I haven’t posted a Ranch news update in awhile. It’s hard to keep up with everything! We’ve downsized and don’t have cattle here any more, unless we’re babysitting cattle for other people, which happens sometimes — we use them to keep our pastures in shape.
The horses are doing great — fat and sassy:
The goats got the run of the place nearly all summer, since the cows are gone. They loved it. And I snapped this photo out the landing window one day of Ranger sitting like a dog — it was so funny. I guess he’s so fat, it felt better to sit like this than lay down? Hilarious.
Tucker has been with us for two years now. His Birthday is very close to his Gotcha day, so we just celebrate his birthday and Gotcha day on Halloween. For his birthday present to himself, he went out and got sprayed by a skunk! He’s only just now stopped stinking. He’s three years old, and thinks he runs things around here.
He loves to go shopping at the farm store and pick out his own treats. He usually examines all the toys, but then picks something tasty that he can chew on for awhile!
On November 6th, we lost our outdoor Boss, the old tomcat, Scotchy. He lived to be NINE years old — that’s really old for an outdoor barn cat. We found him on the road in the middle of the night one night on our way home from an ER visit for My Cowboy, just a baby. We stopped on the road, opened the door, he jumped in and practically drove home, and has been here and been the boss ever since.
He had the kindest heart, and always babysat the kittens:
Also the toughest cat I’ve ever seen in my life. Crippled on his front driver’s side when he was only a few years old, because he got stepped on by a cow or horse, he had to have been in pain from arthritis, but it never slowed him down, and this July, he suffered a broken pelvis somehow.
That’s when we brought him inside to live, thinking he might not recover from that, but the vet was right — he recovered just fine, and it still never slowed him down for long. But Scotchy was not the indoor sort. So . . . he stayed inside at night, had private dining on canned food for meals, and spent his days outside bossing, just like he wanted.
He finally succumbed to a stomach ailment that there is no cure for. He had been losing weight, and I tried really hard to put weight back on him, but just couldn’t get it to stick. It’s the same ailment we lost our Miss Kitty to a few years back. Our vet also lost their office mascot, Muff, to the same thing (I forget what it’s called).
Scotchy got bad on a Saturday, and I knew that if he didn’t perk up by Monday, I’d have to take him in to the vet. But I guess he wasn’t gonna hear of anyone making a decision for him — he was the BOSS and went on his own terms on Sunday morning. I’m sad, but relieved that his pain is over; we will miss him. We buried him next to Miss Kitty — the Outdoor Boss and the indoor Boss right next to each other forever.
And a couple weeks ago, one of the beagles tried jumping off the tailgate of the truck, and hung his toe, and had to go in to the vet and have his toenail amputated. Silas is the brother of our old beagle, Ranger, who you might remember (or might not) because he lived indoors for his final days. Now Silas is indoors, and even tho his toenail is all healed up now, he still hasn’t moved back to the barn. It’s gotten cold, and I don’t have the heart to put him back down there in his old age (he’s 11).
If he’s as smart as his brother, he’ll do just fine inside. We fixed him a pallet in the mudroom on one of our old couch cushions. He doesn’t leave it very often!
We had our first snow last week, but it’s back up in the 50s for a few days now — I’ll take it.
So basically, it’s business as usual around here, day by day, and we’re thankful for every day. I hope all of you out there have a wonderful blessed Thanksgiving holiday and a nice long weekend. I’m off to make a pecan pie to take to my sister’s Thanksgiving dinner. I’m hoping to squeeze in some selfish sewing over the next few days — we’ll see what I can get done!
