Alayne and I wanted to tell you how much we appreciated all the wonderful comments and thoughts so many kind-hearted people have sent our way after reading about Chance’s death yesterday.  From the comments posted on the blog to the emails we’ve received, we have been very touched by the condolences and sentiments.  Thank you…

We asked our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown of Missoula, to come out today and put our blind horse Chance to sleep.  After almost two years of battling lymphosarcoma, the time had come … and we wanted Chance to go peacefully, quickly, and gently, surrounded by people who loved him.  And that’s how he died…

Alayne and I were headed out this afternoon to start barn chores when we walked into this scene in our living room.  Mr. Pig, one of the squeaky toys we handed out on Christmas night, lay dead on the floor, its innards ripped out and scattered far and wide.  We had given Mr. Pig to…

We were opening gifts Christmas evening when blind Widget decided to climb on top of one present and claim it for herself.  She moved around all over that box, as if to make sure everyone knew she was on it and it was hers.  (An aside:  From this photo you can see why Widget is…

We woke up to a light, gentle snow this morning, and it’s continued to drift down all day.  Can’t ask for more than that on Christmas Day!  This is what it looked like outside … that’s Widget’s House, our main disabled dog building.  I took this photo from our front step late morning, after we…

KSPS TV, the PBS station in Spokane, Washington, aired a wonderful feature story about the ranch and our animals on Thanksgiving during their Northwest Profiles broadcast.  We just saw the piece for the first time last week when we received a DVD from the station — and loved it!  Their story gives you a real…

We noticed yesterday evening that blind Darby had a swollen left eyelid where our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown, had removed a cancerous growth last week.  Bill had closed up the incision with surgical staples, and everything looked good until we saw it all puffed up.  Bill and I connected by phone around noon today,…

Now that we’ve moved our blind 6-month old foal Brynn to the heated medical stall in Beauty’s Barn, we have a new routine in the morning:  She commutes down the drive to Lena’s Barn, about 150 yards away, where she joins three of our other blind girls — Lena, Nikki and Destiny — in their…

Alayne and I headed over late this afternoon (well, late when the sun goes down around 5 p.m.!) to pick up a load of our hay that’s stored in our neighbor’s hay barn.  It had ‘warmed up’ to 8 above zero, from 10 below zero when we got up this morning. As we stood there…

Having already won honors for the most-blogged Rolling Dog Ranch animal two years running, blind Widget wanted to close out 2006 with yet another appearance … this one in the ‘Creative Sleeping’ category.  (Come to think of it, most of her blog moments involve sleeping.) I found her like this yesterday morning, having made a…