Puppies For Sale

Well once again, I have to wait until something newsworthy happens so that I can blog about it.

I posted a classified ad on a website called Kijiji to sell my 5 puppies. I was only asking $75 for them, and I posted the ad on Friday afternoon, and the weekend was very nice and warm, and felt a little like spring. I am wondering if that is what made the puppies so easy to sell, or if the price was right, or if they were just too cute to resist. They were really hard to get pictures of, but the combination of all of these things made for an easy weekend selling puppies. By Sunday evening all of the puppies were sold, and we had enough money to buy Cache's new saddle, that's what we told him that the money would go toward, to make the sale easier. So over the last week, he sure has had a good time riding in his new saddle. It sure makes a difference for a little guy to ride in a saddle that actually fits him.

On Thursday night there is usually ranch roping at the arena, but there was also a big horse sale in Calgary that night too, so there weren't too many guys roping that night. Cache, Bailey, Zoe and I went along, and Bernie told the guys that were there that they would just rope the dummy that is pulled behind the quad that night. I wondered who was going to drive it, and to my surprise he said that I would. I just strapped Zoe on with one of those front carriers that looks like a backpack and I drove the quad and they roped the dummy while Zoe and I drove it. Cache and Bailey had a good time watching, and Zoe didn't complain at all, and seemed to enjoy it. Then on Saturday, Bernie was working again, so he asked if me and the kids wanted to go along again, so we did. We ( I should say "I") put horn wraps on the steers. I took the opportunity to remind Bernie that I really don't like cattle or feel comfortable touching them. He said I would be fine (grudgingly I have to admit that he was right), but I did get my finger caught between one of the steer's horns and the chute that he was in. I whined about that for a while. Then Cache and I worked the chute and chased the steers for Bernie as he worked 4 horses. He took us out for supper after. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was at the time, but don't tell Bernie (because I'm pretty sure he never reads my blog).

Zoe is doing great. After we got home from the horse sale at the end of February she was kindof a bear, and I couldn't put her down or she would have a fit, and I think that she does have a little bit of a temper that we are going to have to work with, but she is doing much better now. She loves Cache, and he is very good with her. He knows what makes her happy, and sometimes when I am busy and she is crying he goes to her and gives her things like his cowboy hat, his bronc reign and many other interesting things. I have started giving her some very messy cookies, and she loves it as you can see.

Hello Again

Once again it has been a little while, but I'm back. After going to Kamloops we went to Red Deer for the weekend to a horse conference put on by The Alberta Horse Industry. Henry and Bonnie and Maurice and Jackie were there. It was really good to see them, and we learned some really neat stuff at the conference too.

We had left the puppies outside in a shed with Zada for the weekend, and when we got home we could hear them but we couldn't see them. It turns out that she had moved them all under the deck at the back of the house, and we couldn't get to them. Bernie had to pull up one of the boards on the deck to get them out. They are eating puppy food now, and Zada seems to be avoiding them. I think that I would too. They are getting very big, and their teeth are very sharp. Cache brought a few of them in to play with them the other night, and he had such a fun time they chased him and licked him and he just had a great time.

Zoe is doing just fine. She is growing and changing too. Yesterday Cache found another box with toys in it, and he found his Yukele. He was so excited he brought it out to the living room where Zoe was sitting in her exersaucer and started to sing to her. His favorite song these days is "Didn't Even See The Dust" or as I like to call it "Shotgun" by Paul Brandt. He started singing what he thinks are the words, but she didn't seem to mind. She started bobbing along and cooing and screaming with him. And don't you know I couldn't find my camera. What a shame. Bailey was over the other day too, and although she loves to play with Cache, she also loves to stop and take a minute to play with Zoe too. It's just a quick minute though, because she doesn't have enough time to take off her bull riding gear.

KAMLOOPS

So as it turns out, the horse that Bernie was going to look at is in Kamloops. I guess he got confused by the K names. At least he had the direction right, and figured it out before we had to leave.

Bernie has spent the last two days riding with Les Timmons, and spending some time on the horse that Keith wants to buy. Zoe and I got to come along, so we have been hanging out at the hotel, going to the mall, and seeing Kamloops. It is actually a really easy city to be a visitor in because when you are on the freeway you can see all that the city has to offer below you.

Cache got to stay at home with Uncle Philip, Auntie Naomi and Bailey, because Philip's friend got some tickets to the flames game and heard that Cache was a big fan. He is really excited, and that all happens tonight.

We will be heading home tomorrow, so I will post some pictures later.

Back At It

I really like the whole idea of blogging, and letting people who want to see know what we are busy with.

We have completed our move to AB, but I have yet to encounter a change that is easy. I went to get a mail box before anything else, because I thought that I would need it in order to get, for example, a phone, a cell phone, or anything of that sort. The lady at the post office told me that I would have to have something with my current address on it. I looked at her like she was crazy, because that was why I was there... to get an address to put on things. I don't remember how I got around that one, but I did, and now I have a post office box. The next thing was getting a phone, and Telus couldn't seem to find me on their grid. I had the legal land location, a lot-block-plan address, and the 911 number at the end of the driveway, as well as the phone number of the last person that lived here, and they told me that I was going to have to get them more information. I was at a loss as to what more I could get them, so I just kept trying until I finally connected with a lady that just did it, and boy can I tell you, I was happy to have a phone.

Then the other day the newest thing started. I needed to get an Alberta driver's licence, because my Saskatchewan on expires at the end of December. I went in and the lady told me that I would have to have something to prove that I live in Alberta. I can understand this so I asked her what kindof proof would work. She told me that I could use a current Alberta Driver's Licence. ... ... ... I could have punched her in the nose. THAT'S WHAT I'M HERE FOR!!! So we finally decided that I would have to go the the bank and have them print me off a statement with my new address, and that might work. So then I went back and got the whole process started again, and they told me that I was going to need my legal land location. I of course have this, but it is written on a piece of paper at home on the refrigerator. So I left there without a licence. On the 2nd of January, after my licence had expired I had Bernie drive me in with my land location in hand. Then when I got there they started the whole thing again, and then they noticed that I had a code on my licence that indicates that I have a medical issue. So as it turns out, since I have let my Saskatchewan drivers expire I will need to go in for a medical before they can issue me a licence.

You can't tell me everything is better and easier here in Alberta. But I'm sure that it will get better... It can't get worse. Can IT?

Now, enough whining. My children are doing fine. Zoe is rolling all the way over, or should I say she can, because most of the time she ends up on her stomach, and then she gets really mad because she doesn't like it there. She's funny. She is full of smiles, drool and lots of talking. She is always making me and Cache laugh during the day. She sleeps all night long, and that sure is a blessing.

Cache and I have been doing a small amount of school work at home, because I'm still not sure if I'm actually going to send him to school here for Kindergarten, because of the long bus ride, and the fact that I will have to drive him in or pick him up every day, because the kindergarten is only half days every day.

Bernie is loving his new job, and there are lots of opportunities for him to learn lots and advance in any and all areas that he wants to. They seem to be happy with him at the barn. Next week he has an opportunity to go to Kelowna to look at a horse, and spend a few days riding with the guy who has been training it.

I too, am doing fine other than the frustrations that I have experienced, but my sister Crystal would say that it just makes for a good story, and I do love a good story, and the fun is always in the telling, and the retelling. I know that this is where God wants us right now, so I find peace in that, and I look forward to seeing just why it is that he has brought us to this place.

Good News!!!

Well after the last post, I thought that I should note that the mouse or shrew or whatever it was is now dead. Bernie checked the snap trap this morning and we had caught it. I know... I don't live in a dream world, there could be more, but it is nice to see one dead one go out the door.

The other piece of good news is that Bernie is now officially the manager at Pontrilas Community Pasture. This is really good news for us, because we don't have to move to Smoky Burn this summer, and it makes the last two that we did, worth while. The other manager has been moved to a rider position at another pasture, and they sort of just handed it to Bernie. This means that I get to bring my baby home to my house, not the pasture house at Smoky Burn. I was so excited I almost cried. Almost.

Things that rustle in the night

Well, it has finally started to warm up a bit. I haven't noticed too much except for when I have to go up to the front to get the next income tax file that I have to work on, I see less snow, and people wearing less than they were 2 weeks ago. I like it when it starts to warm up, but sometimes in April I wish that it would just stay cold, so that it wasn't so hard to have to go to work when you would rather stay home and enjoy the warm day.

I have been feeling good, and all of the doctors that I am seeing are still fairly happy with my numbers, and are still making some changes to my insulin dosages. But all in all I think that the pump is making a big difference in this pregnancy. I am feeling lots of movement now, but everytime I try to let Cache feel the baby kicking it stops. Sibling rivalry already?

I had quite a night last night. Bernie got home from roping at 1:45 a.m., and I woke up when he came in, so I started talking to him. Then I could not go back to sleep. I got up, went to the bathroom, came back to bed and read for about an hour, but knowing that I had to go to work in the morning I turned off my light and tried to go to sleep. I laid there for a while longer, and then all of the sudden I heard a sound like a chip bag rustling. I quickly jabbed Bernie and told him that there was a mouse in our room. He got up and went to get a trap from downstairs, and set it up in the hall closet, because we had seen the mouse run out of the room when we turned the light on. He climbed back into bed and promptly went back to sleep, but me... I was more awake than before, and a little scared that it might find it's way onto our bed (it happened to my friend) So I laid there in the dark a little while longer, and then again I heard the rustling sound. I jabbed Bernie again and yelled "There is still a mouse in my room!!!" Once again he turned on the light, and this time he went and got the trap and put it right in our room on my side of the bed, because that is where we had been hearing it. Then again he turned off the light and went back to sleep. By now the baby was doing a gymnastics routine and so was my heart, and I was even further from sleep than I had been before. Now not only was there a mouse in my room but it might find it's way into the live trap, and then it would be making frantic noises trying to get out of it, and that is a really annoying sound that I really didn't want to deal with in the night. I finally drifted to sleep, and by the time that my alarm went off in the morning I must have been dreaming about the budget that I was working on when I left work the night before, because every time I hit snooze I was just making a slight adjustment to the budget. Consequently I just kept making adjustments and ended up sleeping until 7:30 and I have to leave by 8:00. When I complained to Bernie about my poor night sleep, all he had to say was "Well, why were you still awake when I got home?" I don't think that it should take a rocket scientist to know that he woke me up, I wasn't waiting up for him.

Oh No, It's Officially April

Well, for most people April might mean various things, such as the beginning of spring, warmer weather, more time to spend outside, but for me it means that we are in the thick of Tax Season. I am very glad that there are only 4 Saturdays in April this year, as the last two years have had 5, and that does tend to be exhausting as we are required to work Saturdays in April. We do get to wear jeans though (as if that's supposed to make it all better).

The weather here has been so fickel, one is never sure how to dress or how to dress a 4 year old boy. Maybe a 4 year old girl would be easier because they would stay out of the mud more, wouldn't they? I'm actaully not sure about that but it sounds good in theory doesn't it.

We had our 4th and final horse sale for this season this weekend, and all in all I think that it went fairly well. As I said the weather has been funny, so when I went to the sale on Saturday with a neighbour I was really glad that he was driving a big dodge 4x4 because it had snowed on Friday night, and froze hard to the road, and there were cars in the ditch everywhere. Then as it started to warm up the snow turned to slush and as you can imagine at a rodeo and horse sale with big trucks and trailers and horses everywhere, everything turned to slime.

After the sale when Cache was unfortunately unattended by both of his parents, he and his wise cousin Jace decided to play outside in the Auction yard. This would have been a good idea on a warm sunny day, bun not yesterday considering it was so muddy that truck tires were actually sinking into the mud when they were parked. Below you will see pictures of what Cache and Jace looked like after they were discovered.

Bernie actually took his (I mean Cache's) socks, boots, and jeans off, and Cache had to sit there and wait while Auntie Maria ran to Tisdale to get the boys a new pair of pants. I am so much like my mother that I couldn't even look when Bernie brought him in from outside, and Bonnie had to take these pictures, because I couldn't bear to look, and I worried that I might have a fit on Cache in public if I saw how dirty he was.

Bernie sold a horse at the sale yesterday, and got what he wanted for it, and the other one passed, because the bid's on him didn't go high enough, and he thought that he was worth more.

Well, that's it for now.