Pat & Sharon O'Toole

2007 has brought contrasts to us already. The first week of the year found us in Florida where Pat's Mom had surgery. On a beautiful 80 degree day, we took a boat tour up the Loxahatchee River in Jonathan Dickenson State Park. Turns out Jonathan Dickinson was an Quaker trader who shipwrecked in the area in 1696. He and his party were taken in by the native Ais tribe, then eventually made their way up the unsettled coast, 230 miles, to St. Augustine. Things were considerably less arduous for us, as we got to view the sights from a safe vantage point. We saw lots of alligators. We arrived home to several inches of new snow. We now have at least plenty. We stopped by the National Western Stock Show in Denver, where the atmosphere is muted by the worry over the thousands of lost and presumed dead cattle and other livestock in southeast Colorado. All of us in the livestock business know that we are always vulnerable to the whims of Mother Nature.

Today, we have a new storm. I watched my dog Suzie making her way through the snow, and was reminded of a swimming alligator we had seen.

Alligator in the Loxahatchee
Jupiter, Florida
photo by Pat O'Toole

Stealth Suzie in the snow
Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Today we drove through the blizzard to take another pickup to Powder Flat, where we have livestock and men.
Click on "Continue Reading" for some photos of the day.