Mmmmmmm, warm oatmeal.

Now that is it very cold in the mornings, the chickens get warm oatmeal. Stew Pot is a bit disgruntled that Shortbus was checking out the oatmeal bowl.

All I have to do is holler "Babies" and the girls come a runnin'.

Wait, wait we're coming. Don't eat it all.

Ahhhh, nice warm oatmeal to start the day.

Today I mashed a banana into it.

Until next time.............................

The Daily Egg Hunt

Want to come along and help find the eggs?
Let's look in here because the girls like to lay in here. Um, nope, no eggs.

Let's look in here. Sometimes they like to lay here. Nope, no eggs in this one.

Come on and let's walk on over to the hay barn. Every now and then there will be an egg or two. Whoops, looks like no eggs here either.

Ah ha!!!!! Bingo. Today they decided to lay on the opposite side of the hay barn.

One last peek inside the coop. Just in case we overlooked a spot.

Good job in finding this egg. Thanks. I didn't think to look under the empty grain bag I keep in there.

Four eggs gifted from four beautiful ladies. Not too bad for a cold December day.

Until next time..........................

Freezing!!!!!!

Oh my gosh it is freezing!!!! Found out it was 11 degrees last night. It was 15 when I got up this morning. As I write this it has climbed to 28 degrees and it is almost 1:00 pm.

Thanks to no snow and really no rain to speak of we are still having to have water delivered here. We have two huge water tanks to make sure there is plenty of water for us and the herd. Frank, the water delivery guy was telling me this morning that all of the water hoses and the pump on the truck were frozen this morning.

As we were standing there chit chatting while the water was being pumped into the above ground tank we noticed that one end of his hose was starting to freeze up! And that was with water being pumped through it!!! Now you know that it is cold when you can actually stand there and watch it happen.

Before Joe, the farrier and Frank the water guy showed up I had to break the ice in the water troughs. The pile of ice on the right is from two days ago. The pile in front is from yesterday. Today's pile of ice is now on the left ( sorry didn't take a pic of that).

I bought a de-icer for one of the water troughs. Wanted to make sure there was going to be water available through the night for the donkeys and goats. I have never used a de-icer before, but I can say, "Man that thing works great!". No ice at all.

Notice no ice in this trough compared to the inch thick ice on the other trough? I am going to buy another de-icer for the other trough.

This hunk of ice came out of a 5 gallon bucket that I use for the outside cats. And this was after I brought it into the house and ran hot water over it!

I have now placed the chickens water bucket under a heat lamp over night so they have access to ice free water. It was so cold in the coop this morning that when Stew Pot crowed I actually saw his breath!!!!! I am seriously considering putting in a small heater inside the coop to at least keep the chill off. Already have a place to put it so the chickens can't get to it.

Until next time....................

Kittens are a growin'

It's been awhile since you have seen pics of the kittens. My goodness they are growing both physically and emotionally.
Can you see how big Squirrel is getting? She is now a self proclaimed Diva! Just ask her! She has to be everywhere we are. Lately her favorite spot is right next to Holly while she is preparing for her finals.

Rodent is growing very well. Although, well, must admit quite the challenge emotionally. I still do not know if Rodent is a he or a she! When it is just myself at home, Rodent comes out and watches everything intently. With more time and patience, Rodent will come around and be just like the rest of the spoiled rotten animals here.

Last but not least here is Jovi. My goodness he has come around. He now curls up next to one of us. Is curious about everything we do. And thanks to Squirrel aka the Diva, he now knows when it is dinner time for us because he sits under the table waiting for a tidbit.

Next month all three are getting spayed and/or neutered. Whether Rodent is ready or not to be touched, well, getting fixed is going to happen!

Until next time.......................

Relaxed to the Max!!!

This is what I saw when I walked into the cat room which used to be the small bedroom to feed, water and clean the kitty box.
The cats have their own bed.

After the week I've had, I want to stretch out and relax like Trashcan is doing.

Until next time........................

Freezing Days

Thought I would share some pics of what it has been like here in Southern Oregon for the last five days!

We have had freezing fog day and night. Haven't seen the sun in five, yes, five days!
This is what it looks like here. It's foggy, freezing, cold and just plain icky.

Now that it is very cold, especially at night, the horses all get their blankets. Even though AJ has her jammies on, her tail has frost on it this morning.

See the white on Pearl's mane and forelock? That is frost! The donkeys that don't have stalls to themselves stay in the breezeway of the stall barn, but yet there is frost on their manes and tails.

This is what the chicken coop screen door looked like this morning. There is frost covering it!

According to the national weather service we may, just may get snow Sunday evening.

Right now all I want is for this awful freezing fog to go away. Far away.

And if anyone is curious as to how Arnold is doing today. He is doing much better. Now he has decided he doesn't want to eat all of his hay. Although he loves his Purina Equine Senior!

One of these days I'll have to introduce you to all the special needs animals here.

Until next time.....................

Vet Out Again For Arnold the Donkey

Oh my gosh these past three days have been concerning. In the blog before this one I talked about having to have the vet out for an emergency farm call for Arnold, one of our beloved donkeys.


Well, on Monday Arnold was feeling better and I thought we were out of the woods. Turns out I had to call the vet yesterday ( Tuesday) morning because Arnold was laying flat on his side and not feeling well. Arnold rarely if ever lays flat so I knew immediately something was wrong.

He was poo'ing so I knew it wasn't colic anymore. But now I suspected the first stages of laminitiscaused from the stress of his colic.

The vet first scheduled an appointment for 4:30, then he called me back and said 12:30 was the earliest he could come out. That's fine. Well, he showed up at 11:00!

Arnold was once again on his side when the vet arrived.

After an examination there was no signs of laminitis or colic. Okay, then what the heck is going on! The vet gave Arnold another shot of Banamine to relieve his discomfort. He also drew some blood for blood work.

In a few hours Arnold started feeling better. I let him out of his stall, watched his every move and he started to act like his old self. Yes, the Banamine was helping.



I called a very dear friend who knows donkeys through and through. She suggested that now the physical part of Arnold was on the mend, I needed to address the psychological side of it now. He had been in his stall for two straight days being poked and prodded and watched over and......

My friend mentioned that maybe Arnold didn't like all the extra attention and it was making him feel like an outcast with the other donkeys.

Okay, it was worth a shot at working on the psychological side of it.

I went back to 'treating' him normally on and everyday basis.

Hmmmmm, it started to work. As soon as he sensed I wasn't treating him 'special' he started acting normal.

In the meantime the vet called and said Arnold's blood work came back abnormal and he needed to come out in the morning ( Weds) and draw more blood.

Geez, what the heck is going on?!

The vet was out again this morning, drew more blood ( 4 viles worth), went back to the office, ran some tests, called me late this afternoon and said...............

Arnold's blood work is normal!!!! He couldn't explain why yesterday's blood work was abnormal, but today's is great! Yay!!!!!

In case anyone would like to know how to tell if your donkey is not feeling well here is what to look for:

Donkeys are stoic by nature. They generally do not show signs of illness until the problem is well advanced.

Normal adult donkey temperature is 98.8. Their pulse rate is about 44 beats per minute. Anything above that may indicate illness and what level pain they are in. A pulse rate of 60 is extreme pain and distress.

Normal gut sounds are gurgling and rumbling and even some squeaking. To hear gut sounds just place your ear towards the flank and listen.

Normal poo is moist balls that break apart easily. Examining poo is very important. Poo tells you a lot about the health of your donkey.

A big red flag is lack of interest in food. Donkeys LOVE their food.

Also, if you notice your donkey staying to themselves , not acting normal ( for them), drinking a lot more water than normal, pay attention to what is going on.

I am thankful for a great vet, my dear friend Kelly and for the encouraging words from my friends.

Until next time...........................