The first of the rain arrived on September 19th forcing us from the fields. The following 7 days brought more rain. Not enough to prepare the soils for next year but enough to keep us out of the fields and make it miserable.
It has been 10 days and we have yet to be back in the fields to carry on with the beans. Had I known it was going to be that long I might have snuck home for a few days. But then again, once I got home, I probably would not have come back!
Instead, we worked around the shop. We replaced a tarp on one of the semi-trailers. A somewhat tedious job as it gave us some troubles. We used the grinder, impact and finally the torch to get some pins out but it is done now. Other than that, it has been a lot of cleaning and organizing.
All in all, it was a slow week. I did get out to take some pictures around the yard. It is amazing what is right before your very eyes that you see every day but really don't see. These pictures were taken within 50 yards of my camper.
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| Sparrows on a shake roof |
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| Mushroom in the tree grove |
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| Fox squirrel checking out why this guy is walking by his home |
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| Old wood hub wagon |
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| Vintage Potato Harvester |
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| Vintage equipment along a tree grove |
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| The Ash trees are ready to drop their seeds. |
As I was walking along, I noticed bugs. Thousands of them on the ground, on the trees and on this stump. Box Elder Bugs. Gross.
The week took a turn for the worse when Nellie got hit by a truck. Chris and Dylan rushed her to the vet to find out she had fractured her pelvis in several places. The vet was able to give her something for the pain but not perform the surgery. Dylan called all the vets in the area to see if anyone could do the surgery. He called Minot (30 minutes away), Bismark (2 hours away), Fargo (4 hours away), no luck. Bismark said they could do it on Friday (3 days away). That just was not an option. Dylan kept calling further and further out until he finally found a place in Rapid City (8 hours away), who could do the surgery the next day.
Dylan spent the rest of the day and that night with her in the back seat of the truck. We eventually moved her to the office using a large towel as a gurney. The next morning at 5am CST, Dylan and Farmer Bob were off on their 8-hour trek to Rapid City. They finally made it to the vet around noon MST and dropped her off.
Knowing she was now in good hands; they made the most of their trip by driving down to our house and visited Barb! Since it was Wednesday night, they met Dan, Bonnie, Earl and Sharon at the Pringle bar for burger night. Of course, they had to send me a picture of them having fun without me.
Dylan finally got a call around 7pm that the surgery went well, everything lined up, got pinned and Nellie was doing well. They also told him that Nellie did not appear to be pregnant which may be a blessing in disguise as she needs all her energy to recover.
They spent that night at our house taking off the following morning to pick up Nellie and start home. They arrived just after 6pm. Nellie is still in some pain but is now on kennel rest for the next two weeks before she can put weight on it.
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| Nellie's home for the next two weeks |
But the week is about to turn around as tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year. The 2023 North Dakota Waterfowl Opener! I am like a kid on Christmas Eve, I will probably not sleep all night, as I will be peeking at the clock every half hour awaiting sunrise!
Glad to see Nellie was eventually taken care of successfully. Good luck on your bird hunt!
ReplyDeleteHopefully, my next post is filled with lots of pictures of ducks! There are a lot around, now all I need to do is hit a few.
DeleteHope she heals quickly!
DeleteShe is well on her way!
DeleteSeems there's always something to be done on the farm, even when the harvest is waiting in the soaking wet fields.
ReplyDeleteHope Nellie is back up and about soon and enjoy the Waterfowl Opener!
The sad part is that Nellie is going to miss her first duck season altogether. Dylan has been working with her and was really looking forward to getting her out in the field this year.
DeleteOh no! So sorry to hear about Nellie!! So glad they were able to find a vet who could do the surgery and that her surgery went well.
ReplyDeleteNice to have been home, though, even for a short while. :)
So far, so good. Now she is on the mend for a few weeks until she can put weight on it. She must be in a lot of pain as she is not even trying to get up.
DeleteGlad Nellie is on the mend. You guys went above and beyond finding that vet. Love all the b&w photos!
ReplyDeleteWhen taking pictures of vintage equipment, it just has to be in black and white doesn't it? It seems like it is some unwritten code.
DeleteI was so glad to read that Nellie is doing well! Nellie is a lucky one to have such caring masters. She's beautiful. I enjoyed seeing through your lens at the sights (even the bugs) that surround you!
ReplyDeleteI am generally not a bug person, but just sheer quantity of them made it interesting.
DeletePoor doggy. Hope she heals well. Love the pictures. Enjoy opening day!
ReplyDeleteNellie is such a loving girl, it is really hard to see her in pain.
DeleteMan, first thing I thought of was Chris Stapleton’s “Maggie’s Song”… glad Nellie ended up better than Maggie! So cool to see Barb hosting Bob and Dylan! Bunch of good people right there.
ReplyDeleteMaggie is a good but heartbreaking song. We've all had a Maggie in our lives. Or at least should have.
DeleteSo glad the poor dog is doing well. Not everyone would have such devotion to the poor pup to spend that time and money to help her. Hope you’ll get the work finished up soon!
ReplyDeleteWe got back in the field this afternoon, with luck we'll be done by Sunday!
DeleteIt always scares me to see dogs running around equipment or by a road. I'm so sorry she is in so much pain. Thankfully they found a good Vet. Praying she heals up quickly!! Good luck on your hunting!!!
ReplyDeleteSadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence in farm life with all the equipment moving around. We know the clinic she was taken to, she was in good hands.
DeleteThe poor pup. Hope you are getting it done!
ReplyDeleteWe will hopefully finish tomorrow!
DeleteGlad you were finally able to find a surgeon even if they were 8 hours away. Enjoyed your pictures around the fields.
ReplyDeleteWell worth the drive to get her taken care of quickly. Bonus, in the fact they got to see Barb as well!
DeleteI am so sorry about Nellie. She is your Yellow Lab? I love Yellow Labs, they seem so close to human and so smart! Bad enough getting hit, she now has to stay in the crate, poor girl. Well, this is the first time I have ever seen a potato harvester! I would never have known what it is!
ReplyDeleteI do have a yellow lab, but Nellie is Dylan's yellow. She is just a pup, super sweet and will hopefully heal quickly.
DeleteThoughts go out to the poor puppy, hope it is a successful recovery. Good luck with the 'hunt'.
ReplyDeleteSo far so good on both accounts. Has a nice hunt this morning.
DeleteThat’s heartbreaking to read this about Nellie, bless her heart. I am so sorry you couldn’t find a vet to take care of that surgery. Is it because these people are big animal vets? I don’t really know how all that works. Good to know she got taken care of and is now recovering. I was thinking about the great distance to drive her to someone for the surgery. I once remember my brother-in-law drove 25 plus miles to pick up a babysitter when we were visiting the old homestead. Where I grew up that would have been like going to the moon and back. Slight exaggeration but distance was a whole different mindset back then. Great post, great photos! Enjoy the 2023 North Dakota Waterfowl Opener. Looking forward to seeing photos if you are going to share it on here. Happy October to you and Barb!
ReplyDeleteOur daughter is the same way. She lives in an area where everything is close while we are over an hour from our nearest Walmart.
DeleteI don't think it was because they were only large animal vets. I think they were too busy or it was too complicated.
Thanks for the reply. I'm glad I'm not the only one then as far as distance is concerned. We live in an area where everything we need seems to be on the doorstep. I often long for more open space but then we go off on our rides to the countryside. Do that more than head into Washington DC which is only 25 miles away and the countryside is the same in the other direction. It's good the vets know their limitations. From the x-ray it looked awfully complicated. Hope Nellie is doing better now.
DeleteThere is a trade off when you want to live in the country. Barb goes to Rapid about once a week. She plans her trips to make the most of them. I, on the other hand, can go a month or more and not go into town.
DeleteHope your shooting went well :)
ReplyDeleteWe've had a couple of good shoots already!
DeleteInteresting photo challenge. So many things you walk by without noticing and never give it a thought. I shall look around and see what I can see. Glad that the dawg is doing better.
ReplyDeleteI like taking photos like that, I just have a hard time slowing down, looking, and actually doing it.
DeleteDefinitely not a good week for the harvest and Nellie. I'm so glad Nellie was able to get the surgery and is on the mend. You know how I am with dogs. Hope you get to the final harvest so you can head home.
ReplyDelete8 more days and I will be home. It's been a long 6 weeks!
DeleteSo sorry to hear about all the rain.. and the bugs *shivers*
ReplyDeleteHope your waterfowl event is all you hope it to be.
The rain has stopped, we have dried out and we are back in the field!
DeleteAs a pet owner I can understand the traumatic time when your dog had an accident. I think I don't want to know how much the vet bill was, but when you love your dog, its justified. Hope you get the last of the fields done in record time so you can go home.
ReplyDeleteI didn't ask how much it cost. I am guessing in the 3,000-5,000 range.
DeleteYikes! Poor Nellie and...poor Dylan. It's hard to watch your friend suffer and not be able to get her to needed help in a timely manner.
ReplyDeleteIt is an incident that we are all glad to have behind us. It is such a helpless feeling knowing there is nothing you can do to make things better.
DeleteWhat a week, Jim! I am so glad Nellie is okay. What a thing to happen.
ReplyDeleteThe old equipment ought to be cleaned up and sold. Always people looking for that kind of stuff.
Actually some of those are recent purchases as Farmer Bob is a procurer of vintage equipment.
DeleteI love the shots of the sparrows. And the black and whites are especially striking. I'm very fond of those!
ReplyDeleteEven though they are just a bunch of house sparrows, I liked that shot too!
DeleteI have been in the land of no internet for a week but am now back home in Montana. Poor Nellie--it's so hard when pets have to have surgery--you can't explain. I sure hope she is better soon.
ReplyDeleteThe land of no internet is not a bad place to be at all. I hope you had fun. If only you could explain what is going on. What amazes me is their pain tolerance, it I had a broken pelvis you can be assured that I would not sit there quietly and wag my tail once in a while.
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