"natural medicine" or "is he a quack" part 4

Things immediately improve. I loose my mood swings altogether and I've started to finally drop some of the weight I put on in pregnancy. My memory is starting to come back, although it's no where near where it used to be. My hubby and I don't fight all the time anymore and life is slowly getting back to normal.

Things still aren't the same as before, and they probably never will be. I've noticed that when I do revert to my old habits and eat more wheat I feel bloated and without as much energy. Milk makes me mood swing worse. I have no idea why. Both the Eat for your Type diet and Dr. Young say that goats milk is alright. And so I sit anxiously and wait for my overdue goat to have her babies (written on 3/24) and pray that she delivers them safely. I want milk, I want yogurt, I want ice cream, I want cheese...I want dairy!

I'm still seeing Dr. Young since he has an ongoing program. I think he believes that no one is ever fully healed (which I think could be considered correct) Our visits are about once a month now though which is a relief since driving the two hours down and then two back for a half hour appt. was really getting to me. He switched my supplements though recently. Anyone ever heard of superfood? He told me to drink it for breakfast with a V8. Now I'm not a big fan of V8 to begin with but I figured I'd try. His nurse says it tastes like grass, his receptionist says it tastes like hay. I'm officially here to tell you that I'd rather go out and eat hay with my goats than drink superfood! I looked at the ingredients, they are as follows: Spirulina Blue-green algae, Chlorella broken-cell algae, Barley, alfalfa and wheat grasses (and I thought he wanted me to avoid wheat ???) Purple Dulse Seaweed, beet root, spinach leaf, rose hips, oat straw, orange and lemon peels (maybe if there was more of this it would taste better), in a base of non-fermentable Saccharomyces Cervisiae yeast.

How's that for a mouthful? And he wants me to drink this?? For breakfast??
Okay to be honest...I tried it...I gave it a fair shot. The first day I swigged that sucker down as fast as I could without breathing. It tasted awful but it was doable. Second day...I swig that stuff down about halfway and my stomach starts churning. I finish it and sit sick for the next hour. Third day...I take one slug...It's gone....I quit!

So the last Dr. appt. I tell him I'm done with "that junk" because I can't keep it down. His response..."I drink it every morning, but you're doing it wrong. You have to take a gulp and swish it around your mouth for at least ten seconds so that it mixes with your saliva and then swallow it. Then you can swig the rest and not have a problem with it. You do that to let your stomach know what's coming and to prepare it. I've been drinking it for ten years and even if I drink it too fast it feels like a mule has kicked me in the stomach"

Let me get this straight Dr. you not only want me to drink it but you want me to taste it in my mouth for ten seconds first? then chug? How is that going to "prepare" my stomach? Other than making it start churning faster. and another thing...You've been drinking this for that long and you still have a problem drinking it? Gee, you want to go natural medicine...I'd say that's your body telling you that it DOESN'T like it! That was a week ago....I still haven't been brave enough to try it again...any volunteers?? Please...somebody...anybody...just not me....

"natural medicine" or "is he a quack" Part 3

Reading through the information on the website and in the book I decided to make a few changes to my diet. I'm a type O and two of the main things that the Eat for your type diet suggested were to cut out the Milk and the wheat. Now the wheat isn't too big of a deal since I've never really liked breads anyways. Milk on the other hand...I'm addicted to. I adore dairy products. I desperately needed something to change in my life however so I tried it. No milk and no wheat. At the same time my mom suggested that I go see a Dr. in Cheyenne that she had gone to when she lived here. Since she very kindly told me she'd pay for me to try it I agreed. According to my mother what he does is called Kinesiology. He calls it "Nutrition Response testing" on his website. Basically he lays you on a table and places one hand on various parts of your body (for instance forehead, belly button, etc.) while the other hand pushes against your arm that you hold at a right angle upwards for him. You're supposed to "match" pressure with him on your arm. For example, he pushes, you push back at the same strength. The theory is that when you have a weak acupuncture point that he places his opposite hand on you cannot push back enough with your arm to match his and that tells him that that point is weak. Then he places natural supplements on your stomach that are supposed to help that point out and tests again. If you react the same then your body has rejected the supplement and he trys a different one until you can match pressure again. So we do this whole thing and he sends me home with thyroid support supplements. Thyroid problems, coincedently, was what my symptoms ressembled but the "lab work" that the traditional Dr had ordered said that it was "normal". Also he gives me a list of foods to eat and not to eat. On the not to eat list...right at the top...wheat flour and milk! Within about two weeks I'm doing better. I still have bad days of course but it isn't everyday that I'm "disagreeable".

Weeks pass and I visit the Dr. in Cheyenne every week as he insists. I take my pills and I do my changed diet. I get to a point where I feel a ton and a half better but I'm still not me. Something is still wrong and I'm just not finding it. So I sit down and I think about my life. This all started when Lilly was born. The symptoms that still remain (memory loss, sexual desire loss, weight gain) all came when I got pregnant. I wonder if my hormones are still messed up. I think on that for awhile and realize that I haven't been normal since before my pregnancy and that it seems like I am still pregnant. Suddenly it hits me...several birth control methods use progesterone hormone to make the body think it's already pregnant so it doesn't release an egg. Among those birth control methods...my IUD that I had placed right after Lilly was born. Desperate to become myself again I call the Dr. to make an appointment to have it removed. I find out that I have to be having my period in order to remove it more easily. I had just finished, so I was sentenced to another month. The month passes and I go in and have it removed.

"natural medicine" or "is he a quack" Part 2

First thing we did was try to make an appointment with our Dr. He was busy and couldn't see us for three weeks since it wasn't an emergency. I thought "You don't understand, I have no life and you're telling me it's not an emergency?" We called some of the other Drs and got an appointment with one of them. When we went in for the appointment the nurse took all my vitals and we waited for the Dr.

She came in and started talking to us and I told her everything that I could think of that was wrong with me. Mood swings, crying a lot, always down, low sex drive, wasn't losing the baby weight, no memory, on and on I went. When I got done the Dr. looked at me and deadpan straight faced said, "so what do you want? Drugs?"

What on earth is she saying, my mind whirled. That's her answer? No other suggestions?? I looked at her, " How about lab work to make sure there isn't anything physically wrong with me" I said pointedly. She shrugged, "Okay I'll write you up a lab slip, when you want meds come back and see me"

Well gee that was helpful. I started crying again as soon as we got to the car. There's something really wrong with me and my Dr. can't bother to see me and the other Dr. wants to put me on meds. I went home and did some research. I found that most Dr's answers was drugs. I also found that even thought the Dr's say you only have to be on them for a short time that most people that started them were still on them. I also found that most of the drugs had side effects that I already had as symptoms. Why would I want to take a medication that was going to make me worse and that I would in all reality probably be on for years. I started crying again.

My husband and I were falling apart, I was at a point where I didn't want anything to do with my daughter, and no one seemed to want to help me. I turned to the church. I knew that one of the ranch lady's that I really liked had a husband that was a pastor. He should be trained in counseling. I called her and set up a time to meet with them. Or at least I thought I would be meeting with both of them. I arrived with my family to find that only she was there. Now I really like this lady but I was extremely dissapointed. It isn't her that I really wanted to see. We sat and we talked for hours. I complained that I didn't have the time to do anything I wanted to do because of all the housework and keeping everything else up. Her answer, "who cares? Does Tim get upset when it doesn't get done?"
"No, but I do" I replied.
"well don't let it eat your biscuit" She replied back...
WHAT???? what the heck is she talking about???!! Several hours later we left, I was again dissapointed and crying out of frustration. Why can't anyone help me???
The only thing she had told me that was at all hopeful was about a blood type diet. She said that since all the blood types of the world had developed in different times and different places the people consequently ate different things. Therefore your diet should be based on what blood type you are and certain blood types should not eat certain things. She recommended a book at the library. What she said made sense and I checked out the book and also the website but I still wasn't getting anywhere...

"natural medicine" or "is he a quack" Part 1

When I had Lilly about 13 months ago I was thrilled. My mom and dad came out from Va. to see their new grandbaby and I thankfully had lots of help the first few weeks. They went home and my hubby went to work again on the ranch. She was born during calving season which was great because it meant that her daddy wasn't working other than on the ranch for the first few months of her life. Then summer came. Daddy was going to work at 6:30 in the morning and coming home at 7 at night. Then I started getting tired. His mother didn't seem to want to do anything with her and I was left taking care of her by myself. At some point in the midst of the feeding, pumping, cleaning, cooking, laundry, and everything else that had become my daily life taking care of the baby lost its charm for me. I started realizing that there was a problem in October. We had gone to visit relatives in Missouri and my parents drove out to meet us there. The relative had a pond stocked with fish in her front yard. Now normally on a family vacation we would be touring the state but we had gone with my grandfather and his brothers and sisters. They're old, they're tired, they've seen it all already. I love them to death though please don't read that wrong. The point being that we stayed at the relatives house and with the exception of a few days didn't go anywhere. I started realizing there was a problem when I was thouroughly enjoying letting my mom take care of Lilly and I wanted nothing to do with her. "this is wrong" my brain said, "I should want to be with my child" When mom volunteered to let me stay at the relatives house overnight and not go back to the camper and to take care of Lilly overnight I readily agreed. As I sat out on the grass fishing I really started thinking that my life just wasn't right.

When we got home things didn't improve any. My hubby was still working 66 hours a week and I still had no help there. He would come home and would, understandably, not want to do anything, which left me still taking care of her and putting her to bed after bathing and feeding. I would crash exhausted as soon as she was in bed. I started yelling at him that he needed to help me. It got to a point where we were doing nothing but fighting with each other. He'd say one thing wrong and I'd start screaming or just bust out crying.

One night when I was bawling and he was holding me we started talking..."when was the last time you were happy?" he asked I thought back...and back...and farther back...I couldn't remember, but I guessed that it was the beginning of June. We decided then and there that I needed help. But where to find it....


Edit: I realized that a lot of you were thinking that I was still really down and sometimes I am but I'm a whole lot better now so don't worry, more to come in the posts that follow.

They're here...they're here! - they've been named

Ellie's kids have finally arrived. I'm so excited. They didn't get their first drink until about 2 hours after they were born and I ended up having to milk her almost dry and then stick the nipples in their mouths. They caught on fast after that though and both got a small drink. I'll go out again in a few hours and make sure they get another drink.

There is one of each sex. We have a solid brown doeling with a small white spot on her lower side. The Buck is solid black on the body and legs and brown on his belly, a white spot on the top of his head and with a small white spot on his lower side as well. I'm headed out to check on them again and will post pics as soon as I can get them to stand still long enough to get a good one. The one's I got a few minutes ago aren't very good.

Edit: appearantly the camra isn't focusing right so I still came in with a bunch of garbage pics. Managed to find a couple decent ones though.
Marvel Buckling


Wonder Doeling


Having Dinner!



Second edit: they've been named Wonder and Marvel

The babies and when will Eliie go?

Well since it had warmed up yesterday a bit and wasnt too cold this morning I went out and locked momma bunny out so that I could steal her babies. I pulled several out, then several more. Geez...I'd thought she only had a few (4-5) in there but her nest was decieving. She had eight little bunnies in there, all wonderfully warm, fed, furry, and happy.

They're so cute too! I had expected one or two to look like "dad" with his beautiful white coat and soft orange spots but we have four! I had also thought that the majority would look like mom and just be a bland soft grey. This is what we really have:Four like Peter, one grey and brown marbled, one black and brown tiger striped, one jet black, and one black and brown marbled



How on earth am I supposed to turn something sooo cute into meat?? (okay...not getting attached not getting attached)

In other news...Ellie still has not had her kids (she was due on Monday) but there's hope on the horizon...she is "bagging up" really bad today and I can no longer feel her tail ligaments. Maybe in the next 12 hours??? Hopefully....





Below is the back view from the 15th:

The things we order....

Well, I ordered all of my garden stuff the beginning of the month and I'm thinking now that I maybe went a bit overboard. Hmmm I hope I have time to plant all this stuff....

On the other hand keep in mind that we have nothing but mud here. We just moved in last March and I didn't have much of a garden last year, our entire place is mud and open space. I did plant about 50 trees last summer but am not sure if any of them made it through the winter they all look pretty brown, I plan on watering them a bit to see but I'm not sure they survived.

I try not to order anything that the edibility is questioned on. For example: I know there are some hedges and bushes that have berries that people really aren't supposed to eat. I leave those out. I don't want Lilly to go out someday and pick something and eat it when it isn't edible :( So...we have landscaping with edible items...or regular flowers, trees that aren't

Here's the list: Practical or unpractical uses, Animals, Us, Experiment (think it will grow here? or what is that?), Landscaping (I need something to break up the prairie!)
Luffa Sponge
Bean, Kentucky Wonder
Bean, Stringless Blue Lake
Peanut, Early Spanish
Corn, Ornamental Indian Rainbow
Gourd, Ornamental
Gourd, Bushel
Gourds - Bird houses! YEAH!!
Wonder Egg Seed - Anyone else grown this?
Vine Peach
Sunflower, Giant Grey Striped
Spinach, Melody
Lettuce, Gourmet Salad Blend
Huckleberry, Garden - never had these but want to try
Tomato, Ground Cherry
Chard, Northern Light
Cauliflower, Snowball
Carrot, Tendersweet
Hybrid Willow
Corn, Iochief
Corn, Peaches & Cream
Bean, Fordhook Lima
Broccoli, Packman Hybrid
Beet, Detroit Dark Red
Beet, Cylindra
Pea, Super Sugar Snap
Pea, Wando
Pea, Goliath Snow
Raspberry Collection, Early to Late
Strawberry Collection, Everbearing
Strawberry, Fort Laramie
Mulberry, Russian - berries berries everywhere and not a one to spare (hopefully)
Gooseberry, Pixwell
Dwarf Flowering Cherry
Purple Leaf Plum Hedge
Carrot, Sweetness II Hybrid
Blueberry, Tophat
Shade Hybrid Poplar
Screen Hybrid Poplar
Pepper Plant Collection, Rainbow
Tomato, Brandywine
Tomato, Big Beef Hybrid
Pumpkin, Dill's Atlantic Giant
Melon Collection, Combinaton
Tomato Colleciton, Mini
Potato, Red Pontiac
Potato, Norland
Vegetable Sampler
Rhubarb, Victoria
Potato, Georgia Jet Sweet
Onion Set, Yellow

Still need to order flowers, ohh and I'm getting a honey suckle vine this year I dont care what you say! lol

Mommy's little Helper

I have a very curious 13 month old. She has been thrilled with the new additions and likes to feel their soft feathers on her cheeks. She also helps mommy feed and water them.


She likes when she gets to look at them


The ducklings also got a bath.


And she made sure they wouldn't drown

We also have other babies!

I got a few birds today. I haven't been able to find a place around here to order birds from so I went to the feed store to purchase them. The feed store that was 45 min away was out and didn't have any. I had to go to Cheyenne anyways though (2 hours drive) and went to the feed store there. We drove back with them in a tub in the front seat and with the heater on for a while, then I'd set the lid on it and turn off the heat until Lilly and I got cooled down. It was quite a trip but they didn't get chilled and are all doing wonderfully.
This is what we have so far...
Three Turkeys



Four red sex links



Five "mystery chicks" (they were thrown in the box to keep the ducks warm and they had no idea what they were, the lady at the store thinks they're roosters) Any help I.D. ing them would be appreciated.



And three Blue swedish ducks


Some of their wing feathers are growing in already. Any guesses about age? The feed store in Torrington (2 hours) is having a sale on Thursday and I'm hoping to get more then.
Still on the list....2-3 Egg ducks such as Pekin, 11-16 more chickens (hopefully australorps, but whatever I can find at the moment)

I've been tagged!

Well Claire tagged me in her blog so here it is...

The sixth photo in my sixth album

I ran across this when I was looking at palan stuff before the election and found it rather amusing so I saved it.

We have babies!

The first of our babies have arrived but I don't know how many there are. Mopsy is being extremely protective and since this is her first litter I didn't want to stress her out too much.



This is the nest. I had forgotten that they bury them in the fur so well and mistakenly thought I could snap a few pics and then count the babies in the safety of the house. In other words I don't have pics of the babies yet. They're too far buried, I will post again in a few days when she calms down a bit.

Sue's new toy...

Hello everybody, I'm Sue. This is my first post that my mommy has let me post.

She let us out today to run around the back yard while she was building our hay rack. *giggle* It makes the dogs mad when we're in their area and they go pout.
Here's a picture of our new hay rack. It has funny writing on it but I can't figure out what it says..



While we were out playing I found a new toy!



Oh mommy oh mommy can I take this back to my pen with me I asked. But she said no, and "get off there" but...what's this I spy from my cable spool...?



Whooo peee! A new toy!! She made me a new toy!! and it's slanted !!!



And Jump!


Thanks mom! I love you! Can I have a new toy tomorrow too??

Bargains at the lumber store...

Well our lumber store here has an annual habit of having a garage sale! At it they sell everything they've accumulated over the past year that has anything at all wrong with it. The best stuff goes at the beginning the worst but with the best deals at the end. We wait all year for this garage sale.

Tim calls me on saturday at 2 pm. "did you know that today is bloedorns garage sale?"
"you're kidding me! I'm on my way"

I speed into town, knowing that everything good was taken very early this morning. When I arrive there isn't much left but I wander around looking at everything. They have a 2 foot by 4 foot vinyl window that you can see the screen side on. I turn it around...hmmm it had a very nice oak stained wood interior...

I continue looking, mismatched boxes of vinyl siding...I need something to waterproof the wood on the chicken coop...I wonder if the chickens care what color their coop is...
Hmm a full box of nails for my hubby's nail gun...

I go inside and ask for the person who is making the deals to come out with me. We go to the nails and I ask how much he'll take for them. He "ho hums" a minute so I ask how much he wants for the vinyl siding. He gives me an odd look "which color?".
"All of them" I reply, he gives me an odder look. I tell him my chicken coop needs sided. His face lights with understanding. I'm fully expecting him to say $50-$100 since I know how much vinyl siding goes for.
"$20" he rattles off, "you take all this and the box of nails for $20"
"done" I pop off as my mind reels. The box of nails alone is $60 in a store. He goes to get his marker to write sold on the boxes.
I then take him to the window and ask about price on it. "$25" I nod that I'll take it. I'm starting to really enjoy myself...This older gentleman walks in as the man is writing "sold" on the windows frame, he gives a look of disgust "that window is worth more than that!" I shrug and walk on past him.

I browse around inside for a bit and make a deal with the "dealer" for two deadbolts, a cute shower hose with a frog on the end for Lilly, a doorknob, a sprayer for a hose, some shower curtain rings, an appliance timer, and some other misc. items.
I then ask if he wants to make a deal for the lumber across the street.

We walk over and he looks at me, "when can you pick it up?" It's 2:30 in the afternoon, I know they close at five. I look at him, "I go home get the truck and come right back"
"In that case, this pile, that pile, those piles over there, all we have left for $30"
I'm in shock...I nod dumbly.
By the days end I had a box of nails for the nailgun, the window, the misc odds and ends, all the lumber, and the vinyl siding for $85. To top it off, while we were loading it they found more siding to throw in, as well as a glass tub/shower door, and a plastic shower kit. *sigh* I love Bloedorns garage sale.

This is my new pile of lumber, one trailer and full pickup loads worth. It also has the vinyl siding on top of it.


The Other score I made this weekend...I will use the bricks when I have enough for a flower bed and the tires will have one of the sidewalls cut out and become planters.


My strawberry beds from last year for an example

Phase two: rabbit hutch

Well it's finally done. You've seen pics of the outside of the hutch but without doors or the outside portion

Here is the outside of the hutch, with doors.



The inside of the boxes: Sliding door for trapping bunnies in one side or the other. Also features a trap door for scraping the bedding out into a box below (box not pictured)



The outside pens, end on: it leans against the hutch and in the near future will slide on with two metal pieces to attach.



This is the "front" of the outside pens (yes I know my doors aren't very good) I never claimed to be good at carpentry, just functional :)



And this concludes our tour of the rabbit hutch, thank you and please stay tuned for more bad carpentry projects...

What on earth has the county done now?

We live on a dirt road that is maintained (hahahahaha) by the county. On one side of the road is our deeded land, on the other is the state land that we lease. In the past many colorful things have been done to our road. One blade driver scooped up the bar ditches onto the road so that he didn't have to blade the ruts out, and also took out several of our fence posts. The result: ruts a foot deep the next rain and vehicles sliding off the road. The road never got fixed after that. The roads get so bad when it rains that the sheriff won't even drive it since the last time he did he ended up in the ditch. Soooooo....current story:
Spring last year: Hubby slides off road and tears a U-joint in half trying to claw his way back onto it.
The neighbor (who happens to be the brand inspector and consequently carries a bit of weight around here) calls and complains to the head of road and bridge...again...
This time the county responded, they sent a blade out to blade the ruts
The result: the blade had to be pulled out of the ditch
The county decides that maybe our road is pretty bad after all. They bring in semi load trucks of red rock from a neighboring mine. They spread it on the road...one inch think and only to the top of the big hill.
The result: the road is passable if you're very careful until you reach the top of the big hill.

Months pass.....
The county came out last week and spread crushed asphalt over the red rock, also an inch thick.
We now slide around due to a slight scattering of rock on the road.
This week...
The county has decided to use the state land for a parking lot. They have a blade, a packer, and two scrapers just sitting on state land at the bottom of the big hill (our side of it).
Today...the equipment moves...all day it runs up and down the road....in the ditches....
The result:



The road is scraped clean of all of it's dirt but otherwise untouched....the ditches however are another story.
Did they really need to scrape all the dirt off the side of the hill? And what's with the pull out in front of that? This is an itty bitty hardly used county road...we don't need a pull off and not on state land. Why are we tearing up the grass for this?



This one is right outside our driveway. Little close to the fence line again, how many posts is my hubby going to spend hours replacing this time?



And this used to be a nice flat place across the road from our driveway that my hubby created to be able to swing semi's into our drive, will it still exist?



And last but not least the road goes on, tore up on both sides. in the distance you can see untore ditches...more to come tommorrow??



Any thoughts? What is the county up to???

OKay which first?

I have to go pick up my daughter but am taking a quick vote, which post do you guys want first?

Sue's new Toy...

Rabbit Hutch Part 2

Bargains at the lumber store...

or

What on earth has the county done now?

The shave of the goat

Okay, I went out today and Ellie appeared to be a bit looser in her tail ligaments than normal so I decided with only six days to go maybe she should get her clip.

Here's a picture of Ellie before hand (on 2/22)
and one after (not the prettiest but I don't think I did too bad for my first dairy clip)

She jumped around a bit, the lady I got her from didn't clip them so she was a little concerned about what I was doing and kept trying to turn around to look. Also trimmed all of the goats feet.

I also took top views for comparison:
Feb 22
March 16
Does she look any bigger?

Cookie is a wild girl, today was her first day on a collar and leash and she was jumping all over the place trying to get away and bellering. *sigh* I have my work cut out trying to tame her down.

In other news the rabbit hutch is almost done, will hopefully finish it tomorrow the rabbits are due on Saturday and I'd like to get them into it before she starts nesting too badly.

Yahoo groups and goats

Good morning! Sorry for the lack of posts I've been avoiding the computer and trying to get some done around here. My rabbit hutch is looking good but still not finished. I got the wire on the bottom and on the two sides and the electric stapler quit. I can't find my hand stapler. :( so no more putting on wire until I can find it. I'm working on building the doors for the front of the outside pen but right now that isn't going so well either. I used a miter block and saw to make the 45 degree angles but somehow they don't fit together still. 10 days till baby bunnies...I NEED to get it done

I'm other news...Just a few more days till I have kids! I'm so very excited. We spent the afternoon on the ranch yesterday and it snowed and got blizzardy. When that happens the cows start dropping calves...fast. "Mom" said that in the time it took "dad" to drive the feedlot yesterday with the tractor there were three new calves on the ground. I think we had a total of 20 or so just yesterday. The barn is full and will be a pain to clean this morning. I was almost afraid to go see my girls when we got home because I was afraid I'd have frozen kids on the ground. Yes I know, it's still too early, but that didn't stop me from worrying.

I did start a new group on yahoo if anyone is interested in joining. After there gets to be more people on there it should be a great group.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AllFarmAnimal/

Nick

Today is probably the last and only post with Nick in it. Our miniature schnauzer was gotten three years ago and had been very loved. Today I made the hard decision that it's time for him to find a new home. He has a problem with barking at people at has never threatened to bite a stranger but unfortunately this is not something I've been able to train out of him. He is extremely sweet and cuddly with me and even Tim, my mom and most other adults. After I allow them into the house he relaxes and loves up on them. The nephews (14,10,6) have all ran around and played with him and had few problems. The youngest of the nephews was running with a stick and he was trying to grab it (a few years ago) and ended up biting him but we think that was an accident. He has however, been acting odd ever since Lilly came home. He has been growly with anyone who wants to touch her but since she learned to crawl he has also been growly with her. We thought initially that he was just protecting her, but wonder now if he's jealous. He has been with Tim and I since he was 6 weeks old. When we went to grandma's really made me start thinking about giving him up. Lilly adore's "her" puppy and will leave the other dogs alone to go to him. Nick, however, will growl at her when she gets within a foot of him and has even snapped at her when she has tapped him. She has never hurt him and I have always watched closely whenever she is near any of the dogs. I thought I could modify the behavior and that as long as she was nice to him she wouldn't actually get bit.

Today, I went outside and Sarah was in the yard sleeping, but the other two were no where to be seen. I noticed that I had accidently left the kennel door open and thought I would go check the kennel because normally when the pups run away it's Sarah and Nick, he doesn't ever run off by himself. So I went into the kennel and looked in the doghouses and Nick was lying in one and Kady in the other. I bent over to call to them and Kady came right out with a freindly wiggle and went to the yard to join Sarah. Nick jumped up barking and growling and stood there hackles raised staring at me while barking his head off. I stood there for a minute waiting for him to calm down. He didn't calm down until I asked him "who do you think you're barking at??!" Then his whole demeanor changed and he went all sorry and mushy. I do realize the he was probably dreaming but it got me thinking though that if he is willing to bark and growl at me, how long before he does bite Lilly?

I posted him on craigslist and he will be searching for a new home.

chicken education:

Okay, it's time for all you chicken people to educate me a little. We have the coop built but since we don't have the pen done yet for the outside portion I haven't done any research on chicken or duck breeds yet. There is a lady coming through here on the 15th however and she says she has every breed available (I don't know how that's possible) older hens not chicks (about 6 mo-1 year old) so they should be ready to lay. She wants $12 for the hens, $9 for Bantys (what's a banty?), and $15 for ducks. Is this a good price and should I be building that pen as fast as possible? Or is it a bit suspicious or high priced and I probably don't want hens from her anyways?

I'm looking for chickens that are good layers, eggs every day, but that I can tell apart, good looking eggs are third on the list of wants. Any suggestions on breed?