:Raji…and more
Posted: April 24, 2008 Filed under: Art and Photography, FFT Lhasa Apsos 4 CommentsThe painting of Raji Susan mentioned in her comment yesterday…
Katy sent this to me, along with the following note:
Susan and I have been talking about chickens today, and she mentioned that she hadn’t seen her Raji painting on your blog. That’s because I’m pretty sure I never sent you a pic of it when I finished it. Things have been pretty crazy around here; I’m sure you can relate! Anyway, here’s a link to my blog where I posted the painting of the lovely Raji, and my commentary, also a pic of the painting here. I’m also sending along a pic of Zeke and Sadie with Lily Joy and Claire. This one was taken when she was about 6 days old. Zeke and Sadie both have had several “face to face” encounters with her, and they are so good with her. Zeke is just the best! He loves his goats! Sadie didn’t know quite what to think, at first, but this morning she was giving Lily her “tickled pink play bows” as fast as she could. Baby goats don’t know that a play bow is an invitation to play, but she has absolutely no fear of them and did her little happy dance, bouncing, skipping and jumping around, to their delight.
Hope all is well with you and your pack, and the snow is melting fast. It’s so dry and brown here that it’s hard to believe it’s spring. But today was warm enough to get out and plant some spinach, and the asparagus is beginning to peak, so maybe it’s spring, after all!
A photo of Lily Joy taken a day after her birth…
Lily Joy’s birth was bittersweet, as her sibling didn’t live. Life, glorious, often big, is fragile…particularly the process of entering this world, whether you be goat or dog. Katy’s words:
Here is Lily Joy, bright and early this morning, out in her enclosure. (Baby goats have such “wise” yet humorous faces, like they know something we don’t, and they probably do!) She’s doing all the things a 24hour old baby goat should be doing, and had her first nice firm milk poops this morning, as well. Claire is a perfect mother and allows her to nurse and is very attentive. She should be a big girl, in spite of her tiny size now (about 5 lbs. we’ve yet to weigh her) as she will get all the goodies for awhile! Claire is exhausted and worn out and sore, but, with the help of an herbal tea, managed to pass the two afterbirths. She’s yet to eat well, but I’ve been “drenching” her with blackstrap molasses and other goodies to give her energy and stuff to prevent infection. She’s out soaking up the sun right now, and Baby Lil is napping in her tiny goat shelter right next to mom, safe from hawks.
I’m off to ABQ to teach the drawing class for the rest of the day. Hopefully, household back to “normal” tomorrow!
Thanks for your prayers, and continued prayers for Claire’s health. We are sincerely hoping for a clean uterus with no infection, considering all the invasive action during the birth. So far, so good.
Love,
Katy and Silly Lilly ( I wrote what looked like “Zily” on the calendar last night, maybe that’s her nickname!
Ken says no way we’re going to sell her, so we now have a five goat herd!
We did get good sleep last night. I got up at 2AM to check on them, and all was well.
Zeke was very insistent in demanding that we bring her back into the house (she slept there for a couple hours the first night, and he remember Pablo and Paloma, who lived in the laundry room for several days, last year). He thinks his goats belong in the house with him. He’s had several visits, and just loves on her like she was his. Sadie is fascinated as well. They’ll get some time with her, as she has no one else to play with now.
Kunza at FleetFire Timbers 
Beautiful painting, Katy. What great expression you captured. I’ll be working on my photos to send you of my guys! Mary, Roman, Taz
I just realized that Raji is going to be 14 in June. Who else has elder Gompas?
I’d love to hear about how old they are and how well they are doing….
Susan
The people with older Gompa dogs ‘under my care’ aren’t active on the computer and/or blog, so I’ll go ahead and answer this. Raji’s littersister Irdhi – Dee Dee – is fit as a fiddle, according to her latest veterinary visit a couple-three months ago. Chinya will be 12 this September. She lives across the road with Carol – my Carol, my co-worker, my rock. Chinya looks great. Tamdin just turned 12 last week. She’s with my sister Lori. I did manage to wrangle Lori into one comment on the blog, but perhaps Kelly will fill us in on Tamdin since she grooms her monthly..never mind sees her whenever she’s getting lost looking out that bay window! Taschi-Deleg turned 11 last month. I groom him every other month. He, too, is fit as a fiddle. Garma will be 10 this coming October (and hopefully a Grandmother – Chandra’s ultrasound is scheduled this Thursday). Let’s see…does that leave only the older Gompas still with me?? Yes.
Drepung will be 11 June 7th. He is still the noble, regal, compassionate leader he has been since his arrival almost 7 years ago. Yangsom and Katu are 12 1/2 years old. Yangsom looks and acts like a young dog, but her brother…not so. In the past year Katu has really started to show his age. He’s often very stiff in the morning and has developed an odd, stilted gait, which stems from his right shoulder. Arthritis?? Sometimes he’d rather go outside alone in the outside, covered run attached to the indoor area for the Gompa males rather than in the big yard with the rest of the boys. I let him decide which he’s going to do. It appears he makes his decision based on whether he’s up to being with the Wyatt and Thateus as they run, play and chase outside. He’s had more and more ‘good’ days recently. I’m sure that’s because of the warmer weather.
Wow….that’s a lot of good Gompas !!!! Sound like Raji and Irdhi share the role of elder stateswomen.
We will have to celebrate their birthdays here online (since driving fours dogs and 16+ chickens to Colorado probably isn’t an option) in June.
Susan