I got this photo of blind Moose, our new arrival, at the breakfast table this morning.  This big fellow has turned out to be a perfect gentleman with impeccable house manners — that flickering tongue notwithstanding.  In fact, he is one of just a handful of dogs who are granted "sleep-over" privileges and allowed to…

We've often said that disabled animals are inspirational, and Frankie — a Dachshund who became paralyzed after a spinal injury — is certainly proof of that.  Frankie's spirit and tenacity in overcoming her disability inspired her Mom, Barbara Techel, to write a children's book, "Frankie the Walk 'N Roll Dog." As Barbara describes it, "Teaching…

I always tell blind Widget her nose reminds me of a black olive.  Alayne saw her sleeping like this, that little nose pressing down the edge of the bed, and got the photo.  And there it is … my black olive. I know I've mentioned this before, but for any new-to-the-blog folks, this is normal…

Alayne got this shot of little Dexter the other evening after feeding the dogs.  Every time Dexter has finished eating, he licks his bowl clean until it's spotless.  Actually, until the final spot of food ends up on the tip of his nose.  Then he saunters into the kitchen and stares up at Alayne like…

A couple of days ago Alayne called me from our welcome center and said, "Get your camera, you need to see Rocky and Joshua on the backhoe."  Always in search of a good blog photo, I grabbed the camera off the desk and dashed outside.  It was snowing lightly with big, wet flakes, but as…

Every morning after I let the dogs out of Widget's House, I stand by with pooper scooper equipment in hand to follow them around while they do their business.  (With snow on the ground, if you don't scoop right away, the poop can disappear on you really fast.  I'm thinking about writing a book called…

This sweet blind Lab arrived at the ranch yesterday.  I drove over to our vet clinic in Helena to pick him up.  The police department in Conrad, Montana — a small town on the other side of the Rockies, northeast of us — had found him wandering on Interstate 15 back in February.  Yes, someone…

This is what we're doing right now to contain our fence-jumper, Travis — he's spending most of the day in the "wobbler den" on the front porch of Widget's House.  When we let him out in the morning, he gets to race around the yards while we're over there scooping poop and doing laundry and…

A mild spring snowstorm yesterday morning turned into a roaring blizzard in the afternoon and lasted until about 8 p.m.  After sustained winds as high as 25 mph (40 kph) coming from due north, we were left with snowdrifts piled up around the ranch in new and interesting places.  When the winds suddenly quit yesterday…

I was over at Widget's House scooping poop on Friday and watched Travis racing back and forth between the yards, literally leaping over the fences as he went.  He was showing off for me, and how better than to take advantage of the deep snow to run a steeplechase course around the building?  Travis is…