My mother is the one that deserves the credit for this analogy. While on the phone with her one evening, she remarked that while she knew that the type of books I enjoyed reading were Jane Austen, I often found myself writing for an audience that preferred living like John Wayne or Zane Grey. How…
Month: May 2018
Top Ten Reasons Farm Trucks Are Never Stolen, or Why the Valdez Reigns Supreme
I was cruising my newsfeed on Facebook yesterday afternoon when I spotted this article: Top 10 Reasons Farm Trucks Are Never Stolen They have a range of about 20 miles before they overheat, break down, or run out of gas. Only the owner knows how to operate the door to get in or out. It is…
That Hot Pink Squeeze Chute, Revisited
Earlier this year, I (re)ran a blog post entitled “A Hot Pink Squeeze Chute, and That Ain’t No Bull.” Much Facebook sharing ensued, leading many to wonder if such an implementation was real. By following Facebook comments, I found Tarter Farm and Ranch Supply, which led me to “Sadie’s Ride for a Cure Campaign” and…
The Promise of a Pink Grooming Kit, or How Girl Power Rules the Day
Sometime last year, a GoldieBlox video featuring three girls who’d had it up to here with princess make-believe and instead went about building their own Rube Goldberg machine took YouTube by storm. Three small girls went about using their everyday toys to build machines to open garage doors, twirl the baby, launch balls, all in…
A Hot Pink Squeeze Chute, and That Ain’t No Bull
A few years ago, I was on the phone with Megan, a vet tech at the clinic. She made mention of being on the backroads and saw (wait for it) a pink….squeeze….chute. No joke, and it didn’t look like someone’s idea of a practical joke. Someone had taken the thing apart, sanded it down, painted…
An Open-Door Philosophy, or Leaving with More than You Bargained
In small towns, people leave the doors unlocked more often than not. It makes it quite handy to duck in and leave things on the kitchen table, but every once in a while you catch someone unaware. Like Nicky’s mum, who was visiting from England. Legend has it that a friend walked in to drop…
Surviving Eleanor…
Joel and I were talking tonight over dinner, and we suddenly realized that it was one year ago this weekend that I went to Montana to pick up Eleanor. Six weeks after losing Muddy and then Reba, our new puppy was finally big enough to take home. My friend Hilda and I were on the…
Have You Hugged Your Fog Today, or Overnights in Terminal B
So no, I have not hugged a dog (the “fog” was a typo from my original Facebook posting) today, but that is not by choice. I’ve just spent the night here on the floor of terminal B at the Denver airport (okay, that was by choice because I refuse to pay $154 for a crappy…
Equine Vaccinations, or Determining What Shots Your Horse Really Needs to Have
Across the United States, veterinarians receive regular reports from various departments of livestock. According to the Montana Department of Livestock (MDOL) dated April 30, 2014, Montana had the third-highest confirmed case count of West Nile Virus in the United States. Equine herpes virus is a repeat offender in horse populations as well, also making the…
Mother Goose, or This Is How It Starts
My cousin, Caryn, posted this photo of the most recent addition to their household. Meet Buddy the goose! My brother, Matt, tried raising geese as a science project back in the day. He (or rather my parents and Karen Hauge) had an incubator set up at the vet clinic. Every day, when Matt returned…
Who Do You Love, or Donkey Love Writ Small
I laughed straight out loud when I saw this photo from my friend Heather. Catching the first blush of donkey love on camera is a difficult thing, but she managed to do just that. This is not my first brush with tiny donkeys. When I first left Montana for the higher-education institutions of Illinois, it…
Too Much Fun, or When to Tip Excessively
Back when their dog, Greta, was still alive, my Uncle Jim liked to send me videos and clips of things that amused him. He also sent photos of Greta, his other wife. This is what came in one time over the weekend wires. Yes, Jim’s other wife (besides my Aunt Laurie) is a dog. My…
Strayhounds 