After another night of constant wind, M made an attempt to get over here with the tractor. He was having trouble getting through on the road so decided to try to get through the field and got stuck with the tractor. He called R who came over with the snowmobile and shovels. They managed to get the tractor unstuck and M got himself out of there. We CANNOT have that tractor out of commission or we would really be sunk. It's the tractor they feed with and the only means of transportation anywhere lately. R continued on to my house and had lunch with me. Although he's only 2 miles away I hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks. M continued to work on the road for another couple of hours and finally got over here. A neighbor had tried to plow from Richland up this way and knocked the wheels off his tractor. The snow was heavy and hard.
His dart team needed to play the match they missed last Tuesday because of the blizzard and M is the "keeper of the darts" so he decided he'd attempt to either get the darts into Richland so someone could pick them up or go to the match himself. I had seen our neighbor to the north go down the road toward Richland with his tractor. C reported that he had made it to town to fuel his tractor and was going to plow his way back home. So, since we had J's jacked up pickup here, M decided he would try to get to town with that. He had asked if I wanted to go along. Since I wasn't sure he could make it, I politely declined. My warm house was a fine place for me to hang out. A good plan as it turned out.
It wasn't long before M called and said he was stuck, would I bring the snowmobile and come get him. The neighbor had not plowed, just made really deep tracks with his tractor. So, I went and picked him up and we left the pickup in the middle of a snowdrift in the middle of the road. We were pretty sure there wouldn't be any traffic since no one could get there from either direction so it wasn't going to be a problem. Sometimes M is his own worst enemy thinking he's invincible or maybe just because he gets too stir-crazy. R and I agreed that sometimes we need to save him from himself.
It was a bit nicer day (warmer and less wind) so M decided R could handle the overnight cow checks himself and he'd stay here and sleep in his own bed after four nights. He was up at daybreak and took the snowmobile over to check the cows and feed. A few hours later he picked me up with the tractor and we went to get the pickup out. When we got there J was there with another snowmobile so he and M got the pickup pulled out and I drove it home, carefully. M took the tractor back to the farm and then rode the snowmobile back here for lunch and then to Richland to get the mail.
There is more snow, rain and wind in the forecast so we might be stuck here awhile yet. I'm worried about getting supplies so I can make M's favorite birthday dinner. On the bright side, I'm getting a lot of cleaning done!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Moving to Hawaii
We have had a week from hell (more accurately, hell that froze over). It started with Pete being sick all weekend. He wouldn't eat and was throwing up green stuff and we couldn't get his oral antibiotics down him. So Monday morning I dropped him at the vet clinic on my way to work. Bad news, the vet wasn't going to be in and his assistant's father had died the night before so she wasn't in. The only person there was a Brazilian intern. He was in contact with the vet who was at his other clinic in Canada, but basically all he did was take his temperature and confirm that he had a fever and weigh him to see that he had lost almost 5 more pounds. Pete did throw up a big puddle of green stuff so he could see what it looked like. I stopped in on way home from work, and the assistant was there and they were finally giving him IV fluids and IV antibiotics. He was so pitiful that I wanted to cry as I left him there. They were hoping that the vet would be in the clinic the next day.
However, a big storm was expected, and it arrived at about 3 am with freezing rain and then snow. R had instructions to check the cows every two hours and call M if the weather started getting really nasty. He left our house at about 7 am and made it to the farm with no trouble even though the visibility was not good. I did not go to work. The wind and snow did not let up for about 24 hours so M and R were checking the cows every hour through the night. They did lose one calf probably from being stepped on as the cows were huddled together against the wind. M was upset that that had happened and was upset that the road was snowed in again. M, at that point, decided we should just go to Hawaii and take R with us. He wasn't sure the outcome of our calving would be any different if we were here or if we weren't.
We spent Wednesday digging out. The county plow was out on Wednesday and again on Thursday and did what they could. The storm meant that the vet did not make it down on Tuesday or Wednesday, but by Tuesday Pete was already feeling better and was eating again. They continued to give him IV fluids and antibiotics.
Thursday was a pretty nice day and we even saw some sun, but the wind continued to blow. I went to work and the vet made it to town. He gave Pete more antibiotics and said he could go home so I brought him home with me after work. He was a very happy dog, and M was a very happy dog owner....until Friday.
The wind howled all day long again and filled in the roads. M made it to the farm with Pete to feed in the morning. Pete got to strut his stuff when M left a gate open a little too long and the cows got in the haystack. Pete got them out in no time. M went to Richland after lunch to get some stuff in the mail and pick up some supplies. He tried to get back to the farm and got stuck. R rescued him with the tractor and he turned around and brought Pete home and packed a bag and took some groceries. He got stuck again on the way back over. R rescued him again and they settled in for another night of checking the cows every hour.
Today hasn't been any better. The wind has been howling steadily all through the night and all day. M came over with the tractor and reported that the road was filling in again, in different spots this time, short drifts but up to 8 feet high, so he had to go through the fields in some spots. He went back to R and the cows for another long night.
It really has been an unbelievable week, and I need to go check on real estate in Hawaii. Aloha!
However, a big storm was expected, and it arrived at about 3 am with freezing rain and then snow. R had instructions to check the cows every two hours and call M if the weather started getting really nasty. He left our house at about 7 am and made it to the farm with no trouble even though the visibility was not good. I did not go to work. The wind and snow did not let up for about 24 hours so M and R were checking the cows every hour through the night. They did lose one calf probably from being stepped on as the cows were huddled together against the wind. M was upset that that had happened and was upset that the road was snowed in again. M, at that point, decided we should just go to Hawaii and take R with us. He wasn't sure the outcome of our calving would be any different if we were here or if we weren't.
We spent Wednesday digging out. The county plow was out on Wednesday and again on Thursday and did what they could. The storm meant that the vet did not make it down on Tuesday or Wednesday, but by Tuesday Pete was already feeling better and was eating again. They continued to give him IV fluids and antibiotics.
Thursday was a pretty nice day and we even saw some sun, but the wind continued to blow. I went to work and the vet made it to town. He gave Pete more antibiotics and said he could go home so I brought him home with me after work. He was a very happy dog, and M was a very happy dog owner....until Friday.
The wind howled all day long again and filled in the roads. M made it to the farm with Pete to feed in the morning. Pete got to strut his stuff when M left a gate open a little too long and the cows got in the haystack. Pete got them out in no time. M went to Richland after lunch to get some stuff in the mail and pick up some supplies. He tried to get back to the farm and got stuck. R rescued him with the tractor and he turned around and brought Pete home and packed a bag and took some groceries. He got stuck again on the way back over. R rescued him again and they settled in for another night of checking the cows every hour.
Today hasn't been any better. The wind has been howling steadily all through the night and all day. M came over with the tractor and reported that the road was filling in again, in different spots this time, short drifts but up to 8 feet high, so he had to go through the fields in some spots. He went back to R and the cows for another long night.
It really has been an unbelievable week, and I need to go check on real estate in Hawaii. Aloha!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Surgery again........and again
When we got home from our trip we noticed that Pete was not himself. As the week progressed he didn't get any better, wouldn't eat, barely drank, threw up once. We knew that the last time he acted this way he had eaten a couple of rocks and had to have them surgically removed. R did say that he had coughed up a big rock the day before we got home. By Friday, we were very concerned. The local vet clinic is run by two vets from Canada so they are not here all the time. M knew that one was in town so he called on Friday to make sure he was going to be there all day so we could bring Pete in.
We woke up to a blizzard which got worse instead of better so on M's first attempt out of the yard he made it as far as our mailbox, couldn't see the road and turned around and came home. It did let up a bit in the afternoon so he made a run for it with Pete. I was afraid he'd get stuck along the way, but he made it. He did have to have his brother bring the plow out to work on one spot so he could get back home.
A rock in the gut was confirmed by x-ray so Pete was in surgery by about 4:30 Friday afternoon and had to spend the weekend at the vet clinic. M thought of breaking him out on Sunday but left him there until Monday. He had to go to town to see the crop insurance agent so he picked up Pete and took him to visit his parents while he finished his business in town.
Pete was so happy to be home! I asked about when we were supposed to take out the stitches and M said the vet didn't say anything about it. The next morning I finally looked at his belly and realized that there weren't any stitches and the incision was glued. I also noticed that he had a small hole in the incision. We thought it was kind of funny that he didn't come home in a cone and decided that he should probably be in one so that he didn't lick at the incision. We found an old one (been through this before) and put it on him, but he was having a hard time with it so by evening M took it off and put on his life jacket to cove the incision and keep him from licking at it. That didn't work well, either. He acted like he couldn't move with it on. I thought he was just so embarrassed at wearing a life jacket in the house. M decided that wasn't working either so took it off and went back to the cone. The incision was looking worse instead of better, more open and weeping a bit, so we made another call to the vet this morning.
M said I could drop him off at the clinic on my way to work because he didn't feel like he could take that much time away since R is gone and M is on cow duty. No problem. The vet's assistant said that if I got there before anyone was there I could find the key to the back door in a magnetic key holder outside and put him in the back room. I did arrive before anyone else so I left Pete in the pickup and found the key holder and dropped it. It popped open and the key flew out but wasn't lost, thank goodness! I opened the door and a cat ran in. I tried to put the key holder back together and dropped it again and the top part of it broke. Great. I went to get Pete who had realized where we were and tried to avoid me getting him out of the pickup. I had to carry him to the door and put him inside and then catch the cat to get it outside while keeping Pete from running back out the door. I felt bad that I didn't have the chance to give him a proper goodbye before I slammed the door in his face.
I went to work and called later to let them know that I had broken their key holder and where I put it. By that time Pete was already under anesthesia for stitches and a drain. They assured me that he could stay until I got off work so that M didn't have to make a trip in. I told them they had better give M a call and let him decide. Of course, he decided to come get him ASAP. I saw the vet assistant later and she was kind of laughing about how M can't be without Pete. I have to say it is a love like no other.
Poor Pete is not feeling too good right now and is very restless. To add insult to injury, we have Trip for the weekend (who he hates), and it's one of Pete's favorite times of the year--calving time--and he's missing out. Hopefully, he'll bounce back quickly. Poor guy. I think I need to go cuddle him.
We woke up to a blizzard which got worse instead of better so on M's first attempt out of the yard he made it as far as our mailbox, couldn't see the road and turned around and came home. It did let up a bit in the afternoon so he made a run for it with Pete. I was afraid he'd get stuck along the way, but he made it. He did have to have his brother bring the plow out to work on one spot so he could get back home.
A rock in the gut was confirmed by x-ray so Pete was in surgery by about 4:30 Friday afternoon and had to spend the weekend at the vet clinic. M thought of breaking him out on Sunday but left him there until Monday. He had to go to town to see the crop insurance agent so he picked up Pete and took him to visit his parents while he finished his business in town.
Pete was so happy to be home! I asked about when we were supposed to take out the stitches and M said the vet didn't say anything about it. The next morning I finally looked at his belly and realized that there weren't any stitches and the incision was glued. I also noticed that he had a small hole in the incision. We thought it was kind of funny that he didn't come home in a cone and decided that he should probably be in one so that he didn't lick at the incision. We found an old one (been through this before) and put it on him, but he was having a hard time with it so by evening M took it off and put on his life jacket to cove the incision and keep him from licking at it. That didn't work well, either. He acted like he couldn't move with it on. I thought he was just so embarrassed at wearing a life jacket in the house. M decided that wasn't working either so took it off and went back to the cone. The incision was looking worse instead of better, more open and weeping a bit, so we made another call to the vet this morning.
M said I could drop him off at the clinic on my way to work because he didn't feel like he could take that much time away since R is gone and M is on cow duty. No problem. The vet's assistant said that if I got there before anyone was there I could find the key to the back door in a magnetic key holder outside and put him in the back room. I did arrive before anyone else so I left Pete in the pickup and found the key holder and dropped it. It popped open and the key flew out but wasn't lost, thank goodness! I opened the door and a cat ran in. I tried to put the key holder back together and dropped it again and the top part of it broke. Great. I went to get Pete who had realized where we were and tried to avoid me getting him out of the pickup. I had to carry him to the door and put him inside and then catch the cat to get it outside while keeping Pete from running back out the door. I felt bad that I didn't have the chance to give him a proper goodbye before I slammed the door in his face.
I went to work and called later to let them know that I had broken their key holder and where I put it. By that time Pete was already under anesthesia for stitches and a drain. They assured me that he could stay until I got off work so that M didn't have to make a trip in. I told them they had better give M a call and let him decide. Of course, he decided to come get him ASAP. I saw the vet assistant later and she was kind of laughing about how M can't be without Pete. I have to say it is a love like no other.
Poor Pete is not feeling too good right now and is very restless. To add insult to injury, we have Trip for the weekend (who he hates), and it's one of Pete's favorite times of the year--calving time--and he's missing out. Hopefully, he'll bounce back quickly. Poor guy. I think I need to go cuddle him.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Home Again
After two weeks, we are finally home. We made a lot of miles, over 3200, and saw a lot of places we'd never seen before. Our first stop was my mom's house in Chandler, Arizona. We went to the Nascar races for two days which was super fun! You may have seen our sign on TV at Race Day on Speed. I had a shopping day with my sister while M and my mom went to a movie and we had several meals with my mom, sister and brother-in-law. Always so fun to see them.
From Chandler we went to Yuma to clean out M's parents' camper. They sold it so we crammed as much stuff as we could in the trunk of our car and called it good. We got a lot more stuff in than was on their list so we think we did good. Their very good friends showed us around their place and took us out for supper and we visited with them for hours! They also gave us some home grown grapefruit and oranges. We ate oranges all the way home and they were awesome.
From Yuma we headed north toward Las Vegas with a stop at the Hoover Dam. M has always wanted to see it. The new bridge there is pretty impressive. We got into Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon and waited for the rest of the group to arrive.
M's sister, her husband, her daughter and a friend were the first to arrive on Thursday so we all went out for lunch. Then came J and K, C and his wife and a few more. There were 26 in our group once they all arrived. J and K had never been to Vegas before so they were busy, busy. They saw a lot and did a lot of things and walked A LOT! Unfortunately, we don't think K is going to be a big race fan. She was a good sport, but I'm not sure we can talk her into going again.
Almost everyone was flying out on Tuesday morning, but our plan was to leave on Monday since we were driving and it would take two good days to get home. M's sister tried really hard to get us to stay another day. I checked the weather report and it didn't look good through Utah with a winter storm warning starting Monday evening so I thought we should get out of there and try to get ahead of it so we took off early Monday morning. A lot of times I am really ready to get home after a trip, but this time I wasn't anxious to go home, just felt like we should get home. I am glad to be back where there are no people and no traffic!
We had barely gotten into Utah when we ran into rain that turned to snow with slush on the highway. We saw a half dozen cars in the ditch and a jack-knifed truck. Not very fun. We stopped for a potty break and the clerk said it was just rain farther north and that nothing was happening in Salt Lake at that time. The precip did turn to rain again, but by the time we got to Salt Lake it was a torrential downpour. The visibility was so bad for 100 miles with four lanes of traffic through construction. We finally ran out of it and thought we'd be good the rest of the way to Butte which was our goal destination.
Just across the Idaho-Montana line we ran into snow again and by this time it was dark. It was hard to see the lines on the highway and we were getting tired so we ended up stopping in Dillon. The rest of the trip was great with sunny skies and bare roads. We stopped in Harlem to have lunch with our friends there and then continued on home.
We were greeted by 1 degree temps and a nearly blocked road to our house. Ugh! M spent the day plowing and I've been doing laundry. I'm sure he's missing me after being together 24/7 for two weeks. He had to remind me that we won't be going anywhere again until fall. I think I can get him to change his mind.
From Chandler we went to Yuma to clean out M's parents' camper. They sold it so we crammed as much stuff as we could in the trunk of our car and called it good. We got a lot more stuff in than was on their list so we think we did good. Their very good friends showed us around their place and took us out for supper and we visited with them for hours! They also gave us some home grown grapefruit and oranges. We ate oranges all the way home and they were awesome.
From Yuma we headed north toward Las Vegas with a stop at the Hoover Dam. M has always wanted to see it. The new bridge there is pretty impressive. We got into Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon and waited for the rest of the group to arrive.
M's sister, her husband, her daughter and a friend were the first to arrive on Thursday so we all went out for lunch. Then came J and K, C and his wife and a few more. There were 26 in our group once they all arrived. J and K had never been to Vegas before so they were busy, busy. They saw a lot and did a lot of things and walked A LOT! Unfortunately, we don't think K is going to be a big race fan. She was a good sport, but I'm not sure we can talk her into going again.
Almost everyone was flying out on Tuesday morning, but our plan was to leave on Monday since we were driving and it would take two good days to get home. M's sister tried really hard to get us to stay another day. I checked the weather report and it didn't look good through Utah with a winter storm warning starting Monday evening so I thought we should get out of there and try to get ahead of it so we took off early Monday morning. A lot of times I am really ready to get home after a trip, but this time I wasn't anxious to go home, just felt like we should get home. I am glad to be back where there are no people and no traffic!
We had barely gotten into Utah when we ran into rain that turned to snow with slush on the highway. We saw a half dozen cars in the ditch and a jack-knifed truck. Not very fun. We stopped for a potty break and the clerk said it was just rain farther north and that nothing was happening in Salt Lake at that time. The precip did turn to rain again, but by the time we got to Salt Lake it was a torrential downpour. The visibility was so bad for 100 miles with four lanes of traffic through construction. We finally ran out of it and thought we'd be good the rest of the way to Butte which was our goal destination.
Just across the Idaho-Montana line we ran into snow again and by this time it was dark. It was hard to see the lines on the highway and we were getting tired so we ended up stopping in Dillon. The rest of the trip was great with sunny skies and bare roads. We stopped in Harlem to have lunch with our friends there and then continued on home.
We were greeted by 1 degree temps and a nearly blocked road to our house. Ugh! M spent the day plowing and I've been doing laundry. I'm sure he's missing me after being together 24/7 for two weeks. He had to remind me that we won't be going anywhere again until fall. I think I can get him to change his mind.
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