Quitting my TV news career has come with many benefits but perhaps none as important as how it has affected my ability to parent. My relationship with the Producer would have consisted of about an hour in the morning (stressed about what I’d cover that day) and an hour at night (still stressed about what went wrong with my report that day). I’ve started “Hold On to Your Kids” by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté and I highly recommend it. They describe the era since World War II as one where peers have taken over the role of parenting, calling it “peer orientation”. They write, “Orientation, the drive to get one’s bearings and become acquainted with one’s surroundings, is a fundamental human instinct and need. Disorientation is one of the least bearable of all psychological experiences. Attachment and orientation are inextricably intertwined. Humans and other creatures automatically orient themselves by seeking cues from those to whom they are attached.” This has also got me thinking about my pressing question about why so many journalists prefer group think over curiosity. Are we adults also suffering from “peer orientation”?
Hei Hei sneak attacked me today. Dude is living on borrowed time. He is one of 2 roosters we got assuming they were female chicks but turned out the feed store messed up. Our other rooster, Barred Rock, is such a gentleman but he runs Hei Hei around to make sure we all know he’s in charge. I think Hei Hei wants to dominate somebody so he takes it out on us. I tried taming him by pushing his face in the ground but I have only done it a couple times and I guess “training” a rooster takes consistency. Croc pot training is probably best.
Sometimes horses need a spa day too. We recently treated Sassy with a hoof soak for white line disease. This is a bacterial infection in the white line part of the hoof. It is not serious unless the hoof cracks so severely it renders the horse lame. To treat Sassy we used Clean It, a powder that is added to water, put in a bag, then you stick your horse’s hoof in the bag. It has to stay there for 45 minutes. Then you dump the water and do another 45 minutes in the bag for the vapor stage. It releases hypochlorous acid, which is the same substance white blood cells release to fight infections. Sassy is back to “normal”, which I use lightly because our farm is anything but normal! 🤪
It’s almost Spring and love is in the air. OK, maybe not love. But, we hope whatever is in the air, produces some cute kids in 5 months. Goat breeding season is here! Our mini Nubian, Sundae, is in heat so we moved Tod, our buck, into the lady goat pasture. Peter is sitting this one out. However it has turned out to be a lot more complicated than I had predicted. Who knew female goats have preferences and need some time to warm up?! So high maintenance! I’ll have an update soon but Operation Valentine’s Day may need a new mission plan.
