Day 153 - Loooooong Day! Loooooong Drive!

This morning I was woken up by a cold nose & paws on my cheek. Thanks Tweet Pea. I got up & packed up my things. Dad & I had some lunch & cancelled the ride, as it was FREEZING cold outside! Brrr! What a wind! It certainly didn't feel like Spring time out there!


We hopped over to Glen & Lynette's after dinner & found Glenn in the barn pulling a calf. Of course, I spent the first 5 minutes trying to keep their 4 lab puppies outside of the barn. It was a challenge! With the baby calf on the ground & soon up sucking from Mama, we left the 2 to bond & headed to the house for some tea & coffee. 


Glenn is the kind of person who won't take no for an answer. You eat there & even if you say 'No thank you', you're bound to have a 2nd burger, 2nd cup of tea or what have you. You never go hungry/thirsty at their house! Hospitality is definitely their forte! 


We visited long enough for their daughter, Delaine, to arrive home from school. Oh my goodness. I feel old. She is in grade 9 & gorgeous! I babysat her when she was about 1 or 2!!! CRAZY!!! We chit chatted about school & who the teachers were... Some are still the same as when I was there, but most are new. Again. Old. 


We finished up the tea & coffee & it was time for me to leave. I hugged Dad goodbye & sped off for Medicine Hat. I was stopping in to see Stella on my way to Lethbridge. It was so wonderful to see her! We had a great visit & again, several cups of tea! We talked about a lot of different topics & I sure do wish I lived closer. I'd swing by for tea all the time! Stella has a heart of gold & I hope I can get back to see her again this summer.


I left for Lethbridge & started down the old familiar highway. I used to live in Lethbridge (twice) & also drove to Cranbrook to see my first 'serious' boyfriend when I was in College.  In fact, I also drove the opposite direction a fair bit when I worked as a surveyor's helper for one summer. I'll never forget the early morning drive to 'The Hat' from Lethbridge. Another old flame I was seeing called me early to tell me to watch the road on my way to work. Confused & thinking he was crazy, I was looking & looking & looking, when finally I saw it. There on the middle of the busy highway were the words:
Ryan
-
-
Loves
-
-
Jill
Awh. I felt a little like a bit of Jeff Foxworthy's 'Redneck' lyrics, as no one had ever used spray paint to declare their feelings towards me, but looking back, it was pretty sweet. Certainly made the drive more enjoyable! :o)


Anyhow, enough of ex's. I was just about to Coaldale when this black Acura sped up & drove alongside me. The car swerved close to my car & then sped ahead. I watched it for awhile & noticed it crossing the centre line a little too much. When it carried on with this behaviour for a little too long, I called 911. The car eventually turned off the main road & I didn't follow it. I left that in the hands of the trusty RCMP. It felt good to report it! I didn't tell them I'd been speeding the whole time though! :o)


I pulled into Dave & Collet's about 2330. Ezra was up & patiently awaiting the arrival of 'Nini'. He was so excited! They played & played & played until they were both tuckered out! I was tuckered out too, but Collet & I stayed up & had a little chat. 


Bedtime came way too late, but the end is in sight! Have a great sleep & see you soon!
Maria & Valentina
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Valentina's 'bed head' ears.

She loves mornings as much as her Mama!

Sleeping on Mama's knee to get close to the heat vent

Day 152 - No Guts, No Glory

*******WARNING: SOME IMAGES MAY BE EXTREMELY DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.*******


So this morning I was up early to let little Miss V out & then went back to bed. The phone rang a few times, but I knew it would not be for me! :o) I finally woke up mid-morning & lazily got ready for the day. 


I researched a few more IPT Doctors in the States & Canada, but with little success. I did find one place in Arizona that sounded wonderful. So wonderful it costs $6500/wk & you need to attend for a minimum of 6 weeks! I mean, I know my life is priceless, but really, who has that kind of money when they have a serious illness?! I was reading about their philosophy & it said something along the lines of avoiding 'cooked foods, dairy, egg & meats'. Of course, I'm eating a toasted egg, mushroom & cheese sandwich as I read! Whoops! Guess I'll cancel that one for awhile! 


I went out with Dad in the afternoon to tag some newborn calves. It was fun to remind myself that I used to be of assistance with things like this. Now, I'm not so sure, but at least I enjoyed myself! We separated the Mamas & babies from the other cows that didn't have calves & then Dad roped the calves, tagged them & weighed them. After we finished with that, they were loaded into the trailer & we took them out to the Cabbage Patch to be with the rest of the herd. 


On the way out, Dad asked if I wanted to shoot some gophers. Now, before you have a hairy canary, these little rodents are SLIGHTLY over populated along side the road & when you are moving cattle via horse, the holes the gophers dig can be enough to take down a horse, break its leg & possibly worse with you on its back. I've never killed anything other than a gopher, unless you count that one little 6" fish I caught. I hadn't shot gophers for a LONG time, but I thought, ah, what the heck. Why not? So, I line up my sight & BANG! Wow! Got 'im! I hopped out of the truck & took Valentina over to see the aftermath. She sniffed a little bit, but wasn't too interested. I took a photo of the headless gopher. I'll put it last in the line of photos from today for those of you with weak stomachs & soft hearts.


Okay, so the next few shots, my aim sucked, but eventually I got the hang of it. We let the cows & calves out of the trailer & Dad caught & tagged another new one that had been born out at the Cabbage Patch last night. 


We came back to the house & Dad made supper. The healthy options of the previous night weren't so apparent tonight, as he made burgers with sweet potato fries. I had some leftover eggplant/mushroom stuff & a burger. Dad doesn't know it, but I don't really like hamburgers, so when he wasn't looking, I slipped bite size pieces into Valentina's bowl. I think I only had three little bites & she got the rest. She loved it!


We were supposed to go over to Glen & Lynette's, our neighbours, but we ended up at the other neighbours, Bev & Blair's. We were only going to stay a short while & then head over to Glen & Lynette's. We left Bev & Blair's at 2325! Whoopsie! They have been good friends since the day our family moved to Maple Creek back in 1989! In fact, not so long ago, I was admiring Bev & her ability to sit down & have a conversation with an 11 year old (me) all the way through to 20 years later! And we can still have a great visit! 


I'll be sure to stop in at Glen & Lynette's tomorrow before I go! So many visits, so little time! Tonight is my last night at 'home', tomorrow I'll make my way to Lethbridge and then home on Thursday. I'm pretty pooped & looking very forward to a solid night's sleep back in Bragg Creek!


See you back in Alberta tomorrow night!
Maria & Valentina,
xxxxxxxx

Calf #1 about to be weighed & tagged.

The doting Mom's

Piercings are fashionable in the cattle world too! :o)

Dad makes it look so easy.

Dad teaching Valentina Cowdog 101.

*****WARNING:OFFENSIVE PHOTO BELOW******

What's left of Mr. Gopher. It was my first shot! Don't mess with me! :o)

*****WARNING:OFFENSIVE PHOTO ABOVE*****

Valentina thinks she knows what to do now - 'Can I get out & help?'

Just another day.

Dad has good aim. Don't mess with him either!

And then there's the random boot we found in the middle of the pasture. It's not Dad's, so he figures it was baled up in the hay. Somewhere there's a 1/2 barefoot cowboy running around.

New Mom mothers up.

This little guy was so new, she was still wobbly on her feet!

Leaving the Cabbage Patch

Nothing like a big beautiful sky.