Missing Castaway

We had a horrendous rain and wind and thunderstorm last Friday late afternoon. The two kittens were on the front porch during the whole storm.....I thought. Evidently, MaryAnn decided to either explore or run from the noise. We still haven't found her. Gilligan, on the other hand, has stuck close to home. Went outside the other evening to play and Gilligan was nowhere to be found...I called for him and heard his loud Meow from atop the elm tree outside my studio window. He was at the top but skittered down so fast I thought he'd fallen. He came running up to me and leapt onto my lap with his motor going full blast! The only thing I don't like about this little guy is that he has the sharpest little claws! Tell me, friends...do I look like a scratching post? I've got a couple of scratches that tell me my left leg looks like a scratching post to Gilligan! Ouch!

Country Vets

Some of you will remember that I moved to the Ozarks kicking and screaming...well, moaning and dragging my feet at least. This city girl is just having a tough time assimilating into country life. (At least the attitudes of country life) Anyway, I found something that made me feel a bit easier about living in the country. Our new calf, Huevo has come down with pneumonia and was in danger of perishing. We called our vet (he is about 20 miles away) and described the symptoms...Dr. Michael diagnosed pneumonia and told us he would meet us at the clinic and give us the meds Huevo needs. I expected to have to load him into the trailer and haul him to the vet. Darned if he didn't meet us at the clinic at almost 8 in the evening, hand John 3 HUGE (think the size they use for episiotomies, ladies) syringes and told us that should fix him up! We went home and John gave Huevo 2 of the shots and the other one he gave him the next day and let me tell you, that little calf is up and rarin' to go! He ate yesterday - the first time in 4 days (Mama's really glad!) and his breathing is not so labored. For those of you who like to know these things, it seems that July and August are the worst times for calves to be born...the dry air of July followed by the wet of August causes them to have more instances of pheumonia than any other time of year. Who knew?

She's a WInner!

Well, I picked up my two entries in the Ozark Empire Fair on Monday....they were both entered into the same division, just different categories. My little machine-embroidered FlipFlop quilt took 1st Place in it's category. Arnold took 1st Place in his category...and then Arnold took Champion in the Division! Here is a picture that includes not only Arnold, but the FlipFlop quilt and Danny, the original Moebius basket that I entered into the Webster County Fair and took 1st Place as well. I'm feeling kinda proud!

Gilligan - Not Ginger

We are not animal people...can you tell? It seems that young kittens' sexual organs are not prominent, like humans. So when we named our two new kittens Ginger and MaryAnn, we honestly thought they were both female...NOT! Evidently, Ginger is really Gilligan! They are growing and thriving at Pieceful Harbor!We 'lost' MaryAnn yesterday...seems she followed John down the road to our neighbor's house and then couldn't find her way home. Gilligan raised a noisy ruckus till we found her and brought her home. She ended up almost 200 feet away from home! Quite far for a bitty kitten! Hope she stays close to home for a while.

Ruby's Firstborn son....Tippy

The continuing saga of Tippy - The Unweanable One! Tippy was born in May of 2006. We named him Tippy (short for Tri-Tip- so he wouldn't get any ideas of being anything other than food!) Mama Ruby was bred again in October of 2006 and that was a good time to wean him. Actually, it was well-past time to wean him. So he was sequestered in another field for a month, in my opinion, not long enough, but I'm the city girl so what do I know? When Tippy was brought back into the field with his Mama and big sister, he immediately began nursing again. This is NOT usual! So in April of this year, Tippy went to what we fondly call, Summer Camp. He is with all males and can't nurse. We brought him home last weekend (almost 4 months without nursing) and he went straight to his Mama and began to nurse. His baby brother, Huevo, was in the way and Tippy stepped on him. Poor baby limped for 2 days. Needless to say, Tippy the Mama's Boy is back at Summer Camp, what I like to call Boarding School till he goes to the butcher in November! Our friends, the McThompsons, where Tippy is staying, say they've never seen a cow continue to nurse after they are weaned. Ah, well, leave it to the Knotwells to come up with a perpetual nursing cow!