Welcome to Fern Valley

Here in central Alberta prime farm country,my husband Martin and I work together raising beef cattle and Appaloosa horses. Fern valley appaloosas have long been known for their quality of temperament conformation and color.I have recently rediscovered a love of writing and have published 2 collections of poetry. "Telling Tails" and Tails Trails and Campfire stories" . I look forward to a future spreading my wings as an author and as a horse woman .

Saturday 19 November 2011

No wonder I have been stuck in the past this week!


















The present is ,nasty stinkin cold!
23C /-5F Somehow it sounds better in Fahrenheit . But however you look at it the real temp is HolycrapitsfreakingcoldIcan'tfeelmyfeet Out there ! Scary thing is , here in Alberta , this is nowhere near as low as we can go!



As you  see , at least these guys were enjoying the  snow games ,for a while

But after a while Skeeter succumbed to the  draw of the warm tractor with Dad!
he does OK for a while , but we have to get his coat on if he is staying outside any length of time !


Put a straw bale in with the girls , if I would have thought faster I could have videoed Richie's classic "bale body slam" That mare can take a bale apart and have it spread  out in about 5 min when she gets a notion!

Regular winter chores have begun.
In other news .Dandy is sold ! A young lady from Ft  St John BC  has begun a payment plan for him, She seems very excited , and having seen some of her photos of other horses she has owned and ridden,this gal seems to be a good fit . I think Dandy is going to be ,well just dandy with her!
I struggled for a while with it , but finally got halters on the babies in the barn ,last weekend . Some times ,its not about the horse , I seemed to have real trouble this year maintaining my focus . Once I got my head on straight ,it went lickity split ! Just like it should . Funny that !
Anyhow, life is just clipping along at its usual pace . I am hoping to get a few things caught up this week, and maybe even be ready for Christmas early! LOL (If you know me, you know it will never happen!)
Stay safe and warm ,my friends!

22 comments:

Janice said...

Ok you've got us beat by about double.....shudder. Well I'm glad you found Dandy a home but I will miss him.I've been enjoying watching him grow up.

Jennifer MacNeill said...

OH MY that IS cold!! And it's only November, brrrrr!

Ami said...

BRRRRRRRRRRRR! Come over. I'll bake for you. And build a nice fire in the wood stove. And tell you jokes.

I have enjoyed watching Dandy grow, too.

4RRanch said...

You have my sympathies about your cold weather. Not looking forward to it heading south. Congrats on selling a horse.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

(sigh)...I know...I know...I have no right to tell you I am sad to see Dandy go. I know you only let them go to good homes...but I sure am gonna miss seeing that big, purdy, yella boy.

As for your weather?

Brrrr....Seems a tad early, even for you guys. Bundle up and stay warm. I got a chill just thinking about negative temps.

GoLightly said...

Brutal, just freakin' BRUTAL cold you are having, and keep it there, thank you very much. We're in this long weird fall thing...
Yeah, couldn't you keep just ONE for us to drool over, jeeesh. Selling your cute colts! How CoulD you!
Of course, as long as I have Johnnie pics, I'm good.
Stay warm hon, or consider relocating to sunny snow-free, nice and mild (touch wood) TorontO..

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Well, we will get to see Dandy for a while longer, as he is being purchased on payments so... And that will free up some space for more Comet , and Quinn pics . Also hopefully this gal will stay in touch and We can all follow his career !

Shirley said...

Yay for Dandy going to a good home. I like that photo where Skeeter is airborne, he sure does get into his play.

Crystal said...

Congrats on a good home for Dandy!! Cant wait to see more pics of the newly haltered babies :)

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

Ditto to what everyone else said. I just switched from my windbreaker to my Michelan Man coat that makes me look like I'm wearing tires today, and it hasn't even snowed yet.

aurora said...

Everyone looks happy & warm in their winter coats! I'm sure it's never easy to let them go, sounds like Dandy is going to a good home.

Linda said...

It's always great to see a horse go to a good home. We've got stinkin' cold here to but at least the wind isn't blowing much today and it's sunny.

kden said...

I guess I shouldn't complain about our cold weather then, brrrrr.

I love watching dogs in the snow, they sure know how to enjoy it.

Leah Fry said...

I just can't even imagine cold like that as the norm, but the dogs seem to be having fun.

Congrats on the sale! Maybe she'll keep us updated with progress pix.

Janice Grinyer said...

Oh its always good when you find the right buyer for your horses - yay Dandy!

and those dogs - how much frozen spit do they bring in after their done lol!?

We got the cold too - round bale time!

Jeni said...

Holy Cold! No where near ready for that here. We still have to get through December. January / February are our freezing months then we start to see the upswing into spring.

Love the "big hair" on your Golden!

Good news on Dandy !

Reddunappy said...

Ah geez!! I am not going to complain about the 32F its been around here at night(yeah right, I still will LOL) We had such a short Summer. I dislike the cold (sigh)
Stay warm!!!

Cut-N-Jump said...

SOmehow in comparison, I feel like I shouldn't be complaining about our 'cold snap' and the temps, but I hear ya on the description of it. It just fits so well! And no we haven't gotten as cold as we get here either yet.

C-ingspots said...

Holy crap that's cold!!! We hardly ever get that cold, and never this early in the year. We have rain and then a little rain, oh and then some more rain! Sure gets old, but it could be worse! I love your doggy pictures!! Beautiful poochies!!

Ranch Girl Diaries said...

Yes, so strange, winter just snuck up on us. I didn't think we'd have snow on the ground until after Thanksgiving, but we've had a couple inches now for a week!! At least it's dry for the most part.....it's when it melts later this week it's going to make a mucky mess!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Yowza! That is some freezing cold weather. Isn't it a tad bit early to get that cold, even in your area? Makes me wonder what January and February will bring for you! Gah!

We're having a very mild Fall so far. Temps have stayed in the 50's-60's F during the day and down into the 20s-40sF at night. Not too bad at all. And our winds haven;t even been as bad as they have been in years past. Seems like the predictions for another La Nina year are coming true, but that means another dry year for us, which isn't good come summer!

I'm going to miss Dandy, too. It's been fun seeing the pics and watching him grow up.

I want to ask you about the straw bales for horses. I've been considering feeding some straw to Apache this winter to help with the cost of hay and to let her create some extra warmth between meals. She's an air fern anyway and can gain weight just thinking about food, but I'm not sure what type of straw or how much to typically feed. Can it be free feed even for a chubby pony? Is there any nourishment in straw at all?

Any info/advice is appreciated,
~Lisa

Nicole said...

This is sooooooo why I don't live up North! :).. please stay warm! And yeah the pups looked like they were enjoying it!