A Few Winter Days!

It is winter time here on the ranch. That means new calves, wet weather, cold weather, cold dry days, windy days, and SNOWY days and very busy days!

Here are some pictures of what is happening! Even if you don't hear from me you are on my mind...each of you!

Winter morning sunrise over the pond here...Jamey's Pond!


Every morning we go up on the hill where the cows are wintered and check the Moms and their babies! This was a beautiful day...sun and crisply cold!

Alien cow here! Red eye is no problem to fix...but white eye....BIG problem!

The cows and calves love to be in the trees..

...I think they know they are safe from our calf catcher contraption! We just can't get to them here!

After checking the hill we go through the gate and into the first calf heifers! We check them out morning and night too! I am all bundling up...I can hardly move with about 4 layers on!

First calf heifer calves safe in their Canadian made shelter. Warm and comfy!

So on Thursday was our first snowfall...

and we thought it would be a very smart thing to take advantage of...even thought there wasn't much....so....

...there is a family with 3 little girls that live nearby in a rental house of Ron and Pam's. Pam thought it would be fun to phone Jessica, Katlynn and Callie up and take them for some sleighriding behind the Honda. We packed up the dogs, ourselves, and our equipment and headed over there. When we got there the snow was starting to melt. The girls wanted to go, so we headed into the pasture with them. They had a blast! Then Pam and I took two very short turns! We were not tough enough. The snow was not deep and every cowpie we hit was frozen hard as a rock and when you hit it...well...it just plain hurt. Pam is now hobbling around with a bruised tailbone! OUCH!!! The girls were much tougher then us!

Now, today is a different story. Lots and lots of snow...perfect for snowmen! After waffles and hot chocolate, I got busy and designed this fine fellow for Aidan, Michael, Keira, Kate and Quinn and Munch to enjoy! You can name him if you like and send me a picture of your snowman! From my weather station it looks like there is snow in Langley and Calgary!

Sam and Ty were scared of the snowman at first! But now they are running circles around him!

This is the winter view down the driveway this morning.

We were going to go to church this morning, but after being on Ferguson Road with a big tractor (Aidan, you drove this tractor) in 4 wheel drive and driving very slow, and still just about sliding off the road, we thought it a better idea to just stay put. Ron says he can't remember the last time it snowed like this! It is beautiful to look at and great for fun, but it is hard on the cows, and especially on the newborn calves. We will be going out to check on them all again this afternoon.

MMMmmmm! It is a good time for another hot chocolate I think. Won't you all join me!

Christmas in Canada

I am home once again and hard at work. But I have not forgotten the wonderful six weeks that I spent in Canada. Time goes by quickly, and I sure enjoyed the time I spent with each of you. Here are some pics for all to enjoy.

Mom's beautiful Christmas tree!
Christmas morning was great as it always is...so much fun to open stockings, or rather, paper bags, stuffed with treasures suited to YOU! Thanks Kristin for all the gifts packed into mine!

In order for me to get this on the blog I will just show pics with no comments, except to say that Mom looks fabulous, don't you think?? And so does everyone else!!

I had time to share some food and coffee, tea and time with Patrick and Jamie...this was sweet at THE BUZZ!!

Spending time with the Faulkners is always good too. They had some bad colds over Christmas and Elizabeth was the last to have it and it lingered on! But, we still had time for a walk and just spending some time together.

The next three pictures are of Jamey's new hound dog...he got him for his birthday and will teach "Job" to track and hunt. He is 3 months old and cute as can be. His ears are like velvet! Pretty sweet little pup with big big feet. Jamey was at church the day before he picked him up and Pastor Ted spoke on "New Beginnings" and talked about Job... ...thus the name!

Annual Trek to Linton Meadows

On Wednesday August 29,2007, 3 brave women, 5 burdened horses, and 1 free-spirited dog set out on yet another adventure into the wilds of Three Sisters' Wilderness Area. We drove to the Foley Ridge Trailhead, ate some lunch, and packed up 2 horses, Chip and Tess, with all of our accoutrements for 2 days and 3 nights at Linton Meadows.
The ride is 8.5 miles and takes us from 4000 ft. elevation at Foley Ridge Trailhead to 6320 ft. at Linton Meadows. It takes about 4 hours of riding to get to our destination. The red dots on the map show the trail that we follow. Linton Meadows is nestled between 3 mountains...The Husband, South Sister and Middle Sister.

At the trailhead, we all get busy and help to load our food, tent, sleeping bags, clothing, etc. etc. into 4 bags...2 pack bags per horse. We carefully weighed each bag to get it perfectly even. Pam and Lorrie are the experts...I just do whatever they say!

Pam and Zane

Lorrie and Pam securing the pack on Chip

Lorrie bridles Tanner. She rides Tanner and will pony Tess.

I make sure we pack a very important piece of equipment...never go into the wilderness without your shovel!! I will ride Bucko.

Pam will ride Zane and pony Chip.

Sam loves to go on this pack trip. He scouts ahead of us...behind us...beside us! He keeps very busy!

The trek is on a well marked trail through beautiful tall trees. It was a warm day. We decided that the best order of riding would be Pam first, then me, and Lorrie brought up the back. We had a great ride in and stopped for a rest about half way.

Pam did have some challenges ponying Chip...sometimes he wanted to just do it his way!

We arrived at our camp about 730 pm. It is good to be here. The views are spectacular!
This is one of the meadows in Linton Meadows, and this is just below our camp, called Winter Camp. The first thing to do when we arrive is unsaddle and unpack the horses, hobble them and turn them out for a well deserved graze! When we arrived it was just starting to get dark. There was lightning just over the mountain, but we couldn't hear the thunder, so we knew it wasn't too close to us. We found out Saturday that the lightning had started a forest fire on the east side of the mountains.

Setting up our tent, getting a fire going, and eating Taco Salad came next. Food always tastes so good when you're camping out. We always eat so well...from breakfast to snacks to suppertime...we ate very well! We had steak, porkshops with fried apple compote and of course Lorrie's breakfast are a highlight of our day. We also had some great conversations and solved alot of the world's problems too. I love going with Pam and Lorrie...I feel well taken care of and they are both so good at all of this "packing stuff".

We spent the next couple days exploring the wilderness around us on horseback and on foot. We walked down to Linton Falls early one evening...it took about an hour and a half to hike there and back...that was beautiful. Another evening we walked and found a new place to set up camp next year...not too far from this Winter Camp, but with more wood, closer to Linton Creek and a lovely green grassy meadow to graze the horses.

We also found time to go for a swim in Lake Eileen. The day was warm and sunny and the lake was refreshing! One odd thing about this lake is that the shores are crawling with tiny little frogs about 1/2 an inch long...they are crawling out of holes in the grass and heading for water. Once in the lake they disappear. Amazing!

Two beauties frolicking in the warm waters of Lake Eileen! Nice back drop, don't ya think?!!?

Pam and Lori find some time for a little horse training.

The last day we packed up and left about 2 pm for the trailhead. We had a good ride out...only stopping once to fix Tess's packs. The day ended perfectly as we were met by Carm and Lee Anderson, Lorrie's Aunt and Uncle. They waited patiently for us and we arrived in the nick of time for a great supper they brought for us. We are always starving when we come out, a little bedraggled too. This was a perfect ending to a great weekend! It is now October when I am finishing this blog, and we are so very glad we went when we went, because the weather changed dramatically after this. The Sisters are covered with snow now!

Next year we will look forward to another adventure with 3 brave women, 5 burdened horses, and a very happy dog!

Life is good! God is good!

John Gets Close to Heaven!

John, Pam's youngest brother, went on a fishing trip a couple days after our cruisin' trip. He got to enjoy this beautiful day...just John and his boat! This time he went to Gold Lake...a couple of hours from here. I "stole" these pictures off his camera because I couldn't believe how gorgeous they were. He got to enjoy this little piece of heaven all by himself that day! I am so glad he took pictures of it...who would have believed it! I thought something like this was only to be seen in British Columbia! God made some beautiful places here too...who would have thunk it!!! Enjoy!!

I think John could win a photo contest with a couple of these shots...what do you think?!?

I think this last picture could be a calendar picture. WOW! Thanks John! Beautiful!