Long time, no post

It's been two weeks since I've last posted. Unfortunately, last Monday, our gray kitty Bridger was attacked by two dogs on our own back deck. Mom heard a racket and opened the back door, and Obi chased them away. Poor Bridger couldn't stand up or move and was pretty badly messed up. Mom scooped him up in a towel with one arm, grabbed Sadie with another, and raced him to our vet. Unfortunately, we had a Nor'easter passing through, and the power was off at our vet's office, so they sent her elsewhere. I left work immediately and met her there. Nobody thought Bridger would make it, and I was preparing myself to put my beloved 12 year old cat to sleep.

After days of intensive care and overnight stays, and constant trips back and forth to move him from the day facility to the overnight facility, he has recovered to the point that we were finally able to bring him home Friday night. He still has some neurological damage that we hope clears up- he's walking awkwardly and seems to be in pain, but we think he's going to make it. He's living in the small bedroom downstairs, and we're giving him many pills and homemade food and trying to nurse him back to health. At least he seems happy.

We're trying to decide what to do about our neighbors. We realized in the middle of the week that we knew where the dogs lived, and the owners are heavy drinkers and let their dogs live in a pen all the time. It's not uncommon for the dogs to escape and run through the neighborhood. I guess I need to call Animal Control, but I also think they should reimburse us for the $3000 bill we've paid thus far for Bridger's medical bills. Dream on, right?

We managed to get out and about this weekend for the 12th Annual Piedmont Farm Tour Those of you who have been reading our blog for a while probably remember our pictures from the tours last year. This year, we brought Mom along. Here are some pics....

This is Celebrity Dairy , a low impact, sustainable agriculture dairy that produces award winning goat cheese. There is also a bed and breakfast onsite. We had a yummy salad with local greenhouse vegetables, homemade cheese, and freshly baked bread.

Here is the bed and breakfast.


Sadie spots the goats. Last year, she was only six months and didn't pay much attention to them.


Her first instinct is to chew on the wire fence. Ewww.


Mom shows Sadie how to pet the goats...


Meanwhile, a baby goat is running loose. Baby goats are kid magnets...


I watch as Sadie feeds the goats to make sure she doesn't a) get eaten alive; or b) eat the straw herself...


She giggled when they inevitably nibbled on her hands...


She raids their food bin...


I believe she actually kissed a goat here. You know, I keep reading reports in the media that today's children are so protected from any kind of "germs" that they have not built up any immunity? Not our child.


Mommy, can we have one?


Okay, enough with the goats...


Sadie stalks one of the Celebrity Dairy resident cats. Apparently "Gentle, Sadie!" translates to "Pull that cat's tail, Sadie!"


Mom and Sadie check out one of the many metal sculptures on the lawn...


And on we go in the pink car...

The next day, the Ciccones came over for brunch. Sadly, I had forgotten my memory card, so I was unable to take many pictures, as my internal memory was full. I was only able to snap a couple of pictures. Here's Lucie. I didn't notice until I uploaded the picture, that you can actually see Milo getting a diaper change in the background. Oops...



Sadie and Redmond chill by the pond.



Later, we headed to Fickle Creek Farm and Chapel Hill Creamery. Fickle Creek Farm is a young operation, with free ranging egg-laying chickens, Jersey steers, sheep and goats. Redmond and Sadie both were sacked out in the car, so Mom and I went by ourselves. We have no pictures, unfortunately. After that, we headed to Chapel Hill Creamery, which specializes in several kinds of cheeses. They, too, have Jersey cows, and sell off their baby bulls to Fickle Creek. We had to walk a mile or so from the parking area in the blazing sun, so we were beginning to feel sapped by this point...

Here are some Jersey calves.



We had a constant struggle with Sadie and her sun bonnet. She is going through an anti- hat phase, and she rips them off as soon as we can put them on...


This pig was scratching his head on this log.


I wish we had found our memory card. I was limited on the number of pictures I could take this weekend.