Sad Days Ahead

Oh we can see sad days ahead...It's not like we haven't seen it coming but a person is never prepared for death no matter how much you think you are.

R came in from the barn this morning with a long face. He said that Owen, our lovely 9 year old yellow lab is failing, that he hasn't eaten in two days. Now I know that doesn't seem excessive to you but for this dog to not eat for two days is serious stuff.  He has a few unexplained lumps on his body that have gotten bigger lately, we suspect cancer.

We got Owen when he was 6 weeks old from a local breeder.  We went to buy a chocolate lab that day and we did see one but when I saw this big yellow puppy and held him, he licked my face and wagged his tail and I was smitten, to be fair I did pick the chocolate puppy up too, but he stuck his head under my arm and shook like a leaf...very timid.  I took the yellow pup and named him Owen.  For R and I it was love at first sight...R had already owned a yellow lab in his younger years but I never had.  What lovely dogs. Friendly, loyal, intelligent and so loving it makes me tear up just thinking about the times I have been so melancholy and blue and have sat out in the yard to find some solace, this dog will come over and lean against my legs, rest his head in my lap and just sit with me...he's the best friend a person could have...no matter your mood he always loves you...and is so joyfull when you deign to pay attention to him.

As a puppy he hated this broom I kept outside...at every opportunity he would chew it to pieces and growl with his mouth full of cornstalks. We had Owen for nearly two weeks when the breeder called to ask if we would consider taking the chocolate puppy as well since they had not sold him and wanted to go to New Mexico for a holiday, but when they left the puppy outside with it's mother, she kept taking it into the bush and ditching it...(self weaning I guess) and thought that since the coyotes would eventually get it they might as well give it to us.  R was very eager to have the two pups...so we took him and named him Riley. There have never been two brothers from the same litter so totally different from one another. 

 The moment R let Riley out of the crate  Owen pounced on him and bit and growled... asserting his dominance I suppose... and so it has been for the past 9 years..Owen is the boss and Riley is second banana.  Owen is very protective and riley is ver frightened...Owen is outgoing and friendly and Riley is shy and untrusting and so on....Owen is exactly the kind of dog I had hoped to find after being without a dog for 4 long years after the death of the best dog I have ever had the priviledge to own "MAC".

When Owen was 2 years old he would follow R around doing chores and got into one of the feed sheds, he ate some of the feed intended for cattle and became very ill (it had rumensin in it which helps with the cattles digestion but is toxic to dogs if they ingest too much) he became comatose and we had to take him to the vet.  They pumped his stomach and then put him on an IV and flushed his whole body with fluids...he recovered but had sustained some muscle and nerve damage...his hind end has been weak ever since and the past couple of years he has become somewhat stationary...since his legs are weak and it is hard for him to move much. But when he is having a good day he runs and jumps and cavorts like a puppy, usually paying the price later in the day ...but there is no stopping him when he is in a joyous mood...usually when "Mommy" comes outside....

It is going to be a sad day... Poor Owen . We are concerned about how Riley will take being the only dog...he is so shy and is so used to following his brother in all things that we worry about him.   Like I said earlier though it is not a surprise that it has finally come to be just sad that we could not deny it any longer.

We had the option of treating our dogs like dogs or welcoming them into our family as members and humanizing them in our minds and hearts and given the chance to do so again, I would not hesitate...because the pain and sadness we are about to go through pales in comparison to the happiness, laughter, love and joy we have recieved from our "boys" OWEN and RILEY.

A First

Well, they say there is a first time for everything and while this is not the first time ever it is the first time in a long time....that I have nothing to complain about today.  Now that could be since I am writing this post so early in the morning or that I am in such a good headspace after our spontaneous outing yesterday, regardless, enjoy it while it lasts, since I am sure my sour, complaining, unsatisfied musing will be bedeviling me again tomorrow.

Yesterday was an awesome day once it got going.  We owed  some friends of ours a dinner out on the town for finding us a customer for our beef and so R decided to crank it up a notch and invite another couple to join us, and they were available so we got all dolled up and the six of us crammed into the cab of our 1 ton truck (which I had detailed earlier in the day) and drove to town for a fine dinner. Lamb chops, Steak and Crab legs were enjoyed by all with a huge salad bar and dessert...we rushed back to the one couples home to watch the Canadian Mens Olympic hockey team play the slovac team and scrape a win out of it.  It was great night of jokes, laughter and whitty banter.  I enjoyed it very much so did R.  Too bad it cost us $200. but I say it was worth it.  We actually all made a date to meet again on sunday to watch the Go For GOLD game between Canada and the USA.  should be great....hot dogs and beer  yeeeeehaaaawwww !!!!

A Day Off Work

Everybody likes to have a day off work, I know I always look forward to spending a day away from the farm.  Isn't there a saying that a break is as good as a change or something along that line.  Everytime we are taking a day off, the sweet, innocent, niave, gullible child buried deep within gets all gittery with anticipation of doing something out of the ordinary and new, and that poor misquided child is always disappointed.  We drive an hour and a half to the city, past all the same scenery that we have seen for the past 30 years, go to the exact same stores we always go to, most of the time in the same order as always, too.  We eat at the same restaurant and then make the same return drive as always... and to make matters even sadder than they were, I think in the past few years, as we get older...we are even having the same conversations as always too...

I have realized lately that there is a small part of me that yearns for an adventure...Oh nothing to crazy, but something extra-ordinary. A road trip I think... I  have always wanted to see the east coast. Quaint villages in Quebec in the autumn when the maples are turning colour, Niagra falls to ride on the Queen of the mists, to stand on the Canadian Shield and dip my toes into lake Ontario.

 One of the things I have always wanted to do is canoe down the milk river in southern Alberta and see the Writing on Stone archeological site.

they think some of these petroglyph's are as much 3000 years old. Incredible.  I love stuff like this, it stretches my brain.

Some times I feel like I might go a little insane with lifes mundaneness. As though under different circumstances I might have been so much more. Like a fruit tree that blooms but never sets any fruit. Some how unfulfilled. Wanting.

When I was young, before I married I used to dream of being an English teacher, I was inspired by my grade 10+ English teacher Mrs. Dicmanus (yes she was married to the BC football player) She gave me the tools to keep going to school,she once told me that it was alright to be great at just one thing but that I should never stop challenging myself, she let me work at my own pace, which was grade 11 english in grade 10 and guided me with kindness and enthusiasm for which I will be forever grateful.

Life gets in the way of our dreams most of the time, and as you know I never became a teacher. I don't think I would have made a very good one since I was never very good at any other subject other than English.  But that doesn't mean we can't still dream and wish and yes, even yearn for something more.

We're being Invaded

Help !! We're being invaded...our yard has suddenly become the winter destination resort for Alberta's second largest rodent. PORCUPINE... so far this winter, starting in November before we even had any snow, our shelterbelt of spruce and pine trees became THE place to be...if you're a porcupine, OR is it? given that everyone of them I have caught here...is now fertilizer on another quarter...  and before you threaten me with PETA again...(and I have to say that threat is getting a bit old) I have, what I believe is a legitimate reason for flexing my trigger finger.

We have the unfortunate misfortune to be trying to farm in really crappy soil... a shallow 3 inches of brown wooded topsoil over untold feet of grey clay...and with all the dry years we have experienced lately the usually moist clay has turned to concrete. It is very difficult to get anything to grow at a decent rate when it's roots have to try and penetrate that concrete.  I wish I had a dollar for every tree and shrub I have tried to grow in my yard alone, that hasn't made it...and that is with lots of water and fertilizer...so 40 years ago when R's parents planted several rows of spruce, pine and fruit trees as a shelterbelt it was a huge undertaking each row is about 150 evenly spaced trees that run half the length of our home quarter.  For 23 years they kept between the rows tilled up so there was no competition for moisture and nutrients.When I first came here 17 years ago the tops of those trees were at eye level...so they grew from seedlings to about 5 feet tall in that 23 years... after living here for a year, I decided that the tilling was detrimental to the root growth and stopped tilling, we let the grass and moss grow in and just kept it mowed, after another 5 years...we stopped the mowing because the trees had grown to the point where we were breaking branches to get through with the tractor and mower.  Since then the trees have grown to over 20 feet tall and are beautiful...so after all the effort that has gone in to keeping them alive and thriving...I am not about to let some nocturnal little bark chewing rodent move in here and destroy these trees...they like the shelterbelt because the trees are close to one another and they don't have to travel far in the two feet of snow we have to get thier next meal.

So in Nov. before the snow came I shot a really big porcupine and took these photo's

look at the teeth...they are suppose to be orange in colour I read, but they are just like mouse teeth.

The claws are what enable them to climb to the tops of a tree like some lithe Cirque de` soliel performer.>



If the porcupine chews the bark off all the way around the trunk (called girdling) and damage the cambium layer that feeds the tree it will die...we have two pine trees already turned brown due to this girdling of the bark...I refuse to lose anymore trees.  The porcupine can live on willow bark and such in the wild there is no need for them to eat our yard trees....v

I had to shoot another porcupine in early January that was in a Ponderosa Pine that is 5 feet from our house...he wasn't even trying to be stealthy it was 4 pm and I saw him on a lower branch and the bark was flying...v

We came home from the city in mid January to find our brown lab's face full of porcupine quills...and I am sure the yellow lab would have had them too if he wasn't so crippled up and had bothered to get off the deck to investigate... we don't appreciate having to pull quills at 11 pm in -25 * weather. R got bit for all his trouble to try to restrain the dog.  This is about the third time for these dogs getting the worst of an encounter with a porcupine.

And then, just last night I had to shoot a third porcupine, that was in the shelterbelt. The dogs had him up a tree and were barking enough to wake the dead...so out I trudge and low and behold there he was...so I trotted back to the house to get my rabbit gun  before I shot the porcupine R had to put the dogs back in the barn... So ta da...three less porcupine this winter. But  don't despair we see signs of them everywhere...mostly bark chewed off willow branches, pine trees and our neighbours apple tree that is beside the road, so there are still porcupines out there to have babies and make more bark gnawing trouble makers.

We have had cows get into them too, they try to push them around with their noses and let me tell you it is easier to get them out of a cow than it is the dog...we have equipment to restrain the cow... One year a group of 30 yearling heifers found a dead porcupine that must have been in a tree that blew down in a storm and the poor fellow was crushed, the heifers found him and I swear they must have rolled on him more than half of them had quills in their faces, necks, feet and legs... we had to trail them home and spent hours pulling all the quills...by the end we were out there with a flashlight... A couple of months later when the cattle were at home and in the pens nearing calving time one of those heifers was found laying with her legs under her like she was sleeping...but she was dead....R had the vet autopsy her and the only thing they found was a porcupine quill in her liver....it must have migrated there over time and eventually killed her.

So, yes I shoot the little beggers, they aren't getting our trees, dogs or cattle...but just for the record...I only shoot the ones that are in the yard, if they stay away from the buildings...I will leave them alone...after all, there are just too many of them to go around shooting everyone I see.  Stay out of my yard.  Next time I'll tell you all about the wild pigs we are having a showdown with...

Hair Cut day !

I am going to a hair appointment today...my hairdresser has had a baby since I last saw her in mid Dec. and has been taking some time off since then...she used to have a salon in town but when she had her first child a few years ago..she moved it out to thier farm and fixed her basement up...it is actually a really cool place...very canadiana...with homemade quilts, tole painting...hardwood floor and old fashioned barber chairs... we have a long history....she and her father used to buy bulls from us and we used to go and bid on her 4-H calves...she reminds me very much of my favorite niece, with her quirky sense of humor and insight. I was just looking at some old photos recently and realized that I now have my hair cut the same way my mom used to cut it when I was in elementary school.  Huh  I used to hate it back then but it suits me...guess mom did know what she was talking about all those years ago...although I think not...since she used to use the same bowl to cut P and P's hair too.  See the pic below if you don't believe me..

So this morning our butcher guy is here to process another steer for the freezer...half is sold and I am hoping we can keep the other half for ourselves since we are nearly out of hamburger..

R has been having some hip problems again of late and has been going to the chiropractor lately...yesterday he drove into to town for an adjustment and had to listen to our chiropractor slander Barack Obama (R's hero) something about nazi moaist communist or something along those lines...I am surprised R restrained himself.

I don't suppose any of you caught the National news on CBC two nights ago and saw the story by Red Sharen on the failure of the cattle industry...it was very insightful although way to brief.  I cried...those people sitting in the auction market watching 30 years of breeding being sold up, dispersing thier herd.  That could be R and I, if things don't turn around soon...the only reason we are still doing what we do is because we sold off all my investments to pay off our debt when BSE hit back in 04. Now there is no safety net...We are a dying breed of farmers who make thier sole income from the farm and do not have off farm jobs like 90 % of farmers, it takes a lot of sacrifice and discipline and did I mention sacrifice...  we don't go on tropical vacations, or have an RV, we don't go to concerts, or throw big parties anymore and much to my regret any thoughts of retirement are far off in the future.  I have visions of being old and withered and still driving lunch out to R in the field and working cattle through the chute.

Only 10 cows left to calf now...I sure wish the weather was nicer...the temp is okay but the fog is killing me...I want sunny blue skies that make me want to be outside.  hahaha

Well I have to go make lunch for R before I head off to my hair appt.  wish me luck.

A Foggy Dreary Day

Wow, what a difference a day makes. Yesterday dawned bright and clear and today the fog rolled in and everything is covered in hoar frost.

these are the neighbours horses just across the fence from us the always come and watch R feed hay.

Had to go to the hospital lab for more blood work today first thing in the morning...

7am.  The nurse taking the blood told me a funny story about her husband watching thier son while she went shopping with her sister... the son had a hockey game in town and then spur of the moment he and the dad invited all the other boys out to thier acreage for some sleding, they have a big hill, but the 15 boys whose parents dropped them off and would come back in about 4 hours never did make it outside to the hill, instead they played video games in the basement and ate $200.+ worth of groceries she had just bought the day before... things like, baby bell cheeses, out of season blueberries, pizza pockets, gator aid power drinks, over 30 juice boxes and two bags of nacho chips...all the things this 11 year old son would have been taking to school for lunch...(now he will be taking sandwiches) the dad, when asked where the hell was he while this was taking place....said in the living room watching the olympics on Tv.  hahahah   he said to her when she whined that they ate her special treat blueberries,"you shouldn't have been buying those out of season, they're to expensive"....later that same night after the hockey team had gone home...and her kids were in bed the dad roused himself from the olympic couch position and asked what  he could have for a snack....then asked if she had bought him some of his favorite cheeses...she said yes....but that there weren't any left.....he looked at her with such a surprised look on his face and then only seconds later  shouted....SHIT !!!!!!!   hahahaha I thought that was so funny.... lazy turd...should have got off the damn couch to supervise those boys...16 11 to 12 year old can go through a lot of food...hahahahahaha

Owwwww

Owww it hurts... but what an awesome day... It was up to 0* here today and sunny, with a slight breeze... great day.  After lunch  I went outside to help R with some chores.  We tagged a new baby calf # 103 and treated one cow with a sprained ankle from jumping on the other cows or fighting, both things cows love to do a lot of. Then I was conscripted into spreading some straw around with a pitch fork for the cows to lay on. I actually love doing that kind of stuff, it gets me outside where I love to be and I get to peruse the baby calves while I do it.  The problem is it doesn't stop with just one pen...there are six paddocks with cattle in them and once I started helping he was loath to have me stop....now tonight...my arms feel like rubber (I spread 9 bales of straw all by myself....for those of you not from the farm...each bale weights about 1000 lbs.)

 What a work out... We have a bit of scours running through one bunch of babies (that is diahrea) and so thier bedding of straw needed to be done badly...they got two bales. All the walking on rough ground plays havoc with my hips and R had to dose me with muscle relaxants tonight.... But I will be out there again tomorrow if I am able.

Roadside Memorials

So am I the only one who thinks Roadside Memorials are morbid.  I mean I just don't get why someone would want to be constantly reminded everytime they drove to town, of the sudden death of a loved one...I thought that is what cemetery's were for. I know if I am feeling maudlin and want to cry over the countless people in my life who have died, I go to the grave side.  But I do NOT want to be reminded everytime I drive to town, of my losses, and I have had a few, make no mistake... But I assure you I am not the type of person who would ever erect a roadside memorial and then tend it like a cherished rose garden, mowing the grass around it in the summer, changing the flowers with the season and removing snow in winter...

.Last summer on our way into town we witnessed a sad scene at one of the more prolific roadside memorials, a middle aged couple were mowing the grass, the man was weedeating around all the stuffed animals and watering the flowers they had planted in the ground...on our way home from town we saw them sitting on a blanket having a picnic lunch, in the meridian between the freeway (4 lanes of traffic)...... I mean come on people get a life...

On our 1 hour drive to the city we pass over 7 of these memorials, I think it has become an obsession...
Some one I recently ranted to about this subject remarked that perhaps I would feel differently if I had lost someone in a vehicle crash.  I had to think about that for minute...but then I quite truthfully replied, no I wouldn't...I prefer to grieve privately. It would feel too much like a cut that I never let scab over but just kept picking the healing scab off.  And just for the record R agrees wholeheartedly with me.

Oh No, bacon and eggs again ?

Gee, what a sad state of affairs when we have to have bacon and eggs for the second time this week because we are out of milk and neither of us can justify driving for 30 minutes to pick up a jug of skim milk.

We were going to shop the day we took the bulls to the vet but by the time we were through with them they were pretty upset and R just wanted to get them home rather than make them stand in the trailer while we grocery shopped... We hope to run to the store tonight and visit with some from friends in town so it is not a totally lame excuse to go to town.
We haven't had a calf for two days now...kind of a nice break...there are only 14 cows left to calf and I expect by this time next week there will be only one or two left..They will all be done by the 4 th of March.
I spent all of yesterday working out a new breeding plan...since we will be using 9 different bulls this spring...it is going to have to be very well choriographed.  Juggling the pen accomodations and calf sheds...(the babies need to have shelter when we have spring storms and not every pen can accomodate a calf shed).  I determined that if we give each bull 3 weeks with his group of cows and then merged some of the groups would be the best way to handle it...since 80 percent of our cows calf in the first three weeks of calving season...the first three weeks of breeding are the most critical...running so many bulls is why we can have our calving over so quickly...

A Lazy Day

Well, much to my disappointment I didn't get to build today after all.  The day got off to a late start with R and I watching some of the shows we DVR'd last night...breakfast around 9 am and then I hit the cattle books while R was suppose to feed and then the building would commence...but left to his devices out there he got off topic and needless to say was way behind...without me there to crack the whip work slows to a crawl...ahahahah (he's not whipped, but he'd probably like it)  He came in 20 min before lunch and asked if it was too late to make mac &cheese...(the homemade kind) ughhhhh... me being the over achiever that I am...said no and then frantically scrambled to make M&C.

We had some company over the other night...practically unheard of for us...this was a neighbour and live in who had never been here before...but her kids were with thier Dad for the weekend and they were at loose ends...The neighbour who R has lived next to nearly all his life and whose mother was R's teacher in grade 5, said that we were always home so it was safe to just show up....(just for the record it's not)'

It was a nice visit but I was quite distracted by her, she kept craning her head around to take in all the decor of our house....and I mean she wasn't even subtle about it. At one point I almost called her on it and asked her if it would be easier for her if I just gave her the itemized list of contents and belongings I made up for the insurance co.

And Then R embarrassed me by asking them if they had noticed his wife's paintings.  they said "oh do you paint C"  and I said, it's a hobby...  R took them to my painting room and proudly showed them all my paintings....they didn't say much...which is always a bit awkward... I don't think they were all that impressed....there was a fair bit of uncomfortable silence and then He said, well I guess we should be going....ahahahahahha     You see, I never would have shown the paintings to anyone...if they asked to see I would have shown them but never would have forced it on them...ahhaha

I thought afterwards that I wonder if they thought R was going to try to sell them one...ahahahahahahahhahhha    I think we will go thier place next time....ahahahah

Happy Times

Some one recently requested I write about happy things....and I had to stop and think for a bit to really come up with something...a person gets in a rut and doesn't even realize it.  I forget to smile but I do remember how.

It isn't always easy being happy, especially with the shit life throws at us.  I do have some things in my life that make me smile though.... My husband can always make me smile when I am trying really hard to be mad at him...he'll say something so terribly inappropriate that I have to turn away or blow my cover...

Today we took two of our herd bull to the vet, they have both had some wierd thing going on with thier ears and we were worried that if there had been a fever they might be sterile....we solved the mystery about the ears and the semen tests were good...the old black bull is failing though every years his tests get worse and worse...this may be his last year breeding for us.  He did something that made me howl with laughter...ahahahha while they were measuring his testicals he coughed and covered the vet, his assistant and R with wet watery manure...ahhahaha and I mean covered...them , the floor, the walls and just about everything else in the clinic....except me...yes Jen there is a God after all... I, (for what ever karmic reason, I can't begin to understand) was standing off to the side and partially behind a solid panel... I thought the young male vet was going to toss his biscuit....yes throw up...it was on his face, running down his neck into his coveralls...he started dry heaving...and prancing around like a little girl thats seen a spider....he finally removed himself and came back 5 minutes later in a clean pair of coveralls...the assistant, she just kept working... I had to step outside to laugh or I would have bruised someone's ego...but it was sooooooo funny, the looks of surprise and dread on thier faces was priceless...normally it would have been me...so ya life is good..

I should have known it was going to be a good day because this morning when R slipped back into bed and woke me up with his heavy breathing...I layed there and felt so good for a change...no headache, nothing hurt and it was sooo nice.. i even said to R, that this so rarely happens I just wanted to lay there and savour the feeling and not get out of bed....it lasted for a whole half an hour...

Later this morning we were up at the barn tagging the new babies and I have a calf I give a bottle to twice a day...his mom is sick and not giving much milk. The cat that the nasty Tom used to beat up was lounging in the fresh straw at the big door of the barn....sunning himself...he usually had to skulk around and lived under a grainery to avoid the Tom

ahhhhhh life is good. even for the cats... I am sure will go to hell for all the animals I have had to shoot...but it is never without good reason...like the squirrel who chewed a hole in our soffitting and was absconding with mouthfulls of attic insulation...he looked like a grey bearded santa...the little beggar... shot him and put a hole in the carport roof doing it...we later found the nice old barn wood bird house I made stuffed with insulation.   Tomorrow I get to build something.... I love building..

The Internet experience

I hate the internet, I know I am actually using it as I speak but I hate it with a deep, roiling, nauseating passionate loathing... I have recently begun entertaining the idea of getting a Telus Air Stick.  The determining factor will be whether we can get a signal from the microwave tower at Sangudo.   Apparently you have to live within it's shadow to actually get a signal... hmmmmm let's think about that for a moment... fry what little brains god gave you living under a microwave tower or deal with the brain sucking tedium of a dial up connection.

I have even contemplated giving up satellite technology... cell phones, internet, satellite Tv etccc.... Life was a lot simpler before we became permanantly connected with the technological umbilical cord... I mean MY GOD, what did people do before cell phones, texting and blackberries....

I have a pretty good idea....we had a lot less heart attacks, stress and traffic accidents.
I recently witnessed a 30's something couple with two kids in a restaurant, they were seated and before they could even open the menu the guys cell rang...he talked briefly and hung up...two minutes later it rang again...this time he stepped out side....he came back in just before the food arrived...filled his plate and it rang again, he stepped outside and was gone so long this time...the waitress kept trying to take the food away and box it up and he hadn't even eaten yet....meanwhile his long suffering wife...who apparently had her cellphone off...had to sit and deal with her two over stimulated kids order thier food, eat it and then sit there waiting for him to come .... in my world, that would never happen....I would have reached over the second time the phone rang and turned it off..

I think all cell phones should be turned off not just in theatres but restaurants... because I know for sure I don't want to have to hear them ringing while I am eating or listen to someone talking overly loud so he can be heard about some realestate deal he is working on...  Shut your GOD DAMNED phones off people...trust me the world will not grind to a halt if you do....

Texting....OMG, don't get me started on texting.... all I have to say is WHAT THE HELL IS SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY 5 CENTS PER WORD TO SAY..... young people sitting in the same vehicle texting each other rather than talk....a thousand years from now the human species will have evolved to the point of not having voices if we don't keep verbally communicating.

Today

Today was an awesome day...0* sunny, bit of a breeze and I got to work outside with the baby calves.  Oh ya and the best part was when I shot the stupid tomcat that has been terrorizing all our nice kitties... and making their lives living hell....we have a couple of them that actually are missing a foot or their ears because when he stalks them and catches them, he beats the daylights out of them.  So ding dong the dick is dead..

.and before you all get up in arms and call PETA on me...it was R that asked me to do it...so you know just how badly behaved this tom cat was when even kind, sensitive, I would rather cut off my own arm than hurt some poor thing R had it in for him.  Now, I am under no illusions that all is well in Mayberry because it is only a matter of time before another power mad, lust crazed little nazi bastard moves in from the neighbours and takes over terrorizing the bloody barn cats again... but I have more bullets. so be warned you little turds, I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it... as Clint once said

" go ahead punk, make my day."

Remind Me

Some one please remind me why I yearned for the day R would be sleeping in the house again....He is presently in our king size bed...I mean in the middle of our king size bed snoring so loudly I have had to close the door to the office so it didn't distract me from blogging... I mean really...it's just after 9 here....hahhaa

We were up early this moring and heading to the first bull sale we have attended in about 5 years.  It was hell on earth....the bulls were mean spirited and kept charging the fence, the food was so-so, the auctioneer was way to loud and those dick headed, deep pocketed bloody hutterite's kept buying all the bulls I had tagged to bid on... every single one of the 8 bulls we were hoping to choose our next herdsire from sold for more than $3000.  We did buy one of the bulls we liked but we had to pay over our budgeted amount.

The old guy sitting in front of me kept leaning back against my legs and they went completely numb at least twice...my back was breaking from not having anything to lean my back on and the bulls kept pawing shit and shavings into the stands.   Ugh....remind me why I used to like going to sales...it's no fun when you don't have money to spend.

After the sale I told R, I was divorcing him and marrying one the owners sons....they sold 160 bulls and averaged $3500. do the math folks, that works out to $560,000. for just the male calves....a half a million dollars in just one day...ooooooohhhhh remind me why we got out of the purebred business....ahahahahaha oh ya I remember why...it's a major pain in the ass...and I don't miss it all  but I do miss the money. whaaaaaaaaa!!

Well I am off to bed to see if I can get R to turn onto his stomach and quit snoring long enough for me to fall asleep.  Wish me luck.

Here are some shots of our new crop of babies.

A cowboy wedding, the groomsmen and groom, I just liked the shot.

Ewwww cleaning the snot out of his nostril...

Breakfast this morning

This morning R came in from the barn a bit later than usual... we are looking for a new bull this spring and have some on line catalogues to peruse.  I defrosted a couple of nice juicy nutty homemade cinammon buns and head for the computer...R hot on my trail.  We seat ourselves and I proceed to navigate to the first choice sales catalogue...nice work.

While I am  working the net R begins buttering his bun and eats...while sipping coffee strong enough to tar the foundation wall of your house.

We start going through all the bulls listed and either circling ones we like or X-ing out the ones we don't... He's finished his cinammon bun and after a while, leans over and cuts my untouched one in half...I hadn't started eating mine because I didn't want to get the mouse all sticky.. anyway long story short...he ended up eating the other half of my bun before we were done... and these are no shrinking violet buns...each one was the size of a saucer...  it's 11 am by this time and I am officially hungry (not having had anything to eat so far)  he then has the audacity to say...maybe we could just have porridge, I'm not that hungry...hahahaha  so we have our hot cereal and I decide to have a cinammon bun after all...go to the freezer and thaw one out...but they are all just the end ones...half the size and no raisin, nuts or sugary goodness to be seen. damn.

I told R I was going to write about his bun eating on my blog and he cried...They are going to think I am a monster....ahahaha,  I said, they already do...and you are...you bun eater.

The Olympics, don't get me started..

So I was watching the news last night and they showed on there the very begining of the opening ceremony for the 2010 winter Olympics and I was flumuxed at what I saw...was that Arnold Shwartzenegger carrying the torch.  I'm sorry did I fall asleep in front of the TV again and wake up in a parrallel universe, the last time I heard Arnie was an American...I thought CANADIAN's were going to carry the torch through CANADA.  I am a huge fan of Wayne Gretzky but come on there were dozens of Canadians just as or more deserving of that honour than Wayne.  He hasn't lived in Canada for years now... and although he has coached the Olympic hockey team it's old news.... what about a few of my picks.... General Rick Hillier, Ian Miller, or Steve Nash, what about a para-olympian, Michael J Fox, I would say David Suzuki but he wouldn't have done it. what about Piet the female astronaut, what about a deserving first nations individual. Sidney Crosby, Cindy Klassen etc...etc...

Any way, I have also noticed how hard it is to avoid doing something...like watching the games on TV...my way of boycotting...but my god they are everywhere....HGTV channel here I come...even a Mike Holmes rerun is preferable to the games. I may have to dust off some old DVD's.

Another day Another problem

Well today started out on a bit of a sour note...R came in from the barn at 6 am crept into bed and slept, as a matter of fact we both slept like the dead ( I guess I missed his snores seranading me in my sleep) and I was late for a doctor's appointment...ahaha

I swear, a person has to be a physician themselves to make any sense of the medical profession these days... they all want to clock out and don't give a damn.  I went in and demanded my doctor have me tested for a certain condition today and if it turns out the test is positive I am going to raise a little hell, no A LOT of Hell.

I called today and made my  donation to HAITI, matchable by the federal gov, it was the last day they would match donations.

The other day I was watching the news and they had just discovered a man who had been buried in the rubble in Haiti for 27 days.... 27 DAYS, people.... imagine...being pinned under a building for that many days, no food, no water, the smell of the dead in your brain....  Do you know what it makes me think of...  I think of all the times shit like that has happened in the world...and searchers have given up after a week of searching for survivors and there were some still alive...under the rubble, waiting...and waiting...how long did they wait....how many were there just like this Haitian man. What would go through your mind I wonder. Well he is still alive....he was immaciated...but alive... amazing. The human spirit is amazing.

Here we go again

Well here we go again, I thought I would give blogging another try. Boredom is my greatest enemy, Idle hands do the devils work and all "that" ....