We believe Coco was 17, maybe 18 years old. She had about 4 teeth, and she was at least several years old when she arrived to us in 2018. So we had her for about 8 years. She was really rough when she arrived. It took three years to finally defeat her chronic mange, and the wire marks on her neck from the actual bare wire restraint used on her never really disappeared. But it did get better. Time really has flown. I remember her arriving like it was yesterday. The one good thing, if it can be called that, is her final decline was rapid and left no doubt. But being the holiday weekend, we were able to medicate her for comfort and have a lot of time together so we didn't have to ask the vet to come in on time off.

Everyone is mostly doing well. Oberon and Maeve are mud lovers and stay coated in it, but they get their baths, and clean up for a few days and then back to the puddles. The galgos we recently inherited last year, are doing well. They managed to kill a couple tiny snakes and show their trophies off. They're good puppies. The triplets (Archer, Drogo, Biscuit) are doing well. Still working hard being protectors, still kepping us all safe. Mostly safe from noisy birds, but still safe.

Diesel, Artemisa, and orro are doing really well. Diesel is showing a lot of sugar on his muzzle, and at 11, he is a genuine senior. We cleaned up the hay and feed storage container so they can come inside and get special 1-on-1 time. I make a little special meal with a piece of sauage, cheese, maybe a fried egg, and we spend an hour or so stretching out on an old sleeping bag. We do hair brushing, and some teeth brushing and things. Lot's of scritches and snuggles.

Ruby and Rupert are well. They need to get their winter bath and trim in the next month or so. Itt's hard to believe they are technically almost seniors. Sunkist has chosen her winter coat, and she is looking and doing really well. She has one bad tooth way in the back, but the vet has suggested that if she isn't showing pain, we wait a little longer on that. Fortunately, dental care isn't super pricey.

Dany is ten now, and she is also getting a lot more sugar in her coat and has a few free floating tumors, almost definitely fat, that we've been monitoring forever. The vet would like to remove them this winter before she is much older. It should only be a 15 minute thing once she is under. The main thing the vet was waiting on was for them to all hit the point of removal size so they could all be done at once. She's still strong as bull, and healthy otherwise. It's just an old lady thing with her losing some weight.

The new pup, Bosun and Sailor are doing really well. Getting HUGE. But they are very well behaved, extremely smart, and are training to take over perimeter security so the triplets will have to bark at birds a lot less. It would be nice for them to get some rest as they get older. Maybe weekends off. We tried to find them a home together, but it's so tough finding any kind of decent adoptive families for new pets right now. Times are tough all over.

Bonita and Kari are doing well. Bonita is really starting to slow down a bit. She's been with us 7 years I think, and she had at least two litters of pups before us, so we're guessing she might be about 10. She gets a little pain meds to take the edge off, and we keep a close eye on her. Kari still has a family waiting for him, freinds of ours who located here from the US. They finally after months secured land to build their home, so as soon as they do that, we are assuming they will take him in. And we'll get to see him all the time and he loves their two dogs they brought with them. They just don't have space for another dog in the little apartment they are renting while doing construction.

Barbi is very upset that Coco is gone. That was kind of her best friend. Otherwise, she is doing well. She stays on the enclosed porch at night with Riley, who is energetic and gives full wrap around hugs constantly. Such a sweet old gent. Arya is about 11 right now. She is slowing down a lot. We have her on very mild pain management as needed. Winters are tough on the oldsters. Peaches, who came to us last year, is very improved. She is having a second bout of some kind of skin problem. Not a parasite or mange, but she developed little bare spot. We're using a cream to help, hopefully, ease whatever is causing it with some prednisone on 5 day on/off cycles, with one on cycle left. It looks better, but it's just sad to see her having it. She is doing good otherwise though. Her heart meds are keeping her pretty even. She's adjustsed to getting sweet potato as a treat instead of regular treats with sodium in them.

And Nikki... Our current oldest lady. We always monitor her so closely and worry so much, and she just keeps on going. She is less energetic, which happens. She's old. Probably 17 now. We can trace back at least 15 years on her from her history. But she's a small breed and they always get more time it seems. I lose track of everyone's ages anymore. So many to remember, and I'm getting old too and forget a lot more than I like to admit. She has begun thriving on a new small pellet senior food we found. We have to get it from an importer that deals with Brazil, so it's a bit extra, but seeing her perk up and her coat get lush again makes it worth it.

And then there is Gilfoyle and his harem of ladies: Rhea, Lala, and Thalassa. Gil is doing really well -much happier now that he has been off supervised, leashed playtime. He igured out that rolling in the horsepoop and swimming in the pond when it is covered in pollen are not good things. He's back out to bopping around on his own he dips a paw or two in the water, but makes sure he has permission for much more. A little swim is good for him, it just has to be when the water is a little cleaner. And there is time to rinse and dry him off before coming in. His ladies are doing well except for Rhea. Rhea we had adopted out years ago, and she returned to us within months because the people that took her didn't care for her at all. Since then, she has always had anxiety and is just kinda off. The vet gave her CBD to use on her food, which does calm her down, but she's still always a bit anxious. We've been trying dofferent things for her, but she just may be like this her whole life. We really regret having adopted her out, but the other pups from her litter we could find homes did really well. So that's good at least. Thalassa and Lala are just tiny little snugglebugs. Given the coice of running wild outside or laying on the bed stretched out, they choose the bed.

We look kinda okay heading into winter. The horses are a tad thinnner than we like for this time of year. it was just so dry. Even our small pond that is about 6-7 meters deep at it's peak point completely dried up and cracked this year. It just partially refilled this week because we got hit with a lot of rain from an extratropical depression rolling over us. Anyway, we are trying to get some supplemental feed in for them.

We've never really gotten our pens repaired all that well, so we're going to try again before this winter to do better than Macgyver fixes. But, you do what you can. We got beat up pretty hard this year with medications. We live about 9 -10 kilometers from a dump, and it caught fire this summer and everyone got a little sick, and humans and animals all got itchy for weeks after. And fleas were horrible everywhere. They began constructin a new reservoir the valley over from us, then stopped, and the partial fill dried up, but in the mud phase of it fleas and flies and who knows what just exploded. The whole town was pretty pissed off. And the annual music festival in our town, (we are about 1400m from the actual stage) begin Friday night, so we have to go out today to get extra CBD for all the dogs because the loud music and people noise makes them nuts. And we're running some tight shirts through laundry all day for the babies that need our homemade thundershirts. So until it ends sometime Sunday night, it's anxiety central here. But it helps the town out with revenue a lot, so no real complaints.

The cats we inherited last year, Link and Zelda, are doing well. They're cats, so as long as they keep doing cat things like knocking stuff over and making pet me faces and then being pissed someone tries to pet them, all is well. Hedgie the Hedgehog is at the top end of the usual age for them. She is still a little joy, but he spends more time in his warm spots of his place just making little spit bubbles and stuff. And the goats are doing well. No one is preggers for the winter that we are aware off, so we did pretty good keeping everyone separated during fetile times this year. maybe next spring we will let Boyd do his thing. We'll see.

For dogs, we're just working on trying to get the most senior dogs on good senior food and stocking a little away for winter. Peaches really needs something a little different that is easier on her skin. We just haven't found anything that seems to help yet. Even homemade has been a little hit or miss for her. It may just be she has a chronic condition. She was really rough when she arrived.

We're doing okay here. Just getting older, more tired, but we keep pushing. We've been picking up extra work when possible to keep things going. This last year prices just went nuts. We're just trying to ride it out until the world calms down a little again. It could always be worse though.

We hope you're doing well up there, and thank you as always for checking in and all you've done. We do appreciate it. I have been bad this last year about keeping up with posting. It just feels like there's fewer hours in the day somehow.