Rain and Wounds

Yesterday was by far the worst storm we've seen in the Central Valley in at least a year. With more than an inch of rain in 6 hours, combined with gusts of wind +50 miles an hour, it was starting to resemble the Florida hurricanes, only with colder temperatures.

At Durham Ferry where I teach, the barns looked like an imagined scene from Noah's ark, and at 10 AM we sent all the students home due to power outage. Reaching home, not a soul came to the pasture gate to greet me as I pulled in, even though the rain had stopped falling. Not even a scoop of grain could entice the girls out of the shed into the sticky brown mud. As I dumped the grain into the bottom of the feeder (just a little snack for the girls) it became apparent that Thistle, Rebekah's Saanen 6 year old, who is due to kid this weekend was severely favoring one foot that was swollen, and upon examination, quite warm to the touch.

Now, it's not particularly easy to convince a 150lb. Saanen doe, heavy with kids, to go out through the mud at any time, but with a hurt foot, she was more than obstinate about making her way over to the gate where I could tie her to get a better look. I'm still not quite sure HOW she hurt herself, but it's obvious she either caught it, or pulled it up against a sharp object, tearing the hoof wall up near the coronary band. Talk about a freak accident. So needless to say, between torrential rain and goats getting into trouble, it was an interesting day...