The story of Dandylyons

A long time ago the Lyons family had a big herd of cows. In that herd there was a very special cow. The humans knew her as Number 11, but the rest of the herd called her Boss.

In the winter of 1986-7, the Lyons family sold all the cows and just Brad and I continued to farm here. I insisted we kept old Number 11.

For the first time in her life Number 11 had no one to call her boss. She was totally alone.

She wasn't alone for long though. One of the bulls left her with a going away present. In March of 1987, Number 11 gave birth to Buttercup.

That Spring a neighbor surprised us by dropping off a nice Charolais bull. Number 11 continued to add to her growing family. Besides Buttercup she had Primrose, Daisy and a bull calf which we traded for a heifer calf.

Even the best cows don't last forever and Number 11 went down hill fast one winter. If she turned too quick in the feeder, she would fall over. The vet told me she had arthritis in her hips. Then her ear fell off. Not the whole thing, but about half off it. I decided to run her in and put nice straw down in a barn to keep her comfortable. But Number 11 was a range cow and didn't seek shelter in the barn. The rock wall gave her some shelter though...but her other ear fell off. The vet said as long as she can still get up she should be okay, but as soon as she went down for the last time he may have to do a C. Section to save her calf.

The months went by and still old Number 11 could get up. Then one Saturday morning, March 2nd 1991, Brad came in and told me Number 11 was down and not getting up anymore. But that darling old cow done her duty...she had given birth to a large healthy heifer.

I went to the corrals and saw a pitiful sight. Her calf was un-licked and wet. It was so cold that morning there was still some snow on the ground. Number 11 called her calf to go to her so she could dry her. I threw towels over the calf and got her in the barn. The vet came and said Number 11 not only had a prolapsed uterus, but her hip was dislocated as well. He could not fix her hip and so she was put to sleep right there in the corral. Before she left this world, Brad milked her for the valuable colostrum and I pushed the calf over to her so 11 could lick her legs. I told number 11 I would raise her calf like one of my own and she was not to worry.

Soon as the calf got her mothers milk she ran and bucked with joy. All Number 11's calves were born big and strong. I called the calf Dandylyons and raised her like one of my own......the best I could anyway.

Dandylyons had a wonderful calfhood. She went on lots of walks and lived in the stall next to Foxsun. Here is my mum with Dandylyons. We were heading out on a hike.

Dandylyons only was on a leash near the road. On hikes, she never let me out of her sight.

When I walked her through the herd she would hide behind me as the cows rushed to see why a calf was walking with a human.

This is her first birthday.

Here she is with the only calf she accepted. She only had three or four calves and this was her last. Foxsun was a good step dad.

This picture of me and Dandylyons was taken in 1993.

Dandylyons was 21 years old a few weeks ago and she is back living in the horse pasture and horse barn, where she gets warm water, good grub and shelter. She's been toothless for awhile now and walks slower each day it seems. When I led her over to the horse barn she picked up pace in anticipation of seeing her old friend Foxsun. I told her one day she'll see Foxsun again....hopefully not for a few more years.

Cowboys

I have been going through some old family photos and scanning them into my computer. The photo below is of Brad's maternal grandfather, C.C. Dobson 1877 - 1947. The picture was taken in 1901.

I enhanced it and this was was reveled;

C.C. Dobson was the town butcher and farmed about a mile downstream of Brad's paternal grandfather, B.J. Lyons.

This is a picture of B.J. Lyons from his book, 'Thrills and Spills of a Cowboy rancher'. B. J. is on the darker horse on the right. This picture was taken in 1952 when B. J. would have been 83 years old.

It's been over 120 years and we're still living on and farming B.J.'s original homestead. It hasn't been easy at times, but we're still here.

Teddy goes Big Walkies.

This is not our neck of the woods. We didn't get much snow this year...let alone this!

We're heading West on Interstate 90. This is the summit at Snoqualmie Pass.

Teddy had arrived in the Emerald City.

Seattle, Washington.

So many new things for her to see!

She didn't know if this was a duck or a chicken....but respected his space.

She was impressed with the big barns.

It was raining...surprise surprise. Not many people about. Teddy wanted to meet the cow dogs who had sorted all the local cows and got them put away for the evening.

We took shelter and warmed up. This place was full of the aroma of cooking fish.

Teddy might look like a sweet well behaved little dog in these pictures but I'm afraid this isn't the case. Her belly is full of stolen food. Before we went to the waterfront we went to a vegan restaurant called the Wayward Vegan Cafe in the University district that William had been to a few times and said it was really good. And it was! For the first time ever Brad and I ordered the same thing from the menu. I couldn't believe it...a huge menu and everything on it I could eat.

http://www.waywardvegancafe.com/

I've been a vegetarian since 1974 and William all his life.

Brad will and does eat the flesh of the animal, when he gets the chance, and William and I give him hell for it. :) When Brad was attending Washington State University he was an Animal Science major and had a paper published in some beef magazine about how vegetarians are misguided fools and all that rubbish. Oh the irony! With a room full of vegans enjoying their lunch I asked him, rather loudly about that article he wrote and he played the old innocent and changed the subject. lolololololol

I had The Club sandwich and fries..it was huge and I could only eat half. I took the rest with me in a take-away box. I made the mistake of giving Teddy a taste. Her eyes got huge when she tasted that delicious vegan food. I thought I hid the box pretty good, but when we returned after shopping at Seattle Pottery Supply, the box was torn open, empty and Teddy had a big smile on her face.

We left William in Seattle and he will becoming back with a friend later in the week. The journey home took longer than expected because they were doing avalanche control up at the summit. We had to park on the freeway and wait for about 45 minutes for them sure everything was safe. A lot of people got out of their rigs and were milling about. I suspect people were sizing each other up in case we ended up stuck there for months like the Donner Party in 1847.

"The Donner Party was an 87-member group of American pioneers who set out in a wagon train going westward, until getting bound in by snow in the Sierra Nevada. Casualties were extremely high and many of the survivors cannibalized members of the party who had already died".

No worries for Teddy for she was on her back with her legs in the air, sleeping off my dinner and her amazing adventure.

I'm looking forward to returning to the Emerald City and I think Teddy is as well.

Spokane and farm roads.

I had an appointment at the Federal Court House in Spokane where I was finger printed and had my mug shot taken. I lived in the US for 38 years and stubbornly refuse to become an American and so being 100% British I have to update my alien registration card (green card) every now and again.

We took a walk from the Thomas S Foley Federal Building through downtown Spokane. Teddy was a bit scared walking past the buses at the bus station. She wasn't so much frightened of the crowds but the noisy hissing buses.

No Teddy didn't go shopping at Macy's ..........

She went somewhere more fun.........Spokane's Riverfront Park! There used to be a vast train depot here which was demolished for the '74 Expo. The 100 acre area hosted the 1974 World Fair and afterwards was turned into a lovely park. They kept the clock tower from the Great Northern train depot.

I moved to Spokane in 1977 and have always thought Riverfront park to be really lovely.

Here's Teddy doing what she loves, sitting on top of the stack watching while William feeds the cows.

Before the snow came Brad and William resurfaced our farm roads.

Here's William getting gravel from the pit.

He loads it into one of our trucks to haul back. He hauled a couple of dozen loads altogether.

Brad levels the surface with the kellifer.

Brad spots Teddy who is driving around with me as we keep an eye on progress.

William uses the rock roller to make it all smooth.

Watch your toes!

Brad looks forward to his noontime nap and so do the pets. Blondie is the lump under the blanket. Teddy is also a lap dog. Thank goodness old Bobby doesn't pile on as well! Sometimes our cat, Tommy Two Tone sits on top of Blondie while she's under the blanket....Blondie growls for awhile till she starts to enjoy the extra warmth.

In Spokane I thought as long as I walked slowly I'd be okay, but returning to the car the last three blocks were very difficult for me, almost impossible. My muscles seem to cramp up, get weak and all that nonsense. I really think I'm 'tying up' like a horse does. Hmmm....I wonder. Human doctors haven't been able to help, maybe I should haul myself to our vets.

Where does the time go....

Echo and Dandylyons have been getting along pretty good. Echo is not a bossy horse but he likes to know where Dandylyons is and takes his naps near her.

Sunday Brad put a 50lb salt block in the feeder for Dandylyons and Echo. I called them both over to it so I could show them where it was. Soon as Dandylyons lumbered up I saw blood on her throat. It seems she has had a cheat seed abscess and it started to ruptured. I touched it and stuff starting coming out. I can't believe I didn't notice the thing. I'm with her everyday. She is completely toothless due to her advance years and I was thinking her face was looking odd because of it.

Brad reached down to feel the abscess and it exploded. Luckily the blast went down into the ground and not onto us. That cheat grass abscess junk is as nasty as it gets. It must have been really hurt her and she tucked her chin under and wouldn't let us touch it again.

We led her to the corrals and put her in the chute. Echo, who normally is very quiet, whinnied for his new best friend to come back.

Here is Dandylyons in the head gate waiting for Brad to come back from the house with the things he needed to treat her.

She's not at all stressed out in the head gate. It's a handy device for preg checking, giving shots etc. We flushed the abscess out with antiseptic and then Brad gave her some antibiotic injections. We had to put a rope around her nose and pulled her head over to expose the area under her head that needed to be treated. Soon as she was fixed up we led her back to Echo who was so glad to see her.

Wildairo had a nice visit with her. Wildairo has been in the doghouse. He is very bad tempered...he's always been that way. He was bossing the cows about and one of them, Stella Longhorns, got her leg trapped in some rocks. She twisted her leg and couldn't put much weight on it for some weeks. She recovered and is now back with the herd. Wildairo is still in the doghouse.

Last month we got our first real snow. Here's Teddy running out in it for the first time.

Every morning she goes with William to feeds the cows and horses. Here they are playing in the snow.

The snow didn't last long. I took these pictures Monday morning when we took all three dogs to check the creek.

There's a fair bit of water in it but we have seen a great deal more this time of year. I was concerned Bobby would go out into the deeper part. She can't swim and I didn't fancy going in to save her.

Blondie was wearing what William calls her war reporters flak jacket.

There are too many weeds and grasses to see the road along the levy now. We used to let the cows graze along here but I don't think it's legal any more to let them graze in and around the creek. We'll have to look into it to see what the law is.