The Flu Bug

To say my part of the world has been hit hard by the flu (and RSV and Covid) might be an understatement. Tuesday I went to work, but I came home at noon with the flu.  It’s a good thing I had my week’s posts prescheduled, and I’m still using old pictures for this one because…flu.

Onyx

I’m not going to sugar coat it.  Trying to do the minimum to keep the animals healthy while you have a fever of 101 is not easy.  I managed to feed the chickens.

an old picture of one of the brown leghorns

When I went to feed Myson and Margarita, my body said that’s enough.  I was puking all across the barnyard until I got back to the house.

My sweet Margarita

At least it was warm enough that everyone else could wait.  Granted, we were in the midst of crazy rain, but they will not melt and I was ready to die.

Pretzel and Caroline (Aphrodite in the back)

I didn’t even make it out to milk my three girls.

Ava

Wednesday was pretty rough too.  Well, I mostly slept for about 24 hours.  But I did manage to make it through chores without throwing up.  So that was progress.

Popcorn

And I milked my girls.  We’ll see what happens there. Hopefully, they won’t just totally dry up and I can keep milking through winter break.

Zinnia

And when I went to my work e-mail because I knew I still had to call in sick for Thursday, I discovered that school was closed for the next two days because there were so many staff sick that we couldn’t cover everything.

Poor Dolly even missed her sweet feed on Tuesday (napping by her boy, Pluto)

So, yeah, I’d say we have been hit hard. At least I’m past the worst of it now.

Milking Three Girls

Well, since I sold Zinnia’s babies, she’s determined she is going to get milked.  I mean, she pushes everyone out of the way to get to the door.  I sometimes have to remind her that she has to let me get to the door in order to open it.

Zinnia (busy chewing cud)

It’s completely dark when I go out to milk now even though I switched to milking at 5:30 when the time changed.  And since I’ve been catching up on hooves, I have more girls trying to come in than I have girls with milk. (Sorry about blurry pictures, but phone, dark, and actually milking.)

Popcorn by the door; Astra, Ava, Zinnia, Perdita, Miss Goose, and Joy; Antigone behind the fence

Ava is first even though Zinnia really thinks she should be.  Ava has gotten to the point that she really doesn’t even want to eat that much because I’m giving them grain every afternoon.

Ava waiting impatiently

I tell her she doesn’t have to eat, but I can’t only half milk her out.  It’s kind of all or nothing.

checking out my phone

She’s ready to go back out.  Then there’s no stopping Zinnia.  I hold Joy off while I try to get Ava out and Zinnia is already eating before I can shut the door.

Zinnia already eating

And she isn’t going to to stop shoveling the sweet feed in.  Even when I’ve gotten the last drop of milk from her.

I have to take her by the horn and turn her back to the door.  But she’s pretty good about leaving once I tug on her horn.

Then I open the door and out she goes while Joy comes in.

Joy coming in; Zinnia heading out

Bless Joy. I do love milking her.  She’s so easy.

Joy

Although she’s the hardest one to get back out the door.  I think she gets that from her Grandmaa Haley.

I’m still getting a pretty good amount of milk between the three of them.

Saturday evening’s milk

It’s enough to do stuff–I actually made another batch of mozzarella over the weekend.

fresh mozzarella–it’s still warm

Cleaning up after making cheese.  I love my soap room!

Sometimes, when I open the door to let Joy out or when I get ready to head back to the house, I have someone else trying to sneak in (remember trimming hooves).

Victoria trying to push her way in.

I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep milking.  I know I want to milk through winter break because it gives me the milk for all kinds of delicious baking and cream of soups.

Notes From Around the Farm

With putting the kids up north, I got to milk Zinnia for those few days.  I think she’s a little sad that she has her girls back.  Hopefully, it isn’t for too long.

Barbie, Jeanie, and Zinnia

Dolly and Heidi were glad to be released from the north paddock.  They both enjoy coming in for sweet feed. And I appreciate that I can have them both in there at the same time and leave them unattended.  It’s much easier.

Heidi and Dolly in the milk room

I think I have a ground hog problem.  Seriously. Why not?  The sad thing is that I might have one digging under my garage, but I’m afraid to go in there and check it out with Freddie still here.  I’m not sure what to do anyhow because I haven’t seen one, and I don’t shoot.  I wish they would just go find a pile of brush out in pasture to chuck wood and leave my buildings alone.

Poor Mr. Peacock seems to have caught a cold with the sudden change in temperatures.  He is getting a bit older, so that is a concern. I hope he can shake it off and recover.

Mr. Peacock–molting some of his topknot and growing his tail back in.

The little girls seem quite happy with room service in the Love Shack.

Terry and Crystal

I wonder if Ava and Heidi will develop a relationship now that Heidi is her only kid on the farm she gets to be with (and will be the only when Freddie is gone).

Was supposed to be a picture of Heidi and then I noticed Ava photobombing.

Poor Benji did not go to his appointment to get fixed. I’ve decided he must have spit out his last copper capsule (because it took three tries to get it to stay down his throat when I gave copper over the weekend).  He is in rough shape.  I gave him a larger dose and will keep feeding him hard and hope he can recover. Then I’ll reschedule his appointment.

Benji, with Simon and Frodo behind.

And it’s almost half way to the weekend.  Hopefully, this one will bring some better weather.