Health Mystery solved

And the winner is Alpha Gal! After three + years of dealing with my husbands nauseas, lethargy, toilet issues, rash breakouts all over his body, many doctors and procedures we have the answer. I suspected it was this at the time but no doctor would listen and no lab would do this test. I was told that lab does not perform this test. We were left with no answers and he is under 50 and in good health otherwise. I dove down the rabbit hole and was starting to read about other men with the same symptoms.

Fast forward to this year and our family doctor returned from service and he listened. And his office allowed the test to be run and his lab actually did the test. Positive for Alpha Gal. Nothing was given to us just that answer, positive. So now we move forward to avoiding meat and animal products. He loves steak and pork so this will be a change. We will see how it goes as he ages. The thing is that is was chigger bites and not a tick bite that set this all off. My husband is highly sensitive to chiggers. So now we take steps for him to avoid getting bit.
 

Orange you gonna introduce me?

My foster kitten behind my monitor.

He likes to sleep on the LED's.

 

Kitten kapitulation

Yes, I still have my foster kittens up for rehoming, the ones we rescued from the road. No one wants kittens, puppies nor other pets thanks to gas prices, pet food shortages and vet cost. So we are moving forward with getting them to the vet, shots and then neutering. They are almost 3 pounds now and still tiny. They are more active and have the run of the house. They just might become ours, only time will tell. For now they are still 51 & 52 and they come running when I call kitty kitty. 

 

Mobility and Robots

 Today, I met a woman with ALS and severe arthritis. She told me about the surgery to her feet where rods were inserted and 6 weeks later, rods removed without anesthesia. But her doctors had no information to help her with her mobility needs. As her ALS progresses she will be in a wheelchair. So I sent her a list of mobility robots now for sale. I am sharing this list. This is where I think robots serve a great need and purpose. For our loved ones, friends, co-workers, veterans and more. Feel free to share.

If you are in the VA, I know for a fact that Myomo is covered by the VA.

https://myomo.com/who-qualifies/process-for-getting-a-myopro/

https://www.germanbionic.com/en/

Ottobock : https://bit.ly/3HzEwob

https://rewalk.com/rewalk-personal-3/

https://upwalker.com/pages/shop

https://bit.ly/3MZdyY4

https://eksobionics.com/eksohealth/

https://eksobionics.com/eksonr/

https://www.shelteringarms.com/rehablog/wearable-robot-helps-people-walk-again/

 Matia Robotics Tek RMD     https://bit.ly/3Op6yVp

https://paexo.com/exoskeleton-in-logistics/?lang=en

https://b-temia.com/

Duck Boots

This is not my duck but it's boots are. Something happened in the pond and my large male Muscovy leg was bleeding and he was limping badly the other day. I am not sure what caused this probably a large turtle. So I chased him into the corner of the kennel and grabbed all 25 pounds of him so we could clean his leg and put the boot on him. He was not happy and flapped his huge wings taking flight a few times and he has claws. But they make these neoprene duck shoes that are perfect for ducks. His claws stick out of the corners and he is very happy and healing up. I will have to remove the boot in a few days. But my big male is happy to be going after the females again. It has not slowed him down in the least. I have a couple pairs of these on hand. They float so if I miss one it eventually washes down stream into our pasture for me to find.

 

Wormulon

This big 14 lb cat of mine threw up today. It was part of a mouse and a pile of worms. Yay. Luckily. I had on hand single dose feline de-wormer from the vet. Fostering kittens I always have supplies on hand. I had the de-wormer for our barn cat who passed away. One of the joys of having indoor/outdoor cats they bring home all kinds of things. 

Now is the time for fawns in the Ozarks. We had our first fawn brought by its mom to our farm. And more are on the way. We have seen several pregnant does on our property. It is going to be a good year.

This is the first time we have seen the fawns. It is nice to see.

 

Breaking Bad

Just a few days of good food, safe housing and care and these two are acting like normal kittens. They are still underweight but are thriving.

Very frisky and full of energy

Even the tabby is opening up and getting around instead of hissing all the time. Lots of soft touches, petting, talking are working to bring him out of his hissy mood.

 

The kitten Boxtrolls

These two are on their last day of medicine to clear out the Coccidia they developed from the stress of abandonment, new home then a vet trip. They are each a month old and underweight for their age.

But with kitten food, Forti Flora and quiet time they are slowly acting normal. They still hiss at me but less often. They were found in a box and a box is with them in their tent. They are truly Boxtrolls. They hiss, love music and eat a lot. 

Male black and brown with stripes

Brown spotted tabby male.

Both the vet and everyone else asked if I would be keeping them. That is always hard as I love black cats and have never had one I kept. I want them to both go to the same home together as they are longhaired littermates. No, these two just stumbled into my life. I never name them and always try to rehome them. With the exception of the two we did keep, fifty have gone to new homes. So these are 51 & 52 and that is what I call them.
 

Kittens in a box

So yesterday evening after a long day of house restoration and old door donation delivery we were driving home on the back roads and I saw two kittens dart across the dirt road and run into this heavy wood box on the corner of a property. We pulled over and I stayed with the heavy wood box box and my husband went to pick up a cat carrier at our house about 3-4 miles away. I looked around for any other kittens and a mama cat, nothing. This corner is a forest and cattle pasture, no houses. The property owner came to see me as she was putting out hay for her cattle and I showed her the box with the kittens. She had just moved hay from that lot and that box was not there an hour ago. We had also been by that same part of the road and that box was not there. She did not want the kittens so I offered to take them to foster and apologized for being on her property. We got them home, flea removal, washed, fed and in a kitten tent for the night with a heating pad. They have teeth so about 3-4 weeks of age longish hair, one is black and one is a brown tabby. They are not photo ready as they are as tired as I am. I do not know who left this very heavy wood 15lb wooden cage/box but there was no food and no water just this box the kittens ran to.  I got two very tiny very thin weak kittens. Today, they will go to the vet an hour away to get evaluated and wormed. From there we have to decide on keeping or putting up for adoption. These will be the first kittens I have fostered in three years. I still had all my kitten supplies saved just in case. I shall have to call them 51 & 52 after having fostered 50 thus far.

This is the 30 inch long wood box with a heavy mesh flap that the kittens ran into when I walked up on them. I could not ret my arm down to reach them, so I brought the box and the kittens home in it.

UPDATE: this is called a rabbit trap by the old-timer trappers. I was told this box was missing some parts but I was shown how to use it. It was overkill for kittens but was probably used to catch them.

I was electric long staple gun assembled out of old barn wood. It is about 8 inches tall and 30 inches long. The wood is very old dry barn wood about 2 inches thick! The whole thing is about 15-20lbs of weight.

I have always wanted a black cat. I have fostered 4 and never kept them as they were adopted quickly. These two are a bit feral but use the litter pan. It will take some time to figure out their personality. I will post photos after they see the vet. Just too busy this time of the year on the farm.

 

 

Bustin my Deer

This is what a deer can do to a t-post. They bent two of these running into my garden fences. 

Our herd is quite used to me doing my farm chores around them

waiting for me to go back into the house

 

Greenith Goeth Gailey

My tiny 6 for greenhouse is full again with seedlings I got going in April

Roma tomatoes

Kale makes me happy

Oh so many basils

 

Nottaway and Crawfish

My husband and I joined the fun down south to a family reunion. They had good food all over the place and crawfish.

Strawberries grown in old igloo coolers so when it floods they float.

Our wonderful host with the most.

After that we stayed in an historic plantation with very old oak trees.

The cemetery was in bad shape after several tornadoes and hurricanes in the area.

This one is in good shape.

Nottaway plantation. It used to be a great well run place but it has changes hands and the family no longer tends it and the old gardens are not take care of like it use to. A corporation bought it as B&B but they are not running things well. Nice staff but way short staffed and the cottages, buildings and grounds are in bad shape. The historic cemetery on the grounds is in severe bad shape, a big faux pas in Louisiana. Time to fix the headstones and the tombs and show a little respect.

One nice thing, since the gardens have gone wild, there are blackberries, honeysuckle, kumquats and more all over the place in the late month of April. Great for snacking outside with the squirrels.