Happy Halloween!

Two men were walking home after a Halloween party and decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery just for laughs...

Right in the middle of the cemetery they were startled by a tap-tap-tapping noise coming from the misty shadows.

Trembling with fear, they found an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at one of the headstones.

"Holy cow Mister," one of them said after catching his breath, "You scared us half to death -- we thought you were a ghost! What are you doing working here so late at night?"

"Those fools!" the old man grumbled. "They misspelled my name!"

*image is not my own, found with Google Images*

Wordless Wednesday

Ty

09/27/08

Meant to do this sooner!

Some of you may recall (or perhaps not) that last year I flew out to Halifax because my dad was having a kidney transplant. I was talking to him today (he's doing great) and I realized I hadn't shared some stuff that I was meaning to. So without further delay...

My dad (on left) and Uncle David. We were just leaving the hotel to walk over to the hospital. (yes it was that close) The last pic where everyone has all of their original parts:

looking happy but nervous

The staff in Halifax were terrific. Really until Pie was hospitalized this summer I haven't had too great of a review to give our local medical community, so I was totally blown away by how wonderful they were! Unfortunately dad did suffer a rather strange side effect after the kidney transplant:

did someone confuse the transplant area with labour & delivery??

Actually that is a proud grandpa with his first grandson, my sis's little guy Lucas. (about 2 1/2 months here).

Dad and Uncle D did great. Both were released much sooner than expected and dad even went back to work earlier than estimated, although with a few changes. Its about time the old man started to slow down! lol

Since we started with the 'before' pic we should end with an 'after'. Here they are again, with a bit of parts scrambling! ;)

"now remember to take good care of my kidney big brother!"

Boo

Nope not the Halloween kind either. Just a bunch of stuff to say "boo, bah-humbug" to.
What a week. Wednesday I slipped at work and my back has been a pain ever since. Didn't ride because of it but that's probably for the best as I noticed that today it feels much better. (thank goodness!)
Penning got cancelled this week, because of sick cows. That makes 2 of the last 3 pennings. And honestly I don't think they were feeling 100% last week. (then again I know next to nothing about cows)
Then I watched this documentary called "The Most Hated Family In America". You can access a YouTube clip of the documentary by clicking but caution there is strong language. If you even have to wonder why I say this family deserves a huge "Boo!" then we probably wouldn't get along so much in real life. Its nothing new to have an extreme religious group that is anti-gay but the tangents this family goes off on about the military really ticked me off, I mean seriously - picketing the funerals of soldiers?!
Not such a bad week though, I'm sure there are people who are worse off.
Oh, and for those of you that requested new pics I tried. Voodoo did not feel like modeling however. Instead he was being a pouty baby because (gasp) I was giving other horses some attention too!! lol
A sort of funny story: Kimfer works at a dairy and had 2 really bad days at work in a row. (Wed & Thurs) Thursday night she came into the restaurant for supper and said "I'm so mad at cows that I'm going to eat one... I'm ordering steak tonight!" lol

Rookie

I went and tried something new with my little buddy Voodoo on Sunday - Team penning.
Its something I've never been too interested in, I had kinda tried it once before but wasn't really interested. Then this fall it was like 'the perfect storm' was created to make me reconsider.
I had spent the last two summers team sorting (when not barrel racing) and so had met a great bunch of people. (besides my friends Brenda, Holly & Ace). Also it doesn't look like there will be much for winter barrel racing. Then, the kicker, penning was moved to a new locale. And with it a new day. Its no longer on Friday nights - which I have to work - but Sunday afternoons! And then even better, Pie's day off got changed from Sundays to Mondays. So I could go check out penning without having to feel bad for spending the majority of our day off together doing something without him!
I still wasn't sure if it was my thing but I wanted to give it a shot. Kimfer had NO interest in going so I called Auntie Jac & Uncle Ben (actually Kimfer's aunt & uncle but they've been kind enough to 'adopt' me lol). I knew Ben was interested in checking it out and thought maybe they'd let me follow them as I wasn't too sure where I needed to go. Turns out they said Voodoo & I could just catch a ride with them. Sweet!
Sunday B & J pulled into the yard, we threw my gear in and loaded up Voodoo and off we went. It was kinda rainy but fairly nice out (oh yeah, the snow is all melted for now!) and in less than an hour we pulled up to Claypool's arena. When I entered I paid the non-member fee and told them that I was new at this. They said no problem, when we draw teams just let your teammates know and they'll show you the ropes.
Everyone got put on a team and each team got three goes before the break. After the break the teams were redrawn and again every team went three times. I was fortunate enough to have Fred, a very patient man and a good penner, and Erin, the club president a fun lady and also a good penner & teacher, on my first team.
Fred, Erin and I were the 4th team up and we penned all our cattle just as nice as could be! Time limit was 90 seconds and I believe we did it in 58. I was just amazed that we did it. I didn't screw up! lol Sadly the next two turns we penned zero.
My second team was with Uncle Ben and Norbert. Poor Norbert, stuck with the two rookies! lol Thank goodness he was patient and a good sport. Our first go we dq'd but the last two we penned all our cattle under the time limit.
While I didn't place at all that day I had a blast! So much so that during the break I went to the office and bought a membership. Penning runs every Sunday until about the end of April... I probably won't make it to all of them as there is some barrel racing and I'm sure weather will put a damper on travel for some of the time. But it looks like I've found something to do with my horses this winter! lol

Saskatoon Stampede & "Fat Calves"

This past weekend was the Saskatoon Stampede, a pro level rodeo. My bestie Kimfer and a few other friends were on the drill team this year. I had to miss the performances on Friday and Saturday nights (work) but as Sunday was my day off I was free to go. I went with Kimfer so not only did I get in free (always a bonus) but I got to go "behind the scenes" which was kinda neat.
It was kind of a bonus for me to get to go Sunday. Sunday's performance was dedicated to our wonderful country and our troops. A patriot song was played (sorry can't remember what it was called) and the drill team all wore red and white shirts. The shirts had white backs with a maple leaf in the centre of each.
I got a bit teary eyed when the drill finished and the girls lined their horses up in the arena while the announcer spoke. He talked about our military and how we should be grateful for them. That it is because they put their lives on the line that we have our freedoms. To not take freedom for granted or lightly. And that it is because of that freedom that we could choose to spend our day there watching that rodeo. Then a spotlight shone on an upper level section of seats. Each seat had a "support our troops" ribbon and a maple leaf. There were over 130 seats and each seat represented a soldier that had made the ultimate sacrifice.
I totally admit I got very teary eyed then. My "adopted" sister (one of my sister's good friends) has just left for her tour in Afghanistan. I worry about her but I'm happy for her... as she says "I didn't join the military to sit at home on my ass!"
Probably the funniest thing at the rodeo was when the "dresser" was getting the drill team horses ready. She was glittering their butts and got a tad carried away... she glittered 3 of the pickup horses! :o She just realized what she had done when the pickup men came walking her way. She ducked and hid between two horses until they were gone. Of course we all agreed not to tell them, hoping they wouldn't notice. Of course they did and were party poopers and brushed the glitter off.

Now on to the fat calves... I am hugely appreciative for all the support and interest for Cowboys Love Fat Calves.
However I don't want to get too carried away and have too many people writing so, for now, all the invites have been sent out.
If you didn't get an invite but would still like contribute please consider:
a) following and commenting or b) e-mailing me and I would be more than happy to put up a "Guest Post" once every week or so. e-mail lbt933@sasktel.net
I hope there are no hurt feelings to the people that did not get an invite. I used my ultimate chicken strategy and just invited the first few people that e-mailed for an invite. I know - verrry scientific! lmao

Its heeeere

Snow. blegh

Our first snow of the winter. It started as a few flakes. But then it stuck. Yuck.

Thank goodness these are pics from last winter! If we had gotten this much snow for our first snow... yikes.

But it is a glimpse of what we get to look forward to. *sigh* Along with less riding time. Shaggy, hard to cool out horses. Icy roads and stupid drivers who are now also more dangerous. I just loooove winter. lol

Actually I do kinda like it. I like having 4 seasons. I just don't like it when its really cold, couldn't it just stop at -20? Anything colder than that just seems excessive.

This pic was taken when I got home from work tonight, around 11:30 pm. The road is a bit icy, there is just a light layer of snow clinging to the grass.

I'm still hoping it all melts and we don't get any "real" snow, the stuff that lasts all winter, for a few more weeks. After all I'm waiting for the farrier to come out to take shoes off!

To those of you who want to co-blog on CLFC please shoot me an e-mail lbt933@sasktel.net I need to send you an e-mail invitation so that you can join!

Oh, and something else is here... Cowboys Love Fat Calves ;)