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.

It's Been a While, I know!

Sorry, it's been a while, but life is busy. Our barn is finally done. We are very excited to have it restored to it's original color. This has been quite and undertaking. We have been busy cleaning out the inside so we can calve out recip heifers if the need be. Hopefully, they can handle it on their own or wait until we get home. When we bought the place, this barn was white and brown and was stacked to the roof with junk. We took loads and loads of trash to the dump and cleaned years of pigeon mess out of the loft. It was an old milking barn, so we cut out all the old stansions with a cutting torch and built stalls. So, this is why it is so exciting to finally have it finished.

Kelly and I are headed to Kimberley, British Columbia this afternoon. We are going skiing for a few days with friends. The high is supposed to be 6C and a chance of rain. Hopefully, that will hold off and we get to ski in the warm weather with no rain.

Kelly's mom and dad are coming to stay at the house with Jessie. She is quite excited. Grandma already has her orders and I'm sure she will get lots more.

That is all I know for now. I need to get packing. We are leaving in an hour and I'm still doing laundry.

Off to a Good Start!

Sunday has been a great way to start our week. The weather has been beautiful today. We just came in for hot chocolate. Jessie has been sledding today, Kelly has been choring, and I cleaned out the barn. Kelly called in the horses and Lucky and I pulled Jessie around on her sled until he was exhausted and my arms could pull no more. He was a little fresh to say the least. There is getting to be very little snow, so there were a few bumps in the ride. Jessie kept yelling faster, and I swore to her that she did not want me to let Lucky go any faster or she would need a helmet. She told me to "at least let him lope or run or something." She was pretty brave even after she bit it a couple of times.

That is all the excitement around here for now. We are off to town for supper. The cook is on strike and it's a holiday anyways. Family Day is tomorrow, so no school. Do not ask me what Family Day is. I think it is another excuse for Canadians to have a long weekend that they are so fond of.

Monday!

Today was definitely a Monday.

I got a call from school today that maybe I needed to come see if Jessie was okay. "Not an emergency, but" I maybe needed to come see if her teeth were all still in her head. Seems she had an accident in the gym during the Valentine dance at lunch recess. I took her to town with her screaming the 20 minutes to town that she didn't want stitches or to go to the dentist and I couldn't make her. Two hours later we emerged from the emergency room with only one stitch in the lip, a big nose, and all teeth. Even I held up and didn't get too weak in the knees at the sight of the blood and needles. I have to admit I did look away when they sewed it up. Kelly thought I was insane to take her in over a busted lip until he saw how big it is. She said that if felt like she had teddy bear lips and she missed her small lips.

All in all, the lesson I learned today is that no matter how bad it is, a strawberry sundae and a High School Musical Barbie Doll will make it all better.

Winter is Back with a Vengeance

Well, this morning we woke up to howling winds and a -30 windchill. Not long after Jessie got on the bus did the snow start falling. I was talking to Jessie's volleyball coach on the phone when it started and she said her kids were on their way back home. The bus got halfway to town and decided to turn around. Apparently, Jessie's bus made it before the storm hit. I may have to go to town and get her this afternoon.

Needless to say, chores were done in a hurry this morning. We still have no barn doors due to renovations, so I squeezed Copper through a small door into the lean to of the barn so he would be out of the wind. At 37, winter isn't the best time of the year for him. I'm sure he is disgusted with sharing space with two pot bellied pigs and a plethera of cats. I had to carry water to the barn b/c the faucet there is frozen. Kelly was doing chores with the tractor, so I went to help open gates. The wind and snow were blowing so hard we couldn't see the road for a stretch. It is not fit for man or beast out there, so Kelly is downstairs watching The Flintstones and I am spending the day catching up on laundry.

Anyways, that is all that is exciting and worth talking about in the Arctic North today. I hope everyone is doing well.

This pretty well sums up how I feel today.

The Cremation of Sam McGee

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.

Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.

He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;

Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell."
On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.

Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail.

If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see;

It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.
And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,

And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe,

He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess;

And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan:

"It's the cursèd cold, and it's got right hold, till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.

Yet 'tain't being dead — it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;

So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains."
A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;

And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.

He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;

And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.
There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,

With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;

It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say:

"You may tax your brawn and brains, But you promised true, and it's up to you, to cremate those last remains."

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.

In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.

In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,

Howled out their woes to the homeless snows — Oh God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;

And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;

The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;

And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;

It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May."

And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;

Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;

The flames just soared, and the furnace roared — such a blaze you seldom see;

And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so;

And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.

It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why;

And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;

But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;

I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside.

I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked"; ... then the door I opened wide.
And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;

And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and said: "Please close that door.

It's fine in here, but I greatly fear, you'll let in the cold and storm —

Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.

Hello Everyone!

Seeing that life has taken us to the far ends of the arctic, I thought that maybe starting a blog would help us to keep in touch with the many people that we don't get to visit with often. We all know how organized I am, or maybe not. However, I will try my best to keep this up to date so you will know about the daily happenings in our lives. I'm sure I can keep it up until summer comes, if it does. No promises after that.