Today I turned 40 years old with a bottle of champagne and my family on a summit overlooking the North Cascades. We kicked off the weekend on the Pacific Crest Trail at Harts Pass near Canada. The PCT was the first “big girl” trail I hiked after moving to Seattle in 2013. Spending time in complete silence (for hours) was a first for me. It truly changed my life. When I finally grew comfortable paying attention without immediately reacting, I was really able to listen and see life around me in a way I never had before. If someone asks what really led to the end of my career, it was an internal shift I have a hard time describing but ultimately resembles self-awareness, and it probably began on the PCT. I met several through hikers this weekend who started at the Mexico border and were almost done. I asked what they planned to do after such an accomplishment. “Go home and get back to work,” most said. At first it seems anticlimactic but I remember Trent Peterson, a young man whose story I told years ago, as he rode wild mustangs along the PCT. He used to say that the PCT is just a trail, what matters is that we slow down, pay attention and see clearly whatever path we’re on. I looked up a quote from that report to share with you all.
“This isn't to advocate for the PCT. The PCT is just a trail. Get out of the rat race and slow down. Pay attention to the little things, not just the big things, because it's the whole picture we need to be aware of," he said.
The kids did their first rodeo today! Their event was “goat undressing on foot.” They have to catch a goat and grab a ribbon of its tail, throw the ribbon in a bucket and raise their hands to stop the clock. It seems grabbing the rope is the best strategy, then use that to shimmy toward the goat. The real winner was the crowd- who doesn’t love watching kids chase a goat in circles? Lily’s time was around 24 seconds, Jack’s was about 13 seconds.
I had to get a blood sample from our (hopefully pregnant) dairy cow, Maisy, to the post office, but wanted to hit the gym on the way. So, the blood came in a cooler (which I won in a feed store raffle) and hung out in my passenger seat. I think you hit the pro farmer world when you can say you’ve driven around with animal blood in your car while running errands. All in a day’s work!
WARNING: You will see a sheep rectum in this video.
I am dealing with my first rectal prolapse in our ewe, Maple. She is such a sweet girl but I’ll tell you, it’s been quite the learning experience and challenge for my gag reflex. The consensus among farmer friends has been to pack the prolapsed section with sugar and push it back in. This may seem easy enough but I’ve found it to be quite difficult for a newbie like myself. I’ve see this is more common in feedlot lambs but Maple is on grass with a tiny bit of hay and has no other issues, so the cause is a mystery. Vets can suture the rectal opening so that there is just room for Maple to poop, but this can be a costly procedure. There are also “rectal rings” available which essentially do the same thing as the sutures. Has anyone else dealt with this?
@AlisonMorrow Alison, are you doing interviews or news analysis anymore or have you shifted to farm life and similar types of videos mostly?
Hi! Curious to know if people in other areas than mine, Chicago suburbs, have a lot of people wearing masks. I know a lot of people that wear masks, not because they are afraid of getting Covid or other sickness, but because they are sick and think they need to wear them to keep other people from getting sick.
