Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

My family and I send sincere condolences to the people of Japan impacted by this disaster, and to the families who are grieving or are otherwise concerned with their family's location and safety. All of you are in our prayers.
It is exceedingly important for each family to assess the potential natural and man made disasters which may occur in their region, and make plans and contingencies for such emergencies. All of our readers should do this now. I am afraid that in this particular case, multiple preparations made have saved many lives, but could not save all of them.
Please know that no one who has ever lived, is ever really gone. Please know that no matter what they endured, for a short time, that they are safe and calm now, and that their concerns now, are for you.

Godspeed, Mark

Daniel and our family have many dogs. I think being the youngest child, Daniel was probably closest to them all, especially after the older kids began to head to college. Mark is one of those dogs. We acquired Mark in 2000 from our local pound, just after a dog we got from there, the week before, suddenly died of parvovirus. When we let them know, they asked us to come down and gave us Mark at no charge, before he had actually been checked in, and exposed to the kennels where parvo was presently a problem. (Apparently, in a parvo rich environment, even an immunized dog can become ill,and possibly die.) The dog had been brought in my the mother of a teenaged daughter. The daughter was also there, and begged the mother not to give him to the pound, but the mother was vehement that the daughter had not taken care of him, and that she had been left to do it. They never knew that I took him that day, in order to prevent his parvovirus exposure. I have often wondered what the implications were to the relationship of the mother and daughter, for I would never do something my daughter so clearly begged me not to. Mark settled in pretty well at our house. He was an apparent black labrador and weimaraner mix, who looked more like a black lab than anything else.
When we did some (human) fostercare in 2001, Mark was hit on the head with a rock by a foster child, sustained a fractured skull, and spent a week the veterinary critical care center. He emerged but remained on two anti-seizure medicines twice daily for the remainder of his life. He was also plagued by allergies, and ear and skin issues,which although were expensive, were our pleasure to help to treat.
In November, 2009, Mark had a stroke which rendered him unable to walk using his back legs. He still ate, drank, enjoyed interacting, and so we declined to euthanize him. Although his care could be time consuming, we were happy to do this, especially for one of "Daniel's dogs". Mark did remarkably well and had no seizures during this post stroke time. Ultimately, Mark lived in an air conditioned room in our barn watching a flat screen tv, getting better reception than we do at the house owing to the metal barn roof. We would visit him often,being him special food, and watch tv with him, although Mark liked the weather channel and would carry on if you changed it, and we liked other programming. This week we hatched chicks in the hall outside Mark's room. Despite his own lifecoming to a close, he remained interested, and occasionally that tail would still wag. Mark had an excellent life, and took his last breath late yesterday afternoon. The vet had allowed us to let him pass without euthanization as long as we were able to continue his care, and he was not in inordinate pain. He did receive pain medication in the last couple of months.
Today, Daniel and my Dad have Mark with them. We were blessed to have such a wonderful loving dog, blessed to have him with us for so long despite his issues, and blessed that he passed without any more discomfort than he had. Thankyou God. Godspeed Mark !

Goodbye Sweet Sir Gallahad

On a farm, loss and death are inevitable, though for years we have gone without losing very many, and we tend to lose sight of this. This year though, there was still another loss to come. Sir Gallahad is a fine 13 year old alpaca we purchased from the Pacific Northwest some years ago. He was a half brother to one of our dear breeding females Queen Isabelle, and he is unquestionably a dear friend in his own right. Gallahad is a favorite because he is a gentle giant, and has always been a calm and loving creature. We have been aware for some time that Gallahad had a low level ongoing medical problem, and this was being watched and followed. In late July, Sir Gallahad did not look well. In the course of a day he did not eat, looked short of breath and did not move well. With hard work to feed him, medicate him, conversations with the vet, and even antibiotics, he began to improve a bit. I cautiously believed he might survive this particular illness. We even took him for walks while tethered, to different parts of the farm to keep his energy and mood up. At the end of July very quickly in the course of an hour, Gallahad deteriorated, and while I sat with him, he passed. In those last hours, I had called the vet to euthanize him to prevent any suffering, but she did not arrive in time, and he passed quickly anyway. Daniel now has many animals he knew over the years, our golden retriever Susan, his german shepherd Jake, two large white chickens, and now dear sweet Sir Gallahad. Gallahad also joins his sister who passed of a brain tumor a couple of years ago, and a niece alpaca named Shakria who died while a (young) cria. I hope they are all together and all happy. It has taken me two weeks to be able to write about this. I know that when we love, being parted and losing is inevitable, but we seem to have more of our share of this lately. Sir Gallahad received a farm funeral fitting for any royalty or head of state. Be sure to spend time with your beloved animals today.

The Chickens With Daniel

About a year ago, in April, our daughter Stephanie and I were in the feed store buying feed for the animals when we saw a small chick lying flat in the cage with one of its legs extended behind it. The other chicks were pecking at it and it was being trampled. We asked the owner what was going on with the chick and he said that she had a broken leg and that once she died, he would throw the little pullet away. I bought our feed and asked if he could just box up the chick and give it to us. At least it could die in peace without being attacked by the others. We bought a quarters worth of food for it and were on our way. Stephanie named her Chickadee and we placed her at home in a box with a light. Stephanie deserves the credit for most of this as she took wonderful care of the chick, and I simply relocated the leg which eventually turned out to be dislocated rather than broken. Chickadee was very tame and eventually defecated only in one place in the box. Chickadee, who was supposed to have died shortly after we brought her home became a beautiful large snowy hen, and the only person more pleased about this than we were was the shopkeeper.
A couple of weeks later the shopkeeper broke his rule of only selling 6-8 chicks at once and sold us one more chick to keep Chickadee company. The chick was first called Charlotte, and when he grew a comb uncharacteristic of a female, he was renamed Charlemagne.
Charlemagne, an apparent Cornish cross, grew to be the largest rooster I have ever seen anywhere. He was tall and broad, snowy colored and had a very large and tall crimson comb on his head. He was quite intimidating and even our dogs avoided tangling with him. He also crowed very loudly. Daniel enjoyed these chickens very much and when they grew up, Matthew took on primary responsibility for their care, especially since Stephanie was at college.
We were sad to learn that these particular chickens were bred for size and meat and were intended to be slaughtered after only a few months. They were therefore, not the best choices for pets or even for breeding purposes. This was hammered home to us in the heat of summer when Chickadee died suddenly at about five months. Charlemagne was devastated, and so to give him someone to watch over, in the hope that he would remain here on Earth longer, we bought three hens who appear to be Brahma and Rhode Island Red crosses.
Our large rooster Charlemagne, as he heads toward a year old has been slowing down. Daniel bought a new rooster to be housed separately named Ross in order to watch the girls in anticipation of Charlemagne's passing.
On Friday the 13th after a long day of running around the yard, settled in the corner of his cage and passed quietly. We buried him this morning. Chickadee and Charlemagne are once again together, and Daniel now has the chickens he knew first with him.
Charlemagne the Rooster b April 1, 2008 d March 13, 2009


#Chickens,#Bereavement,#LayeredLosses,LossofPets,#Daniel,#DanielofVirginia,#AuthorKrehbiel,#Jane-AlexandraKrehbiel,

Finding Ways to Remember

Losing a child brings almost an unworkable quandary. One wants to blot out the last hours and the time surrounding the loss, and yet no one can really remember their child completely and fully without coming to terms with our last few minutes together, even if he may have been unaware of them. The time between my last post and now has been spent finding constructive ways to remember.
I remember that he loved our farm animals so I have been lovingly caring for them and helping them with what seems like their own animal grief. Daniel's fifteen year old German Shepherd, Jake, a rescue had a stroke several weeks ago. My time has largely been spent placing chux under the dog, and turning him every two hours during the day and less often at night. The dog has needed hand feeding and assistance with water. I have not had him euthanized as he is still comfortable and still hydrated. He also seems to understand and enjoy the attention. I have told him that when Jesus or Daniel come, that he is free to go with them, and that I will see him again when it is my turn. One evening, about a week ago, Jake's breathing seemed labored. I sat with him for awhile and when I got up briefly, he passed, easily and quietly. I had irrationally thought that I would somehow see Daniel picking up his dog, but of course, I either didn't or missed his brief visit. Jake was buried and had our customary lovely animal funeral on the farm a day later.








 #FindingMeaninginLifeAfterLoss, #LayeredLosses,#Grief, #Loss, #LossofPets, #AuthorKrehbiel,#Jane-AlexandraKrehbiel,#Daniel, #DanielofVirginia, #Rememberin