Stop and Listen

There are some things that I just know.  I know them either before they happen or without being told.  What I don't know yet is how to truly listen for this gift all of the time.

The little things like seeing a friend in a vision out with her husband and later she tells me she and her husband are going out, or just knowing with conviction that I need to connect with someone, they seem almost benign.  It's when I give them thought that I recognize they are more than a coincidence because the message is so strong.

The big things, like death or waking up one morning knowing clear as a bell that my partner has hooked up with one of my friends, those never seem benign. Yet, how did I know?

These past weeks have been chaotic, ungrounded, physically painful.  I had a visitation from the Archangels and my house and I were turned upside down for five days during their stay.  I was experiencing absolute frenetic energy and it was jarring.

Then one of my hens, Dumpling, went missing.  She disappeared sometime within 2-3 hours in the middle of the afternoon.  That was Friday, April 5th.  I searched this ranch high and low and found no sign of her, like she just vanished.  And for the past two weeks I have continued looking for her, still resisting the reduction in the hen headcount of eleven, and asking Archangel Ariel, the protector of animals, to watch over her wherever she might be.

Last evening, I was out feeding the horses.  I kissed Hy Note and moved on to dole out the sweet blue grass hay.  As I kissed him, I had a strong recollection of his very intense and severe colic episode last fall.  He was in so much pain, he literally was walking into trees.  I immediately gave him Reiki while I waited for a call back from the vet and he managed to stand still for a few moments to receive the energy.  With this memory calling my attention, I turned back around to see Hy Note looking at me, and then he put himself down on the ground.  A horse does not lie down during feeding.  I ran for a halter, got him up, scooted him around a bit and the gas passed.  Thankfully, this time he had only a minor belly ache.  Before heading in for the night, I made sure I could hear his gut sounds and that he pooped, signs that his system is functioning as it should.

This evening, I was collecting the pearls from the girls.  As I picked up 3, I looked at them and saw a dark brown oblong egg, which really wasn't there because Dumpling is the only one who lays dark brown, oblong eggs.  

Earlier this morning, the goodles had knocked over a bale of hay.  Rather than pick it back up and restack it, I thought I'd take it apart and use it first.  This knocked over bale opened up a hole between bales; it was like a tunnel.  I looked at the hole with my head cocked to one side because it seemed strange that it would be there.  Carla and I had stacked the hay pretty well.  

This evening, I looked at that hole again and I even bent over to look in.  While it was light outdoors, it was dark in the hole and I thought I should go in and get my flashlight and see what this hole is about.  I didn't do that then.  Bodie was sniffing at the hole and for a minute I thought maybe the ranch bunny was in there.

I was out in the dry lot, again spreading out the evening feed, and Pinkie came up to me licking her lips and with a definite thought on her mind.  So, I followed her out and around the corner and there she was.  Dumpling was barely standing at the entrance of the hole!  Feathers were scattered around and she looked roughed up.  I imagine one of the dogs managed to pull her out.  I could tell something was wrong with a foot and I wasn't so sure about one of her wings.  I ran to the tack room to get a towel I have in there for the just in case moment, and I wrapped her up, grabbed a literal handful of hay and brought her inside.

First things first, I comforted her and thanked Archangel Ariel.  Then I shook up the NutriDrench and gave her some, undiluted, straight into her beak.  This is a syrupy liquid filled with electrolytes and nutrients and that no matter how much you wash your hands, you still smell it on your skin.  I put her in the kennel and ran out to get more hay.  The goodles were circling and calling me, Pinkie was hiding under the shelf in the garage because I had scolded her and Bodie wouldn't come close.   Dumpling's water cup was filled immediately and put directly under her nose.  I could hear Shadow and Pippin walking in the gravel, not where I want them to be, and as I went down to the hen house to get her some food, I found Shadow inside eating the grain.  Thankfully, he has become accustomed to being chased from inside and walked out on his own--it was easy, I needed that.

I left the goats out to browse and I went back in with the pellets and set them out for her.  I wet my fingers and put them to her beak.  And then I gave her a Reiki treatment.  She settled right down, closed her eyes and I watched her body rise and fall with her breaths.

Chores still needed to be completed, so I reassured her I'd be back.  She turned her head and looked at me and I could feel her gratitude.  I asked Hy Note, the guardian angel of my animals, to help her heal.  I told Alibi she was back--for the past two weeks I've been asking him if he saw anything.  Shadow is such an old soul. As I held him, I asked him to send all of his angels to give Dumpling strength.  When I locked up the hens, I told them Dumpling was in the house.  Truly, very truly, they reacted!  Heads up, chicken chatter amongst them.

With the flashlight, I went to look at that hole in the hay. It's only a bale-width deep.  I looked from above; could she have fallen in?  It was not likely.  The hole is on the bottom layer of hay, so it is on a pallet.  I suppose it's possible she got stuck, which explains her hurt foot.  And did the dog/s drag her out?  I think so.  Why isn't there a pile of chicken poop in there?  I don't have a very good explanation.

Just now, I checked on her again, and she is alert and looks directly at me.  Where was she for over two weeks?

Getting back to listening.  Her disappearance never seemed final for me and for these past two weeks I have been asking Archangel Ariel to bring her back, in one form or another.  My petitions didn't seem futile.

After the Archangels left my house, I understood the need for the chaos.  I had become so consumed by external events and influences in my life, that I couldn't keep anything straight in my mind.  I couldn't remember from one minute to the next, seriously.  So, if they couldn't get me to stop and go inward on my own, they were going to bang me up and bruise me quite a bit.  Kind of like being hit over the head with a frying pan--you certainly could not ignore that!

Recognizing this place of inquietude, I went for an acupuncture treatment last Thursday.  Everything shifted and lifted.  I felt joy again.  Last Friday, I really did dance for joy!

With that veil of heaviness and gloom shaken off, I could be available again to tune into this gift of intuition, of knowing, of seeing.

What did I learn?  Trust it.  It's real.

Safe Flight, My Hens

Jeff and Heather, Chris, Brittany and their two month old angel Luca came over this evening to take several of my hennies to their new home.

The upkeep of three hen houses and the care of 18 hens and one rooster is a challenge for one person.  Jorge, the ranch hand, has been instructed to no longer help me with any of the animal care.  How unfortunate.

A great part of Jorge's love for his job has been working with the animals.  He told me he is uncomfortable with this new directive as he recognizes the labor involved for one person.  He said he was sad about it because he misses the interaction with the animals and the variety in his day, making it anything but routine.

It does tug at my heart to see him drive by the animals and not stop and do some of the things he used to do.  He actually looks the other direction.  He is fighting his instinct as he is a natural caregiver.  The animals do not understand his distance.  They grew fond of him, his kindness and his gentle ways.  The goats used to get daily rides in the golf cart.  Now it's as if he shuns them, but I know it is not so.

The time has come to ease my load a bit.

Juliet, Ruby, Blanca, and Zorra, four of my new baby hens, were put in the poultry crate along with Dumpling and Black, two of my one year old hens.

Dumpling has been like a mother hen to the babies.  She has been showing them around the ranch and the places to find bugs, take a dirt bath and where there is protection and shade for a nap.   When they scratch up by the grasses at the canal, she is always with them.  Black is a very docile Black Australorp who ruffles no feathers.  They will be a harmonious flock.

Chris and Jeff are biologists for the Wildlife Services.  I met Jeff when he answered my call for help in investigating what was killing my ducks.  He's smart.

Jeff had mentioned he was setting up his new chicken coop.  As you may imagine, it is entirely secure and predator proof.  When I made the decision to re-home a few of my hens, he was the first person who came to mind.  Jeff had his flock established already but Chris was just beginning his.

As sad as it was to hand over my hand-raised babies and grown girls, there was a sense of relief.  A touch of relief in my daily chore load; a greater relief that my girls were alive when I said good bye.  It doesn't always work that way on the ranch.