Settling into our new place in OR before we leave for WV

Once set up at our new spot in Eugene, we headed to the farm store to get supplies to make our temporary space feel more like home for our 3 months of Oregon living.

We discovered the poly-wire electric fence, a small white polyester cording with metal strands running through it. We were able to run the fence using 4 T-posts and about 10 plastic fence line holders (only $2.99 each).

Little Pauly nursing.  No wonder she is growing so quick!
(Portable electric fencing in background.)

We let the sheep out in to their new pasture and watched them go crazy eating all the new grass. (Which here in Eugene there is no lack of grass and other greens to eat for the sheep.) However, they began escaping almost immediately, and Rocky was the first walking around the yard.

“Rocky! Go home.” We yelled at him (he’s not a good listener) as we walked toward him he ran back under a high spot in the fence. So we turned off the fence, lowered the high spot, turned the fence back on, and went back inside to keep setting the place up.

Good job herding Rocky back, JB. 

“BBllllaaaaaattttt.” we heard from outside and we saw Pauly walking around outside the fence and eating weeds right outside the door. We walked toward Pauly and she snuck under a different spot in the fence. This would go on the rest of the day as the sheep pointed out all the weak spots in the fence for us.

Look at that cute lil face!

After a nice day of running fence and setting up rabbit hutches, we packed it in at around 8PM and slept for about 13 hours.

The next couple of months would prove to be a similar experience to our first day. Days seem to consist of at least one animal escaping (cats bolting out of the RV, dog figuring out how to escape his first lead setup, Pauly in the driveway yelling at 4am, etc.) To be fair, the rabbits did not escape once.

However, during our first month, we experienced our first loss of an adult animal. One of the younger rabbits, little Edward, fell ill with mucoid enteritis. It is a tough disease for rabbits to recover from, and the antibiotics that you give can often be as tough on the body as the disease. After trying what we could, we decided it was time to try the antibiotics. We knew that they can wreak havoc on the intestinal system, so we gave her yogurt and enzymes to try and offset the antibiotics. Unfortunately, either the antibiotics or the illness got the better of her, and we had to say goodbye.

Edward and I in the Cali sun before the move. 

It is crazy to think that we have already spent almost 4 months here in Eugene.  We have been working, taking care of our crazy critters, and preparing for the big move in the beginning of August to our new home on the border of Ohio and WV!

More on that move soon...

-Ric and Ash