Its snowed almost constantly for a week, though mostly lightly. Most days we've added 2-3 inches to the ground. A couple we've woken up to find 6-8 new inches in the night. We are creeping up on 2 feet of snow total and the world is beautiful, though a bit harder to get through!
We are feeding twice per day right now. I push through the snow to the big barn, where I keep a constant supply of snow out for the young boys. Then I put three portions out for Ryder and the two ladies I have living with him. After that I put out two full bales for the rest of the herd, either in the Back 20 or the Middle 20. Have to keep an eye on the creeks as well - breaking ice with an ax and shoveling snow off of the creekside.
Got the guys back this week finishing our fencing for the winter. The last stretch should get done this week and we will call it quits until spring.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Chrismtas Eve, Monday December 24, 2007
We got six inches of fresh, powdery snow last night and the ranch is all set for a beautiful, snowy Christmas! The horses are content and happy, and (thanks to all the new fencing we put up) very little trouble right now!
Dave and I are happy and excited for Christmas tomorrow and very much looking forward to starting a new and better year!
Here's a picture of the ranch this morning. Peaceful and beautiful!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Sunday December 9, 2007
Down around 0 degrees again last night - in the teens the past couple days. Snowing now, about an inch on the ground so far. Got the Farrier up here and trimmed all the horse's hooves this weekend - 11 on Sat. and 11 on Sun. A big job and good to get it done.
Here's a picture of Chance, resting on Dave while the Farrier works with him - he's a rather unflappable fellow, that one!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Wild Mountain's Onyx Nite
Onyx was the first foal we birthed and raised here at Wild Mountain Farms. He is the first of our horses to reach adulthood and start his career as a riding horse. We sold him this fall to a couple in the Bitterroot Mountains and we couldn't be happier with the match. They ride him every day (sometimes multiple times per day) and are constantly amazed at how calm and capable he is for a three year old - they say they often forget he is not a ten year old horse.
We are so proud of Onyx. He gets noticed on the trail and raved about by the trainer they have him working with as well. He is everything we are breeding for and the first of ours to really prove himself. He's found one of the finest homes a horse could ask for and he is making everybody proud.
Thursday December 6, 2007
A couple nights ago some coyotes got two of our geese. The last two remaining geese are trying their best to move into the house. They camp out on the front step, and rush the door whenever we come in or out. I can hardly blame them, but they are a bit of a nusence. I will have to see if I can convinced them to live in the chicken house for the winter...
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Sunday December 2, 2007
Change in weather moving in and we have high winds blasting through again. Nothing like the storm a couple weeks ago, but its been rattling the house all day, none-the-less. Temps have moved up to 30, but feels a lot colder because of the wind.
Still, the ranch is in good shape and all the horses are well.
Still, the ranch is in good shape and all the horses are well.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sunday November 25, 2007
We've had a few beautiful, sunny days, though its been quite cold. Bellow 0 at night and often in the teens during the day. Yesterday it got up to 30, however, and that was nice. Creeks are freezing up, so I am on ax duty already - going out twice a day to break ice.
Still working out the kinks in the new fencing for Ryder. Yesterday we came out to find him in with his mares (the pasture across from his new fence) and there was no damaged fencing anywhere. All we can think of is that the boy jumped right over the whole thing! I looked more closely and saw that the workers had put up only 3 rails in a few spots (we had asked that this be a 4-rail, 6+ foot fence). I am guessing he jumped at one of those. I will go out tomorrow and affix a fourth rail and we will see how this fence does!
Still working out the kinks in the new fencing for Ryder. Yesterday we came out to find him in with his mares (the pasture across from his new fence) and there was no damaged fencing anywhere. All we can think of is that the boy jumped right over the whole thing! I looked more closely and saw that the workers had put up only 3 rails in a few spots (we had asked that this be a 4-rail, 6+ foot fence). I am guessing he jumped at one of those. I will go out tomorrow and affix a fourth rail and we will see how this fence does!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Honey
We got some really sad news today. Its about Honey, one of our horses that we sold last year. She died suddenly this weekend, leaving a very sad-hearted family behind.
We sold Honey last year to a family with a 5-year-old girl named Makayla. Makayla comes from a family of avid riders and Honey was Makayla's first horse of her own. They adored each other. Makayla got a pink halter, pink saddle, pink brushes and lead ropes all to use only on Honey. She couldn't get enough of riding her or brushing her or walking her.
The only problem they had was that with Honey being very big, and Makayla being very little, they had to wait for Makayla's mother or brothers to come out and saddle Honey every day so she could ride her all around. Well, within the first two weeks of having her, Makayla decided that situation was just not satisfactory.
One day she drug a ladder over to Honey, leaned it up against her side, and proceeded to climb it to saddle and bridle her. Honey stood patiently through the whole process until Makayla climbed up the ladder and into the saddle, kicking the ladder away once she was on. And that was how they did it every day from then on out.
I loved getting updates about the two of them - they were the kind of match I am in this business for.
Makayla's mother called me today to tell me that Honey has died.
She was got sick and the vet said she wouldn't survive the surgery to try and save her, so they had to put her down. She could barely tell me about it through her crying. I asked her how Makayla was and she said, "She doesn't know yet. I don't know how I'm going to tell her."
We are sick at heart for them and for our faithful, loving Honey who gave so much to everyone she knew, and we are sick at heart for the loss of such a perfect, delightful match between a horse and her little girl.
We sold Honey last year to a family with a 5-year-old girl named Makayla. Makayla comes from a family of avid riders and Honey was Makayla's first horse of her own. They adored each other. Makayla got a pink halter, pink saddle, pink brushes and lead ropes all to use only on Honey. She couldn't get enough of riding her or brushing her or walking her.
The only problem they had was that with Honey being very big, and Makayla being very little, they had to wait for Makayla's mother or brothers to come out and saddle Honey every day so she could ride her all around. Well, within the first two weeks of having her, Makayla decided that situation was just not satisfactory.One day she drug a ladder over to Honey, leaned it up against her side, and proceeded to climb it to saddle and bridle her. Honey stood patiently through the whole process until Makayla climbed up the ladder and into the saddle, kicking the ladder away once she was on. And that was how they did it every day from then on out.
I loved getting updates about the two of them - they were the kind of match I am in this business for.
Makayla's mother called me today to tell me that Honey has died.
She was got sick and the vet said she wouldn't survive the surgery to try and save her, so they had to put her down. She could barely tell me about it through her crying. I asked her how Makayla was and she said, "She doesn't know yet. I don't know how I'm going to tell her."
We are sick at heart for them and for our faithful, loving Honey who gave so much to everyone she knew, and we are sick at heart for the loss of such a perfect, delightful match between a horse and her little girl.
Nov. 19, 2007
Got a foot of snow. Wasn't quite ready for it, so we are scrambling to do the last winterizing projects now - tying down tarps on hay, picking up tools and brining in irrigation system before it all freezes. Temperatures bellow 0 at night this week, so I think winter is here. All our downed fences are now covered with snow, unfortunately, but it is certainly beautiful.
Nov. 14, 2007
Big wind-storm took out large tracks of fence in every pasture. Christie staying with her cousin again, Dave trying to manage the ranch on own. Worst wind-storm we've had. Only one pasture survived.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Friday September 28, 2007
I got home from Iowa Sat. night and Dave left for Chicago early Sunday morning. I spent the week grooming horses, getting the ranch in order for the winter and getting the house cleaned. Yesterday and today I had clients come up to see horses and yesterday I took them on a brief ride. Dave comes in tonight and we get to see eachother for almost the first time in months.
Very glad to be home. Glad the season is winding down and I might be able to get the ranch in order. We are hoping to bring in our hay next week and to finish up winterizing the ranch.
Very glad to be home. Glad the season is winding down and I might be able to get the ranch in order. We are hoping to bring in our hay next week and to finish up winterizing the ranch.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
The Fire Diary
A month ago, 3 days before Michal was to leave after her summer here, I got an early morning call from my Aunt saying that my cousin's husband had died of pneumonia. He was a health, 35 year old man, almost never sick. My cousin and I are close and I immediately went out there to help. (She has is fighting a serious illness and is unable to work. He was her main care-giver.)
I spent a month in Iowa, helping her to fight her way through those first weeks without her husband and start to figure out what her life would look like now. While I was gone, the ranch had all manner of adventure without me. My mother kept a running diary of those adventures and I thought you might like to read them...
THE FIRE DIARIES: by Jancie Springer (revjanicespringer@juno.com)
Monday, August 6, 2007
My nephew (my niece’s husband) died. Who ever heard of a healthy, strapping man of 35 dying of pneumonia? Everyone is stunned. Christie and I fly out the same day. David and family drive up in a couple days. Katy flies out, gets to Denver, her second flight is canceled. She does not make it in time for the funeral, but she is here afterwards for about 24 hours. My nephew Jay, Janelle’s brother, and his wife come in. I do Perry’s funeral. Janelle has a debilitating illness and Perry was her practical and emotional support and care giver. We work hard to keep her going. It is an awful week.
Tuesday, August 14
I fly home Monday, arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Christie stays in Iowa to help Janelle. Paul picks me up and I sleep at their house. Katy and Paul have had an unexpected childcare problem, so I spend Tuesday with them, caring for Lucy and Ella all day. That is very healing.
On the way back to the ranch I see a wildfire from the highway. It is not far from our area. It will become known as the Black Cat fire. Today, I learn, it has burned about 600 acres. When I get back to the ranch with Dave and visiting friends Karen and Aud, their son Alex and his friend Emily, we talk about evacuation plans. There are 30 horses on the land. I put some things in the trunk of my car that I’d want to take out if we evacuated.
Wednesday, August 15
I work at church all day, stop in to see Katy and the girls, head back to the ranch about 6pm. There is a checkpoint at the bottom of our road. The man wearing the sheriff’s badge (actually a search and rescue person I think) tells me we are not in imminent danger, but he needs to tell me about evacuation procedures. He asks, “Does your family have a place to go to? If not, you can come to my house.” I get tears in my eyes at the kindness of this stranger. When I get to the ranch, I tell them all that he said. The presence of the checkpoint implies that the stakes have been raised. We talk about what to do. Christie is the mover and shaker of the horse business, and she is still in Iowa, but she offers direction through many phone calls. We finally decide we must evacuate the horses.
Christie makes calls to friends and clients; they call other people. About 9pm four horse trailers pull up, and about half a dozen folks, some of whom we don’t even know. They and the 6 of us begin rounding up horses. That means walking through large pastures in the dark trying to find the horses. It means putting rope and halter on yearlings that have not been trained or even much handled yet, and so are frightened. It means keeping the babies with their mamas. Some get on the trailers pretty easily. Some run back into the woods. One man, a rodeo rider, amazes us all by lassoing one of the difficult ones; it is just like in the old movies! Finally the 3 trailers, one with 10 horses on it, head down the mountain. The horses will stay in various places for the night. Dave drives some down to our vets. Finally, Dave and Aud and I pack up the last 3 except the stallion and take them down the far side of the mountain to the ranch of a couple from my church. Janet and Bill welcome us as though it were mid afternoon instead of 2:00 am. We get to bed about 3:00.
Thursday, August 16
After 4 hours sleep we are up. Dave, Karen and Aud, Alex and Emily head out by 8 am. Some of the horses have broken through fences and gotten loose and must be moved to better quarters. They head off with the horse trailer to do that, taking the last horse, our stallion, to board at the vets. They also go buy hay and then deliver it to the places that have our horses.
Meanwhile, I am at the ranch staffing the phone and preparing to evacuate if need be.
I go through my cabin again, making sure I have essential things for Luka and me in the trunk of my car. What hard choices! I am supposed to lead a retreat Saturday; I finish preparing for that and put that material and things I need for church Sunday in my trunk. I also call AAA, because Wednesday night in all the confusion with getting the horses out, I lock my keys in my car. Aud leaves a small sledge hammer by my car; if AAA won’t come up and we have to evacuate, I must break a window to get in so I can get my wallet and the stuff in the trunk. However, AAA does come up the mountain and fixes the problem. I talk to Christie several times and make some phone calls for her.
The others come back exhausted about 4pm. We do a few details in preparation for evacuation, but mostly we just talk about doing such things. We are all so tired. We get the information that this is a Class 1 fire (or some phrase like that)—the most dangerous, and the one they put the most resources into. Someone said the 10 worst fires in USA are all in Montana, and this is the top one. We get word that it jumped the highway.
About 9pm an official with a loud speaker drives by. “You have 1/2 hour to get off the hill,” he yells from his truck. “Evacuate!” A neighbor comes to say the Frenchtown side of the mountain (our usual way up and down) is closed; we must go out the other way.
A half hour later, we leave. Dave is driving the good truck. Two of Christie’s cats are in a cage in the truck bed. Dave is pulling the horse trailer; there are 3 goats in it. Next in the procession is Karen driving Aud’s van, Emily and Alex with her. It is full of clothes, photo albums of Christie and Dave, financial records, computers, blankets, towels, a few framed pictures, and so on. I follow in my car; I have 3 dogs with me. Aud drives the old truck; my cabin cat is in a cage in that truck bed.
We get down the mountain as quickly as we can. Another checkpoint: he warns us that he cannot let us back on the road. With tenderness, he wishes us good luck. We drive into Missoula.
Katy and Paul moved to a new house earlier this summer, but have not sold their old one. We settle there. We have water, showers, air conditioning, a fenced yard for the dogs. We have a few dog dishes and two buckets so we take water to the goats and cats and leave them in the vehicles. The dogs come in with us. We don’t have quite enough blankets, but we share around and everyone has something. We make up beds on the floor, settle dogs, shower, and get to bed about midnight. This will be home for a while.
Friday, August 18
We go out for breakfast. Then we take the 3 cats to the humane society nearby. They take a record of each cat and put an id tag around their necks. Then we drive them to the fair grounds, which has been set up as a shelter for all animals that have been evacuated and need a place. More records; id on each cage. Smokey and Bandit get a bigger cage together; Belle has her own. They have food, water, a small blanket. They will be very unhappy cats, but safe. Later while some of us run an errand, the others bring the goats to the same place. Later in the day I go to work at the church to prepare for the retreat tomorrow. Most of the folks are gone when I get there, but 2 part-time staff folks are still there. They give me big hugs, say the staff has been worried about me all day as they heard that Mill Creek had been evacuated. I feel loved. Dave and company need to deal with some of the horses again.
There is a public meeting for all Frenchtown residents. Dave, Karen, Aud and I go. On the way there and back we see the flames, and the ground in places is burned right up to Highway 90 on which we’re driving. It is moving to see some 600 people gather in the school gym with this common desperate concern. I find it interesting to hear the behind the scenes stories of how fighting a fire has to happen. It has now burned about 8,000 acres. After the meeting, we talk to the sheriff who says we might be able to go back to the house Sunday morning for just a couple hours to recover more things, though he can’t promise. We can follow information about the fire on www.inciweb.org. They also give us many phone numbers for information.
Saturday, August 18
I lead an all-day retreat. It goes very well. People fuss over me about the evacuation as well as about Perry’s death. They are all lovely. And they like the retreat! I am glad to have a break from the intensity of things, and leading the retreat feels healing. Meanwhile, the rest of the family are moving horses, going to buy a ton of hay and delivering it to the horses. We make lists of what to recover if we get to return to the ranch.
Although Missoula is surrounded by mountains on all sides, the smoke is so thick that it looks like we live on the prairie: no mountains are visible.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
I go to church. Again, there is so much support and caring for me and also for Janelle.
People are moved by my sermon and how I crafted the service. I am very grateful to have a church to serve, and sad to realize that now there are only 3 Sundays left this year.
Meanwhile, the rest go to the checkpoint, but are not allowed up the mountain. The National Guard is stationed there, and knows nothing about it. We have a quiet afternoon.
Luka is one year old today. Aud and I took the 3 dogs to a newly discovered dog park for her birthday treat. Very happy dogs.
Karen, Aud and I go to the Catholic Church in Frenchtown for supper. They have offered a free spaghetti supper to anyone affected by the fire. Like a good church potluck, it offers great homemade salads and desserts. I feel such gratitude to them, and waves of love for church. A member of one of the fire teams talks to us and is very helpful. She offers to try to get the permission for us to return tomorrow to get things. She is very kind. She’s from Oklahoma or somewhere like that, typical of people arriving from all over the country to help with the Black Cat fire. Thinking of all these people, including the firefighters, working so hard for us, moves me to tears. She tells us that this is still the #1 priority fire in the whole country, and busloads of personnel are arriving daily to help fight it. The fire covers an estimated 8,000 acres and is 10% contained, which means 10% of the fire area is no longer burning. The fire continues to spread, but doesn’t seem to be going in our direction. It was burning at the bottom of our road, but some people in that area were allowed to return to their homes, though they are on one hour evacuation alert. Mill Creek Road has mile markers (the only way to find things on this logging road in the forest). The fire burned some areas up to mile marker 2. Below that are the people who are able to return to their homes, but are on alert. Above mile marker 2 it is still closed.
We live on mile marker 9.
There is no refrigerator in Katy and Paul’s old house, but Katy and Paul have one in their garage they intend to move back there. Dave and Aud go get it. We feel very excited that we can now store food.
Dave goes to a movie to relax. Karen, Aud and I play some cards. We refine the lists of what to try to bring out of the ranch. The woman from the meeting calls at 11pm. She has arranged for us to get to the ranch for a couple hours tomorrow morning. A light rain this evening helped the situation. However, a fire truck will be parked between our homes and the fire. She also tells us that the fire which had only gone up our road as far as mile marker 2 is now burning at mile marker 3 or 4. It is climbing towards the ranch.
Monday, August 20
Dave goes to work; he missed work on Friday. Since he telecommutes, he moves his “office”—a computer—to Katy and Paul’s house (the new one they live in) across town and works from there all day. His cell phone is not working; he lets his boss know he has no phone access, and they must do everything by email.
Karen and Aud, Alex and Emily and I head to the mountain with the truck pulling the horse trailer and with the van. On the way we pass “Incident Base”. It looks like a combination fair grounds and refugee camp. Many pup tents are set up; a lot of yurts: big solid tents equipped with air conditioners, hundreds of cars and buses from many states, people all over. All actual firefighters wear green pants, bright yellow shirts, bright yellow helmets. Along the road we see plumes of smoke, pockets of small flame, trees charred but not burned up. We’ve been hearing about “dozer lines”—there they are: bulldozers tear up all fire fuel (grass, trees) making lines of bare dirt so if the fire gets there, it will not be able to move beyond. The smoke smell is very strong, but that has been true all week even in Missoula.
About a mile up Saddle Mountain Road (which is the other side of our mountain; on our side it is called Mill Creek Road) we meet the National Guard with their jeep and army fatigues. Some of our neighbors arrive too. We wait, but the person who is to give permission for us to pass does not arrive and the Guards know nothing about it. Some of the neighbors get angry. One woman says if no escort/authority comes, she’s going in anyway. Others are angry at those who made the evacuation call, those who decide we can’t get back to our homes. I am angry at their anger, and challenge them. I remind them that the people orchestrating this fire have thousands of people whose needs they must consider; I remind them that the authorities are not our enemy; we are on their side; they are on our side. It is the fire that is our enemy, not the officials. But my words are ignored.
We make phone calls to Michelle, the woman who was so helpful Sunday night and who called us last night. She cuts through the confusion and gives permission for us to enter without an escort. The Guardsmen take down our names and addresses and how many people are going in. We are told to be off the hill by noon (it is after 10 am now). We drive the remaining 7 or 8 miles to the ranch.
We divide up, each with an assignment. Karen goes to my cabin with the list I made. I go in Christie and Dave’s house first alone in the hopes of catching Indigo and Magellen, the remaining 2 housecats. I get Magellen right away; a little later Emily catches Indigo.
I go into Christie’s office to collect all the files for the horse business. I take technology that Dave has given instructions about…electronic equipment that allows them to have computers and phones in their off-grid home. I gather photos and personal keepsakes for Christie. She wants her philosophy books from college. I pick up all the papers sitting on top of the desk, DVDs of her horses. In Dave’s office, Emily and Alex get phone, computers, keyboard, small tv. I find boxes of Dave’s keepsakes, his lego collection, photos of his family on his office wall. Aud loads things in the horse trailer as we find them. Karen returns with my stuff from the cabin and joins others getting some bedding, a few kitchen things, jewelry. Aud opens the big freezer and gets out all the meat we can reasonably carry. At Dave’s instruction, Karen takes pictures of every room in case it is needed for insurance.
I am too busy to feel much. But seeing the chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks roaming around tears at my heart. They seem to me to be lost, confused: where is everyone? They are so beautiful, and if the ranch does burn……....It is painful to remove things, knowing all that remains might be lost. I relive our house fire. I also confess that I am overwhelmed at the thought of putting all this back, though of course I pray that we will have the privilege of putting it all back. But as we quickly pull out items now, contents of drawers and shelves spill; putting things back will be a major job, and will probably fall mostly to me. I am aware that my last 3 weeks here this summer will be spent dealing with the fire one way or another. I seem able to let go of the original plans I had for those weeks.
The ranch is so quiet it is eerie. Quiet and with so little movement, with most of the animals gone. At 10 to noon, we drive away.
When we come to the National Guards, they cross our name off their list. We return to Katy and Paul’s old house. In the afternoon, Aud takes the two cats to the animal shelter; the other 3 and the goats are all doing well. I run errands. We cook supper using our newly acquired (from the ranch) pan, grill, forks.
The temperature has dropped dramatically today, and there is a bit of rain. That is good news for the fire.
There is another public meeting tonight. Dave, Karen, Aud and I go. We had failed to call 2 of our closest neighbors to pass on the word that we had permission to go up the mountain this morning. They are angry at us; Dave and I feel very bad about our oversight. We try to make amends by hooking them up with Michelle, the woman who helped us. She arranges for them to go tomorrow morning. We offer Jarred our horse trailer and truck. His dogs are still up there.
At the meeting, they tell us that the fire is now 12% contained. It has burned about 11,500 acres so far. There are two active fronts that are the most concern. One is Mill Creek where we live: the fire is still in the first few miles of Mill Creek Road, and they are trying to keep it from climbing. They have been short on resources because the west is full of wildfires. It doesn’t matter what the fire is doing; if the planes and dozers and personnel are not available, they can’t do anything about it. However, this is still the #1 priority fire in the country, and more resources are at last arriving. If one of the other fires get worse, they will pull resources from us to go there. The Frenchtown sheriff tells us that his personnel have been put on an emergency work schedule: 12 hour days, 14 days on, 2 off. At each of these public meetings, we learn more about the orchestration of such an event. The fire is burning in 2 counties; that means they run into political issues of authority between the counties; who has the authority to make this decision or that one? Whose jurisdiction are we in? All surrounding towns and cities, including the city of Missoula, send some of their police and firefighters; who is in command of them? Federal, state, county and local governments are involved. There are regional Disaster Relief Team, Incident Management Team, etc. The Red Cross is here, of course.
So far, almost no homes have been lost. Seeing the view from the highway, that seem amazing to me. Charred ground covers all the areas between homes, but around the homes is a very small patch of green. I think the firefighters are amazing.
Tuesday, August 21
Dave goes to work. Jarred comes to pick up our truck and horse trailer. Aud cooks breakfast. We plan to play today…go to bookstores and so on. Karen flies home tomorrow, the others drive out a day or two later. The house, once so empty except for our piles of bedding on the floor, is now full of the boxes and piles that we removed from the ranch. While we’re out today, I plan to send this fire diary to friends and family. We have no internet access now, but using my laptop, a flash drive, and the church or an internet café, we’ll find a way to get to email. On another day, I’ll send the sequel.
Keep us, and all those impacted by the fire, and especially those yellow-shirted folks facing the flames, in your prayers.
(This ends the part I emailed first….but the saga continues.)
More rain this morning! And the first blue sky we’ve seen in many days….all we’ve seen for a long time is smoke.
Dave brings home supper. He grills the best steaks I’ve ever tasted, and brings forth an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery that says “Thank you!” on it. It is for our 4 guests who thought they were coming for a nice relaxing quiet ranch vacation. They have been an incredible help.
We get the news that the evacuation has been lifted for our area after 8pm tonight; however, returning residents must be prepared for a one hour evacuation. That means we could not take back the cats, goats or horses, or many possessions. Given that late hour and the uncertainty of things, we decide to stay in town tonight and see what tomorrow looks like.
Wednesday, August 22
Dave goes to work at Katy and Paul’s. I go to work at the church. The others go to the farm where all our mamas and babies are housed and hang out with them for a while. Then they take Karen to the airport; she has less vacation time than the others and must return home.
Dave stops at the Department of Transportation to get proof of his physical address. His driver’s license only has the PO Box on it, and the national guards are sometimes requiring an actual addressss before they let us up the mountain; they are working, bless them, to keep looters out.
We make supper and then pack, taking only what is needed for a couple days, since we are still on the one hour evac notice.
Our normal route, Mill Creek Road on the Frenchtown side, is open to us for the first time. We get through the checkpoint without trouble. The first 3 miles of the road have been burned; in fact, there are still a few flames and a number of smoke plumes rising up here and there. In some areas, the fire took both sides of the road; in other areas it was confined to the east side. We see some outbuildings burned and collapsed, but no houses lost. The ground is all burned; sometimes the trees are black too, sometimes the lower growth is burned but the treetops are still green. We pass half a dozen fire engines and many of the yellow shirted firefighters. They seem not to be busy at the moment. Sometime after the 3 mile marker, the land is normal again; the fire did not travel farther north in this area. We are thankful.
Aud sees Louie, our huge Great Pyrenees dog who roams around the mountain as he wishes, and so we could not find him when we evacuated. She picks him up. We get home and Louie is happy to see us. The other 3 dogs are so glad to be back; they run with obvious delight. Luka is allowed to run free with the grown up dogs for a while, but then she begins to chase a rooster and so loses her privilege.
Dave reconnects the phone. We bring in the bedding. Luka and I go back to our cabin.
It does not feel welcoming. Besides being cold, it is largely empty: none of the photos and pretty fabric and books that make it cozy. In the water left in my dishpan, I find a drowned mouse. I miss my cat.
Luka and I sleep very well in our own beds.
Thursday, August 23
It’s cold!
Dave goes to work in his own office. Aud mends fences. Alex and Emily help with fences, go for walks, play video games. I do housework, dishes and laundry at Dave and Christie’s house.
After supper I go to the third public meeting. I see a bear along the way. I pass the Incident Base again, and a field of about 5 helicopters. I learn that the fire is 40% contained, and that it hasn’t increased in size (number of acres burned) in 3 days. All evacuations have been lifted, but everyone is on a one hour evacuation alert, which means we do not bring back animals or possessions. Roadblocks are still in place to keep the public off the roads where there’s been fire.
The fire is burning extensively on Charity Peak. There is plenty of fuel for it…trees, thick undergrowth and so on. They do not even try to put out the fire. They set fire to 400 acres around Charity Peak to remove the fuel so it will soon, the hope is, burn itself out. Two crews from Canada, experts in setting fires for this purpose, are here. I learn a lot about wildfires. All week we have seen helicopters flying low over the highway with a bag hanging below the belly of the plane; it is full of water that gets dumped on the fire. Still, water and retardant are only a small part of the effort to put out a wildfire. Most of the energy goes into removing fuel (creating back burns, building dozer lines) so the fire doesn’t spread or so it burns itself out.
I stay at Katy and Paul’s old house again, because I’m taking care of granddaughters first thing in the morning. Aud, Alex and Emily stay there too so they can get an early start for home.
Friday, August 24
The BlackCat fire has been moved off the front page of the newspaper for the first time in 9 or 10 days.
Aud, Alex and Emily leave to return to Michigan.
I take care of Lucy and Ella much of the day, run errands in the afternoon, hang out with the family and do some housecleaning for them in the evening. I stay in town tonight. I hear nothing about the fire. It seems like another life.
Saturday, August 25
I spend the day with Katy and family again.
A phone call brings a new development: Christie’s dog Rajah is quite sick. Dave brings him to the emergency vet. I feel punched in the stomach. Rajah is a special dog, and has twice saved Christie’s life. He is getting old, and we are all ready to let him go when the time comes, but not like this. Not with Christie gone. Not with Rajah, who has been waiting for her almost 3 weeks, the longest he’s ever been separated from her, thinking she is gone and giving up.
When Dave brought Rajah to town, because of the one hour evacuation alert he had to bring with him whatever he had taken back to the ranch: his computer, a few clothes, and Maya, their other dog. Even a trip to the grocery store would require taking everything with us because if evacuation orders came while we were gone, we couldn’t go back.
The paper says the fire is 50% contained.
Sunday, August 26
Rajah is not worse, but not really better. Christie plans to come home at the end of the week; she is trying to decide if she should come earlier. I feel the pain that I haven’t had time to feel since Perry died 3 weeks ago.
I go to church. Every one there continues to be very supportive of the chaos in our lives.
We are still on 1 hour evacuation alert, but I pack up a few things and plan to head up the mountain. However, I learn that Dave must stay in town with Rajah who is still at the emergency vet and must tomorrow be moved to the regular vet. I don’t want to be at the ranch alone under these fire conditions, and I couldn’t safely stay in my own cabin, since there is no phone. I will leave my stuff in Katy and Paul’s old house, and return to their current house to sleep tonight. My spirits are low today. In all these thrown-together boxes of stuff, I can hardly find clothes, or the resources I need for church work this week. Life is chaotic and inefficient. I feel guilty for not being in better spirits, since we haven’t after all lost the ranch to fire.
I go to the church in the early evening, the only place I have easy access to email and a phone. Luke comes with me, sleeps at my feet as I type and talk. I call Dave, but he has no further word on Rajah. I learn that Christie is flying home tomorrow. I return to Katy and Paul’s to sleep.
Monday, August 27
Three weeks since Perry’s death. Christie arrives home today. Rajah is still quite ill, but shows improvement.
The fire remains about the same: 50% contained, just slightly bigger at 11,715 acres. The firefighters are dealing with spot fires: embers that float and land a distance from the fire and start another fire. Even so, danger to our populated areas seems past, and as of 6am this morning, all evacuation restrictions are lifted. We, and our possessions and our 3 dogs and 3 goats and 5 cats and 30 horses, can go home.
Dave and I switch places. He chose to stay in the old house to sleep, and this morning he comes to Katy and Paul’s current house to work. I slept last night in their current house, and this morning I go to the old house to do some church work and sermon prep.
I need to mail some things and make a CD of some church work. There are no supplies here. Even though I have all of this at the cabin, I msut go buy packaging tape, Sharpie marker, CDs, mailing envelopes. Living this way is getting old.
We can go home…but we don’t. Christie and Dave stay in town to be near Rajah; I stay because I must be at church in the morning.
Tuesday, August 28
Christie is very tired and has a cold, but she is hanging in there. She checks on some of the horses. Dave works. This evening they pick up Rajah, who has the vets ok to go home with them and see how it goes, and go back to the mountain.
Life is very confusing. At Katy and Paul’s, I do some church work on my computer. I need my printer, so I drive across town to the old house to find it. I find the printer, but the printer cable got separated; it is in some other box; which one? I can’t find it. I take my computer to Kinko’s to print what I need.
The weather has turned cold. I only brought a couple of warm weather outfits to Katy and Paul’s. I drive across town to the old house to find more appropriate clothes. I go back to Katy and Paul’s to iron them, since they were just stuffed in a box. I’m tired of this.
I prepare to visit someone from church who is very ill. She has asked me to bring communion to her. I go to the old house and hunt through boxes for my communion kit; I don’t know if it got packed or is still at the cabin. I am very tired of this.
I must be at the church again tomorrow, so I stay in town again tonight.
We are overwhelmed at the task of hauling back all the stuff, cleaning the old house in which, for awhile, 6 people and 3 dogs lived, unpacking and putting Christie and Dave’s house back together, putting things back in my cabin, and collecting all the farmed out animals.
Wednesday, August 29
I work at church all day. Then I load as much as will fit in my little Toyota—poor Luka loses most of her back seat.
Christie picks up the 3 goats and the 5 cats. I meet her at the ranch where 6 mama horses and 5 babies (one mama is still pregnant) have been, and I help her get 3 mamas and babies into the horse trailer…easy until one youngster felt independent enough not to care about sticking close to mama. He is a challenge to catch.
We go back up the hill, unload horses. Christie and I head back down to get the remaining mamas and babies. We load them without problem. The moon, big and low and brilliant orange, leads us home. Back at the ranch unloading them is a challenge. We try to get mamas and babies through a gate; other mamas and babies get out of the gate. One baby runs off in the dark to explore the world; his mama, inside the gate, gets frantic. Eventually we get them all where they belong; the full moon is high in the sky before we finish. We go to bed.
Thursday, August 30
I spend much of the day unpacking and putting my cabin back in order. The mice have obviously enjoyed my hospitality in the days the cat has been away. I clean out the unpleasant contents of my cooler which hasn’t been touched in two weeks.
Rajah is still sick, but the vet is hopeful, thinks he will probably recover. She gives him stronger medicine.
Though people and dogs were evacuated for the fire, coyotes weren’t. We realize we have lost about half of our chickens and ducks.
Friday, August 31
There is still stuff to be brought back to Christie and Dave’s house and put away. And many horses are back, but about 10 are still farmed out and need to be retrieved soon.
On my way down the mountain this morning I see a moose! A rare privilege. Has one moved into our neighborhood because of the fires?
I babysit Lucy and Ella today, and bring Lucy home with me for a sleep-over in the cabin. It is delightful.
Late evening, I hear the rain. It rains and rains and rains some more. It is the first significant rain in at least 3 months. It is a wonderful sound.
New report: The BlackCat fire is 95% contained. 11,758 acres burned. The internet site says it is expected to be “completely wrapped up very soon.”
Thanks be to God.
Janice Springer
revjanicespringer@juno.com
I spent a month in Iowa, helping her to fight her way through those first weeks without her husband and start to figure out what her life would look like now. While I was gone, the ranch had all manner of adventure without me. My mother kept a running diary of those adventures and I thought you might like to read them...
THE FIRE DIARIES: by Jancie Springer (revjanicespringer@juno.com)
Monday, August 6, 2007
My nephew (my niece’s husband) died. Who ever heard of a healthy, strapping man of 35 dying of pneumonia? Everyone is stunned. Christie and I fly out the same day. David and family drive up in a couple days. Katy flies out, gets to Denver, her second flight is canceled. She does not make it in time for the funeral, but she is here afterwards for about 24 hours. My nephew Jay, Janelle’s brother, and his wife come in. I do Perry’s funeral. Janelle has a debilitating illness and Perry was her practical and emotional support and care giver. We work hard to keep her going. It is an awful week.
Tuesday, August 14
I fly home Monday, arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Christie stays in Iowa to help Janelle. Paul picks me up and I sleep at their house. Katy and Paul have had an unexpected childcare problem, so I spend Tuesday with them, caring for Lucy and Ella all day. That is very healing.
On the way back to the ranch I see a wildfire from the highway. It is not far from our area. It will become known as the Black Cat fire. Today, I learn, it has burned about 600 acres. When I get back to the ranch with Dave and visiting friends Karen and Aud, their son Alex and his friend Emily, we talk about evacuation plans. There are 30 horses on the land. I put some things in the trunk of my car that I’d want to take out if we evacuated.
Wednesday, August 15
I work at church all day, stop in to see Katy and the girls, head back to the ranch about 6pm. There is a checkpoint at the bottom of our road. The man wearing the sheriff’s badge (actually a search and rescue person I think) tells me we are not in imminent danger, but he needs to tell me about evacuation procedures. He asks, “Does your family have a place to go to? If not, you can come to my house.” I get tears in my eyes at the kindness of this stranger. When I get to the ranch, I tell them all that he said. The presence of the checkpoint implies that the stakes have been raised. We talk about what to do. Christie is the mover and shaker of the horse business, and she is still in Iowa, but she offers direction through many phone calls. We finally decide we must evacuate the horses.
Christie makes calls to friends and clients; they call other people. About 9pm four horse trailers pull up, and about half a dozen folks, some of whom we don’t even know. They and the 6 of us begin rounding up horses. That means walking through large pastures in the dark trying to find the horses. It means putting rope and halter on yearlings that have not been trained or even much handled yet, and so are frightened. It means keeping the babies with their mamas. Some get on the trailers pretty easily. Some run back into the woods. One man, a rodeo rider, amazes us all by lassoing one of the difficult ones; it is just like in the old movies! Finally the 3 trailers, one with 10 horses on it, head down the mountain. The horses will stay in various places for the night. Dave drives some down to our vets. Finally, Dave and Aud and I pack up the last 3 except the stallion and take them down the far side of the mountain to the ranch of a couple from my church. Janet and Bill welcome us as though it were mid afternoon instead of 2:00 am. We get to bed about 3:00.
Thursday, August 16
After 4 hours sleep we are up. Dave, Karen and Aud, Alex and Emily head out by 8 am. Some of the horses have broken through fences and gotten loose and must be moved to better quarters. They head off with the horse trailer to do that, taking the last horse, our stallion, to board at the vets. They also go buy hay and then deliver it to the places that have our horses.
Meanwhile, I am at the ranch staffing the phone and preparing to evacuate if need be.
I go through my cabin again, making sure I have essential things for Luka and me in the trunk of my car. What hard choices! I am supposed to lead a retreat Saturday; I finish preparing for that and put that material and things I need for church Sunday in my trunk. I also call AAA, because Wednesday night in all the confusion with getting the horses out, I lock my keys in my car. Aud leaves a small sledge hammer by my car; if AAA won’t come up and we have to evacuate, I must break a window to get in so I can get my wallet and the stuff in the trunk. However, AAA does come up the mountain and fixes the problem. I talk to Christie several times and make some phone calls for her.
The others come back exhausted about 4pm. We do a few details in preparation for evacuation, but mostly we just talk about doing such things. We are all so tired. We get the information that this is a Class 1 fire (or some phrase like that)—the most dangerous, and the one they put the most resources into. Someone said the 10 worst fires in USA are all in Montana, and this is the top one. We get word that it jumped the highway.
About 9pm an official with a loud speaker drives by. “You have 1/2 hour to get off the hill,” he yells from his truck. “Evacuate!” A neighbor comes to say the Frenchtown side of the mountain (our usual way up and down) is closed; we must go out the other way.
A half hour later, we leave. Dave is driving the good truck. Two of Christie’s cats are in a cage in the truck bed. Dave is pulling the horse trailer; there are 3 goats in it. Next in the procession is Karen driving Aud’s van, Emily and Alex with her. It is full of clothes, photo albums of Christie and Dave, financial records, computers, blankets, towels, a few framed pictures, and so on. I follow in my car; I have 3 dogs with me. Aud drives the old truck; my cabin cat is in a cage in that truck bed.
We get down the mountain as quickly as we can. Another checkpoint: he warns us that he cannot let us back on the road. With tenderness, he wishes us good luck. We drive into Missoula.
Katy and Paul moved to a new house earlier this summer, but have not sold their old one. We settle there. We have water, showers, air conditioning, a fenced yard for the dogs. We have a few dog dishes and two buckets so we take water to the goats and cats and leave them in the vehicles. The dogs come in with us. We don’t have quite enough blankets, but we share around and everyone has something. We make up beds on the floor, settle dogs, shower, and get to bed about midnight. This will be home for a while.
Friday, August 18
We go out for breakfast. Then we take the 3 cats to the humane society nearby. They take a record of each cat and put an id tag around their necks. Then we drive them to the fair grounds, which has been set up as a shelter for all animals that have been evacuated and need a place. More records; id on each cage. Smokey and Bandit get a bigger cage together; Belle has her own. They have food, water, a small blanket. They will be very unhappy cats, but safe. Later while some of us run an errand, the others bring the goats to the same place. Later in the day I go to work at the church to prepare for the retreat tomorrow. Most of the folks are gone when I get there, but 2 part-time staff folks are still there. They give me big hugs, say the staff has been worried about me all day as they heard that Mill Creek had been evacuated. I feel loved. Dave and company need to deal with some of the horses again.
There is a public meeting for all Frenchtown residents. Dave, Karen, Aud and I go. On the way there and back we see the flames, and the ground in places is burned right up to Highway 90 on which we’re driving. It is moving to see some 600 people gather in the school gym with this common desperate concern. I find it interesting to hear the behind the scenes stories of how fighting a fire has to happen. It has now burned about 8,000 acres. After the meeting, we talk to the sheriff who says we might be able to go back to the house Sunday morning for just a couple hours to recover more things, though he can’t promise. We can follow information about the fire on www.inciweb.org. They also give us many phone numbers for information.
Saturday, August 18
I lead an all-day retreat. It goes very well. People fuss over me about the evacuation as well as about Perry’s death. They are all lovely. And they like the retreat! I am glad to have a break from the intensity of things, and leading the retreat feels healing. Meanwhile, the rest of the family are moving horses, going to buy a ton of hay and delivering it to the horses. We make lists of what to recover if we get to return to the ranch.
Although Missoula is surrounded by mountains on all sides, the smoke is so thick that it looks like we live on the prairie: no mountains are visible.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
I go to church. Again, there is so much support and caring for me and also for Janelle.
People are moved by my sermon and how I crafted the service. I am very grateful to have a church to serve, and sad to realize that now there are only 3 Sundays left this year.
Meanwhile, the rest go to the checkpoint, but are not allowed up the mountain. The National Guard is stationed there, and knows nothing about it. We have a quiet afternoon.
Luka is one year old today. Aud and I took the 3 dogs to a newly discovered dog park for her birthday treat. Very happy dogs.
Karen, Aud and I go to the Catholic Church in Frenchtown for supper. They have offered a free spaghetti supper to anyone affected by the fire. Like a good church potluck, it offers great homemade salads and desserts. I feel such gratitude to them, and waves of love for church. A member of one of the fire teams talks to us and is very helpful. She offers to try to get the permission for us to return tomorrow to get things. She is very kind. She’s from Oklahoma or somewhere like that, typical of people arriving from all over the country to help with the Black Cat fire. Thinking of all these people, including the firefighters, working so hard for us, moves me to tears. She tells us that this is still the #1 priority fire in the whole country, and busloads of personnel are arriving daily to help fight it. The fire covers an estimated 8,000 acres and is 10% contained, which means 10% of the fire area is no longer burning. The fire continues to spread, but doesn’t seem to be going in our direction. It was burning at the bottom of our road, but some people in that area were allowed to return to their homes, though they are on one hour evacuation alert. Mill Creek Road has mile markers (the only way to find things on this logging road in the forest). The fire burned some areas up to mile marker 2. Below that are the people who are able to return to their homes, but are on alert. Above mile marker 2 it is still closed.
We live on mile marker 9.
There is no refrigerator in Katy and Paul’s old house, but Katy and Paul have one in their garage they intend to move back there. Dave and Aud go get it. We feel very excited that we can now store food.
Dave goes to a movie to relax. Karen, Aud and I play some cards. We refine the lists of what to try to bring out of the ranch. The woman from the meeting calls at 11pm. She has arranged for us to get to the ranch for a couple hours tomorrow morning. A light rain this evening helped the situation. However, a fire truck will be parked between our homes and the fire. She also tells us that the fire which had only gone up our road as far as mile marker 2 is now burning at mile marker 3 or 4. It is climbing towards the ranch.
Monday, August 20
Dave goes to work; he missed work on Friday. Since he telecommutes, he moves his “office”—a computer—to Katy and Paul’s house (the new one they live in) across town and works from there all day. His cell phone is not working; he lets his boss know he has no phone access, and they must do everything by email.
Karen and Aud, Alex and Emily and I head to the mountain with the truck pulling the horse trailer and with the van. On the way we pass “Incident Base”. It looks like a combination fair grounds and refugee camp. Many pup tents are set up; a lot of yurts: big solid tents equipped with air conditioners, hundreds of cars and buses from many states, people all over. All actual firefighters wear green pants, bright yellow shirts, bright yellow helmets. Along the road we see plumes of smoke, pockets of small flame, trees charred but not burned up. We’ve been hearing about “dozer lines”—there they are: bulldozers tear up all fire fuel (grass, trees) making lines of bare dirt so if the fire gets there, it will not be able to move beyond. The smoke smell is very strong, but that has been true all week even in Missoula.
About a mile up Saddle Mountain Road (which is the other side of our mountain; on our side it is called Mill Creek Road) we meet the National Guard with their jeep and army fatigues. Some of our neighbors arrive too. We wait, but the person who is to give permission for us to pass does not arrive and the Guards know nothing about it. Some of the neighbors get angry. One woman says if no escort/authority comes, she’s going in anyway. Others are angry at those who made the evacuation call, those who decide we can’t get back to our homes. I am angry at their anger, and challenge them. I remind them that the people orchestrating this fire have thousands of people whose needs they must consider; I remind them that the authorities are not our enemy; we are on their side; they are on our side. It is the fire that is our enemy, not the officials. But my words are ignored.
We make phone calls to Michelle, the woman who was so helpful Sunday night and who called us last night. She cuts through the confusion and gives permission for us to enter without an escort. The Guardsmen take down our names and addresses and how many people are going in. We are told to be off the hill by noon (it is after 10 am now). We drive the remaining 7 or 8 miles to the ranch.
We divide up, each with an assignment. Karen goes to my cabin with the list I made. I go in Christie and Dave’s house first alone in the hopes of catching Indigo and Magellen, the remaining 2 housecats. I get Magellen right away; a little later Emily catches Indigo.
I go into Christie’s office to collect all the files for the horse business. I take technology that Dave has given instructions about…electronic equipment that allows them to have computers and phones in their off-grid home. I gather photos and personal keepsakes for Christie. She wants her philosophy books from college. I pick up all the papers sitting on top of the desk, DVDs of her horses. In Dave’s office, Emily and Alex get phone, computers, keyboard, small tv. I find boxes of Dave’s keepsakes, his lego collection, photos of his family on his office wall. Aud loads things in the horse trailer as we find them. Karen returns with my stuff from the cabin and joins others getting some bedding, a few kitchen things, jewelry. Aud opens the big freezer and gets out all the meat we can reasonably carry. At Dave’s instruction, Karen takes pictures of every room in case it is needed for insurance.
I am too busy to feel much. But seeing the chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks roaming around tears at my heart. They seem to me to be lost, confused: where is everyone? They are so beautiful, and if the ranch does burn……....It is painful to remove things, knowing all that remains might be lost. I relive our house fire. I also confess that I am overwhelmed at the thought of putting all this back, though of course I pray that we will have the privilege of putting it all back. But as we quickly pull out items now, contents of drawers and shelves spill; putting things back will be a major job, and will probably fall mostly to me. I am aware that my last 3 weeks here this summer will be spent dealing with the fire one way or another. I seem able to let go of the original plans I had for those weeks.
The ranch is so quiet it is eerie. Quiet and with so little movement, with most of the animals gone. At 10 to noon, we drive away.
When we come to the National Guards, they cross our name off their list. We return to Katy and Paul’s old house. In the afternoon, Aud takes the two cats to the animal shelter; the other 3 and the goats are all doing well. I run errands. We cook supper using our newly acquired (from the ranch) pan, grill, forks.
The temperature has dropped dramatically today, and there is a bit of rain. That is good news for the fire.
There is another public meeting tonight. Dave, Karen, Aud and I go. We had failed to call 2 of our closest neighbors to pass on the word that we had permission to go up the mountain this morning. They are angry at us; Dave and I feel very bad about our oversight. We try to make amends by hooking them up with Michelle, the woman who helped us. She arranges for them to go tomorrow morning. We offer Jarred our horse trailer and truck. His dogs are still up there.
At the meeting, they tell us that the fire is now 12% contained. It has burned about 11,500 acres so far. There are two active fronts that are the most concern. One is Mill Creek where we live: the fire is still in the first few miles of Mill Creek Road, and they are trying to keep it from climbing. They have been short on resources because the west is full of wildfires. It doesn’t matter what the fire is doing; if the planes and dozers and personnel are not available, they can’t do anything about it. However, this is still the #1 priority fire in the country, and more resources are at last arriving. If one of the other fires get worse, they will pull resources from us to go there. The Frenchtown sheriff tells us that his personnel have been put on an emergency work schedule: 12 hour days, 14 days on, 2 off. At each of these public meetings, we learn more about the orchestration of such an event. The fire is burning in 2 counties; that means they run into political issues of authority between the counties; who has the authority to make this decision or that one? Whose jurisdiction are we in? All surrounding towns and cities, including the city of Missoula, send some of their police and firefighters; who is in command of them? Federal, state, county and local governments are involved. There are regional Disaster Relief Team, Incident Management Team, etc. The Red Cross is here, of course.
So far, almost no homes have been lost. Seeing the view from the highway, that seem amazing to me. Charred ground covers all the areas between homes, but around the homes is a very small patch of green. I think the firefighters are amazing.
Tuesday, August 21
Dave goes to work. Jarred comes to pick up our truck and horse trailer. Aud cooks breakfast. We plan to play today…go to bookstores and so on. Karen flies home tomorrow, the others drive out a day or two later. The house, once so empty except for our piles of bedding on the floor, is now full of the boxes and piles that we removed from the ranch. While we’re out today, I plan to send this fire diary to friends and family. We have no internet access now, but using my laptop, a flash drive, and the church or an internet café, we’ll find a way to get to email. On another day, I’ll send the sequel.
Keep us, and all those impacted by the fire, and especially those yellow-shirted folks facing the flames, in your prayers.
(This ends the part I emailed first….but the saga continues.)
More rain this morning! And the first blue sky we’ve seen in many days….all we’ve seen for a long time is smoke.
Dave brings home supper. He grills the best steaks I’ve ever tasted, and brings forth an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery that says “Thank you!” on it. It is for our 4 guests who thought they were coming for a nice relaxing quiet ranch vacation. They have been an incredible help.
We get the news that the evacuation has been lifted for our area after 8pm tonight; however, returning residents must be prepared for a one hour evacuation. That means we could not take back the cats, goats or horses, or many possessions. Given that late hour and the uncertainty of things, we decide to stay in town tonight and see what tomorrow looks like.
Wednesday, August 22
Dave goes to work at Katy and Paul’s. I go to work at the church. The others go to the farm where all our mamas and babies are housed and hang out with them for a while. Then they take Karen to the airport; she has less vacation time than the others and must return home.
Dave stops at the Department of Transportation to get proof of his physical address. His driver’s license only has the PO Box on it, and the national guards are sometimes requiring an actual addressss before they let us up the mountain; they are working, bless them, to keep looters out.
We make supper and then pack, taking only what is needed for a couple days, since we are still on the one hour evac notice.
Our normal route, Mill Creek Road on the Frenchtown side, is open to us for the first time. We get through the checkpoint without trouble. The first 3 miles of the road have been burned; in fact, there are still a few flames and a number of smoke plumes rising up here and there. In some areas, the fire took both sides of the road; in other areas it was confined to the east side. We see some outbuildings burned and collapsed, but no houses lost. The ground is all burned; sometimes the trees are black too, sometimes the lower growth is burned but the treetops are still green. We pass half a dozen fire engines and many of the yellow shirted firefighters. They seem not to be busy at the moment. Sometime after the 3 mile marker, the land is normal again; the fire did not travel farther north in this area. We are thankful.
Aud sees Louie, our huge Great Pyrenees dog who roams around the mountain as he wishes, and so we could not find him when we evacuated. She picks him up. We get home and Louie is happy to see us. The other 3 dogs are so glad to be back; they run with obvious delight. Luka is allowed to run free with the grown up dogs for a while, but then she begins to chase a rooster and so loses her privilege.
Dave reconnects the phone. We bring in the bedding. Luka and I go back to our cabin.
It does not feel welcoming. Besides being cold, it is largely empty: none of the photos and pretty fabric and books that make it cozy. In the water left in my dishpan, I find a drowned mouse. I miss my cat.
Luka and I sleep very well in our own beds.
Thursday, August 23
It’s cold!
Dave goes to work in his own office. Aud mends fences. Alex and Emily help with fences, go for walks, play video games. I do housework, dishes and laundry at Dave and Christie’s house.
After supper I go to the third public meeting. I see a bear along the way. I pass the Incident Base again, and a field of about 5 helicopters. I learn that the fire is 40% contained, and that it hasn’t increased in size (number of acres burned) in 3 days. All evacuations have been lifted, but everyone is on a one hour evacuation alert, which means we do not bring back animals or possessions. Roadblocks are still in place to keep the public off the roads where there’s been fire.
The fire is burning extensively on Charity Peak. There is plenty of fuel for it…trees, thick undergrowth and so on. They do not even try to put out the fire. They set fire to 400 acres around Charity Peak to remove the fuel so it will soon, the hope is, burn itself out. Two crews from Canada, experts in setting fires for this purpose, are here. I learn a lot about wildfires. All week we have seen helicopters flying low over the highway with a bag hanging below the belly of the plane; it is full of water that gets dumped on the fire. Still, water and retardant are only a small part of the effort to put out a wildfire. Most of the energy goes into removing fuel (creating back burns, building dozer lines) so the fire doesn’t spread or so it burns itself out.
I stay at Katy and Paul’s old house again, because I’m taking care of granddaughters first thing in the morning. Aud, Alex and Emily stay there too so they can get an early start for home.
Friday, August 24
The BlackCat fire has been moved off the front page of the newspaper for the first time in 9 or 10 days.
Aud, Alex and Emily leave to return to Michigan.
I take care of Lucy and Ella much of the day, run errands in the afternoon, hang out with the family and do some housecleaning for them in the evening. I stay in town tonight. I hear nothing about the fire. It seems like another life.
Saturday, August 25
I spend the day with Katy and family again.
A phone call brings a new development: Christie’s dog Rajah is quite sick. Dave brings him to the emergency vet. I feel punched in the stomach. Rajah is a special dog, and has twice saved Christie’s life. He is getting old, and we are all ready to let him go when the time comes, but not like this. Not with Christie gone. Not with Rajah, who has been waiting for her almost 3 weeks, the longest he’s ever been separated from her, thinking she is gone and giving up.
When Dave brought Rajah to town, because of the one hour evacuation alert he had to bring with him whatever he had taken back to the ranch: his computer, a few clothes, and Maya, their other dog. Even a trip to the grocery store would require taking everything with us because if evacuation orders came while we were gone, we couldn’t go back.
The paper says the fire is 50% contained.
Sunday, August 26
Rajah is not worse, but not really better. Christie plans to come home at the end of the week; she is trying to decide if she should come earlier. I feel the pain that I haven’t had time to feel since Perry died 3 weeks ago.
I go to church. Every one there continues to be very supportive of the chaos in our lives.
We are still on 1 hour evacuation alert, but I pack up a few things and plan to head up the mountain. However, I learn that Dave must stay in town with Rajah who is still at the emergency vet and must tomorrow be moved to the regular vet. I don’t want to be at the ranch alone under these fire conditions, and I couldn’t safely stay in my own cabin, since there is no phone. I will leave my stuff in Katy and Paul’s old house, and return to their current house to sleep tonight. My spirits are low today. In all these thrown-together boxes of stuff, I can hardly find clothes, or the resources I need for church work this week. Life is chaotic and inefficient. I feel guilty for not being in better spirits, since we haven’t after all lost the ranch to fire.
I go to the church in the early evening, the only place I have easy access to email and a phone. Luke comes with me, sleeps at my feet as I type and talk. I call Dave, but he has no further word on Rajah. I learn that Christie is flying home tomorrow. I return to Katy and Paul’s to sleep.
Monday, August 27
Three weeks since Perry’s death. Christie arrives home today. Rajah is still quite ill, but shows improvement.
The fire remains about the same: 50% contained, just slightly bigger at 11,715 acres. The firefighters are dealing with spot fires: embers that float and land a distance from the fire and start another fire. Even so, danger to our populated areas seems past, and as of 6am this morning, all evacuation restrictions are lifted. We, and our possessions and our 3 dogs and 3 goats and 5 cats and 30 horses, can go home.
Dave and I switch places. He chose to stay in the old house to sleep, and this morning he comes to Katy and Paul’s current house to work. I slept last night in their current house, and this morning I go to the old house to do some church work and sermon prep.
I need to mail some things and make a CD of some church work. There are no supplies here. Even though I have all of this at the cabin, I msut go buy packaging tape, Sharpie marker, CDs, mailing envelopes. Living this way is getting old.
We can go home…but we don’t. Christie and Dave stay in town to be near Rajah; I stay because I must be at church in the morning.
Tuesday, August 28
Christie is very tired and has a cold, but she is hanging in there. She checks on some of the horses. Dave works. This evening they pick up Rajah, who has the vets ok to go home with them and see how it goes, and go back to the mountain.
Life is very confusing. At Katy and Paul’s, I do some church work on my computer. I need my printer, so I drive across town to the old house to find it. I find the printer, but the printer cable got separated; it is in some other box; which one? I can’t find it. I take my computer to Kinko’s to print what I need.
The weather has turned cold. I only brought a couple of warm weather outfits to Katy and Paul’s. I drive across town to the old house to find more appropriate clothes. I go back to Katy and Paul’s to iron them, since they were just stuffed in a box. I’m tired of this.
I prepare to visit someone from church who is very ill. She has asked me to bring communion to her. I go to the old house and hunt through boxes for my communion kit; I don’t know if it got packed or is still at the cabin. I am very tired of this.
I must be at the church again tomorrow, so I stay in town again tonight.
We are overwhelmed at the task of hauling back all the stuff, cleaning the old house in which, for awhile, 6 people and 3 dogs lived, unpacking and putting Christie and Dave’s house back together, putting things back in my cabin, and collecting all the farmed out animals.
Wednesday, August 29
I work at church all day. Then I load as much as will fit in my little Toyota—poor Luka loses most of her back seat.
Christie picks up the 3 goats and the 5 cats. I meet her at the ranch where 6 mama horses and 5 babies (one mama is still pregnant) have been, and I help her get 3 mamas and babies into the horse trailer…easy until one youngster felt independent enough not to care about sticking close to mama. He is a challenge to catch.
We go back up the hill, unload horses. Christie and I head back down to get the remaining mamas and babies. We load them without problem. The moon, big and low and brilliant orange, leads us home. Back at the ranch unloading them is a challenge. We try to get mamas and babies through a gate; other mamas and babies get out of the gate. One baby runs off in the dark to explore the world; his mama, inside the gate, gets frantic. Eventually we get them all where they belong; the full moon is high in the sky before we finish. We go to bed.
Thursday, August 30
I spend much of the day unpacking and putting my cabin back in order. The mice have obviously enjoyed my hospitality in the days the cat has been away. I clean out the unpleasant contents of my cooler which hasn’t been touched in two weeks.
Rajah is still sick, but the vet is hopeful, thinks he will probably recover. She gives him stronger medicine.
Though people and dogs were evacuated for the fire, coyotes weren’t. We realize we have lost about half of our chickens and ducks.
Friday, August 31
There is still stuff to be brought back to Christie and Dave’s house and put away. And many horses are back, but about 10 are still farmed out and need to be retrieved soon.
On my way down the mountain this morning I see a moose! A rare privilege. Has one moved into our neighborhood because of the fires?
I babysit Lucy and Ella today, and bring Lucy home with me for a sleep-over in the cabin. It is delightful.
Late evening, I hear the rain. It rains and rains and rains some more. It is the first significant rain in at least 3 months. It is a wonderful sound.
New report: The BlackCat fire is 95% contained. 11,758 acres burned. The internet site says it is expected to be “completely wrapped up very soon.”
Thanks be to God.
Janice Springer
revjanicespringer@juno.com
Saturday, July 21, 2007
The Fun Stories
If you want the fun stories of this summer (since i am not writing much) check out Dave's blog. He has been writing quite a bit - just short stories that tell his perspective on all the fun adventures we have been having here in the past couple months.
http://montanadave.blogspot.com/
http://montanadave.blogspot.com/
Saturday July 21, 2007
It looks like this summer will not allow me the leasure to write regular updates at this point. I will fill things in as I can.
We are getting a lot done around the ranch. Some friends (Karen and Aud) and Jarred have gotten a ton of fencing done for us and we should have all of our fences secured or replaced by next winter.
We've had three babies born: Desinty's baby (Prize) is a tiny, delicate, beauful girl with a very strong indipendent streak. We have spent more time trying to teach her to lead than with any other horse. She clearly is smart enough to get it - she has just not decided to trust us enough to let a human control her yet. She is, however, coming along.
Echo's baby (Friday) is a big, loving boy who learned to lead in about half an hour. He is handsome and fine and we think he will be big.
Mariah's baby (name still unknown) is the image of Sahara. She is going to be smart, flashy and wonderfully confident. She isn't scard of anything!
We are expecting Flicka and Sky to have babies this week.
Sahara and Onyx are in training and coming along beautifully. They are both exceptional horses who will be coming home next week for two days with their trainer. I will spend two days riding them and working with the trainer and decide them if I should send them back for another month or finish them myself.
We are cutting down on what we have to do around here - sold most of the goats and are probably going to let go of our last three soon. (In the mean time, we are getting over a gallon of milk a day from one of them and loving it!) We are probably going to give away some of the ducks and geese and just gave away the rabbits. I am serious about making this winter more managable than the last.
Dave and I built me a new tack room which we are quite proud of.
We have had many mares here to breed, despite not advertising this year. We expect a number more through the rest of the summer.
Michal (our summer help from Chicago) is doing wonderfully and making a big difference around here. I am finally managing to get the rest I need and starting to feel better, thanks to her constant help. She is talented with the horses and good at getting work done. We'll miss her when she goes home in Aug.
We are getting a lot done around the ranch. Some friends (Karen and Aud) and Jarred have gotten a ton of fencing done for us and we should have all of our fences secured or replaced by next winter.
We've had three babies born: Desinty's baby (Prize) is a tiny, delicate, beauful girl with a very strong indipendent streak. We have spent more time trying to teach her to lead than with any other horse. She clearly is smart enough to get it - she has just not decided to trust us enough to let a human control her yet. She is, however, coming along.
Echo's baby (Friday) is a big, loving boy who learned to lead in about half an hour. He is handsome and fine and we think he will be big.
Mariah's baby (name still unknown) is the image of Sahara. She is going to be smart, flashy and wonderfully confident. She isn't scard of anything!
We are expecting Flicka and Sky to have babies this week.
Sahara and Onyx are in training and coming along beautifully. They are both exceptional horses who will be coming home next week for two days with their trainer. I will spend two days riding them and working with the trainer and decide them if I should send them back for another month or finish them myself.
We are cutting down on what we have to do around here - sold most of the goats and are probably going to let go of our last three soon. (In the mean time, we are getting over a gallon of milk a day from one of them and loving it!) We are probably going to give away some of the ducks and geese and just gave away the rabbits. I am serious about making this winter more managable than the last.
Dave and I built me a new tack room which we are quite proud of.
We have had many mares here to breed, despite not advertising this year. We expect a number more through the rest of the summer.
Michal (our summer help from Chicago) is doing wonderfully and making a big difference around here. I am finally managing to get the rest I need and starting to feel better, thanks to her constant help. She is talented with the horses and good at getting work done. We'll miss her when she goes home in Aug.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Tuesday July 3, 2007
The past couple weeks have been so busy that I have not been able to keep up with writing anything. I have been struggling to get through each day and manage what we have taken on. My energy got so stretched that (as happens when I get overtired) my stomach stopped working right and I have been quite sick for days. Today I finally got to rest a bit and am almost able to eat again.
Here is a glimpse of what these last weeks have been like...
Wednesday june 27: Fence down in Big Barn and the horses got out. They came up on the porch and tore apart everything in my planting area. We haltered Ghost for the first time and taught him to lead and groom, including fly spray. Cowboy and Dancer were worked with. Nefertari and Spirit arrived and Stormy left - put Nef and her baby in with Mamas and babies. Moved Blackie, Little Creek, Breeze and Rose to Middle 20. Bathed Mariah and treated her wound. Loaded Mariah and baby in trailer for trailering lesson. Took Pictures of Mariah.
Monday june 25: Woke up to find that Destiny had just had her baby - a beautiful, black baby girl. We got a stall ready for them, gave shots, checked the filly over and settled them in (Dave picked her up and carried her inside). Did full imprinting treatment with her, with Michal's help. Later Michal did another imprinting session again. Took Georgia (goat) to check a lump and to check health of her udder. Took Mariah and Baby in same trip because Mariah has a lump on her neck. It was an abscess and we had to cut it open, drain it and now need to treat it twice per day until healed. Took them all home, then turned around and came back for Ryder. Got Ryder home and settled in.
These have been typical of the past two weeks. Michal is here and helping wonderfully. Jarred is working on fencing for us. We have one breeding mare here (Noir) and one on the way later in the week. Three babies born, plus Nefertari and her baby are here for a while. And Two more babies due this month, with one later.
My brother's family was here this week and just left this morning - loved having the kids around, but am quite exhausted. My only goal right now is to get enough rest to make it through a bit more of the summer without getting as sick as I did this week.
Here is a glimpse of what these last weeks have been like...
Wednesday june 27: Fence down in Big Barn and the horses got out. They came up on the porch and tore apart everything in my planting area. We haltered Ghost for the first time and taught him to lead and groom, including fly spray. Cowboy and Dancer were worked with. Nefertari and Spirit arrived and Stormy left - put Nef and her baby in with Mamas and babies. Moved Blackie, Little Creek, Breeze and Rose to Middle 20. Bathed Mariah and treated her wound. Loaded Mariah and baby in trailer for trailering lesson. Took Pictures of Mariah.
Monday june 25: Woke up to find that Destiny had just had her baby - a beautiful, black baby girl. We got a stall ready for them, gave shots, checked the filly over and settled them in (Dave picked her up and carried her inside). Did full imprinting treatment with her, with Michal's help. Later Michal did another imprinting session again. Took Georgia (goat) to check a lump and to check health of her udder. Took Mariah and Baby in same trip because Mariah has a lump on her neck. It was an abscess and we had to cut it open, drain it and now need to treat it twice per day until healed. Took them all home, then turned around and came back for Ryder. Got Ryder home and settled in.
These have been typical of the past two weeks. Michal is here and helping wonderfully. Jarred is working on fencing for us. We have one breeding mare here (Noir) and one on the way later in the week. Three babies born, plus Nefertari and her baby are here for a while. And Two more babies due this month, with one later.
My brother's family was here this week and just left this morning - loved having the kids around, but am quite exhausted. My only goal right now is to get enough rest to make it through a bit more of the summer without getting as sick as I did this week.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Friday June 15, 2007
Michal and Naomi (got here yesterday) started settling in today. Michal (17 year old girl from Chicago) is going to stay the summer and help me out here.
I checked on babies and did ranch up-keep today. Aud has been working on building new fences all week. Karen continues to work, work, work with the horses for me, so that my job is easier.
Karen and Aud moved Chance and Ghost back to their normal pasture with their normal herd - we'll bring them up again to do some intense work once things calm down. They also got pictures of four of the yearlings for me so I could send them out to a perspective client.
I drove Michal and Naomi to town in the afternoon in order for them to go stay with a near-by rabi for the sabbath. Came home and got ready for a couple to come up here to buy some goats.
I checked on babies and did ranch up-keep today. Aud has been working on building new fences all week. Karen continues to work, work, work with the horses for me, so that my job is easier.
Karen and Aud moved Chance and Ghost back to their normal pasture with their normal herd - we'll bring them up again to do some intense work once things calm down. They also got pictures of four of the yearlings for me so I could send them out to a perspective client.
I drove Michal and Naomi to town in the afternoon in order for them to go stay with a near-by rabi for the sabbath. Came home and got ready for a couple to come up here to buy some goats.
Thursday June 14, 2007
Got up and checked on the horses - Karen has been handling the babies for me and they are both doing great. We moved Echo and her little colt to the goat pasture (emptied of goats - let them run free) so they could run around for a bit. Moved Mariah and her's to the Lower Little Barn pasture to stretch their legs.
I went to town to get our guests at the airport, then came back. We immediately put them to work! They cleaned the stalls of the mares and foals as I got some things ready for the vet to come up. Then we all walked down to a far pasture and led Blackie and Stormy back up, while the 5 youngsters in there followed. We let the youngsters hang out in the yard and put Blackie and Stormy in a pen.
The vet got here and ultrasounded Blackie and Stormy. Neither are pregnant (very good - I realized I had them in with the stud colts for a while) but both seem to be cycling and could be bred next month as I planned (at least with stormy - I may not breed Blackie anymore).
The vet then looked at the mommas and babies. All are doing well and Echo is clearly kicking into mother gear. A little worried about Mariah's baby's leg - one is a bit twisted. We will restrict their freedom a bit so they don't run so much until it straightens up.
Turned Chance and Ghost out to big barn pasture today to give them some grazing time. Brought them in during evening.
Long, long, long, long week and day.
I went to town to get our guests at the airport, then came back. We immediately put them to work! They cleaned the stalls of the mares and foals as I got some things ready for the vet to come up. Then we all walked down to a far pasture and led Blackie and Stormy back up, while the 5 youngsters in there followed. We let the youngsters hang out in the yard and put Blackie and Stormy in a pen.
The vet got here and ultrasounded Blackie and Stormy. Neither are pregnant (very good - I realized I had them in with the stud colts for a while) but both seem to be cycling and could be bred next month as I planned (at least with stormy - I may not breed Blackie anymore).
The vet then looked at the mommas and babies. All are doing well and Echo is clearly kicking into mother gear. A little worried about Mariah's baby's leg - one is a bit twisted. We will restrict their freedom a bit so they don't run so much until it straightens up.
Turned Chance and Ghost out to big barn pasture today to give them some grazing time. Brought them in during evening.
Long, long, long, long week and day.
Wednesday June 13, 2007
Moved Mariah at 2am because she was so agitated about being in the Big Barn. But the only other choice was the little barn stall next to Echo, and we are worried enough about her that we don't want to add to her stress by putting another mare in there next to her baby. So Karen and I nailed up curtains between the two stalls at 2am, settled Mariah in and went to bed.
At 8am the foalert system went off and we rushed out for Mariah's birth. She had an easy birth with a beautiful, dark red baby girl with 4 white sox. Tiny little thing with a VERY Arab looking head. We were delighted with all of it. Did the handling, all the medical things and all went well. But we didn't like how Echo was doing. She has been worse and worse at being a mother.
We were suppose to be picking up two guests today at the airport but as I was preparing to leave I heard that they had missed their flight. Had already arranged to go to town and meet with the vet about Echo, so I did that anyway. He sent home some Oxytosen, a hormone we started giving her around 4pm. I ran two other errands and then came home to look that over. Decided to move Echo and her baby down to the Big Barn, since they needed to be alone, in my opinion.
As we started the process of walking them together all the way across the property, Echo started getting frantic about keeping her baby by her. This is good, as all mothers act this way when they first leave the stall with the new baby. We were really pleased to see this. I stayed in the stall with them for a while, giving the Oxytosen periodically, making sure the baby was nursing and watching Echo's actions. It went great - by 9pm I felt we had gotten her past the problem. I think she is going to be a good mom now!
Turned Chance and Ghost out to big barn pasture today to give them some grazing time. Brought them in during evening.
At 8am the foalert system went off and we rushed out for Mariah's birth. She had an easy birth with a beautiful, dark red baby girl with 4 white sox. Tiny little thing with a VERY Arab looking head. We were delighted with all of it. Did the handling, all the medical things and all went well. But we didn't like how Echo was doing. She has been worse and worse at being a mother.
We were suppose to be picking up two guests today at the airport but as I was preparing to leave I heard that they had missed their flight. Had already arranged to go to town and meet with the vet about Echo, so I did that anyway. He sent home some Oxytosen, a hormone we started giving her around 4pm. I ran two other errands and then came home to look that over. Decided to move Echo and her baby down to the Big Barn, since they needed to be alone, in my opinion.
As we started the process of walking them together all the way across the property, Echo started getting frantic about keeping her baby by her. This is good, as all mothers act this way when they first leave the stall with the new baby. We were really pleased to see this. I stayed in the stall with them for a while, giving the Oxytosen periodically, making sure the baby was nursing and watching Echo's actions. It went great - by 9pm I felt we had gotten her past the problem. I think she is going to be a good mom now!
Turned Chance and Ghost out to big barn pasture today to give them some grazing time. Brought them in during evening.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Tuesday June 12, 2007
At 8:30 this morning, the foalert alarm went off and I shot out of bed. Karen and Aud rushed out just after me and I got to the pasture to find that Echo was having her baby. After last year's hard birth and rejection of the foal, we were all nervous about this one. Also, she showed so few signs that she was ready. I think her vulva didn't stretch as it should have - she had a very hard time pushing the baby out. Karen and I pulled and pulled. Took 15 - 20 minutes. Had a lot of trouble getting the shoulders around her opening. She kept getting up, then going and laying down in the mud, then standing up again. Finally Karen and I were able to both pull and we got the baby out.
Echo immediately started talking to the baby and turning to check it out, even as the feet were still in. That was a very good sign. We cut the bag and tried to keep the baby as warm as we could in the mud-puddle it was in. Once he (its a boy!) was out, we called Dave out and he lifted the baby and carried it to a stall which we quickly prepared for them.
Through the course of the day we stated to worry about her mother instincts. She had episodes of striking and biting at him when he nursed, then other times seemed fine with it. We talked to the vet a bit, but are waiting to see what develops.
By mid-afternoon Mariah's milk was white and she was waxed up. We expect her to foal tonight. We put her in the big barn, but she really didn't want to be there. Are keeping an eye on her now.
Turned Chance and Ghost out to big barn pasture today to give them some grazing time. Brought them in during evening.
Echo immediately started talking to the baby and turning to check it out, even as the feet were still in. That was a very good sign. We cut the bag and tried to keep the baby as warm as we could in the mud-puddle it was in. Once he (its a boy!) was out, we called Dave out and he lifted the baby and carried it to a stall which we quickly prepared for them.
Through the course of the day we stated to worry about her mother instincts. She had episodes of striking and biting at him when he nursed, then other times seemed fine with it. We talked to the vet a bit, but are waiting to see what develops.
By mid-afternoon Mariah's milk was white and she was waxed up. We expect her to foal tonight. We put her in the big barn, but she really didn't want to be there. Are keeping an eye on her now.
Turned Chance and Ghost out to big barn pasture today to give them some grazing time. Brought them in during evening.
Monday June 11, 2007
Sat. night passed without babies or problems and Sun. morning we went to check Flicka and found that her milk was NOT white. She seemed back to where she should be. I found it very difficult to be gearing up for a baby that may have very little chance of making it. Was exausted and spent a lot of Sunday in bed.
Today (Monday) we took her down to the vet (my vet is back, thank goodness) and had about an hour to wait while he had an emergency call. Went into his office and got some hand soap and a few paper towels, then went around back to the hose he has out there and gave her a bath while we waited. When he got there he checked her and thought she was in good shape. Not at risk. So we loaded her up and were happy to get her home.
Turned Chance and Ghost out to the big barn pasture today, then brought them in before bedtime.
Mariah's milk is starting to turn. Echo is hardly bagged up at all. We put Mariah in a birthing stall for the night.
Today (Monday) we took her down to the vet (my vet is back, thank goodness) and had about an hour to wait while he had an emergency call. Went into his office and got some hand soap and a few paper towels, then went around back to the hose he has out there and gave her a bath while we waited. When he got there he checked her and thought she was in good shape. Not at risk. So we loaded her up and were happy to get her home.
Turned Chance and Ghost out to the big barn pasture today, then brought them in before bedtime.
Mariah's milk is starting to turn. Echo is hardly bagged up at all. We put Mariah in a birthing stall for the night.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Saturday June 9, 2007
Aud worked outside on the fence much of the day, making good progress. The farrier came and put shoes on Flicka and Cami. We moved Chance and Ghost to a pen by the big barn so we could work with them and groomed up Chance. Did some work with the electric shaver to get his winter coat remnants off. He was great.
Kept the little goat kid with a cold in the stall with the heat lamp for some of the day. Gave him antibiotics as well as giving them to Chico, who is also coughing.
Saw that Flicka had milk in her bag and decided to put her with the birthing mothers to keep an eye on her. We have her due date as being in Aug. so we were sure she couldn't be this early, but she sure looks like she's ready.
As we tucked the mares in and checked everyone's milk this evening we found that Flicka's milk is white. This usually means she is going to birth tonight. Karen and I took her down to the vet stocks and installed a foalert transmitter in her. We set up the birth stall and put her in there, gave her warm bran mash and tucked her in. Then I went in and looked at my records of when she gave birth last year to see if it is at all possible that she is ready tonight. The earliest possible date she could have gotten pregnant makes this only 310 days pregnant - far too early. My vet is on vacation, so I called the back-up he had. He told me to get Flicka to town immediately and get an ultrasound done at Blue Mountain clinic. But when I called them they said she was probably aborting right now and there was nothing to do but let her (that's typical of them).
The thing is, she doesn't seem distressed about anything. She seems FINE. She seems normal. I get no energy that there is anything wrong at all. In fact, she doesn't seem particularly ready to brith, either. I have a camera on her and the folert transmitter in. If anything starts I will know it. This may be a long night.
Kept the little goat kid with a cold in the stall with the heat lamp for some of the day. Gave him antibiotics as well as giving them to Chico, who is also coughing.
Saw that Flicka had milk in her bag and decided to put her with the birthing mothers to keep an eye on her. We have her due date as being in Aug. so we were sure she couldn't be this early, but she sure looks like she's ready.
As we tucked the mares in and checked everyone's milk this evening we found that Flicka's milk is white. This usually means she is going to birth tonight. Karen and I took her down to the vet stocks and installed a foalert transmitter in her. We set up the birth stall and put her in there, gave her warm bran mash and tucked her in. Then I went in and looked at my records of when she gave birth last year to see if it is at all possible that she is ready tonight. The earliest possible date she could have gotten pregnant makes this only 310 days pregnant - far too early. My vet is on vacation, so I called the back-up he had. He told me to get Flicka to town immediately and get an ultrasound done at Blue Mountain clinic. But when I called them they said she was probably aborting right now and there was nothing to do but let her (that's typical of them).
The thing is, she doesn't seem distressed about anything. She seems FINE. She seems normal. I get no energy that there is anything wrong at all. In fact, she doesn't seem particularly ready to brith, either. I have a camera on her and the folert transmitter in. If anything starts I will know it. This may be a long night.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Friday June 8, 2007
As usual, I was exhausted and hurting after a day babysitting my sister's kids. However, NOT as usual, I was able to stay in bed almost the whole day and rest! Karen and Aud did the feeding and Aud worked all day cutting up firewood and fence poles and preparing the pasture for the new fence. Karen got the birthing box ready and did a number of other things around the ranch. I got up for lunch and a few minutes here and there and mostly spent the day in bed. What a relief!
As we were doing the evening feeding we found that one of the baby goats is sick - looks like a cold. He's weak and having trouble breathing. We gave him penicillin and put him and his sister in a stall with the heat lamp on and lots of grain by themselves.
We also castrated the male baby goat we wanted to castrate.
Cooked dinner around the campfire and relaxed.
As we were doing the evening feeding we found that one of the baby goats is sick - looks like a cold. He's weak and having trouble breathing. We gave him penicillin and put him and his sister in a stall with the heat lamp on and lots of grain by themselves.
We also castrated the male baby goat we wanted to castrate.
Cooked dinner around the campfire and relaxed.
Thursday June 7, 2007
Karen came to town to help me babysit my sister's kids today. Babysat for 9 hours and I am exhausted. Thank goodness I had help!
Aud stayed at the ranch and she and Dave (Dave after work, Aud all day) took down electric fencing, knocked down the old, broken wooden fencing and dropped half a dozen trees that were dead and in danger of falling where we want our new fencing to go. She made a great start on the first pasture we have marked to re-fence this year!
One of the baby ducks is missing. I think my house cat ate him. Don't know if I should lock them up or not.
Aud stayed at the ranch and she and Dave (Dave after work, Aud all day) took down electric fencing, knocked down the old, broken wooden fencing and dropped half a dozen trees that were dead and in danger of falling where we want our new fencing to go. She made a great start on the first pasture we have marked to re-fence this year!
One of the baby ducks is missing. I think my house cat ate him. Don't know if I should lock them up or not.
Wednesday June 6, 2007
Karen and Aud cleaned the barn up for me a bit today and got a slash pile burning. They did most of the feeding and we walked around and saw all the animals. Karen (a nurse) helped me re-stitch Echo's foal alarm transmitter, as one of my stitches had come loose. She showed me how to do that more effectively.
Tuesday June 5, 2007
Picked up Karen and Aud at the airport today. They are staying for two weeks and I am very excited to have them here. They're good friends and also a LOT of help around the ranch. Pouring rain all day and in the 50's. Let the mamma duck with her 7 little babies out of their room today - they are really cute zooming around the pond.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Monday June 4, 2007
Went to town to get vet supplies we need to be ready for the birthing horses. Took a good nap in the afternoon and cleaned the house, fed animals in the evening. In bed early.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Sunday June 3, 2007
We spent most of the day in town with my sister's family and got back to the ranch at almost nine. I was exhausted and in pain, as I am so often by the end of the day these days. Since my back injury, my energy is lower even that usual for me, and the slightest bit of activity leaves me sore and hurting. I know this is normal and it will take time to heal, but I find this discouraging, none the less.
We fed the goats and the donkeys (they are penned up in a stall right now because they are becoming dangerously fat on all the spring grass - donkeys were made to subsist on desert rations, not these lush pastures). We fed the rabbits and we checked the pregnant mares. Echo's foal alert monitor is partially pulled out and this is going to require a good bit of work on our part to re-sucher. In any case, we hope it will hold until tomorrow (or that if it comes out the alarm it sets off alerts us before the monitor goes dead). For now I need some rest and tomorrow I will go to town to get more suchering materials and implant her monitor again.
We fed the goats and the donkeys (they are penned up in a stall right now because they are becoming dangerously fat on all the spring grass - donkeys were made to subsist on desert rations, not these lush pastures). We fed the rabbits and we checked the pregnant mares. Echo's foal alert monitor is partially pulled out and this is going to require a good bit of work on our part to re-sucher. In any case, we hope it will hold until tomorrow (or that if it comes out the alarm it sets off alerts us before the monitor goes dead). For now I need some rest and tomorrow I will go to town to get more suchering materials and implant her monitor again.
A Perfect Evening
Last night around 9:30 it was still light out as it is out here this time of year, a blissful 70 degrees with a light breeze. The air was full of the fresh, beautiful smell of spring in the mountains. I asked Dave if he wanted to go on a walk and, to my utter surprise, he said he did. We walked our land until after 10, checking on how the drainage was progressing and the grass coming in back in the far pastures. At one point, as the light was just beginning to fade, I looked across the Big Barn Pasture and saw my cat, Smokey, sitting on a log mid-way across the field, watching for our return. Twenty feet behind him on a little bridge that crosses the creek into our yard, sat Magellan and Indigo, two of our other house cats, also marking our progress and awaiting our return.
We made our way back to the house just as the light was beginning to fade, and neither of us was ready for bed. It was Saturday night and all we wanted to do was sit up and enjoy the night air. We decided to drive down to Frenchtown to a bar with an outdoor deck.
Neither of us has really been to bars much since our... well, okay, neither of us really went to barns much during our college days either. In any case, this was a bit of a gamble, as we had no interest in the night-life - only in the night. But we wanted to go out, and we wanted a snack, and we wanted to enjoy the night a while longer before we went to bed. So we drove 20 minutes to town and I read to Dave all the way down (we always have a book going which we are reading aloud together).
We got there to find that the deck was deserted and we had the warm night all to ourselves. We ordered chips and salsa and I had a margarita. We sat for an hour and talked about our day, and the summer, and various little projects we wanted to do around the ranch. We held hands.
This, I think, was a perfect night. The kind we have out here so often during the summer. The sitting around the campfire, or on the porch, or in the hammock gazing up at the star-spangled sky, kind. The kind with peace and contentment and no, no, no rush anywhere at all. And I look forward to many more like it as the summer moves along.
We made our way back to the house just as the light was beginning to fade, and neither of us was ready for bed. It was Saturday night and all we wanted to do was sit up and enjoy the night air. We decided to drive down to Frenchtown to a bar with an outdoor deck.
Neither of us has really been to bars much since our... well, okay, neither of us really went to barns much during our college days either. In any case, this was a bit of a gamble, as we had no interest in the night-life - only in the night. But we wanted to go out, and we wanted a snack, and we wanted to enjoy the night a while longer before we went to bed. So we drove 20 minutes to town and I read to Dave all the way down (we always have a book going which we are reading aloud together).
We got there to find that the deck was deserted and we had the warm night all to ourselves. We ordered chips and salsa and I had a margarita. We sat for an hour and talked about our day, and the summer, and various little projects we wanted to do around the ranch. We held hands.
This, I think, was a perfect night. The kind we have out here so often during the summer. The sitting around the campfire, or on the porch, or in the hammock gazing up at the star-spangled sky, kind. The kind with peace and contentment and no, no, no rush anywhere at all. And I look forward to many more like it as the summer moves along.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Saturday June 2, 2007
Got up this morning to wait for the farrier to come shoe some horses. He was three hours late (not uncommon with farriers and vets - you just never know how long a job will take) so Dave and I moved all my tack into my new tack room while we waited. Then we trimmed both donkeys and put shoes on Mariah's front feet. I was so exhausted after that I slept for two hours, but was woken my by the baby ducks. I thought they were hurt - they were hollering - but when I ran to check, they were all fine. We got dinner and are now just waiting for the afternoon to cool off before we go do the evening feeding and a few other chores.
It got above 85 today and at this high altitude, the sun just beats down. Lovely, but by about 2pm it is intensely hot outside until around 7pm, when it cools down a bit. Luckily, out here it stays light till at least 10pm this time of year, so there is time to come in during the intense heat and go back out later.
It got above 85 today and at this high altitude, the sun just beats down. Lovely, but by about 2pm it is intensely hot outside until around 7pm, when it cools down a bit. Luckily, out here it stays light till at least 10pm this time of year, so there is time to come in during the intense heat and go back out later.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Friday June 1, 2007
Ranch work was light today. We did the basics, unloaded 10 bales of straw from the truck (for the birthing stalls) and took it easy. I am discouraged at how worn out I have been lately. Since my accident I can't seem to do any little thing without becoming exhausted.
Thursday May 31, 2007
Fed horses and checked on mares today. Lock our new mother duck and her 7 brand new ducklings into the greenhouse so they would be safe. Moved a rabbit to a new hutch. Filled bird feeders. Hiked over to a neighbor's for dinner and had bbq chicken and such. Good day.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday May 30, 2007
I was exhausted all day today. Am finding that since my back injury I am even more easily tired than usual and what would otherwise be small amounts of work leave me exhausted and hurting.
I went to town to get 10 bales of straw (for the birthing stalls) and the last piece of equipment we needed to try stitching our new Foal Monitoring system into the mares. When I got home Dave and I took the mares over to the vet stocks we made last year and did the procedures. It basically involves stitching (with needle and surgical thread) a plastic transmitter to the mare's vulva (under the tail). This is the first time I have done a medical procedure like this on my own and I was quite pleased with it.
We then spent an hour or so putting up the antennas and setting up the alarm box that the transmitters send a signal to when the birth begins. Then we fed animals, moved the two mares to the birthing pastures and I walked Destiny down to the Back 20 (she has been in a stall all week because of some swelling in her leg).
As we were feeding we found that one of our ducks just hatched out a whole bunch of adorable baby ducks. She has been nesting in the greenhouse that is attached to the house - a safe, warm place. I brought her water and food and locked her in so the cats don't get her ducklings.
For the fifth time this week we saw a coyote in the yard. Earlier in the week we lost a baby goat to the coyotes, and we have also lost an adult goose, we think. We tried to shoot the coyote (the only way we can protect our animals if Louie is not always here) but it ran before we could get the gun up. I wish there was a better way to keep them away. I don't want to hurt them - they are neat animals. But I have to protect my stock and they are getting very brave.
I went to town to get 10 bales of straw (for the birthing stalls) and the last piece of equipment we needed to try stitching our new Foal Monitoring system into the mares. When I got home Dave and I took the mares over to the vet stocks we made last year and did the procedures. It basically involves stitching (with needle and surgical thread) a plastic transmitter to the mare's vulva (under the tail). This is the first time I have done a medical procedure like this on my own and I was quite pleased with it.
We then spent an hour or so putting up the antennas and setting up the alarm box that the transmitters send a signal to when the birth begins. Then we fed animals, moved the two mares to the birthing pastures and I walked Destiny down to the Back 20 (she has been in a stall all week because of some swelling in her leg).
As we were feeding we found that one of our ducks just hatched out a whole bunch of adorable baby ducks. She has been nesting in the greenhouse that is attached to the house - a safe, warm place. I brought her water and food and locked her in so the cats don't get her ducklings.
For the fifth time this week we saw a coyote in the yard. Earlier in the week we lost a baby goat to the coyotes, and we have also lost an adult goose, we think. We tried to shoot the coyote (the only way we can protect our animals if Louie is not always here) but it ran before we could get the gun up. I wish there was a better way to keep them away. I don't want to hurt them - they are neat animals. But I have to protect my stock and they are getting very brave.
Tuesday May 29, 2007
I've been quite worn out lately, so I slept in late today. Fed animals, then hiked a mile up to a neighbor's house to ask for help pulling our two trucks and the horse trailer out of the mud we have gotten the ALL stuck in this week. He said he'd come down after work.
We are trying a new Foal Monitoring system to help us be present at births without having to stay up all night for days on end. It requires suchering transmitters to the mares' vulva's. We put these in 2 weeks ago and in both our mares they were destroyed - looks like we put them in too tight. I called the vet and he said he would re-do them if we could get he mares to him tonight, which requires our trailer. I told him I would try to get there once (if) we got the vehicles out of the mud.
Our neighbor, Evan, came down to help about 4:30pm. He had a duelly (very good in mud) and we put chains on all tires but still almost got him stuck trying to pull our Chevy out. He and Dave worked for 2 hours getting the two trucks out of the mud, only to get the Dodge stuck again (we left it - the Chevy is the most important truck right now). Then they worked another hour and a half getting the trailer out, only to find that there was no way to do that except to go right through a large (luckily dead) tree. They got out the chainsaw to cut down the tree, but our big chainsaw got run over by a truck this winter and we only have a small one, which couldn't do the job. They eventually switched to an ax and just chopped the thing down, then drove the trailer out over the stump.
By this time it was far too late to get to the vet. I talked to him and he said he would leave the equipment out for me at his office and I could try to do it myself. So Dave and I went down to town to pick up those supplies, only to find that one (essential) thing was left out of the bag. I will have to go to town again tomorrow to get that last piece, then we will try to stitch these transmitters into the mares ourselves.
We are trying a new Foal Monitoring system to help us be present at births without having to stay up all night for days on end. It requires suchering transmitters to the mares' vulva's. We put these in 2 weeks ago and in both our mares they were destroyed - looks like we put them in too tight. I called the vet and he said he would re-do them if we could get he mares to him tonight, which requires our trailer. I told him I would try to get there once (if) we got the vehicles out of the mud.
Our neighbor, Evan, came down to help about 4:30pm. He had a duelly (very good in mud) and we put chains on all tires but still almost got him stuck trying to pull our Chevy out. He and Dave worked for 2 hours getting the two trucks out of the mud, only to get the Dodge stuck again (we left it - the Chevy is the most important truck right now). Then they worked another hour and a half getting the trailer out, only to find that there was no way to do that except to go right through a large (luckily dead) tree. They got out the chainsaw to cut down the tree, but our big chainsaw got run over by a truck this winter and we only have a small one, which couldn't do the job. They eventually switched to an ax and just chopped the thing down, then drove the trailer out over the stump.
By this time it was far too late to get to the vet. I talked to him and he said he would leave the equipment out for me at his office and I could try to do it myself. So Dave and I went down to town to pick up those supplies, only to find that one (essential) thing was left out of the bag. I will have to go to town again tomorrow to get that last piece, then we will try to stitch these transmitters into the mares ourselves.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Monday May 28, 2007 (Memorial Day)
Well, we saw a coyote again near the house and this time Louie went after it. But apparently not in time. One of the baby goats is gone and I imagine it was a coyote that took it. I hate that. Will have to keep a closer wrap on my goats. I like letting the animals free-range, but I may need to limit that if we can't get rid of these coyotes.
We took the Dodge down to the barn area to get the Chevy out of the mud and promptly got it stuck as well. The 4-wheel-drive is broken and it couldn't handle the mud without it.
We moved a number of horses and did a number of odd-jobs that needed to be done, but mostly I feel frustrated with the day, since we now have all of our vehicles stuck in the mud and I need to go to town tomorrow. May not be able to.
Mariah and Echo are getting close to their birthing time. Mariah's milk has turned cloudy, though Echo's is still clear.
We took the Dodge down to the barn area to get the Chevy out of the mud and promptly got it stuck as well. The 4-wheel-drive is broken and it couldn't handle the mud without it.
We moved a number of horses and did a number of odd-jobs that needed to be done, but mostly I feel frustrated with the day, since we now have all of our vehicles stuck in the mud and I need to go to town tomorrow. May not be able to.
Mariah and Echo are getting close to their birthing time. Mariah's milk has turned cloudy, though Echo's is still clear.
Sunday May 27, 2007
We did a bit more work in the tack room today, hanging saddle stands and building the last of the walls. Then we tried to pull the trailer up to the barn so we could unload all the tack we have stored in there. I was careless and tried to pull through wet, soggy mud. Got both the trailer and truck stuck. Arg! Will try to fix that tomorrow.
The goat kids are not nursing both sides on their own so we are doing some milking still, though mostly we let them drink when we can.
Saw a coyote in the yard today but didn't get a shot off after it in time to kill it. I am quite worried about my animals and have decided we need to get these guys - they are getting more and more brave.
The goat kids are not nursing both sides on their own so we are doing some milking still, though mostly we let them drink when we can.
Saw a coyote in the yard today but didn't get a shot off after it in time to kill it. I am quite worried about my animals and have decided we need to get these guys - they are getting more and more brave.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Saturday May 26, 2007
Dave and I got up around 10am today and fed horses, milked the goat and generally got ready for the farrier to come. We puttered on the tack room project till he got here. Then we trimmed 10 horses. As each finished I wormed and vaccinated them and then moved them to their new pastures (we are moving everyone around to give the present pastures a break).
Mariah's bag is starting to come in but Echo's is not.
We saw that the goat's udder was healed and decided to try and get her babies to nurse out of that side as well as the other one (so we don't have to keep milking her every day). Worked great and we are hoping that will allow the babies to get that milk from now on.
Mariah's bag is starting to come in but Echo's is not.
We saw that the goat's udder was healed and decided to try and get her babies to nurse out of that side as well as the other one (so we don't have to keep milking her every day). Worked great and we are hoping that will allow the babies to get that milk from now on.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Friday May 25, 2007
After getting up at 6am to milk our goat, I went back to sleep and slept till 10 or so. Dave and I headed down to town and I had a few appointments in town while he worked at my sister's. We met Sarah for dinner and then came home around dark. As we went to the back pasture to feed, we heard yelling and a woman hollered that their truck was stuck and they needed help getting it out. Another town person coming out here to play in the mud who decided that our meadow looked like the best mud they could find and tore into it, not caring that someone might own it and not want it ripped to shreds. We got them unstuck. They commented on how bad they thought it was that there were so many houses up here now - getting to the point where a guy can't even come up here and play with his truck anymore. I thought about finding out where they live and taking our bit, 3/4 ton diesel truck and doing wheelies in their front yard to see if they liked that...but instead we just helped them get unstuck and sent them on their way.
Thursday May 24, 2007
We had a fabulous visit with our clients today. After getting to sleep at 2am I got up at 6am with Dave to milk our goat, then went back to bed. Got up in time to pick them up in Frenchtown at 10am and they spent the day here. Showed them the horses and they helped me do a fabulous job on grooming Flicka, Cami and Destiny. We made them lunch, then the man, Greg, and their exchange student took our horses out riding while the woman and I went on a hike. By the time they left and Dave and I got home, we were exhausted but feeling good about the day. (The picture is their exchange student riding Flicka (who is very pregnant).
Wednesday May 23, 2007
I spent the whole day cleaning the house. Spent all of Monday doing laundry and finally finished it today. Trying to get things looking nice for some clients that are coming up tomorrow. (The house has been a bit of a wreck lately - not time to clean).
After work Dave and I worked on straightening the outside of the ranch - putting away piles of junk that have been left out. Our neighbor, Evan, came by and we took a quick break to de-horn the two newest baby goats (YUCK) and then he stayed around to help us with the ranch work. Came back in and stayed up till 2am finishing the inside of the house (it was really very dirty).
After work Dave and I worked on straightening the outside of the ranch - putting away piles of junk that have been left out. Our neighbor, Evan, came by and we took a quick break to de-horn the two newest baby goats (YUCK) and then he stayed around to help us with the ranch work. Came back in and stayed up till 2am finishing the inside of the house (it was really very dirty).
Tuesday May 22, 2007
This evening Dave and I got started building my new tack room. I am very excited about this. One more couple-hour session and it should be done! Goat is doing well - milked her out twice again. Have been getting up at 6am so we can milk her together before Dave has to work. Ugh!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Saturday May 19, 2007
Dave and I milked the goat twice today and did some ranch work. We baked muffins and sweetbreads and took them down to the Frenchtown firedepartment for their training day (to thank them for their help with my accident). Then we spent a few hours building a goat milking stand out of scraps we have around the ranch. It is 100 times easier to milk her in a stand and we are quite pleased.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Friday May 18, 2007
Got up and left the ranch by 10:30 AM. Dave helped me load Isabelle into a dog crate and we put her two tiny babies in a cat crate next to her. Took her down to the vet where he looked at her, gave her some meds and then milked her out for me. I will need to milk her out often and give meds once per day. The vet got over 4 cups of milk out of the one side of her udder.
Got Ryder's feet trimmed today. Got home and took care of the feeding, took care of rabbits and goats and baked a bunch of sweet breads and muffins to take to the Frenchtown Fire department tomorrow to thank them for their help during my accident.
Got Ryder's feet trimmed today. Got home and took care of the feeding, took care of rabbits and goats and baked a bunch of sweet breads and muffins to take to the Frenchtown Fire department tomorrow to thank them for their help during my accident.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Thursday May 17, 2007
We are a little worried about Isabelle, the goat with the inflamed udder. If she gets an infection in that udder she will get very sick - we are suppose to milk her out many times a day to help the inflammation go down. A bit overwhelmed by that. Its actually somewhat hard work and my back is not taking to it. We worked on it this evening again and will get up before Dave starts work at 7am tomorrow morning to do it again.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Wednesday May 16, 2007
Today is the first day in a long while when I got good rest. Very little that the animals need right now, as the horses are all eating grass at this point. The newest mama goat had a plug stuck in one of her teats and it had swollen up to 10 times its normal size - we had to milk her out really well. Fluff (the little black chicken) hatched a baby - one out of the whole nest, so far. Dave moved 1000 lbs of grain out of the truck and unloaded our plywood from the trailer (for making the new tack room). I am at that stage where I feel good enough to be wishing I could do more, but not good enough to do anything. Hoping I can keep getting rest anyway.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Tuesday May 15, 2007
Our white pair of geese hatched out two really fuzzy babies and are strutting around the yard with them. I spent three hours looking for Sahara, who was off wandering the hills, then spent four hours driving her and Onyx to the trainers. They will start their riding training today.
Sunday May 13, 2007
Our last goat had babies today! A boy and a girl - beautiful. All the animals are doing well. I am struggling - exausted, sore and my stomach problems are flaring. Can't keep food down. Trying to get rest.
Saturday May 12, 2007
Dave spent over nine hours working with the bobcat. We dumped all the dirt we removed from the padock area in the garden and my garden is now 4 feet high. Not exactly sure what we are going to do about that...
Exausted after all this work. Hoping to get some rest soon.
Friday May 11, 2007
We rented a bobcat this evening for the weekend. Hoping to get the padock area around the big barn cleaned out - I spent three hours running it and removed over a foot of earth in some areas. It was really quite fun and we are hoping to use this to improve the drainage around that barn.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Thursday May 10, 2007
I fed and then worked in my office most of the day. Rested some. In the afternoon I went to groom Onyx and after work Dave come to his pen to help me get a few preliminary pictures of him for our sale page. We raced around on the golf cart (aka "The Grampa Mobile"), fed and got back to the house before five. Sarah came over for dinner and a movie. Dave went to bed and I am on my way that direction too.
Wednesday May 9, 2007
Okay, so much for the recuperating. I fed and took care of horses, but was so worn out I slept most of the day. After Dave was done with work we had to move around a bunch of horses and that ended up being a huge process. Took us two hours and we were both exhausted and frustrated when it was done. We decided to go to town to get dinner.
Tuesday May 8, 2007
Vet came after noon. Worked with him till late. Did two geldings (Big Red and Corry) and we implanted two mares with my new Foaling alert system. We did shots and gave two fillies an ovulation push (they got in with Ryder but are too young to foal safely). Worked most of the day.
That evening a neighbor came over to help us de-horn our 5 baby goats. Boy, what a nasty process. We started with the paste method, but had to hold this goat for 30 minutes to keep it from rubbing the paste on itself, then tie it for 6 hours to keep it still. That was horrid. So we tried the burning method for the other four and, though I hated it, it was quick and within minutes the goats were romping and playing again. Took about 3 hours total. We made dinner and Sarah and Evan (both neighbors who showed up to help) stayed to eat.
Dave and I were both so sore and exausted from two days of hard work that we fell into bed. We should have the next couple evenings to recouperate!
That evening a neighbor came over to help us de-horn our 5 baby goats. Boy, what a nasty process. We started with the paste method, but had to hold this goat for 30 minutes to keep it from rubbing the paste on itself, then tie it for 6 hours to keep it still. That was horrid. So we tried the burning method for the other four and, though I hated it, it was quick and within minutes the goats were romping and playing again. Took about 3 hours total. We made dinner and Sarah and Evan (both neighbors who showed up to help) stayed to eat.
Dave and I were both so sore and exausted from two days of hard work that we fell into bed. We should have the next couple evenings to recouperate!
Monday May 7, 2007
Dave and I worked after he finished work (at home!!). We spent about 4 hours moving horses, fencing, and putting away over 1000 lbs of grain. A neighbor came by to help us do most of it and that was greatly appreciated. I did very little of the actual work, since I can't do anything heavy with my back yet.
Dave and I caught 4 horses and brought them down to the house for the vet tomorrow.
Dave and I caught 4 horses and brought them down to the house for the vet tomorrow.
Sunday May 6, 2007
Went into town with my mom and the horse trailer early in the day. Picked up my nice and took her to the park so my sister and her husband (and mom) could go look at some houses. Also took her with me to pick up a horse. Drove to Stevensville to get Onyx, a 3-year-old we sold a year ago. His owners have to move out of state and need to sell their horses. We are handling Onyx's sale for them.
Got back and dropped off my niece. Went to pick up Dave and we took Onyx home. Dave is finally home!!
Got back and dropped off my niece. Went to pick up Dave and we took Onyx home. Dave is finally home!!
Friday, May 4, 2007
Friday May 4, 2007
Temps in the mid-high 30's today with lots of heavy snow on and off. I spent the day resting, trying to recoup from doing too much yesterday. Animals are doing well. A coyote came calling, but he dogs sent him packing. I went down to town to pick up the first part of a ton of grain that I ordered a while ago. Picked up my mom to come back up as well - thought I could use a little more help the next couple days. Trying not to over-do it.
Thursday
Before we could use the tiller I rented we had to get the truck and trailer out of the mud, which was worse than when I got it stuck because we got 6 inches of wet, heavy snow last night and it was still coming down hard this morning. Jarred had to go to a neighbor to borrow a special kind of jack, then spend an hour digging the trailer out just so we could get it unhooked and get the truck free. He called another neighbor who works from home and asked for help getting the trailer out (that neighbor has a truck we thought would pull it free - mine wouldn't). He came over and the two of them spent another hour digging and pulling and getting that free. We have good neighbors up here - he said he was happy to get to play with his truck.
We got the garden tilled and I went to town. I had loaded up 6 chickens to give to a client/friend who recently lost her chickens. As I pulled in I noticed that Nefertari (this was the client who bought Nefertari from me) had a baby by her side. Turned out she had the baby that night (1:43 in the morning) and Kathy (client/friend) got to be there for the whole thing. Beautiful baby of Ryder's.
Called another client while I was in town. She had left me a message and wanted to see Ryder. She said she lived down on Deschamps Lane and I told her that was where Ryder was at the moment - at Western Montana Equine. She was very excited - said she had been drooling over him since he got there. Had seen him every day in their pastures. I introduced them and I think that she will breed to him.
Got home after 10pm. My mom stayed in town to help my sister. Going to see how I do alone for a few days. Dave comes home on Sunday.
We got the garden tilled and I went to town. I had loaded up 6 chickens to give to a client/friend who recently lost her chickens. As I pulled in I noticed that Nefertari (this was the client who bought Nefertari from me) had a baby by her side. Turned out she had the baby that night (1:43 in the morning) and Kathy (client/friend) got to be there for the whole thing. Beautiful baby of Ryder's.
Called another client while I was in town. She had left me a message and wanted to see Ryder. She said she lived down on Deschamps Lane and I told her that was where Ryder was at the moment - at Western Montana Equine. She was very excited - said she had been drooling over him since he got there. Had seen him every day in their pastures. I introduced them and I think that she will breed to him.
Got home after 10pm. My mom stayed in town to help my sister. Going to see how I do alone for a few days. Dave comes home on Sunday.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Wednesday May 2, 2007
Destiny is better and came home today. She had a piece of a stick wedged in her ankle. One of the problems with letting the horses roam in pastures with hillsides and woods...
Got home this evening with her and promptly got the trailer stuck in front of the big barn. I forgot that it had been raining for two day up here too and would be too muddy to turn around down there. Arg. My mom walked to the far pasture to feed for me and took a sled to pull the bales (even though there is no snow). Other than that, everything is good here. I am healing quickly and doing remarkably well.
Got home this evening with her and promptly got the trailer stuck in front of the big barn. I forgot that it had been raining for two day up here too and would be too muddy to turn around down there. Arg. My mom walked to the far pasture to feed for me and took a sled to pull the bales (even though there is no snow). Other than that, everything is good here. I am healing quickly and doing remarkably well.
Tuesday May 1, 2007
Got up today and mom did the feeding. We loaded up a winter's worth of ranch trash, old fencing and such, into the truck (took most of the morning). We planned to go to town for my sister's birthday and spend the night. Jarred was working at the ranch and keeping an eye on things.
As we got ready to leave, we saw that Destiny was limping. We pulled her out and washed up her legs (its been raining and she was splashed with mud). Got her fixed up and found that she has some swelling in her ankle - maybe an abscess. Hooked up the trailer and took her to town. Left her for the vet.
Also arranged for Ryder to do an AI shipment today. The vet did it and he spoke for a while about how impressed he is with Ryder as a stallion. Such good manners, so polite and easy to control. I was really glad to hear such a good report on him!
As we got ready to leave, we saw that Destiny was limping. We pulled her out and washed up her legs (its been raining and she was splashed with mud). Got her fixed up and found that she has some swelling in her ankle - maybe an abscess. Hooked up the trailer and took her to town. Left her for the vet.
Also arranged for Ryder to do an AI shipment today. The vet did it and he spoke for a while about how impressed he is with Ryder as a stallion. Such good manners, so polite and easy to control. I was really glad to hear such a good report on him!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Monday April 30, 2007
Great day today. My mom and I worked in the yard, got the yard cleaned up from the winter and all ready for the summer, cleaned up my porches and made everything around the house and yard pretty and neat. I love this place. I am so lucky to live here.
The pastures are growing wonderfully. Another two weeks and we will be feeding off pasture completely.
Mom is still doing the feeding for me and I am enjoying the break.
The pastures are growing wonderfully. Another two weeks and we will be feeding off pasture completely.
Mom is still doing the feeding for me and I am enjoying the break.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Sunday April 29, 2007
My mom is doing all the feeding for me right now. A real treat for me - just having a break is great. And being free of that chore for a week really helps keep my back from hurting.
I puttered in my yard a bit, but took it easy today. Am sore and spent most of the day resting.
I sent my goose-suitor to a new home today. I was quite sad to see him go, but he has attached to me so solidly that he is quite aggressive towards anyone around me. And even when he is not aggressive, he "nips" people all the time. Aggression or not, his "nips" really hurt. He has bitten some kids who come up here regularly and I just couldn't keep him around. But I didn't want anything to happen to him. I found him a good home with a friend who has 3 pet geese. She is great with birds and will keep him as a pet. He may even finally have a mate that is actually a goose!
I puttered in my yard a bit, but took it easy today. Am sore and spent most of the day resting.
I sent my goose-suitor to a new home today. I was quite sad to see him go, but he has attached to me so solidly that he is quite aggressive towards anyone around me. And even when he is not aggressive, he "nips" people all the time. Aggression or not, his "nips" really hurt. He has bitten some kids who come up here regularly and I just couldn't keep him around. But I didn't want anything to happen to him. I found him a good home with a friend who has 3 pet geese. She is great with birds and will keep him as a pet. He may even finally have a mate that is actually a goose!
Sat April 28, 2007
When I got home from town the other day I realized that all my turkeys and one of my peacocks were gone. I didn't realize it was turkey season or I would have locked up my turkeys, though I am sure my big Tom did not leave my yard. I imagine some hunter saw that big, beautiful bird down here, noticed that no-one was home and shot him. Sometimes I wish we could make this road private. People who don't live up here litter, destroy things and steal things off our land without a thought all the time.I felt good enough today that my mom was able to help me plant my spring flower gardens around the yard (she did the planting - I am am still restricted in my movements). I love my plants. My mom commented that I have a great love of growing things - horses, goats, plants... I just love to nourish new life and provide a place for it to thrive.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Friday April 27, 2007
Decided to make my blog private (just open to people I specifically invite). It is fine with me if any of those people share it with others, but for now it occurred to me that it is more about our life here than my business and is not always the face I want to present through my business. I have to figure out what to do about that before I make it public again.
Have been in town for a couple days at my sister's. I am healing well, though I sometimes get frustrated about it. My dad and his wife were a huge help and now my mom is here. Dave comes home a week from Sunday to take over. His job is going great and all the animals here are doing well.
Have been in town for a couple days at my sister's. I am healing well, though I sometimes get frustrated about it. My dad and his wife were a huge help and now my mom is here. Dave comes home a week from Sunday to take over. His job is going great and all the animals here are doing well.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tuesday April 24, 2007
Very sore today. Back hurts if I move much at all. Paying for yesterday, I suppose. I took it easy. Fed in the morning, then slept. Went out during the afternoon to fix one more stretch of fence. Couldn't get the chainsaw started, so my dad chopped a tree in half with an ax. Then we fed in the evening and there was a tree down in the road. He had to chop that one down with an ax as well! I didn't know my dad was such a mountain man!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Monday April 23, 2007
Dad and I got the horses back in and then spent three hours mending the fences around half of their pasture, just to have 6 of them waltz out the other half before we got to it. He did all the lifting. It was hard enough just to walk the pastures with my back, but I managed to help. Slept all afternoon and then went out feeding again, and got the horses in again.
I am sore from the inside out. Going to bed. Will need to start feeding morning and evenings at set times to give these guys a routine. Also will feed a small bit of grain at each meal. Hopefully those things will help keep them around as we get the fencing fixed.
I am sore from the inside out. Going to bed. Will need to start feeding morning and evenings at set times to give these guys a routine. Also will feed a small bit of grain at each meal. Hopefully those things will help keep them around as we get the fencing fixed.
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