Always Something April 11, 2007

Remember the cough and sniffles the kids had? I got it. Bad. Been out with it for 3 weeks now. Mostly I sit in the living room looking out the bay window, hacking my lungs out, and reading The Lord of the Rings again, I feel like Frodo climbing Mt. Doom. If only I had something to throw into the fire to make it all go away....

Dh has had a couple of job interviews, but nothing has come of them. He did find out about a new opening at a bank that he's been interested in. Keep praying.

Two weeks ago, my dad went to the ER for passing out when he'd stand up. He ended up having a pace-maker implanted. We tease him that he got a new distributor cap. He's doing much better. We took all the kids up there to see him before he went into surgery... uh, sorry, procedure. Little 3yo H took one look at him with tubes and wires all over the place and said, "Grandpa, what HAPPENED to you??"

Remember Betsy the sheep, and her baby lamb? 15yo K named him Pippin. Betsy contracted what we think was a condition called Milk Fever, and despite our efforts, died. We felt terrible. I'm convinced if we had been up on sheep health we could have prevented it. Just makes me feel worse. Pippin is doing fine, K's been bottle feeding him. He will walk right into the house searching for her if he gets the chance.

Callie, our other ewe, surprised us by being pregnant. We had thought she was too old. She certainly never gave the time of day to the ram, at least while we were watching. No sooner did we figure out she was expecting, than she gave birth to beautiful, perfect twins, a little ram and a ewe. But both lambs were dead. Don't know why. We were heartbroken.

My mom and dad came over on Saturday, and whisked me away with them to recover at their house in peace and quiet. I've gotten to take naps and read. I brought a little crochet project but haven't started it yet. I've been here 4 days now.

K has been calling me every morning to tell me the news of the household. She has been milking the goat and Callie (to bottle feed the lamb). She has to tie them up and have someone practically sit on their heads in order to do it. Sunday, a friend of ours stopped by with a milking stanchion! A stanchion immobilizes the goat/sheep's head so you can milk it. What a blessing!

She has also been eyeing the treehouse to use as a goat shed. The problem is, that it's in a tree. Goats are good climbers, but not that good. I couldn't see how we could knock it down without breaking it. Monday she called and said, "Mom!! You'll never guess what happened!! The wind blew the treehouse down, and it's all in one piece!!" Hallelujah!

Tuesday and Wednesday she called to tell me how many chicks had hatched. We have a hen that started to set on golf balls. So K let her set on a couple of eggs. She laid a few more, then mysteriously aquired some more. One of the boys watched her setting while another hen sat down and laid an egg right next to her. Once she was done, she clucked and then walked away. The setting hen reached over and stole the egg! She amassed 10 of them. Yesterday they started to hatch. So far the count is 7 hatched and doing great, one hatching, and two not doing anything yet. They all look different because they have different mamas. hee hee hee. The golf balls have not hatched.


Maybe tomorrow the cat will have kittens. :)