October in Review

Well, it's only been a month or so since my last post, but hey, it's a busy world. Kelly was working away, so the kids and I were on chore duty. Mostly, I was on chore duty. At our last company meeting, which is a quick consult over dinner, I made the motion that if he was working away, we were getting a new squeeze chute. Of course, a young bull is limping around the pen when he was gone, so I had to get it out and doctor it. This was no easy task itself. Thank goodness for the three legged wanna be cowdog. He does save my ass from time to time. We got the bulls out of the feedlot pen and up the alley to the squeeze. No sorting was to be done. I knew that I was not even going to attempt that, so every animal had to go up the alley and out the squeeze. So, an hour later when I finally get the patient in the squeeze and his head caught I take on the task of 100cc of penicillin. Now, you might think this is easy, but thinking it wasn't that cold outside, I had fixed the syringe before I started. Not good. Penicillin tends to take on the consistency of maple syrup in this less than tropical climate. It took a while to squeeze it through the 16 gauge needle. I had hand cramps. To get to the point though, as I was doing this the bull was jumping and twitching and I was dodging the drop bars which were dropping down at random intervals. Not cool. I could have been cut, concussed or even killed. Kelly said, "oh yeah, you gotta watch those things, they'll do that, the old girl is gettin' kinda wore out." Really! Our nephew got married on the 27th. We had a great time at the wedding. Jake was the ring bearer. He actually went through with it and was well behaved. His sister did sit down at the front with a bag of candy to entice him and the flower girls. In true Jake style, he wasn't leaving behind his John Deere tractor or his backhoe, so we put one in each girls purse. And wouldn't you know it, he had a death grip on their hands all the way down the aisle.

Moving on. Halloween was great fun. Jake was a fireman and Jessie was a gypsy. Kelly and Jessie weighed the candy. They had 8 lbs. That is after I took out nine pop cans. Crazy. Jessie found her friends in town and quickly abandoned us. We took Jake to a few houses and then stopped at some friends and waited on Jessie to show back up. f

Jessie has been busy with hockey. She practices two nights a week and has games on the weekends. I feel like we live at the rink. She scored her first two goals of the year on Saturday. She was pumped. They have a great little team. This is her first year to play in Stettler. She informed us after the first practice that she had four coaches because this wasn't a rinky dink operation anymore. She is sure she is playing NHL hockey. That is all I know for now. Not much changes here on a day to day basis. As Kelly likes to put it, we are just chasing the dream and living the nightmare.

Catch up day!

What a great day to catch up! It is raining/snowing outside. Luckily it rained too much to get cows hauled to fall pasture, because I was not looking forward to saddling up in this. Poor Jessie has a cross country meet today. She left here with a bag of warm clothes, and I'm not sure it was enough at this point. Surely, it will get cancelled. Jake and I have spent the morning baking cookies. He's great help. This morning he attempted to crack an egg in the bowl when I walked away. I caught him in time to let him crack one into an empty bowl, not the one full of ingredients already. He stuck it between his hands and squeezed as hard as he could. The only thing that made it into the bowl was the shell. The rest hit the floor with a splat. He licked the beater, his favorite part. He said, "this very good, thanks!"

Jessie started hockey last week. It looks like it's going to be a fun year, long, but fun. She is playing on a different team this year, so she's making new friends, and so are we. We do all our business in Stettler where she is playing, and don't know but one couple on the team. She's very excited. She has three coaches this year. She told us, "this isn't a rinky dink operation anymore." Apparently it's the big times! So begins our life at the rink at least three days a week for the next six months. Well, I suppose I should catch up on some other stuff in the office. I've been putting off office work for several weeks now. Alberta is the perfect place in the fall, as long as you get one. The last two weeks have been in the 70's. We don't come inside unless we have to. It looks like that is coming to an end though and winter is sneaking in. Have a good one!

The Griswolds Go Camping

Well, it has happened. We bought a fifth wheel, so it was inevitable. I think.... We finally had a week off to do with as we wished, so the Armstrongs went camping. Just us and the trailer. There were no dogs, cats, horses or bulls involved. It took some getting used to, but we all settled in and finally relaxed. It was a total Griswold vacation. Kelly levelled (somewhat) the trailer, unhooked, and then looked at me and dared ask, "Now what do we do." I just looked at him and said, "You've got to be (insert expletive) kidding me." He grabbed a beer, sat down in his lawn chair and shut up. About an hour later he said, "I could get used to this."

We had planned the trip to Cypress Hills in southwestern Saskatchewan so we could go visit Kelly's grandmother and other family nearby. Well, as it turned out, his aunt and cousins and all the kids were camping there too. It was a great time. Jessie and Jake had a blast playing with their cousins. We drove into Eastend on Wednesday to visit Grammy A. She was happy to see the great grandkids that she rarely gets to see. It was a beautiful place to camp with lots of fun stuff to do, we all survived, so we are planning on trying this "camping" thing more often.

i

Of course, on the way home, we decided we weren't in a great hurry. Believe me that was a fleeting thought. But it lasted long enough for Kelly to take a detour into some small town on the way because they still have the old wooden stockyards that have a loading chute to load on to train cars. While this holds no interest to the rest of the vehicle occupants, we let him have his way. He told us he remembers watching cattle get loaded on to train cars when he was little. Jessie reminded him how old he was and I reminded her that Canada is twenty years behind most civilized countries in many ways.

After the brief stop at this roadside not such an attraction, we made it to Kelly's sisters. We had a short visit there, because now we were in a hurry to get home. She gave the kids two baby pot bellied pigs. Now, we already have one obese swine that meanders through the yard at her own leisure. I asked the question why, I was answered by my husband, who I'm quite sure is going senile, why not?

So, that ends the tale of the Cypress Hills Camping trip of 2012. Stay tuned for the next episode of Armstrong Family happenings or mishappenings.

Summer Fun!

These last few weeks of summer have been so busy, I haven't had the time to sit down and update the blog. We spent two weeks in Texas, which was a blast. We took in Sea World in San Antonio, and then spent a few days at Port Aransas. We, then, headed back to Vernon to spend a few days. It was great to see all the sights and work on our tans, but it is great to be back here and complain about how hot 83 degrees is. cat

We've spent the last week at home catching up on the yard work and moving bulls home, where, hopefully, they will stay out of trouble. Jessie bought a bull whip and has been practicing with it. Today, she took it and cracked it off her horse. She is really doing well. Big Boy is completely unimpressed by her new toy. She is waiting for Boomer to get a shoe tacked back on so she can try it on him. I'm pretty sure he will suffer cardiac arrest. He's already in a fragile state due to the climate change, the Boone and Crockett mosquitoes, and the fact that he has been forced to get his feet wet in this new country.

Next week we are headed to Cypress Hills for a camping trip. We've never been ones to head out to a national park and camp, so it should be entertaining. I will take the camera to capture the Griswold moments. Kelly and Jessie are excited, Jake will be when we get there, and I think it sounds like a lot of work for me. My idea of a vacation is not cooking or cleaning. I just pray it doesn't rain in western Saskatchewan next week.

Off to Calgary Stampede

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede. How cool is that? Kelly's great grandad, George Armstrong rode in that very first stampede. A few years ago, a guy working at the rodeo office gave us a copy of the entry sheet with his signature on it. I wonder what he would say to the $100,000 check to the winner of each event.

He might have something to say about his rodeo brat great great grandson who hopped in the truck at 8am and offered Shane a Bud Light. Thankfully, the offer was declined. Then he overhears a conversation in the front about a horse, and he promptly repeated, "get that son of a bitch." he and Shane both got in trouble, and Shane explained to him it was an "error in judgement on his part." jake nodded his head and carried on bucking off his stuffed bear on the bed wearing his hat and a diaper.
I'm thankful to have one easy child. Weird but easy so far. She sings about whatever she is doing at the time. She didn't know I was watching the other day when she leaped by singing, "graceful gazelle going to the garbage can."

I've Had It!

I'm threatening to sell out! This week Kelly has been gone to B.C for the week. We are still calving. Therefore, I am tagging calves by myself. Since Kelly decided to feed and calve out 150 beef cows that he partnered with a guy on, we are at, what I would call, full capacity. Since Kelly left, there have been twins, two deaths and nearly the loss of a wife. I did beat the cow to the truck, but she was nice enough to close the door for me. Now the driver door of the farm truck has a dent and will not close. It makes checking cows in the mud quite interesting. When you have to use two hands on the wheel, the door flies open. It is, however, handy when you need to jump out fast and grab a calf, because before the cow hit it, you had to open the door from the outside to get out. It is all glitz and glam here!

Our Trip To Texas By Jessie

Our trip to Texas was really exciting, especially on the way down and on the way back. I had to babysit Jake all the way there and back. I was so happy to get to Texas and get out of the truck.
While we were in Texas I got to do all kinds of stuff. The first day we got there I helped my grandma at her store. We stayed in Vernon for three days then we went to Fort. Worth to see my auntie. While we were at her house we went to the Botanical Gardens in Fort. Worth to see the butterflies which was really cool, and on another day we got to go shopping which is so fun because there is a Target:) One night my auntie, my mom and I went to see Mary Poppins on stage at Bass Hall. Our trip to Texas was so much fun!!!

Up and Running

OK, so we've been pretty lax these last couple years with this blog, but we have a good excuse. So, Jessie and I thought we would try again. She has been blogging with her classroom and has agreed to help keep up with this one since so many of you have whined about the lack of the Armstrong blog. I know it is more fun to laugh at the misfortunes of others than deal with your own. So we will do our best to keep y'all entertained!
The kids and I just got back from Texas. It was a great trip even though we drove with cows, bulls, a horse and Jake. Since I now have in my possession a Class 3 license, this means I'm a somewhat certified double clutcher and gear jammer, we drove the Freightliner, or "big truck" as it is called around here, down. Jessie wants to tell the story of the trip to Texas, so I'll let her do that.