THUMBS DOWN

Life is full of lessons, even at almost 60. One should not try to hand wash a very sharp thin blade fillet knife when one is tired and not wearing glasses. Reading glasses I may add, but they do help see those sharp thin blades clearly. Deep one and a half inch laceration in the "pulp" of my right thumb. Yes, RIGHT thumb nonetheless, not the left in a right-handed guy. Good thing the cut not on either side of the thumb; lots of blood vessels and tendons would have been history.
Stubborn physician I am, a trip into Rapid City to get it stitched was not high on the protity list. Two juicy rib eye steaks and red charcoals on the grill were. Good thing I have an excellent nurse nearby. Grab the first aid box, soak in iodine solution for a few minutes, wrap bandages and waterproof tape and elevate. I have suture material in the box, but how does one suture with one hand-I have not mastered the skill.  
The pain is better, Severed nerve fibers scream back at you for the first 24-36 hours. In the absence of stitches, the wound oozes healing bloody fluid into the bandage. It's healing.
I'm glad I had my prorities straight 2 nights ago! JIR

LIVING IN THE BOONIES

This is not a story about a black sheep, but about a white calf. It's actually a story about experiencing Spring out in the country which is where we live, or in the boonies as my sister prefers to call it. You can't help but experience it, it's all around you; you can't avoid it. Robins and meadowlarks are here, and that is always a good sign.

Every morning on my way to work I drive by this small ranch with about 50 head (of cattle for those of you city slickers). I have watched pot-bellied dark colored cows skim down as new calves appear in the humid frosty morning mist. Placidly inactive and weak-legged at first, the youngsters soon turn into playful little munchkins, who alternate between sucking on engorged tits and horseplay, or should we call it calfplay.  It must have been 3 weeks ago when I had to slow down in order not to miss the curve as I was distracted by a strange sight within this bovine sea of black. Of all the dark-colored cows and offspring, a white calf with brown face and lower legs dominated the landscape. I asked myself, I wonder how it feels to be the white calf of the family. Maybe not as bad as the black sheep?  Over the last 3 weeks I have been reassured this calf does not feel different or strange among her kind. She has been playing with her darker playmates who seem to have accepted her as one of their own. She seems to have had a full and healthy adjustment to her new life. If only we could learn some lessons from those species who we consider lower in the chain.

Crab apple branch budding

Bulbs sprouting from the ground

More Spring to come...JIR

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Undoubtedly, you have seen the blog post about the warm Spring day we enjoyed yesterday. Well, Old Man Winter won today. Yes, that is white stuff blowing horizontally at about 35MPH in front of our house.

The snow shower was short-lived and did not stick, except in the shady corner by our front door where our Welcome Moose seems to be saying in unison with us: "I'm sick and tired of this shit!" JIR

HAPPY HOUR

Jake is a great dog. He is also very smart and has come to understand that if he does not eat his food, he will not get treats when Mom and I have a few snacks before dinner. True to his hound dog heritage, the drool that collects and pours out of his huge upper lips is of enormous volumes. Just before I snapped this picture, a much bigger elastic strand of drool, at least 3inches in length, sucumbed the force of gravity and plummeted to the patio floor. JIR

FINALLY

We know better than to claim victory over old man (or woman) Winter this early in Spring. But if we haven't won the war, we won the battle today. Yes indeed, the thermometer reads 71 degrees outside, and 67 inside, at almost 6PM today. We can dig it...

...and we sure did! (Notice the sweatshirts, just in case an unexpected temperature drop blows in while we are sitting outside) JIR