Bridgemoof--Sheep & Wool festival

[Bridgemoof]

Last night one of the pheasants got out of their run when I opened the door to feed them. I felt a swoosh over my head, and then there were only 5 in there. I looked around for him, and thought he had taken off for good, but then he showed up outside the chicken house on the gutter way up high. So we left him t here, and debated letting the rest of them out today. I have to admit, Tim and I hate seeing animals cooped up. So this morning I didn't see him, but then there he was lingering around not too far from his buddies. So we may just let them all out today.

Clinton, the chick, had a sibling hatch sometime over night. So I'm relieved he has somebody to play with. Meanwhile in the barn, the mother hen and her remaining chick are doing okay in the brooder. I went to check on them last night and found this:

Cute!

Yesterday I spent a great deal of time chasing a sheep around that gotten a bucket stuck over her neck Every time I got close to her she would run off. Finally when Tim got home, he roped her and we got it off. I hate when that happens. Then I chased a nanny goat around that did not want to stay confined in the lane where we put them. :/ So now they are in a paddock where hopefully they will stay put. Of course they have 3 acres of pasture, but they just want to hang out right by the gate waiting for corn :/

Oh, so the Shetland sheep are SO GONE! I am done with them. Besides being loose for a month, yesterday when I was feeding them all corn, one of them came barreling over to Lottie, my bottle baby Jacob, and rammed up into her, forcing Lottie against the fence and upside down with her horn stuck through the fence. If I wasn't standing there to help her, she would have been in big trouble! So I am fed up with them and they will either got to a different pasture, or be sold.

Did I mention that when I was at my friend Irene's, I was talking about my "pet" sheep flock, and she corrected me, saying I should call it my "heritage" sheep, lol. Yes! Exactly!

So this morning we will be taking Jules, the alpaca, to her new home, and picking up a pony.

Bye bye Jules! I hope she loves being around other alpacas.

 

[Bridgemoof]

We went and dropped off Jules the alpaca yesterday to her new home. The husband was there to get her, and when we took her out of the trailer, the guy hugged her around the neck and petted her. She hardly ever let me touch her! It was so sweet. He put her in a stall and petted and hugged her some more. He gave her some tasty alpaca feed and she gobbled it up. They were going to slowly introduce her to the other alpacas, so I'm anxious to see how that goes. I'll stay in touch and maybe even go visit at some point to see her with the other alpacas. I'm so happy for her, but I'll miss her.

Here I am hosing off Jules' belly. She loved that! She always came running when I had the hose on.

We brought home the exchange pony. He loaded right up into the horse trailer, which is a good sign. When Annie got home from school, she rode him and he did really well! She even jumped him. So it looks like we got a good sellable pony out of the deal.

We opened the door to the pheasant run yesterday, and a couple of them came out. They stayed close by, and they went back on their own last night! That's great news. I posted a picture of a couple of the strange chickens that we got last week on Backyard Chickens to i.d. them. Turns out the 2 in question are Black Breasted Red Old English Game hens, or Modern Hens. And I believe one is a cock. Very interesting! They have super long green legs and long pointy beaks. I had no clue what they were. I've also posted a few more pics on BYC to see what they are. A very unusual group of chickens.


Ruth
I have to get you guys up to speed on Ruth, the elderly lady who owns the farm. No, we don't own the farm sadly, but we live here and take care of it. And help her. When Tim first moved here, he leased the stables and this side of the house from her. It is a 1700s farmhouse that is divided now into two houses. Anyways, about 2 years ago Ruth was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. She has no children and her nephews live far away. Tim ended up taking care of her and taking her to the dr.s all the time for chemo and radiation. She was in bad shape, but eventually the cancer went into remission and she has come back. She drives herself to the senior center everyday, and is able to carry on a pretty normal life considering her age and what she went though. In the meantime, Tim's horse business was struggling and he was having a hard time coming up with the rent money for her. So now it's just a trade. We live here for free, and she can stay as long as we can take care of her. It works for both of us.

But, Ruth is starting to suffer from mild dementia. The chemo had that effect on her brain, and she just can't come back from that. It's very frustrating on a daily basis because she forgets everything you just discussed with her 5 minutes after the discussion. And she comes back over and tells you again. Then again. Then again... I help her with her checkbook now, because she can't seem to keep track of it anymore. Tim is easily frustrated by her, he has no patience for her dementia. That makes the situation even more frustrating.

So in June of this year, she went to go look at the possibility of trading her old 1989 Cadillac for another used Cadillac. She came home, much t our surprise, with a brand new $50,000 Cadillac that she didn't realize she had bought. And didn't have the money to pay for. After much arbitration on her behalf between the cadillac dealership and her nephews, Tim, and her attorney, they wouldn't take it back. So long story, but she ended up getting a reverse mortgage to pay for it, and to pay for some other things needed around the farm.

So that's a little background on Ruth, if I mention her you will know.

Yesterday, Ruth took her dog Christy to the groomers. Tim and I looked at each other and said "Didn't she just take him to the groomer?" She claimed it had been 6 months since he had gone. Tim called the groomer and they said Christy had been there in February, March, April, June, July and last time was August 15. A couple weeks ago! She has no recollection. That's the kind of thing that happens with her when we aren't paying attention. So we really need to keep an eye on her to make sure she isn't messing up.

I have to go back out now and check on everyone. This morning when I went out, it was very quiet and I felt like something was amiss, but didn't see anything wrong. So I'll go check everyone again. Have a nice Saturday!

 

[GoatCrazyLady]

My mother had dementia, she lived with us for sometime & It was ( for sure) a challenge. Happy Saturday to you as well.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

How frustrating that must be (for you all and her). And as much as I like the looks, that sure doesn't make me want to buy a Cadillac ever.

On another note though, HOW CUTE ARE YOU in your dress and apron hosing an Alpaca. I love that picture!! So want to take in into our school's art teacher and have it as a model for the painting unit!

 

[Bridgemoof]

LOL Pearce! Thank you, that's funny.

Sorry about your mom, too GoatCrazyLady. That must have been tough.

 

[elevan]

I think that it's a blessing that you've been put into a situation that allows you to live in such a peaceful place in exchange for caring for someone who has no one else to do so. Dementia is such a tough thing to deal with as it steals the mental spirit of those that it affects. Bless you for caring for Ruth.

 

[Bridgemoof]

I'm up early this morning, before sunrise, and it's a bit brisk outside. It's still too dark to let my chickens out.

I'm sitting here reflecting what it is to be a mother. Chick #4 in the incubator didn't make it. I saw it pipping yesterday and I chose not to intervene. Last night it was still. I decided to let Mother Nature take over and decide whether or not this chick would come out. I got up this morning and no chick. A year ago I would have been in a panic trying to help it. But now I realize you can only do so much.

I'm struggling with my sheep. I worry so much about them. With the cooler air, and winter coming, I worry about who to keep where. I'm worried about Beastie, my Jacob lamb ram. He is following in the footsteps of Snowcap, his brother. His front pasterns are so bad and he was having such trouble on the hillside that we brought him and Lottie down to the barn. I still haven't gotten the test results back form the liver biopsy, so I am eagerly awaiting them. I even ordered some herbal "Tendon repair" from a whacky Llama Doc I stumbled upon on the internet. To me it is worth it to try anything to save poor Beastie. I just don't know what else to do for him.

We had a big storm on Saturday, I watched out the window as my sheep struggled through it, trying to find a dry spot, being blown around through the high winds. I have to keep reminding myself that they are farm animals, and that somehow is different than my pets. The storm went through quickly, and they were out grazing again 5 minutes later.

I'm struggling with being a mother to Annie, Tim's 14 year old daughter, too. I don't know where I fit in in the whole parenting scheme of things. She's a good kid, not into any trouble at all, everybody loves her. But she's a mess. And if I were her real mother I would be correcting bad behavior all the time (I say "you're grounded! all the time in my head, lol). But I feel like I shouldn't interfere with the way Tim is raising her, and her mother as well. All I can do is try to lead a good example for her. It's not worth getting into an argument with Tim over.

The littlest things she does bother me, and I shouldn't let them. Like what? You ask. Like yesterday she dumped out an old pair of riding boots that were in the back of the laundry room, tons of mouse droppings came out onto the floor. She left them there. We asked her to sweep them up. Later I went back into the house and she had swept them into a corner. The dustpan was right next to the broom, yet she was too lazy to use it. I ended up sweeping them up again and noticed she had swept a bunch behind the bench. "You're grounded!" I said in my mind, lol. Yet what actually happened was we brought her to a football game and then stopped to get her a mocha latte at McDonald's on the way home. Way to reward bad behavior, honey. My alpaca wool was dumped on the floor when she went to get something out of the storage bench, a whole bottle of shampoo spilled on the floor after she took a shower and left there. Her father won't even notice. *sigh*

I just don't see how I fit into that picture. I'll make her lunch this morning and send her off to school, and that's all I can do.

It's almost been a year since I lost my mom. She was a great, great mother. It's funny that my sister and I never had kids. We are great, great mothers to our animals. She has ferrets, about 8 of them, and her entire life is consumed with caring for them. She has a ferret rescue operation, too, and tends to rescue ferrets as well. We are both good animal mothers. And we both miss our mom, and dad. I enjoy reading other people's blogs on here that have kids and how they deal with their issues. I wish I could figure out this whole parenting thing.

The sun is up, I let my animals out. I fed the dogs, the cat, and poor Beastie. Now it's time to make Annie's lunch. Oh, I just noticed the hot air balloon went over the house! It went over yesterday, too, and all my sheep on the hillside stood looking up at it. An amazing sight.

Later gators!

 

[autumnprairie]

you are better than me I would have told her she is grounded, the lack of respect is appalling I wouldn't take it I would be having a conversation with Tim about it. I do understand why you don't though.
I love the pictures especially the last one to me it would be next weeks POW.
I am always here to listen if ya need an ear.
on losing the chick

 

[Bridgemoof]

Thanks Autumn,

It's so great to be able to post to this forum knowing others are listening. It's a great stress reliever.

Guess who just missed the bus, and guess what's going to happen now? Tim is probably going to bully me into taking her because he is "too busy."

 

[elevan]

She is, of course, testing her boundaries with you. I would talk to Tim. At the very least he should talk to his daughter about house rules and respecting adults requests and things. That's just my opinion for what it's worth.

I love the pics. You really should submit for POW. The entries each week has been dying back, we need to see more fun farm pics.