Moving Cows

Tuesday Neil headed up to the north place to check fences and fix the gates that were driven through last winter.  He said everything was good so Thursday he organized a trucker and we were taking 45 pair up there.  He told him we would be ready at 9.  I thought was a bit early for my liking but oh well get it done I guess.  He got the cows in, we had 10 to vaccinate so we cut them out and the dry cow and got them done that was quick then sorted calves and cows and we thought he shoulda been here but of course neither of us has a watch so we go get his phone and he got a call from the trucker.  He was almost here and his truck just quit him, would hardly pull an empty liner so he turned and went back to the local trucking place and they were looking at it he had no idea on time.  Ugh.  Not his fault but still we were ready this time lol.  So Neil called another guy and he said he would be out in about an hour had to go get truck and that would be no big deal.  Perfect (lucky really)  So he got her and we got loaded and out of here.  He took a load, Neil took the leftovers and I had the flat deck with the bike on just in case something went wrong.

(the shovel from the Forestburg mine)

2 hours later we were up there and all the cows mothered up in no time and so that was nice, we had a visit and they cleaned out trailers and I unloaded mine, bike was staying up overnight.  I took a few pics while Neil checked one spot and then let the cows out and then off we went to Halkirk for supper.  We were a bit early for wing night (darn it looked good) but I had philly cheese steak and Neil had hot hamburger and it was really good, specially since we missed lunch.

(the house up there finally caved in)

(cows in the corral waiting for Neil)

(Neil coming over the hill on his bike)

(after that trail clinic I couldn't help but find trails through the trees up there)

(pretty thick in some areas)

Got home did chores and that was enough for one day.  Today Neil took up 3 bulls and had some trees to chop down that were leaning on the fences.  Now those cows will be happy up there till October.  We may take a few more in our trailer up there as the summer goes on cause a lot of grass up there but hard to say what will happen yet.

Gardening

Well I got my garden all planted except for a few things.  So far there is corn, potatoes, beans, peas, carrots, and radish. I have too many tomato plants but slowly giving them away. hot peppers seedlings, cilantro, basil and lavender to still plant.  The lettuce and radish and garlic and onions are already coming up :)  After the clinic I will plant all the other stuff and hope its never gonna freeze until fall.

(plants sunning on the deck with me)

(onions and garlic in back and lettuce up front)

(radish, I always plant in carrot row but carrots are not up yet)

(I love the garden, probly better than my lawn lol 

trees and grass and the garden bench so perfect)

I went to a basket stuffing last weekend and got all the plants (maybe) for my planters.  I got some purple petunias, gazenias (cause they are drought tolerant lol), lobelia, the colored foliage stuff, and the 2 baskets I filled down there with hanging stuff.  Them and the stuff I ordered through the playschool should about fill up everything.

And I went to the plant sale on Monday at Cessford and I did buy some flowers, red marigolds and some neat euphoria?with colored leaves and white flowers, some purple basil and was given chives and garlic chives which I guess just grow and try and take over.  Which is OK cause I do like the flowers.

And Sunday on our way to Olds, we stopped at L and Ms and traded tomato plants, I had all small ones she had all big ones.  I gave her 4 and she gave me 8 (I didn't want that many lol but she also had too many)  and then she gave me 2 ice cream pails of irises and a pot of lillies.  Then Monday before the plant sale I went up to a neighbors and she had luck rooting pussy willows so I got a bunch of those (her leftovers lol) and I gave her a pail of iris and some tomatoes too.  She tried to give me a kitten too but luckily skipped that one lol.

(way more than I needed I don't even know where to put them all

 but I will plant them cause they probly won't all survive but they are so cool)

(close up, so fuzzy)

My crabapple trees and the ornamental are blooming as well, I sure love them when in flower, and oh the bees!

(I love this tree, hard to believe I shopped so much off last fall)

(got a bee in there)

(buzz)

 I wish more trees up here had flowers on, I sure loved that about California the flowering trees, but I guess that's what happens when you have summer all year round.

Sunday Stills--Solitary

Well solitary I know well.  Especially yesterday when I go to go to a show and none of my friends can come.  Well I was going anyways, was entered and my horse was getting hauled so off I go.  Seems like a lot I do is all by myself.  Its a good thing I like my own company but would like some friends sometimes too.

(Our neighbors tree by his branding corrals, 

about 2 miles off the road I see it every time I go home.  

There's a story saying someone hauled water to it everyday

 when it was small that's why its still there.)

(and this one on the other side of the road in a different neighbors, 

it looks lonely to me)

This week I picked the trees around our place, they must get lonely too, reminds me of Bob Ross on PBS, he drew a lot of landscapes out of his head and every time he drew a tree he drew another one beside it so it wouldn't get lonely.

(and this is our "Jesus" tree beside the road, that's our yard in the background)

(and a closer pic, apparently it was snowing)

Tree Trimming

A couple years ago, a lady from ATCO (the power company) came out and asked it it was OK if she mark some trees that are getting close to the power lines they want to cut down.  Neil says its OK as long as they clear out all the trees on the North side of the road.  I did not want them to get rid of them all, I know they collect snow but its so hard to grow a tree in this country it just seems a shame to get rid of them all.  Well a week or so ago we wake up to trucks on our road.  I guess they finally come out to trim the trees.  Pretty cool trucks they got, the bucket can swing 65 feet away from the truck so they can get pretty much anywhere.  And the saw is run by hydraulics and super quick!  The cut quite a few trees out, although its hard to tell where cause they cut em right down to the ground.  Except the one, they cut 2 trunks off  but left the third, looked weird to me, but it is curving away from the power lines.  And I don't think they cut any of the ones Neil wanted, lol he thinks the lady was just agreeing with him to make it easier for her.

They also had wood chippers with them and they chipped up all the trees and then asked if we wanted them and so we said to dump them by the garden and we will find a use for them.  There was a lot more than we figured there would be!  But we got looking and some are pine needles and we had no pine trees so they were not just ours.  As they were leaving we asked the guy if he could cut down the one dead branch in our yard that sticks up and looks awful and he said sure it would take him no time.  And it sure did not, within 10 minutes he had cut down the dead branches and had his truck ready to go again.  We tried to pay him but he would not take our money.  Pretty nice!  And our tree looks so much better, but as he was leaving we saw another dead branch but we figured that was too much to ask and that tree is pretty close to the edge of the yard, we can maybe get the tractor in there to get to it.

We just told them to trim the tree and we would cut it up for firewood seeing as they just unloaded their trucks, but wow we did not realize how much firewood it would be!  I think we are set for the whole summer, and its dry already cause it was dead.  Cant wait to have a fire :)

Sunday Stills -- One Tree

I totally thought this would be easy with there being so few trees around here, but seems like all the trees are in bunches.  I tried to get the one at the end of our driveway but it too is more than one, but I like how it turned out anyways.

Then i remembered our neighbor has one tree by his branding corral so I got that one too.  It is a pretty cool tree but I was 2 miles away with so much snow between the  road and there that I tried to zoom in but it isnt quite as good as it could be.  but here it is anyways.

A little late this week, but it is still Sunday here for an hour or so :)

Sunday Stills -- Then and Now

So this week we were asked to take a picture from our archives and try to recreate it.  As soon as I heard of this challenge I knew instantly the one I wanted to recreate.  I took it 2 years ago in September 2010.  It is a tree is our yard that I caught in the sunrise and the leaves look so pretty.  I love it.

My new pic is a little later in the year so there are a few more leaves missing and it wasn't quite the right sunrise this week, but I tried anyways.  And also I noticed the sun was a little farther south coming up so it was behind a building and the whole sky was bright before I got the sun where it needed to be.

Was a fun challenge, but hard especially with outdoor pics.  For more Check out Sunday Stills.

Caught Up...I Think

So I'm skipping out on Sunday Stills this week, even though I had some real cool ideas, I just never had the chance to get the pics of them I wanted.  Its been kinda busy this week, but I'm hoping its getting a little slower from here on in.  Specially since its only 19 days till I am going on vacation :o !!

(we saw a white spot in the bales so I zoomed in with my camera and 

its Fluffer hunting mice in the bale stack)

I will try and totally catch up in this post, so sorry if its a little long.  But I have gotten questions and I been meaning to answer them and so now I will.  Many posts ago ( way back on May 18, sorry!)  Paint Girl asked where I got my breast collar.  I got that one from and amazing tack store in Strathmore, K & K Livestock, but I think it is available elsewhere, it was made by Trevor Brazile, so I imagine other places will carry it.

(my favorite crab apple tree in bloom)

And then a later date, BEC said to pick a event I really want to go to and work towards it.  I decided (after much fuming about not getting everything I wanted, lol) that the Leon Harrell clinic in Aug is what I am aiming for.  Its the 3 to the 5th so I will only be back from vacation for 2 weeks before it, but all I am gonna do those 2 weeks is ride.  Until my vacation I am gonna just ride for fun and not worry about everything else.

Finally got the Eeyore sign hung on a tree at the entrance to our yard)

Then Lisa asked about how hard moving cows is.  Well that's hard to answer, the more cows the harder it is, especially if they are moving a long ways and if not very many riders.  Our cows at home move really well, but we don't move them very far.  The lease cows are in such big fields it takes a long time to get them gathered and then as they are moving the calves will get separated from their mothers and they are the worst for keeping bunched up.  I'm no expert, but I figure as long as the cows are moving in sorta the right direction I kinda leave them.  They end up all strung out and seem to travel better, but you gotta watch that a bunch don't break off and go elsewhere.  Hope that helps some. I like riding on the side and keeping them in a row, rather than at the back, but the back is probly an easier spot to start.  If someone asks you to help, just ask what they want you to do, most people are willing to help others learn.

(Watching sorting cows on horseback at a branding)

(This guy has the same bridle as Jessie, but lighter hide on it)

(Jessie waiting at the trailer at her first branding, 

she was really good, as always )

And Shirley as much as I would like to hunt and eat those elk, we are not in an area we are allowed to hunt elk.     Although depending on how much damage they do, they may meet and untimely end (but you didn't hear that from me, lol)

And Janice, the raffle horse looks good, he seems real quiet, doesn't seem to get bothered by whatever is going on.  He seems to be a little pushy when you are on the ground (which I hate) and he was kinda upset when tied by himself, but otherwise seemed really nice.  The guy riding him rides a lot and he is very honest, he will say if it is a not good horse, but they purposely picked him for his quiet agreeableness (not for his color cause a lot of people out her prefer a plain solid horse)

(kinda looks like snow, but its just hail)

So branding on Wed and Thurs went well, then we headed to Brooks Fri and Neil took 3 dry cows in and we helped get everything ready for the anniversary party on Sat.  We stayed late but finally got home and headed to bed.  Sat we were out of here by 9 and set up tents and tables and chairs and it was an awesome time and we didn't even get any rain down there.  At home however we had 8/10ths and it hailed Fri night.

(Love this foggy spot when the rest of the yard was clear)

And today was supposed to be another branding, but we got more rain At least another 4/10th and its still raining, and so it was postponed till Wed.  Kinda glad to have a day off.

A Yard and Garden Tour

So yesterday I got out my lawn mower cause I figured I had better cut the garden before the grass in there is over my eyelids so I go get the mower out and it has no gas in so I fill it up and pull it over by the step so Neil can get it going for me.  Most gas mowers/equipment I argue with the first time they get started for the year then we are OK after that.  Well I thought I will just try it once, so I primed in and on the first pull it started!  I was really shocked.  This is a mower my Mom and Clint bought me last summer at a yard sale for $30, so even more impressed.

Well that kinda sucked after all cause I have to drive across the lawn to get to the garden and can't just leave one path mowed, so I did the whole lawn too.  That took about an hour and after round-uping before that I was exhausted and it was only lunch time.

Well I had lunch and a break and figured I better get the garden done since that was the original plan.  I wasn't gonna do the lawn till next week cause it wasn't that long yet.  At least the garden only takes 20 min or so to mow.  The garden plot hasn't been worked yet and I am not sure if I am gonna plant much this year maybe just some lettuce and work on improving the rest of the dirt in there, work it up a few more times and add some manure and it hopefully will be nicer next year.  But it will be hard for me to not grow anything.  So I will see.  In the col frame I think I will fill with dirt and plant my strawberries.  I am not sure where the Blueberry, Raspberry and Blackberry will go yet.

Then I got looking around in there at how stuff is progressing and I got a look at my favorite crab apple tree, which is not close to blooming yet, it just got its leaves a couple days ago.  It seems to me that its later than last year, but I never remember.

Then I thought I would check on the two evergreens I planted last fall.  The little one is still little but it looks like its still alive.

But the bigger one I thought was dead earlier this spring but now it has some green needles growing back.

and the other mystery tree I got from Neil's Mom last spring seems to have survived as well.

And this lilac bush I hate so much cause its mostly dead and its not real nice, but I am gonna trim it up a bunch and hopefully get rid of most of the dead stuff and then we will see how it looks.

And the olive bush (I think) looks better than last year but still needs some trimming cause it catches on me as I mow.

and this poplar tree is dying and I wish I could cut the whole tree down, but Neil just want so cut the top half off, but I am pretty sure that the rest is gonna die really soon, but I guess we will cut it down then.

And the oak trees are not even close to getting leaves yet.

But the elm trees are my favorites, I like the height and the whole tree although they look weird with those lumps on them.

So I got a close up of the lumps and there are leaves coming out the ends of them.

I will get pics later this summer and see how much better they look fully leaved out.