I've been working to shrink the size of a trash burning pit made of concrete blocks the previous owners left. I burned and burned and shoveled out years worth of ashes (4 tractor carts full). Now I'm working on moving one of the walls in.
There are lots of wasp nests in the blocks. I've had success with just ignoring them and avoiding moving the blocks with nests when there are wasps on the nests. It probably has also helped that when I'm working there I'm usually trying to burn down tree limbs and such and it's smoky.
Well, today my luck ran out. There was a wasp that started to bother me, and in my casualness I waved it away and it kept coming back. Then I felt it knock against my hand, so I started to retreat. Then my hand started to hurt... a lot. Then it landed on Dia and Dia jumped about 10 feet, then it started to... well... chase me. Dia and I ran for the house.
Right now I have a hive on my hand that's considerably swollen, but doesn't hurt anymore. I'm on my way out to Kroger to buy wasp spray before I continue my cement block work.
Showing posts with label wounds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wounds. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
A sad day on the farm
One of the large, non-sick chickens has been acting drunk. She started stumbling around yesterday, but was still able to walk. This morning, I found her draped over the roosting pallet like she had literally passed out. I picked her up and she was unable to hold her head up. I tried to get her to drink but she couldn't seem to swallow. I put her in a sunny spot in the grass and went to work, believing she would be dead by lunch.
I came home at lunch and she was not dead. She hadn't moved at all, but was still breathing. I picked her up and she had no control of her muscles. Her head flopped around. I tried again to get her to drink by dunking her head in the waterer. Still wouldn't swallow. She was also really really hot. I carried her around and thought about it. She was completely unable to move except for her eyelids. I decided it would be the kindest thing to end her suffering before she died of dehydration. It was the first time I'd killed one of them myself without help from Roger. I walked out to the back of the field with her and sat down with her. I sat beside her for a long time before I got up the nerve... I really wanted to just leave her and let her die... but she was counting on me to put my own squeamishness aside and help her. I'll spare you the details, but I did the right thing and she's gone.
I've done a lot of reading trying to figure out what it was. I believe it was botulism from some moldy corn from the garden I fed them. She must have been a hog and eaten way more than the rest of them. A link to the Merck Vet Manual and botulism symptoms is here:
http://merckveterinarymanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/205400.htm
Interestingly, before it was called botulism it was called limp-neck. Which was definitely the predominant symptom she had.
I came home at lunch and she was not dead. She hadn't moved at all, but was still breathing. I picked her up and she had no control of her muscles. Her head flopped around. I tried again to get her to drink by dunking her head in the waterer. Still wouldn't swallow. She was also really really hot. I carried her around and thought about it. She was completely unable to move except for her eyelids. I decided it would be the kindest thing to end her suffering before she died of dehydration. It was the first time I'd killed one of them myself without help from Roger. I walked out to the back of the field with her and sat down with her. I sat beside her for a long time before I got up the nerve... I really wanted to just leave her and let her die... but she was counting on me to put my own squeamishness aside and help her. I'll spare you the details, but I did the right thing and she's gone.
I've done a lot of reading trying to figure out what it was. I believe it was botulism from some moldy corn from the garden I fed them. She must have been a hog and eaten way more than the rest of them. A link to the Merck Vet Manual and botulism symptoms is here:
http://merckveterinarymanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/205400.htm
Interestingly, before it was called botulism it was called limp-neck. Which was definitely the predominant symptom she had.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
More eye swelling, fried tomatoes
Two Face's eye is bigger. In a last ditch effort to fix this, I'm injecting oxytetracycline into her subcutaneously (under the skin) and filling her eye cavity with a bacterial eye cream. Her eye is so swollen out if I pull down on her eyelid there's a huge cavern between her lids and her eyes. Much area to fill up with goo. Before I filled her with goo I rubbed her face with a hot cloth and some mucus came out her nose, but I wasn't able to get a lot out. Other than half her face looking like she has radiation poisoning, she seems to be doing well. She's eating and drinking, although it takes her awhile because she can't see out one side and she's hesitant.
Other news: fried green tomatoes and purple potato salad.
Other news: fried green tomatoes and purple potato salad.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sick chicken, and luffas
First, Bill the neighbor is gone for two weeks. He's staying at his daughter's, who is on vacation with her husband and kids. Bill is taking care of their dog. He's been gone for about three days now, and Dia keeps going over to his back porch and looking for him. When we go outside and let her out of the yard she runs right into his yard. She misses pancakes. This is a picture of her in his yard looking around for him.
We have a luffa that is getting large! Luffa sponges (the kind you buy to use in the shower) are dried luffa vegetable with the skin peeled off. We're trying our hand at a couple plants this year.
And we have a sick chicken. We actually have several sick chickens, but they are all mostly just sneezy and congested, but this one really got hit over the head with the sick stick. We're calling her 'two face' for reasons that are about to become apparent.
Left side:
Right side:
Front on:
And lastly, to wash the 'ick' out of your own eyes for viewing our sick chicken, a picture of one of our sunflowers.
We have a luffa that is getting large! Luffa sponges (the kind you buy to use in the shower) are dried luffa vegetable with the skin peeled off. We're trying our hand at a couple plants this year.
And we have a sick chicken. We actually have several sick chickens, but they are all mostly just sneezy and congested, but this one really got hit over the head with the sick stick. We're calling her 'two face' for reasons that are about to become apparent.
Left side:
Right side:
Front on:
And lastly, to wash the 'ick' out of your own eyes for viewing our sick chicken, a picture of one of our sunflowers.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Chicken Slaughter
The chickens were 6 weeks old yesterday, and the males are ready for the freezer. So we decided to start with six of the 16 and see how it went. It was traumatic for all, but more traumatic for the chickens. Some PG pictures are posted, and other PG-13 pictures are behind links if you're brave.
This is a picture of the set-up. The pallet on the ground is where we dispatched it head, then we stuck them in the orange cone to bleed out. The table was were we skinned and gutted them, putting the remains in the blue bucket and the finished product in the big silver can with ice.
This is the finished product.
If you would like to see what happened inbetween, the PG-13 pictures are behind the links.
here
and here
And if you would like to see the pictures that would make small children cry, the whole album is behind this link.
don't say I didn't warn you
This is a picture of the set-up. The pallet on the ground is where we dispatched it head, then we stuck them in the orange cone to bleed out. The table was were we skinned and gutted them, putting the remains in the blue bucket and the finished product in the big silver can with ice.
This is the finished product.
If you would like to see what happened inbetween, the PG-13 pictures are behind the links.
here
and here
And if you would like to see the pictures that would make small children cry, the whole album is behind this link.
don't say I didn't warn you
Friday, May 15, 2009
Dia's recovery
I don't usually post without pictures to share, but I thought I would take a moment to update everyone on how Dia is recovering. She's had a tough couple of weeks and we've been worried about her. We've had two friends come to the house to visit us and she was scared of them both. The first friend she really freaked out about and wouldn't be in the same room with her. The second one was a little better, but she still wouldn't settle down enough to be touched. She didn't appear to have this problem when we got her... she came up to us and made friends instantly.
On Monday she went and got her staples out. She growled at the vet tech when came to get her. We perceived this is normal, as the last time the vet tech came to get her she got staples in her head. Other than that, she was slightly fearful in the waiting room, but warmed up considerably to the other dogs and ended up practically licking the face off this tiny toy dog.
The next day we had the unfortunate discovery that she had broken open a bit of one of the incisions. When they stapled her closed they did bunch the skin up so much that one of her eyes was pulled up and it looked like she'd had a bad face lift. We wondered if she just blinked really hard and that was all it took to break it open. It was oozing some clear pus and blood and I was pretty grossed out, but didn't panic as it wasn't gushing blood. My dad actually came to visit that night and I asked him about it, although I knew he was going to say she was fine. Her brains could have been leaking out and he would have said she was fine. I can't tell if his stoic lack of empathy for living creatures is real or if it's just a running joke. Anyway, of course he said she was fine. I've gobbed some neosporin on it as she keeps scratching it or running her head into things and breaking it open and it oozes again. At lunch today she thought it would be appropriate to rub it on my work pants, so now I have sticky pus crusted on my pants.
She was pretty aggressive towards my dad, but we thought it was more appropriate than the freaking out she did over the previous visitors. She growled pretty fiercely and even barked when he would enter the room. But she never lunged at him or anything, so we're hoping this is a movement in the right direction when it comes to her behavior with visitors. We take her to the rail trail several times a week and sit and watch people and dogs go by. We're going to start taking her to the off-leash dog park when her head dries up. We're trying to teach her that we know when somethings dangerous and she doesn't need to freak out if we're not freaking out.
In other developments, she's playing pretty good now. She can half-fetch. We toss the ball and she'll go get it, but then she'll bring it back and lay on it so we can't get it back. She thinks this is a terrific game.
On Monday she went and got her staples out. She growled at the vet tech when came to get her. We perceived this is normal, as the last time the vet tech came to get her she got staples in her head. Other than that, she was slightly fearful in the waiting room, but warmed up considerably to the other dogs and ended up practically licking the face off this tiny toy dog.
The next day we had the unfortunate discovery that she had broken open a bit of one of the incisions. When they stapled her closed they did bunch the skin up so much that one of her eyes was pulled up and it looked like she'd had a bad face lift. We wondered if she just blinked really hard and that was all it took to break it open. It was oozing some clear pus and blood and I was pretty grossed out, but didn't panic as it wasn't gushing blood. My dad actually came to visit that night and I asked him about it, although I knew he was going to say she was fine. Her brains could have been leaking out and he would have said she was fine. I can't tell if his stoic lack of empathy for living creatures is real or if it's just a running joke. Anyway, of course he said she was fine. I've gobbed some neosporin on it as she keeps scratching it or running her head into things and breaking it open and it oozes again. At lunch today she thought it would be appropriate to rub it on my work pants, so now I have sticky pus crusted on my pants.
She was pretty aggressive towards my dad, but we thought it was more appropriate than the freaking out she did over the previous visitors. She growled pretty fiercely and even barked when he would enter the room. But she never lunged at him or anything, so we're hoping this is a movement in the right direction when it comes to her behavior with visitors. We take her to the rail trail several times a week and sit and watch people and dogs go by. We're going to start taking her to the off-leash dog park when her head dries up. We're trying to teach her that we know when somethings dangerous and she doesn't need to freak out if we're not freaking out.
In other developments, she's playing pretty good now. She can half-fetch. We toss the ball and she'll go get it, but then she'll bring it back and lay on it so we can't get it back. She thinks this is a terrific game.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tetanus Shots
We went to get tetanus shots over the weekend. Roger had not had a tetanus shot in about 14 years, and I had not had one in 8 years. Although I wasn't due for one for two more years, I went ahead and got one with Rog so we would be on the same schedule. It was becoming imperative we get them ASAP, because in the first two weeks of our living at the Helpful Gnome we have both managed to wound ourselves. Rog has so far: 1. cut his forehead open with a rusty nail, and 2. taken a chunk of flesh off his finger with a hammer. Chelsea has: 1. cut her hand open with a handsaw.
Some quick facts about tetanus, courtesy of the National Institute of Health:
The bacteria that causes tetanus is found in dirt, manure, and dust. It will usually only grow in your body if entered by a deep wound, such as a nail puncture or a knife cut.
Tetanus causes the locking of muscles, spasms, and fever. It is called 'lockjaw' because one of the first symptoms is the locking of the jaw muscles, preventing eating and sometimes causing suffocation.
10%-20% of people who develop tetanus die. Others will spend weeks in the hospital on a ventilator.
I read a blog from another homesteading farm, and they detailed the chronicle of one of them cutting her hand open with a rusty knife. The first picture was of a particularly nasty wound, which they washed out. Then that night it began to swell, and by the next night she had red lines shooting up her arm from the wound. One again, they took pictures to document for the blog. They called the doc and he said go to ER ASAP... where they had to put her on an IV of antibiotics plus a round of oral.
Oh, bacteria.
Some quick facts about tetanus, courtesy of the National Institute of Health:
The bacteria that causes tetanus is found in dirt, manure, and dust. It will usually only grow in your body if entered by a deep wound, such as a nail puncture or a knife cut.
Tetanus causes the locking of muscles, spasms, and fever. It is called 'lockjaw' because one of the first symptoms is the locking of the jaw muscles, preventing eating and sometimes causing suffocation.
10%-20% of people who develop tetanus die. Others will spend weeks in the hospital on a ventilator.
I read a blog from another homesteading farm, and they detailed the chronicle of one of them cutting her hand open with a rusty knife. The first picture was of a particularly nasty wound, which they washed out. Then that night it began to swell, and by the next night she had red lines shooting up her arm from the wound. One again, they took pictures to document for the blog. They called the doc and he said go to ER ASAP... where they had to put her on an IV of antibiotics plus a round of oral.
Oh, bacteria.
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