holidays... and rain :(

I am still on holidays which I really enjoy. I don't enjoy the weather !!! It was nice and sunshine in the morning and sure in the afternoon the down pour incl. thunder and lightning had to come too... ! :( We played a hunting game on the tv almost the whole morning. I never thought this could be so entertaining. And, it also gets you pretty excited. ;D So, we had teams two and two people or everyone separate. I was in a team with Marc and we won :D I was pretty proud of us :) This is the first time I ever played that. After feeding the heifer and us we headed out to move furniture from one dry van (covered trailer) to another. It started to rain when we still were moving furniture and it just poured !!

last day of our trip

It was already our last day of our trip and our destination was the Calgary Zoo. Yeah, I never were in Calgary before. But of course it is just another huge city with thousands of people crawling around.... uhhhh ! I am not used to that much people anymore :( Oh weeeelll... i guess it will be fun anyway. We were at the zoo around 10 am, had to wait for two more people and then everyone was ready to enter. Our first stop was at the coffee both. For some reason we split up in two groups and off we went to explore the zoo. They had lots of animals like giraffe, gorillas, tiger, bears,... the whole package. It was a nice hot day. I really enjoyed to be in the zoo again... Our next stop was at a hunter/ fishing/ hiking stuff shop. It was huge and amazing, I never saw a shop like that before. After supper we drove home again.

BC trip day #3 Back to Alberta

I woke up the second time in a tent. This time I slept better then the night before. With a cup of hot chocolate in one hands and my camera in the other Robin and I went for a morning walk around the camp ground, down to the lake (Moose lake). It was such a peaceful morning, the sun was shining, the ducks busy on the lake and the mountains surrounded the whole scene. A perfect way to start a day... On our way back to the spot where the tent was we spotted two bunnys eating breakfast. Cute little things. Breakfast, packing everything again and jump in the truck and on our way to Fort Steele. There was a deer in the ditch beside a white fence and had something little beside her. A baby deer ! With big dark eyes, oh that is cute ! Fort Steele... (picture) an amazing old town. I really enjoyed the trip in the past and the freshly baked cinnamon buns ;D Off we went, this time in direction of Calgary our final destination on this trip. There was a sign before Sparwood BC which said `world`s largest truck 1 km`. This draw my interest. I wanted to see that even I am not really interested in trucks. A huuuge truck which they use in the mines... I was standing beside this mammoth and looked very very tiny. The next `attraction` was a part of Alberta`s history, the Frank slide. In 1903 one night when everyone was in bed the one side of the mountain gave away and buried the town `Frank`and the near mine underneath. There are big, huge, small and tiny rocks everywhere left and right the road. It must have been a horrible scene when it happend. With every meter we drove we put more and more distance between us and the mountains :( and closer to the prairie of southern Alberta. This piece of Alberta is flat, not many trees or wildlife but lots of wind. Almost boring ! It was getting later and later and soon the sun was down. The big challenge was to find a camp ground. It`s all private land and so the only camp grounds are either in town or on the surface of it. Not much fun ! So we drove and drove till we finally found one. This one was in the bush again :) well, sort of ! We could hear the train and the traffic on the highway. A good thing I had my ear plugs with me ;D

BC trip day #2

The next morning it was still a bit cloudy. Now, time for (my) camping breakfast (scrambled eggs, beacon and sausage) mmmmh yummy ! :) I learned a lot about putting up a tent, camp cooking and take down a tent. So much fun ! On the road again and heading toward BC. Our route brought us through Banff National Park. It looks almost like Jasper Nat. Park. Bush, mountains and rivers. Awesome !! Next stop `Saskatchewan river crossing`a tourist town with a fancy hotel, gas station and a big gift store. Let`s check out the gift store ! I love to snoop around in gift stores ;D Lots to see and to smile about. And of course it`s pretty pricey. I was looking out for wildlife like bears or moose... and really we spotted a black bear on the one side of the mountain.. just walking along, mind his business, no eyes for all the tourists taking pictures of him. Since my camera is a bit slow when it comes to moving objects, I got a picuture of a nice round bear bum :D And of course I heard some interesting comments on that ;D (we had so much fun with it). Of course we had to stop at the famous Lake Louise (picture) and Lake Moraine. Both beautiful places with tons of tourists... it was just crawling !! We took pictures and went on again. Away from all the thousands of tourists. On our way to Fairmont we saw this black bear with something small beside it.... Oh a baby bear ! Let`s turn around and have a look ! Sure a Mrs black bear and her 3 (!) cubs ! Sooooo cute ! We were sitting in the truck and took pictures after pictures. They were eating dandy lion flowers, just munched away... The next wildlife viewing was in Radium BC, Bighorn sheep rams in the ditch. Off we go to our final destination for today, the Fairmont hot springs (picture, view from hot springs). They were really hot ! Well, the one pool was. We had so much fun splashing at each other :D Long time ago since i did that last... BC had better weather then Alberta. Sunshine and nice warm air. We were all tired and hungry after the long swimming... so we were looking for a camp ground. The one we found was way back in the mountains, a nice quiet spot on a little lake (Moose Lake).

getting ready and get started on our trip to BC

Ready for the holidays !! :) I only worked till 3 pm on Saturday and got picked up. It was just pouring ! Time to go find the sunshine ! And that's what we did... After figuring out where to go and a good sleep we packed everything we needed in the truck (food, sleeping bags, air mattresses, tent,...) and hit the road on Sunday. Our first stop was a nice little restaurant where we had a good lunch. The weather was just ugly, thick grey clouds and pouring rain off and on. yuk ! After buying a swim suit in Rocky Mountain house we hit the highway to the mountains. It was just great to be in the wilderness again, with almost no rain !! ;) Everywhere were puddles, high rivers and creeks, flooded lakes and still grey clouds hanging in the sky... Will the weather ever be nice again... ?! Our next halt was at Crescent falls. A nice waterfall (when there is no muddy water) in the mountains. The river was very full. There were little creeks coming out the bush on the road. Amazing how much water came down in the last 2 weeks ! Now it was time to leave again. Nice scenery mountains, trees and rivers. Ah, yeah this is Canada how I love it ! We made a short stop to take pictures from Bighorn Dam, a man made lake in Clearwater County. You could see the line where the water was used to be it was quite a ways down, not much water in it.. and that after all that rain ! Soon it was time to find a campground to put up the tent before dark. We had to figure out how to put it up. Jupee ! My first tenting experience in the Canadian wilderness ;D After enjoying a nice campfire and camping stove cooked supper we all were tired and crawled in the tent for our first sleep in the bush...

the countdown is on....

The countdown is on ! Two more days to work and...... I am off for a whole week ! :D I'll go on a pack trip with my friends in the Rocky Mountains. Yeah ! I am soooo excited. We will go to the Hummingbird river where also a campground is. We will go on a 3-day pack trip and then come back to the camp and do day rides for the rest of the week. I can't wait till it's finally Saturday evening ! I already packed most of my stuff, only a few things need to be put in my suitcase. I can't believe I will go to my first pack trip !!! :D This is something I wanted to do since a long time. Now, my wish will come true ;D

branding

Today started with a nice breakfast, mushroom-scrumbled egg and toast. Our project for today was : branding heifers and cows. So, the heifers and cows could go to their summer resort (pasture) too. We chased the cows in a pen and the calves in another one. Then the cows had to go through a shoot in to a metal shoot where they got their brand. I had the chance to put a brand on a cow or heifer too but I could imagine the pain and so I said I am good and would only watch... We branded 6 red heifers and around 6 cows. My job was to make sure they can't go backwards in the shoot by putting a pole behind the last one. One of the cows was a bit crazy, she chased three guys in the bush yesterday. I don't like cows charging me !!! But she behaved, only pawed a few times so the dirt was flying... When everybody had their tattoo, we loaded them in the big trailer and off we went to put them in the pasture and check fence. All the cows and heifers were pretty happy to have all the tall grass to eat. We left the truck and trailer in the pasture and went to check the fence. My job was to staple the wire up to the new pounded posts. Finally around 4 pm we eat lunch and decided to do some more fencing and bring salt to the cows. The weather didn't agree with our plans, it just poured !!! So, we decided to postpone the fence checking and only bring the salt to the cows. They really liked it ;D It was time for us to go home, relax, visit and have a cup of tea....

countdown is on... holidays in sight !

I am off again, now it's time to get all the gear ready and found for the pack trip. We already started to get stuff out of the tack room we would need. I can use a nice pair of chaps, sand color. Its so interesting what is needed to go on holidays like that. We also practiced knots. To secure a pack on a horse, you need specific knots. I guess i will have to practise a little bit more these knots :D

hunter-jumper show

My work days are packed full of work. The barn organized a 2 day jumping event. On Friday evening the participants could jump in the outdoor course, today was the hunter-jumping and tomorrow is the jumping. Since I am not much of a jumper I only watched a bit during my lunch break, I was pretty busy the other time. One more day to work and I am off again. I still need to figure out what to take for the pack trip. I better pack winter and summer gear... ! :)

more cows and calves ready for pasture

The second of my days off started with moving two cows with their calves in the pasture down the road. The cows knew what's going on and took off in the right direction. The babies were not so sure what's going on and escaped through the fence.... CHILDREN !! They made it in the pasture too ;) Now, it was time for breakfast and being lazy. I took my book and got comfortable on the sofa. The sun was shining during our cow move but now the sky got darker and soon the rain hit again. It was raining the almost 1 /3 of the day. Still, not too wet to get the rest of the cows and calves in to get them also ready for pasture. Around 6 pm we went outside to bring in the herd. This time I was sitting on the quad, it was faster then grab the horses and ride. When everyone was in the coral we started to sort out the moms and keep the babies in a small coral. 'Cause I had to go back to the barn in the evening we only had a few hours. Earlier, we decided not to tag, only vaccinate and castrate the bulls. The tagging will be done the next day before the whole gang gets loaded on the truck and dumped in the pasture. I had my job again of holding the calves hind legs while Robin was using the clamp. The ground was more wet then the day before and so my pants looked pretty poopy after a short time :( We had 23 calves (heifers and bulls) to do. We all were tired afterwards. After supper it was time for me to pack my stuff once again and head back to the barn.

getting cows ready for pasture

Its time for the cows and their calves to move to the summer pasture. So, that's what we did today... get them ready for their haul to the pasture. The calves needed to get tagged, vaccinated and the bull turned into steers. We rounded up the herd with the horses (they needed a workout to get in shape for the mountain trip). I rode Dusty. He is an old Arab but still has a lot of fire. After all the cows were in the corral and the horses put away we started to pair up the cows with their baby and chase them in an other corral. When we had around 4 pairs we started to catch or rope the calf (only the bulls), needle, tag and castrate (only the bulls) them. I was tagging, vaccinating and helping during the castrating. My job was to make sure the calf is not kicking while we work on it. Well, I got kicked twice... I would say this is part of the job. We processed two loads of 18 pairs. As soon as they were done we put them on the trailer and hauled them to the pasture where they stay till fall. It was a good experience I really enjoyed to do some real farm work.

believe it or not....

I was looking out of the window this morning and then didn't believe what my eyes saw... SNOW on June 4th ! I thought I am still sleeping but... no, it was totally real ! I wasn't impressed ! We had enough snow this winter... It was snowing the whole morning and around noon it turned into rain, only a little spray. Now, the sun is shining. Mother nature is quite moody here in Alberta. She must love her winter and snow. It's June and this is a summer month. Well, I would say better now then at the end of the month when we are out in the mountains for our trip. Good thing, the snow didn't stay on the ground :D

cow summer camp

My day off started with nice sunny weather, a little wind. After breakfast and feeding the one calf which is too weak to stand up yet, Robin and I took off in the semi truck again to pick up cattle. This load went to the Buck Mountain grazing reserve near Winfield. It is beautiful up there. Nice bush country, perfect for riding I would say ;D When we reached the shoots where we had to unload the cows it was pretty busy. Trucks after trucks arrived at the corrals... today is the official 'drop-off' day for the pasture. It reminded me on a summer camp where you drop off your kids on the first day of camp... Robin and I had a blast going on and on with this summer camp idea :D Now, it was already lunch time and we headed to a small restaurant for a quick bite to eat. A sandwich, fries and an ice cream later we were on the road again to the next farm to pick up cattle. For this client we hauled 3 loads to his private pasture. By the time we were unload the last load the sky was dark grey and thick rain/thunder clouds promised to bring a load of rain and thunder. The scary grey color looked pretty with all the green from the trees. In the meantime it was around 7 pm and we were pretty tired. Home, I only had the energy to sit on the sofa and make sure I don't fall asleep... The two kittys didn't help much sitting on my chest and purr in my ears.