Bring It On Mother Nature!

Stove and chimney cleaned and ready. Wood is cut, split, and stacked. All that cold, icy, windy, snowy weather that you have kept from me for years bring it.... I am so ready for you! I know its wishful thinking but I sure would love to have a cold, snowy winter this year without having to move north to get it. Hopefully it will at least be cold enough to keep a fire in the stove and the kettle hot for tea.

Had a rough couple of days with Petro. Actually thought he wouldn't make it through one night but he is well and back to mischief. We have made a pet out of him and let him follow us around while we work outside. While splitting wood the other day he played around the stacks of wood and nibbled on fallen leaves. He also found a dogwood branch that had fallen and ate some dogwood berries before we could get to him . Got most of them out of his mouth and thought he would be okay. The next morning when I went out to feed I found him hiding behind a tree weak and blind. We put him in a dog kennel on the back porch and I started doctoring him. Made a mixture of: 1 pint of water, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp. of baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp. molasses, 1 TBS epsom salts. Gave him a couple ounces every hour and inbetween gave him warm sugar water to drink to help flush the poison out. That night he got really bad and couldn't even stand. I brought him into the house and made a bed on the living room floor and stayed with him all night. He was calm as long as someone was with him. The next morning after more of the concoction and warm sugar water he was standing and passing gas. Really, really, bad and loud gas for a long time. The rest of that day he ate a little hay drank more warm sugar water. (He wouldn't drink pedilyte however you spell it that I usually give goats that need nourishment but can't eat )  By that evening he was seeing just a little bit and walking around the back porch. The next morning he was crying for his bottle and following me everywhere leaving little pellet trails and peeing everywhere. He is now back in the pen and acting like nothing was ever wrong. He gave me a few more gray hairs and now has to be watched like a hawk when he is out of his pen but back to his mischief making and being spoiled. The photo above is a couple months old as he is now 3 months old and lots bigger. I couldn't find a recent one in my files.

Now I am doctoring Baby (the turkey that thinks she is a dog). She didn't get in out of the rain the other night and now has the sniffles. She now has a heat lamp and a warm place to sleep where the other turkeys can't bother her. I went out today to clean her nose (nostrils on her beak) and found somehow she had gotten them full of dirt and even small pieces of feathers. Took me about 10 minutes to clean her nose. She was running around eating everything in sight after that so guess she was happy she could breathe better. When I went out right before dark to check on her she held her head up while I checked and wiped her nose. She is such a spoiled thing!

As always, its never boring around the homestead. Don't forget to count your blessings! Even the tiny ones.