Montana: A Visual Splendor

Unique statue in Helena, MT

Hubby and I and the two dogs made a big circle this past weekend through Idaho, Montana, back through Idaho, down the east side of Washington and back into Oregon. The only thing that would have made the trip better- more time.

We did the 1600 mile trip in 3 1/2 days spending one full day in Lakeside, MT with my cousin and her husband.

First we delivered farm equipment in Three Forks, Montana. This area is interesting.  The large "valley" is bordered with distant mountains. The area is rolling hills, tall grass, and grain fields. We were a bit disappointed to see small cul de sacs of houses sitting in the middle of fields. They looked out of place.

Looking out across the fields at Three Forks

From there we went north along the west side of Yellowstone National Park. We kept our gazes on the sides of the road but all we saw were a couple of squirrels. after the park, we saw bison and mountain goats at a drive through safari place.  A little farther along, I looked down a meadow and spotted a dozen elk.

West side of Yellowstone

I spotted a place call Island Lodge on Seeley Lake. I think it would make a great place for a writing retreat.;)   

We made it to my cousin's place in Lakeside, Montana about 7 PM.  The next day they took us to Kalispell and Whitefish. We had lunch at Craggy Range Bar & Grill. It had a great atmosphere and good food. I also checked in with local book stores to see if they would be willing for me to do a signing in the future.

Whitefish City Park at the lake

From there we drove through the countryside and back to Flathead Lake. The lake is beautiful and peaceful.

Our trip back home took us thorugh the area in Idaho where I set my fictional ski resort in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. I've been wanting to see the area again. From there we went to Coeur d'Alene, Spokane, Tri-cities and down 395 home.

Mikey was bored

It was a fun trip we plan to make again but when we have more time to check things out and take a couple of highways that will take us to more remote places.

Have you been on a trip to explore a part of the country where you live lately?

Dog sledding, fish, and other rabbit holes

Working on my latest WIP(work in progress) I've been discovering things about sled dogs in the late 1800's that is interesting. What intrigues me most is the fact they fed the sled dogs either pemmican (a fat/lard and powered fish mixture) seal meat, frozen salmon, or whale blubber.

I've been told that fish is bad for dogs, so how did the sled dogs survive on it?

It turns out that fish is actually good for dogs, especially sled dogs who are exerting so much energy all day long pulling the sleds. Fish is full of omega3 and the fat helps to fuel their bodies and keep them warm. The calcium in the fish bones and the high protein of the fish are like putting logs of wood into a stove. It heats them and builds their energy.

The reasons some people are against feeding fish to dogs has to do with the bones and parasites.

According to my research as long as whole fresh fish or fresh frozen fish are being fed there isn't a problem with bones. When the fish is fresh the bones haven't been in contact with oxygen and haven't become brittle, which allows the dog to chew the bones and swallow them without difficulty and they digest easier.

Parasites do live in fish and without cooking the fish there is a chance your dog can become wormy. But if the dog is in good health and on a deworming regime, there shouldn't be a problem with worms.

So, how did the mushers or Eskimos deworm their dogs? I tried finding the information online but didn't have much luck. I do know that old-timers would give horses a plug of tobacco to eat and that was said to kill worms in horses.

It never ceases to amaze me how I can start researching one thing and get dragged down the rabbit hole of something different and that's why research is my bane. I can go on researching a subject and off-shoots of a subject all day!

Doggie Skinny Dipping

Today my hubby asked me to walk out and pull a board in the small irrigation ditch. The walk out was hot. The three dogs ran here and there, their noses to the ground chasing scents. When we reached the Y in the ditch where I needed to pull the board, it was shady, cool, and the gurgle of the water was inviting. After pulling the board, I stood in the shade and watched as each dog had their own version of cooling off.

Molly prefers to dive right in and get wet all over. She dove into the ditch walking up and down about a five feet swath and then climbing out and rolling in the dirt making dreadlocks.

Tink walked into the edge of the water, getting her feet wet and drinking. It has to be pretty hot out before she goes any farther in than her knees.

Grandma Boots only puts her tongue in the water.  She found a shady spot in the dirt to relax and enjoy the coolness coming from the ditch, green grass, and shade.

Friday Farm Fun- Doggin' it

Every evening we feed the cattle with a tractor and hay wagon. The dogs love this chore. Boots and Molly, the cow dogs,  hop up on the trailer and hay as soon as I walk toward the tractor.

Tink in her basket

Tink, the house dog, loves to ride on tractors or machinery. My husband has attached baskets on every tractor we have so she can ride. If the backhoe starts up she yips at the door and runs to get a ride. I stand by the tractor, waiting for Tink's ritual of dancing around my legs until I pick her up and put her in the basket on the side of the tractor.

The old two-cycle poppin' John, John Deere that is attached to the hay trailer starts up, popping and sputtering. When the wagon starts moving, Molly barks with excitement. Tink cringes from the loud noise, but soon is staring ahead with the wind flapping her ears.

Boots and Molly waiting for the gate to open

With the tractor in 4th gear, we sail out of the yard and down the lane to the gate into the pasture. The cows and calves bawl and flow like a school of fish toward the gate. The dogs and I wait outside the field for my husband to come home from his day job. When he arrives, he opens the gate and we move through at a slow pace. Molly barks at the cows when they get close to the hay trailer.

The bulls rub their heads on the 800 lb bales, sometimes shoving them so hard they hang over the edge on the other side. The cows are showered with hay as it is shoved off the trailer and onto their backs before hitting the ground.

When the cows stop following the trailer, Molly stops barking and Boots settles back until my husband jumps off the trailer. Then Boots follows him and the two walk through the cattle checking each one to make sure they are healthy.

I head the tractor back to the gate and out. The dogs settle quietly on the hay and enjoy the ride back to the yard. The tractor is parked and we do the process all over the next day.

Friday Farm Fun- Gone to the Dogs!

Yes, Late again! But only two and a half more days and I'll have my life somewhat back. I'll just be taking care of an elderly person instead of kids!

This past week I've not only been watching two granddaughters but I've had three more dogs.

My oldest daughter went to school to be a vet technician, Her first job was at a vet clinic where she interned in La Grande, well, really Island City, but most people would know La Grande before Island City. One day a golden retriever breeder brought in a puppy to have its eye checked. The eye turned out to be cancerous and the breeder told the vet to put her down. MY daughter stepped in and asked if she could have the puppy if she had the eye taken out and had to spay so she could reproduce. The breeder agreed and my daughter helped with the surgery and took the puppy home with her. After she knew the puppy was healing fine, she called her grandpa, my dad, (who lived an hour and a half away from her) and said she needed help with something in her apartment. My dad had a golden retriever before and was currently dogless. And my daughter knew one look and he'd take the puppy. Which he did. And so Sophie has lived with my dad for twelve years. After his recent heart surgery, Sophie being so big and clumsy it wasn't a good idea for her to be around my dad. She could trip him or knock him down, so she is currently back living with my daughter and her family.

 My daughter's next rescue project is Lizzie a dachshund, corgi, hound mix. Her daughter's preschool teacher told her about a house not far from her that had puppies roaming all over the street and the people weren't feeding them. My daughter and the teacher gathered up the puppies, and found homes for all them. With my daughter keeping one who is an excellent dog with the two girls.

The latest installment at my daughter's is her husband's new bird dog, Birdie. She's a pointing Griffon. German wirehair pointer/Drathour mix.

Then there is our other daughter's Mini Australian Shepard, Molly  that we have been keeping because she wasn't doing well living in the city. 

And our old Border Collie, Boots who even though she limps a bit from an old injury loves to herd the cows and anything else that looks herdable.

And then there is Tink, the couch potato who does venture out with me when I go outdoors.

And this is what we all look like heading to do chores.

Monday Mystery- To Form a Mystery by Danita Cahill

To Form a Mystery by Danita Cahill

Like all fiction writers, I have an over-active imagination.

And that fantasy world doesn’t leave my head when I’m sleeping, oh no. It often grows all night into a huge, hairy, chaotic world with a mind all of its freaky own.

In other words, I have nightmares. Some real doozies.

I’ve had night visions gone wild since I can remember – bad guys chasing me with handguns; me flapping my arms to stay aloft, just above the rooftops but not quite out of reach of their grasping hands, You get the picture.

The initial idea for Mist came from a nightmare. It wasn’t bad guys with guns chasing me that night though, it was red-eyed dogs hunting me along a fog-shrouded coastline.

About the same time as that nightmare hit, I had a baby. Six months later my mom died.

The combination of the three events – nightmare, birth, and death of a loved one – was the catalyst for Mist. Thrown together, these three unrelated things became both the plotline and the main characters.

Evil red-eyed dogs are the antagonists of the story. The female leading character, Dianne Harris is a younger, hipper version of my mom. Although I gave birth to a baby boy, I gave Dianne a three-month-old daughter that she must keep safe.

Add all the elements together and the concept seemed perfect for a mystery story. The question or mystery in the story: What is happening to the citizens of this small coastal town? They keep vanishing without leaving a trace behind.

Dianne’s old flame, detective Kevin McCoffey is on the case. With the help of the town’s fortuneteller and the ghost of Dianne’s dead grandmother, Kevin and Dianne work together to try and keep Dianne’s baby safe and solve the riddle of the mysterious disappearances.

Blurb for Mist

It’s Thanksgiving, but the Roseland community doesn’t feel particularly thankful. Not when citizens of their Oregon coastal town keep disappearing. Is it aliens? A serial killer? Or a pack of evil, red-eyed dogs? Detective Kevin McCoffey is determined to solve the case.

When young, widowed photographer, Dianne Harris and her infant daughter find themselves face to face with the killer, Kevin races to yank them to safety. But is he too late? With help from both the town’s fortuneteller and the ghost of Dianne’s dead grandmother, Kevin and Dianne battle their own demons and their shared past history as they rush to save Dianne’s baby from the killer’s grip.

Mist is available on Kindle.

Learn more about Danita:

Danita Cahill is a full-time writer and photographer. She lives on a small farm in Oregon’s Willamette Valley with her husband, two young sons and their animals – a horse, several cats and guinea pigs, a herd of nine alpacas and two dogs, who thankfully don’t have red eyes.

You can find Danita on Facebook (Danita Shattuck Cahill), follow her on twitter @DanitaCahill, see her photography here: read about miracles, visions and other amazing things, or check out her website.

Questions: Do you have nightmares? If so, do you write them down? Care to share an especially memorable one with us here?

Friday Farm Fun - Not Your Average Farm Dog

Tink looking for rodents on the edge of the lawn

 Tink isn't your average farm dog. She's a Chihuahua Miniature Pinscher cross. With the possibility of a bit of terror in the mix.

She doesn't herd the cows, but she trots alongside me when we move them and scoots out of their way if they head her direction. Her antics in the field are comical as she pounces like a cat while trying to catch rodents. She chases after the chirping rock chucks(yellow-bellied marmots) and sticks her head in the holes they hide in, scaring the you-know-what out of me. The rock chucks are four times her size.

Tink on a tractor ride.

Tink trots alongside of me and Bud when I ride my horse. If I go a long way and it's hot, She sits in the saddle with me for part of the ride. She's even rode on the Bud's rump if it's level ground.

When I change the irrigation pipes in Princeton in the tall alfalfa her head pops up as she stands on her back legs to find where I'm at.  Usually she's thoroughly soaked. If it's a cold morning she stays to the edges of the field, but that only makes me worry because of the high coyote population. They could whisk through while I'm changing pipes and if Tink isn't by my side could snatch her up. There are also huge bald eagles that sit around waiting to pick up the sage rats the gun enthusiasts shoot.

But what Tink likes best about being a farm dog is riding on the tractors. If she's in the house with me and my hubby starts up a tractor she wants out, and she heads for the barn for a ride. Because she likes to ride we put boxes on all the tractors so she can hitchhike  whenever she has a notion.

Photos taken by my good friend Danita Cahill- http://cahillphotojournalism.com/