Mastitis and Luna

On Thursday I noticed my gray mare, Luna, was away from the herd and not eating. Luna eats more than she breathes, so I knew something was wrong. I put her in the stall and looked her over. The last thing I checked were her teats. They were warm and one was swollen and she did not like the touch. So I called the vet and he said to bring her over. We spent the afternoon preparing the trailer, truck and winter tires. Luna is trailer trained and she went right in the trailer.It is very hard to inflate truck tires with a basic car tire unit. It took an hour to get to the vet in Houston, Missouri, but we made it. I walked Luna for the vet and he hoof checked her. Her temp was normal but her hoof and teat were tender. So we put our vet put her on some bute and we are watching to see how she goes. The good news is that she is eating again and is running with the herd.

Cookie Making

Here is one of the many dozens of cookies I made last week. All these cookies were to be brought to my husbands folks for the holidays. He is having neck pain and is unable to make the long drive. So off to UPS to ship them all before Christmas. Here is my husband and my cats holding the floor down while I pack boxes. He is trying to rest his neck on the hard floor. Our cats do not waste a warm lap opportunity.

My Farm Hunk

Here is my husband of 12 years, Alan. He is holding Daisy as we hiked back to our farm from the back 40. Daisy is just posing in his arms for this shot, she can walk just fine.

Pumpkin Cookin'

I was given several pumpkins along with a few I bought for decoration. I finally made time to cook them when I realized my oven needed to be run through its cleaning cycle. So today I cooked 2 of the 5 I have around the kitchen. These were very thick skinned and needed longer to cook. After almost an hour they were ready to be pulped into pie filling. I froze almost a gallon of bright orange pumpkin filling. My chickens got to have the pumpkin skins and leftover pulp for dinner treat.

And after this I made a persimmon sorbet with just lemons, frozen persimmons and agave nectar. A very nice treat after cleaning up the kitchen.

Cougar Tree

We walked our woods and found this tree clawed up near our pond. Seems we have a large cat around that needs a scratching post.

Jeepy

Even though I have a working 1989 Volvo, I wanted a vehicle for the farm. My car is great for the 'burbs and highway driving, but not gravel rock roads. So for fun we want and looked at used Jeeps. They are pricey even used since they are very popular out here. And we see them all around town. I like the big tires and outdoor open vehicle option. My Volvo has a moon roof and I love that. Since the weather out here is great for open vehicles, perhaps one day we will get one. For now we are just window shopping.

Staying Warm Outside

We have a lot of cedar trees on our farm. But cedar is not good to burn in your woodstove inside the house. The sap burns forming creosote in the chimney. But burning it outside is wonderful. The cedar crackles and gives off the best smelling smoke. When the wind is weak I will get the chiminea going with pieces of cedar and old newspaper. It is nice to sit on the swing and watch the fire. Even our barn cat comes out to enjoy the warmth.

Christmas Twilight

I took photos of our home from the pond at dusk. The sun had set beyond the ridge and only a few bands of color remained in the sky. The air was very cold and crisp and it snowed later that night. I love this time of the early evening when the night sky sparkles.