Long sweet days on Welcome Home Farm. A blurry fog fills my lungs as I step off the cedar porch. Immediately I search for the deer/bear formation in the sky. Easily I spot the formation and look @ the space between the stars. I feebly fumble for my mini maglit flashlight. Sheep beg for their grain and I place the flashlight on a board to try to light the feed auger. Lights in the shed are all burnt out and I’ve been told a line about waiting ’til load sheep out , to change the bulbs. I grasp the pails and grain runs on the floor. Let’s just say after 4 weeks the lightbulbs were changed. I am resistant to utilizing flashlights so I fondled the grain auger and belt to find the grain instead. I hear the Barred Owl calling on Greg and Nancy Thomas’s land. It’s crispy and calm @ 30 degrees. After chores I find deer jumping over the backwater fences. I search for the cattle herd and rejoice in the foggy mist. So many ducks are settled on Sunrise Slough.  Greg will come this evening to hunt and he will see many winged friends flying.  Over the hill to town of Waumandee and down the road to Hwy 88 and make a right onto Yaeger  Valley Road.  Hawken gets to have a 9 AM popcorn party @ Grandma and Grandpa’s house. This Sat., we scheduled our annual wrangling of Texas Longhorns.   We hear Hawken mumble a good-bye as he consumes all the honey popcorn he can before the bucket gets put away. I hear, “Where’s Grandpa-he’s on the skidloader?” Tom and I arrive @ the Ranch and I pull on my cover-alls. I shuffle through   our closet of clothes in the van.  I notice  the farmer’s car camp  and have to step closer.  A shovel tied to the car top. A handy dandy flashlight, twine, snacks and I hope gloves. The owners came over and confessed to having a gun in there, along with a coveted pair of new gloves that they gladly borrowed to me. Doc and I carry the pour on de-wormer, vaccines, needles, syringes, mustard bottle of lube and OB sleeves to the corral. I step back and admire the cattle. My heart beats faster with their beauty and I see the wide open spaces of Texas swirling in the morning. I want to find a horse and ride to the breathtaking woods. Trees are sparkly in the  Sat. sunshine and leaves are golden and  beet red . A n eagle soars and thermals his way up to the town of Cream. A trout stream is calling and I imagine the rocks and fish within it.  I am here in the NOW. “Watch out..here they come!!” The cattle set up was a dream and it was a splendid way to spend a morning communing with cattle.  Two hours later we were swept away from the Texas dream. We traveled past The Cream Tavern and reminded eachother it used to be owned by Clara and Ervin Salwey and called Club 88.  Down the Alma Dugway ’til we took a right turn up to Buena Vista Overlook.  Seemed to be excessive amounts of cars in the lot.  We stood @ the breathtaking overlook and spied hawks circling below us. I took photos of the Mississippi River as a wedding ceremony went on to my left.  Our next stop was @ Uncle Kenny and Aunt Mary Kay Salwey’s place.  We made our way to the lower entrance and chipmunks, squirrels and Webster greeted us. Webby is a German Short-haired dog. He announces our arrival and we  exchange hugs and hellos with the humans. Uncle has been signing books and has them stacked up for us to take to sell @ The Shack.  I focus my eyes and try not to stare too much. There front and center on Uncle Kenny’s writing desk-the scrunched up nose photo of Hawken. I call it the Salwey scrunch- it is a smile and scrunched up nose. My Ma would tell me it wasn’t lady-like to do the scrunch ..why just last year she told me that! Just kidding! So I inhale the soft smells of wood and food. It’s a cozy, humbling feeling to sit in this presence. I am awed literally @ Mary Kay’s  innumerable talents. She designed their spectacular abode and has artistic talent.  She inspired Kenny to continue with his books. She did the fabulous pencil drawings in his first book, ’The Last River Rat’.   Also she’s the  DNR Wildlife Educator for the State of WI. Hawken’s photo wth his tractor sits on their bed stand. Kenny says,  “The legacy is what it’s all about and Hawkey.”  I savor the sweet Salwey chatter, stories and sharing.   Then Kenny hands Tom a long curved redfiber glass bow. It lacks the string, but is ancient and a special gift for Hawkey-as Kenny calls Hawken.  I see the symbolisim again and I feel my eyes blur. I blink and re-focus and am so thankful for all life is. Off  Tom and I go to Nelson, WI. It’s been a year since we last visited Beth’s Twin Bluff’s Cafe.  We enjoy a Chef and Teriyaki Chicken Salad there. Too full  for Ice Cream  @ The Nelson Cheese Factory today. We wind our way back to visit Yaeger Valley and pick up Hawken. Grandpa Gerry had him outside down in the shed. A 3 year old’s dream to play with a wide assortment of tools and pretend drive all of Grandpa’s tractors.  In the house, I hear of piano playing , a walk to bridge to throw rocks and look for trout and an all day popcorn party.  My Ma and Dad are so generous with their time and sharing a day a week with us  in our home to love the lad and teach him.  What gifts to have them as parents  to Tim, Dean and I. What a treasure to have them as grandparents for Greg, Hawkey, Howie and Henry.  We arrive home in 20 minutes and blast Tom out on vet calls. It’ll be a long night on the route, but worth it for all the family time we enjoyed today. I see great things happening all around.

Ride your horse-gallop alongside-feel the movement-let’s turn the tide!

Sue Roskos