ICU at The Royal Ranch

As soon as I walked in I knew I was missing a chicken, which is funny because with a dozen hens you'd think one wouldn't make a difference, but it did.  My little welcoming committee was smaller than normal.  I searched for her in the chicken coop, I looked for her in the barn, I looked for her everywhere...I even looked for the explosion of feathers; the telltale sign of a fox capture.  But no missing hen, I found her egg, but no hen...

So, I went to finish up my chores and start looking around the rest of the ranch for her, and that was when I found her in the water trough. OMG!  I mean Oh crap, did I feel like a schmuck, here I'd been looking all over for her and she was drowning in the trough!

Well, thank goodness I don't know how to give a chicken mouth to mouth, or I probably would have, because I thought about it.  I did put her under all except my very bottom layer of clothes to start absorbing the water and started praying!  Maybe that is why us mountain ranchers still wear layers in summer time, just in case they are needed to shed (or share) in an emergency, hmmm...

I was hoping that she'd warm up or die quickly, and she did neither.  She just sort of convulsed and shivered  for about a half hour while I wrapped her up and held on tight.  Tom finally found me and helped me down to the house with a crate, the hen and my soaked self and he got a roaring fire going.  Which is where I currently sit to report, in front of the woodstove with my hen in her crate; Royal Ranch's version of the ICU.

Amazingly, she made it through the night.  She must be one tough chick (sorry, you know me, I love a play on words!) to have survived her time in the tank!  Now if we make it through the next few days with no pneumonia, we'll be good to go.  Well, I better sign off now, my patient is anxious to get back to to the hen house and warn all of her friends about that very dangerous swimming hole!

A quick side note on safety here, I mentioned that we lost a squirrel in a trough a while back in another post, and after that drowning I placed a bent wire "ladder" over the edge of that trough so that a critter could climb out.  This trough that my hen was in isn't near any trees, so I didn't put one in it, now I really wish I had and today I will!  If you have any large amount of water on your property that a critter might not be able to get out of, take an old piece of fencing and put it along the side to allow a critter to climb up.  Obviously, I am learning this the very hard way, and am embarrassed about being dumb, but I do say I blog to help people, so I am putting this out there.  I feel about as tall as an ant today, let me tell you.

Here, kitty kitty kitty

Spaying and neutering is something I have firmly believed in since the first time I heard Bob Barker remind his viewers on the Price is Right how important it was.  And believe me, that has been a long time!!!  I recently have had many examples of why I so firmly believe in this literally dropped on my doorstep, okay maybe not dropped on my doorstep, but living and breathing and affecting the health (and food bill) of my ranch, so that counts too.

Meet Pimienta and Nocola, Royal Ranch's newest addition's.  Pimienta means pepper in Spanish and Nocola means no tail, I guess you'll be able to figure out who is who.  Not quite a year ago our renters got two cats, brother and sister from a breeder of Bengal Bobcats.  They got them for free because they are solid black instead of the typical Bengal markings.  Now, as a Landlord, I really try to mind my own business, but when I saw that the cats had had kittens I got a little concerned, let alone that the kittens were outdoors.

During this time, some changes in that very same rental happened and we took back over half of the duplex that the cats use, so Isabella and I became very familiar with the cats and what was going on with them.  That was when I realized that the Mama kitty was pregnant again!  As a matter of fact, Daddy kitty was trying to breed Pimi as well, which is what finally got me to leave a (not so friendly) letter on the door of the renter.  Well, one thing led to another, and thank goodness I have friends in the rescue business,  and now fast forward a couple months and here we are...

So, it has taken me multiple trips down the mountain to Spay Today to get all of the adult cats spayed and neutered.  I took Daddy, Pimienta and Nocola, who at the time all still belonged to the renter down right away.  Mama was busy having just had these cute little things.  I then waited until two weeks ago and got Mama spayed, another trip down the hill we go.  Last weekend we got to take her to a vet up here to get her tested for Feline Leukemia so that my friends over at Evergreen Animal Protective League can have these adorable babies without spreading that horrific disease.  Today we will deliver the babies, yup, all three of those precious babies are going to new homes through EAPL over in Evergreen.
Now, I mentioned that none of these cats were to be ours, and that was the original plan; until the renter mentioned that he might sell the middle generation at a pet store.  Since they are Bobcat Bengals, and since he is having a hard time financially and since they are always looking for kittens, etc.  Well, I'm probably going to offend someone here, but over my dead body!  I have heard waaay to many horror stories for these cats that Isabella and I have been working very hard to tame and take care of to end up in some filthy pet store!  So, that is how Pimi and Nocola became Royal Ranch cats, and you know the funny thing was that the very same day that we "claimed" Nocola, she started calming down.  It was just as if she needed to know she had a place to stay forever.
Okay, so I have bragged about my friends in high places, but you do not need friends in high places if you don't get yourself in this pickle of needing multiple surgeries done at once.  There are lots and lots of resources out there people.  If you can't afford to spay or neuter your pet, call your local shelter and they will help you get it done, I guarantee it.  Also, help your neighbor, they may be too embarrassed to admit that they have a problem.  We have a sad story going on right now here in Colorado, an 80something woman got kicked out of her house due to it being overrun with cats.  I know how it happened, I have seen it.
As a matter of fact, last summer, the very same thing happened to us.  A gal had been coming to us to buy her hay, and when she broke her leg, we offered to help take care of her horse.  Well, it led to much more than that, her place was taken over by cats and could have been condemned at any moment.  So we cleaned it up and got the animals fixed.  It was amazing, I found a group that brought a motorhome to her place, and in one day we trapped, spayed, and neutered 22 cats!  If we had not done that, the cats would be doubled by this year, think of that!  People just don't realize how quickly it gets out of hand.
Now, off of the "soap box" as my Dad would say, but I do have some interesting points about these Bobcat Bengals.  They really are some amazing cats.  Boy, can they climb!  The ones with no tails have extra toes to help them with their balance, which kind of looks weird, but again, makes for some amazingly agile cats.  Genetically, this has been an odd bunch.  Mom and Dad are both solid black as are Pimi and Nocola, and then here comes the third generation that has all of the Bobcat Bengal traits, like the toes and tails, but are Siamese in color, very odd.
I'm not sure where I stand on the breeding down the Bobcats and Bengal tigers thing.  Before I met these cats I would have said I was against it, for sure.  And I'm not too impressed that the breeder did not make sure that my renter get the cats fixed if she removed them from the breeding program.  But some of the websites I have visited are pretty cool, and talk about saving a piece of wildlife and endangered species, and the "good examples" of the breed are amazingly "tiger" like.  What do you think?

Metaphysical Monday

Happy Monday to all of you, and I apologize for letting the weekend go by without dropping in to say hello.  We had my wonderful brother-in-law and one of his great biker buddies for the weekend which is always quite an adventure.  Although Scott comes to see us as often as he can, he was out of the cream for his lip, and Tom had forgotten to take him some last week when they met for lunch, so I am not all that positive he didn't come just to pick up the cream (BTW he will drive 2.5 hours for this stuff!!!), but we got to see him either way, so his reasons for coming don't matter-ha!

I also know that many of you miss Royal Ranch Royalty, and I do have some new four legged Royalty that I am anxious to share with you all, but of course, here at The Royal Ranch, there is quite a story behind it, and it is a good one, so I want to wait and share it on Tuesday when I write for Green Spot-On so that my message is heard by many.  Now, that sounds like I'm going to hop on my "soap box", as my Dad would say, and maybe I am, but you'll have to stop back by tomorrow to meet two, yup, two of my newest family members!  And, to make it even more mysterious, we will be saying goodbye to three more...Now I've got you!!!

So, today is Metaphysical Monday and I saw a video earlier last week that has been on my mind since I saw it.  It is worth sharing and what better place to share it than on a metaphysical blog?  Listen to the whole thing, it is truly amazing!  They had already shut this young lady's life support off, and she fought her way back.  Now this is why I believe in angels, not because we can always see them, but because of things like this, remember this happens every single day, this one just happened to get caught on video to remind us that they are here.

The funny things that make me tick...

The view at The Royal Roost

I say it time and again, guilt is a useless emotion.  When I am going to start listening to myself, well, that is a different story all together.  I had spent weeks beating myself up that I hadn't set aside my meager marketing budget for our bed and breakfast The Royal Roost.  Set aside my foot, we have no budget!

See, we normally advertise on VRBO, which is a great site, but the price to advertise almost doubled this year and I had not expected that in this economy.  Of course summer is our busiest season and I just felt like I was some kind of schmuck business owner for not doing the status quo of the previous years and couldn't get my poop in a group to get my advertising bill paid.  What a piece of work (well that's a nice word), I had been telling myself.

That was when I realized that I was getting my weekends booked, and even a few week days as well.  Mostly with repeat customers and some new, but all of them had been referrals of some kind.  On one of the days I had gone up to the cabin to clean it for the weekend, I found that our bird had rebuilt her nest; now, what does this have to do with advertising?  Everything, in my book.

Mama bird

(this shelf is structural or we'd remove it)

I had been watching for signs of her, and we had done a few things to try and get her to not build her nest there, because last year some of our guests made her so nervous we lost three baby birds before I knew it.  Besides my family, I have not told anyone until now, that is how upset I have been over the loss of those baby birds!!!

So, mama bird can finish out her time at the B&B, and we can be a little more choosy with who are guests at The Royal Roost right now while she is laying and hatching and raising her young.  My motto has always been to listen to your heart and to always do what you believe is the best thing for yourself, but sometimes in business you forget that.  But, even as a business owner I need to stay true to my goal, and that is to be environmentally friendly, I started that way over a decade ago, and I will surely not change course now.  In these times of trouble and upheaval I think it is of utmost importance whether it is in business or personal situations to really reexamine what makes us each tick, and really passionate about the world to remind us where we stand and hopefully it will leave us on nice solid ground.

Metaphysical Monday

Wow!  I couldn't believe it when I got on my blog and it said I hadn't been on here since last Wednesday, shame on me!  Things have been very busy around here, blessedly my son is back from Seacamp safely and had a wonderful time, we have been busy at the B&B (again blessedly), and we have switched the llamas over to pasture; more on that on another post.  Today is Monday and I have not done a metaphysical post in quite some time, I have had some folks say that they miss them and I have had this one on my mind for a long time.  So, let's get right down to business.

I have a Metaphysical Monday post in my drafts folder that I have had in there for weeks.  I couldn't quite decide why I never finished it, or didn't like it, or whatever, and this morning as I was rereading it I realized it was because I still sound apologetic or something.  Like I am trying too hard not to offend somebody.  Probably in my trying not to offend someone, I will offend someone else, and I have chosen to share these things in the hopes of helping people, so who could that offend?  Ideally, anyway.  Now, it has been so long the post has changed dramatically it seems.

As many of my regular readers know, our family recently unexpectedly lost a beloved cousin.  For a few weeks before he passed I was very ill with a flu that I then passed to my husband.  That all sounds innocent enough right?  Well, it's not quite that straightforward in my case.  See, my rabbit Lucy was dying at the same time, so I was thinking maybe that's what the feeling of death was that was hanging over me.  Yup, there is no other way to describe it.  That's what made my immune system get that low, I haven't been sick in years.  Really, I do know how crazy it sounds, but I also know how real it is to live it, I was even talking about death in my sleep.  

Lucy had already passed, we had had a few weird things happen here at the ranch (like a squirrel drown in the water trough and the loss of some hens due to a citrus accident), but my dark cloud would not dissipate.  As silly as it sounds, as sick as I was, I started to worry that I was dying.  Then I got the call from Dad, and rudely enough the first words out of my mouth were "what the Fu@%?"  I couldn't believe it was Joe who had died.

Before I even hung up the phone, my cloud was gone.  No kidding.  That night while I slept my fever broke and the next morning I woke up and was no longer sick with the flu.  We were still unable to travel to Iowa due to Tom getting it, but it was crazy.  Okay, so where does that leave me.  Should I have explored the cloud more so as not to make myself sick?  I'll take the flu over knowing a loved one is going to pass anyday, thank you.

But, isn't that where I am supposed to be going with all of this?  Isn't that why it is getting stronger and more irritating?  I'm thinking so, it's time for this butterfly to spread her wings.  Lately I have been given the opportunity to see where maybe this could be of help and not such a hindrance (no I can't guess the Lotto numbers!) to people.  You know, I don't mean to toot my own horn, but as far as sixth senses go, mine is pretty good.  I joined a group of mediums that do a conference call once a week when I decided to start working with my skills and thought I would be just an observer, but have always had something to add (correctly I might add), even as a beginner.

I guess it is the same with any part of your life, when it gets to the point where it is affecting your health, it is time to wake up and smell the coffee.  Learn what you need to learn, live as much as you possibly can and make as many miracles as one person is capable of making...and then some.

Just so you all know how much a part of me this is, the symbol for the Metaphysical posts is one of my tattoos.  Notice how not much else is visible, that should give you an idea of locale on my body-ha!

Career Day Follow Up

One of my favorite views on my job.

I have been wanting to tell you all about my time at Fitzsimmons Middle School Career Day for weeks now and just have not taken the time to do so.  I did mention it very quickly, but it deserves much more than that because I got an envelope recently that made me really think about what I had done.  It was an envelope fat with letters on lined paper, each of them dated and nicely addressed in practiced sixth grade cursive.  I'll share a few with you here:

Dear Mrs. Jeute,

I really enjoyed the visit to FMS.  I thought your job is amazing, you get to hang out with all the animals.  Mrs Jeute, you inspired me to want to work with animals.  Who could know llamas could be so fantastic.  Once again I really appreciate you taking the time to come to FMS,

Sincerely,

KE

Dear Mrs. Jeute,

I appreciate the time you spent to talk to us about your job.  I personally think that being an author is really cool.  I also like the idea of having a bed and breakfast.  I really enjoyed looking at the book you wrote.
Sincerely,

HM

Dear Mrs. Jeute,

I want to express my gratitude for your visit at our school.  It was stellar to actually get to meet a real author.  Some of my classmates are calling you "Lama Lady" but I don't think your a lama lady.  I hope you get to make some more books.

Sincerely,

BS

Dear Mrs. Jeute,

I truly appreciate the you gave to tell us about your job.  But you could have stayed home and worked but you came and we are all very grateful of it.  The book that you showed us was very nice and colorful.  Your inspiration to write your book was very nice it shows what you like to do.  We are grateful that you came.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

DB

I must admit that when I got that wonderful envelope, I shed a few tears with a smile a mile wide.  Little 'ol me had an impact on those kids.  And the funny thing was that day had been very crazy, there were three presenters in a short time frame, and I kept getting short changed on time.  Which was fine with me, because I am not the best public speaker, but since the group was mostly kids, I was pretty comfortable.  Another thing I thought kind of ironic is that not one of the letters mentioned my name, which all of them thought was quite funny the day of the presentation.  I was glad to know that it was not all they remembered.

This isn't a post about patting myself on the back, it is to remind you, my dedicated readers to get out there and share your hidden, or not so hidden, talents.  From middle schools to adult education classes around the country educators are anxious to share their classrooms with real life workers to bring that experience to their students.  What better way to share the love of your work than with future glorious minds?

Working with Nature

I must admit, I'm a tad bit jealous of our neighbors and their gorgeous ponds.  We sit up on the hill overlooking the valley and the neighbors with the gorgeous ponds, so don't get me wrong, I don't have too much to complain about, I just don't have waterfront property.

One of our neighbor's, we'll call them the J's, have spectacular fly fishing ponds that they have built up over the years.  They stock them every few years with prize winning trout and even make a little money through a local fly fishing association.  The P's on the other hand, have a smaller pond just to watch wildlife and such.  It is so cute, they are a retired couple and have a bench sitting over the dam, and all kinds of rocks and wildflowers, they really enjoy their yard.

So recently, I have been hearing about troubles with the ponds.  Actually, I caught Mr. P going after the geese, yelling and chasing them out of his pond (he doesn't want them taking over because then they will contaminate it).  Funny as could be!  Then, come to find out, the J's are having a problem with the Blue Heron damaging some of their beloved fish.  And I do mean beloved.  We have seen Mr. J (one of Tom's best friends) jump in the freezing cold winter water to revive a fish that has been caught and released, the rules of the pond, of course.

The main problem is that the fish are too big for the Heron in the first place!  So the fish is getting injured for nothing, and the Heron still gets no dinner, bummer.  The J's can't use a lot of regular detractants for the Heron because that would interfere with the fly fishermen.  They did buy a fake Blue Heron, but that mostly just scared the dog.

Well, I got to thinking (could be dangerous).  And watching that Heron's pattern, he seemed to like the P's pond just as much as the J's pond except he wasn't getting anything to eat there.  But when the Blue Heron was at the P's pond, the Geese were nowhere to be found.  They seemed to hang out in the beaver ponds up the valley just a bit where they belong.  Hmmm..., how about we stock the P's ponds with inexpensive (native, of course) brookies for the Heron to hunt so that he leaves the J's nice big fish alone?  This could solve everyone's problem.

I talked with Mr. J and he thinks the plan is brilliant (with just a tiny bit of prodding from me-ha!), and I will talk with the P's today.  I'll let you know how the plan works out, but it is always best to try and work with Mother Nature than against her!