A word from Annie...
First, I would like to apologize for not getting this newsletter out sooner. It's been a very trying summer and fall isn't looking too promising either!
I would also like to thank everyone who got us through the summer. It was one I won't be forgetting anytime soon!
Since our last newsletter...
As you know summer came early with an unbearable heatwave when our air conditioner gave out. Mice had gotten in the unit and chewed some of the wiring. Once they were in, they chewed their way out through the duct work. The repair company wanted way too much to fix the ducts ($2,500) so I did it myself for $40!
In the following four months after getting the air conditioner working, I was sitting on the porch with a friend, as we watched all the tires on my truck deflate. Two days later, I drove to buy hay when the water pump and fan clutch went out! Four days later, the 2,500 gallon water tank gets a hole near the bottom. The well guys say, "no problem, for $300 we can patch it". Did I mention I had to go back to the hospital for a few days (two more stints)? On the way back home, I drive by the tank, oh look, it's still leaking but through a bigger hole! So we had to buy a new tank.
Another week goes by and the refrigerator goes out. That's okay. I have another one. Three weeks later, that one dies.
Meanwhile.... in between all of this, I'm trying to get the arena finished so I can start letting the horses out without juggling them around, which will make my life a little bit easier. Then Lakota starts to get sick and I get two new arrivals, Ollie and Flynn, the loss of a dear friend, Maggie has a stroke, and Hendrix is also having problems. Their stories next...
Another painful goodbye…
LaKota enjoying the rainbow...
Kota, the love of my life, is now a part of the rainbow... In July, a couple of weeks after I got out of the hospital, Kota started to limp. After trimming her hooves everything looked normal until she began to get a weird bruising. I called the vet. After a blood test, she said it was borderline Cushing's. The next day, Kota can barely walk. The sole of the hoof is starting to rise! It was also getting soft. The other leg began to do the same.
The antibiotics were not working, and the pain killers were not helping! The vet came back to take X-Rays. She found pockets of fluid around the coffin bone. The next day.... I had to say goodbye.
At the speed in which Kota deteriorated, I'm guessing she had gotten a sepsis infection. Kota was always a fighter and with all she has been through, it was very hard to let her go.... To read more about Kota's life, click on http://lastchanceranchsanctuary.org/lakota/
A tribute to Alice...
All of us here at the Last Chance Ranch Sanctuary lost a very close and dear friend, Alice McDonnell.... She was not only a friend but a confidant. Her love for animals was second to none. Alice and I have never met each other in person. We met on Facebook, then phone calls regularly. She tried so hard to get well enough to come out to the ranch.
Our standard joke, if we don't meet in this life, we'll meet on the rainbow bridge. Well, I don't know when, but I do know where! Until then my friend...
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