Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[Denim Deb]

Though they weren't treated as badly, the Japanese Americans were not treated fairly by our government during that time, either. My aunt's ex is Japanese. I was w/him once when he tried to pay by check and was given a hassle. He came out of the store shaking. I think he was in one of the camps.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Because we get a new crop of freshmen every year and various other students also - we tend to make this trip to the Holocaust museum about every other year. The first year we went we had an actual survivor as our docent. She showed the kids her tattoo and one of our students asked why she didn't have it removed. She got a little teary eyed and explained that through the years she learned to appreciate her tattoo as a badge of courage and a representation of her inner strength. Not a dry eye in the house after that talk.

This year our docent was the daughter of that survivor. They also had two gentlemen who are well into their 90's talk with the kids after the tour. Even some of our big tough football guys were wiping their eyes after that.

During the tour we did talk about our internment of the Japanese as a way of pointing out that prejudice exists everywhere in the world and that we, as Americans, were not totally innocent.

It's COLD again today - but we dodged the rain that was forecast for yesterday. Hallelujah! But, now they're calling for rain Tue/Wed. Maybe we'll miss that too.

In further news - I won a football pot last night! I'm not $125 dollars richer than I was yesterday. YAY!

 

[Denim Deb]

Congrats on the win!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks, Deb!

Went out this morning to throw some feed to the chickens. K'ili is due this month so I make it a habit to squeeze her butt and check ligaments. I've been doing it more lately because she lost her mucous plug a couple days ago. I put her with Dusty at least three times last fall because she is one of those does who is always flagging her tail and teasing the bucks. I really didn't think she was due until the end of the this month, but nope - things are looking vey promising right now. Ligaments are pretty much gone; bag blew up over night and she wasn't miss piggy this morning at the feed trough. Hope she is one of those that gets down to business and gets this done today instead of dragging things out f.o.r.e.v.e.r!

She's kidded twice before (for previous owner) but has never raised a baby. Those folks pulled kids at birth so in effect, this will be her first time to be a mama. I sure hope instincts kick in because I do NOT want to bottle raise. I guess I'll be taking a vacation day because I can't take a chance that she won't clean 'em off and take care of 'em. We're supposed to be in the 40's all day so I want to be sure they (or IT - not sure if she'll have multiples) will get warm and dry.

Stay tuned!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I went ahead and went to the gym this morning; got home around 8:30. She delivered two bucklings around 9! Can I call it or what? lol

Sitting here now trying to decide if I should on in to work... I dunno! If I stay home I'll feel guilty and clean house and I really don't want to clean house! Decisions, decisions!

 

[Denim Deb]

Last time I couldn't get to the farm due to the weather, I spent the day cleaning house. It made a big difference.

Congrats on the bucklings. How is she doing w/them?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Well, I did stay home but didn't get much house cleaning done.

K'ili is a wonderful mother. Unfortunately, one of the babies is not doing well. He didn't warm up like the other one, so I took him inside and got him warm, gave him some colostrum (big fight) and took him back out. He will go to the udder but not latch on. Left him with her for a bit to see if he'd "get it"....nope. Took him back in and started feeding him. Gave him an enema to help him pass the meconium and absolutely nothing came back out except the nice, clean water that I put in there. Over the course of yesterday I gave him no less than 5 enemas along with two this morning and nothing. I'm really afraid that he's got a blind pouch, or some kind of disconnect between his stomach and his anus. He pees good, he actually ate better this morning - but no poop. Unless he makes a miraculous recovery I don't think he's gonna make it. Sure hope I'm wrong!

 

[Denim Deb]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Myhouseisazoo2]

Hope everything goes well with the baby!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

The little fella is still with us and finally, finally I saw a little poop. He's nearly 48 hours old and should be pooping what I call "milk poop" by now. That's the yellowish stuff that comes after the meconium clears out. I'm still giving him enema's....and this morning he passed a tiny little bit of meconium-ish substance. His tummy is getting bloated from the back-up and that's not good. But, at least now I know his parts are all connected, lol. I hesitate to give him an oral laxative in fear that he'll just blow up if nothing moves! He was hungry this morning and took almost 4 ounces, but he still doesn't latch on and suck...I just dribble it in his mouth with a syringe. I'm going to get a new bottle/nipple today and see if he likes that any better.

Other than that everything is status quo. No more babies due for several weeks. (thank goodness!)