Early May

It has been a while since I had anything exciting enough to write about. But as Nick says there is no such thing as writers block, you just need to sit down at the keyboard and let your fingers ramble over the keys and by golly, as my friend Joe says, see what comes out.

We have been busy since we got home back in the middle of April, doing what, we are not sure but the days sure fly by. After six months of wandering through the sunbelt we have family to catch up with, and some doctor, and dentist appointments to clear out of the way. Brenda was in to see the Sports Medicine folks and they are doing something, we are not sure what, with her knee. A little cortisone shot gave her some relief for a day or two but certainly not long enough. Not sure what the next step is but probably more injections to introduce a little lubricant into that bad knee.

Bad joints appear to be a plague around here, last fall Brenda’s good saddle horse Rosie developed a slight limp on one of our trips to the mountains. It seemed to come and go so we thought maybe giving it a rest over the winter would cure it. That was not to be, when we got home I noticed she still had a little hitch in her gitalong and although it appeared to be mainly the right foot, at times it seemed to change sides. So I loaded her up and took her into downtown Balzac to Moore and Co.’s clinic. They work on a lot of performance horses and although Rosie is not ever going to Spruce Meadows or the Derby she does perform perfectly for us. Good news and bad news, the bad news first, she has a touch of osteoarthritis around her navicular bone. There are  a couple of treatments and the most effective is another shot of that lubricant, remember it from Brenda’s knee, and it seemed to relieve most of the discomfort. The good news is that if that doesn’t work Rosie is not in to much discomfort and we have an abundance of grass around here and she will be able to live out her days as a fine looking pasture ornament.

Oh more good news, I found that although the vet and Brenda’s doc use basically the same stuff the vet is only half the price,………so maybe I can work a deal there.

Then the last weekend in April we headed off to Red Deer for a horse deal called the Mane Event. Three days of watching trainers and clinicians deal with lots of different types of horses and disciplines. An opportunity to see and maybe even remember some great information. And to top it off Miss Ella joined us for one day and entertained us while we were shopping around the exposition.

Those who are familiar with our summer rig know that although the camper was a great unit it was pretty heavy for our dually and with a horse trailer on behind we were a little over loaded. Yep a little over 2500 lbs overweight and although most of our usage is just an hour or two west of us we had to take it pretty easy going and coming to make sure nothing untoward happened. With our acquisition of Dogpound South and the likelihood that we will be hauling horses south with us next winter a more road worthy outfit seemed to be in the cards. We have looked around and had a pretty good idea of what we needed, or rather wanted, pictures to follow in our next blog. I learned that from my blogging friend, Rick, out on the West Coast, always keep something back for the next blog.

Let’s just jump ahead to today and I’ll tell you a little about Mother’s Day around Dogpound North. I got going pretty early this morning and ran into Calgary to take my Mom out for breakfast. And although my original plan was that famous Canadian icon, Tim Horton’s, she got lucky and the golf course down the road from her place was open so we slipped into their restaurant. Those who know me know that the restaurant is as close as I get to a golf course and although it was snowing lightly there were a couple of guys in shorts heading off to chase the little white balls around the grass. We had a nice breakfast and a good visit.

Then it was back to the farm as the girls were coming out to spend some time with their Mom, and Miss Ella was coming to visit her Grandpa.

While she was here though she had a card for Grandma,

And had to give Grandpa a hand figuring out to start the DVD player to watch the Ultrasound of her cousin Kashton,

Meanwhile outside we were enjoying another fine spring day on the Northern Ranges.