Found at the new house

It’s been a really busy week. I was going to write about the trials of buying a house from HUD but something happened at the beginning of the week that I wanted to tell you about first.

We went to the house on Monday to start work on it. Right after we got there we heard a sound like a puppy crying. Since this is in town I didn’t think much about it for a few seconds until I realized it sounded like it was right outside the window. Went to look and eventually Danny found it. A tiny terrified puppy curled under the furnace vent that goes into the house! We got it out and found a nearly starved puppy about eight or nine weeks old that someone had thrown away. Just put out to die and drove away. The poor little thing was so thin we could count her ribs and her abdomen was no thicker than her back bone. She wouldn’t have lasted the night.

I really don’t want to go into what I think about the disgusting sub humans that do this to the helpless creatures under their protection. There is no reason, no excuse, that makes it alright to be this cruel and irresponsible.

Anyway, of course, we couldn‘t leave her there. Stopped and got some puppy chow and took her home and fed her. Just a little bit so she wouldn’t get sick. Well, that didn’t work. She threw it up. Trouble is she didn’t stop throwing up. On Tuesday I called our vet and talked to them. We had already started giving her Lactated Ringers under the skin because she had stopped eating or drinking anything. The vet’s office said to just keep her on the fluids and worm her. We use fenbendazole wormer because it’s so safe and effective. Trouble was she couldn’t keep the wormer down.

On Wednesday evening she was still throwing up and had developed a fever. Up until that time her temp was normal. I called the vet’s emergency number and was told to give her an antibiotic shot and some of that pink wintergreen flavored stomach medicine and the Ringers that evening and bring her in first thing on Thursday. So we did. Thursday morning she was bright eyed and alert. Obviously, the fever was gone and she felt a little better. When the tests came back, though, we found out she has Parvo and was loaded with worms. Many, many dollars later (much more that we can afford) I brought her home with a lot of medicine and a 60% chance of saving her. Our vet did tell me that if we hadn’t started her on the Ringers and then called and given her that shot of penicillin she wouldn’t have lived until that morning. It’s now Saturday afternoon. We have religiously kept up with the fluids and meds. And this afternoon she had her first solid food since Monday. Danny cooked chicken and rice and she has had three teaspoons full an hour apart and has kept them down so far. The vet said she can relapse anytime so we’re not completely out of the woods yet but we’re very hopeful. We’ll feed her a teaspoon full every hour for the rest of the night and tomorrow she’ll get a little more at a time. If we’re lucky tomorrow will be the last day for the Ringers.

Whether or not we can actually afford to keep her (and it’s going to be very difficult ~ we have other dogs and cats, all strays) is immaterial. She was ours as soon as I picked her up and this quivering terrified little puppy snuggled up against my neck and whimpered and cried.

She is a bright little girl. Very loving and sweet. I think she’s going to be a wonderful companion and friend. Don't know what her "breed" is and it doesn't matter. She is brown with lighter brown markings and eyebrows. Her eyes are green. Her name is Sage.  She is home.

Introduction and Stuff.

My husband and I live on a farm in very rural South Central Missouri. We have a couple of goats to keep the brush down and some chickens for eggs. We also have eight cats and six dogs that are family to us. Our garden provides produce which we enjoy fresh, in season, and put by (can/freeze/dry) for the rest of the year.

Danny works on computers and does the mechanical work on our vehicles and farm equipment. He also takes care of any problems and repairs on our furnace and a/c, any plumbing work, and carpentry that’s needed. He was disabled by a heart attack and had a quadruple by-pass years ago. What he isn’t physically able to handle now he can direct others to do. Because he has a defibrillator he is no longer able to weld so is teaching me to do that. I wanted to learn anyway because I want to make garden trellises. We have someone who comes in to help when there is something that we can’t handle together.

I am building and maintain our online businesses. One shop, SeventhChild, is for my unique handmade jewelry and hand engraved glass. I even have a couple pieces of my punched metal work there. Then there’s our 7thStash shop where I have craft and art books, craft and sewing patterns, and a few supplies. Also, I am building a vintage shop, SundayzChild, that will have glassware, crockery, material, notions, and odds and ends. Eventually, there will also be Ruby Glass and collectable Tea Pots available. These are all on Etsy. I am the president of our local Farmer’s Market which will be starting up the first Saturday in April. This year Danny and I will be selling our handmade soap, a few herb plants, my heavy wire hooks, in various lengths, for hanging plants and feeders in trees or where ever, maybe some of our free range non GMO eggs, and other things that we make.

We both garden, make the soap, and tend to the animals and chickens.

We came to the conclusion, last year, that we needed to increase our income with something that was reliable and steady. We decided to buy a rental house in town and found one that we liked last Fall. It's a tiny house. 564 square feet. 

The tiny house we bought for a rental property.

When I'm finished with it I want it to be cottage cute and am looking forward to making it that way.

So, this will be about the process of buying the house from HUD (an exercise in frustration and perseverance) and turning it into a cute little comfortable home for someone to rent. We’ll be replacing flooring and doing a little remodeling. There’s an old flue that needs to come out and we’re going to replace a wall with a counter between the little kitchen and the living room. I'm considering different options for the kitchen counter tops now. I may go with ceramic tile. There’s a bit of building and some repair outside that we need to do and a lot of painting and cleaning inside and out. Also, I’ll probably write a little about the other things we do, our fur family and other animals, the work we’re doing on the house we live in, our garden, projects, artwork, crafts, other adventures.

I'm just getting the hang of adding pictures to this so I will be adding more soon.