Merry Christmas

We spent the 23rd in Medicine Hat at a funeral for a good friend,  She will be missed.  Cancer sucks.  But she is in a better place now and we will all see her again one day.  While we ere there we finished up our Christmas shopping and then had supper and headed home. 

Sunday we were on our way to Olds after Neil finished chores.  But first our neighbors come and we had coffee and Baileys with them, must have Baileys in all coffee at Christmas time ;)  Then the waterers were frozen so it actually worked well cause they were thawed by the time the neighbors left.  So we packed the truck and off we went.

(Jaret modeling his snowman glasses)

(Tristan modelling Santa glasses)

(Neil and his farmer shirts he loves)

(the sign I made for Jaret)

(Heidi so excited for her new camera)

(Tristan got a Denny's cup, best gift ever for him lol)

(my mom with her anchor socks, she LOVES anchors)

(Neil looking at a gift)

(my Aunt Shirley studying her gift)

(my mom and her knitting bowl)

(Neil with more presents)

(Heidi opening a birthday gift from my aunt, its an unfinished scarf lol)

Was a good day , we opened presents and ate and got stockings and visited and lots of laughing occurred.  I had most of my shopping done early and I really liked that it saved a lot of stress except what shoulda been easy was hard, t-shirts for a teenager, well last place we stopped at had the best ones and they were cheap!  We shoulda gone there first. 

(Cheyanne was pooped)

(Rupert not a fan of the noise)

(me and Neil by the tree)

(aunty Shirley)

(Tristan and Jaret)

(Tristan and Heidi and Jaret)

(my mom and Clint and Cheyenne)

(haha me in my model pose by the tree)

All in all a good day, I took a lot of pics, will share a few here.  Then on the way home we stopped to take pics at the John Deere and Case dealerships who always decorate some farm equipment its pretty cool. 

And then got home at 11 and it was -33*C brrr.  Good thing it warmed up a bit today lol -16*C but still too cold to go for a ride even if it was the first Christmas in my life I coulda.

Atlas Coal Mine

So we have lived about 1/2 hour from the atlas coal mine at East Coulee for at least 16 years  And we went one year about 8ish (I cant remember lol) years ago to a ghost walk that was there in the tipple.  Which is where they sort the coal.  Ever since then I have wanted to go to the rest of it so this summer when My Mom and Clint were out I thought was the perfect time.  Neil and Clint went golfing in Rosebud and we were gonna meet them in Drum for supper so we had a couple hours of time left.  And so I suggested the mine, everyone seemed happy about it so off we went.  It was really good.  There was only 5 people in out tour group so that was really nice we got more info and time to ask questions.  My mom didn't take the tunnel tour with us because she didn't think she could walk the 200 steps down from there.   She did a train trip tour instead and said it was really good too.

(Its now a national Historic Site so that's kinda cool)

(the Tipple)

(inside the tunnel, it was hot in here until we actually got in the dirt part, 

then it was chilly but she said about the same temp all year round +5*C)

(looking down from the blacksmith shop)

(the forge)

(and even a power hammer way back when)

 Our Lady took us right through like we were miners, from the showers to the tunnel, through the blacksmith and up and then finally in to the actual mine.  Was at least a 20 minute walk to the mine everyday.  Then they had to go tho the tunnel they were working in, the mine was I believe 8 miles long and 5 miles wide, kinda crazy.  They only worked in the winters and were the cleanest guys around cause the showered every night before going home.  Sounds like a tough life, they recruited Jaret as a blacksmith helper cause he could lift 2 pails of teeth for the cutters and take them up to the blacksmith shop to get repaired.

(the mine plan)

(The tipple from the mine entrance)

(On the way down, you can see the tunnel we came up in on the right side)

(and more tunnel and the mine site, and the train with my Mom in it)

(we all got a helmet and a light from an actual miner that we wore inside, I was number 15, a single German who earned $70.33, not bad pay I musta been a hard worker cause they paid per tone of coal you got out)

Glad I went, even if it took a while for me to get there.

Mounted Shooting

Wow we have done a lot of touring this summer, I gotta go through my pics of Atlas Coal mine but that was a super cool tour right nearby.  And seeing the Biplanes from Vimy that was cool too.  But we also did a bunch of horse stuff, like going to a mounted shooting competition down in Brooks.  I don't compete but Neil's cousin and his wife do as well as a friend of Neil's from Hanna and a friend of mine.

(Micheal First Pattern)

(Michael Second Pattern)

(Miranda second Pattern)

(Miranda another second pattern)

We found out when Miranda msged me and asked if we were going, well sure we can go and visit cause way closer than where they live lol.  Micheal's Mom and Dad (Cathy and Bumpy) were coming down and so we visited with them as well.  Neil's Mom and Dad came and his Aunt Doris as well.  It was a family reunion lol. My nephews came as well cause they never seen it before and they thought was kinda cool.

(I don't know who she is but her horse coulda been Razz!)

(Denise and her Bandit, 

we missed later on when she did the shotgun class woulda been cool)

(and I don't know who he is either but he has one of those compression hoods on, 

I guess he can be kinda spazy but it seems to work so far)

(and a mule, they run so weird)

I got a few pics, was nice cause it was in the outdoor arena so pics turned out really good.  Jaret wanted me to get a pic of a balloon bursting but I wasn't fast enough, maybe next time I will try to do a burst shot and maybe get one.  Looks like a fun sport, might be cool to try but I still like cutting more.

Summer Times

Well its been a whole but my computer quit on me and I can't blog on my phone too tiny.  Been a lot going on, my sisters wedding, got my 2 nephews out for the summer to help us here, went to another clinic with Razz, a family reunion, and both my mares are bred and back home again.

(I have wanted a gate up North so I can ride through it,

 it works well I took Jess on a ride to try it).

(Picking berries, we had a lot of saskatoons and even more choke cherries)

(Tristan and Neil pounding posts in our bull field)

(Neil saw this Tardis in Drum so we had to get a closer look and a pic)

(the hall at the family reunion)

(the family crest)

(a cool but not cool smokey sun)

(one of my favorite flowers in the garden)

(Trying to get pics of Easy as AQHA has lost his papers

 and he was not always cooperative)

(and a poor pic of a Piping Plover in the creek)

I got a lot of projects on the go as well, and some we got done already, sure handy having another pair of hands around to get stuff done.  I will need to do a special post on the wedding and the clinic and what else is going on with ponies as well.