Dec. 31. Happy New Year !

We wish you all a wonderful 2011 !

The weather this past week has been the usually cold for this time a year (-15 etc.) , but on Christmas Day a warm, soft wind from the West brought up the temperature to +8 ! We spent all afternoon outside, visited and fed the Longhorns and horses, ate sandwiches on the porch and sitting in the sun, did archery and had to watch the arrow's landing closely, so we would find them again in the snow.

The differences in temperatures always amazes us for the animals. As long as horses, cows and calves have plenty of hay or winter grass to eat and long hair, they do just fine. The constant digestion of hay or grass produces warmth in their body and the long hair traps air within and insulates them. It would be wrong to blanket the horses, that way the blanket would flatten the hair and the insulation doesn't work. There is only a few horses that get blankets on in Alberta, but they need to be shaved first. Tonight should be another cold night, the forecast is down to - 25. We will have our wood burning stove going all the time !

Dec. 23. Merry Christmas to you !

Our dear friends from far and near, we wish you a wonderful Christmas Season with your loved ones !
Here in Alberta, the weahter is not too cold today and should be even warmer tomorrow on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. We will enjoy the time being outdoors with our animals, feeding and visiting the cattle and horses, go skating with friends at an outdoors rink, enjoy time as a family and watch the cute bunnies.

Dec. 20. Tashunka !

Tashunka is enjoying the beautiful sunny morning after a week of overcast days with some snowfall. It is cold, - 17 C, but his thick coat keeps him warm. He was pawing through the light snow for grass and has some in his mouth. Tashunka is a Native American (Lakota) word for "horse", Shunka is the word for "dog" and Tashunka meant "big dog". He is already 22 years old, but still very fit and a great horse to ride. We bought him as a five years old, so he has spent many years with us. Always has been a very lively horse and age hasn't changed that at all. He likes to be the leadhorse with a group of riders, he knows his job very well. We love him and hope he has many years left with us.

Dec. 12. Feeding the Longhorns !

Where is the yummie hay ? Our Longhorns know the sound of the hay feeding pick up truck, when it runs they call out for their hay. We drive onto the pasture to different spots over the winter and lay out a full big hay bale in a long row, so all the cows can get easily to their feed. The cattle have an order in the herd, so if would be only one bale set up, some cows would have to wait until the top ones filled their tummies. In this picture is Cupid getting her first bite from the not unrolled bale. Cupid was born at our ranch in '97. She has a great calf every year. This years calf of hers is a very dark colored girl, we plan to keep her.

Dec. 5. Beautiful winter sunsets !

Wintertime is always great for beautiful evening skies. The sun sets early, at 4.30 p.m. for now, but already towards February the days will be much longer. This picture is from the horse pasture, behind the cabin, facing the North pasture and the Ram mountain to the West. Yesterday we moved the horses from the pasture across the road to this one. They will have plenty of grass under a layer of light snow.
The dark evenings are lightened up by all the outdoors lights, it is lovely to drive through Rocky Mountain House and see all the decorated houses. We have a few lights up too on our porch and it is so pretty, looks like little stars shining in the dark. The nights are quite dark now, that it is New Moon, but they are bright closer to Full Moon, so much that one can see the cattle move in the valley pasture in the middle of the night.