Hoof trimming and leftovers

Lambie, our blind ram hears me calling

Yesterday it was zero Celsius, there were a few snowflakes flying around but nothing major. I decided yesterday was a good day to venture up to the barn for the first time. I took the long way around, instead of going through the goat pasture. The walk was nice, the cool air felt great, and I was so happy to be outside.

I stopped to visit Jackson, the mini horse and give him a kiss or two. Once I got to the barnyard, Max was pretty excited to see me since he's only seen me from the house for the past couple weeks. So I said hello and then gave him a bone I had brought up for him. He went off to eat that and I went in the barnyard, Jim was there in case I fell. The barnyard melted yesterday and turned into complete mud, but today it was frozen just enough to make it soft but not sinking mud. I had a big cuddle with Sammy and Bea, and Izzie came over and gave me a kiss, Lambie came running too.

Max came over after a while and brought me his bone to give me, he's a good boy, he wanted so bad for me to rub his tummy but I could not get down low enough so I gave him a good cuddle standing up.





The ever growing Izzie



I went in the barn for a few minutes and trimmed one of the rabbits teeth, he has malocclusion and needs his teeth trimmed several times a month. If he was a young rabbit surgery is an option but he's over 11 years old.

When I went to leave I said goodbye and we chained the gate. Sammy stood up and tried to lift the chain off the hook with his mouth! I couldn't believe my eyes. He knows exactly how the gate is locked, and he was trying to pull the chain off! I can see someone might become a problem child. He's human that goat, he has no idea he's a goat.

The walk and seeing the animals did my spirit good. The bending was a little much, but I came home and didn't feel bad. I wanted to walk further but I thought I really should take this slowly and not over do it. Walking to the barn is the most walking I've done in 2 weeks.

The ground was soft enough for Kevin to work on our trails filling in holes and deep ruts with dirt. He had to scout out some trees that need cut today because he'll have to go logging again in the next few days. The mule is down right now because the propeller shaft broke, so we are waiting on parts.

On Saturday we had our prime rib roast with potatoes and green beans. We only have Prime rib once a year at home usually, unless we are in Tok and then we have it at Fast Eddies a couple times.



Since we had leftovers I just tossed something together for dinner last night. I thought of making a proper hash, but kind of came up with this version.

I finely diced up 1/2 onion and cooked that until soft in olive oil. Then I added a few handfuls of diced portobello mushrooms, and about 3 cups of finely diced potatoes. I cooked that up in a hot pan while I chopped up the leftover prime rib. This required no food processor or any hard work whatsoever!

I mixed the potatoes, onions, mushrooms, prime rib together, seasoned with salt and pepper and then added leftover gravy to the mix. I topped it with a little cheese and just popped it in the oven at 350 for 1/2 hour.



We had some leftover Ciabatta bread so I made some garlic bread to go with it. And voila, a bunch of leftovers used up! It is definately a project for me to make new meals out of leftovers, I don't really like having the same thing more than one night unless it's something I absolutely love, so it's important to me to try and make something new out of the leftovers if I can.


Norman says "I like prime rib!"

I opened up a jar of icicle pickles too for the occasion. I love these pickles but they are very strong, it's the cloves. They are also known as 7 day pickles since it takes 7 days to make them. A lot of love goes into these pickles.



They were also the first pickles I learned to make. Our cousin Peggy taught me how to make a few different varieties of pickles and I made my first batches of jam years ago with her as well.

The birds enjoyed the leftover green beans, one of their favorites.





Kiwi wonders what else we've got to share...

Yesterday I saw that Sammy and Bea need their feet trimmed, so this morning I felt alright and got dressed and walked up to the barn. Jim cleared the table in the barn and lifted them up onto it for me, and then he held them but they both just lie down and chew their cud anyway, they are so good. Sammy usually lies in my lap while I trim his feet, but I can't sit down or have him in my lap yet. I had to bend a little but didn't really feel like I strained anything but my back a little, but nothing major, and both of them now have nicely trimmed feet.


Sammy


Sammy and mom


Beatrice and Jim behind her

My farrier is coming on tomorrow to trim up the horses hooves. Usually I hold them while he does that, but I won't be able to do that right now in case they pull. I could probably hold Wrambler because he stands like a good boy most of the time but little Jackson likes to try and bite the farrier in the bum, so he needs a little more control.

After a break I decided to clean Yeti up today. He's an angora mix, we've had a few of those. My purebred English Angora, Pistachio takes the prize for most hair here still, but also easiest to trim. Yeti's rear end and his feet were pretty bad which are common areas for an angora to gather droppings and mats. I trimmed his feet, the mats around his rear, and trimmed his nails. He was nervous, so I let him sit and calm down a bit. He's been trying to bite Jim apparently, and he did bite me twice while in my lap, but only nips, he did not break the skin. I'm not worried about that, I told him "no" and the second time he stopped to consider it. He did calm down and was fine.



He's got something going on with his ears, not mites, it's a skin thing, he's got dry ears and he's lost a little fur so that needs to be treated right away. He ran around and had fun this afternoon, he isn't even remotely nervous of the other animals or the dogs. I think he may have Hotot in him, another breed that has those black circles around the eyes.



He ran around and "chinned" everything. Chinning is rabbit speak for "this is mine."



Norman says "is that really another rabbit?"

Douglas waiting to go for a run outside

Tonight will be an easy dinner. I'm thinking of making up some black bean burgers, or we'll have some pasta. Trimming hooves, nails, and mats, has worn me out. I long for the days when doing two things doesn't wear me out but I know it will come again, I'm so glad I'm able to do a little bit now.

I feel so much better I got a little something done and I know Sammy and Bea feel better with their hooves trimmed up and Yeti with no more mats. Next up is Douglas nails, Norman I've already done, I can hold him with one hand and it takes five seconds, but Douglas, he does not like getting his nails done so it's a bit bigger operation. He'll make up for the three easy ones today!