On a Snowy Nebraska Road!

This is a situation most RVers would avoid like the plague! We left our job in Deadwood on Thursday and had no choice but to travel in the snow, heading into the Nebraska panhandle, where we will stay for a month or so with good friends to rest and repair— body, soul, and RV. We will sorely miss the 130 or so animals that we tended, especially our favorite ones, a young swamp wallaby, a New Guinea Singing Dog, and a tropical miniature zebu. Caring for critters can be heartbreaking when we get so attached. We meshed well with all the animals. After our stay in Nebraska we'll be well rested and ready for our next job, in Montana, in April. Life is exciting!

I'm OLD!

Yikes! The other day I received in the mail my Medicare card and all the literature telling me what I need to do to be included in this symbol of old-age, which I reach in a few months! Keith keeps telling me I'm not old yet, but will be when I'm on Medicare. I know by posting this I'm giving away how many years I've lived, but, oh well! The government knows it. Guess it's a milestone in my life. The benefit is that now I can go get several little repairs made on my body that I've been putting off for a long time because I have no medical insurance. Kinda like taking your aging car to the garage and asking for an overhaul! Hopefully my later years will be full of rewarding experiences and wonderful people, as I've seen so far. God is good!

Getting skinny!

Our fat cat, Poquita, is a fat cat no more. For some unexplained reason she has lost 6 or 7 pounds. We've had her to the vet and he could find nothing wrong. She's 12 years old. On a similar note, Keith and I have both lost weight, 15 pounds for me and over 20 pounds for him. We can explain our weight loss. We're both doing heavy physical work in the barn and around the ranch in freezing weather. (Nice benefit to a not-so-nice experience!) But what about Poquita? She's doing nothing more physical than sleeping, meeting us at the door, jumping up on the table to beg people food, then going back to sleep. A mystery! Maybe it's a sympathy weight loss!

From Roos to Music

It's been awhile since I posted, so I got out my camera today to see what I could find. Bennett's wallabies are eating their twice weekly piece of wheat bread. They love it and get so excited when they see me starting to pass out each piece. Also partly in the picture is a big eastern grey kangaroo who loves being with the little wallabies more than with his own kind. He's standing by an albino Bennett's wallaby. These guys are from a part of Australia where there is snow, so they spend a fair amount of time outside in the Black Hills snow. The kangaroos, however, are from the desert, so they don't like to be out for long. During a blizzard, falling snow, or heavy wind, we lock them inside so they will keep warm. I'm guessing they get a little bored when they have to stay inside during bad weather.

Here we have Sunnyburst, the dominant male eastern grey. He and some of his "mob" are eating fresh hay just thrown into their pen. These ladies are wallaroos, who share his pen along with 3 female eastern greys. Sunnyburst is the only "boomer" that I don't like to get too close to. He will challenge anyone to protect his mob. When he stands up he is my height!

On a completely different "note", here is what I like to do when I'm not out feeding, watering, and cleaning up after the roos and other exotics.

I am so fortunate to have a "music room" in my 5th wheel! My Yamaha digital piano fits so neatly into one of our slideouts, with room for a couple of file cabinets for music, and also room for Keith's guitar. What a pleasure to sit there in my spare time and pour out my feelings in my music. There is snow outside, and wind, but I can forget it when my fingers are playing Chopin or some other favorite composer, my new book "Fiddler on the Roof", or some of my many fancy hymn arrangements. I think about my "real" piano, a wonderful upright Yamaha, stored in a church in my hometown, and wonder if I might ever have it again to play on. My digital Yamaha is a good substitute and I am grateful to have it.

Christmas

A very Merry Christmas to all our family, friends and fellow RVers! We wish you God's blessings in the new year. I'm reflecting this Christmas how important family is to all of us, especially when we can't be with children and grandchildren on this special day. Our job near Deadwood is half over, only 3 months to go, then we're off to Missoula Montana for the spring and summer, working at the KOA there. We're excited about that, and hoping to get to see the kids between jobs.

Here is our Christmas tree and nativity scene. I did find a small space where they would fit. All RVers know the space problem! You can see the snow scene out the window.

We had a little adventure the other day. I went over to the office building at 2:00 to give a bottle to Smores, our little swamp wallaby youngster. Entering the building, I smelled a smell I hadn't smelled in there before, kinda like smoke, or electrical stuff. After the bottle, I got Keith and we went up to the attic where the furnace was located. Sure enough, there were flames in there about 2 feet high. I threw off my jacket so Keith could begin smothering the fire, then made 8 or 10 frantic trips up treacherous steps with buckets of snow. He stomped the fire as best he could while I called the owners, who came home in about 10 minutes. They got the fire department out here and all was well at last. The furnace will be replaced, along with my charred and lumpy jacket! God was with us that day, as always. We could see Him in the small details of the events. So many times there are circumstances that only God could plan, and that can't be explained in any other way. Smores could easily have gone without his 2:00 bottle. It's only pedialyte, used to help keep him tame. The person who was supposed to feed him that day was gone. We were substituting. If we hadn't been, the whole building would have erupted in flames before we'd have seen it. We're so thankful it turned out well for everyone, including the small animals in that building!

Don't I wish I were here instead of in deep snow and minus degree temps! This picture was sent to me by my English pen friend, whom I've had for 40 years. She won an award for it. Beautiful!

But really, here we are in the Black Hills in the coldest and stormiest part, Deadwood. I love this photo of the wallabies lined up catching some rays against the building. They do fine in the snow but love the sunshine. When there is a blizzard or very cold temps they stay inside.

This last photo shows our 4 llamas waiting for their chow. They are very patient sometimes, and other times they can't wait for me to put their dishes of grain down before they stick their noses in it. It's kind of fun having a llama leaning on me with his or her head over my shoulder. They look cold, but at least they have nice, woolly coats on. Sometimes there are icicles hanging from their fur.

I am in awe that God made animals who can be outside in minus 24 degree cold. I certainly am one who can't do that for long before coming inside to warm up. We wear layers and layers of "fur" and still get so cold. But, it is beautiful out there!

Red sky at morning

Remember the old saying, "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning."? This was yesterday morning. Our temps were in the 40s but went steadily down during the day, then the snow came. By this morning it was 7 degrees with 5-6 inches of fresh snow! What a change! We are questioning why we aren't like other RVers who go south in the winter. Must be a few bricks short of a load!

Seriously, we believe that God puts us where He wants us to be. Complaining about our circumstances would show a lack of trust—a sign that we didn't really believe that He answered our prayers to be in the center of His will. It isn't always clear how He is using us, whether we are having an impact on those around us, or whether the lessons are for us personally to be used at a later date. For me, it seems our ministry right now is to some precious four-legged critters that need our attention. All of creation is God's and all stewardship and care for His living creatures is important and of eternal value. So...we get up in the morning, put on our layers of clothing and go out into the cold, hoping always to do our best for our charges, making their lives as comfortable as possible. It's fun to go into the barn or other buildings and see the look of anticipation in the kangaroos, the dogs, the llamas eyes when they see us! Food, food!! Thanks be to God for His many blessings and for His beautiful red sky at morning!