Last day of the year..........Thursday

I leave the house this morning and there is fog......hanging in the low spots of the road, looking like clouds which have fallen from the sky somehow. It rained during the night. I get to the barn and get started.......water tubs need filling........the paddocks are squishy under my feet.

Jake is not feeling too good this morning. Lethargic, runny eyes and he didn't finish his hay. I run my hands over him, rub his ears.........and then take his temperature. No temperature noted. I give him some new hay and he nibbles it. HMMM> I will keep my eye on him as I feed everyone and it will give me something else to worry about today....by the time I start serving grain he is a little perkier and he hollers for the grain. I pour it in his bucket and he eats greedily. I feel a little better. Although somedays I expect to find him dead.....I don't want him to die. I want to see him with weight on and able to move without such huge effort. I am impatient with weight gain. I can gain about ten lbs in two days....no sweat....so I am wanting to see an immediate difference in Jake. It takes time when starvation has robbed you of muscle and fat....

I feed the chickens and make a note that I must clean the coop on Friday.......nest boxes too.
Paddocks will need raking too. The mud gets ahead of me....the chores get ahead of me....
Speaking of chickens, the little speckled hen is laying eggs on top of the closet in the barn......WAY up there. You have to use a ladder to get the eggs. All those nice nest boxes and a custom coop........and she lays eggs in the barn.

We will put an automatic gate in this weekend and a security camera at the farm. Necessity, unfortunately. We can watch the security camera from our computers......very cool.

My mother is ill and will have surgery next week, so my blog may be sporadic......a few lines here and there. I would appreciate your prayers for my mom......
Note to Mom: I love you and will be there for you....probably even cook for you...think positive thoughts. We will get through this.

Some days hit us like a ton of bricks. Sadness that puts a heavy weight on our hearts and minds. ...hard to shake off, impossible to forget and yet we must continue on...no place to stop that would be easy......keep going.

Tomorrow is 2010. Too strange.....George Orwellian. Think about how much has changed in ten years and what is to come in the next ten. The impossible becomes the norm.
Happy New Year........be safe and sane.........get home early....and have a designated driver PLEASE!

Pony Up Fortune for tomorrow:

Take care of the small things before you go.