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!

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.

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.

Harrowing Adventure

We have had a Nascar trip planned for awhile, and this was the week for us to take off.  I had to work on Monday and Tuesday and we were to take off on Wedsnesday.  M was very nervous about the weather and checked the forecasts daily saying that maybe we should leave after work on Tuesday.  I was the optimist, sure that everything would work out.  Right after I got home from work on Tuesday the wind came up.  There was snow in the forecast, too, so that was a bit worrisome.  M had darts that night and got home about 10:30 saying, "if we're going, we have to go now or we won't get out of here."  Luckily, we were pretty much packed and ready.  R was also at darts and on his way home.  He was coming to pick up our dog and trade pickups.  He put his in our garage and took the bale pickup and the dog and headed to his house, and we headed toward Richland.  We didn't get very far when the cell phone rang.  R was stuck.  He had also lost the fan belt (again) and the pickup was heating.  We turned around and headed to R.  I can't explain how bad the visibility was.  The snow was swirling so much.  We got almost to R but were afraid to go too far in case we would get stuck, too.  R and Pete came running through the snow and climbed in with us.  We took them back to our house where R would stay for the night and then ride his snowmobile to his house in the morning.

I was doubtful that we could make it to Richland and didn't want to go, but M was determined so off we went again.  It was slow going, but I could see out the side window and let him know if I thought he needed to go left or right to stay on the road.  At least where there were big banks of snow on each side we knew where the edges of the road were.  We had just gone by the turn to our neighbor's house where there is a slight curve in the road and I was saying, "go right, go right" but he didn't react fast enough and we dived in the ditch.  What a sick feeling.  I thought M was going to cry.

I called the neighbor's house and told them we had driven into the ditch and politely asked if they'd like to come pull us out.  Our neighbor came and after several tries was able to pull us out.  His wife had just gotten home from work in Scobey and said that the weather wasn't bad when she left work.  It was so awful where we were that I said if we made it to Richland we weren't going any further.  We got to the highway and headed into Richland and the situation seemed much better so we transferred our stuff from the pickup to our car and headed toward Scobey.

The situation wasn't as good as it seemed earlier and we basically followed the yellow line on the highway.  That worked well until the lines disappeared under snow.  At one point we would have been in the ditch again but happened to veer off where there was an approach.  We had to buck a few snowdrifts along the way.  Things did improve farther down the road with less wind, but it was still snowing heavily.  M didn't feel comfortable taking the road from Scobey to Wolf Point since it has been bad all winter so we dropped in on his parents at 1:30 am , two hours after we had left home, and spent the night there.  I told M my mouth had never been so dry and it must have been from the fear.  I was gripping the door handle so tight that I developed a terrible cramp in my arm.

Luckily, the snow didn't continue much longer.  We headed south at about 8:00 am and although there was still some ground drifting the road was basically bare and dry.  So, we continued on and stopped for the night 14 hours and 900+ miles later.  But, after driving through Cheyenne, Denver, Albuquerque and Mesa I've decided I would rather drive through a blizzard than drive in traffic!

Digging out.......again!

We had quite the blizzard yesterday.  M was up early since they had two trucks loaded with peas, and he was determined to get them to the elevator.  He left the house about 6:00 am, while it was still dark.  About 45 minutes later he called to tell me I could stay in bed because I wasn't going to make it to work.  He had been sitting on the road most of that time waiting for the wind and snow to let up so he could see the road to get to town.  He lost the fan belt on his pickup and no one was able to get to work at the station in town so he wasn't going to be able to fix it.  He was going to call me later when he decided what he was going to do.

We have a row of grain bins practically in our backyard and there were times when I could barely see them for the blowing snow.  I called M and told him not to try to come home.  I didn't want him stuck and stranded.  He didn't listen, though, and attempted to come home in one of J's work pickups.  At one point he would get out and walk ahead and put a shovel in the snow so he would know where the road was, walk back to the pickup and drive to the shovel.  He said he did that about 20 times before he got into some serious snow and was worried he was going to get stuck.  At that point he found a small patch of bare road and managed to turn around and go back to town.  J was still in town and wanted M to get home before he left and headed back to Scobey in case he got stuck and needed help so they set out together.  J has a jacked up pickup with big tires so he went first and plowed and shoveled his way through and then M would follow.

M said he would let me know when he left town but didn't.  Said he didn't want me to worry, but he knew I would tell him not to come and chew his butt for not listening to me.  I saw him walking across our yard and wondered how far he had had to walk.  Turns out it wasn't far.  He was able to blast through most of the drifts but couldn't see how big the last one was until he felt like he was in the air.  He almost made it through!

J was out bright and early to come plow us out and R plowed his way from his place to ours.  When they hooked the tractor on to pull the pickup out, they couldn't even budge it until we shoveled some snow from underneath.  J and R plowed all day.  It started snowing again about 3:00 and is still snowing at 10:30 so they may have just wasted their time.  This is getting really old!

Our driveway

A little stuck

Trying to pull it out with the tractor

The hole left after the pickup was out

No Snow Fun

The days are all starting to run together, wind one day, stuck the next.  M got stuck the day he forgot his cell phone at home.  He managed to back out after some shoveling and get back home to wait for the plow.  The county plow was finally out here over the weekend and improved our road condition immensely!  Kudos to those guys for being out there all day every day trying to make everyone (or at least Someone) happy.  They didn't have much success on the road to the farm where R is currently holed up.  He has had to bring the tractor to the main road a few times and have a friend pick him up.  He may start going everywhere on snowmobile.

I have had to be at work every day this week while my boss is enjoying some time off in Mexico.  I've been packed and ready to stay in town.  I haven't had to stay yet although the past two nights I wondered if I was making a mistake by coming home as there was considerable ground drifting.  There are high winds in the forecast for tomorrow and Saturday.  Great!  I just keep thinking that every day is one day closer to spring.  Bring it on!

The road to the cows

Our front yard--looks kind of bleak

A Sad Farewell

After many months (maybe years) of discussion, debate and procrastination we finally had our old dog, Cruiser, put to sleep on Saturday.  No one wanted to be the one to finally say it had to happen or to make it happen.  R has been saying that he was depressed by seeing him the way he had become.  He finally said someone needed to man up and take care of it, and he ended up being the man.  On Friday, the vet was out to Bang's vaccinate our replacement heifers.  He comes down from Canada and was planning to stay overnight so he and R made a date for Saturday morning.  R also needed to take his dog, Trip, in for some shots.

M made pancakes for breakfast (usually a Sunday morning thing) because Cruiser LOVED pancakes.  We were going to let him into the entryway to eat his share, but he couldn't get up the two steps from the garage into the house.  R and M loaded him up in the kennel and into the pickup and off they went.  While they were gone, I attempted to find the grave we had dug in the fall (like I said, we'd been contemplating this for awhile) under two feet of snow.  I didn't really have much trouble finding out and dug the snow out of it.

M wasn't here when R returned and R didn't have his boots on so I had to bury the dog by myself after carrying him across the yard and over snowbanks.  It was an exhausting process but I did it.  I started filling in the hole but got pooped out so waited for M to come home and we finished it together.  Well, we finished it until spring when we'll have to do a better job.  It was a cold, snowy, blowy depressing day.  We'll plan a little service for him in the spring and put out a marker.

I always said that he ruined us for all other dogs.  He had the best disposition, so calm, so obedient, so loving.  He was my walking companion and will be missed so much, not just by me but by the whole family.