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 .

Monday 9 July 2012

Heating up

 Monday already! Wow , the weekends are flying by!
And it was a hot one ! Friday was hubbies birthday as I said, we did not go out that night though as he was in the midst of a , well we will call it a power struggle , with the local  beaver population. The have dammed  and blocked the culvert on the road out to  the cows so badly  that  with  the added rain last week the road became impassable . Not good, Yes you could get out there on a horse , or maybe a quad, but  salt blocks don't fit so well on a horse and the quad? well I am not sure it would not have gotten stuck eventually too. 
Martin was struggling away trying to unblock the culvert , and I talked with dad who reminded me that it is on a County road allowance . I called  the county office , with not much success,  then our  councilman (who is also a farmer)  and  uttered the  magic words "we cannot get to  our stock" Next thing we know we had a back hoe out to dig a trench to  get the water moving and  a whole lot of help ! Its not all fixed up yet , but certainly on the way . 
Saturday was spent,among other things , trying to stay cool. the temps soared to 30C and above  for the last 3 days peaking today at 34-feels like  37C ,which before you southern folks laugh at us  is 98 Fahrenheit and keep in mind we get to -40  here in the winter (-40C is -40 F) so fir us that IS STINKING HOT!
So we did  the only logical thing ...


We hauled out old faithful , our 300 gallon stock tank , scrubbed it out and filled it to make our  "Redneck  Dipping pool "


It was  snappy cold that first day in the water m,but dang! did it feel good !
I did move  Comet and Quinn out to some grass, the plan had been to geld them this weekend , but with the heat and a shortage of some supplies ,it has been postponed  to later this week .
Out for  supper with Martin Saturday night , then Sunday was a check cows,treat bull,make deviled eggs and punch,attend bridal shower and return to pool day ! A chilly 32 C yesterday !
Again today it was  in the 30's and because of all the  rain last week, not really a "dry heat" .I got home from work and went straight to the pool again !
Where I was met  by my "pool boy! lol
Serving the latest  of local wine maker Marc's  White Zinfandel

Why yes,I am a pampered princess! I thought about not posting this pic, but then I thought ,Oh what the heck,its not like you all haven't seen pics of me in Mexico in a swimsuit, and I hardly think anyone was  deluded into believing I  had the body of a supermodel under my chubby farm girl suit! Besides, look at the view from my pool! 

In case you were wondering , the ponies all have shade to get into , and the dogs? Well Winston has his own dipping pool that he uses , I just can't catch a picture of him in it ,and Skeeter, refuses to go into water , we tried and he  was totally offended!! "There is water in there and it GOT ON ME!!! " I swear he is more like a cat!
anyhow, that's where things are at here . Hope everyone  had a great weekend , stay safe ! 

9 comments:

sally said...

Oh boy I just love the swimming pool and how nice to be a pampered princess. It looks like the perfect way to cool off !!!. We had a day in the snow today and yesterday spent time at the beach...a balmy 11C. I think I prefer the idea of 30C.
Happy birthday to Martin

GoLightly said...

I am SO jealous of your dipping pool! Want one!! How to get one into my wee car is the question, of course.
Your pool boy is definitely an added bonus.
S'funny, Blaze is a wonderful, loves to do it, swimmer, but if her toes get wet from rain? It's a tragedy.
Flip is anti-water. Period.

Enjoy the pool!

Linda said...

LOL...made my day.......but I won't be posting a pic of me in my Fern Valley inspired trough-tub. I hate this heat too and I think when I finish up my mowing I just might go get my blue tub out of the shed and fill it.

Nicole said...

Looks like a great make-shift pool to me! I'd join in!

Paint Girl said...

That is a great pool!! I need one.... Oh wait, we rarely get above 70 degrees here!! I do supply my dogs with a kiddy pool and we have a pond and stream. So that rare 80 degree day the dogs can stay cool.
Looks like you are having fun even with all the heat! Stay cool!!

Shirley said...

I'd have to share with Tess if I had one of those! Great cool solution- and love the view behind you!

Cut-N-Jump said...

Hahahahahaha! Yours has steps... and inflatable floaties

And a pool boy too? I am sooooo jealous. Some of us should have it so good.

Jeni said...

Hey nothing wrong with that pool at all! It's perfect for dipping/lounging/wine drinking and just plain cooling off!

cdncowgirl said...

Do you have a pool cover or something to keep "stuff" out of the water?

That looks like a heckuva idea, wish we had one last Tuesday (got to 40something here)