Tag: Canon City

Kizy, a LGD, Livestock Guardian Dog

Kizy, a LGD, Livestock Guardian Dog

Posted on by Melisa

 

 

Kizy ( ?- July 15, 2016)

 

We got Kizy, our Great Pyr, in 2009 while out in Colorado.  She was $50 off a Craig list ad.  We were her third and final home.  She has been a joy to have for years.

Kizy in Colorado

This huge puff ball of fur could have dragged me all over creation, but she was one of the most gentle dogs I have ever seen.  I attached my lead around my waist and put the other end on her collar and she would walk at my side with the lead limp.  She has always done that with me.

Don’t get me wrong…she was also stubborn as a mule!!  I remember one day when she was sitting on our two seat settee in the cabin in Colorado, and she was taking up the ENTIRE settee…I told her to get down.  She refused.  I tried to push her down and she sat up and growled at me.  I told her not to growl at me and pushed her again.  She took my entire arm in her mouth and closed with pressure.  She didn’t bite but she was telling me that she wasn’t moving.  I, on the other hand, told her that she WAS moving, threw her down, yelled at her and tossed her butt out of the cabin.  I didn’t speak to her for 2 solid weeks straight.  I acted as if she didn’t even exist.  She was crushed…..we talked at the end of the two weeks and it never happened again.  Even up to the day that we had to lay her to rest, if I spoke of that day, she hung her head because she remembered well.  But just to be clear, I did catch her on the new settee about a week or two before she passed.  She saw me coming and hopped down as fast as possible as if to say you didn’t see me do that.  So stubborn……

 

Kizy wearing mom’s dreadlock hat

After moving to MI, I fell a couple of times from the kitchen down the two steps into the living room.  The last time that happened, it was a complete fall, flat on my back, two steps down on the concrete.  I was in so much pain I had my eyes shut, and was yelling.  Charlie wanted to help me up but I said don’t move me.  I had to let that pain subside a bit before I could even open my eyes, let alone move.  When I was able to open my eyes, imagine my surprise to see Kizy’s concerned face about 1.5 inches from the end of my nose!!  I wrapped my arms around her and pulled myself up off the floor with her help.  I adore my border collies, but I could not have done that with one of them.

Kizy adored children.  Even small afraid ones.  Those were her favorites, and she was very gentle with them.  The cats also fascinated her, the smaller the cat the more interest.  It was her innate protection for anything small.  That is part of being a LGD, Livestock Guardian Dog.  She guarded our stock in CO even though she wasn’t bonded with stock like a LGD from birth.  She guarded in the pens that surrounded the small livestock pens.  She was a bit more bonded with humans than stock but since they were MY stock she guarded them with joy.

When Bj passed on in Colorado, I was heart broken and sitting in the barn yard.  Kizy came to me and I wrapped myself around her and her fur and just sobbed.  That happened a few years prior when Chaz’s Father passed and a few years before that when Chaz’s Mother passed.  Each of these passings was super hard on me and sobbing in the barnyard wrapped around Kizy hugging her was one of the few things that helped.  Every time one of those important people had passed, it worked out that Chaz was offshore.  So Kizy was my furry Chaz to help me through it all.

Kizy on the settee

After moving to MI, she retired to the house.  Our pens were not set up in a fashion that she could roam around them, and she was getting old.  We reckon she was about 3-3.5 years when we got her so at her passing last Friday, I do believe she was 10.5-11 years old.  She had greatly gone down hill in the last six months with her hind quarters not getting proper brain stimuli and this was causing her great pain and making it difficult for her to control her feet to stand or walk.  It was hard letting her go because even to the end she was worried about who would guard me.  We lost Rowan about a month ago and he was another LGD that has always fixated on guarding me.  She knows that Broch is the only LGD in the house left that guards me and he is only a year younger than her.  But I assured her that Broch would protect me as well as our border collie Cinnamon, who has stepped up and taken her mother Abbey’s place as pack leader and lead guard border collie.  Kizy saw the spot that was to be her final fur resting place and I asked her if she wanted me to plant flowers on her head like I did Abbey or on her heart like I did Rowan, and she laughed and said I could do what I wanted because she would just dig them up anyways.  Defiant and stubborn to the end!  You will be missed my darling puff ball….sniff.

Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goat Kids Everywhere…..

Posted on by Melisa

 

 

Appletini Doe 2 SOLD
Appletini Doe 1 SOLD

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby goaties everywhere.  Here are a few photos for your enjoyment.

 

Reecy Peasy Retained
Aspen Buck 2 Sold

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kidding season for us is mostly over for the time being.  I have one doe to kid late May but otherwise we are through kidding season.

 

Jill Buck 1 Sold

 

Jill Buck 2 SOLD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flight and motion!! Buck on Right SOLD
Outlaw – Dad to these kids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cameo’s Buck
Cameo’s Doe – Ginger

 

 

A couple of the kids  that I am retaining:

 

 

First Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goat Kids Born on Alba Ranch

Posted on by Melisa
Jeff, the new buck

We have had a few new arrivals.  Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goat Kids!!  Ana had triplets on January 9, 2013.

She had been locked in the barn in the kidding pen for about 3.5 weeks by that time as I swear she was going to explode much sooner.  Temperatures were really low with snow and high winds so very glad we had them inside.  There were two bucks and one doe born.

Smut, the new doe

The third kid born, second buck, was weak from the start and unable to hold his head up.  He died about 2.5 hours later.

The remaining doe and buck are growing and moving around well.  Doe is a little thin and I can feel her bones.  Buck is fat and plump so you know who has been at the milk bar the most.

The doe has a black smudge smut stain on her nose like she stuck it in a coal bin.

Twins together in the hay stack

Aren’t they just too cute?  all fuzzy, small, spotted, speckled and darn cute!  There is NOTHING cuter than a baby goatie.

Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goats have an average butterfat of 7-10% and given that whole milk is about 4% that gives you an idea of how creamy and wonderful their milk is.  They are on par for similar taste and creaminess of a Jersey milk cow.  I can not drink cow’s milk but I can drink goat milk.  I have had at least 5 different breeds or crosses of full size dairy goats in my time and they all had some of that “goat taste and smell”.  Many were very milk, but I could still taste it and I am very sensitive to that smell. I would use the milder goat milk in cheese and cooking but never drank it straight.  I drink the Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goat milk straight all the time.  Charlie teases me that my 24 oz coffee is a minimum of 12 oz goat milk and 12 oz coffee.  He says that he has seen darker tea before. ha!  I can’t wait to see how these little ones develop.  Their momma is one of my favorite milkers, so easy to milk and gentle on my weak and sore hands.

I have been wondering about names.  I have been kicking the names around of “Smut and Jeff”.  What do you think?  leave me a comment and tell me your name ideas and what you think of my idea.

Dr. Bj Ferrell

Posted on by Melisa
Dr. Bj Ferrell

Monday, December 3, 2012, Dr. Bj Ferrell passed away unexpectedly.  Words do not express how broken my heart is.  I have never experienced a loss so profound or difficult as this as I have been fortunate in my life to almost never experience death.  I am at a loss to know what to do or feel.

Bj to me was a mother, mentor, teacher, best friend, my student, joy and buddy, holistic doctor, and the first person that ever truly saw me for who I was next to my husband Charlie.  It is very rare to find a friend that will give as much as I give back.  She was that and more.  She allowed me to give to her just as much as she did to me.  That is a real friend.  She knew the real me….all of me and still loved me fiercely.   She was trustworthy to know the real me and I don’t know if I will ever find another friend like her.  She means more to me than anyone else other than my husband, Charlie.

She never judged and always encouraged.  I had never met anyone like that before other than my mother in law, Grace Morrison who passed on 2 years ago.  To a person who was criticized, judged and found wanting her entire life…Bj was a breath of fresh air to me because she was so different from my previous life experiences.  It took me time when we first met to really trust her love because it was so foreign to anything I had ever known.

Dr. Bj Ferrell, an ordained minister, officiating at her Grandson’s wedding.

Oddly enough, we both recognized a deep connection the moment that we first met.  We may have only known each other 8 years (6 of which we were living in Colorado) but we were soul sisters from way back.  Had we met 25 years ago, that connection would have been the same.  It just took our coming to Colorado to put our souls in proximity with each other so that we could meet in body….finally.

I am not the same person that I was prior to meeting BJ.  I am a better person for knowing her.  I am alive because of her holistic knowledge and help with my health.  I have no doubts that had I not met her when I did that I would not be alive and here now.

She has been a constant source of encouragement and interest in all the crazy things that I do.  Animals from all walks of life.  Making, baking, creating and canning all sorts of foods.  She was always willing to be my experiment and try whatever I had created. She was brave that way.  She knew the old ways and understood them better than I hope to ever know.  Her fascination with all my fiber creations was a great joy to me even though she was allergic to wool and couldn’t wear most of them.

Her interest and joy in speaking with my husband, Charlie, on so many different topics was always a constant pleasure to me.  Charlie knows so many different things on so many different topics and some of those I haven’t a clue about.  Bj knew those things and they could converse in a comptuer programming language that made my eyes bleed.  But they were having fun!  They both loved photography and painting, and although I dabble in both, they are not my first loves.  It was fun to see how animated both would get discussing a new topic or technique and there you go…my eyes would glaze again and I was lost.  I could however enjoy watching the two of them yacking away.

Dr. Bj Ferrell

Bj had so many degrees, so much learning, so much knowledge and so many life experiences that she is a great loss to all of us that knew her.  Her obituary is here at the Daily Record in Canon City, Colorado.

My Scot Born husband does not always express how he feels to the world.  He posted his thoughts about BJ on Facebook and this is what he said:

I had some very sad news when I was travelling this week.
Dr. Bj Ferrell , our first and best friend in Colorado, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. I am still trying to get to grips with her loss.
BJ touched the lives of Melisa and I, deeply, and in so many ways.
BJ was a superb mentor to Melisa, continually encouraging her and furthering her knowledge in health, wellness and alternative medicine and therapies in addition to being the best friend that anyone could hope to have.

For me, I will cherish the memories of all the discussions that BJ and I had on such an eclectic range of subjects. We talked about so many different things; Colorado places and wildlife, American history, world politics, music, art, photography, food and cooking, computer programming and webpage design, and even our cars. (I think she was as excited about our two new VW additions as we were ourselves!)
I will miss her candour and honesty, her sincerity and compassion and, most of all, her deep, deep, friendship.

My heart goes out to all her family and myriad of friends who will all, like us, miss her so much.

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I will miss you Bj…more than either of us ever knew could be possible!