Mike and I celebrated the holidays quietly at home this year, enjoying the company of our flock, dogs, llamas, goat, donkeys – and each other. We celebrated arrivals and marked several milestones this season.
Milestone #1 – Hooray for Zoe and Welcome Home, Farley!
The week before Christmas, we had some encouraging news for our Zoe, our 1 year old Golden Retriever. As some of you may know, she's been convalescing from radical surgery back in October to address severe degenerative joint disease in her right elbow. Her xrays on December 19th hold promise – good healing from the surgery. Although she still has along road to rehab ahead, she appears to be walking without lameness. This is one of the best gifts we could ask for. Her positive report also meant that Farley, her brother who has been staying with friends for the 8 week window of her recovery, could come home again. It was a very happy family reunion for all!
We thank orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kurt Shulz and the staff at Peak Veterinary Referral Center in Burlington, VT for taking such good care of Zoe. Also, much love and thanks to our good friends Dick, Gale and Jackson for taking Farley into your home so Zoe could rest.
Here's a pic of Zoe the couch potato (above) on Christmas morning. And below, a glimpse of my Christmas afternoon hike with Farley. We're keeping fingers crossed that Zoe too will soon be able to join us for hikes and outings.
Milestone #2- Happy Anniversery to our Sol Llama!
On the solstice we celebrated our rescue llama Sol's (tall, dark & handsome guy in first pic above) second anniversary at the farm. Sol came to us on a snowy December morning in 2010. Since then he has contentedly made Springdelle farm his home. He loves sharing hay with the sheep (above) and hanging out with his pal – our guard llama Caitlyn (below). Most recently, he's started taking corn from a scoop held in Mike's hand. This may not seem like a big deal but Sol is one wary, independent dude. He's come a long way in trusting us.