Wordless Wednesday

The Kitty Tower

I got the Cat Tower from CSN stores the other day, and it was a big hit with the cats right away. Thanks very much to Lisa from Home on the Range blog, where I won the gift certificate.

The kittens and Foose loved it. They take turns being the "Lord of the Castle" or on Pearl's case, Queen of the Castle. I'm having a blast photographing them playing on it, but I'm saving the best photos for Sunday Stills because the theme is Pets on the next Challenge.

Winter Wonderland

Sunday morning dawned clear and cold (-16 C) and as soon as I looked out the window I knew it was going to be a photo-op day.

The frost crystals were huge, and added beauty to everything, even the mess of spiderwebs that adorn my porch roof.

Beamer and his buddy Earl were my next stop; this sure looks better than the muddy mess of last month!

The trees were absolutely beautiful, stark white perfection against the deep blue morning sky.

I have a few more photos, but I'll save them for another post.

Sunday Stills

Ed gave us free rein this week, a potluck of whatever we found interesting to share. I chose beauty, wherever I found it;in the way the mountains look like they are floating on a sea of cotton wool in the early morning;

in the curve of the clouds laying heavy in the valley at sunrise,

in the joy of watching the mares play in the snow;

silly, frivolous fillies!

I deliberately upped the contrast in these photos to make them more interesting.

But my favorite photo of this week is a portrait of Belle, this is the mama to Janice's filly Jazz, and Kai. She's in foal again, and I'm really looking forward to the next baby!

I think I found plenty of beauty this week; hope you enjoyed my potluck.

Blue Christmas, anyone?

Just a reminder that Velvet is still for sale; make someone a blue Christmas!

"Add a red ribbon and put me under your tree"

Hoses made easy

One of the banes of existence in the winter is dealing with frozen hoses for those of us who aren't blessed with automatic heated waterers and heated barns. I use tubs and electric de-icers, and have to fill them with a hose. Last year I was reading Mustang Diaries blog and she mentioned putting the hose in a garbage can to bring in to a warm room. I've read a few comments this year about folks storing their hoses in showers or bathtubs, so I thought I'd share with you the easy method I use to deal with the hoses of winter.

I store my 100 ft of hose in my muck cart; it makes it easy to get it from the house, where I store it in my mud room, and the wheeled cart makes it easy to take anywhere. I have to bring it up a few steps to the deck, and it rolls up easily.

When I coil it up I start with the far end, and have the part that goes to the tap on top; I attach it and roll the cart along while the hose unrolls itself.

It's quick and easy, the longest part is re rolling the hose and coiling it into the bucket.

I have had my share of frozen hoses over the years, and I've found this method super easy. The muck buckets are available at most farm supply stores. I use them for a lot of different things.

Wordless Wednesday

My helpful boy

Oh what a beautiful day today! This afternoon I was outside doing chores, and was reluctant to come indoors- now that's rare for me in the winter!

Kate at A Year With Horses recently did a post talking about quirks with horses; her horse Pie sucks his tongue. Beamer is a yawner; I'm sure you have seen the many photos I've had of him yawning, but there is one other thing he does that I find amusing: when he is standing relaxed, he lays his hoof right over on the ground; my other horses just tip their foot, but himself lays it right over.

My first few farriers would see the smooth patches on the front of his hooves and think he really dragged his toes when he walks, but he doesn't.

When I was working on setting up a new gate on his shelter, he was VERY helpful; he had his face right next to mine, inspecting every little thing I did, quite sure that I needed his help.

C'mon, let me help!

I wanted to get a photo of him goofing around, but every time I turned around, this is what I saw.....

*** Sigh*** Yes Beamer, you are a very helpful boy. How would I have managed without you?

I finally managed to get the job done- basically I was setting up the shelter that utilizes the cattle crowding tub so that it has openings at both ends so that Url doesn't go in and get trapped when Beamer goes in too.

Hope tomorrow is just as nice!

Cashin' in!

I got the good news today that I had won 3rd place in the Sunday Stills contest- thanks Ed! The prize is a Joby Gorillapod; now I must confess that I had no idea what that was so I googled it, and it is a fantastic little flexible tripod that I will get a lot of use out of.

Also, quite a while ago I had won a $40 CSN Store gift certificate from Lisa at Home on the Range blog and I finally picked something out; I took advantage of the Black Friday sale and got a really pretty cat tower for the new kittens/terrorists:

I'm sure they will make good use of it, and thank you you, Lisa!

Sunday Stills

Sooooo, this week we are required to show the person behind the blog. Not my favorite thing to do, be on the receiving end of a lens- I'd much rather be behind it! However, I'll be a good sport and play along- and play I did, so here is me doing what I love- hugging my horse! Thanks to Ted for snapping these shots.

Well it had to happen...

The snow, that is! It's finally snowing here, which is nice because now I don't have to look at frozen mud. We only have a couple of inches, and it's fairly warm out, so it's not too bad. Better than a week ago! So it was warm enough to take Beamer out for a little ride, boy was he happy to get out. There were some children here with their dad who was loading some firewood, so I led them around on Beamer. Happy little girls! I threw a saddle blanket on his back to keep him warm and went out on the hayfields.

Not much of a view today! Can you spot Sammi in this photo?

I'll probably take him out again tomorrow, just to relieve his boredom and give the dogs some exercise.

Next weekend is the Back Country Horsemen's annual Christmas party. It was fun last year, so we are going again. Janice will be there too. Now I just have to come up with something for the silent auction fundraiser.

Thanksgiving Day for some

To all my US blogger friends, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving day, with family, fun, and food in abundance. I take this opportunity to thank those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, which allows us to enjoy the life we live; our trials are small compared to other countries. So thanks to all the soldiers, in your country and mine.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Stills- Low tech, high tech

Ed gave us a neat challenge this tine; to photograph something low tech with it's high tech counterpart. Not too hard around here because we have lots of antiques! But first, here is an obvious one:

The lowly pen and paper, replaced by a keyboard and mouse.

Then there is the annoying LED light clock, and the old mantle clock, which is wound up with a key and has the most beautiful chimes.

This is Ted's grandma's sad iron, and my electric iron.

There are three upgrades on light in this one- from a candle, to a kerosene lamp, to an electric lamp. Back in the days of just candles, electricity would be really high tech!

Gumboots and sacrifices

So you wanna see my gumboots? These aren't your average gumboots, and they are rather expensive. I've had them for 5 years, and have 2 pairs. They are made by Dunlop. The heavier ones I use in the winter, they have a thinsulate layer, and I used them all winter, even in -30 weather when I worked at the Rimbey auction market.

They are well worth the money, as my feet don't get cold in them. My husband has a pair too, he wears his all year round. We found out about them when he was working for an electrical contractor doing work in the Dairy barns, all the dairymen were wearing them.

I've had to make a couple of tough decisions; we are struggling financially and have to downscale our expenses and find more income, so I have decided to sell Velvet, and Sammi. I'm pretty particular about where Sammi goes; it has to be a working home. And Velvet- I'd love to see her go to a show home, as she in such a nice moving, eye catching horse the judges will be sure to look at her. It's pretty tough to part with her.

Wet

Rain or snow, either way wet weather is hitting most of western Canada right now. My prairie friends have posted snow photos, but here, the snow is not quite in my back yard.

It's creeping ever closer; we had a flurry here which melted off when the sun poked through. The mare's pen drainage system is full up and since the ground here is fairly flat it has nowhere to go. You can see Beamer in his paddock in the back of this photo:

The girls have a nice big dry run-in shelter off the side of the big shop, so they can stay dry. They get paddock turnout during the day, and in at night, as do Beamer and Url. Me, I have to slog through the mud to open gates and lead everyone out, so I'm glad I have my big green gumboots! They are a staple of attire around here!

Close, but not here!

While everyone else around was getting blasted with snow, we had rain, wind and sleet today, nothing white on the ground here. Instead, it looks like this:

Taken this evening

The corrals are a bit of a mess; but there is a high side to each pen with the drainage through the middle, and shelter for all the critters.

We had the leaf blower out the other day, trying to get the yard cleaned up before the snow does come to stay. I still have a few flowers bravely hanging on,

but I think their days are numbered. Tomorrow, I take the kittens down to Bonners Ferry to the vet for their first shots and a checkup. Saturday, team sorting starts again, but I probably won't be taking Beamer this year until his saddle is built. I may go to watch and help out though.

I did manage to get all my tomatoes used up, this is the last batch of salsa which I made the other day.

This yucky weather is supposed to be here for the next few days, so I guess I'll have to do some indoor projects. I want to pick the last of the lavender and make lavender sachets to include in the Christmas gifts for my family, and cat toys stuffed with cat mint for a couple of little hooligan kittens.

Who, us? We hooligans?

Yes Foose, big cats can have some too!

Sunday Stills

Well Good morning everyone! Can I pour you a cup of coffee?

Hope you like your coffee strong!

Mind if I join you?

Here's to all my blogging friends! Hope you have a great day!

Another pupdate

Remember this pup? We went and visited him today, he lives only a couple of miles from here. I called him Ace, but his name is now Hank. I almost kept this pup, but he picked his owner. This is what he looks like now:

We took Tess and Sammi over to visit, and went out to work Tess on the sheep, while Ted kept Sammi on a leash to watch. Sammi was just vibrating! There wasn't a small pen to work in, so I won't let Sammi work unless I can put her in a small pen- otherwise it'll be a battle calling her off. So she will have to wait till we go to Penny's. Tess did well, I sure wish I had my own sheep to work so that I could do this every day. Maybe next year.

Hank and Tess are very similar. They have the same style of fur and that leggy look.

Sammi was jealous of him and growled at him.

I caught a funny moment here.

I hope I get to go back and work Tess again. They sell fencing and carry a line of electric fence for sheep, so I might be able to get some next year and get a few sheep. I had so much fun today, I was grinnin' all the way home!

A little horse therapy

No, not therapy for my horse; therapy for me! I had kind of a tough day today; it is the day that, one year ago, my mother died, plus I had a tough day at work, and I'm physically worn out from helping get in a load of firewood yesterday. So I do what works best for me; go get Beamer and climb aboard his sleek back and go for a putt around the hayfield.

The sun was setting- it was a beautiful sunny day- and the mountain tops are frosted with snow like icing on a cake, the remnants of clouds laying across the peaks, and a gaggle of geese circling low to land on the stubble fields to the north of us.

Spending just 20 minutes riding sets things in order; a quick reminder that my troubles are trivial amidst the beauty and wonder of creation.

And, speaking of beauty and wonder, I wonder how it is that I am so lucky to have as my partner such a beautiful horse.

He really is a lot of fun to be around, and delights me with his antics.