Fall is in the Air

Well here it is almost the end of September and fall is definitely in the air here at Dogpound North. Other places also, I guess, I see the Bayfield Bunch has already flown the coop heading towards their Congress, Az winter refuge. As well I see Judy and Emma, along with Nurse Ratchet (Kurt) are heading south also. When the Birdlady of Blogland heads south the geese can't be far behind.

We have had a month of interesting weather here, 12-15 inches of snow to begin the month, some 80+ degree days in the middle but things have become more seasonal now. Our own harbinger's of fall are evident also. The other day I winterized my SIL Tricia's motorhome and today my son Paul hove into sight with his trailer all winterized and ready to assume its spot in the back of our Quonset Hut.

Yesterday I ran into the city and had my monthly lunch with my oldest granddaughter. As usual it was a great time and I really enjoy her company. On the ride home I mused about how becoming a grandparent seems to change your outlook on a lot of things. Claire is pretty focussed on a career as a hairdresser and from what I have seen so far she is going to be a great one. Vidal Sasson move over, there's a new girl in town. Back to the grandfatherly mellowing, I know if my kids had come home with green and blue hair I probably would have had a stroke, but all I could really think was her hair really kind of set off her ensemble.

I can only assume that as we get older it dawns on us there are a lot of things that are vastly more important than the fashions that float your boat.

On the way home from lunch I managed to stop in and give a final goodbye to my Aunt Donna Engel, I won't explain our family connection but suffice it to say she was my aunt 60 years ago and although things changed over that time I still think of her as one of the nicest ladies I ever had the privilege of knowing. We'll see you on the other side Aunt Donna.

Along with Paul today came two more grandchildren so I have had a great weekend. Strangely it seems that all the little babies I remember just a short time ago are growing like bad weeds. Luc and Annika are in Grade 8 and Grade 6 respectively. Not sure how that happened, seems like yesterday they fit almost in the palm of my hand.

For those who are following the saga of Brenda's knee replacement. She is recovering from her second surgery and yesterday was her first day back driving. I won't go into a lot of detail but suffice it to say this has not been an easy road. It seems like one step forward is followed by two steps back but she is a trooper and will make it work.

It's Spring............

It is spring here at Dogpound North, we are down to just some 3 or 4 foot drifts around the yard and most of them should be gone by late June or early July. Just kidding although we are having some nice warm days we are still getting some wintry days also. Oh well, that IS spring in Alberta. We usually get most of our snow in March and April so I am hoping this year is a little different than usual cause we have enough snow already.

We are into week 4 of the rehab of Brenda's knee and although she is not convinced it is going as well as it should, all the professionals we see think she is doing great. Might be a while before she starts running marathons or riding Wink, but she is doing a lot of her usual stuff. Tough to keep her down.

Last weekend we snuck into town and picked up a stationary bicycle from Claire's Mom Melissa, thanks Melissa, and while we were there we kidnapped Claire and took her out for lunch. She is a delightful young woman and managed to put up with her old grandparents and keep us entertained and caught up on the goings on in her life.

And then once we got home Clayton, Lacey and their girls popped by to have a visit. Major score three granddaughters in one weekend.

As the snow melts around the country the wildlife is starting to move around a bit more. These moose are hanging out just a couple of hundred feet from the house here.

Today was another snowy day so I thought I would head out into the West Country and see what was moving about. Along Alberta's Eastern Slopes there are some wild horses that have been out there for a long time and seem to be pretty well adapted to the country. Likely some of them are descended from horses that were either let loose out here or escaped from local ranches, but some of them probably escaped from the local First Nation folks over the last couple of hundred years. I managed to find a small band and get a few photos.

Hiding in the trees

Took over an hour to get these guys to let me see them without trees between us.

Lookout

Although the rest of the small band keep grazing while I was watching them the guy in the photo above never really took his eyes off of me the whole time I was there.

Along the way I crossed paths with this fellow and it looks like he is complaining about the spring weather also.