Round Two

Do remember Banner the alpaca?  (You can read about him here.) He was a very sick boy just a week or so after I brought him home last spring.  Sand colic seemed to be the culprit. I really thought I was going to lose him, but by some miracle he came through.

Banner after his last round with colic.

Yesterday afternoon I went out to do my chores and noticed Mr. Banner didn't look quite right.  He was laying on the ice near the feed trough and wasn't interested in getting up to eat the nice leafy hay I put in there for him and his buddies.  He was also shivering and had quite a bit of ice and snow covering him.  The night before last, we had a snowstorm and wind chill temperatures of around -35 below zero.  My first thought was that Banner must've drawn the short straw and had been kicked out of the shelter by the larger males.  I feared he was in bad shape due the extreme cold.  So I dragged him into the feed room of the barn while my big boy helped by shoving on his hind end for all he was worth. After making sure he couldn't get into anything, I gave him fresh hay and water and hoped that being inside, out of the snow and wind would do the trick.

A while later, a friend brought me out some beautiful chickens that had been looking for a new home. While we were up at the barn situating the chickens, we checked on Banner and discovered he was actually not a frozen alpaca, he was a very colicky, impacted alpaca. Again....

So we bedded him in some nice, fluffy straw, freshened his water, breathed a little prayer and hoped for the best.  Alpacas are really tricky about medications and such.  I would've preferred to give him something for pain and make him comfortable, but there wasn't anything available that wouldn't do more harm than good.

I was afraid of the condition he would be in by this morning.  I went out as early as I could, in sub-zero weather to check on our little buddy.  I found him with his cheerful, furry face looking out over the dutch door of the feed room.  He had been able to work through his belly ache and had even eaten some breakfast.  He could not wait to get out of there and I was so relieved and excited to see his improvement!  I turned him back out with his pals and he immediately asked for more grub.
 

We are both waiting for days like this one, last summer!

I'm thinking that good, ol' Banner must have a tummy kinda like mine.  It's pretty quick to turn on me and cause me grief.  This probably won't be the last time he gets a bellyache but at least after round two, it seems we're both tough enough to get through it....

Bye for now,
PB

How Was Your New Year's?

Another year has passed.  Last night was the annual fundraiser and dance for the Geraldine swimming pool.  It is always such a fun time and last night was no exception.  Cowboys in costumes, good food, a silent auction that was at times quite a wrestling match, dancing and a good ol' gab fest.  The snow was falling in large, fluffy flakes that begged to land on eyelashes and the tip of your nose as we walked into the old auditorium. Perfection.

My companion and I decided to enjoy the dance until nearly midnight, then hit a long standing tradition of a house party out in the hills west of town.  We drove the road over the mountains as midnight rolled around and the snow swirled.  Friends and laughter were found in a lovely, warm farmhouse.  Stories were told and plans were hatched until yawns outnumbered the laughter.

We headed out the snow buried driveway and down the gravel road until we were just to the pavement. The truck didn't sound right.... an unidentifiable noise.  We went a bit further....  Then the "low tire pressure" light was flashing and it became obvious we were going to have to fix a flat in the middle of the night, in the middle of a snow storm, in the middle of nowhere.  We were then disappointed to discover that the necessary parts for changing said tire were not to be found.  Both cell phones were mocking us with their "no signal" status.  So there we were.  Not a house in sight, no phones, no changing the tire. We decided to lay back on the heated seats and take a snooze until morning.  At least we had plenty of fuel and wouldn't freeze.  In daylight maybe we could flag someone down for a ride to town.

Morning came finally and the snowstorm had moved on.  In the distance near some ancient grain elevators there stood a little old shack of a house and I saw a light come on!  "Hey! Does someone live down there?" I asked my partner in crime. Turns out yes, an old codger named Kenny lived there.  Surely we could use his phone to call for some best friend back up.  "Does he like you?" I asked.  "Think so...." was the answer.  We decided to creep the truck slowly towards the shack, hoping to not destroy the wheel.  My traveling partner disappeared to the house and came back with Kenny and the key to an old pickup truck.  I guess he did like us okay.  "Kenny, you are a scholar and a gentleman...." and off we went with the old man's truck.  Quite an eventful first day of 2014, I'd say. Now, I'm ready for a long night's sleep.... Happy New Year everyone.

Bye for now,
PB

The Birthday Goat

There is a funny quote going around Pinterest from Duck Dynasty....

 

So today I made sure Prairie Granny and I became "proper women". Today is Prairie Granny's birthday!  So what do you get a woman who has very few "wants".  You get her a goat!  Well, we're going to share the goat.  I get to do the lion's share of the care and milking and Granny get's to enjoy her. 

 

So world, meet "Ivy"!

 

 

She is a three year old, Toggenburg dairy goat. Togg's are mine and Granny's favorite breed.  She is friendly and sweet and great about riding in the back of my car!  She's expecting babies in the spring.  I can't wait for them and the fresh milk too!

 

 



A friend of Ivy's came along to keep her company.  Goats get very lonely without another goat buddy to talk to. The lambs are not sure what to think of their new paddock mates!  But my big boy is very excited that we have a goat again and I'm pretty sure this was a perfect birthday surprise for Granny.

 

We're off to birthday dinner!

 

Bye for now,

 PB 

How To Meet the Neighbors

My big dogs were naughty.  Very naughty.  They took off early yesterday morning and I couldn't find them anywhere.  Something had been really getting them riled up at about 2:30 a.m.  When I got up, they were gone.  I decided if they weren't back by the time we got home from taking one of the rugrats to a doctor's appointment, I would call the sheriff's department and ask if they had been reported anywhere.

Just as I was pulling out of my driveway, and older, blue, Ford ranch truck pulled up and Chuck rolled down the window.  "Do you have a huge white dog and another dog?"  I confirmed I did.  "Well, they're at my house in the barn.  And they tangled with a porcupine."  I apologized profusely and told him I'd be over to get them as soon as I could.

Chuck and Karen live two and a half miles to the west on the cutest farmstead you've ever seen.  I've always liked their place but had never formally met them or been out there.  I wish I had better reason to go meet my neighbors than to retrieve my rotten dogs.  But they we're so kind and gracious about it and I'm actually kinda glad it happened.  It's always great to get better acquainted with nice folks, however it comes about. 

The dogs sure enough had tangled with that porcupine.  Each dog had a nose full of quills.  I am thankful it wasn't worse than that.  Some dogs try to eat the porcupine and end up having major surgery to remove them from their throat. 

 

First thing this morning I loaded up 200 pounds of dog and went to the vet.  I wasn't able to convince the big babies to hold still and let me rip quills out of their nose.  Imagine that!  We needed drugs....



But with the help of Dr. Evans and technician Nikki, we got them quill free and they are now sleeping off a good trip in my basement....  Now I'm off to bake my neighbors some, "thanks-for-not shooting-my-dogs cookies".

 

Bye for now,

PB

Just The Way It Is

There's a full moon over Tulsa.... no wait.... that was another time and another place.  But "There's a full moon over Geraldine"  just doesn't have the same ring to it.  And it never was a country song....

But there sure is a nice moon over the prairie tonight.

Moon rise to the East.

It looks like it might be a smidge under full.... but who cares?  It was still awesome to see it rise up out of the horizon.

Today has been warm, thank the Lord.  The snow is melting, my world is a soggy, muddy, mess.  The wind has also been blowing enthusiastically for two straight days.  It's the kind of day that has the hay blowing up my nose and down my shirt when I'm out feeding the critters. It just could not be avoided no matter how I tried to get upwind.  But I'm not complaining!  I'll take the wind, slush, ice, mud or whatever.  That's just the way it is.  I get to live here and do what I love to do every single day.  No life is perfect but we all have so much we can be grateful for if we just look close enough....

Bye for now,
PB

The Grumpy One

Hello all,

It sure has been a nice day here in North Central Montana.  The daily temperatures are finally well above zero again after some of the coldest weather we've seen in over 15 years.  The sun is shining and my critters actually seem happy again....

Except one.  I have decided that our farm has our own version of "Grumpy Cat".  But instead, he's "Grumpy Alpaca".  His name is Mudflap.  Maybe he's grumpy because someone gave him that ridiculous name.  I have no idea.  But no matter what, he's a grump.  You can feed him, sweet talk him, pet him, or leave the grouch completely alone and he is still grumpy....

See what I mean?  He reminds me of some people I know! 

It's ok Mudflap.... I still love you! 


Bye for now,
PB

That One "Special" Calf

I'd like you to meet "Superman".  He is a very distinctly marked calf, with most of his body being white.  So it's very easy to pick him out of a crowd....

I'm not all sure why this happens....  But it seems that without fail, in every herd of cattle, there is one special calf.  It doesn't matter if your herd has one hundred calves or ten, like mine.  There is one calf that stands out right away.  He's the one who will push through the feed room door and just about knock you over, just to see what's in there.  The one who tells his buddies to squeeze through that hole in the fence to check out "greener pastures."  He doesn't care if he's been munching all morning, he'll stand there and bawl real loud, just to see if you'll dish out more groceries.  Or maybe he'll just absolutely refuse to move to the next pasture.... even when the water is frozen solid, there's a blizzard going on, it's -20 degrees below zero and his life literally depends on moving through that gate.  Nope.... forget it.... ain't gonna happen.

That's what Superman was up to on Friday.  I had to move the calves to another pasture due to their automatic waterer refusing to operate properly at -25 below.  The wind was blowing pretty good, so it was kicking up a little ground blizzard.  I was dressed in my super duper winter gear and was still getting chilled to the bone.  The exposed skin around my eyes was burning and I knew I was at risk of frostbite.

I called to my "babies" and they followed me and the bucket of feed I was shaking, right across the road and through the gate.  All but two anyway.... One of them was "Peter".  He's always been a slowpoke at most things. But eventually, he did decided to amble over and through the gate.  Superman was bringing up the rear.  It looked as though we was going to cooperate for once.  He followed Peter through the gate.... But as soon as he got past the gate post, he screeched to a halt and took off the other direction at a run.  He trotted all the way back where he came from.  So I trudged through the snow drifts and fought the bitter wind again.  Got some more feed in my bucket and called, begged and pleaded for him to follow me.  He just stood there.... I tried chasing him.  But with my bum leg from a badly pulled muscle and the snowdrifts, I wasn't making a very good "cow horse".  So I gave up.  I threw a bale of hay over the fence and slammed that gate shut.  Then I had to rig some water up for him for the night.  By the time I got back inside I thought I'd never thaw out!

The next morning, my "special" calf was at the gate, bawling to please go over across the road with his buddies!  I happily opened the gate....

He quickly found his friends up in the corral with the horses and alpacas all sharing a hearty breakfast.  Then he had the nerve to not even say thank-you!

So I leave you with a moo....

Bye for now,
PB