Wednesday, January 7, 2009

I'm retired but still working. I live with my husband of 29 years in our newly built home. I designed and built the home while my husband was still working.

Yes, I built my own home. I hired the very heavy work done such as the foundation, walls and roof. I have done building in the past but wanted to design and do my own before I was too old.
My projects for the last 4 years have been; all the electrical, plumbing, tiling, flooring, painting, cabinets, lighting, rock work, fireplaces, builtins, artwork, garden shed, and barn. My husband has helped hold things in place, landscaping and fencing. I am 98% finished. Yet, I'm still creating things for my gardens, home and helping with all of the above for my friends.

My husband and I met though our professions in Law Enforcement. We worked homicide scenes and court presentations together. How romantic!

I come from a pioneer background for this area, on both my mothers' and fathers' side of the family. This included farming and ranching. I am very envolved in family history of photographs and helping with the old homestead sites. I'm currently putting together a family history book of photographs from both sides. I've also created replicas with my father that are now in this areas' museums.

I owned horses all of my life. My husband and I owned and operated our cattle and horse ranch. We did all of the farming, building and maintenance. I fitted, showed, marketed and bred Paint and Quarterhorses. We raised purebred limousine cattle. I spent many hours each summer riding the tractor round and round the fields, many times I would be followed by a coyote catching the mice the swather and baler would stir up.

My father was a logger and cleared land with his caterpillar. He loved animals and was always sad if he destroyed their home. He would bring them to me to care for. I have raised, wild rabbits, owls, birds, mice, flying squirrels, etc. I learned from that and have always loved to rescue and return animals to their habitats. I've just done that with animals that have come to me. I don't run a rescue.

My first real introduction to coyotes came when I lived out of the area for 7 years. I lived in the country, in an area with open land. I had my horses and would take long rides over it. While on these rides I was joined by the coyote packs. They weren't a threat, they just enjoyed coming along. They would lead the way or follow at my horses heels. We had good conversations back and forth. They were always happy and playful. I loved them and looked forward to these rides. They were always there. I never fed them, they just enjoyed it as much as I.

In my rides I have encountered many wild animals. I love to observed them. Animal behavior has always been a strong interest for me. Growing up I spent much of my time in the woods alone. As a small child I was often left on an island near my parents cabin. I was free to explore it. There were wild horses on the island. The first thing I'd do is find them. I would climb the hills to the Bighorn sheep and watch their big herds from the top of the island. Once in a while, I would just run down into the herds and scatter them. I felt as wild as they were. I would also see deer, raccoons, coyotes and mountain lions. I would just sit and watch for hours.

So, 12 years ago, when I was offered a very sick,10 day old coyote pup from a game farm, I had to have it. I bottle fed it and nursed it back to health from a deadly virus. It also had a broken tail with the tip pulled off and 1" of bone exposed. It took a lot of expensive veterinarian work to save it, thousands. Luckily, I had my husbands permission as it was an undertaking that he was very involved in too.

She was named Yippee and has brought us extreme joy and priceless entertainment. She's our coyote princess, our little girl, or Goofy Girl as we sometimes call her. She has many nicknames, Grumpy girl, YippeeYo, Yippity Do Da, Yipster, Pooky, Yips, Yippers, YippeeYippity Yo, Yippee Dippy, etc. She knows them all.

Where I grew up
N.W. Montana
o Blogger (Blogspot) - coyotekisser
Interests:
Art, photography, creating, building, design, animals, gardening, flowers, computers,camping, kyacking, hiking, exploring, collecting

No comments: