Posts by Jonah

1. If you have better things to do all day than watch YouTube, at least check out this video; it’s only 13 seconds long and is well worth your time.

2. All I can say is “Aww!”

3. And for those of you in Mobile, this is just in case you missed this or this news report.

Today my duties at work were rather varied. I started out helping Michele encourage the new lamb to nurse. The lamb was born on Monday afternoon. One of the kids ran over to the driveway as I was heading toward home to deliver the news, and sure enough, Lily, the mama, was busily licking a shivering, wet blob of wool in the corner of the little pen. She usually has twins, and they’re usually bigger. They’re usually not the offspring of their older brother. They can also usually see. This little lamb apparently has backwards eyelids, according to our local sheep expert Lou, who has a friend who can fix the problem. In the meantime, the lamb has no idea where mama is, walking until she bumps into the side of the pen, then walking along the fence until she bumps into the corner. So Michele and I toppled Lily on her side and held her down while holding the lamb’s mouth up to her mother’s teats. She slurped happily away, wagging her tail (that’s how you know they’re getting milk). We swapped sides until Lily was either out of milk or the lamb was full. Lily got the idea and stayed still until we all left her alone again. I showed the kids who came in the afternoon how to do it too. Now my boots and pants are dirty.

Next I sent out invoices for Duncan’s business, opened and sorted the mail, and wrote a letter to Hawaii seeing if we could get some copies of some documents.

Finally, I settled into my big project for the day, researching patents. One of the good ways to find engineers and chemists is to look at patents by people who have done what you need someone with experience for. Once I have a name, I look for them in WhitePages.com or my new favorite people search engine ZabaSearch.com. I usually use the government patent office’s website, but sometimes one of the private patent search sites is easier to deal with, like PatentStorm.us. They offer amusing bits of information on the side, like the fact that today is the date Alexander Graham Bell submitted his patent for the telephone. They also have a wonderful section called bizarre patents. Here is one of them:

Crispy chip sandwich and process of producing a sandwich product
US Patent Issued on March 19, 1996

Abstract

A food product comprising a multilayer cookie or snack having outer layers formed from a crispy type edible food product such as a potato chip or corn chip, etc. with an intermediate marshmallow layer being in contact with the inner surface of each crispy chip and one or more filler substances such as chocolate, peanut butter spread, etc. disposed between the two marshmallow layers. The marshmallow layers act to bond the snack food item together while insulating the crispy chip from contact with the filler layers to substantially prevent said crispy chips from becoming soggy and non-crispy.

Berck drove me to work this morning, because despite it having snowed all night and a forecast for more of the same today, he woke up incredulous at a clear sky, which meant there was a possibility he might have to work. We’ve only got one set of snow tires, because we usually don’t each have to be somewhere when we need them.

Duncan tried to fix the muddy driveway by dumping a bunch of dirt into it but neglected to smooth it all down. It’s almost impassible for a Miata. On Monday I parked on the other side of the railway tracks and walked down the ruts to work.

I walked into the house today to find Michele on the phone talking about a new foal. I immediately put back on the parka I’d just removed and went out to see for myself. Abby hadn’t gotten pregnant on the first round when we timed births for late summer, but an accident happened later on. Michele wasn’t sure she was even pregnant until she found a foal out in the paddock when she went out to feed this morning. I found the youngin’ wrapped in a blanked secured with duct tape lying in the snow, her mother munching on hay close by. I said hello and took some pictures and then went back in. Duncan said he had suggested the name Creation’s Heart of Courage, which I liked because she was born on Valentine’s Day. The more popular name seems to be Creation’s Sweet Courage, however.

An hour later Michele told me to go out and “stir up” the little filly. I love my unorthodox job assignments. The filly was still lying in the snow, not a good sign when she should be walking around and nursing and such. I could tell she was hungry because she was sticking out her tongue and sucking at the air, then trying to suck snow from the ground. I went over and caressed her and encouraged her to get up. She flailed a little and lay back in the snow. I messed with her ears. I vigorously rubbed her neck. I moved her legs. Finally, I got her to flail a bit more if I poked her buck spot through the duct taped blanket. She tried to get up, but her long back legs kept sliding on the snow. Deciding she might be able to get up better with some milk in her, I finally picked her up. She stood on her wobbly legs and shuffled back and forth, trying to keep her balance. “Okay,” I told her, “Let’s go nurse.” She took a couple steps toward me and then crashed to the ground hard on her side. I gave her a chance to catch her breath and then picked her up again. More shuffling and swaying as she willed her wobbly legs into balance, then she walked toward my outreached finger, hoping, as I’d planned, to suck on it. I led her over to her mother, who was standing completely still.

Instinct tells a newborn horse to head for its mother’s belly, but it doesn’t tell it which end has the good stuff. The filly tried sucking on the hair between her mother’s forelegs, all while Abby’s udder shot a constant stream of colostrum. Then the filly overshot the teats and tried to suck on her mother’s rear end parts. Abby kept flinching and grunting, either because she was being tickled or hurt, but she kept standing completely still. The filly finally found what she didn’t know she was looking for and began emitting happy slurping noises.

She nursed for a good 15 minutes or so, about which time Michele decided it was time to move mamma and baby into the riding ring with access to the barn. I moved the current occupants out and haltered and led Abby in. Michele picked up the filly and carried her over to the barn overhang where she deposited her.

When Susanna and Nikki arrived, the filly was still lying where Michele had left her. They took turns coaxing the filly to stand up, poking her in alternate flanks and messing with her ears. This horse is never going to have any problems with sensitive ears, the amount we’ve put her through; she looked like she was starting to enjoy it. They took her coat off to see if that helped. Finally, Nikki “barely” helped her up, and the filly immediately went back to nursing. She hadn’t lain back down by the time Berck picked me up this afternoon. I think she’s afraid she won’t be able to get back up again.

She’s got an enormous amount of hair growing out of her rear frogs, so much so that she ends of up walking (or wobbling) on her rear heels. I’m guessing the hair will wear down and she’ll start walking normally. It’s amazing that she was born with a full winter coat, while her brother and sisters were born with a slick, short summer coat in September.

Now we’ll see if she does okay with minus degree temperatures tonight.

Pictures are in the gallery.