Spring Cleaning... Animal Style

These pictures are from a week or so ago because my camera recently fell and caught the "lens error" disease. I don't know if it's worth the money it will cost to send it in for repair or if I should just buy a new one, but in the meantime, I have no camera. I'll either have to steal pictures from my sis or post about old stuff.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Toot and Chee getting their baths and spring trims in an attempt to stop them from picking up pickers in their fur. Chee Chee has already had several burrow into his skin. :(

Teyla doesn't know what's about to happen...

Cheech senses that something's up...

Getting much of his fluff shaved off

Poor Toot being "tortured"

Drying off

Recovering. The poor thing was so distraught that when I'd give her a bone, she'd hold it in her mouth for a while then start to chew.

As a lab/retriever, Cheech doesn't mind getting wet as much as Toot does

Beautiful toesies

Slowly recovering from the trauma. But at least her white fur was white again!

The grass is now turning yellow, despite our May rains, but just a week or two ago, it was greener and the goats and Sheepy were out enjoying it. Alex tries to get them out a few times a week, just for a change of scenery, but they're always happy to go back into their safe pen.

Tumnus

Patch poses

Orangie. Don't let her innocent appearance fool you. She and Batilda Jr. escape the chicken run every day and waltz around the property like they own the place, digging up everything. What's worse, we get fly predators in the mail and sprinkle their eggs/flies on fresh horse poop because the predators eat the fly larvae and keep down the fly population. It's a natural way to control pests. But Orangie keeps coming along and eating the fly predators. I had a battle with her the other day and even Houdini helped me by blocking her off from reaching the poop. Then he got bored. Orangie won.

Sheepy
Yes, she's fat and needs a shearing

Peaceful for the moment. The goats and Sheepy tend to pick fights while grazing.

Like this. Cora is about to butt Sheepy!

Cora's hackles are still up!

Beautiful Patch (Cora's daughter and Tumnus' niece who is older than him)

Run, Tummy, run!



Yum
Tumnus in technicolor!


Beautiful Cora. You can see why she was a grand champion like her momma, Banana!

Houdini and Sparrow now have access to Mickey's stall. Houdini spent a lot of time bucking and prancing about with excitement, then bit everything (he's never lived in a wooden structure). The novelty has since worn off, but sometimes when Sparrow is in the stall and he can't see her, he whinnies and bolts, looking for her. I worry it's because after Mickey died, Dini often stared at his stall (he couldn't see inside), waiting for him to come out. But he never did. During these anxious bouts, Houdini skids to a halt a few centimeters from the door. A true quarter horse. And a total momma's boy.

Houdini looks like a hippo!

The vet came out yesterday to give Houdini and Sparrow their vaccinations and she said that they were both healthy. Sparrow is getting up there in age and has bad arthritis, but she loves to compete. The vet gave us some new medication to try, but was amazed at how sound she was despite her age and injuries. I think it's because of her spirit. She is a horse in the same make of Ruffian. She wouldn't show pain until it incapacitated her.

Houdini had a bad bout of sand colic when he was one or two. He rolled so much that his colon flipped over. He almost died and had to get emergency surgery and stay in a horse hospital for 2 weeks. Ever since, he has been terrified of vets and women in hats. So having the vet visit is always an ordeal that involves much kicking and thrashing.

Dini checks out the smoothness of a trash can lid

Yesterday, Sparrow was sedated a little so that her vaccinations would be more comfortable. Houdini was snacking on grass hay at the time, but while the vet was showing my mom how to inject her new medicine into her neck, Houdini noticed something was up and started smacking Sparrow with his head, trying to get her to react. Since she was sedated, she didn't. Worried, he trotted into the next stall and nickered as he touched her nose with his.

She barely responded and he began to grow anxious. Of course, by then it was his turn, so all the vet had to do was enter the stall with him for Houdini to become a firefoot. Luckily, the vet handed my mom the sedative then backed off, and while I held Sparrow nearby (in an attempt to keep him calm) , my mom quickly gave him the injection. After 15 minutes, his head and lips were hanging, the poor goof. The rest of his exam went well, and while I was worried he was fat, the vet scored him at a 5 (with 10 being obese) and said she couldn't hear any sand in his gut. That's a great relief given how big his tummy is and that we live in the sand and he's a fricking vacuum cleaner.

Mackenzie's Momma -- Your neighbor's dog sounds so cute! I should've guessed that you guys would also be the hangout for loose animals in the area. ;) And oh no! Yes, you must e-mail me the story. Do I need to beat someone up for you?

Animals and Fandom Stuff

A pretty sunset in April

The Civil War re-enactment is raging this weekend, and I can hear the cannons from the battle as I type. They're making poor Peeks, our Peacock, very upset! But thank goodness the war is pretend...

I have some good news! My script Andromache has won another national screenwriting competition. What's nice is this time I get a bit of $ as a prize. Very welcomed! Also, the class reading of my new script went extremely well and while some people had complaints, they prefaced those complaints with "I love it." One girl held her pee as long as she could so that she wouldn't miss any of it -- I take that as a huge compliment!

And for anyone holding their breath... the article in Script Magazine has been pushed back. It won't come out in June as planned, but should still come out this summer. I'll keep you posted!

Here's some random stuff.

This is Junior, who is "my cat" (when we were kids and our cat Froggy had kittens, we each got to keep one). She's a bit wild and sometimes slaps people when they pet her, but she's always been nice to me and I think her eyes are so beautiful. She's about fifteen and is still a lean, mean, fighting machine! Her muscles are still in top condition. And she answers me when I talk to her. We have a special bond because she was the runt, and I always made sure that she got a teat, that she got affection, etc. As you can tell, she's quite the hunter and is always alert, rarely ever holding still!

Junior

And here is Houdini making great progress. Nic has been training him for years. Look at how genius this horse is. I'm very proud of him!

Houdini's skillz

Other random fandom stuff:

I've finally started to finish my fanfic Branded Heart. I looked at the story in whole the other day and realized it's over 70,000 words and not yet complete. And I wrote most of it in my free time last summer. 40,000 words is a short novel. So yeah, I'm not so worried about finishing my novel for my thesis anymore!

My new Teyla/Ronon music video from Teyla's POV.

Taking Over Me

I also randomly made a pretty background with lyrics from a Goo Goo Dolls song, "Without You Here."

Hope you're all having a great Memorial Day weekend! I'm spending mine battling my first virus of the year (when you get your first cold in May, I think that's a good thing!).

Last night/this morning I dreamed that I was Batman battling The Joker, but then The Joker started to win and took over nearly all of Gotham, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. I was so upset... then I stopped caring about the strangers when I realized that my own life was in danger! I hid in an old parking garage and saw Susan Meyer and Karen McClusky from Desperate Housewives sneaking past. I knew that if Susan saw me in my batsuit, she'd scream and give away my position. I secretly hoped they'd both die. Casualties of war and all that. I should go take my temperature...