Remembering the Acreage

I was poking through some photos and found this one of Tucker, my first horse. She left us at 28 years. She is still on the Acreage, the place she really liked

This fellow came back for 4 years straight. He must have liked my fence post!

Riding with the hounds. There was only Boots and Brooklyn on this trip. Sometimes I had upwards of 10 dogs along. The neighbours dogs seemed to know when I was saddling up and joined in. After 5 hours of riding on the mountain, their butts were dragging

Life Goes On

I just noticed that it has been 3 weeks since my last posting. I wish I could say that things have been too busy around here, but alas, not the case.

It was hunting season and I got out 4 times. I saw 6 deer. 3 were Mule deer and I didn't have a draw. The others were a doe Whitetail and two fawns. I didn't want to in effect kill 3 deer, so I passed

The weather has been miserable, with everything, from rain, to snow, to a mixture and black ice. Not much fun being outdoors in that!

I did spend some time carving in my man cave in the garage. I got this American Wigeon to the paint stage after 3 months. Another month and I may have it finished.

In the meantime, Life Goes On!

Out for a Drive

I came across this immature bald eagle watching a deer carcass. I was hoping he would come down, or fly, but no such luck.

 He was blended in quite well and I didn't see him at first.

 A very regal bird, but still a scavenger.

Also there were lots of Blue Jays

 And a Downey Woodpecker

 The Athabasca River is making ice at a good rate

 The Magpies were settling for left overs.

How Can You Get Mad?

This is a picture of a good dog, sitting patiently for me to play with her, or to be allowed into the kitchen. She is normally not allowed to cross the line.

This is a picture of a not so good dog that likes to show who is boss when it comes to sleeping priorities!

Another First!

I had to run Elaine into Edmonton yesterday, and of course I never go anywhere without my faithful camera. While waiting, I took Daphne for a walk in a grassy area and we found a Jack Rabbit Now you who have these critters as a common occurrence, you are probably saying "So What". Well for me, this a first. He snuck back after Daphne put the run on him, and I snuck back to the car, dropped Daphne off and grabbed my camera. He was very relaxed and let me get fairly close. He is a White Tailed Jack Rabbit.

A Working Day

The garden pumpkins have finally ripened on the kitchen table. The biggest one (15 pounds) was sacrificed  and converted to 4 pies.

 I could not get the edges covered in tinfoil. so the crusts are a little dark.

 After doing the 4 pumpkin pies I decided to advance to my frozen sour cherries. These were cut with a knife and the pits removed. I could have used a little more filling, but, what the heck we now have 2 pies from our own tree.

 I guess I will have to tackle the rest of the pumpkins Saturday.

Another Five Mile Bush Walk

This was at the start of the walk. She was still perky.

Five miles, and no birds or deer to photograph. We did see two Ruffed Grouse, but Daphne spooked them before I could get a shot

 all in all, a good afternoon

Call it Lucky!

We bought these Orchids about 5 years ago and after the initial flowering, nada!

This summer, I got mad and was going to throw it out. Elaine gave an emphatic "No" to that idea.

So, I bought some orchid soil, split the roots, repotted and voila! instant flowers.

 I should have split one of the plants one more time, but I didn't  Anyway, a long story short. Elaine was right and we have flowers for about 5 more weeks. Life is good!

From This........to This

In only two days!

 The Larch, or Tamarack are beautiful

 The access trails are sunny and bright

 Then came the snow!

 It doesn't faze my faithful companion though.

 -3 C, feeling like -10 and she still wants to run! Oh well, only six months till spring!

Bits and Pieces

 I figured that I should maybe post a blog before I forget how! Its been very slow in the great outdoors probably due to the miserable weather. Everybody is in hibernation mode, including me.

My faithful companion is always up for a walk in the woods, or a trip to the Dog Park. Whitecourt is blessed to have a facility as great as Rotary Park! I caught this little guy sitting on a rock wall having breakfast. 

There are still a few Mallards hanging around. If it were me, I would be

in the deep south by now instead of freezing my tail feathers off!

 I have bee adopted by about 6 Blue Jays that are eating my bird seed like its going out of style.
 Then, there is always this guy that figures he should eat for free also. Hopefully the weather improves and I can go farther afield for some photos.

The Dog Days of Summer

A day in the woods with Daphne is great! It gets me out and working towards my 5 miles per day

Over hill, over dale and over logs. Nothing stops her!

 A brief stop at the dog park so that she can show off her retrieving skills rounds it off well

 The Kong retrieve comes right back to my hand.

 Along the river today, I spotted this Osprey. I am surprised he is still around.

 Fishing must still be good!

 This Mule Doe was another bonus until Daphne put the run on her. Daphne does a token chase and doesn't go far. I guess she knows that catching deer is not easy!

Our Blue Jays

I say ours, because they seem to have adopted us, or at the very least, our bird feeder. 

Some people don't like them, but I enjoy their loud and quirky habits.

Hopefully, they will over winter in our neighbourhood.

The nail strips that were supposed to deter cats don't seem to bother them. I put the bird houses in 3 foot iron posts that seem to work well.