Tale of a plastic carrot bag

A couple of weeks ago either Keil Bay or Cody snuck into the barn aisle while the pony was getting a bath and emptied one plastic bag of baby carrots, ate them, trampled the empty bag, and then apparently did the same with the other bag of baby carrots. But that bag has never been found.

There was a mild panic with thoughts of impending colic, twisted bowel, vet school hospital surgery, and a big fat bill at the end. And the awful bubble of thought: what if the worst happened?

There was nothing coming out of noses so we ruled out the option that the bag was lodged in the esophagus. We searched high and low for the bag. We monitored manure and urine. We watched them eat and drink. All was normal.

A call to our vet calmed us down. She said the shape of the bag was unlikely to cause issues. If it went through the esophagus it likely went through the stomach, she said. And if it gets to the gut it will come out the other end.

She told me: do not obsess or lose sleep. As long as they look normal, treat them normally. You may never find the bag so don't stress trying to look for it every day. Just assume all is well until you see otherwise. You probably won't see otherwise!

So here we are. Two happy horses, no sign of the bag. I'm assuming all is well!

Poison ivy and prednisone

In a moment of sheer insanity I took my hand clippers last weekend and attacked a patch of poison ivy that was growing at the corner of our house. The ivy was growing at eye level and while I was careful not to touch it, I was whacking away at it with the clippers and suspect I released the oils which then wafted onto my face. Thankfully I wear glasses! But both sides of my face, my neck, several areas along my arms, and and an area on my abdomen are all raspy and itchy now. As the bumps got closer and closer to my left eye I caved in and made an appointment with my doctor.

She recommended Prednisone for 10 days and I gratefully accepted. I was up in the wee hours of the night scratching and trying not to scratch, and with the heat and regular barn chores in my day figured it was best to kick back at this now and not try to suffer through it.

About 3 hours after the first dose I am not nearly as itchy and feeling a little woozy. I'll take it. Thanks to dear daughter and sweet husband for doing the chores for me while this passes.

PSA:

I read an article that describes a much safer way of dealing with poison ivy without using chemicals. You can find it HERE.

Ducks and horses

The ducks from down the lane have been visiting us twice daily for a week or so now, and this morning I watched a drama unfold as they encountered the horses in the front field. There was galloping, and mock-spooking, circling and alerting, and the ducks made their way from the bottom of the front field up the hill, around the house to the garage area, down the driveway, back through the front field, and then finally back to the driveway where they took to the neighborhood lane to head home. If you look closely above you can see them. The horses had a grand work-out and I had a grand time watching the show.

Literary Mama, what they're looking for

I was thrilled late last week to get an email from the online journal Literary Mama telling me they had included my essay published last December in a blog post they recently wrote illustrating what they're looking for in submissions. They were a pleasure to work with and I was proud to have my essay published; now I'm proud to be included with the selected group of work they chose to highlight what they want and what got published. I invite you to follow this link and then follow their links to essays, stories, poems, and more that have to do in some way with motherhood.

Good reading here!

November Hill farm journal, 32

This is what I woke up to this morning - our neighbor's ducks doing bug duty in the front field. I am charmed by this little flock, who make the trek from their pond two farms down to visit our field each morning. I wish I could hire them to march through the barn aisle a few times a day!

While doing morning chores I also encountered a box turtle walking along the dirt paddock. He acted like he knew exactly where he was going, so I left him to it. The barn gutters are being installed today, so the horses and donkeys are having to live "rough" in the front field, something they are not at all accustomed to at this time of year, and I assure you, there was drama. Husband and I brushed out ears, put on fly masks and fly spray, cleaned and filled the water trough, and gave lots of hay in the shady areas of the pasture. There was galloping and bucking and pacing and lots of bossing around by all of them. It's 2:14 as I type this and they are still bunching up at the gate, clamoring to come in!

I offered them all a cold hosing and the horses and pony accepted, all grumpy but willing to line up for their turns. Thankfully today has been overcast so while it's warm, it's not nearly as hot as it would be if the sun were blazing. I don't know yet how long the gutters and downspouts will take so they may be roughing it again tomorrow.

In other farm chore news, we recently got a Newer Spreader. I used it today for the first time and wow - it really does the job! I'm very happy with it.

*******

Our efforts to purchase a small parcel of land behind our back line have failed. I was told by the realtor that developers from a neighboring town have the entire 103 acres under contract with plans to build 50 homes back there. Thankfully the power cut and county setback regulations will keep things at a reasonable distance but I'm sad that the hundred-acre wood is going to be a subdivision. The other side of this coin is that our property value will increase, but my hope is that the whole plan to develop crashes and burns.

Our plans to re-do the perimeter fencing are proceeding, but now we'll also add another fence to the actual back property line. There's another little plan I'm hatching as well but I'll save that story for another day to tell.

We've been having lovely salads with the lettuces from the garden this month. The last of the strawberries were eaten and now we're waiting for tomatoes and cucumbers and blueberries to come in.

Baloo is doing beautifully - he's a sweet pup and very high energy. Bear is still happy to have a playmate and I'm thrilled to have two dogs who get along well and keep one another company when I'm busy with other things!