FINALLY, SOME RAIN

The weather forecasters have been teasing us for weeks (or is it months now?) that there was rain on the way, but this time it has actually panned out. The normal course of the week's forecast is to start talking about rain for the southern prairies on the weekend, showing us their projections of where the moisture will fall. For some reason it's always supposed to show up on the following Thursday - I think it gives them time to slowly put those animated maps in retreat so that by Thursday morning they have disappeared completely. And then, come Sunday morning, they start the whole ruse all over again aiming for the next Thursday.

But, finally, the skies have clouded over and we've had a little over a half inch of rain since noon yesterday. It's a nice start, and we'll take anything we can get, but two inches would be what most folks would be asking for if Mother Nature was filling orders. Most of this year's crop is in the ground to take full advantage of the rain, and the pastures and hay fields have been just crying for something to green up on. I don't know what the cattle were going to be eating this summer if this rain hadn't come along.

Another couple of weeks and we'll be putting the cattle out on the pasture (that's right, we've still been feeding them winter hay rations and it's almost the end of May - to put them out on those dry pastures would have put extreme stress on what green plant life there was out there). We bought two new bulls this spring to renew the genetics in the herd so there will be a big sorting job to be done before they head out of the corrals. The smaller bull will be put with the first year heifers - we really want to avoid the calving problems that we had this spring - and the other cows will be put with a new herd sire that doesn't happen to be their sire too. Record keeping from year to year is pretty important to keep this all straight. We will be shipping our oldest bull, too, although Glen hates to see him go. He's been a great asset, but he's older now and his feet are giving him problems. I keep telling Glen that we can't afford to keep a bull just because he's a good "petting" bull.

I managed to get my whole vegetable garden planted yesterday before noon. Mind you, when your husband gets up at 4:30 to get his chores done before he leaves for work, that gives everyone a pretty early start on the day. This rain is going to be fantastic for the germination out there! From the moment the seeds hit the earth, the anticipation for fresh veggies starts. We have been eating our fill of asparagus this past two weeks - the taste is divine!

The advantage of putting metal roofing on your house is that it amplifies the sound of the rain. Maybe, if it rained all the time this would be a bad thing, but believe me, it sounds better than music when you've waited this long for it. I think I'm just going to stay home, make a pot of stew and a batch of buns, and listen to Mother Nature play her own music all afternoon.

LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK

The sun is shining brightly outside today, and I really should be out there, digging around in my flower beds and putting in the perennials that showed up in the mail on Friday. I do that every year - order seeds for the vegetable garden and then, because it's the dead of winter and I'm longing for green and spring, I "treat" myself to a few new flowers as well. The seeds come right away, but the roots and bulbs don't show up until planting time and by that time I can't remember what I planned to do with them and don't really have the time to do much more than plunk them in the ground. My rock garden is full of very hearty stuff - anything frail or tender doesn't make it past its first season.

I do have to get out there today and get this year's "surprises" in before the sun goes down today because I have a very busy week ahead of me and today is my only reasonable window of opportunity until next weekend. I wish the wind would go down - by the first week of May everyone in Saskatchewan has had enough of the wind.

Last weekend Glen and I went in to Winnipeg to attend Jesse's graduation from the University of Manitoba. She received her diploma in Agriculture on Friday with her class of 37 other graduates - one of the smallest classes that the U of M has had in their 101 years of offering that field of study. Our son, Wayne, graduated there a few years ago with a degree in Environmental Sciences, one of hundreds of students from all different faculties to graduate the same day. The two graduations could hardly have been more different. Jesse's class was small and focussed entirely on their field of study. The speakers spoke only on agriculture, noting that the class of 2008 was this small because of the pessimism in the industry two years ago when they enrolled, and how much enrollment numbers had swollen for the next term indicating the positive outlook of crop prices now.

The farmers around here are obviously banking on a good year (well, actually, at this time of year all farmers believe that the season in front of them holds nothing but the promise of great returns. Without that hope and confidence no one would put a seed in the ground.) There wasn't much field activity last week on our journey to and from Winnipeg, but this week the tractors have certainly been stirring up dust. That's a concern - how much dust there is - we need rain and a lot of it. The weather has been cooler that normal so I'm not sure if the ground is even warm enough to allow germination, but farmers are trying to get the seed in the ground as early as possible just to catch what little moisture there is. The trees aren't even budding out yet.

The immediate neighborhood around Redvers shut their operations down yesterday to attend the funeral of a man who had farmed here all his life - he was 91 years old and had actually actively farmed with his son up until just a few years ago. Although I would have to say that Dunbar was tougher than most, his life's example of hard work and love of the land was a common denominator within his generation. As I sat in the church yesterday and looked around at the few of that generation who remained, the word "pioneer" formed in my head. But of course, these are the children of the true pioneers. They were born here and spent their entire lives tilling the soil where their parents homesteaded. Dunbar actually was born, lived, married, and raised his family all within a circle less than a mile across. He never did retire and yesterday we laid him to rest not more than a mile from home - a fitting ending for a man who loved his piece of Saskatchewan soil with all his heart.

The news is full of stories and speculation on world food shortages these days. For the poor of the world this is nothing new, but to the millions and millions who shop daily, never thinking past one or two meals, this is a wake up call. Suddenly those in the know are putting a much higher value on what farmers do.

Over the last 100 years there have been good times, and also some times so bad that only the very best, or the most stubborn men and women, stayed on the land. It is not a decision of the head that makes you stay in times like that - it's a decision made in the heart. For some farming is the lifeblood that runs through their veins, and the world is fed because of it. It is also an inherited trait - at the graduation banquet last weekend the MC had the pairs of fathers and sons who had both graduated from this course over the years stand up and be recognized. There were six or seven of these - even in a class as small as this one was - and Jesse tells us that there were three three generation sets and one four generation as well.

DOUBLE BABIES, DOUBLE TROUBLE

Glen says that we only have about twenty cows left to calve out. The day this is all over can't happen soon enough for him - too bad that some will probably straggle on into the summer.

This spring has not been a good go. As of yesterday we are up to six sets of twins, a crazy twist of fate that Glen has decided to blame on his least favorite bull. Actually, I don't think that herd sires have much control over multiple births but he seems to need a scapegoat so Freddy is taking the fall. I don't know how he comes to this conclusion as Freddy has been with us three years now and this curse of twins has only shown up in 2008. It would be interesting if anyone out there had a more scientific hypothesis on what's going on here. Our closest neighbor with cattle is way above his average in the twin department as well. It's just weird.

Obviously, we do not consider twins as a blessing. Oh sure, if they're born easy, and Mom likes them both fine, and she has enough milk for them both, you end up with a double calf crop in the fall. The odds of all these things happening are 50 - 50 at best. Out of six sets (twelve calves) we have seven left: three live sets on their own mothers, two sets dead at birth, and one confused first time mother who decided to claim the dead one and ignored the other one. For reasons we don't even try to fathom, another cow, who already had her own two week old calf, decided that she would take this emotional orphan on. Glen wasn't there when this happened and it took him some time to piece together where this extra baby must have come from.

This past few days he has spent trying to keep another few babies from traveling on to the Promised Land. Some are just born with a low desire to live; I don't know how else to describe it. They look healthy enough but the will to get up and look for nourishment just doesn't seem to be present. It's a labor-intensive proposition, but if a farmer sticks with them through that first week, going out and tying up the mother so that she stands still, and then propping up the calf and guiding the teat into his mouth so that he sucks .... to someone who has never done this, it might look cute, and nurturing - but just try it when it's cold, and dark, and the cow doesn't want you anywhere close, and the bending over nearly kills your back muscles. It's hard work; sometimes it's worth it, and sometimes they die no matter how hard you try.

We did get eight inches of wet snow two weeks ago which was very nice for the water situation around here. The day before the storm rolled in Glen and I spent all the daylight hours trying to get all the newest cow/calf pairs moved back into the barn where they would be better protected. We won with the ones that we knew about but we lost at least one the night of the storm - just too cold and wet.

With almost all the snow gone now farmers are starting to stir around. The fields are too wet, but tractors and equipment are being hauled out to get ready for seeding. We'll be planting some grains this spring but most of our land is pasture now. Glen and our neighbor are outside shooting the breeze at the moment and I can hear them speculating on whether the grain prices will stay high for very long, and when the cattle producers can count on beef prices going back up again. I wonder if things will go back to normal when the powers that be finally realize that using food crops to make bio-fuels is one of the most un-environmentally friendly things that they could think of to do. When it takes almost a gallon of fuel to make a gallon of fuel, simple math should be enough to show them that it just isn't going to work.

I guess I should get my implements out too. The yard needs cleaning up, and the sunshine feels lovely on my skin - time to get to work.

NOT SO LUCKY THIS TIME

It's spring in Saskatchewan - the wind is howling in from the west and what snow we have is disappearing fast under the combined power of sun and warm winds. I hung clothes out on the line to dry today - that's a rite of spring for sure - and when I went out to bring them in later on in the afternoon I heard a Meadow Lark singing. There is sleet coming down tonight, but the prairie people know - the worst is behind us now.

Not that we wouldn't love at least a foot of wet, heavy snow before the final melt. It's only with snow melt and runoff that we will fill up the dugouts. They are pretty low already after a dry fall last year, and if the spring runoff doesn't fill them up now, it's going to take a lot of rain to bring the water table up to replenish them through the summer. Something that's not liable to happen in this neck of the woods.

We spent the afternoon out trying to fill up the bale feeders and spread straw for bedding before the ground gets too muddy for the tractor to be able to move the bales around. It rained and snowed all day Good Friday so Glen has already had to go out and give the open shed extra bedding to keep the little calves warm and dry - we don't want to lose any of them to pneumonia, we're having bad enough luck with this year's new babies as it is.

This will not go down in history as a good calving spring - although we are hoping that the worst is behind us now. So far we have lost two cows and seven calves and we can only blame one of those losses on a coyote; all the rest were physical problems with birthing. The two cows had such hard times that they prolapsed their uteruses. It never should have happened but we weren't expecting any babies for another two weeks. We're not really sure why, but a lot of our neighbors have reported the same thing - that their cows are early this year. Does a really cold winter stress them into shortening their gestation? Who knows, but by the time we clued into their revised timetable, we had lost two cows and their calves.

The next biggest problem is that the first to calve are our heifers - first time mothers. Last year not one of them had any problems and this year it seems like they all are. They are not too sure what's going on, or how to take care of the little darlings once they're born - hence the coyote treating himself to an uninvited breakfast.

Yesterday was the worst though. We had been away the day before so the evening check was done in the dark. Glen saw that there was one Mama starting to calve but thought she was an older cow and left her to do her own thing. Come morning he discovered that it was a heifer and that she certainly needed help if she hadn't got anywhere on her own in 10 hours. We caught her, tied her up, and Glen investigated to see what the trouble was. It was a complete breach - they are supposed to come front feet first, right side up, with the noses laying on their knees. All Glen could feel was the tail so he had to work the back feet out, attach the puller and we delivered a dead calf. Poor little guy had been too long without oxygen. We left the mother to recooperate and went back to the house. A few hours later Glen returned to find her still in labor - here it had been twins all along, which would have been a contributing factor to why the first baby was backwards - but we never even thought of it. We helped the poor thing with the second delivery but it was dead too. Could we have saved it if we had known it was there? Who knows, but we sure weren't feeling very competent by this stage of the game.

We decided that we were going to skip Easter dinner at my sister's place and stay home to intervene in one more heifer birth. It didn't seem to be a big deal - she was just taking a little too long and we were pretty gun shy by this time. There's no explaining what went wrong with her - the calf wasn't overly big, she had only shown signs of labor for a short while, and baby was pointed the right direction, but it was just as dead as the other two. What a sad, frustrating day! As we were cleaning up after this last episode Glen turned to me and said "I'm going for a drink! How about you?" Glen is not a drinker; I didn't quite know what to make of that.

What he meant was enough was enough - let's head into town and visit with the relatives after all. I was glad we did - at least the day ended with good company and dessert. It sure as heck beat staying home and going over and over the "what if's" all night.

There is at least one bright spot in this calving season so far - I wish this picture was a little brighter, but you can see that we do have one set of twins - alive and enjoying life. Hopefully everybody born from now on will follow suit.

JUST PLAIN LUCKY

I hadn't realized that I hadn't put a footnote onto my last entry announcing the happy news that we had solved our water problems. After a mere two days of hauling water to the feeders Glen decided that he had nothing to lose if he should take a few old flax straw bales down to the dugout, position them over where the pipes are and set the straw on fire. If the heat actually made its way down into the ground and thawed the pipes out he would be the happiest farmer in the country, if it didn't he was out a few old, crumbling bales.

It was kind of tricky getting the bales to where they needed to be - he even had to drive the tractor (weighed down with the extra 1200 pounds of bale) out on the ice of the dugout to position it on the bank where the heat was needed. I didn't go down to watch that operation - I'm a scaredy-cat - but I kept telling myself that with the intense cold we've had this winter, surely the ice was a foot thick, at least. He burned the first two during the day, put two more down there to burn through the night and called me the next morning when I was at work to announce that it had worked and we had water again!

Then he went back down to the dugout, kicked all the smoldering straw away until he was sure that the fire was out and spread some more straw on top to act as insulation for the pipes for the rest of the winter. He acted a little too quickly, though. The wind picked up, unseen sparks were fanned to flames, and just for a little extra insurance those bales burnt as well. The whole area is now covered with straw and everything seems to be fine. I know we talked about doing that last winter, but we didn't give it a try. I asked Glen why that was, and he said "Someone told me it wouldn't work." Glad we didn't rely on that advice two years in a row.

The sun is shining bright this afternoon, and the sky above is a brilliant blue, but horizontally speaking, you can't see a thing. We received a few inches of snow late last week and Mother Nature has been blowing it around ever since. The wind came up last night and it's been howling around the house all day long. The yard was a little hard to get out of this morning when I went in to church, and harder still to get through the snow banks when I came back home. I almost side-swiped the gate sign on the way in - that would have been a pity! I've told Glen he'll be clearing a path for me so I can go to work tomorrow morning but there is no use to do anything now - it would just blow back in again.

There seems to be a general countdown going on these days as to how many days there are left before spring. I don't think there is an area of Canada that doesn't feel like enough is enough this year. I sat down and filled out my seed and nursery order yesterday - it's just time to think about things that are green. I also have to get planning what will go where to spiff the place up with Jesse and Andrew's wedding coming closer every day. It's just been this past week or so that I've begun to get excited about seeing everyone who will be coming to help us celebrate.

baby, it's cccccold out there!

Do you want to know how cold it is on the prairies at the moment? Do you really? I don’t really think I can do it justice, but here goes ...

First of all, I’m writing this blog on WordPerfect because, at the moment, I have no access to the Internet. Why? You ask. Well, that would be because with the high winds we had last week - along with the minus 50 windchills - it has vibrated my satellite dish loose enough on the tower that it’s installed on so that it can’t pick up the signal. For a few days the service was intermittent as it wasn’t completely shook loose, so we blamed the service provider and their tower that was experiencing it’s own set of problems, but when they had their end fixed up, and I was completely off access, one of their telephone techies and I finally figured out now the problem was at my end. Unfortunately, by that time the few reasonable days we had were over and the deep freeze was back - riding on high winds. I feel totally disconnected from the world at the moment and hope that it’s fixed by Tuesday night - when the next blizzard is supposed to roll in. For some reason you can’t get someone to climb a sixty foot antenna to adjust a satellite dish at forty below and 50 km/p/h winds. Even if you beg.

So, to keep from going shack wacky, we’ve been keeping ourselves busy trying to keep ahead of the cows in the feed department. At temperatures like this they eat to live. The actual definition of the word calorie is a measuring unit for heat - take away all the diet jargon and that’s what you get - when we eat we take in calories and if we don’t want them as permanent poundage on our hips, we have to burn them off - in heat. Our cows, at forty below zero, are not worried about their figures. Their survival depends on eating and they’ve been doing a fine job of it.

As if that wasn’t enough to keep us out of trouble, Friday night we discovered that the water system from the dugout to the barns was froze up. Again. Just like last year. There was a period of denial - that it had to be a simpler thing to fix - but we both knew in our hearts that we were only dreaming. We didn’t have a whole lot of time to mope about it; Saturday morning out came the big trough, the heating element, the tank on the truck ... and we commenced hauling water for about 110 animals. The wind was vicious so we did the absolutely necessary jobs and hoped Sunday would be better.

All you could say about Sunday was that the wind was down to just a light breeze, but the temperatures were no better. I helped Glen with the chores and then went inside - I have a good, warm ski-doo suit but my face is exposed and I think I’ve come pretty close to freezing my cheeks. They sure burn when I’m outside. Glen did his chores in four different stints, coming in to thaw out every once in a while. He fed nine hay bales and put six new straw bales out for fresh bedding. He also put some old, rotted flax straw bales down where we think the line is frozen. Maybe, if we can keep a fire going there long enough, the heat will work its way down through the frost and the line will thaw out for us.

What makes this even harder to take is that maybe we could have used our experience from last winter to stop it from happening this year. The problem is that the pipe drawing water from the dugout isn’t buried deep enough where it inters the water. On the years where the water level was higher the water covered it, but last winter, and this one, there just isn’t enough to do the job. So why didn’t we pump water from the south dugout into this one last fall? I sure can’t think of a good reason right now. And Glen is kicking himself for not going down and covering the whole area with old bales and straw to keep the frost out. Again, hind sight is 20/20. He’s threatening to up and sell the whole calf crop, but at the age and weight they are at the moment that would be like giving them all away. I think, unless we have a miracle, we will be hauling water twice a day until the snow melts.

With all the rearranging we had to do at the barn so that the different pens of animals could get to the water, two of the bulls ended up where I can see them from the house. Bulls have more testosterone than they know what to do with and usually expend it fighting with other bulls. I looked out this morning and there they were just bull-dozing each other. They were so worked up that at 40 some below zero, they had fought themselves into a sweat, and steam rolled off their backs and formed frost on their coats. I wish I had a closer picture, but I wasn’t crossing the fence to get it.

ELVIS AND MARILYN

It has finally warmed up a bit out there - we've been in a deep freeze for so long we're almost used to the feeling of ice crystals taking over our chest cavities when we're outside. A wind chill factor of below forty is not a good thing.

It has been a busy week at work for Glen. He spent last Sunday feeding and bedding down all the animals on the place, but when it is as cold as it has been, they go through a lot of feed. By last night the cows had to have eight more bales but he didn't have the day off to do the job. We had a quick supper after work and I went out to help him do the chores - two people at the job might not cut the time in half, but it sure does help.

The bales are not all stored in the same place, and this year none of them are in the yard. He has the green feed bales across the road, south of the house and the hay is a quarter of a mile east of the yard. It might not be all that handy, but if there ever was a fire that got away on us, we wouldn't lose the whole year's feed, either. Going to fetch the bales into the yard is the most time consuming part of the job, so while he did that, I filled the oat pails for his early morning chores and carried them over to the gate where he needs them.

Last year we cut the strings off the bales right out at the feeders. He may be comfortable out there in the dark, amongst the animals, but I can't say that I like it much. It's not that any one animal decides to knock you over (after all, you're feeding them and they like that), but what does happen is they get shoving each other around to get the best feeding spot, and the puny little human at the end of a bovine chain reaction collision doesn't stand a chance of not getting squashed. This winter Glen has decided that it's easier to bring the bales into the yard, set them down under the yardlight, and take the strings off where you can see what you're doing. This is about 1,000% better in his wife's books. The only animal keeping me company last night was a little border collie who was happy with an occasional scratch behind his ear.

We were out working under the stars for about two hours. It started out pretty chilly, but once you build up a bit of a sweat with the work, you warm right up. It had been foggy the night before, and then snowed big feathery flakes for most of the day. Everything was decorated in fluffy and white - the walk up to the house was gorgeous, the maple just east of the garage almost glowing white under it's covering of snow.

Today I've done the usual Saturday work plus getting ready for an evening out with girl friends. The Redvers Activity Center does an annual Ladies Night Out fund raiser - and this year's theme is to come dressed in the fashions of the year that you were born. I was having trouble coming up with something suitable but in Googling the year in question, I came up with the idea to go as Elvis, who cut his first record that year. I'm almost ready to head in to town; my hair is slicked back, I'm all studied up on Elvis trivia, and my suit is in at my friend's place (that would be Marilyn Munroe). I'm doing the young Elvis so, no, it's not a sparkling jumpsuit. I also reek of aftershave lotion. Going as a man, I thought I needed that touch - but I think maybe I got carried away with the stuff. I wish I had a guitar - but then, people would want me to play it. That's one of the reasons I don't have a guitar in the first place - I can't play.

Hopefully everyone gets into the spirit of the evening - it's going to be a lot of fun.

BACK TO NORMAL

Finally, a normal Saturday morning. And a beautiful one, at that! Glen is off to work this morning - the oil patch is up and running again after the break they take over the holidays. He hasn't been called in too much yet and that has been good as he has a lot of chores to do around here.

Now that we finally have the 2007 calf crop weaned the chores doubled as the adult herd has to be fed one place and the juveniles are somewhere else. The cows are easy to feed as they have the rest of the standing corn to finish off and their bale feeders are all spread out and easy to access with the tractor. The young ones are a different story. They are in the red barn pen. This gives them extra shelter from the weather, access to lots of water, and a big feeding of oats every morning and night. What it isn't is spacious. They are not crowded, but when Glen pulls in with the tractor to feed bales or spread straw for bedding, there is not a lot of room to maneuver- it's not a job that's easy to do after work in the dark. To add to the situation, these young animals are just kids and think everything is a game. With the slightest stimuli (the tractor does it for them) they race around the pen like a bunch of elementary students at recess. Glen has never run over one of them, but I really don't know how he has managed it.

He fed them their pails of oats before he left this morning, but I had said that I would do the rest of the chores. This means bottle feeding our orphan, Charlie, and carrying pails of chop to the feeders. I also filled the 18 pails of oats for the night feeding. I haven't ventured into the pen with the freshly weaned calves yet. If the tractor gets them excited, you should see what they do when Glen walks in with food! Eventually they will settle down - until then I will stay away. I have this theory that a broken leg from a 300 pound calf kicking up its heels in fun is going to hurt every bit as bad as a kick from an angry animal. They are more used to Glen's scent and aren't quite as crazy when he's in the pen as when there are strangers nearby.

So, with barn chores done, I'm back to the housewife duties I tend to every week. I also dug out our humidifier and filled it up. I know that a trip to the tropics works wonders on dry Canadian winter skin, but if you can't go to the moisture, then the moisture will have to come to us!

NOW ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS PAY YHE BILLS

Well, the turkey bones are in the soup pot, and there is a slow cooker brewing up a stroganoff for supper to give us all a break from all the traditional fare we've been consuming for the past three days. We are also down to only three people in the house this afternoon, which is very restful after twenty-two people for supper on Christmas Eve, and six plus a two year old for the rest of the time. Our nephew, Cole, kept everyone on their toes but he and his mommy left early this morning. They had a long drive ahead of them and Cole had decided that sitting in a car seat for that long on the way down was way too long for his liking.

I took Christmas Eve day off as I was holding the family feast here so I've had almost a whole week away from work. I seem to be a loose ends this afternoon - does that mean I'm ready to go back now? Or is it a case of just wanting things to get back to normal? I should probably go out for a very long walk to shed some of the calories I've taken in over the past week.

I'm going to figure out how to post a photo on this blog today. The kids and I gave Glen a yard sign for Christmas this year. Quite some time ago he and Jesse decided that the farm should be called "Skull Ranch". I don't know how serious they were at the time, but because I didn't care for it at all, they made a big fuss about how much they just loved it. It became a standing joke and over time they have worn me down. A couple years ago Glen even had T-shirts made up with his personal logo (really personal, it's his tattoo) so I decided that the time had come to put it on the yard sign too. We installed it over another sign that Jesse painted years ago to welcome our Australian in-laws to Canada. I think all the neighbours had finally all figured that one out (it was painted up-side-down because they were from the "land down under"). They "got it" right away, but I think it took the local Canadians much longer. I wonder what they'll think of this new sign? I think it's our job to keep everyone entertained.

We still haven't got our calves weaned. I was feeling like we were really falling behind this year, but brother-in-law Maurice told us the other night that he had just managed to get his done the week before. Glen says that we're doing it this week for sure. I think he has that job scheduled for tomorrow with both Sandy and Jesse here to help, and maybe Mitchell if he doesn't have to work. That means we'd better enjoy our night's sleep tonight because it sure can get noisy for a couple of days - and nights - until they are all used to the idea that the mamas and calves can still see each other, but there is no more milk. As the cows are well along into their next pregnancy, it's time that last year's calves were on their own.

This time last year, we were getting ready for our trip to sunny Mexico but this year it's just a case of back to the grindstone. 2008 will shape up as a bit of a different year as we plan for Jesse and Andrew's wedding this fall.

CHRISTMAS IS A COMIN'

It's not quite as cold out there as it has been this past week or so. Man- has it been miserable! Funny how Environment Canada didn't have anything to say about the coming winter until the North Pole blew south - then, all of a sudden it was "we told you so." and "get ready for more of this." It's pretty hard to believe in this thing called Global Warming when you freeze solid if you stand still for two minutes.

We now have over two hundred animals out in the pasture behind the house. This is where Glen planted his corn this year and he's just let them into their first parcel of it. It is really neat to watch them eat it - first they break off the corn cobs, drop them to the ground and break off a chunk at a time (usually three pieces per cob) until they are all gone. Then they turn their attention to the leaves, and then the stocks. By the time they are finished, the field is neatly cleaned off, and they are gazing longingly across the electric wire at the next batch.

Glen is feeding them bales of hay as well, and every morning he goes out and chops a hole in the dugout ice for them to drink. We are hoping that in the next week (or so - there just aren't enough hours in the days to get everything done) we will be getting the cows and calves separated and the calves weaned. Then it will be easier to arrange a watering bowl for each half of the herd. Chopping the dugout is hard work, and not necessarily the safest - for man or beast.

My life has picked up speed lately - I am a postal worker, after all. This is the busiest (and happiest) time of the year, and even though I come home pretty darned tired, it's a happy kind of tired. We get to deliver the things that people are waiting for, and help them with their surprises for their families. It's all good.

Of course, when I get home from that job, I have to start on trying to get everything ready and under control in this house! I have spent the day doing my cards and letters, doing some baking, and wrapping some gifts. I can't see the tree going up until next weekend and there is a carpenter coming to replace the counter top in my kitchen at mid week. I guess that means we'll be camping out of the bathroom sink for dishes for a few days. Why didn't I think of this before it was going to affect Christmas? Who knows? But it will all come together. It had better - Glen and I are holding the big meal for my side of the family.

JUST FOR FUN

I've been writing this blog for a few years now, but I don't think I've ever mentioned that I also write a human interest (mostly humor) column for the local weekly newspaper as well. They do pay me, but mostly I do it because it's fun and my "fans" get such a kick out life as it happens out on our farm. This week's column seems to have hit the collective funny bone pretty hard so I thought I'd post it for a change. Hope you all enjoy it too ....

THE RESURRECTION COW
By Jocelyn Hainsworth

We are relatively new at this “raising cattle for profit” game - so new in fact that it’s only slowly beginning to dawn on me that maybe the “profit” part of it doesn’t happen all that often. What I have come to understand, though, is that cows eat a lot, and they drink a lot (especially when the water lines freeze up and we have to haul water at forty below zero).

They also fertilize quite a bit. I know this to be true because I just spent my stat holiday hauling huge amounts of this organic type of fertilizer from where they thoughtlessly left it in the barn, out onto the field where it’s going to do us some good.

And then there’s their health care bill. They have hoof problems, and eye problems, and get lumps in their mouths from something they ate. We’ve had cases of pneumonia, calves with scours, and something quaintly referred to as wooden tongue. Our bulls like to feel special (because, being male, they think they’re worth more) so they break their toe nails for the extra attention it gets them. To keep them from having more troubles with their health, we also invest in inoculations for the calf crop and preventative treatments against lice to keep them from scratching themselves bald. Cows are not cheap pets.

But, this past few weeks, I’ve begun to wonder if we don’t know all there is to know about bovine life. I think at least one of our neighbors has a secret formula that we are not aware of - one that can bring a cow back from the dead. Over and over and over again.

It is most fascinating. I can drive to work in the morning and this animal will be laid right out on her side, feet sticking straight out in front of her, head back - one deceased cow, if I’ve even seen one (and I have seen one or two in my time). BUT, later on, on my way home, I will witness her re-birth as a living, eating cow. The next day she might be up eating when I go to town and dead when I get home, but my point is, she is both dead, and alive, on the same day. Day after day. None of our dead cows have ever done that.

Our dead cows tend to stay dead. And thanks to our dogs, the evidence is all over our front lawn. Proud trophy bones, dragged back from the pasture in broad daylight (so that the coyotes don’t them - the dogs, I mean, not the bones) and set in front of the house in defiance of any wild critter coming to re-claim them with humans so close.

I gaze out on those bones and think about the story of the valley of bones in Ezekiel in the bible. Remember, how those dry, white bones were called together and how they fleshed up and came to life again? I wonder how far gone the resurrection cow was before she was put back on her feet and her feed? Out here in coyote country, I don’t think you have to lie still for too long before somebody thinks of you as dinner.

And I wonder how the resuscitation takes place? Is it a magic formula? Do you give it by injection? Does it come in powder form and it is sprinkled over the body like pixie dust? Is it like a voodoo ceremony, with smoke and chants and magic words? Or, is it more scientific, and all that is needed is a good old jolt from an electric fencer?

We obviously have a lot to learn here, and I know which neighbor I want to give the lessons.

FALL WORK AND FOWL SUPPERS

It looks nicer outside today than it really is. Not that I've checked it out for myself - Glen informed me of the nippy temperatures when he came in from feeding Charlie (the latest in a long line of bottle-fed calves). I guess it is almost November, we should be thankful that we don't have snow yet.

I spent yesterday afternoon (the morning was too frosty and cold) outside finishing up what yard work needed to be done. At last the potatos have all been dug and carried in, as well as the last six feet of the carrot row. I'll finish cleaning out the cold room downstairs and get Glen to haul all the heavy bags down when he gets home from work tonight. I've also got the tarps we used to cover the tomatoes during the early frosts all folded and ready to be put away. I tried to get the tiller to start so I could put that away, but it outweighs me by quite a lot - it won that round. I'll leave that job for the he-man of the family.

Last weekend we brought all the cattle in and ran them through the chutes. They all had to be sprayed with a de-louser (we do it every fall - it saves them a lot of misery through the winter) and the calves had to have their innoculations. The girls were home from university to help so the whole operation went pretty smoothly, but it still took the whole day. It just so happened that we had tickets to the annual health foundation fundraiser that night and we were even done in time to take in the meal and dinner theatre - although, after all that fresh air and exercise, it would have been pretty easy to doze off after the meal. Glen has arranged that we will be boarding another 40 cows and 40 feeders through this winter, so when they arrive we'll have to treat them all too. I don't know that there are enough hours in the day to get all the work done, but Glen seems to think we can do it. I'm going to have to sit him down and try to explain the concept of semi-retirement to him again. He's just not getting it.

He is talking about maybe spending a day or two in the states pricing out vehicles. My car is ready for a trade and he wants to see for himself all the pros and cons of buying with Canadian dollars on the other side of the border. For sure you have to look at more than just the price tag, but at first glance the savings on some vehicles are substantial. I just think it will be a great way to have a short holiday away and maybe I can get some Christmas shopping done as well.

With Glen off to work again today, I have plans to get some baking done, some house cleaning, and maybe a last few things done outside. I've already warned him that I plan to invite myself along with my sisters and their husbands to take in a fowl supper tonight. I love the community feel of a fowl supper (and the food is great too) and Glen really would rather have a plate of stew at home - so be it - we'll each get what we want.

TAKING A DAY

There is always so much to do! Thank goodness I'm home today trying to catch up on the house neglect of the past two weeks. I think I could use a whole week to get it all done.

Life here has been dis-jointed this past few weeks. My sister's husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor in early August and regretfully told there was nothing anyone could do - it had gone too far before the warning signs had presented themselves. They told him that he had from two weeks to two months to live, and they were almost right on with the prediction. They spent the time wisely putting everything in Margaret's name and doing their best to prepare for the future. There were even three weeks in August, after the doctors managed to find the right mix of medication for pain, that were good to them. But then the inevitable happened and he started going downhill again with nothing to stop the disease's progress. Over the past three weeks since John was admitted into palliative care, we sisters have tried to be with Margaret as much as possible - all taking turns to spread out the visits as much as possible. I've driven to the other side of the province twice (1400 kms round trip) and we will be heading out there tomorrow morning EARLY to be in Coleville for a 3:00 o'clock funeral.

My sister Wendy left to be with Margaret immediately after the call that John was gone to be there to help her with the final preparations for the funeral, and we'll all spend the night after the funeral together for some family time. Margaret is so lucky to be living in Coleville. The people there have been beyond fantastic in their support - giving both financially and emotionally - throughout this terrible time. When I was up there for my first visit I mentioned this to one of Margaret's friends and she said that any small town would have done the same, and maybe they would, but I still say that the people of Coleville are special.

All my fall work around this place has been pretty much put on hold. My potatoes have not been dug, the lawn mowers are not put away (mostly because the big drive-in door to the Quonset was broken and wouldn't open) and the house looks like it was abandonned to a man for eight days, all tolled, over the past two weeks. Before I knew that we weren't leaving until tomorrow morning I had taken today off and was not even tempted to change it when the plans changed. So far I've done four loads of laundry, made a big pot of soup, sorted through the ripe tomatoes, cleaned out the porch and washed its floor, and plan to tackle the outside jobs right after I sign off here. The sun is shining, the temperature is balmy - for October - and I feel like I might even catch up someday.

LOTS TO DO

It's the last day of September - where on Earth did 2007 go? It seems like only yesterday we were dealing with all the hoop-la over the millennium, and now, here we are almost at 2010. It is a mystery how time can speed past so fast.

Harvest is pretty much done for everyone in this area. I think it's a different story up in the northeast of the grain belt of Saskatchewan. They've been over wet for two years now so they can't get their crops planted until later in the season which just puts their whole crop year behind schedule. Here we haven't had more than a drop or two of rain since August (enough to stop harvesting, but not enough water to keep the pastures green) so Glen has been having to feed the cattle bales out on the pasture for weeks now. We have lots of hay put up so there is no worry of running out, but it's an extra job that shouldn't need done until snowfall. We have a pasture we want to move them to, but first the bales have to be hauled off it or the cattle will just destroy them. Glen has hired a guy to come and haul them home, but so has everyone else in the countryside. A guy with a bale hauling truck is a busy man this time of the year.

We were pleasantly surprised last week when our butcher called to say that he could come and do an animal for us. We had thought we'd be waiting until November for him. I had been warning Glen all through August that we were down to the last of our beef in the deep freeze - and I had put some pressure on at the last, telling him that if I ran out of the "good" stuff (our own home-grown beef) that I wasn't buying what they sell at the stores because it doesn't even compare in taste or texture. What I was going to do was switch to chicken until our beef was ready. In Glen's eyes, that's an out and out threat. He hates chicken. I don't know if he had to bribe the butcher to come early, or not, but it sure worked out in his favour; we are down to one roast and one package of steaks. That should keep us fed until the end of next week when they'll call us to come pick up a whole deep freeze of meat. Hopefully it will be before the kids are home for the long weekend so they can take some back with them. That way we can share the wealth and help them with their student food budgets at the same time.

Today looks like another fantastic fall day out there. Yesterday I washed all the windows on the house - inside and out - and today looks like a good day to go out and clean up the flower beds. I obviously don't ache in enough places yet! I will also be trying to figure out my choices for annual flowers next year. Jesse and Andrew are officially engaged and have set their date for September 13th next year so I'll be aiming to have to yard looking in top shape for late summer. I think that will mean lots of asters, marigolds and zinnias. Maybe some dahlias too, although I never have very good luck with them. The wedding will be in a church, but she wants her pictures to be taken at the farm - in September it will be the luck of the draw as to what kind of weather we end up with, we could have shirt sleeve temperatures like yesterday, or snow - but I guess there are no promises with weather no matter which date you choose.

There is much to do, both short term, and long term so I had better put down my Sunday morning cup of coffee and get on with my day!

A BUSY TIME

The days grow shorter, the nights cooler, and the trees prettier. Harvest drags on - or so I hear the farm wives say when they’re in picking up their mail. Glen and I have so little that we actually combine anymore that we’ve been done for ages, but the big grain farm operations are barely halfway.

One conversation between women on their parts and grocery runs earlier this week was all about how this harvest was going so slowly this year. It’s true that there have been frustrating little rains many days that grind everything to a halt for a day or two each time, and as the days shorten up, there are less sunshine hours to dry things up again. If farmers could only have a week of dry and hot weather they would be done. What made me smile, after these younger women had said their piece, was when an older one spoke up - about how when she was growing up, and how harvest always took the whole month of September back then. The farms were smaller size-wise, but so was the machinery that did the harvesting, and no one had the added conveniences of straight cut headers and aeration fans to lengthen out the harvesting hours of a day. I don’t know if the younger women even stopped long enough in their busy rounds to ponder these things, but I kind of sided with the one who remembered the harvest days of my childhood. Obviously I, too, am getting old.

Today must be aggravating the heck out the neighbors again. There have been two different ten minute showers since I got up this morning, and by the look of the skies, number three is about to happen. I love the smell of the fresh, clean air ... but then, our grain is already in the bin.
Of course, there is always something to be done on the farm, though. Glen is still trying to find enough hours in the day to do his farming and go and earn a paycheck as well. He’s off building an oil well lease today but the bales still need hauling home and the cultivation of the calving pasture, so that we can re-seed it, is still undone. I’ve told him often enough there are but 24 hours in a day, and only seven of those in a week, but my words fall on deaf ears. He has managed to get our barns scheduled for cleaning before freeze up and got busy and sold the rye we’ve been storing for three years ... that’s some progress, at least. I know if I offered, I could do some of these jobs, but I’ve learned the more you know how to do, the more you are expected to do. I already cover enough bases, and besides, if I lessened his load of those jobs he’d just think of something else he needed to take on! One of us has to say "Enough!"

So, I’ve spent today cleaning my house, washing floors, and have a roast beef in the oven. I think it will even be accompanied with an apple crisp for dessert. My contribution on a Sunday afternoon.

SUMMER, WINDING DOWN

Well, summer must be done - the humming birds have left the country. We have two feeders that hang right outside my kitchen window and I've been watching them war over who has access to the sugar water since May. It seems lonely now to look out at the empty airspace before me. Not that you can get an accurate count of how many tiny birds there are circling the feeders at any one time, but we think we probably have five or six mating pairs, and come August when the juveniles join the adults to top up their tanks for their flight south, I almost feel a need an air trafic controller to keep from being speared with their pointy little beaks while I'm flipping burgers for supper.

Harvest is in full swing - or it was before Mother Nature decided to slow things down with a rain. Growing conditions were perfect to begin with this summer. The soil moisture was perfect for planting, the weather was sunny and warm with timely rains, never letting the plants starve for water. Even in July, when the temperatures started to climb, the constant sunshine was still good news for the crops. Unfortunately, it got to be too much of a good thing and the yield potential started sliding backwards. Although the grain heads were there to make big yields, the heat and lack of moisture dried the kernels up and the bushels went down. Now, to add insult to injury, the weather is being finicky with cool rainy days that hold back the harvest and drop the grades on the grain. Such is farming - always next year country.

Because we have so little to combine, we are done except for a few acres of oats down in the low spots where it stays green longer. While we wait for that to ripen, Glen is busy baling straw and swathing slough hay. The hay crop was fantastic this year and we have more than we'll ever use in two or even three years. We'll be putting some of it up for sale, and Glen plans to custom feed a neighbor's herd and add to ours as well, so we'll put a dent in the pile by spring.

I was gone on holiday for a week, so I am seriously behind in my gardening, pickling, and yard work. Glen entertained his cousin and her family while I was away, hosting a bonfire and wiener roast one night. It's something we like to do often during the summer, but I always try to have the grass cut before so that the mosquitos are less of a problem. I spent all day Sunday mowing the lawn - it hadn't seen a lawn mower for three weeks - I hope his guests didn't get eaten alive!

While he was keeping the home fires burning, I was out in Kananaskis Country in Alberta, camping with my sister, hiking a few trails and trying out white water rafting. Although I love my Prairies, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else, I do love to visit the mountains.

Now, it's back to the grind. The first day back to work I couldn't even find my office keys (a subliminal message, do you think?) , and once I got back into that groove, our daughter, Jesse, has been in daily contact trying to get plans underway for a wedding next year. Come this time next year, I'm liable to need an extended holiday.

HOLIDAY WEEKEND - FARMER STYLE

It's Sunday afternoon, on the long weekend in August, and we're doing what we usually do - getting ready for harvest. I remember last year when we actually went camping with my brother and sisters; that was one for the record books - it's not often you can get a farmer off the farm when the grain is ripening and the hay needs stacking.

We are done baling hay now. Mitchell finished that job earlier this week, but there was no sitting back and taking it easy after that. Glen has been working most of this week and Mick has been out at the farm catching up on some of the jobs that needed doing. One of Glen's main concerns this past while has been the weak current going through the electric fencing. The last thing that we want is our cows losing their healthy respect for the snap they get when they touch that wire. The voltage is just high enough to make them want to leave it alone - if they discover that the jolt isn't any worse if they just plow right through it than if they just stand there, it won't take them long to figure out that one good run, and they're through the pain and into the field or ditch of their choosing.

We haven't had any rain in almost a month now so the ground is very dry. Not only could the crops and gardens use a rain, but dust-dry ground is not a very good "ground" for electricity, either. The charge just drains off and there's not much snap in the wire. Another problem is that plant life (weeds and grasses) can grow up and touch the wire as well, which also drains the charge off. Mitchell was sent out to check the wires for these problems the other day, and while he was chopping down cat tails as he went through a slough he tripped and fell into the water and against the fence. He had been doing a good job of clearing off the plant drain so there was a good jolt - especially with him so wet. He says his arm still hurts, and my cell phone, which was in his pocket at the time, is also fried. I don't know if the dunk in the water would have killed it on its own, but the jolt of electricity certainly finished it off. Now Glen and I both have new phones.

On the other pasture's fence Mick said he found the problem right away. There was a tree that had fallen against the fence. He said there were cows not too far away who were reaching through the wires for grass on the other side, and when he lifted off the tree, they all jumped back and bawled with surprise. They won't be going anywhere near it again for a while.

This afternoon the men are out trying to get our old swather ready to cut the fall rye. Every year fixing the poor, olf thing gets to be more of a project. From my point of view, I think we could lease a combine with a straight-header and get the job done in one day, but what do I know? Oh well, the job will get done, one way or another.

I am on two weeks holidays at the moment. My original plan was to spend the first week doing gardening and writing (different projects I'd promised to work on) and the second week camping in the mountains with my sister from Calgary. I'm not too sure how things will all work out now as there is a family medical emergency with one of my brothers-in-law. I am trying to get all these projects all caught up so I'm free to go if need be. I was up by 6:00 yesterday morning to pick, wash, prepare, and pickle yellow beans and cucumbers, and also picked and shelled two rows of peas before supper. I think I was asleep the minute my head hit the pillow last night. There's nothing like a hloiday weekend to make you feel relaxed, eh?

A HOT TIME IN THE OLD FIELD TONIGHT

You'll have to forgive me for being late with this blog - things have been pretty crazy around here lately.

We are into haying now - full force. Glen has the first 80 acres baled and had a guy with a bale mover truck haul them all home so I guess you can say Part One is done. The second field he is working on is half cut and the hay has been curing for most of this week now. The humidity is out of this world these days so the plant matter is taking a long time to dry out. It was finally ready to bale on Thursday afternoon so Glen started his work day (running grader to build an access road into an oil well site) at 4:00 AM so that he could get home early to bale. When I got home from work I did the chores and then tried to call him on his cell phone to see if he wanted me to pick him up at dark. I got the usual recording - that he was out of the service area - which is pretty hard to take when he's only a half mile away and I can hear the tractor from where I was standing on the deck. So, I jumped in the truck and drove down to ask him in person. Well I told him I had tried to call him he said that I would probably never call him again on his cell phone - he was pretty sure it had gone through the baler.

He even had staked out which bale it likely was in and we tried calling it to see if he could hear the ringing, but no dice. I'm telling you - he is one sad puppy these days - with all the people he works with in the oilfield he had his number memory just about full. He is due for a free up grade of the phone, but he'll never get his information back. He never is very sympathetic when my computer crashes and I lose my stuff - maybe now he'll understand. Mitchell and I have hauled his suspect bale home and opened it up and found nothing. I don't know where it is, but the battery has gone dead in it now so it can't even tell us where it is.

Glen went off to work on Friday and Mitchell came out at noon to start baling. He was barely even started when I got a phone call at work from him saying that he had smoke coming out of the baler! Glen was unreachable, remember, so it was good old Mom who got the call. He used his thermos of drinking water on it but that didn't seem to do any good so I told him to get the whole tractor and baler unit over to a slough with some water in it and get ready to unhook, and I left my part time, Rhonda, holding down the fort at the post office and tore home. Another neighbor had come to help and between us all we got the fire out but couldn't really decipher what had caused it. It was just best to leave it and let Glen figure it out.

It had cooled down enough for him to get right into it by the time he got home and he found a bearing that had gone to pieces, so this morning's job was to get new parts and put it back together again. After an early dinner Mick went baling and Glen filled the chop bin while I tried to clean up flower beds and do a week's worth of house work. The weather is just plain ugly with the heat and humidity. I should be mowing grass tonight but I just can't face going outside again. So far the nights have been cooling the house off nicely - I sure hope it keeps it up. I just plain don't do well in heat.

Mick was having trouble with the baler again in the late afternoon so Glen went out and took over ( I think he wanted a turn in the air conditioned cab, myself), but the humidity had come up so much that he didn't keep at it for long. Damp bales are just a fire hazard because they rot, and heat, and then combust into flames. It always seems so strange to think that something can be a fire hazard because it's too wet, but the last thing you want is a couple of hot bales in your hay stack - you could lose your whole feed supply for a year that way. I hope we've already had our one fire of the year.

It's another steamy day out there today. I managaed to get some of the lawn cut later on yesterday afternoon, but there is still so much to do - hopefully the temperature will drop later on and I can get at it again. Meanwhile I'll hide out in the house and find other things to do.

We celebrated Canada's birthday last night by having family and friends over for a bonfire and fireworks after the sun went down. Being as we're not exactly fireworks experts, we are never sure of what we're getting until we light them. This batch was really nice with lots of variety in colors and design. The little kids were impressed, and the cattle right across the road were not. After the first few went off we could see them in the twilight, turning tail and running for the other end of the pasture for saftey. There was absolutley no wind by that time of the day, so the smoke just hung in the moist air - it was a neat effect to see the fireworks shooting out of the low smoke cloud, and up into the clear sky above. After the pyrotechnic show was over Mother Nature took ove with dozens of fireflies drifting around the yard showing off their natural glow, and the full moon rose just before midnight. There were a few mosquitos, but not enough to drive us inside.

Glen has been gearing up for haying. He has a neighbor's son hired to come and cut the hay with his crimper. This machine cuts the crop and makes several crimps in the stems so that the moisture can dry out faster. To make the best hay, you need it to dry out just enough to hold the nutrients but as quickly as possible so that it doesn't have time to get rained on, or start to rot or get moldy. Last year the weather was perfect for making hay - I wonder if we can manage two years in a row? We have a lot to do this year as Glen has planted another whole quarter section done to tame hay now. He will get the guy who is cutting it to leave a day or two between aech 80 acres or so. It would be a very bad thing to have all 300 acres laying on the ground if it rained.

It's hard to believe that we are into July already. Now that we don't have kids in school, summer holidays kind of sneak up on a person. I have been trying to talk Glen into some kind of a holiday in the next two months, but he's a pretty hard guy to get off the farm. Too much depends on the weather and how fast the hay can be put up and hauled home. He tells me that if I want a holiday I will have to make my own plans, so it looks like I will head west and go camping in the mountains with my sister for a week. I'm looking forward to it.

THE PRAIRIES IN JUNE

Last time I was hiding out from too much heat and humidity, this time I can't mow lawn yet (it's almost 10:00 in the morning) because the grass is just saturated. It will do nothing but clog the mower and make a terrible mess of the yard. I guess it's a good thing I have these setbacks outside, or I'd never get anything done inside, eh?

We have had some serious rains this week. Monday was a night of wild weather, but mostly to the west and north of here. We sat out on our deck and watched the light show all evening, and knew that there had been hail somewhere because of how the temperature had dropped so much, but besides about a dozen hailstones about the size of marbles falling just at sunset, we didn't get anything to speak of. It wasn't until the next morning we heard that Carlyle (40 miles to the west) received quite the beating with egg sized hail, and friends of ours 20 miles northwest of us had almost three inches of rain. It's always interesting to see how the lay of the land works - There are those twenty miles between us and it took from Monday night until Thursday morning for the water to work it's way downstream to where I cross the creek to go to town. I'd already had time to forget about how much rain they had, and then suddenly, there was a small lake at the bridge! With the creek running with more force that we saw at snowmelt this spring.

Everything is so green right now. Especially my garden - which is another thing I would like to be doing, but it's also too wet to weed. Thursday afternoon, just after I arrived home from work, the skies opened up and we got a half inch of rain in ten minutes or less. It was coming down so hard I couldn't see out of the yard. Needless to say, there are some parts of our lawn that are still under water, and although the water isn't covering the garden anymore, to try to walk on it would be silly. I would just sink to my ankles.

Glen and I went up to check the cattle on 21 the other night. He has cut the larger pasture into four smaller chunks and is trying to get more grazing power out of the land by restricting where they can graze. Cattle develope their favourite spots and over-graze them while leaving other spots untouched so if you don't let them have their own choice, they do a better job of utilizing the whole pasture. Our walk that night was to see if they needed to be moved again. With all the rain, the pasture is in fine shape so it will wait for a while yet. What we did discover was that something had pulled all the wires out of the solar power panel and battery apparatus that runs the electric fencer. The wires were completely chewed off as well. It's still a mystery what happened, but likely it was a bunch of coyote or fox pups teething on the strange stuff left in the field. Glen went up to fix it and built a separate little live-wired fence around the system to discourage a second attack. They'll think twice about getting too close this time!

You can tell it's really summer on the prairies now - when you sit outside at night around the fire pit there are fireflies to watch drifting around the yard, foxes and coyotes yipping and howling in the background, and humming birds buzzing back and forth to the feeders. We're not all about huge tractors and fields of grain.