The New Era - All about Sweet Home since 1929

Here I was again, standing over a dead cow, in the middle of a pasture filled with tansy plants, listening to a rancher explain to me that cows never touch the stuff. As I stood there sharpening my...

It was the third week of the fly-tying class I took through Linn Benton Community College. The course was conducted in the evening at Sweet Home High School. "Tonight, we are going to tie a popular...

Don stepped on his brakes and pulled his pickup to the side of Bellinger Scale Road. “I think that was an orange kitten,” he said to himself as he stepped out. Don looked for traffic before...

“Slow down a minute, Ralph,” Jan said as she watched the old cat on the edge of Pleasant Valley Bridge in Sweet Home. “Turn here,” Jan said, pointing at the bridge. Ralph turned and headed...

I stepped out of the crowding alley quickly as Ervin released the cow I’d just checked. The next one was charging with Ella right on her heels. Ella was a middle-aged border collie. She had been on...

I noticed her sitting in the far corner of the reception area, patiently waiting for the crowd to clear. She was an older lady with white hair. Short and petite, tanned to a rough brown, she was...

The clinic was quiet when Joan burst through the door. A regular client, she was a trim young lady in her mid-30s. She had Zack, a young springer spaniel, with her. Today she was covered in blood ...

It was early Sunday morning when the phone rang. We weren’t out of bed yet. We didn’t have any firm plans for the day, but we’d discussed going up the Calapooia River to swim. The weather had be...

I turned off of McDowell Creek Road into the barnyard. I could see only a few cows in the holding pen and a couple of guys heading up the hill to the upper pasture. I looked at the clock to make sure...

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following column contains graphic anatomical descriptions. I held my three cards firmly and a little cupped, so the three aces were out of view to the other players and the crowd...

Neurology, the study and treatment of disorders of the nervous system, in early-1970s veterinary medicine always seemed like a waste of time to me. In school, we seemed to spend untold hours learning...

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following column contains anatomical language. "I wish Dr. Ball was here," I thought to myself as I drove my left arm deeper into the rectum of this old, fat cow. Dr. Ball was the...

Coos County's Broadbent School in the fall of 1952 had grown to its largest enrollment ever with nearly 80 students in eight grades.  The school board had discovered that the upper part of Catching...

It was the fall of 1980. As a newly elected school board member, I'd been asked before to attend a volleyball game and was starting to feel guilty about not getting to one. "Doc, I'm telling you: You...

“Joleen, are you still feeding that feral tomcat out the back door?” I asked. “I don’t think he is really feral,” she replied. “I am going to catch him one of these days.” “Catch him,...

Nessie, a small, straw-colored Cairn terrier, came out from under the feed rack, shaking her head vigorously as the small rat hung limply from her mouth. “That’s the way to get ‘em,” Ayers hol...

"Company D, Private Drake speaking. Can I help you?" Bill answered the phone on a snowy Christmas Eve in 1965. He and I were pulling CQ (charge of quarters) duty for Company D, a duty company for...

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute." Einstein's quote came to mind every fall in Sweet Home. The...

Louie and Virginia had been clients from the very early days of my Sweet Home practice. Louie was a tall, lanky guy who had worked hard for most of his life. Virginia was the sweet side of the couple...

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute.” Einstein’s quote came to mind every fall in Sweet Home....

"Dr. Larsen, I visited my therapist today, and she told me to find what motivates me and run with it," Vicki Lindley said. "She said, 'If that happens to be cats, then do cats.' I am going to start a...

I looked at the large black tumor on Dr. Walker’s old gray mare as I wrapped the tail. It was a good thing the horse was gentle. There were no facilities, and I was at considerable risk standing...

We had just finished dinner and were supervising the girls as they cleaned up the dinner table when the telephone rang. Good evening, Doc,” said Sandi’s voice on the other end of the line. “I ho...

Walking down the fifth fairway at Pineway Golf Course, I was relieved that I could see the ball. “At least, I am not in the ditch,” I said to Jim Mechals as we parted toward our respective balls....

"Doc, I think I have a calf that needs a little repair." Larry Coulter's voice came through the phone receiver. "What is the problem, Larry?" I asked. "One of the hind legs is not working quite...