Owatonna

Just a quick post. My day off so we went to Owatonna for an eye appointment and, of course, to get our shopping done. The roads were awful! Lots of ice. I35 was not too bad going in.
Got lots done. We stopped at Wellls Fargo bank. I am always in awe of the beauty of that building. I wish I could bring my mother to see it. You just don't see that art and arcvhetecture very often, expecially not in small towns. I had two mason jars full of coins I wanted counted. They have machines that they just pour the coins in. When the teller came back and told me how much it came to, I could not believe it - $156 !!! I guess I did have a lot of quarters - but still! Time to start over again. It has been over a year since they were empty, but obviously worth putting those coins aside!
The eye appointment took over two hours. I ended up ordering new glasses and I actually like them for a change. I also got new sunglasses that fit over my regular glasses. They are called 'cocoons'. Neat name! I want everything here for when I leave for Florida.
The wind had really picked up when we started home. I35 was no longer much fun and you could really see how tall the snow drifts had been across the interstate last week. I'm not sure you can tell in my pictures but if you look close, you can see the cut away drift.

Look at the size of the snow piles as we get off the interstate -

The rural roads were even worse. Here's the road from Ellendale to our house

I think it looks like Siberia!

Here's our house. Do you like how you can't tell where the ditch starts and the road ends? You had better have a good idea where that road should be!

Thankfully we got home with no problems due to Jacky's excellent driving skills. I may need those skills tomorrow afternoon as we will be under another blizzard warning....Boy are we all tired of this!!

Blizzard's second day

No need to be up at 5:30. I knew I would have trouble getting in to work so I didn't rush. There was definitely blowing snow and roads were closed everywhere, including I35. So there was quite a bit of drifting going on. Megan and Emily had work covered (the advantages of living right in Clark's Grove) so I relaxed a bit. Jacky took Big Red out with the blade to clear the driveway. He didn't get far before he needed my help getting the truck out of the snow! So I climbed in to Big Red while he pulled him out with Mater. Nice to have two big trucks sometimes! Sorry, no pictures boys.

While helping Jacky I decided it wasn't worth going in to work. I cleaned the pony barn, fed them inside, and took care of the poultry. Took some shoveling too. By then Jacky was using the snowblower on the paths.

 

The two hens on the left were left outside in below freezing weather years ago. Subsequently their feet froze and all their toes eventually fell off. I am always amazed at how well they do. They cannot perch of course, but spend nights sitting in a nest box.

 

This is Leia drinking from a pony bucket. For those non-farm people, this is how farm cats drink in the winter- use the heated water buckets. Sometimes, unfortunately, mice also get their water this way and will fall in and drown. I am always checking the water buckets for " floaters". Ewwww, right?

After a lunch of BBQ chicken flatbread, and a break (we were working outside all morning), I went back out with my camera. Some impressive drifts!

 

Pony pasture. Let them out for a while. They really didn't move around much!

 

 

However, when I went inside the fence, I had 4 pony noses smelling out the horse treats in my pocket...

 

Yes, since this is an animal blog thought I should take pictures of them too.

 

Willie chasing the ponies. At least he got some exercise!

My old green pickup is under there!

Geese still spend 90% of their time right outside their silo. Not the brightest birds around....

Pretty trees...

Picture perfect red barn...

 

Snow over the fence in the barn pasture...which Bryn has discovered she can climb.

 

 

SueBee and Piper peeking around the corner...

My new Facebook picture!

 

The famous border collie stare. It is directed at the horses!

 

The round pen which stands 6 ft high!

This is enough snow already!

Teddi never gets his picture in so here he is. Lots of pictures but not much else going on. Best to stay home!

 

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Blizzard...Again

Well, I made it to work. Just light rain so far but the big storm was on the way.

Had two surgeries....one dental and one pyrometra surgery, which is an infected uterus. The dental started out very badly. The six year old dog stopped breathing when we put him under. And his heart stopped. So Jen gave a shot of epinephrine while I bagged him. That means I manually pushed oxygen into his lungs periodically. Luckily this doesn't happen very often, but it has happened before when I have been cleaning teeth or helping with a surgery. Anyway, the dog recovered fine, Jen ended up having to take his upper molar out by sawing it in half with wire and alls well that ends well.

The pyrometra went ok too, just difficult because of fat. Fat tends to bleed a lot and makes the tissue tear. It can make for a very tricky surgery too. I ended up 'gloving up' to help hold fat out of the incision area so Mike could tie off the uterus.

Both dogs were picked up by their owners about 2 or 3 hours early because of the weather. I had to clean up after the surgeries, get charges in, and get papers ready for boarders coming in tomorrow. Then I left early myself about 3. The roads were awful and I had to creep home. That winter storm had come in while I was working and it was totally white out. Also had some slush starting on the road so it was slippery.

I took some pictures before it got dark. Wet snow and white out conditions still are good for photos!

 

Where did the corn fields disappear to behind my pastures?

 

 

Candy is standing under the tree.

 

 

Willie, Trixie, and Bryn are hoping I'm going into the horse barn...

 

 

A few animals in the snow pictures...

 

Trixie

JuJu

Spook

And then the snow dogs that have to be dried off inside...

Candy

Will

Now the wind has started up and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to work tomorrow. It will probably still be pretty though so I might have to take more pictures!

 

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Monday Feb 3

Wow. Get to work and hit the ground running. Craziness. Emily gone so I was roped into doing appointments. I just didn't know ahead of time. Doctor started surgery right away, doctor on phone with frantic pork producers, doctor in radiology with emergency, and I have all three appointment rooms full. Oh yes, and hours need done, and phone is ringing off the hook, and those people on the phone need something. Like schedule an appointment, pick up pills,check out of boarding.... Agh!!!

Ah lunch.

 

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Tuesday Jan 14

Well, finally a day off where I don't have to go somewhere - except tonight to a bridal shower. So much to do and I'm not getting very far. We were under a winter weather advisory for snow and blowing snow. And boy, did it blow this morning. The hardest thing was finding a spot outside to put the hay down on without it blowing into the next county, Poor Ladybug shows what it's like in the wind... BTW, she's normally solid black with a white star!

The other horses didn't want me to take their picture - they wanted treats!

The chickens were happy. They don't get to go out in the winter except on extremely nice days. They are all getting up there in years so they appreciate being inside! I throw bird seed down so they have something to do all day.

Mustn't forget the geese, who also are inside - a silo. No door, but they are pretty happy!

Had a very pretty scene of the fields with snow covering part. Had to climb a fence to get it - the clamps were frozen closed.

Also played with my new camera (I didn't take it outside in the snow). The birds were hungry so I got a few pics.

Of course the woodpeckers are my favorite.

Hope you stayed warm and dry!

riday, Jan 3

I just had to pull over as soon as I got out on the road this morning. It was a beautiful sunrise - such wonderful color this morning!

I found out Monday morning that if you don't pull over right away for a picture, the colors fade quickly and your shot is gone.

Slow day at work. In fact I left about 1:30 for the rest of the day since I worked Tuesday on my day off. I spent an hour and a half shaving down Gloria's dog "Phibby". Gloria has worked for me in the kennel since it opened and she is boarding all her (5) dogs here for a few days while they are having Christmas in North Dakota. Phibby is a rescue shih tzu who does not allow them to shave him. Also he tends to get into cockleburs so he was a mess. We have to put him under to shave him. I just wish she would do it more than once a year. Poor boy!

Cold today again, very windy. We watched the snow being blown around from the windows in the clinic. The govenor has decided to close all state schools Monday because of the cold. It is supposed to be a high of -15 with a windchill of about -30 and lower. That also means my first yoga class is cancelled. Glad I don't have puppy class. I moved that to Wednesday for two weeks. 

Kennel is pretty full. Annika who was supposed to work tonight, couldn't get her car started so Emily did kennels for me since I had gone home. Tomorrow I work in the clinic and Emily has to do kennels for me again. I have kennels tomorrow night and Sunday night. One of those weekends where no one can work. Tony went up to Alexandria to go ice fishing in a $20,000 ice house where they have satellite TV and keep the temp at 60 degrees. Annika is one of the wrestling managers for high school so they have matches on Saturday's. Keely can't work Saturday and Gloria is in North Dakota. Some days I am tempted to go work in the kennel outside of Blooming Prairie. I wouldn't be in charge and have to hire and fire people. I also wouldn't have to cover when someone didn't show up!

Wind is howling outside even though the temp is 22 degrees. Tomorrow might prove interesting driving with snow drifts.Today was only bad in Clarks Grove itself. Dogs are making really quick trips outside to potty, then back in to claim a spot on the pillows.

One last picture before I go. The sunset tonight was just as awesome as the sunrise. I stepped outside on the steps only since it was SO COLD!

The only thing that could be better is to have this sunset somewhere warmer, perhaps? Hmmm?