John & Brenda's Incredible Journey

Down at Dogpound South (DPS)

2012-02-16T21:53:00.001-07:00

We hooked up, loaded the horses and headed home from Wickenburg early on Sunday morning. We had a great ride yesterday and missed a good one on Sunday, but I wanted to get home in time to head over to the Ranch Roping going on here in Maricopa.

There are lots of opportunities at these roping for me to exercise my camera’s and from time to time I actually get a decent shot. Photography is still pretty much a mystery to me, but I have figured out that you need to get yourself somewhere that the subjects are going to make decent photographs and then just start snapping away. I know there is a whole bunch of technical details that make the photo’s better but for me I just capture what appeals to me and let the rest worry about itself.

Roping

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It is nice when it works out though. The ropers were hard at work when we got there and it was getting dark before they finished but I am thinking they all had almost as much fun as I did capturing their activities.

Tuesday morning we got an email from a fellow blogger from back north of the Medicine Line letting us know that he was circling for final on his approach to Dogpound South. Although we live about an hour apart back home and have ridden some of the same mountain trails there and have been reading his blog for a while now we had never met face to face. As usual finding things to talk about was never an issue and we spent the last two days trading stories and anecdotes on our lives in the West Country. Ivan used to be a Park Warden for our National Park system so Brenda and I were pumping him hard for information on where to take our horses to see some of the sights that he was charged with protecting. There might have even been a few bear stories exchanged in the process too.

But down here at DPS the big bears are pretty scarce so yesterday we headed into Fry’s Electronic and Ivan and I spent most of the afternoon poring over all the stuff they have in there. He had a list of things he was looking for, me, I was just looking, but probably had more stuff when it came time to leave.

Of course as usual Brenda was busy cooking up some dishes to keep us from starvation. We have had to choose between Banana UpsideDown Cake, BBQ’ed Ribs, her new twice baked mashed potatoes, a salad that our friend Linda Modahl makes, and of course the full meal deal for breakfast and Pioneer Woman’s Corn Chowder and Gina’s Taco Soup just in case we couldn’t make it from Breakfast to Supper without a little sustenance.

This morning Ivan had his Air Force out on the launch pad here at Dogpound South and I took a few shots of that.

Chopper

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Pretty cool machine even though Meg was more than ready to put the run on that strange bird flying over her yard.

While it was up soaring over our place here Ivan had it snap a few pictures of the surrounding area.

Heli Views

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Back on the Trail.

2012-02-12T20:14:00.001-07:00

It was time to get back out on the trail this weekend so we loaded our ponies and headed north west to Sophia’s Flats Trailhead up near Wickenburg, Arizona. We were off to meet a bunch of friends there, some who are members of the Arizona Lone Rangers Singles Riding Club as well as some past members and a few married couples who sneak in to enjoy the trails and the great potlucks. Our friends Dave and Linda arrived not long after us with their mobile zoo, they have a couple of mules, Earl and Gus, a miniature donkey, Madeline, a miniature horse who thinks she has long ears, Reba, as well as a pack of 4 miniature mutts whose names escape me, and I think they leave the goats at home for a weekend off.

Saturday morning we woke to another beautiful day and a great sunrise.

And here is a picture of our camp for the weekend.

We headed off through the Blue Tank Wash towards Goat Camp where we had a lunch stop and then on to Pete’s Windmill on the way back to camp. Although both spots had water our horses declined to drink as there were swarms of bees at the water trough and every time they made to drink the bees put the run on them. Most of the Arizona horses knew better and drank their fill anyway, but I guess our figured I had hauled all that water in our bladder up there for them so why bugger with the bees…lol.

Goat Camp Trail

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It actually was a pretty short ride for a Saturday so we were back in camp early in the afternoon and able to enjoy a great day sitting and chewing the fat with our friends. We have seen some great places with these folks and can’t thank “K” and Theresa, and Dave and Linda as well as the Princess for sharing their country with us. We are working hard to convince them that they need to join us for a ride in our own neighbourhood and we promised them that it never gets up to 100 in our summers.

Thanks Pat and Frank for welcoming a couple of married folks from Canada into your group and although we probably won’t get to ride with you again this spring we are already looking forward to next falls rides.

After the potluck and a little guitar playing by a local fellow around the campfire it was time to hit the hay, but not before threading my way back through some stargazers on the way back to our rig. Now I took these pictures earlier in the day while they were setting up but they appeared to have doubled in number once the sun went down. I think this is a regular monthly gathering of these folks. And boy did they have some heavy duty equipment. I think if there are men on Mars, they better keep their blinds pulled with these folks peering up at them.

Visiting with some Old Friends

2012-02-08T20:49:00.001-07:00

Back in the beginning of our RVing life we headed south out of Dogpound looking for somewhere warm, I think we wandered across the Medicine Line on or about Halloween day in 2007. That first night we spent at the Wal-Mart in Great Falls and then continued on south. Our second day on the road was a little eventful. We kinda lost our roof somewhere in Montana. Those who have shared our journeys over the last five years have all heard that story many times, but there are only two other folks on the planet that can actually attest to the wondrous looking rig we were when we pulled into the Camping World in Longmont, Colorado. Well we have kept in touch a time or two every year but it has been four years since our last face to face back in the February of 2008 in Beaumont, Texas. Now most folks in this lifestyle we communicate pretty regularly with through the internet, but Donna and Idell may be the last holdouts, no email or Facebook for these good folks. But anytime I ring Idell’s number he is up for a good chin wag. This year the stars aligned and we managed to ambush them on their way out of Quartzsite heading east to Texas and Florida before they head north to their summer home in Maine. Darn it was good to see these old friends again.

They pulled into Dogpound South a little after noon on Monday and we went right to jawing about the last few years, and catching up on all the goings on since we last saw each other. Well pretty soon it was almost sundown and we thought we should let them get parked and set up before dark, so Brenda went to cooking and once they were set up we had one of her great steak dinners complete with cheesy potatoes and a salad followed by chocolate cherry cake and ice cream.

Tuesday morning we started right up where we left off last night and after a little chin wag we decided we should go and have a look around the country. Just like with Paul and Marti a week ago we headed out towards one of our favourite spots in the area, Usery Mountain Regional Park. After a spin through the park we decided to take a look around the old Goldfields Mining camp. Not sure if any actual gold was mined here but I can tell you the town was mining tourists gold today.

But as tourist traps go this was a pretty authentic one and we had a good time looking around and enjoying both the buildings and the local scenery.

Oh yeah the scenery, I have always loved the Superstition Mountains and this seemed like a good spot to enjoy them from.

Wednesday was a day for resting up, Donna and Idell are heading out Thursday towards his nephew in Beaumont, Texas place and those that have done it know that that drive across West Texas is a marathon of nothing but miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.

Brenda and I are probably going to spend the day getting our rig ready to head out towards Sophia’s Flats for a weekend ride with our Lone Ranger friends. Looking at our schedule going forward I think we have one weekend free between now and the time we will have to be thinking about heading north. That is still two months away but our Arizona riding friends have a lot of things planned for those two months and we are glad that they let us tag along with them.

On the Road Again

2012-02-01T19:14:00.001-07:00

This morning I awoke to find this on our doorstep.

I am thinking Paul and Marti are not planning on going anywhere cold anytime soon. Well I hate to admit it but we will probably use it before summer comes to Alberta in the third week of July. Thanks.

Sadly before lunch they were hooked up and head out.

Down the road from Dogpound South and headed towards the Tucson area. We had a great couple of days while they were hear to visit us and really enjoyed meeting these new folks and sharing some stories about our times on the road and filling a few details. We will look forward to their next visit either here or up at Dogpound North. We got some places to show them up there that will take their breath away. Our header picture is one of those special places and although God was showing off when he made that place, we live within a few miles of that kind of landscape.

Vaya con Dios our friends.

Back on the ranch here Brenda was off to drive a local friend of ours into Mesa for a doctors appointment and me well I was doing what I do best, loafing about Dogpound South and visiting with Mike down the road.

Now for the near future we are expecting another long time RVing couple, actually the first folks we met when we hit the road back in 2007 early next week and maybe a flyover from a fellow Canadian on his way south.

That and maybe a visit to Fuddruckers in the near future.

Seeing a little country

2012-01-31T22:29:00.001-07:00

Today we jumped in the Jeep and took Paul and Marti on a little drive around the country. First on the list was a visit to our favourite campground in the area. Not that we don’t love them coming here but we thought if they get tired of us and want to hang out in the area they should see our first choice. That meant a trip up to Mesa and out to Usery Mountain Regional Park. It is a beautiful spot and has some great sites there. Not fantastic like Dogpound South but pretty great anyway.

After we had a look around there we were headed towards Casa Grande for dinner at Eva’s Mexican Cafe. Well we had a little time to kill and I had just the spot to kill time in. In the long forgotten past Brenda and I had taken a tour out to Tortilla Flats for a quick visit and once I had them out there it was easy to convince them that it was just another 20 odd miles down a pretty picturesque road to get to the Roosevelt damsite.

Canyon Lake along the Apache Trail.

Well folks often mistake miles for minutes when they are thinking of driving but my memory was that this drive took a little longer as it is through some pretty spectacular territory, and seeing as how I was the only one that had been over the route before and I really wanted to show it to Paul and Marti that wasn’t going to stop me. Beautiful country though and by the time we finished it I think we were all glad to have taken the time to wander through a little more of this very beautiful country that we are so privileged to visit in the winters.

If you want to see our previous trip through this road follow this link. Once we hit the Roosevelt dam we were off to Casa Grande and some of that great Mexican food at Eva’s and thanks Paul for treating us.

Tag came to Visit

2012-01-31T04:52:00.001-07:00

The one thing we really miss from our old life of traveling with the RV, was all the friendships we made over the few short years we were doing it. There is a whole sub-culture of folks moving back and forth with the seasons across North America and the internet has connected all those widely scattered dots and made it easy to have relationships with folks with like interests in diverse parts of the country. Case in point, our latest visitors, Paul and Marti Dahl. Now where would a guy in the oil business in western Canada stumble on a fellow in the Coast Guard who lived in Virginia. Well seeing as how it has been a few decades since I worked offshore and probably just as long since Paul worked onshore or at least far from the “Coast”, it is an unlikely match. But through the miracle of the internet and the wide world of blogs we had the pleasure of putting voices to folks whose family, and faces we had already come to know.

The Dahl’s pulled into Dogpound South and we were straight to laughing and visiting. We introduced them to the security detail here at DPS and they brought out their traveling companion Tag to meet Mack and Meg.

I think it was almost dark before we let them off the deck to go get their rig setup. Then it was time to break some bread and Brenda had made a lasagne and some garlic bread to help us stave off starvation with and followed that up with some hot brownies with peanut butter and of course the required ice cream. We spent a couple more hours sitting around the table telling stories and laughing, and anyone who has visited us here at DPS knows the stories must have been great, cause those chairs at our kitchen table are amongst the most uncomfortable contraptions ever built and usually I am up and out of them long before the last spoonful of ice cream hits my stomach. But good company makes for comfortable chairs I guess.

Down the Road from Dogpound South

2012-01-29T21:24:00.001-07:00

It has been awhile since I managed to get set down and write anything here on my old blog. Thought I better start before folks thought I had forgotten how to type. We really have not been up to anything to exciting around here and although we are having a great time riding and hanging out here at Dogpound South I thought you have probably had your fill of watching our goings on, but just to keep the record straight here is a brief summary of what has been happening.

Rumour has it that our friends Rod and Loyce have snuck back down from Kansas to enjoy a little sunshine here in the desert. We will have to head up that way and drag Rod away from the Wendy’s for lunch some day and head over to that Fuddrucker place he showed us last year.

Willow and I went to the local gymkhana, we took a few photos and did a little competing but seeing as how the camera was back at the trailer there is no evidence of the fact that we won something. Not sure what but I guess if you are old enough and slow enough you get put in a class by yourself and that means you actually make a little money, not as much as you paid to enter but enough to feel good about. Maybe we should retire while we are on top, but it is fun so we will probably be there the next time they roll out the barrels.

I did slip over and take some photos of some of our neighbours doing a little ranch roping one day. It is an interesting sport and some of these folks can make that rope do some strange things on it’s way to catching those cattle.

This week Blue and I have been working on his separation anxiety. Horses are herd animals and he and Willow have been living almost exclusively together since we got home last April and he is pretty attached to her. That’s all well and good if he is loose, because he won’t wander off from her but it is a bit of a nuisance when you want to do things with only one horse. That means he has been spending more time with me and less with Willow. She likes that too as it gives her time to enjoy all the feed that he leaves behind. How is it working, well let’s just say we have more work to do, but then we have all day every day to work on it so patience is a virtue here.

Yesterday I ran up to North Phoenix to attend a fund raiser for a horse that needed some serious veterinary care and ran up some pretty big bills. The owner is a member of an organisation that Brenda and I are part of down here, the Arizona Back Country Riders and a lot of those folks turned so I think the fund raiser was a success. I even managed to leave with a little prize of my own, an arrowhead, made by our friend “K”. A few years ago when we first ran into him he showed us around his place here and we saw his extensive collection of arrowheads and at that time he gave me another one of his so this new acquisition will join the old one.

Some other friends of ours had their mini’s at the fund raiser giving folks rides in their cart.

Today Brenda and I were up early and loaded the horse and headed out to Morristown to join a bunch of other riders there. We were heading out to find a Stone House that someone had seen off to the SW. It was a beautiful ride that started out along the Hassayampa River. Legend has it if you drink from this river you will never tell the truth again, but no fear, there didn’t appear to much water along the way.

Our friend “K” is often seen along the trail in this pose. He manages to get a lot of great photos of the pretty country we are riding through.

Now we did have a little excitement at one of the stock tanks we stopped at to water our horses. Blue and I managed to get ourselves tangled into a cholla bush and as folks who know the desert know these things stick to you like snot to a screen door. Well I think Blue thought he was being attacked by a particularly vicious desert creature so he went to doing a little crow hopping. Now you know Arizona is mostly made up of rock and one look at the ground we were crossing told me that getting bucked off was not the best choice. Now as the ride was flashing through my mind it looked a lot like this.

This photo stolen from the internet.

But as that horse above is Papa Smurf at the Calgary Stampede and only the top 20 cowboys in the world ride there it is more likely that to those watching the shot below is more representative of the ride they saw. But seeing as how there were no photos being taken I get to pick the one I live with.

Tomorrow is a new day and we are expecting company here at Dogpound South. Only our blogging friends will really understand but our company have been friends for a couple of years but tomorrow will be the first time we have met them.

and Down again

2012-01-16T20:56:00.001-07:00

I have made it back to Dogpound South after a quick trip back to the Northern Ranges. The weather up there was pretty cooperative too as it didn’t drop below freezing until long after dark and the days were up in the high 30’s. Anytime you get above freezing in January in that country you gotta count your blessings. I managed to get around and see all of our grandchildren while I was up there and most of the kids, although Ved and Clayton had to work.

Visiting the Family

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I was back home to give my Dad a hand getting around to some medical appointments and procedures and just for the record those all went fine and he is back home. Here is a picture we got with four generations of Brown Boys all together one day when we snuck out for brunch together with my son Paul and my grandson Lucas.

All the pictures up to this point in this entry were taken with my phone camera so I am thinking of throwing out all the DSLR’s I have and just packing the phone..lol.

Dad was all done with the medico’s on Saturday at noon and I was quick to get on the plane south that afternoon. Seems that the fine weather I was enjoying was about to change. This time the weatherman wasn’t lying the bottom was dropping out of the thermometer about the time I landed at Sky Harbor in Phoenix. Rumour has it that it is –28C (-19F) back home as I write this.

Sunday Brenda and I had an engagement planned with the Southwest Ranch Roping Association. One of our local ladies had asked us to pop by and take some photos of the roping here in Maricopa. We had a great time and once we figured out the scoring system it all started to make a little sense too. Thanks for the tutoring Dick.

Ranch roping is a lot different than some of the more mainstream types of roping events, a lot slower paced and much more like what happens on real ranches than some of the other events. Keeping the stock calm and minimizing the stress on the cattle is held at a premium at this event. I won’t try to explain the scoring system here, mostly because I am still trying to figure it out myself but I will hook you up to a link if you are curious.

Brenda and I took about 700 pictures at this event so if you are really curious you can follow the links below to those pics.

Brenda’s shots – below is a great one she took.

My shots

Today Brenda and I took the dogs along on a ride up Vekol Wash. The dogs enjoy getting out and there are only a limited number of cacti along the way.

Vekol Wash with the Pups

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Down and Up

2012-01-09T20:22:00.001-07:00

Well since the last time I wrote I have done some traveling, a little riding and of course a lot of eating. I won’t bore you with the eating but those who know Brenda know that everyday is a feast at our house.

We got back on the 27th of December and headed out to do some riding the very next day. We had plans to go out with our friends “K” and “T” as well as Dave and Linda to a ranch west of Buckeye for a New Years Eve ride but on the 30th of December Brenda woke up in the middle of the night with some weird reaction to what must have been some kind of bug bite. Her hand was quite painful and pretty much useless so she was not going to be able to ride. We opted to stay home. Over the long weekend I did manage to get my share of riding in around the neighbourhood with various friends there though. First off Sonya and I rode the Vekol Wash from up around the arena, there were supposed to be more folks there but I guess they got lost on the way so we took off on a couple of hours of riding. In the afternoon I headed over to Pococks to sort some cattle but Blue was having a bad day and we never got in the pen. He has developed a major case of herd sour and that will give us something to work on over the next little while. We were going to head to the Raceway for a dinner New Years Eve but it appeared that they had a fancy schmancy dinner compete with table clothes happening there Jill and Brenda and I came back to our place where Brenda whipped up a little lasagna and salad along with garlic bread. Pretty good for a spur of the moment dinner. Then we were off to Johnson’s for a bonfire. While we were there we got to see some kind of comet streaking across the sky.

Then on New Years Day I joined the Johnson clan and Paul and CC, and Bridget for a ride around the mountain. Probably 14 miles by the time I got back home.

To finish off the long weekend I took off again with the Johnson’s and Brenda and Willow joined us and here they are with Bobbie alongside.

I managed to get the Johnson clan all lined up for a family portrait and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. The family that rides together, stays together, at least as long as their horses get along anyway.

While we were out on this ride we figured we could bring our dogs along to ride out here someday. There is a smattering of Cholla and a few Saguaro’s but nothing that a couple of smart pups couldn’t get through without getting stuck. So a couple of days later we came out for a Woofer Wednesday ride. Meg was sure happy to be back on the trail.

And Mack is pretty new at this trail riding but he did great to, and he stays pretty close to the horse so I don’t have many pictures.

Wednesday night Brenda and I headed into town and picked up our friends Bill and Margaret from Dease Lake. They are staying with us a few days and Brenda has convinced Bill that he should change the bathroom countertops in our place here at Dogpound South.

Here is the one in the main bathroom before and after

and here is the before and after in the ensuite,

Looks pretty good eh! My part? Well Bill is a pretty handy kind of guy and I am somewhat unhandy to say the least so I thought I had better stay out of the way, so to make sure I didn’t mess the works up I headed into Phoenix and jumped on a plane to Calgary. That is a whole other story and I will try to remember it when I write next.

Back on the Southern Ranges

2011-12-28T19:38:00.001-07:00

Well we had a great visit back up at Dogpound North but we decided to trade this,

for this,

Now the top picture looks like a postcard but the bottom one was taken in my shirt sleeves while riding with Brenda and our friend Jill along the Vekol Wash this morning. And it is the shirt sleeves part that draws us back here to Dogpound South, that and the friends we have made in this community.

Our visit home was fun though, we got to see all the kids, well except for Clayton, he was busy working making sure that the gas was flowing to make all our homes in the north country warm. But over our few days there we got to cross trails with all our grandchildren a couple of times and some even more than that. They had a wealth of loot to work their way through so hanging around the old folks was not the first thing on their minds.

We started off Christmas morning with our two granddaughters, Claire and Madison and my son Matt and Madison’s mother Michelle, just up the hill right at Dogpound North.

And then it was off to see my nephews and nieces, the Parkhill Brown’s, in the city.

They were all getting ready to head back to Costa Rica for a vacation the day after Christmas so our visit there was short. We picked up my Dad there and took him with us for Christmas supper at my eldest son Paul’s place.

As usual Dad was telling stories and both boys were learning the oral history of our family. And of course at every stop there were gifts to be exchanged. The pics below showing my Dad, Matt, Paul, Michelle, Madison and Terri-Lynn, Paul’s wife and my mother tell the story.

And then my oldest grandson, Luc, above and below granddaughter number 3, Annika.

Oh the hats, they are from the crackers that always seem to be on our Christmas tables.

And then of course Boxing Day, a holiday in Canada that has decayed into a Black Friday like shopping debacle. I managed to convince the kids and grandkids to beat it out of the stores early and head out to the farm for a little bonfire.

And to answer your question Rod, for this kind of bonfire, you use big marshmallows and very long sticks. And after breaking bread one more time and getting one last photo of Brenda and the littlest elf,

we headed back to Dogpound South for a little ride this morning.

Heading North of the Medicine Line

2011-12-24T18:35:00.001-07:00

Yep, Brenda and I have hopped on a jet plane and headed for the snow country. So far it appears that we must have been pretty good this year as Santa has the thermostat turned up and the weather is great. A little cooler than down at Dogpound South, but what the heck, it keeps the mosquito’s under control.

The view off of our front porch here at Dogpound North

Our plane was late out of Phoenix and that put us into Calgary smack dab in the middle of the night. By the time Mom picked us up at the airport and brought us back to her place it was getting close to 2:00AM. We jumped in our truck and headed for Dogpound North. Just out of the city we hit what looked like a good old fashioned Alberta blizzard that had us down to 20 miles an hour in places along the road, but eventually we made it home. After getting the fire lit in the hot water heater and the fridge plugged back in it was time to hop in bed for a quick nights sleep. 7:00AM came early enough but I had a lot of things on my agenda in the city and Brenda had a lot of baking to do. And of course all that baking meant I had to do a lot of testing once I got back from the city.

Thursday was Brenda’s day in town and I had the farrier by the farm to catch up on the feet of the horses we have left behind up here. Although Matt’s remuda is all gone to stables for the winter, we have a couple of retired horses that are just hanging out here at the farm.

We are fortunate to have an abundance of pasture so these three will be able to paw through the snow to get all they need. And by the looks of their bellies they are doing just fine.

Friday was Christmas here, or rather our first Christmas. The girls are off to Christmas with their in-laws so they put together an early celebration for us. We enjoyed the day at Bec’s house with Rebecca, Ved, Lacey and of course two grandbabies, Ella and Kashton.

Kashton’s First Christmas

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I think the picture in the centre with Brenda and Kash is where she was saying something disparaging about me and Kash was showing his disbelief.

And of course Ella was a busy little person what with all those gifts and

of course keeping up with her social networking.

Brenda always loves to get together with Rebecca and Lacey and the three of them are pretty easy on the eyes.

And below the girls model some of their prizes.

After a great day of visiting and feasting Lacey, Ella, Brenda and I headed back to the farm. Although we were pretty tired Ella still had some things to get caught up on before she could hit the rack though.

So to all our friends and family wherever you may be

Merry Christmas.

Medicine Wheel and Crested Saguaro

2011-12-11T19:25:00.001-07:00

Brenda and I in front of the Crested Saguaro, thanks K

This weekend we joined a bunch of friends for a ride out of the Wickenburg Rodeo grounds. We headed up there Friday night and got settled in about mid-day.

That gave me time to take a spin around the area and check things out as well as scout out a water source across the road in the rodeo grounds. Once we had the lay of the land figured out Brenda went to work and cooked us up some of that great Taco Soup and we had a few folks over to help us make sure there was only enough leftovers for one meal. Perfect, and we got to enjoy a little conversation as well as good food around the campfire as the moon rose over Constellation Park.

Saturday was time to ride and Dave and Frank led us on a merry chase through the ravines and up and down a few washes,

and across the desert until we came upon this Crested Saquaro.

and after a few minutes to take a few photo’s we headed on over the hill and dale until we wound up at this Medicine Wheel.

Whether you are a believer or not it is not hard to imagine a person or persons doing all this work without gaining some insight into at least his own bodies workings, that is a lot of rocks to move and place in that pattern. Although I rested on the centre spot here unlike Dave I was unable to levitate anywhere but did feel that same peace that the desert always brings to my soul.

Then it was on to our lunch spot near a set of corrals and a windmill complete with stock watering facilities.

Gathered around the windmill are Theresa on the left, Randy at the centre and Diana on the right, and up at the top is our friend “K”. At work I am sure he has used spurs to climb power poles but just in case you didn’t know “K” those spurs are not for climbing. But if you just can’t resist or are looking for more windmills to scale sometime in the next year or so I need someone to climb up and oil mine at Dogpound North.

Then it was time to head back towards camp.

Coming right along is Gus and Linda, and the rest of the group winding down the trail behind them. Once back in camp Linda took her Mini’s, Madeline on the right and Reba for a walk before we all sat down to a wonderful Christmas dinner complete with turkey, ham and a potluck dinner.

Now the rest of the group rode out on Sunday and saw a little more country but Brenda and I packed up camp and headed back to Dogpound South about mid-morning. In the afternoon Blue and I went over and had another go at cattle sorting, and although we still have a few issues to work through we sure had fun and managed to take a few photo’s of some old time buckaroo’s working in the next pen.

Ranch Roping

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That looks like an interesting sport with a lot of art and steady horses involved in it.

To have a look at all the photo’s of the Wickenburg ride follow this link,

and just click on Ranch Roping to see more of that.

Here and Gone

2011-12-08T10:35:00.001-07:00

Last time I wrote we were coming back from Camp Creek on Saturday. Sunday, Blue and I headed up to Pocock’s, for a little cattle sorting practice and Blue did pretty well although after sorting about 40 head he decided he had had enough of this foolishness and was going home. Well we had a little visit about that and after a little reconsideration and some counselling from me he decided that maybe he could wait until I was done the day before heading out. But that is why they call it practice I guess.

Monday morning broke bright and early and Brenda was busy making buns here. Last week Laureen (Maid Marion) had arrived with Robin Hood (the Canadian flour) so everything was in place for a bread making day. I had a few rolls while they were still hot from the oven and Brenda ran a dozen or so up the Heggie’s as a thank you for hauling our flour down for us. And then Monday evening we were off to Raceway for a pizza and a meeting about the upcoming gymkhana, December 18th, where we ran into the Heggie’s again.

Tuesday Brenda was again up bright and early as we had to prepare for the arrival of our guests. Mac and Lynette our RV’ing friends originally from Kansas were coming through on their way to their winter spot in Yuma and were planning on visiting us here at Dogpound South for a couple of days before finishing their journey.

As usual this visit was sprinkled with ample opportunities to break bread and for supper Tuesday night we feasted on Steaks, Brenda’s Cheese and Bacon Twice Baked Potato Casserole, garlic bread, fresh buns, and salad.

And of course we needed to top it off with a little desert so we had a Pecan Pie Cheesecake with Vanilla Wafer Cookie Crust, oh so good, and hardly any calories at all……lol.

And of course a lot of chin wagging and story telling going on from the minute they arrived until bedtime.

Wednesday we headed into Casa Grande to get a little lunch at Eva’s Mexican Cafe and then of course the required stop at Wal-Mart on the way back here to Dogpound South. Then Mac and I ran into town to pick up a little fuel for their trip tomorrow and to give our lunch time to digest before we got sitting down for supper.

I haven’t had a chance to mention it but on Monday the receiver for our Shaw Direct Satellite system arrived from Montreal, and we were able to get our TV up and working. That meant we could catch up on the National Finals Rodeo goings on as well. For some reason the Canadian provider choose not to have the rodeo on live but has a couple of tape delayed replays on the day following, and we were catching up on some of that while telling some stories. The stories actually got a lot more attention so we actually had to watch Tuesday nights go around twice so that I could actually see what was going on in all the events.

Last night after lunch at Eva’s Brenda decided we needed something a little less filling for dinner. So we had a bowl of that Pioneer Woman’s Cheese Corn Chowder and more of those fresh buns. And after that healthy meal of course a little more desert was in order and Lynette brought in a Lemon Butter Cake to fill the gaps and those with bigger gaps than others also had another piece of Brenda’s Pecan Pie Cheesecake. Needless to say I have been falling a little behind on my Ice Cream Therapy the last few nights but I will make up the time somehow…..lol.

This morning Mac and Netters were hooked up and headed towards Yuma to settle in for the next four months. We enjoyed their visit and look forward to running down to Yuma and hooking up with them again over the winter.

Quite a train you got there McHenry’s with that DLT hanging on desperately behind you.

A Lazy Week and a Beautiful Ride

2011-12-03T19:24:00.001-07:00

Well last week was a whirlwind of riding and racing with the horses so we figured to give them a little break here. And once we got kind of used to doing nothing, darned if it didn’t kind of take over the week. I am not sure what we did this week but until today it is all kind of lost in the mists of time.

This morning though we were up and loading our horses by 7:30AM as we were off to join K, Theresa, Linda and David, along with two new friends Linda and Melanie on a ride around the Camp Creek area. Our first stop after getting going was the falls.

Then we just kind of wandered through the spectacular desert scenery. This is the kind of country that drew us and our horses to Arizona in the first place and riding with this group is getting us a chance to live our dreams.

Camp Creek Ride

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And of course it wouldn’t be a trail ride without a trail lunch. So in the middle of a little snow squall we pulled up under this tree and set out our fixings.

Now these usually consist of a sandwich or some sliced meat, crackers and cheese, but today was a special ride and our quartermasters went all out on the menu. I will surely forget something but here goes, we had Fried Chicken, Baked Beans, Brie & crackers, Prosciutto Ham with cheese, Peanut Butter Brownies, Chocolate covered Strawberries, grapes, blackberries, pineapple, and the rest was lost in a fog of overindulgence. Now “K” had set this up so a certain someone would have a great lunch on this little ride but that someone didn't make it out with us, so we all enjoyed this unusual trail lunch and washed it all down with wine and hot chocolate. Glad I didn't miss it.

Once chow was finished we cleaned up the site, left a little for the wee folk and mounted back up to see a little more of the country. I have attached a link to the photo’s of this ride here, so slip over to the web album and enjoy the scenery.

Too soon we were back at the trailers and our ride was completed. We met some new friends, got some new stories and once again enjoyed the beautiful scenery this country has to offer.

You’ll notice when you look at the photo’s there are a lot of power lines in the background, now that is something about Arizona that has always driven the photographer in me nuts. Seems like I can’t get away from having a power line in the background. Turns out our friend “K” is the guy who is building them all, and maybe, just maybe, with his impending retirement we will not see so many in the future. Yah I know, no power line, no life as we know it but darn I wish they weren’t always in the pretty spots.

T.A.C.C. Thanksgiving Gymkhana

2011-11-28T06:56:00.001-07:00

Today Willow and I were up and on the road by 7 o’clock as we were heading up to our local arena for a gymkhana. Now Willow has a little experience at this kind of events but as for me, other than one barrel race with my niece Caron a couple of years ago I am a neophyte. In fact when they decided to rake the arena right before my run in the barrel race I was telling folks “Now how am I going to remember which way to turn”, even though I think those who do it on a regular basis are happy that the ruts are all worked out. Nevertheless I found my way around the circuit and made it back across the finish line in a pretty decent time. No prizes but no penalties either, and although it was close the timer resisted the urge to turn the page on his calendar as I was coming home.

Barrel Racing

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Just a comment on the rules of this game, although you see all sorts at these things it would seem to me that all those 100 pound girls should have to haul one or two big sacks of potatoes while they are running just to even it up for poor old Willow hauling my carcass around that arena (remember my “A Man’s Gotta Eat” blog of a day or two ago.). That and the fact that most of them look like while I was out earning a living they were born in the saddle or sure didn’t take long getting there afterwards. But for our first time out we were pretty happy with the results and are already looking forward to the next chance we get to show folks just how slooooooooooooooow you really can go.

There were four events here and other than the barrel race we had only seen one other before. That was something called Washington Poles that looks an awful lot like the Stake race I have seen Caron run except for there is just one horse running a single course in the arena at a time instead of two sets of stakes side by side, both with separate timers, that make it a little more like a horse race, that I have seen back in Canada. Better this way as at least I didn’t have some little girl whipping my butt in real time, I guess….lol.

This young lady as accomplished as she is on her horse in the Pole race also is the heeler on her grandpa’s team roping team. And after the poles it was on to Cupid’s Arrow where you run down and alley and then have to circle three barrels set up at the end in a kind of arrowhead formation and then back down the alley between the poles to the finish line.

Then onto the final event called a Potato race where you pick up a spud out of a bucket on top of a barrel at one end of the arena and then race back and drop it into a garbage can at the other end of the arena. By this time in the event my personal photographer had gone on home so I am going to pick on one of my competitors to depict how that works.

Nothing to it, and actually Willow and I found that this one was our best event, I think we came in fourth in the senior citizens division and were pretty proud of that. You just knew that I would find my stride when it came to something that involved food eh!

Great fun and Willow did a bang up job of hauling my old bones around the arena (thanks for that Caron) and also working as my seat for the time I was just taking photos of the goings on. Here she is enjoying a well deserved rest.

Just click on the link below if you have lots of bandwidth and a long time to look through the photo’s of the day. Thanks to Brenda for a lot of the shots.

T.A.C.C. Thanksgiving Gymkhana

What’s Up at Dogpound South

2011-11-26T19:41:00.001-07:00

What with all the eating I have been doing it seemed that we needed to do something to get Brenda out of the kitchen. Thanksgiving was pretty low key here, we had breakfast for supper and threw in the left over Cheese and Bacon potatoes. Ohhh they are so good and I am thinking pretty fattening as well, but I persevered and now they are history…. '.

Black Friday around here was different than in a lot of places, neither Brenda and I are insane so we decided we would join some of our neighbours here and take a spin up Vekol Wash with our horses and dodge all the crowds and the mash of folks trying to save 8 cents on a TV. We already have a TV with no dish so another would just add to the frustration factor here. We are hoping once Al gets his and Kelly’s dish up and running he will stop by and figure out ours.

Black Friday Shopping

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Our horses are all dressed up in their winter coats and hiking around in the desert here is hot work for them so with that and Brenda’s still wonky knee we were only gone a few hours and then it was back to the cool shade here at home.

Last night we joined Mike and Kathy, who sold us our place, and their friends, John and Diane, and slipped out for dinner to “the Duke” here in Maricopa. We had plans to slide over to San Tan Flats for dinner but it got to late and that is about an hour away so the restaurant at the Duke was a great second choice. I had the fish and chips special and although there are no photo’s it was good.

This morning we again saddled up and headed up a different part of the wash with another local guide. We made this a shorter ride as both Jill and I were planning on going to a Cattle Sorting practice and although Jill had a fresh horse I knew that my remuda was pretty limited and I didn’t want to wear it right out. Blue and I went to the practice and had a good time while Willow stayed home and rested up for the gymkhana at the Thunderbird Farms Arena tomorrow.

Brenda and Blue and Jill on Zeus as we head home for lunch.

After a couple of hours of rest Blue and I headed up to the Team Sort and had a great time but this little girl was the star of the show.

The little horse did pretty good considering that all but a couple of the cows were bigger than him.

A Man’s Gotta Eat

2011-11-22T21:30:00.001-07:00

Well you might be thinking all we do around here anymore is ride and wander the trails in Arizona. Well as good as that sounds like the title says “A Man’s Gotta Eat” and around here we do a lot of that and every bite a mouthful of heaven. Brenda has been using this new quick internet of ours to find some delicious recipes. And of course I have been called to duty to serve as the official tester of those recipe’s. As a warm-up for Christmas though she started with what we call Turtles and what Gina our friend in Denham Springs calls Millionaires.

Just Sinful

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Well whatever you call them they are just sinful they are so good.

After the Turtles were stowed in the refrigerator to tempt me everyday she whipped up a homemade soup, Cheese Corn Chowder, from the Pioneer Woman’s Blog. Mmm mmm good!

And if you eat something relatively healthy like homemade soup you have to follow up with a homemade apple pie for desert. That one is not off the internet but out of Brenda’s own cookbook. I think I am having a piece of that for breakfast tomorrow. WHAT, it is just fruit and a little sugar, sounds like a great healthy breakfast to me.

And you can’t just have one desert in the fridge so the other morning she whipped up these Peanut Butter Cup Brownies.

And then tonight it was Rib Eye Steak with Caesar Salad and

Bacon and Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Not many calories in that at all. But with all this eating going on I still had time to get out and take Willow for a ride around the neighbourhood today. She is pretty much getting used to all the dogs barking as she passes and the traffic on the roads. There is a field only about a block away from our place where we can get out and get a little exercise and there are lots of places to ride right close here too.

Just in case you were wondering I did eat a lot more salad than the pic above portrays.

But I am still planning of finishing up that apple pie for breakfast but I will skip the ice cream on top…..maybe!

Day 2 Team Sorting Clinic and Jackpot

2011-11-21T17:46:00.001-07:00

Sunday was day 2 at the Thunderbird Arena for an early morning clinic and then the Jackpot in the afternoon. Unlike yesterday Brenda was not wielding the camera so there will not be a preponderance of photo’s of me. I was helping out where needed with the cattle and then Blue and I spent the rest of the day just taking pictures. I like taking pictures but it was an education for Blue to stand still as he was my seat for the day. And a fidgety horse is not the best photo platform. But he came to work today and although he didn’t get a lot of exercise he did his part by not moving while we were taking the shots. Hard enough for me to get things in focus without some moving around on our end.

Now although they didn’t make any money I think that little spotted horse to the left was the best horse in the pen today. He was quick and knew his job, you can see him watching that cow while his rider, Dave is checking out the herd looking for the next one. In the picture below he was guarding the gate and you can see him piling on the brakes to keep from getting a roughing the stock penalty although that extra cow sneaking through did what he managed not to. His owner is a Canadian cowboy who helped out a stranger the first day we were here when I was looking for a trailer to go and pick up some panels for our horse setup here at Dogpound South.

By the way having that #4 cow sneak by was nothing to be ashamed of that critter caused a lot of swearing and eliminated a lot of teams from the running. I think a lot of the riders here Sunday will be looking forward to meeting her at McDonalds someday.

I believe we ended up having somewhere around 26 teams entered in the Jackpot. You can enter yourself on as many as four teams each with a different partner and many of the folks here did that. That meant there was a little over $1000.00 in entry fees paid and the payout here was 60% so there was about $600.00 in prize money. The rest of the cash goes to pay for the cattle and then any left over will be plowed back into the arena. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to change this from an older good facility into a refurbished great one and the volunteers in our neighbourhood are determined to do just that.

I managed to get photos of every team so I am certain I have shots of the winners, BUT, my memory sometimes lets me down and if the following shots are not of those winners, my apologies and let me know and I will use the great editing software Microsoft supplies me with and change those photos.

As for placing's I am not so sure of them but as only one person changed from each team I am sure to get it at least half right.

These two Arizona cowgirls were in the top two and the lady on the yellow horse was on both winning teams.

You can almost imagine Tricia, on the yellow horse, hollering to Yvonne, a Canadian cowgirl, “I got this one you get the next one. And it worked because they were the other top team.

There is another shot of good horse taking care of moving the cow while the rider is surveying the herd looking for the next animal her partner is looking for.

Now there was side pool for the lower rated riders and our neighbours, Tanya and Candace, took that pot home.

Just another shameless plug but Candace is another good Canadian cowgirl and the daughter of Dave seen earlier in this epistle. In case you are keeping score, yep the ladies won everything, and as the guy with the next best seat in house, to Gage, seen in the background with the flag, let me say the ladies did it with class, no curses, were uttered at least out loud, more than I can say for some of the men.

Brenda and I were talking this morning about just how at home we feel in this community and a large part of that is how great the folks here are at accepting strangers in their midst and welcoming us into every activity. Over the last two days Brenda and I and Blue managed to take a few over a thousand images and for anyone who wants to spend some time looking through them I will include a couple of links to the web albums that hold them.

T.A.C.C. Team Sorting Clinic – Day 1

T.A.C.C. Team Sorting Clinic and Jackpot – Day 2

Team Sorting Clinic

2011-11-19T20:22:00.001-07:00

Our local Thunderbird Arena Community Council put on a Team Sorting Clinic today up at the Arena on Ralston Road. We are hoping to raise some cash so that we can do some improvements there. It needs some bleachers, just in case someone wants to watch the goings on, and a little paint on the fences would be good also. But back to the Clinic. I decided to give Willow the day off so it was Blue’s chance to shine. He was a foal around our place at Dogpound North when we still had cows. I am sure he just thought they were some kind of strange looking short legged horses and had no idea that his ancestors were bred to handle their foibles.

Our clinician was Dale Darnold and although not many of us had much experience with Team Sorting he managed to get us straightened out and we actually sorted some cattle.

For those who have no idea what I am talking about I’ll try to explain this game. You start off with a dozen or so cattle numbered from 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 and a couple of unnumbered animals just to add a little challenge. The point of the exercise is to move the cattle in order from one pen and into another. You are given the number you are to start with as you cross the start line. For example if the announcer calls 6 you need to move the animal wearing the number 6 across to the second pen all the while making sure none of the other animals follows along. Once 6 is across you need to both hold it there and move 7 across and so on and on till you have all ten marked animals across, always remembering that the trash or unnumbered animals can’t be across that line between the pens. Sounds simple but remember cattle are herd animals and don’t want to leave their buddies behind or be left behind themselves so they are constantly trying to either cross the line, out of order, or get back across to rejoin the herd. The team part is there are two riders in the pen at a time and while one attempts to move the cattle in order out of one pen to the other, the second is both keeping everyone on the proper side of the line as well as assisting rider number 1 with cutting the proper animal out of the herd.

Team Sorting

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You’ll notice in the shots above Blue has his ears pinned back, well to be a good cow horse doesn’t mean you have to like cows, in fact all the good ones I have seen seem to have a little bit of mean when it comes to working cattle. That said you are not allowed to rough up the cattle so it is OK to look mean but not be mean, although I am sure some horses would like to bite those cattle.

Now his ears are back in this photo also so maybe he is not enamoured of having his picture taken either.

After the clinic we set up for some practice runs and here is our management group, the announcer Kit on the truck, Jim, in the blue shirt and Dale on the far right overseeing it all. And below is Blue thinking “OK enough with the pictures, get this saddle off my back and let me in the trailer so we can get home and see what Willow is up too.”

Goldfields

2011-11-16T19:27:00.001-07:00

Today we were up and at ‘em before the dawn. We were heading over to Apache Junction to meet some friends, Joe, Dan, and Kristi, for a ride around the desert over that way. This beautiful desert with Superstition Mountain looming over it was one of the reasons we knew that sooner or later we were going to have to bring our horses down off the northern range to see this place the best way we know how. It was a beautiful day with just the odd cloud floating by. Nice weather for riding but not so great for taking photos. The above picture was taken today and the one below a few years back, same mountain, different light.

We headed north from the old Ghost Town and just wandered our way across the landscape.

We didn’t linger long in any spot as Joe had us talked into visiting his favourite Italian restaurant in Apache Junction but Brenda, as usual, did have to feed folks, so here is a shot of her doling out some of her fresh baked cookies from her stash.

Everyone except the photographer got a ration, but I guess seeing as how I have eaten a couple of hundred of these oatmeal raisin and peanut cookies over the last few weeks and I have direct access to the mother lode I don’t mind sharing. A FEW!

It was a beautiful ride and to soon we were headed back to the trailers, and passing by the old Goldfield Ghost Town that is in the foreground of the first picture.

Here is the web album with the complete photo story.

Just Another Day

2011-11-14T17:36:00.001-07:00

Today was just another day down here at Dogpound South. We were not doing anything exciting and we managed to get all the unpacking from our weekend excursion done yesterday so it is just a matter of marking time till the next ride on Wednesday.

Brenda needed to run into town for some supplies so it was off to Costco for us. That place seems to have a minimum $200.00 charge to get back out and today was even worse as our membership had expired so we needed to renew that first.

And just for our friend Heather we stopped after we were done our shopping and enjoyed a great lunch at an even better price. While she was running off to London, England for a grilled cheese sandwich we had our usual here at our favourite old folks eatery.

And for those of us on a fixed income once you include the tax it is still only $3.27 for the two of us to dine.

And then it was back off to Dogpound South for another enjoyable day in the sunshine, and some playing with the Security detail. They need to keep in top notch shape just in case they are called to duty.

Bronco Trailhead

2011-11-13T18:22:00.001-07:00

This week we took a spin north of Cave Creek to meet up with a bunch of folks and their horses. The ride organizers were a group called the Lone Rangers and they are actually a singles riding group but they seemed to be hospitable to us married folks. We can ride with them whenever we like but I don’t think they want us as actual members in their club. There were some interesting folks in this bunch, some of whom were on our ride last week in the Dragoons as well.

New Friends

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Starting from the left in the brown ball cap is Dan, and going clockwise at the top in the brown cowboy hat to Joe, then Theresa and Eric with Theresa’s husband K, who is also a friend of mine on the Flickr website, and in is the centre is our long lost cousin, Ray Brown. Ray just retired on January 1st this year and is only 85 years young. He kept us in stitches most of the weekend and we can hardly wait to meet his wife, Georgia Brown.

We pulled into the campsite about mid day on Friday and got set up before many other folks were there. That meant that our horses were in the luxury suites and had a corral and were not tied to the trailer all weekend. That’s them down there with our truck on the lower right side of the trailhead and our LQ out in the centre with no truck.

You won’t see any pictures of the ride here as it appears that my little Olympus point and shoot has given up the ghost. Lot’s of pictures but NONE in focus. Oh well it is embossed on my memory. Sorry about your luck though!

Once we got back to camp it was time for that time honoured tradition, POTLUCK, and as usual there were twenty odd folks there and each and every one brought enough food to feed 20 odd folks. Brenda contributed linguine and meat sauce along with a salad and a chocolate cherry cake. Needless to say there were glucose monitors all over the camp setting off their alarms all night.

It rained pretty steadily through the night and all morning as we packed up to head home. If this keeps up the desert should once again be a beautiful green this winter. We got back to Dogpound South in the early afternoon and got everything unloaded and set back up for the next trip.

Not often I get a guy sitting beside me that makes me look good, but that is Larry, ‘er I mean Joe, our friend from Wyoming inhabiting those coveralls.

A couple of pics I stole from our friends K’s collection to quench Caron’s thirst for shots of Willow.

Council Rocks

2011-11-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

Friday morning we finished packing up the LQ and made sure all the right tanks were empty and the other ones full, then loaded our two hounds and both of our horses as we were heading down Tombstone way to meet up with some folks from a group called the Arizona Back Country Riders to do a little riding in the Dragoon Mountains. It is about a three hour haul from here at Dogpound South to the camp just a dozen or so miles outside of Tombstone. We found our way with no problem (good directions Bill) and pulled into the site about 2:30PM and got ourselves set up.

Some of the folks were keen to get riding and were saddled up and ready to go, we however opted to run into Tombstone with K and Theresa, and David and Linda, and Joe Carl and Adina(?) and wander the streets and then grab a bite to eat at Cafe Margarita and of course do a little shopping for the ladies. The others headed into Big Nose Kate's to do a little dancing after dinner but as Brenda and I are not the dancing type, or so she says about me, we headed back to camp to let the dogs out, yep it was us.

Well early to bed makes early to rise and we got up to a small change in the weather.

You betcha we are still in Arizona and that really is snow. As you can tell from the shot below there was a little wind through the night also. that is Joe Carls shower stall there standing on its head beside his tent.

But a little snow never gets a cowboy down so we gave it a couple of hours while folks drank an extra cup of coffee or two and I slurped down my hot chocolate and then it was time to hit the trail. For those who missed the trip the weather was actually perfect for our ride, cool enough for the horses and just enough moisture to keep the dust down and not enough to make things slippery.

Ride to Council Rocks

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That fellow off by himself in the bottom right photo is K, Brenda and I had met him and his wife Theresa early in 2008 when we first came to this country looking for a place to ride. Took us a while but we made it back and are hoping to stay for many winters. K and I met through another website where we both post photographs from time to time. You can follow these links to K’s and my own Flickr sites if you are interested. It was his photo’s that drew us to this country to ride in the first place so we are hoping to trace his trails through the back country of Arizona.

Council Rocks

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Our ride on Saturday took us through and along the Dragoon Mountains to a place called Council Rocks, it was really just a jumble of boulders but at the base of them there was a natural amphitheatre where we left the horses and scrambled up to the top to set a spell and eat our lunch. There were some old old pictographs on the protected undersides of the boulders so you knew folks had been coming to this spot for thousands of years.

Now these new friends have a custom that is very similar to that we used to enjoy with our RV’ing friends and will continue to enjoy with whomever we are sharing our camps with. We gathered around the campfire back in camp and had a great potluck supper. Those of you who I caught with your mouths full I apologize in advance but it just had to be as there was not much talking going on while the food was hot.

I am hear to tell you that there are just as many good cooks amongst these cowgirls as there are amongst those RV’ing folks we hung out with the last few years. As Nick Russell says "I am never going to be a thin man”.

The picture above is our host and the leader of this expedition Bill, Brenda and I can’t thank him enough for sharing his country with us and our horses.

It is beautiful country and the pictures above were taken this morning and you’ll notice the snow is gone and the weather is back to normal.

I will leave you with a link to our Cochise’s Stronghold Web Album that has more photos from this adventure.

Getting out of Dodge

2011-11-03T22:17:00.001-06:00

It is getting a little slow around here, just the way we like it. We took the horses for a ride yesterday first thing in the morning and then hung out watching for the Century Link guy to come and hook up our internet. Once he had visited we had to watch for the UPS guy who was bringing our modem. Once we got all the pieces it only took us about 10 minutes to hook it all up and get online. And boy after 10 years of dial-up, satellite and finally air cards we are moving at light speed now.

I was wandering around the place late yesterday afternoon and noticed what looked like some wet spots on the ground over where Brenda parks her Jeep. Now remember we are in Arizona and springs don’t just appear in the desert without some kind of divine intervention and we haven’t left the place so might have notice that type of thing happening. Further investigation led me to a more likely cause, Brenda’s Jeep was dripping oil on the ground. Now remember it had just been into the shop for an oil change a couple of days ago so I guessed they had let the oil collect on the crossmember below the oil plug, it has happened before. A quick check dismissed that simple solution, dipstick was dry. Well Brenda was on the phone to Henry Brown Chrysler, “number one in customer satisfaction in Arizona”, and told them to get a tow truck up and pick up the Jeep and get it back down to their shop and figure out what they had screwed up. The tow truck arrived at 6AM this morning so as to have it on their doorstep when they opened at 7AM. It took them 5 hours to get back to us but they have figured out that a cracked oil cap is the problem and that part is on order.

Tow Job

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Time will tell how this story ends but Brenda is all set to go to war if need be with the folks at Henry Brown’s Chrysler, soon to risk their #1 spot in customer satisfaction.

But back to the title, the rest of the day here we spent working towards making sure we are ready to head off tomorrow for the Dragoon Mountains in SE Arizona. We are joining some soon to be friends for a ride into the Dragoons. Ought to be a blast and I will try to get some photos of the adventure.

Once we got that high speed internet working the other day we put out a call to our kids to see if we could hook up with our grandchildren on Skype and today Becky and Kashton made our afternoon with their visit.

C’mon over and Set a Spell

2011-11-01T19:39:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we ran Brenda’s Jeep into Casa Grande and got an oil change and picked up some cables for our Shaw Direct Satellite dish. Well the cables were perfect but the dish is still not working. I had a long conversation with my friends at Shaw today and as near as we can tell the receiver was working fine so the only thing left is the LNB. But tomorrow we get high speed internet and what with the Terabyte of movies we appropriated from Matt we may get through to Christmas without this TV anyway. And while we are home maybe I can figure out what the issue is.

Today was a big day for Brenda, we hit Fry’s Marketplace, cousin Mick’s recommendation, and bought them out of patio furniture. Hence the title of todays blog we have a bunch of chairs and now just need some butts to fill them all. It will take us a week to sit in each and every one, but the deck is coming together kinda like Brenda wants it too.

Patio Stuff

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Other than the furniture buying and then the some assembly required part we had a pretty quiet day here at Dogpound South. Tonight we ate our shrimp taco’s on the patio while watching the sun slowing sink into the west.

Sorta Together

2011-10-30T20:17:00.001-06:00

This morning we were up bright and early again. But unlike other days we were not going garage saling. We have made some acquaintances down her since we arrived and they were going to ride out into the desert this morning. Being as how they live a couple of miles from our place we had to have our saddles filled by shortly after seven to make it over to the starting spot by 8:00AM. Not a problem though what with our satellite system not yet working and the internet being pretty slow we are an early to bed and early to rise bunch here.

Once we met up with our riding partners we headed out to the Vekol Wash and just wandered out into the desert towards the BLM land.

Vekol Wash

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It has been a while since we had as good a ride so without a doubt there will be some sore muscles tomorrow morning but we sure enjoyed getting out into the desert and just wandering. As you can see from some of the pictures there is some soft going so the horses will be getting legged up pretty quick out here too.

After we got home from the ride I headed into town to pick up some stuff from the hardware and then came back and fiddled with the satellite dish some more. Not sure what the problem is but we are still without TV, not the end of the world but I am thinking from the looks that I am getting it is not a sustainable situation.

Tonight we ran down to our local watering hole and had dinner there and gave our very excellent cooking crew the night off. That done it was back to a little Ian Tyson and our computers for the rest of the evening.

Doing what Needs Doing

2011-10-29T21:04:00.001-06:00

We have been just keeping on, keeping on, around Dogpound South the last couple of days. Not sure where the time goes but it seems like we are busy all the time that we are not sleeping. Our Millenicom air card is not the quickest we have ever had here either, so we are awaiting a Century Link DSL hookup next week, they had a plan where we can start and stop it when we head back to Dogpound North so we are signed up. It has been about 10 years since we have had a fast internet hookup so we are looking forward to that.

We have been trying to round up some required (by Brenda) furniture for our place here so have been on the road early the last two mornings to hit some garage sales around Maricopa and hopefully find the necessary pieces. After yesterdays foray we ran into Chandler to the Costco and pick up some things we were running out of, and in addition to that bought a TV for the place. More on that later.

What with the slow internet and no TV we have sure been catching up on our sleep though. It seems that once it gets dark and we eat our dinner, nope no pictures this time Heather, we soon gravitate off to dreamland.

Today was another garage sale morning and this time Brenda did manage to find herself some bargoons, as our friend Rick calls them. We took both vehicles into Maricopa and after the morning garage saling we loaded our purchases into the Jeep and Brenda went off her way and I headed back into Chandler to find a mount for our satellite dish and drop in at the sale at Pacific Livestock there. I always enjoy listening to the chant of a good auctioneer and you never know when a deal will jump out at you. There was a little bit of tack that led off the sale and then there were going straight into the horses. Now I had a look at the horses offered there and figured that most of my winters feed would be needed to get most of those ponies into shape to carry me around so I left and they went home with somebody else.

As for the dish mount there were none to be found so I stopped by Home Depot and picked up some bits and pieces that would let us make our own. Then it was back to Dogpound South to get that all cemented in the ground and hooked up.

Well the mount is good, and the wiring is good but it appears something is not just right as we still have no TV here on the ranch. So I guess it will be an early night again tonight. What with all this beauty sleep I am getting maybe nobody will recognize me when I head back home at Christmas to see the family.

Tomorrow we are up early though and in the saddle as we are meeting some local folks to head out into the desert for a ride before the heat of the day. Maybe, just maybe I will get some pictures of that expedition.

On the Trail again

2011-10-27T20:23:00.001-06:00

This morning broke sunny and warm here at Dogpound South, near Maricopa, Arizona, and a little excitement in the community also. About 5AM I woke up when I heard some explosions in the distance. Last year when we were here in the late winter there were propane cannons scaring the birds off the newly seeded melon fields but it is the wrong time of year for that. After a momentary threat assessment my senses told me that these were a little way off and of no immediate concern to me, so I went back to sleep.

Once I got up and had my shower I got on the computer to see what was happening in the world and lo and behold Facebook and my friends in this area were all a twitter with the fact that there was a joint county, state, and federal task force serving warrants on some suspected drug folks here at Thunderbird Farms. There were a number of houses involved locally and the story has it that this was part of a nation wide drug sting that ran up into the Chicago area and maybe even across the border into Eastern Canada, or so my contacts tell me.

Well after making sure that our security detail below was on high alert.

Brenda and I saddled up Blue and Willow and took a turn about the neighbourhood. Didn’t see much excitement except for the pit bull down the way coming out to warn us away from her place, but the law enforcement folks were all apparently busy a little north of us. Other than our ride this morning I never left the place, though Brenda did run into town for some supplies. Ray and Steve came by today to do a little plumbing work for us, and later in the day our garbage container was delivered, and we managed to fill the back of the delivery guys pickup with the garbage we have accumulated in the two short days we have been here.

After some comments yesterday I took some better pictures of the pens we set up yesterday. We have a large paddock at the back that is probably an acre and a half, a smaller paddock in front of that that may be a quarter acre and then two small pens that are twelve by thirty-two feet long. The sunshade is 60 feet long and 12 feet wide and covers a portion of all three areas.

And just in case all you RV’ers out there are getting bored with all this sticks and bricks stuff I thought I would throw in a picture of what makes your boats all float and let you know that even though we aren’t rolling down the road as steadily as in the past we are still eating well.

Baked Sweet Potato Janna, next thing you know we’ll be saying “All Y’all” come back now.

Old Corrals and Sagebrush

2011-10-26T20:48:00.000-06:00

Well it was a good title that came to mind while I was putting up the new pens and fences here at Dogpound South. We have a pipe fence surrounding the place and the posts and rails are unfinished pipe so they get a little rusty looking, or maybe that is just the latest decorator shade of brown. Anyway when I headed off to LP Steel down the road in Stanfield I picked up some new panels to make pens for our horses and they had some in a matching shade of BROWN so that is what I got. Anybody who knows Brenda, knows matching is an important concept, and I think that after many years of getting it wrong I just might have hit the mark this time. Ray and his friend Steve popped over and gave me a hand putting the panels up so it went a lot faster than I had expected. Looks OK too!

Here is a look at the ponies eating dinner out of their new feeders and you can see the new sunshade and the pens to the right in the picture. The panels were a little longer than I could haul in our trailer so I was out early this morning running around the neighbourhood trying to bum a trailer from someone else. Finally found one up near Laskosky’s old place, one of his neighbours, Dave Sather, loaned me his flatbed.

Once we got the panels up I ran up to Tanya Graebs tack shop, 4G's Ranch LLC Horse Tack and Supply,and got a few barrel feeders to keep the hay off the sandy soil around here.

That done it was time to kick back and relax on our new deck, under the porch that Ray built us last summer.

As you can see Meg and Mack enjoy that porch also especially in the heat of the day.

T-3 to Dogpound South

2011-10-26T19:36:00.001-06:00

Well I kind of got busy doing some other stuff and let the old blog get behind a little. As you can tell from the title this one is going to cover a whole host of things from packing up and getting on the road to our visit with Mike and Janna at their beautiful spot south of Big Timber.

When I left off we were just getting the horses ready for their journey and that continued on Monday morning when we had the vet out to give them the required Health Check and blood tests to enable them to cross the border. That done and the paperwork off to get ready it was a laid back kind of day. But Tuesday was anything other than laid back, I started off getting my hair cut first thing in the morning, then off to see my Dad for lunch. Following a quick lunch I headed off to the Sports Medicine folks for an appointment to have them look at my wonky knee and maybe give me some exercises to do that will relieve some of the pain that comes and go intermittently. That done I headed over to the Alberta Children’s Hospital where I am taking part in a study to determine if the heart condition my youngest brother Kelly and I had is a genetic issue or just bad luck. Donated some blood and some DNA to those folks and with any luck they will find something that will help my grandkids or some of the other kids that are around that wonderful facility. Then it was back to the farm to see Ella, and oh yah, Lacey and Clayton when they brought their boat down to store in the quonset for the winter and also to say goodbye to us until Christmas.

Wednesday we were off to the city early to get the Canadian Food Inspection Agency vet to sign our horse papers and drop Matt’s truck at my mothers. We had a short visit there while Brenda admired all the renovations that Mom has done recently. Wednesday evening I showed Matt and Chris all the stuff around the yard and the house that they will have to look after while we are gone.

Thursday morning was time to make sure we had all the little odds and ends and sure enough a couple of things got forgotten. The mount for the TV dish and my little electric chainsaw, both integral parts of our traveling kit. Not sure where we will find a mount for that dish down here but the chainsaw we will be able to replace. When we bought Dogpound South there were a number of citrus trees that had died from lack of water and we will be turning them into firewood. We loaded the horse trailer with enough feed to get us down to Arizona and ten bales to hold us over till we got some local hay on the menu. That is my son Matt, fresh home from Albania, up there on top of the trailer and me and my old John Deere doing the heavy lifting.

Then it was southbound and down. Our first nights stop was at the Horse N Hound just north of the Canadian border at Coutts, Alberta. The fellow there had a turnout for our horses and let us camp in his yard for the night.

First thing in the morning we hit the Border Crossing and immediately got whirled into the livestock issues. We had to go into US Customs and fill out some forms and then head down to the Livestock area and hand in all those forms and the ones we got from the CFIA back in Canada to prove that we were not bringing any exotic diseases down with us. I am sure we will be doing exactly the same thing when we head north in the spring.

It took us about 90 minutes to clear all the rigamorole at the border and then it was off to Big Timber. We were heading down to have a visit with our friends Mike and Janna on their place up the Boulder River valley. Mike has lived here his whole life and from what we saw of the beautiful country surrounding them it is no wonder. Only a lunatic would want to move somewhere else and from all appearances Mike doesn’t look like he is crazy. Here is the little school he graduated from and it is still in operation to this day. I have it on good authority that there is more than ONE room in this school house, but they must be small.

We were only staying one day so we had a flying tour of the valley and hit some of the high lights but I am sure by no means anywhere near all of them. We will return!

Water Ouzel

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The bird in the pictures above, who Mike called a Water Weasel, appeared to be equally at home on top or underneath the water. Well apparently Mike didn’t call it a weasel I just misheard him and it is a Water Ouzel or American Dipper, sorry about that Mike.

The pictures above are of the Boulder River just above the falls and just below, the water volume is pretty low this time of year and although in the spring the water comes over the top right at the moment it is all coming out below. Legend has it that in a time long, long ago this whole was plugged with a raft of timbers that were being floated down the river to be made into railroad ties and the water came over the top all the time.

Overnight Spots

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From left to right these were our spots, first at Mike and Janna’s, then at Cabela’s in Lehi, Utah and lastly just out of Kingman, Arizona, all complete with turnout pens so that our ponies didn’t have to stay tied at night. After we left the Big Timber country we had a couple of fairly long days to get us south. The weather was great though, nary a cloud in the sky most of the way, and not to hot for the horses either.

We arrived here at Dogpound South about 10:30AM on Tuesday and really hit the ground running. We needed to unload all of our stuff from the Jeep and the Horse trailer as well as from my dually, and get it stowed away in our southern abode. Then it was off to Wal-Mart for Brenda for supplies while I waited for a local fellow to haul in a couple of squeezes (64 – 110 lb. bales each) so that our equine friends would have sufficient supplies to last them the winter. Hay is a little more expensive here than back home but not outrageous I guess. As well as that we needed to get our internet set up and when you see this you will know that chore is done. As well there is garbage pickups to arrange and tomorrow we are finishing our horse pen setup and setting up some feed stations. Pictures to follow…..lol.

As those who have been following us know we had a couple of things done this summer while we were gone, and Brenda was a little apprehensive about them, to say the least. But the porch we put on the house was all we expected, thanks Ray, and the horse shelter is exactly as we figured, credit to Morgan and his fellows for that.

Here you can see the porch on the house and the horse shelter just peaking out to the left of the truck and trailer, and that oh so precious hay, all ready to be turned into recycled grass.

Four Sleeps to Go

2011-10-16T19:23:00.001-06:00

Saturday was a good friend of mines Annual Production Sale. Ross Ranch raises good solid cow horses, and focuses on some old Foundation blood lines and roan horses. We think so much of their breeding that we have a couple of them here at Dogpound North, and our good saddle horse Blue will be making the journey with us to Dogpound South in the next week or so. I won’t go on about the sale forever but suffice it to say that the market is not good. Unless you are a buyer and thankfully I managed to keep my bidding card in my pocket.

After the sale it was time to head for home and bring our own remuda into the yard. Sunday morning bright and early our farrier was coming over to get some feet trimmed so those horses we are leaving home will be ready for winter and while he was here he put new shoes on Willow and Blue for their southern adventures. Along with that and a little deworming for all, they are ready for winter, wherever they are spending it.

About the only other exciting thing that happened today was Mack coming back from his vacation in the city with Madison and Michelle. He is heading south with us so it is good to have him back here to help pack…lol.

Two pictures from the past today, one from the Icefields Parkway in our Mountain Parks and the other from East Lake near Kissimmee, Florida.

T -6

2011-10-14T19:35:00.001-06:00

The picture above is actually “down the road from Dogpound” and although it was a little dusty today, another day or two and the trees will have their winter foliage (none) on, so I thought I better capture it.

Today was another run around day. First I ran into the city for a visit and to help Dad fill out some papers. We had lunch at Humpty’s while we did that and picked him up some milk on the way back to his place. After that I headed back to the farm and changed from the little truck to the dually as I had to head north to Sundre and pick up our LQ at the welding shop. It is all rigged up for our stalls to fit on it now so we just need to add a tarp and we are good to go.

Blue and Willow

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The horses were interested in the goings on and were keeping an eye on the trailer, probably wondering where it was off to without them. The other thing that kept me hopping today was arranging for some hay down at Dogpound South. Our friend Ray has been looking around the neighbourhood for someone to supply us with a winters worth of feed and we finally connected today. It appears that we are good to go now with about 6.5 tons of hay for our four legged friends. A horse produces about 7 tons of manure a year so it only stands to reason he will have to eat somewhere around the same amount of fodder. Now there is some information you won’t find on every RV’ing blog.

While I was doing my thing Brenda was of course hard at it back at home cleaning and organizing stuff although by the time I got home she was pretending to just lay around. Guess she figures I don’t notice the changes or something.

I am thinking it is almost time to head south, it seems that our hosts for the winter have sent their representative up to show us the way.

Actually there is a population of these eagles that migrates through here fall and spring. The golden eagles tend to pass a little to the west of us along the actual mountain tops but these bald eagles seem to come over closer to us.

T-7

2011-10-13T19:40:00.001-06:00

This time next week, God willing and the creeks don’t rise, we should be sitting just north of the Medicine Line in Coutts, Alberta ready to cross into the Treasure State first thing in the morning.

But, that is a week away and we have lots to do before then. Today was a nice Indian Summer day here at Dogpound North. Not to hot but the sun was shining and the wind was just a comfortable breeze. I started off the day by running the LQ trailer up to Sundre to get some welding and fabrication work done on the stalls we use when we are in the mountains with our horses. That done it was back home to wait until it was time to run into Cochrane to see the dentist about a tooth I chipped last week.

While I was doing that Brenda washed the outside of my little truck and then took off for Chestermere. She spent the day with our daughter Rebecca and of course our grandson, Kashton. I am sure he missed me but he had to take his Mom and Grandma shopping by himself.

I was surveying the Yahoo news and stumbled across an article that only confirmed heading south for the winter this year is a wise decision. Sure wish I had enough trailer to take our other 2 horses with us, but I guess they have enjoyed Alberta in the winter before and they have lots of shelter and if need be enough feed to last them well into next summer.

The picture at the top of the page is Eddotenajon Lake on the Cassiar Highway just south of Iskut, BC and this one is of Medziadin Lake a little farther south on the Cassiar.

T-8

2011-10-12T20:53:00.001-06:00

Today was another day of preparing for our departure. And another doctors appointment out of the way. Today I had to go into see the eye doc and they filled my eyes with some drops that made the pupils dilate so they could look into my soft brown eyes and see the depths of my soul. Must have been A-OK in there as my doc said see you next year. Brenda came along with me so that she could drive me back to the farm just in case my darkest shades didn’t do the job. They were OK but it was nice to have her driving as my eyes were watering a little and that kept things a little blurry.

What that meant was I was stuck in the house most of the day as it was a bright sunny day outside and with those dilated pupils I was pretty suited to working in a cave than the sunshine.

That didn’t stop Brenda though, she scrubbed my little pickup’s interior so that it looks like new and then started in on the garage. Meanwhile I caught up on my reading and after seeing Rick’s comment on Google+ I downloaded the new OS5 operating system for my Iphone. With that new software and this whole iCloud thingy I am going to be waiting with bated breath for Ricks Tips on this one.

A couple more bear pictures from the archives. I love to see this big guys out and about but the view below is the one most people see as they are not nearly as fearsome as their press would lead us to believe.

T-9

2011-10-11T19:20:00.001-06:00

Today was another day of getting ready to roll, more on Brenda’s part than mine. She gave the LQ a good cleaning, now it is up to me to stuff it full of all the things we will think we need down at Dogpound South, without making a mess of it. Mmmmmm, not usually one of my strong points. While Brenda was cleaning the guilt got to me so I gave the “REMNANT” truck a badly needed wash and got it filled with diesel so it is ready for its winter hiatus. That done it was time to feed the horses and us.

The weather is holding out for us so far this fall and to date we have had a great Indian Summer with not much inclement weather and a gentle easing into seasonal temperatures. We are only getting into the 50’s in the day here and soon we will drop into below freezing temps at night, so will probably need to burn a little electricity to keep the LQ unfrozen. Everything else is winterized and ready for the cold to come.

Sure is good to see our friend Rod over there in Overland Park, Kansas starting to come out of his surgery. Things are going slowly but each day seems to be a little better for him, at least that is what I glean from his daily blog. We have a date to hit Fuddruckers down in Mesa this winter so it imperative that he get healing and feeling up to the journey.

When Mike and Janna were up here he was lamenting the re-introduction of wolves into his environment down there in Montana. Those recent immigrants were actually captured in the Hinton/Grande Cache area of central Alberta and transported down to our neighbours in Yellowstone Park where they were released. Now the guy in the picture up above was one we kept but we found some that needed a little more food like the one below to send south of the Medicine Line.

Now maybe once you get yours fattened up a little Mike they will be less of a problem for ya.

Dogpound North T-10

2011-10-10T18:09:00.001-06:00

Today was another day of preparing for winter around Dogpound North. Oh by the way, the sow in the picture above was not here at Dogpound North but Brenda, my Dad, and I came upon her and her cub up in the Tatshenshini Park in the far north west corner of British Columbia. If you look close at this picture you can see that she has just finished nursing her young’un.

We are not planning on being here for a lot of winter but if you don’t do all the things that need to be done it leads to a lot of wondering and worrying about whether things are holding together while we are enjoying the warmer climate of Dogpound South. We had a little reminder the other day, we thought it was a cool rainy day and a fire in the fireplace would be a nice change. It had been a while since we had the fireplace lit so there was of course some concern on the part of others that it would be a problem. In this house the fireplace is what used to be called a Heatilator and it has in the past served as a heat source when needed. While it lit up fine, and the flue appeared to be clear and other than the smell of dust burning off all went well with the fireplace. We enjoyed the crackling fire and that special kind of heat that only wood gives you. But while the fireplace was burning the house was getting cooler and didn’t stabilize until it got done around 60F. Strange nobody told the furnace to take the day off but it picked this time for the thermocouple to take a vacation. So it was off to Home Depot first thing in the morning to pick one of those up. A curious thing about our furnace, although it was made right here in North America you needed to have hands about the size of a 4 year old to do a simple thing like changing a thermocouple. My hands are not the same size as a 4 year old so this was far from child’s play. My knuckles will heal though, I guess? But with that reminder out of the way I was off today to check the heated waterers we have around the yard to supply water to those of our ponies that are not lucky enough to be coming with us south.

That led me to find a leak in one waterer and a heat lamp bulb that needed to be changed out. We keep two waterers active so the stock can always find heated water somewhere even if one decides to pack it in. Our neighbour came today to load up his cattle and as the pasture he rents next door has no corrals he brings them into our place to load them out. Always surprises me how quiet and controlled his crew is when it comes to moving stock, when we had cattle here it seemed like there was always a lot of yelling, hollering, swearing and threatening needed to get things done. Along with the cattle leaving our son Paul brought his travel trailer out to put it away in the quonset hut for the winter. Good to see him and Lucas and Annika even though they were unable to stay long.

Brenda was busy, as usual, and this time it was windows that were the focus of her day. She has them just gleaming and they will be great for anybody trying to peak in while we are gone. And I guess the folks we have looking after the place will enjoy Brenda’s hard work.

Just in case you thought we were joking about that grizzly in the first picture nursing her cub here is the proof.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-10-09T20:54:00.001-06:00

Here in Canada we celebrate our Thanksgiving a little earlier than our neighbours to the south. Maybe because our harvest is a little earlier or our winter comes in a little earlier. Other than that it is much the same, good food, and family gathering to give thanks for the great life we live here.

Today we headed up to Rocky Mountain House for dinner at Lacey and Clayton’s for dinner with them and Miss Ella and her other Grandma and Grandpa Don. Like I said good food, good company.

I thought I better throw in a picture of dinner for my friend Rod down there in Kansas City and who better to showcase than three of my favourite girls, Brenda, Miss Ella, and her mom Lacey.

Other than Thanksgiving we are getting ready for our journey towards Dogpound South a couple of weeks from now. We have the motorhome put away and are stowing stuff away in our Living Quarters trailer. Strange how all the stuff we had in our 40 odd foot motorhome won’t fit in a 10 foot short wall LQ. Oh well, what more do we need than our toothbrushes anyway. Well I think Brenda may want a few more things than that BUT…..

This and That

2011-09-29T19:55:00.001-06:00

Well although the calendar says it happened a week or so ago, this was the first day of fall around Dogpound North. There was frost on the ground when I went out to feed Willow and Blue and the wind was working itself up to a minor gale. All summer I have been putting off doing the farm books and today was the day. That took me a good part of the morning. Then it was onto sending in some receipts for prescriptions and such to our insurance company. That is an artefact of my working life but it is nice to have someone willing to pick up the odds and ends that our Universal Health Care doesn’t cover. I usually put off that kind of stuff until the weather is not conducive to working around the place outside, or the deadline is approaching. Today the weather gave me the opportunity. Then it was time to get some insurance details for the motorhome worked out. In the past we have paid a premium to allow us to take it south of the medicine line for more than 4 months and as we are just taking our LQ trailer and heading for Dogpound South the insurance company will have to look for some other pigeon to pay for their next skyscraper.

Once that was done there was a cabinet in our living room here in the house that had a myriad of treasures stored in it and today was the day to mine that treasure trove and see just what was there. Amongst the many manuals for equipment that has long left the farm, there were some neat old pictures. Just slide your cursor over the pictures and some of them actually have some details in the titles.

On the left my son Matt and on the right my Grandfather Walter Brown. Some family resemblance there I think.

And this guy is my Dad up in Norman Wells back in the mid 40’s

Now let’s take a jump ahead about 50 years and find my niece and nephew on their Dad’s boat “Ain’t Life Grand”. They have grown a little since this picture. Ryan is 25 and Caron is 22. A couple of weeks ago when we took Mike and Janna out to the Yaha Tinda I mentioned that we had brought a few folks there over the years but the picture below must have been our biggest crowd.

Brenda and I had all these folks hike up to our overlook of the Bighorn Falls to witness us tying the knot back in 2001. The little cowboy on the right is my nephew Christopher and he pretty much stole the show and in my minds eye that white horse in the background is a Spirit Horse and Rider just watching over us.

Me and my beautiful bride and below is a picture of my two little brothers and Christopher in his full regalia for a cowboys wedding.

Just for the record though absolutely none of the pictures in this blog were taken by me, although I did scan each and every one of them so I could share them with you. As you can see above Brent was wielding his camera, as well as a couple of other friends Peter Hanson, and Stacey Kelley.

Well enough wandering down memory lane and tomorrow is supposed to be a much warmer day so maybe I will be able to get back on track and get our rig washed up for its trip south.

Exit Plan

2011-09-28T18:55:00.001-06:00

There is lots of discussion in the RV’ing community about exit plans. Well Brenda and I are going to try ours out for a few weeks.

Yesterday I had an appointment in the city to take care of first thing in the morning. I also needed to drop off some license plates at Mom’s house so I got that done on the way downtown. After my appointment I picked up Dad at his place and we popped over to Humpty’s for brunch. You would almost think we are regulars there as they put a couple of waters on our usual table when they see us in the parking lot, and put in our order for Eggs Benedict, each with our own particular sides, before we are even sitting down. Makes for a quick lunch. After lunch I had to run out to Lac des Arc and winterize my sister-in-laws Class C for her. It is an Empress, Canadian made, and set up so that it only takes a few minutes to run the pink stuff through it. That done I dropped Dad off at his place and then headed back to Dogpound North.

Once I got home it was still a nice day and Brenda had finished doing a final cleaning on our motorhome so I ran the pink stuff through that also. Not so easy, what with the ice maker and washer in there. I got the winterizing procedure for the washer off the internet and just followed Rod’s advice for winterizing the ice maker. All in all it probably took a half hour to do it all. The last time I had it done at a dealer I think they charged me about $300.00 to do it. Pretty high hourly rate, heck I didn’t charge that much when I was a highly paid consultant back in my working days. I think I was in the wrong business. BUT we will see for sure next spring when we turn the water back on.

The winterizing done meant that I needed to empty and sweep out the Quonset Hut this morning. Our rig will only fit through the door with all the air out of the suspension so it is a slow and easy job sliding it into it’s winter lair.

That done I thought I should empty out the living quarters trailer we are taking south this year and make sure that I didn’t have anything in there that would get us in trouble at the Medicine Line. And of course take out the winter gear that we use while riding in the mountains in the spring and fall. Hopefully we won’t be needing that done around Dogpound South.

Took a stroll out through the retirement pasture and visited with the old timers a little while they searched my pockets for treats.

We are about 3 weeks away from heading south so it will be a little while until the real loading begins. I have worked out a myriad of options for that trip. It is a lot more complicated traveling with horses than just us, Meg, and the bus. We could stop almost anywhere but with our equine pals along we will need to find some place to turn them out for the evening as well as a stopping place or two through the day. I guess once we arrive at Dogpound South we will figure out where we stopped although I have talked to all the folks I know who travel south with horses and gleaned all the information I could from them. For the next three weeks this will be our abode.

That will have to do until we next do something interesting to tell you about here down the road from Dogpound.

Brenda’s Back

2011-09-26T19:40:00.001-06:00

Saturday was a day of cleaning up. Brenda headed off to Rocky Mountain House and took Miss Ella with her, so I thought it was a good day to take the motorhome into Cremona and dump the black tank to get it started on the winterization process. Once I got home, I took the pressure washer to her and washed off some road grime and dust as well as the many bugs that had committed suicide on our windshield while we were wandering around northern Alberta with Mike and Janna.

There she is all clean and ready for the inside crew to finish up and give me the OK to pump the pink stuff.

Once that job was done it was time to drag our old bumper pull horse trailer out of the barn and get ready for Sunday’s gymkhana. Caron has had Willow down at her barn all week doing a little practicing and just for fun we are going to take her new horse Jager along for the ride also.

Willow and Caron Turning and Burning

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You have a chance to ride more than one horse at these events although your points only count on your designated points horse. This time out Willow was the points horse and Jager was a no point addition. So there is no pressure on the young horse and his trainer that way they can take the time to get it right. Jager did great for his first trip away from the barn.

Jager

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Although Jager is just a youngster and still growing he is already 17 hands tall (68 inches or 172 cms). For comparison Willow is about 15-2 or 62 inches. And I am thankful that she is done growing as that is already a long way to climb up or fall off.

The smile tells the whole story.

I never keep track the same way the timekeepers do at these events but as far as I am concerned the champions came home with me.

Today was another horse day. We are starting to get ready to head towards Dogpound South and there is a mountain of paperwork that needs to be completed to bring our horses south of the Medicine Line. You’d think they were Trojan Horses or something. Nevertheless it has to be done and I got started today with a Brand Inspection. Most of the states that we will be traveling through have Brand Laws and want a valid brand inspection done. For traveling around Alberta we don’t need that done so I had to haul Blue and Willow off to the local auction mart to meet up with a brand inspector. Pretty simple process as long as you have your 3 photos ready and the horses present. He just had a look at them and said yep they match the papers and pictures so we filled out the forms and submitted the $31.50 each and in a week or two they will have a Lifetime Brand Inspection paper. Just for interest Willow does carry our JB brand on her right thigh but Blue is brandless. I don’t want to start a kerfuffle about the pro’s and con’s of branding but Blue not having a brand does concern me a little as horse’s that are stolen are usually just sold for meat and a brand is the only reliable way to identify the horse.

When I get my passport I just need one headshot, a horse needs three shots, left side, right side, and head on.

Brand Inspection Photos

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Now just a Health Check and blood test and maybe they will be OK to head down the road from Dogpound.

Oh yah back to the title, Brenda came back this morning so I am off the Chocolate, toast and Ice Cream diet and back on her good cooking.

Time is Moving On!

2011-09-24T19:52:00.001-06:00

It is starting to look a little like fall around here. Summer has left and fall has arrived. Just in the last week we have gone from green to gold around here. Brenda and I spent the week getting caught up on some of our doctors visits. Dentist and optometrists for me and the dentist and a orthopaedic surgeon for Brenda. Mine went OK, got to slip back to the eye doctor for a follow up in a few weeks and as for Brenda she hates the dentist and still has an appointment next week to finish up what they are doing. The surgeon guy didn’t have a lot of great news either. He said that what is wrong with Brenda’s knees is unfixable and then went on to prescribe a three course treatment plan. He is convinced that some physio will help the problem, and then if that doesn’t work he might slip in there and polish up her knee cap a little. Failing that working, his plan is to go in and change her kneecap. Funny thing after Brenda’s GP told her that she had to have an MRI before she could refer her on to the next step, the “sports medicine” folks didn’t prescribe any physio, and the surgeon says that MRI’s are over prescribed and not very useful for what he is seeing. Says there are always a bunch of artefacts and things that can only really be seen for sure from inside. Makes sense to an old seismic guy though, take a seismic record, which really is just a BIG MRI, and give it to four interpreters and you will probably get 5 different answers. And the only way to tell which guy is right for sure is drill it. One good thing though the surgeon is a horseman and thinks the physio will help with the horse riding and if we can get Brenda riding again she will be pretty happy.

Miss Ella came to visit us Thursday night and yesterday, Friday, we took her and headed into Chestermere to visit with Becky, Ved and Kashton. Ella just loves babies and can hardly wait to play with Kashton when she gets there. She is a little rough at times but with a name like Kash that little fellow has just got to be a cowboy and cowboys gotta be tough so he can take it.

Great subjects but I have asked Becky to get another colour of couch. That white just doesn’t cut it for photos, but maybe Kashton will fix it up with a Sharpie in a couple of years so that there is a little pattern to break it up. LOL.

And here is a picture of Miss Ella with her pillow and blanket set that Loyce sent home with us from Arizona last spring. Thanks Loyce, and keep that Rod in line so that he heals quick and gets down there to show us the way to Fuddruckers again……Wendy’s we can find ourselves.

Brenda has taken Miss Ella home today so tonight I will be batching here at Dogpound North, so it looks like a Toast, chocolate, and ice cream night for dinner.

Just Hanging Out!

2011-09-20T20:58:00.001-06:00

Started off the week by taking Matt to the airport. He is off to Albania for another tour of duty. He should be back just a day or two before we leave for Dogpound South in Maricopa. That will give him a day or so to say goodbye to his buddy Mack below. Mack is going to spend the winter with us down south so he and Meg are all up to date on their shots and ready to roll south as soon as old man winter shows his grizzled face.

Matt will be having his horse Coal sent off to the trainers soon after he returns so it will just be him and his pony Spanky along with those residents of our retirement pen to keep a watch on Dogpound North.

Other than that Brenda and I are just catching up on our dental work, and in a day or so Brenda will actually get to meet with a surgeon about her knee. No idea what will come of that visit but it is a step in the right direction.

Rumour has it that Miss Ella is coming to Dogpound North to spend part of the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa so Meg and Mack are looking forward to that. Oh yeah and Grandpa too.

Down the Road from Dogpound

2011-09-18T20:19:00.001-06:00

All good things must come to an end, but it is not goodbye, just see ya later. Mike and Janna were off down the road from Dogpound heading south. As Janna said yesterday this time had to end, her and Brenda matching each other meal for meal, and soon Mike and I were going to have to head into the big city and buy some bigger clothes. We had a great time wandering around northern Alberta and sharing stories and good times. They snuck into the country through British Columbia but it didn’t take long for them to make the jump to Alberta and with that pink camper and the bright yellow jeep pushing it, it was not long until we intercepted them. After that they couldn’t shake us and finally gave up and let us drag them back to Dogpound North. We love sharing our country with our friends from south of the border and it gives us a great excuse to revisit some of the great spots in Western Canada. So keep that in mind if you wander north of the Medicine Line you are liable to be intercepted and hauled into our northern lair. It is the least we can do to say thanks for sharing your country with us in the winter.

Once they headed down the road it was not to long until Blue, Willow and I headed off to meet Caron at her barn to join in with their trail ride. We just headed out from the barn and wandered around in the forest to the north. Although it was surrounded by highways, it was a great spot and we had a good ride. And then it was back to the barn where they were having smokies. Not hot dogs Janna!

Willow is staying at Boyce’s barn this week so that Caron can work with her to get ready for the gymkhana next weekend so Blue and I made the drive back home alone. Brenda was at it again though and soon after we got back it was time to eat again.

Now I was quick with the camera but not quick enough that the cook didn’t already have a piece out for a test. Homemade “Dogpound Special” and good as always.

No Pictures!

2011-09-17T18:12:00.001-06:00

Brenda and Janna headed into the big city today with a couple of destinations in mind, but first and foremost was a visit with Kashton. Although I specifically requested pictures so I could see how much he has changed I guess my request got lost in the excitement,……or something.

After some grandbaby time it was off to Costco and then over to Cochrane to browse the shops there. Not sure what got bought but probably nothing other than some groceries that I would be interested in.

While they were off rambling about I thought I could hook up my new monitor camera so I can watch the horses in the back of the trailer while we are moving. Seemed like a pretty simple job and with Mike to give me a hand it wouldn’t take but a little while. Yah, right! For some reason we started off with power issues with the truck and they migrated back to the trailer. Almost looks like the wiring is not heavy enough to carry the current so the voltage drops off at the taillights, where we were attempting to splice the camera’s in. After spending a few hours hunting that problem we came up with another power point that would work and then it was only a matter of hanging the camera’s and hooking up a few wires until we were putting it all back together again.

Above you can see the two camera’s one high on the back centre and the other in the corner just inside the door

The shot above is inside the trailer and the one below is the rear view.

You can set the system to scan between the two camera’s and also set the time each camera is on the monitor. The screen looks much better in person without the glare of the flash hitting it and the picture is quite clear. I should be able to tell if the lady following me is putting on her lipstick or paying attention to the road.

This wireless system is quite touchy as to where you place your antennae, and the the obvious locations are not always the best ones. The monitors antenna works best on the drivers door under the mirror. Go figure but whatever works.

Having Mike there to give me a hand really helped in fact for the most part I was just giving him a hand as he had a better idea of what needed to be done than I did. One thing about this system that could have made it easier was a set of directions that were actually in the English language. They used all English words but the order was a little out of this hemisphere. Oh well their English is much better than my Chinese I guess.

Into the Park!

2011-09-16T21:12:00.001-06:00

Today we jumped in the truck and headed out to the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park. Our goal was to see if we could catch a view of Peyto Lake. It is a short but invigorating climb up to the viewpoint and as usual the first view of the lake took your breath away. It is a beautiful lake in a beautiful place. The quote Rollie and I found last year still holds true. “When God made this place he was showing off.”

This is just a peek, the header picture on our blog is this same scene last year.

On the way to Peyto we drove out the Bow Valley Parkway and stopped at Eisenhower Junction for a break and a look at Castle (Eisenhower) Mountain. Check out the link to catch up on the name controversy of this prominent mountain.

It is a much more peaceful drive along the Parkway than over the four lane on the other side of the valley. And of course no visit to this area would be complete without a visit to Lake Louise.

And then it was time to head off to St. James Gate in Banff for a little bite to eat. Although the food is usually excellent here, today was not as good as other days although everyone seemed to get through their dinner. Or maybe I am just feeling that because they took my favourite Blue Cheese Boxty off the menu.

And once again out to the Yaha

2011-09-15T19:03:00.001-06:00

Once we left Hilliard’s Bay Provincial Park Tuesday morning we headed towards Entwistle and the Pembina River Provincial Park. When we got there we found it closed for the season and after fueling up in Drayton Valley decided Dogpound North was only another 3 hours down the road and we could haul in there and park for free and have peace and quiet included. We made it home around 6:00PM.

Wednesday was a recuperation day and other than solving some of the world’s most pressing issues Mike and I basically just hung out while Brenda headed into the city to get some X-rays looked after and Janna got caught up around their motorhome.

Thursday we continued a tradition of dragging our guests out to the Yaha Tinda. It is Brenda and my favourite spot and we like to share it with our friends. We took a walk up Bighorn Creek to the base of the falls.

Mike, Janna, and Emmi at the base of the Bighorn Falls

Then it was around and up the canyon wall for a look at the falls from above. This is a special spot for us as it is where Brenda and I chose to say our wedding vows, 10 short years ago.

I took both of the above shots from that spot. The girls riding in them were actually on our side of the creek when we got up there and then crossed above the falls. After our hike around the falls we headed down into the campground and started another one of those “Heritage” fires and cooked ourselves up some smokies for lunch. Things always taste good in the fresh air and when cooked over an open fire.

I thought I would go back into my archives and find some other pictures of folks we have drug out to the Yaha Tinda to share this special spot.

Yaha with the Kendall's

Yaha with the Thurston’s

Yaha with Jacki Allen from Tasmania

Sunset over the Red Deer River on the Yaha in 2006.

Hilliard’s Bay Provincial Park

2011-09-12T21:07:00.001-06:00

We moved on down the road from Dunvegan today to Hilliard’s Bay on the shore of Lesser Slave Lake. It is the second largest lake entirely in Alberta and runs about 60 or 70 miles from end to end. Just for interest the largest lake is Lake Claire in Wood Buffalo National Park. We are dragging Mike and Janna along with us as we explore a lot of places that I have spent the last forty years just driving by.

The significance of this picture is one the wood not Mike. That is some of that fine “Heritage” wood that Brenda is always bugging me about carrying around and not burning. See Mike and Janna’s blog for some better pictures of the area.

Tomorrow we are headed more south and looking at the Pembina River Provincial Park just out of Entwistle, Alberta for our next stop. Thinking about that Pembina River country I should jump back a few days and mention that we had a visit from our good friends Dave and Sherry Schmidt down at Dogpound North on Labour Day. I neglected to get any pictures of that visit but we did manage to spend the day visiting and of course breaking some bread together before they, and the 50 bales of good Dogpound hay they bought from us, headed back north to their idyllic spot along the Pembina River.

Dunvegan Bridge

2011-09-11T21:52:00.001-06:00

After a night just out of Grande Prairie, Alberta spent catching up with Mike and Janna’s adventures over the last 6 or so months since we crossed trails it was time to move on down the road. Our destination today was the Dunvegan Provincial Park right on the mighty Peace River. This is the location of a couple of fur trading posts as well as an Oblate Missionary Settlement. It is also the location that the Alberta government chose to install our only suspension bridge spanning the Peace River.

The bridge was installed in 1960 at the then exorbitant cost of $5 million dollars. It was a way of opening up this Peace River country to the many settlers and resource industries that were arriving at the time. There is a great little Provincial Park here with about 60 odd sites all with electricity but no water or sewer. There is a dump station with potable water at the entrance though. We got a good site, big enough to fit both of our rigs.

Today we decided that we should take a little tour of the country north of the river and see where a person who was so inclined might end up homesteading if he had made it up here in the 1960’s. The country out of the river valley here is quite flat and pretty consistently rich farmland so there are many large farms in the area with good crops, at least those that weren’t affected by the over abundance of rainfall this spring. We found a nice drive down to Many Islands park along the way that gave us a look into the Peace River Valley.

Also in our travels we found an interesting church made out of square dovetailed logs that has sure stood the test of time.

Then it was back to our campground in time to make sure Brenda got her Black Raspberry Cheesecake ice cream. In fact we had desert before supper just to make sure they didn’t close before we got down to the ice cream stand. Another great couple of days with great company.

On the Road Again!!

2011-09-09T21:09:00.001-06:00

One last visit into Chestermere to make sure Kashton was enjoying his new digs and then Grandma and I hit the road north.

Yep, you read that right I said north. I know it is not to long until I will be hopefully heading in a different direction, but, Mike and Janna, our friends from Montana are taking a late summer vacation and decided that they wanted to make it as far as the Peace River so we thought what the heck, the weather is good, the baby is happy in his new home, and we needed to scratch that Hitch Itch. We left Dogpound North and headed up the Cowboy Trail to Valleyview for a visit with cousin Mike. He runs the Fountain Tire in Valleyview and has a place out towards Sunset House that had a spot just right for our rig to spend the night. We had a great visit, a fantastic meal, and a nice fire to sit around and solve the troubles of the world.

I didn’t get a picture of Mike but I did get the sunset shot as we enjoyed that campfire.

Mike was off to work early in the morning and we were a little while later heading out on our quest to find Mike and Janna. A quick email in the morning gave us a good clue as to where they were and where they were going to be although finding a pink motorhome pulling a bright yellow jeep doesn’t sound that difficult, northern Alberta is a big place and without a few hints we may have been a day or two longer running them to ground.

By noon we were parked right beside them in the Happy Trails RV Campground just out of Grande Prairie, and while Mike and I visited the ladies were off to Costco for a resupply run. Once the girls were back we spent the afternoon sitting in the shade and catching up on each others spring and summer. Brenda and Janna whipped another great meal so in the tradition of RV’ers all across the continent we are overeating. Along with all the eating and visiting we did come up with a plan for tomorrow so now it is just a matter of working that plan and we will keep you all up to date on what is next, when it happens.

Kashton Cole Tomasir

2011-09-04T18:58:00.001-06:00

“Grandpa figured that I should write this blog but although I am thinking about it I figured today was my day and why should I be bothered with all this wordsmithing, it is bad enough that he has almost blinded me with that danged camera of his.”

So I guess you will all be stuck with me writing the blog Kash said “I can’t even read yet so why bother with a blog.” Oh well that will come soon but for now I will be still authoring this journal even though today it will all be about Kashton. He was born last night at 7:48PM after what Becky described as a not to bad a time. Now I am not sure what she measured that against but whatever the result is pretty cute. He was 7 lbs 7 oz. and 21 inches long for those of you who keep track of such things. Notice that although us Canucks use the metric system for a lot of things we still use that old Imperial system to measure our entry into the world.

Ella and I did manage to keep Grandma from storming the doors of the hospital for most of the day and only at about 8:30 PM, once Lacey let us know he was there, did the security system there suffer a massive breach and in she went. She was out of the Jeep before we stopped rolling at the door and all Ella could say was “where Grandma go!”.

She got a short visit in last night while Ella and I patrolled the parking lot and then it was back to the farm to wait for the official “grandparent visiting hours” in the morning.

As the clock struck 11:00 AM we were into the hospital and I got to see the little tyke for the first time for real. He is pretty cute and although I am sure he looks just like himself everyone else sees a resemblance to his Dad although for the time being he does appear to have my thinning hair. I am sure that will change as time goes on though.

After a short visit this morning we cleared out to make room for Ved’s parents and we were off to Chestermere as Brenda wanted to make sure that Bec and Ved’s fridge was well stocked when they got home. Lacey, Ella and I basically loafed around all afternoon as Brenda whipped up some chicken roll-ups and a beef stew to leave behind for the new family when they got home.

Bec and Ved got home about 4:00 PM and we mauled the baby, took a few photos then cleared out so they could start to settle in themselves.

Ella was enthralled with her new cousin and tried to make sure he was covered up with his new blanket as well as giving a concert to help him get used to his new home.

Congratulations Rebecca and Vedran, he is beautiful and I know he will grow up to be all you have dreamed about. And hopefully I will be here to chronicle it all.

The Waiting Game

2011-09-03T17:40:00.001-06:00

Brenda woke up this morning with a text from Rebecca saying that her water had broken and they were on their way to the hospital. So as her sister Lacey is going in the be with her while the baby is born we are heading into Chestermere to pick up Miss Ella. She will be staying with us till the excitement dies down a little. Not wishing Becky a long labour but we do love having Ella here, so take your time Bec.

After grabbing Ella we headed back to the farm as my niece Caron was coming out today on her way to a reunion at Bates Bar J and we were hoping to get in a short ride before she headed down the road to that. On the way we stopped at Walmart in Airdrie and Ella and I hung out in the Jeep while Brenda made sure she had one of everything that we might need today. Then it was off to Dogpound North.

Sadly I forgot my camera while Caron and I were riding so I have no pictures of that event but you have all seen a thousand shots of us riding so you’ll have to use your imaginations.

Once we came back it was Brenda and Ella’s turn on Blue and I did get a fuzzy shot of that event.

And of course we got a lot more of her, she is a joy to have around, no trouble and she does keep her security detail occupied whenever she is outside running around the farm.

And of course a picture of two of my girls is a necessity.

Now we will go back to waiting on Bec.

Summer Fades to a Memory

2011-09-02T21:08:00.001-06:00

Yep, there’s snow in them thar hills. While we were enjoying a nice soaking here at Dogpound North over to the west a few miles that rain was turning our mountains a whiter shade of pale. The photo above is shot with a big lens so it will be a while till that white stuff darkens our horizon so to speak. Although the weatherman is calling for a little cool weather tomorrow night and it is supposed to dip below freezing for a short time in the early morning. But he is promising a return to our summer like weather after that.

But one thing about that snow over there it will make for pretty pictures for Mike and Janna as they make their way north through the countryside.

From time to time as I talk about our riding horses I have offhandedly mentioned the retirement pen. I thought they deserved a little more attention paid to them here on the blog. Not all the horses there are retired but most of them see limited duty anymore. Rosie who is the dam of our good saddle horse Blue was a mainstay for Brenda until last summer, but along about the same time Brenda’s knee really started acting up Rosie got a similar hitch in her gitalong. This spring she was diagnosed with Osteo Arthritis in both front feet so she is taking some treatments and has a much lighter riding schedule this year. Hank is a character here, and like Rosie suffered an injury years ago that moved him prematurely into retirement. Over the years my niece Caron had him jumping and from time to time I took him to the mountains but if he is ridden to often he gets pretty sore so we pretty much just let him hang out and keep the grass under control. Coal is my son Matts horse and he is just 2 now so he will be heading off to a trainer this winter so Matt and he can learn together. And lastly is Smokey, he is a friend of my parents horse and is just hanging out here. His owner lives in the nearby town of Cremona and looks in on him from time to time and at the same time checks up on our place while we are away in the winter. Smokey is not broke all that well and it has been a couple of years since anyone other than Matt has been on his back. He is quiet though and lets Matt sit up there and look around.

From left to right, Coal, Smokey, Hank, Rosie

And sunset last night

Now it Can Rain

2011-08-31T19:40:00.001-06:00

We got some bales put in the barn for the winter and a little for our friends from Drayton Valley and the rest has been tarped and once those stack covers are on, it is time for some welcome rain.

We still have some barley but that will probably go as silage so a little moisture will be good for it. Tuesday it started spitting at us but by evening it was a pretty steady drizzle and all day today it has been coming down. Not a torrential rain just a steady soaking rain that will replenish the soil moisture and give our trees and lawns a good drink. Not to mention our hay fields which now are growing back for winter pasture. We are planning on taking our saddle horses south with us but the pensioner pen here will be staying home and they like a good regrowth to paw out of the snow.

For all you Texans suffering through a drought that is one 24 hour period of rain.

Monday, once we got the hay put away we had ourselves a wiener roast with my son Matt and our granddaughter Madison. It was a beautiful evening for sitting around the campfire and visiting.

And watching the dogs play, although Mack is bigger, Meg still has a way of growling that tells him she is ready for him to quit.

Tug of War

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And the sunsets on another day at Dogpound North.

The Haying is Done

2011-08-27T18:32:00.001-06:00

We have enjoyed a streak of great weather here at Dogpound North and you know that old saying “make hay while the sun shines” describes what has been going on here. Until yesterday I was just an interested bystander, but it looked like Bob could use a little help so I climbed in and he gave me the grand tour of his engine and baler. The tractor was pretty high tech compared to my old John Deere 4020, but the baler was basically a newer model of the balers we used on my Mom and Uncle’s farm 40 years ago. Pretty good design I guess to stand up all that time.

Thursday Bob had the whole family out working on our place, two balers working till the sun went down and the bale wagon was working in the wee hours picking up all the bales that they had made that day.

Haying Time

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These bale wagons have made a lot of the hard work that I remember haying and baling straw a thing of the past. I had a question about the little bales from Rod over at Retired Rod. The answer like most is a combination of things, in our country we grow a lot of timothy hay, and try to export it to Japan. The Hay Plants like the small square bales as they compress them so that they are much smaller, and heavier, for shipping overseas. Now recently there are getting to be some big square balers around and they are moving towards them as the trucking is easier, but those balers are pretty expensive and this is what Bob has so that is what we use. And for our own use here at Dogpound North we hand feed our horses and take bales to the mountains all summer so we don’t need any 1500-2000 pound monsters for that.

The feather at the top was left out in the hay by one of our resident hawks. They love watching the haying and picking off any unsuspecting mice that might be exposed by the recently cut hay.

Ram Falls

2011-08-26T20:58:00.001-06:00

Our trip yesterday, Thursday, took us up to the South Ram River on the Forestry Trunk Road. Just east of the road is Ram River falls. It is a beautiful spot but man are there a lot of stairs to get to the viewpoint.

I took a scamper down them but as you can see Brenda and her bad knee stayed at the top, she is up there encouraging me as I looked up. Oh and she kept our picnic lunch up there so that gave me a little more incentive to clamber back up to the top.

Well with one more look around I headed back up the stairs and boy did that lunch taste good, and what a great view.

If you look at that little island below the falls you can just see a young fellow standing on the left side. He was fishing down there and almost every time he drop a fly in the water he caught a fish. Good sized ones from what I could see with the telephoto too.

But in this part of the country it is Catch and Release so his frying pan will be empty tonight.

Here is a look at my traveling partner and a couple of fishermen we saw along the creek as we snooped at a new campground

that we might take our horses into some time in the future. A beautiful drive but time to head home and see what is happening back with the working folks at Dogpound North.

Heading West!

2011-08-25T21:24:00.001-06:00

This morning we jumped in the truck and head out into the hills. I spent most of my working life in those hills doing one thing or another from hauling heavy stuff up them by hand to soaring over them with a helicopter. Almost every turn of the road brings back a memory and Brenda had to listen to a lot of them today. Not all, but a lot, gotta save some for next time I guess. We are lucky to live in a place where such spectacular country is commonplace and I couldn’t think of a day working out there that I didn’t appreciate the raw beauty. Things have changed a bit since then, more people, more oil and gas activity, and some logging, but time marches on and in a hundred years it will probably look different again.

Forestry Trunk Road

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Most of our trip was along what has been called the Forestry Trunk Road by locals since it was built back in the 50’s and 60’s. The link leads you to a Wikipedia page and although it gives you the general idea, the road actually begins down near Coleman in the Crowsnest Pass a couple of hundred kilometres south of where their entry puts it. Over the years since sometime in the 60’s I have driven this road end to end numerous times at all seasons of the year and although it can be dusty it is never boring. Today there was not much traffic and the road was in pretty good shape so we made good time heading north from Bearberry to the South Ram River. I’m saving the pictures from around the Ram River for tomorrow but along the way we passed Limestone Mountain off to the west as we transited what is called Corkscrew Mountain. A couple of weeks ago Ivan over at Roadtrip 2010 took a tour right up to the lookout on Limestone and did a great job of showing it up close. I can only take you as close as my camera will go as we were 5.73 miles off to the east.

But with the big lense maybe we can get you in close enough to see the lookout cabin.

If you look close off to the left side of the photo you can see one of the power poles that supplies power to this lookout. From up there on a good day you can see the city of Calgary, 85 miles away off to the South East. Lots of good stories about Limestone Mountain but maybe the best was told by a helicopter pilot I had doing some work around there who came up on the backside of the mountain and spun around the cabin only to find the lady Fire Spotter making sure that she didn’t have any tan lines for her winter vacation. Gentleman that he was I am sure he averted his eyes quickly and reversed his flight path just as quickly….or maybe not.

The image above I stole/borrowed from Google Earth and the circle to the left is the Lookout and the one to the right is where I took the photo from the road on Corkscrew Mountain. If you search “Limestone Mountain, Alberta” on Google Earth it will take you to the live shot, or do like Rod and blow up the shot to get the coordinates at the bottom, then you can zoom in and see some other photographers pictures from both places.

And Another Day Rushes By.

2011-08-24T20:37:00.001-06:00

Today was another great weather day here at Dogpound North. Temperatures got up to 28C (85F) here today and for us that is HOT! Things should moderate back into the low to mid 70’s F over the next few days so we will be able to put away our parasols and stray away from the air conditioning.

I got going early this morning and got the outside yard all mowed before the heat got to carried away, no AC in that mower. Brenda ran into town and washed her Jeep and took her recycling in at the same time. And that was about all the excitement for today. To steal a great quote most of the day I just spent sitting and thinking, or maybe I was just sitting.

Our hay is ready to bale and Bob turned it over last night and this afternoon so I imagine the balers will hit the field any time.

And of course as I wandered around out having a look our mutts gave everything the once over too.

Meg on the left, and Mack on the right

The only other thing of note today was my son Matt arriving back from his shift in Albania for a break. He should be home for almost a month before he heads back. His dog Mack was pretty happy to see him wheel up, and I know his grandparents have been looking forward to his return.

Once the hay was all rolled over it was time to start baling, and that started this evening.

Haying Time

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There will still be lots to do tomorrow and maybe the day after but it is good to see it getting started. Now if we can just get a couple more days of dry weather.

I liked the way the clouds came out in this one. Tomorrow we are thinking about a little road trip out west to scout out a new riding spot and maybe just see some country that I haven’t been in for a few years.

Now What?

2011-08-23T19:05:00.001-06:00

Not much happening around Dogpound North today, guess that is why they call this time of year the “dog days of summer.” It is hot and sultry here in west central Alberta, but hot here doesn’t mean hot like a lot of our American friends are dealing with. Talked to a friend of ours down in Maricopa the other day and his low was 29C, far as I can figure that was our high, for the year, so far. And even down in Montana it is getting into the 30’s C on a regular basis. I usually don’t find much to write about if I can;t find anything to capture with my camera and so far today has been a dead loss, so maybe I will just wander back into the past and dig around for some interesting shots. Maybe I should start off with a cooling trend for our southern neighbours.

Hope he has his snow boots on

We have our hay all cut here and have had 5 or 6 good drying days so I am thinking that the baling will start any minute now. It will probably need to be rolled over once just to let the dew dry out a little though. While the hay is drying out let’s take a leap down to Florida and see what my old friend the Wood Stork is up to.

OK, so he is just sitting around waiting on a hurricane to come by and cool him off, or his buddy the sandhill crane to come past for a visit and tell him about his travels north in the summer looking for cool weather.

Or these ducks talking about how soon they should head somewhere warm for the winter.

But after having a look through my files I figured if you were looking for bird photo’s you’d just pop over to the “Birdlady of Bloglands” own blog and see the great pics she has rather than my poor substitutes.

Judy and Emma at a Wildlife Refuge in Texas last winter.