Hanna Rodeo All Horse Parade 2015

I'm in a new challenge again this fall, same group as the winter one but this is a shorter one and easier time for me.  Its the 4321 challenge.  so its 43 days and 21 hours horsemanship.  Im in at 3 hours so far.  it goes till the end of October so I have lots of time and doubt I will have trouble finishing this time. I picked Jessie cause I kinda wanted to get her in shape and riding again if I am gonna sell her and get another cutter.  Well I went to the Hanna Rodeo Parade today, perfect its in my challenge time.  They started it a little later than last year I think and so that was handy for me, never had to leave home till 9.  On a Parade day?????? I know pretty spoiled here :)

(I was so worried about her feet since she wasn't shod this year, 

but it was all pavement and didn't seem to bother her, if there was gravel 

I probly wouldn't have gone)

Got up there and brushed her clean, its hard to get her shiney when shes shedding summer hair and getting fuzzy but I did as good as I could, white legs and face.  And then put goop in her hair and realized I forgot a mane and tail brush.  Oh well used my body brush and it worked fairly well.  Was all ready and just sitting around visiting till parade time, that was nice.

(they had this cute little donkey dressed in overalls and a straw hat.  

She woulda gone in the parade but didn't wanna walk that far)

(Jess wasn't sure what that weird thing making a lot of noise was)

(also map my runned it, I love that program)

Its kinda a cool route too cause they go up the  road to the Old Folks Home and all the people sit outside to watch.  Then over to the Lodge, where a lot of them used to use horses so they love seeing that.  Then up to the hospital, we loop around the parking lot and the nurses wheel them out and they get to see it too.  Then down to main street where most of the viewers are.

(Close to the beginning)

(going by the Lodge)

All in all a good morning, a little chilly and cloudy but still warmer than last year.  Its too bad it was cloudy though cause the pictures don't look as good.  I'm hoping someone got a pic of me in the parade since Neil didn't come this year to take one.  I got a few off my go pro but I'm not in any, just my pony.

(Jess gets her goodies in the trailer after we are done)

(her favorite part of getting rode, lol the grazing afterwards)

(Neil thought he would put the cat on Jess, Jess was fine with

 it, the cat didn't want any part of that though.)

Race Day

So this year again I planned on entering the Drumheller Marathon.  Not the full marathon of course, that will probly never happen.  But I did do the 10K.  That was a spur of the moment decision, I figured I had time to train and so I entered it ahead of time so I was in and had a goal.  of course morning of race day was cold and rainy.  Good thing I preentered cause it woulda been super easy to climb back in bed.  Although I was pretty excited about it this year.

(we saw this guy walking his dinosaur....he never did the race tho :) )

I been training, 2 short runs, 2 longer bike rides and 1 long run a week.  I did my long run Sundays since that's what day the race was.  I upped it a mile a week.  I shoulda had more time but there's always a need for more time so I just done it.

I started running, which I know is a mistake but its so hard not too when everyone else starts out that way.  By 1K I was sore in the legs so I walked and got passed, then at about 3K I was feeling better so I could walk faster but by then i was so far behind everyone but I kept going.  I did start to feel a little better later on and was a little faster.  My goal time was about hour and a half.  Of course I also estimated the path wrong, I thought 10K was 6 miles, turns out it is 6.42 miles.  So i finished with 1:40:50.  not bad, I was pretty well done at the end of the race so that made me feel good that I could not have gone faster, that's always my worry that I coulda done more but not on this day.

(my shirt and medal and number)

(I never wore the shirt cause it was cccold out, 

started with rain then just cool,

 was nice to run in after the rain quit)

Not to make excuses but I was not feeling great, my lungs were sure not 100% with having a cold and then the smoke and my lungs are not clear but the legs held up and that was more than I could ask for.  I had a massage on the Wednesday before and she told me to just stretch and do yoga, no more workouts and so that's what I did, but I kinda wish I woulda done a short walk the days before just to keep it up.

(my time and Im 129 out of 131)

(and the winner, 38:27...not gonna be me ever!)

(and Neil did the 5K and faster than last year so thats cool)

Already looking for another race, theres a night race in banff, its only 5 miles so should be easy peasy and cool its at night!

New House

So in case you didn't know...hear it on Facebook or something we are getting a new house this fall.  I am super excited about it, its been a long go.  I'll start way back when we got married in 2004.

We were talking about a new house, Neil said this one was old and we should get a new one built.  He was saving money had stocks and when they hit a certain amount we would cash them in and it would be about half a house and get a mortgage for the other half.   OK sounds good.  I didn't want to live in a house where the roof leaks down the walls, the basement is cinder block and its caving in, the basement filled with water, the windows were so old and let in cold air, and there was no insulation left to speak of.  I never knew it then but I tell everyone now, don't live in your mother in laws house.  I like my Mother in law...we don't have a lot in common but I like her.  But every time she comes here she wants to move stuff back to how she had it and she just puts stuff there.  Its annoying I want stuff where I put it.  And its gotta be hard for her seeing it different then she had it.  So don't do it.  But I didn't have anyone tell me that before we got married so here I am 11 years later.

After we had been talking about what we wanted in a house and stuff for a while, we even looked at a few plans,  then Neil told his dad and his dad said well that's no good, a new house on a farm never raises property value.  Well I was quite annoyed but not knowing them like I do now and so not being as confident to say what I think around them I didn't say much.  But on the way home I told Neil I planned on living here for 20 or 30 years still, I wasn't worried about property values.  He said he was planning on that too.  But it made an impact on him anyways and so we put it off.  Then cow prices went down and we didn't have a lot of extra money and we got used to living in this house.

About 7 years ago we got a new well, we woulda needed it new hose or not so that was good, then about 5 years ago, we got the roof reshingled, they did a good job and it didn't leak!  Yay!  that was nice but there was a whole lot of water that had leaked in the house from before and I wanted to tear off the ceiling and fix it, cause I'm sure there was mold there so I started tearing off the worst marked tiles and then I went away for a scrap booking weekend and Neil was so proud that he replaced them.  Well I wasn't happy and mentioned it, never mind they don't make the big tiles anymore and he used a smaller size and it looked stupid.  We also got a sewer pipe replaced that went outside, and last summer we only had water to the toilet and bathroom sink.  That was real handy.  We spent most of the summer showering down at the local campground...which has real nice showers actually.

Then all this going on and Neil said we need to get a plumber and he might as well replace all our plumbing.  I said I think we should rethink this new house, cause its already been a roof, now plumbing, pretty soon sewer, and the basement walls, then the windows and new siding......   Well he didn't say anything and whatever, I know he needs time to think about stuff and make it his own idea.  Well in Aug last summer we went to Fort St John to visit my aunt and on the way home we stopped in Red Deer and he said we should look at some houses.  YAY!!!!  So we looked a a lot of them, from the big, no huge, ones to the smaller mobile home looking ones.  We decided on a ready to move (RTM) that they had on the lot there, we really liked it.  The people in there were super friendly and helpful but we were not ready to buy right away.

So we go home and I go for the weekend to the threshing and when I come home, he had the plumber out and he just did a temporary fix and made all our water work.  That was nice to come home and get to have a shower at home.  So we were decided, we didn't want to get it in the winter so we planned on going in the spring and ordering it for summer.  Then I hurt myself in February and so that was out so by the time we went in a decided on everything we wanted and the saleslady in Brooks was so slow (and it was branding season so we never got down as much as we wanted) we finally ordered the house and its coming October 10th.  Super excited!!!!!!

I got a few pics of the stuff going in, the rest will have to be a surprise until it gets here :)

(the outside...sorta. we have black trim, and different windows,

 and the bottom under the deck will match the siding,

 but this was the model on the lot)

(the floor plan, we are facing the bottom part to the lawn)

(the color of the cupboards, its licorice)

(the counter top is the laminate, and the back splash will be the white subway 

tiles with a row of the glass after 3 tile rows)

(and the lino, they discontinued this one so we got the same sort of pattern 

with wider boards and knot holes, I actually like it better)

(and we plan on a garage but not till next summer, and we were deciding on size 

so I just drew up a quick plan, looks like 30X32)

I didn't get pics of the carpet, its just a plain light grey, for the main bedroom, one spare bedroom and the living room.  The walls are owl grey and the trim is white.  The siding is Harvest slate with black soffits and eaves and trim.  I'm super excited, stuff is starting to come together, the 17th the guy is coming to put the pilings in and then we are getting the backhoe guy the say after to dig in the water and sewer lines, a septic tank and a cistern.....Oh ya we are having town water :)  We talked to the electrician and he figures easy to move power and phone lines from old house and they now run them right under the house rather than bery them so that easy, after the house is here he will come do that and hook everything up.

Miss Bailey

Well I have been debating for a long time on selling Bailey.  I really like her, shes a god horse when you want to go chase cows, I know I can get on her after a year and a half (cause I did it before, I dunno how it managed to be that long) I can always catch her, load her, trim her feet, whatever anytime anywhere.  However I just don't ride her much anymore.  She prefers if we ride chasing cows and seems like I do that so little anymore, except during branding.  So comes the debating on selling her.

(There's some footage of Jaret riding Jessie too cause I asked

 Tristan to video and that's what he got so I cant complain)

I actually had a girl come out this summer and try her, she has a fast horse she is scared of and just wants to ride everyday.  She come out and Bailey was at the far end of the field and so we went out with Bob(our side by side) and caught them and then since she doesn't lead by Bob I let her go and drove up to the gate and of course all the horses come running.  We caught her, she saddled her with her own saddle and bridle.  I asked if she wanted to go alone and she said she was super nervous cause of her horse so I caught Jess and we went out together.  We walked and trottted, Bailey was looking around but real good did what she asked.  But in the end she decided no, and I felt a little better I dont know if a nervous person is the one who should own her.  Funny thing though after we caught her and she was saddling her she was already impressed as the last horse she tried the spent an hour catching and then she picked up the blanket and he freaked out like hes never seen a saddle before.  Said he was a good horse after that but I woulda left at that point, yikes don't need to deal with that on a broke horse.

(Ugh forgot my spurs so its all slow, she knows

that means its not serious...even if it was)

So there is a sale in Lethbridge, a cataloged 2 day sale and its always a big one, lots of ranch horses there so I figured I should sell her there be a good place with lots of viewings cause the catalog is on the internet too.  Got all the paperwork, filled it out.  Been riding Bailey regularly and today turned her out.  Never sent in the papers just wimped out. Its a hard time of year for me to ride all the time, so much going on and its boring in the arena and no cow work before then.  I might find a sale in the spring or just list her for sale in May/June next year.  So many choices.

(Ponying Bailey of Razz, she ponies so nice :) )

(We saw Neil in the Hay corral so we had to go have a look)

I think part of the dilemma is I had planned all this before I knew Chili wasn't gonna turn out.  And trying to make other decisions with horses, I don't wanna be left with nothing but Razz to ride.  I'm keeping Dee for a while so she'll be around and Trio of course but she's just gonna be 2 next year so won't be doing a whole lot.  And Jessie, thinking of selling her and getting a better for me cutting horse.  Its a hard choice but if I wanna cut I think its the right one, will go after the Supreme and Calgary cutting mid October and talk it over and see what my options are.

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)