Thursday, April 15, 2010




This is a picture of a work in progress, Claire is one of the most dedicated people I have ever known.   She took on this special girl a couple of years ago.  X-rays show Ruthie's front feet internally are probably as bad as they could be & her to still be able to stand & walk.  A horse wouldn't or couldn't do it.  A couple of rasps or a slight nip with the nippers can cripple her to where she has to lay down most of the time, until everything settles.  

But you can look into her eyes & see she isn't anywhere ready to go.  Her ears are up & she moves around when she feels like it.  There is no way of knowing how much time, & effort Claire has devoted to making Ruthie as comfortable as she can be.  It's a labor of love, there is no way anyone would ever invest as much of themselves in such a project without love.  Well, stubborness probably helps too.  Claire is quite a lady.  I've put a link to a wonderful slideshow she has put together of her & Ruthie, on the right under New Stuff. 

This morning was chicken toe nail day.  As the girls get older they don't move around enough to keep their toenails short.  I noticed yesterday one of them had a nail about 2 inches long.  So I told John last night to keep this morning open.  When chores were done, I got my dog nail clippers & off we went.  Thanks goodness there are only 6 hens & 1 rooster left.  There is also a female guinea, but guineas don't ever sit unless they are asleep, I can't even get close enough to see if her nails need to be trimmed.  And if they did, need trimming I couldn't catch her.  

We started out with Rowdy the Rooster.  That way he has plenty of time to squawk & complain his displeasure while we did the girls.  I did find out one thing, I'm not as agile as I use to be, even as recent as the last time we trimmed nails.  I caught him easy, of course he was the first one, & wasn't expecting me to reach down & grab him.  After that it got a little more difficult with the girls.  I use to be able to corner, & catch no problem.  Either they are getting faster or I'm getting slower.  Since they are getting older too, I think we're all getting slower., but they are still faster than I am.  John never really learned how to catch them, so I usually do it, but he had to step in & help or we'd probably still be running around in circles.

Everyone is doing pretty good right now.  I'd rather Quilla's legs didn't have red bloody spots on them, but the Vetericyn seems to be keeping it at bay.  So far it's just been a few spots at a time, rather than the whole area covered with them.  Don't know what will happen when it gets hotter & the flies come out more, but for right now I'm quite pleased with how he's doing.  

I've been feeling sorry for Pepper, because he was so stoved up until yesterday.  We had a visitor & were sitting at the table talking.  Georgette adopted Sugar a few years ago, & comes out to visit with the others whenever she can.  I was sitting looking out the window & saw a donkey that looked like Pepper,  "assuming the position " with one of the girls.  Couldn't even tell which one it was, obviously one that stopped trying to get away, or has actually made his day & decided that he is pretty cute.  Number one I don't even know how he managed to rear up, since his hind legs aren't much better than his front legs.  And number 2, I figured when he came down to earth, he'd probably be even more crippled up.  Last night he was about as crippled as usual, so I can only assume the old buzzard has been having more fun than I thought.  

I may discontinue giving him any bute when he's particularly gimpy if this is what he does when he gets the chance.  (G)


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