Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Saturday morn...

Sandhill crane (Antigone Canadensis)​

So up and gone at the crack before dawn...

Here's some photograph clues...

Where did we go and whatever were Rick and I doing???

Tiger Lilies amongst other wild flowers​

Betcha cannot guess...eh!!

HINT: Involved some work and some play...where we left footsteps to take photos...

​

These ones are from home...at home...

Orchard...with a visitor seeking a more plentiful water source...
Getting dry here too!

Ribbit! Croak!!​

Laugh break...

So like when has one indulged just a little too much...overdone it a bit on the lush grasses and forages...well...??? When should you quit EATING pasture??? WELL?? Know thy limit on consumption of goods...

Oh Mom...you just had to have that extra mouthful!!

​

Lamb weights yesterday; Èva in @ 23 pounds...Èd @ 25 pounds and wait for it...whomping Èdy is now THIRTY POUNDS!!! Taking after her Mommy perhaps? She is so BIG (not even a month old yet...not till the thirteenth!) she could not be weighed in the lamb sling...she is up to the full adult sized sling...good GACK!

​

Where the lambs and lions lay...so like always, eh! ​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[drumstick diva]

Aha while mama is too round & full to rise to her feet, Lacey could be sniffing young lambs with no retribution.

 

[CanuckBock]

Lamb pile...piles of lambs...piled up and clogging the pathways...

Must be nice to just flop anywhere without a care...

Aha while mama is too round & full to rise to her feet, Lacey could be sniffing young lambs with no retribution.

A virtual free for all? Why yes...and Lacy also enjoys kissing lambs...

Typical love bug...

Can't seem to find a herbal store that sells VERBENA TEA...one I see in Ottawa but truly? Need to do more research. I don't really do herbal or health food stores and kind of blind sided me that there is no Verbena Tea now that Rick's Doctor has recommend he try it.

So far the anti histamines seem to be working ... so I guess if I bomb on the tea, no worries really.

 

[getaclue]

Lacy, and the lamb both seem to be enjoying their love bug time. That's so cute!

 

[CanuckBock]

Hmm...interesting...Rick's Doctor said a Lebanese colleague told him about the sleeping or relaxation properties of Verbena tea...this is some of what I have found.

Lemon Verbena is the plant used to make tea...Latin name is Aloysia citrodora.

Not usually started with seeds but cuttings, originally from South America but been in Europe since 1700's. Is a bush or tree type plant so makes sense why cuttings would be used. Won't for certain do well here...slightest of frosts and it drops it leaves...so very tender. A house plant perhaps??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysia_citrodora

Aloysia citrodora is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family Verbenaceae, native to western South America. Common names include lemon verbena and lemon beebrush. It was brought to Europe by the Spanish and the Portuguese in the 17th century and cultivated for its oil.

Anyway, don't have to grow Verbena that is used for tea...can use it already prepared if we can find some reliable source for it to try some out.

Very neat and kinda reminds me of the Japanese Tea Ceremonies...

Moroccan tea...lead to a lead on Maghrebi mint tea...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghrebi_mint_tea

Mint tea is central to social life in the Maghreb. The serving can take a ceremonial form, especially when prepared for a guest. The tea is traditionally made by the head male in the family and offered to guests as a sign of hospitality. Typically, at least three glasses of tea are served, and it is considered impolite to refuse it.

The tea is consumed throughout the day as a social activity, with tea bars filling a similar social function to alcohol drinking establishments in Europe and North America.

Since you leave the tea to continue to steep and proper etiquette means you have at least three cups...

Famous Maghrebi proverb...

The first glass is as gentle as life,
the second is as strong as love,
the third is as bitter as death.

So steep five minutes, I think if we ever get our grubby paws on Verbena tea...not boiling water, just about and for five minutes...no more!

​

Rick's doctor said they have been drinking Verbena tea (lemony??) for a very long time, traditional and an at the end of the day type ritual. It would make sense that it has some sedentary properties. I like learning about different cultures and certainly interested in herbs and teas and such.



Now my problem is I do have Verbena plants but so many varieties (hundreds I read) that are NOT the tea kinds...

Recall this click...that is Verbena plant on the top right side there!​

So no one wants to guess what Rick and I did on Saturday...someone post UNCLE so I can show you in photos what we were up to...no good but fun...

 

[getaclue]

UNCLE

 

[CanuckBock]

UNCLE

Good GACK...thank heavens...

Rick has just found this abandoned pile of DRY firewood...begging to be taken home...so we got up early as usual, I went out and let the ruminants out and the night prior...did up extra chores to ensure everyone would have food and water until we got back home from the excursion.

THE pile of firewood
​

Area was logged and is now at the point where tree planters come in and restock it with seedlings!

SEE...piles of wood are on a bit of an incline and all we had to do was load it!
​

I think I didn't get enough sleep as I was chuckling to myself half way thru the ordeal and Rick had to ask "WHAT?"

This is how goofy I was...I said to him it was "Durn lucky they had not cut up those SQUARE trees or this elevated location would not have helped us any...trying to roll square firewood down the incline." <---told you I was gettin' goofy!

​

NOT the dreaded SQUARE trees...yeh fit closer in the trailer but a royal female dawg to roll...square don't roll too good...warned you I was a goofy gonzo!

Yah...not a complete load but durn close, eh!
​

So I counted the empty walls of wood here at home...besides the loose pile we burned, I emptied about six walls of the twenty-one we have. So this load and two more should fill the six racks and make a decent pile or two for winter burning. YAH...working on getting ready for winter; one down, two to go!

​

That was the WORK part of Saturday and the PLAY part was eating lunch I had packed...hungry when you work like that but not hungry before you start heaving the wood... AND the other play part was Rick taking me down a different road just so I could click picks of Tiger Lilies that are out.

You gotta work at having fun and making work fun is what brings joy to your life!

I grew up being shown how to avoid work and I never bought in on that theory. If you can do something every single day, some sort of what would be termed WORK each and everyday and enjoy it for how it improves your life...you'll progress ever so well and it won't be painful like some people make it--dang near pulling teeth is the approach some use to "getting her done!" Rick sure knows how to make work fun and we've been having FUN living every since...firewood heaving...who knew what a blast that could be, eh.

​

Course he'll tell you about the first time we EVER went firewooding here in Alberta...I brought the dog Makins, the cat Turps, Alexander and yeh--a really, really good lunch got packed. Rick looked at the entourage I had brought and thought to himself..."Note to self: Need bigger trailer & truck to haul the firewood CREW to the site!"

So we have the big truck and the medium sized trailer (bigger one still at home but that one is for trucks and hay bales, feed and such)...and NO DD...I left the Girl dogs at home this time. We knew it was going to get HOT on Saturday (another 30C+) and the Girls just noted I was feeding them and off on some jaunt...happy to stay home where it is way cooler and quiet...napping ready for the next adventure!

It was only 23C at 10 a.m. when we put the last round into the trailer and shut the back gates on it...not too many bugs about (but did any of you catch the dragon fly in the one Crane photo?)...done deal and gone before the woods became alive with winged blood sucking biters.

See the bug guts thar below on the windshield...we sprayed up and wore long sleeved and panted outfits...besides taking your hide off on the loading of the firewood, cover up so no "meat" got exposed for bitings. Rick says we are so out there from human civilization (takes an hour & a half to two hours to get there from Pear-A-Dice) the insect population is pretty unsure exactly what we humans ARE...but still worth a tasting I am afraid!

We drove thru this and when we came to another clearing...
Voila...surprised the Sandhill Crane!
​

The Sandhill Crane was an added bonus. We have them down here too but I am always driving bus when I see one and not like I have my camera on me. We have them nesting here and we can hear them but someone's private property. So bonus was the clicks of that bird, eh!

So thank you @getaclue for Uncling me...so I can post this here & now...wee hee hee...

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Coffee on the Man Porch this morn...

What could be more relaxing a way to wake up than to witness Lacy and Emmy roughhousing as you try to sip your first cuppa?

Emmy gunning Lacy off across the Porch,
"MY toy...MINE!"​

Gotta admit they ARE cute...

You got a toy but I get the choice location!
Ready for pets...pet the PET!​

What a view! Thing ONE & Thing TWO! ​

Better click of the Verbena (on the bottom)...not the Lemon TEA kind at all!

As the lambs approach a month of age...time for schooling.

It is WAY easier to halter train a 30 pound lamb than to wrangle with a 300 pound ram. So lessons today... a good adjustable halter, one that does not get too tight as the lamb WILL struggle and you want that. Thinking in their terms, something foreign has attached itself to them and best they get untangled from it.

I really thought the ram lamb Èd would be the worst ​

Short gentle tugs, instant relief if they move towards the pressure...so very opposite to their thinking, "go to the pressure" not "move away from the pressure!" No more than 15 minutes and more like five the first time.

Èdy giving me slack in the line
GOOD GIRL!​

I don't ever let a lamb go struggling...you want them calm and still and then release them...so they are standing still not moving and then realize, "HEY!," they have the ability to go again. Let them kick up a fuss and get loose, you are only teaching them that struggling is rewarding. Calm, serene and then you can go off on your own again. See, not so bad a time...

The lamb to give me the most kick...
was Èva! ​

I guess Èva is the fighter...the littlest but the feistiest! Èd and Èdy were not happy to be haltered and led, but Èva was the least favourable one to oblige me. Go figure?



Boy oh boy...July is ALWAYS some month in Alberta...severe weather and you'd figure summer time would be kind. HA!

​

Was listening to the weather channel on the radio and I heard right...said to Rick, they said "Tornado warning!" and yup, I heard it. Nasty clouds, high humidity and it rained (no, it POURED) for an hour...we needed the moisture but there was small hail mixed in it too. Thankfully, we never got any funnel clouds, not too strong of winds and hail never became anything...thankfully!

Funny as we have never seen it broadcast on the TV like they did this time but there it was...over an hour every so often announcements interrupted the programs...pretty serious! Blessed and nothing happened! It does make you pause and consider...what if and be thankful for your blessings.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Akrnaf2]

Hmm...interesting...Rick's Doctor said a Lebanese colleague told him about the sleeping or relaxation properties of Verbena tea...this is some of what I have found.

Lemon Verbena is the plant used to make tea...Latin name is Aloysia citrodora.

Not usually started with seeds but cuttings, originally from South America but been in Europe since 1700's. Is a bush or tree type plant so makes sense why cuttings would be used. Won't for certain do well here...slightest of frosts and it drops it leaves...so very tender. A house plant perhaps??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysia_citrodora



Anyway, don't have to grow Verbena that is used for tea...can use it already prepared if we can find some reliable source for it to try some out.

Very neat and kinda reminds me of the Japanese Tea Ceremonies...

Moroccan tea...lead to a lead on Maghrebi mint tea...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghrebi_mint_tea



Since you leave the tea to continue to steep and proper etiquette means you have at least three cups...

Famous Maghrebi proverb...



So steep five minutes, I think if we ever get our grubby paws on Verbena tea...not boiling water, just about and for five minutes...no more!

​

Rick's doctor said they have been drinking Verbena tea (lemony??) for a very long time, traditional and an at the end of the day type ritual. It would make sense that it has some sedentary properties. I like learning about different cultures and certainly interested in herbs and teas and such.



Now my problem is I do have Verbena plants but so many varieties (hundreds I read) that are NOT the tea kinds...

Recall this click...that is Verbena plant on the top right side there!​

So no one wants to guess what Rick and I did on Saturday...someone post UNCLE so I can show you in photos what we were up to...no good but fun...

Shalom Tara
We use it a lot, for tea, in cold water with a slice of lemon, I had 2 plants, and YESTERDAY I have noticed one is dead.
You can dry the leaves for future use.
And it is wonderful against stomachache and VAMPIRES!
So no problem with Dracula comming for a visit!

 

[getaclue]

All that nice, free, cut, firewood in such abundance, is a blessing. I googled verbena tea, and there are several places to order it from. It's not too expensive. I read the benefits, and drawbacks to it. I may just have to give it a try myself. Your lambs are just too cute! Love the colors in the halters, and leads.