In September, when the rains came down and the floods came up, my mind was preoccupied with 2 sick little girls, dogs gone missing, and one of my chicks lying dead in the the hen house.
Ivy had awoken me, in the middle of the night, with complaints of a tummy ache. Upon further inspection, I found her coughing and warm with a fever. When we actually arose that morning of the flooding, Shea had a fever and was coughing too. I treated the symptoms with some medicine to drop their temperatures. It worked...for days...finally, Wednesday Ivy seemed back to her normal healthy self and Shea took until Late Thursday. Their coughs still linger, but that's just the way it's going to have to be. Don't know if it was THE swine flu, but it sure laid them out for a couple/few days.
The morning of the big flooding, our dog Willow and her cousin, Koko (not by blood, but by adoption ;}), had wandered out onto our street. We live about 400 feet from the street and Willow usually gets anxious/nervous near the street. She has been more of a home body, but that day, she didn't want to miss out with Koko. It was around 10:30AM that I last saw them. The rains came down hard! There were no sign of the dogs. The children wandered out calling for them, in the rain, but they did not come. I drove through the neighborhood, whistling the way Koko knows, no dogs...
Meanwhile, the rain slowed enough for me to go check out my girls, 5 hens. The night before, as we were going to bed, Rusty told me one of my chickens was dead. I sat straight up in bed and said "WHAT?" He relayed to me that, when Asa and Shea had gone to care for the chickens, they found an immobile hen in the hen house. They poked her and then realized she was dead. I was tired and not coherent enough to get out of bed, put on something to go out, put on some boots, grab a flashlight, go stompin' up into the woods in the middle of the night. Done it before, but tonight I was wiped out and my body wouldn't budge.
So once the rain subsided enough for me to check on the chicks, sure enough. There lay a dead, limp hen in the hen house. Fowl play. lol...No sign of how or why. I proceeded to 'clean up' and mother nature proceeded to let the rain fall down again. As I finished my task and returned, soaking wet, to the house Koko stood on the driveway looking at me. It was around 5:00PM No Willow just Koko, wet and NOT her mouth open, tongue hanging, tail wagging self. She was somber. We've said several times over the past week, "If only dogs could talk."
Tuesday while Shea and Ivy lay moderately sick, we made "Lost Dog" fliers for Willow.
Wednesday we past out the fliers.
Friday, one of our neighbors called when they thought they had seen Willow. False alarm.
So as we heard that dreary rains were headed our way again for the weekend, we checked the weather down south. Finding it much drier, we packed the Family Traveling Machine and headed to Ginnie Springs, FL to join our friends for camping, s'mores, & some Long overdue diving for Rusty and I. What began as a discouraging break, ended in a memorable getaway. Thanks Watsons!
Children with Watson friends on the Playground!
Long overdue diving!
Thanks mom for your wisdom, love, support, example. She did all the above for us growing up AND worked. Wow! (I think she started her days at 3:30AM/4:00AM)
