A card

 My sister Margi, who visited here to pick up her kittens (the kittens are living their best life now!) got to meet Beamer . When he passed, she very kindly did a little painting of him from the last photo I took of him, and made it into a card and sent it to me. 

How beautiful and thoughtful is that! The painting reminds me of Beamer as a young horse, although it also combines elements of him as an aged horse. It looks like he is emerging from darkness into the light of eternity, just as we do when our time comes. 

Thank you, Margi 💙

Tiger and Lily leave

 This last week has been all about family and kittens.  

My sister and her husband flew in on Monday and we had an excellent visit with them.

Downtown Sylvan Lake

 Of course, they loved the kittens and the kittens didn't take long to take to them. 

There's not a lot to do here on the farm to entertain visitors (other than the kittens and horses) so we went to the lake one afternoon and had lunch in town, but other than that it was a nice relaxing visit with lots of catching up and Ted getting to know the brother in law- and showing him how to run the big tractor. 

I think he quite enjoyed that. He's no stranger to machines though, his business is custom log homes and he has done projects all over the world- amazing beautiful work. Check out his portfolio here.

The kittens each had a little carrier for the flight but they chose to cuddle up in the same one.

 We were too busy visiting for me to take a lot of photos of them! We totally enjoyed their visit and hope to make it an annual event- maybe we can go to the coast to see them at some point. (Driving, not flying!) It's only an hour flight which worked well for the kittens travelling. They are now enjoying their new home and new toys after being cooped up in my mud room for a couple weeks. 

A few hours after they left, I could see a rather ominous looking cloud- the color was off as all the other clouds were white. 

Sure enough, there is a new fire in the mountains to the west at a place called Pepper Lake. Human caused. The cloud dissipated  into a low layer of smoke. It is quite a ways away from us but the smoke smell is strong. A water bomber just flew over us, likely headed for Sylvan Lake for a load. 

So as we head into August, traditionally the hottest month, I expect it to be smoky and what I call stupid hot. The bush is closed down, thank goodness. It's so tinder dry here and with hot winds blowing I am always concerned about the possibility of even grass fires. 

Claimed

 A few days ago, all the kittens decided to go walkabout. I knew they were going to leave the barn soon- I keep the barn door open because of the barn swallow nest in there- so I was watchful for this next adventure in their lives. We have a lot of long grass behind the garage, which is within a short distance from the barn. They decided to head over there as there were a couple of big hay bales on pallets that made a good hidey spot. I waited until later in the day so I could watch their mama to give me a clue where the kittens were. Sure enough, she came out of the long grass behind the garage- which was good, because if they were under the bales it would have been hard to get them out. After much kitten wrangling, some encounters with stinging nettle and some kitten scratches, they were all captured!

As they were very close to 8 weeks old, I had my sister and brother in law come to pick theirs up the next day. I enclosed them in the little bathroom with all their feed and a litter box, and made sure to bring each one out often and hold, pet and cuddle them. Their kitten, CeCe was not impressed! 

If looks could kill, I would be in shreds!

I am happy to report that she has settled in nicely with them and seems to think that my BIL is her human. 

The other two kittens now have names. The tabby is Tiger.

Although he was the most scared to catch, he is proving to be quite mellow and even purred today! 

The other female I named Lily.

She is a sweet kitten, quiet and so cute. The good news is that Tiger and Lily will be staying together, as my sister who lives on the BC coast wants them. She will be coming to visit in the first half of August, and will take them home with her. All three kittens got the best possible homes! And we get to play with them and love up on them for another month. And no, they will not be going outside! 

A success story

 After last week I though a happy post would be in order. Some of you may recall me posting about one of my sisters who raises Rough Collies- she has been campaigning her male, Levi, and his daughter, Gemma this year, with great results. 

Levi, who is 2 years old, won 2 Best of Winners classes- he has matured into a lovely dog. Side note- that isn't my sister showing him, due to some health reasons she opted to hire professional handlers for the shows. 

Then Gemma, who is just 12 months old, has earned her Canadian Championship!

 So her registered name is now Ch. High Country Catch Your Breath. The Ch before the name denotes her status as a national champion. 

Congratulations, Sis, on your dedication to making these dogs the best they can be!

I have watched some of the shows, and the competition is tough! It's a lot of work preparing them for shows, not just daily but all the grooming right before the class. 

Well done!

Where did that week go?

 It has been a week of family stuff, not much going on with the horses. They are all on pasture, and about all I have had time for is teasing Ruby. 

Not ready

I did manage to finish setting up my garden and even got pole beans and wax beans transplanted. 

 

I have some cantaloupe and broccoli sprouted but not ready for transplanting, and will be putting lettuce seeds in later today. A trip to the greenhouse on Thursday for tomato plants and maybe even a rose (you know I gotta have at least one rose!) and then dig a spot for a few carrots and it will be done. 

We finally got a great soaking rain last evening, complete with some thunder that had Beamer heading full tilt for his barn. It was amazing to see how fast he can go with those stiff front legs. I really think that having him on straight grazing has helped him to move around and limber up those knees. 

Thankfully the smoke cleared with the rain. Ted's family have come back to their evacuated homes- and I was sad to hear that some of the businesses in that town were looted. What a bunch of greedy jerks. Probably druggies. 

On our way home from the family gathering we went through an area where there are wild horses. These two stallions were grazing together beside the road. 

A couple of very impressive dudes!

They wintered well

I will do my next post on Ruby and the new saddle. 

What a week....

 Grab a coffee, this is a long one.....

So many things have been going on in the last week. First of all, there was the fire danger. Not so much for us in particular, but for our family and friends. Shayla had 2 or 3 fires close to her , and her fiancé was kept busy hauling and operating dozers to help with fire fighting. One was very close to his dad's place. Fortunately all those fires were controlled quickly. 

But then there was the town where Ted's dad is in long term care in the hospital, and where his brother and sister-in-law live. They were put on evacuation alert and within an hour were given the evacuation order. It was a logistical nightmare getting 7,000 people out of Drayton Valley all at once, and the 20 minute drive to the mustering area turned into an over 2 hour drive. The hospital residents were not evacuated that night; the fire department kept a watchful eye on them but all the residents spent the night in their wheel chairs awaiting imminent departure. The next day, they were driven to a town quite far away, about 4  to 5 hours drive. We hope he will soon be able to return. But so far, the fire is not contained. 

There are several small towns and reservations in northern Alberta that have been evacuated. However, cooler weather has arrived, but unfortunately still very windy and not enough rain to be very helpful. Speaking of rain, B.C. has flooding and mudslides and their own evacuation alerts and orders.  Crazy how the weather is completely different from one side of the Rocky Mountains to the other!

Despite the heat and wind, we managed to get a few things done here. The round pen is up (mostly), just needs a repair on one of the fasteners for a panel so it will be a couple of days before I can use it. I got Beamer's pen enlarged now that we moved the debris pile to the burn pit. (And no we won't be burning it until next winter!) All the horses are on pasture now, and since it was a slow introduction to the spring grass, there are no health issues for them. 

Speaking of Beamer....

Yes? what is it?

You got work to do, buddy. 

Yes that is Velvet. I kinda figured she wasn't in foal as she didn't get any larger in the last couple of months. Then in April she had a mini 2 day heat, and on Friday she came into full blown heat. She was willing and ready yesterday so Beamer got to cover her. Today she is pacing the fence and calling to him so this is a good strong heat, and she will get covered once a day until she goes out. I sure hope she catches and settles well this time! She turns 23 on May 16th. Putting in my order, once again, for a blue roan filly. 

Speaking of fillies...

I got word from Sophie's owner, she foaled out- guess what- a Beamer filly. Imagine that! I knew if I sold her it would be a filly! It's a sorrel with a star, no other white. I hope to get some nice photos of her sent to me. For now, here she is at just a few hours old. 

He said Sophie is being a good mama. I think she went to the perfect home. If you want to check it out, he is on Facebook, Sylvain Lachance in Quebec. He mostly raises paint show horses. 

I went to the top of Beamer's barn to look for some tubs for my raised/container garden, which we are also working on, and to my surprise, look what I found!

Mama cat was under one of the half barrels and she growled at me and then zoomed down the stairs. When I lifted the barrel these lovely little Siamese cross kittens were there! So I hastily retreated without touching them as I don't want her to think she has to move them. Mama cat is the black short haired feral cat who is Smoky and Bandit's mama. 

I thought the full Flower Moon would bring on foals for Shayla, and it did!  One of the draft mares that I had photos of, the lovely Katey, had a colt last night. 

And Jayne foaled! Yay! 

Check out the chrome! Shayla said "He's missing a boot!" Yes, it's a colt.

The sire is the same as the sire of Bear, and there are 3 more siblings due- Dolly, Belle and Gussie's foals. 

Musta been hard work , lots of yawning going on! 

Can't wait to go play with this one! Probably in a few days. 

A non horse weekend

 March went out as it came in, like a lamb. Sunny and clear! 

I spent the weekend at a Kennel Club dog show in Red Deer; one of my sisters had her 2 Rough Collies entered. One in Obedience and one in Conformation. It was quite amazing to see all those dogs of so many breeds, some of which I didn't even know existed. Did you know there is a herding breed called Berger Picard?  Apparently they are quite rare. There were 3 of them in the show. There were dogs from the tiniest Pomeranian to the big ole Mastiffs and Newfoundlands. And yes Linda, we saw quite a few Irish Wolfhounds too!

My sister's dog, High Country Levi's Promise, who was in the Conformation class. At 11 months old, he still has a lot of juvenile behavior, but she did a good job of showing him; it was her first show too. 

Her other dog is Indy, can't remember her registered name. She was in the obedience class. 

Sit stay off leash

Indy is pregnant to Levi, pups due in a month! It was great getting some visiting time with my sister and her husband; first family we have seen since we left Creston in June last year. 

We have mild weather on the way, so hopefully the snow will vamoose and I can start planning my gardens. 

90.... and a horse visit

 Ted's dad turned 90 on the weekend, so we had a family gathering for him. He is the last of the parents for Ted and I. 

The 3 brothers and dad (Al) . Al really enjoyed the outing; he lives in extended care and was happy to get out and have a social afternoon. There were old friends and co workers who came to celebrate with him, and all his grandkids and great grands. And cake! 

Before the party, we stopped in to see Shayla and the horses. 

Gussie's blue roan filly, Evy, is looking great! She is the one that is half Percheron. She is just the sweetest thing. Shayla has her up for sale. 

I got to say hi to all the old mares and check on their baby bellies. 

Jayne, Belle and Gussie

They all looked pregnant to me. Which is a blessing, because Shayla lost her stallion, Jets Givemathrashin, to colic a couple of weeks ago, so this is his last foal crop. She has two other mares in foal to him as well as some Percheron crosses. I hope she gets several fillies to carry on his exceptional bloodline. 

Got to visit Boe too! He is just as sweet as his sister Dally. Since Shayla sold Scooter, he is keeping some cows and draft foals company. I brought a blanket to try on him for the upcoming cold snap- he handled being blanketed no problem .

He won't wear it all the time, just as needed. It's a bit big in the chest so we added a strap. It should fit him for quite a while. I have had that blanket (it's a Bucas) since Belle's mama, Sundee, was a yearling. 25 years? Something like that. 

They have a big bale of straw to lay on

We are into the cold weather now, so my outside time will be limited. Brrr! I make sure the ferals have fresh water- twice a day for the kittens and in the mornings for the big cats as they can travel to the heated stock waterer if they get too thirsty. 

I got a little video of Bandit, who gets joined by Smokey. They have pretty much free choice food, but were happy to get the fresh water. 

Don't judge me on the messy crates, my storage area is a work in progress!

New stuff

 I took a little trip to Alberta a few days ago. I stayed with a friend and got to spend some time with her, as well as getting in a visit with my daughter and her fiance. They traveled all the way from Ontario to spend some time with me; I don't get to see them very often as I don't travel, and all the restrictions from the last 2 years have screwed up a lot of their travel plans. 

It was really kind of my friend Carol to host us over the couple of days they were there, and really great to reconnect with her as it has been 7 years since I have been able to visit her; she lived a little too far for a day trip but recently moved just under 5 hours away. The bonus- I got to spend time with her dogs too; she has a Tess daughter, Pip and the cutest Jack Russel ever. 

Pip does not like her photo being taken!

Midge was absolutely adorable and forever changed my mind about Jack Russels. 

Both these dogs are very adorable and cuddly as you can see:

The day I drove home was just after a big snow and wind storm hit, but it was short lived and by the time I started my trip home it wasn't too bad. 

That was about as bad as it got; mostly the wind had blown the snow off the road in all the areas where traffic was moving along, only the areas where there were turn offs for towns or side roads were compacted snow. 

I stopped to fuel up at  a place at the foot of the Frank Slide. 

Although it was wonderful to see my daughter and my friend again, it's always nice to be home! Also nice to get a gift in the mail-

This is the book I won courtesy of TeresaA over at Journey With A Dancing Horse. I am really looking forward to reading it! I have a feeling it's going to tug at my heart strings.

Ted did a good job of looking after the horses for me. And keeping the home fires burning- (literally, we only have wood heat, so we can't go away together in winter). 

I made Sophie her own halter testerday, and went down to check the fit on her today. 

But first, we had shenanigans. She was sleeping when I walked into the pen, but not for long once she saw I wanted to put a halter on her. 

Silly mare. 

Once she is caught she is as sweet as can be. I can't wait for spring and getting lots of riding time!

Winter beauty

 We took a road trip over the summit today to visit my sister. It was a beautiful  sunny morning - we left early because we needed to be back early to keep the home fire burning and have some daylight for chores. 

As always, the summit (Kootenay Pass, it is the third highest pass in Canada) has way more snow than we do; we have about 2 inches on the ground and the pass looks like this:

Christmas card type snowy trees!

 The roads were well sanded and we had 4 wheel drive turned on so no real issues on the icy roads. 

I couldn't help but smile at all the beauty .

The mountains are blanketed in snow. Yes that is a very deep valley with a creek flowing at the bottom.

The closer we get to the smmit the more the terrain opens up. The road is a lot steeper than it looks.

There is a large pull out at the top for trucks to check their brakes and their loads. The way down on this side is actually steeper than the way up on the Creston side. 

Yup 8% grade going down.

But oh so beautiful with the sun breaking over the mountain tops and lighting up the snow laden trees.

I do love the mountains. They make my heart sing. 

We had an uneventful trip and a good visit with my sister, taking her birthday and Christmas gifts and a whole lotta love. Her birthday is the 23rd. 

With snow in the forecast for the next week it's pretty much a given that we will have a white Christmas!

We got our tree last Sunday, it's up and decorated. We found a little balsalm that fit into the small area we have in our living room.

Up...

And decorated!