Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[goatgurl]

great story and in its own way amusing. big and rose were my first pair of LGD's. Anatolians that just knew what they were suppose to do. when my mom moved here to the farm they decided she was one of their charges and guarded her too. I worked 12 hour shifts at the hospital and the drive was over an hour. I was gone 14-16 hours at a clip. mom was in her late 80's at the time and here by herself, the dogs would take turns, one would lay on the deck to watch mom and the other would be out in the pasture with the goats. if the pasture dog barked the porch dog would go help, if the porch dog barked then the pasture dog would come be backup. I felt very sorry for the ups guy or anyone else who came to the house when I was gone. spoiled, you bet you booty she spoiled them, did it ruin their desire to protect and serve, not at all. I love LGD's

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I can't imagine NOT interacting with my LGD's...

 

[goatgurl]

me neither FEM

 

[Mini Horses]

couldn't find my old mare Cammie. 30 1/2 years young, dead on hillside.

Kudos to you for letting Cammie live out her life and giving her the retirement she earned

Hugs back at all of you. We all experience similar losses, I am not the only one and my heart goes out to all of you who have shared these losses and sent me sympathy.

Just catching up! I am so sorry about Cammie and yes, allowing them their earned retirement is what we do! Many of us have "been there" and can relate, doesn't mean we don't share the pain and even relive some of our own. It is called love....that they gave us and we them. It is why I have watched my retired herd of minis live into old age and bury them with respect as they calmly pass over the bridge. Couldn't let my breeding herd go to "who knows" where/what after they gave their all to me. For all of us who have lost them, the memories are great and our hearts hold the love forever. We care, share & understand your pain.

 

[RollingAcres]

Good story

 

[Ridgetop]

Mini Horses: Thank you, we can all relate to each other's shared sorrow. They live short and we live long. Maybe that is one of the punishments placed on mankind when we were ejected from Eden.

DS3 came down early Sunday from Nipomo (3 hours north). He had mentioned to DH and me that he was looking for a flat be trailer to carry his (our) tractor "Big Blue" on, since toting it in the dump trailer was not legal and would eventually result in a ticket. On the way home from bridge Friday, we stopped to chat with our neighbor. He was putting a coat of linseed on the bed of his flatbed and mentioned he was selling it for $7200. It was 20' with the ramps down, was only 5 or 6 years old, had only about 300 hours on it, and he had added a 2nd hydraulic ram. Immediately I sent photos to DS3 and called him, he talked to Jerry and got the info (little of which I had understood after it got more technical). Jerry offered it to him for $7000 since he was a friend and deal done. GS3 arrived at 8:00 am to pick it up. Then he came up the road and we loaded 4 complete 12 x 24 horse stalls on the trailer, and a few other items for him. He also took one of the Red River arena panels home to re-weld it. He called me this am to say that when he got home he fixed the panel and discovered 2 extra 12' corral panels so he now had enough for 5 corrals. He also said he will have 13 - 10' arena panels for us, and some 4' gate panels. He has some other odd sizes that were the holding pens and chute but is going to utilize them in other ay. I only want the 10' panels and a couple of 4' panels for gates. He is planning to replace his Red River panels with the horse stall panels and bring the arena panels down to us. We like the arena panels for the sheep since they are 7-8 bar panels, even though the horizontal bars are only about 1" pipes. We can keep the sheep in them without adding wire around the bottom which we have to do to the horse corral panels.

DS2 was also home for the weekend from his job in northern California. It was so wonderful to have my 3 "boys" working together the way they used to do when they were young. I got fried chicken and potato salad for lunch before DS2 had to catch his flight back up north. After lunch DS3 helped DS1 move and reset our 4 remaining horse corrals to another loction so DH can get out with the little tractor and clean the area off. Eventually we will set up more sheep pens there for night time use and ram pens.

Sweet Josie The Mule was so happy we were out there with her. She watched everything and kept coming over for loving and ear rubs. Yes, she is one of the few mules that really enjoys ear rubs. My friend will be bringing her 2 mules up this week and hopefully Josie will be content again. Maybe I can even start riding again since my friend will be riding from our place.

 

[Ridgetop]

I checked udders today, and 7041 is developing an udder - Yay! She is a FF and needs a name. She is due November 13 - the first of my 2 new Dorper girls to lamb. Little Sweetie 7088, also a FF, is due November 29, but showed a remark due date of December 22 so I will have to see. Little Sweetie is bigger than 7041, but that doesn't always mean much. She doesn't have much udder tissue, but another month will make a big difference on a first time ewe. The 2 Dorsets have dates in between, having remarked, so they are now November 8 G4 and November 28 G4 and Y1. G4 also shows that she possibly remarked and is due December 29. Maybe she is just a hussy! LOL Dorsets are both 3rd time lambers with no problem lambing, but I like to keep them in when lambing so we don't have to climb into the gully to retrieve lambs and ewe. Somehow a 7 lb. lamb weighs 50 lbs. by the time we reach the top of the slope! No names since I plan to phase them out for my sweet and tame Dorpers who do not require any shearing.

 

[Ridgetop]

DD1 and grandchildren have named the large ram, formerly known as Lewis, Rambo. The ram lamb, is now Alexander Lamilton, the 2 nameless ewes are now Ewegenie, and Sheepette. I hope I remember the names. LOL

 

[Bruce]

I'm like that with the chicken names DD1 assigns. Takes some time to remember them all even when there are only 6 new ones.

 

[Rammy]

My chickens names are Omellete, Over Easy, Scrambled, and the mean ones are Fried Chicken, BBQ Chicken, Crockpot..........Im sure you get the idea.