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.

Sick

Ugh I hate being sick.  Its only a cold and I totally blame the hubby for it, he come home last weekend with it and shared it with me.  Yay.  Well now for a few days rest and hopefully I will be over it in no time (its already been 5 days) So sad today I had to miss out on the chance to ride the pony with my friends today :(

I went riding Thursday and had a pretty good lesson, the barn was so busy so I never ended up staying long afterwards and got asked about it I guess they all stayed till 5 and left me a beer, darn next time I guess.  I was told to use my feet more even if its wrong get those feet moving.  And I have mostly quit leaning but I still need to keep watching the cow more and stop harder.  Always can stop harder and wait, I'm not very good at wait.  Then Friday I met up with Shirley in Nanton for a short visit while she was on her way through.  Then my friend was is Strathmore so I met her for lunch and we went shopping to the tack stores, never bought anything.  And then she wanted to see Easy so we headed up there.  Wasn't sure if he'd been rode or not but he hadn't so he said I should get on him and he had cows in so we worked cows.  Was super good I dunno what happened but I even picked fast cows and it was good.  He asked if I had been drinking, and no I hadn't haha.

Easy didn't even get upset cause when I went to get him he had just got his supper.  That's his favorite thing.  But next best is working cows and as soon as he saw cows he was his cheerful self again.  His previous owner was there last week and asked if I was gonna pay him more for him now that I like him haha not likely.  And he said I'm riding him too much he likes to be rode one day a week and eat the rest.  I laughed and said wouldn't we all.  Doug just shakes his head and thinks its good for Easy to be rode and he seems to enjoy it, he's bored otherwise just hanging out in his stall or in an outside pen pestering the horses next to him.

Oh well soon he can come home and hang out here with the pony, I'm pretty sure the two of them will have to be in all summer cause they will both get obese otherwise.

Still haven't decided on what I'm gonna do this summer.  I was given the option of just showing once a month and having fun or really going for it and trying for top 5 in my class, he thinks that's possible but then that means I have to go to every show and that gets expensive and time consuming.  Still have a few days to think about it the first summer show isn't till the 15th of April.  I'm kinda leaning towards once a month and take the winter off and then next yea go all out.  I have lots of other things I wanna do this summer to so its hard to just focus on showing.

Moving Cows with Good Friends

So the weekend before I went to get Chili I got asked to come down and help move cows.  Well heck yes :)  I always feel privileged when I am asked to help move cows.  Sometimes its easy and fun and other times its work and long days.  Either way its so worth it.  Another girl was going as well and she lives on the way and so I picked her up and we traveled together.  What a fun way to travel.  We knew each other but haven't visited in a while so it was good to catch up again.

We went the night before cause it was 4 hours away and we stayed up late visiting it was nice to have a girls night.  I brought Jessie and J brought her pally horse and after hanging out in the trailer on the ride they were best buds and hung out in the corral together had no trouble.  Of course Jessie was just happy to have grass and a friend, shes so easy.

Click on the pics to see them bigger, they look better :)

(good set of black cows)

(my view most of the day)

(and on the other side)

(Going into the valley)

(some pictures get a little wonky when riding, I wish Wilbur's tail was hanging to the side

 so it would look like we were on a real steep sidehill)

(I thank Linda for taking this I love it...and my toque lol)

In the morning a couple more friends come and we saddled up and were off.  We moved the trailer to where we were gonna quit so we didnt have to ride all the way home.  The cows were right outside the yard and we gathered them up and pushed them out.  The cows are pretty quiet and didnt really wanna leave but they were pretty good.  They get called the city cows cause they hang out near building and like the stock trailer lol.  It was a pretty ride, and not too hard, there was a nice cow trail down the hill and then we pushed them all the way to the dugout so they knew where the water was.  Seems like such a small amount of cows there compared to when I am usually riding with them.

(sitting in the back)

(neat rocks coming out of dirt hills)

(more cows in the bottom)

(cool cactus the J was shadow touching)

(taking my pic while I was visiting and not looking)

(pretty river?  only shows up when it rains)

(hard to see but the US border is over the valley, its all crop land on the other side, 

easier to see if enlarged)

Afterwards we took out the side by side and we drove on the trails to some of the cooler places down there.  Some places are just like home while others are quite different.  Lots of snakes down there and no gophers so no gopher holes that was nice.  And no brush that was weird.  And so very flat, I guess its not as flat here as I thought it was compared to there.  Really neat spot I sure enjoyed riding and touring and seeing old friends and new places.  Perfect trip, was kinda sad when it came to an end.  But I got home and the nephews were here and they missed me and were super excited when I got back so that made it a little better.

(and a pretty windy hilly road on the way home...J took this)

More Mountain Riding and Getting Home

I took so many pics while we were riding in the mountains, it was so pretty and so different from what I see here that I couldn't help it.  I sure like my gopro for that, no need to carry a camera all the time.  We never saw any wildlife even tho I really wanted to see a bear....not close up but seems everywhere I go there is no bears :(  On the last day I wore Janice's horn bags cause Jazz was a little unsure of them so I even had the bear spray.  If I was more organized Id have brought my own horn bags but had no reason to need them (I thought)

(I love how there's just trails through the trees)

On Wednesday Janice rode Mattie and we went to the same spot as Tuesday but on the other side of the road.  We thought we got a little lost as she thought we could see the 1st butte from everywhere...not so.  But we found our way back.  Its pretty hard to get lost (even for me) you just make a longer loop sometimes.

(We tried not to ride near the power lines but they are just in the way sometimes)

(lots of open fields in this area)

(and some gorgeous views)

Then Thursday she took Jazz again and we went farther away, towards Cranbrook since I was going that way anyways and we actually came across a few cows.  Kinda unexpected but cool.  Jazz had never seen cows and she was worried but she got so she would follow one that was cool.

(a different kind of forest here)

(and lots of obstacles)

(Perfect ground for a barefoot horse)

Then the trip home.  Razz was tired and so was I.  But somehow coming home is always good as much as I love going.  Sure is pretty drive and roads are good but slower through the mountains.

(pretty mountains)

(more mountains unfortunately got a power line right in my view)

(Love the ones without trees on top)

(and pretty windy roads with lakes beside them)

(Looking more like Alberta :))

(and old building I'm guessing sawmill)

(Lumbreck, thanks Shirley)

(Frank Slide)

(Yay prairies coming up )

(and a pretty sunset on the Prairie)

 I made 2 stops on the way home, one for fuel and one in Brooks for groceries and food for me.  Got home just before dark and put Razz away and got her Dee so shes not alone.