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

[CanuckBock]

You make Canada look sooooo inviting, but you have snow, and I HATE snow. That's partly why I live in Florida.

Swing by for the comfort foods (my waist line is going to waste--save me!)...but not for the weather, eh.

I am very surprised by how many people hate snow and live in Alberta...to me, it is one and the same...and we joke it last TEN months of the year, too. If you dress for the weather as in cold and snow...it really is quite enjoyable if you can get past the "I feel cold & miserable" feelings. Once you got the right gear, you are very much like a kid in a snow suit playing in the powder.

I would be absolutely miserable on a tropical beach...made to lay seditary because to move made you uncomfortable.

My fav temperature is -10C (14F).

One needs to live where you love it (and I mean the climate too because you can't avoid it by staying inside forever! LOL). If you live where you love it...you never need to up the anti for a vacation because, well every time you clock off work, you are on vacation!

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If I was of the beach bum mindset...I could be like a bartender ON THE BEACH...who cares about if the job paid well if you LIVED where you LOVED to be.

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Love being on a cruise ship...become a chamber maid or waiter...and live the life 24/7!

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I am most pleased there are throngs of people that hate snow...more people up here would change the dynamics and I don't think I would welcome the changes more people would bring. Bwa ha ha...

Yes, yes, cold miserable ugly snows...LOTS of it...BOO!

 

[Akrnaf2]

I love snow, I just seen it 6 times. .......

 

[CanuckBock]

I love snow, I just seen it 6 times. .......

Better than never.

Dec 23 2014
This scene would not be possible without snow! ​

In places like Sweden, it is celebrated...

Dec 25 2016​

There are activities you can only accomplish with the help of snow.

Dec 25 2016​

I love snow and compared to how some have to winter (90 days of rain...straight...dark, humid, cold and miserable...that's a WEsT Coast winter!), I'll take an Alberta winter any time...might be forty below, but there is gonna be sun, and shine and joy and dry cold is not as bad as humid cold!

Be where you love to be...

 

[Teila]

Guess whose back!

My sincere apologies for leaving you in the dark as to my whereabouts and may be wondering if all was OK. Since the move up to FNQ life has been beyond hectic with so much to do and so little time including nearly losing our 9 year old cat to kidney stones; after two weeks in veterinary care he is now home which would not have been the case if we had listened to the local Vet who wanted us to euthanize on day 2.

Chookens are doing great!

Anyways, things have settled a little and I will now hopefully have time to catch up with everyone and learn how the 'new site' works.

I missed you!

 

[getaclue]

Glad you're back Teila. Nice to hear your cat is home, and your "Chookens" are doing great.

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Guess whose back!

My sincere apologies for leaving you in the dark as to my whereabouts and may be wondering if all was OK. Since the move up to FNQ life has been beyond hectic with so much to do and so little time including nearly losing our 9 year old cat to kidney stones; after two weeks in veterinary care he is now home which would not have been the case if we had listened to the local Vet who wanted us to euthanize on day 2.

Chookens are doing great!

Anyways, things have settled a little and I will now hopefully have time to catch up with everyone and learn how the 'new site' works.

I missed you!

No apologies required... you are missed but loved more for keeping your own show on the up and up. True friends know me time for the persons they love keep the persons they love healthy & well! Life, happiness for having chooks, and keeping precious ones alive is way more important than worrying about what is going on here in a virtual environment. LOL

Same ol', same ol...and more!

Stocking up, adding a few more improvements and always making time to click (& post) moments in time to spread the joy.

Basically I miss the old site. This one alienates people. We use to be able to see who was online easier; sure there is a little green triangle on your avatar but many of us use to hide that we were online too! The most painful part for me is the limit of ten files (which are photos for me) per post. It was not abnormal to have me post 30 or more photos in a single post! It never happened if there is no picture and I write 1,000's of words already...imagine being robbed of the ability of posting photos and having to describe in words these photos? We are busy enjoying our life here in Pear-A-Dice...30 or more photos ARE the norm...because that was what had happened since my last post. I get busy and click but when I invest time to stop and catch up...I find the ten file max TEDIOUS & hurtful...and with my advancing age, it is harder to stay focussed as the technical difficulties make me have to pay attention to the method instead of the artistic flow of creation.

I love my real life, I love to capture small glimpses of it, I love to write before I bust open...a way to drain and empty so one can work at filling up all over again with the beautiful blessings that transpire living life. The new format completely cramps my style and takes what should be a joyous endeavour and cheapens it to counting files (heaven forbid I have 11 photos to explain a day away with--do you drop a click or make a post for one more or...).

My very family genetics make me creative (a Viking Gypsy...who could predict that outcome's destiny!) and the tedium of ten files per post might work for an average person but there is nothing average whatsoever in my life. Rules are meant to be bent to near breaking...so you know the limits constricting the boundaries. Don't go there...it is a waste of time because it gets ruined but lessons are not remembered unless there is taint with the sweet.

Usually when I post, I have a billion things roaring thru my mind to remember to mention and to have to stop, count how many "files" and work out which set of constrictions applies and what order becomes crippling to the creative and artistic side of what writing and capturing photos is all about. Crippling.

I have always admired and upheld the human right to be able to create and excel in what inspiration you are blessed in being born with. Art is flamboyant, impulsive, dynamic, and is rarely a characteristic that completely adheres to set rules. Conforming stifles excellence. Persons that choose to conform get all out of form when confronted with questions like Rick asks..."says who?", "what rules?", because "I can & will go elsewhere, thanks!" He takes his bat and ball and plays in his own field if constrictions cripple creativity. When was the last time you saw a grain elevator chook coop like his very first chicken house? People build coops to contain & maintain birds, people who build coops to inspire the imagination, express virtues of "yes you can!" and human fantasies of a better enjoyable world...those ones are in categories not even set yet. For every 99 coops, there is 1 Taj Mahal to blow the world's socks off. I choose the one percent over mainstream dulldrums.

1, 2, 3, 4...how do I take these maximum of ten files and make the photos flow to the story line...keep it fun, not tedious, unclinical like you are doing a scientific dissection...here is the patient, their heart, the arteries...1, 2, 3, 4...don't go over ten or you'll have to cut one (can't stop the bleeding now) or make a new post that is disjointed and...yeh...BORING!

I have been mulling over one day dropping this and yes, going mugmag though I abhor mugmag hiddiously horribly--grading a person by outward features, degrading a gender based on outward appearances rots me to the core of humanity and makes those that instigated & support this worthless scum to the human race. I am far above that but stooping to that level may transpire given the great good you can achieve using that platform (there are worthy ones in those masses blind to any other medium)...I have not had to choose that venue yet...but may.

It is a better marketing tool one does have to admit and I am the first to say change takes effort, time and resources...not many embrace change readily. I will likely have Dorpers I need to find good homes for, as my heritage potato varieties continue to grow & prosper, seed potatoes are likely, maybe puppies, maybe Kunekunes (as our geriatric beasties pass on and open up room for that piggy pork adventure!), and then I have a huge order of new poultry stocks that I will be importing new year. So to keep the gene pools healthy and preserved, marketing our extras may become reality. Your selection process is only as good as the numbers you have to choose from and we prefer keeping back only the top 3 percent in poultry. I can always meat out the excess but that does not alot to pass on the genetics of those meaty and eggy progeny. We are to eat our livestock and poultry to save them, but if all I ever send forward is dead proteins and veg...it does nothing to ensure the survival of the stocks to keep making more of the same for others. Sharing!

I feel smothered (technical stupidness of the hoops you are expected to take in stride--old dog , fights new tricks) and isolated with the new format. Past my beloved old faithful persons that post here & have conversations with, I have no idea who the audience is any more, so now I post to satisfy MY expectations of the thread which includes my vocal readership...my friends here (or are they fiends?).

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I use to be able to scroll down and see the latest posts and choose a topic to go view or even post on. They replaced that longer format with a side box on the right side there with five recent posts but I rarely notice it because that is where I recall all these videos & ads pop up to annoy me. My thread is meant to bring joy and happiness in sharing Pear-A-Dice, not bog me the author down with tedious formalities and strict follow these rules or... Yeh.

Change in the winds...perhaps...I'll continue to struggle over the tedium until I choose a way to fix the problems which will have to work themselves in with our busy adventures in reality. Nothing comes before the real world, my dependents, family, & my beloved friends.

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I guess I am feeling nostalgic for the good old days and continue to hate the new format.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

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

 

[drumstick diva]

Me too!!

 

[getaclue]

I do agree they need to allow more than 10 pics. Maybe a Pt.1, and Pt.2 type thing, so you can add the pics, and the story still flows?

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Me too!!

That's how we end up with the phrase "good ol' daze, eh?"

I do agree they need to allow more than 10 pics. Maybe a Pt.1, and Pt.2 type thing, so you can add the pics, and the story still flows?

It kills the reading flow, but imagine how it kills the author...post by tedious post. Stop, count to ten (stifles the creative flow completely), stop the story because you ran outta file room...sucks completely!

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Anyway, fur now, it is what it is...in the future, maybe a big change but for right now...things are a happenin'

Got the big squares of 90% second cut alfalfa...perfection near enough to incredible!

Got four on the bottom (figured we'd manage at least THAT & we committed to buying four to begin!)...then two, then two more! Beauty!

At 1600 pounds a piece of pure heaven...sheep's perfect food...that's a load of 12,800 pounds...dang near TEN BALES when we usually only can manage FIVE rounds per trip.

At home...safe and sound with a full load​

Was almost completely paved road to and from. Wonderful does not even come close!

Eight 1600# 90% second cut Alfalfa...​

We were both unsure how the top bales would unload...should have never worried...

See those black clouds? Just as Rick got the last bale off...
it started to spit a bit!​

We hauled the bales home dry (the fella has a new big bale system just last year...he can't put the forage up anything but perfectly dry because these types of bales stack so tight with no air space, combustible if not dry dry DRY!). Rick tucked seven bales into the Hay and Straw barn and took the one bottom bale out to the old Jacob ewes for feeding immediately to them; that basically is what is keeping my two oldsters going...good feed and good housing!

Oh my...feeding this is heavenly...I go inside the Hay & Straw barn, I can use my cart or the sleds...the alfalfa stays as pristine as the day it was harvested...no sunshine to bleach, no weather to ruin...no wind or weather or tarps for me to struggle with...did I say heaven here on Earth!

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Rick mentioned as we got older, we needed to get kinder to ourselves and this is kindness heaven sent! I am thrilled...absolute. Just lookit this back stack!

What is not to love?
Rick built the barn perfect...
stacks three of these big squares in the back...awesome!​

After stowing away the eight bales and temporarily tarping the two oat straw round bales that came outta the Hay & Straw barn to make room for the big squares...I got ready to go to town again. Off to get grocery--outta milk (heave forbid!). Man alive...buy meats other than ham and turkey during T-Day weekend...I got steaks, baby back pork ribs, lamb chops for the Girls and I (and fresh beef liver for Rick) and two absolutely stunning prime rib beef roasts for Rick to BBQ with veg on the Man Porch...for cheap cheap CHEEP! Wonderbar!

We went for a nice dinner of country fried steak and cheese loaded potatoes...shared the meal with the Girls in the parking lot and headed for home. Lovely fall day, eh...lovely.

Only issue to address is that varmit keeps trying for the one pair of swans.
I had the Girls smell the hole this time, no reaction...could simply be a cat trying to get mice...dunno but now we are to soak the perimeter so it freezes in.

I do believe we are now all stowed up for winter provisions (and the whole year and then some provisions...tee hee). I have the bagged rations still to get to (safely secure until I can find time to heave the 120 fifty five pound bags actually into the feed room...next week hoping?).

And we woke up to this...

What the hay?

Potty, potty...then hurry to the house!​

No dilly dallying from the Girls this morn...quick potty and back to the house for morning cookies and more nappy naps...rest up for the adventure of chores this morn!

30% chance of rain...yeh, uh sure...
I think the weather forecasts are WORSE than ever... ​

Glad for those muck boots (nfi), another wet socker day if not!

Lots to be thankful this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend...ever blessed, ever loving it, ever thankful and joyous! Living life is GOOD...being blessed, ever so much to be thankful for.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

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

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Disjointed and tedious...crippling...there are ten files I have to mish mash post...no flow but here we go.

Rick got a lovely LED work light installed & working for lighting the cargo area of his work truck.

OFF

ON...oh my eyes! ​

Now this is living...driving to get the eight big squares...

Oct 7 2017 - BEAUTY!​

Wispy clouds, snow on the Rocky Mountains, cattle grazing in the fields, fall coloured leaves still some on the trees, big of white drifted piles of snow in the low areas...what a sight!

Drive thru one of the small towns,
& there be an old farm truck by the Timmy's sign, Canadian flag flying...
Canuckville to the core, eh! ​

More views of big open country with snow capped Rockies
to frame the scene in...living is beauty, too many places to l00k!​

Fall time is one of these grab it, suck it in and savour it...because in like a few weeks...it'll be white.

Bull rails...Rick forgot he brought home four the last time we stowed the oat straw rounds in the Hay & Straw barn...but I didn't forget them!

The Hay & Straw barn is in two sections of pipe skids, if we ever want to move it (likely not) we can but it is in two sections and could be sold in two pieces as Rick build a divider wall between the two sections (forward planner...always planning for the "what if's?"). See how he can go up in the tractor when I place the four bull rails beside the large pipe?

He creeps up the rails and
can go right to the very back to stow bales!​

After the barn is loaded up, stow the rails away fur next time!

Who's at the front gates NOW?​

Hurry along...get those gates opened up wide...it is MR. BALE MOVER...

Boy did I laugh seeing that SPEAR sticking out...
Outta the way, eh!
Early Halloween HORRORs??​

Rick says with the bale spikes...the small ones won't grab unless he strategically spears the middle...careful not to break the thick bale twine...or it starts popping and busting up. We only need the squares sturdy enough to load, haul home, off load and stow.

Rick brought the big square, dropped it off and went back to drop off the bale spears, hook up the pallet forks and bring me two more wooden pallets for out front (had two but using them leaned against the round bales to keep the tarps secured).

Placed the two pallets by the yoke (beside the other round bale for feeding the llamas with--alfalfa is too rich for camelids), used the pallet forks to tuck under and lift the square bale on the pallets, and I used a small tarp to cover it up. Done deal.

Like I began, disjointed post but posted...Girls & us went for dinner after securing the place...that be that. Another fun filled day is done...done with dinner too. LOL

Gotta fly...two more days to this long long weekend. Already well ahead of the game with things off the To Do list...butts are dragging but faces are sore from grinning and having that sense of accomplishment...

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Doggone & Chicken UP!

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