All by 7:15am

Well, it's more like 7:31 right now, but when I finally poured my morning cup 'o steaming hot joe, it was 7:15am....and then I thought back to all the things I had already accomplished since I had woke up!

Fed & water 4 horses (ok, so 2 horses, a pony and a mini mule!)

Fed Maggie (indoor cat)

Fed & Supervised the feeding of mama and her 3 kitties. One of the kitties has some territorial issues when eating so I have been setting him off to the side with his own plate. I know, a 3 month old kitten with aggression when eating....who would have thought!

Then, I swept their room up, changed out all newspapered areas and moved on to the BLEACHING of the litter boxes. I bleached their two and Maggie's main one. Maggie gets this done once a month and these little, dirty gremlins have theirs done about every week!

Let me just say there is nothing glamorous about cleaning litter boxes, let alone full out stripping them and bleaching them. *BLEEECH* I will pick up the manure turd that fell over the side of my wheelbarrow ANY DAY over messing with kitty litter and the boxes. Yes, with bare hands.

So, now I finally have my coffee and I am going to sit here and enjoy it for what I hope is at least a whole five minutes.....then the horses need to get out to stretch their legs before it gets too sweltering outside. They are calling for mid-90's today and we have no shade in our pastures right now :/

And, in T-5.5ish hours, all our picnic guest will probably start arriving.....and I still have a bathroom and a kitchen to clean....and a cake to ice.....

I snapped this pic of the neighbors pond yesterday morning.

Weekend in Review - Animals in Need

Remember the horse rescue neglect case I mentioned last week? Here are a few pictures of some of the horses we rescued. Sad, Sad, Sad.

This mare is 30-ish years old.

This poor gelding is 8 and that is our barn manager with him.

This is a 5 year old mare on the left and the 8 year old gelding on the right.

Anyone who would like to learn more about this rescue I work [volunteer] with, please visit H.O.P.E. Horse Rescue.

And hubby and I weighed the kittens this weekend. Not quite 2 pounds yet....once they are two pounds, they can be fixed and placed up for adoption. Anyone interested in learning more about the kitten rescue my husband and I foster for can visit Kitten Krazy!

Emotion Overload

What a long, fricking emotional roller coaster day! Let me start by saying I think it was less tramatic for me when Apollo gashed open is back fetlock and front pastern in the middle of winter [a few years back] and I had to treat the wounds daily and give daily Penicillin shots to him!!

Ms. Kitty, or as I now think I have officially named her, 'Celia', had to go in today to have her swollen shut eye looked at since it is not getting better.

Thankfully, I had accumulated overtime from the weekend so I just comped it and left work half a day today. Let me first say that lugging around a momma and litter of 6 kittens has to be just as bad as lugging around a newborn in a carrier with a diaper bag. My carrier is the 'cage/crate' that I have to pack them all into. Since there are 6 kitties with this momma, this is a larger carrier. Then, since they are coming to work with me for awhile, I have to pack food and bring litter. [I already have a litter box permanently stashed in my office!]. And since this litter of kittens has been having it's ups and downs with health, I didn't have to just pack any food...I had to pack wet food with the large bowl to mix in a milk replacer with. *sigh* I am already tired re-living this! I guess this is comparable to a mother packing formula for her newborn. But, instead of diapers, I had a bag of clay litter in my purse!

So, we get to work and all is well. Momma Cindy was eating, made herself right at home, took a smelly dump that I had to immediately clean so not to offend my co-workers and other than the coffee I spilled down my pant leg, all was well.

I left work at noon and headed over to the rescue. When I got there, they right away referred me to the vet. Their first choice vet didn't have an opening until 3:30 so I opted for their second choice vet with a 2pm appt. BAD CHOICE! I guess, something about a vet clinic inside a pet store just doesn't scream 'We know what we are doing' to me. Sorry, sterotypical I am sure, but just my impression. I am sure there are some out there that are very good vet clinics. Don't anyone flame me over this thought!!

So, to try and make a long story short, we had an Indian doctor and the ONLY thing I comprehended him say was "Oh, you are cute" to the kittens. *sigh* After he looked at the swollen eye, I swear he asked me if there ever WAS an eye. HUH? Seriously? "Um, yes, there was an eye, she caught a cold, it swelled shut." So he tells me, in a nut shell, that I can give her antibiotics and he'll refer me to an opthamologist and the 'eye' may need removed. *UGH, not what I wanted to hear*

I am not going in to too much detail from this visit because of the nature of the subject matter and also because I am by no means a vet. I am just saying, I could have diagnosed this kitten just as this vet did. I was not happy at all and even more stressed that a.) I couldn't understand a word he said, b.) he didn't seem to have a clue and c.) he stressed out the kitten and her eye looked WORSE after we left.

So, I went to the other vet for a second opinion. This poor kitten cried the whole way there and Momma Cindy was panting a storm; all a ball of nerves. Which translate to me having an anxiety attack, worried sick about this kitten and Momma stressing. Since they couldn't see me for an hour, I stopped at the post office to mail bills.....which I had to still write out and seal up in the car. I pulled to the side of the parking lot and as I was doing this, a van beeps at me!? Hello, I have my 4 way flashers on. Turns out they pulled beside me as asked if I knew where the SPCA was. Hmmm, how fitting! They thought they'd ask me since they seen the horse magnet on the back of my car. I think it might also say SUCKER on it. Just a hunch.....

The second vet, right away, gave the kitten something to numb the eye before he even attempted to poke and prod it. *DING DING DING, we have a winner! Makes perfect sense to me!* He confirmed what I had already seen; the swelling was terrible - so bad you could not even SEE the eyeball. And it was difficult just to get the lid open. He had to take her to another room to use a larger magnifying glass to look at the eye. At this point, Momma Cindy could hear the kitty screaming and was having a royal melt down....which them prompted all the other kittens to start crying.

When he came back, the verdict was not that the eye swelled shut from a cold, but that her WHOLE BOTTOM EYELID was lacerated :( *pit in stomach* Instantly, by reaction, I ask what he thinks could have caused that in a 4 week old kitten. His response: "Like I tell everyone. I am not here to help you figure out WHY this happened to your animal. I am here to help you make it better" REALLY? REALLY? Insert expletive. I didn't need that smart ass comment at this point. Mind you, it's 3:45pm by now.

So, I was sent home with the plan of a triple antibiotic 3x a day on the eye and the liquid antibiotic 2x a day with a follow up Saturday morning. Momma stressed the WHOLE car ride home and the babies were all panting. I actually shut all the windows and turned the air conditioner on thinking it would help them. I haven't turned on the air in my car in probably 4 years! I hate air conditioning....besides the fact that it was a beautiful 80 breezy degrees today.

I couldn't have been happier to get them home and into an area they were familiar with. Everyone got their meds & dinner and Momma Cindy scarfed hers down. I then walked the dogs, turned out the horses and did their chores, and then sat flat down on the ground outside the barn door, in the sun, with my wine, and closed my eyes.

too be continued.....keep Celia in your thoughts that her eye heals.......

Kitty Kare Taker!

Momma Cindy and her 6 kitties are back home here on the farm. Cindy is still on daily meds and the kitties keep getting crusted-shut eyes which means I have to 'pry' them back open with a warm wash cloth and then swap some ointment on them.

They are getting so big and brave...fighting with each other and walking all over. They are even starting to eat wet food. Momma Cindy scarfs hers down, but she is very picky and still sick so she gets a special wet food mixed with a milk substitue type of solution that helps her gain weight and produce more milk for her kittens!

I'd love to see Momma start putting on more weight and getting a healthier coat, but I know that will come with time and will be easier for her once she is done nursing.

I recieved my order today from Amepix! I ordered a sticker that I posted in a previous blog and these buttons!! I chose these so we can wear them at the farmers markets :) hehehehehe - I am SURE my husband will oppose ;)

TGIF

Yay! Thank goodness it is Friday! It's been a great week weather-wise. However, I find myself sitting at my desk, at the day job, conjuring up a list of all the things I could be doing at home on the farm. Then, by the time I get home and complete the daily chores, I am spent :/ Wouldn't it be grand if the farm was my job!

Allen already has a huge to-do list a mile long for us this weekend so let's hope the weather holds. We need to continue with the tree pruning in the orchard, start tilling the gardens and we're going to attempt to make some of our own compost bins out of wooden skids. We also need to get started on making the cold frame. And the list goes on and on! Who invented the 40 hour work week? It just bites into my time - lol!


Anyways, here are a few pictures to share! Enjoy your Friday :)

The 'Infamous' sugar Daddy has resurfaced!

Moss dog taking a good 'ol roll in the hay!

Ahh! You know spring has 'sprung' when I can dust off my plastic *palm tree wine glass and take it out to the barn to clean stalls with me ;) *Courtesy of my mother, who didn't think I should be taking a 'real'wine glass with me!

Kittens are growing! Everyone has their eyes open now. It may be had to see, but look at the fat lil piggy in the middle laying on the rest with his arms over them!

Whinny loves her Daddy...need I say more?

Drive in to work this morning. The sun was beautiful....but I didn't get it too well on camera!

This one came out blurry but I still thought it looked cool...

And, when I got to work, one of the guys had these for us. They are CUPCAKES his wife MADE!

TGIF!