Recovering from a virus

Our long, wonderful stretch of good health has come to an end.  We haven't had anyone sick for almost a year and it was very much appreciated and enjoyed.  I was sort of holding my breath wondering if we'd make it through February.  It seems that is our sick month.  But, alas, we didn't make it and several people came down with a stomach virus.  And a strange one it was, too.  It has lasted over a week.  Most people weathered it alright,
but poor Ethan has sure taken it hard.  He had already been trimming down, but now he is downright skinny. 



It is strange for me to see one of my children look skinny.  I'm used to stout and robust.  He's got all sorts of boney protrusions and you can count his ribs and every vertebrae.  But, everyone is on the mend now and though it is strange that none of the younger ones came down with it (so far), I am very thankful for that!

We have had our first taste of some of the unpleasantness of keeping large animals.  Chores.  Twice a day, every day in sickness or in health, for better or for worse.  Or something like that.  I was proud of Jacob when I saw that he had done the morning chores with a bowl in hand.  We also had some strong winds during the illness and the older ones all had to go out with Steve, who wasn't feeling well either and help fix our windbreaks. 

As we clean up the property it is somewhat like an archeological dig and you never know what we will uncover next.  I found a large black piece of plastic one day and drug it over by the trash can, but it came in handy here recently when we put it to good use.  We hung it with staples to make a covering over the wide opening that the bitter wind was blowing through straight into Brisket's stall.

Awhile back Jacob and Jordy tore down an old outbuilding that was in terrible shape and we used the currugated metal sheets to create a windblock over by Sweetiebelle's stall.

We have a gaping hole in the roof over the back corner and the rain and snow come right in and blow onto poor Brisket so we plugged it up the best we could with what we have while we work on repairing the roof, but it is pretty pathetic.  We also hung up some plastic drop cloth to create water-proof roofing above where we hung the heat lamps to protect them from moisture.  It makes a nice, cozy warm spot for the calves to stay warm and dry.

The kids have been helping put new boards up so we can nail up some more metal sheeting.  We are using old fence boards we found random piles of.  They are very sturdy and suiting just fine for our temporary project.  The boards in the ceiling are pretty rotted out from all of the water damage so lighter capable hands have been the ones doing the actual roof repair.  Both Ethan and Emily have used the power drill up on the roof!  Don't worry, Steve is a wise and cautious Daddy and they are not in any danger!

 Steve and the kids spent a long and late evening out in the bitter cold wind all the while feeling like they'd rather crawl into bed instead.  But our animals are depending on us and we can't let them down. 

 There is a deep satisfaction and pleasure in caring for our animals that makes it still a rewarding experience, even the times when the conditions are miserable.  The smells of the animals and the wonderful, barny odors and the sounds that are peculiar to the barn are like a balm, soothing out the stresses of the day. 

 Cats and kittens are purring and mewing and snuggling up together on the straw bales, the puppy is excited to see us, Brisket is always half-starved for his bottle and Sweetiebelle is always ready for some affection. 

I love being out in the barn.  It just makes me happy all the way through and through.  It is a wonderful, old barn.  I like to wonder about the people who've used it before us, the animals who've lived in it, maybe even been born in it.  It is a peice of history, even if it is in terrible condition.  We've been talking to barn restoration experts and it is obviously going to cost a lot to restore it.  Some would burn it down and just build a new one.  But we all find a beauty in it.  When I look at the barn, I see it as it might have been over a hundred years ago and I see it as it might be in the future.  There is strength there yet.  There are many more years of patient service.  We will just have to work at it little by little as we are able and give it some TLC.  We hope to restore it and have a lovely, beautiful old barn someday.

Sweetiebelle has been ill.  We gave her an antibiotic injection to help ward off pneumonia and her persistant coughing improved, but she has continued to have a snotty nose. She hasn't felt too bad and still has an appetite, so that's good. We have to get some more antibiotics and give her another shot tomorrow. Hopefully that will do it. I grow more fond of her as the days go by. She is just so funny!  She is curious and lively and affectionate. She likes me and that just has a way of making me feel friendly towards her in return. When I go out to her she eagerly comes to me and is so affectionate. Sometimes I look out the window and see her in the orchard and can't help myself. I throw on my coat and grab a handful of oat hay, her favorite, and walk to the fence and call her, "Sweet sweet Sweeeeeetiebeeeeeeeeelle" and she comes running over to me. That just does my heart good.

 Big, contented sigh. 

She has been a bit naughty lately, too, however. She keeps mounting us, whether to assert dominance or because of the hormones of her first heat, we don't know. I keep a stick with me and smack her soundly across her muzzle when she does it to me. It seems lately I keep half an eye over my shoulder all the time so I can catch her before she is successful. Can't have none of that! It is a bit unnerving and I keep imagining her doing that when she's bigger, however big that may end up being, and it ain't pretty. She's still pretty small, but when she rears up on her hind legs, I don't want to be underneath her nor have her develop a habit she would do to the younger kids.

We had a beautiful day in the 40s and it was so very nice to be able to put her outside. 



She was pretty happy about it, too.  She let loose and ran and ran and kicked up her heels and frisked all around the orchard.  Then she'd stop and look around her for a bit and then do it all over again.  Such a joyful sight!  I still can't believe I have a cow! 

Steve and I were out putting her new halter on her and Naomi kept asking if she can ride Sweetiebelle, so we put her up on her back to try it out.  I held Sweetie by her lead rope and Steve held onto Omi.  Sweetie let her sit on her all of 2 seconds before she bucked and tried to run off.   Steve lifted Naomi up in the air and I guided Sweetie around me in a circle and stopped her beside Steve again and he put Omi on for another try.  Same thing.  Around in a circle I led her, Naomi giggling and having a gay old time, and then stopped her for another try.  This time she stayed still and Naomi petted her and praised her for being a good girl.  I tried to get her to take a few steps but she decided to take off instead so around we went again.  Then Kezzy wanted a turn so we let her have a go for a bit.  Such a fun afternoon!

We lost our source of fresh, raw milk for Brisket so we've been transitioning him to milk replacer.  I can't help but feel sadness about it.  It just seems wrong.  But, that's what we have to do with him since we don't have milk for him.  He takes it just fine.  I put some fresh kefir made from raw milk in his nightly bottle to give him a little bit of some of the goodness of fresh, raw milk and to help him have good gut health.  He takes his bottles very well.  He is quite rough, however.  We are researching into getting him off the bottle and using a bucket instead.  I read that he could damage the developing tissues of Sweetiebelle's teats by suckling on her.  We can't have that, not on our future family milk cow!  I still need to understand the mechanisms of the four different stomaches and how to position him so that we don't end up with all of the milk in his rumen, but that should be our next task with him after we get him fully transitioned over onto the milk replacer.  We don't want to make too many changes too quickly on the poor fellow.   His bout of scours was hard on him.  He is losing his fur in clumps on his back end.  We've learned that is a common occurance following a bout of scours and that the fur will grow back.  It's just a sign of what a stress it was for him.  We are so happy he survived!

We have taken him outside some, too.  We gave him Sweetiebelle's old halter thinking it would fit him better than her, but we still need to put another hole in it and then it will fit just fine.  So we used Lucy's old dog collar.  The very next day he had grown enough that he had to go to the next notch! He is growing very rapidly. 

 He sure is a handful! 

 It is fun to work with him but he is much rougher than Sweetiebelle. 

 Jordy finds it to be rewarding to work with him and Brisket is coming along nicely.

These breaks in the dreary and bitter cold have been so welcome.  We have some lovely daffodils waking to the siren call of spring, luring them up from out of the frozen ground. 

All around us are signs that the long sleep of winter is coming to an end. 

We are so restless for spring! 

Our onions came in the mail and that means we need to get a move on and get our garden planned so we can get them in the ground!



I finally got around to getting my birdfeeder set up. 

 Jacob gave me the feeder for my birthday and Jordy gave me the seeds. 

Such a thoughtful gift! 

They know how I love to watch the birdies. 

We have many bluejays and cardinals around our house and see bluebirds often, also, but usually only one at a time.  We tell the kids it's the bluebird of happiness.  Some of you will know where that's from. 

We are also gearing up to plant some seeds indoors.  We still need to plan out how we are going to orient our garden rows and we are going to accomplish watering them.  Our old method of everybody grabbing a watering can won't work anymore.  We have far too much garden to do it that way.  Steve is braining out a brilliant plan to save us time and effort.  He doesn't know yet what it is, but it will be brilliant, of that I'm confident!

Even with all of this going on, we still have so much we'd like to do!  We have thoughts of getting some chicks, but haven't made a coop or a brooder yet.  I'd like to get a turkey as well.  Wouldn't that be a treat?  Our own home raised turkey?  Anyone want to come to our house for Thanksgiving dinner?!!  The kids want a pony.  There's been talk of raising rabbits for meat.  We still haven't forgotten about getting goats.  And bees, we want to keep bees.  Oh, there's so many things we'd like to do but so little time to do it in!  We feel like we are trying to make up for all the years of not doing all these things we've always wanted to do. 

But first everyone needs to get all better.  It is a relief that they are over the hump now.  A little TLC and some more time (and some more of Mommy's wonderful elixer of life!) and they will be back to their old selves again.  And then on to the next new adventure!