Little Pasture on the Prairie

July 25th, 2010. Somewhere in South Dakota “I am sitting on a hillside somewhere in South Dakota. The wind is blowing hard and smells sweet, but the sun is so hot I feel like I am being baked like a loaf of bread. I take a deep breath and it feels like the first breath I have ever taken.

The Prairie Doc: First Day of School

“First day of school! Wake up! Come on. First day of school,” the little fish shouts at his dad in the opening scene of Finding Nemo. The first day of school is an important transition for students of all ages, and it is often a challenging one.

Transitions

Students love the transition from summer to school. Oh, sure, they complain about losing some free time and that they will have to begin schoolwork again.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

The kids and I spent the week driving around the state of South Dakota with our teardrop camper. I played a few shows, we met up with the crew to film the next episode of my musical travelogue “Wish You Were Here,’ we sat on back porches and front porches, we went to the zoo.

Laughter is the best medicine

It is often said that laughter is the best medicine, yet I have never written a prescription for a funny movie, or a television comedy show, and I have no clowns or rubber chickens in my office. On the contrary, doctors are often expected to be serious and professional.

Are we practicing collaborative leadership?

Having a passion for community leadership and development is what drives Paula Jensen’s personal and professional life. She resides in her hometown of Langford, SD, population 318+.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

Our little town is the county seat, so every year at this time we host the county fair, a weekend full of prize produce, antique tractors on display, not to mention sheep, chickens, calves, and bunnies, with stick horse races for the youngsters and a big rodeo to round it out.

Without you, it would not happen

The tent goes up, the tent comes down. Somebody makes the kuchen and somebody cleans the roasters. Somebody fills the coolers. Somebody sells tickets and hands out programs and somebody checks IDs. Somebody loads and unloads the chairs and somebody scrubs the tables.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

I am considerably less clueless than I was when I arrived on the ranch seven years ago, but I grew up in the suburbs for goodness sake. Consequently, life on a ranch will probably always be rife with me doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Self-diagnosis can be wrong

“Doc, what’s this scaly rash on my arm? Do I have ringworm again?” A lot of the rashes I see in my dermatology clinic are red and scaly. In fact, what first drew me to dermatology as a profession was watching a dermatologist distinguish between seemingly similar red, scaly rashes all day.