All of a sudden its Wednesday. If I don’t get this blog written it won’t happen. We are in the midst of a flurry of busy days. Flurry……hmmm, I wonder if that slipped out because there is a lot of snow accumulating out of my window. Our little corner of Saskatchewan is supposed to get as much as 8 inches of snow before the morning. I think we are almost there.
Looking at these pictures it seems to me that the star of the show for this 5th day on the trail this fall, was sun, and the amazing ways it casts it light. I was sent some really beautiful pictures. In addition to the light the sun did its job cutting through the morning cold, which was startling for the crew. By midday the truck was full of clothes, one of the riders told me at lunch, “thats what I like to see, a truck full of clothes.”
We were bringing our bred heifers and open cows home from the Carievale area and stopped along the way to pick up a group of cow calf pairs from their summer pasture near Carnduff.
Jenn took this first picture, it catches the frost on ground we have recently worked up in order to plant new hay seed in the spring. We can’t figure out who the rider is in the foreground.Gina and Cinder, captured by Jenn.Morning sun is gorgeous. Thanks for the picture Tenley! Clara and Elton John are in the front. The sun and the herd are very beautifully lined up in this moment that Maja captured. Thats Gina and Laurie in front and Jenn and Morgan behind. There is alot going on in this picture between the dogs, cows, horses and riders. The sun is kissing it all. Russ says one of the big deals of this picture is that we were trespassing but with permission and the access given meant alot to the herd. It meant three miles of grassland versus gravel and Russ had not been through there in 30 years. He said it felt “old-timey.”We were happy to have our old friend Maja on the trail again. Jenn took this picture.Steve caught these long morning shadows.If you drove near Precision Ag at about 12:30 last Saturday you would have seen the cows crossing the highway and just off to the north me getting this set up going. I appreciate seeing glimpses of my part of the action as Becca has given here.Russ keeping a watchful eye as the cows moved across the highway. The RCMP were able to have an officer on hand which helps reduce the stress relating to human behaviour. At times like this though Russ is watching to see how the cows will react to lines on the highway and in this case the crew had just gone over a train track. Both can cause trouble. It went quite well. It seems Tenley’s horse needed a little shade over the lunch hour. Clara sent this awesome photo of our donkey Elton John, just basking in the sun at lunchtime. Clara was our donkey trainer on this chase. Laurie caught this moment, featuring four generations of Connellys, including Laurie’s cousin Barry visiting from Toronto. He said he really enjoyed the experience of being on the trail. It was a really comfortable lunch hour time. Laurie’s parents Mona and George have been helping us move trucks and trailers from trail start to end for a few years now. Its a huge help.While the crew eats the cows still need to be supervised. Usually Russ and a few others keep watch while other experienced crew grab a quick lunch then come back and relieve the first shift. This is Dwayne taking his place on the second shift at lunch. Becca took his picture.Here is Barry and Laurie, I am not sure what the story was here, a break from riding is sometimes a good thing. Lacee caught this moment.Patrick took this picture of three generations of Connellys. The clouds are lit and interesting.Tenley is a fan of Mike’s jacket and sent this picture for that reason. It looks especially good in the glow of the sun. Thats Jenn beside Mike.Lacee’s selfie with her boy Lennox in the back. He had a great day.Sharon caught this moment when her granddaughter Hannah and husband Bill were together, the clouds are gathering.Sharon caught these smiles. Her grand-daughter Emma and a new friend Briella just met on this chase and really enjoyed the day together. This picture features Dwayne’s shadow and Jane in what Russ calls her “self propelled” gear. She is very good at that. That is Knightwing in front of Jane.Dwayne’s camera caught Liam, the day’s youngest cowboy on our mule Dick. Thats Merrick beside Liam.Our good ol mules Dick and Jane hosting the days youngest riders Liam and Lennox. They look like two young boys off on an adventure, no other human or creature in sight! A photo of Becca’s. The sun really lights up Chester’s mane in this picture Dwayne captured from his saddle.Cowboy silhouettes are captured in this photo from Dwayne. This is Griffin, Meadow, Gina and Tenley, with Emerson off to the side.Tenley grabbed this important moment when the herd got to the pasture gate.Morgan tells me that Becca used a snapchat thing to make a time stamped picture of the herd going through the gate. The same process allowed Becca to record her start for the day, before any sun had touched the day. That is quite a span of time her horse was on duty, and the whole crew!Back at the house for a late afternoon snack before everyone heading off, there was hangout time in the living room. Thats Morgan and Jordanna, with Jo’s sister Clara grabbing the picture. This is cute. But it also lets me tell you that last night after supper, on the 3rd anniversary of my Mom’s passing, something that was a bit of bear to feel out this year, I went to this same spot to read. I had not been here long when Morgan came and asked me to shove over he was going to join me. I said to him, “I’m not as skinny as Jordanna,” he replied with something witty and didn’t relent. The two of us stayed there together about an hour. It was uncomfortable but deeply comforting to me. Jordanna, Tenley and Becca, sunny faces, sunny spirits on a beautiful, sunny fall day.
Sunday morning our crew was back at it. Most of the crew staying in the house and yard were off by 6:00am. They headed back to McNeils ranch to get saddled up and get sorting the large herd of the day before. The schedule for the Bayliss cows included a late in the day game of golf. Actually, they just got to watch the golf. They were headed for the pasture we rent that lines up with the Alameda golf course. To my eyes it feels like the day was full a variety of things that made it interesting. I don’t have the brain power to get the pictures from the day into chronological order, so I am just going to invite you to dance back and forth through the day with me.
This first thing is a video that catches some of the action as the cows were being sorted. Russ filmed and narrated.Laurie sent me this picture from the scene at lunch time. Jill made two adorable cakes to share with the crew, a horse and a cow. I was so proud of Jill’s efforts I walked them around the lunch site so that everyone could see them before they were cut for dessert. I rooked the creator into this photo before Laurie took it. The cakes were delicious!Our route with the cows included crossing the Alameda dam. Sharon caught this moment. The still water tells you we had little wind to reckon with. Its a beautiful set of moments when the crossing happens. It can be tricky cow wise and as it turned out it was this day. Jill had her camera ready when Marisol decided to try some roping practice. She is growing so much as a cowgirl. In this picture she is riding one of the most demanding horses on our ranch. Coffee dog, seen here, is also growing alot in her skills, she has been working quite well this season. I love that dog almost as much as I love my kids.This picture is special in a few ways. At my side is a new friend. Treasure is a teacher in Estevan, her husband Steve and her kids have been riding with us over the last several weeks. She gave up alot of her personal time to work at my side all day and make the cooking side of the day a success. She brought with her a pan of brown sugar fudge. Treasure grew up only a couple hours from my families homes in Nova Scotia. Brown sugar fudge is a piece of my family lore. She hit the nail on the head with that! It touched me alot. Also, when I was asked what they could bring I said a case of pop. I usually supply juice and water but I can see how much it is enjoyed when there is pop there. They brought three cases. They are generous and Russ and I feel very appreciated.The menu was roast beef, gravy and buns, with veggie sides. Russell loves this menu. The advance cooking I had hoped to do didn’t happen, so these buns were served a little too fresh, if you catch my drift. I was nervous about getting it all done and we were a little late for lunch. Thank goodness Treasure was there. Jill took this selfie off the back of her favorite horse Cinder, the sisters have been enjoying being near to each other for the first time in a long time.Jimmy grabbed this moment. The cooking crew. With Grandma’s Shirley’s grand-daughter Kayla on the trail it was a given that we would pick her up and she could help us serve and get a glimpse of the action. It is always good to have 90 years of experience at your side.In the center of this photo is our youngest rider on this day, Merrick Ross and the mule Jane put in a long day. Gary and Miles are in the photo as well.Sharon got this view from the truck she drove so many hours over the course of the weekend. This captures the moments before the herd got onto the dam.Esther, Teanna, Marisol, Emerson and Dani – Russ just looked at this picture and commented that all these cowgirls have what it takes. Sharon took this photo.Teanna sent me this picture of her and Pat. I really love this picture of T, if I was to say all the reasons why I would embarrass her. I am very glad to have this record of her day on the trail with us.Tenley sent this awesome photo of the action from the middle of the crossing of the Alameda dam. Tenley sent this picture of just before lunch when the RCMP were on hand to help us make a safe crossing of highway 9 at Alameda. We give them lots of notice and they usually are able to help us out. We appreciate that sense of partnership alot.Jordanna sent us this moment when Morgan convinced Jen to stand on her horse. I am pretty darn impressed by this skill.Esther is a new cowgirl on the Bar MW trail this year. When I asked for pics from the crew she sent me this. She is always polite and cheerful, thats Teanna with her.Jenn took this photo of the lunch scene. Grandma Shirley got people organized with plates and buns, I added meat and Treasure took care of gravy and stocking the chips. Veggies were self serve. A little tidbit about them……3 minutes from the ranch, enroute to pick up Shirley, Treasure and I realized that we left all the veggies in the fridge. Russ and I had just chatted and I sensed that our late-ness was going to be a problem. However, he pondered that our total to feed was even higher than we had predicted. We needed all the food we could get. We wheeled around and got the sliced carrots, cucs and apples. I was thankful many times that we had. They were almost all gone by the time all the cowboys got through the line.Derek and Matt, the RCMP members were great sports. They stopped for lunch and while with us they took up the challenge to try on Russell and Morgan’s hats and hop on the Currie horses. At the time Jill and I were serving desserts, Jill looked up and said, “well that puts the M in RCMP.” I loved her quick thinking.Dwayne caught these moments as the herd drew near to the pasture gate, he would have been ahead to get the gate opened.Dwayne offered this glimpse of Miles and Gina supervising the cows getting through the gate and into the pasture. After walking for parts of three days this marks a very big moment. Becca shared this selfie with me, those cows stretched out behind her as they cross the Alameda dam make a pretty cool backdrop.Becca grabbed this picture of the scene where we ate lunch.Its hard to tell there are 115 pairs and 30 plus cowboys on the damn in this picture I took from quite a ways away.This is quite the line-up for me personally. It includes lots of my family that were visiting but also our friend Roy who at the last minute jumped in and helped us get trucks and trailers moved. We had a huge crew this day and the job of getting trucks moved took many hours. Gina and Jill so enjoyed getting to see Roy, a family friend for as long as they can remember.Steven, Russ, Gina, Kayla, Laurie and Jenn as captured by Jill’s camera.The weekend was fun but it was also really heartwarming for us. Our girls were home!One last photo, its of Saturday’s events, but this shot of Russ and Jimmy means alot to me. Russ was so excited when Jimmy arrived, he yelled from the kitchen, at the top of his lungs, “JIIMMMMMYYYYYYY”, the weekend had begun. The optimistic and open hearted look in Russell’s face here says alot.
The days around here lately have held many feelings. Most of them good. Thursday afternoon we got pictures from the Regina airport.
The above sign was the result of info shared in our family chat, as seen in this screenshot below.
I am not sure if Jill or Russell had the idea that if Gina needed a sign it should be a pretty spicy one. It was Jill that made it happen when she wrote on the back side of the sign something to raise a few eyebrows.
Gina had landed safely and she and Jill were soon to be on the loose in Regina. They had a 7:45pm flight to meet, and then would be bringing their adopted cousin Kayla to join us for a mega weekend of cow chasing. When the girls got safely to our driveway after dropping off Kayla at Grandma Shirley’s, the dogs and I were darn excited. When Russ greeted them in the morning it was pretty clear that we were about to experience some of the high points of our year.
What follows are moments from the first two of three days trailing cows this weekend. It is the 2nd and 3rd day of the 2023 chase season. The story told here is mostly through pictures, and through the eyes of those who were there.
On Friday a crew of 14 gathered at the barn just after lunch to head to the public pasture. This pasture is located about 70km from us. All summer we have had cows grazing there, under the supervision of a fantastic pasture manager. Our cows shared quarters with cows from the McNeil and Cowan ranches. Crew from all three ranches met at the pasture on Friday to get to the far reaches of these quarters and gather all the cows together. The goal was to get them out and moved a couple miles to a nearby quarter that friends of ours own. Our friends let the cows sleep over for the night there.
Gina sent me this picture of she and Morgan. Gina was darn happy to be back on the Bar MW trail.Laurie took this picture of Morgan and Frances Smith holding a roped calf so that it could be treated for pneumonia. You can see Russell’s hatted head and Miles’ back as Miles administers the antibiotic.Laurie sent this fun moment which happened back at the ranch when the crew came in for supper. Love the smiles.
That is all I have from Friday. As the work was getting done at the pasture I was zooming around getting the house and cowboy cottage ready for the weekend ahead. It was poised to be a big one in every way. One of the ways it was big is on a heart level, all our kids were home with us AND some of our Saskatoon family was here. I needed all of that.
A few details came together to make my Saturday morning very different than usual chase mornings. My cook helper Sandy had offered to bring a big pot of soup, so I had less morning prep to do. Our ranch photographer Liz Griffin was on hand and all my kids were on the trail. It was suggested that I should go to the pasture as they got started. I did. It was fun! I got to take photos of the photographer and I saw first hand the frenzy of activity that takes place as the crew arrives and gets ready to ride. We got a family picture taken. Pretty sweet!
Gina took a really amusing video of the dogs trying to boss Russell around. He had been bustling to get everybody ready to go. The dogs had no patience left.I love Paisley’s interest in Liz’s camera.The herd is in the distance. I really love this picture of Liz. I took this picture of my girl while I was hanging out with Liz. Gina B riding our new horse “Shadow” on the trail!Laurie caught this moment of Russ checking in with Jill before the ride.I really like this picture that Tenley took. It is the herd on the move, in all their multi ranch, multi color splendor!Claire was back at the ranch, having caught a ride from Saskatoon with my cousin. She put in another weekend of donkey training and is doing great! She is officially a grade 12 student but her business card could include her abilities to get the best out of donkeys. Behind her is Steve, he just met us in August and this day graduated to one of our real ranch horses (Thunderbird), after learning to ride on the older and more laid back horses. He had a good day.Sharon captured Emerson, Teanna, Esther and Dani in this picture. It strikes me they are very relaxed riders.Sharon captured Morgan and his new horse Padre in this picture. The fact that there are no cows in sight tells me that Morg has just been very effective at getting some cows out of the cattails and swamp. That is not a fun job.Here is Kayla, usually a first year college student in Lethbridge but a cowgirl for the weekend. We enjoy her. Grandma Shirley was gracious to have her grand-daughter around for the weekend but with us most of the time.When Brodie needed a cinch tightened she got some great help from these guys, Miles McNeil and Morgan, but they all got a bit behind. Sharon took this picture as they caught up with the herd. Brodie is my niece and normally a grade 12 student in Saskatoon. She is more and more a bonafide cowgirl.The McNeil ranch team included brothers Orrin and Nolan, here they are with Gary McConnell in a picture that Sharon took.Gina sent me this picture of Alyx, one of our people from Saskatoon. They are really bonded to our family after a couple years of dating my nephew. The ride for Alyx was made better by a little walk it seems, it was also about cuddling a stray cat that had found its way to the trail and was following the cows for a while.
Having flushed the cows out of the huge public pasture the day before, the ride this day was a very reasonable length. The crew walked the cows about 10 miles to the McNeil ranch where they were given a pasture to rest overnight and the crew was given a late lunch.
Claire tried on Gina’s hat at lunch time. This was the result. Brodie took the picture. Behind Claire is John, a part of our circle in Carnduff. He helped move trucks and trailers from the starting point to the end point of this chase.This picture that Sharon took is pretty special to me. My friend Sandy has been very kind to our family over the years. She was eager to help me when I floated the idea and not only gave her time but brought a huge amount of soup and some special bread. We have alot in common, most vividly that we are both funeral leaders in our communities. We had a lot of work to get done as we prepped this lunch for a crew that numbered quite a few more than I was anticipating. Sandy was a lifesaver! About the hats…..Gina saw them in a party/costume store in Regina and bought them for Sandy and I. She knows Sandy has a great sense of playfulness!
As soon as I finish writing this post I will be starting on the next. Day four of this cow chase season happened on Sunday. It was such a good day and full of unusual details and fun things to remember.
Just in……a sneak peek from Liz from the photoshoot. We love it! This is Tenley and Jordanna.
October 10, 9pm: I continue to really struggle with whatever sickness I am dealing with. With that being the case I am not feeling like getting lots done is a reasonable expectation. I am just rather happy to make a little progress on what is in front of me. I found myself in quite an interesting space late this afternoon as I tuned into a new podcast and got washing dishes that had piled up over the days. The podcast was hosted by Kate Bowler, a pastor, cancer survivor and very thoughtful human being. She was interviewing N.T. Wright, a person of some fame in theological circles. As I worked away, there were some really nice realities going on. The house was really peaceful and the sun was coming in. The fall scenery outside my windows makes me feel good, because I really like fall. The fact that I have been sick for most of three days, laying low and feeling quite off led me to a tender spot within myself. The fact that I was making progress on a job that I often let get ahead of me, my kitchen, and supper was well underway, well that created a certain peace. Into this setting I heard Kate ask her guest a question. Was it the tone in her voice, the content of the question, the space I was in or a a bit of all three, I don’t know, but the question hit me to the core. I rewound the pod and listened to the question three times. She said to Mr. Wright, “What was your first clue that this was the kind of person you were going to end up being?” Even as I re-read that question now I am stunned by it. It must be the content of it, because I don’t have her tone in my ears right now. As I chopped salad ingredients and thought about this in my own life I realized there are really two questions in the one. 1. What kind of person have I ended up being? and 2. What was my first clue that I was heading this way? I have always been analytical, curious about myself and what makes the world go round, so her question really landed well with me. Perhaps it landed well because although I am now firmly in middle age I feel like my life continues to put things in front of me that test what kind of a person I am being. Am I a rancher? A minister? A writer? A singer? A counselor? Which part of this will grow and which part will shrink? What do I want? I think there is a thread that weaves through everything and that is maybe truly the answer to what kind of person I have ended up being. I don’t succeed at this consistently, and when I fail its pretty clear, but I do want to come to ranching, ministering, writing, singing and talking with people with the message, “I want to see you,” not in a nosy way, but I want to be a listener, I want to offer space for what you need to say, I want to embody the gifts that God gives me, hope, joy, peace and love. I mess up alot. But somewhere along the way this has become the goal for “the kind of person I have ended up being.”
What was the first clue that I was headed this way? Who knows right? What have I forgotten? (Lots and lots to be honest!) Perhaps the memories that really stick with us are very telling though. As I was chopping the broccoli I got thinking about my job back when I was 17, until I was 22. I was a nurses aide at The Saskatoon Convalescent Home. It was a super meaningful experience for me, it created the setting for the most embarassing moment of my life which is a fun story to share and it also tested me in ways that were really helpful. I think it also offered me my first clues, and one very specific one. I have a memory of a day when I found myself with a little extra time and I was checking in on my residents. I got to sit and talk with one. For some reason she started to talk about her life before old age. It had been hard. There had been abuse. She was working through something. I mostly listened. I was probably 19 at the time, but I remember walking out of that room, stunned that she had confided in me, and grasping that my future needed to include more of that. That might have been the first clue.
As I worked more with the salad and back to the dishpan I was dying to stop everything and write, but I had men coming in that would be hungry. I could not. The writing now has been a way of teasing out what got mixed up with the broccoli salad as I chopped away. I share it because I think the question that started it all, “What was your first clue that this was the kind of person you were going to end up being?” is such an invitational question. Do any of the readers want to have those same words in front of them for a bit? How would you answer that question?
I want to add that I notice that my answer to the question holds no reference to my primary roles in life as a wife and mother, the stuff that goes on in my own four walls. I seem to have interpreted Kate’s question as relating to life in the world, I am too tired to analyze why I went that direction with it. Doesn’t matter really anyways.
Wednesday, 7:30am: I am including this picture because it was a fun moment from the day. I had alot of socks to match up yesterday as Morg, Russ and I were all getting low and that was a priority for the laundry. Its a good quiet job and I find it very, very satisifying to make order out of chaos. Russ is very particular about his socks. He likes them to be colorful and lightweight so that his feet don’t get overheated. He gets attached to certain ones. He is also not pleased with my system of managing odd socks. So as our lunch hour wound down yesterday he wondered very seriously if I could get serious about the odd sock situation. (Your’e learning something about Russ here aren’t you?). I was up for the challenge. It was with some glee that I sent him a picture of the odd socks and the stats arising from the reunions that happened. But this picture was the most significant. A while ago I had tried to throw out these blue socks with red dots and trim when it was clear they were threadbare. Russ was appalled. They were special to him. In the last month they got separated from each other. Russ was sad about this. So when my odd sock efforts meant this reunion and return to Russell’s sock drawer, this picture was sent to Russ. It was greeted with celebration. When Russell came in the door for supper, Morg had arrived a bit earlier, and from the porch Russ called out, “Morgan, did you hear the greatest news of the day?” Morgan had not. I didn’t know what Russ was talking about. I said, “you mean that Shutterfly sent me an extra plate?” No, that wasn’t it. “Your mother got my favorite socks back together!”
There are three things that are holy about this post. First is the obvious. Holey socks. Next is Russell’s incredible quality of being the last guy to give up on anyone or anything. When he does give up you know something significant is broken. That reminds me of the Bible stories of the lost sheep, the Prodigal son and the widows coin. People and socks are not disposable in Russell’s world. This is holy. Last, its a holy journey to keep working at figuring out our calling. That maybe seems a minister-y way of saying that. Another way of wording it……it’s a holy journey to keep figuring out how we are especially equipped to live to make a difference to the world. In the midst of that, tracing the movements of the Spirit and the clues we are given, can be a source of awe. Awe often feels very holy.
So, if you like, here is Kate’s question one more time. “What was your first clue that this was the kind of person you were going to end up being?”
Its been a bit of a weird Thanksgiving. It has been a good and special weekend in its own way but not like you might think of when it comes to Canadian Thanksgivings.
The downer part first: We opened our eyes on Saturday morning with a bit of heartache hanging on from the week we had known. I conducted a funeral on Friday. It was for the husband of one of my friends. He was 75 but still too young and left quite a hole. During the week we received news that a woman in our community passed suddenly. I didn’t know her well at all, but Russ did and the sadness hit him hard and still is. We both feel for the families so much. On Wednesday I met with a friend of mine and her family to plan a funeral for later in the month. After that meeting I called Russ and said, “when are you going to be home? I need a beer.” He said, “Morgan’s not home, lets have charcuterie and forget about supper.” It wasn’t our healthiest meal.
Heartache was pretty close to us as Saturday dawned. However, we couldn’t linger and lolly. We had to get going. Russ was moving cows from one river pasture across the road to another and he invited some friends and family to join in doing it. It went well and they were back at the house for Brunch by 10:30. I was pretty much ready but had been boogie-ing to get to that point. It wasn’t my best brunch but not bad, I tried a yeast dough cinnamon bun for the first time in ages and had some challenges. It all worked out and we had some very fun visiting as the 13 of us sat around the table.
Saturday was a bit of an international day. One of the cowboys in the morning was new to us, a woman from Switzerland working on a nearby farm. Like Anja (our Swiss friend who joined us for six weeks of calving season), she is great on horses, positive, kind and we enjoyed her alot. Saturday afternoon had me heading to town to conduct a wedding, Russ was invited as well. It was a small wedding in the bride and groom’s home. There was a language barrier which I had accommodated by using google translate to make the whole wedding program in both English and Russian. I had thought I would pass my program to the couple after each part of the service and they would read to themselves what I had just said. It turned out that a guest was there who could read aloud the Russian, so we took turns through the whole ceremony, me reading out the English, she reading out the Russian and the bride and groom reading their vows to each other in Russian. It felt like such a culturally rich experience to hear the words of love and committment read in two such different languages. The part that sticks with me from that part of the day was how much the guest thanked me for letting her be part of it. I thought, “are you kidding me, you saved the day!” She asked for my copy of the ceremony. I just love the fact that I got to share the experience of being the bearer of holy words and I sense that these moments altered how this woman sees herself. Following the wedding we sat around the dining table and shared a meal that the bride and groom had prepared. It was delicious, healthy, perfectly prepared, and lovingly presented. It was topped off with two cakes, we were given generous pieces of both. Russ describes it as a feast and said he could not eat for the rest of the day, even when offered cupcakes in the evening. We visited at the table for a good long while, struggling with the reality of language barriers but finding the common ground of humor and pictures of our lives, shared from our cell phones. Marveling at each others live added to the quiet joyful feel of the event.
I had mixed feelings about the plans for Saturday night. We were invited to join Jordanna’s family at the Haunted Corn Maze at Pierson to celebrate her birthday. Jordanna is Morgan’s girlfriend and we appreciate her so much, so, of course we were going, however, I absolutely hate horror stuff. I told the guys I would just stay in the car while everyone was walking through. However, I let myself be talked into full participation and I was glad I did. It was a gorgeous night. Very cool and crisp fall air, a sky full of stars, and a walk through a maze of massively tall corn stalks meant some memorable moments. There were times to scream within the maze, I kind’ve gave myself permission to be dramatic and it was actually rather therapeutic. It was scary but not horrifying, I could handle that. Plus, Russ held my hand the whole time. At one point I checked my pulse on my watch, it was 152, I was clearly experiencing some stress, but overall it was just really unique and the night air was good for my soul. Afterwards we had a good visit back at the White’s place, we got to sing Happy Birthday to Jo and it topped off a pretty cool day.
Since Thursday I had been feeling like I was starting to get sick. But it stayed very low key and all was well. I got my jobs done. However, in the night it broke loose and I was very sick yesterday. I am still coughing and using the kleenex box alot but I have energy today. Its hard being sick. I only took 375 steps yesterday and I had to convince myself to do just about every one. At times like that I tend to thinking that I am never going to feel like myself again. But today dawned and Io and behold, I think I might just be able to tackle the week ahead. It was hard to message the friends who were having us for a Thanksgiving dinner and say, “sorry we can’t come.” There were no Thanksgiving flavors at our house this year, Russ did all the cooking, it was what he could quickly rustle up after getting off his horse. However, as this Thanksgiving weekend ends there is his efforts and more to be thankful for. Despite living my life in a quiet area where I have few formal opportunities I feel like life is really really interesting and I am very grateful for that.
I have not felt much like taking pictures this week, as I looked over my camera roll that was pretty obvious. However, there were lots of pictures there due to the groups I am part of. It struck me how much richer my world is because people share. I don’t always have the time or zip to say something in reply but the pictures move me. I am thankful that the world is made more large, I am allowed to see beauty and I get to see the faces of those I love because of what others can share and do share.
Jill was home this week and took lots of pictures of our creatures. When Jill posted this picture on the family chat I replied that someone needs to put words in Buster’s mouth. No-one rose to the challenge, but there is some definite sass in this picture.My sister Jan sent this picture of paddleboarding at Osoyoos in B.C. This was part of her Thanksgiving time and it kind’ve blew my mind. The peacefulness of this scene is a bit of a balm for the soul. (Shared with permission).Our Swiss friend Anja helped organize a huge festival in their canton. She sent lots of pictures and videos. This close up picture of a Swiss cow in the parade is pretty cool!Near Saskatoon another of my sisters has alot of joy on her face in this garden moment. Its comforting for me to see these familiar faces. (Shared with permission).When our Nova Scotia friends sent us this picture of their Thanksgiving turkey it told us they were thinking of us.
In ranch news, there is a new horse at our place this week. She is an 11 year old thoroughbred with a racehorse tattoo stamped in her lip. She came to us after Morgan rode her through the ring at a sale recently. He was helping out our Aunt Karen who was selling it. Well long story short, we didn’t buy it that day, but bought it from the buyer. We are thinking we have some pregnant horses around here, so in order to have the right amount of good riding horses next spring when its calving season we took the chance to get this one we feel good about. Morgan has been working with her alot this week and it is going well. Her name is Shadow but we are also referring to her as “Anja’s horse.” We don’t have a good picture.
Well that is the scoop here. It was an interesting week. Very interesting. As thankful as I am for that I am hoping this week means time at my desk and in my laundry room. There is build up in both places!
Last Friday I was getting supper ready, puttering in my kitchen when my niece Brodie posed a question. She had arrived a couples hour earlier, with her Dad, cousin and friend, they were at the ranch to chase some cows. After sitting visiting with me while I prepped things something made her think about an odd sight she had seen and she said, “hey Auntie K, why is there a shoe on top of your Bronco?” “Hmmm?” I pondered for a split second before I realized what I had done and a light version of sadness hit me. One shoe on top of the car eh? Oh no. Russell came into the kitchen, I told him what we had just figured out. He got a little quiet. About one minute later he said, “okay Kath, I put it on facebook and I tagged a bunch of people I think might see it in their travels.” I was a little bit, tiny bit, ticked off. Thats my shoe and I should be the boss of asking for help for it, I thought. I might want to think through what a help me post would be worded like. Realistically though I was in the middle of making supper and had other fussing about to do, so, it was a darn good thing that Russell took matters into his own hands and made that post. Here is the post.
This post was meant to raise awareness of this lost item but it seems to have connected with people’s sense of humor. Something about it brought out the best in people and we had so much fun reading the comments that came in when we got a chance.
It was bedtime before I opened my phone and found a text with a pretty exact location of where the shoe could be found. Then when we looked at Facebook Bonnie’s tip confirmed that. It was dark but I wondered if I should go searching, Russ told me to go to bed, the alarm was going off at 4:15am.
Knowing that there were some folks looking for the next episode I started a video as I pulled out of the yard the next morning. I thought it would be pretty nice to have video coverage of the discovery. An initial 14 seconds with the sun rising seemed to be good cinemaphotography.Only minutes later as I was driving down the low level road Russell called me, “Barrett has your shoe!” At that exact minute a truck was approaching and slowing down and my shoe was being extended from the window. It was not Barrett, it was his Uncle Curt and he was making a delivery, at 7:05 in the morning. I was very happy and asked Curt to pose for this picture.
So what happened?
I woke up Friday morning at Last Mountain Lake. I had been on a writing retreat there, joined for a couple days by my cousin and one day by Jill. I was cutting the timing of my life very tight. I had only spent one full day in my house in the last three weeks between some travels and events near home I had to be at. I had company coming and with the cow chase the next day I had many mouths to feed. I had a lot on my mind. After leaving the lake at 8:30am I made a trip to the Wholesale Club in Regina and then Costco. I really value shopping local but when purchasing large volumes of food I find it so helpful to have access to these stores. Anyways, my Bronco is the small version and with $1400 worth of groceries on board it was loaded to the hilt. I tried to place things strategically for keeping food cold and also so that a collision would not cause a jar of pickles to jet forward and take my head off. I think about these things. This meant that my favorite shoes were tucked in a good spot, but, were in the way when shortly after 3pm I pulled into the driveway and began to unload. I took the shoes and placed them on top of the car and I went in the house with my first load. At that exact time my company arrived. “Can we help you Auntie K?” Sure! Logan, Brodie, Gary and Claire made the many trips that brought everything in and I kept busting my butt putting things away, never thinking about those shoes again. By 4:30 everything was stowed but I still needed a few things at the Carnduff Co-op and a stop at the drugstore so I headed into town. At one point I thought, “did the kids leave something in the back, that is a weird noise.” It never dawned on me that a pair of shoes was bouncing around on the roof and one was bouncing off. Nothing whatsoever dawned on me until I thought about Brodie’s observation and her question for me.
Russ called these my favorite shoes and that is not an exaggeration. They are comfortable and have their own vibe. In addition they have a little history. In 2020 when travel was limited Russ and I drove to Gimli for a few days to recharge. I usually dress a little boring but one particular day I felt inspired to go with a vibe that felt a little like Pippi Longstocking. I rolled up my pants, wore fun socks and these shoes. My purse kind’ve matched my socks. That day Russ named my shoes. They were from that day forward, my “so cute shoes.” That is how we refer to them. What is crazy is that my feet are huge, the style of shoe is masculine and in no way are these shoes in the “cute” category. But they are to us. Losing one of my “so cute shoes” off the roof of the car, somewhere over a 12 km stretch of road just felt like a write off. I would never see it again. But with the help of the community, a few with very observant eyes, the rest to be our cheerleaders, the lost shoe found its way back home. Thanks to all, but especially to those Paton men!
At the Bar MW Ranch there is a 5th season of the year. It is a season that approaches with a bit of trepidation for Russ and I, “are we ready?” is a central question in our minds. It is a season that holds alot of anticipation, we are going to have lots of time with our friends and our creatures. It is a season that ends with a super satisfying feeling that all of our cows are home. Its “Chase Season” and the 2023 version began yesterday. I invited the crew to share favorite pictures of the day. Several took me up on that. Lots of captioned pictures tell the story of the day.
We kicked off the season on Truth and Reconciliation day in Canada. Jen shared this picture with me. She had a headstall made that captures a value that is very important to many on the trail this day. For Jen it starts with the fact that her Dad, of the Dene nation, lived through a childhood spent in residential schools. We appreciate having Jen’s perspective on our crew.Our friend Steve sent me this picture from the morning saddling and loading up time. It says alot.Emerson was thinking well at such an early start in the day. As the crew started to leave the yard she remembered that Elton John our donkey had not been loaded. He is an intact male and doesn’t pasture with the mares. Emerson’s Mom Jen grabbed this picture as Russ went and caught this sweetheart.I wonder what Laurie was thinking here, he was wedged into a truck cab filled with dogs and people. He always seems ready for anything. Sometimes when I apologize to him for the chaos around he says, “oh! I didn’t even notice.” I am guessing the chaos of these moments was hard to miss.Arrival at the Manor pasture. Logan sent me this picture with Jen in the foreground. The sun rising is so beautiful.My niece Brodie was here for the weekend and brought her friend Claire. We met Claire last year, so Russ knew that she was the perfect person for a job he had in mind. That was to ride our donkey (Elton John). Claire brought her adventurous spirit, her petite frame, and her determination and did a great job. Russ had contracted with her a $25 payment for the days duties. This created some humorous moments when the other cowboys jested that they too were going to line up for their pay. Jen shared this picture with herself, her daughter Emerson and Grif, ready to roll.This morning light is beautiful. I really like this shot that Jen got, there is my boy Morg in the foreground. Griff, Emet and Rhett in the back.David has a solidarity with aboriginal people that has its beginings in a story that I don’t know. However, evidence is seen here in the multiple layers of orange and beadwork he wore as the day began.The sun on Steve’s face and his posture makes me think this is a moment of inner preparation. It was kind’ve a big day for Steve. It was his first big cow chase with us after several days of helping Russ with smaller jobs. He did great. Jen took this picture.Marisol helped us so much on the ranch this summer. She was on the payroll for a couple months as she raked hay. This means we have spent alot of time together. She is super special to us. That Coffee dog is too. Russ sent this picture of Cowboy Medhi. He has a place of fame on the crew this year. Recently Medhi witnessed Cowboy Laurie get bucked off in such a way that Laurie earned an award for “the biggest buck off of 2023.” Not to be outdone, perhaps, shortly into yesterday’s chase Medhi stole that award from Laurie. It was quite spectacular. He took some Advil and rode the entire day. I carried quite a bit of worry in my heart for him.
Russ sent this video. The crew is on the trail! Its a nice review of the whole crew.Emet grabbed this picture. I like the light on Coffee dog. Emet’s dog ‘KK’ is ahead. When a sick calf was spotted on the trail Morgan got his rope going, in order to restrain it and give it treatment for pneumonia. Logan caught this moment.With Marisol on one rope and Morgan on the other Russ got in close and got the calf needled. As it turned out this was a calf named by our Swiss friend Anja when she took it under her wing back in April. She named it “Saskatchewan”. So her tag has a SK added to it.I love this nice clear picture of these two smiling faces, so important in our everyday story of ranching, not just chase season. Jen sent this, its she and David.This is what it looks like when 140 cow calf pairs are on the road. Brodie grabbbed this picture.Claire and Elton John.This is my brother in law Gary and one of the toughest cowgirls on the trail, Briella. This was her first chase without her Dad Kent there. Her Grandpa John was on the truck moving crew and I enjoyed seeing the two of them. Russ shared this picture.A wee glimpse of the lunchtime scene. With the Chuckwagon having a suspicious leak and no license because I totally forgot to do that, the Expedition was the lunch wagon. After lunch as I cleaned up the scene, the crew went by with the cows. In this picture Sharon was doing what she does all day. She was the feet on the ground that assisted with the practical things the crew needed on the trail. In this case, to help my brother in law Gary rid himself of his coat. It got quite warm over the lunch hour. Just beside Sharon is cowboy Steve. He brought 4 containers of baking with him from Estevan. His wife Treasure is quite the cookie maker. We fed 27 people taco in a bag for lunch. I was so thankful to have that baking provided.This is Auntie Mona and Uncle George, Laurie’s parents. They helped Ron and John move vehicles from the start point to the end point of the chase. A very important job. In addition Mona helped me serve up lunch and got a wasp bite as a souvenir. There was another t shirt theme on the trail, these t shirts featured here were created by my niece Brodie to make known her drone photography business, “Aerial Photography by Brodie.” Claire took this picture.Gary took a break from riding but didn’t take a break from being a great human to have on the trail. Look at that smile!Cowboy Laurie on the trail but taking care of business, getting rid of a can into the truckbox.Logan took this very cool picture as Russ was getting everyone set up for a crew picture at the end of the trail. Russ said this was harder than it should have been. But it was worth it!The group picture.The chase went quite well and when the crew arrived back at the ranch there was time to relax for a bit before having supper. Morgan gave Medhi some roping lessons.Patrick and Russ after supper.This morning some breakfast gathering happened in the kitchen. On the counter are cups of hot chocolate that Russ crafted with love. He has a “recipe” he calls “Hobbit Hot Chocolate.” Behind those sliding doors I was trying valiantly to finish the sermon for church today. It was hard though. I love having my family here so much. At one point I set the timer for 5 minutes and popped out and hung out.Tonight while I was working on the blog the dogs started barking so sharply. I knew what that meant. A car was pulling in. It was Jill. This girl rose early and worked an incredibly busy shift at Starbucks. One of her regular customers took her drink when it was ready and instead of saying “thank you” as she usually does, she said to Jill, “good luck!” As soon as work was done Jill sped over to Sterling headquarters for cast photos for their next production. Then she headed for the ranch. We had a cheesecake party when she got here. I think this photo means, “Bayliss Strong.”Russ made sure I got to be part of the strong action. I had a tricky weekend, perhaps that will be the subject of another blog. Being a human is hard sometimes.I am ending the blog with this picture of Jen and her sweater. As I think about Jen and the way she sits in a saddle but moreso the way she treats other people, the word “dignity” is on my mind. I long for every child to know their God-given dignity. I am thankful that in Canada we have this time to reflect and to honor the stories that have been lived. RusselI and I and many of our crew long to be part of a solution so that our society is one where every child truly knows that they matter.
We are having a different week around here and that calls for a different kind of week in review post.
When the kids were really small we fell into a pattern that has continued to this day. That pattern is about days of the week and saying grace. At the table, “grace” is another word for a prayer of thanks that gets said before the meal. As an ordained minister I often get called upon to offer the grace at meals outside our home. I would rather not be the expert on call regarding this, not when we all have the ability to speak and thoughts in our heads. Most especially not when in God’s heart noone’s word matters more than another. (In our way of understanding). So, one inspired day the plan emerged that the day of the week that one of us was born would be our day to be responsible for grace.
Morgan was born on a Monday, so that is his day to decide if he will say grace himself, delegate the leadership to another, or lead in a spoken or sung prayer that we all join in. Most times Morgan says it himself, it is very short and to the point, and it usually includes the word “awesome.” He used to give thanks for awesome food but these days usually doesn’t mention the food and gives thanks for the work that got done that day. His sincerity is there so while I might rib him about not caring about the food, I am just glad it goes as well as it does.
So Monday is Morgan’s day. What is going on in Morgan’s life these days and how did it get started? Morgan is knee deep in cowboy realities. On Monday this week I helped him with roping practice by using my car to pull his roping dummy around the back area. (The picture below). He helped at two different horse sales this week and has done lots of hours on his horse looking after our herd. We has been given alot of responsibility this week and has carried it well.
So that is how this week went for Morgan, now a little flashback to how it all got started.
When Morgan was about eight months old Russ took him on his saddle for the tail end of a ride up the road to the ranch, Russ and a crew were chasing horses home. Russ figures that maybe the ranch boss (his Dad) had been over optimistic about what could get done in a day and this chase was therefore ending in the dark. There is a dip in the road just west of our place and it was therefore with some horror that Russell realized that a big oil tanker was coming fast towards them. He knew that driver would never see a herd of black Percheron horses in the dark, with the dip in the road making them invisible to the trucker. He therefore gripped Morgan tightly and galloped to the front where he could get the drivers attention and get him to slow down. Morgan didn’t cry but seemed exhilerated Russ says.
Tuesday is Gina’s day. She was born at 2:19am on a Tuesday. My memory of having Gina around the table is that she preferred the sung graces. We have one called “The Brown Cow”, I believe she preferred that one because of some humor that Russ injected into it. There is a line, “thank the pig for the bacon on the grill,” one day he told the kids we should always check the road for runaway pigs at that line, so when we are feeling up to it even yet there is a little extra action at that point. Anyways, on Gina’s day we can report in that she is delighting in her horses she is working with. She sent this picture this week. She and another staff had clipped this horse’s legs and Gina took a picture of Oedsen and Rachel. Afterwards he was intent on looking at the picture. I wonder what was going through Gina’s head as she offered her phone to show show him the picture. It is really making her smile.
This is an old picture of Gina but captures what is on her mind these days. She has been staying late at work and watching the knights doing sword fighting practice. This picture was taken at school in Victoria. She loves stage combat, and especially sword work.
How did all this get started?
Gina was riding solo and defying gravity from an early age. Often we would put Abba singing “Dancing Queen” on in the background and she would jolly jump with such happiness.
Wednesday is Russell’s day. He was born on a Thursday but back when we got the prayer schedule figured out he had Lion’s Club meetings at supper time every 2nd week. I thought I was born on a Thursday, (I was wrong), so I took Thursday and Russ took Wednesday and it has stayed that way to this day. Russ is always very grateful in his prayers, sometimes goofy and does the best job of any of us of thinking about people that can’t be with us.
These days Russ is thinking about cow chase work quite a bit. It is a fairly big deal to be organized for the six weeks that are ahead. Liz Griffin took this picture of Russ on the trail last year. The background behind this picture is that he has co-ordinated a multitude of pieces to be working in a pretty fine tuned manner.
What did all this look like almost 30 years ago?
Russell’s friend Lee took this picture. I think this illustrates pretty well how things were in the earlier part of Russell’s life with horses. It was a pretty wild situation for a long time and from the stories I have heard it seemed Russ really enjoyed that. This particular moment is described by Russ like this, “this is Comanche who turned out to be one of my best horses, I still dream about him and when I get to heaven this is the horse I want to ride. In this picture I was training him, he was in the midst of several bucks and I had not yet landed back in the saddle.”
Thursday is my assigned day for prayer at meals. It turns out that I was born on a Tuesday, already Gina’s day, so mistakenly assigning myself Thursday works okay. I almost always make up a fresh prayer, based on what the action is that day and the blessings we have known. I always says at the end, “may this food strengthen us to be people of love and peace in your world,” or something close to that. It feels important to me. Anyways, reporting in on my day of the week, my life is pretty much revolving around stories these days. More specifically, words. More specifically, getting progress made on the book I am writing. That has meant alot of weaving. Bringing history, words, hopes, and new information altogether. The book is about ranching in relationship to the world. It uses Liz Griffin’s photographs for great illustration of key points. Today I learned that 1% of the world’s population does the work that feeds the other 99%. We are part of that 1%. That feels really meaningful. It will find its way into the book. I don’t have a picture of me at my computer lately. But these words tell you how its going. I do have access to some old pictures that illumine how it all started.
This fuzzy picture doesn’t surprise me to see. I have loved the words in books for as long as I can remember. I believe I was two in this picture.This picture from a few years later catches me doing one of my favorite things in my childhood, playing with our Fisher Price toys. I always loved the chance to set the stage for stories to unfold.
Friday is the day of the week that Russell and I got married. So that is our day to pray, we pretty casually, on the spot, figure out who is up for making prayer happen on this day, but its one of us, because this is an us day.
Here is a picture of us this week.
And what did it look like when it was all getting started? Like this…..we went to Brandon on one of our first dates, we were in search of some Tim Horton’s coffee and Estevan didn’t have any in 1999. Russ showed me the swinging bridge at Souris on the way home. One of us had a camera and got these moments in time.
It seems kind’ve appropriate that I was wearing Bar MW yellow on this day.
Jilly was born at noon hour on a Saturday so she is the boss of prayer on Saturdays. Jill’s life is very touched by music these days, as it has been for most of her life. She most often chooses a sung prayer for grace. This week she has been learning the music necessary to be part of the vocal chorus for the next Sterling Production in Regina. (Rocky Horror Picture Show). She will be auditioning soon for the Christmas musical. She is relieving her brain of all the words and choreography she learned for Seussical and moving on. She sent us this picture of herself and one of her people after the Seussical shows.
How did it all start? With a passion for fun outfits, costumes, movies, musical theatre, dance and an interest in piano, cello, guitar, fiddle and singing that has never gone very far from her heart.
By Sunday everyone but Buster the cat and Ron our hired man have had a turn so we often will use silent prayer. We each just say what is on our minds, in the quiet of our thoughts. I like that.
Is there a picture to go with that? Maybe this one?
It is amazing to think about this table, the weeks that have passed that saw the five of us pulling up a chair day after day, the sights that Buster has seen, and those that have pulled up a chair to join us. Very often some of the first words they heard at our table were “whose day is it?” I suppose I will spend the rest of my life thinking of Monday, Tuesday and Saturday as my kids’ special days. Perhaps the biggest grace in my life has been the chance to walk their journey’s with them.
We had a good week here at the Bar MW. This first picture does a good job of capturing some of what happened at our place lately. The sign nestled into this book shelf in our kitchen was a gift that arrived this week from Nova Scotia. We love what our friends celebrate about our kitchen!
Monday could have gone two ways. Either Russ and Morgan were helping friends with their pasture work or we were doing our own. The deciding factor was whether our friends birthed a baby that day. As it turned out, they were working on that! I didn’t realize that and thought when I awoke to a quiet house that I could put on my shirt that said, “People, Ew!” I was going to be home alone all day. Nope. I was wrong. That baby meant we would be working in our own pastures and our friends from Estevan were joining us. Then we got the chance to add other friends visiting the area from Regina to our lunch time experience. So, what was going to be toast for lunch for Kathy turned out more exciting. The Ross family brought dessert. This bountiful tray of donuts which Danika arranged with care and Merrick is bringing to the table, was as much of a treat as the platter of watermelon Treasure was creating in the kitchen at this moment. We don’t often have either!Steven, Danika and Merrick on their horses to check pastures.Tuesday meant back to school. This is Morgan before heading off. Coffee Dog might have been distracted by a bird but it looks like she is saying, “I can’t believe it has come to this, I am not even going to look at you.”After school Morg asked me to come out to the back pen and keep an eye on him while he was working on training a horse. I enjoyed watching his process and even managed to be video taping at the part where he was able to get on this two year old.This is a video capture, Morg was in the midst of getting on Skywalker, our Andalusian gelding, for its first time. We bought Skywalker a year ago from a friend near Saskatoon. Morg sat quietly for a bit and bent him softly both ways, he got off without incident. It made for a boring video by todays standards, but I was relieved and it made Russell happy.A treat for me this week was having our friend Lindsay contact me saying she had a cancellation in her schedule and would I like her to come for a deep clean at our place. How long did it take me to decide “YES”…..not very long. Lindsay is great at what she does but also a wonderful person to spend time with. We used to see her regularly but circumstances changed for her and I and we had not seen her magic for a very long time.Another thing that enriched my week was time with Dawn. She helped me out earlier in the summer and I said let me help you in the garden when its harvest time. We went to the garden to collect some fresh herbs for an amazing looking spaghetti sauce we were working on. Dawn definitely gave me the easy jobs.Meanwhile in Toronto, Gina was going full tilt and had a week that seems to have created positive momentum going forward. She had a few extremely positive phone calls with us.Jordanna sent me this picture. She was the biggest sport this day. She came over thinking we were all going out for supper at Chopper K . She got roped into helping with a few ranch jobs before having a very late supper at our table. At this point she grabbed a moment for us, when she and Morgan pulled into the drop off chute at the auction mart. This was the first time that Morgan delivered cows to the mart without Russ. We had cull cows and bulls to sell.By Wednesday night we had all given up on time and dug-outs making the faint smell of skunk go away from this dog. Morg decided to give a scrubbing with pretty smelling human shampoo a priority. It worked.When he had the chance Russ kept puttering away at the fencing job he has been working on.A super exciting part of the week for me was getting to go out for lunch with Liz Griffin. I asked for her to meet with me to discuss a shift in the vision I have for our book we are creating with her ranch photographs. The result: full steam ahead! I have several days ahead booked off for writing and I am feeling so excited!While all of us having been going several directions for several weeks our hired man Ron has been working on preparing fields for new grass seed. His behind the scenes work has meant I have not seen much of him for a few weeks. I don’t have a picture of his work. So I tucked in this Liz Griffin picture from two years ago. Ron spends so much time in tractors.Friday meant Steven was back to help the guys with some cowboy work. He helped me too. I was gone over the lunch hour, he brought enough lunch to share that I had buns for Morgan’s school lunch today and lunch for Russ and I today (helpful since I blogged way too long this morning!)This picture says 6:03am in the stats. Morg rose a little late, had just sat down with some coffee near to where I was doing my morning routine and Russ said, “we gotta go Morg!” I felt for him. However, the crew was due in the yard in a few minutes and Russ hates not being the first one in the barn.The crew included our friend Medhi, I love the big smile on his face in this moment. He was on call this morning, but our work this day was brief and he figured out a way to be free to come for a few hours. The cows were flushed out of one river pasture and brought back over to another where due to rain the grass was good again. (“For the first time in 5 f’in years,” Russ adds upon review of this.)The move went smoothly, for the most part, the crew arrived back at the house at 9:28am. They were two minutes ahead of schedule. I on the other hand was a bit late getting brunch on the table. There were some very light hearted moments to enjoy this morning.This is a Liz Griffin picture from 2021. It illumines what Russ got back to this week…..more baling. He worked on straw earlier in the week and Saturday afternoon went to a field of green feed oats Morgan cut a bit ago. Russ was relieved to find they were finally ready to bale. I led worship Sunday morning in Carnduff. It was a morning that felt pretty rich in several ways. This picture Russ took has me looking a little odd, but I guess this is me.I am in charge of the lawn at our place. I have avoided it like crazy this summer. Several weeks without rain made that kindv’e possible. Recent moisture meant I had to conquer whatever was holding me back and get at it. I have wondered if I might be dealing with fear about fire. After the haybine hitting a rock in the hayfield threw a spark that started a fire last summer, with our shop fire this winter on top of that, I am not okay with any risks. I told myself yesterday, “you just need to do 15 minutes.” I know myself well enough to know that momentum kicks in easily for me and there is no way I would quit when the progress was so rewarding. So I tricked myself into getting going and almost 3 hours later I was almost done. (I am amused by the burr on my shoulder and Knightwing’s paw on my chest…..business as usual?)A hard moment happened when in the midst of mowing I spotted this dark grey plume of smoke. I called Russ who was baling 20 miles away to tell him what I was seeing and took this picture to send him. He asked me to drive down and check it out. If it was a machinery fire in the field there was nothing we could do, but if livestock needed to be moved he wanted to do what he could to help. I drove close enough to discern it was in a field being harvested. I couldn’t slow down my thoughts enough to describe the location to Russ in a way that he could picture whose field it was, the firetrucks were arriving. It was an interesting thing to encounter in the midst of my own fears. About Jill…..our Jill was quite sick this week and made us all laugh with a video of her Covid testing herself. It was negative. She is better now and has begun rehearsals as part of the vocal section for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which will be staged in Regina at Halloween. Meanwhile at the ranch, Russ caught Jill the cow on video, she is looking great and her steer calf is gorgeous.Jill’s steer calf.
For sheer amusement I reccomend you look at this video. Morgan had the job of picking rocks from our new hayfield yesterday. He got quite creative and Bingo and Maddie get to show how cool they really are.
That was the week we had here at the ranch. We know that some of our circle had a pretty tough one. We hope that whatever your week held you have frequent reminders telling you clearly just how loved you are.
There has been alot of hugging this week, alot of familiar faces, some new ones, alot of music and visiting for the people of the Bar MW. There has been some normal stuff too. The pictures tell the tale, the 1st one holds clues to the big deal events of the week.
On Monday Russell and Morgan rode with our new friends from Estevan and checked several pastures. That means assessing grass conditions, looking at all the animals and scouting out any problems, the most common ones are footrot, pink eye or a bull that appears to be keeping separate from the herd. This was unexpectedly a really long day, supper was at 10pm. Russ kept trying to give the newbies a chance to quit sooner than later, they always chose later and proved to manage hungers and weariness very well. Tuesday morning had Morgan and Coffee dog heading to a field of green feed oats to start cutting. Before they left Morg and Coffee had a little play time, I totally enjoyed this moment when I overheard Morgan say to Coffee, “Well I don’t usually bring MY toys to the field but I guess you could.” Morgan is special in the way that he is the only guy in the house who can translate the dogs barks and noises into the english language, he does it fairly regularly. It tickles my fancy.Russ spent much of the day dealing with cow problems that were emerging. We had Marcel out to do a minor procedure on a bull and help us with a cow that has eye cancer. I had a few small jobs to do to help Russ out in his day, including this moment where having brought the final calf of the year home in the trailer we cornered it, tagged it and castrated it. Russ had invited me to make named tag for these late calves, as we will have them around for a whole year. I opened my address book and found names in it for our tags. This calf is Aunt D in honor of my Aunt Danna.Wednesday morning saw Morgan heading back to the field and Russ heading to the public pasture to help the pasture manager with herds there. He brought our friend Marisol with him and together they helped tackle some big jobs. You can see by this picture Russell took that the pastures are large and hilly, and quite beautiful. Russ would like it noted that next to the pasture manager he was the best roper there that day and that is not saying much. They roped and treated alot of cows.Wednesday night at 7:38pm I was talking with Gina when I stopped her in midsentence to say “Gina! Jill’s play is starting right now as we speak, oh my goodness!” It felt so weird to be in my kitchen, so far away from this momentous moment for Jill, but I didn’t need to feel disconnected for long. My sister-friend Deb, from Saskatoon, had traveled to Regina with her daughter to see the play that night. At intermission she sent me the above texts.Following the show this dialogue happened on Facebook. Karla is a super supportive friend of Russell’s from highschool. Donalene is one of my people from my earliest days in the Carievale area, she now is in Regina. We have big soft spots for both of them and our hearts were warmed at the thought of them cheering on our girl.Thursday morning had us going at top speed to be ready to get to Regina. We had a new dog sitter coming to stay and that meant cleaning the house before leaving. We also had a peculiar problem. A stuffed animal (monkey) that had been in storage for years was pulled out last week. The day before we left it all of a sudden started doing its monkey skreeching at random times. It sounded rather horrrifying. Once we figured out the source we tried different things to silence it. We put it in the fridge overnight and that kept it silent. Once warmed up it started again. We couldn’t leave this random skreeching for our dog sitter to deal with. Morgan tucked it in bed (this picture) and it stopped. But I wasn’t sure for how long. I put it in the deep freeze and that is where it currently can be found. Thursday afternoon there was a matinee performance of Seussical the Musical and at intermission we got this picture from cousin Laurie. He and ten family members had met in Regina to attend the show. Jill loved these moments. We were so touched to know that Jill had fans at every performance.From north and south many family and friends came to see Jill’s show. We rented a large Air bnb and hosted folks for before and/or after show drinks and snacks. We were running behind getting to Regina, our friend Gina jumped into the kitchen with me and helped to get everything laid out. I was so very grateful to be basically ready as people arrived, because of her.One of our Saskatoon family manages the Crumbl Cookie location there, my sister Linda brought this delectable box of cookies.We were thrilled to have my sister-cousin and her family join us for the pre show party and the show. Afterwards Jimmy said, “I would definitely see that again.” I think thats a solid review. Also in this picture is my niece Brodie. Jodi started something hilarious after the show when lingering in the lobby she exclaimed “alright, talking about projects, when are we going to do a family musical?!?” We were all feeling a bit giddy and her question really took off, although none of our answers were serious. The security guard was just coming to kick us out when we came to our senses and realized everyone was out of the bath room and we could leave. They locked the doors behind us!My sister grabbed this picture of Russ and I heading to our seats, I think you can definitely tell that we were excited. The title for this blog is a quote from Russ as we pulled into the parking lot at the Conexus Arts Centre, he said, “move over Stompin’ Tom – Jilly’s here!!” I absolutely loved that. When Russell first learned that Jill got the part and would be performing at Conexus he said, “my girl is going to be on the same stage as Stompin’ Tom Connors!!!” It was over 24 years ago that Russ attended a Stompin’ Tom concert there.At intermission the characters were allowed to come out and mingle with the crowd but they had to stay in character. So we hugged Yertle the Turtle and Russ and Jimmy got her autograph. In these moments we caught sight of David and Linda Powell, they had raced to Regina from Carnduff after managing everything their afternoon held at home. We didn’t take a picture but definitely took comfort from their presence.I am lucky to have a husband that values my family immensely. Here he is with my brother in law Stu and my cousin Jimmy in the parking lot afterwards.After the show Jill came to the Air bnb and visited. We were glad to have that time with her. Something special…..she is wearing the blue shirt that Russ was wearing in the delivery room when she was born. We don’t let go of things easily in this family! Grandma Shirley came with us for our Regina adventure. She really enjoyed time with members of my family, in this case Stu and my sister Margie. Margie often compliments me by calling me a Rockstar. I love that. It takes one to know one.Jilly loves her Grandma Shirley almost as much as I do. Friday morning my sisters and I visited our uncle and aunt. Their home behind us is a holder of many memories and they will be moving from it soon. This was a tough but beautiful visit as we were invited into their aging journey for a bit of time. This picture is not complete. Our sister Janet has a passion for music, performance and family. She lives in Vancouver. If she lived nearer she would have been with us and this visit would have been even more special. I wasn’t shopping for an air bnb with a pool table but it was an excellent thing, it got lots of use. It looks like Linda and I were enjoying watching.Russ and I visited a friend at Wascana Centre, there was lots more time with Jill, shopping and then another pre show gathering with Mark and Linda.Friday night Russ and I saw the show again, this time Morgan, Jordanna and Grandma Shirley crowded into our little Bronco and headed to the theatre with us. In this picture my cousin Lisa is to Shirley’s side.Intermission time….we caught up with the Mayor of Who-ville and his wife.Yertle the Turtle with her fans…….Mark, Linda and Shirley.About 5 years ago Jill and Gina did a special 4H project in drama. The woman beside Jill was their project leader. We loved knowing Jody and Marlee were coming to celebrate this musical theatre experience with Jill. There are some fun inside jokes between Morgan and Jill. I sense there was something in the works here. Although Jordanna confessed to not being a real fan of musical theatre, she says she enjoyed the show.Beside me are my cousin Lisa and her husband Brent. My Nanny and Lisa’s Grandma were sisters. It is really nice to have these extended family connections and with Lisa being in Regina we have the chance to nurture that. We had a good visit back at the Air bnb after the show.Saturday morning Russ got up at 5am, got Morgan and Jordanna awake and going and they headed back to the ranch. They had a trailride to get to. In this picture Russ is modelling his new chaps. They were made especially for him in Nova Scotia and came in the mail this week. The pockets are large; his pocket knife, Copenhagen and phone are now safely accessible. They are alot lighter than his bulletproof other pair.This is Sunday morning on our way to the Hubbards for the 2nd day of the trail ride. Coffee is helping drive. By the end of this day there was no way that we would happily sit that close to the dogs. They had come across a dead skunk towards the end of the trail and each wanted to make sure that Russ didn’t miss out on the experience. They each had a roll in it. As of now, 24 hours and three trips through a dug out later, they still have a slight smell to them.Our donkey “Elton John” was part of the action. Morgan rode him up to the breakfast buffet and then back to the pasture. I wonder how Sharon felt about this? She and Bill work so hard hosting people in their yard all weekend. I often wonder if Sharon says to herself, “when are these people going to go home?!?!?!?” She never gives off that vibe, but I think in her shoes I would feel that way. She said to me yesterday, “if we stopped doing this (this was the 24th annual ride), when would we all get together?” She values human connection so much. Bill takes care of trail life and it is all very, very good.I rode Dick and felt pretty darn relaxed on him. When we are trail-riding random conversations often happen as horses cross paths over the miles we are on the trail. I had a few really good moments of visiting with Laurie, he told me his Dad (pictured here in the foyer at the Conexus centre with his great grand-daughter) really enjoyed Jill’s show. He reflected that his Dad had never been to a musical before so he just wasn’t sure what he would think. He was happy to hear that his Dad really did enjoy it. I found myself pondering with Laurie just how awesome it is that an 86 year old man can try something new and be open hearted. The show was crazy, non stop color and loud beautiful orchestrations, a typical Seuss storyline full of odd but deeply meaningful words and ideas ….. all of that was a good experience for Uncle George. Thats cool. Russ brought “Elton John” our donkey to the trailride figuring we could pay this girl to ride him and get a start on training him. I thought this was a terrible idea. It turns out I was wrong. Clara, who turned 14 this day, rode our donkey with great success for two full days and said it was fun. Clara is Jordanna’s little sister.
As we were getting ready for bed last night Russ asked me, “who was the coolest person you visited with today?” He has never asked me that before. After a minute I said, “Braylee.” This three year old girl and I have connected. Here we are using Elton John’s ear as a microphone and singing “Crocodile Rock”. She seems to appreciate all the goofy stuff I come up with. (This is a 18 second video, click on the arrow for it to play if you are not already totally maxed out by this blog.)When the ride was over it took me a bit to get off my mule. I stopped mid-way and decided to channel my inner trick rider, I tried to smile like Jordanna does and fling my arms wide like she does. Laurie was there and told me to hold the pose. It was fun. (Full disclosure….while Jordanna does this at about 50 miles per hour, my friend Dick the mule was standing stock still!)Meanwhile in Toronto, Gina is living a combination of all of this, working with those beautiful medieval times horses amid the rigors of a show and like the trail ride, in the midst of a real heatwave. We love the pictures she sends us.
That was the week. Thank you for hanging in. It has lots of details that not everyone would give a hoot about but it is a record for us of a very important set of days. We have so much to say thank you for.
As Far As The Eye Can See 