seabright hen, and a black fantail rooster) and a drake duck. I've decided that we are doing all that we can for them: water, plenty of food, straw, hay, heat lamps, and the strong will survive. Somewhat of a cruel view, but an honest one.
Ok, the wind is now up to 40 mile an hour gusts, and I'm waiting for the power to go out. My parents and grandparents have already lost power. However, we are lucky enough to have underground in most of the surrounding area, but I still don't think it will last all night.

Sunny Days

Feeding Time.

Kohen, Dad and I were out doing chores today and I had a chance to pull out the camera. It is a beautiful sunny day, and the temperature is currently 15 degrees ABOVE zero! We had to take some time to enjoy it since it is supposed to be very cold this next week. My dad hauled alfalfa for the sheep, Kohen and I refilled shelters with straw, and I did a visual check on everyone's condition. The only issue I found was a small sore on the side of the Jacobs ewe's head. It looks like a sore from sticking her head through the feeder. With her horns it is easier for her to get rubbed the wrong way. I also checked the conditions of eyelids, and they all were quite pink, so I think we are doing ok with our worming protocol. The donkeys have gotten very fat and we need to figure out a way to avoid them getting the alfalfa. I've thought about moving Lucy and Daisy in with Hee-Haw, but we don't want any accidental breedings. Sugar is growing! She's still small, but about twice the size of when we got her this fall! Being so small, she gets right into the hay, as her fleece can attest to.
Hee-haw enjoys some oats, complements of his boy.

Along with the four leggeds I spent some time with the feathereds. The coop door was not wanting to shut because of ice so Dad and a pocket knife took care of that. I've also decided that the seven bantams living in the old goat shed can stay in the old goat shed. We tried catching them and only succeeded in scattering them in the pine and spruce trees and one hen even flew across the field! They are the bantams that were hatched out by our Japanese Fan-tails this summer, and we never tried to tame them. I love that they free range all over and eat bugs and ticks in the summer. Hopefully they will make it through this next cold snap alright. They are shacked up with the seven ducks that remain, so they have plenty of food and get watered at least once a day. They are low maintenance in the summer, and don't come near the coop, simply eating bugs and seeds they forage for. Currently, there are three roosters and four hens together, along with at least four more bantams who prefer the civilized atmosphere of the coop.

Scar has plenty of fleece to make it through this weather. I really should come up with a better name for her. She was in poor condition and not bred when we got her last spring. I'm more hopeful for this spring!

The chicken coop is much more peaceful now that the guineas are gone, and only chickens remain. We've been averaging five eggs per day. Usually four standard size and one bantam. Pretty good considering we have six laying hens and three bantam hens.

Kohen can't resist hugging his Anna, even as she searches for the best bite of hay.
Three moms: Good Mama, Pamela, and Kizzy. Last year Good Mama and Kizzy both twinned, and Pamela gave us a single. Can we hope for six babies from this trio?
Daisy and Lucy make sure Shep knows to stay away from their sheep.

Cold Toes...Chore Woes

Four days of school for me and daycare for the boys, and we are ready for the weekend. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.
I'm back to doing chores by headlamp, or begging my husband to do them in the daylight. We had to haul water tonight, which is not an easy chore. It involves hauling water from the spigot on the back of the house, through the yard, across the driveway and down the hill to the pasture. Not a real easy task in the daylight or in temperatures above zero. The difficulty ratio increases when it is dark, and -10 degrees farenheit. Thankfully, Nate took pity on me and came and pulled the rubbermaid garbage can down the hill for me. He knew from past experience that the odds were high that things would end badly if I flew solo. The nicely iced patches on the path attest to three previous failed attempts. Makes the garbage can move smoother, right?
All the four leggeds and featherds seem to be fairing as well as can be expected with this cold weather. The temperatures are supposed to fall greatly again next week. We've taken to giving the sheepies alfalfa on the cold days in addition to the round bales of grass hay they have all the time. My project for this weekend is to figure out a creep type feeder that only the smaller sheep can access. The donkeys and fatties really do not need the extra alfalfa.
All of this cold, and extra work makes me crave spring weather. To be able to run outside without multiple layers of clothing will be a joy. Of course I know that the headlamp will be in use this spring when I'm doing midnight lamb checks!

Long Ears

Daisy and Lucy, 2 weeks ago

Around here we love donkeys. No one more than Kohen. I think the original fascination for them came from watching mommy surf the web and drool over mini donkeys. This is the boy as a 2 1/2 year old, viewing a horse or stock trailer would proclaim, "a donkey trailer!" He still calls them donkey trailers! I'm excited to say that for Christmas his daddy bought him a toy Dodge Ram pulling a stock trailer. Of course mommy had to fill it with toy donkeys!

Picking out Hee-Haw, 3/29/08.

Cut to yesterday morning. We headed to church to attend the Sunday School Christmas Program, Mary had a Little Lamb. It was the story of a small spotted lamb named Tiny at the birth of Jesus. One of the characters was a donkey, played by the granddaughter of Don Simonson, our local small town webman. Don runs a wonderful website that details happenings, history, birthdays, etc, in our small town. If you are bored and want to find out what's happening in a small town of 600, 90 miles south of the Canadian border in Minnesota, click here. Anyway, Anna and her family recently moved here from New Zealand. So picture this cute little girl with donkey ears and a New Zealand accent. It was great. Kohen would watch the play and kept chanting, "donkey, donkey, where's the donkey" whenever she wasn't on stage.

Fuzzy Daisy.

We currently have three donkeys. Hee-haw a five year old jack, Lucy-a 5 year old jenny, and Daisy, our 4 1/2 month old beauty. Yes, I called a donkey beautiful. Hee-haw and Lucy were purchased last spring at an exotic animal auction, and Lucy was bred when we bought her. She is about the poorest specimen of a donkey. Scrawny legs, horrible hooves, and she obviously did not have a pleasant life before we acquired her. It took us months of gentling before we could even get near her. She still is not overly fond of human attention. Our plan is to downsize to one or two donkeys come spring. We have long talked about getting rid of Hee-haw, but Kohen loves him and he is a great donkey. Tame, gentle, and boy can he bray! Kohen loves to head out to the pasture with a brush and spend time with his donkey (supervised of course.) My current thoughts are that we find a new home for poor Lucy, and get Hee-haw gelded, but don't hold me to it. Daisy has been raised with sheep since the minute she was born in the sand under a pine tree. She does great with them, even sleeping in the sheep shelter as a posted last week. Thankfully she must have inherited some good genes from her dad because her conformation is much better than her mom's.

Daisy at one day old.

This last picture is not one of our donkeys, but a mini at the petting zoo. Along with the donkey is Brody and Amber. Amber loves mini donkeys even more than us, so she had to be included in this post

Like Livin' in a Snow Globe

The new picture on the header is what it looks like out my window today. Literally. I didn't even step outside to take it. I cracked the window open and stuck my hand out. Sad I know, but it is nasty out there! Would you believe there are three donkeys and 15 sheep in that shot? It's pretty tough to tell how much snow we have gotten because there is a harsh wind out of the north. Nate and I were supposed to attend a contractor appreciation party tonight, which has been cancelled. So, it's time to cuddle in, and enjoy the swirling snow outside my window.
Nate, Koe, and I headed out this morning when it was snowing half as much and made sure the four leggeds were ready for this. This include hauling water, hauling straw, and hay. Kohen and I used the wooden sled to haul a bale of alfalfa and straw from the morton building. It was not an easy task. I'm a wimp. I haven't worked out in forever, and my body was screaming from hauling the sled through the snow. So I decided to let Kohen help. Ok, I really just let Kohen pose for a picture. He was so cute, and worked hard at chores. He did a great job of crawling in the sheep shelter and spreading straw out. He also had the job of keeping the sheep at bay as Nate and I (ok Nate) moved a round bale into the enclosure. It worked great because he pushed it into the end of the hoop shelter that we built for the donkeys. Now they can eat in shelter. It also makes a great wind break and insulator. Daisy still chooses to use the sheep shelter when she wants to escape the elements. The sheep don't seem to mind her company.

Do we dare hope for a snow day tomorrow? I'm supposed to drive to International Falls for a consult. Not really looking forward to that drive. We'll see what morning brings.

Daisy

Just a new picture of our donkey girl. She's growing fast, and is already 2 1/2 months old! She was happy to move to the new bigger section of pasture today, and celebrated by kicking up her heels. Then she was tired and needed to rest a bit.

A weeks worth...

Ok, so I've been horrible on updating the blog this week, but I guess that is what happens when school starts up again. My family has survived a week of leaving the house before 7 am and getting home after 5 pm. I still feel like I'm spinning my wheels at work getting to know my new students, and figuring out schedules for myself and the four paraprofessionals that are working with my students.
So all of the animals have faired the week well, except Maon. He had some sort of run-in with someone/something on Tuesday. When I got home and did chores he had a small spot of blood and would on his left jaw/cheek, he is also holding his jaw open slightly. So I am not sure if he broke it, or what happened. I cleaned his wound and have been giving him penicillin this week. He is still holding it open slightly, but eats and drinks ok. Unfortunately he won't be able to go with me to the spin-off tomorrow and on to his new home. I think it would be to stressful on his system to move him now. Hopefully he'll heal and can leave in a few weeks. My guess as to how the injury occured involves a donkey hoof or jacob lamb horn.
Here's a few pictures of the happenings.

First a picture of my angels last Tuesday morning before we awoke them. Yes, they are in our bed. This usually occurs at about 4 am, 5 nights a week.

A boy and his donkey. Hee-haw loves Kohen and comes right up to him in the pasture.A boy and his lamb. Of course AnnaFleece comes right up to anyone in the pasture, or on the road, or in the yard...The view when you pick up a bucket and start carrying it, doesn't matter that it's empty!Last, a picture I took today of Ris and Bam. The boys are doing well. We moved them to some more tender grass, and they are very satisfied with it.

Meet Daisy

Well, I know you've already met her, but now she has a name...Daisy. Isaiah chose the name out of a bucket. And Kohen read it to us. Upside down. Is he a protege or what?

Donkey visitors

So our new little girl is attracting quite the crowd of visitors. Grandpa Bud, Great Aunt Barb, Nanny, Papa, Gramma Jan, Papa & Grama Butchy, Emily Webster & her friend Sarah, and more to come. She is very friendly and curious. My hope is that she will turn into a great multi-purpose donkey for us: a pet for Kohen and a guardian for our sheep.

Gramma Butchy meeting her new great-granddonkey!

Sarah came all the way from Pennsylvania to meet her!

Kohen gets a bit protective when others are visiting, reminding us she is his donkey. I'm not sure how he's going to do when she is taller than him. He loves wrapping his arms around her and burrowing his face in her soft neck for lots of kisses. Not an attractive shot, but this shows how wide poor Ellie has become. It will be interesting to see how many lambies are in that belly, and when they are going to arrive. I look forward to next year when I will hopefully have a much more concentrated and organized lambing season. Doesn't she have a beautiful icelandic fleece? It is quite different from shetland, just wavy, no crimp to it. Here is the promised shot of the wild blueberries we have been picking. Nate likened it to picking grapes. This is just one small branch, can you believe all those berries?Hopefully the baby donkey will have a name in a few hours. I'll update if we decide.

Fantastic Fuzziness

Here are a few pictures I just took today of our little girl. We are currently in a dead heat for choosing a name. The voting will close tomorrow night 8/8, at 6 pm. She cannot go nameless any longer! Please refer to previous post for name choices. As you can see from the pictures, Kohen is doing great with her. She lets him walk right up and hug her. She wasn't as sure of me when I was crouched down to take a picture at her level.

In other news, Nate and I picked 9 quarts of wild blueberries last night. It was a great crop this season. Nate has already requested a blueberry cake for his birthday next week. I guess I'll have to start a recipe search. I'll try and post some pictures later. My camera is charging right now, too much time spent in the pasture with fuzzy four leggeds.

On the two legged baby front, Isaiah had his 9 month check up today and passed with flying colors. He weighs 18 lb. 15 oz. and is 28 inches tall! Grow baby grow!!

Name that Donkey

Here she is. In all her adorable fluffiness. Her ears and legs seem to be a mile long, and she's just a bit of a thing in between. Lucy is being a wonderful mommy. She's earning extra apples! Kohen is fascinated by her.


We have narrowed names down to 3. They are, in no particular order:

Lizzy
Lily
Daisy

Please vote on your pick. We can't keep callin' her donkey. Come and meet her. There isn't much cuter!

Look how little she is!

Getting love from daddy. (Notice AnnaFleece's head, she can't miss out on Daddy's love.)