Finally - RAIN!

Friday - but not the end of my week. I still have to work tomorrow.
The clinic was very busy, just like every day this week! Emily took the day off so I was appointment. Plus I had to do the schedule for the kennel and I had to fill out all the boarding sheets for tomorrow. I have about 10 dogs coming in so it's quite a bit of paper work. I'm not going to bore you with the appointments, just say there were a LOT of them. 3 doctors unitl 12 and then 2. I did set up a urine culture for Jen, an 11 week old boxer puppy. First you have to set up the plates to see if you can grow an organism. The next day, if something grew on the plates, you set up a sensitivity plate to see what antibiotics the organism is sensitive to. I actually set up the sensitivity plate. Tomorrow we will read it to see what antibiotic will work for this boxer puppy.

This is the initial growth from the urine. Look at the yellow spots on the top one.

This shows the original culture and the sensitivity plate I set up. Each white dot is made of something

similar to cardstock with a different antibiotic impregnated in each. The doctor tells me which

antibiotics to try. The tubes on the right hold the circles of antibiotics.

I didn't have to stay too much past 5. Once home took a break and then  went out to put the horses in the bottom pasture. It had rained some with even a little lightning and I wanted to get the horses set for the night in case more storm came through. The nice thing was the great clouds and sky. 

This is actually how it looked with a perfect line down the clouds. The view is right over my head.

In between rain drops, we walked by the garden on the way back to the house. The zucchini had gone ballistic and I picked 5 zucchini! Plus a few cherry tomatoes. The rest of the garden is doing good but a little ways off from harvesting. This rain is fantastic for the corn and beans. The row crop corn growing around us was really starting to suffer from drought. In Iowa farmers were worried they would have no corn at all! Hopefully everyone's getting some of this much needed moisutre.

A quick visit to the chickens since I haven't been out there in a few days. My 2 baby chicks are outside now with the flock and I wanted to see how they were doing. They really surprised me - Piccadilly ran out to me when I walked into the hen coop. When I was bent down trying to pick them up (a broody hen kept attacking me when the chicks made noise), Piccadilly actually jumped up on my shoulder. I lifted Beetlejuice up to join her. As you can see, Beetlejuice liked this new activity. I guess I'll have to bring them a treat of hard boiled egg tomorrow -

To finish off, I have a picture of the broody hen setting on a mess of eggs hoping to hatch them. She has to set for 3 weeks. This is one of my footless hens - whose feet literally froze off one winter. She gets around ok though. No, I actually don't have a name for her. Listening to the rain off and on all evening. Lots of lightning again as well as a little pea sized hail. The poor llamas are getting wet but I'm not coaxing them in now!

Forestville State Park

Anna and I spent this past weekend in Forestville State Park with our horses Piper and SueBee. What a fun time! Anna had to  kind of make all the arrangements to get her mother to go but I am so glad she did. I was worried about how SueBee would be in the woods - she always thinks there's bears hiding behind the trees - but Piper was there to comfort her mother and Anna was there to comfort hers!
This is how the horses stay when you're not doing something with them. It's an old fashioned hitching post and the horses seem very calm tied to it. They stay there all through the night too:

The horses have their fly masks on to help with those pesky things. The flies seem to really bother Piper but both horses are more comfortable and don't seem to be bothered about looking through a mesh.

It was REALLY hot Friday when we got there. The temp and humidity combined to make it quite uncomfortable. We went for a short ride and then put everyone to bed. Anna and I were so hot we didn't feel like eating anything but went to bed. In the trailer it was hot too and we just laid there listening to the horses move. You don't get much rest this way, hot and worrying about the horses, but the front came through and cooled things off a bit.

Saturday we had planned for our longest ride. Started out before 9 so it was a little cooler. The campground was fairly quiet and not much stirring when we left. Of course most people were plugged into air conditioning and snug as bugs. Oh well, we had a beautiful morning ride. To get to the trail loop we wanted, we had to make our first water crossing. It was a doozy, with steps leading down to the water, a bridge right next to the crossing, and fast moving water. It took us about 15 minutes to convince the horses they weren't going to die if they went in. After that, all the crossings were a piece of cake. In fact I had to push SueBee to keep crossing at one place because she felt like laying down in the water and rolling over with me. I'm sure the water would have felt wonderful but not with me on her!

This is the place we had lunch - ritz crackers with tuna! The horses were tied at the hitching post there and we had a lovely meal at "Big Spring". Right now this is at the end of the trail and you have to turn around and backtrack to return. They are working on making it a loop so I guess we'll have to go back some day.

Anna and I saw a few deer and fawns on the rides. The deer are pretty unafraid around horses, even with people on top, so we were able to get quite close. The horses were not very cooperative though and refused to stand still for picture taking. I guess I need to work on that with SueBee.

Both Anna and I tried to take pictures of each other riding but since the horses were not cooperating I had to delete a number o f blurry ones. The woods were lovely though and each trail loop was a little different topography. I think Fall would be a beautiful time at this park. We may have to come back then too.

Saturday night was cooler and we were hungry enough to have chili and Fritos. Good! Lots more people tonight and it was definitely noisier. The horses handled it ok though. Trying to go to bed early didn't work, we woke up around 11:00 hearing something gnawing on wood. The horses weren't upset but Anna and I decided to pick up everything on the picnic table. I put the propane stove up against the trailer for the night.
The next morning around 6:00, I heard noises outside. I opened the door and there were 3 creatures outside the trailer - 1 big and 2 small. A mother raccoon and her 2 babies! That is what had been making all the noise around camp. They scurried off, the mother calling to her her children who were in no hurry to follow her. It was still fairly dark so I couldn't get any pictures (drat). When I got up again a little later, I could see that the baby raccoon's had been trying to stick their tiny long fingers in the holes in the propane stove. They left behind the evidence;

Sunday we had time for one more ride. The park had 15 miles of horse trails and we hit almost every one. The horses got very sweaty and were rewarded after the rides with a cooling off. As you can see, they love water!

Eventually we had to go though. SueBee was bushed - every trail had lots of ups and downs. It was really hard work for the horses - really hard work. Piper was a little sore on her back and SueBee had a couple of sores from the tack. But we all had a good time and I thank my wonderful daughter for this fantastic trip. I hope we can go again sometime!

July 10

Well, day off again. Lots to do at home but that never changes! This is real quick as it is already 10:00 p.m.
I thought I'd have a relaxing day at home instead of going to town to get shopping done. As I sat on the sofa (yes, but I had just finished shaving Gertie and I was taking a short break) someone drove up. Now, we don't get many visitors out here. Usually it's just friends of the kids. This time it was our neighbors from down the road. They had a load of hay they'd been trying to sell and they wondered if we needed any. After talking to them, I decided to buy it. They brought it right over and helped us put the hay in the barn even.
Luckily it was 4:30 when they left to bring the hay over so I had Jacky come home early, Anna got home and Emma was already here. 130 bales later, we were done in record time with all this help. Often it's just Jacky and I alone. Last time I even had to ask my kennel helper to come over and help since both girls were gone!
 So much for my lazy day. I also made an observation about the birds outside. The juvenal starlings were outside making all kinds of noise, trying to get the adults to feed them my expensive bird food. As I watched, I saw these young birds get onto the oriole feeders and gobble up the grape jelly! I had never seen this in the adults but I know my jelly has been disappearing like crazy. Now I know, I'm feeding the starlings this too! Wish there was some way to keep the starlings away, short of shooting them!


Made stir-fry tonight. The chicken was caramelized - turned out wonderful. For the vegies, I picked fresh broccoli, baby eggplants, and zucchini. Added one spring onion from the garden and some store sugar snap peas, mushrooms and garlic. It really turned out good. I love getting food from the garden and eating it right away! I did freeze the rest of the broccoli. Can't eat it fast enough!

Back to Work

Thursday, two days off and back to work. This week will feel weird. No surgeries so I didn't have anything to do there. However, I had to meet with our new intern. Mike neglected to tell me before he left for Montana that he had agreed to have a vet tech intern from Rochester School come for 4 weeks. And he told Holly I was in charge. Well, that's all fine and good, but it would have been nice for him to tell ME!
Anyway, I met with Kim today for the first time. I let her stay for a couple of hours and observe. Next week she will be with me for 3 full days and on Saturday. This will go on the rest of July. I will gradually have her do more things as she gets more comfortable with how we do things. This girl is older and has 3 children - 2 of which are old enough to drive. She is going back to school to do what she really loves.
There's a lot of people out there who just want to work with animals. Unfortunately they often aren't  good with people and you HAVE to be good with people. They are the clients, they are the ones you have to talk to, inform, convince to do things for the good of their pets. They pay your wages. I think Kim will do ok in this respect.
She had a rough beginning today. With the high temperature (90's) plus super high humidity, heat stroke is a real possibility. We had a golden retriever come in with heat stroke while Kim was with me. The owners had simply taken him for a walk around the block. I guess they realized he was too hot and started cooling him down, but then he went into seizures. Oh boy. They brought him in and Pam and Jen soaked him down. His temperature gradually came down but Jen had to give phenobarbital to stop the seizures. When I left to come home, he was awake but twitching and Jen is afraid he had brain damage from the high body temp.
This past weekend, my Bryn had overheated while I was out with the ponies. I immediately hosed her down for a while, then set her in front of the fan inside the house. I was lucky. Pam had the same thing happen last week with one of her labs. It doesn't take any time at all.
Then we had a cat come in 'bleeding from the mouth'. Dennis decided to keep the cat and he sedated her to look in her mouth. She started vomiting and vomited up a huge amount of blood. We didn't know if she would make it or not. Dennis gave her Vitamin K to clot the blood and she looked ok when I left.
That was Kim's first couple of hours with us!


Anna had some friends over tonight. Would you believe they decided to have a bonfire? One of her friends, Heather, is spending the summer working at a llama backpacking outfit in Wyoming. What a cool job!!!! I love the pictures she posts on facebook. Jacky and I are wondering about the wisdom of our daughter - to have a hot bonfire when the temperature outside is 91 degrees and the RH is  76%. Here they are...

Anna, Heather, and Emily had to make smores, roasting marshmallows over the flames. As you can see by this picture, it was a little tricky getting close to the fire -

Time spent filling up all the water buckets and troughs. Anna and I are leaving right after work tomorrow to take the horses to Forrestville State Park where we will camp for a couple of nights. The forecast for tomorrow is 95 degrees and muggy.

On that note, I leave you with this picture. Enjoy.

Happy 4th of July!

Well, everyone here has the day off from work. Anna and I got up early to ride before it got too hot to do anything. I let Anna warm SueBee up on the ground and a little on her back. I got up after that while Anna got up on Piper and we went for a short ride. I started sticking to the saddle ..but it was all good. The horses seemed to walk fine with their new shoes on and SueBee even gave me a short jog-trot. She was tense the whole time but she managed. You would have thought I asked her to jump a 6 foot high fence! (which her daughter would love to do).
Anna left to go to a friend's cabin to sunburn on a lake and Emma went with us to Owatonna for a few things. It was hot. Heat index of 104 degrees.
After chilling (literally) for a while, I went out to check water for all the animals. We had moved the ponies back in the big bottom pasture so they could have shade. When I got down to the horse water trough there was a bird floundering in the half filled container. I hurriedly climbed over and fished out the sodden bird. Here is a picture of what I fished out;

I looked up in my Peterson guide and I believe this is a young male American Kestrel. Here is a picture of an adult , also called a Sparrow Hawk. This is the most common falcon found in the U.S. and has been used in the sport of falconry.

Emma said we've had one before in the trough. I don't remember. That's why I blog now - to remember! Anyway, I took him down to the bottom pasture, away from the cats, and found a spot to place him. He was pretty stressed, probably exhausted, and cold from being in the water so long. I don't know if he'll make it but he's better off in the pasture then stressed in my house. Wild birds are delicate and don't take stress very well. It's definitely warm out so he should dry out quickly.

While I was in the pasture I decided to go visit my horse. They look quite peaceful grazing under the trees - until they get close and you see all the mosquitoes and flies on them!

 Above me a blue jay was calling. As I walked towards the gate a baby jay fluttered in front of me and hid in the long grass. I took a quick picture of him before his parent came down on top of me. I also hurried away because the horses were following me and I didn't want them to step on this baby.

Can't see much but those white stripes! The grackles keep the jays away from the feeders by the house but that is probably protecting the jay's babies as they leave the nest. The cats are rough on fledglings. 

Back by the house, the cicadas had started singing. That is the sound of summer. It also always makes me think of Texas and Seguin. The drone of those insects is such a lovely song - just like the sound of crickets or frogs. I looked and looked for the shed exoskeletons but didn't find any. However, I did find lots of small crabapples and also (wormy) green apples.

No cicadas on the ground today but just in case you don't remember what they look like - 

Looks like it's cooling off. Temperature outside is now 87 degrees but the humidity is still fairly high. It's been in the 70's percentage. Guess I'll try to make the most of this holiday and take a nap.....

Hot July 3

Hot, hot, hot.
That's the word for the day, week, probably month. Today was farrier day for the horses. Luckily Anna had caught the ponies the night before and put them in the middle of the horse barn to save time. Luckily I say because Kerry was half an hour early and got there only half an hour after I got up! Anna and I had to scramble to get the horses up from the bottom pasture and everyone in the stalls. Then Emma helped me get the big fan down from the hay loft. We set this up in the aisleway to keep Kerry a little cooler, the horses a little cooler and hopefully, keep some of the flies off since a horse swishing it's tail and stomping it's feet is not conducive to a good trimming session.
Today Kerry put horse shoes on the two horses that we're taking trail riding this weekend - Piper and SueBee. Piper has never had shoes on before - we call it going 'barefoot' in the horse world. But Forrestville State Park has trails made of limestone that make horses' 'bare feet' super sore without protection. One or two hours riding and then the horse is ouchy. If you're there for 2 days, that leaves a lot of time doing nothing because your horse hurts.
 They still put shoes on like they did long long ago. The farriers still use anvils and hammers and lots of tools. There is 'hot' shoeing and 'cold' shoeing. Kerry used cold shoeing for mine since it was just for trail riding and...I really don't know why...

Kerry has to walk between the barn and the back of his truck many times to get a shoeing done. At least we have a barn, and a fan to help with weather issues (both summer and winter weather). Lots of places Kerry said the horses are out in the pasture or in a pen and tied to a post. Not very safe for Kerry either. He also does horses where there's no one at home. THAT's too dangerous for him. I told him to stop going to those. Kerry gets injured quite a bit on the job. Last time (two months ago), his thumb was all wrapped up because he hit his thumb with the hammer when the horse jerked on him. He lost the thumb nail and had a lot of trouble holding his tools. I'm glad to see he has a helper this summer any way - maybe trying to learn the craft.

Here Anna is holding Piper while she gets shoes on. Anna had to leave for work just after Piper was finished.

SueBee actually stood better than she usually does (she usually tries to fall over). I think she enjoys the idea of shoes as a fashion statement. Here's a picture of both front feet, one done and one not done yet.

Hmmmm, looks like she toes out a little. Of course, she was trying to not fall over while Kerry had her hind foot up when I was taking this. Kerry asked that I take the last picture since it proves he can get all the little horse shoe nails straight across. I guess this NEVER happens.

Kerry also took care of my poor founder pony who's feet grow 10 times faster than a normal horses because of the founder. Usually we go 8-10 weeks between trimmings but for him I'm going to try 4 weeks. Kerry actually sawed off, with a saw, the toe of each foot to make it go quicker. Rudy wasn't real pleased with this but there's no feeling in it....

Here's a finale picture of Rudy's two front feet - one done and one not yet...

While we were busy in the barn with Kerry, I had the llamas in the adjoining pasture. Towards the end of the 3 hours, the llamas started really grumbling at each other. Honestly it sounded like a circus or zoo. I did want to move them back to the barn pasture since the shade had disappeared from where they had to wait. After I got all the horses put back where they belonged, I let the llamas back in. Will, my big male, almost ran into the barn and this is what he did -

If you can't see it, Will's front feet are standing in the water trough. He loves cooling off this way. Of course, it doesn't help the drinking water any....

Hot, hot, hot. No one moving much. Emma and Lee went to Beaver Lake to cool off but Anna is watching the 4th of July parade. In this heat, Really. Hot.

July 1

Sunday! Another nice day to sleep in - until 7 that is. Jacky and I went outside before 9 hoping to beat the heat (we didn't). The garden was 'comin' up weeds' and we needed to try to make a dent. Jacky got the big tiller started again and I started flagging the watermelons and cantaloupes because they were hard to see. Then I hand weeded the tomatoes, fed them, and put straw on them to keep them cool in this heat. Jacky got a couple more rows of corn and beans planted and put the soaker hose on. It got too hot to stay out so I came in and took a cool shower.

Clothes had to be washed and hung outside, birds fed again....I don't know, lots of this and that. Too hot to do too much even though it was just 90 today. Well, the clothes dried quickly anyway.

SueBee had splashed all the water out so I stood and gave her a bath and then filled up the trough. If you notice all the water on the ground, it's from SueBee splashing. It does give a lot of animals a drink though. I watched goldfinches, sparrows, grackles, butterflies, wasps, all come down for a drink while I was filling up the trough. When the mosquitoes aren't biting it can be quite pleasant!









Having a lot of trouble putting pictures in with captions. Sooooo above is a Summer Azure Butterfly and then a Thread Waisted Wasp, both of which I watched today in the mud by the trough. Let's go on, shall we?

Jacky and I drove to the clinic this afternoon. I had to give a dog some kaopectate - she had been eating walnuts before being boarded and had bloody diarrhea when she came - and also to take care of Tom's 2 kittens. They were too young to be alone while Tom and Linda went out of town. One day last week a raccoon almost ate one of the kittens. There wasn't room in the kennel so I had to put them up front where the kennel assistants couldn't go. On the way home I noticed that the wild lily "Turk's Cap" was blooming so Jacky stopped the truck so I could get a picture. It came out lovely - don't you think?

Sometimes the old cell phone can do a pretty good job!

Juju thought it was too hot too - and even the geese were panting! Yes they need their own swimming pool...

I've also forgotten to show my two new chicks. They were extras at the feed store so Emma brought them home one day. They're both hens and the white one is called "Piccadilly" and the black one is "Beetlejuice".
They were a  lot cuter when I first got them but I kept forgetting to take their picture. I'd like to take them outside but not sure they'd last very long. Too many dangers for momma-less chicks!