A Great Weekend!

Elaine has gone to summer camp with the grand kids so I kind of had a honey do list. However, yesterday, I played truant and saddled up Alpine. I figured she needed some miles on her, and I needed a trail ride. So, off we went. The gate was open to our neighbour's half section and the cows (bulls) weren't in there yet. Alpine was a little skittish at first, but settled down into a steady trot. Can that horse trot! Two hours later, she was still trotting on the way home. It was very difficult to get her to walk. She just wanted to trot! I am not sure if that is a trait of the Morgan horse or not. It took a good half hour to catch her rhythm, which appeared to be totally different from the other horses. I was tempted to go to a cantor, but decided as I was alone in the middle of 320 acres populated by deer, moose and whatever, it was probably not a good idea.

I hate to say it, but I think that I am a little out of shape, as my legs did not want to work very well after the two hours.

Boots came along for the ride and man, was his butt dragging by the time we got back! I could tell where he was in the hay field because there was a bow wave spreading out. Brooklynn started out, but disappeared about 20 minutes into the ride. I found her sleeping under the deck looking very comfortable. 

Today we have a high wind so it's back to chores. I trimmed some brush growing around  hiding the shed, transplanted my slightly root bound mint, weeded a garden and picked a half gallon of our raspberries. It looks like it's going to be a good crop! Last year we put 100 pounds in the freezer and will probably get the same amount this year. Now, all I need is a good recipe for raspberry crisp, or ?

Tomorrow its back to town to water the church plants (Elaine's job, normally) then over to check on the hay cutting/ baling. I am hoping my truck will last long enough to get the hay home. Fortunately, it is only about a 2 mile round trip times ten to get the 300 bales home. It turns out that I not only blew a plug, but lost a valve. The transmission is also starting to slip. I really like the truck, but it is a 2001 and how much money do you feed into it?  It's 16 hours labour at $80/hour plus the cost of a used motor. I haven't looked at the transmission cost . It is probably time to cut the cost and look at a good used replacement. Drat!

I hope all you folks in Canada had a really good long weekend, and that you folks in the U.S can get a working compromise regarding debt reduction. We don't need another world recession!

After the Snow Came Down

The fun starts!

For Brooklynn, all this snow was fun to play in, although sticks are hard to find. You have to dig deep!

But, she is a retriever, and neither snow nor sleet nor hail will deter her mission. Or, is that the Post Office?






The back yard need some more digging out. I have already done it twice, just to be able to get to the chicken coop.










Then there is my ride. I hooked a wheel and down into the ditch it went. The close up of the bumper is not pretty so I won't show it. To extricate the truck I had to sacrifice one fence pole, via chainsaw. The bumper was very tightly caught and tensioned.









The neighbour also didn't fare well as he went in while getting me out. This one took three trucks, I tractor and 4 guys to get it out.

Boom is Boom! He seemed to not mind the storm at all! The extra rations helped.











Biz and Tucker still went walk about, mainly to see what their crazy food supplier was doing. The two horse pictures were taken early in the storm. By the end, the snow was knee deep on the horses.

Life was good, though.. I managed to read 5 old issues of Harrow smith, watch some TV and a DVD , and make some Zeds

The County was around Sunday morning with the plow, so we were able to get out for church. Saturday nothing moved. When we got home, our neighbour had plowed an 8 foot wide track up our driveway. Sunday afternoon I widened it out with the snow scoop. I figure on about 3 days to get stuff cleared up.
 Life is still good on the acreage!

Playtime

Only 6 More Months to Go

The BBQ is down for the winter, although if we should get a mild spell, say above -10C I might think about firing it up . The snow shovel is by the door ready for use, and it will probably get used a lot! It's not much fun standing outside BBQ'ing when it's much colder than that.






This morning, it was -15C and had snowed most of the day yesterday. The horses tend to take it in stride. They are so well insulated that the snow will not melt on their backs. We leave it there as an extra blanket for them.














The water trough and salt block get lots of use during the cold weather. Dry hay tends to cause a need for more salt in the diet. You can see the electrical cord going to the floating heater. Tomorrow, I will be putting the wooden box and insulation around the tank, plus a half lid to cut down the heat loss. I was too slow in draining the garden hose yesterday so it was frozen when I went to fill the trough. 100 feet of frozen hose, coiled up (with difficulty) in the hallway to the house solved the problem. Today, I was a lot faster in walking the hose to ensure the last of the water was out of it.









The drive way was ploughed with my timber and truck to give it a chance to harden up. The snow is not as slippery when packed so it makes the climb up the hill a little easier on the vehicles. Elaine has a front wheel drive with aggressive snow tires on all wheels. It is very seldom that her car won't get up to the house.

My truck is a 4 wheel drive with very aggressive tires and gets used to pull friends and visitors out of the ditch when necessary, generally 4 to 5 times a winter. When the truck gets stuck, my neighbour will come over with his 350HD and pull it out.

Winter! It is a hardening experience in Alberta.

Surely there must be somebody in the deep south that would love to experience watering horses, feeding chickens and shoveling snow for a few months this year. I would be willing to swap acreages for a little while, say two months starting in January?

Did I mention that we also get frozen water lines, power outages and blizzards? Truly a fun experience!

Let me know if you decide to take me up on the offer.

Almost Silent Wednesday

Our young grand daughter is getting along real well on Elaine's horse, Boom. Elaine is now thinking of progressing to Biz, a little more spirited horse.

AJ, our oldest grandson is doing exceptionally well and will soon be ready for some trail riding after a few more sessions in the paddock, and then our open field.

These were discovered in the juniper tree next to our hot tub by watching mom and pop sneak into the tree. I will have to dig out the bird book to try to figure out who they are. There are actually 4 in the nest.

Congratulations to ALL!

The last couple of weeks has given us some of the best entertainment around! Although not everyone can receive a medal, everyone can be proud of the effort, time and sacrifice that it takes to compete at this level in the world. To all that medalled, congratulations! To all that didn't, stand tall, stand proud, you are at world class level.

Thank you for the effort and entertainment!

And what did you think of the Gold Medal Game in Ice Hockey???   'Way to go Canada!!

Thinking of a Bed and Breakfast

As I am kind of in-between jobs at the moment, I was thinking of starting a B&B. I already have the guest house, room with a view, cold running water (winter) and hot water (summer). Air conditioning isavailable both summer and winter. Any body want to book a reservation? Big discount for February!

What to do in the Dead of Winter

When the grandkids come for a visit, there is lots to keep them amused on the acreage. There are horses, egg gathering, and of course SLIDING!We are fortunate to have a 400 foot driveway with a fairly steep incline and a sharp turn part way down. Fortunate for sliding, but not for driving a car on. The corner allows a lot of speed and a hard banking of the sled so as not to get airborn and buried in the snow, or rolled over. The sled is one that I hung onto over the last 60 years and was made for me by a good friend of the family when I was about five. As you can see, it can go about 30 miles an hour and can bring out the fear in a passenger and driver. If the driver is really good, and can negotiate the corner, there is a continued run of about 500 metres on the county road. The little tykes walked back a couple of times, but much prefered riding and letting the "Old Mule" pull them along. The Mule was blowing and puffing a few times, but fortunately had the daughter-in law- around to help with the haul. I thank God that I am still able to get out and do fun stuff like this

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FARM Kid in the ARMY

(NOW AT BASE BORDEN RECRUIT TRAINING)
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Army beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. But I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.
Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

Bear Shot Chasing Cattle in Alberta!

After a ferocious stand off the bear was shot with no injuries to cattle or bystanders.

When you’re retired:

1. How do you know when to take a day off?
2. When the Boss is a no good, mean, type of guy, is that really you?
3. Never keep a written list! The honey- do list should be kept flexible, and when nagged, the item goes automatically to the bottom.
4. A man can only drink so much coffee!
5. Try to find new friends. The old ones have heard all your stories before.
6. Full contact shuffle board is not allowed.
7. A good story can go on forever. It passes the time.
8. You have all the time to do the things that you never really wanted to do in the first place.
9. Fishing becomes work.
10. Inflation is inversely proportional to your remaining income.
11. What has to be done, doesn’t really.
12. “Why are you sitting there doing nothing? You did that yesterday”! “Yes, but I wasn’t finished.”
13. You finally have time to read “The Book”
Time is running out
Start now!

WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED

This was "lifted from  The Old Geezer" Blog. It explains a lot of things!


Men Are Just Happier People-- What do you expect from such simple creatures?
Your last name stays put.
The garage is all yours.
Wedding plans take care of themselves.
Chocolate is just another snack.
You can never be pregnant.
Car mechanics tell you the truth.......

What a Week!

It all started the day before my paper delivery route through northen Alberta was due to go. Five hours out in -40C weather with a heavy duty mechanic trying to get the 5 ton cube van started. 175,000 btu Herman- Nelson heater for two hours, a very large generator applyingpower to the engine block heater and 60 amps to the batteries. We ended up replacing the batteries as they froze and would not charge. We finally got it running and left it running until 2:00am when I was due to start the route. By then it had warmed up to -38C. The normal run of 7 hours took 13.

On the home front, (when I got back) I found the horse trough (200 gallons) frozen solid. My first thought was " Why me?" My second was "but that is a brand new floating tank heater". Out came the multimeter to find out where the problem was. No blown circuits, No broken wires. 125 volts going into the extention cord and only 83 coming out! A new cord (100 feet) solved the problem and the water started to unthaw after 3 hours. Today the water is half thawed and the forcast is back to -1 to -4 C for the next few days.

The chickens found it tough going with a coop temperature of -10C. They still kept laying, but at half speed. Roo had his comb slightly blackened, but seems ok. No frozen feet. A space heater, plus insulated coop, plus infra-red heat lamp couldn't keep up.

The only things that seemed comfortable were the horses. They used the shelter, ate lots and didn't move around much! Their coats are now so thick, I hardly recognize my own horses!

Anyone in the deep south want to do a six month acreage swap? Startin in November of next year? Just kidding. I would miss this! Just kidding again, no I wouldn't.

On the positive side, cleaning up the horse droppings is pretty easy at this temperature as they freeze up and collect real well.

Only 5 1/2 more months of winter!

Things you never hear in church..............

1. Hey! It's my turn to sit in the front pew.
2. I was so enthralled, I never noticed your sermon went 25 minutes over time.
3. Personally I find witnessing much more enjoyable than golf.
4. I've decided to give our church the $500 a month I used to send to TV evangelists.
5. I volunteer to be the permanent teacher for the Junior High Sunday School class.
6. Forget the denominational minimum salary, let's pay our pastor so he/she can live like we do.
7. I love it when we sing hymns I've never heard before!
8. Since we're all here, let's start the service early.
9. Pastor, we'd like to send you to this Bible seminar in the Bahamas.
10. Nothing inspires me and strengthens my commitment like our annual stewardship campaign!
11. I couldn't find space to park outside. Praise God!

You've Got to be Kidding!! Turkey Testicle Festival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNf9t8R-ZWo

When you are seven years old, and you get to drive a tractor (albeit a small one), life is goood!

Ditto, when you are nine!