Dr. B...Mobile Vet

It seems as though each time we are here at Chateau Poulet we are faced with a challenge, of sorts.  But we enjoy the occasional challenge...keeps life interesting, right?

A few days ago we noticed that the ram was limping and in obvious pain.  We consulted our "housesitters' guide" and called Dr. B....mobile veterinarian.  She came out the next morning.

You can see how big this pasture area is and yet it doesn't do it justice.  It's a long narrow space.  Then there are two additional grazing areas...one is on the left side right about where you see Jack and my brother-in-law and his grandson.  The other is up closer to the house, also to the left.  This is a shot from last week...before his injury.

We had to block those two other grazing areas to make it easier to corral him and he still had this huge space to race around.  The minute we'd get close, he'd gallop away.  How he could run on that poor sore hoof, I do not know.

Well, it took the three of us (Jack, Dr. B and me) about 45 minutes to get him into a smaller area (it's on the right side of the picture behind the buildings...you can't really see it in this photo but it's there.   Jack put food and water bins there thinking that we could lure him in to eat.



Finally, he ran into the pen and Dr. B closed the gate!

She examined him, thoroughly, and diagnosed an injured "soft tissue" area on his hoof.   No cuts that she could see but it's possible that he had something wedged in there and dislodged it as he was trying to elude us!

The good doctor gave him a shot of penicillin and an enormous aspirin...she put it on sort of a long handled tongs of some sort to put it in his mouth.  He spit it out twice!  She said, "Oh, I know it tastes awful but you have to have it."  I laughed at that!  Just like trying to give medicine to a child.  In the end, he chewed it up with bits of it spraying out of his mouth.

Dr. B. came back the Wednesday and Thursday to check on him and give him more meds.  We weren't allowed to let him out until this morning.  He was VERY happy to be released!



We haven't had many touristy excursions, this trip.  With baby Milagro needing to be fed four times a day we're kind of limited time-wise.   If we do venture out to someplace interesting, I'll be posting about it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Some of you might remember an adventure or two we had while housesitting on Bainbridge Island, Washington a couple of years ago.  I locked myself in the chicken house; the kitten played with my diamond ring and knocked it down the tub drain;...little stuff like that.

Well, we're back.  The homeowners have gone off to Morocco for their own exotic adventure so we're babysitting their little flock of Katahdin sheep, their chickens and their cats...again.

Katahdin is the breed of sheep...they're considered "hair" sheep as opposed to "wool" sheep.  Just so you know.

We've got two sheep plus their twin babies who were born just two weeks ago.  A brown lamb with a white patch on his head and a white lamb.  They're adorable.  The problem is that Ewe-dora (remember Ewe-dora?) has refused to let the brown lamb nurse so he's being bottle fed.  I guess he almost died!  They named him Milagro (miracle).

Ewe-dora is now encouraging him to stay close but she's still not feeding him.  So we give him a bottle four times a day.

You do what you have to do, right?

He's definitely a runt but he seems to be fine.  When he spots us heading out with his bottle he runs as fast as he can to meet us and just inhales that formula!

Just a few shots from today:

Heading for the back 40!

Grazing in the meadow

Jumping for joy!

In this last shot it looks like the ram is going to butt them but he was just getting ready to lie down for a little snooze.

That's it for now.  I have to head out to the pasture for the last bottle feeding of the day.  Will keep you posted

Winnie the Pooh - Photo Finish Friday

A trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba is not complete without a visit to Assiniboine Park.  It's a wonderful attraction and it's open 365 days a year!  There's the zoo, a sculpture garden, an exotic horticultural collection from around the world in the conservatory.  And there's a Nature and Adventure Playground!

Pavillion Gallery Museum

One of the most interesting attractions is the Pavillion Gallery Museum.  It's a beautiful art gallery on it's own but the most fascinating story told there (well, to me, anyway) is that of Winnie the Pooh!  Did you know she was named after the city of Winnipeg?

The only photograph I took was of the Winnie the Pooh topiary outside the museum.  Since it was October, the colors were starting to fade but it was still a wonderful likeness sculpted in boxwood (I think it's boxwood) complete with her Hunny Pot!

Winnie the Pooh Topiary

But I encourage you to visit this post at A Portrait of the Visual Arts in Canada.  You'll see a photo of the real bear...the inspiration for A.A. Milne's stories...and of the soldier who adopted Winnie.  It's such an interesting story.

E. H. Shepard was the artist who illustrated the four Winnie the Pooh books and the only known oil painting of Winnie by this artist is at the Pavillion Gallery Museum.

Thanks to Leah of The Goat's Lunch Pail for allowing me to be a part of Photo Finish Friday!

Esplanade Riel Pedestrian Bridge - Photo Finish Friday

We returned from Kansas on Monday and, with two weeks until we leave for Washington, I was confident that I could accomplish much.  As they say, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" (Burns).  I've been fighting a head cold since Wednesday which has put a damper on my plans to catch up on everything from sewing projects to trying new recipes, to writing and reading.

You might remember that I traveled with three friends to Winnipeg, Manitoba in September 2011.  It's a beautiful city and we had such a good time.

This is a photograph of the Esplanade Riel Pedestrian Bridge which I took the first evening we arrived.  I shot this with the camera on my mobile phone!

The bridge is just north of the junction of the historic Red River and the Assiniboine River and it connects The Forks (an historic park and market area...very popular) and St. Boniface, Winnipeg's French Quarter.

The bridge is "...cable-stayed from a single, transversely inclined pylon rising 57 metres (187 feet) above the Red River."

Here's how it looks from the river during the daytime.

That's a restaurant beneath that pylon.  It's called Sal's and it's legendary for its "nip" hamburgers.  The original Sal's was built in 1931 in downtown Winnipeg.  It was named The Salisbury House.

The nips got their name because they were very small portions of salisbury steaks, the restaurant's signature dish.  We did enjoy our very own "nips" that first night in Winnipeg.

That Winnipeg trip was lots of fun and I've got more photos that I'd like to share...still haven't really sorted through them very well.  Maybe I'll do a Winnipeg post for Photo Finish Friday the next few weeks.

Photo Finish Friday is the creation of Leah from The Goat's Lunch Pail.  It's a challenge to keep up with all of the great shots from Leah's travels but she's kind enough to let me give it a go!  Thanks, Leah!