Wwoofing It: Golden Corral!!

Hi Everyone,

This weekend has been HELL. We rented a 'skid-steer', which is like a bobcat-type machine with a bulldozer bucket on the front, because Carrie is considering buying one and wanted to test it out first. We only had the skid-steer for the weekend so we had to be out at the ranch at 8am every day this weekend to get the most use out of it as possible. Mike controlled the skid-steer from inside because he used to be a mechanic for them, so he knows how to operate them well. Marv and I walked around and told him where to dump loads of dirt and what piles of manure to clear out. Carrie had to work at the water park (her other job) all weekend, so she wasnt there to help. Basically, our goal this weekend was to clear out all the packed down manure and mud from inside the barn, move those piles to the back of the ranch to dry out, and pack fresh dirt inside the barn about 12 inches deep. Then we had to do the same thing for another pen called 'The Triangle'. Then we had Mike pile dirt in certain potholes in the road. He also used the skid-steer to move really heavy shelters for the goats and dogs, and clean out large areas that we couldnt do by hand. Well, we have had the skid-steer since Friday morning, and we arent even half way done with all the things we wanted to accomplish. The skid-steer is being picked up tomorrow at 12pm by the company, so we only have tomorrow morning to finish all the rest of our jobs, unless Carrie can beg them to let us keep it one more day. The hardest part was the fact that we have been working out there from 8am to 8:30 pm every day this weekend, then Mike had to stay overnight to check on the sheep and lambs every 2 hours. So we have been putting in over 12 hour days of working non-stop, plus waking up every 2 hours all night to make sure the lambs are okay. On top of that, the weather has been crappy. Today it never got above 35 degrees, and it was pouring down sleet all day. Sleet is a mix between hail and snow. And its very cold and hard when it hits you in the face. But the worst part is that it will sleet for about 10 minutes, then the sun will shine, then sleet will hit us again. That happened all day, so we had to work and dig trenches and dig up mud and manure all day in the sleet. It was so cold I couldnt feel my toes or hands. This weekend definitely put me in a bad mood, but Marv and Carrie are taking me to Golden Corral on Wednesday so that made me feel better. I have always wanted to go, and we are going this week! I will let you all know how it is, and you can drive out here to come to a Golden Corral restaurant.

I went to Subway today and finally got to experience fine Montana customer service first hand! The sandwich artists were so incredibly rude that I couldnt even speak, I just stood there in shock. Marv was with me (thank God) and I asked him if that was normal, and he was so used to it he didnt even know what I was talking about. The guy making my sandwich didnt look up or make eye contact once, he was short and cold with everything he asked me, he didnt listen when I told him what bread, what size or what toppings I wanted on my sandwich. I asked for no jalapenos, so he piled them on anyway. He basically just made me whatever sandwich he wanted, no matter what I asked for. Then he didnt even put tomatoes on my sandwich, so I asked if they were out, and without even glancing up or pausing, he gave me a short, snotty 'yep' and kept making my sandwich. Then he asked 'Anything else?' Now, that is a vague question and I am a very rational, logical person, so I wanted to know how to answer him properly. Was he asking if I wanted anything else on my sandwich? Was he asking if there were any other orders with mine? Was he asking if I perhaps wanted a drink or an accompanying bag of chips or cookie? The question 'Anything else?' didnt really explain all of that, so I hesitated when answering him, which was obviously so very stupid of me, seeing that I am only a lowly human being, so he snapped at me and yelled the question again. So I just looked at Marv, and he answered for me. Honestly, I was so shocked at how rude and nasty the employees were to everyone that I couldnt even speak. Then I noticed that there was only a dime in their tip box, and I wanted to ask them if they were surprised that there was only 1 dime in there, but I figured it wasnt worth the effort. So I asked Marv if that was typical, and he said that any fast food restaurant, and some nicer restaurants will give you that caliber of service and it was typical. Everyone is used to that attitude in Montana, and they cant really do anything about it. Apparently they are so desperate for hired help, that they wont fire anyone for acting that way. If I had called the manager to complain, they might have apologized, but that would have been it. I felt kind of bad for the others in line, because they must be used to being treated that way. I guess people around here dont know any better, and they just got used to it. But it kind of frightened me, so I will not be going to any fast food places by myself in Montana!

We had a pretty bad accident with one of the dogs yesterday. Ashley, a mother of a litter of 10, was in her pen with her puppies. She is a skittish, flighty dog to begin with, but when I went to open her pen, the gate fell over and made a really loud crashing sound. None of her puppies were crushed or hurt, but the noise scared her so she darted out of her pen. Well, the top of the gate has snarled, old wire on it, and as she ran across the gate, it snagged on her bag and ripped open one of her nipples. Then she got even more scared and started to run away, and left huge puddles of blood along the trail. I couldnt catch her, but the wound was pouring out blood, not even dripping, but pouring. Marv had just left the ranch to go take Mike to work, so I was by myself. I had to use 2 of our herding dogs to catch Ashley, then I had to put her back in her pen and tie her up. I ended up getting covered in her blood, but I got it out of all my clothes. It was all over my hands, arms, jacket, pants and boots. I waited for Marv to get back, and he said we couldnt do much for her, but it should clot on its own. He couldnt see how bad the wound was because there was so much blood, but I gave her a shot of penicillin and sprayed the wound with Vetericyn and just waited it out. When I went back to check on her later that day, all of her puppies were covered with blood! All 10 white puppies were red, and soaking wet with blood. They were still trying to nurse on her, even though she was bleeding so bad. And she was letting them because she is such a good mom. I felt so bad! So we just had to let it run its course, and when I came back this morning, I went in and gave her another shot of penicillin and looked at the wound again. It actually did clot up and stopped bleeding, but I could finally get a good look at the cut, and it is so deep! There is actually tissue and blood vessels hanging out of the wound because it is so bad. But all her puppies were white again, which means she cleaned all the blood off of all of them. It just shows how amazing and resilient dogs are. They can be severely injured, or bleeding really bad, but they dont ever show that they are in pain. I know that cut must have really hurt her, but she never showed it. She never even made a sound or anything. Dogs really are incredible animals for how tough they can be. When I have to give a 140 pound goat a shot with a tiny, tiny needle, they scream like they are being murdered. But I can give shots to a dog all day and they dont even move. And like Ashley, she didnt even flinch or slow down when her bag ripped open. They really are amazing, strong animals. So Ashley will be fine, as long as the wound heals properly. I am going to keep dosing her with penicillin until it heals, and keep treating it with wound cleaner so she should be fine in a few weeks.

One of our herding dogs, Seth, was bitten by something in the backyard today, because we came home from working and his entire face was so swollen, he could barely see out of his eyes! The poor thing! It must have been a snake or a spider. Mike said they get spiders as big as the palm of your hand, and they make tunnels in the dirt. Seth has been digging at a dirt pile in the backyard all day, so I am sure it must have been something like that that finally got him. I told them to give him a big dose of Benadryl and some penicillin to be safe. If they give him Benadryl for about a week, he will be back to normal. I remember when little Buzz got stung by a bee, and his whole lip swelled up! Poor little guy, he looked so sad. But Benadryl fixed him right up and he was fine. Seth doesnt even seem to be bothered by it; he is still running around and trying to play with the other dogs, but he cant see them. Maybe he will learn, but probably not.

Belle and her babies are doing great. She had 8, but one was born dead, so she has 7 now. They are all gorgeous and she is a fantastic mother! I am very happy for her, because I think she is getting excited about being a mom now that she has it figured out.

Tomorrow I am going to ATT to hopefully get my phone!!! Wish me luck, and I hope that they have iphones in stock. Then I am staying out at the ranch tomorrow night and Tuesday night, and maybe Wednesday night. There are only 2 more goats and about 4 more sheep left to have babies, and then we wont have to watch anyone at night until April 20th.

I talked to my next wwoofing host today, and she said that it is in the 70s already in Kentucky!!! So that makes me very happy to get on to some nice warm weather. She said she is very short-handed and her whole family is eager to meet me and have the help. She is going into Lexington to the major grocery stores to stock up for my visit, and that is 1.5 hours away. That was very considerate of her, and she seems extremely nice and generous. I am excited to stay on her farm and meet a new set of people.

I think I have decided to come back to California around the end of July so I can be here for Spencer's birthday, and have a few weeks to enjoy summer before school starts again. And I want to be here for my mom's chili cookoff!!! I cant miss that one. So things are looking better, and I am getting very excited for warmer weather and gorgeous scenery in Kentucky!!!

Next week Marv starts banding scrotums and burning horns. I am kind of nervous for that part, because you have to use a hot branding iron to burn the horns on the baby goats so they dont grow. Carrie said they all scream and bellow and it smells like burning hair. I think I might not be there that day, but I feel like I should at least try to experience everything that I can while I am here. I will never see this again, so I kind of want to know what happens. That way I can be prepared and know what ranchers are talking about if they reference that type of practice. I still havent decided yet, but I will have to soon.

Im going to bed now because I havent gotten any sleep all weekend. I have pictures so enjoy them, and I should have more soon.

Love and miss you all!!!

Sunset on the ranch; taken about 7:30pm

The barn and the back 35 acres

relaxing sunset

this was the day after all that sun! it snowed so much that afternoon.

Peek! My little Cruiser doesnt want to get up in the morning

guard dog puppies, about 3 weeks

baby lambs! the one in front was about 12 pounds at birth

tired little baby lamb

this is a baby Barbados sheep! She is so tiny, only comes up to about mid-shin

those baby goats are growing so fast

twins! but they look so different

this is Scarlet. she is a bum lamb because her mother only has one teat that produces milk and her brother is bigger than her, so he hogs all the milk. I bottle feed her and she knows her name.