So proud!

Eric and I are so proud of what Jess has accomplished.
Even if she had she not been recognized by others, for her dedication and ethics,
we are still proud of her.

Today, she received the Premier's Award:

"17-year-old Jess Verstappen has been selected by 4-H Alberta to receive its highest honour."

Rod Carlyon, Agriculture and Rural Development, presents Jess Verstappen with the 4-H Premier’s Award trophy

"Each year, one outstanding 4‑H member is chosen at the Provincial 4‑H Selections program to represent 4‑H as the Premier's Award Recipient. Winner represents Alberta 4‑H members at the following year's Provincial 4‑H Leaders' Conference and Selections Award Breakfast. In addition, they will attend one event per region at the request of Regional 4‑H Specialists. Highlights include being a guest speaker at various agriculture events, and meeting the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Premier of Alberta"

Not only did she receive this prestigious award, she was also selected to be a 4-H Ambassador!

Here is the link to the press release:
HERE

I do laugh at times,
I look at Eric and I look at me,

and then wonder how we managed to produce her!

Anyway, Congratulations Jess.
We know how you did this all alone, 

we know your dedication and hard work,
and we know you have loved being part of 4-H!

 We are proud of you,
simply for the wonderful person you are!
You do make a difference in the world.

Catch up...

 Much has happened these last few weeks,
 it is  time to play blog catch up.
I have some random updates, some news, some pictures for this blog.
It may not all be in a logical order,
but that is probably due to being tired.
So, I will list some things in points.
When I am tired, I like point form,
it creates order
in my foggy brain.

1. The end of lambing is in sight, about another 70 to go.

1a. Most of the lambs were born on the first cycle.

2. We are a third done calving.

3. In about 2 weeks we should be having a foal.

4. In about 3-4 weeks we should be getting some sarplaninac puppies

5. The snow is gone

6. We have had 2 days of spring

7. Vuk is awesome

8. We attended the local amateur rodeo, to hell with lambing..

9. My despondent mood is over.

10. The mud is drying.
11. We may have snow on Sunday

12. Eric is Edmonton

13. Northern lights have been very pretty lately.

14. I have a new lens for my camera, and that takes some getting used to.

This past week has been very busy.
We decided we needed to do some spring cleaning within our sheep flock.
I was radical in culling:
 Any sheep, 

no matter, 

what age, what breed, or if they were my favorites had to go if they:

 did not raise a lamb,
had a dead lamb,
too skinny,
looks weird,

jumps fences.. etc
out she went !
No mercy!

So, we had a liner come up and load finished lambs, cull rams, goats and the cull ewes.

Almost, 180 left.

And, that cleans up nicely.

Loading in the sun.

Bella getting up close with sheep..

Some of the animals in the barn:

Dorset type lamb

Fluffy, cat napping

Hello baby

Where do the eagles go?

We live in an area with a lot of big lakes.
Our MD is called the MD of Big Lakes.
With all these lakes we have a lot of water birds,
seagulls are not uncommon here.
The most majestic of them all, is the bald eagle.

Huge, powerful and symbolic.

Every year we see numerous bald eagles on our ranch.
However, I always wonder where they go in the winter?
We see them all summer and late into the fall,
yet in the dead of winter,
when the lakes are frozen over,
they seem to disappear.
Where do they go?
Do they simply live off road kill?

They miraculously reappear,
just like clockwork,
 around calving time,
feasting on afterbirths.

Here are some eagles from this  and previous years:

 Where you find eagles,
you also often find ravens,
smart, inventive and loud.
Although missing they iconic nature of the eagle,
the raven makes up for it in its intelligence.