a long journey ahead

I've taken on the task of raising a newborn kitten.  It's going to be quite and adventure, a first for me.  I really do hope to save this little guy.  But I tell you, it's a proud moment when you see him latching onto the bottle, and just sucking away.  Got a long journey ahead of us, starting in two hours from now.  Yep, fed every couple of hours, for THREE weeks.   Ho well!  Que sera, sera!  I will update this post threw out the night, keep track of the progress that Sal's(Salvat means saved in Catalan) doing.

3:22am-  We've had successful feedings all night. Urine and bowel moments.  We are doing good, or so I hope.


UPDATE: 12/10/09  Sal is doing very well!  He's quite the strong little bugger.  When he smells the milk near, he's hard to hold down.  I'm pretty confident in saying, that Sal is saved!


.....fresh from the farm

saving baby kitten

Doune, my female cat has had her share of ups and downs with her litters.  Always one that dies, is not normal,or all but one of them don't make it.  One litter, seven kittens, one alive.  Let's just say that turned out to be one fat cat.  She's always had her litters in the house, except this last one.  She spends the night inside, and goes out during the day.  But three days ago, she didn't come in for the night.  I found her the next morning, all skinny.  She'd had her babies during the night, outside somewhere.  Guess i was going to become a cat stalker.  We are just about ready to go to the store, when we hear whimpers coming from the basement.  Seven baby kittens!!!  One was not alive, so that left us with six.
For some reason, my female just won't take care of them.  On the first day, she managed to sneak out of the house early afternoon, and was nowhere to be found.  We called and called her all evening.  She finally showed up at around midnight when i got home, only to find her kittens very weak and freezing.  I rushed them into the house, placed them on the furnace grill trying to get heat to them. For some unknown reason, she just doesn't want to care for these little guys.  Threw out the night, I lost five of them.  Only one of them is still alive, and I'm going to fight for him with everything I have.  Rushed to the pet store this morning, got replacement milk and little feeding bottle.
What a joy to finally see the little tongue stick to that nipple.  What a hungry little guy.
So far, he's doing great.  Only have to get a bowel movement for today out of him, and we're all set.
It'll be hard work, feeding every two hours for three weeks, but it's all worth it if i get a cute little kitten to live in the process, will keep you updated.
Now all I need is a name for the little guy!

fresh from the farm......

Newest members

 

 We've been pretty busy getting things organized around here for the cold months.  So much to do to keep all those beasts warm.  We are starting to be known in the region as "the people that will take your unwanted animals".  To some extent, we love helping out people, and we love even more helping out animals in need.  We would never turn our back on any animal that needs shelter and food.

We have two new members to our animal family.

A beautiful baby belted galloway heifer that we name, or I should say, Audrey named, Ice.  The owner found her half way out of her mother, with the mom too weak to keep pushing her out.  So he helped the little one finish it's course into this world, as he slowly watched the mom leave.  He took it upon himself to bottle feed this little creature, and loving it completely.  It became man's best friend pretty quickly.   And let's just say that both my daughters fell madly in love with Ice from the fist second they saw her.  They can walk her around the yard on a leash just like our dogs lol.

Second newcomer is a two and a half percheron mare.  She is a giant, but a gentle one.  You cannot walk into the paddock without being invaded by her.  She will follow you everywhere.  We were a bit intimidated by her size when we first saw her, but we are slowly getting used to her.  She is so gentle and careful, that you can't help but want to cuddle her.  And she loves to give us kisses.

Well, it's time again to go back to my chores.  Gotta get everything ready for everyone to have a comfortable winter, including us.

fresh from the farm........

fall is here!

You know fall is here when:

-the leaves are changing color in our maple trees, and falling to the ground.
-you take out the hats for the little ones, and you make sure their ears are covered.
-you here the distinct quack of our Canadian geese making their way south for the winter.
-the hens,ducks and geese want in the barn before supper is served.
-the soy plants in the field are all turning yellow and are just about ready to crop.
-when helicopters start flying lower and lower, scanning the corn fields for the beloved "weed plantations".
-the dogs sleep in later and later every morning.
-you suddenly have the urge to pick everything from your garden and can them.
-you suddenly have the urge to take your knitting basket out and knit something.
-When I move my rocking chairs from my porch back into my kitchen.

and last and foremost, you know fall is here when:

Your DH asks you where his long-johns are at!!!!


So, fall is DEFINITELY here!

.....fresh from the farm

Another project almost done!

Having such a large yard, with so many buildings, their is always something that needs fixing or other.  We don't seem to have enough time on our hands to do it all, so we take it one step at a time.  One of the attributes that sold us this farm, was the sugar bush and sugar shack. It was a total mess.  Broken glass, tarps flapping in the wind, critters of all kinds getting in there.
We had big plans to move it into the bush, but after considerable deliberation, we decided to keep it close to the house for now.
Made a weekend with friends out of it, built a fire, made food outside, enjoyed the beautiful weather and nice company.
We are trying to do all of this, with as little money as possible, and I think we pulled it off.
We covered it all with old pool thins donated by some good friends(thanks Steph & Sue).

We used old windows we found in the barn, which one was brand new.  Never installed. It's already looking so much better after so many nails hammered in, and so many swear words from hitting ourselves on the thumbs with the hammers.  And we finished it off with slabs of cedar, donated by another good friend(thanks Buck).

But sweat and tears were paid off!  What a beautiful little sugar house we now have.  We'll be able to enjoy spring even more now.

The finished product:

old friends

  You have to love facebook!  It's just awesome finding old friends that you haven't seen or heard from in more than 10 years.  I'm a big nostalgic baby.  I NEVER forget anyone that has crossed my path.  And some people have influenced my life to a great deal, then we've gone our separate ways, but THANK YOU facebook, we have now reconnected.
About 15 years ago, I got into horses.  Started taking lessons from a super coach, met lots of great people.  Started working for this great coach, then went on to work for her parents.  Took care of their stables for the winter while they went away to the nice sunny states.  I met some great people while working and training there.
We tend to forget about friends from the past.  Lives change, people move, circumstances happen.  But their's nothing like the warm feeling you get when you reconnect with those friends after so many years.
Everyone should take a minute and think of all those that influenced your lives, or just did a little something nice for you on the way by, and maybe try to find them, and say "thank you!"

.....fresh from the farm

cultural differences

Cultural differences are a present mind set in our society, and no matter who or how someone tries to change the world, these will always be present. With the anniversary of 9/11, it reminds us of this. But the differences I want to talk about hit closer to home. It's more of a city and country mouse story.
Having lived in both situations, I will pick country over city any day.
My city experience left me stronger for sure, but it didn't mean I liked it. Some city folks think they're so smart, and can handle just about anything. Remember January '98??? Ice storm ring a bell?? I actually lived in Montreal at the time, and it was like living in a war zone. I was one of the lucky ones that lived on the same electrical grid as the hospital, so we were less than 24 hours without power. I remember people being taken out of their homes by rescue workers, cold, hungry and in trouble. You couldn't even go knocking on your neighbors door, because you don't know them, and you make no effort to know them. You could be stuck on the side of the road, your life in jeopardy, and they will step over you as if you were last year's garbage. It's happened to me, and I wasn't impressed.
Now take me out of the city, and drop me back into my country setting, and HAAAAA I can breath. Around here, in '98 they went for more than 24 days in places without power. Communities got together, worked and helped out each other from the comforts of their own homes. One farmer would milk his cows, take down their generators, load them up, and head on down to the neighbors farm to get reconnected and start the milking process over again. Some of us ended up exhausted to the point of collapse because of their kind hearts. Some small towns got together, put up the funds, and rented mega generators that could run the whole village on power. Those who could cook, took dishes to those that couldn't. That is what community life is all about. Helping out each other in time of need, not seeing who can make it out first in line.

Born and raised a country girl, tried to become a city chick, would probably be dead if I stayed there, and came back to my roots pretty quickly.
Not because we don't have access to high speed internet, cable or other services that we are retarded. We might be a bit slower in some areas, but so much more advanced when it counts!
These is my personal experiences and opinions.

.....fresh from the farm