Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Sorry it has been so long. I have been busy. Kelly was gone for the weekend and Jessie and I were left to calve out heifers. We have three so far and only one more to go. The rest of the cows won't start calving until the middle to end of April. Hopefully, the Spring snowstorms will be over by then.

The weather was beautiful and reaching into the 50's. However, the snow rolled in on Saturday night and we got 4 inches and the temp dropped to about 7F for a high. I spent a lot of time coaxing cows and babies into the barn.

Kelly drove into the yard yesterday, and I washed my hands of the whole lot for the day. Jessie and I took the day off. Of course, Jessie's job was to wander into the pen and pet the new babies every once in a while. She has named two of them Easter and Lily. She is still deciding on the third name. These are pretty sweet and innocent names for what they are going to grow up to be. At three days old, Lily scissor kicked me in the knee cap and then turned around and started hooking me. She was bellaring quite loudly as she did this. I had a dog trainer call the other day to let us know she had a dog a month away from being ready and she is related to our old dog that we had to put down last winter. After a week alone with cows chasing me up the fence, I called her back and told her I would take it. Kelly has yet to recover from the shock of a new dog and the cost, but I'm quite positive he will get over it. It is a dog or a hired hand.

We had our last hockey game on Saturday. After wrestling with calves all day, I was exhausted and very sore after it. We did end the season with a two game winning streak and a borrowed goalie. Flat Stanley got to go on one last Canadian adventure before he gets mailed back to Texas.

We went into town for Cowboy Church yesterday. Linda, Lori, and I were the entertainment. As always, Linda gave a great sermon and we survived the musical part of it. Somehow someone decided we needed amps and microphones. We don't. None of us are smart enough to work any of that. We put in a good effort though and decided we need a sound man. We have another Cowboy Church to play at on April 1. However, I am leaving for Texas tomorrow and not coming back until the 31st. They assure me that it will all be okay. I don't need to practice. Yeah right!!

Well, I better head to town. I have a lot to do before we fly out tomorrow. Have a great day!!

Hello!

Well, we have had a busy week around here. We rented the arena in town on Monday and Tuesday to dummy buck some bulls. Wednesday, I went into town to Jessie's class for reading log. They read different levels of books and before they move on to the next book, they have to read it to an adult. It is always an interesting day. Last week there was a sub. I'm quite sure that lady has since retired. Jessie is in a 1st and 2nd grade split class, so it does get interesting. One little girl was tattling on another for saying the "F" word. There were lots of tears and yelling between the accused and the accuser and silence amongst the spectators. It was great. However, it is killing me to know what the "F" word is in first grade. I am quite sure that the accused has no idea what the real "F" word is. My child maybe, but not this one. I am scared to ask Jessie for fear of what she might say. With Jessie's lifestyle, she has the knowledge of a cowboy, stock contractor, and a trucker. It is quite scary.

Kelly was supposed to fly to Dallas yesterday for a bull futurity, but his flight out of Calgary was cancelled due to weather conditions in Dallas. Now, we find this hilarious. Sarah had called and said they cancelled her school on Friday. Jessie has to go to school until the temperature hits -30C. This cannot include the windchill. I believe she has missed two or three days this winter.
Anyways, Kelly returned home yesterday morning after a brief trip to Calgary.

While Kelly was away, Jessie helped clean the house. She also came out to help me put our recip heifers in the barn for the night. I told her not to stand in the middle of the pen and to keep her head up. She quickly let me know, "Mom, they are heifers not bulls. They aren't gonna get you." Not five minutes later and a few laps around the pen, I got snot blown at me. By the time I got them in the barn and sorted, I was crawling along the tops of gates to get them chained.

Today, we are headed into town for a barrel race and team roping jackpot I was volunteered to help with. I get to bartend from 5 this afternoon to 2 in the morning. It is a benefit dinner as well. It should be lots of fun. I don't know if I can stay up until 2 am though.

So, such is life around here. It is warm. Yesterday, I believe it was 39F. The sun finally has some heat to it. This weekend is supposed to be +10 and 12 C. We love the days on the positive side of the scale. There will be no snow left in a few days. I'm sure that March or April snow storm will rear it's ugly head at some point. With any luck, it will happen before we start calving.

Hope all is well in your world.

Back in Alberta

We are home from beautiful British Columbia. The skiing was spectacular as was the rest of the trip. The weather was so nice. It was above freezing the whole time we were there. We came home with no major injuries. Kelly had one swollen knee because you just can't pass up a good jump. It was entertaining to watch the landings. Most of the injuries came from our hockey games in the garage with the miniature hockey nets and sticks. There were lots of bruises and blood was drawn once. You can't take three rodeo families and put them in a single car garage with hockey sticks and not think there won't be some competitiveness. We were more sore from hockey than skiing and no one really holds back there either. Even Flat Stanley came away from the ski trip with no major wrinkles and lots of pics. Sarah sent us a Flat Stanley that one of her ex students is doing, so we took him along. We had lots of fun with Stanley.

Jessie had a great time with her grandparents. I believe she kept them in line and gave them their orders. They stayed here with her so she could get on the bus and Kelly's dad could do chores for us. We are very lucky.

As for now, it is back to the real world. Kelly is headed to Lethbridge for a bullriding tonight and Jessie and I are maybe going to Red Deer to a movie. Hope all is well with everyone and thanks for all the comments. I love reading them.