Moving to Hawaii

We have had a week from hell (more accurately, hell that froze over).  It started with Pete being sick all weekend.  He wouldn't eat and was throwing up green stuff and we couldn't get his oral antibiotics down him.  So Monday morning I dropped him at the vet clinic on my way to work.  Bad news, the vet wasn't going to be in and his assistant's father had died the night before so she wasn't in.  The only person there was a Brazilian intern.  He was in contact with the vet who was at his other clinic in Canada, but basically all he did was take his temperature and confirm that he had a fever and weigh him to see that he had lost almost 5 more pounds.  Pete did throw up a big puddle of green stuff so he could see what it looked like.  I stopped in on way home from work, and the assistant was there and they were finally giving him IV fluids and IV antibiotics.  He was so pitiful that I wanted to cry as I left him there.  They were hoping that the vet would be in the clinic the next day.

However, a big storm was expected, and it arrived at about 3 am with freezing rain and then snow.  R had instructions to check the cows every two hours and call M if the weather started getting really nasty.  He left our house at about 7 am and made it to the farm with no trouble even though the visibility was not good.  I did not go to work.  The wind and snow did not let up for about 24 hours so M and R were checking the cows every hour through the night.  They did lose one calf probably from being stepped on as the cows were huddled together against the wind.  M was upset that that had happened and was upset that the road was snowed in again. M, at that point, decided we should just go to Hawaii and take R with us.  He wasn't sure the outcome of our calving would be any different if we were here or if we weren't.

We spent Wednesday digging out.  The county plow was out on Wednesday and again on Thursday and did what they could.  The storm meant that the vet did not make it down on Tuesday or Wednesday, but by Tuesday Pete was already feeling better and was eating again.  They continued to give him IV fluids and antibiotics.


Thursday was a pretty nice day and we even saw some sun, but the wind continued to blow.  I went to work and the vet made it to town.  He gave Pete more antibiotics and said he could go home so I brought him home with me after work.  He was a very happy dog, and M was a very happy dog owner....until Friday.

The wind howled all day long again and filled in the roads.  M made it to the farm with Pete to feed in the morning.  Pete got to strut his stuff when M left a gate open a little too long and the cows got in the haystack.  Pete got them out in no time.  M went to Richland after lunch to get some stuff in the mail and pick up some supplies.  He tried to get back to the farm and got stuck.  R rescued him with the tractor and he turned around and brought Pete home and packed a bag and took some groceries.  He got stuck again on the way back over.  R rescued him again and they settled in for another night of checking the cows every hour.

Today hasn't been any better.  The wind has been howling steadily all through the night and all day.  M came over with the tractor and reported that the road was filling in again, in different spots this time, short drifts but up to 8 feet high, so he had to go through the fields in some spots.  He went back to R and the cows for another long night.

It really has been an unbelievable week, and I need to go check on real estate in Hawaii.  Aloha!