recovery

relaxing at home after an exhausting couple of weeks.  wish i had more energy to do alittle work outside.  the most i could muster today was some watering and smoking a pork loin.

the garden has been invaded by a couple of adventurous hens and some hungry squirrels.  half of it is gone - the parsley, basil, green onions and most of the green pepper plants were dug up by the hens while looking for bugs.  the squash, beans, potatoes, a couple of pepper plants and some potted basil have survived.  before i left for new york, there were a few good-sized tomatoes on the vines that i looked forward to enjoying.  i came home to empty plants...all the tomatoes were gone (alas, the curse continues). 

ivan had his stitches removed last week.  dr. martin thinks he's doing well, though he did have some dead tissue and scabbing (which he removed).  his leg is wrapped and he's still on two antibiotics and is confined to the pen, with a couple of hens for company.   cedric is doing very well and is off antibiotics after a recurrence of bumblefoot in both feet. bumblefoot is an abcess caused when a small scratch on the bottom of the foot becomes infected by staph bacteria.  cedric had a bad bout in one foot last year and recovered after months of treatment. we've been dressing and soaking his feet a few times a week, which softened the scabs and allowed them to be removed easily.  his feet are still wrapped until the wounds heal completely, but i'm happy to see how quickly he's healing.  he's alittle clumsy (a few of his toes are lame), but that doesn't stop him from tearing around the yard to romance any hen he sees.

the ram lambs are big now - 6 months old.  we need to wether (neuter) them before mating season arrives.  one of them is already following one of the ewes around and trying to mount her.  the sheep are enjoying ripe figs every morning.  they run for the trees when their shed is opened, looking for fallen fruit.  i sometimes drop the half-eaten (by birds or bugs) figs for them myself.  time to start drying some fruit.  maybe next week...