Pondering....

What if I had a sit down conversation with a Farmer about Abortion? How would it go? Depends on the person's ideology of course.
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You're a Dairy Farmer correct?

Yes I am.

Let me ask you another question. Do you believe in womens' health rights?

If you are asking about abortion, women should not have them. That's just not right.

So let me ask you this. What happens when one of your cows freshens too early? And she can't get the calf out?

Um. Whaddya mean?

Well, I mean she is calving but the calf has died inside and she is pushing and can't get the calf out? 

I try and pull the calf out because if I leave it in there, she'll die. If I can't get it out, I call the Vet. He's got medicine to help her get the calf out.

Wait. So you will abort your cow to save her life even before she goes down? Right?

Well. It isn't abortion really. 

Wait. It isn't? I mean if you can't get the calf out, what happens? The calf starts to rot and she dies pretty quickly right? 

Yep and then I'm outta a lotta money.

You bet you are, so you take the calf instead of waiting to see if she'll deliver it on her own.

Yep, I'd be crazy to throw away a good milk cow's life for a calf that was killing her.

So you abort her pregnancy.

No, I am saving her life.

Yes you are! Then why is it so different for human women? Shouldn't we save them from dying too? Shouldn't they get the same kind of care you give your dairy cows?

Jeesus. When you say it like that....

So we pass a law saying you can never pull a calf from a cow EVER for any reason unless she is down on the ground and near death. You and the Vet have to wait until she is gasping for her last breath before you try and save her.

I'd lose a lot of money. My farm would go belly up. You know how often that happens?

I do! I've worked on a Dairy Farm.

That kinda ain't fair. You are comparing a woman to a cow.

Oh. I guess I am to make a point. So you are saying a cow's life is more important than a woman? 

No, no .. no...

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Some guys can't understand women's health and what the issue is, right? It is straightforward. Pregnancy happens and a baby comes 9 months later.

Unless it doesn't.

How can animals have more rights for their health during a pregnancy than women?

:(

What the F happened? 

Normally I don't include current events in my blog. But I will comment on what happened in Highland Park Illinois yesterday.

My parents rented a house in Northbrook while we were kids. While school was in session, I lived in the northern suburbs. Each summer my mom packed us kids up and we moved to NW WI and lived in a two room cottage with no heat or hot water.
As children we learned the importance of hunting and gathering. That was a way of life for my Grandparents. 

That isn't quite relevant, except to understand that I grew up with one foot in the affluent neighborhoods which included friends from Highland Park and each of the towns surrounding the area.

So when I saw the news story of the mass shooting in Highland Park at the 4th of July parade, my very FIRST thought was.

No, it cannot happen there. NO, it wouldn't happen there. Really, why would it happen there? How could it happen there?

And then it hit me. It doesn't have to make sense. Assault weapons and some person with a grudge makes the NEW reality.

It will happen here
It will happen anywhere.

It will happen in
your town.

It is just a matter of
time.

I'm so sick of 'thoughts and prayers'. Time to ban weapons of this type. 

I won't win an argument regarding the second amendment, I'm not that well versed in law. And I do own rifles and a .22 pistol. I am a hunter of varmints, but rarely find any opportunity to shoot anything. I've come to carrying pepper spray most of the time as it is easier to use and is not deadly. 

I have a background in weapons as I trained with them for nearly 10 years as a part of my job. We were told over and over again the consequences of firing a weapon.

We did not have semi auto weapons. 

There are no reason for anyone to own them. 

Not unless you just want to kill humans. 

When will our government representatives do the right thing?
When will our high courts do the right thing?

America used to be a pretty decent place to live.

I didn't celebrate the 4th of July. 

We normally don't go to parades and fireworks. I'm married to a veteran who responds negatively to fireworks and crowds. 

He had a grim view of yesterday's events, and he agrees that weapons of war should not be in the hands of the ordinary citizen no matter what. 

This is my opinion and I feel rather strongly about it. How long must this go on?

Dixie crosses the bridge

Yesterday Dixie joined Morris. She crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  Charlie and I will miss the big lug something fierce.

I couldn't help myself yesterday other than to sit by her grave for a long time and watch the sun go down.

She was from champion blood lines for Raccoon Hunting and Bear Hunting. She never was a hunter. She was a lover. She'd fetch balls, hike, heel, sit, stay, and she behaved much like any gentle giant would. She never was growly or in a bad mood.

She was a great hiking pal who never tired and who was always by my side.

And she had the most amazing hound dog lips and ears.

Dixie. I am really going to miss you, but I hope you found Morris on the other side along with Badger and Cheyanne.
Wait for me.
Love...

me...

So it is March

I think March is more dull than any other month. The snow melts leaving the area with piles of dirty half melted snow and mud. Mud.
If it freezes overnight then I can pull up to the house. If it doesn't, well I can back down the driveway and park at the bottom of the hill.

It is 'bucket' season. I keep a bucket of water at the porch with a brush to scrub my boots off before going onto the porch. It is just how the March Protocol works.

March holds promises of something better than dreary skies and faded grasses. It is also the time to rake the yard and think about connecting up the fences again. Winter is officially over.

Yet oaks that are not in the wind still cling to their leaves.

This March has been a bit of a strange one. Birthdays, deaths, memories, forgetfulness, aging, controversy, disruption, and some sort of hope. I have hope, I always try to have it on my shoulder and never further than my back pocket.

But that is what March brings.

Life, Winter, Spring.

Winter is beginning its final curtain call for this year. The March sun penetrates the deep snows and down to the layers of ice where the melt starts.

The sun is warm on my face as I rest it against the bark of the huge Cottonwood tree. I lean against the tree and let the warm light wash my face as I listen to the water run over the rocks near my feet.

And I think about Life and Death and I think about Winter and Spring. And I think about those who are ill. I think about children.

I am grounded by this place. By this magnificent Cottonwood tree that has stood here ever since I could recall. This creek that is ever changing.

And I know that soon, winter will be gone and the anticipation of finding fern curls and morel mushrooms will replace my love for the beauty of the snow.

I will welcome Spring.
I push away from my tree and let my hands pat its warm bark.

March Madness

I have no idea of where to start things.

I thought March Madness was meant for the college basketball playoffs or NBA or something like that.

It isn't. It is what is going on here.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty tame. Not much going on. I took Charlie hiking and spent time with Sven and teaching him to come and work on a line.

We went from Frozen to Rain/Frozen overnight on Tuesday evening. Little short video of my sled that I used to take some trash up to the dumpster that my neighbors and I share. Taken with the cell phone but it was pretty funny.

By late afternoon the township truck did come through and sanded the hill.
Rich called his mom and wished her a happy 88th birthday and she was quite chatty and said she'd just had a shower and had to clean up the mess. [This was a big deal as MIL keeps insisting that she only had a shower last week when it has been much much longer than that. I found out later that Helping Hands assisted after months of trying and finally got her showered. MIL tends to come in and out of reality quite a bit.]

The Field Agent from the VA called, I advised her not to drive down our hill and walked up to meet her. Her name was Jane and she was a very pleasant person.
Everything was straightened out and I had worried needlessly.
Jane explained how in some situations the wives of veterans had mistreated their husband's pensions. I was a bit shocked by that. She talked of a situation where the wife took the pension money and bought things for a boyfriend.

The phone rang again and it was MIL. Her sister had passed away and she wanted to go right now to the funeral. Rich had to take her now. Rich tried to explain to his mom that he didn't drive anymore and that he couldn't make the 3 hour drive anyway. Sometimes MIL loses a sense of time and space. So when she says now, she may mean not now. She has no conception of how sick her son really is either.

Meanwhile the rains started in again and the temperatures climbed. Snow and ice began to crash off the roof.

I got another phone call from my step daughter who said she got a text from her Aunt in Utah that MIL's freezer wasn't working properly.
I was confused as to why a message like that had to go half way around the country to come back to me. But I knew how to handle it rather quickly.

I emailed MIL's Guardian to let her know about the issue.

Helping Hands reported back to me that the fridge had not been working for at least a week. They had to toss all of the items in the fridge.

We are working on getting MIL to her sister's funeral that hasn't been planned yet. The rivers are flooding, roads are covered in areas...and the stress hasn't been positive for Rich.

Steph and Steve and the kids are coming this weekend to visit.

I took two time outs yesterday and went to watch the snow melt dash down the rocks and creek. I took my neighbor and the dogs on one of the trips. The dogs played in knee deep snow and slush while we watched the waters tumble down the hillsides and roar into the normally very quiet stream.

I need to get back to catching up on all of the fun animal things from the past few days.
How Charlie and I got stuck in deep snow! How much fun it has been playing with Sven the Goat!

Toodles...

Farm life

This summer we had a lightening strike that literally exploded a tree that was in Thor's paddock.
Thor seemed fine at the time, just very shook up. When I checked out the wires in his paddock they had been fused together. Thor didn't act much different but he started to lose some weight.

The vet said that he probably had some residual effects from the lightening strike and hadn't been struck directly but since it melted the wires in his paddock, it probably affected him somehow. Otherwise Thor seemed almost normal. The vet said there was really nothing we could do other than just watch and wait.

Thor was born on our place and was a super funny character as a donkey.

I will miss Thor's constant antics. He would take his water bucket and flip it outside the paddock. If he could find a branch...well,...

He'd hold up sticks and present them to you like a dog. Sometimes in the summer he'd stack all sticks he could find in his water tub. He loved attention and would bray at the sound of a vehicle, coyote, owl, or the neighbor's mini jack a mile away on the ridge top.
Thor was vocal. So vocal that one of the guys at CrossFit said "Oh, you are the donkey lady! The one with that loud Donkey!"

Yes, he could heart Thor from 1 mile away on certain days.

Each morning Thor would greet me when I brought him hay. It was generally a series of grunts and groans that precluded a long loud bray.

Yesterday morning, he wasn't there. I dropped his feed and went looking for him. He was laying down but didn't wake up when I approached.

He was still slightly warm but had no pulse.
Gone.

Your voice will echo through this hills for a long time and I will miss you every day.

Goodbye you big goofy donkey.

Back in the Saddle

Some people may think that my jump right into riding Siera after Badger's death could be a bit heartless.

To tell you the truth, I always hoped and held out the belief that Badger would suddenly have a miracle cure...that he'd jump back to his formal self.

After watching him lose wieght and begin to suffocate and die before my eyes, I started to emotionally try to distance myself from him.  It hurt every day to see him stand and try to breathe.

I am sure that this recent heat wave would have done him in.  But....

But, a few years ago I met Siera, the mule I didn't think we needed.  The mule who decided that SHE was my best friend [aside from Badger].  I sensed in her a possibility of a 'Badger type relationship' and this was before Badger got ill.

It is rare that this sort of thing happens in the equine world.  A trust that is like no other that develops between human and equine.

Before Badger passed away, I couldn't concentrate on developing this special bond between me and Siera.  It just didn't feel right.  I felt like a traitor.

Now it is just the two of us.  [Granted, I have Opal, Fred, and Sunshine to ride too].  Siera has something that calls to my heart strings.

I think I'll go with the flow.  

She is proving to be a one of a kind mule.

The type that never comes along a second time.

I think I am blessed.