The other night we were driving back to the ranch on a very dark and very cold night, when we came upon an old pickup on the side of the road. We stopped and a young man got out of the pickup and walked over to the window on the passenger’s side of our pickup. I tentatively rolled down the window. He was cold, dirty, and had not slept for 2 days. Wink told him that he would take my Labrador, Ginny, who was with us, and me back to the ranch, and then he (Wink) would drive the young man into Faith, 28 miles away. When the man got into the back seat of our pickup to warm up, we gave him a cell phone and he called a friend and mumbled with a mouthful of chew, “The guy is going to take the dog and the wife to the ranch and then he will bring me to town.”

In Prairie-speak, I am often referred to as the wife, but this was yet another new low of life, as I was now secondary to the dog.

So many of you have expressed your best wishes and prayers for Wink’s recovery from being thrown by a horse. We appreciate your concern, and he is healing. I will soon be returning to CSU Stanislaus. However, as one of you said to me when you heard that Wink had been hurt by a horse, “Joan, I thought he was half-horse.” Actually, I have mused on the same thing a time or two, however he met a bigger one, I guess. The horse used to be name, Lucky, and is now named, Bucky. Dawn was here at the time of the accident and has written about it at: http://www.geocities.com/dawn_wink/Musings.html

Prairie Pedagogy Pictures
Hoar Frost on the Ranch
•The ranch house:http://www.joanwink.com/gifs/ranch-house.jpg
•A fence:http://www.joanwink.com/gifs/fence.jpg
•Austin kissing Bop-Bop:
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs/austindean.jpg
•Austin 'sleeping' on the dumb-bell:
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs/austinasleep.jpg
•Austin ‘awake’ on the dumb-bell:
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs/austinawake.jpg
•Dean and Joan after Dean’s accident:
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs/DeanJoanpostsurgery.jpg
•Picture of Lakota Beads in the Black Hills Surgery Center:
http://www.joanwink.com/gifs/wallofbeads.jpg

To make peace, we must be at peace.
Thich Nhat Hanh