The Flagyl antibiotics are wearing off.... and just in time for the sunshine to come back out... and i can be in it's bright heat again! I call um' hot hugs. So, now i have to wash all the new underwear i bought because I burned all the ones i was wearing while having the Giardia parasites. Fuck that parasite, it stole my whole summer... i show no mercy. I play no games, and i take no chances. Out with the old farted panties, in with the new!
Time to wash down all my clothes and really scrub the cabin (to shine like the top of the chrysler building?) too... just in time cause my mom who has cleaning OCD arrived in town yesterday and due to come over this week.... HELP mom, you must use your special talent on my sinks and toilet! Make it safe again! ;) ha ha
Oh yeah, and here is my life in video.... exciting yes? Just me and the animals hanging laundry together.
My friend jen came to visit me and the animal crew today... and she brought JuJu her own bag of carrots. They really helped JuJu with not wanting to stomp on Bruiser the Dog... Here is a video of how the carrots work like magic...
Thanks Jen for coming for a visit! You are such an awesome friend !!! XOxoOX
I thought I couldn't do it by myself... but like all human invention, necessity is the birth of all brilliance. And really, i did nothing brilliant except to work with what I had, and that was not alot. A truck, a short rope, and lots of sweet talk/encouragement. * Usually in these tough cases with JuJu not wanting to come home, i have a longer rope and tie it to the back of the truck. Then one person drives the truck while another keeps the rope in check (making sure it doesnt tangle in the truck tires!) But... sometimes its a lonely rainy day... and sometimes I get determined to do it all on my own. Hard headed? Reclusive? Loner? Not in spirit, but in action. * So this time, I drove right up to where she was staying (under my neighbors house/porch). JuJu was happy I had come over since she really wants us to move there (she greeted me with a long insane Hee Haw), but we are not moving there... i took her rope without a word and brought her to the truck, I got in the door and hooked the rope on my outside truck mirror. This was not planned ahead of time, i worked this on a moment by moment basis ... I really thought as i did it --- !!!kiss that mirror goodbye, she is gonna rip that piece of crap right off!!! ---- but...
Today was the first time i have dared to take JuJu the donkey on a walk, since her last run away stunt to the neighbors house. In our case, the grass really is always greener, cause we dont really have any grass. So, she has a point. Our odd herd (trio of unlike species- human, donkey, dog) had an awesome time hiking to the top of "bob knobs" ridge and overlooking one of the most fantastic parts of Western North Carolina. On our walk JuJu really made the saying "buck wild" come to a reality (watch video below)... Once we got to the top, JuJu ate grass, Bruiser was the ever ready body guard, and I listened to headphones, felt the wind, handed out treats and enjoyed it until the cold felt less good then the view. On the way home, JuJu did run away AGAIN... and ya'll know how that goes.
So this morning when i got up all was quiet. Too quiet. No hee haw's coming from outside the cabin and I thought maybe JuJu was really busy digging on some hay, but when i called her and walked all around the property she was no where to be found. I whistled, i yelled, i started to cry. No donkey. We had snow last night and locating her tracks was a little confusing at first because the snow had filled them back in some, just enough to make them sketchy to identify while i was in a panic. Eventually there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.... or a donkey in heat. And trying to tell a donkey in heat what to do is like trying to direct a tsunami.
I don't really make plans anymore. I think there was a time though, many years ago that i could make plans and stick to them, that i could decide way in advance what i might be doing a particular day. Now I wake up in the morning and have no clue, i might get asked by the first person who rings my phone "what are going to do today".... usually I have no plans, i have to make it up as i go along. I am almost living "in the moment" (maybe Eckhart Tolle would blush), but I wasnt trying to. I just fell into the abyss of no time frame (no watch, no schedule), and I can't say whether it is good or bad, only that I remember that alarm clocks are stressful evil noise makers and I think had i stuck with using one i would be mentally ill now. I dont really know what i am doing with my life, but I know for me, life is for living.
Here is a video of today. I spent alot of hours, shoveling donkey poop that finally defrosted in JuJu's stall.
Going to the grocery aint what it used to be. Walking a mile to a plowed road where the truck is parked, scraping snow off the truck, getting down the mountain safely, (i didn't film inside the grocery, sorry, that place was a crazy house!), and then the hardest part.... coming back up the mountain and hoping to get to my front door. Pretty mundane, but pretty complicated. Luckily I had a special friend who rode with me...
When I woke up this morning I had this horrible vision in my head that my animals would all be dead and frozen despite all I have done to make this storm OK for them... Maybe cause the other day when I drove to town for supplies I saw a horse somewhere in Leicester laying on the ground in a big field, appearing to be dead, after the last snow storm. And I thought, PLEASE gawd don't let that happen to JuJu Bean. * The last ten years here in western north carolina had really been pleasant during the winter (on a hot sauce scale it was the bland, mild, without spices) - until last year's hell-a-cious snow frenzy. It seems this season has picked up right where last year left off it's white fluffy drama (on the hot sauce scale it's now spicy, tongue burning, tear jerking, nose running, red HOT). Except, it's FrOcking cold. So frigid in fact, the water i filled up in my tub INSIDE my cabin is now frozen solid. The spring water for the animals to drink finally froze over too. A thick layer of ice formed which i crushed hard by kicking it in with my boots then lifted pieces up outta the way. Unfortunately, not much water was underneath, and I had to smoosh the pot into the cold mud to gather anything. I also had to smash/slam the hell out of the pot against a tree trunk to get the frozen water out. (A rebel yell or grunt makes it easier when swinging!) * JuJu the donkey is now limping also. Which worries me, i kept scraping snow off the favored hoof and breathing warmth onto her ears. As I pushed my feet through a foot of snow back to the Luck Cabin I was thinking about tropical islands( yes, mmmmm), i was finally 'getting' why people are obsessive about moving to costa rica and some such places. I was longing for my hometown of New Orleans, if only for a lil warmth and sunshine. I was also thinking... building a sustainable place to live, all alone, in a frigid cold harsh winter'ed location is NOT a good idea. (Note to self: Dont ask if you made a mistake cause it's too late!) Too hard, unless you have a partner who is there to help each day and minute with the unforeseen trials and tribulations of this kind of lifestyle. Until then I can go between laughing and crying when i fall down in the snow over and over, and beg all powers in the universe to spare my animals. Not much is making me feel better.... but Billy Idol helps. Thanks BaBY JEzuz for keeping Our ELECtricty On! ;)
It's been snowing for days. The first day was novel, not so cold I could see my own breath inside my cabin (yet), I crocheted, I hung out with Bort, I even went for a short drive down to the Trust Store (i have never driven in snow before, even though I have lived here for 10 years!).... But dang it... 3 days and still snowing the temperature dropped, and dropped. Finally my spring water froze in spite of pipe dripping & obsessive precautions, the wind chills hit -15 degrees in my county, and I worried for my animals! * I brought ms. Butterworth inside because she was the only chicken shivering and not mentally capable of seeking out water & things to fulfill her needs. She's very happy by the wood stove again... When I went out this morning to check on everyone else, someone was missing and I noticed right away. Beep Beep the baby chicken. I freaked. Under pressure I stay quite calm, I don't lose my mind but I do get very upset and cry and when I called for Beep Beep for 10 mins and she never showed up I thought the worst. All the other chickens were staying warm in their coop and nesting boxes, Beep Beep was nowhere in sight. I kept seeing R.I.P BEEP BEEP in my head, like it had already been tattoo'ed distastefully to my shoulder. With all the snow, and her being mostly white I felt like I was looking for the impossible to try tramping around in the snow- it had piled up enough inches overnight to have buried a small chicken. I was about to give up and was walking out the gate, when instincts had me slam it back shut and quickly walk through the wooded area in the fence, across the spring and into the trees. My eyes felt like animal eyes, the ones that spot things better then normal... and that is when I saw her... poor lil' Beep Beep sitting on a small tree branch, freezing cold all alone, out in the open.
I grabbed her and hugged her to keep her body warm, as she shivered. I brought her right to the barn for warmth, food and water - all of which she was frantic about getting. I had never seen frozen poop on a chicken's ass till this moment. That's how cold it was. Poop-cicles.
*
JuJu the donkey is getting much more feed then normal so she can create more body heat.
She also wanted to send out a reminder:::
Do Not Eat Yellow Snow. It's Not Lemon Flavuh. ;)
THE BEAUTY OF IT ALL::::
The cold is painful to me. Maybe cause I am so small, maybe cause my DNA is that of cajuns who lived in the hot tropical swamps- never the less, I hate the cold but love the beauty, the way it re-sculpts the landscape.
I had put Ms. Buttersworth the chicken back out with the other chickens........ but not really. She's been staying in the feed section of my mini-barn where the rooster and most the other chickens never go. Anytime I tried putting her back with the others they immediately picked on her, pulling out her feathers, the rooster mounting her so violently I could tell that this was why i had found her in a corner shivering in the first place. After bringing her in the cabin for a week, we got to know each other. We spent many long hours sitting with my cat Toots by the warm fire. I never imagined a chicken would love me, but Ms. Buttersworth now loves me in a chicken love kinda way. She wants me to hold her, she coo's when she's warm in my arms, she perches on my arm, and nests in my lap. I miss her being in the Luck Cabin with me. I don't know if chickens are really smart creatures, but they are definitely sensitive with a range of feelings - even if those feelings never form into thoughts as we humans know it. ( Side Note: i am not meaning to make any statements on whether we should eat them or not, I eat what I can eat AKA what I am not allergic to... these observations are just how i see nature.) Of course... JuJu the donkey wishes she could live with me too. Why can't all my babies be potty trained? Or maybe I should move into my barn instead! ;)
This is a lil' story about JuJu and her love of sassy neck scarves ::::
*
For the last two months I have not been able to go for walks with JuJu because she had found a way to jump a neighbor's decorative fence and roam their pasture. Mr. Dontlikedonkeys next door was more then unhappy about it, and since he'd caught her on his surveillance cameras JuJu the donkey was guilty as charged for her trespassing offense.
A sad long 2 months passed as we waited to come up with the right solution to the problem, and built a small fence this past week along the creek to block her from her habit. Yesterday was our first day to go for a walk again, and she was more then ready to get outta her fenced area - she was pushing with her head on the gate and jumping and swinging things- so when i took out her halter to put on her face (the ultimate symbol of "walk time") she grabbed it in her teeth and shook that donkey head in a big resounding YES YES YES!!!
I put the halter on her face and we were all ready to go...
but then... JuJu went inside her barn stall and stood there... patiently...staring at me. She would not budge. We stared back and forth in silence. I was confused. "Are you scared JuJu? Do you not remember? DO you want to go for a walk?"
JuJu then pointed her soft nose to her special blue neck scarf tied to the side of her stall and gave it a nudge. I had taken it off that morning... and thought, does she really want it back on?
I took the possible cue and pulled the silky scarf down and tied it around her neck. Then i stood back and walked towards the gate...
She now was ready to go for a walk, and followed me at almost an excited run right out the gate!
All she wanted was her pretty neck scarf on before she went out in public...
........... I dont know where she gets it from (the fashion sense OR the trespassing?!? ;)
I'M BACK! Sorry about the few days of M.I.A but we had our first silly slick wet icey snow storm here in the mountains, and well, my particular spot is much like a frozen Yukon. I got more snow then any one else in the area, and despite 60 degree weather now some ice patches still remain up here at the Luck Cabin. The electricity came and went and came back again, my running water in the house went and came back... then my internet went away and didn't come back till this morning. ... 'No electricity' is not too bad in the snow for me because I have a wood stove that keeps me warm, i can cook on it and heat up water. The pipes freezing in my cabin sucks, but I have a non electric pump outside that won't freeze and holds water underground so I always have my spring water. No internet though... UHG. I missed contact with the outside world. It's only natural, biological, historical and human. At least I have my animals.... JuJu was not a fan of the thicker, deeper snow. Neither were the chickens. Neither was I. The animals stayed in the mini barn for shelter and warmth. ... COOL TRICK FOR 'HEATING' BARN STALLS::: I read in my Donkey Companion book that keeping some donkey poop in their stall mixed with the wood shaving or hay actually helps keep it warm in the winter due to the heat produced by the composting process. I knew that alot of heat is produced by composting, but I wasn't sure it would really work in this application. But I found that JuJu's stall was warmer then outside. :) Xoxoxo
* Here are some videos of my animals here at the Luck Cabin today on our first snow day together! No one seemed to care about the changing seasons except for me... and maybe JuJu the donkey.
* This second video I am singing. I don't sing well but it doesnt matter to the chickens and donkey because they love to be sung to (this is one of those things that makes animals cooler then humans!) Singing time makes Beep Beep the chicken sleepy... which I find so cute I could explode, or maybe melt, or fall to pieces. :)
In the fenced in acre where my animals live there are two spring water sources (plus I have a rain barrel I am setting up at the mini barn!)... I found a nice lil' sink underneath my cabin that I thought would be perfect for catching the spring water that had already been piped before I moved here. I settled the sink into the dirt and then took a handful of thick native clay (that has been dug up when building the barn) and shoved it into the drain to block the water from leaking. (I have tried this trick even with leaky buckets and had total success!)
Me and JuJu the donkey waited for it to fill up completely, drip by dribble for about 30 minutes.
Once the sink was full I had it lean slightly to the left side so that the water would overflow out in one spot... since it's spring water that constantly flows year round whether it comes out in a pour or a drip.
Before even pimping it out with some rocks, leaves and hay, the chickens came by to test it out...
Rooster approved.
I put a larger flat rock under the drip, and smaller rocks around the entire sink to make it sturdy. I also started covering the black pipe I had dragged under the fence with debris just to make it look like it's not there. Would be cool to make a second water pool with some rock and clay only under the drip. This sink will ensure that no matter what the animals are constantly getting a flow of fresh spring water that has no contaminants in it of any kind (including their own poop.)
Yay, I am feeling clever now. ;)
PS - I got the idea to do this with the sink after having BAD dream last night that something happened to me where I couldn't get home & my donkey had no water and became very sick, I was crying in the dream because I thought she was gonna die of dehydration. Nothing like a lil' nightmare to get you extra motivated.
Yep... I am STILL working on my debris shelter. But I have a reason why this quick easy type of emergancy/survival shelter is taking me months - I was waiting for the leaves to fall off the trees this fall season and use them, cause I am not really in any hurry. :) JuJu my donkey watched me gather wet leaves in a bag with great curiosity, and wondered why I was tossing them on top all these sticks.
She really started to think it was a cool project (and not just a big stupid scary bag of leaves) when i decided to see how hay would work, and used part of a moldy bale of hay in combo with the leaves. The hay was thicker, and more sturdy, it also held to the sticks better.
But JuJu kept trying to steal the parts of the hay that weren't moldy.... ;)
And I am still not finished this project.... (i know, it's taking way too long!)
I am thinking of covering it in one layer of hay, then one layer of leaves.
But what should be on top of that to hold the leaves down properly? Suggestions appreciated!!!
My ducks! These are the two duckies my uncle gave me for my birthday... brown and beautiful. He said he at first thought he brought me two females, but by the time he left my cabin he thought he may have brought me a male and a female. And ya'll know what that'll mean... DUCK BABIES. Which will make me totally cry cause baby ducks always make me cry with the powers of their cuteness. This breed of ducks (which i have no idea what they are called cause my memory is about as good as one of those peeps in a nursing home with dementia), they lay alot of eggs. Like over 300 a year! The only catch is ducks don't really lay a nest of eggs in a regular place, so when you want to find the eggs it's like a easter egg hunt everytime. :)
JuJu the donkey seems to be uneffected by the ducks for the most part... especially since they are not in the gated area with her and the chickens. Beyond the gate she understands it's a free world, where she doesn't have to stomp ya. Plus, ducks can swim.
The Flagyl antibiotics are wearing off.... and just in time for the sunshine to come back out... and i can be in it's bright heat again! I call um' hot hugs.
