In the spring of 2014, many people are making their way back from Hardin, Montana, where they were paying tribute to Dick LaFrance. Dick was a good veterinarian, an opinionated old cuss, a good man, and a good friend to many. I have heard my father use the word “hero” to describe very few people, but…
Tag: Montana
Winter Skies, Dinnertime Blues
Seeing the beauty of winter while waiting for a chinook…
Winter Feeds
Yesterday, while working from my impromptu vet-clinic office, my dad called me. “You should probably put on some warm clothes. I need some help with that water main and we need to feed the cows.” he said. I cannot say that I was surprised by the pronouncement, but I did have to laugh. Dad’s edicts…
Leftovers Are Overrated, or Every Good Dog Has Its Holiday
What happens when your dogs eat all of the leftover Christmas turkey…
Where Do I Sit, or Just How Many Dogs Can Fit into the Kubota
I returned from my usual Turkey Creek hike last evening with Eleanor and Beatrice to find this photo from Megan. While Doc Randall and mum, better known as my parents, are traversing Tanzania and sending me elephant photos at every opportunity, their third-child-in-everything-but-genetics child Megan stays at the house. She feeds the dogs, feeds the horses, makes…
Indoor Days with Outdoor Dogs, or What I Miss Up North
Ode to winter hiking, mountain sunsets, and dogs underfoot…
In Memory of Karen
In memory of Karen Hoaglund Hauge…
Fall Gathering, or Sagebrush Meditations
Sam and Monica still do lots of things the old way, using horses to gather to gather up the cattle. Sam may own a four-wheeler, but he is much more at home on a horse. Dad once described him as a “pretty fancy calf roper,” and I think he still is. But last weekend, Sam…
Burn Baby Burn!
Bridger’s Volunteer Fire Department must have spent the weekend on high alert as my dad finally torched the funeral pyres of Russian olive trees that had dotted the pastures for several years. Why was the fire department at Defcon 5, its highest state of readiness, you ask? That would be because of dad and his…
Iron Works!
Metalwork that is really artwork from Montana to Texas…
The Trouble with the Light, or How Green Is the Valley
I cannot say enough about the benefits of sagebrush to cure whatever ails you. It’s certainly enough for me to forgive three dogs for thinking that I needed to get up and feed them at five in the morning. (You’re not included in this sin, Bob. You would have been more than happy to snooze…
Morning Light
Mum is a morning person. She gets up with the dogs and walks out to feed and check the water on some of the pasture horses. Lenny here is one of those lucky few, illustrating why the morning light of a long summer day is to be treasured. May we all be so lucky to…
Strayhounds 