A Tale of Two Veterinarians

Gimli went to work with me a couple of weeks ago. Since he seems to enjoy chasing and fighting with racoons and skunks (or really just whatever he can find) Nick and I figure we need to be certain all his shots are always up to date.

It's hard for us to go to Valentine during business hours this time of year, so I decided to take Gimli with me to work in Rushville. I could leave him at the vet while I went to work then could pick him up afterward. Unfortunately, the vet I'd taken him to in Rushville previously (that has a nice outdoor area to keeps dogs in) was on vacation, so I went to the other vet in town. They only had kennels. Picture a huge, eighty-something pound lab locking his legs and and whining pitifully as we pushed him into the tiny kennel for the day.

I felt so bad all day that I left work around 3:00 so I could take the poor thing home. When we got home, I thought it'd be nice for the two us to go for a walk since we'd both been couped up all day - me, in my office and Gimli in the kennel. So off we went. Gimli of course took off exploring the hills as I walked. He disappeared over the top of hill as I turned to go home. I walked for awhile, but he wasn't catching up, so I decided to go see what he'd found. Just as I was walking up to the hill he'd disappeared over, Gimli came flying up over the ridge.....with a face full of porcupine quills, and I do mean FULL of quills!

The poor dog was whining, pawing at his face, and trying to roll in sand, ponds, tall weeds, and basically whatever we could find as we ran for home - just to get the quills out. Nick, of course was not home when we arrived since it is haying season. I knew I'd never be able to pull all the quills out (as he let me pull one, and then wouldn't really let me near him again!) So we loaded back in the car and headed to our usual vet in Valentine. About an hour and a half later Dr. Butler carried a very groggy, huge mass of a dog to my car. After getting him settled, Dr. Butler grinned at me and said "He'll be all right, just, you know, don't let him drive." I laughed, Gimli wimpered and fell off the car seat onto the floor, and we drove for home. One day, two trips to veterinarians over 120 miles apart, and a week later, we were still finding porqupine quills surfacing!

A Family Affair

June 26, 2008, my great-grandmother, Ruth Krajeski turned 98 years old! Her whole family was there to help her celebrate - about 30 of us in all. Between all of us, it was kind of a mad house, but very fun evening. I thought I'd share some photos of the night.
My cousin Mark and his girlfriend Janelle hosted the barbeque we all spent the evening hanging out in the backyard. Mark has been quite busy building himself a fountain and stream bed - it's impressive

Great-Grandma K with her oldest child, my grandma Jean
Grandma and her in-laws
Grandma has 14 great-grandchildren. The oldest, Scott is turning 30. The youngest is about 10 weeks old!

Grandma K with her children, Jim, Jean, and Susan.
Grandma with all her grandchildren - Bill, Randy, J.P., Mark, Cindy, Katie, and Chris.
All of us great-grandkids

running and bucking

It's kind of nice this time of year to look out the window and see the meadows covered with momma cows and their babies wandering about. The calves all run and play together while the cows stand in groups and munch away on the tender new leaves of green grass. Come to think of it, it's not all that different from your typical city park....except for the part about the moms eating the grass...

cattin' around

Chet and Kitty are the only two cats managing to survive the past year. At one time, we somehow had inherited about 8 kittens. They lived a few months and then slowly started to disappear. Nick thinks a bobcat moved into the area.

You might notice Chet is a bit larger than Kitty. Chester is part bobcat himself. I suspect it's a very small part though. He has the look, but not the personality. He's about as far from viscious as he could possibly get!

Gimli Dog

Gimli never really lets me take a decent picture of him. At least he finally sat still long enough here...even if I couldn't get him to look at me! (Try to ignore the my shadow in the picture!)

Ahhh, Spring!

Apparently, mother nature has finally decided that spring should come to north central Nebraska! With snow, cold wind, snow and more snow, March and April got off to a bit of a rocky start. April 10 and 11 we suffered through 50 mph winds and 12 inches of heavy, wet snow that shut down electricity, highways, schools, and just about everything else (except calving). April 12 was even more confusing as we found ourselves facing all in one day: wind, rain, snow, sunshine, hail, snow, sunshine, rain, hail, more snow and finally sunshine. Then, about 2 days later, it was 80 degrees! It seems even mother nature can be a bit testy during calving season!

Having finally mellowed out a bit and seeminly settling in for more "typical" spring weather, I've been able to get out more often to wander about and enjoy the sights early spring has to offer. I took a quick walk a couple of evenings ago to snap a few pictures. Our dog, Gimli tagged along as usual and my cats, Chester and Kitty, decided to follow along as well. The cats seem to think they're dogs and like to accompany me on walks. Unlike a dog however, they're never quite able to keep up. Inevitably, they fall behind, get frustrated with me, stubbornly sit down and refuse to go on, and then proceed to utter the most pitiful wailing sounds you have ever heard until I return to reassure them I'm not leaving them stranded to be carried off by an eagle or coyote or something. On this particular evening, Kitty decided she could go no further after she'd found herself on the opposite side of the fish pond from Chester and I. (Gimli had long since left us to chase a rabbit, mouse, squirrel or whatever small varment he'd gotten the scent of) After 10 minutes of coaxing (being a bit too stubborn, myself, to walk back around the pond to get the dumb cat) Kitty finally decided she could walk back along the edge of the pond until she came to a downed tree limb she was able to climb to get across. With crisis averted and the sun beginning to set, I finally managed to get home to enjoy a glass of wine and watch all three of the crazy animals curl up together under the tree in our backyard.

end of the road (literally!)

For me, as a person slightly more inclined toward the city life (or at least a small to mid-sized town life), marrying a rancher, moving to a rather large operating cattle ranch in, the very rural north central Nebraska was a bit of a .....transition. Some days I get the hang of it, but somedays not so much!

Thankfully, it is incredibly beautiful here!

I created this blog to allow our friends and family, a little farther away, to read about the sometimes mundane and frustrating, as well as the sometimes humorous and encouraging life of living at the very literal end of the road.