My handy husband

We've got a construction project or two going on here. First, Ted has decided to go into business for himself and is remodeling one of the rooms in the landlord's huge shop to use as a fix it shop. He cut a big hole in the wall and built a sliding door, so that he can get vehicles or small machines in. 8ft. high and 10 ft. wide, he built the door completely from scratch. By himself. I had to help lift it in place, and it's a heavy brute!

It still needs the window installed and a coat of white paint.

 So I guess his finger is healing fine, even though it still isn't quite up to par. The business will be fixing just about anything as long as it isn't computer type stuff. He's a carbeuretor specialist, and is really good at diagnosing and fabricating. He hopes to get a contract for wheelchair repairs as nobody locally does that. Small engines, brake jobs, wiring, all that stuff he can do. His business will be called Take it to Ted- because that's what everyone does when they need something done! I'm so proud of him.

He's taking the time to do a project for me too; we are building walls in the overhang that Beamer uses as his new shelter. We bought some lumber and a lift of slabs, so there will be 8 ft. walls to keep out the snow and the winter winds, although it will still be open at the top- the roof is about 9 ft high on the low side, and 15 ft. high on the high side.

It looks like a mess here, but it's organized confusion.

One of the benefits of doing this is that we can open the alley between Beamer and the mares for Rio to run in- and he was doing laps  in it- that's him on the right.

It was dark long before they were done, and there is still some trimming to do and ties to put along the bottom, but it's nice and snug for Beamer for the winter. The low wall on the left is where I will feed from, and a feeder  will be built along the front wall.

Ted has other projects on the go too; he is building himself a truck, which is the project I mentioned this spring. It has been put on hold a lot this year because of him working away from home, and a bunch of trouble with getting Napa to bring the correct parts in- 3 months to get the right brake parts! (I'll wait til its all done to show the progression of the project.) And then getting injured- well hopefully all things will start working out a lot smoother for him now.

Wordless Wednesday

3 more sleeps

Thanks to Crystal for posting the link to the live webcast for the Supreme- I've had it on all afternoon! They are showing the 3 yr. old cutting today. I can't wait for Thursday and heading out with Janice on our mini holiday. I don't think Janice and I have ever had a road trip together, and I'm sure looking forward to meeting up with some of our fellow bloggers.

Sunday Stills

The challenge for this week is signs of fall or end of summer. It seems that summer doesn't want to end here, it's as hot as summer during the day, but the nights are starting to cool off, and when that happens, we get a mist that forms at dawn, and rolls across the flats, and disappears. I'm usually putting the horses out at that time.

End of summer means end of garden too. I pulled my carrots, since the moles were after them, but still have tomatoes to harvest.

The elk are busy harvesting the neighbor's corn, and fall is mating season for them. I can hear them bugling in the stillness of the morning. A hunter spooked them the other morning and they were just close enough for me to photograph.

You can really see the foreshortening effects of telephoto in the above shot, because the raven looks as big as the elk! They were about 300 yards away.

The horses are starting to grow their winter hair, which means shedding their summer coat.

I think Rio's coat color will be a little darker once it grows in. Gussie always gets darker with her winter woolies on, and she too is starting to darken up.

Although it's the end of summer, my roses are still blooming . I'd just finished watering them and thought the water drops looked lovely .

Work and play

Today was a hot one, and I spent it fighting with the tractor, trying to get Beamer's pen cleaned. The linkage for the lever that operates the bucket and boom is totally worn out, it's pretty tough to steer and hold the linkage together and operate the lever all at the same time; I needed another hand! Got'er done though.  Put some dirt in Beamers feed area to level it so that the snow (!!!) won't melt into the shelter this winter. We will be building some walls for him too which will make the area a little larger and keep the winter winds out.
When I rode him yesterday I got this shot of the corn field that the elk are snacking on; they only hit the short corn that they can see over, and left this part of the field alone; these stalks are almost 10 ft. tall.

Speaking of elk, I plan to wait for cooler weather, it's crazy trying to get an animal in the heat and not have the meat spoil. I'll still do some scouting though.

Some of us bloggers are planning a trip to Red Deer Alberta next week to the Canadian Cowhorse Supreme which is a great show that includes cutting, reining, and working cowhorse. There is a huge Equine trade fair, and a horse sale on Friday night. Janice and I are traveling together on Thursday, and will spend all day Friday at the show, and maybe Saturday morning before heading back. The plan is to meet up with Sherry and Crystal, and we are hoping that Linda can make it- and any other bloggers who live close enough to head over there. It'll be great to have a girls night out!

No Beamer, you can't come, even though there would be lots of horse girls for you to look at!

Horse time!

It's been a while since I featured the horses, so for the first day of fall- with perfect summer weather- without further ado, here they are. Rio is growing like a weed, and with feed in front of him 24/7 and a high protein supplement, he's growing up but not out yet.

He and Beamer are getting along well over the fence, the first thing Rio does in the morning is run over to greet daddy, then over to the hay bale.

His scrape is healing well and he managed to rub a couple other spots bare too, like the spot by his ear in the next photo.

For those of you who may be concerned, Rio is not skinny, even though he looks ribby in that photo. He has been dewormed, and has hay in front of him 24/7, as well as a high protein supplement twice a day. I find that the horses from his dam's bloodline go through a phase where they grow very fast, and they all get this ribby look. It goes away in the summer/fall of their yearling year.
The mares are all fat and sassy, and as far as I can tell without an ultrasound, both Belle and Gussie are in foal. You can really see the difference in size between Gussie and Chickory in this photo- Gussie is a whole hand taller:

That's Rio's shadow in the foreground; I was taking him for a walk, and the mares had to come up and greet him. Beamer, of course, had to keep an eye on the mares:

I had him out in the round pen for a while today to eat down some of the grass in there.

He needs another bath! S'posed to be hot tomorrow, so after I clean his pen, I just might do that. I took him for a ride out to the far end of the hayfields this evening, hoping to spot the elk- didn't spot them, but I could see where they are coming up from the river, and the mess they are making of the cornfield. I got to thinking, if we keep Rio, how nice it will be for me and Ted to go out riding with Beamer and Rio- of course, thats a couple of years down the road, but they get along well, and Rio is Ted's horse (his dam is registered in Ted's name, so all her foals are technically his) and it sure would be nice to get him going well enough for Ted to ride. Gives me something to work towards!

Creatures, small and big

I was digging the carrots and beets out of my garden, trying to get them harvested before the mole ate them up, when I came across this fellow:

The cats had come over to investigate the mole hole and didn't even see him.

Can you see him, just to the left of the dry leaf?

I got the carrots and beets done, now all that's left in the garden is onions, tomatoes and cucumbers, and the strawberries. I'm going to have to give away some of the strawberry plants next spring, they are really starting to take over.

Hunting season is in full swing here, and yesterday I heard the unmistakable twang of barb wire fence being stretched by some weighty animal trying to jump it. Now, deer can clear fence like a Grand Prix jumper, so this had to be some of those fence-wrecking elk; sure enough, there were a bunch that had been spooked by a hunter and had come out on the hay pasture that I ride on. I guess they have been feeding on the cattle corn that my neighbor is growing. I grabbed my camera and zoomed in as much as I could and managed a few shots, although if I had my hunting license the "shots" would have been with my 30-06!

I'm going to get my hunting license today, and a friend is taking me this afternoon. Not for this elk- I think he is only a 5 spike, needs to have at least 6 on one side to be legal. 

Wordless Wednesday

Catch up post

Since I had such a busy weekend, I didn't have time to blog, although I did manage to read a few of yours.
Reggie went home today, and we may have to set up some playdays for him and Merle, they had a blast together. I had some requests to get a photo of both their faces- let me tell you, it wasn't easy. One would sit still, and the other would move- or they would just start rolling around like whirling dervishes. They are so cute when they play!

As you can see, Reggie is quite a bit bigger. They both played so hard that they slept well too.

A while ago, I mentioned that Ted was restoring an Armoire for Janice, so here are some start to finish photos; she picked it up on Saturday.

Here is a closeup of how it looked before Ted started- this is some of the inlay detail.

It's laying on its side in this photo, that's the base for the drawer below it.

Here it is with the sanding partially completed.

After sanding, you can see that the inlay has mother of pearl, the green and the white parts.

Ted started the oiling, using Tung oil....

which really made the detail and the wood grain pop....

et voila! The finished product. Compare this to the first two photos.

On to the auction; there were some interesting antiques there along with all the usual household and shop miscellaneous stuff. Like these two John Deere ladies bicycles, which sold for $75 each (they are worth a few hundred on Ebay):

There were plenty of old implements and steel wheels, like this potato planter-

I thought it would look good as a planter. And these rake wheels caught my eye- and a lot of other people's as well- I was thinking of a garden bench like Lisa and Linda have.

There were these old cast iron bedframes, which are apparently popular as garden planters too.

None of these items came home with us. We did get a nice coal oil lamp for $25, and some old wooden boxes and a wicker washtub stand, as well as an old whetstone on a stand, and Ted got some tools and an oxy-acetylene cart and hydraulic tank with a pump (for future use on a log splitter; we're getting too old to chop firewood!).

Yesterday it was cool enough for me to light the wood stove, I guess that sure is a sign of the beginning of fall.

Today's tidbits

Tomorrow is auction day, it'll be a long one. I'm clerking the auction, and Ted will be one of the auctioneers. It's an estate sale for a family who were one of the first families to homestead this valley over a hundred years ago.
This morning the people who we got Merle from called and asked if the pup they kept who is a half brother to Merle, could have a sleep over this weekend as they were going to a family reunion in Saskatchewan. What's more fun than a little bundle of fluff? Two little bundles of fluff! Here is Reggie, who is a week younger than Merle, and bigger.

They have the same dad but different moms. Merle is a Toy Pomeranian, and Reggie is half Toy and half regular Pom. Thumper thinks they are both wind up toys for him to play with.

The landlord showed up this weekend and brought me some work raspberry bushes, so I spent two hours today building a bed for them, digging out a good sized area with the tractor and loading the hole with composted horse manure.There's 6 bushes; I hope they all survive because I love raspberries. After that I saddled up Beamer and took the collies out on the hayfield for a nice relaxing afternoon ride. And as a bonus and a great way to end the day, Ted took me out for Chinese food. Yay- no cooking or dishes to do!

Fair Photos

I know I said I'd post these photos on Monday, but.... better late than never!
There were some really neat entries in the students section, and I thought these vegetable sculptures were really creative.

What would a fair be without a giant pumpkin?

By the way, red ribbons are first place in Canada; blue ribbons are second place. The black ribbon denote champion in its category.

I loved these little teddy bears in the craft section.

There was a quilt with horses.....

I liked the name of this vendor.

The Creston Valley has a winery, The Skimmerhorn Winery

There were plenty of other displays, and lots of creative people around here. I may enter a few more categories next year. 

All about the boys

We'll start with the littlest boy- Merle! We got him a little harness in lieu of a collar. He needs to learn to come when he's called, as he has a tendency to head straight for the horse pens, where he blends in with the dirt, and the li'l rascal either ignores us, or runs the opposite direction. So he now has a harness, and I'm going to attach about 20 ft. of parachute cord to it so that I can reel him in out of harm's way (think horse feet!) if necessary.

He doesn't seem to mind it- and there is room for him to grow. He turns 3 months old today.

Ted's finger is getting better but it's a long way from healed. Of course, that's not stopping him from doing things, like refinishing this beautiful Armoire for Janice.

Meanwhile, I put Beamer and Rio together after I got home from work, around 1 PM. They got along well until the evening when the galloping started. Beamer just would not let Rio alone, even though Rio has gotten quite adept at ducking away from him, for some reason, Beamer kept on coming, and at one point I heard the sound of fence creaking, so I put a stop to it and split them up- only to find that Rio had a bit of a nasty scrape.

I had thought that Beamer would just leave Rio alone but apparently not. Rio is doing everything right; staying out of the way, baby-mouthing, being respectful. So I think that, since I really don't want Rio to get hurt- this scrape is bad enough- that Beamer has earned a sentence of solitary confinement again. I will continue to have Rio over the fence from him, but not in with daddy. I'm really disappointed, because it looked like it was going to work out so well, they spent a lot of time just hanging out together. I think Beamer needs to spend some time in a brood mare band and learn some manners. Perhaps next year, I'll let him live with Belle, from breeding season onwards- she will for sure tune him up.

Sorry Beamer. You blew it.