Category Archives: pets

2026, Family, home, pets, Travel, Uncategorized

Meet Freya

26 Comments

First off, no we did not go get her in Columbus. 

We officially started our dog search about a month ago.  It went quite quickly – adoption application, meet and greet at the foster’s home, a virtual home visit (which we passed with flying colors), more paper work.  Took our Columbus trip, got home last Monday and picked her up on Wednesday!

She is one of five siblings who were “breeder release” dogs from Missouri.  There are a couple of scenarios for this.  Some BR dogs have been over-bred and the breeders don’t want them anymore.  Then apparently many breeders quickly get in over their heads, especially if they get too many puppies around the same time or they just have other issues that keep them from getting their dogs adopted out.  We think she is this latter category of “overwhelmed” as she clearly has not had puppies.  The rescue organization (which is actually in Wisconsin) goes to breeder release events and purchases dogs which they then adopt out.

She came up as “Olga” on the rescue website.  The foster mom said that they just make up the names – theses siblings came with just twine around their necks and little hand written tags.  Olga’s said “37”.  That was it.  Apparently most of her 18 months have been spent in a kennel.

On the way to the meet & greet, YA and I decided we did NOT want Olga as a name so we came up with a short list.  Isolde and Jorinda were completely shot down by YA immediately.  We also added Arwen and Galadriel from Lord of the Rings.  YA wasn’t crazy about these either but she didn’t rule them out.   This lead me to Freya, Norse goddess of love. YA grudgingly thought this was OK. 

As we entered the house to meet the dog, the foster mom said “she responds better to Freya than to Olga”.  YA and I looked at each other and smiled – was there ever a better omen?

She is about average height for a female Sammy, although she is skinny at this point.  Hard to tell with all that fur.  She is extremely skittish and shy but she adapts well.  After the first couple of airplanes overhead, she is now ignoring them although low-flyers that cast a shadow still bug her).  She is very very curious and has already shown a passion for standing on her back legs and looking out the windows.  The cat has decided she isn’t a threat but Freya doesn’t feel that way about the cat yet.  She loves other dogs, so in a few more days, we may introduce her to some of the other canines in the neighborhood.

The rescue organization has some strict rules about adoption; they prefer to still have “ownership” of the dogs until their medical exams and spay/neuters happen.  So right now we as “fostering to adopt” and the adoption will be finalized three days after the spay, which will most likely be towards the end of July. 

We are ecstatic – she is very sweet and we already adore her.  Now the race is on to find an Irish Setter to complete our little household!

What happens after it rains cats and dogs?

2026, chickens, Farming Update, Uncategorized

More of this and that

30 Comments

This week’s Farming Update from Ben

It’s been a good busy week on the farm. Got lots of odds and ends done and I’ve marked several things off my ‘To-Do’ list. 

The chickens enjoyed the straw bales left over from Movie Night on the Farm. 

Sunday, we met Son and DiL at an outdoor wood fired pizza place near Waseca. It was perfect weather, and good pizza. As we were leaving, the owner asked us if we’d come back? Daughter loudly proclaimed, “No, I don’t think so.” Well, they asked. 

Monday I got the haybine hooked up and mowed the roadsides. The haybine is the machine that cuts a swath nine feet wide using a sickle that goes back and forth very fast to cut off the stems of alfalfa or grass. Every now and then an individual section will break. Notice the missing one here: 

It has been a lot of years since I had to replace one of those, just because I don’t cut much anymore, and I’ve forgotten what a pain it is to do it. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten the techniques needed. Or maybe it’s because I’m older. I used to do this out in the field with a hammer and chisel to knock off the old rivets, and then a punch to knock the stub out. Then there’s a gadget to smoosch the new rivet to hold the new section in place. I remember it was always a hassle and I’d be hot and sweaty and covered in bugs and I’d be mad about the whole thing. On Monday I was doing in on the concrete in front of the shop. I’ve also forgotten how little room there is in there. I had one end jacked up to give me more room. And I had a cordless grinder instead of a hammer and chisel. And I use a pneumatic air hammer instead of a hammer and punch. I didn’t get so grumpy about it all. But it sure did bring back some memories. 

Daughter had come to the shop for a visit and she rode with me as I was cutting the roadsides. She took this photo.

Padawan 2, Max, was out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We moved a bunch of stuff around in the shed and I put things on the pallet racks. The trick is only to put stuff up there that won’t be used very often.  The shop looks big until I try to get a tractor in there sideways. 

Neighbor Dave was down checking fence in a section of pasture. It’s the area where the gully was filled in and the new waterway created, so we needed to build a fence to keep the cattle out of that area for this year. I hooked up the brush mower and mowed a path for the temporary fence, then went to the back of the pasture where Dave said the thistles were taller than he was. 

Boy, yeah they were. It has been a long time since I was back in that corner of the pasture. It’s a valley with lots of smaller valleys bisecting it. It is easy to see how thousands of years of erosion have created our farms rolling hills. 

On Thursday Dave and I built the temp fence. It’s just one hot wire. Meaning it’s an electric fence. And his cows are smart, and they know and respect an electric fence. And by ‘electric fence’ I mean the kind of fence that gives you a good “JOLT”  when you touch it. It won’t kill anything, but it sure makes your arm hurt for 10 minutes. I supposed it’s like a taser. If cows learn about electric fences as calves, they do fine. You can’t take wild cattle and expect them to respect an electric fence. I’ve tried that. Electric fences also require insulators on the posts, and not too many weeds. There’s a whole skill involved in building an electric fence. Different skills than are required when making a 4 strand barbed wire fence like the padawans and I did a couple years ago. 

(One of the blogs here; https://trailbaboon.com/2024/06/29/rusty-summer/)

P2 Max and I reshingled the feed building on Wednesday. The old shingles came off surprisingly easy. I had some left over shingles from doing the south side a few years ago. I bought two more bundles of the cheapest shingles the big box store had. Turned out to be a different color but no one cares or can really see the North side of this shed. 

I’m not sure what look he’s going for here.

I put more stuff on pallet racks. A pallet of steel fence posts, and a pallet of wood blocks. A few years ago when I had to move these blocks out of what would become the shop, and I first put them on a pallet, I remember Clyde talking about all the blocks they had on their farm. And I have some blocks on a lower shelf so I can get them as needed, and I wondered, why am I saving this pallet of wood blocks?? Just what do I think I’ll be doing that I need that many blocks? Evidently I’m saving them for our kids to throw out when we die. And I threw out a few blocks. But still…I think I am saving too many blocks. But you never know. 

Max and I also got the secondary lawn mower running. Then I did something and it wouldn’t run again. Fixed it and then broke it again. But now it’s running! The hood has a big crack in it. I think I’m gonna have to zip tie the crack together. A new hood top is $176 and I don’t think it’s worth that much. I ordered a new bumper, which is the hinge point at the bottom, and that was $76. This was Kelly’s parents lawnmower, so I need to ask her if she wants a zip tie scar across the top. 

We got .6” of rain on Tuesday evening. A real nice gentle rain. 

I got the roadsides raked and baled on Friday. It wasn’t much. Only 25 bales.

Next week the hot weather is back. I’m thinking of inside jobs. 

EVER SHOCKED YOURSELF? I mean electrically, but whatever makes a good story.

KNOW ANYONE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING?

2026, animals, History, home, pets, Stories, Uncategorized

All Fluffed Up

38 Comments

Today we brought our pups to Brandon. SD to be groomed. Our Cesky Terriers have a very specific hair cut, leaving them with a shaved back, tail, head, and ears, with a fluffy beard, eyebrows, chest, and ballerina skirt on their front and sides

Their longer fur is very curly and prone to matting. Last night I noticed lots of mats on Mitzi’s legs, so I grabbed my bottle of corn starch and the grooming comb I got from the breeder. The cornstarch really helps with detangling. I was able to get most of the mats out, so I hope today’s grooming won’t be so traumatic for her. She was so good and patient during my combing. The only problem with squirting the dog with cornstarch is that you can’t let them get wet afterwards.

My first haircuts were by Kay Aanenson, a rather flamboyantly gay barber on Luverne’s main street. I don’t remember this, but I was told that I cried the whole time, and Kay just stuffed chewing gum in my mouth to keep me quiet. Kay was a noted dancer of the Charleston, worked as a dancer on Atlantic cruise ships in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and wore very gaudy, colorful suits to our Lutheran church. He came to church every Sunday until he passed. I remember those suits.

I really need to brush out our dogs on a more regular basis. Mitzi loves to plunge in the water feature in our backyard, and I think that leads to more matting. I need to invest in more cornstarch.

Where was your first haircut? Have you had dogs who needed grooming? What is your favorite production of Anything Goes?

2026, animals, pets, Uncategorized

Developmental Milestones

18 Comments

Well, Kyrill’s worst fear has been come true: Mitzi can now jump up on the sofa all by herself. For Kyrill, this means that he has lost the “upper paw” he had with her.

Prior to last week, Kyrill could steal any of Mitzi’s toys and chew bones, jump up on the sofa with them, and she couldn’t do much about it. Kyrill and Mitzi both have a “I’ll have what she/he is having” attitude about possessions. They want anything the other has. Now that she can ascend the sofa, she can more easily steal things back from him. We are happy with this developmental milestone since we no longer have to hoist her up all the time. Cesky Terriers are long dogs with short legs, and her back finally got long enough. Kyrill was definitely stressed and needed lots of pets and reassurance after her sofa jumping became regular.

Despite vying for possessions, the two dogs are always close by one another and snooze right next to each other all the time. They remind me of human siblings, with Kyrill taking the role of an older brother who wants to be dominant over his younger sister but who still tries to take care of her.

What sibling rivalry did you experience? How did your family cope with it? If you have more than one pet how do they get along?

2026, animals, gardening, Gatherings, pets, Uncategorized

Peace, Love, Play

37 Comments

It has been Buffalo Days here for the past week, and there has been a car rally, a parade, a 5K run, a quilt show, a craft fair, and many food trucks around town. Yesterday was to be Woofstock, a celebration of dogs. You can see the Facebook page below listing all the activities

https://www.facebook.com/share/1AjJi3XFZN/

Our pastor was scheduled to do the blessing of the Dogs. Our terriers needed blessings as well as forgiveness and penance! Husband and I left home with the dogs at 4:30 to head to the city park, but we hadn’t gone more than a block when the sky darkened and the wind really picked up. I turned the car and headed back home just before the thunderstorm hit. We got .50 of rain in about 20 minutes. Woofstock was officially rained out. I imagined all the wet dogs that were at the park and what a chaotic scene it must have been.

All this brought up memories of the original Woodstock, and what an awful thing the grownups around me viewed the goings on at the festival. I was still in elementary school but was fascinated by the scenes I saw on TV.

I was thankful that our rain and wind weren’t destructive We won’t need to water the garden for at least a couple of days. They were expecting 85-100 mph gusts, hail, and tornadoes back at our old home in ND last night. I can’t imagine a garden making it through something like that!

Been rained out? What are your memories of Woodstock? What Woofstock activity would you have wanted to do?

2026, animals, chickens, crops, Farming Update, Technology, Theatre, Uncategorized

TICK’ED OFF

30 Comments

This weeks farming update from Ben


Yeah, I know. When I was planting crops I commented on how nice it was to have good lights on the tractors and lights outside the shop so I could keep working after dark. But now that the crops are in, and I’m on the rest of my ‘to-do’ list, it’s a good thing it gets dark so I know enough to quit and come in the house. 

Sometimes that happens because I’m still at the college so I don’t get home and doing anything until 5:00, or the last few days it was so hot I didn’t go out until late in the afternoon, I worked in the office and did bookwork and fought with websites and dealt  with government bureaucracy in the morning, and then I went out and fixed the hole in the bottom of the feed room door and finally got half of the larch trees planted, and weed barrier around them one night, and then the next night rounded up the weed barrier that had blown away, got them all stapled down and found some hoses and gave the trees a good watering. I gotta find a good place to put about 10 more larch trees.

Kelly and I worked one night, finishing the mulch around the seedlings, and building the deer fence over the windbreak seedlings. The deer sure like the Ninebark. They aren’t bothering the gray dogwood, but they’re peeling the bark right off the Ninebark. Stupid deer. When we finished that night Kelly had 6, SIX ticks on her! And she had applied tick repelant! No one hates Hates HATES ticks more than Kelly. She still shivers when we talk about it. I said it’s because she’s irresistible.

I got a 12Volt pump hooked on the large water tote and that’s working pretty slick. Now one person can water the trees from the cab of the gator.

The dairy guys are working on that first cutting of alfalfa. Good weather for that. Some guys are making hay from cover crops they planted last fall, and will get soybeans in after they take that off. 

I’ve got a contractor out and he’s gonna fill in a gully and construct a couple berms to help control erosion. And then fill in another gully, and get a tile inlet and perforated tile installed to prevent a gully from returning in a place that has springs. As dry as it is, the springs are pretty well stopped for now. It’s all part of the Soil & Water projects that I’ve got going this year.

I’ve got the last of my college rentals on Saturday, and then Tuesday is officially my last day for the year, but there is an ongoing project that I’ll stop and work on throughout the summer. It’s no big deal, doesn’t need to be done until fall. It’s sound baffling for the music department.

Padawan had a minor hiccup with his job so he’s still helping me out for a while. At least that’s what he says, that there was a minor hiccup. We believe 98% of what he tells us. “Trust but verify“

Soybeans are finally up enough we can see the rows. 

They need some rain. I was talking with one of the agronomists from the Co-op the other day and she said everyone is in the same situation. Just waiting for rain. 

Growing Degree Units: to Date 631,  Normal is 370. 261 above normal… jeepers. Need some rain. The corn is looking real good, it’s about a foot tall. The co-op was out and sprayed for weeds on Thursday.

The chicks are enjoying being outside. They’re about half full size. They’re big enough to get OUT of the fence, but can’t figure out how to get back IN the fence. Unless Luna is “following” them, I’ve seen them freak out enough they fly over. 

Chickens always look so ticked off.

Stop taking pictures and put me back in the pen!
GET THAT CAMERA OUT OF MY FACE!

Last week I worked a GOP debate at one of the local high schools. They brought in 3 candidates for governor. Three that “agreed to abide by the Republican Convention endorsement and support the candidate who the convention endorses”. Well, that left out a few. 

Wasn’t much of a crowd to be honest.

I just turned on the lights and let the local TV station crew and the schools IT guys sort it all out. The technology of live broadcasting has really changed from the days of the Van with the big tower coming out the top. So that was kind of interesting. 

In the past I have mentioned the monitor that works with the corn planter to alert me if a row stops planting seed. It’s a box with 6 light bulbs and orange covers over them. This is 1980’s technology and they’re like old flashlight bulbs. Well, one burned out on row six, and I really hoped it wasn’t row six that ran out of seed first. I was almost done planting and I didn’t have a spare. So I figured I’d get LED versions of those bulbs. And then trying to get a bulb out of the unit, I  dropped the bulb in the tractor cab and it vanished. I thought for sure I saw it in a tote I carry in the tractor and I took out the paper towels to get the bulb and it still wasn’t there. Don’t you hate that? Where could it go?? Well, no matter, I took out another one. And then I found out I can get PURPLE replacement bulbs. Well, yes, Please and Thank you!  Now I’m looking forward to planting crops next spring with my purple light bulbs.  I hope they work. Sometimes, because LED’s take so much less power, it messes up the circuitry and things don’t work right… In theater lighting, sometimes we have to put a ‘dummy load’ backstage, just something like a 15 watt incandescent bulb to pull enough current to make the LED dim properly. New technology has mostly solved that, but it’s not unheard of to need a dummy load in addition to the LED. In regard to the planter box. I may need to leave one row as an old bulb. We’ll see. 

HAVE YOU EVER HAD ‘TRUST BUT VERIFY’ ISSUES?

ANYONE TICKED YOU OFF THIS WEEK?

2026, animals, Family, holidays, home, pets

Memorial Day with McGee

29 Comments

YA really needed a puppy fix over the weekend, so yesterday we cajoled Jacque into lending McGee to us.  We picked him up in the afternoon and had him for about three hours.

There was a short walk up the block (it was pretty hot and he has little short legs) and then hung out a bunch in the back yard.  He was very well behaved for a puppy – no romping in my plants, no barking, no chewing on my toes.  He did find a good stick:

It was interesting to see him taking in all the new stuff in our city back yard.  Here are the things that McGee was momentarily afraid of:

    • the fire pit
    • birds flying near the bird feeders
    • the birdbath
    • the grill
    • the wind chime

Here are the things that fascinated him:

    • planes
    • the birdseed under the feeders
    • my neighbor Don who was clearing up after grilling
    • the boxer who poked it’s head out the car window and barked (friendly bark)

We pulled out the kiddie pool and lifted McGee into it twice, followed by the application of treats.  He didn’t actually seem to mind the pool but didn’t want to tarry and wouldn’t jump in on his own.  YA thought maybe it was too big a jump for him (until we moved inside and he felt quite at home jumping up on the sofa) but I think maybe the water was too chilly.  There was some tug-of-war and he was very willing to chase a toy when YA tossed it but bringing the toy back is not in his toolbox yet!  We had YA-chasing and some zoomies as well.

He didn’t stop moving the whole time we had him… Jacque, I assume he slept well last night?

How did you spend YOUR Memorial Day?

 

 

2026, animals, Automotive, Family, pets, Travel

Kitty Craze

26 Comments

Our initial plan for heading to St. Louis after Nonny’s passing was to take the dog and leave the cat at home with our fabulous neighbors coming over to feed her and take care of her box.  Then the dog passed and I knew immediately that I simply could not leave the cat at home.  I have a very bad history of pets passing while I’m gone (it’s happened twice).  We did think about boarding Nimue but even that was giving me anxiety. 

I bought a brand-new kitty carrier – bigger than the one we use for the block-and-a-half transport to the vet – and a new harness.  The plan was to let her out every 100 miles or so and I even brought an aluminum cake pan for a litter box and put some litter in it for traveling.  All of this turned out to be pointless.  Nimue had no interest in how comfortable we were trying to make her.  She didn’t make any noise, but the getting out of the carrier on a harness was not on her list of things to get done that day.  The first time we took her out, she sniffed around a bit, but more puffed up than we’ve ever seen her.  She wouldn’t eat a treat, wouldn’t drink any water, certainly didn’t do any business.  Crickets. 

We tried two more times with the same result.  After that we quit trying.  When we arrived at Nonny’s condo, she headed straight underneath Nonny’s bed.  I was pretty sure it would be time to go home before she came out.  For the next three days, we had to keep Nimue in her carrier for most of the day – with people coming in and out, boxing up stuff, tossing stuff – there was no way to keep her safe except in her carrier.  And when we were gone from the condo, we also kept her in the carrier.  Both my sisters, my niece and nephew all had keys and I didn’t want to run the risk that they might stop by for some reason and accidently let her out. 

All of this made me feel terribly guilty – after all, we were torturing her because of my anxiety.  She would probably have been happier at The Cat’s Meow than with us.  So, it was with a bit of joy that I came into Nonny’s bathroom late on Wednesday afternoon to find Nimue ensconced in the sink looking like butter would melt in her mouth.

On Friday, when we headed home, we put Nimue in the kitty carrier with a few treats, put her on the backseat and drove off.  We talked to her quite a bit during the day but never attempted to take her out – 9+ hours.   Within minutes of getting home, she had eaten, done some business and settled down on her kitty bed in my room.  Like nothing had ever happened.  Apparently no kitty ptsd here!

What do cats call mice on a skateboard?

2026, animals, Food, gardening, Nature, pets

Bird Food Nemeses

43 Comments

There are many down-sides to not having a dog.  No walking companion, no one to keep the kitchen floor “clean”, no big furry foot warmer on cold nights.

And then there are the squirrels.  They have absolutely figured out that there is no dog patrolling the territory any longer.  And they certainly don’t see me as a threat.  Yesterday I made a trip to get something from the car and the squirrel on the feeder and the squirrel sitting on the swing hardly even looked in my direction, much less fled in terror.

They’re also eating the hot seed cylinder that they’re not supposed to like.  I called Mr. Bird, the company in Texas who makes the cylinders to ask about the problem.  They said at this time of year, when squirrels are having their young, they are particularly ravenous and will deign to eat things that might not taste too good to them.  This phase will probably pass but in the meantime, they also make a hotter cylinder called “Disco Inferno” that I can try.  I looked it up and Gertens carries it.  Guess I’ll add that to the cart when we are there next week!

Hopefully there will be a dog to guard the sanctity of the yard some time this summer; until then we’ll just have to put up with the squirrels laughing at us!

Any critter activity at your place these days?

2026, home, pets, Uncategorized

The Big Chews

33 Comments

Our puppy is 5 months old and at the peak of teething. I am happy to report that she isn’t a chewer of furniture, although like most terriers she loves to steal socks and tries to haul off shoes that get left out.

We get her collagen chewing sticks of various lengths. She loves to gnaw on those. Rawhide is now deemed very unhealthy for dogs. She also loves to chew on her brother when they wrestle and chase. He reciprocates by stealing her favorite collagen chew whenever he can. Here she is with her longest chew. There are chews of various lengths all over the house.

Mitzi may not chew on furniture, but she has set herself a bigger goal of devouring our deck floor. We have a very large deck. It is perfect for the dogs to run and chase and tumble and wrestle

It even extends beyond the vertical boards you see, which is where the previous homeowners had their hot tub.

We knew the deck floor wasn’t in the best shape when we bought the house, and we plan to replace it one of these years with some indestructible modern composite like Trex. Mitzi decided about a month or so ago to speed up the replacement process by finding vulnerable sections in the flooring and chewing them up.

We didn’t catch on to what she was doing right away. After we realized what was happening we bought some inexpensive welcome mats to put on the vulnerable floor sections and we watch her very carefully when she is outside. The Vet and her breeder assure us that she will be over the Big Chews in a couple of weeks.

Any stories of destruction by your pets? When have you bitten off more than you could chew?