How Complacent are You?

~Cowgirl Coffee:

If your spoon don't stand up in it,

put in more coffee.~

~Anonymous~

Ah yes...I am enjoyin' my Saturday mornin' coffee!!

My Man is off with the neighbors hauling calves to a feedlot over in Vale OR. He won't be back until late this afternoon. Last year when we helped them, it was a snowstorm...today, it's just freezing fog...they're going carefully.

Sunrise ~ January 19, 2011
Cold and crisp.

These icicles are coming from under a ledge along the rimrock.
They remind me of tears...and a lot of those have been shed recently.

I've been cleaning out my inbox from the last week of email (between the blog, Facebook and friends, it was overflowing!) trying to answer questions about Cindy Sue's attack. Lots of questions were answered personally. But this question might be on a lot of your minds...

Susan asked: "One thing I'm wondering is how the coyotes got so close with your other dogs around. Our dogs run them off. We consider it part of their job. We don't shoot them unless they threaten to cause a problem, which they never have because they don't get close enough to."

Well, the attack was about 1/8 of a mile from the barn (just over our property line to the east in the neighbor's field). I've always called that stretch of his field the "coyote highway;" I see coyotes paralleling that fence line quite often. All four of my dogs go down to that fence line to sniff and mark like dogs do...sometimes they'll see a coyote and take chase (including Cindy Sue who really thinks she's a big dog in a lil' dog body).

I don't like them to chase after the coyotes, because I'm afraid that there is a pack of them waiting up in the sagebrush and rock like an ambush. They haven't earned the nickname "Wiley Coyote" for nothing. And my dogs don't have a mean bone in their body, and I think they would all loose against a coyote. So, I keep an eye on them as I feed the horses. That morning, I called for the dogs to come back up to the barn as I went to get the second wheelbarrow load of hay...and didn't realize that Cindy Sue hadn't come with the rest of the dogs...and that's how she got to be by herself.

I feel guilty as well as stupid for that mistake on my part. Here is what I wrote in my editorial for the February Horsefly:

The View From My Saddle

Complacent: To be content and satisfied with your life and surroundings, even when something which may destroy these conditions is imminent.


   This word has been fixed in my mind for the past five days, and it won’t go away. It all started last Friday when two coyotes got a hold of my little Rat Terrier, Cindy Sue. Living where we do, we hear coyotes daily and see them almost daily; and after five years, I really didn’t think about them too much. I didn’t like the fact that they visit my horse pasture quite often, and they also would look down from the rim rock just yards from the house, but they always had went their way, usually with my cattle dogs on their tails.


   Long story short, I didn’t pay close enough attention to where Cindy Sue was while out feeding that morning; and in a few seconds, she was tore up pretty bad. What saved her was  her winter coat that I make her wear on cold days, and my other dogs making a distraction for her to get away and come to me.


   Imprinted in my mind is the image of that one coyote, so determined to kill it’s prey, Cindy Sue, that it didn’t even realize I was there. I was screaming at it like a mad woman, and it finally stopped just a few feet away from me while Cindy Sue ran under the fence toward me. The coyote and I locked eyes. It looked back at Cindy Sue one last time then back at me; thankfully it thought the screaming mad woman wasn’t worth the risk, and it ran back to where Cindy Sue’s blood had been spilt on the ground.


    After a night at the vet clinic, she came home to recuperate. There’s still a chance of infection and her loosing some skin, but so far so good, and she’s got lots of friends praying for her too.


    Complacent. I’ve been kicking myself in the back end for five days for letting myself become complacent at the expense of someone that relies on me. Is is doing me any good? Well, yes it is. I’m taking an inventory of our lifestyle and looking where I need to be more watchful and diligent for the sake of everyone and everything that is near and dear to me. It’s definitely worth it! 

It was a week ago yesterday since the attack, and Cindy Sue had a check up with the vet. All of her bite wounds are healing fabulously!!! The drain tube was removed from her tummy...YEAH!!!!! She's down to one antibiotic pill twice a day for 7 more days. But, she's got two spots that I have to watch...they could be abscesses in the making.

Her vitals? She's poopin', peein' and eatin' kibble...just like normal!!! She packs her kibble from the utility room to the kitchen or the living room to eat it...one bite at a time! All is well~

Cindy Sue is sitting in my office chair with me as I type...she sends her love to each and every one of you!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!