Windchill sleeps in
Blankets were rotated each day, and Windchill himself was turned over every couple of hours and the straw was cleaned, hay was freshened, he was held up usually by pushing your knees under his shoulder and neck so that he could drink and munch on the special mix that was recommended by the experts we were working with at the time.
02/14, 5:00am: Kathi swapped out the ‘moms’ watching over Windchill, letting Annie out for a well deserved respite, and bringing in Dance who immediately began looking over the stall wall with her kind, caring eyes. She hasn’t stopped watching over the little guy since seeing him. The long hours are taking their toll on the caregivers. Dark circles are under everyone’s eyes. The cold works its way into your joints and body, sapping energy. And this is just us sitting with him in couple hour shifts – imagine what being in that 24/7 is like. We’ve had a couple more volunteers offer to come sit with him which should help ease up the wear and tear on the small number of folks we have at the moment. Windchill sends mixed messages of hope and then despair. His few attempts to stand have wiped him out. One moment he seems able to get himself up into a position he can eat and drink water on his own, other times he needs us to help him into a position like you see below and then we have to either sit behind him and let him lean on us or place a wall of hay bales behind him to prop him up. He hasn’t really moved at all since last night.
This morning when I went into the barn to look at him there wasn’t any movement. It scared me. I realized at that moment I knew what I wanted for the little guy – I wanted him to live. Before this, throughout this fight for his life I’ve wondered what the best thing for him would be. If his legs are ‘dead’ he has no chance. But yet…was that a twitch? He can move his back legs! Now just move a front one, please… The ups and downs are draining on everyone emotionally and physically. But when I thought he was dead this morning I realized how much we all have invested in him – I want him to live. Maybe as this symbol of hope that despite the stupidity and downright cruelty of human beings, it can possibly be overcome with the determination this little guy has shown.
Did you know there’s a new app for the iphone that if you hold it up on the street you’re standing it will give you info on your surrounding area – literally you’re watching the video of the street and it flashes information on restaurants, etc. And there’s a new product I heard about (I’m addicted to podcasts so bombard my brain with useless info every time I’m in the truck) in which your cell phone transmits info to your eyes via contact lenses – similar to a HUD in a plane. This would be good for me because I don’t remember anyone’s name, etc. and it could remind me – “this is your mom” and warn me to make a comment when staff changes something about them that I’m supposed to comment on. We had a staff member that apparently changed her hair from auburn to flaming red. She drove me nuts so I always considered myself lucky if I could refill my coffee in the break area and get away from there before she stepped out of her office to begin a mundane conversation about everything in her life. Apparently she stopped talking to me for a week because everyone else had commented on her wonderful new hair-on-fire look except me – I just thought it was a good week. Anyway, a device like that would’ve noted the drastic difference in hair color and given me a suitable compliment as well as topics to avoid. Perhaps in the future it will provide a radar-like heads-up so that I can know which hallways to take to get to the coffee without bumping in to people I don’t want to talk to.
I’m on vacation finally – had the last meetings of the decade yesterday, finished some huge negotiations so we end the year on a high note and now we’re getting tons of snow – woohoo!
I’ll try and get more pictures and blogs up now that things are hopefully slowing down a bit. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone!
Jeff
Merry Christmas from Raindance Farms, South Range, WI
Make your 8:20pm Count
Not many can point to the exact time of their last communication between themselves and a loved one. I can. It occurred on November 13th, 2008, via cell phone text messages, shortly after a father and son finished birthday shopping. Jordan was heading back to his home in Cloquet, and I was on my way back to my farm in Wisconsin. It went like this:
8:20pm: Happy birthday again Jord. I’m very proud of u and glad I got to see u
8:31pm: Yeah thanks for takin me shoppin. I had fun
8:32pm: Good i’m glad. Me too.
One night later and my son would no longer be here to text. I know that because I have checked my phone a thousand times. That last conversation is saved in my phone’s inbox. There won’t be any more texts from or to him but I still check. Just in case this was a horribly bad dream. So my advice to you is to fill somebody’s inbox right now. Say you’re sorry, say you miss them, say you love them, say hello. Make sure your last message sitting in someone’s inbox at 8:20pm or whenever is something you’re glad you told them.
Jordan’s message left on my computer, age 3
Jordan’s last voicemail letting Barb know where he was that afternoon after school, 11/14/2008
Jordan's Resting Place
Just added some pictures, will be adding more this weekend as I try to get a little caught up. I added some pictures from the horses Halloween party. Sorry I haven’t been around much these days, huge projects at work as we expand the clinic network yet again as well as a much larger expansion sucking up all time and energy. I see the farm when it’s dark when I leave and dark when I return. Anyway, adding that as well as some ideas I had for products that never took off – you’ll see why! Will add them later.
We’ve been working with a developer to build a custom database driven for our website and after testing we’re ready to try it live – WOOHOO! So without further adieu we’re pleased to announce the catalog has gone live on our website:
Friday evening we spent some more ‘quality’ time with that miniature horse stallion that keeps getting away – same little guy you folks know as “Stud Muffin.” This time we attempted to only remain involved to the point of ensuring he didn’t meet his demise by tangling with our stallion, Simmer and forcing others to get involved to raise awareness. Unfortunately – you guessed it – Douglas County Sheriff’s Office shirked the responsibility again.
We do have to thank Oakland Township’s Constable – who made every effort to assist the gentleman who stopped and held onto Stud Muffin for several hours. After explaining how many times he has gotten out – usually in the dark and the danger that represents not only to the horse but to the cars traveling by at 60mph it’s a tragedy waiting to happen. He made several attempts to call the Sheriff’s Office as well as get the owner to come to the door. The sheriff’s office finally called back – and get this – told him to WALK THE HORSE BACK DOWN THE 1 1/2 MILES OR SO ALONG THE DARK HIGHWAY AND TIE THE HORSE IN THE YARD AND LEAVE IT! That’s our tax dollars at work there folks.
Now if this were a one-time occurrence, I’d say yes, I’m sure they’re taking care of some emergency. BUT EVERY TIME? I’ve pointed out before when I rolled my tractor on the highway on the top of this busy hill with limited visibility the wrecker asked for a deputy to come direct traffic to avoid an accident. As noted previously, that was two years ago and we’re still waiting…guessing again they ain’t coming.
While I was at the sheriff’s office last time this occurred – after waiting 3 1/2 hours alongside the highway holding the horse I finally loaded the horse in the trailer and delivered it to their door – one of the officer’s responding from the city to the call that there was a horse that had been brought to the sheriff’s office told us a good portion of the deputies won’t handle livestock calls, period. Wonder if that holds true to other parts of their jobs? “I don’t really like that so I’m just not going to respond.” What are the liabilities to Douglas County if a family gets killed trying to avoid this hazard and during discovery they play the repeated 911 calls asking for assistance prior to the accident that could’ve been avoided?
In this case, this time, we agreed to load the horse up again and bring him back to the property where we’d again attempt to get the owner to answer the door and/or secure the pen he is supposed to have in place after one of the last times the little guy escaped. Fortunately the owner finally answered the door and took possession, after again being told he was liable for damages if something happens from his horse’s escapes.
All we can all do apparently is pray that he doesn’t get out – one of the next times that are sure to come either that little horse is going to die or someone racing by on the highway is going to… Let’s hope they respond then. Otherwise, I’m guessing their familiarity with this term (or some term like it all the lawyers will use) will be increased:
Willful Negligence. Intentional performance of an unreasonable act in disregard of a known risk, making it highly probable that harm will be caused. Willful negligence usually involves a conscious indifference to the consequences. There is no clear distinction between willful negligence and gross negligence.