#farmlife

Jul 23, 2019
11 min

Horse Crazy (Volume 69, September 14, 1999 — November 13, 1999

My mother died on August 30, 1999. With some money she left me, I fulfilled my life-long dream of getting my own horse. Against all advice, I wanted a baby horse I could raise myself. Once a year, a nearby couple used to bring back a semi load of foals from a “urine ranch” in Canada. Did you know that the female hormone replacement drug “Premarin” stands for "pregnant mares’ urine" ? The foals that result from keeping mares pregnant in order to collect their urine are often s

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vmangion

Mar 8, 2018
4 min

A Typical Winter Day (Volume 77, February 11 - March 6, 2002)

Monday, February 12th, 2002 A Typical Winter Day ~~ 5:00 - 6:30 am - Lie awake waiting for Tina to call (to see if I have to substitute teach) 7:00 - realize she’s not going to call - fall “asleep” with relief, plan the day in my head: paint, wrap Mar’s Valentine’s present for mailing, bring cookies to Harris Lumber Yard. 8:00 - phone rings, downstairs only. I realize the ringer on the upstairs phone is turned off, not down, ever since Ellis was sleeping in the guest bedroom

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Scrappy (Volume 91, May 29 - September 11, 2006)

vmangion

Feb 15, 2018
6 min

Scrappy (Volume 91, May 29 - September 11, 2006)

From May to September What I mostly remember Is animal crises, Caregiving and fly-sies. I’m thrilled summer’s over With its slaframine clover. Now it’s on to the fall — Time for bedding the stall. Hope no hernia surgery will wreck My plans to sit out and read on the deck. Friday, July 21, 2006 I was on the phone with Dr. Pat, our other vet, this morning. We needed advice on what to do for our new charge, a tiny baby mouse. Ellis spotted him or her, lying in the middle of the

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vmangion

Jan 20, 2018
3 min

Cop Lover and a Bovine Honor (Volume 52, May 10, 1996 - October 19, 1996)

May 15, 1996 Yesterday I got stopped for speeding in Cross Plains. I was very touched by the whole incident. I approached the cop with love and kindness, and he was kind back. He gave me a warning instead of a ticket. (I was going 39 in a 25, he said.) I had no animosity towards him, or getting stopped, at all. He was a young, cute, cop, very reasonable. I’m sure it helped that I’ve had no citations or tickets in so long — never in this state. I told him that normally I’m the

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vmangion

Jan 7, 2018
3 min

Animal Snippets (Volume 114 - again - October 30, 2012 - January 28, 2013)

(November of 2012 was a really sad month. Two of our beloved cats disappeared within two days of each other, most likely the victims of coyotes, attracted to our property by our young neighbor’s sheep and goats. We let him graze his herd on our land for several weeks in late fall, not realizing that we were endangering our own animals. For sixteen years we never lost a single pet to predation.) Saturday, November 10, 2012 This is Rabbit’s 13th anniversary. I can still see tha

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Untangling Ungulates (Volume 118, September 16, 2103 - January 6, 2014)

vmangion

Nov 3, 2017
7 min

Untangling Ungulates (Volume 118, September 16, 2103 - January 6, 2014)

Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2013 En route to Ellen and Jack’s house in Waunakee. Ellis is granting me 20 minutes of silence so I can write about the traumatic event that started our day yesterday. I was making two pans of Company Casserole first thing after pet chores when Ellis observed that the sheep and goats were loose…AGAIN. Ellis called Ben, who was in Black Earth. About five minutes later, when most of the mixed herd had migrated to the other end of the hayfield, ri

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Subbing and Stubbing (Volume 78, March - June, 2001)

vmangion

Jun 18, 2017
4 min

Subbing and Stubbing (Volume 78, March - June, 2001)

Wednesday, March 7, 2001 This morning we drove to Rockbridge to buy more sawdust and shavings at the sawmill. As soon as we pulled away with our full truck, we heard an ominous clanking sound. We pulled over and discovered the muffler hanging down on the ground. We had no choice but to let it keep clanking against the pavement for fifteen miles or so, until it finally fell off right in front of our pole shed. Driving home in my ancient, tiny, rusted truck, front held together

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vmangion

Mar 12, 2017
1 min

A Conversation with Dewey (Volume 132, February 2017 - ?)

(One more passage from my current journal) March 9, 2017 Dewey has been caked with mud for the past few days. The mud layer finally dried out enough that I decided to groom him when I was outside doing morning chores. Dewey was out in the pasture. I was using a steel curry comb, working on his large butt. Both of my shoulders are very painful and immobile this morning. "Dewey," I told him, "I think from now on I'm going to have to stand on a stool when I groom you." I reached

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vmangion

Jan 17, 2017
2 min

New Saddle (First Pick, Volume 83, May-August, 2002)

(This is weird - I just went to my shelves full of journals, kind of guessed which area this volume might reside in - and pulled it on the first try.) Sunday, June 30, 2002 Life is always so complex. I rode both horses today and they were both little angels. I rode Rabbit this morning and Dewey tonight, on either side of the worst heat. It's summer with a vengeance. It was 96 degrees here this afternoon, and humid. Ellis said he went in the creek a record nine times. I probab

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