Moving along

When a co-worker moves to town, completely renovates the house they move into and can't stand looking at the nice old shed in the backyard - what do you do when they ask if you want it? Say "YES" of course... An insulated, lined, wired shed - 10'x14' with a walk-in door, a small over head door, and two windows....for FREE? Well of course we want it...especially since this is currently the shed over our well house -

Yes - it is on quite a slant...just from 2 corral panels leaning against it...its in DIRE need of replacement - what could be better!?

So on the appointed Saturday, one would take their child to spend the morning with Grandma, load up the truck with blocks, jacks, straps, screws, drills, measuring tapes and whatever else might be needed; hook the tractor up to the stack-mover and mosey into town. In a few minutes there would be a shed on a trailer and away we'd go home again right? Well...in a perfect world maybe...instead...this is how it went:

We DID drop Lolo off at Grandma's, and made it down to B & L's by 9am as we planned...we got the front of the shed jacked up with little difficulty...

But you may notice that the bottom of the shed is still far below the trailer...

This is because the neighbors next door are building a new house and have done a bunch of dirt work in the yard, which for now, make their yard a lot lower than B & L's yard...and even with the stack mover fully tilted, we couldn't get it anywhere near the ground!

So...we got a little creative...

But it still was not enough!

That was the only side of the shed that we could get in straight on, so, we backed the trailer in as close to straight as we could on the south side, and then...

We wrapped 3 tow straps around the building, had it up on several long timbers and pulled it around square with the trailer.

Now that it was square with the trailer, they felt the need to screw a couple 2x6's on underneath to brace the floor so the chains on the stack mover wouldn't just pull on the first floor beam and pull it out from under the shed...

Notice there are just two feet showing...that is my husband under there...

And now for the moment of truth:

UP...

UP...

On...ready to go...

And Away...

Home sweet home....

This is not actually the final resting place however...we need to build a foundation and get the wiring/electrical disconnected from the old building, then move this into place....someday!?

We're very happy to have this building...I think it will lose its yellow hue. Any suggestions on what color to go with? I think it will probably end up white with a green tin roof, like we have purchased for the rest of the buildings.

In its final resting place this building will serve many functions. It will be over the well, it will be right next to the planned cattle chute - so when we're doctoring or loading cattle, we'll have a protected place to keep records, medication or kids :), it will likely be home for the lawnmower - thanks to the small overhead door...and/or it will be the tack shed for our horse stuff....time will tell!

Summer fun

A couple weekends ago my SIL had her family visiting from the states and was kind enough to invite us all over for a grand BBQ on Saturday evening. It was a perfect evening and the kids had a ton of fun playing in the back yard. The bigger kids ran down to the park and played HARD and we enjoyed a TON of great food and good conversation. There's not much for pictures besides Lorelei...what can I say, I tend to watch her a lot, so I take a lot of pictures of her!

Yummy dried apple rings!

Oh yes, there WERE other people there too!

The other day I found the cutest ever hat at Superstore of all places... My sweet little girl is modeling it while enjoying the simple things in country life - a stick and a nice apple for a snack!

Cousin Liam found a BIGGER stick!

A little stray kitten showed up while we were visiting outside one Sunday afternoon after meeting....very cute and playful, but not real healthy!

Oh yes, summer fun would not be complete for Trevor unless this was pictured...probably more than once would be his preference, but this is my blog right? Here's one of the tractors - this one is going to be in the Bill Klassen Auctions Annual Consignment sale on the August long weekend

Bye Bye #8....er is that #9? I can't remember which is which anymore! We just call this one Daviduck...

Its a Blog day!

So it is currently...very warm here! Something like 32 degrees and 75% humidity...ouch...so while Lorelei sleeps, I'm down in the basement....blogging...and avoiding the heat! Its nice and cool down here, if you ignore the slightly musty smell and the few spots of mold on the wall....ergh...that just reminds me of how much work we need to do down here! I think I need to invest in a dehumidifier too, but this is not a shopping list or a to do list...so lets get on to the fun stuff!

There is a little retro blogging warranted I think - lets start with...hmm...well we bought a new(er) van, but I don't have any pictures of it...so I guess I won't spend too much time on that! We've had a lot of rain this summer so far, but the last couple weeks have been hot and dry! We've done some fencing, some haying, some gardening, some travelling....ok lets start there -

Over the July long weekend we enjoyed a 3 day bible conference in Regina - it was a beautiful weekend with some wonderful ministry to be absorbed, great fellowship and of course some good food. We stayed with "Grandma Harriet" whom Lorelei has fondly asked about several times in the last month "Go see Gramma Harriet?" "where's Gramma Harriet?" "Gramma Harriet's house?" Its fun to see her starting to remember the people she meets and connecting them. She can point out many of the people in the photos on our fridge and correctly identify them. She often asks where her different friends are - "Where's Connor? (or insert one of many names here!). Then there is of course, my reply "At his house..." then the inevitable "Why?" But its quite nice to know that she's thinking and learning an connecting to other kids!

Here she is with one of her friends who sat near us during the meetings - they're about a year apart and they happened to randomly have the same dress on on Sunday - different colors but the same print, brand and style - so cute! H wasn't quite as happy to get a picture taken as Lolo was!

Sweet little man with a sweet bigger man!

Little Mr C keeping a close eye on his little cousin...."That looks dangerous (or maybe fun?!)" Everyone had to cuddle with "The Little One" and get their baby fix!

Daddy and Lolo get in some Tractor Time between meetings

"Rodeo" Day

Wow - last post was May 17? No wonder I have so many things to post about! I'll have to do some retro-blogging, maybe tomorrow? Who knows...for now I guess I'll just blog about today.

So...today was the day for Spring cattle work. This year most of the calves that came to the pasture were not castrated or tagged, so today was the day to remedy that. There were only about a dozen calves to do, but...if you know anything about the way things get done around this farm, it wasn't just that simple.
First off, as usual for us, we didn't get up as early as we had planned...8am came and went without a sound from Lorelei's room, and since we both seem to be in a perpetually exhausted state lately, we just kept dozing, in spite of the alarm going off more than once....Oops...
Then there was the mad rush to get things done here and head over to the in-laws where the bulk of the action would take place. Trevor saddled the horses and put my cow out for grass, I fed the pigs and Lorelei (who of course decided she didn't "WAn" to eat breakfast this morning) and gathered up the various and sundry things that either needed to be taken back to my in-laws or might be needed for the day...you know, extra clothes for the potty training kid, the mixer I borrowed from my MIL, the water bottle that needed to be filled.... By the time I made three trips out to the truck with stuff, Trevor was ready to head over, so he trotted out the driveway on Apache, with Riata alongside and Lorelei and I came along in the "Tuck"(as in "Daddy's Tuck, Daddy's Tuck!!). Once we got there and I hauled in all the stuff, I got Lorelei settled in with Grandma and headed for the barn.
Now, it wouldn't be possible to just head down there and get started...you see, nothing happens just that easy around here! First we had remodel a couple pig pens, move some pigs, bed the pig pens, catch 18 piglets, castrate a dozen and then remove the pig fencing from some areas of the barn so we could move cattle through the handling system.... I was just catching the second litter of pigs when E, K, J, H and V showed up. The cows actually belong to E & K, so they came along to help out with the process. The kids were alternately enthralled and alarmed while they watched me "do an operation" on the male baby piglets. The whole process of moving animals around and changed around fences always takes longer than the actual handling of the animals...such was definitely the case today! After sending the baby pigs back to their mommy for comfort, Trevor and I headed down the hill on the horses to bring the cattle up.
My mare, Riata, who was just started last year as a 4 year old, got to experience cows for the first time. This was only my third ride on her this year...I'm ashamed to admit that...but its true! My friend M, who started her last year, took her for a couple weeks this spring to give her a bit of a refresher...I should have ridden her about 6-8 times since she came back, but I've only been out on her twice....where does all my time go? Anyways, she had a lot of energy today...it was a nice day and she really did not want to be away from the other horse...she wanted to be right beside him and going fast.... Well, I had other plans, and she did lots of work today instead of just having a simple ride, because all she could think about was full speed ahead....I was almost dizzy by the end of the ride after all the pivots and circles we did to keep her brain working and her feet slowed down! We rode quickly down the hill and into the pasture where Trevor started to call the cows, they were all bedded down in the bush on top of the small hill in the "Little Field", but came out quite readily when Trevor started calling....he led them up the hill while I followed behind. Riata wasn't impressed at all, but we got through it. Eventually we had all the cows in the barnyard and we tied the horses up in the shade...their job was done for the day!
At this point I discovered I needed to get some scalpel blades from our place to do the job with, we had some blades but no handle to fit them...so I made a quick trip home while the guys moved panels and hogs and feeders, etc. To get the working system ready. When I got back, we sorted the calves from the cows and got the real job underway.
First of all we let E be the steer wrestler and throw the calves down and sit on them...that lasted for a whole 2 calves... We decided that the chute might be easier, so we proceeded to load the calves one at a time into the chute...

Tagging can be kinda hard on the hands...I think that's why I'm making such a face....or who knows....maybe the boys were saying crazy things!

Some were so small that their heads didn't stay caught in the headgate, so Trevor had a rope on those ones.

E was in behind them in the chute with a good grip on their tail to hold them still...

While I took care of the more delicate side of the operation....

No more bulls around!
We enjoyed lunch part way through the process with the whole crew plus my brother-in-law and his family.
We are very thankful for Grandma...who watched Lorelei all day and did the cooking to keep us going!
I think I managed to get through the day with only one bruise and a couple small nicks from the scalpel...not bad!


I love the motion in that pictures...Lolo running to Daddy and him stooped to pick her up...so cute! Then there's E holding V, J, Grandpa, H and K...all watching the calves run out to their mommies.
After the calves were done and we turned everybody back out to pasture, I took each of the kids for a bareback ride on Apache.
Chirpee....Apache thought the flies were pretty bad...

H looks positively delighted!

J was pretty excited too...but the sun was pretty bright!

Lorelei thought it was great to share her pony with her friends!

After this was done, we took advantage of the extra hands and went back to our place to castrate our pig and bull calf. After an unsuccessful attempt to get the bulls in, we said good-bye to the E family and headed back to the in-laws to finish off the day. We moved more animals around, and then brought in my FIL's few cows and sorted, tagged and castrate those calves (only 2 bull calves in this group). Then we hauled them to the smaller pasture on our place. After this, we had supper with my in-laws, loaded up Riata and Lorelei and came home. Apache is staying at Grandpa's for the summer (he IS grandpa's horse after all!). It was 8:30 before we got home, and 9pm before Lorelei was in bed...again! It seems very hard to get her in bed on time when the evenings are light so late and the days are so full of activity! I'm just glad that she's a pretty flexible kid and she still has good naps to help make up for the shorter nights lately! I feel pretty worn out, and have been sitting in bed for over an hour already! Imagine that, I'm in bed before 11pm....not asleep yet of course!

Here are some more pictures from the day - Thanks K for taking pictures!


Grandpa and the kids.

DeereAndy and Dimple...."there's just so much to see daddy!"

My lil girl...getting so big!

The curious spectators J & H.

Trevor: "Here ya go Heather, now you'll have some great pictures for Facebook"

V patiently watched from her stroller too!