After months of no rain, a muddy feedlot is a joy to behold. Few sights are more welcome in southern Montana than that of overcast skies, mud puddles, and the resulting greening of pastures and fields. Ranchers’ smiles are more relaxed, moms aren’t quite as upset when you track mud in on your boots (this will…
Category: Rants
Winter Is Not a Season, It’s an Occupation…
Enduring Montana winters while out feeding cattle…
When Life Gives You Lemons, or Learning to Sail in a Land-Locked State
Sailing forth with good intentions into a new year…
Trick or Treat, or That Christmas Cookie Is Not for You!
Cookies and biscuits are a big deal in our house. Always have been, always will be. The problem is that sometimes the dogs and the humans get the treats mixed up, and no one can tell which belongs to which. Until the human takes a bite, of course. My friend Carol makes Russian tea cakes…
Bundle Up, or Knowing When Your Horse Needs a Winter Blanket
Veterinary advice regarding getting horses through the winter…
Baby, It’s Cold Outside, or Helping Your Animals Survive Winter
Cold-weather survival tips for animals…
Hulk Smash Hands, or You Don’t Want to See Me When I’m ANGRY!!
A couple of years ago, I was puttering through the toy aisle at Target, ostensibly shopping for our godson’s birthday but really wondering exactly what kids find enjoyable these days. I was not a typical girl (my Barbies tended to be missing legs or heads and have “interesting” hair cuts), so children’s toys and the…
The Hazards and Likeliness of Poo, or Where Are Boundaries When I Need Them
There is poo on my shoe. I feel like the scatological knock-off of Dr. Suess. And yes, I know I’ve written much about poo as of late–the nephew swirls it, it’s now on my shoe–but for all of my friends with kids, consider this payback for all of the times you talked about poo and…
That Hot Pink Squeeze Chute: SOLVED!!!
You know you’ve created something of a monster when people go to livestock expos and start sending you photos of pink squeeze chutes. Like this one spotted by Becky Johnson at the NILE in Billings, Montana. Or this one that my brother found down in Waco, Texas. And it all traces back to Megan, who saw…
He’s Smarter Than He Looks, or Why You Should Never Trust a Nebraska Farmer
My good friend Mary and I were trading emails, and we somehow got onto the subject of game shows. She tells this story of growing up in Nebraska. Wheel of Fortune, that game show where people spin the wheel and guess letters, would come on after my sisters and I got home from school at 4:00…
The Western Canon, or Books Erin Thinks that Everyone Should Read
An old friend emailed recently, asking for possible book suggestions for his daughter. I’m generally hesitant to recommend children’s or young-adult books for several reasons, chief among them being that we don’t have children except for Smelly and Bee and they cannot read, and secondly, I was not a normal child reader. Teachers were forever…
What My Daddy Does All Day (Happy Father’s Day)
For those of you having a little trouble discerning just what this is, it is my six-year-old nephew’s rendition of his father at work. Matt, also a veterinarian and he of the “if the horse trailer is plugged in he must be home” fame, is checking a horse with colic. “This is you, Dad, and you…
Strayhounds 