Follow the shenanigans of a woman's attempt at going green while trying to raise a little one on a small ranch in Arizona with chickens and horses.
WOOF, meet Teyla, aka Good Girl!
Our German Shepherd woke us up at 2:45 this morning. Someone was at the door and being the good girl that she is, she let off her warning barks. Her barks would make you piss yourself if you didn’t know what a lovey girl she really is.
She rarely ever barks at anything unless someone puts their foot on those front steps other than me or Ray. Then she’s at the door in like 2.8 seconds, and she goes into her “WHO IS IT” bark mode. If you’ve ever heard a protective German Shepherd bark, you know what I’m talking about. It’s a bark that says “I better know who you are or you are going to regret it.”
The minute she see’s that we’re okay with whoever is at the door, (or if she’s already met you), then she’s okay, lol. Tonight it was a police officer cuz someone hit the mailbox across the street and he thought it was ours. She went into protective mode and I had to tell her it was okay before she let me out the door to the cop. She’s been extremely protective of me, I think she knew I was pregnant before I even did when she started sleeping on my side of the bed, so close that if I put my feet down I’d step on her. She started doing that right after Christmas, right after conception. We didn’t put 2 and 2 together till a couple weeks later.
We got Teyla 3 months after a really horrible accident that cost the life of our dog Ms B and put me in a cast for several months. (We got crushed in a rock-slide up in Peyson at the paleo site. Someone fell down the cliff and brought down a shelf of boulders. I survived, our dog didn’t. That was by far the most horrifying experience I have ever been through.)
I had no intention of getting another dog for a long time after losing Ms B, and Ray and I had both agreed that if we did get a dog later on down the road, we wanted a female shepherd, at least 3 years old, who was great with all people, kids, and cats. We didn’t know that what we wanted would be delivered a couple of months later. I wasn’t even out of my cast yet when I met her and I was really leery to even look at her but I fell in love with her the minute I saw her.
Teyla’s an amazing girl. When we went to meet her, the first thing she did was run over to me, flop over on her back and expose her belly. Talk about a trusting dog! Then she ran over to Ray and did the same thing.
Teyla is very protective of “her people”, and as soon as you’re introduced to her, you become “her people” too and she knows you for life.
She is absolutely AMAZING with children, she is a mother-hen to them and stays by their side at all times when outside, she walks off-leash by their side and makes sure that they’re safe. Whenever we have family/friends stay at the house who have kids, she’s depressed for a day or two after they leave.
She’s going to love having a little one to watch over when Lilly arrives. I wish Teyla was a little younger because she’s 7-9 years old now. (The vet guessed she was 5-7 when we got her). She’s going to be too old when Lilly’s old enough to throw a ball around with her outside. That’s a big bummer, but I have no doubt that the next couple of years will be filled with Teyla enjoying her role as Lilly’s guardian.
So that’s our good-girl Teyla.
Lilly (Aka Peanut) at 28 weeks
Had my ultra-sound today! Lilly is doing FABULOUS! She’s right on target for her growth, not too big, not too small (54 percentile). All of her growth markers have been perfectly in proportion and her health markers are doing great!
All of my lab work tests came back, everything is good except I’m a little anemic but it’s very mild. Abbey (my PA) said just eat more steak and spinach. Ray said “Hell yes!” Passed my glucose test with plenty of room to spare too, no diabetes! Yay!!!
So here are a couple pictures from this round of ultrasounds.
So Long Nora
Nora didn’t make it. I went to move her this morning and she had a heart-attack or seizure and died. At least she’s not suffering anymore.
Day 3- Nora gets worse. :(
Day 3 now, and Nora seems to have taken another turn but backwards. Not good, not good.
I never ever thought in my life that on a Friday night I would be sitting at the kitchen sink holding a chicken’s hind-quarters down in a warm soapy bath, followed by applying oil to their “vent”…. ewwww.
This is the only thing I really have left to try. She’s behaving like she’s egg-bound (or poop bound), but nothing is coming out. She’s no longer drinking or eating.
I’m going to let her be for awhile and see if she passes something on her own here, and starts drinking water or at least trying to stand up. If not, I need to go get an eye-dropper from the store and start giving her water by hand. I picked up a vitamin/electrolyte supplement but can’t get her to drink any water on her own. (She was drinking water fine yesterday)
I have a feeling she’s not going to make it but I’m trying what I can to keep her alive.
Day 2- Nora gets a little better
Nora, my little trooper, is getting better slowly but surely. She’s eating and drinking water. She’s very wobbly, but she can stand for a minute. (It’s so pathetic when she tries to walk though). But she seems stronger today.
She hasn’t pooped yet, and no eggs, so I’m keeping her inside. I want to make sure she’s fully functioning and gets strong again.
All the other chickies were good today, we had 6 eggs despite only 5 chicks being outside. One must have laid an egg late last night or something. They’re enjoying their new shade.
On other stuff, Lilly is kicking like crazy, she’s adjusted to the day shift, she was playing basketball in my tummy all day at work. (and still is for that matter.)
The rest of her cloth diapers came in today, I need to go open the package up and see what cuteness is in there. Just got home from work and figured I’d post.
