... And I don't just mean the residents of FHH :)
We've been busy... Jess had her wisdom teeth out on Monday and is recovering, slowly and painfully. She's not too swollen (though she might have a different opinion on this!) and we've not seen any bruising yet. She's still in a fair bit of pain though... she did well Monday and Tuesday, was eating soft foods, but by Tuesday night, the trauma had all caught up with her and so did the pain. She's sleeping lots, I have to wake her to take her pain pills and antibiotics and she's not eating as well as she was, but enough to get by for now.
Oliver is doing well, I swear he grows everyday! Last weekend he weighed 21.4 lbs, another solid 2 lb a week gain... and I'm sure he'll do the same when we weigh him this weekend. I posted some new pics, of Oliver, Buddy, Pixie, Ernie, Bert and the peonies that are blooming out the front.
It's a challenge getting all the normal things done AND looking after Olly AND looking after Jess, but it should get better day by day. Oliver has been sleeping through the night, which is helpful and after another day or so, so should Jess.
We've had quite a bit of rain over the last few days... enough that I have to move my goat pens to the front of the property again, where its slightly higher ground. The back part is pretty squishy and even some parts of the front aren't great. I moved one pen yesterday and today I'll move the other.
I use the lawn tractor and cart to move the fence panels (when they are going a long way, when its a short distance we just carry them). I lay them over the cart and steady them while I drive slowly. I can take 4 at a time, so its only 2 trips, not bad. I also wanted to come up with a way to move the shelters easier, we normally "roll" the cubes when we move them, as they are awkward to carry. But the idea of rolling them 100's of feet, up a bit of a hill wasn't really appealing to me. After I mentioned it to Jess, she came up with a brilliant plan, even while on percocet!
Last time we moved the rubber stall mats, I attached C clamps to them, then ran a rope through and tied it onto the hitch of the lawn tractor. She suggested I do the same thing, but then just roll the shelter onto the mat. Yesterday I tried it and it worked wonderfully! What a brilliant girl :)
Anyhow, that's about all going on here... I should run and get something done while both Jess and Oliver are asleep! :)
--L
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Braces, Teeth and General Happenings
I finally got my fancy new knee brace today! I wore it after I got it, while I did normal stuff around here, including cutting the grass and its pretty good! It definitely helps, that I know, even after a short trial. I even tried jogging a bit in it tonight and other than Buddy chasing and biting me (not hard, just his normal "this is a very fun game" biting) there was very little pain! Considering how bad its been for the last while, its quite remarkable.
It will take some getting used to.. to figure out how tight it should be and all that. There's 5 straps on it that are all adjustable... I'll maybe try to take a pic of it tomorrow, if I remember. Even driving with it on is wonderful... since its my right leg, driving can be a real abusive activity on it... but while wearing it, it was so nice :)
Shawn also went to the oral surgeon yesterday about his wisdom teeth... the wisdom teeth he really should've had removed when he was 17-18, according to the surgeon. They will be removing all 5 (yes, he's a freak!), but its a little more complicated procedure than Jessica's will be. The surgeon showed us on the xray how where the 2 wisdom teeth that are together are actually located in his sinus cavity!
This means they will give him general anesthesia and will have to cut into the gum and drill into the sinus cavity to remove them. They are contained in a cyst inside the sinus cavity. The cyst will get biopsied, but they don't expect to find anything scary, like cancer, thank goodness. His recovery will take at least a week and he'll have to be off work for that week... we were warned that this procedure will cause quite a bit of swelling and will be painful.
There is also a small chance that a second procedure may be necessary depending on how the first procedure heals.... but we won't know that until afterwards, obviously. It's a bit disappointing that it will be such a big deal... they can't even do it at the regular oral surgeon's office like Jessica's will be done, he has to go into Ottawa to a surgical centre. Anyhow, it's scheduled for August.... should be an adventure.
We got all the wire and rope up for our 5 strand electric fence. All that is left is 2 gates and hooking up the actual fencer unit. Tonight, Shawn trimmed the grass under the fence so its no longer touching the fence posts or wires.
Jessica and I installed the new roof to the goat ghetto... brand new plywood and all ;) We also put in some cross pieces (kinda like rafters, but for a flat roof) and that helps add some stability and some more ventilation... in spite of all the holes in the ghetto, I was never quite as happy about the ventilation in that shelter as I have been with the others. This should make it as good or better now.
I got most of the grass cut tonight, minus the front yard and the little strip between the house and the driveway. I even got some of the grass cut in the areas where the goats have already grazed... I like to cut it back, I figure whatever they did NOT eat I want cut back to give the other stuff they do like a chance to grow back. I cut it once and then just leave it to grow. We still haven't used any one spot twice, though some of the spots we grazed them early on could really be grazed again, no problem. I really have too much grass for just the two of them. Not a "problem" you hear about often, for sure :)
The dogs and goats are all fine... Oliver is doing well and has been sleeping through the night for the last 3 or 4 nights... from about 11pm to 7am. I'm really pleased about that. I do restrict his water intake though, starting around 9:30pm, otherwise he'd just keep going... he's a bit obsessive about drinking, kinda like Buddy. We'll have to weigh Ollie again, I'm pretty sure he's grown again, his legs look longer to me. He's doing pretty well with housetraining... not perfect, of course, but as long as WE are paying attention we manage to get him outside without many accidents.
The bugs are still awful here. Mosquitoes, horse flies, deer flies... just gross... I have so many bites... some are itchy, some just painful. The bug clothes we got at Lee Valley are pretty good and work well. I should get one more jacket as we only have 2 right now, for 3 of us. I didn't want to buy 3 and then find out they didn't work or fit or something. The jackets have attached hoods that also cover your face... it keeps the nasty little gnats out of your eyes, but does slightly reduce visibility... not horribly though and really having the gnats in your eyes reduces visibility too!
The only other small complaint is that they bug clothes are a bit warmer than we expected... with some of the heat and humidity we've had it was really noticeable. But then again, you're going to be hot and miserable anyhow, being hot and miserable and NOT getting eaten alive by bugs IS an improvement.
That's it for now, its 11:30 pm and time to go feed and check on goats and take the dogs out one last time!
--L
It will take some getting used to.. to figure out how tight it should be and all that. There's 5 straps on it that are all adjustable... I'll maybe try to take a pic of it tomorrow, if I remember. Even driving with it on is wonderful... since its my right leg, driving can be a real abusive activity on it... but while wearing it, it was so nice :)
Shawn also went to the oral surgeon yesterday about his wisdom teeth... the wisdom teeth he really should've had removed when he was 17-18, according to the surgeon. They will be removing all 5 (yes, he's a freak!), but its a little more complicated procedure than Jessica's will be. The surgeon showed us on the xray how where the 2 wisdom teeth that are together are actually located in his sinus cavity!
This means they will give him general anesthesia and will have to cut into the gum and drill into the sinus cavity to remove them. They are contained in a cyst inside the sinus cavity. The cyst will get biopsied, but they don't expect to find anything scary, like cancer, thank goodness. His recovery will take at least a week and he'll have to be off work for that week... we were warned that this procedure will cause quite a bit of swelling and will be painful.
There is also a small chance that a second procedure may be necessary depending on how the first procedure heals.... but we won't know that until afterwards, obviously. It's a bit disappointing that it will be such a big deal... they can't even do it at the regular oral surgeon's office like Jessica's will be done, he has to go into Ottawa to a surgical centre. Anyhow, it's scheduled for August.... should be an adventure.
We got all the wire and rope up for our 5 strand electric fence. All that is left is 2 gates and hooking up the actual fencer unit. Tonight, Shawn trimmed the grass under the fence so its no longer touching the fence posts or wires.
Jessica and I installed the new roof to the goat ghetto... brand new plywood and all ;) We also put in some cross pieces (kinda like rafters, but for a flat roof) and that helps add some stability and some more ventilation... in spite of all the holes in the ghetto, I was never quite as happy about the ventilation in that shelter as I have been with the others. This should make it as good or better now.
I got most of the grass cut tonight, minus the front yard and the little strip between the house and the driveway. I even got some of the grass cut in the areas where the goats have already grazed... I like to cut it back, I figure whatever they did NOT eat I want cut back to give the other stuff they do like a chance to grow back. I cut it once and then just leave it to grow. We still haven't used any one spot twice, though some of the spots we grazed them early on could really be grazed again, no problem. I really have too much grass for just the two of them. Not a "problem" you hear about often, for sure :)
The dogs and goats are all fine... Oliver is doing well and has been sleeping through the night for the last 3 or 4 nights... from about 11pm to 7am. I'm really pleased about that. I do restrict his water intake though, starting around 9:30pm, otherwise he'd just keep going... he's a bit obsessive about drinking, kinda like Buddy. We'll have to weigh Ollie again, I'm pretty sure he's grown again, his legs look longer to me. He's doing pretty well with housetraining... not perfect, of course, but as long as WE are paying attention we manage to get him outside without many accidents.
The bugs are still awful here. Mosquitoes, horse flies, deer flies... just gross... I have so many bites... some are itchy, some just painful. The bug clothes we got at Lee Valley are pretty good and work well. I should get one more jacket as we only have 2 right now, for 3 of us. I didn't want to buy 3 and then find out they didn't work or fit or something. The jackets have attached hoods that also cover your face... it keeps the nasty little gnats out of your eyes, but does slightly reduce visibility... not horribly though and really having the gnats in your eyes reduces visibility too!
The only other small complaint is that they bug clothes are a bit warmer than we expected... with some of the heat and humidity we've had it was really noticeable. But then again, you're going to be hot and miserable anyhow, being hot and miserable and NOT getting eaten alive by bugs IS an improvement.
That's it for now, its 11:30 pm and time to go feed and check on goats and take the dogs out one last time!
--L
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Heat Continues...
Just a quick update... its another hot and humid day here... the AC has been running for days now... all weekend. It's brutal outside. I think it's supposed to break later today/tonight... I'm very hopeful! We're currently under a thunderstorm watch that includes high winds.
My goats are miserable about this weather, almost more miserable than they were about the winter weather. The bugs are very bad... mosquitoes, deer flies and especially horse flies. The horse flies are HUGE (about 2 inches) long and they have a NASTY bite that hurts like heck... for DAYS after they bite. For anyone interested in reading about horse flies, here's the wiki article.
The dogs are doing fine... mostly staying inside, except to run out and do their business. Oliver would like to stay outside longer, but he gets so hot and miserable, I worry he'll have heat stroke, never mind those of us that have to stay out with him!
We weighed Oliver last night and he's up to 19.2 lbs.... he gained 2 pounds in a week, guess he's growing and getting enough to eat... he looks so scrawny and ribby to me, but I think its ok for him not to be an obese baby and put undue stress on his joints and all that. He mostly doesn't mind being crate trained and our older dogs LOVE that he's being crate trained... gives them a break from his own brand of crazy that he likes to inflict on them.
His house training is coming along... we've had a couple minor accidents and a bit of submissive peeing (when dealing with the intolerant older dogs!) but nothing major. With this heat, he's also drinking a fair bit of water, which he processes very quickly and means you have to be vigilant!!
With it being so hot on the weekend, we didn't get as much done as we would've liked... we only have one more section of electric fence to put up (just the actual rope and wire, the insulators are all up) and the two gates to do and then that will be done. Probably just an afternoons worth of work to go.
I also have to replace the roof on the goat ghetto before we move them into that area, its currently roofless. When I originally made the roof, it was made from 3 pieces of "reclaimed" (old!!) plywood that I fastened together. It worked fine and was still repelling water no problem. The only issue with it was our growing goats... more specifically BERT who is big and heavy and likes to hang out on top of the shelter. The plywood was starting not to seem quite sturdy enough to hold him and in a couple places the fasteners were starting to stick out a bit just from him compressing them over and over. I already bought the plywood to put on, I just have to trim it a bit and fasten it on. Again, not a big project, but way more than I can do in this heat!!
The fire flies are out again around here... when we go out before bed with the dogs and to check the goats, there are millions of them hanging out in the yard and the fields, twinkling like ground stars. Absolutely beautiful.
I think that's about it for now... just waiting for the weather to break... they are forecasting tomorrow's high to be 23 C.. perhaps I'll be able to shut off the AC and the fans and just enjoy the peace and quiet again :)
-- L
My goats are miserable about this weather, almost more miserable than they were about the winter weather. The bugs are very bad... mosquitoes, deer flies and especially horse flies. The horse flies are HUGE (about 2 inches) long and they have a NASTY bite that hurts like heck... for DAYS after they bite. For anyone interested in reading about horse flies, here's the wiki article.
The dogs are doing fine... mostly staying inside, except to run out and do their business. Oliver would like to stay outside longer, but he gets so hot and miserable, I worry he'll have heat stroke, never mind those of us that have to stay out with him!
We weighed Oliver last night and he's up to 19.2 lbs.... he gained 2 pounds in a week, guess he's growing and getting enough to eat... he looks so scrawny and ribby to me, but I think its ok for him not to be an obese baby and put undue stress on his joints and all that. He mostly doesn't mind being crate trained and our older dogs LOVE that he's being crate trained... gives them a break from his own brand of crazy that he likes to inflict on them.
His house training is coming along... we've had a couple minor accidents and a bit of submissive peeing (when dealing with the intolerant older dogs!) but nothing major. With this heat, he's also drinking a fair bit of water, which he processes very quickly and means you have to be vigilant!!
With it being so hot on the weekend, we didn't get as much done as we would've liked... we only have one more section of electric fence to put up (just the actual rope and wire, the insulators are all up) and the two gates to do and then that will be done. Probably just an afternoons worth of work to go.
I also have to replace the roof on the goat ghetto before we move them into that area, its currently roofless. When I originally made the roof, it was made from 3 pieces of "reclaimed" (old!!) plywood that I fastened together. It worked fine and was still repelling water no problem. The only issue with it was our growing goats... more specifically BERT who is big and heavy and likes to hang out on top of the shelter. The plywood was starting not to seem quite sturdy enough to hold him and in a couple places the fasteners were starting to stick out a bit just from him compressing them over and over. I already bought the plywood to put on, I just have to trim it a bit and fasten it on. Again, not a big project, but way more than I can do in this heat!!
The fire flies are out again around here... when we go out before bed with the dogs and to check the goats, there are millions of them hanging out in the yard and the fields, twinkling like ground stars. Absolutely beautiful.
I think that's about it for now... just waiting for the weather to break... they are forecasting tomorrow's high to be 23 C.. perhaps I'll be able to shut off the AC and the fans and just enjoy the peace and quiet again :)
-- L
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
More Pics and Videos
I put up some more pics and some video, so Gramma could see her new grandpuppy in action! ;) He's such a little terror!
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Oliver went to the vet yesterday, all was fine, she listened to his heart and lungs and thought he sounded healthy. She's not too concerned about his limp at this point as he doesn't seem very sore on it and she checked all his joints and nothing seemed to be bothering him... its certainly not slowing him down any. He got his 8 week shot... needs his 12 and 16 weeks shots... then microchipping and neutering when he's 5 - 6 months old.
That's it for now!
-- L
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Oliver went to the vet yesterday, all was fine, she listened to his heart and lungs and thought he sounded healthy. She's not too concerned about his limp at this point as he doesn't seem very sore on it and she checked all his joints and nothing seemed to be bothering him... its certainly not slowing him down any. He got his 8 week shot... needs his 12 and 16 weeks shots... then microchipping and neutering when he's 5 - 6 months old.
That's it for now!
-- L
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Oliver's Weight
I was talking to Mom and Dad on the phone earlier and trying to figure out how much Oliver weighs... Shawn weighed him and he's 17.2 lbs.
In 24 hours, we had ONE accident inside and I blame Shawn... he didn't run him out the door quite fast enough ;)
That's it for now.
-- L
In 24 hours, we had ONE accident inside and I blame Shawn... he didn't run him out the door quite fast enough ;)
That's it for now.
-- L
Introducing... Oliver!
For those that don't already know, yesterday we brought home a new shepherd cross puppy, Oliver. He's about 8 weeks old and extremely cute, even at 3am ;)
We picked him up just the other side of Cornwall... he and his litter mates were advertised online, not Kijiji, this time, but Equistation. I spoke to his mom's owner on the phone the other day and she described the 3 available pups, what they looked like and what their temperaments were like. After hearing the descriptions, I asked her to hold Oliver (he didn't have a name at the time, Shawn named him on the way home) for me until we could get down there (about 2 hours away, one way) to see him and hopefully pick him up.
We went down yesterday afternoon around 4pm and met Oliver, his mom and his litter mates. The owner had done a great job describing them, I easily recognized them based on her descriptions! Oliver was by far the best pup of the 3 left, friendly, didn't mind being picked up or rolled over, all the normal things. One of his litter mates was very mouthy, excessively mouthy even for a pup and we were well chewed on by him while visiting.
His owner was a bit concerned as somehow between the time I talked to her and the time we got there, he had developed a mild limp. She wasn't sure I would want him or that she should let him go with us. I assured her we'd keep an eye on it and follow up if needed... he needs to see the vet this week anyhow, for deworming and vaccinations. Eventually, when he's old enough, we'll get him neutered, of course.
We had an ok first night... he slept from 10:30pm to 3am and then woke up and cried, so I took the whole pack outside and he had to pee. Then back in the crate and he slept til around 5am and cried and I took just him out and he had to pee and poop.... then back in the crate until around 630am when he woke up and cried and I poked Shawn awake to take them all outside and he had to pee and poop again. Then back in the crate until about 830am when Pixie was awake and tired of being in her crate. (Sorry about the explicit bathroom reports, but as with all babies, bodily functions become ever so important!)
Oliver was very hungry this morning and was coveting the big dogs' food... when their food was ready, Shawn fed them, then we put Oliver in his crate with his puppy kibble and a bowl of water... then he could eat without being bothered and without anyone trying to steal his food. He ate quickly and was done his small bowl about the same time the big dogs finished theirs!
Oliver also came out to the goats with us this morning... I didn't want to leave him in the house in his crate to scream and cry while Jess was still sleeping. Its a long walk out there for him and he has to stop and rest a couple times. He wasn't really thrilled about the goats and Bert especially was not thrilled about Oliver. We didn't let him in with the goats, of course, they would've killed him, I'm sure, but we left him just outside the fence. At one point, Oliver was growling at the goats, I told him not to.
Buddy is taking to him pretty well... he's not entirely sure about him and doesn't like that he moves so fast and Oliver DID get heck this morning for running right into the side of Buddy... but he didn't hurt him, just scared him. Buddy was not impressed last night when we came back in from one of the trips outside and Buddy was tired and laid flat out on his side and Oliver came whizzing over and rammed into his tummy with his front feet looking to nurse from him. Buddy gave him heck and then walked around the room for a few minutes grumbling "do *I* look like a nursing mother?" but he got over it.
Pixie on the other hand is really quite nervous around him. She hasn't hardly interacted at all. During one of the overnight outings she did walk up to him, poked him with her nose, he fell over and she ran away scared. Other than that, she makes quite a point to ignore him. I think once he grows a bit and is able to play a bit, she will find him more fun... but for now, he just freaks her out a bit!
Anyhow, I think that's all for now... Jess has put up some of her pics on Facebook for anyone that's interested.
-- L
Jessica has been busily taking pics and I've taken a few as well, we'll try to get them posted ASAP!
We picked him up just the other side of Cornwall... he and his litter mates were advertised online, not Kijiji, this time, but Equistation. I spoke to his mom's owner on the phone the other day and she described the 3 available pups, what they looked like and what their temperaments were like. After hearing the descriptions, I asked her to hold Oliver (he didn't have a name at the time, Shawn named him on the way home) for me until we could get down there (about 2 hours away, one way) to see him and hopefully pick him up.
We went down yesterday afternoon around 4pm and met Oliver, his mom and his litter mates. The owner had done a great job describing them, I easily recognized them based on her descriptions! Oliver was by far the best pup of the 3 left, friendly, didn't mind being picked up or rolled over, all the normal things. One of his litter mates was very mouthy, excessively mouthy even for a pup and we were well chewed on by him while visiting.
His owner was a bit concerned as somehow between the time I talked to her and the time we got there, he had developed a mild limp. She wasn't sure I would want him or that she should let him go with us. I assured her we'd keep an eye on it and follow up if needed... he needs to see the vet this week anyhow, for deworming and vaccinations. Eventually, when he's old enough, we'll get him neutered, of course.
We had an ok first night... he slept from 10:30pm to 3am and then woke up and cried, so I took the whole pack outside and he had to pee. Then back in the crate and he slept til around 5am and cried and I took just him out and he had to pee and poop.... then back in the crate until around 630am when he woke up and cried and I poked Shawn awake to take them all outside and he had to pee and poop again. Then back in the crate until about 830am when Pixie was awake and tired of being in her crate. (Sorry about the explicit bathroom reports, but as with all babies, bodily functions become ever so important!)
Oliver was very hungry this morning and was coveting the big dogs' food... when their food was ready, Shawn fed them, then we put Oliver in his crate with his puppy kibble and a bowl of water... then he could eat without being bothered and without anyone trying to steal his food. He ate quickly and was done his small bowl about the same time the big dogs finished theirs!
Oliver also came out to the goats with us this morning... I didn't want to leave him in the house in his crate to scream and cry while Jess was still sleeping. Its a long walk out there for him and he has to stop and rest a couple times. He wasn't really thrilled about the goats and Bert especially was not thrilled about Oliver. We didn't let him in with the goats, of course, they would've killed him, I'm sure, but we left him just outside the fence. At one point, Oliver was growling at the goats, I told him not to.
Buddy is taking to him pretty well... he's not entirely sure about him and doesn't like that he moves so fast and Oliver DID get heck this morning for running right into the side of Buddy... but he didn't hurt him, just scared him. Buddy was not impressed last night when we came back in from one of the trips outside and Buddy was tired and laid flat out on his side and Oliver came whizzing over and rammed into his tummy with his front feet looking to nurse from him. Buddy gave him heck and then walked around the room for a few minutes grumbling "do *I* look like a nursing mother?" but he got over it.
Pixie on the other hand is really quite nervous around him. She hasn't hardly interacted at all. During one of the overnight outings she did walk up to him, poked him with her nose, he fell over and she ran away scared. Other than that, she makes quite a point to ignore him. I think once he grows a bit and is able to play a bit, she will find him more fun... but for now, he just freaks her out a bit!
Anyhow, I think that's all for now... Jess has put up some of her pics on Facebook for anyone that's interested.
-- L
Jessica has been busily taking pics and I've taken a few as well, we'll try to get them posted ASAP!
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