Merry Christmas

I know the posts have been lacking lately. Both of our cameras have stopped working reliably so I haven't been getting many pictures. The issue should reach resolution soon. Meanwhile, Kathy, Bill and Dad have come to visit for Christmas. Kathy helped out and took some pictures with her phone.

 Kathy and Dad have new hats for the cold.

 Our house is a little cool in the winter.

Old guys and stockings means Christmas is here!

Dogs on a Plane

Lisa and I helped transport some rescue Shelties last Sunday. They were breeding bitches in a puppy mill.

 We picked them up in Lexington from two rescuers who had brought them down from Ohio.

 We took them in our van down to Bowling Green, Kentucky.

 We met the next pair of rescuers at the Bowling Green Regional Airport.

 Terri and Mark had flown up from Nashville. We helped them load the dogs into the back of the plane and they took off for Memphis. They'll be in foster care until they can be adopted.

 Piper got to ride along to Bowling Green. It was a long trip but worth it to know these two little girls will now be safe. A big thank you to Heather for going over to our house to let the girls out while we were gone.

Bumblefoot

Bumblefoot is an infection common in chickens. The hen that had it is the one staying in the rabbit cage. Lisa operated on it to drain the infection. We didn't get pictures of the actual surgery, just the aftermath.

 Gauze and vet wrap to bind the wound. Now you know why they call it "the bird" finger.

 She is putting weight on it already.

 She never did stop laying eggs so we thought she deserved heroic efforts.

 This is all the crud that was in the swollen area. Lisa dug it out with tweezers.

 Cathryn sent us some doTERRA lavender to sooth the pain and act as an antiseptic. The hen seems to be responding well to it.

Steve

Edith brought over a new ram yesterday. He is going to live here but he'll take care of her ewes and ours.

 Fall color over the pond.

  Sunset in November.

 This hen has been having foot problems so she gets to live in a rabbit cage. She is still laying eggs.

  Edith and Lisa with Steve.

  Steve is a Katahdin ram. We transferred him to the goat gopher for his ride to the barn. He'll be staying in a stall until Lisa finishes training him to be tame.

 The ewes are going to love him.

 We found some sheep handling equipment on craigslist. We got it all set up for worming today.

 The table with the head gate makes it easy to work on them. Getting them into it was a challenge. We'll need to work out the details. Luckily Heather showed up and gave us a hand.

 They didn't mind the head gate so much but they hated the dark ramp chute.

 We finished the gate into the bottom pasture yesterday. It is so we can load hay rolls directly into the bottom without going through the upper sheep pasture.

 We captured the four lambs that are being sold.

  They'll be staying in the stall next to Steve's. They are hard to catch in the open field so since we had them caught for worming we decided to hold onto them.

 Paige.

Brush Burn

Nelson's son Brent bought the property behind Eddie's. They've had a bulldozer over there for over a week pushing down the trees and scrub to make pastures and hay fields. It's over 50 acres.

 The brush piles burning behind Eddie's house.

 We are installing a gate to Speedy's pasture. We'll be able to get hay in there without going through the sheep. The weather hasn't been very nice but we should get finished in the next day or so.

 Paige.

Feeding Time

We got a new grill. The old one was getting worn out. Harvey goes to Flemingsburg in two weeks so Lisa started feeding grain.

 The new grill.

 They can hear Lisa loading the buckets from a long way off.

 Buckets!

 We set the feeding system back up like we had it last year.

 We might get some feeder panels this year if we can find them.

 I made some new sheep feeders. It started with a 10' section of 6" schedule 35 drain pipe.

 I made two like this.

 Lady having another adventure in the garden.

 Paige.

Chip in The Dark Side of the Moon

The Montgomery County shelter and humane society had an event at Tractor Supply in Mt. Sterling. They were doing fund raising and adoptions. They were also doing microchips for pets at a huge discount. We took Luna to get hers.

 Paige.

  Lady likes the chickens. We have to be careful because she actually attacks them. The rest of the girls just herd them back over the fence.

 Lisa finished the porch. She applied a stain and weather protectant. Here she is cleaning it with Oxy Clean.

 Satin having a run.

 Luna getting her chip. She was very well behaved. The spaniel that went after her threw a fit.

 Dogs and cats for adoption.

 A cage full of aww.

 Spot, Stripe, 10, Ivy and her two are still getting feed. They have a little corral in the chicken yard.

 We had to bring Sambo back up for first aid.

 He had his horns removed after one of them got broken. It's inner tissue came out somehow leaving a hole about the size of a dime. After trying a few different things we ended up using duct tape secured with superglue. We had him on the sheep table and Lisa put the glue in the wool around the horn then stuck on the piece of tape.

 Since the horn "bandage" held overnight Sambo got to go back down to the pasture.

 He likes going for walks because of all the treats along the way.

 Waiting while Sambo has a treat.

 Bonnie has turned out to be a good guard llama. She just hates being separated from Martha.

 Paige.