Getting better and working the pups

I was suppose to go to a trial this weekend but bailed. The trial host was cool about it and got someone on the waitlist to fill my spot. That was very nice of her. I really appreciated it.

On Wednesday I had a bad episode and my head felt like it was going to explode. So in the best interest of my health, I felt it would be wise to stay home.

Today, it was nice and sunny and I putzed about the farm. I cleaned up the tack room which was in disarray since the accident. Then Chuck (one of my students with Teddy) came over and helped me muck the last horse stall. He did most of the work. Thanks Chuck.

When he first came here, he was in his bee suit, a big white Pillsbury doughboy suit. He is a bee keeper and has a couple of hives on the farm. After he fiddled with the bees then he went to the barn. Tess spied him and barked at the strange white ghost but then settled down once she realized it was Chuck. Nice to know that I have such a good guard dog in case any other bee keepers should stop by!!

Chuck helped me do a video of Coll. I have Coll for sale and the possible buyer wanted a video. I got a new cell ph that does short videos so Chuck took Coll into the pen and worked her. Chuck has come really far since he started. In a few minutes, he had her going both ways and downing on command. In addition, he was able to keep her at the right distance form the stock. Luckily I was able to best the new technology on my cell phone and got some good videos. Coll hasn't been worked in a month and this was Chuck's first time with her. he did great.

Then we decided to work, Clip, Kael, Anson and Rainey. They are 7 months old. (Tess x Scott). Chuck and I took turns.

1. Rainey may be small but she is a gripper and fearless. she is a take charge type of dog. Fast and fearless and kept them grouped nicely and tight but she rated herself well. She went both directions and called off fine. She is a pistol in a small package.

2. Clip was not sure at first but got the idea and was good. He favored one side but did well. He really responded well to Chuck.

3. Kael was not too sure at first, a bit timid but then the light bulb went off. He loves to head the sheep so we worked on balance and he got the idea. He has the most eye of the pups

4. Anson was not sure at first and then figured it out. He has a nice gather and balance. He was doing great and called off well

We worked the pups in short sessions and had a blast. They all got better and then we let them play in the yard.

By this time, my brain started to overload so Chuck headed home and I headed up to the house.

Tess, Nan, Rainey, Shiro and I are all hanging out and going to bed early. Jeff was very proud of his Rainey.

Horse accident - Part two

May 9, 2008...around 1ish....Part Two

OK, so I am signed up for a local cow dog trial and taking Ray. Ray is Tess x Pleat and is a big, rough coated male that loves to work and is biddable. He works geese, ducks, sheep and cattle. He will grip the head or heel. I signed him up for Open and since it was a arena trial I would be on horseback and should be able to help him if he needed it.

So Friday, I hop on the ancient Arabian (Emmy) that I use when I work my dogs. She is used to dogs or sheep going under her and is very calm. I can hardly get her into a trot. We are working the cattle in the lower pasture and Ray is doing a great job. Then off to the side in another field, I see a flash (coyote?) and then it all goes to hell in a hand basket.

Emmy obviously sees the coyote and spins to the left, hard stop and then spins to the right and then rears....all of this happened in microseconds.....I am bareback and thank goodness I rode a lot of horses when I was younger bareback and I stayed on. At the end of the second spin she reared and I saw it coming and turned my head away trying not get hit dead-on but she got me at my left cheek. The impact was so hard that my head hit her rump and I came back up and blacked out for a second and I was still hanging on. she kept on spinning and I was thinking of bailing but I would have gotten trampled so I turned her to the barn. Blood was spraying out and I covered my left side with my hand and the blood then gushed down my arm. I was thinking "Oh sh*t"

I rode Emmy back to the barn and she was still acting up. By this time, I was in shock because I took the bridle off her, opened the barn door and hung it up and called Jeff and told him I was hurt and he need to take me to ER. So he ran into the barn just in time to see me fall down, covered in blood and he is freaking out. I get up and we got to ER.

Jeff rushes me in and they take me to a room and get a IV in....I was flailing about and it took a bit and then they pumped me with pain killer, anti nausea and wait for it to work....I just want to throw up and they give me more. They ask me questions and I tell them the best I can but I was in so much pain that I had a hard time telling them anything.

I hardly remember anything of the ER...I had a CAT scan of my brain and head and x-rays and lots of probing and questions and more pain meds and anti nausea meds and then more pain meds and anti nausea meds. The CAT scan showed no brain damage but the brain got jostled around quite a bit. They found a two piece fracture in the cheek area and upper jaw. My upper jaw was in the worse pain. There was a gash in the cheek that was deep (hence all the blood earlier) and the did a tidy job of sewing it up. I have a scar now.

Apparently Jeff watched TV and I don't remember watching TV and we talked but I don't remember that either. I don't remember the six hrs that we were in ER...it seem like a hour or so. They turned us loose at 8 and we went home. Concussion, laceration, broken cheek bones, fracture jaw, whiplash and sick as a dog.

They said it would take 8 week for the concussion to go away and I would have some effects from it. I went and saw the Ear, Nose Throat DR and he said the same thing and wants to do surgery to fix the cheek bones so I guess I will be doing that soon.

I was pretty much on bed rest for most of the two weeks. Tess is my bed partner. I lost 20 pounds and she gained a few more. Jeff takes the load of taking care of the farm as well as us. I married well.

So it has been 2 weeks since the accident and I still have issue. I have some memory loss which is not good. I also have speech issues...want to say the word but they don't come out or I stutter them. I also mix stuff up...like calling people the wrong names or instead of calling "chicken wings'...."chicken wings"...I called them "fish wings". I also asked my boss the same question twice in a row. I get disabling headaches if I push myself too hard.....bad enough like the "migraines from hell"

They say it takes 8 weeks and I sure they are right. I got a call into my regular Dr to see what see says...like do I need to go to see a specialist.

I was going to post this last week but my head hurt so I went to bed in early evening and got up 12 hrs later. I'll keep you posted on this. Now I know what people go through when they have a head injury and it sure is scary

Wolf Hybrid attacked my sheep and horses

It's been a while since I have posted to the blog. A lot of stuff has happened in the last 2 weeks.
So needless to say, I've been offline dealing with those. Today I will tell Part one of a Two part story. Tomorrow will be about the horse riding accident.

Tuesday May 6, 2008
1. Wolf Hybrid attacked my horses and sheep. end results was Five sheep dead and one lamb and Tess was hurt. As I was driving to work I saw the wolf hybrid in my leased filed killing a sheep. I chased it off and it ran back to the owner's trailer. Allison was parked (squatting) on Tractor Bob's land...she was told to leave two weeks prior and had not. I pounded on her camper and she woke up and denied it all. it's hard to deny it when your wolf mix is covered in blood and running loose and you are sleeping in the camper. who in their right mind would let their wolf mix run at large in the farming community?

I called Jeff and he came out with Tess to find the sheep and horse that had busted/chased out at the far end of the field. Meanwhile I got in touch with work and made sure my meeting were covered so I could deal with this. As Jeff was going over the busted fence/gate to recover the sheep and horses who were running loose on Highway 203, Tess leaped over the busted gate/fence and her side got ripped open. Jeff didn't know this until a few minutes later as she was darting off to get the sheep. he got the horses off the highway and they ran down the busy road and then down our turnoff and then for home.

Jeff put the sheep back in the pasture and went and got me so we could get the sheep home but the sheep again busted out and went down the highway...so the locals stopped traffic and Jeff and I raced and got them loaded in the truck. There were three of them. Then Jeff took Tess to the vet to get stitches.

I got home and saddled up Emmy and rode all over the pasture trying to find the other four sheep. I found a dead one and then one of the sheep we had brought home went through the hot wire and back to the field where this all occurred. She apparently loves Emmy, the horse and feels safe with her so we, Scott (Border Collie) Emmy (Arab) and Sheep walked home and I put her in a stall. She was pretty badly mangled.

So Jeff get back from the vet and the bill was $449. I had talked to the Animal Control and they said that Allison was responsible for
A. Dead or wounded sheep
B. Damaged fences and busted gate
C. Any injury to Tess as a result since her wolf mix caused the horses/sheep to bust down the fence/gate to escape
D. Any vet bills
E. Any further losses

I stopped by and talked to Allison who said she would pay for everything. She also talked to Vet John Carr and told him she would pay. I had called John Carr when the attack happened so he could come out and see the damage. Allison said she did not have any money but would give me a saddle and clippers as payment so we agreed on that.

Vet Audrey came over and looked at the wounded ewe and it was found that her tailbone was pulled and broken from her body and hanging out and below her tail, there were large wounds into her body. We treated her and crossed our fingers. She also looked at the other ewe that was wounded and she was torn up but would recover. A day later, the wounded ewe aborted a lamb and then died.

On Tuesday morning the day of the attack, Jeff found one ewe dead in the ditch and no signs of the other three. They are dead but we don't know were.

Allison, being the person she was then packed her camper up and left and told Jeff on her way out that her "PASHA" never attacked my sheep and she saw two men in a white truck driving around in my field tow days prior and saw them killing the sheep and tossing them into the ditch.

Quite amazing as the gate is locked and I was feeding the sheep on Monday. All were accounted for...(unless they died and came back to life again!!)

Animal Control has been trying and needs to get in touch with Allison and she has fled. So she know places that she hangs out is randle and packwood. if anyone knows where she is located, drop me an email. She owes me $1500 in daamges at this point. She does not have a job but drifts from one place to another. She has a Foxtrotter and a mustang and need to board them so more than likely she will be there. She might still be in the Redmondto Monroe area.

Her name: Allison Farnsworth
Dodge Ram 2500 turbo diesel truck license # 1DRFLYF
Stock trailer license # 8218-SA

Shiro....sad news

Last week Shiro went downhill fast. On Tuesday, when I came home, she was flat on her tummy and could not walk. I carried her into the house and took care of her. She seemed to get a little better so we waited until morning.

The next morning she was not better, could not walk, all of her legs just collapsed under her so I took her to the vet

She has major bone spurs on a good portion of her back and the nerve bundle at the end of her tail bone are damaged as well as her hips. She is on Tramadol and Metacam.

After a couple of days, we saw an improvement and Jeff told me to go to the sheepdog trial and he would watch her and if anything happened he would call me. Shiro is his dog and he wanted to spend time alone with her. I spent time during the week with her. At the trial, I worried all weekend about her but my good friend Karen Mahoney kept my spirits up.

This week....

Now, she can walk a few steps before collapsing. Her appetite is on and off. You can see the oldness in her eyes.

Her time is limited. My tears are not.