Wet Branding

A week ago Wednesday we had a branding scheduled.  All day it was kinda drizzly and so we asked it if was still on and she said it was cause she isn't branding and there was no other day close she could pick.  I was rounding up and boy did Jessie think I was crazy when i pulled her out of the trailer and put her bridle on in the rain.  But she was good.  It wasn't really cold out just wet.  We got the cows in and cut out some cows and it was a muddy mess in the corrals.  We took a break, I put Jess in the trailer and she was dry the rest of the time, not like the rest of us.

Everyone showed up and we got it done.  Then she had supper at the hall and I sure wished I had brought a spare set of clothes but I didn't so I was wet everywhere, except my head because I wore my togue.  I was laughed at but it was warm.  I wish I had a slicker tho, might have to invest in one.  One guy had one he got at the CFR, it was nylon and folded up into a tiny pouch it would be nice I could keep it in my trailer all the time.

By the time we left the hall after supper it had quit raining, of course.  But she was done and it was all good.  Much prefer a warm day than a cold and wet one, but it gave us something to talk about.

Hauling Cattle

So on Sunday since Susan wasn't coming out like she planned (he daughter had ball again, sometime I just wanna cancel something she wants to do cause I have to go watch someone play ball, not that I begrudge her watching her daughter, but every game?)  Anyways we  Neil decided that we should haul cows up to out place at Stettler.  I call it the Stettler place but its really Rosalind, but no one knows where that is.  We were bringing up 46 heifers, a 2 year old who lost her calf but we wanted to keep her, and 2 bulls.  So 3 loads in Neil's trailer and 2 loads for me.  When its a 5 hour round trip, that is way to much for me to do in one day, but Neil don't mind, so I was gonna take one Sun, and one Mon and he was gonna do a second one Sunday.

(sure did a number on that one!)

But as we were going down the Dorothy hill, Neil blew a truck tire.  Of course he is all worried about me and having a spare, since Friday night I had 2 flats on the trailer (I think I musta drove over something)  and he had to fix the last one at 11 at night cause I could not get the jack down.  But anyway he had his spare tire in the nose of the trailer.  But whoever designed the trailer never put a door on the outside, so we had to go in with the heifers and get it from there.  Not good.   And the spare was not good either, we pumped it up but figured we better head home cause we were not sure it would hold.  And he had no jack, we had to borrow one from the same guy who pumped the tire up.

 (haha I got her in the air!)

(The tree that broke off and landed on the corrals)

We got home and let the cows out (the rest were still in the corral) and he found a better spare and put it on and after lunch decided to try it again.  We got loaded with a different bunch of cows and left to go through Hanna rather than Drum cause its closer.  We were only going through Drum to stop at East Coulee cause they were having thier monthly breakfast there.  We were almost to Hanna and I called Neil to tell him to turn around cause I needed to change a tire.  It was not flat yet, but the tread was coming off in big chunks.  Not sure what caused it, the tire looked good, wasn't that old, but sure was hot and I was sure it would blow if we left it.

 (another mysterious bird)

(too much water, it killed the trees)

We put the spare on and decided to keep going anyways.  Have I mentioned how I hate tires!!!  Well the spare everyone thought was crappy lasted the rest of the trip without any trouble.  Which was good.  We got up there, unloaded the cows and came home.  We were exhausted and it was about 7, so we decided to call it a day.

 (Pretty rose bud)

Monday morning we got the rest of the cows in and loaded all but 12.  My truck can haul 6, Neil's trailer 13 and so the last load was one cow light.  I am amazed how much more power my half tonne gas truck has than our old dodge 3/4 ton diesel.  And better fuel mileage too.  When I used the old truck I always had to stop for gas at Castor (hour or so from home) and with this truck I still had 1/4 tank left.   I know the gas tank is bigger, but still it was quite a load for a half ton.

 (wide loads again, you know its heavy when it has a bajillion tires and 2 pusher trucks)

(weird bee stuck in my radiator which is much smaller than the one being hauled above)

We had no problems except for 6.5/10ths of rain on Sunday made the corrals a mess to be in.  Luckily the cows were fairly cooperative and the trip was good.  Sure lots of good grass up there.   And another tenth Monday night and lots Tuesday.

 (More wild roses, so pretty)

 (the diplomat mine site we always stop at to use the washrooms)

(pretty butterfly on the red rock that is so popular up there)

I stayed home for the second bunch and Neil made it home by 8:30, so all in all a much better day on Monday than Sunday.  Guess that's what happens when you work on a day of rest.  Either that or Neil shoulda just been more prepared.  I think we shoulda called someone to haul them for us, and we are this fall cause they will be bigger and it will take even more loads.

 (already mowing ditches up there, guess no one hays them)

 (peek a boo, I see you)

(OK, come on out!)

Rain Rain and More Rain

Well apparently I have been remiss is letting you all know how much rain we have had and how much I want sun!  I sometimes forget that all my We figured in the last 3 weeks since all this rain started.  It was about at Neil's Mom and Dad's Anniversary party we got the first big shot of 8/10ths.  Since then we have gotten almost 9 inches.  In 3 weeks!  Our ground is so overloaded and saturated with water.  I am so sick of rain everyday and I need to mow the lawn before Friday when I leave or it will be a jungle when I get back.  So I thought I would post some more pics of all the rain we got.  We are not the worst area around here though, up at Youngstown they got 6 inches last night and the water was flowing over the highway.  I really wish we could send some of this down to Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona where all the fires are burning.  It sure would be a great help to them.

Wordless Wednesday -- Yesterdays Rain

Rain Rain Rain

Wow seems like all I ever blog about anymore is rain. We had another 1 3/4 last night. So much for the weather forecast of 1-3cms, lol. Not that we really needed any or will for the rest of the year.

Anyway I went riding yesterday at the barn and got to ride Dot again. I sure like her. We rode out in the stubble fields and they are a little wet, but not too bad, not sure how they are today however.

We are gonna try and move our cows up to Stettler again on Thursday. Hopefully this happens this time. Would be nice to get them up there so they can eat down the grass that is prolly belly deep already.

This morning everything was looking a little drier, except the cat, lol. Not sure where he got so wet, but it was funny.

Rain, update and Jamaica

I went to see how the boarder is, and she actually did not break her neck, it is the t3 vertebrae I guess, the one between the shoulder blades where the second rib attaches. she seems okay, but gonna be real bored for 8 - 12 weeks. Its a compression fracture. She said she could feel something was wrong right away between the shoulder blades. Apparently the blazer had the visor smashed down to the center console. Scary!

Oh and looks like we had a total of 2.5 inches of rain, not near as much as places east and south of us, but still way more than we are used to. I went out and the horse pasture is under water, the horses are standing in water up to their ankles. At least the babies wont be afraid of water.

Oh and I was thinking of naming Belles colt Belles Jamaica. Does that sound to girly? It might be hard to call, but no more so than Dinero, lol. As long as no one calls him Jam.

Ranting (Sorry)

Wow I hate lazy people! We got up this morning hoping to move cows up to our place in Stettler, and it was raining. Well not a big surprise, as it seems like its been raining everyday this year. Oh let me start last night. We went to a fundraiser supper for one of the teachers at the school who had a baby at 27 weeks. He is only 12 inches long and 1.65 pounds. So tiny. But nothing wrong with him, so he just has to stay in the NICU for about 3 months till he is breathing on his own and everything. So Mom and Dad are staying at the hospital as much as possible and its getting hard to pay bills and stuff. Well that was good, we raised about $5000 for them, that will sure help them along.

(does this look like we should ignore the water and go back to bed??)

We get home and Neil says oh I can't see the cows, but there still there I guess. Never thought that since the trucker is coming at 9 he should be sure. Then the rain, and the trucker was actually here at 4:30 and slept in the yard. Neil goes to get the cows in and they have knocked down a gate and are in the creek. So he sends the trucker on his way and goes back to bed. I was so annoyed! Especially when the roof and the basement are leaking. Finally at 10:30 I can take it no more and start tearing down roof tiles to see how bad it is and he wakes up and says oh I guess I shoulda patched the shingles last week. Ya think! now we have to tear out the tiles, the wood and the rotten insulation in the roof before we can have a normal ceiling in the living room. Grrr, for a half hour of shingling we have now at least 2 days of work. If it ever stops raining it would be nice.
(the roof after the tiles are down)

Not sure what we are gonna do now, I sire want a new house and the more I find with this one the more I want a new one.
(the other wet spot)
This roof piece is right by the wall and as soon as I tore it down, I could fell a breeze coming in. The only thing stopping the hole to outside is a roof tile! Not impressed. Now I am wondering if I should tear out the whole roof and redo it all. Hmm people should NOT be allowed to build there own houses! Yikes it makes me wonder how the rest of the house is put together.

And yesterday we heard of another friend had a baby and it was so twisted in the uterus the did a c section and broke a leg getting him out. Hes fine, they sent him to the children's hospital to set it and it should be healed in two weeks or so. And to top it off, this morning we get a call from Jardi saying one of the borders hit a moose last night and broke her neck. She is at the hospital waiting for the surgeon. Yikes! I worry for her, I know they can do so much, but still a neck is pretty fragile.

Rain, rain and more rain

Well so far we have gotten about 1 and 1/10 of rain. So its kinda soggy out here. According to the weather man its supposed to keep raining today and then snow in the morning tomorrow. Yikes I hope we don't get snow, I'm okay with rain, even if its cold out, but not snow, not now we get enough all winter, why do we need it in summer too?

Red (Belles foal for now) standing on the grain wondering why she pays more attention to it then to him



Then after getting out of the way, peeking around Moms butt



Its a good day for breakfast



And Bailey and George in the water logged bull pasture cause we didn't want to walk in the rain and turn them out.