rain – As Far As The Eye Can See

Mid May, 2025 – Bar MW Post

Its now Friday May 16th and I am pretty gripped by a big feeling of thankfulness. We are on our third day with rain, it is a humongous blessing. Tomorrow our friends arrive from Halifax to spend two weeks with us, doing what we do, we enjoy them, ranching is more fun when we get to experience it through their eyes and the senses of humor they bring. Here are a few glimpses of the developments around since I last posted.

We lease a chunk of land from the government that has an invasive weed on it called “leafy spurge.” We have sprayed this weed with chemicals in the past but it just came back. It was then decided that our next best option would be to graze sheep on it, sheep will happily eat leafy spurge. Last week we picked up the sheep we contracted to buy, and we are now shepherds!!! This picture is in the moments after we unloaded them. They will stay at home until we have the chance to get the right fence going at the pasture. Our dog “Coffee” seems to be thrilled with this new addition to the ranch, her genetics clearly have her as a sheep dog. She stands in the middle of them and just wags her tail. It is so cute. Yesterday I caught her in a stalking pose and wondered what she was up to, I had never seen her do that before. I looked a little more widely and saw what she saw, the sheep were out. She was about to round them up.

Anytime a few errands need to be done in Estevan it means a get away for Grandma Shirley and I. We always include a stop at Tim Hortons.

A couple weeks ago I was visiting with an old friend at a funeral lunch. I asked her about her renewed health, she told me about her gym routine. I have been wanting this for myself. I believe that strength training is the best way to get bone density and keep me ranching for a long time. I reached out to her and said, ” I haven’t talked myself into this yet, but if I do, would you help me get started at the gym?” She generously said yes. I am a complete newbie at this but she is so fun to spend time with at 5:30 in the morning. I am feeling really good about it. I didn’t see this coming.

Morgan’s friend Tad joined us for an evening round up on Friday last week. I believe the original plan was for him to come over so that he and Morgan could podcast. However, there was this job to do first and he good naturedly joined in. Tad is the cowboy on the road.

A beautiful evening sky with the cows just about in the gate. During the chase we discovered one of our calves had gone blind and was malnourished. These are hard moments. We are really lucky to have found that our cousins Jenn and Marty have the patience and interest to nurture calves like this one. For many years now we have called them when we have a calf that needs extra time that we just don’t have on an ongoing basis. They have so many success stories. Marty came from their acreage near Estevan to pick this calf up the day after we found it.

In this picture Clare is in the foreground. We were getting these cow calf pairs home to the yard pasture so that we could tag, brand and vaccinate them the next day.

This was a “branding” organized on short notice. Russ was getting anxious about the amount of grass we have at home so put a rush on getting cow calf pairs to summer pastures. We pulled together enough friends for a small group of calves to get branded on what was a very hot and windy afternoon. In this picture Russell has castrated, Laurie is preparing to brand, Clare has applied the “deadman” a collar that acts to restrain the calf and Cassia is juggling needles and taggers. I was guarding the opening to the calf pen. Maybe because of the extreme wind I was not too busy, the calves mostly stayed put so i was able to sneak close to get this picture.

Life is always better when Laurie is near.

Sunday brought a bigger herd and a bigger crew. Before we got going Cassia had a few moments to herself and she chose to sit with the calves. I thougth this might have been one of the cutest pictures I have taken this year.

In this moment I was not concerned about fashion and it shows. Morgan told me I look like Red Green. I am not exactly sure who that is but I know its not a compliment. Here is a selfie of me at my post on Sunday. On this day, with almost double the calves in the pen and alot more movement I was kept on my toes. It was fun.

On Saturday Morgan was the lone roper, on Sunday we had four ropers, with three working at a time, this is Trevor Gordon. He has roped a calf by both back heels and is dragging it to the area where Clare or Morgan will apply the neck restraint. This looks harsh. I was pretty on edge the first time I saw this practice at a neighbors branding a few years ago. At the time we were doing all this kind of work at our ranch with a tipping table as part of our chute system. It was slower, less fun and more monotonous. I have become okay with the method pictured here and the drag that is part of it. At the gym Kim has got me doing situps on an incline bench. She has it set very steep, I can only do a max of 4 at a time right now, but it feels so good to let gravity stretch out my back. I find myself thinking about that as these calves get a stretch. When all the treatments are done and the rope is released they pop up and go to find their Moms, showing no sign of harm. After a short truck ride they will have an entire summer at their Mama’s side under the prairie sky. They thrive on Mama’s milk, green grass and sunshine, their vaccines protect them and they are much less likely to be stolen with that brand on them. I think about all that.

In this picture we have two stations going, Kenzie and Clare are applying the deadman restraints, Trevor and Tyce on horseback are keeping ropes tight as the calves get handled, Laurie is cleaning the iron and Cassia is enroute to the supply table to refill taggers. With three ropers the ground crew was kept very busy.

After the branding work was done and a snack was shared at our table the work of the ranch was waiting. Cassia stayed to help. Here she took a time of waiting around to check cows from a new viewpoint.

I got a message from my sister early on Sunday, saying she had her mind on the women in our lives as Mother’s Day dawned. She had her breakfast on this plate and remembered them. The plate is something I made for a Christmas gift. All four of us sisters have a copy now. As for us at the ranch, we had decided to delay celebrating Mothers Day as we were branding and just couldn’t do both well. However, Sunday night I took my plate to the grief support group I am co-leading, there was “homework”, bringing this to share was part of mine.

Wednesday morning brought with it rain. It was such a welcome sight. It meant for some wet conditions. I got called with a request to deliver dry gloves. This allowed a good close up picture of these two in the pasture.

We had decided to celebrate Mother’s Day by going out for lunch with Grandma Shirley on Wednesday. We figured we could really relax only after getting the newly branded calves and their Mamas to their pastures and that meant Wednesday was the day. When I was deciding what to wear I spotted some old t shirts in my closet. They were given to me for Christmas about 15 years ago. The black one says “Morgan’s Mama Bear” with a picture of a sherriff’s badge on it. The green one says “Jill’s Number 1 Mom” with a picture of a lion and Gina’s says “Gina’s Mom” with a picture of a dog. I decided to wear all three in layers and put a sweatshirt over top and then slowly remove layers as lunch progressed. But it didn’t quite go that way. Russ insisted on a photoshoot by the banner at the Flying M. It was fun.

It was heartwarming to have my Bronco full as Russ, Morgan, Clare, Shirley and I left the restaurant and headed to Jean’s ice cream stand. It was cold and rainy but we were celebrating. Afterwards we ate ice cream in the car, cruised around town and did an errand together. I loved it. We dropped Shirley off eventually and headed home. There was goofiness that resulted from the music we loved and this is when the following picture was taken. Russ was driving dramatically and Morgan was into it.

Later that day I entered my final distance to complete this Mother’s Day virtual challenge, something I signed up for in an attempt to honor my Mom by taking care of myself. It had some really nice perks to it and they will be sending me a medal in the mail.

The three days with rain and wind have meant there are puddles all over which is wonderful but also the cows gave been stirred up and not doing so well with their job of mothering. The crew found lots of troubles like cows and calves separated by fences. The calf pictured below was brand new and abandoned. Its ear was bleeding leading Russ to think that a coyote had been nibbling on it. When he and Clare found it he called me to prepare the dog room for the arrival of a cold wet hungry 600 lb calf. He carried it in and then had to sit down and rest. It is huge. Clare stayed in and took care of it. It needed the attention that Clare had for it.

The linoleum is hard for calves to stand on so when this calf, whom Clare named “Clifford the big red Calf,” started perking up Clare guided it out to the mat in the porch. This video shows it taking its first real steps.

A couple hours later the guys came to pick up Clifford and take her back to the pasture, not very optimistic that the Mama cow would seek and find it. It was quite a load for Morgan to take down the stairs, making me appreciate Russ even more for the trip up the stairs. This video shows Clare’s progress with Clifford and the trip out.

The following video documents the moments when it was discovered after lunch that Clifford was in fact not motherless. It was quite a good news story that “Costco” had come to claim Cliford.

It’s now Saturday evening as I write, this cattle move happened last night, a herd of cows and calves came home for branding tomorrow. It was a crazy move, cows were moving fast, things went wrong, things went right, it was all hands on deck and Clare was worth her weight in gold. I took this picture from my spot where I was perched to turn the cows west towards home.

I found this amusing….Judy Blume and Tanya Tucker were having a water break with Coffee dog.

A good picture of Clare hard at work.

This was taken this morning at the Regina Airport, the Fentons have arrived! A fresh chapter of our spring season begins. From Halifax to Regina by 10:05am local time. Quite a day for them.

Signing off from the Bar MW😘

Reporting in ….

Our days at the Bar MW this week have been a mixture of many things. The picture round-up starts with a cartoon that Russell posted on his social media. He related to it so strongly and he shared it with some definite emotion. Our corner of the province had some soaking rains this week. The timing is poor for the grain farmers trying to harvest but it means alot for pasture conditions and taking down the fire risks. Around here we are all feeling very grateful.

Another answer to our needs was the chance for Russ to get in very quickly to have a root canal done. On Tuesday he sent me this selfie from the dental chair while I waited for him at the Estevan library. He started to feel relief very quickly.

Jenn came down to pick up her dog Paisley whom we had been dogsitting and while she was with us she cut Morgan’s hair. She is doing alot to keep him comfortable this summer!

The next day my sister in law Tammy and I went to Regina. While Tammy was in her appointment I whipped over to Jill’s apartment for a visit. As I pulled away from there afterward I felt I had just had the best part of my day, just being with Jill was good for my soul. Later Tammy and I dropped into Starbucks and I caught this picture of Jill listening to a customer. This is very true to who Jill is.

While I was in Regina Russell hosted new friends we became connected to through one of our family in Nova Scotia. Charles, a strawberry and sweet potato farmer, had come to Saskatchewan with his wife to visit their family in Estevan. Before heading to Halifax on Thursday Charles squeezed in a visit to the ranch to meet us and see what we do. He brought his son-in-law and grandson. They helped Russ check pastures. Charles told Russell it was a very good day.

Meanwhile Morgan was doing something he loves. He spends a few days in the summer helping at the government community pasture. He took this picture from on top of his horse in his role as heeler while Francis treated a cow for footrot.

This is a screenshot from our family chat, not a live video link. Those of us who watched it know that the fun fact Gina shared in this part of the audition intro is that she can hotwire a Case 2390 tractor.

Sterling productions released this promo shot this week. Jill’s play is coming up and we are really looking forward to seeing it!

Russ is working on a fairly large fencing project. While dealing with posts he came across this survey stake, marking the boundary line of the pasture. He says that is good evidence he is building at the right spot! The stake is dated 1959. How very cool eh?!

My sister in law Tammy organized a really nice family gathering in Estevan for Valarie, (Russell and Tammy’s sister), who celebrated her 60th birthday on Friday. We really enjoyed being with our extended family circle and friends of the family to mark this milestone with Val.

After the party and some back to school shopping we headed up to Arcola for the rodeo. We had a very important rodeo act to see, the kick-off, which was the Truco Trick Riders. Morgan’s girl-friend Jordanna is seen here, I must give Russ credit for the cool framing of the picture.

Here is Russ and I at the rodeo. It was a bit of a painful night for me. I am an absolute chicken, I am so uncomfortable watching the roughstock events, I mostly look away. I do all the running for food, beverages, garbage disposal, anything to give me an excuse to leave my seat and miss some of those moments when humans hit the ground near the mighty hooves of powerful animals. If I could go to the bathroom on others behalf I would. Why even attend you might ask? Well this evening, the answer started with Jordanna and ended with Tenley.

This is Tenley. She has been a part of our family for several years now in her official role as one of Gina’s besties. We have the hugest soft spot for her in our hearts. Tenley was one of four women doing bronc riding at the rodeo. We needed to stay and watch her give it her all.

Tenley shared this picture with me. It gives me goosebumps. She is brave and so strong in everyday life, this picture makes that extra clear. Tenley had to wait a long time in the chute before they opened that gate. The announcer said she must have ice water in her veins. Noting her presence as she waited through a long delay he said she was “cool as a cucumber, she’s the coolest cucumber in the fridge, nothings bothering her at all.” She had a good ride and stayed safe. We were very thankful. When she sent me this picture she said, “sitting in that chute is a feeling I can’t explain. You truly feel as though you have ice water running through your veins!”

Saturday things came to a bit of a standstill for me personally. I was struggling. I simply cannot write a blog about this life and only tell a partial tale, it feels dishonest. I live with humans and sometimes things get really hard. I feel my feelings very hugely at times. We are working through stuff. The wisdom below sits right with me.

A little comic relief. Russell asked me to take this picture to commemorate an important day. He had decided that this was his last day wearing this work shirt. He has had it a long time and its special to him. My sister gave it to him. At one point he outgrew it and gave it to a friend, then Russ slimmed down and the friend outgrew it and gave it back to him. Its travelled many roads with these guys. Only one of six tears is visible in this picture.

The job of the day at the ranch on Saturday was to trim horses hooves. Our friend Layne has a hydraulic tipping table he hauls here and he sets up shop. Friends with horses and donkeys come over and get their animals done too. Its a big day with lots of work and lots of visiting. In the chute at this point is our donkey, you might remember we named him “Elton John.” He is as cool as his name suggests.

Today the guys were up early with a fun plan in their minds. We had friends coming over to bring the last calves of 2023 home to be tagged, needled, branded, and castrated. We usually do that in the pole shed with a small crew and a tipping table for the calves. Morgan requested that we do this last small group like an old fashioned branding, Russell agreed. It was indeed fun. It seemed less gentle on the animals in one sense, that was iffy for me. But there were perks to this other way too. The calves were not separated from their Mamas as long and they were soothed to see them nearby it seemed.

Morgan and Carter Ewart were on horseback and doing all the roping. Russ, Emerson, Laurie and Tyce saw that all the jobs were done for each calf. Coffee dog is seen here, she was not terrifically helpful, Maddie got dog of the day today.

Carter is seen here dragging a calf down to the guys. Tyce is ready with a piece of equipment that will temporarily and painlessly keep the calf immobilized, its called a “deadman”. Tyce is very experienced with how to do this work and was invaluable today. He is Jordanna’s Dad.

Emerson was the runner, bringing needles and tags to the team.

Jen was the operating room nurse, filling taggers, needles and the de-nutter. In the background is Laurie’s son and his family. We had a good visit.

It was a very diverse week at the Bar MW. I think in everything that transpired, from parties to appointments, to time with our kids, and big jobs getting tackled, hurt feelings, rodeo feelings, much animal action and everything in between, those five words can apply powerfully, “we believe in each other.”

And it was glorious….

9am Monday – A quick blog post about yesterday, again, little writing and mostly pictures. I didn’t think I would get to do this today but what I am needed for outside has been delayed. The guys have some calving troubles to deal with before we put a small group, 40 cows and calves thru the chute, maybe I can get this done.

If you read the post “horsing around” you will know that the cowboys brought 80 pairs down the road to home late on Saturday. Those 80 pairs were the focus of our attention on Sunday.