Miracle Update & 7 Interesting Facts

The first order of business in this post is an update on Miracle. If you missed my last post about Miracle you can read about her tragic story here. Several people have e-mailed asking if we have heard any updates on Miracle. The good news is that Miracle is still with us and fighting to live! Although she still needs to be lifted and supported in a sling to stand once she is up she can stay up for a few hours with the assistance of the sling.


She is eating and drinking with enthusiasm. She has also passed manure and urinated so all bodily functions seem to be working. Lori of Sunkissed Acres hopes that in another day or so Miracle will have the strength to rise and stand on her own and will be ready to leave the garage and experience life in a paddock and in a stall. She is still at the home of the wonderful man who answered her for sale ad and got her out of the hell she was in. He thankfully had a heated garage complete with an engine hoist (now a makeshift sling) and that is where Miracle has stayed. Animal Control referred him to Lori at Sunkissed Acres and told him if anyone could save Miracle it would be Lori.


Miracle's biggest challenge at this time are some of the wounds she has, with the worst one being on her chest. The one on her chest is large and deep. Miracle's wounds of course are being treated but it goes without saying that her immune system can't handle much at this time. It is unclear why she is covered in these wounds. The SOB that owned her said they were from the chains he had wrapped around her. Why did he have her wrapped in chains? That is a good question. He said he was trying to help her stand. I'm not a rocket scientist but FEEDING her and not letting your grandkids ride an 8 month old filly literally into the ground would probably do more to help her stand than wrapping her in chains!


The bad news is the former owner will not be facing any charges. Animal Control went to his property and there were other starving animals. He agreed to surrender the animals to AC and in return is not facing any charges. As is often the case it would seem the wheels of justice are flat.


Please keep up the good thoughts for Miracle. She clearly wants to live and needs all the help she can get.

Miracle in her sling. Lori made a point when she posted these pictures that this is NOT proper placement of a sling. However due to the size and depth of Miracle's chest wounds they had to place the sling too far back, otherwise it was hitting the wound and causing Miracle to fight the sling because of the pain. If you look on her legs you can see a couple of the old scars on them. What amazes me is how incredibly pleasant her expression is. Sadly she looks so much healthier in this picture with the sling covering most of her up and blocking the view of her emaciated body.

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On to more pleasant things. Several bloggers have kindly awarded us the Stylish Blogger award. We are most appreciative of that and thank you to all of you! I haven't responded to the awards yet simply because one of the things you are supposed to do is share 7 interesting things about yourself. It has taken me some time to come up with 7 interesting things!


1. I have pretty much zero artistic ability. I can't sing, can't draw (like, I can't even make a stick figure look right), I take zillions of pictures around the farm yet my photography skills never improve. However I do have a knack for playing musical instruments. I was first chair clarinet in middle/high school although I stopped playing when I went to college. I bought a violin a few years ago with the intent of learning to play although I've not yet found the time to take lessons. Actually I think I might end up learning to fiddle, we'll see.



2. At one point I was the youngest person in the country to pass the morse code test as part of getting an amateur radio license. My father is a devoted amateur radio operator and of course wanted his kids to share in his hobby. I can't remember how old I was when I passed the morse code test (maybe 5??), nor do I know if my record still stands. My call sign is KA4PHZ. I haven't been active in a really, really long time but my dad keeps my license active for me.



3. When I met Jason he thought it was cool that I already knew how to drive a manual shift truck. Apparently in his world girls that can drive a manual shift truck are rare and he felt it should be included in this list. Of course I didn't learn in a truck I learned in a BMW but I still learned!!



4. Prior to starting a retirement farm I took over a failing recruiting company after I graduated from college. By sheer dumb luck (and a lot of hard work) I was able to turn it around into a multi-million dollar company. I was named to Nashville's Top 30 Under 30 and won the Nashville Music City Future 50 Award twice. The Future 50 Award is given to the 50 fastest growing privately held companies in the Nashville area.



5. My degree is in microbiology with a minor in chemistry. I intended to go to vet school and worked for a vet in college. This led me to realize that I did not want to be a vet as my collection of discarded animals would number in the thousands by this point. I have never used the focus of my degree out in the "real world."



6. Speaking of college my parents told me they would not fund my tuition and pay for me to take a horse to college, they were only going to tote the note for one. Of course this was still a very generous offer on their part! I was not about to go horseless in college so I managed to get myself a full scholarship and the horse moved with me to college. I realize I am incredibly lucky in that I was able to continue to ride and show while in college. To this day my parents mention often it would have been cheaper to just pay the tuition and they should never have made that offer!



7. One thing I had the opportunity to do in high school was to get my pilot's license. In addition to being a ham radio operator my dad is also a private pilot. He wanted my sister and I both to get our licenses. My sister got her license and I did not. I took 4 lessons and decided it was taking up too much of my riding time so I stopped. I really regret that decision now. About once a year I check in with my dad to see if the offer to get my pilot's license still stands and he just laughs at me.


Goodness that took forever to come up with those seven things and Jason had to help me. Maybe I should add a number eight to that list and say that the adjective most people would pick to describe me would be boring! And it should be pretty obvious from that list that I am blessed with the most wonderful set of parents anyone could ever hope for. I hit the jackpot in the parent lottery.



Since Jason also contributes to the blog occasionally the next post will consist of his 7 interesting things. My guess is right now he is trying to whittle his down from 100 interesting facts to 7. He is much more interesting!
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Mina and Jo, World's Cutest Fainting Goats, take so much pleasure from the simple things in life. Here they are playing with empty feed bags.


Jo with her head in a feedbag

Mina with her head in a feedbag

I noticed our annual Canada geese visitors were back in the pond this weekend; spring is surely going to be here soon!!

Darby, Ogie and Boo

View of the new farm from the road

Tony and Hoffy

Trigger and Homer

Levendi

Elfin

Leo

Grand

Hemi and Thomas

Apollo

Wiz getting up from what appears to have been a very thorough roll

We had lots of nappers the last couple of days; MyLight

Alex

Kennedy and Toledo napping while Stormy and Rocky hang out

Lily; note her eyes are closed and her lip is drooping