December 2019

Whew, what a month it’s been!
Grab a coffee and let me tell you about it…

When we last posted (not including yesterday), I mentioned that The Kid had her wisdom teeth out and was working on recovery.
Yeah…
About that…

On the Thursday a week after having them out, she mentions to me things ain’t feeling right…so we get a hold of the dentist office, who fits her in on a Saturday to see what’s going on.
We are then sent off to the local E.R to see an on-call oral surgeon.
There, under local freezing, they open up her gums, scrape out the pus and infection…oh, and find two chunks of tooth left behind by the original surgeon who took out the wisdom teeth.
All under local…which doesn’t always take in infected gum tissue.
So you imagine what kind of pain my poor Kiddo was in as they cut and scraped inside her mouth…
😥
Then, they sent her home with heavy duty antibiotics and pain meds.
With an appointment for Tuesday to see how she was doing.

That’s when things got even more…interesting.
She saw the two docs who worked on her Saturday.
They said “we need the big boss to come consult” and with that, she was admitted on the spot for emerg. surgery to clean out and drain the infection.

Remember, this was all from what was supposed to be routine wisdom tooth removal.

There was a lot of hurry up and wait as we were shuttled ’round from oral surgery to admitting to day surgery, until finally around 6ish, she was taken to the operating room.
Hardest thing ever, to have to walk away as docs were getting ready to wheel my Baby into a room where I couldn’t be to put her fully asleep and operate on her…
The next 4 days were a lot of pain meds, lack of sleep, tons of antibiotics, a drain in her neck, and a whole lot of healing.
By Friday she was declared well enough to go home.
YAY!!
❤
We were both super happy about that, because she hated being there (can’t blame her even a little bit) and I really wanted to sleep somewhere other than in a straight backed hard assed chair.
😂😂😂
But seriously guys, I was not leaving her alone in the hospital.
She could barely talk, and she was scared.
She needed support, and I was absolutely going to be there for her.

Amazing friends helped out so that Hubby could be there during the day too…hospital parking is mind bogglingly expensive, and with him already taking days off to be our support person and care for the Farm, having help from our friends was invaluable.
Hubby left the truck with them during the day, and they shuttled him back and forth to the hospital from their place.
So not only did we not have to worry about parking, but, we didn’t have to worry about the truck being parked in a less than stellar area…it’s really not uncommon for vehicles to be broken into all around the hospital.
😡

But anyways, by Friday we were able to spring The Kid from hospital jail, with another appointment to be seen for followup 4 days later.

So the weekend saw her taking over the xbox, finally able to drink coffee (this was awesome to see!!) and slowly starting to eat more and more solid foods.
Lots of sleeping, pain meds, antibiotics and a whole bunch of frustrations…
Let me tell you, it’s hard as fuck being an active person who suddenly gets tired just walking to the bathroom.
It’s hard as fuck seeing your Baby go through this too…

Things improved though, and with her first follow up appt. (after a bit of a panic attack because she had to return to the hospital for it and things were not good last time she was there) the docs were extremely happy with her healing progress.
So we set another followup appt for a week later, and took her home. ❤

That appt was the 20th and after an hour and half wait, we finally saw the doc.
He examined her and told us she was healing exceptionally well and that she was being released from the surgical aftercare program.
Hallelujah!

She has continued to heal properly and is finally able to eat almost normal.
There are, of course, things she doesn’t want to eat because it was all she could manage before the emerg. surgery.
There are also things she’s worried about eating because of the holes still healing from the tooth removal.
So it’s been fun and challenging getting her fed.
lol
But we’re getting there.
She’s healing and her spirits are a million times better.
That’s all that matters.
🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the midst of all this going on, we still had to keep things running smooth on the Farm.
And before things went south, I had gotten a text from our Hay Guy about a couple oat straw round bales.
See, oat straw is a fantastic hay extender.
It’s safe for the nags to chew on, lay in, and generally enjoy.
I hadn’t gotten any oat straw off our field because of the unbelievable rains we experienced end of harvest season, and there wasn’t any near by to be bought for less than gold prices.
So I had mentioned during out hay delivery that I was looking, but our Guy said he only had wheat bales the same size as our hay bales.
I said I’d take 4 if he could spare them.
Better than nothing and with enough water going in, the dreaded horse owner “C” word shouldn’t be an issue.
Then, out of the blue a few weeks later, he tells me he’s got access to 2 rounds of oat straw if we’re still looking, and the price was incredibly reasonable.
YES!!

And then my Kid ends up in the hospital…
But, our Hay Guy is a Good Human and the bales were still available when we were able to get them.
In the middle of an ice storm we had no idea was happening, Hubby hooks up our trailer and goes to pick them up, while I’m home with The Kid…

Lookit them bitches dancing in the background!!
They *know* them rounds are for them!
😂😂😂

We were also going into a week of cold, shit weather, so Hubby gave ’em one to enjoy…

“Not exactly sure what happened to that bale, but I’m exactly sure it was Sable’s fault!”
~ Ruby

And enjoy it they did!!

Ahhhhhh, nap time!!

Oh yeah…this is good, Food Lady!!

The weather is lovely now…quite nicely above seasonal temperatures, and the Merry Mares are *still* enjoying the exploded bale. 😉
With the nice weather we culled a few roosters, leaving 2 from the Original 18 hatch to continue working.

This guy is named “Replacement”.
He thinks he owns the place.
lol

Fred

Fred is the white fellow sitting (the other one turned out to be a pullet).
Originally I didn’t care for his looks, but as he’s grown, he’s turned out to be rather handsome.
And he’s not an asshole.
The Highlander was an asshole.
He was culled…because a rooster trying to attack my face while I collect eggs becomes soup.
No questions asked.
So Fred and Replacement have the winter and spring for sure to work on flock regeneration with the hens.

So that’s where we’re at for now…
I have some more pictures to share over the next couple of days, and then there’ll be the big year end post for New Year’s Eve.
I am quite ready for a new year.
🙂