Killing cats and dogs

 I was planning to write an update on here but this has been on my heart so I'm going to get this done first. 

In the past I know I've mentioned to people that we get stray dogs and cats on the ranch a few times a year. Idiots will abandon their animals thinking that "the country" is a nice place for their uncontrollable or unwanted cat or dog. 

These abandoned pets will sometimes come onto the ranch. If the cats get along with our barn cats and can fit in then they get to stay. If they fight with our cats then our cats come first. 

The dogs don't usually make it to the house before something gets to them. Mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, and even eagles like to eat dogs and it is very unpleasant to see the aftermath. 

When we ran cattle we had to shoot too many dogs who thought that chasing cattle was fun. The cattle would get injured and sometimes have to be put down and that cost us money because that was beef that didn't get sold. So our cattle came first. 

When we started running bison was when we noticed that it seemed the Golden Retrievers were the worst for trying to chase these animals. Bison are not cattle! If they run away from you it's usually because they're picking up speed to turn around and attack. Silly stupid dogs would get run down and sometimes horribly pounded before we'd find them and put them down. 

We are not going to run up vet bills on someone else's animals and taking them to a humane shelter isn't going to work either because that involves trapping the animal and taking a day to drive to the shelter and drop it off and then drive back. 

So what made me write all of this? 

I'm out this morning feeding the hogs and this teeny-tiny dog is shivering like crazy and comes up to me practically begging to be held. I picked it up and took it inside and fed it and got it warm. We will probably keep it. It's a teacup Chihuahua and not hardly a ranch dog and clearly someone's pet.

Last night was maybe 25F and this poor thing was out at least overnight and maybe a few nights. We're a good ten miles from the highway over some mountains and that's what this little dog had to cross to get here. 

Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the other dogs that we see here but this one is so small and defenseless that it just seems so damned wrong that someone would let it go in the wilderness either on purpose or by negligence. 

Just had to get this out. 

I'll write an actual update sometime soon. 

Merry Christmas to you all if I don't get to say that before Christmas! 

Welcome to Bethany May!

 Early this past Saturday (April 23, 2022) a lovely little red haired angel came into the world and her name is Bethany May! She's got ten fingers, ten toes, and a little tuft of bright red hair! 

Right now she's also the center of attention in this family! 

I started labor on Friday early in the morning and it wasn't my easiest labor. Bethany was born at 2:12 AM on Saturday and she welcomed in so many ways! 

I'm doing pretty good and so is my baby! 

Thank you Jesus! 💖

January 26, 2022

Hello! 

It's January 26th and I am overdue for an update. 

The big news is I've been pregnant since August. After the miscarriage last year I was really reluctant to post anything because I didn't want to go through the whole thing where everyone is sorry for you or they avoid you because they don't know what to say. 

But things are going good and the baby is due at the end of April. 

This last year Steve had us thinking about moving to Texas and I am happy that it didn't happen. I love Wyoming and while Texas is really nice and the people are awesome it isn't my home. 

I love old music and one of the songs I came to know over the last few years was written by John Denver and his words mean something to me when he writes about Colorado:

He was born in the summer of his 27th year, coming home to a place he'd never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again

That's how I feel about Wyoming. It felt like coming home when I first saw our little valley and then saw our wonderful home. This is where our family really started. I never get tired of the blue skies, the silence, the open spaces, the friendly waves from people you've never met before, and the freedom. I can't even begin to write about how amazing it can be to go through your day and not worry about what someone else doesn't want you to do. There are very few things you can do in Wyoming that anyone thinks you need to get permission to do. 

I became a new person in Wyoming and part of it was that Wyoming let me leave behind the Megan who grew up in California. This is my home and I hope to live out my years here. 

Christie's children are doing well. Her oldest child is now fourteen and Eric is becoming a man. He has his mother and father's confidence and when he sets his mind to something he accomplishes his goal no matter how hard it is. I've never seen him give up on anything and he never practices until he gets something right he practices until he doesn't get it wrong. I miss Christie but she definitely lives on in her son. 

It's sometimes strange to be the parent of young people who are starting to show signs of being men and women. It doesn't seem so long ago that I was in their place. It is also both heartwarming and scary to have my daughters helping me in the kitchen because I look at them and these days I am starting to see my grandchildren coming along in not so many years. 

I figure I could be a grandmother well before I turn forty. 

I guess what is on my mind as I write this is what I think of as the Second Part of My Life. I'm not really the young wife and mother anymore. I mean I know thirty-one is not 'old' but I am definitely an adult and it has been an adjustment to think about being an adult. 

This last year saw our church/congregation cut ties with our old denomination. That was partly because the old denomination went crazy liberal and they don't really believe in God anymore. They're more about politics than anything else. 

A lot of the families we've known from around here have moved away mostly to Texas. Since Biden came along the oil industry mostly died and so did the jobs and that was the biggest reason people left. On the upside of all of this the families that remain around here have become closer. Church services have gone back to how they used to be with a family hosting the service every Sunday. It's much more intimate than the very organized way it had been with our last Pastor. 

There's another post I've been writing on for a while and I hope to have it done sometime soon. Writing isn't always in my heart lately and I'm not so interested in spending so much time away from my family. 

I will do my best to write another update before too long. At least I should get the other post up sometime soon! 

Happy 2022 everyone!