Its Sunday night April 24th, 2011 and WOW what a few days we have had. I will start with early Friday morning. 5 a.m. to be exact when the phone rang and it was my son-in-law Todd. He was trying to get his wife (my daughter) Darcy and had been trying since 4 a.m. and couldn't reach her. Todd was in ICU as a patient (not working at the hospital as he was supposed to be) and needed to talk to Darcy. He was having chest pains and they put him in the ICU unit and so I stayed with Rowan and Declan and Darcy went to Brattleboro Hospital. They did blood work and all sorts of tests. Darcy called and Rowan went with my sister Bev and my niece Carleen to Brattleboro Hospital to be with her parents. I stayed with Declan and he had a nap. Darcy came home in the evening and they were keeping Todd to try to figure out what was going on. Darcy talked to Todd's mother Judy and Todd's brother Jay.
Oh yes and Rowan's birthday is this Saturday, April 23rd. Darcy,Todd,Rowan and Declan were going to Concord, N.H. to stay at the Fairfield Inn for Rowan's birthday and Saturday Todd was taking an EMT test. Well needless to say this was all canceled and so Rowan cried all the way home but then came to YaYa's house for a sleepover Friday night and which made things a little better. Saturday morning we woke up to the ground covered with snow and its sleeting/snowing and basically a terrible day. Darcy took Rowan and Declan and went to Brattleboro about 11 a.m. to pick up Todd but when she got there.....he had to stay for more tests. I made a chocolate cake for Rowan's birthday and fixed supper so Darcy could come here with the children and try to celebrate Rowan's birthday. Rowan had another sleepover at YaYa's house and this morning I took Rowan home to discover that the Easter Bunny had arrived at her house sometime during the night with a large basket of goodies for both Rowan and Declan.
Saturday night when I did chores, my little Ripley was not talking to me and he seemed very off-balance and like he couldn't see. He also didn't eat but I thought maybe he was just a little agitated from all the sheep coming in to eat. This morning I opened the barn door and listened for Ripley to say "BAAAAA", but there was total silence! That was not a good sign. I kept calling to him as I went down the stairs and nothing. I got to his stall and he was laying down, shivering and totally unresponsive. I moved him and covered him with a flannel blanket, gave him some Banamine (for pain) because he was grinding his teeth and I realized he couldn't see. I had Darcy go out and we talked to Todd. I gave Ripley a shot of Thiamine and some more Banamine and left for the Museum. I opened the Tasha Tudor Museum for a family from Japan that had just moved to Virginia three months ago. Seth Tudor met me at the Museum and was able to talk to them and they had a wonderful visit.
I left the Museum at 12:30 p.m. and went to the hospital to see Todd and to pick up Rowan and Declan. When I got home, my son David was coming from the barn and said that Ripley was really bad. I called the Vet and Deb came to the farm and at 6 p.m. so she could put Ripley down! My poor, sweet little Ripley sure fought a good battle but Deb said she was sure it was something neurological and it was a good call to put him down. I have to call to see if the Sate Vet has to come to take some brain samples before we can do anything with him. It was such a tough decision but I know it was the right thing to do. "Farewell my sweet little Ripples".
Next, just to make sure life doesn't get to dull and boring. I let Tinka, Arly,Juliette and Aphrodite (The Pregnant Girls) out while we were dealing with Ripley and they ran around the pastures. I let them in with a little grain and lovely 2nd cut hay. Tinka (that is the food vacuum), walked by the grain and hay and went to the corner with her ears laid back against her head, craning her neck/head and I'm like "Good lord.....are there lambs ready to be born tonight"? I'm calling my brother Everett and my son David for my maternity back-up crew!!!!! This is just an extra added bonus to two days that were wild to say the least.
Well I'm going to close and go back to the barn shortly just to check on my MaMas! Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa.