Another good sign

Potty break and another pint of milk.  Now it is back down for a nap.  If we can keep her eating a pint every two hours, that would be super.  She still has some rather thin patches of hair and doesn't put her tongue back into her mouth all the time, but she is improving.  We kind of think that we should have woken her up to feed her again last night - she went almost 8 hours without a feeding.  Plus, got out from under her blanket.  Kind of a calf ICU around here right now.

That mat she is on is an 4 x 8 foot dairy cow mat.  We had it for our old lab.  Outdoors in the winter with a heat lamp above so he would stay warm.  Then when he was older and needed to be in the house, we moved it into the basement so he wouldn't have to lay directly on the concrete (unless by choice in the summer).  It is nearly two inches thick, so makes a nice place for her that is also easy to clean and the textured surface keeps it from being too slippery.  She isn't the first calf to use it.  One other thing it works well for - exercising for humans.  It has enough give that you don't hurt your knees and such when doing running in place or other exercises (when it isn't in use by a calf it makes a great workout mat).

She looks better now

It is a roller coaster around here sometimes.  Now she looks better.  She is still week, but every two hours she is eating.  Hopefully we will get her back up to her normal amount by tomorrow.  As long as she wants to eat, we have the advantage.

One step forward, two steps back in the Saga of Peanut Junior

MONDAY
Backsliding.

She didn't look good this am - even though she is in the house, she is acting like she is cold.  We got her up and she drank her own bottle.  Just over a pint, but at least she drank on her own.

 Bad side - she fell over rather than laying down.  Now she isn't looking so hot.  But then, by the time we uploaded photos, she looked just awful again.  So why put all this (and the bad photos) here?  Because when dealing with hypothermia, one of the most helpful things, to me, was to see the various photos and journal entries I had made when we dealt with Peanut.  It sounds weird, but it also lends hope - to know that with a lot of TLC, things can come along.

After her bottle - out of juice and won't even turn her head like a normal calf to sleep.  However, 1/2 hour later - she has her head up and looks better.  Will see - it is always along 'game'.  Ups/downs, continuous watching and lots of praying.  Her calf jacket is getting washed - she still drools quite a bit.

Well, the camera is now charging - not even enough juice for a single photo.  However, she is at least turning her head to sleep like calves normally do - with her nose pointed towards her body.





SUNDAY
Looking a lot better - we took some video as she is getting up and laying down on her own as well as trying to run, sort of, and jump and start sucking on anything that she wanted to explore!  She drank 2 quarts and 1 pint today.  Hopefully things will continue to improve.

SATURDAY
Improvement

yes, that is her tongue hanging out. She doesn't quite get keeping it in her mouth yet. She only weighs about 45 pounds - less than 1/2 of what our dogs weigh. Pretty small considering most of our calves are around 100-120 pounds at birth


THURSDAY
little one looked like it might die last night, so into the house it came. I hate dealing with hypothermia. They always look sooo bad. Even with its coat on, just wasn't doing well. So, complete with heating pad, thick rubber mat and blankets, it spent the night indoors.

Got it to eat almost a whole pint this am. Peanut isn't able to feed the baby, though she likes it. Waiting on a call from vet to double check meds we think it needs (we are in a selenium deficient area). Why wait? My bottle expired last year (hadn't needed since then) and I need to be sure it hasn't gone bad. If so, I will go pick some up, but if I can use this it would be easier. I do know that some drugs go bad really quickly and you can really get sick/make things a lot worse if you use them. Hoping this one is ok as it is only a few months.


WEDNESDAY
Has another page. Long story, but this is definitely not the way a normal beef farm runs. Peanut would be long gone on a regular farm as she wouldn't breed for several cycles, but since we do petting zoos and she is one of the stars, she is still around. 

Had an accident last summer . . . the bull broke into her pen. Well, last night, the little accident arrived. Cute baby girl. Very small (like Peanut - glad actually as Peanut isn't very big).

Anyway - cold (of course) and calf didn't just jump up and nurse (go figure), so I went out to feed the baby.

Peanut gets one look at the bottle and starts getting really excited. Oh great, even if Peanut is small, 900 pounds of small is still bigger than I am

So, dh gets Peanut looking at treats (aka - molasses covered feed) and then we try to feed the baby. No go on the bottle, so we tubed her. She looks better with colostrum in her tummy. Will do more in a few hours (hopefully she will want the bottle then).

Glad she waited until last night to come as I didn't get home from work until 10:30.

Oh, if you want to catch up on Peanut, the link is Here: http://www.scraprageous.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html January 20, 2010 and back to December 30th of 2009.

Izzy Update - unfortunately Izzy aborted her baby when she got sick about a month ago. It was bittersweet as there was a good chance Izzy most likely would have died if this had not occurred. After a few days of illness, Izzy is now back up and almost fully returned to her normal, ornery self. She is having fun pushing around the puppies these days as she gets to run around with them while we are out working.

The kids said that Izzy is the new calves aunt. Aunt Izzy doesn't go in the pen, but she does watch.

Oh - as I was asked if someone could help out, in a monetary manner, there is a way.  Rather than just sending money, if you like, you can purchase a reusable shopping bag.  I have started making various feedbags used on our farm (and others) into reusable shopping bags.  You can find information at www.scraprageous.com.  The site is still being worked on, or visit the Etsy Shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Scraprageous.  I also sell on Ebay if you prefer that format, here is the link to one of my auctions:   http://www.ebay.com/itm/300876705364?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Looking for info on the Bead Spray Class

Check out my other blog here: http://www.scrapbooksandcows.blogspot.com/

Looking for the 52 week swap pics?

they are on the other blog http://www.scrapbooksandcows.blogspot.com

In the meantime - check out these beautiful cards that came with the swaps!  I so love receiving handmade notes - they always make my day.  And a huge plus - I tend to use the fronts on pages later on :P.  Anyone who has swapped with me for long has probably seen their card re-purposed as a page element of some type.  I save all the beautiful cards!

Tried something New

Needle felting!

First rule - be careful not to poke yourself.  This may be obvious, but the needles are sharp LOL.

I started with a pansy - nope, doesn't look too much like a pansy, but I figured out the movement with this project.

Next, I tried a bunny face - hmm - maybe I should have started with a dog face as that is what it looked most like.  It had bunny ears, but I felted them down so it looked more dog like.

 Finally - big time now- let's try a sheep!

Well, the ball for the body went fine.  The head was ok, but I forgot the neck.  However, I think the little guy is kind of cute, so, depending on who is looking, he is either a little bear or a sheep who woke up a bit strange.

While I have a long way to go with my technique, I sure did enjoy creating these projects.  Next up will be more work with flowers.  It may not look it, but the pansy was much more difficult than the above animal.  I guess maybe it is because little animals are often pretty cute.

Creativity is on vacation

Working on a class for my www.scrapbookingfun.biz site.  Well, when I posted, I had this wonderful idea.

Give it a shot - nothing is working as I had envisioned.  Set the mess aside and come back later.  Tried later - still nothing working out quite right.  However, I did figure one piece - whoo hoo - it is coming along!!    Boy did I think happy thoughts too soon.  The other pages - still not working.  I now have a rather large stack for recycling of stuff I don't like and that didn't work.  Sure glad Boy Scouts recycle paper for us.

So, my class will end up being more basic than I thought and not have anything completely original.  My mini's all are conglomerations of ideas I have seen all over the web and from books.  I only use patterns once, then alter to the size I want.  However, as the class is to be completed in about an hour, that is probably good.

No pictures of anything 'new', but here is a photo of a mini I will be putting into a store.  It isn't very big (as the lady wants things under $20) and has no embellishments other than scraps, but when I laid out some photos inside - it sure looks really cute with pictures.  Believe it or not, this small book can hold over 50 regular photos!

So, off to create - have a great day!

Peanut and Walnut Update

I was recently asked about Peanut and Walnut.  They are doing well.  Peanut tends to be a bit accident prone, but she has recovered from recent injuries (mainly to her horns).  She is not an exemplary example of a cow, but she is a wonderful help with petting zoos.  She loves kids and doesn't mind them playing with her horns.  We will get another photo of her later - my camera card filled, so I have to do some deleting/ordering of pictures before taking photos.

Walnut is now a steer and has been ridden (he doesn't mind, though most riding steers have horns) and learning how to pull a cart.

As you can see, both are doing well and pretty happy to have the rain let up for a few days.  I will be adding some recent layouts I finally completed as well.  I have been having fun playing with my gypsy and welding - I think I used Country life (maybe) and Alphalicious for the Peanut the Wonder Cow title.  Her horns were not very big at this petting zoo.

I love the look of mosaic layouts, but have a really tough time creating.  This one was made very fun by using a lot of the swaps I have for school themes!  The swaps are from both Scrapbookingfun.biz and the cricut board.

I used a martha punch for this layout, along with some fun techniques I have been wanting to try.  I clipped pieces for the story from some October Afternoon papers.  The leghorns are looking wonderful these days, however, I was not thrilled with the ones who jumped out of their box and were running around in the back of my vehicle!  The Thank You in the lower right corner of the bottom page is the front of a card I received - worked perfect on this layout as I love to repurpose anything I can!

A completed mini.

Mini album created for swap over at www.scrapbookingfun.biz.  The rest of the photos (I think there are at least 25 more) are over on my other blog - click on the side  - Scrapbooks and Cows II !

I really need to figure out how to combine these two blogs as I don't want two.

Tried a new swap

Making butterflies. They were interesting to make - glad to have done it, not sure I will do anymore. I just don't quite have the hang of making them. Maybe more practice

is the better alternative.

And now for something fun - at a crop a bit ago i made this fun title. I just cut out the words - the little monster frame (photo mat actually) was from a swap over at www.scrapbookingfun.biz! I cut the words using a cricut and my gypsy (love t

hat little gadget). Being able to weld three different fonts works out for me in this layout.

The most fun was the little nerf darts on the side. I made them on a challenge from my oldest son - from earbuds for ipods/mp3 players and kitchen scrubbers! Yes, my kids love to see what weird stuff I can incorporate.

Grunge Tag Swap

After the Halloween and Fall grunge tag swap success, I decided to have another grunge tag swap with a Christmas theme. One group of tags were Inspirational, the other were just Christmas. Love the results above! Over at scrapbookingfun.biz there are really some talented scrappers.

This one was so successful, I have started one for spring/summer. The basic theme choices are red/white/blue and spring/pastel. It will be interesting to see how these come out. If you are interested in joining the fun - check out the www.scrapbookingfun.biz swap section.

Back 'in' the saddle

Well, never really left - just overwhelmed with keeping up with regular things. Hopefully everything will be back to normal now. Why the saddle reference? Well, I am a bit excited - below is Annie (Jack is behind). They have come to live with us. With this wonderfully non-standard winter weather, I hope to be riding soon!



I have had some time for a few projects - First, a telescoping mini album I created for someone who was retiring to have fun playing with their grandkids. The mini is a Laura Dennison (following the paper trail) design, and was a blast to create. Definitely making a few more of these.





I counted, and with tags and spaces, I believe this mini can hold over 100 photos (102 to be precise).

A few other projects have included learning how to use my gypsy (the word page in the following album is a great example) and finishing up the Senior's matchbook albums (design inspired by KathyOrta). The album is a mix of envelopes and paper bags and also changes from the band type cover she had created (it was beautiful, just not appropriate for a bunch of hockey players) to one that has a magnet embedded in the bottom cover and another under the puck on the cover. That way, even when filled it will stay closed and fit on the guys shelves as they head off for wherever.




PS - Want to get in on the 52 Week Swap? Round One of this second year just started this past week. If you have swapped with me before, you can still jump in. If you haven't and want to join in round 2 for this year, head over to www.scrapbookingfun.biz and you can sign up!