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Follow me every step of my journey across America, 'wwoofing' on ranches and farms to explore what life is like for those who choose to live a little bit different than we do.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

It's Been A Long Week

Sorry I have been gone so long!

This week has been so long! I had to stay out at the ranch for a whole freaking week!!!! It sucked! I didn't get to come back home until Monday, then I was so busy that I still had not had time to post anything until now. 

Last week, starting on Thursday, I stayed out at the ranch. It was a slow week because no one had babies, and I knew they wouldn't, but Marv made someone stay out there anyway and Mike had to work late all weekend, so that lucky person was me. I had everything under control, but I feel like when I am out there something crappy always happens. I am always the one to find my favorite dog dead or find pieces of dogs or find some horrible accident. This time, I found half of a puppy that had been eaten. There is a dog on the property that is what we call a 'hard keeper' meaning she is a pain in the ass. She is afraid of everything that moves, be it wind or trees or other dogs or people or bugs flying around. She is even afraid of the dog food feeder. She will not eat, no matter how hungry she is. She refuses to eat out of the dog food feeder and she refuses to come near us so we cant feed her out of a bowl, so she basically starves herself until she is so skinny that she can fit out of a 4 inch gap in the gate and get out of her pen. So this dog runs around the property and sulks around and hides everywhere and tries to scavenge for food instead of just eating her dog food like all the other dogs. Any time I walk somewhere even remotely close to her direction she starts barking hysterically and running away. You would think that we beat her to death if you saw the way she acts, but she is just strange and acts that way no matter what. So the other day, I saw her eating something from way across the field, and I knew it wasn't dog food so I wanted to see what she got. I walked over and she ran away and I picked up what I thought were the remains of a cat, but then I saw the back feet and knew it was one of our puppies. Then I started freaking out thinking she killed a puppy and ate it, because she had blood all over her paws and face. Then I started thinking rationally and I knew that she would never kill anything because she is afraid of everything and even a tiny little puppy would intimidate her, so there was no way she could have killed it. Plus, we don't have any puppies that small that are loose to where she could get to them. The puppies that were all this size are still with their mothers. So I called Marv and we went through his list of puppies that had died recently. Before I got here, they had a really bad stint with Parvo getting to a lot of their puppies, despite vaccinating them. There were quite a few that died, and he placed them in the burn pit. So we determined that she went and scavenged through the burn pit for food, and found a dead puppy and decided to eat that. I was relieved that she hadn't killed a puppy, but it annoys me that she won't just eat her dog food and I have to practically babysit her and run around to see what she gets into. I feel like I have to babysit every dog there. I am always taking things away from them, or telling them no, or chasing after them because they somehow found something that they shouldn't get into. 

I also did a lot of vaccinating this week, and now I can really tell how much all the puppies have grown! They grow so fast! Some of the ones that were newborns when I got here are now at the stage where they are playing and exploring and eating dog food on their own! It has been so much fun to watch them everyday and see the progress they are making. 

Tuesday, we had to take 6 dogs to the vet to be altered because they are being sold to ranches. I got to go to the veterinarian's office and take a look around when we dropped off the dogs. Her office is so nice and cozy. It is small, but she is also a vet-to-go, so she has a mobile vet clinic and makes house calls. I think that is something I would be interested in as well. The vet wasn't there for me to speak with, but her clinic was very nice. 

I also had to bring home a new baby puppy that we will have to wean by hand. His mother is the electric Cujo dog that trampled all her other puppies, and this one is the only survivor. We tried to graft him onto another mother, and at first she was feeding him and accepting him. But recently she started biting him on his face whenever he would try to nurse, so we had to take him home. She bit him pretty hard, and pierced his sinus cavity, so now he has 2 holes in the roof of his mouth. She also bit his eye, so one swelled up really big. He can only see out of one eye, but I have been treating the other one and it is starting to open again. I have been giving him penicillin to fight off any infection and to try to treat the holes in his mouth. He has made such a drastic improvement since we brought him home. We brought him home on Tuesday and already he is doing so well! Before, when we would try to pick him up, he would scream and growl and cry, just like his mother. But now he loves being held, and I totally baby him all the time. He is only 4 weeks, and I feel so bad that he has no litter mates to cuddle with and no mom, so I made a nice little bed for him. I found a stuffed animal rabbit and a little stuffed ball, so I put those in a little nest for him to cuddle with, and I found an old heating pad that you put in the microwave to warm up, so I warm that for him before bed and he curls up right on top of it next to his bunny and ball! I feed him puppy food soaked in warm goat's milk and a little bit of canned pumpkin and he is doing really well on it. Canned pumpkin is great for adding fiber to a dog's diet, especially if they have loose stools. We give it to our rescue pit bulls all the time. He is eating a lot, and he is just so sweet. I lay him on his back to treat his eye and cuts, and he just lays there like a little angel. He is so sweet, and I am determined to make sure he does not end up like is mother! The holes in his mouth worry me, because Marv did have a puppy have that same thing happen, and he died, but this puppy is doing so well, that I think the holes will heal up and he will be fine. I am making sure he doesn't get an infection and that he doesn't get sick. His name is Penn, and he is so adorable. 

On Wednesday, Marv, Mike and I went to a Sysco food trade show. Its a show for food vendors to go and try all the foods that Sysco distributes. There were hundreds of vendors and they were all handing out food to everyone, so we tried a little of everything. At the end of the show every year, the booths don't want to take home the food they brought, so they give it away. So we made a print-out donation letter explaining the wwoofing program and how we could use food to help offset the cost of housing wwoofers, and I handed the letters out to the booths that we thought would be willing to donate. So at the end of the show we went around and collected a ton of produce, bread and other food that was being given away. I was very happy the produce was given to us, and we got great things like tortillas and breads and cheeses and stuff. I even met another wwoof host! This guy from Scotland was here, and I think he lives here now, and he hosts wwoofers too. His daughter was with him, and she was so nice! She was about my age, and they really liked the wwoofing program. They own an organic diary farm, and they were wonderful to talk to. Marv liked talking to them, and now he has another wwoof host to talk to. It was also fun teaching people about the wwoofing program, and a lot of people were really interested in it. 

Today, Marv's best friend Terry is coming up from Wyoming to help us build new pens and jugs for our lambs. We are completely redoing the barn, and we are building brand  new jugs for the new lambs and their mothers, because we start lambing next Wednesday. Terry will be here for a few days helping us build jugs, and he is so funny so I love having him around. Last night, with our produce that we got, I was able to make a new salsa. I made a honey tomatillo puree. Its a green sauce to use on tacos or burritos or chicken, and it was really good! It was spicier than I have had before, but I used less jalapeno's than the recipe called for. You guys should try it sometime. It really is good! And tonight I am making grilled hearts of romaine salads for everyone. We got over 20 pounds of romaine heads, so I am trying to think of things to do with them. They have never heard of grilled hearts of romaine, so this will be something nice for them to try. 

I only have 2 weeks left here, and I feel that it has been a very successful first wwoofing experience; both for myself and for Marv and Carrie. I am excited to get to Kentucky because the weather will be wonderful and I know that Bobbett will be a very nice wwoof host as well. 


I have to go now, Carrie needs my opinion on lasagna. We are making lasagna with spinach and artichoke hearts, and I am using my fake meat and fake cheese on my part of it. 

Love you all, I will write again soon!

-Sam

Micah, a Great Pyrenees stud dog


puppies that are almost ready to live with their sheep full time

Micah

playful puppies

the maternity pen in the foreground, the bull pen in the background. all the white things are sheep 

triangle pen on the left, a small portion of general population on the right. general population stretches for most of the 35 acres

Micah standing next to a full grown goat. he is really big

Blue, our Akbash stud dog

Blue is our gentle giant

my bonfire, and a sheep in the background

sunset on the ranch

the property goes all the way to the top of that horizon line, and thats only the front part of the property

this is Penn. His mommy is the Cujo dog and trampled all his siblings, then she abandoned him so we tried to graft him onto another mommy, but she bit him really hard because he wasn't her baby, so now I am feeding him and taking care of him at home. 4 weeks old

he is a little on the shabby side right now, but he is making a 110% recovery. he is my little lover!

Scarlett, our bum lamb. She is too tall and jumps out of her plastic tub, so we have to keep her in a dog kennel

Scarlett looks funny in a dog kennel, but she thinks she is a dog now and actually acts like one





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