Where have I been?!  I've been HOT and SWEATY that's for sure!  The temps have been over 102 for over a week. So you stay inside and - ugh - do housework... some anyway.  Reading a lot...writing a little.  AAAURGH
I'm stuck on Book #3... reallllly stuck.  So, I'm going to keep this short and get back at it!  wish me luck and cross some fingers and toes.   sigh

Another day in the life of...
WHEW...Let's go back a little....to yesterday around 11:00 a.m.
Mail carrier came by with pkg for hubby - he apologized for Homer the burro making so much noise.  Two hours later I walked out and the gate to the meadows was WIDE open?!  All four goats were wandering close by - so corralled them up but didn't see Homer.  OK he was off somewhere by himself - not.  Drove around with carrots and apples if I found him... nothin.

We originally got Homer from a friend -  Sonny - who lives about 3/4 mile from here.  He called us a year ago to tell us he had an abandoned burro, he couldn't find it's owner after a month and did WE WANT HIM?   Uhhhh YES!  Donkey's are great for protecting goats (sheep etc.) and with coyotes common in our area, it was a perfect match.  Our goaties took to him immediately.  I even have video of baby goats climbing on him while he was resting! 

Anyway, Sonny came by today to check on Mike.  He'd seen his trucks home all week and wanted to see what was up.  I met him outside and told him about the heart attack etc etc., but now, the only thing UP was hunting for Homer.  He gave me a really funny look then said - "he's at my house."

WTF ?!?!?!  "Seriously?!?  You aren't kidding?"  He wasn't !  Apparently Homer left here and went BACK to where he'd only lived for a month!  He had to walk along our busy road - but how?  and WHY?  I was amazed.

We drove down and Sonny used his horse trailer (bless him!) and after 30 min of wrangling him and FINALLY getting him INTO the trailer, we drove him home and after another 20 min to get him OUT...Homer is home! 

Oh and there are 3 wire ties on the gate now.

Forgot to post - four weeks ago, coyote got my two black baby goats!  I KNOW Homer, the burro tried to protect them - but 3 kids running in 3 different directions, I guess he had to decide on one and stick with it.  He saved (at least I'm convinced he did) the white female.  So I now have 4 white females, no male and no babies comin.  Oh well.  I guess goat season will have to wait for a few months (waiting on that tax refund!)  After we pay bills... you know how THAT goes.

OMG - the week I've had ??  Tues p.m. hubby had chest pains on "right" side? After a while it was just "let's go to ER".  At 60 and diabetic - you just don't mess with chest pains.  After that and angiogram, etc. by Thursday, they placed two stents in the arteries on his heart - one was 90% blocked and it's the one they call the "Widow Maker" !!  So... if we had NOT gone, it could have gotten worse, very quickly, and I would have lost my best friend forever!  I think it was a huge wake up call for him also.  Mortality and all. 

So better eating, a little more exercise, less fast food for sure, and taking more meds.  sigh

He broke his leg in Oct. this year and it's not healing.  He's using a "bone growth stimulator" to get the bone to knit.  The plates and pins are all that's keeping him on his feet.  He's walking fine, but it hurts him and swells after a while.

Now the docs say NO surgery on the leg/ankle for at least a year.  He was going to have it done within the next few months! 

If it ain't one thing... it's another.

Another day - 3 less puppies

Ka-Ching!  We finally sold the last 3 pups!  We had them listed for $50 cuz they're almost 4 months old and not "real" puppies anymore.  They've started looking more like small dogs.  But they are adorable or WERE.. Cuz they're GONE!

One couple took 2 of them for their 2 boys - that was funny to watch cuz they couldn't make up their mind.  "I want the boy"  " No...I said I wanted the girl that has the spot on his head"... etc. - they finally took one boy and one girl - then another couple came out and took the last girl!  whew!  Not only glad they're gone but they got good homes!

Hubby has a BIG birthday coming on Friday.  He's afraid his office is going to make a big deal about it - now-a-days you shouldn't call attention to your age especially when you're turning 60!  But he's well liked so they will probably do SOMETHING to embarrass him! LOL

Tuesday - poor baby didn't make it

I haven't seen one of the "kids" in the pen.  His sister the white kid is doing well but apparently her lil brother wasn't strong enough to make it past the first week.  I just hate when that happens.  I know I did everything I could - but.... sometimes it just happens. 

I couldn't see into the "goat houses" from outside the fence, so tonite I had little hope but I went into the pens and found him.  Will spare you the details.

Had a good laugh while I was out there... White kid had floppy ears - the solution is to scotch tape them into correct position.  Well... she got the tape off and her ears are hilarious!   She looks like a flop eared rabbit!  Have to get a picture !

Monday - Tatianna Yellow is DONE!

IT's DONE !   It's finally done!  For some reason this one gave me a tough time - but only the last 3/4 of the book.  Damn - for some reason this one gave me fits!  But just wait til you get a load of Book #3!!

Gotta get started on the edits and a few re-writes on 2, I figure then it'll take about 3-4 weeks for my cover...gonna have to put the pressure on my cover artist!  I really want to get "TY" out to you!

giddy

Sunday wasn't ANY better!

sigh...
I'm sitting here working on Book #2 - ALMOST DONE!
but I hear the commode down the hall gurgling - OH NO!  So I get up to check it out. 

The tile floor in this room/hall is like ICE when it's wet and ... well you can guess what's next.  Before I could get to the bathroom - I was on my ass - OUCH! and my head hit the wall!  I was sitting in sewer water.  Luckily it was "water" and not anything "else".  After I got up and saw the problem... I looked and saw my head left an impression on the wall !  BIG ouch!  There is actually a head shaped dent in the wall!  Geeez.

Two hours later I got the water up, and I did an inventory of my injuries.  My left leg - inside the knee is really sore today.  Not sure what I did to it but it hurts!  waaaaah  poor me!  LOL

DOGGIE DOO

Well... I was up to my elbows in dog poo today! LOL We have  a lab puppy ad running in the newspaper, so people are coming out and they ALL ask "are the parents on site" ? Fine.

But the kennels have been neglected for months - I'd been scooping it over to the corner but hadn't "cleaned " it for a while...so I decided to go all out. OMG I'm so damn tired now I can't move! moaning now...

During the cleanup the wheelbarrow I was using broke a handle - now how to you use the damn thing with ONE handle?! You pull it around by the lip and it takes a bit longer to get in/out of the kennel..which gave Calli (pups mom - @ 90 lbs.)JUST enough time to get out and she wouldn't come back!  Hubby corralled her and kept her on the front porch...for a while.

THEN Jackson male - @120 pounds! got out and Calli came back and OMG a dog fight! I used my shovel to clip them on the head and they separated long enough to get Jackson back in. By this time, I'm dying from MORE exercise than I've had in years! Seriously!

I was shaking with exhaustion but DAYAM did those kennels SHINE!  Disenfected with some pine cleaner and washed all four sections with water and jet spray

I loaded THREE friggin wheelbarrows FULL of poop, dog hair and incidental stuff like leaves.

Finally had to shovel it OVER the 6ft. chain link into the wheelbarrow, cuz  I couldn't risk them getting out again! We have one, possibly two people coming out tomorrow. kaching ( made $150 so far! )      

Mojo !

For some reason, unknown to me, I got the BUG last night and I wrote, edited, added, deleted and perused ... Tatianna Yellow - Book #2 of The Color Guard!!
OMG!  I was on a roll and finally when the pendulum clock chimed midnight...yawn, I decided I had to shut the laptop.  Now, if this was my full time job, I'd probably STILL be writing!

Coughing, doctors and drugs

Hubby has bronchitis - went to doc before it turned into pneumonia!  I had same crap in December - earlier blog entries testify to that.  NO FUN and it takes weeks until the coughing and lethargy leaves! 

Allergies are in full force here in AR - Pine pollen covers everything with yellow dust and into your lungs - cough, sneeze and cough some more.  Awful dry cough that eventually causes your sinus to become involved - ugh.  Mostly I just feel like sleeping - a lot.

yawn

Saturdays and sunshine

My weekends are a neverending series of "events" that make for great stories on Mondays!  Last weekend... I caught a huge fire on video, near where I get my scrips- wow!  it was amazing.  And scarey!  I've never seen an entire home/house destroyed like that.  It took only minutes before the whole thing was nothing but FIRE.  Then there was the goat story...sigh. That was sad and reported in another entry.  Now I have the four new goaties and it's a happier report. 

Saturday morning tho, I had some nice surprises.  Hubby bought a new DVD player for me.  Needed (translation: WANTED) a new one for the TV downstairs where we have comfortable seating and surround sound.  THEN he prepared my morning breakfast.  I drink Instant Breakfast (IB)(Carnation) EVERY morning and have for over 20 years.  He poured the milk into one of my "special" cups but he made it GREEN for St. Patricks day!  LOL - mix that with chocolate IB and it was a disgusting color!!  Tasted the same but I couldn't look at it!  LOL

OK - now it's Sunday - I have to go check on the "kids", clean out my car, do a shitload of laundry (sigh), vac the entire upstairs, and look for my wandering female kitten.  She's been sighted 1/4 mile from here!  And she might be PG.  (Another sigh.)   Dreamed about her all night.  yawn

Late Night Adventures

Who really wants to get up from a nice warm bed and go out into the dark way back into the woods...alone?  Not me.  But I did.  sigh

When you hear one of your few females goats bleating and the ever protective burro hee-hawing, you know it's not good news.  So I get up and throw on the nearest clothes, shoes and go to my car.  No way was I walking out there!   Found her - luckily close to dry ground - we've had enough rain to keep the back woods soggy and I would have been stuck!
Finally got her head back in, lit the way for her with my headlights, til she was close to home base.  ha

THEN I got to go back to bed.  11:30 on a Thursday night.  Friday was a blur.

Happy Birthday - x 4 !

Happy Birthday to four adorable little goats!

Can't tell yet which of the 2 or 3 momma's gave birth to which one(s)!?
so...3 black and 1 white.  Upon cursory examination, 3 females, 1 male.  The white one is a girl!  hoooray!  One of the black ones seems tiny and a little weak...but we'll keep checking on them.

I have a routine I go thru with each birth.  They have their umbilical cords doused with iodine ( I use betadine douche cuz it's much cheaper!) This prevents infection from dragging it thru dirt and keeps insects/flies from it.  They they get a dollop of green goo as I call it.  It's a substance that has vitamins (?) & "stuff" that gives them a jump start.  I've NEVER lost a kid that's been given the "goo"! 

We switched the kids around, trying to see who the moms would clean and nurse.  We "think" we got it right.

I'll be watching.
Time for PIZZA!

Lions and Tigers and Bears ...?

Ok - Maybe not exotic animals but my domestic critters are keeping me busy lately!
First we have the puppies.  The AKC lab pups are now available for purchase!  YEA!  But in the meantime, we need to get shots for them, keep feeding them, yada yada.  Cute tho.  Hope they find good homes.

Then there are the chickens.  Or the lack of.  Down to 3 hens-old biddies- and one male guinea, one female wild turkey...useless!   OH and the Roosters we let roam (to eat bugs and keep snakes away) are only 2 now...  Not sure where the other two went or were taken?  sigh  We need some young layers and a couple more roosters - I miss my fresh BROWN eggs!

The cats.  Outside, Sassy (injured somehow a year ago - uses only 3 legs), and our two new kittens, Oscar and Salem, have gotten along well.  whew.
However, since Salem went into season, she's been gone almost as often as she's home.  We think she's living under the boat cover.  AND if she's preggers, she'll deliver in there!  sigh  I try to get my animals fixed, but $$ are tight.  If she IS PG, we'll just have to deal with it.  She's getting fixed before that if not.  They could be OSCAR'S kittens!  Altho the big male cats that hung around... could be daddy.

Goats.  sigh.  My favorite tiny goat (3-4 in shorter than others) got herself caught in the "cattle panel" fence - WAAAAAAY back near the preditor area. (Friday) I had a tough time getting her out.  She had her BODY stuck cuz her swollen belly (twins?) stopped her from getting back in.  goooood grief!

She even had a tinge of blood on her back where the cross bar had her pinned.  poor baby.   HOMER ( our rescued Burro )stayed with her & guided me TO her when I heard her cry.  He's a miracle.    She tried to give birth the next day.  I found her with a dead kid's head sticking out.  She was waddling!  (I have to laugh or I'll cry).  We saw the kids legs hadn't fit right - found them, pulled it right out - slicker'n shit - as some are known to say.  She seemed OK - wandered down to meadow to eat with others, ate hay etc. - but she died on Monday.  We figure she had another kid to deliver and it was held back, died and that was toxic to her.  We're not vets and we cannot take most of our "livestock" for med. care - or we'd be broke.  We've learned enough to birth quite a few breach birth kids etc. But there are some things we just cannot prevent.  Sad.  I'm down to only 3 females.

Dogs.  The outside labs are eating/pooping as usual.  sigh  Since Hubby is semi -crippled (well... he's healing a broken ankle - but it's not healing as it should - another worry)  I HAVE to clean their kennels this weekend!  ugh

And the &$*%((#*& weeds !!!!???  they LOVE my flower gardens!  crap.
I have to weedeat everything down while trying to NOT cut down things that haven't bloomed yet. - LOTS of bulbs out there.  Our neighborhood has free mulch - the only problem is it might have chemicals in it - but for free... you get what you pay for.  I need over 3 truck-beds FULL of it to do it right and completely.

I'm tired now.  Just thinking about it.  C'mon lottery!  Momma needs lots of helpers!  LOL

Time Flies

I can be lazy.  Won't always admit that, 'cept maybe here.  But I have also been busy!  With my hubby down and out for months with his broken ankle, I've been in charge of everything he used to help me with.  I'm behind on all my gardening, the barn needs to be dug out, the dog pens need to be cleaned, and the weather has been so mild, the daffodils are blooming!  EARLY!  So I'll be behind on spring planting. aaaaaurgh

Now we have 6 puppies to deal with.  They're AKC lab puppies and adorable at 4 weeks old.  They bark and growl like they're  full grown bad ass dogs.  Then they wag their tails and lick you to death.  Like I said adorable...

I've been reading a LOT lately and writing "some".  I've almost finished Book #2 in the Color Guard:  Tatianna Yellow.  Need to come up with a cover photo and I have an idea but need hubby to help... it involves fire - so it's best to NOT do it alone!  LOL

More tomorrow, I hope.

Where have I been ?!

Howdy.  Been a while.  Got busy with just STUFF...you know how that goes, right?Mom is much better, then DAD had a mini-stroke the first Saturday she was home. He was at Kroger and got confused, his left leg and left arm wouldn't cooperate.  He made it to the car but couldn't figure out how to use his keys. A nice couple stopped and asked if he was OK?  "No, I think I'm having a stroke"  They called 911, loaded his groceries into the car and waited with him til the EMTs got there.  Later he told me he was going to drive himself to the ER !  Thank heavens for kind strangers!

For now... All is Well.

Work is getting busier !  YEA!  But now my boss of 15 years is retiring! aaaurgh  Not too happy about that!  Plus, they're bringing in a "newbie" who we'll have to train ...sigh.  She is from a different dept. that works totally different... should be interesting. 

Stuck on Book #2  Tatianna Yellow.  Just need something to insert before the ending...oh well... I'm better on the weekends.  Tomorrow is Thursday... so MAYBE.. I can finish the book and start on #3... I think that may be my problem.. I'm thinking about the NEXT book before I get #2 finished!   aaaaaurgh
Gotta get to bed.

Giving up?