ello!

So lately I’ve been starting each morning off prancing and skipping down the dirt road while listening to “Hair of the Dog” by Nazareth in my headphones. My playlist for my morning walk has been a great mix that includes a lot of the badass rock songs that make you feel like you-are-the-shit (something I’ve known for a long time- bahahaha). Ya see even though I’m not a ‘son of a bitch’, this song has been fitting with what’s been going on in my life recently and I get a little giddy when I listen to it…  

I came across it exactly two months ago while finalizing something I’d been working on about a year and a half. It was definitely a nod from my dad for sure. It literally came on the radio at the perfect time and was just what I needed to hear. So between that song and many others that take me back to gunning it on country backroad straightaways with my dad in his old souped up Plymouth with the loudest stereo I’d ever heard in a car at the time, I’ve been rocking out these days to those classics and getting lost in nostalgia. Of course I still have my gangsta rap and booty music peppered in here and there, but it’s the ol’ “dad songs” that have given me the push I need these last few months. I’m going to create a new mixtape sometime this week when I get all my mowing caught up, and if you like rap and classic rock, you may like my mix. If ya don’t, then don’t listen. 

In rescue news, as much as I had hoped, Cluck Norris hasn’t gained any weight but he seems happy and his little abscess on his chest isn’t inflamed anymore and has scabbed and healing. I found someone who specializes in his breed, and they have given me tips and pointers on how to put some weight on him. 

The breed (Aseel/ Asil) is naturally slim, leggy, and his keel will always be more pronounced than in my regular chickens. 

I’m still working on his legs - he has scaly leg mites that can be eradicated pretty easily over time and his foot isn’t infected any more. He’s seems pretty content, but his quality of life isn’t quite where I’d say he’s thriving, so for now we are going week by week in hopes we have more physical improvements that will hopefully add to his overall happiness. 

Quack Nicholson may have overdone it a bit yesterday. He’s got two pools - one deep enough for total free floating (it’s purely leisure and fun) and one a bit smaller for his exercises and hydrotherapy. Yesterday he was feeling so good in his exercise pool that he got out all by himself! This is great that he physically could do that because he hasn’t been able to use his legs much at all since being picked up by a Good Samaritan exactly a week ago. 

I’ve been in touch with a waterfowl rescue and they’ve given me info on how to help his mobility issues and also what supplements he needs to serve him best. He’s happy, content, and it is very evident, and even if he doesn’t improve much with his mobility, I’m confident we can let him live out the rest of his days pretty happy with where he’s at physically. I’m waiting on the correct dosage info to start him on the same regimen Hazel was on in her golden years of MSM and glucosamine. He’s also recently been started on nutritional yeast for the niacin and b vitamins that ducks need. Now we just wait and see, but he’s truly content and seems very happy being here. 

Rose and Buddy have been loving the lush green grass of spring, and I’ve been keeping them on their doses of Vitamin E to help strengthen their immunity against the parasite that causes EPM since that was something we dealt with last summer. I’ve been advised by numerous people and vets that it would be likely that Rose could relapse - that it is actually common, so in all my research last year on EPM and vitamin E, and how it helps strengthen the myelin (an insulating layer, or sheath that forms around nerves, including those in the brain and spinal cord), this is our defense plan this year! 

Ellie and Ellen are doing well and seems to be alright after the passing of Eli. Ellen was most affected and grieved for quite a while after the fact. They are enjoying the lush grass and warmer temps as well and they are maintaining good weights despite being seniors - yay! 

Today is the day I’ve planned to start getting all the grass cut from three weeks of my lawn tractor being out of commission. Friday when I got my it back I was able to cut the horse pasture and the front yard, but then the rain came and the rest of the 9 acres is sooooooo tall. It will take me going over it a few times before it is just a regular mow again. It’s a bit overwhelming but it is what it is… after this week I can get back on track for mowing to be purely therapeutic. 

I’m so happy to be back here at least a few times a week sharing snippets of this place with you! I am only getting started in getting you all up to speed about it all! I cannot wait to share my journey of 2022 with you about all the things I’ve not really had time to share here yet! 

Anyway, it’s early and cold - 39 degrees, and I’m off to go freeze outside until the sun comes out and starts warming everything up!  There are troughs to scrub, ducks and fighting roosters to let out (ha!), and grass to mow. 

And always thanks for coming back to this space time and time again. 

xoxo

-s