They're Alive

Yesterday afternoon, as ominous as it looks it rolled on by here silently and then trashed High River I guess.

It has been a long time since I fired up Blogger and updated folks on what we are up to. Last time I had just arrived back from the land of the sun in early February. That was a mistake as it was a long time until the furnace quit running up here in the Land just North of Summer. But Brenda was needing a little nursing and the best she could come up with was me. I ain't much good at it, but I do work cheap.

After hiding out from OLD Man Winter for the month of February I started back at the pool doing a little swimming most week days and that seemed to make winter pass a little quicker. Sometime in late March I took the trailer into Woody's in Red Deer to get a few minor things looked at and to get their opinion on what I thought were some pretty flat springs under her. They agreed and Grand Design agreed to replace them with similar 3500# springs, Well it seemed to me that putting the same springs on would just mean the same result so I gave the folks at Grand Design a call and with a little cajoling they agreed to upgrade them to the 4000# models. That may solve the issue, sure can't hurt anyway.

April and May were spent getting all caught up on my Doctor and Dentist appointments, appears that I am good for a while more, at least until I'm not I guess.

Towards the end of May, Brenda and I headed into the city to watch our grandson Luke walk across the stage and graduate from High School. I have no idea how that happened, seems like yesterday he was just starting pre-school. There is a story behind those Red Boots, they are made right in Calgary by an outfit called Alberta Boots and you can almost guarantee that if you have a pair you are a member of the World Champion Calgary Stampede Showband. Luke is all of that and comes by it pretty honestly as both his father and his mother were members of that same group when they were his age.

Grandson Luke in his fancy Red Boots

I have no idea who the girl in the Red Boots is, but if she is wearing those boots odds are she is good people.

Sometime this spring we got an overnight visit from the Anderson clan, always good to get to spend a little time with them.

Of course July wouldn't be complete without a visit or two to the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the Calgary Stampede, and if your grandchildren are performing there it is even better. Annika is a part, the most important part in my opinion, of the band front for the Calgary Stetsons Show Band a High School aged band.

I think having Grandpa poking his camera in her face was a little disconcerting but I did get a smile or two, but I missed the money shot, when she stuck her tongue out at me.

I already mentioned that Luke was a part of the Stampede Showband and I don't actually think my paparazzi like stalking bothered him as much, he seemed to be having a blast. He plays the contra, a low, low brass instrument, but if you are part of the band you are part of the show so it is not all about music. This year Calgary was the host city for the World Association of Marching Showbands World Championships and our own Showband stole the show and won it all, their sixth time as Champions, and the Stetson's, Annika's Band, came in a very respectable third.

Having fun you think?

A salute for Grandpa, probably not, but I am taking it anyway.

We were going to try to escape Dogpound North and head to the Buffalo Creek Ranch up Wainwright way and gather some Saskatoons for jam and pies but we had a little truck problem so had to write that trip off, cousin Mike did come down from there and spend a night with us while he visited an old friend in the city though. 

Now we are getting a little bit caught up, last weekend we were into Chestermere to visit with our Tomasir grandkids, and oh yah, their parents as well. Always great to spend time with them and get a chance to visit on a beautiful summer day in their beautiful yard.

Grandma, Everly, and Kash

The Tomasirs

No shortage of sass in this one.

I have not really burnt up the digits on my camera's this year but we have had a few nice skyscapes over the past few months, well more than a few but here are two I captured, three, if I include the first shot in this epistle.

Just a dramatic skyscape that rolled on past DPN

Thunderhead

Well time for another journal entry, so I can keep them somewhat up to date, OK, I am only three months behind but time seems to fly and life is not that exciting. Case in point early in May I made a whirl through Banff and up to Lake Louise but the ice was still hanging around, but it was still packed with tourists.

Washing trucks here at DPN is a pretty exciting day I guess, worth a taking a picture of at least.

Mothers Day weekend my Mom and I took a run up to Ponoka to watch the Farming with Horses demo at Pohl's place near Ponoka. The weather was beautiful and the teams were working hard in the heat.

L to R Ben, Beauty, and Buddy

 Early on Mothers Day morning the old people were dancing in the sky over DPN. It was without doubt the best display of the Aurora Borealis that I have seen since I worked in the Mackenzie Delta.

Not often do the lights get so intense or so far south, they were actually filling the sky, I must have taken well over a thousand shots and still haven't finished processing them and deciding which is the best but these two will have to do for examples.

That brings us to the Long Weekend in May, commonly called May 2-4 or just May Long. Blue and I packed up some supplies and headed west for a few days of riding.

It's all you really need

After a great day or two the rains started and we ran for the flatlands and home. Everybody had already packed up and pulled out so the only rig left in the place was Blue and I, and seeing as how there were at least two grizzlies and a couple of cubs wandering around Blue said either I stay in the trailer or we blow this pop stand.

The rest of the month was filled up with visits from the kids and grandkids, Paul and Annika were out to pick up their rig for a camping weekend.

And then along came the Tomasirs, Rebecca was showing a house to some clients just down the road and the whole family came along so we had a visit with them.

And then a few days later the Andersons were in the neighbourhood and spent a night with us. We didn't get to visit long as no sooner had we got the fire going and the marshmallows out to start cooking when we had a horse get tangled in some wire and I spent the rest of the evening and a good portion of the night with the vet stitching it up. I do truly believe that horses were put on this earth just so vet's would be able to pay off their student loans.

And of course on final sunset picture just to close off the month.

An Anderson Event

One of the toughest things about being retired is that you never really get a vacation. I know, I know, not what my working friends wanted to hear and don't worry I can hear all your scoffing all the way over here at Dogpound South.

The pool at our resort "Riu Ochos Rio"

But this last week we had occasion to get away from it all and celebrate the wedding of our youngest daughter Lacey to her partner Clayton. They have been an item for going on 7 years now so it was probably about time they tied the knot. The two of them chose the Island of Jamaica as a place to make it official so we along with about 30 odd other friends and family converged from our various winter homes to join them in the celebration.

The "Anderson Girls" lead things off.

Brenda and Lacey

They chose to have the ceremony down on the beach with the beautiful Caribbean Sea as a backdrop.

So it begins

It was a beautiful spot and a beautiful ceremony and the girls were beautiful also with their beautiful hairdo's and clothes and then the sky opened up and the Lord let his blessings wash away all that fancy pre-wedding work and just left the girls natural beauty to shine through.

No this is not a "Hare Krishna" wedding but the resort folks were quick with the towels as the rain came down.

 Once the formal part of the ceremony was over we headed for cover and I managed to get some shots of the wedding party. There was an official photographer here also so luckily my meagre bunch of photos are not representative.

Lacey and her longtime friend Roxanne

The "Anderson Girls" celebrating all having the same last name while Dad looks on.

Clayton and Lacey

The whole dang troop

The Rings

Blog a Month

Well if I am to keep up my blistering pace and maintain my membership in the "Blog a Month Club", I thought I had better get to it. A long time ago I swore I wasn't going to tell you about my morning coffee everyday and we haven't really done a lot of exciting stuff this month so I don't have a lot to catch you up on!

Brenda's knee is still not progressing at the pace we thought it would. She still has another couple of weeks of using crutches and although she is not liking it for the most part she is complying. We headed into the hospital one day and had some X-rays done and it appears as if the fracture is still there, but not moving around so that must be a good thing. Guess we will hear what's next at the end of the month when we visit her orthopedic guy.

Last time, I told you about our little flood, not much has happened on that front either, but the fans and dehumidifiers are now gone so it doesn't sound like we have a Twin Otter preparing for take-off in our basement any longer. In the next few days I expect to hear about the re-construction plan.

About the only thing of note around here the last month was Miss Ella's birthday and we did manage to get up to Rocky Mountain House for that event.

Looking back wistfully on the past 5 years

It took a while this year but we did eventually get some peonies blooming

 We have had an exceptionally late spring and a lot of rain early in the year so getting onto the land was a bit of a challenge. We finally got some seed in the ground along about July 11th so hopefully we get some silage and the timothy that is underseeded gets a good start for next year.

The rain has had some good effects though as the grass in the yard is loving it and we are mowing a couple of times a week still.

Last Friday Lacey, intuitively it turns out, figured Grandma need some Grandgirl time. She brought the girls down and we had a great visit. It is so nice to see them but with Grandma's knee she is not really up to a lot of driving.

A game of "Ring around the Rosie" going on!

And of course it is always nice to get a little work out of our visitors too.

 

  These Sandhill Cranes thought they would join the party also, they are not common here this time of year, but I am thinking the freshly sprouted oats and barley drew them in for a little snack. As you can see in the picture below if they were not vigilant one of our local coyotes would have made them into a little snack also.

Ella always loves to get a ride on Grandma's horse while she is visiting.

And that about catches you up on all the excitement here at Dogpound North this past month. So as you can see, my not drinking coffee certainly curtails my journals.

But we have had some pretty cool cloud formations roll by.