We're haying! Yesterday the Big Field was mowed, and once again Smilie goat got to roam. The grass had been so tall she couldn't see over it. All three goats stayed close to home, they know what's coming next.








The Big Field is about 25 acres that spreads, east to west along the banks of Oregon's Willamette River. Last year I got 1,085 bales, each weighing from 55 to 75 pounds, with a few going to 90 pounds. This year's crop is going to be larger and that means more bales to store.

It's most likely we'll be baling next weekend. I have a crew of teenage boys ready and waiting. It's a long, hot and dusty, two and sometimes three days of work. They'll follow the baler, in a pickup towing a low-boy trailer. When they come to a bale they stack it on the trailer. When they have a load of about 100 bales, they hop on for a ride to the barn where they'll stack the bales to the rafters. I feed them well, keep them hydrated and pay them. Even with all the hard work it's fun and the same boys come back year after year.




Here's my problem. I only need about 800 bales to feed my horsies and I still have about 300 bales of last year's hay left in the barn!

It's grass hay, horse quality and I 'm selling it for what it cost me, $2.50 a bale.

Wish me luck!

Pet clinics

I work with a nonprofit organization called Pro-Bone-O. We offer twice monthly, free veterinary clinics for pets of people who are homeless. We're all volunteers. Our local veterinarians volunteer their Sunday mornings, and so do the Oregon State University veterinary students who travel 45 miles to act as technicians for our clinics. All our medications, equipment and the pet food we distribute are donations.


We give their pets vaccinations, we treat worms, fleas, ticks, the doctor can treat infections and minor wounds.




We also give away pet supplies, collars, leashes and the lovely dog sweaters a volunteer knits.

When their pets don't need veterinary treatment they can come and get food. We have dog and cat food and believe it or not, we often have rabbit and guinea pig food for the very few who have these kinds of pets!







Our clients gather at 8 AM to wait hours, outside in a parking lot, in every kind of weather, for their turn to see the doctor or the technicians. The pets are wonderfully socialized, cats and dogs mingle and fights are rare. As our clients leave the building they bless us, thank us and sometimes I get a hug!


It's a long day and I'm always tired by the end, but you can't keep me away.

Goodbye Nicki and Nyya

Hello, from the ranch. I had eight horses living here, five are boarders. One day a large horse trailer arrived and took Nicki, a lovely white Arabian mare, and her pasture mate a tall, leggy saddlebred-Arab bay mare, off to their new home in Canada. Their mom had already made the move and was excitedly awaiting their arrival.

The long, sleek horse trailer pulled into the barnyard and the girls walked aboard like the brave, sweet horsies they are.

Nicki had been the second horse to come to my ranch. She arrived in October 2002, a little underweight. She soon gained the pounds she needed to be in good health. Her owner and I became good friends over the years. Nyya (pronounced Neigh-ah) arrived only a few month ago, and she was purchased to keep Nicki company on the two-day trip to their new home.





As the long, sleek trailer pulled out of the barnyard to start the long, two-day trip to their new home, the other horses nicker farewell. I think they understood that we'd never see Nicki or Nyya again. But that's a good thing. Their at home now, with their mom, who can take care of them and love them maybe even more than I did.

It wasn't long and someone new found my ranch. She will be moving in a gelding and a mare in the next couple of weeks. So life on Menagerie Ranch goes on. I'll never forget Nicki and Nyya, but I'm looking forward to meeting the new arrivals. Stay tuned.