Thursday 27 October 2011

Cattle,Kids, Fuzzy,and the Road Trip

 Last Friday Fuzzy,Thumper( the oldest) and I headed to the neighboring province to see Boo ( the youngest) for the weekend, also on the agenda were 4 production sales that we all wanted to attend. Our headquarters-Boo's place from there we could take short drives and hit the sales.
     The last time Boo was home,the sale catalogues for a weekend of production sales had arrived, we decided that it would be a perfect opportunity for us to have a bit of a holiday, visit Boo,see some of the sales and the country, we were telling Thumper about it and she thought she would like to join us so she could look for a purebred bred heifer, for her oldest who is starting 4-H this year and she is looking for an out cross from their bulls.(I also think she wanted to have some us time).She is a very lucky young woman who has the most special husband. he told her to come and he would babysit their three children,her father would never have done this. So the planning started, and the closer the weekend got the girls got more excited,Boo because we were finally getting out to her place,and Thumper because she was getting away,me and Fuzzy just the fact that our adult children wanted to do it with us.Thursday night Thumper phoned and asked when we would be leaving the next day, my answer was be ready anytime between 9 am and 4pm as you know your Dad, then Boo called when are you guys coming gave her the same answer as you don't push Fuzzy or he bocks.
     It strikes me funny how things have not change that much,even though the girls are older and have their own lives, and Fuzzy and I have had 30 years of wedded bliss together a trip still brings out all the craziness it did when the girls were still at home. Back then it was when are we going, how much longer, are we there yet, can't you drive any faster or you are going to fast( Fuzzy). This trip it was a series of text messages between the two girls, but pretty much the same thing that was said years ago with the pair in the back seat. We got there checked out Boo's place then went shopping and out for supper,back to the apartment to pour over the sale catalogues and make a plan of attack.
    Saturday morning started of like a regular gong show, one bathroom three women and one poor man,get the picture. the discussion turned to every ones sleeping patterns,snoring, who passed gas, and so on,crazy bunch! I was informed that my foot wear was no longer acceptable so before we could go to the sales I was taken to the western store for new boots,and the best was that they were on sale 50% off  yes, love a bargain and it turned out that was the only bargain of the weekend.Footwear purchased, and a tour of the dam to see where the flooding was and how bad it could of been down stream if they had not let some go, probably would have taken the dam right out, amazing.Quick stop back at Boo's for potty break, well was suppose to be quick(one toilet)not so quick, then off to the first sale, saw old friends, good cattle,but made no purchases as the sale was hotter than ---- well you know. We thought OK three more to go we will find something in Thumper's budget yet, and were very happy for the breeder.  Loaded back up in the super duty and headed down the road, make a quick stop to look at the cattle in the sale the next day,(Thumper fell in love). Back on the road to the next sale of the day, got there and it went pretty good too, but our girl had her heart set on some going to sell the next day. Now this country had had a lot of water this year, lot of crop not even sown, acre upon acre,and still water laying were there had not been before. Boo was the driver as she knew the country or at least we thought she did, her short cut turned out to take us on a 2 hour odyssey of back roads with no road closed signs till you came over a ridge and water, no road, its dark Fuzzy's loosing patience, Boo is apologizing and getting frustrated, but we saw lots of country and made it back to the city by 8:30 pm. Everybody got comfortable watch some TV then tried to get some sleep( apparently I am a very talented sleeper, yup I am told I can snore and grind my teeth at the same time). Next day the girls decided to color my hair before we went, thank God they did not get to playing nail shop like they used too, oh I'm wrong it was beauty shop.Thumper's luck was not good as the sale was even higher than the previous two, so nice for the producers after so long a period of bad cattle prices, but saw lots of people had some nice visits and laughs,was well worth it.Headed back to Boo's town and hit a restaurant she wanted us to see, food was great as was the place, going back there for sure.
    Monday and the last sale, maybe our girl would get lucky, Boo took her own car part way and jumped in with us and off to look at more cattle. No luck at this one ether as a lot of the breeding was the same as Thumper's and the rest were out of her price range. Back in the truck dropped of the Boo with hugs and kisses and a few tears and headed for home reviewing the weekend all the way,and Fuzzy and Thumper still stratigizing on what they could do for the next sales yet to come, first they can leave me home unless it is near our Boo, enjoyed it but had had enough. Went straight to Thumper's and saw our super son-in=law and grandchildren hugs and kisses and gifts for the kids, Thumper had picked up new quilted bibs for the kids to keep them warm doing chores this winter, and they fit just right, so lucky. Was a wonderful time for us so many memories made for Fuzzy and I we love our girls and it was so nice to have this weekend together, the girls may not entirely agree but that is okay.
( well I started this last week and life has gotten in the way of me finishing it all at once, hope it did not put you to sleep as sometimes lost my train of thought between chances to work at anything personal. We have been doing the fall weigh in of the calves and moving animals around, brought the baby bulls home to get ready for selling in the spring and put the herd bulls in their winter pasture, and just the regular cattle operation stuff. ) Hope all is well with everybody and take care!

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone, what a busy and great time it was. I am thankful for everyone and everything in my life, and so thankful that God the father is there looking over me and his spirit is with me on my walk through this journey of life, so blessed.
     Last week I had the honour and pleasure to teach a couple of friends how to bake buns, so nice to be able to share time with them, we had a lot of laughs and good fun, the buns also turned out well, thanks girls for coming out, we as women need to get together more often and just enjoy each others company. The plan for our next get together is to make pies, won't our husbands think they have died and gone to heaven,lol. Men around here cannot seem to get enough pie, in fact around our house I am accused of only making pies to take out of the house to someone else or for something else, NOT TRUE! Fuzzy gets his share, my brother-in-law calls them eips as he claims he does not know what a pie is, but I know my sister, so this just another male thing. ( got to love them though).
     We also got some of the bulls moved out last week, took to to be sold as we were done with them, Fuzzy was especially delighted to get rid of the old black bull that spends time with one group of the commercial cows,as he and said bull have never ever got along,either I am plain stupid or the bull likes me but I have never had any trouble with him, but a man gets to close and he kinda gets a little bent out of shape and apparently quite nasty, oh well he is gone so no more worries.
     
     This weekend our youngest came home and it was so much fun to have her,she has a wicked sense of humor and cracks me up, and a very loving young woman. I think she thought that this weekend she spent more time cleaning up after me than doing anything else,but I guess over the years the roles were reversed.
    Saturday was the baby shower for a friend of the family, all babies are special but this one is very special as Mommy and Daddy had almost given up hope for one of their own when they learned that their little sprout was on the way. This little man is a very lucky boy as the love that surrounds him is limitless. Anyway ,crazy me when I found out about the sweet boy's pending arrival decided that I would make him a christening gown as a baby gift, but I could not start it until his arrival or even right after his arrival ,no I had to wait until the week of the baby shower and christening the next day( the mood was just not right) when will I ever learn. I also volunteered to make a cake for the shower, and had a very special cousin coming out for the weekend too.  Oh and also I told the oldest that I would make the buns and 24 hour salad and the pies for Sunday, and the christening was Sunday and our Rev. asked me to do a few things for that, which I am always happy to help anyone at any time, plus Fuzzy was doing a BBQ for a wedding on Saturday and the youngest and I had to help get things done for that.
      Sunday rolled around and I got up at 5 o'clock got the buns going, put the roast in the oven , made the pastry for the pies and a pot of coffee,and went to work on the finishing touches on the gown( had to take it to the shower not quite finished) very embarrassed but now I have learned my lesson and I will be better prepared from now on. Church was at 2o'clock and my wonderful son-in-law was picking me up at 1 o'clock so that I was there to help the rector's warden do up anything that had to be done. I had got 6 doz.buns made (the recipe) 4 pies , christening gown finished and with the youngest's help got the house tidied up before my cousin came, so we would have time for a visit before I left. I remembered that we would need warm water for the baptism, the youngest got the old tractor water jug that Fuzzy uses and filled it up for me as I knew it would keep the water warmer than anything else.( our church is 111 years old and has no running water) The only problem I forgot the silver pitcher to use at the baptismal font, did not realize this until later when the Rev. brought out this awful old jug that has seen better days and set it by the font, how embarrassing, but no one to blame but me. Of course our Rev. has a crazy sense of humour and had to make a comment about our wonderful jug to the congregation, a laugh was had by all. The wonderful little man was baptized and he was so good about it all. Thinking to myself as I looked on what a miracle and wonderful gift from God this child was I shed a tear or two. ( I have a slight problem, you see my tear ducts are to close to my bladder). After coffee and cake in the back of the church Son-in-law and I headed to his and the oldest's place for a great time with family. The oldest and her sister had everything ready and very nice also, Fuzzy and I are blessed with two amazing daughters.