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 June 2014

Muddy Monday

Yup, more  rain, we have had a bunch of rain the last few weeks. It is sure green around here though so no complaining (well not much ) after the walk last week, we were back into rainy days again for much of last week. I did get out for a day trip last Monday down the "Cowboy trail" to Markerville Alberta ,for a meeting. And yes while they say there are cowboys out there you just cant see them from the road, I did in fact see several on my drive .Seems it was a good day for moving stock.Sadly I missed some great shots as I didn't have my camera. One in particular was a fellow  in a corner of a field with a group bunched, must have been waiting for another group, and he was just sitting there leaned over the horn , hat tipped back a bit ,looking pretty wilted .It was a hot day and with all the humidity ,I really felt for him. Hope there was a cold one waiting when he got done!
Got home in time for our pasture renter's cattle to  arrive and dad and I trailed them out  to the first pasture in the gator. Would have been nice on horseback, but besides the fact it was after 8 at night , and the calves are not used to being worked with horses. We needed to take salt , and I cannot  take 1, far less 5 blocks of salt on a horse ! Got some nice views all the same

 A fun little animation of what I thought was  a Loon but not so sure(and it is a cell phone pic so hard to get good detail ) I have heard them here so ....
 Happy critters hitting the biog field !

Then the rains came again , on and off all week. And also for me ,back to  work and the regular day to day shuffling paper at work and critters at home. The grass is coming on nicely and I try to get as many as I can out on pasture . The young ones and the stallions are still in on feed but for the most part even they are getting grass part of each day . 
A sunny  day most of Saturday, and  a quick trip out west to take  my cousins horses to my honorary niece Katie for training. Lucky I took my own vehicle ,or Kirk would have been stuck all day waiting for Katie and I to stop chatting! Then a nice little get together for supper with Kirk and Amber, and Heather and Marc  joined us after dinner for a visit.It is so nice to have time to visit in the evenings outside and enjoy just a peaceful warm evening .
Sunday was my mom's birthday and we all gathered at  the lodge for a picnic style lunch. Heather's fried chicken, home made buns and cake , I made Potato salad . It was a great time . As I said before , there really is no hat my mother looks bad in LOL 
 The birthday girl 
 Below is mom and her sister my Auntie Elsie. We tease one another after she called me once on my birthday or a day later and introduced herself as my demented Aunt for getting the day wrong. Well I missed her birthday this year so we are a pair. Demented Niece too! 

It was a nice day, but mom has always said it rains on her birthday , she wasn't wrong. We got home around 6 and Martin and I scrambled to get the lawn cut before the storm hit, and hit it did ! 

We got it done and only moments before the deluge came. Today was a wet  day with the rain falling steady most of it  I went into town to take Martin back to the bus , and because we had extra time we stopped at the Enjoy Centre (Holes family garden centre ) it is truly the most wonderful place ! And well I "enjoyed myself thoroughly , coming home with an herb garden, some heirloom tomato plants and of course I fell for a Begonia hanging basket again !


 And from a past post the Ogo Pogo(Sea Serpent)  and fountain I got form mom and dad's yard set up in mine. The serpent is actually going to my niece Tara some day when she has a place to put it,but for now its is nicely placed in view of the redneck dipping pool! 

So its just me , the dogs , Delilah and the ponies for another 2 weeks. They aren't Martin but they are pretty good company , and I do love taking pics of my gang! 
Johnny and company were providing the photo opp today.

Yeehaw ,or as I captioned it on FB 

"That's when I fell for , the leader of the pack!" 

That's all for now . 
Stay safe my friends ! 

9 comments:

4RRanch said...

Wish we had some of your rain down here. Love the birthday hat and the leader of the pack. Have a great day.

phaedra96 said...

LOVE the serpent!!! I have one if I could find one!

Unknown said...

When I was 14 I went on a dog show circuit with some friends of my mom's for 2 months. We traveled up through the northern US and up in to BC. I got to spend some time at Okanagan lake (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) While there I did see some very large skimming the top of a very still water line. To this day I have always believed it was none other than Ogo Pogo.

Oh and like I said on Facebook....I am so going to bring my horses up and race through that straight away. Just as fast as we can go too!

Cut-N-Jump said...

I'm with Cindy on tearing down the stretch there- full bore! Kat would certainly enjoy it and probably give some of the horses a real challenge in a race...

Love the serpent. I used to call eels- sea snakes. It fits.

Love the birthday girls hat. I will have to make the girls a couple like it in the fall.

Shirley said...

Glad the rain held off until after the birthday celebration! You mom looks lovely.
I would be so inclined to plant vines to grow around the ogo pogo; Thunbergia at least!
The horses all look good, especially those fuzzy hooligans in your header photo.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

come on out anytime ladies, I am not too old to tear up some track!

GoLightly said...

OH, and ANOTHER shot of Johnny with his ears up!!
sigh...

Jealous that you have Holes Garden centre. Lois' books helped me a LOT when I first started killing I mean growing plants.

Your Mom is a real character, eh?
Have a great day:)

Leah said...

you have been busy - us too, I guess, I need to catch up on some reading. I love the fuzzy babies in your header picture. We have gotten your rainy weather (we needed it) but I hope it stops... a full day and we have standing water. Love those Johnny and pack pictures!

Crystal said...

We sure could use some rain if you wouldnt mind sending some of it down here. I love your moms hat and she does look good in it too!
A lot going on up there sounds like fun though