Patients and Patience

Mr Potamus had a foxtail in his foot. Also known as cheat grass. Nasty stuff that grows barbed heads and works its way thru the skin of their feet, ears, eyes and mat up in their coats. Because they are barbed and pointed, they only travel one direction, so when it penetrates and gets inside a dogs body, it spells trouble. Sometimes it will travel into a joint, or even into more delicate places. Other times it might just abcess and be flushed out. Two years in a row Cletapotamus has had his ear drums ruptured by an errant foxtail. I was trying so hard to keep him out of those pastures this year, but its pretty much all over. This year it was in his foot. It swelled up real bad and was very painful. He wouldn’t let me touch it, or soak it, or do anything at all to help him. 

Lucky for us, the vet was at the ranch doing trich tests on the bulls, so he was able to help Mr Potamus. We had no muzzle, but he did have sedative.

He gave Mr Potamus the lightest dose and it worked very nicely.

He was able to open up the entry hole further and after an hour of sticking and probing, got most, if not all of the offensive seedhead out of Cletus' foot. It was working its way into his wrist joint, so we were lucky to get it when we did.

Mr Potamus was totally apathetic. A few people came to watch. My friend from ‘next door’ decided to have a seat and do a little needed grooming and cut the mats out of Cletus’ “pants”. Since I can't get down and back up again too well anymore, his grooming has been pretty much non existent.  He doesn’t much like being brushed anyway, so this was a great opportunity.

He finally woke up, a little sore. After 5 days of tricking him into taking his medicine, he is feeling a lot better, although he is still a bit dramatic.

The meatie chickens got big enough to move out of the milk shed, so they have been residing in the back yard and sleeping in the goatshed at night, as the goats are all out in the pasture with Bruno and the sheep. They have voracious appetites and are growing quickly. There are frequent meatie invasions everytime we head out to feed the calves. They are enjoying their stay here, at least.

My son Cody, is bringing Abby up for a short visit. He is also hauling a horse trailer with my old Paint Horse in it. I haven't seen the horse for 6 years, so it will be good to have him home. It's a long, long drive and I have been anxious about them, so naturally, they left at 5 a.m. to get an early start, then wound up with 2 flat tires on the horsetrailer which put them hours behind schedule on what is already a 13-15 hour drive depending on how things go. Abby is 4 so it is going to be a hard day for her, being confined to a vehicle, hard on her Daddy, who is driving, and hard on old Mister who hasn't been on a really long haul in his life. I'm petitioning heaven for things to go smoothly the rest of the day.

Meantime, while I wait anxiously,  I grind some Hard White Wheat we found at Costco. I was SO excited! Randy loves white bread and the Hard White is much milder than the Hard Red so I was really glad to be able to try it. I have it soaking overnight in some yogurt to make bread with, and tonite I will soak more for waffles in the morning, unless  Cody wants eggs benedict instead.

I have lamb marinating for shishkebabs tomorrow and have broccolli and chicken cooked up for tonite's casserole, which is one Cody used to request when he lived at home. I hope Abby likes it too. I have a feeling however, they are going to arrive much too late for dinner. 

They got here after 16 hours of driving. It was after 9:00 pm and Abby was as sweet as sugar, in spite of the long trip and the late hour. She reminds me so much of her daddy. I was surprised to see how big Abby had gotten and how small Mister was! I remembered he was not a big horse, but somehow in my mind, he had grown. He looks young, however, is in very good shape, has low mileage  and I think he has years of service yet to give me. I do grieve the 6 years he was gone, but I know he had a purpose in the life of the young girl I had given him to.

It was great to be  back on a horse I had trained myself, as he is the last one. He had forgotten a great deal in 6 years, but after a bit of riding, it was beginning to come back to him. I am looking forward to this summer. He made me feel as though I had found myself again.

Hopefully, Abby can take her second ride on him tomorrow, because the rest of the week is all about enjoying her and her dad. Sometimes I can't believe how blessed I am.