YAY!

We are alsmost done with this lambing group!
We have had a good lambing.
It will be at least another six weeks before we are doing this again!
So, enjoy these photos now:

The Jet Set..

Today Eric and I hung out at the High Prairie Airport:

We enjoyed the lounge facilities:

We came to watch the planes landing:

Then, this really nice nine seater came rolling onto the plane parking area:

And, out came this little boy,

accompanied by his mom and two pilots.

They came for George.

And, George is now really very happy

as he has very own little boy!

Together they can play in the puddles,

and get muddy paw prints all over their clean clothes.

Together they can go on mountain adventures..

 and when George is big he will become the protector,

the bear scare away-er,

but mostly importantly,

a friend.

And, then it was time,

to say goodbye.

Bye George,

you be a good boy!

Thanks, Kitt for the coffee and croissants.

And, away they went.

Move over survivor man...

Our 4H club has an Outdoor living project.
So, Roy joined.
He loves these programs on TV such as Suviving disaster, Mantracker, Bear Gryllis etc

This weekend they had a campout!
For our non Canadian friends,

it is still winter here!
We have snow and its -11C.

Eric joined in all this fun.

So, this kids had to make their own shelter,
build  a fire,

gather wood,

worked on their bows,

catch dinner,
cook the 2 squirrels they caught and divide the spoils from the hunt with 11 people!

They got slightly hyperthermic,
came home hungry,
and were totally exhausted.

Yep.
A great time was had by all!

This is Eric's nest:

Roy...mountain man

Roy's shelter:

Banock for breakfast:

Learning how to catch supper:

Some more learning:

The long walk home:

 

Collies

Echo

The border collies on our ranch are also a very important part of our enterprise. Eric and I have been working, training and breeding border collies for well over 25 years now.
In our younger days we were more fanatical about "proving" how good our dogs were.
We attended sheepdog trials all over the world.
We were actually pretty good at this.
However, with time constraints and our move to Canada we have taken a break from trials.
(We would like to get back into trialing some time...)
That does not mean that we do not work our dogs.
Our dogs get to do all the daily chores here on the ranch.

The dogs ahve to work the ewes with lambs, keep them away from the feeders, gather, sort, shepherd and all the types of jobs they love to do.

The winter is a quiet time for the dogs, the ewes are corraled and there is not that much work for them to do.

Every evening the collies are either taken for a walk, or run next to a vehicle (trike, gator or truck) or go riding with us.

These outings are fun times for the dogs.
The young dogs get to herd each other:



Solo and Echo ( the two brothers, from Lad)

They get to do fun things like make snow angels:
 

Streak, (half sister to Kim), our snow angel special.

and  pull funny faces:



Sheego ( half sister to the brothers)

Others like to stick there nose  into my camera lens:

Kim, sister to the snow angel Streak.

 Others like to strike a pose:

Sheila ( my "go to" dog when I need extra moving power with the sheep)

Some give me "that" look when my camera comes out: 



Zac, 10 years old and going strong.

And others, like my top dog Lad,

 manages to avoid this photo session altogether.

Uhmm, not so on guard..

On guard



4am

What I neglected to tell you in my previous post is that I sometimes take my camera out with me to attempt to take pictures of my nightly escapades.
Here is what I did this week:

Our little house on the prairie..

The northern lights above our barn:

But, not today.
Today, it is snowing
and I am now blogging at 4.13am.
Now, that you now what I do at 3am...

Feel free to post a comment what YOU do at this time!

3am

I have the graveyard shift.

It is my time.
At 3am my alarm goes off, however my inner clock wakes me up at 2.47am.

I get dressed,
check the outside temperature,

add another layer and then head out to the barn.

Our barn is north of our house,
while I walk out I stop to admire the display of northern lights.
The snow crunches under my boots.
Molly barks,

I tell her to hush.

I turn the barn lights on and listen carefully if I can hear the soft grunts the ewes make to their newborn lambs.

I check the ewes and newborns.
Decide who needs to go into the warming jugs first.
I quietly pick up the lamb, the ewe gets a bit concerned but soon follows me to the jugs.
The rest of the ewes stay sleeping or chewing their cud.
I step around them with the lamb and ewe follows.

The lamb bleats, the ewe responds.
At the jugs, I place the lamb in one, the ewe follows.
Then off for the next one and the next.

Once all are in,
I check all the other newly borns,
everything gets fresh water and some hay.
The pups get a pat on the head, and some water.

I turn off the lights, leave the barn.
Admire the night sky.
I go into the warm house,

its 4.15am.

I sit on the couch, find the news channel and watch the news.
After an hour the news repeats itself, I drift off to sleep,

in the background the whispers of Syria, dead civilians and a tragic bus accident in Europe...

A typical night in the lambing barn.

Some are leaving..

One left last weekend,

 Three will be going to their new flocks tomorrow..

It will be quieter in the barn,
a bit less rough and tumble.

Cause and effect

If we do this:

Then this is the effect:

Just so you know!

The cuteness of this...

I have been wanting to blog about this for a while now,
but never had my camera handy to document this.
However, yesterday I came prepared...
Let me first explain a little,
so that you have some background information.

We lambed in December/ January
and we are lambing now again (had about 20 today..)
In between these two period we had a "rest".
Whenever we plan to rest,
something always happens.
So, a yearling ewe decided to lamb
(who IS your daddy???).
As this lamb was too young to mix in with the first lambing group,
so  it stayed in the barn, with its mother and some extra sheep for the company.
Those extra sheep, were actually my "puppy bonding to sheep" group.
The ten pups have always been with these sheep,
the day they ventured out of the whelping box, they saw sheep.

They have never been without sheep.

So, this lamb also grew up in this unusual situation.
She ( the lamb) has never been without puppies.
This lamb thinks it is perfectly normal to be surrounded by 10 puppies.
Sometimes the pups and the lambs play chase (as lambs do) and everyone then races up and down the barn.
When it is time for the puppies and lamb to nap,
they all creep through the small little puppy door of the whelping crate and settle down to snooze together.

The mother of the lamb will sometimes lay down beside the box,
while her baby is sleeping in the lions den.

I am sorry to overwhelm you with so many photos
but this is just so cute...