~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[1muttsfan]

Seth, go to the New Member Intro section and greet some new members, you will get 20 posts in no time.

 

[SethsArk]

THANKS will do! and by the way, I got to reply to yours, so 1 more down!!



Edit added 2 hours later:
The new members area helped. There was one lady in there that looks like she's a local too. So I got to my 20 posts headed over to classifieds, and it denied me! I posted one more for good measure and it FINALLY let me post.

 

[kathyinmo]

Linda,
I am so sorry to hear about your friend, Smudge.

 

[Kansaseq]

Linda, I'm so sorry about Smudge. It just never gets any easier, but he had a very good life with you. Try to take some comfort in that, if you can.

 

[suebee]

Almost 4 days since Linda (Gryeyes) posted. I'm having withdrawals.

 

[1muttsfan]

Her eyes may be rolling around in her head after trying to keep up with the Easter hatch - I know mine are

 

[Carols Clucks]

Hope things are okay in the hills

 

[gryeyes]

Things ARE okay in the foothills - thanks for worrying! The only sad part was Smudge's passing. I already reported it in the Easter Hatch thread (yes, I've only really been able to post much there, as there just is not enough time in the evenings after work to do much more than catch up on that extremely active thread). Here's what I posted some time after 1muttsfan quoted my previous post from the EH thread:

As I mentioned on Monday, I made an appointment to assist my ailing Himalayan across the Rainbow Bridge. (Yes, Deb, it was the Pleasant Valley Vet Hospital, thanks for the recommendation!)

Well, His Smudgeness decided to cross without any assistance about two hours before that appointment. He chose my bedroom closet as his place of departure.

My very good friends HHandbasket and Farmer Lew came over in the evening to dig Smudge's grave and perform a Native American burial, complete with burning sage, offerings for the Cedar under which we placed him, and sang the Traveling Song for his spirit.

Smudge, as was usual for him, just wanted to do it his way.

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I believe (as do others) it was so much better for him to have died at home, instead of having to be driven to a strange place and never being at home again. Someone else suggested he "knew" about the vet appointment and that gave him permission to pass peacefully at home. I am not discounting that theory.

Here's the most recent photo I was able to get of him.



In the days subsequent to Smudge's departure, Lizbeth has had full, unhampered run of the house. She still prefers to sleep in the office on the day bed at night, but she's comfortable in any room of the house. I moved the Cat Feeding Station into the utility "room" where the dogs have their dishes and waterer, and Lizbeth has adapted to the new location without difficulty. I only had to show it to her once. She's a much smaller cat so she can actually go up into the "porthole" inside the cabinet to eat.

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Last weekend I took some photos of Carl canoodling with his favorite hen, Rebecca. I'm going to post a series of them, but before I do that, I need - yes, NEED - to share four pictures I just took of one of the WCB Polish chicks in the brooder.

Popping up and looking to the left, then the right, then dead center at me. (That Brinsea EcoGlow is perfect for them to take a look around outside of the brooder bin.) Can you see the contemplative expression in that last photo?

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These little frou-frou chicks crack me up. They're supposed to be LF Polish, so I'm dying inside with laughter thinking how they'll look once they go out to the Chicken Kindergarten and integrate afterwards with the flock.

Here is a series of candid photos of Carl and Rebecca, the King and his Favorite Wife, first glimpsed through the office window. I then moved out onto the deck to continue snapping shots:

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They groom each other, roost next to each other, she has refusal rights! and there is what certainly LOOKS like affection between them.

Carl has King's Rights to the whole flock and often exercises them, but Rebecca can say no and he just finds another concubine; she's his First Wife and beloved partner. (She also laid the egg which Buffy hatched for her to produce my very first GrandChick, nearly two years ago.)

Let's see, what else has happened this week?

I now have an official financial planner. We have been discussing my retirement options. There's a bunch of paperwork to complete in order to arrange for the most favorable - yet conservative - future we can finagle for me. (I use the word "finagle" with the utmost respect; I don't consider it negatively at all. I happen to LIKE finagling things.)

There's also the "First Cinco De Mayo Annual Turkey HatchAlong" starting on Easter, which I've joined. I'll be receiving six eggs from assorted turkey breeds to incubate. (Thank you, thebirdguy!) Following many folks' advice, I will set some chicken eggs a week later so they all hatch together. Apparently turkeys, not being the brightest birds in the backyard poultry domain, benefit from chicken chicks demonstrating survival skills to them. Plus, it provides for easier integration into the flock if they're already comfortable with chickens in the same poultry classroom. So to speak.

The weather is changing again and there's a Storm Warning for tomorrow. I have to re-set the section of plastic pipe (left-over drain stuff John used in the back gutter run-off pipe burial project) so I don't drive over it again.... I'd stuck it on a front gutter down-spout due to some major erosion at the corner of the concrete planter during the last several inches of rain. John was here on Monday to plan out the new concrete pad and steps at the end of the porch where I had fallen. He's going to reconfigure that end of the porch railing, too. While we discussed that project, he mentioned he'll get around to burying that pipe under the driveway and out onto the first yard terrace.

During that last several days of rain, he didn't get very much work done for any of his clientele. So he cooked. He brought me two types of cookies, a container of his Famous Soup (which I'd "suggested" he bring), and two thick slices of home-made bread.

I am so blessed, here in my little personal slice of heaven. A contractor who cooks, friends who perform sacred rituals for my beloved companions' passing, and retirement not too terribly far away.

 

[dsqard]

Linda those pictures of Carl and Rebecca are precious! The home made goodies sound delicious. I thought your description of Smudge's passing and the burial ritual were so touching. You are one heck of a story teller, lady! I feel like I am right there with you as you move about your world. Thank you so much for sharing all of your adventures (good and sad) with all of us that are following.

BTW you are really going to enjoy the turkeys. Shhhhhhhhhh don't tell the chickens, but I like my turkeys better.

 

[kathyinmo]

Turkeys, chickens, ducks....... I see something missing here, Linda.
When are you going to incubate emu eggs?