Tag Archives: dogs

Wishing for ice cream

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   If you’re like me, any day is a good day to eat ice cream. Today I have even more incentive. The Cold Stone Creamery in Grand Forks, like those nationwide, is hosting an ice cream social from 5 to 8 p.m. where customers can get a free taste of its Sprinkled with Wishes Creation of ice cream, brownie, rainbow, sprinkles and fudge.

      This is the 10th year that Cold Stone Creamery restaurants across the United States have helped the Make-A-Wish Foundation during September by accepting donations for the organization which helps make wishes come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions. This month customers can buy a Make-A-Wish paper star for a dollar.

           My daughter, Ellen, and our family went on a Make-A-Wish trip in December 2008, a few months after she was diagnosed with leukemia. Ellen chose to go to Vanouver, B.C., to see the movie set of Santa Buddies, which features the Air Buddies golden retrievers puppies. After we returned home from our trip, Anna McRoberts, the writer-producer of the movie shipped us Rosebud, the Buddies puppy that Ellen fell in love with while she was on the set.

         Ellen and Rosebud will be at Coldstone in Grand Forks from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today. Ellen, who is now 8 and cancer-free, will be dishing up ice cream. Rosebud, who is now three and still a cutie, will be greeting people and posing for pictures outside the restaurant.

               Hope to see you there!

An unforgettable day

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    Three years ago today my then-5 year old daughter Ellen was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and my world crumbled around me. With the help of faith, famly and awesome doctors and nurses, Ellen’s cancer was cured and my world is whole again. 

   At 8, Ellen is healthy, happy and has a wild head of hair that grew back wavy and thick after her chemo treatments ended. She finished chemo 10 months ago and her subsequent blood counts have shown she remains in remission.

     Today Ellen and her dad, brothers and I will attend Relay for Life in Grand Forks and walk the Survivor’s Lap with Ellen. Rosebud, the Santa Buddies movie star golden retriever, she recieved after she attended her Make-A-Wish trip, also will be at Relay for Life with us. Rosebud is one of the many good things that came out of Ellen’s cancer.

     I don’t believe that God gave Ellen cancer because my  Roman Catholic faith tells me that only good things come from him. I do think, though, that if we allow God to work through us, great gifts can come out of bad situations. Rosebud is one of them.

   Others include the compassion Ellen developed for other kids who are sick, the outpouring of love we received from our family and friends and the awareness that we need to live in the moment and celebrate each one.

    If you’re out at Relay for Life this evening and see an 8 year old girl holding a pink leash with a golden retriever on the end of it, introduce yourself and say “hi.” Ellen enjoys meeting people and sharing Rosebud and her story with them.

Muddling along

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     After a great start this spring, it’s again turned to the dark (wet and muddy) side. The fields around our farmstead are full of water holes that only the ducks and dogs seem to be enjoying. Whenever I drive by, there are several colorful male mallards swimming on the ponds. I suspect that the females are sitting on egg in the ditch or tending to little ones. Hopefully, the ducklings won’t make an appearance on a day when our yellow Labs have decided it’s time for a swim.

    Maggie and Minnie head for a pond whenever we turn our backs on them and come back to the house mud-covered, stinky and slimy. Rosebud, my daughter Ellen’s golden retriever, gets muddy and dirty even though she doesn’t go for a swim. All she has to do is roll around in the wet grass and then run through the flowerbed. She smells better than her canine companions, but that’s small consolation.

      It’s a constant, mostly losing battle, to keep the mud out of our house. I can’t blame ait all on the dogs, either. When any of the human members of our family, including me, go outside we collect mud. We take our shoes off in hopes that we can confine it to the porch, but because our socks and feet usually get dirty, too, it follows us in.

      Of course, we have little to complain about compared to farmers who are still trying to get crops in and spray the ones that are up to protect them from funguses and eliminate weed competition.

       Since there’s nothing we can do about the weather we’ll just have to live with it. At least when it’s wet we have an excuse not to weed the garden which would entail fighting off the mosquitoes. But the mosquitoes are a whole ‘nother story, so I’ll save that one for another day.

Three dog night

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     When I left for work this morning Minnie, our oldest yellow Lab, was curled up next to the kitchen radiator and Maggie, our other yellow Lab, and Rosebud, Ellen’s golden retirever were snuggled in their kennels nearby. If the weather is moderate, we put the dogs in the outdoor kennel in the barn. They have a deep bed of straw in which to lay so they keep warm. Today, though, it just seemed too bitter cold to have them outside, even inside of a building.

      On days like this I dread going outside, even it’s just to get to and from my car. When I have to be out for any length of time at home I dress in several warm layers. However, I don’t dress nearly as warm for work unless I have an interveiw with someone who works outdoors.

        Soon, I’ll heading for home and am not  looking forward to shivering while my van is warming up. I don’t have a car starter so I freeze for the first part of the ride home. Once I get home tonight, I plan on staying in. It definitely sounds like it will be a three dog night.

    

Three dog night

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     When I left for work this morning Minnie, our oldest yellow Lab, was curled up next to the kitchen radiator and Maggie, our other yellow Lab, and Rosebud, Ellen’s golden retirever were snuggled in their kennels nearby. If the weather is moderate, we put the dogs in the outdoor kennel in the barn. They have a deep bed of straw in which to keep so they keep warm. Today, though, it just seemed too bitter cold to have them outside, even inside of a building.

      On days like this I dread going outside, even it’s just to get to and from my car. When I have to be out for any length of time at home I dress in several warm layers. However, I don’t dress nearly as warm for work unless I have an interveiw with someone who works outdoors.

        Soon, I’ll heading for home and am not’ looking forward to shivering while my van is warming up. I don’t have a car starter so I freeze for the first part of the ride home. Once I get home tonight, I plan on staying in. It definitely sounds like it will be a three dog night.

    

Bring on November

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    In this crazy, mxed-up year, weatherwise, we can’t count on the weather in any given month to follow it’s normal pattern. September, which is typically, a cool, rainy month, was warm and Sunday. And instead of getting October’s bright blue weather, the skies were gloomy and wet.

      I’m holding out hope that November, which usually is cold and gray, will be sunny and warm. We’re on our third day of sun and the forecast is for similar weather the rest of the week. Even if it doesn’t continue that way, I figure from now on every day that’s nice now is a gift and one less day of winter.

       Besides simply enjoying the weather, having a nice November would allow my family and I to complete some fall chores that we couldn’t get done in October. It was much too wet to clean out the garden and there were too many leaves still on the trees to clean out the gutters. I’d like to get both of those jobs done before winter.

       Removing the dead vines, debris and unripe fruit and vegetables from the garden not only would cut down on disease, it would ease the tummy troubles of Maggie, our yellow Lab. Each afternoon she snatches a watermelon or squash and downs it. By morning her stomach is rumbling and she’s whining to get outside so she can relieve herself of the pain.  Brian and I want to stop the cycle by picking everything that’s left and disposing it where Maggie can’t find it.

        As far as the gutter cleaning, my least favorite farm job, it’s a necessary evil. The gutters are clogged with leaves and if we don’t remove them, the spring rains will be cascading over the edge of the gutters and into the basement.

       So here’s hoping that November is one to remember in a good way.

 

Frosty morn

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    The forecasters were right on with their warnings of an overnight frost. I forgot to look at the thermometer before I left the house this morning and it was too dark to see if the lawns were frosty, but I heard on the radio on the way to work the temperature dropped tp 30 degrees in Grand Forks. I assume our thermometer registered about the same.

     I hate to have summer end, but we were blessed with a beautiful September, so I can’t complain.  I knew that the tomatoes and peppers would be goners if the forecast was accurate, so last evening I picked tomatoes, peppers and beets. The beets were sticking out of the ground and I thought they may be vulernatble to getting nipped by the frost and they wouldn’t be growing much more, anyway.   

   While I was picking the tomatoes, Maggie, our vegie-eating yellow Lab ran by with a cucumber in her mouth. She looked at me guiltily out of the corner of her eye as she laid down to eat it. She needn’t have worried about me taking  the ccumber away from her. The cukes have passed their peak season and don’t taste nearly as good as they did earlier. She can have as many cucumber she wants.

   The watermelon and muskmelon are another story, though. They’re so sweet eating one is similar to taking a bite of candy. I wasn’t pleased when I was carrying the tomatoes, beets and peppers to the house and saw that Minnie, our yellow Lab cross, was finishing up a muskmelon. She doesn’t care about eating garden vegetables, but is crazy about fruit. There wasn’t enough left of the melon to salvage so I let her finish it. Tonight maybe I can find one for us to eat — if I get to the garden first.

 

The pack mentality

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    During the past few years the number of coyotes living in our area has grown and the animals have moved closer to our farmstead. My general philosophy with wild animals is live and let live, unless they do something that threatens me, a family member or one of our pets.

     During the past year, the coyotes have crossed the line. The first time was about a year ago when one attacked Maggie, one of our dogs, when she was on an evening run with my husband. He scared the coyote off by throwing stones and yelling at it, but it was a frigthening experience for both Maggie and my husband. They were on a gravel road without protection and pretty much at the mercy of the coyotes. After that, my husband made sure that he didn’t take the dogs with him when he ran at twilight or after dark.

      But the past couple of weeks the coyotes have been seeking out our dogs. One has come up to the edge of the corn field that borders our farmstead and barked, trying to lure our dogs into the field. From our research, the coyote does that so the dogs will follow them. Once they follow, the single coyote, they’re often met by a pack which kill the dogs who become coyote dinner.

      At about 6:30 this morning I was sure Maggie and Minnie were goners when they heard a coyote bark when I was feeding the horses and ran into the corn field after them. I ran to the  edge of the field and called for about 15 minutes trying to make myself heard above the coyote howls. I finally gave up, giving up, figuring there was nothing more I could do. I was walking back to the road trying to figure out how to tell our children the dogs had been killed when I saw Minnie a few hundred yards ahead of me, standing on the road that runs parallel to the corn field. I ran to the road, hoping that Maggie woud be there, too. I was glad  to see her galloping toward me from the east.

      I don’t know if the dogs ignored the coyotes once they got in the field or if the coyotes figured that the Labs, which weigh about 70 pounds, were too big to take on. Whatever the reason, I was relieved Maggie and Minnie were alive and will take them outside on their leashes until we can remedy the coyote problem. I don’t like killing animals, but in this case I consider it self-defense for our pets. I don’t hunt, but I know plenty of people who do and, hopefully, one of them can reduce the numbers around us.

  

Back roads bike tour

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     Brian and I went on a bike ride last night and Maggie and Minnie, our yellow Labs, tagged along, sometimes behind, sometimes ahead of us. We left Rosebud, Ellen’s golden retriever, behind in the outdoor kennel because she hasn’t yet learned to stay by us when she’s off of the leash.

    Traveling the gravel roads on bicycle is a great way to see the countryside and get a good look at the crops in our area. We rode by one of my mom’s wheat fields which had been sprayed to dry it down, by our neighbor who rents her land. We plan to bale straw off the field after it’s combined. It looks like the straw will be fairly heavy, but not too heavy. Last year the rows were so thick that Brian had to walk in front of the baler to spread out the straw so it would go through the machine. Each year we keep a couple of hundred bales to use for bedding for our horses and sell about that much.

      The wheat wasn’t the only golden crop we saw. A sunflower field a few hundred yards beyond it has begun to bloom. The sunflowers are behind last year, so hopefully we’ll get some warm days this month so they will mature before it frosts. The corn fields we passed also need some hot days to ripen before maturity. The fields we passed finally were tasseling, but the ears are tiny. The edible beans, too, seem to be a few weeks behind and, while the foliage looks healthy, there wasn’t a blossom in sight. Most years farmers are cutting the beans by Labor Day

       While we were looking at crops during our bike ride, Maggie and Minnie were exploring gopher and badger holes. They also found some stagnant water in a drainage ditch they were romping by and decided to take a swim. Both came out of the ditch dripping dirty, smelly water, so they stayed outside for quite awhile when they got home.

    When we got back Rosebud also was wet. She stuck her head in the bucket of water that’s in her kennel and sprayed it all overself. At least it was (relatively) clean water.