Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Maybe it's per year??

What the heck?  I'm not sure why, but for some reason tonight I just had the thought to try to upload a pic and it seems to have worked!
So maybe that photo limit is a per year thing?
(could I have really posted that many photos in a year!?)
Anyhow, here's the pic I loaded... and an idea of the snow we got during that storm.  ALL the pens have these HUGE drifts, except for the cow pen of course! 
Here Lefta, Odin and Applejack are surveying their snow wall.  Don't worry, they do have some actual room in their pen too.  I think the only reason they went in this little tunnel like area is that I had been in there and they were being snoopy ;)
Can we all say "slow melt please"?
*keep in mind, Appy is about 15.1-15.2*

Friday, March 22, 2013

Friday Funny ~ It's No Joke

Well, no joke unless you like Mother Nature's sense of humour.  The regularly scheduled Friday Funny has been postponed to bring y'all up to date on our welcome to Spring.

Wednesday, the first day of spring, most of Saskatchewan was greeted with a heckuva blizzard.  Almost all the highways in the province were closed or flagged as "travel not recommended".  There are tons of images on Facebook and in the news of stranded motorists and highways that are covered in huge drifts of snow.

Pie and I both managed to make it home, although our trucks didn't. 
I left work a little early (8:30pm) and was home by 10, after walking the last 1/2 mile.  Yep, that close to home and my poor little Chevy just couldn't make it through the last drift!  And that hour and a half drive?  That normally takes me about 30-40 minutes.
At 10:30 Pie called told me he was leaving work, I told him I didn't think he'd make it and that I had a great room for him at the hotel (the penthouse!)  But he insisted on coming home.  I told him that the first two grid roads from the highway were in no shape to try (one had a Suburban or Suburban type truck half buried when I tried it!)  I told him his best bet was to go to Delisle (the next town past ours) and take the blacktop to our grid, with a warning that from that second grid (with the buried truck) the highway was worse than it was from Saskatoon to Vanscoy (and that part wasn't great)
On the blacktop he'd need to go slow and watch for drifts and then on our road he'd have to watch for where my truck was stranded in the road.
**side note**  Although the highway was icy, visibility sucked and there were some drifts I've driven on worse.  The worst part of that night was that it was also SUPER windy.  There were a few times that I actually, literally got blown into the other lane :o

While waiting for Pie I was texting back and forth with my friend Scott.  Around midnight I got a call from Pie saying that he had almost made it but got stuck in the ditch.  I messaged Scott about Pie's situation and that I was going to walk out and meet  him with some warmer things (he has a bit of stuff in his truck but nowhere near what he should, and yes we have argued about that)
I bundled up, zipped my cell into my arm pocket and started trekking.  You know you really love someone when you leave your warm, cozy house to walk into a blizzard for them!  Not to worry friends, despite the storm the visibility on our road was good so it wasn't completely crazy to walk.  Not a pleasant stroll though, when you walked into the wind (which was toward home) it felt like the snow was sandblasting you!
Walking along I could hear my phone start whistling in my pocket (incoming text) and after a few whistles it started to chirp (crickets, incoming phone call).  Being bundled up I couldn't easily grab it so I ignored it.  Not too far from home I met up with Pie and gave him some warmer stuff then headed for home.  Turns out those texts & calls were from Scott, wondering where Pie was and if we needed help.  He even went looking for him, what a friend!

Thursday we tried to get my truck out with my friend Janelle's Jeep & our tractor but it wasn't happening.  We also had to dig the hay barn free to do chores.  Today we finally managed to get both trucks free, thanks to Janelle's husband Joey and their big bad ass truck (Joey had it at work on Thursday) and Pie's tractor, which had to re-clear the huge drift in front of my truck. 
The photos we took don't do the situation justice, unless you have a point of reference.  Janelle took on one her cell of my standing on a drift next to Joey's truck.  The truck is on the road where Pie had cleared the snow and I'm on about 4' of snow next to the truck, not sinking in at all!  Those drifts were like cement!
We managed to get Pie's truck too, thanks again to Joey.  I hadn't known exactly where he went in the ditch and when I saw how far he had to walk... he was about 3 or 4 miles from home!

Needless to say neither Pie nor I went to work Thursday.  Tonight Pie got to work a bit late but I didn't go, it was too late by the time we got the trucks out and mine needs to sit in the garage with the snow & ice melting away from around the engine.

Some people may think a snow day is fun, but in reality it means so much more work.  Even the simplest chores take longer.  Thursday we did the bare minimum, which normally would take about 15 minutes.  Instead it took between an hour & a half to two hours!  I'm looking forward to going to work Sunday! lol

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Chicken update

My little flock of hens is still here and seem to be doing well, although I think they're as ready for winter to be over as I am. 
I shoveled a clear area and laid straw out in their yard but they really don't have much interest in it.  However when I do chores I open the front door of the coop and let them out "in the wild" and most of the birds will wander outside.  If it's really, really cold I don't do that and on the other hand if it's really nice I'll open the door as soon as I'm down in the barnyard that way they can get some fresh air & sunshine while I'm doing chores for the other critters.
The girls have done well this winter, I had a least a couple eggs every day.  More often I had between 4 and 6.  Not too bad for a flock of 9.
Now that my first winter with chickens is drawing to a close I think there's a few changes I want to make for next winter... the three biggies are insulating the coop, add a sill to the door to keep the bedding in (spillage has caused a few issues with the door not closing properly all the time) and **fingers crossed for this one** running electricity to the coop instead of relying on extension cords.
Speaking of plans... it was surprisingly easy to get Pie to go along with expanding our flock.  Even though it also means adding on to the actual coop.  Yay!


Saturday, March 9, 2013

Baby Steps

Oh heck it's been forever since I posted... is anyone even here still?  Well for the few of you that are here...

Voodoo hasn't been himself since this past summer when he was hurt.  One of my friend's did some massage/chiro on him and physically he seemed ok, but mentally/emotionally he just wasn't himself.  I had a theory that he was associating the pain he had been in with me, and more specifically with me riding him.

Another friend of mine has started doing equine body work on him, she also incorporates oils and animal communication.  Now before you poo-poo that, I'm not trying to anthropomorphize (or as I prefer to say "people-ize" lol) I think that animals do try to communicate we just need to learn how to interpret what they're telling us and translate it into something we can use.

After his first treatment, or rather during his first treatment, I could see a difference.  He was starting to lick again and no longer wanted to frantically chew his lead rope.  He's been more himself in the pens as well, he's wanting attention and not wanting to share me with Tavi and Smudge when I'm in there pen.

Today when I went to get him for his second treatment he turned to face me and licked his lips before he walked over :)  During the treatment I was telling Janelle that I'm a bit worried about getting my hopes up and she told me part of my homework is to let myself hope.  Fingers crossed we can get my boy healthy & happy again and Voodoo & I can regain that bond we had!

Wordless Wednesday ~ new trailer!