Happy Friday y’all! It is COLD here in Texas! It was in the 20’s overnight, but thankfully should be getting in the 40’s today. Life is much easier when it gets above freezing during the day. Much time is being spent blanketing and unblanketing horses, hauling hay, turning heaters on and off. All things I never had to do in Montana! The irony! As I write this it is -2F in my hometown.
Pablo the nuzzler. He’s such a weirdo!
Pablo’s left front foot has been sore for the past few weeks and when his feet hurt he WILL NOT let me catch him. I guess he knows I want to mess with the hurt foot and he just isn’t into that. I feel like a bad donkey parent, but I also don’t want to wrangle a donkey. Now that the ground has dried up he seems sound again. And now that he’s sound he is super snuggly. He likes to stand behind me and rest his chin on my shoulder, then ever so slowly he starts nuzzling my coat, hat and ear before he tries to bite. This donkey. He should write a book about himself.
Murtagh the cat and Dickens the Whippet are best buds. Murtagh LOVES to play with the sighthounds and often can be heard terrorizing them in the middle of the night.
I was trying to snap a photo of Samson in the snowflakes that we had for about 45 minutes yesterday, but he was not into the photo op!
Super hairy ponies have to be the cutest thing ever! Samson is still difficult to catch in the field, but he loves to come in the barn to steal hay and is easy peasy to catch then. He desperately wants to be with the big horses, but the one time we tried that Sterling chased him endlessly to the point I was worried about Samson. We will try it again one of these weekends and let Samson out with a smaller group of the big horses. He has been out with Jaguar once and that went really well. Jaguar ignored him the whole time.
Happy Fri-YAY! Texas keeps teasing us with fall-like weather, then slaps us across the face with temps in the 90’s. I need to just enjoy the nice weather and appreciate sunlight to ride after work and not having to blanket horses. My least favorite thing about winter is the short days that make it nearly impossible to get rides in after work.
This week has been moderately eventful at the farm. We finally got a handyman/contractor out to give us a bid on doing some outside repairs on the house. Boot City had started some of the repairs, then quickly realized a carpenter he is not! Now we have brown spots on the ceiling in the kitchen from rain getting into the attic where the repairs were started. Oops! Fingers crossed that next year is THE year for a total renovation inside the house.
This isn’t the best photograph, but I had to memorialize Jaguar’s molting chicken friend. This chicken has commandeered Jaguar’s water buckets as her nightly perch for over a week. She is molting (shedding old and growing new feathers) so she looks ridiculous. Every night Jaguar munches on his hay while she poops in his water.
Don’t worry. He has a second water bucket (with water in it) that she doesn’t perch on and poop in.
Jaguar and his molting chicken bestie.
Now that Sterling is back in action Coco isn’t getting as many rides during the week, but she is still progressing nicely. She has an appointment with an equine acupuncturist next week that I’m looking forward to getting some answers about her back soreness. When I brush her back from her left side she kicks at me with her left hind foot. She may be just being sassy, but I think it is only fair to her to see if there is an actual issue. The acupuncturist is also a veterinarian and chiropractor so is highly qualified for the task. Sterling does a similar thing so I will probably have him looked at, too.
Coco being Coco
Dickens had a BIG day this week. He had brain surgery! Not actual brain surgery, he got neutered. Up until about 2 weeks ago he was the easiest puppy in the whole wide world. Then, for no apparent reason, he started marking spots in the house and going wandering to the neighbors’ properties. We figured this was the universe telling us that it was time for his family jewels to be removed. The breeder recommended waiting until he was at least a year old to have him neutered because the hormones help them grow stronger bones and be overall healthier. He turned 1 in early September so the timing was right. He is still sore and I think he generally hates us right now, but he’ll be back in action with his beerhound besties in just a couple weeks.
Dickens the goober Whippet.
I had a really sappy moment earlier in the week reminiscing about some of the fun things Jaguar and I have done together over the years and got mad at myself for taking him for granted now that he’s an old man. I went out to his stall super late (like 1a, which is crazy late for me) to just give him a hug. He looked at me like I was nuts and was absolutely insulted that I hadn’t brought any treats for him. Reason number 4,086 that I love him!
“Hi Mom. I will bite your noggin because I LOVE you!”
Most everyone here knows that I foster dogs. I follow a few rescue pages on Facebook and occasionally something piques my interest. One of those pages is Sighthounds Worldwide Needing Homes. Because of the Beerhounds and our Whippet, Boot City and I are slightly obsessed with sighthounds. A couple weeks ago a person in Texas found what looked to be two Irish Wolfhound mixes on the side of the road. They were there two consecutive days so she succumbed to the tug on her heartstrings and picked them up. Both are young dogs and one was clearly a pregnant female. She kept the younger male and placed the female into a temporary foster home.
I, of course, was watching all of this unfold on the Facebook group and couldn’t help but throw my hat in the ring as a potential long-term foster for the mama dog. I have friends who want sighthounds after being around our dogs so I thought for sure I could find a few puppies homes. The mama dog is called Jesse and she whelped ELEVEN puppies a few days after being picked up off the side of the road. Perfect timing! She stayed with her temporary foster mom for the first week and once I was approved by the rescue group, I picked up the whole family.
Mama Jesse and her muppies!
Jesse seriously looks like a muppet, in the cutest possible way! She isn’t as large as a typical Irish Wolfhound so is most likely a mix. She also has a bob tail, which is not at all typical of a wolfhound. I have an inclination to think she may be a Wolfhound crossed with a Schnauzer. Regardless of her breed she is a FANTASTIC mom and is a super sweet dog. She is protective of her litter, but happily goes outside and plays with my other dogs. She seems to be feeding all eleven of the monsters with no issue with milk supply. I pull out the smallest puppies a couple times a day to give them time to nurse without competition from the bigger puppies. There are two that are nearly twice the size of the smallest puppies!
Sweet, sleepy muppies.
All of the puppers have some white. Two are brindle, but most are some version of tan with white. It will be fun to watch them grow and change and try to guess their breed cross. Some have half a tail, one has a bob tail and the rest have long tails. None have their eyes open yet, but they are already quite a lot more mobile than they were even a few days ago.
The feeding frenzies are getting crazier and crazier. She is sweet and patient with her little furry family!
If you are interested in adopting a muppy, please let me know! There will be an adoption fee and you must be approved by the rescue group sponsoring their care.
It is the LAST day of June! How did that happen?! Summer appears to be here for good for a few months. It isn’t blistering hot just yet, but it is quite warm. Boot City and I are taking some time over the next few days to do some pretty major farm improvements. Hopefully some will be blog worthy!
This is what Dickens thinks of mornings when he doesn’t get to go outside.
Harriet is right in the middle of her heartworm treatment. She is handling it like a champ. Dogs who are having the fast-kill treatment have to stay calm and quiet to avoid getting their heart pumping too hard. As the worms in their heart die, they get pushed out into the bloodstream and if the heart gets to beating too quickly it can kill the dog if a worm gets lodged in just the wrong place. It appears that Harriet gets this and when she is allowed to come outside she is very docile. She doesn’t run and play with Dragon and Dickens like usual. She may feel a little under the weather, but she seems more like she just knows she needs to mind her p’s and q’s. She is a wonderful little dog!
The dogs LOVE to eat my horses’ Muenster Milestone feed. They like it so much they get in empty bags just to lick the bag. Weirdos.
We got some good rain last weekend and early this week. We had been a few inches behind average at the start of June, but according to my Farmlogs app we are pretty much caught up to average.
For a little while this was a FULL rainbow. I never tire of seeing rainbows, they are such happy things.
Since all my riding horses are pretty much lame except for Coco, she has been getting LOTS of rides lately! It is really paying off and she has made a ton of improvement in the past few months. Fingers crossed she will be ready to do a real course at a real show by the end of the year with lead changes and everything!
She does make happy faces, too! I think she enjoys her job and hanging out with me. She definitely LOVES her some treats!
Dragon and Dickens are both sighthounds, which means they are bred to hunt by sight. This instinct is much stronger in Dragon than in Dickens, but he certainly joins in when she goes on the chase. Lately they have been chasing the cat, which means the cat has been actively avoiding coming in the house or being around the house in general. We lost Tarzan and Marby last year so it makes us very sad that Sabrina doesn’t feel safe in the house. I don’t think the dogs would hurt her, but it isn’t fun getting chased every day. She disappeared for a day or two and we worried the worst had happened.
She showed back up in Boot City’s shop and it appears that she may becoming a shop kitty! We have moved her kitty food to the shop and Boot City has made a bed for her. Hopefully she will feel safer there and stick around. We love our Sabrina! Plus this might keep her away from the busy highway which is where the other two cats met their demise.
Do you have fun weekend plans? I’m sure lots of people are going on trips for a long weekend since the holiday is Tuesday. Be safe and have fun!
It is the week of the summer solstice, but Texas summer is still holding off a bit. Yay! It is supposed to be gross hot today, but then cool off for nearly a whole week!
Sterling has been a superstar about getting his leg worked on this week. He isn’t the most typical of horses, so I would have expected him to have been much more difficult for the twice daily wound draining procedure. Most days he would just eat grass while I squeezed on his stifle. The best part is that means it doesn’t hurt.
Sterling eats his meals while I do his hydrotherapy. The dogs LOVE the horse feed from Muenster feed mill because it has coconut oil. Mickey has decided to help himself to Sterling’s food during his hydrotherapy and went so far as to growl at Sterling to which Sterling’s response was to slowly walk away from his food. Yup, the 6lb dog ran the 1100lb horse away from his food!
This will be Dragon’s first real Texas summer. She isn’t a fan so far and when the temps get into the 80s she prefers the sofa to being outside, even though she LOVES to play with her buddy Dickens in the horse pasture.
Sighthounds passed out on the sofa. Notice that Dickens mouth is open. He played so hard and was so tired that he slept like an old man with his mouth open and even drooled. Ha!
Bubbles is the somewhat feral barn cat. For the first year we had her she didn’t leave the horse stall where her food lives. However, for the past few weeks she has been adventurous and we have seen her outside some. Yay for Bubbles! She also has started sleeping in the chicken wire in the ceiling of the barn. Presumably this is cooler, but it sure looks silly!
Bubbles relaxing in her chicken wire sleeping hammock. Eventually we will build a real chicken coop and tear down this old barn and the poor kitty wont have her chicken wire hammock any more. She also sleeps with her tongue hanging out. We always have the weirdest barn cats.
It appears that summer is coming to Texas sooner rather than later. It was supposed to actually RAIN here this week, but the alas we only got 0.05″. Sad face.
This is our foster mama kitty and her litter. She has quite an adorable group of kittens if I do say so myself! She is possibly the sweetest mama cat we have fostered so far. All these kitties will be available for adoption soon! Well, I think the male calico is spoken for, but all the rest are available.
Hanging with Pablo.
The whippet in his natural habitat. You know, looking for stuff to chase or chew on.
Pablo running down a hill. It was just too funny to not snap a photo. I was walking down the driveway to get the mail and I think he hoped I would have treats.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! We had a May the Fourth be with you surprise at our house yesterday.
Meet baby Esther! She’s named after Esther Summerson from Bleak House since that is the book I’m currently reading.
This thistle is growing under an old tractor we have on the property. I don’t know if this photo shows it all that well, but it grew around the step. It is huge and scary looking, but so pretty.
Harriet started her heartworm treatment this week. She’s a pretty low-key girl and likes to hang with the sighthound goobers when they are running amok.
Jaguar couldn’t eat his dinner the other night and this is why. I had to give him a rubber feed pan so as not to disturb the ladies.
Sabrina LOVES her an outdoor lounge chair in the sun. Bonus points when Kevin leaves a coat on it for cushioning.
Some puppy snuggles after Harriet’s first couple days of heartworm treatment. She is on the slow kill right now, so it isn’t as hard on her as the fast kill program.
