I’ve been so busy writing about Fiona that I haven’t had a chance to talk about the horrible weather that’s been going on here (what else is new? the weather has been bad everywhere!). But I know the donkey fans out there will also want to know how the little darling is doing.
Feisty Fiona
Well, she hasn’t injured anyone since Wednesday! Hooray! Actually, when Mandi and I went to feed and medicate her yesterday, it went really well. She is always so glad to see me that it makes my heart swell. It’s great to be loved! And with me holding her head and Mandi squirting the medicine in her mouth, everything was over in a moment.
Fiona even took a treat right after the medicine (when I first was working with Apache, he would not take a treat from anyone until at least a day after you gave him his worming medicine, but now he trusts me not to worm him twice).
She is not walking 100%, but is not hopping or anything. Whew.
Feisty Weather
We have been having wave after wave of strong storms lately, but the one that came through on Wednesday (the one that messed up the hawk feathers) was even worse. Tornadoes touched down again in Milam County, and some kind of wind event struck the ranch, too. The good news is that no people or animals were hurt, that we can tell. But:
Over at Sara and Ralph’s, a large hackberry tree blew completely over and landed all over the garlic and onion plants I planted last fall. The tree next to it lost a very large branch. And while the tree closest to their house didn’t fall down, a branch from a tree behind the house flew over and landed on the front yard tree. The house got a little damage, too.
According to Tyler Vrazel, who leases our pastures, we lost a bunch of trees in the flood plain area, but we couldn’t get to them to really check, due to the saturated ground.
And over at the cabin, Tyler Lawson said he sat there and watched the porch posts go up and down over and over (it’s not cemented in, just sitting on the ground). He said it rose and fell about five inches. And, quite sadly, the beautiful redbud tree that is by the cabin gate got blown over. I am hoping it comes back from the roots, because it is a gorgeous specimen, with the most intense flowers I’ve seen on a redbud.
And the worst (for me) is that the storm picked up the chicken coop and moved it five feet to the east. The nest boxes didn’t move, which probably kept it from going any further. It messed up their food trough and water dispenser. too. I couldn’t get to the boxes to get to the eggs, but luckily, Tyler L. was able to move it near where it used to be, but it’s a mess. He says he’ll work on fixing it this weekend, so I hope I can help him.
There were ten eggs, so the chickens seem to have not been too concerned! I was surprised that the person who feeds the chickens during the week didn’t say anything about it to his mom. It turns out he thought the nest box moved. Next time something breaks, I hope someone tells me!
At least the horses came through it all just fine. They even were clean.
We are in for more bad weather this weekend, but are enjoying a cool spell. Can’t complain too much when it’s only in the 60s during the day in May! I’m hoping that my friends and family in the Houston area don’t get hammered again, though. This is the wettest spring in many, many years in this area. And that’s the weather and donkey report!
The Hermits' Rest 