We got the word this evening in a phone call from Dr. Melissa Hines, chief of the Equine Medicine Service at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.  The myelogram on our wobbly horse, Copper Kid, did not show the areas where the spinal cord is compressed.  Both WSU’s radiologist, who conducted the myelogram today,…

Peabody was already old and blind when he arrived at the ranch several years ago with an amazing story.  His tenacious zest for life — even with a failing body — was remarkable.  Two years ago he survived a stroke that we thought would surely do him in, yet he bounced back.  But in the…

This is what our world looked like today.  Thick, acrid smoke right down to the valley floor.  We have been smoky for days … really, weeks now … from forest fires near and far.  We didn’t think it could get any worse.  But it did, and this was as bad as it’s been.  The winds…

Blind Widget, who has been named an honorary bed tester by West Paw Design, decided she needed to try her skills at something bigger.  Alayne and I had bought a futon sofa as a Christmas present for ourselves and just now got around to setting it up.  (Yep, that was last Christmas … this is…

I drove Copper Kid, our young very wobbly horse, to Washington State University’s veterinary teaching hospital today.  After watching him for the past couple of weeks confined to a stall and not getting any better after the sudden relapse of his Wobbler’s Syndrome, we finally decided to pursue the surgical option for spine stabilization. I…

Alayne got this shot of old, deaf Oscar snoozing in his favorite place, our Dodge Ram 2500 pick-up truck.  This is the "Mega Cab" version of the Ram, and you can see why they call it that … this is the back seat area, folded down.  We can actually set up a giant dog crate…

In addition to Blanca, here’s what also arrived this past weekend:  Two adorable 12-week old kittens who came to us from the Panhandle Animal Shelter in Sandpoint, Idaho.  The shelter had named them Spazzy — that’s him on the left — and his sister Teeny.  They were born with missing bones in their rear legs…

We had hoped Claude would live long enough to meet this little girl, but he died two days before Blanca arrived at the ranch.  And if you’re doing a double-take, it’s because she’s a Great Dane puppy, too, who looks uncannily like him.  She’s also the exact same age — 4 months — that Claude…

He didn’t even make it through the second summer of his tragically short life.  We lost our blind Great Dane Claude today to his Wobbler’s Syndrome.  When the end came, it came fast. Back on July 4th, I posted an update on Claude and said he was still going strong.  We were managing his neurological…

It was just about three weeks ago that I posted a photo of Bailey enjoying a siesta in his favorite shady spot, under the cottonwood tree at the front of the house.  Well, starting last week Bailey selected a new favorite shady spot, this one under the aspen tree at the back of the house. …