Gone Home

Alle has moved on down the road. Yesterday she passed her car seat test and was given clearance to move on down the road to Rocky Mountain House. I guess when you are a preemie, and as is quite usual, have breathing issues they make you sit in your car seat for 90 minutes while they monitor your breathing and pulse rate just to make sure you are OK to travel. Now a time or two in my life I have been on car rides with folks where if I was being monitored they most certainly would not have given me clearance to travel again. But I am positive it was the driver and nothing to do with my heart. And just for the record I am NOT mentioning any names, nope, not ever!

She is bundled up for the trip home, not sure where her folks are taking her but it has been pretty nice around here. Our day time temps are in the 60’s sometimes even low 70’s and it doesn’t drop below freezing to many nights a week. All in all pretty nice spring weather. Below is a picture of Miss Ella and her little sister Alle Kitten a day or two before they left the hospital.

And here is a bunch I have taken over the last day or two.

Alle Kitten VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And here she is lounging around at home today.

Now I have probably overdone the baby pictures but I guess it is my blog and I can tell it like I want to but although it is hard to believe we do do other stuff here down the road from Dogpound. Over the last week I have been doing my homework with Blue and introducing Oscar, Claire’s pony, to some of the things I hope I learned at Terri McKinney’s clinic 10 days or so ago. I have also spent a lot of time just setting in the sun and enjoying being part of the herd and here are some pictures of all the ponies we leave at home in the winter.

Dogpound North’s Herd VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The two dark geldings are Razz and Coal, the dun with the high withers (swayback) is Hank, the paint is Oscar, my grandddaughter Claire’s pony while the dark pony with the blond mane belongs to our other granddaughter Madison, Smokey is the gray on the right and in the back behind Smokey is Rosie, my gelding Blue’s dam. Brenda used to ride Rosie regularly but she has developed a little arthritis so is relegated to a pretty easy life getting ridden just around Dogpound North on short rides. Hank has a sore shoulder and comes up lame if he is used hard so he to is a pasture ornament here.

Yesterday while Alle was working on her car seat test Brenda and I decided to run up to a friend of ours Old WR and his new wife Tracey to check out this years crop of foals. Wayne as well as being a good friend is where we bought Rosie and he owned the stud that was Blue’s sire. He always has some great cow horses around and this year was no exception. Brenda would have brought these two home with us if we had brought the trailer I think.

 

And the little filly in the bottom picture may make it yet.

CAPL–Tribute

My father who I wrote about a month or so ago belonged to an organisation here called the Canadian Association of Petroleum Landmen. Earlier this week I was invited to their monthly meeting to hear the tribute in his honour. He joined that group back in 1952, coincidentally the year I was born, and was an active member right up to his passing last month. He served as the President of the organisation way back in 1957 and won the Herb Hughes award, an award that is given to a member of the organization that demonstrates outstanding professional stature, community involvement, industry leadership and personal conduct, back in 1982.

Dad’s good friend, Jack Irwin, along with Larry Buzan, told a few stories about his adventures in the land business and pointed out to the crowd that my father was a member of the geological field crew that pointed out the high horizon that was later found to indicate the Leduc discovery well, the well that really brought Canada into the oil business.

I won’t rehash all the stories here, they are more campfire fare, although many of them are pretty entertaining, but one thing that my father did that made him memorable in the CAPL crowd was open every meeting, and Annual Convention with the Canadian National Anthem, and the Star Spangled Banner when they had notable American associates in the crowd. He began that tradition in 1962 and one member remarked in a book that he had negotiated a no-cut contract as he continued to sing at the opening of every meeting until just recently.

At this meeting the national anthem was sung as usual, the flags were there, the mic was ready, but the singer was only there in spirit. The membership sang their hearts out. Dad would have been proud of them. Needless to say an emotional moment for me.

Time is Flying By!

Holy smokes it has been a while since I last fired up the old Live Writer program. Thought I better get at it before Microsoft shuts down Live Writer and I disappear into the ozone. Well it might not happen that quickly as Rick over there in Cowichan Bay tells us it might be a while and with these computers who knows how long a while might be.

When I last wrote Lacey and Alle Kitten were up in Edmonton in the Royal Alexandria hospital but since then they have moved a 120 miles closer to home and are in the Red Deer Regional Hospital. She is growing like a bad weed now and is up to 5 1/2 pounds. And is eating full bottles as of the last four feedings. Till now she has been only drinking part of a bottle and they have had to feed the rest of her quota to her through a feeding tube. Maybe now she has gotten enough strength together to consume the whole meal now.

Sleeping peacefully in Grandpa’s hat.

It is not only closer for Clayton and Ella to go visit now it is a lot closer for Grandma and I and we have been by a few times in the last couple of weeks. Lacey is staying at the Ronald McDonald House just across from the hospital. I guess I knew these places were around somewhere but never realized what a great place they are. The one in Red Deer is brand new and can house 11 families whose children are seriously ill and have no place close to stay. Each family has their own room, Lacey’s has two queen sized beds, and there are playrooms, reading rooms, and a central kitchen facility. Each family has a shelf in the fridge and a dry goods storage area to keep their own foodstuffs, and a few nights a week a group of volunteers come by and cook up some pretty scrumptious meals Lacey tells me. I noticed that there is no shortage of baking there for folks to munch on between meals. Each family has some chores to help keep the place neat and tidy and are responsible for a through cleaning of their private quarters when they leave. All in all a wonderful place and it sure gave me another perspective on the McDonalds corporation.

Other than visiting with Alle and Lacey we have been not doing much here but last weekend did head up to Kingman, Alberta to attend a clinic with Terry McKinney of the Wild Deuce Retreats and Outfitting organisation. Terri was showing us a few things she has observed over the years and we spent two days working with our horses in the round pen. Blue and I have a funny relationship where at times he thinks he is in charge. It became apparent the first day that he allows me a lot of latitude that he is not willing to extend to other mere mortals. He has a pretty dominant personality and appears to consider me as his equal, sometimes, but is not so considerate of other folks. That is changing. He was in the remedial class for much of the weekend and certainly gave us a look at a different kind of horse than some of the other better behaved and trained horses that were there. I left the weekend with a lot of homework to do and we have begun that here down the road from Dogpound.

Here Terri is initiating a chat with Blue.

I would be remiss if I didn’t bring you up to date on Meg’s progress also. She had a couple of weeks of bed rest and we are just now starting to let her move around herself although we still try to limit her to less athletic activities but those who know Meg know that is not an easy sell. Up at Kingman this weekend she was giving a clinic of her own to the McKinney’s border collies on the finer points of teaching humans to throw sticks, grass or almost anything she can bring to you. As you can see in the shot below she had an attentive audience.

We had hoped to get out to the Yaha Tinda for a few days of riding over the upcoming weekend but it looks like that will have to wait for a little while, but that will give us time to get some things done around Dogpound North like dragging the pastures and doing that homework that Blue and I have.

Here is a picture of Ella and her friend Laine at his birthday party last weekend.

Busy Week

This week started off with not much to do and then got busier and busier. We were heading in to watch a play at Claire’s, our oldest granddaughters, school on Monday but that was a wrong date and it appeared grandparents weren’t invited till Wednesday or Thursday so Brenda, Mom, Matt and I headed for Tony Roma’s for a consolation lunch.

Tuesday was the day we decided to move our motorhome out of its winter storage as we were planning on using it this weekend to attend the Mane Event, a horse extravaganza held annually in Red Deer, Alberta just to the north of us. We got it out and mostly loaded but life was about to intervene in those plans.

At 4:18AM Wednesday morning the phone rang and it was our youngest daughter calling to tell us that she was in labour and although it was 5 or so weeks early the baby had decided that it was time to make an appearance. Needless to say grandma was bouncing off the walls and pretty quickly was headed to Rocky Mountain House. Most of the day was spent visiting with Lacey and Clayton and our other daughter Rebecca and about 3:00PM all of Lacey’s hard work resulted in a beautiful baby girl Alle Marie Anderson.

She was 4 lbs. 14 oz. and perfect in every way. Like most preemies she was having a little trouble with the breathing part of this bright new world. Rocky Mountain House has a great staff there both doctors and nurses but it is a small town hospital and they decided that they weren’t equipped to deal with a premature baby so they chose to transfer her to a hospital in Edmonton that had a Neo-Natal Intensive Care ward that would be able to handle her issues a lot better. Now although Mom was transferred to Edmonton with a conventional ambulance.

That old fashioned method of transportation was no where fancy enough for my newest granddaughter, she chose to go first class.

This STARShip came fully staffed with a couple of pilots, one of whom I have known for a long time, Mike McNeil, a paramedic, Jason, as well as a paediatric nurse and a respiratory therapist from the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. As well as the staff they brought along

“Stork 1” an incubator specifically adapted to fly these types of medevac's. If you look closely you can see our little Alle Kitten riding comfortably along as she begins her journey. And rest assured that Grandpa had a word with pilot Mike to make sure he knew what valuable cargo he was flying today.

Once Lacey and Alle were on their way we headed back for Dogpound North to wait for news, and each day it has been a little better.

Friday Grandma ran up to Rocky Mountain House to bring Miss Ella and her dog Leo back here to the farm to spend the weekend with us.

Just to keep up the theme of things around here it seemed that Meg somehow hurt her back also. We found her lying on the sidewalk in front of the house stretched out and in terrible pain. After loading her on a sheet of plywood we put her in the Jeep and headed off to the Vet in Didsbury’s place, a forty minute drive. To tell the truth I didn’t think this was going to end well as each and every bump on the road seemed to cause her excruciating agony. Once we got there and got the pain controlled we took some X-rays. They showed that there was a herniated disk in her back and the vet figured if he could get some steriods into her he might be able to get her back on her feet, but he said the next 12 hours would tell the story.

By the time we called in in the morning she had been up walking and although still pretty doped looked like she would make a full recovery. It won’t be easy as they tell us she will have to be kept in a kennel and only taken out for short walks on her leash. Those who know Meg know that is not going to be fun for her, she is pretty active to say the least.

This morning, Sunday, we headed for Edmonton to deliver Ella to her family so she could meet her new sister. It is all quite surreal to her I think but she did tell me after she met Alle that “the baby came out”. I think it will all become more real to her once Alle Kitten comes home with her. But she sure was happy to see her Mom and Dad when we got up to the hospital.

So I’ll leave this off for now but I will let y’all know when Alle and her Mom head home from the Royal Alex in Edmonton.

As for the motorhome that we brought out to use this weekend well it never moved and tomorrow we will put it back in the shed till it’s next journey.

In a Land just to the North of Summer

Things are starting to settle down here a little. It was a sad homecoming but the world keeps turning and each day the great stories Dad told get better and the bad ones fade into the sunset.

I thought I would recap our trip home as lots of folks ask how that works. We loaded Blue and Willow bright and early on Tuesday morning the 2nd of April and headed north. We weren’t exactly sure where we were going to get to but had figured on 8-10 hours on the road per day. The first day we got to Fillmore, Utah and found a spot at the rodeo grounds where the ponies could get out of the trailer and spend the night in a box stall. Not ideal but there is a great facility there and would have been room to get them a little exercise if Brenda’s Jeep hadn’t cratered on the highway just south of Fillmore. It had a light on that had come on and off all winter. The manual says it is just an alert and something you need to check out, well before we got it checked out it quit. We used our AAA and had it towed into Provo, Utah to the Larry Miller Dodge Jeep dealer there.

In the morning once again about 0600 hours we loaded the horses and headed north into Provo, Utah to figure out what was wrong with Brenda’s Jeep and how long it would be. We had great service from the dealer there and it was only a couple of hours till they had diagnosed the problem, as the alternator, and told us it wouldn’t be ready till quitting time Wednesday night. At that point we decided that I better hit the road north and Brenda would wait for the Jeep and follow a day behind.

I managed to make the rodeo grounds in Great Falls, Mt that night and although we got in late we found a couple of stalls and the horses were able to stretch their legs with a walk around the grounds before we all hit the hay for the night.

The next morning I once again hit the trail towards Dogpound North. After a confusing stop at the border where the customs guys and the vets disagreed on what papers I needed, the vet won, and I had those papers, I was again headed north. If you read my previous blog you know what happened from there on, so I am going to jump ahead to some of the more recent happenings.

Our friends from south of the Medicine Line must have sent this escort to make sure we got back home safe and sound, thanks. Other than the inevitable stuff connected with a loved one passing we have been trying to get life back to normal as much as we can. I ran down to Foxhollow Farms just south of us to watch Madison’s lessons and Claire riding her little paint Oscar.

Both girls are doing great and have improved a lot over the winter. Next week their horses are coming home to Dogpound North so they will get some outdoor riding done then.

Although Brenda was a day behind me and actually hit a little bit of winter around Great Falls, Mt she got home on Friday and on Sunday we got all the kids except Paul and Terri and their bunch out here down the road from Dogpound. It was a short visit but gave Brenda the grandchild fix she needed.

Kids, Grandkids and Grandkids to come VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

The next weekend the kids got their horses back on the place here so they were out playing around the yard.

Big Horse and Little VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Matt and Michelle have a couple of half brothers Razz and Coal who are Percheron crosses and Madison has Spanky a Welsh/Quarter cross while Claire has a small paint named Oscar. The big guys are pretty tall to climb up on and Spanky is a little small for me but I am thinking I might like to try out that little paint. After seeing Bill’s Mr. Shorty (Fred) down south I might like a horse that I can swing my leg over without reaching for the stirrup.

Eat your heart out Lazybarr Bill

So today Mr. Oscar and I had a short ride around Dogpound North and just to deal with a little excess energy he had we took a spin around the cultivated field next door. That deep mud seems to burn that energy up pretty quick. He is a pretty catty little horse and I think is pretty used to getting his own way with the kids, but once he gets a few miles on him I think he will be a great kids horse. Not exactly the size that a fellow of my generous proportions needs but fun for a short tune-up ride once in a while.

And just in case you think a little snow can stop a confirmed flip-flop wearer, evidence of lunacy below.

Jack Brown 1926-2012

Dad spinning a yarn at our wedding a few years back

Darn I never wanted to write this blog. About noon on April 5th, just as I was going through Nanton, Alberta, near the end of our long trek from Arizona I got a phone call from the folks at the Foothills Hospital letting me know that my Dad had collapsed in his room there and although they were doing all they could for him, it might be a good idea for me to come on over if I could. Having a full load of horses and dogs in the trailer behind me complicated the issue so as quickly as I could I headed for Dogpound North and kicked everyone out into the yard and jumped in the other truck and headed back to Calgary.

By the time I got to the hospital my family had gathered to be with Dad and soon after he slipped out of the room and left us to contemplate life without him for the first time ever.

Dad was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta and worked there his entire life. His father died when he was about 11 and my grandmother, Dad and his brother Walter were left to fend for themselves in the middle of the depression. Times were not easy but I do believe Dad looked back on those years fondly.

His high school years were spent working afternoons as a machinist in the Munitions Plant at Ogden Shops as World War II raged on around the world. After the war ended and Ogden Shops started transitioning back to a Railroad yard he accepted a job as a labourer working for Imperial Oil in Norman Wells.

Up till that time he had planned on attending university to become a doctor, but the oil patch worked it’s magic on him and he started off on a pretty exciting 60 year career in the business. Those early summers were spent on geological field crews throughout Northern Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories as well as around Vancouver Island. He returned for a time to the University of Alberta where he met and sang his way into the heart of my mother. They were married in 1950 and spent their honeymoon roaming around southern Alberta scouting seismic crews. As time went on he eventually joined the ranks of the Landmen working in Canada and has been a member of their organisation since about 1952, as well as serving on many committees and teaching many courses he was able to exercise his voice and love of music by opening almost every meeting for the next 40-50 odd years by singing the national anthem. His love of singing and bird hunting are two of the things I remember most of him as a young boy.

As kids we used to tramp our way up and down the irrigation canals of eastern Alberta and the last sight that a lot of roosters saw was that shotgun muzzle of his tracking across the sky. We always had a great gun dog or two with us, starting out with Jet and Rod, and then Pat, but the best of them all was a Brittany Spaniel named Duke, old Duke seemed to know that we only hunted roosters so he didn’t waste his energy finding the hens. If Duke was on point and Dad was behind him a pheasant was headed for the pot.

Over the years Dad had a chance to see a lot of the world but some of his best trips probably came later in life, when my brothers took him to check off a couple of things on his bucket list.

He and Kelly spent six glorious weeks traveling the length of Africa beginning in Cape Town and continuing north to wind up in Cairo.

And then another trip of a lifetime with brother Brent to Ecuador and the Galapagos' Islands. I think Dad really just wanted to check up on Darwin’s theories and make sure he had interpreted the data correctly.

Here they are and that small line between them is the equator.

Dad, Mom and I had a journey around the United Kingdom checking up on our roots way back in 2000, and then Brenda and I and Dad took a drive up the Cassiar Highway and then on to Alaska in 2007 and Dad and I went on a fishing trip to Canada’s Queen Charlotte Islands a couple of years back.

Below is Dad sharing some time with his old horse Dolly and my nephew Ryan, a few years back. Ryan is 26 now so it may be more than a few years.

And here is Brenda and I along with Dad enjoying a little sightseeing while cruising through Deception Pass in the San Juan Islands of Washington State on brother Brent’s boat “Ain’t Life Grand”.

Dad lost his own father early in life and many times told me that my Grandfather Macnab became like a father to him over their 50 odd year relationship. My grandpa was a man of few words but I know he shared a lot of stories with Dad that no else had ever heard and Dad made sure those stories got handed down to the next generation.

One of his last requests was to head over to Western Canada High School and take some pictures of some of the awards that Grandpa had amassed while he was a student there back in the the early part of the 19th century, that is a request that I will fulfill soon and should be the topic here sometime in the future. Below they are wandering along with Grandpa sharing some of that oral history.

Before Brenda and I started traveling to avoid winter we used to celebrate Alberta’s Family Day holiday and my Dad’s birthday each year with a big bonfire and sleigh ride here at Dogpound North. Although it was in mid-February we were always blessed with warm days and usually had over 100 of our friends and neighbours over to help up burn up whatever old building was slated for demolition. The picture below is of Dad on his 80th birthday with a cake that Brenda  had made.

The picture below is of the Cochrane Road Brown’s and although we had all, except Kelly on the left, moved away from our original home that is kind of where it all came together. The bunch is a little smaller now with Kelly having left in 2009, Brent just last year and now Dad. I do miss them all but I am hoping it is a while until we are back together again.

Till then I am sure my brothers and father will tell a few stories and relive a few great memories amongst themselves, probably around a big campfire in the sky, till  we meet again.

Riding the Red Rocks

This winter has been one riding adventure after another and this last weekend was our final ride and our friends here in Arizona had arranged for it to be a special adventure. I got home from Dogpound North on Thursday evening and we were loading our rig and heading to Sedona on Friday morning. We were going to meet Bill and Sandy Roberts, Tom and Joyce Compton, all from the Benson area as well as David and Linda Modahl and “K” and Teresa Rogers from here in the valley. Linda and David had made all the camping arrangements and it all went as planned. We arrived in the early afternoon at the Horse Mesa Ranch near the village of Oak Creek and got ourselves all settled in to await the arrival of the others. Here is a piece of the view we had from our spot for the weekend.

Saturday morning we moved our horses over to the Turkey Creek parking lot and unloaded and saddled then brought our trailers back to Horse Mesa while some folks hung out and waited for us. Joyce gave us a ride back and we got ourselves organised and headed out on our ride. First off we dropped down into the creek to take a few pictures with Cathedral Rock in the background.

Once we got those shots we headed up the creek and through a vortex area. Follow this link for a map of the vortex’s in the area. Once we left the creek we headed up through some pretty narrow and ledgey switchbacks. Not a problem by themselves but remember this is Sedona and we are sharing the trail with hikers and mountain bikers. Although we met both along the trail they were very accommodating and had gotten themselves well out of the way in the few spots that allowed that to happen. Probably in a large part due to Dave’s bellowing “horses coming” and the appearance of six horses and a couple of mules scrambling up through the rocks towards them.

There were more than a few places here where there was no room for a misunderstanding or to meet a party going the other way. Once we got to the top we circled around the bottom of Cathedral Rock on our way to Chicken Point and Courthouse Rock.

That is Courthouse Rock in the distance in the center of the shot above and Chicken Point is to the extreme left. Here comes Bill and that little horse Fred. He is a dandy that one, nothing bothers him and he sure hasn’t figured out that he is only half the size of a real horse. All heart and no quit.

Below Earl is trying to figure out why he is not included in the mint handout that Teresa has going on.

Brenda up on the rocks at Chicken Point.

A lot of hikers here were pretty surprised to see a bunch of horses scrambling up onto the rocks here and along the trail. You probably need a good mountain horse or mule to make this trip but it’s worth it let me tell you. We continued on from Chicken Point past Courthouse Rock and around the hill back to our overnight spot.

Sunday we headed up towards Horse Mesa for a short ride before loading up and heading back to Dogpound South. Another beautiful ride and I will hook up a couple of links to the pictures I took over the three days below this final shot of Bell Rock.

First night at Horse Mesa Ranch

Turkey Creek to Horse Mesa Ranch

Sunday morning ride along Horse Mesa

Sedona is a truly special place and it is hard to stop clicking the camera, I edited these hard but I still have a lot of shots and each one is of a special place or special people. I think the only improvement I could make to this country if it was in my power was to make about a 100 miles of bad road the only access. But then the multitudes of folks we saw would have not had the chance to share this beautiful country.

As I said at the start of this rambling epistle we have had a wonderful winter riding the trails of Arizona and owe a large dollop of thanks to the folks of the Arizona Back Country Riders website and the Lone Rangers riding club, both have welcomed us with open arms and we have enjoyed the new trails and loved the potlucks and socializing around the odd fire and more often just circled around a great meal. Just remember if you are feeling like getting out of the heat this summer we always have room in our barn at Dogpound North.

To paraphrase our good friend K, “I feel sorry for anyone who isn’t us.”