The Journey Continues

 

Boone is 4 1/2 months now and is already enormous. Just guessing but I would bet he's close to 70 lb already. He's on IAM's large puppy food and eats 5 cups a day. Ouch!

Fen's food lasts almost 3 months. Boone's doesn't quite make it a month, I had to get an emergency delivery from Chewy, as we obviously can't just go to the store and buy dogfood. As he has bonded so much to me, more than to Fen, I am having to send him outside more as I don't want him resource guarding me from Fen. I hope to pick up a couple of bottle lambs this week that we will butcher when they are big enough...actually I plan to butcher 1 and sell the other two, hopefully getting enough to help pay for a couple of hair sheep, that will be permanent. I really miss my sheeple. Especially Rosemary. She was the absolute best. Anyway I will move Boone outside and the lambs can hang out with Mister, on the other side of the fence from Boone as he is too young to be with young stock. This way he can bond to livestock, and I can take the lambs to the round pen to let Fen do a little herding practice. Win-win.

Fen had a hard month this past month. Because of the roosters attacking him, he developed a fear of chickens. Of course I killed both roosters, so sadly unless I can find a dog friendly one, no chicks for us. He's been attacked by ranch dogs, so he has also developed a little fear and a bit of reactivity to strange dogs (but it doesn't stop him wanting to go out front anyway *sigh*) which is not acceptable in a Service Dog, so we are also working through that. With Boone out back, in the house with me is

Fen's safe space, although he still prefers to be out playing with Boone or standing in the open front doorway, watching all the other dogs. He runs in and shuts the door if he gets scared and watches from the window, then opens the door again when he feels safe. He's the funniest dang dog!

Although he has proven to be pretty resilient, I still want to work at restoring his confidence, because even though his overly exuberant personality used to drive me crazy, I have come to be very fond of it, along with his clownish ways. He's a hard dog not to love, not that I would try. Our beginnings were a little difficult as it was right after Heath's death and Fen had some baggage, but we worked out all the bugs and I am crazy about him. He's a great riding partner, and chore partner, and even though he isn't fond of doing public access still, he's a pretty good Service Dog for his age and limited experience.

I've been making a LOT of sourdough bread, and loving it! The bread bowl recipe wasn't really what I wanted in a sandwich loaf so I finally found another recipe, that I have labelled "THE ONE". It's a little bit of a learning curve to make bread using such a wet dough but it's actually a lot easier than yeast breads. There are a few things I highly recommend having on hand before you start.

Of course you need a really active starter. I keep 2 jars going. One is in the fridge as backup and it gets fed once a week. The other jar I keep out and the day before I make bread, I pour everything out of the jar and either use or dispose of the discard. (don't pour it down the sink because it will clog your pipes when it hardens. It is great for your compost pile as the yeasty beasties help keep it going) Then I feed what is left in the jar which is just the stuff sticking to the sides and the bottom. I feed equal amounts of flour and water by weight to make enough for what I need the next day. It makes for a super happy bubbly starter that doubles itself in just a few hours, even in our very chilly house.

Another must is a kitchen scale, as to be successful, you need to measure your ingredients by weight not volume. I have this one:

I like it because I can fit my mixing bowl on it if I need to, and still read the weights. It's plenty easy to tare and to change units of weight, and easy for me to read, even with my terrible eyesight, which is competing to be as bad as my hearing.

A dutch oven is also necessary. I have two and I'm glad I have 2 because we are easily going through 2 loaves a week and I want to be able to give some away to ranch family...and also try and ship some to my kids as I have heard you can actually ship sourdough without it getting stale.

The first one is just some cheap cast-iron I got on sale through a magazine ad when I was in my 20's, the second was my grandma's and then my mom's. It might even have been my great grandma's originally, as these things last forever and ever. They both measure 10' across at the top so are probably about 9' inside.

Three other things I would not do without are a 

1. a dough scraper. Mine are stainless steel and flat on the bottom, fine for dividing dough but a pita to try and scrap wet, sticky dough out of a bowl. I recommend the plastic, rounded edge ones.

2. bannetons to let the shaped dough sit in to ferment

3. a bread lame to slice it so it will allow the dough to expand when cooking

Amazon has a pretty nicely priced kit with all the stuff except the DO right now.

 I recommend watching a few videos on making SD. especially any that show you how to do the stretch and folds or slap and fold. Then if anyone is interested, just leave me a comment and I will post recipes.

We very nearly lost Mister last month. It began with an odd swelling on his mid belly but it wasn't "pigeon fever" aka "dryland distemper". He also had problems with his mouth. He went completely off feed, right away. I flushed his mouth with peroxide, which he didn't appreciate but it seemed to help. A few days later, he was eating some, but his face and chest was horribly swollen and the edema continued all the way to his sheath and down his hind legs. I couldn't find my thermometer (as my tackroom is pretty much non existent. Stuff is there, but you cannot get to it, much to my annoyance. ) One of the ranch wives who has worked for a vet for years said it looked like either heart or renal failure, but in his condition, we all agreed that 1. he would most likely not survive the trailer ride and 2. we couldn't afford the tests anyway. Nothing was likely to help him.

My friends on FB were all helping me to pray for him, the cowboys were on standby for if he started to suffer. I was praying to not have to make that decision and that if it was his time that he would just lay down and go quietly, with dignity.

A week later, he was eating fine, he was running and bucking and demanding his breakfast before we fed everyone else, and very little swelling was left. Now he is back to his old self, looking and feeling amazing. I am so grateful that he survived whatever this was. I will still have to face that day, sometime, but that day is not today. I pray when it comes, he will go quietly into the night. I pray we will have another summer of riding ahead of us as he and Fen and I had such great times last summer though they were far too few.

lookin' good old man!!

Til next time, your friend Petey, (aka Kim) and the critters

2024 Already?

Those of you who knew me when the blog was active, know that my health took a dump and I quit blogging. There was also a great deal of depression, which comes with my condition, and I would not subject my readers to what I felt or wrote. So in short, I got pretty flakey with my blogging. I will probably continue to be flakey about it, as my condition is incurable, but manageable at times I will try to write when I am able. 

Fen came home shortly after I lost my Heathen. It was a little challenging as his temperament is very different than Heath's was and his energy levels are HIGH. His mind is going constantly and I can hardly keep up. 

He was 5 months old when he came to us, and technically had 3 owners in that short time. He knew how to counter surf and demand bark really well, but at least he was housebroke. So there's that.

Every morning at 5:30, he would demand breakfast, getting louder with every second he had to wait, and of course I had to comply because waking TheMan is a big no-no. Interestingly, his demanding has taken the form of climbing in his crate and quietly waiting to be served by his inferiors. (That's me) 

Also, if I am slow in feeding him, he makes scary faces at me.

Then he would begin his extortion. He would find a plethora of things he knew he shouldn't have, and threaten to destroy them if I didn't "purchase them" with cookies. 

Every cloud has a silver lining. As Fen was consuming a fortune in cookies with his criminal activities, he was also learning to bring me anything he had, that I asked him to, as well as learning to hand me things. It translated really well to his picking up things I drop and handing them back to me, as well as bringing items I request.

Ten months later, I still have to feed him at 5:30 every morning, but now he nuzzles me to wake me up, instead of screaming at me.

 I had a REALLY great summer! I fought like crazy to get stronger. I have been out of the wheelchair for over a year now and I don't want to go back to it. I started in spring by doing a TON of pruning overgrown bushes, and trying to find what plants survived the years of neglect while I was housebound. Not many did. But I still have roses, and hollyhocks seed like crazy here and even though they have overtaken the yard and choked most everything out, they are pretty.I planted annuals and stuff from seed to make me happy, and got a garden in (late, because the stupid pig was living in my garden and TheMan procrastinates a lot, and moving pig was no different) We had lots of squash and tomatoes. I canned straight tomatoes and made a bunch of the best Marinara sauce I have ever tasted. It was too late for the brocolli and peas, the greenbeans were tough and the basil and everything tender was destroyed by a locust invasion. But I. Had. A. Garden. And I have plans for next year. Everything else had a bumper crop. The raspberries were amazing. Fen was picking and eating them off the canes himself. Then there were millions of tiny apricots. (nothing got pruned)Then blackberries. Then more of the best peaches in the world. (Everyone on the ranch agrees, this peach tree is magical) I had tons of beautiful apples, but have no idea what kind because we bought the tree with three different kinds grafted on, but that was when we had goats and they broke into the yard and broke the trees and only this one of the grafts made it. They ate the tags so we are clueless but they are the best apples I ever had. VERY crisp, and both sweet and tart so perfect for cooking, canning and eating. And lastly, my elderberry bush produced tons of beautiful medicinal berries for me to dehydrate to help us battle colds and flu this winter. I'm learning more about natural medicines so am encouraging the yarrow and prickly wild lettuce, and what I always considered weeds, are now going to be given a prime spot in my garden. I spent time with Mister who is 29 this year. He still looks amazing and feels good as well, so we took a couple of rides when we could get Randy to saddle for me. We didn't go far, because the locusts were all over the ranch and Mister wasn't enjoying them jumping up in his face at all, but I am grateful for every second I got to ride. I hope next summer we ride much, much more. I am still battling to gain strength and endurance. I haven’t gained a lot of ground, but today I lifted 59 lb Fen onto the grooming table. ( He’s like Pigpen, he hates to be groomed) The fear of doing this, is that the surgeon who reattached my bicep tendon (which tore completely off of my shoulder while lifting my saddle onto Wimpy’s back) said if I tear it off again, he won’t be able to fix it, because I have had so many rotator cuff tears there is nothing to attach it to. Therefore, I get nervous when I have to use my arms for heavy stuff, like cleaning the floor of the chicken coop after TheMan threw straw down to combat the mud. Anyone who has had livestock, knows what a huge mistake this is. Common sense should tell you that straw in mud turns into adobe brick.As we aren’t building any structures in the near future, adobe or otherwise, I am desperately using a garden fork to peel up the heavy stuff in layers before it’s too late. Then I proceed to push (or pull) the heavy manure bucket full of the stuff to the front of the yard by the garden where Pig is spending the winter, for TheMan to empty. I won’t risk losing the use of my arm for that. :) Then I wrestled Fen and carried him from the end of the couch to the grooming table where I proceeded to clean him up. I had to risk it because his nails were getting too long So I’ve been trying to stay busy between flares. I’ve been cooking, cleaning, painting the kitchen, taking care of meat rabbits aka rabids, training the dogs, etc. I have a lot of sewing projects to complete but my hands need to be in better shape for that. Fen has been helping as he is able and the spirit moves him. Our stove AND washing machine went out in November, right before Thanksgiving, and right before a very good friend came to spend a week. We muddled through just fine though and several weeks later, we had a new stove and new washer/dryer, courtesy of the ranch Last night I made sourdough bread bowls and homemade clam chowder for dinner. The bread bowls I started yesterday as they needed bulk ferment overnight in the fridge. It was a new recipe and it is AMAZING!! I’m posting it here.

 https://myculturedpalate.com/sourdough-bread-bowls/ They really were excellent. I tied tea towels to hold the shape when they were rising for last time before baking, but this recipe was so excellent, I am going to invest in little bannetons for them. We have a new LGD puppy, who is not going to be an actual full time LGD, but a farm dog. When Bruno passed, the predators slaughtered all my chickens and ducks in one night, the same week, as they realized he was no longer here. We now have 5 young hens who are just beginning to lay, and two roosters, soon to be just one…and I am not willing to lose them, so Boone, the Anatolian puppy is here. He weighed 43 lb at 12 weeks of age. Fen is 59 lb at 15 mo and is a little overweight.

 Fen is thrilled to have someone to play with and its working out well, as Boone sleeps outside in his big crate, with the door open. Fen gets to go out when he wants, and in when he wants, Boone is allowed in for a little while each day to socialize with us. I will be using him for counter balance because I have fallen 8 times in the past few months for no apparent reason, and have nearly fallen about 2 dozen other times. Whatever is causing it, (one Dr thinks its a crystal in the ear, another thinks it’s my meds ) Fen is able to pick up on it by sniffing behind my left ear. He checks me out daily and if he only does a cursory scan of my ear, I never have a problem, but on the mornings he is fixated on my L ear, at some point that day, my balance fails me.

It's all a little scary but it is what it is and I will deal with it. 

Meanwhile, Boone has gone from 43 lb to 55 lb in less than a month. He's already bigger than Fen as of today. All I can say is, he grows on ya.