Bunny M.A.S.H.

I know I'm a lazy poster but it's hard to believe I haven't posted anything to the blog since late November. There's a very good reason for that, however. Several of them. All fluffy. All cute. All sick unto death.

Around Thanksgiving Fergal had an accident. We think he was pulling on the bars of his cage and ripped his jaw ligaments. I won't tell the whole story here (I'm including it in a book I'm working on . . . more details when it's closer to being finished) but let's just say that it was a couple months before I got to sleep longer than 4 hours at a stretch. This picture shows Fergal in his baby bib (courtesy of my nephew Destin) getting ready for one of his every 4 hour round the clock feedings. He did really well. He still needs feeding at times,when he refuses to eat, but for the most part is now eating on his own. He doesn't seem to be able to eat regular pellets so I have to grind his food in the spice grinder and mix it with water to make mush.

Then Twisk got a cold. And then Pippin got a cold. And then Dougal got an ear infection (and died in my arms.) And then Posey got a cold. This may be the Year of the Dragon but it's the Winter of the Bunny. Dougal was the first rabbit I've lost (aside from Poppet's runt and two stillborns.) It was difficult. I try not to think about it. Everyone else is on the mend.

Through everything Dr. Bruce has been a medical MacGyver. It's nice to have someone so resourceful and knowledgeable in charge. I've spent so much time with him since fall we're considering adopting him.

In other farm news, well, I guess there is no other farm news. Just sick bunnies. The sheep, llama, and alpaca are anxious for spring and real grass, otherwise they are doing well. Beatrix is rocking a new camo colored jacket because that's what came the last time I ordered. She looks like she's getting ready to go on a mission but then she always looks like she's plotting to take over the world. Now she's dressed for it.

Exciting writing news though . . . I'm about to sign a contract to let Pacific Press ePublish all of my titles they have published in print. Except for Eleventh Hour and Midnight Hour which Eric Stoffle and I own the digital rights for. We're busy converting those files ourselves and will release them through Amazon. I'll keep you posted. I am embarrassed to say that I've broken down and ordered a Kindle Fire. I never thought I would. I'm still not sure I want one. But I'm ridiculously excited about it anyway. This ePublishing gig opens up a whole new world. Especially for control freaks like myself. I'm not entirely sure I won't pop a couple books onto Amazon that I've been noodling on for years. Might be fun.

Now if we could just get a little snow before winter is officially over it might smooth my re-entry into reality.

Remote Control

All summer long I moved the electric netting sheep pasture every 3-5 days. Every week. For months. It was kinda tedious. Every time I moved it I thought, "It'll be so nice when they're in the permanent pasture for the winter. I'll get a break." Still . . . I was used to seeing them from the house. The winter pasture is by the barn, where I CAN'T see them. And I knew I'd miss that. And I do.

I was also worried because two of the nearby neighbors have dogs. So worried that I'm seriously considering "borrowing" a friend's llama as a guardian animal. If it works out I'll purchase him in the Spring. DH has suggested a video surveillance system, which seems a bit extreme, but I haven't ruled it out completely.

But slowly it's begun to dawn on me that I already HAVE a surveillance system. You see, my barn is on the road going down to THE barn, Hidden Hollow Equestrian Center, where my horse (and a lot of other horses) is boarded. Because of the indoor riding arena people are up and down, back and forth past my barn all day. A few days ago my dressage instructor sent me this photo of the girls, getting into trouble eating trees. (She said, "If you fed them hay they wouldn't eat trees!" I said, "But trees are free!") Then via Facebook a rider told me that that one of them (she wasn't sure which) was infatuated with my husband as she always ran to the fence when he was around. And just moments ago I received a phone call from another rider who informed me that my sheep were happily eating plastic. So while my control might be remote, I haven't lost it altogether!

But, shhhhh! Don't tell the girls. They'll think I installed the video camera after all. I just hope they don't try to find it and eat it!

Cardinal Richelieu and the Snowy Day

With all the other mouths to feed around here I'd kinda forgotten about my wild birds until the other day when I saw a chickadee pecking hopefully around the feeders. So I broke open the big bag of sunflower seeds and filled the feeders. I used to get a special blend with safflower seeds because that's what the cardinals seem to prefer and we have at least one cardinal family around here because we watched them raise babies one year, which was totally awesome. I realized I hadn't seen a cardinal in awhile so when I caught sight of Richelieu (we call all the male cardinals Richelieu because it's a pun on Cardinal Richelieu...get it? Get it?? Hahaha!!) Okay, so when I saw Richelieu in the garden I thought I'd try to get a picture for the blog and of course the instant I pushed the button on the camera he flew off, but lucky me. He came to the feeder instead which is closer and there happened to be a mourning dove perched on top of the feeder so I got lots of cool shots like this one.

Today is a snow day because we're having a severe storm. It looks like a snow globe out there right now. So I put the girls out for some fresh air figuring I'll bring them in later when it starts to sleet. They. Were. Not. Best. Pleased. Instead of tucking in to their hay they stood and bleated pitifully by the gate looking at me with those big, sad, sheepish eyes. I said, "What are you? Hothouse flowers? You're sheep! Suck it up and eat your hay." They were not amused, but I mean, really . . . they have like six inch coats on. Snow is an afterthought. I did move the hay over by the barn so they can be a little more protected while they eat.

Let me tell you, the worst part of winter is dealing with water buckets. And I'm sure I'll say that until I have to clean the barn and push the wheelbarrow through snowdrifts and then that will be the worst part of winter. But for now, it's the water. Hands down.