I've not posted for a month. Meanwhile I sold all 12 of the sheep fleeces we shore in June online to handspinners. The people who bought them actually seem happy with them! It feels good to finally make a little money back from the farm. There is an awfully long way to go yet to break even though! Now I can't wait to shear the Angora goats and 3 lambs this fall.

New kittens were born in late July to one of the cats I have been fostering for a teenage girl. Zoe, the kitty, was a young mother, and 3 of the 5 in the litter died the day they were born. The two that are left are feisty, playful little creatures. A white one with orange tabby spots is a boy. We have been calling him Butterscotch. The black one is a girl. She has white frosted tipped fuzzy hair and white only on the tips of her paws. I want to call her Frosty, but my daughter feels very strongly that Frosty is a boy's name. Zoe is getting spayed next month, and the other two will get fixed if we still have them at 6 months.

Our new puppie, Pete, has killed 2 chickens and a duck so far. The duck was my favorite, and I'm very sad. I think the neighbors think we are beating Pete. We do yell at him, but he lets out terrible protests and screams if he doesn't get his way, without even being yelled at. It sounds like he's been kicked or hurt in some physical way. One day I was feeding the chickens, and I told him not to follow me, shutting the gate behind me, and he whelped and hollered as if I'd kicked him! I don't know how to get him to stop doing this. Also, he is very intelligent, and he's figured out that sometimes if he's caught, that means he's going to get put on the chain, or go to the basement. So he doesn't want to be even pet unless he thinks we are too busy to restrain him in any way. I give him doggie treats when he comes to me, no matter how mad I am at him, and I carry him to the chain gently and make sure he feels loved when he's on it. But he does NOT like it, and he says so very loudly. I have been through obedience training with a few dogs, and have worked with him a little. He does better than some other dogs I've had, so long as I'm paying attention to him. The first few times on the choke chain, he rolled and hollered, but after he figured out we were playing school, and watched my other two dogs cooperate (my cocker spaniel LOVES school), he decided to try paying attention instead of trying to get free. I have never, ever had a puppy that acted so abused, and it is very unnerving.

I've been working a long stretch of night shifts for the full time night shift nurse's vacation. The stretch is finally finished, and I have a week off next week. My body is still recovering. I think I have developed a mild ulcer from the caffeine and soda. Last night I had to leave Farm Bureau meeting early because I had a wave of nausea that you get like when you have diarrhea; only there was no diarrhea, and I was hard put to even pass any gas. The nausea wouldn't go away, and it didn't feel like anything a Tums would help. And I had a couple of dizzy spells, just sitting there. I lied and told them I felt fine when they asked. I did tell an honest truth - that the kids had started school, and I had a bunch of papers to fill out before going to bed. The nausea was gone by the time I got home. It was the second time it had happened during the day.

There is so much I want to get done this week!