Oh baby!

One day old Lake Nowhere Cainan meets his 1/2 sister, 7 week old Lake Nowhere Eden

Two days after the flood in the office, I once again made my way before dawn up to the barn to check on my pregnant girl Delta. Before I could get behind the barn, I noticed that Dixie and her baby Eden were standing by the gate of our emergency baby nursery. That was odd as they usually are lying in the straw behind the barn. This was my first indication that I might, finally, have a new baby. As I turned the corner of the barn I saw Delta and the prettiest little black foal struggling to stand up. It was 17 degrees outside and though Delta had foaled in the straw (thank God!), the baby was covered in frost. A winter foal coat was put on him and he warmed up beautifully and was nursing within 45 minutes of being born. Since his father's name is AMJR PCF Genesis, I had been looking for male names from the Book of Genesis in the Bible for an appropriate name for this youngster. I told my farm crew the name choices and everyone decided that "Cainan" was a good name. Cainan was the great-grandson of Adam. Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel and Adam and Eve then had a son named Seth. Seth had a son named Enosh and Enosh in turn had a son named Cainan. I told you all of this to relate the following story about what happened when I finally got to the house at 5:00 pm that evening. Jim asked me what I had named the baby. I told him Cainan's name and the history behind it. Jim then asked me if Adam and Eve had any daughters. I told him that they must have but I didn't know their names as I had been looking in the book of Genesis for boy's names. He then said that if Adam and Eve had not had daughters, how did all these people have children? Now, I am a patient person, but I had been up since 4:00am, had spent the day taking care of Cainan, the farrier had come to trim the feet of the large mare group with their mule colts, I was still fighting with the computer repair shop over the repair of my computer and I had another water leak behind the barn. I told Jim that the Bible was on the kitchen counter and if he wanted to figure it out that "Cainan" shows up in the 5th chapter of Genesis and that he could read it for himself! Needless to say, he gave up:-)

Cainan is a quiet and sweet fellow, not rambunctious like his big half sister, 7 week old Eden. Cainan has his older brother Jubal's laid back personality and is going to be just like Jubal. As a matter of fact, Cainan was born on Jubal's second birthday! I do not know what the odds are of that, but given the difficulty of predicting foaling dates, I would say that Delta just wanted to show me that she could foal twice on January 13th, for whatever reason! Jubal is now living "La Vida Loca" in Puerto Rico, lucky little man! He is away from this cold weather and breeding with Jose Figueroa's beautiful Paso Fino mares. Let's hope that Cainan has just as bright a future. From the looks of him, there is no reason that he will not be a very happy herd sire one day.

Flood!

A week ago Monday I headed up to the barn to check on my pregnant girl Delta. She had bagged up and it appeared that she was close to foaling. As usual though, she was munching hay, very content and as big as a house. No baby. Since it was 5:30 am, and Jim was still asleep, I walked towards the office planning to catch up on e-mail. As I approached the office I noticed a reflection of light off of the cement stoop in front of the office. That was interesting as there were no lights on, although there was a crescent moon. My mind was taking this in as I approached the stoop and I think the conversation in my brain was along the lines of "That's interesting...how can there be a reflection off of dull cement?" It dawned on me that it was ICE! Where in the hell did ice come from? Sure, it was cold, in the 20's, but there had been no precipitation overnight. By this time I was at the stoop. I heard a gushing sound from inside the office. I carefully stepped on the ice and opened the office door. Now, while this "flood" was not of Biblical proportions, it was bad enough - as in four inches of water rushing out of the door! My first reaction was to grab the computer tower, which was sitting in it's spot next to the desk on the floor. The tower, phone jack, router and power surge protector where absolutely everything was plugged in were all under water. Next job was to try and cut the water off outside. I ran to the truck and got a hammer and was able to pull the top off of the PVC pipe where the shut off valve is. I could not turn the valve off, so I ran back inside and slogged through the water and was able to shut off the valve under the sink where the water was coming out as if from a garden hose. I then ran to the house and asked Jim (OK, screamed at Jim) to come to the office and see if he could shut off the outside water valve. He got dressed (bitching the whole time) and got the valve shut off. He then walked up to the office and proceeded to have his feet slip out from under him backwards due to the ice. I thought that he had hit his face, and I must admit that I never saw anyone fall on ice that way before. He landed on his elbow and was fine, but this now forced me to run to my truck - again - and grab the salt that I had in the back of the truck for just this reason and pour salt all over the stoop. I would like to interject that I DO NOT run - anywhere, anytime unless something is running after me to eat me. Never have and sure don't do it now! The ice was about three inches thick and the salt didn't start to thaw it until much later in the day. Removing furniture, boxes of record albums (yes, some of us have held on to these), CD's books and all sorts of other things that were in the office became a feat that would make a tightrope walker's job look easy. Two people carrying bookshelves and filing cabinets while walking on ice is a very humerous sight I am sure, but I was in no mood to appreciate the humor - AT ALL! Once Susan, Eddie and BillyJoe got to work, we all were taking things out of the office and laying them on the ground, putting them in the other cabins and just generally making a huge mess of things. 10 hours later I had things drying out on the floor in the office, rugs hung up on the railings of the other cabins and had thrown out framed artwork, books and other items that could not be salvaged. The couple of hundred donkey and mule figurines (OK, there may be more), that adorned the bookshelves were all packed up and are in the shop.

I would like to point out that the heat was on in the office. We had just been through two weeks of below freezing temperatures and the office had made it through as one of the few buildings on the farm that had not developed a leak. What happened? I don't have a clue, but the pipes burst under the sink and in the wall between the shower and the toilet, so our plumber had a grand ol' time tearing things out and replacing pipes. Needless to say he does not clean up after himself, so I think that by the time it was all over if I had just sat down and cried that it would have been well-deserved, but that didn't happen:-) My computer was in the shop for over a week (after I asked them to have the parts overnighted, but that is another story), but is now back home. A new table was purchased yesterday before bringing the computer home so that it can have a new place of honor on a table to mitigate a future flood - as long as it doesn't get over two feet deep!

Global Warming

This record cold, temperatures of zero degrees and a windchill factor of minus 10 has made me think about global warming. IF there is global warming, I would not have had to do the following for the last two weeks:

Turn over a water trough for the equines and realize that there is an ice cube in the tub big enough to supply the frozen Margarita kiosks in Key West for the next decade.

Coat my hands with this slimey concoction that helps the "winter cuts" - think paper cuts X's a million - that are on every one of my fingers.

Walk across the levee on our farm in the zero degree temperature while it was snowing to retrieve our 16 year old Bearded Collie that suffers from the doggie equivilant of Alzheimer's. The rest of the younger dogs that set out on this venture across the frozen lake figured out pretty quickly that it was colder than hell and headed back to the house to get let back in. It was not until I did a head count, got to the 9th head that I realized that Buddy was missing. I looked out on the lake and no sign of Buddy. He was finally sighted on the back side of the seven acre lake wandering around peeing on everything that he could. Calling him from the house side of the levee did not accomplish anything, other than having him look around like he was hearing the voice of God. So, I had to walk across the levee and get him.

Construct an emergency baby nursery for the jennet that is due any minute now so that the baby does not freeze to the gorund when he or she is born!

Break ice on the ponds so that the animals can get to additional water.

Have my hair freeze when I bolt out the door after taking a shower to check on a broken water pipe.

Push "Depends" underwear into the wall, over insulation behind my Mom's guest toilet so that the pipes do not freeze again after getting fixed by the plumber last week.

Buy 5 additional space heaters to put in rooms with pipes on exterior walls because our central heat just is not cutting it.

Take the stalactites off of the horses/mules/donkeys forelocks.

Call the plumber about the water leak behind the barn that he will not be able to fix until the ground thaws.

Watch the news story about the Humboldt Penguins at the St. Louis Zoo being put in a barn because of the COLD.

And, put my plumber on speed-dial.

I believe that Al Gore should have to put on a Speedo bathing suit and join my demented dog Buddy on the frozen lake!



 

Bundling Up!

I have already checked on my pregnant girls this morning. No babies. Both jennets were in the run-in shed standing in knee deep straw, munching hay and looking quite pleased with themselves! I imagine that they will wait until it starts snowing tomorrow night to foal.....or maybe they will wait until Friday morning when it is supposed to be 3 degrees with a high of 16! For the next 7 days, our high temps will not get above the mid-20's. I have opened up pastures that were sowed in winter grass (Marshall Rye) that I was letting grow up because there are ponds in them for water. Breaking ice on fifteen 250 water troughs and refilling them may be near impossible come Friday. As it stands we had to break the ice around the edges of the ponds yesterday to allow the mares and mule babies to drink. Needless to say, the layers of clothing are increasing, which brings me to another problem: going to the bathroom.

Any woman, like me, that has completed the first half-century of her life knows that when you have to go....you BETTER go! This can get a little complicated when you have 10 layers of clothing on. It would be comical if it wasn't such a serious issue! It usually happens when you are in the middle of doing something - like hauling feed from the Co-op (this is a hypothetical - uh huh). While you are at the place of business, you might have the first urge, but to take all those clothes off while you are in the middle of something seems like too much of a hassle. You tell yourself, "I can make it back to the farm." Then you run into a neighbor or someone that wants to visit the farm and you have to be polite so you spend a few minutes talking on the loading dock after your feed has been loaded. Then you head for the farm. By this time, the urge to go is stronger. At this point, you recieve a call on your cell phone telling you that they need something on the farm ASAP from the Vet's office and since you are out, would you pick it up? Well, the Vet's office is past the turn-off to the farm, so your road and the lure of a nice warm bathroom passes you by and you continue to the Vet's office. By now, you have turned the CD player up and sing along (at the top of your lungs) with the Brian Wilson Christmas CD that you have not taken out since November (O Holy Night is a good one) to take your mind off the issue at hand, and you pull into the Vet's. My Vet's office has one unisex bathroom. What are the odds that someone is using it when you run into the lobby? Pretty damned good as it turns out. So, you grab what you need from the front desk staff and run out the door, all the time doing a little jig and telling your bladder that you WILL make it to a bathroom in the next few minutes and to leave you alone! Now your bathroom options are the saddle shop - with one bathroom that is inconveniently located in the middle of the workshop, or Kountry Korner, a convenience store/restaurant that doubles as Weakley County's "meet and greet" Mecca. At least they have more than one bathroom....so you head to "The Korner". This is where it gets sticky. Depending upon the time of day, you can be sure to see your postmistress, your plumber, your "gravel guy", your "hay guy", the County Mayor, the City Mayor, your realtor and other assorted folks when you walk into the Korner. Everyone wants to talk, and once again, to be polite, you stand there dancing from foot to foot while you exchange pleasantries and wish to God that you were home in your own bathroom! Finally, you can't stand it anymore and you run to the bathrooms. You have to remove the hooded thing that impedes taking your jacket off, your heavy jacket, your insulated sweatshirt hoodie, your insulated overalls, your sweatpants and longjohns. I have not actually timed this, but I bet that I have broken some Guinness record while doing this. Oh, sweet relief!!!!!! Now, you can relax......you can take your time putting on all your clothes which are piled on the restroom floor, wash your hands and return to public life. Just when you have settled down with a mega sized to-go cup of 1/2 mocha capp, 1/2 coffee (Jesus, isn't this what got me into trouble to begin with?) your cell phone rings. It is one of the guys at the farm wondering what the hold up is on getting the food back to the farm. How in Heaven's name can you explain what just transpired? So, you blame the delay on the Vet's office and head home. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Deep Freeze!

Got up at 4:11 this morning, thanks to the dogs stirring and wanting to go out - why? It is 9 degrees outside! With 10 rescue dogs living in the house it is dufficult to let out the first shift and go back to bed. By the time your head hits the pillow, the second shift wants out and the first shift wants in, and trying to keep them quiet because my husband is still asleep does not help matters. So, since I needed to check on the pregnant jennets - in case they had foaled (4:00 - 5:00 am are preferred foaling times for my crew), I took a shower and got dressed. Hmmmm, what to wear, what to wear? This used to be a quandry when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale and socialized with well-heeled people. Not to fear, it is no longer an issue! The following is what I am currently wearing in the office which is not at the house and is not insulated very well - A ThermaCare 8 hour heating thingy for my back, longjohns (top and bottom), sweatpants, a sweater, Walls insulated overalls, an insulated sweatshirt hoodie, a heavy Carhart jacket, a polarfleece scarf thing that goes over your head, Muck insulated boots with self-heating handwarmers in the toes and gloves. I may not be able to open the chain snaps on the gates and can certainly not bend my elbows or do anything else that requires manual dexterity, but by God, I'm warm! I must also add that none of the previously mentioned apparel matches, but who the hell cares? The animals sure don't care and I'm not going anywhere that what I wear matters to anyone but me! Oh, the smartasses (two legged, not four legged) around here may have some comment, but until they go up and feed 50 equines at 7:00 am when it is a 9 degree air temperature and a close to 0 wind chill, they can kiss my Ass - and I have a field full that they can pick from! It is such fun breeding Asses....and half-Asses. You get to use the word all the time!

Meanwhile, my pregnant girls......I was up at the barn at 5:30am. The barn cats met me at the gate and baby Eden was close behind. I located Dusty and Delta and they were waddling around like fat hippos and giving me that look that says, "What?!?" I would imagine that they have decided that they will not foal until it is 7 degrees later in the week and in the middle of our scheduled snow. Why make it easy on the human caretakers? The babies have been very active the past couple of days inside their Mama's; kicking and moving around. This is a good sign, but boy are they going to want back in their warm, liquid world once they join ours! We have insulated foal coats (one blue and one pink) and the Jackstock babies are born with a very thick foal coat, so they should be fine, if their Mama's have them in the nice clean, dry and warm straw that we have down in the stalls. We shall see.