Death comes for a visit

I have been so busy raising 6 motherless kittens I have not had much time for myself. I have been watering all 3 veggie gardens and trying to process corn, tomatoes, and potatoes. I have almost given up the veggie garden after I found blister beetles all over the kale and collards. They are impervious to everything. And they eat everything that is green.

But today three of my hand raised kittens went to a new home. Leaving me three to take to our local no kill animal shelter. And that leaves the two new baby kittens that have issues. One died this week and the other two have to be isolated until I get them medicated for upper respiratory. They either become immune to this or they perish. It is hard to lose an animal, but is also a relief they are no longer suffering.

My sweet 10 year old Rose a Rex bunny died this week after her struggle with tumors in her lungs. Our vet said there was nothing he could do, but let her live out the rest of her life. She was not in pain, just coughed a lot. So she still got to run and play outside and be a happy rabbit. But then I was woken up by my husband at 2am in the morning, Rose had died in her cage. On the farm this means time to dig a hole or toss in the dead pile. We did not want to wildlife getting to her. So we both got outside and my husband dug a deep hole for her and buried her on the farm under the cherry tree.

And then they go

It has been almost 3 months that I have been fostering these tiny sick baby kittens.

They are now ready to leave my home and begin a new life somewhere else.

The shelter I foster for has too many kittens/cats at the moment. So we are keeping this batch a bit longer. The good news is that people are contacting me about these kittens. They are free with the promise to have them spayed or neutered. We have given these kittens a great start to a new life.

Fostering August Batch

Here are the kittens we bottle raised since June. Four sick ones and two healthy ones. All are now healthy and thriving and ready for adoption at the end of the month. They eat dry cat food and are litter trained. My job is so much easier now.

All but one are male. Could not tell until they gained weight. Even though they are from 2 different litters they all get along. It will be hard to give them up, but there are other kittens needing fostering. And these guys have had a great start.

Harvest Foodie

A few weeks ago I was in the city and stopped for Sushi. It is hard to find fresh fish in the middle of the country. But I had the best tuna sashimi,ever. I took a photo since it was delightful and pretty.

Farm raised corn waiting at home for me to process and freeze.

Pumpkins grown for me by a friend. 

I am knee deep in juicy red tomatoes and have a ton of work to get done.

Kitten Pile

Here are all six of my foster kittens. They will be up for adoption at the end of August at Texas County Animal Shelter. It is a no kill shelter in Houston, Missouri. They all piled up after a dish of kitten milk. They are all eating dry cat food now and using the litter pan. They just need to be older to handle the stress of a new home/shelter.

Ragdoll Foster Kittens

I have been fostering several kittens since June. These 2 female Ragdolls were a recent addition about 4 weeks ago. They are almost of age to be adopted out of Texas County Animal Shelter in Houston, Missouri. 

This is a mitten ragdoll.

Two sisters

Deep blue eyes with a dot on the nose and 4 white feet.

This is a lynx ragdoll. Her stripes are getting darker while her silver points are highlighted.

Both kittens hear just fine. The blue eyes are a ragdoll feature.

Deep blue eyes.

Both girls are long haired and very fluffy. Both are eating dry cat food and are litter box trained. They will be up for adoption by the end of August at Texas County Animal Shelter.

Snake Charming

This summer has been the year of the snake. This is black rat snake #2 and last week was #3 for the summer. They have been eating eggs and chicks and this one killed my best hen. Normally these are great for keeping mice and rats at bay. But we have barn cats for that and so the snakes avail themselves to the eggs and chicks.

This one was over 6 feet long and attacked me from behind my feed bins.

The third snake waited for my company to visit to eat some chicks.  It was pulled out by hand from the nest box and dispatched. So far, no more snakes. My eggs productions is still off so there may be another snake around. Ah the challenges of farm life.

Cowboys Up

We had some family and friends over this past week to visit our farm. They were shown how to tack up a horse and go for a ride on our Fox Trotters. Tack carried down to the pasture by Ethan.

Cowboys got to trail ride two green 4 year old horses, Bean and Maple and the white alpha mare, Luna. We always wear helmets no matter what. We have several sizes just in case. Everyone brought along good boots - no sneakers allowed when working with horses.

Later that day my husbands sister rode out on Bean. Bean was a bit spooky but she kept her seat.

Headed out to the road. 

Fun week for all on our Ozark farm.

Teacup Gremlins

Here is my foster kitten pile. All are about 6 weeks old and almost all eating solid food. I was asked to raise some 4 week old ragdoll kittens who are larger than my older kittens.

Here is the smallest of my foster kittens. She can fit in your hand and weights less than a roll of toilet paper. We call them the teacup gremlins. They are feisty tiny kittens who did not get colostrum. In spite of that they are thriving and growing , slowly.

To Hay You Say

We just bought our hay for the winter. First cutting from a friends field.

There were huge 6 ft bales, rich with all kinds of plant material.

Getting our trailer loaded.

Beautiful view.

Waiting for the next load of bales.

Off loading the bales at our place using a borrowed tractor. Needed the brush hog to counter balance the weight. Just finished before the storms rolled in.

Then there were Four

Here are the kittens I have been fostering for the last 4 weeks.

They have not grown much and the runt died last night.

Melon my 2 month old is helping me clean them.

They get filthy eating every time.I have to wash them each mealtime. They go to the vet this week to see what is wrong. I think they have worms. I just want them to get strong and grow so they can get adopted and be healthy adult cats one day.

Tick Me Down

The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur for me. Along with raising baby kittens and doing farm chores and planting crops, I have been fighting fatigue and illness. I was bitten by a tick and it got me very sick. My lymph nodes in my throat swelled  and cause a lot of pain. I had a fever, chills and muscle aches. Then I could not breath nor swallow so off to the ER. I was giving Ibuprofen and an antibiotic, but that did nothing. So I went to see my Dr and got a stronger antibiotic. The nodes went down on their own. I am still not back to normal. All thanks to a tick bite.
Turns out Lyme Disease is just one of many things ticks can do to you. You can die from lack of white blood cells with the same symptoms as the flu.They call that the Heartland Virus. So if you get bit and have a fever and chills, go see your Ozark Doctor. A doctor that has experience with recognizing tick symptoms and how to treat them. I am glad our pets all have tick meds on them. Wish I had that as well.

Life on the farm is never dull.

New Ducks

These are Rowen (Mallard colored) and two Silver Appleyard ducks

Our local farm store had a mixed lot of ducklings and I chose these Appleyards along with the Rowen.

They are about the same age and have their own flock. We hope they lay lots of eggs like our older ducks. Ducks seem to be more predator proof than our chickens during the day. At night all the poultry is put up into the coop.