The year that was

2010... the year where Mother Nature forgot to bring summer to Saskatchewan.  She sure doesn't seem to be forgetting winter though... brrrr -34 C with the windchill the other day. (as much as I complain I have to say I love having 4 true, distinct seasons)  Its been quite a year so I thought I'd take a little stroll down memory lane....
One of the lower moments of the year was when my stepmom got really sick.  She'd gone to the hospital for a fairly routine operation but there were complications and she got VERY sick.  I felt worried and helpless, my dad & stepmom live across the country in New Brunswick.  Also my dad isn't exactly the healthiest guy either, plus he tends to try to keep everyone else in the dark so they don't know how bad things are and he gets stressed.  Thankfully S is now back at home, and although there are big adjustments to her life she is doing quite well.
THE event of the year for me and Pie, we finally found our home in the country.  After years of searching for the place that we both thought was just right we found it.  Close enough to work that its not an issue, far enough out that we feel we're in the country, and it has everything we wanted and more.  A house that didn't need a ton of work and set up for horses with at least fencing and shelters were "musts".  The extras we got, well some we would have worked toward eventually others were just bonus: a garage, a shop, a barn, a hay shed, corrals (with automatic waterers) an outdoor arena, a round pen, and a hay field!  Hard to believe but as of today we've lived here 7 months!!
There has been a serious learning curve, in fact a few things have come up that made people ask if I wished we had stayed in the city.  By the way that answer is NO! lol  But you know, there were issues coming up with our house in the city that I wouldn't know how to fix/take care of right away either.
Moving out to the country brought some new faces into our lives.  There was Stubby the teeny steer and his buddy El Toro the little bull:

Stubby

Who due to a few reasons are no longer living with us.  We are still thinking of getting some cattle in the future but will be taking a different path if we choose to do so.

An absolute sweetheart of a kids pony, Rootbeer, and a mini donkey, George, now call "The Ranch" home.  As well as 4 barn kitties who all started out named like a group of little old ladies... until 2 of "the girls" turned out to be boys :o  So now we have Oliver, Ethel, Oleta and Eli.  (and Ethel caught a mole this fall!!)

A couple of new colts rounded out our herd:

Odin & Octavius

Pie & I's "anniversary gifts" to each other... officially Odin will be mine and Tavi will be Pie's.

When our house in the city sold, after much delay getting onto the market, we had enough money to pay back the loan my FIL had okayed so we could purchase "The Ranch" and still have some money to put down on a new tractor, a little New Holland Boomer.  That and a used Bombardier quad rounded out the "toys" we bought for working on the acreage.

And I also was able to add a new member to our family... my little dog Tucker, who I am beyond ridiculously in love with!

Tucker

As I look back at 2010 I feel very fortunate and blessed, and I look toward 2011 with excitement, anticipation and hope.

While this year was very good to me I know that it was not so good to some of my friends out there in blogland.  I truly hope those of you who had a rough 2010 have a MUCH better 2011!!