Where Did August Go?

Well not only did we not get three entries done in August for the first month in a long time we got none. Not a lot of exciting relate-able things happening here at Dogpound North I guess. Not to say there wasn't any excitement though. Mid month Brenda was in for another surgery on her knee. We are hopeful that that will resolve some of the pain and mobility issues she was having. Of course it does mean restarting the rehab process back where she was in mid-March so it is a slow painful journey back to normal.

Our horses have been enjoying the easiest summer they have had since I quit working and are all as fat as ticks. One thing we have no shortage of here at DPN is grass, it is stirrup deep, so they don't even have to bend their necks to get their fill.

September started with a visit from our nephew David Odo on his way to a camp counsellor assignment at the YMCA's Camp Chief Hector. He had a day or two to kill here at DPN so I took him on a little tour out through our west country. We saw a lot of forests and some mountains as well as a few wild horses along the journey. The last time he was out to visit us was for our wedding back in 2001 so both the country and he have changed.

Riding Crystal in 2001

David Odo today.

 Then it was on to a couple of big events in September, Kashton's birthday was on the 3rd and he was 3. It was a good party made even better by his Grandma Tomasir's Slurpee machine. Put enough vodka in those slurpee's and even a bunch of 3 year olds can't get you down. Well those that know, know I am kidding, I love being around the kids so we didn't spike the punch.

Then the BIG event, September 6th was Rebecca's due date and right on schedule she delivered our newest granddaughter, Everly Quinn.

Rebecca, Grandma and Everly

Grandpa, Kash and Everly

Last weekend I was up to Ponoka for a Canadian Cowboy Challenge clinic. I am sure Blue and I learned a lot of things there, we were just shy about showing them off in the clinic.  Although some think Blue is a little stubborn about doing some of the stuff I like to imagine that he is a thinker, and after a quick look he figures why walk over that plank mounted on some tires, when there is perfectly good dirt right beside it, and a whole lot less risk of slipping off. When we are in the hills he seems to do what we need to do so we'll just have to work on our fancy town riding a little more.

While I was off gadding about the country Bob and his crew managed to finish up the hay so that was all under cover when Monday's snow storm hit. We left here at about 11AM and we had a skiff, when we got home about 3:30PM we had 9". By nightfall we were closer to 10". And then overnight we probably added another 4-6 inches. But September on the northern ranges meant it was melting the whole time so who knows how much moisture we really got. I do know that our windbreak which is primarily 80 year old poplar trees took a beating though. We have lots of trees down and once the snow is all gone it will be time to don the chainsaw pants and start to uncover a few things around here.

Yes, that is Tricia's Motorhome under that mess.

It all looks so peaceful but that is because there is no sound so you can't hear the trees crashing down around the yard. One laying there on the centre across the lawn.

Oh well, so it goes, and I will leave you with this sunset from Friday night in Ponoka.

Time is Slipping By

Well a few changes around Dogpound North, not the least of which is a new computer for me. I finally slid into the abyss and broke down and bought a MAC so this is my first visit back to the Blogger software in many years. I alway wrote my journal on LiveWriter in the past and only after I am finished this entry will I know whether things have improved here on the Blogger site or not. It has been over a month since my last journal entry and although we have been doing lots, not much of it is very exciting.

Last year we started moving all our medical stuff earlier in the summer so we can get that out of the way and jump through the hoops that allow us to travel south in the winters a little earlier. Other than a few final visits with our various docs we are getting close to the end of that process, so barring any late breaking news we should be good to go for next winter.

Our windmill and some interesting cloud formations off of our front porch last night.

One thing I do enjoy about being home is the Sundre Aquaplex, I swim there almost every weekday morning and unlike the pools in Arizona this one is a lot less crowded, in fact sometimes towards the end of my daily swim I get the whole thing to myself. Down in Arizona you are lucky if you get a lane to yourself at some point in the swim and it is unheard of to get an empty pool to swim in. I usually swim about 2500 metres each day but a few weeks ago the pool complex started tracking our swims and gave the lane swimmers as a group the goal of swimming from Victoria to Panama. Probably for some Pan-American Games or something. Well I figured if I was going to get out of here for winter I should kick up my contribution so at least the rest of them would be swimming in warm water once I headed south so I am now logging 3250 metres a day, or just a smidge over 2 miles. Takes me about an hour and twenty minutes to complete it so if I was really headed for Panama I think I would walk, bad knee and all, it would be quicker. But it is a good motivator anyway.

Sunrise in the morning on the way swimming

One more bit of exciting news that is being worked on here at Dogpound North is that my son, Matt, and his longtime girlfriend Michelle have decided to take the next step and tie the knot. Actually he proposed way back last winter while they were on a vacation in Cuba but just last week they set a date, so we are heading towards the Mexican Riviera next April to see them take their vows.

Michelle, Matt and Family

Yet another reason to keep swimming, so I don't embarrass everyone on the beach down there!

In our last couple of entries we showed you lots of pictures with the Anderson girls and since then we have actually had a visit with our grandson Kashton and his mother Rebecca, as well as our granddaughter Claire who was out to visit her Dad and sister Madison a couple of weekends ago. Both Kashton and Claire got the mandatory visit with the horses while they were here

Wink, Brenda, Kash, Becky, Claire and of course Mack

and Kash took one of our John Deere's for spin around the yard too.

Little Boys do Love Tractors

Of course those who have been here know that Dogpound North is an actual farm and we raise, or try to raise a crop here every year. Some years we are a lot more successful than others but most years we do manage to get something back from the land. We had a good spell of dry weather here during the last month and other than a few acres that will be sown to oats, for silage, and underseeded with timothy hay, the rest of the unseeded acreage is barley and we did manage to get that all seeded a few days ago.

Big Boys love Tractors too.

I have managed to give the fellow who farms here for us a hand from time to time this spring and at least run a set of harrows over what he has seeded.

Another couple of projects we have going on here include a little reno work in the house, kind of a makeover for the bathrooms and putting a new cooktop in the kitchen so Brenda has been busy picking out tiles and and countertops for that endeavour. We dragged our daughter Becky into that mix as she has a real good sense of what goes with what.

Rebecca and Brenda

So for the most part I was overruled and we will not be having a mauve bathroom, but they did let me pay!

The other project consists of a little rural renewal going on, we, like most old farmsteads, have a plethora of old buildings around, and it time to tear them down and reconvert them into greenhouse gases. Matt and I spent a couple of days hauling some old junk to the dump and sorting some other old junk into other spots where it will probably be stored untouched until the next generation discovers it all over again. So with all that and a few fencing projects around the yard we have been keeping busy here at Dogpound North.

As for the Blogger experience, all in all, not to bad, although some of the great functions of LiveWriter that I used a lot have escaped me here so I am, at least for now, having to resize each and every picture and was not able to subject you to an album full of pictures of the junk we removed from our buildings, but I will work on that for next time. Sure wish Rick over there on Vancouver Island would get a Mac so he could figure out some things for me. :)