May 28. Riding Winddancer !

We enjoyed some lovely time with our horses this past week. The weather has been sunny, but not very warm. Perfect to be out on a horseback ride. The tall fall grass is still dominant tan coloured in the forest, soon enough it will be all green until late fall. We spotted a newborn Bambie, walking beside its mom White Tale Deer, but still wobbly, only as big as a small puppy.

May 21. Rodeo Season has started !

The Rodeo Season in Alberta, Canada has started. We went to the May long weekend rodeo in Caroline, a 40 minutes drive from our ranch. This is an amature rodeo, still lots of action, beautiful horses, happy crowd, sunshine and lots of cowboy hats !

May 14. Horseback Riding in the Canadian Forest !

We had some wonderful warm and sunny days in Alberta, Canada. Going on a horseback ride in the forest is lovely; the wonderful smell of trees ; the horses moving steadily, stepping over fallen trees; trotting or canter on wider trails. Sure makes one happy.

May 9. Navajo and view to the Rocky Mountains !

Navajo is checking, if we come with the oats bucket !  Very nice, sunny days we had recently. The cooler mornings make for a nice view to the distant Rocky Mountains. In that direction (South West) would be Banff behind the first high mountain range. 
It has been getting greener and greener. The trees show the first green buds and tiny leaves, the grass is growing to please the horses and Longhorns. The horses are still shedding winter hear when we brush them, the nights are not very warm yet, around 5 C . The afternoons, when sunny, are very nice and warm, going up to 20 C.

April 23. A little Texas Longhorn girl !

This is one of our cute little Texas Longhorn calves. She is very lively and always interested when we come and feed or visit the cattle. Her mom is all black and she has the black body with lots of white speckles. As cattle are born, they don't show any horns yet, just a little bump where they will grow. By summer the calves will show a bit of horns sticking out. Texas Longhorn is the oldest breed in America, going back to the first cows brought by Christopher Columbus. A lot of breeders are in Texas, some in other US states and a few in Canada. Most cattle ranchers prefer other breeds, because they are beefier, mature faster and therefore better for meat production.

The Longhorns can come in all different pattern and colors. Sometimes they look a lot like mom, next year's calf might look very different though.

April 16. Logging Truck on route in the Foothills !

Logging in Central Alberta is one of the economies. There is vast boreal forest in the foothills, all public forest. The trees harvested are about 50 to 80 years old, on patches similar to a midsized pasture. The harvested spots are reforested with young pine trees. The trails they are using to get to the wood are taken out again after. Because of only having dirt trails going into the lots, the busy season is in winter, when the ground is frozen for the heavy trucks to drive on. Now, in spring, they can only get to wood that is close to a regular gravel road.
This photo was taken on the forestry trunk road North of the small hamlet of Nordegg. Marty drives a Kenworth Logging Truck, delivers wood to the saw mill in Sundre. Driving out in the West Country he often spots wildlife. Such as wild horses, moose, wildcats, bears (not in winter), elk, cougars.

April 9. Sunrise at the ranch !

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend ! Our weather in Western Canada has been nice, especially today, sun and clear blue sky all day long. We had a mixture of clouds and sun yesterday, which created a beautiful sunrise at seven o'clock in the morning. The days are so nice and long now, the sun sets after eight in the evening. The two ten days old calves are doing great and a couple of days ago, the third one was born, still sleeping much more than the older ones, but soon will run and play with them too. Most of the winter snow has gone, only a bit left in the shaded forest. The very first green grass is starting to grow within the tan fall grass and the horses nibble on that eagerly. The two sand hill cranes have returned from the South and made themselves at home on the pasture and in the corrals right away, next to the horses or Longhorns.