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. 

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. 

Foals and friends day

 We are having summer like weather here. A few days ago, we still had snow in the shaded areas, then -whammo!- we get 30 C weather! So of course that meant getting a lot of the outside work done. Clean up from winter's mess, trim tree branches that were rubbing on the garage roof, take that big pile of debris to the burn pit that was such an eyesore when I looked at Beamer's pen from the house.... etc. etc. We are also preparing an area for my raised bed/container garden. 

We took a day yesterday for visiting- Ted to go see his dad, and me to go see Shayla and help with the foals. And visiting our friends where we used to have our horses, the ones who gave me Velvet. It was a great day! Except for the end, but we'll get to that. First- foal pics!

Zipper is adorable, very friendly and easy to catch. Shayla did a little work with teaching him to give to pressure (I think this is only his 3rd time being haltered) and he did very well. Smart little fellow!

Working with Bear was a little different. He hadn't been haltered before, and it was definitely a two person job. However, once he was haltered and got loved up on, he figured out that this was a good thing! I didn't get any photos of the process as I was busy helping, but did get some from after. 

He was much happier being handled after the halter lesson. 

We also visited the draft mare herd, there are two foals there. This one is a filly. Her sire is full Percheron and her dam is part Percheron with Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred in the mix. 

She's very cute! Not named yet as far as I know. 

Then there is this fellow, the mares had moved into the shade of the trees and he was just chillin' out having a nap. 

The cows are calving there too. We kept an eye on this new born for a bit until we were sure it had it's first drink- important on such a hot day. 

Jayne, Belle and Dolly are all close to foaling. With the full moon on Friday, I'm betting at least 2 of them will foal out. Belle may take a little longer as she doesn't seem as ready as Jayne and Dolly. This may be the first time in a long time that she doesn't foal out on a full moon!

Got in a visit with Gussie and Boe too, they are turned out with some others on a separate pasture. Gussie isn't due until late July. 

At 20 years old now, she's looking good! Boe is growing a lot too, and was his usual friendly handsome self. 

Still has his winter scruffies going on!

It sure was great to play with the foals, I'm having withdrawals seeing everyone else with their foals! Ah well, I got my fix. 

And about that "except for the end" bit....

When Ted came to pick me up in the early afternoon, I could smell smoke. There are wildfires an hour or so west of there, so we figured it was probably that. However, when we got home I got a text from Shayla about a new fire right close to them. Like within a couple of miles. They got an emergency alert on the cell phones. Having to make possible evacuation plans when you have that many animals to look after is stressful! Fortunately they have enough land that is fire proof to keep most of them and places to put others. Including here. Fortunately, there has been no further notice to get out, so the crews that worked all night must have been effective at controlling it. 

Ted and I discussed our own plans in case of fire. We are surrounded by all those spruce trees and we have an asphalt shingle roof on this house. The house would probably be a loss. We do have the river close enough to pump water and we have plenty of pasture, but it has dead grass that would be a fire magnet, so we would load the two older horses and either pony or ride Ruby out of here to a nearby plowed field. 

With the high and hot dry winds, prairie fire is a constant concern. There is a complete fire ban in this part of the Province. Two more days of this before we have rain in the forecast. We sure need it, not just for the fire threat, but for those who have put their crops in, the rain is needed to get the seed growing. 

 

Fog and smoke

 This morning there was a heavy fog laying on the land, not just river fog but widespread. 

The boyz were snugged up in their barn, barely peeking out at the misty morning. 

The cats escorted me to "their" barn for their breakfast... 

while Beamer waited for me to open the gate to his grazing paddock.

Velvet too was waiting for me to open her gate, and wandered off into the fog. 

I finished off the fence repairs in her winter paddock today so once she has finished with her current pen she will have a large area to graze that should last well into winter. 

This afternoon we had a bit of a scare- that's not fog, it's smoke. 

The farm to the south of us had a fire that spread to their haystack from a burn barrel. Ted spotted the smoke right away and drove over there; it was rapidly out of control as the round  bale stack was burning. He called the fire department, and they responded fairly quickly. Fortunately there was no casualties other than the hay and a quad, but that south wind had us a bit spooked as this was the next farm over to us and on our side of the river. We haven't had rain for a couple of months. And that, folks, is why you teach foals to trailer load. We were prepared to haul them out if things got out of hand but fortunately didn't have to. 

Once the smoke cleared, it was a beautiful end to an eventful day. 

Drought, danger and Dally

 This summer is reminding me of 2017 with all the fires and smoke laden air.

This is the current map of the fires in our province. We are in that south east corner.

This map shows our area. We are Creston. The red line is the USA border, 6 miles from us. The long narrow lake is Kootenay Lake. 

The fire north of Wynndel is the Akokli Creek fire. While it is not much of a threat to us, residences in the area close to the fire are under evacuation alert. 

The fire on the other side of the lake is very visible,

 and is probably going to be allowed to burn itself out, as it is in an area that is bordered by the lake on the east and there are no structures anywhere near it- the fire crews are stretched thin with so many fires that are posing danger to communities. 

However, the smoke is a problem for those of us who have breathing problems. 

The sunrise is red from the smoke and the sun is a red ball in the sky most of the day.

We do what we can to get by. There is no end in sight for the end of this heat wave, our 7 day forecast has clear skies and temps in the mid to high 90's. 

We are fortunate that we are on a well system, which allows us plenty of water for essentials like keeping our gardens alive, and our pond still has water which we can pump from if needed . Today we are going to set up our fire hose and sprinklers so that we can have them ready to keep the barn watered down if needed. I would hate to lose all that hay! 

I keep spare buckets of water handy at the barn- much to the delight of the thirsty wasps. 

Meanwhile, Dally is finally getting this get-caught-eat-grain program figured out. In the last 3 or 4 days she has only played hard to get once. 

She is 2 months old  now. She is quite a little character! Smart though. Our little walks are still in the pasture; I have only taken her out of the pen a couple of times. She isn't quite ready for more adventurous walks yet, she has to learn good leading manners first. No leaping around! So far my verbal corrections are working. 

August - smoke and water

This morning's rather ominous sunrise.....

Our province is burning, again. There are hundreds of fires, some close enough to fill our valley with smoke. So far none close enough to be a threat to us, but a community 20 miles away is on evac alert for a fire that is about 10 miles the other side of them. 

The smoke is so thick here. It is laying on the ground and is limiting visibility. 

This is a view from downtown where normally you can look across the valley bottom and see the mountains on the other side- you can't even see the valley bottom!

However- I did get some riding in before it got bad. One ride down to the arena for some schooling, and a couple more trips to the river. Shayla wanted to try swimming her horse, and also using the river to work on the little swelling on her hock. This is her mare Rose.

It was a lot of fun! I had a saddle on Gussie so didn't go in very far.. The next time we went, Ted came with us, riding Gussie, and I rode Sassy. It has been years since Ted came riding with me on our own horses- a couple years ago we rode an outfitter friend's horses. This was the only way I could get him to come and check out the swimming hole, as you can't drive to it and no way he was going to walk to it!

I rode Sassy in fairly deep but she was reluctant to go deep enough to swim- and it had cooled off a lot from the day before when we were there.

We did get belly deep though!

Sassy was a good girl for me, nice quiet ride on a loose rein. She is quite brave even if she didn't want to go any deeper. 

No boots or hat in case I got to swim!

Gussie was a really good girl for Ted. I think he quite enjoyed himself even if he wouldn't admit it!

Ridin' the redheads!

The next day was when the smoke hit hard. So no more riding until it lightens up a bunch. Meanwhile, I'm getting evac kits together for the horses and for the household, even though we aren't expecting that to happen it doesn't hurt to be ready. There is no rain in the forecast for the rest of the month and anything can happen, it only takes one careless person or one lightning strike.

Riding day 50, 51 & 52

The view and a visit

So Crystal was asking if I could see my horses out the window of my hideout in the barn....

A little heart shaped rock that I found, for my heart horse!

Only Beamer from the window, but that's ok with me, as I can see all the rest of them just looking out the barn door.

We are finally getting the rain we needed back in the summer. It was preceded by a big windstorm that played hell in Alberta and Saskatchewan - several huge grass fires, people evacuated and 2 deaths that were fire related (vehicle accidents) and several farms were burned up, including cattle burned to death. So very, very sad.

Shayla came over today to meet her colt, and I'm happy to say she liked him as much as I hoped she would.

In the next photo you can really see how much taller he is than Mesa, even though he is 2 months younger. We measured him and he is going to be at least 15.1, most likely 15.2 as we take the final measure after 5 months of age. Mesa will be 14.2hh.