A New Beginning, A Sad End

Before I start tonight, please join Keith and me in praying for the many thousands affected today by the tsunami and the earthquakes... whose lives have been ended or devastated and who are so needing of prayers and help today.

Today I went to our regular feed store, Valley Feed in Bonner Springs, where I have traded many years, for Chick Day.  Valley no longer brings chicks in to sell, but hosts Heartland Hatchery several times in the spring.  Last fall, I bought eight chicks there, and brought them home.  I had two porcelain d'Uccles, and six others.  A snake got into their cage that night, and killed five of them, leaving a d'Uccle, an Ameracauna, and a Red Comet.

Those three birds, the Survivors, are healthy and strong, living with Butch, my pet rooster, in the feedroom.  This afternoon we put them on the coop side with the other birds, and when we came in three hours later, they had come across the rafters and were with their buddy in the feed room again!

So I went to the feed store to get some more porcelain d'uccles like the beautiful Angel:

This is what I came home with:

Uh.  There are more than four.

There are about four large standards - I think I went with Wyandottes this time, which I have never had before but always wanted. 

The rest are Brassy Back Red Old English Gamebirds (it's a sickness, those birds, they come in about 75 color varieties), a few golden Seabrights, some Mille Fleur d'Uccles, some cochins, and I am sure I am forgetting one or two.  There are 24 in all.  Just what we needed. 

Let's hope there's a mix of cockerels and pullets, as the only ones straight run were the Wyandottes.  They will be in the nursing cage for a week or so, and then transferred into the old horse trough, which is deep enough to hold them, and Keith will make a barrier to go across the top to keep the snakes out. 

On a brighter note, I THOUGHT I noticed something in the little henhouse last night, and it was confirmed tonight... One of the four blue silkies from Cindy is a cock, so they may be in their own little place for summer, the small dog pen with a doghouse for shelter (these birds are the ones who never roosted).  They will be able to do what birds do, pick and scratch, but can lay purebred eggs. 

Today, we lost this little girl on the left:

Here you see her last picture, with Gertie protecting her on the bed this morning. She is peaceful, but you can just make out how wasted her poor little rear end was becoming.  When Keith took her to Dr. Tom this morning and explained that she could no longer control her bowels, and had trouble even walking, Tom explained to Keith that the illness had moved to her brain.  Keith made the decision then and there.  When Tom administered the sedative, little Jenny, who had never had her shots, crawled up Keith's jacket to his neck, where she had always felt safest.  His warm hands that had always cradled her, now helped her to cross the bridge. 

What she had, we know now, after six months, was panleukopenia, or feline distemper.  Those of you who read this blog know that she came from a neighboring farm during the Kaw Valley Farm Tour, and I brought her home to be a companion to Josie, who thank heavens, has had her shots.  When we took Jenny in for hers, we were told she was already ill, and not to do the shots yet.  Each time we took her in, we were told the same.  Through the six months of her life, we kept her inside and vetted her every few weeks.  Some weeks she was playful and happy, but came through very bad bouts of illness. 

Feline distemper is extremely contagious.  There can be no more cats here, and we are to watch Josie carefully, as she has some of the upper respiratory stuff going on.  We know now what to look for, and will follow her closely.  We have stripped the bed and are washing everything in hot water, throwing away the pillows.  The cat box and dishes were thrown out, and the room will be throroughly cleaned tomorrow. 

Tonight we buried her under Beau's tree... in between Nick and Gwen, and near Addie Mae, in the Circle of Friends.  We miss her dear little face already, and Keith misses his warm little girl who cuddled him every night, and looked to him in her last few seconds as her protector and guardian. 

Sleep tight, Little Jenny, sleep tight tonight, and never be sick again.

Hard Decisions

Keith got home from his one night away trip for this week, and we sat and talked a while.  I caught him up on what was going on around here, and he caught me up on what is going on in his job, both interesting subjects.

In this day and age, we are both grateful to have good jobs.

Right now, at 9:38 PM, he is outside with the big spotlight, trying to find what he thought was a racoon running from the front of the big henhouse to the shop.  We've already had a possum attack in the last month, and we don't want one of the dogs to try to take on a coon, even strong Lilly.  I'm going to try to catch him and make sure he double-checks the door to the bighenhouse (precariously shut with a washrag) and make sure the barrier is up into the little henyard.  Though the possum was IN that henhouse, it is actually the stronger of the two buildings.  The dogs have set up an uproar, so I have finally let Lilly Ann out to help Keith.

Tonight I came home to find  poor little Ruffles having trouble again, but as you can see by the accompanying short clip, he IS able to eat and drink, though somewhat sloppily.  I am going to shine the spotlight on him tomorrow and really check him all over for mites... that is the only thing other than something neurological I can think it is.  If he is no better by tomorrow night, we will make a decision.  We are afraid to put him back in with the rest of the little bunch. 

(I tried to load this 45 second clip for a half hour, and finally had to stop.  Despite ramping up our satellite service, sometimes they just.will.not.load.)  He is not eating or drinking right, he is drinking with his mouth open, and unable to lift his head high.  I still think the damage is neuro, but will have to decide soon.

The other sad decision will be about this one:

She spends her days now either laying on the spare bed, or laying on the satellite receiver under the TV.  She doesn't play, and her hind end is giving out.  She is growing thinner, though still eating and drinking.  She is defenseless against Gertie, who bothers her, and cannot run off or fight back, so we are keeping her in the spare bedroom most of the time.    Keith, who has babied her since she came home to us, is sleeping with her because he doesn't want her to be alone.  We would not be so concerned, but the herpesvirus, which has kept her so sick since birth, is almost licked, just as the vet said it would be.  She still has some exudate coming out of her nose, but is no longer explosively sneezing and having trouble breathing.  Now, however, with the weakness in her hindquarters, she is unable to control her bowels, and we keep finding hard little pellets where she has been.  Because the picture is dark, you can't see how thin our poor little Jenny has become.  She has been many times to see Dr. Tom, and Dr. Beck, his partner who loves kitties.  She just has had so much going against her from birth.  Anyway, Keith will take her again on Friday to see if there is anything more we can do for her. This hindquarters weakness is getting worse by the day. 

Kittens

A kitten with a length of string

Is such a pretty, playful thing

A kitten with a leaf to chase

Exhibits beauty, form and grace

But I love kittens curled up, wise,

With ancient mystery in their eyes.

       Salvatore Marsiglia

Please join us at Farm Friend Friday, hosted by Amy and Richie at Verde Farm

Jenny, Feeling Much Better

Our little Jenny cat is feeling MUCH better!  Here she is on the back of the recliner, and we are glad, because this time last week she was in hiding, and her breathing very labored.  We noticed this evening that she was "squeaking" again, and so she went for her hour long humidifying treatment in the bathroom.  Her "sister" Josie groomed her for a long time, too... because Jenny has not started cleaning herself regularly again.  We can see by her eyes that her sinuses are still full and affected, so we continue the medicines.  However, she is eating again, and we are grateful for that. 

 

What a relief that there won't be another little grave under Beau's tree... we were dreading that very thing.
Your blogger has been down with her own bug the last few days, so this will be a short post tonight, with pictures loading very slowly, and hard to sit up here at the computer.  Maybe by tomorrow Jenny and I will be in top shape again!

Dr. Tom Comes Through Again

We owe Dr. Tom again big time... we did not expect to have Jenny with us tonight, but Dr. Tom's confidence and assurance sent her home again.... her lungs are not affected, and it is the sinuses that are so full.  She had a Vitamin B12 shot, and I have Nutrical to get calories into her (and scratches into me!) and Keith bought a humidifier, so she can have nightly sessions in the bathroom to loosen up the infection. By tonight, after being forcefed her nutrition supplement, and the shot and the penicillin by mouth, she was feeling so much better that we were mightily relieved. 

Jenny about to jump on Keith for the first time in over a week

We are not out of the woods yet, but we watched as she trotted across the living room and up on to the recliner...

And then finally, into the office with Keith where she helped him look at the internet for a while. 

You can see by her eyes that her sinuses are still very full, and we have instructions on how to get some of that to drain (which I won't regale you with here).  Suffice it to say we are very relieved and happy to have our little Jenny on the mend, finally.  We would have hated to lose such an affectionate little girl.

The reason we know she is mending???  Her purr is back!

Sunday Thoughts

Today after church, Keith took down the big Christmas tree on the porch, while I drove down to see my oldest grandson Chris in Garnett, about 65 miles from us.

Chris and his old gran!

 Keith packed away the big artificial tree which we put on the porch so the kittens could not climb in it constantly before Christmas, where Nathan dressed it with plastic balls in case it came to harm outside.  In fact, it DID fall over twice in heavy winds despite a sack of gravel at it's feet.  Yesterday I took down the inside decorations from the Gatlinburg pine that also was dressed in plastic this year (same reason!).  We packed them away in bins and tomorrow they will go out to the storage building to wait until next season.  By then, the kittens - or Josie, at least - will be old enough that climbing the tree won't be so tempting.

Jenny, an hour ago... she still tries sometimes to stay near Keith, who was on the couch

Our little Jenny tonight is still very ill.  We have decided that she will go again to Dr. Tom tomorrow morning, and have him give us an honest assessment of her chances.  He and we hoped that she would be able to grow out of this upper respiratory infection, but the last week has been horrible.  We have seen this before... last year, our Nick wasted away before our eyes, and Dr. Tom was unable to diagnose what caused it exactly.  We see this same condition now in Jenny, the wasting of the back and thigh muscles.  I tried dropping some plain bouillon down her throat tonight, but she struggled so against it that we stopped.  She has had her antibiotics faithfully, and we have tried to keep her nose clear, but she is even now laboring as she breathes.  She can still get up on the table where her food is out of reach of the dogs... but does not eat, and we have not seen her eat for four days now.  She is still drinking water, but sleeping almost all the time.  We let it drag on with Nickie for almost a month, and we regretted it... thinking the rest and sleep would do him well.... we will not make the same mistake with this sweet little girl who deserves better, and never had a real chance.

On a happier note, Keith ordered our vegetable seeds from Burpee today for the vegetable garden.  We are going to try putting the tomatos in containers again this year, as we have had wonderful success with this in the past, but the bulk of the garden will be in the ground, in the new layered beds.  We have (Keith decided!) decided to fence the vegetable garden to keep Lilly the Mole Digger out of it, and to keep her away from the paper layers  - which tend to end up in the far corners of the yard when she decides to play.  We'll use cattle panels and t posts, as I used to at the old Calamity Acres to make pens there for my chickens.

Gardens in winter

I am still pouring over catalogs myself, to order flowers and a few special perennials for the gardens, and then we'll buy whatever we don't order from a couple of well-liked local nurseries. Tomorrow I am off, so after a few necessary errands and a trip to the vet in the morning, I'll put away the last of the Christmas things, spruce the house up, and get ready to tackle the new year at the office on Tuesday.

I Fudged on the Fudge

Okay, I fudged on the fudge.  I started out to make Clotted Cream Fudge and made a box of Carnation's Famous Fudge, and let me tell you... it was easy and GOOD. Then, I cut the fudge this morning and put it on the table to take to work... and walked off and left it sitting under the newspaper Keith had opened to read.

I apologized to friend Gretchen whom I had promised fudge, and will take it tomorrow for everyone else to enjoy.   She will be gone on Christmas vacation, but I told her I would make some for her after the first of the year. 

I work tomorrow, and then am off for the long five day weekend.  I am going to get the "golden syrup" at the store tomorrow night, and make the special fudge on Friday to take to my son's on Saturday for our Christmas dinner. 

Today I talked to someone I had not spoken with in several months, a former co-worker, and he told me he had bought 80 acres to grow crops on near his dad's farm.  He works full time, but grew up farming and likes to keep his hands dirty.  Hearing this made me fill him in on some of the things we have done here this year, and I am thinking that it's time now at the end of the year to  assess what we have actually accomplished here, and what we hope to accomplish in the next few years.  I'll get this story in my head and sit down after Christmas to "put it on paper" for you.

I leave you with a picture of Jenny, whom Keith has been calling "El Destructo" (even though she's a girl!) ... she loves to play in sacks and boxes, and we keep a box for her to sleep in regularly.  Didn't our kids like to do the same?

Sound asleep for an hour!

It was a Beautiful Day....

It was cold enough to break ice again this morning, and I had to bring the little henhouse waterers in to thaw them.... but it was so pretty out for late November. 

The chickens were all happy to be out in the brisk air.... big and little.... and I cut our Halloween/Thanksgiving pumpkin for them to have a treat.

The llamas were enjoying the crisp air...

Tony wandered over to see what I was doing...

Inca wanted to see what I was doing, but Aztec wanted to see what the chickens were doing in the pasture...

But he's still little enough that where Mom goes, he goes too...

We are still not sure what color Aztec is really going to be...maybe gray?  He has one tiny dot of white on his chest in the middle.

The "Little" chicks in the little henhouse are 3 months old now, though still small.  They are healthy and well, but don't go outside yet.  There is a light shining in there day and night, so they can get under it for warmth.  That's a slice of pumpkin behind them in the doorway, but they were not interested in it.  Several are frizzles, meaning their feathers are curly. The gray chick with his back to you is a cockerel.

A better view of some of the chicks... the grey with his little beak and the white on the right are cockerels.... and the others, pullets (girls).  The little black is the spitting image of what surely is her mama, my black cochin Lady. I have no idea what I am going to do with two more cockerels.

Farmdog Abby wore herself out...

As did Lilly Ann...

Along with Keith and Jenny...

All in all, a good day here at Calamity Acres.

A New Blogging Assistant has Reported for Duty

Sometimes it's hard for me to see the screen.

Sometimes it's not.  Thank you, Jenny!

Meet Jenny

When we lost Gwen, it left a hole in our hearts.  We had been glad to find little Josie a few months before, and having her eased our pain a little at the loss of our little Queen of the House.  On the farm tour, I found some tiny kittens, put out by the farmer in hopes that visitors would take them home.  I went back a second day to get a little girl, and brought her home to be a companion to Josie.  We waited a week and took her to the vet to have her checked over, and after discovering an upper respiratory infection, she is being medicated and will go back this weekend for her first shots.  She is Jenny Anydots, after e.e. cummings.  She's a cutie.

Lightening about to strike.