I’ll be the first to admit that blind Widget makes more than her fair share of appearances here on the blog.  Part of the reason — okay, maybe the entire reason — is that she is impossibly cute, with a personality to match.  And yes, most of her blog moments involve sleeping in one form…

The local CBS affiliate in Missoula, KPAX-TV, came out today to tape a story for their Sunday nightly newscast segment called ‘Under The Big Sky.’  Ian Marquand, who produces the ‘Under The Big Sky’ feature stories, spent a couple of hours here this morning interviewing us and meeting the animals.  In this photo Ian is…

Today is Beth’s last day at the ranch, and I took this photo of her this afternoon, filling the water tanks in the horse pastures.  (Two of our blind horses, Hannah and Luna, are grazing in the background.)  Beth is moving to Missoula, where she is going to be working in retail part-time and hoping…

Emily E. from Helena came out today to volunteer at the ranch; she worked here for all of August last summer, so she knows the ropes.  She just graduated from Boston College and is heading back East in a few weeks to start work, but in the meantime, she kindly offered to come by for…

Our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown, came out today to look at several of our horses.  In fact, our list for Bill had 13 items on it!  Some were minor issues (health exams on recent arrivals, re-checks on earlier cases, etc.), while others were major, such as laminitis in Rosie and an eye problem with…

Losing Sammy on Friday really took the wind out of our sails, but one of the (many) benefits of running a place like this is always having an animal doing something to make us laugh.  I think there’s no better way to cope with grief than to have a happy dog around.  For instance, Kathryn…

Alayne and I wanted to say how deeply touched we were by all the heartfelt condolences and kind thoughts so many people posted about Sammy’s passing on Friday.  The comments were very moving and really struck a chord with us.  We are so grateful for all the emotional support.  It meant a lot.  Thank you.

Miss Cat, the blind girl who arrived here on Thursday, now has a new name:  Cinder!  Thanks to Ginger and Kathy, who both suggested Cinder in their blog comments.  We had a ton of great suggestions submitted via the blog and by email, and we appreciate everyone’s wonderful ideas for a new name for this…

Our little diabetic dog Sammy died suddenly today.  When I let him out of his crate this morning, I could tell he was not doing well.  But I had no idea how the day would unfold. He had left some food in his automated pet feeder overnight, which was unusual. (We set up this feeder…

The Bitterroot Humane Association in Hamilton, Montana, called us a few days ago about a blind female cat that had come into the shelter.  They found her as a stray in early June, but no one came to claim her, and no one would adopt her.  We agreed to take her, and arranged for the…