My stand-up girl and other things

Poppy has always shown a remarkable ability to stand up very straight on her hind legs; she'd make a great circus performer, I think. Realized my oldest and newest unshared Poppy pictures show her in this position; wanting Chuckie to play in the first one, wanting Rick's ice cream in the second one.

Last Saturday afternoon Rick had to check a patient over at the coast, so the whole family rode along with him for an outing (the teen didn't want to go, but we made him 😠😆). Our coastal communities have begged visitors to stay away, so we just pulled over at a scenic overlook and waved at the sand and Pacific Ocean. Would loved to have taken Poppy on her first walk on the beach, but we respected the wishes of the residents. Can't blame them; visitors were flocking to their towns, buying out the limited supply of staples in their small stores, and risking health in communities without robust – or in some, any – healthcare facilities.

Not as flattering as the senior photos I took. 🤣

That evening, Poppy took over my chair. It had been a damp, cool day, so I had been cuddling her in a fleece blanket.

The next morning she was on my lap again, chewing on her Yeti bone, when something caught her eye. There's my stand-up girl again!

But she's also good at laying flat. I built a fire Sunday morning to take the chill and damp out of the house; Poppy approved:


Later Sunday I got Bernadette, my once-chocolate ewe, sheared. Her fleece, now a dilute cup of cocoa, is still luscious, and sheared much more easily than Blaise and Bing before her. Most of that is the timing of the rise, but part of it is color; lighter fleeces make it easier to see my scissors, so I can cut faster.

As I uncovered her neck, I realized with alarm that it was swollen and hard. I showed it to Rick, who postulated that it could be a thyroid tumor, or a goiter. Hopefully it's the latter; I am supplying kelp meal again to supply iodine if that's the case. I'd really hate to lose this gorgeous two-year-old; she has pretty much everything I want for my breeding program, should it ever resume – conformation, breed type, fine fleece, and polled genetics.

More sleeping Poppy pictures from this week:

Our pink flowering cherry is starting to rain petals:

Yesterday was a busy day. Poppy had her first physical therapy appointment in the morning. We all had to wear eye protection for her cold laser treatment, and then she had a short session on the underwater treadmill.

By the time the tank filled to the appropriate level and the belt started moving, I was busy helping control and encourage her (and getting very wet), so no photos of the actual work, but there will be other opportunities. We will be going in twice a week for several weeks; again, very thankful I can barter for her care!

When we got home I did more of the graphics work necessary for that barter, then cleaned up Bing's belly and legs. He looks scalped in those areas because I was able to mostly roo them, but that didn't leave him much cover.

I let Bittersweet out to browse while I worked on Bing, knowing he'd follow Bing anywhere I led him afterwards. He came up to check on us and ask for attention at one point:

 I was going to wait until all three boys were sheared before turning them into the wooded lot, but they really need tempting calories NOW, as all three are thin. So out they went. The weeds were more attractive to them at first than the grass, but that might have been because the weeds were the first green feed they saw:

The hens were busy yesterday, too; I got seven eggs from ten middle-aged girls! I caught my three Australorps all working at the same time:

I didn't have time to work horses, but everyone got turned out to exercise, boys in the arena and Stella in the pasture.

The arena was dry and dusty, but has gotten well-watered today; yay! We are way behind on typical April precipitation, so today's rain is much needed.

That's it for today from . . .