Annnd it's stupid cold

 We finally hit that -30C mark this last week. 

That's -27.4 F and we turn our furnace down at night so the indoor temp was 60 F.  

It was bloody cold doing chores! I bundled up and got out at daybreak to see how all the critters fared. The cats that I could see were all fine, Beamer was snug in his blanket , the mares were frosty and hungry. ( They did still have some hay in their shelter so they were just being picky!)Velvet started to shiver when she saw me but stopped as soon as she started eating. I plan to blanket her for our next cold snap. I had to pick the snowballs out of her front feet; Ruby didn't have any. 

Saturday warmed up to a balmy -19 for the high. The sun was shining into Beamer's stall and lil Bandit came out and sunned herself. 

I was wondering if she has the blue eyes....

but she doesn't. (I am still assuming it's a female, no proof yet.)

I have been hunkering down watching the NFR on the Cowboy Channel . Sure are some good horses in the rodeo world. I think the NFRR should include ladies breakaway roping. When a girl can come out and rope her steer in 1.8 seconds without breaking the barrier, that is some serious skill. Fast starting horse and accurate throw. The American rodeo which is on in March includes breakaway, so get with it already!

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!

Sunday Silence

 

Sunset and those cats

 Once again we were treated to a magnificent sunset. This kind of colour only lasts for a few minutes so I had to hustle to capture it. 

No editing! It really was that intense colour. 

We are at the tail end of a spell of warm weather- but it's time for ole man winter to breathe his icy blast on us again. Next week we are expecting temps in the -30 (C) range. That's -22 + in Fahrenheit. 

Touques and long johns will be in use! I have a down work coat that I use for chores in that kind of weather. Ted's dad gave it to me and I am ever so grateful; it is a tough green canvas with lots of pockets and is mid thigh length. Perfect! 

Our cats are cuddle bugs. They like to visit Ted when he sits outside. Thumper is a lap cat- Foose not so much. Anything more than a few seconds and he wants outta there. 

Ted, of course, didn't let him go in the prerequisite 3 seconds.... 

Thumper says more cuddles please!

The feral cat that is the least skittish is Ringo. She  He will come and demand food if we are late feeding! (News flash, Ted got a good look and Ringo is definitely a he. No gender bending intended!)

Checking for mice from his vantage point

The kittens continue to live in the barn. I am keeping a watch on the little Siamese, she looks suspiciously fat. 

Deer spotting

 We had a lovely misty morning today. As I headed out to feed the ferals and then go to the barn, I spotted a doe just at the edge of the pasture. I had only gone a few steps when Ted banged on the window and yelled "Buck!" 

Sure enough, this is the season- where there's does there will be a buck hanging around. 

About a 75 yard shot....

He wasn't too concerned at first then off he went. 

Then this evening, I was feeding the mares, who were basking in the evening sun when they spotted movement and went on alert. 

Velvet has such cute little ears!

So me and Ruby walked out a ways to get a look at whatever they spotted.

I was kicking myself for not having my Nikon camera in hand! 

I actually got pretty close, just following the fenceline inside the mare pen. As you can see he was ok with me stalking him!

He's still out there in the dark, pawing and munching. Looks to be in pretty good shape. Nice long tines but not a lot of spread, probably about 4 or 5 years old. Hope he sticks around for another year when I get myself organized to do some hunting. 

Critters

 There is always something interesting going on here with wildlife/ferals. 

The magpies and bluejays get excited when we put catfood out where they can steal it. I got some fun videos of them for all you folks who have never seen magpies. 

Feral cat update- there is one more half grown black cat. When I went to the "cat homeless shelter" to feed them, 4 cats scattered: Smokey and the Bandit, and Ringo the adult female Siamese and another black one that looks just like Mama Cat but smaller. It only went about 3 ft. away and stopped and hissed at me 😄

The deer continue to frequent our yard. Yesterday we had hunters come and ask permission to hunt, which we granted. They saw deer right away, about 150 yards out. 4 shots later they missed 😕. Humpfff. I could have made that shot! It didn't scare the deer away, judging from them being right outside our window twice today. 

The weather warmed up enough to take Beamer's blanket off. This is typical of Alberta- we get a lot of temperature swings even up to 20 degrees or more in the same day. 

The white in his eye is just the reflection of the snow

The evening light continues to delight, 

this time, featuring Velvet. She is such a grand old mare. She gets a hug from me every day. 

I am blessed. 

Beamer stuff

 All his life, Beamer hasn't had much for winter pasture. Oh, he has had turnout in winter on pastures that have been chewed down, or are dry lot pens, but never in his very own, 24/7 access to pasture that still has feed in it. Since the beginning of November when we got that dump of a foot of snow, he barely went out there. But lately, he decided to go chew down the thistle stalks that remained above the snow. And then.... he discovered that he could get to the grass buried under the snow, that it hadn't just disappeared! 

Well, he was so pleased with hisself that he spent a few days just pawing and totally ignoring allll the hay that I put out for him. Even when it got down to -20 C again. He eventually came in for hay, but isn't eating as much of it as he was before. Goes to show how much they will prefer to paw, if given the choice. Even the mares spend more time out on their pasture than they do eating hay. So far, that is. I'm sure as winter wears on that will change. 

Beamer had visitors today! 

I took this video from my kitchen window. He was out pawing, and I noticed these three little hooligans checking out his hay piles. He finally noticed them and came in to claim HIS hay. It almost looked like one of them was considering going in that wide open barn door for the hay pile in there!

They didn't go too far when he chased them out, just to his pasture, probably checking out all the places he pawed the snow away. I think they will probably get into my bale stack at some point, but they are all round bales that are net wrapped and under tarps, so they shouldn't make too much mess. 

Good boy, Beamer!

Smokey and the Bandit

 More on those kittens!

The last couple of days, I could here little meows in the barn. Kitten type, not adult sounding. Then I spotted the Siamese kitten in my feed alley. Not too timid, it let me get fairly close as I went about my chores. That evening at chore time I took some cat food to the barn and set it out- and the next thing I knew it was in there chowing down like it hadn't eaten in days. (It probably hadn't). And then Smokey, the grey kitten, joined in. 

This morning, their food bowl was nearly empty so I refilled it and called them. 

You will see why I called this one Bandit!

I will continue to feed them for the winter and I hope they get friendly enough to pet them! Our cats are getting older so it will be nice to have a couple of younger ones around. 

Light

 One of the things I enjoy most about moving back to Alberta is the light. Sunrise, sunset, evening light- all so beautiful. 

Ice melting on our bedroom window catching the light of the afternoon sun

The trees across the river catch the rays of the rising sun

Ruby and the rising sun

The two mares are finally sharing a hay pile. Bffs! So nice for Velvet to have a friend. 

Ruby is pretty laid back. I did work her on the longe line a couple of days ago; it's obvious that she hasn't had a lot of that kind of work. I found that she doesn't whoa on vocal command, that she drops her shoulder on the circle and spends more time looking around than paying attention to me. Very different from when I rode her, she was very attentive then so I think that most of her education was the get on and ride kind. Since she has no funny business about her, and I don't have an arena to ride in unless I haul somewhere, I may just get on and ride and worry about her further education in the spring. One thing I do need to work on is getting her to stand still for saddling. If I approach her near side with a saddle she blocks me, but I can saddle her from the off side. 

Kitty update:

There are two kittens! They are half grown so probably around 6 months old. The grey kitten, Smokey is quite a character, and the other kitten is a Siamese cross. I have only seen it a couple of times. Both kittens are hanging out in Beamer's barn lately, also coming up to the quonset area. I saw mama cat bringing a mouse up from the barnyard to the quonset yesterday, likely for the kittens, so I think they are back and forth. 

Sunday Silence

Winter's beauty

 I woke up at 3 am to check and see if the eclipse was happening. Sure enough! I watched as it moved completely into the earth's shadow and all that was left was the red glow.. the blood moon. I went back to bed, 45 minutes later it was still red. I wasn't about to go out in -16 C  weather for photos. When I got up at 6:30 the temperature had dropped to -26 C. That's - 15 F . I took a photo of the setting moon from the warmth of my kitchen through the window!

A couple of bloggers got some nice eclipse photos so I am happy to see theirs. 

It was a clear and cold day. I bundled up good for chores. I checked on the feral cats; Mama cat stays in the "cat homeless shelter" as we call it. and one curls up in a tub of straw that I set up under an old trailer out of the snow. He's the Siamese cross we named Ringo. 

Waiting his turn in the grub line while Mama cat eats

I'm not sure where the grey kitten hangs out at night. I will try to figure it out by tracking. I took pity on our cats Thumper and Foose and moved them into the heated garage. They are getting old and aren't used to this kind of cold. We aren't allowed to have cats or dogs in the house but the garage is ok. 

The trees are rather spectacular with all their snow laden branches. I was thinking of Val over at Mulewings blog, another tree lover! 

One lonesome maple tree in a long row of spruce

I decided to get all the DNA work done on Ruby; her parentage verification  which needs to be done if she is ever bred,(mandatory) and her 5 panel disease test, which is voluntary but I always like to know what I am dealing with and it is just good management. So I caught her to pull hair to send away. 

Her cinch fungus is going away, I just need to brush the dried up scabs away and then when the weather is a little better I can ride. 😊 Of course, that could be a long ways away!

Shiny fat mares! They both had snarls in their manes that I sorted out. They were basking in the sun and Ruby's coat was just gleaming. I don't mind the cold when the sun shines and there is no wind!

Manecicles and snowy romps

 This wintery blast continues here. We have about a foot of snow now and a little more to come over the next day or so. This has sure been a test for our winter preparedness! and we passed the test. 😁

The mares have all the hay they can eat, and salt in their shelter, and the automatic waterer is working great; access to nice warm water at will. And what do they do? Go for a gallop in the snow instead of hanging out in the shelter. 

Today their backs have a thick layer of snow to keep them insulated and they are hanging out in their pasture, quite content. 

Such hardy creatures! Even Velvet at age 22 doesn't need any extra attention, she is holding her weight really well and is usually the first one to visit me in the mornings and the first one to head back out to the pasture. Ruby too is doing great. I was wondering how she would do, not knowing her history, and they did have her blanketed when I went to try her out. 

But she is doing just fine! Haired up nicely and not minding this weather a bit. 

My criteria for blanketing is : Cold, Wet, Windy. If all 3 of those things happen at once, a horse can't stay warm unless they have some kind of shelter. In the wild, they can bunch up in a herd to shelter each other  or find trees or hollows to hang out in. 

That being said....

 I blanketed Beamer. He is a bit of a weather wimp! He shivers and shakes and waits for me to throw his Weatherbeeta blanket on him. Love that blanket. He may have to wear it all winter unless we get one of Alberta's famous chinooks. 

Aurora asked how Sophie is doing, Apparently she handled the long trip well (4 days I think) and her owner is pleased with her. He says she is the first one up to the gate for her grain or for neck rubs. That's good, because she can be a little stand offish. I think she likes men. I follow his page on Facebook (well Ted does!) so that I can keep in touch. If you want to check him out, it's Sylvain Lachance in Ontario. 

Fog and frost

 Well it sure got cold overnight. I figured it would when I woke up around 2 am and the waxing gibbous moon was shining in the window. I watched it set, and could also see whatever planet is shining brightly in the western sky. Sure enough, -19C this morning. Even colder an hour north of here where Shayla is, - 23C. 

By chore time a fog had rolled in. Kitties and Beamer were all snug and happy, and the girls were sporting frosty mascara and silvered tails. 

They still had a lot of hay left, perhaps they were out pawing last night as I decided to leave the pasture gate open so they can come and go as they please. I was thinking to lock them out of it at night because there are so many coyotes here, but I am pretty sure that Velvet would put the run on them and with Ruby to back her up I think they would be safe enough. 

Velvet doesn't miss a thing; something caught her attention and she and Ruby took off to investigate. 

Nothing to be seen in the fog! Probably deer I am assuming. 

The sun is shining now; a couple days of reprieve then we are back in the snow and cold. 

Winter comes a-callin'

 And just like that, it's winter. Goodbye autumn, it was nice knowing you!

I think it's time to put the hammock away...

I took a peek over the edge at the river, it had some interesting slush/ice patterns in its slow moving waters.

 I'm sure glad Beamer has a nice snug barn, he was happy to get his hay in there although he was out in his pasture when I went out to feed this morning. 

You can just see that white sock on his hind foot, there really is a Beamer in there!

The mares still had some hay left over, but I gave them more, wanting to keep them sheltered until this storm passes. 

During the day they did go out to pasture and do some pawing, it's good to know that they will paw even though they have access to hay. 

They seem to have their pecking order sorted out. I do have to chase Velvet in at first and once she's in Ruby doesn't chase her out. Ruby can be a little defensive of her space, not mean just wary. Not like Sophie!

As for the cats, well....

They didn't leave "their" barn. All happy and snug in their straw beds! The feral cats have their own shelter where I put their food and water. I still bring it in at night to keep the raccoons away. 

The grid across the front keeps the deer from pulling the feed bowl out, the cats have a small entrance hole in the back and can go in and out of the front if they want. 

I'm so glad we were prepared for this weather! Everything is in order, both for the livestock and for us.  We are supposed to get sunshine tomorrow though!