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 15 October 2012

Calenders, good dogs and horses

A merry mix up post here  but ,oh well it is what it is .I have been struggling this year with my calendar project. Staples ,who I have always dealt with before ,raised the prices and got rid of the template that I really liked .So I tried to work with what they had, but I just wasn't happy. I have alos in the past dealt with Shutterfly. and honestly , I really like this company, user friendly , good  prices , discounts for  bulk orders and so on .So I went on their site, loaded my pictures and instead of 3 days of headaches, 3 hours (or less) later ,I had a completed calendar I could be happy with. Yay!!!!  A little different format this year than in the past , but I am OK with it . Change is good right?  I cannot show you the whole calendar  but featured are a few of my favorite pics


 Just a few samples 
Alos will be adding a  photo card to my collection for sale  of Winston and the "How many days till Christmas" sign
And Winston deserve his own card, he is a star! 


Especially today , we have a little  problem here, apparently we have a resident skunk. He has been hanging around and sneaking into the barn for a little nosh on the cat food! We have met face to face 3 times now , and 3 times  have walked away smelling ,if not like a rose well not like a skunk either !
The first time I saw him before the dogs got into the barn and called them back quickly .Mikey is  right ,you cannot ever underestimate the value of your dog coming when you call! 
The second time was yesterday, I was on the Quad , I whipped around the corner to  park it and them SLAMMED on the brakes as Monsieur Le Pew  looked up at me .I sat very still and he dashed off. the today , Skeeter was off chasing Peacocks or  crows or whatever and Win and I were  heading in to the barn alley , I stopped to close the back door and he went ahead, I caught a glimpse of a black and white tails and choked out WINSTON COME! He stated back to me then paused at the skunk ,and I hollered Winston NOW!! and he came running to me! 
And there we stood, frozen in place waiting for the guest to leave. I will be calling the county for a trap, while I am a "live and let live " kind of gal, he doesn't have to live here! 
And finally , young Harley is a big boy now , he is being weaned, I did it the same as always and he is in the barn safe dry and snug as a bug, albeit a little ticked with me . Mom called for a time  but settled well and now is out with Cat and Andee . I am looking around for a pen mate for him, rather than buying hoping a local  person  will  have an "only"as well and we can put them together . If not he will be fine , I can always drag  Mr Peaceful Wilder in to hang  out with him.


Not looking so peaceful here
Anyhow , thats whats up here. Stay safe  my friends and watch out for the skunks! 

9 comments:

WishIHadAHorsey said...

Awesome pictures - I need to rebuild part of my fence, does one of your appys want to help? :)

Crystal said...

Pics look good, Winston is cute as always. Hoping your skunk gets a new home soon, we are lucky we have never had one here (fingers crossed) but our neighbors do, hope he stays there.

Janice said...

Yuk the dreaded beasts. I've had them in my Greenhouse and hanging out in the pot shed...none this year yet!!!!hope they stay gone. Love the pics.

Mikey said...

Love all these pictures! They are so great :)
Love that your dog listens so well and that skunk hasn't gotten you yet. I thank heavens we haven't had to deal with skunks (knock on wood) Hope you get him safely trapped.

GoLightly said...

LOVE the pics, omg. OMG!!
Haven't seen those cute butts for a while now.
Staples isn't reallllly a printer. Well, they are, but yeah, custom is not so custom. It needs to be standard custom:)

Suggestion, remove the cat food for a while, don't leave it out.
I can't think of a single critter that isn't drawn to the scent of cat food...
Monsieur Pepé will start nesting with such a lovely, smelly tasty food source right handy.
You know that anyway, jeeeeesh.
The cats can clean up, or go hungry, sure won't kill 'em:)

Take Mr.Mephites (x2) fah, fah away. That's the only Latin I remember consistently:)
He will be baaack:) for cat food!!

I am feeling a terrible, terrible spotted void in my life. THE wonder horse has abandoned me.
Is Johnny busy? I type, and phone, and text. nada.
He hasn't answered me for a while;)

Please post a PICTURE of Johnny?!
pretty please?
How shameless was that?
OH, I still have a dead skunk underneath a trunk left behind by neighbour, came in handy when the poor thing was rolling around/seizuring/snapping in the last stages of distemper.
I wish CCC hadda been there. She is well-armed.
I had to throw out the clothing I used when I approached and "trunked" the skunk.
Hey, skunk, trunk!!
anyway, I'll post a pic of what's left soon:)
Maybe I should do it on Hallowe'en..
Off to smile at Harley's butt, and OH, that mare's head!! again.
and and and.
Beautiful!
and not stinky:)

Ami said...

I love Winston. :)

That's it. He's awesome.

Shirley said...

Great shot of Winston, it will be a good card. Love the one of Comet fencing. Such an innocent "who, me?" look! Is Quinn still at your place? He'd make a good babysitter.

Nicole said...

I seriously love Winston! He's my kind of dog, big and cute! :). That will make a fabulous card!!

Rising Rainbow said...

Looks like you have some great shots for your calendar. Very cool. One of these days I am going to get my act together and put one together too. I know I keep saying that......but I'm hoping it will be more than talk some day soon. LOL