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October 13, 2014: A Different Sort of Day

A person can plan the events of the day ahead the day before, or even the morning of the day in question. However, the end result is often different than what one initially envisioned. Actually, I’ve had many days that have gone according to plan, and too, ones like today, that took differing twists and turns.

This morning Pete made two lists, one side contained a list of things he needed to get done, and the other side contained a list of things that I needed to get done. My list was short – I was to work on Lessons Learned, get the horses out, clean the goat pen, make dinner, and


Dr. Kaiser looking at Tinni's eye

make salsa with our ripening garden tomatoes.

After breakfast, I went upstairs to get some work done, well knowing that Andre and Mimi were coming over to take compost over to her place. I figured that Pete, who was to put the compost in Andre’s trailer, using our tractor, had the compost situation covered. He did, sort of. He let the pair take care of the first load, well knowing that Andre had a bad back. He was under the belief that Andre’s trailer had a dump mechanism. When, finally, Andre and Mimi returned, we learned that the dump mechanism worked, but limitedly.

I couldn’t let Mimi unload the compost by herself, so I went along on the second run and gave her a hand. We unloaded one third of the load by hand, then Mimi and Andre began fiddling with the dumping mechanism. I knew it wasn’t going to work, which was why, as they messed with it, I resumed removing the compost manually. Mimi soon joined in. We finished the job at hand two hours later.

Andre gave me a lift home. Pete and I then took Raudi and Hrimmi for a walk around the loop. We left Tinni at home because he’d developed swelling around his left eye. Pete got a hold of the veterinarian’s office when I was at Mimi’s. I’d been told that he’d do a farm visit mid-afternoon.

He turned out to be the new veterinarian, Zach Kaiser. He’s now affiliated with Dr. Kevin Wellington, our regular veterinarian. He arrived driving his mobile tech unit, a large camper like unit that is much like Dr. Wellington’s rig.

Dr. Kaiser is young, eager, energetic, and as of yet unjaded by the rigors of a very difficult profession. He is eager to pass on information, which is what he did, at length. Of course, Pete and I were very appreciative of the fact that like Dr. Wellington, Dr. Kaiser likes to talk with, and educate his clients.

Dr. Kaiser examined Tinni, and then gave him an anesthetic that caused his eyelid to droop, making it easier for him to examine. He then put some dye in his eye – as it turned out, the dye revealed that Tinni had a tear in his cornea. We are now to put Triple Antibiotic ointment in his affected eye, twice a day.

After Tinni was taken care of, we three had a lengthy discussion about parasite control protocol. I am going to deworm the horses -- in this respect I’ll be doing what I did before, which is doing this on a rotational basis.

Dr. Kaiser left, and I finished up the outside portion of my day by tending to the horses, goats, and chickens.

It’s now late evening. Pete and I have already made plans for tomorrow. Just one thing is for sure. We have dentist appointments at 9 a.m. I have a cavity and Pete needs to have a crown glued back on. Life indeed goes on, along the way taking unexpected twists and turns.

Next: 274 10/14/14: Lesson Learned: The Harder they Fall