The Weekend

We spent this last Friday and Saturday at some friend's branding. They live west of Stavely, Alberta in the hills. Willow Creek runs in front of their house and if you ride up the ridge behind the house you can see the Rockies. It is the most beautiful place on earth. We had a great visit with lots of friends we don't get to see on a regular basis and even got 400 calves branded in the meantime. I woke up early Saturday morning hoping to see the black bear that have been roaming through the yard, but they didn't show. Jessie was highly disappointed. Of course, she didn't wake up, she just told me to get pictures. Apparently, they've been showing up early in the morning and wrecking the trees around the houses.

Kelly took his gray up to ride and gather with no intention whatsoever of dragging calves, but of course, all the old buddies were around heckling him so he tried it. He did great. He definitely wasn't bothered by the five wrestling crews and the branding pot he had to walk by. He got a little up in the bits, but it didn't last long. We are quite impressed that he takes everything so well, considering he only got broke when he was five and that was last year.

Anyways, I thought I would share some pics I took. I didn't get to take many as I spent most of the day branding and vaccinating.

As for now, we are off to the neighbors to brand this afternoon. They are short handed since Lori had an emergency appendectomy last week and she is usually a roper, a cutter, and the cook.