Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[greybeard]

Nothing shines in past my eyelids.

 

[Bruce]

Wish I had that "skill". Best Western in Bangor was nice, free breakfast was far better than most but every time I woke up in the middle of the night I thought it was about time to get up due to the light coming around the edges of the curtains. Nope, 11:30. Nope 1:30. Nope 4:30

 

[Latestarter]

Turning the security light off kinda defeats the purpose for having it. I have no problem at all paying the ten bucks a month and I WANT that light on at night, all night. It gives light to the goat pen and that means no secret approach for coyotes or other predators. The goats will see something coming and snort, alerting the dogs, or the dogs will see something coming and alert the goats. Sometimes light will bother me getting to sleep, but not commonly. The globe on the light was smashed on one side, the side that faced the house, so the light was pretty intense coming in the back windows. I had the repair guy turn the globe around while he was up there. Problem solved

Most folks don't give it a thought, but the power company needs to have things powered up overnight, street lights, etc. They can't turn off (all) the generators/generating capacity and there has to be something out there using the power they are generating overnight. Generators aren't "instant on" so at 6am when everyone starts taking their hot showers, causing all those hot water heaters to click on, the power company has to start bringing their generators online that have been "off" or in standby overnight. It helps that just about this time, most street lights are also clicking off, so that power becomes available. If you've never had the opportunity to visit a power company's main switching station, it's really fascinating. It's a huge room that looks like NASA @ Houston with folks monitoring the grid on computer screens and huge wall mounted displays. Watching for power fluctuations, and maintaining the power at 60hz, switching power between areas of demand, and just making sure average folks like us don't have to freak out cause we're in the dark and cold (or hot).

There are places where they have hydro powered generation from elevated lakes during the day then at night they use surplus power from elsewhere to pump the water back uphill to the reservoir to be used again the next day.

 

[greybeard]

Power surges called the TV pickup are unique to Britain. The engineers at the National Grid control center brace themselves each time a television show called Eastenders ends and 1.75 million tea kettles get switched on.

There is always a big load on power company generators..either from customers or from really really big resistors called shunts. They just absorb the excess energy to heat which is dissipated. If customer load suddenly increases, moving power from shunts to line takes place in milliseconds.
Our grid is so interconnected, power not needed in one place is transferred to where it is needed.
Frequency trips very very rarely happen. Inertia from the rotating mass of the generator rotor keeps freq pretty constant, within a few decimal places of 6o hz. Volts is a function of the # of poles in the generator and rpm. Current is determined only by load--no generator will produce more current (amps) than the load demands.

 

[Mike CHS]

I got to go on a tour of the nuclear power plant south of Huntsville and was beyond impressed. Over half of the power generated by the TVA power grid is now nuclear.

 

[Devonviolet]

Has anyone here had anything like this happen?

I haven’t had anything like that on any of our goats.

I would be very surprised if it is a hernia. Those usually occur, where there is a weak connection where muscle layers come together. At least in humans, I have never seen it anywhere but on the lower half of the abdomen. The three common type are abdominal, at the umbilicus (belly button) and inguial, along the groin.

Did you ever shave it to see if there was a puncture point? Has it gotten worse or better???

To me it sounds like an encapsulated infection. It came on too fast to be a fatty cyst, which moves around but is a more solid mass under the skin - although that wasn’t previously mentioned. I also don’t think it would be lymph (CL) related, as the lymph system runs along the trunk - starting at the head, along the abdomen and into the groin. Just considering the options.

I would think the best way to determine if it is an infection, would be to take a small bore needle and asparate some of the fluid into a 5 cc syringe (all 5cc’s). If you have a redtop tube, put it in that. I would think your vet could either take a look at it under a microscope or send it off to TVMDL (TX A&M lab). I would also think if you confirm an infection, it could be lanced with a small incision and express the pus. It could then be left to drain.

I had a cat once, that got bit by another animal. He got a massive pus pocket. The Vet lanced it, and sent him home with instructions for me to express pus daily, which I did for a week, until it was not producing puss anymore. The silly cat would lay there and purr as I expressed it. I couldn’t help but wonder if he realized that I was helping him to get better.

I wonder if @goatgurl has any thoughts on this? She has been doing goats as long, or longer than @Southern by choice.

 

[Southern by choice]

@Devonviolet @goatgurl has been caring for goats far longer than I have... hopefully she has an idea. I am stumped. I am also fascinated!

I did find this picture and though hmmm maybe something here will be helpful.
http://goat-link.com/content/view/49/31/#.W41VTuhKiUk

Although I would not aspirate. At this point I'd have her vet checked.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I also wouldn't aspirate at this point.

 

[Devonviolet]

Although I would not aspirate. At this point I'd have her vet checked.

Oh no, I wouldn’t aspirate unless the Vet gave the okay. He/she might be able to determine if aspiration is warranted. I think my Vet would give me the go ahead, if he could look at current pics, & had a detailed verbal description.

Another point to consider, is if she has developed a temp since Thurs.

 

[Latestarter]

Well, it has been gray and wet off and on all day. Series of smaller rain squalls and mini cloud bursts moving over me from the SE moving NW. Had one just finish going over and I got the goats fed just in time. Looks like the wet will be with me for a while yet. Looks like @Devonviolet may have had a more potent storm pass over her and I hope @Baymule is getting some rain out of this as well. Depending on what happens with TS/Hurricane Gordon, that will dictate future rains here at the end of this week I suppose. I am NOT complaining! I DO need to get a new doe shelter built, and the sooner the better. Wish they hadn't destroyed the danged hoop hut.