Around the farm

Some non horse things in this post! We are dog sitting...

This is Remi, she goes home on Friday.  A quiet and sweet girl who has claimed my couch. 

The kittens are growing and getting cuter by the minute. They are very well socialized now. 

They leave for their new home with one of my sisters in a week. 

The baby barn swallows who shared the barn with the mares finally fledged. About a day or so of hanging out in the barn and off they went. 

My flower garden is going well, so nice to have a bit of colour there now. 

This dianthus survived our -40 winter

Volunteer Cosmos from the seeds that dropped from last years flowers

Also volunteer calendula

And gotta have at least one horse thing-

Velvet has decided that stinging nettles make a great snack. This is the mare that also knows how to strip thistles from the stalk. 

The temps have dropped, maybe due in part to all the smoke that once again lays heavy on the land. Such a scorching hot two weeks I'm sure have contributed to the number of fires- it's tinder dry and crunchy here. But we do have thunderstorms in the forecast (along with a tornado warning) so hopefully a little rain. We are fortunate to be living on a river, all our pastures are still lush and green; it's only the lawn that is crunchy. 

For all those who are getting rain, please send some to western Canada! Trade ya for some sunshine!

Of dogs and cats.

My dog Tess turned 11 yesterday, here is her official 11th birthday portrait.

I have been doing some serious thinking about Thea, and her strong desire to work, which you can see in this video:

I feel that it isn't fair for me to keep suppressing her desire to work, and my horses are starting to take after her; she got kicked by Pistol the other day, and Mesa was striking at her today. So I mentioned to one of my Saskatchewan friends that I would consider letting her go to a working home.... and she got a hold of her friend Wendy Schmaltz, who happens to be the breeder of Thea's sire and owner of her grandsire. Wendy is the breeder of several of the top trials dogs in Canada, and after seeing this video, called and we made a deal on her. Thea will be leaving in November, hopefully for a life of working to her heart's content. Although I will really miss her, I feel that it's in her best interests to move on.

Beamer got in a bit of a wreck the other day, when I went down to feed he was moving funny and I saw that he had a swollen left front leg and a swollen sheath. (He was walking like a kid with a full soggy diaper!)

He also had dirt all over his back. To be on the safe side, he got a shot of fast acting penicillin, and a tetanus shot. I did find some scrapes on his sheath, one is visible in the photo. So after some CSI work, I found a spot where he had rolled and I figure he had gotten himself cast up against a fencepost and probably had a hind leg on each side of it, hence the trauma to his sheath, and I figure he banged his front leg with a hind or even with his other front. Cold hosing the leg really helped, by the next day it was fine. The sheath swelling is going down, it's about half the size now. I did watch to make sure he could pee properly.

I lost my kitty Pearl the other day too. She lived upstairs and never came down to socialize, and if you went upstairs she would hide. I found her laying partly under the bed, so I picked her up. She was clearly dying, too weak to move more than her eyes and very faint meows. I held her for the next hour and she died in my arms. No idea why she died, she was just 7 years old. 

Pretty Pearl, shortly after we got her

Speaking of cats, kitty Boo has been gone for nearly a week, I sure hope he comes back.

Weekend stuff

Well, clinic day is here, in about an hour we will haul over to the arena for lessons with Jim Anderson. Yesterday, instead of more arena time, Rio got a trail ride; I rode him and Shayla rode her palomino mare Allie for a nice relaxing putt around the neighbourhood. Love that horse- whenever he saw something he wasn't sure about he would just hesitate, look, and then carry on. Sorry, no photos! But I did finally  get a moon shot! Used my telephoto lens and tripod, I think I can get crisper focus next time, but this will do for a first shot! Not up to Ed's quality, but I'm trying!

I think that bright spot on the lower right is interesting, it looks like the stem spot on an orange.

Penny goes to her new home today, her wounds are nearly healed, about the size of a dime on her back and the tear below it is almost gone too, she sure healed quickly, only a week or so.

I'm calling this the Winter that Wasn't ...yet.... I swear the grass is growing! I took this shot of Shayla's saddle a couple of days ago.

Tess is getting very large, less than two weeks to puppies! She is really playing the pathetic card lately too even more than usual.
I'll do a clinic post at the end of the weekend, till then, I'll be busy!

Middle of January

Yesterday- the ides of January- was an absolutely gorgeous day and certainly did not feel like the middle of winter. Didn't look like it either.



For all you southerners, this is particularly balmy weather for this time of year in Canada!


When I went out to do my afternoon chores, I had an entourage. The cats followed me around, and the dogs kept bringing the ball and dropping it at my feet with that pleading look that border collies have down to a fine art.

The cats were in fine form, posing and playing.

We are expecting cooler temperatures and some snow, probably on Thursday. But nothing like they are getting in Alberta.

I love living here.

Sunday Stills

It's the three year anniversary of Sunday Stills, and I want to thank Ed and Linda for getting this rolling- it has been a lot of fun over the years, and has really helped me to get involved with photography.
As with the first year, the challenge is to photograph our pets. I don't consider horses pets, so no shots of them. But I do have plenty of pets!

Thumper and Pearl. Thumper is the great mouse slayer, and Pearl rules the household, and never goes outside.

Foose is aloof although he has been known to cuddle with Pearl, he prefers not to be held. But he does have collapsible legs....

He has a very quiet little meow and will come and pat me gently when he wants out.
Then there are the three hooligans:

all sporting their Christmas jingle bells. Merle is finally getting long hair after shedding out all his puppy hair. Reba is 10 years old now, and still going strong.

Tess seems to think she's joined at the hip with me, she sticks close by me.

She turned 5 in October. 

That's my crew! I look forward to seeing all you lovely pets.

Sunday Stills

Pets has to be one of my favorite challenges, and this year I had some very willing subjects.

The Foose

Bubby- he is fading into old age, and I hope he hangs around a little longer; this cat has been everywhere with us, even living in a camper with us. He used to love having showers with Ted, and once weighed 17 pounds. Now I think he weighs 7 pounds.

Thumper; he is going to be a huge cat, and he really lives up to his name.

Pearl, the Princess, is a very feminine feline- until it is time to beat Thumper up! Foose loves her.

The three hooligans

My blue eyed beauty, Reba

Does it bother your eyes to look at this photo?

Frost, fog, and felines- and a little black'n'white

I never realized just how many spider webs there are in trees until I went out to take a photo of the foggy valley this morning. I've heard it said that at any given moment, anywhere in the world, you're within 6 feet of a spider. It's darn sure true here!

November continues to be mild, and I hope it stays that way for the next couple of weeks while we get some outside projects done. I want to get on the tractor tomorrow and clean the horse pens, and get Ted to build a feed manger for Beamer and Url; darn steer is making a mess in Beamer's shelter where I feed, pees and poops in the hay whereas Beamer always kept it clean. Poor Beamer! When I bring them in if Url lollygags Beamer pins his ears and chomps him on the back! I've started Url on a supplement to put some weight on him, he has that bony dairy calf thing goin' on.

I visited Tess's pups at the hay farm the other day, they are lovely boys, but hard to get photos of because they were glued to my legs! One of them, Theo, lays on top of the freezer in the garage that is their personal room, so I got a photo of him. He's a nice boy! They are getting "brain surgery" in a week or so.

The cats are all getting along, and will even all 4 of them eat out of the same bowl. Can you imagine 4 dogs doing that?

My little girl cat has become more sociable, not so inclined to run and hide, she now lets me pick her up and cuddle; she's even purring out loud now! and she is still in need of a name- something cute and pretty please- just like her.

Took Beamer out for a putt around the hay field, and it was nice to see my dogs in formation at my side. They are really good about sticking right with me- sometimes Reba will range out front, but one "heel!" and she comes right back. I love my dogs.

Sammi will be 8 months old at the end of this month; she is a little taller than Tess right now- she's going to be a big dog!

Beamer looked askance at this sign, so we had to ride up and inspect it.

I am now a published photographer- but that story is for another post!

It's finally here- fall!

Fall has definitely hit here, we got our first killing frost last night. Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful, and we had Janice over for ham dinner- no turkey here unless I can get an organic one. It was a beautiful day, and we got to enjoy watching 5 border collies play ball together. There is definitely a hierarchy involved, with Tess at the top.

From bottom to top: Kali, Sammi, Reba, Tess, Sage. Sage and Tess are half sisters, and daughters of Reba; Kali is Tess's daughter.

Our auction consignments keep pouring in; we just got a 1971 John Deere snowmobile in really good shape, and a John Deere model G tractor. I'll do some photos of some of the antiques this week.

I went to Idaho yesterday to haul a horse for a friend, and when we got to her place she showed me two little kittens, tiny little things about 3 weeks old. They were quite happy to snuggle in mycoat pockets while they loaded some chain link rolls for the auction.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick post this morning to wish all my Canadian readers, family and friends, a happy Thanksgiving. Hope you all have a wonderful day, and don't forget to actually give thanks for the many blessings in your life. I am off to visit my mom, brother, sister and neices, and cook dinner for them. I leave you with some photos of some of the blessings in my life. I don't have photos of them but my daughter and husband are the greatest of these blessings.

Wordless Wednesday

Bareback!

I've been riding Beamer everyday, mostly schooling rides. The flies were chewing on him right behind his elbows, so the cinch made him a little sore there today. So when you can't put the saddle on.... you ride bareback! Now, I've had Beamer for over six years, and I've never ridden him bareback. Inspired by Mikey, I decided it's high time I jumped on him bareback- make that used the fence and climbed on him, my jumping days are long gone! I wasn't sure how he'd go because he is so light with his cues, but he did awesome!

Spins are fun bareback! Tess thinks so too!

I've ridden most of my horses over the years bareback, and when I was a kid that's the only way I rode, but age and infirmity take their toll, especially when it comes to confidence and, more importantly, balance. I think it'll be good for me to ride bareback for the next week or so, don't expect that I'll be doing any loping though!..... Well, maybe a little, we'll see how it goes.

Beamer was being so well behaved, that I let the neighbour's daughters ride in the little grazing pen. He's never had a child up on him either, and he was quite the gentleman. I should have photos in a few days from them. I can't say enough about the disposition of this horse, what a super sweetheart.

Things are getting sorted out here, still looking for a place to live, but that'll come. People are friendly and helpful here, unlike some of the other small towns in B.C. that I've lived in. It's a real networking kind of town.

Ted likes to imprint the cats with the dogs, and here is an example:

Aww, Tess, such a good dog!

Staying warm....

There isn't much we could do today, so it was a day to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie. Well, apparently there was no room for me on the couch! Tess loves to cuddle upside down, and Bubby always lays claim to Ted's belly.
They weren't about to give up their comfy spots for me! So I was on the love seat, and I thought this view was hilarious:

They stayed all cuddled up for the whole movie. Time now to go back outside for the evening chores; the birds cleaned up all the seeds in the birdfeeder, so I have to fill it again. The horses seem to not be bothered by the cold, and they do have a deep-bedded shelter to lie in. They are sure going through the hay in this weather though!