Firsts

A week of firsts.

First time I have seen a real gun

First time I have seen a real gun shoot an animal in the back of the head

First time I have watched someone go through the process of rupturing an appendix

First time I have tried to chop wood

I'll explain….in order.

So the status on the goat that I talked about in my last entry is that she did not recover, the calf died, and so we had to put her to sleep. John and Julia and Ben and I went down to check on her this weekend and she wasn't doing well, couldn't walk and was delirious. So in their expert opinions, John and Julia decided to put her out of her misery. So, I acted like I wasn't freaked out when John took a well-aimed shot and sent her on to more pleasant times in goat heaven. Afterwards I acted like I was checking out something in the distance…but really I shed a tear for that little goat. After John shot her, Julia did an autopsy and tried to discover what exactly went wrong. Her suspicion that another calf might be inside was unfounded, but we did find an extremely large bladder which I suspect meant she had some sort of infection. I can sympathize because I'm prone to bladder infections as well. If only I had known, I could have shared some of my wealth of cranberry drinking products.

On to human health complications. On Tuesday John was having a horrible time with his stomach and complaining of abdominal pain. We didn't know what it might be, so we gave him expert advice…you know "c'mon John, try to take a shit," "put this heat compress on it"…."walk it off." After a couple of days an increased pain and some other twists in the story that I won't include, Julia finally insisted he go to the emergency room. And there in the emergency room folks, is where they discovered that John's appendix had burst and as the doctor explained "exploded into pieces." Yikes, poor John. So he had surgery and was in the hospital for two days. He just got home today and we have set up a mini hospital room up in the living room. Lesson: don't ignore abdominal pains, it could be your appendix about to burst into pieces.

I tried to chop wood. It was pathetic. The axe man-handled me. Oh well.

Other than that…all is well, we are babysitting another dog this week which brings the total count up to 9. Goats are doing well…eating grass, looking sweet, searching for higher ground….like Stevie Wonder

B