You know you're Canadian when...

the neighbours do  a "turn and burn"  in your driveway by way of dog team.

"Just need to use the loo - Thanks!"

And how do the sheep and our brave guardian dog react?

The sheep - and integral ingredient in any "lamb and rice" dog food, ran the length of the fence chasing the teams in, and then stood there talking smack. "Your mom sniffs cat nip!", "We've  seen poodles run faster!" 

Sam Sheepdog - bred to protect his charges from coyotes, bears, and worse? He pointed out that he was just 3 months old and that a heavily armed (heck they were hauling artillery!) unit of 32  wolves had just entered the property. So he did the wise thing, bolted for his shelter, and barked from in there. Stuff like "Sheep are idiots!" and " Gimme some lamb and rice dog food!". 

As soon everyone left,it was back to business as usual...

This one's for you Jenny!

A whole pile of Sam Sheepdog pics!  

Sam has been doing really well these past few weeks. 

He lives with the ewe lambs and really seems to enjoy their company.

 

Of course, at just around 3 months of age, he's still very much a puppy, and the girls are really good at letting him know what they will....

and will not put up with.

When I go into the ewe pen he's my little helper. 

Most of the ewes have figured out that he's pretty soft and squishy,

and that unlike the Border Collies, he really just wants to hang out with them.

Jenny - hope you enjoyed!

Been busy

around here without a camera in my hands. Most of it has been too boring to take pictures of (maybe it's too boring in a "I'm a local - why would I take pictures of Disney" kind of way) and some of it's been too busy to take pictures - and I'm waiting for the neighbour's to blog about the pictures THEY took. ;-) 
I'll get back on to the real bogs right away - I've been a slacker. 


In the mean time, here's one of those pictures that proves the point that you really don't want me blogging about every little thing I do around here. 

Who knows what I was going for here. I've been taking walks in the pasture with Sam Sheepdog and his sheep in the morning. I'm sure this shot was an attempt at "look how great they get along".    Awkward pup's back end with bored sheep in background - yeah, that's a great relationship!

Redefining "middle of nowhere"

A good chunk of my southern friends think we already live in the middle of nowhere.

 but our friends Tammy and Laurie wanted to show us a place they love that really is remote. 

We drove 4 1/2 hours north west just to get to their place. 

Then we drove about 2 1/2 hours south west, mostly on logging roads where we switched from truck to a variety of ATVs.

apparently tearing up the trails is part of "keeping Kakwa wild"

Keeping Kakwa wild is TONS of fun!

 

 and involves LOADS of mud and water!

So we spent two hours going up, down, over and through mud, rivers, puddles and rocks until we got to our "objective" - Kakwa Falls. 

Gorgeous and well worth the trip - the picture doesn't do it justice.

9 hours of travel to find peace, solitude, and pure wilderness...

and a black lab...

and two truckloads of children plus their parents and maybe grandparents... I kid you not. Once we got on the quads we saw no one except for a few hunters. But get to a "look out" and look out - people! Too funny, even the middle of nowhere is a busy place. 

Other fun pics from a really fun day.

international symbols for "watch out for the edge dumb a**!" 

Travis communing with nature.

Randy, Shauna, and Tammy at the end of our fun afternoon, ready for a night out on the town OR dressed up for a red-neck convention!

Thanks for a great time guys!

Stuff that got lost in the shuffle.

Funny thing about blogging, I'm either desperate for things to blog about or overwhelmed with things to blog about and generally when I'm desperate I've got lots of free time, and when I'm overwhelmed well...I'm not sitting on the couch clicking on the laptop. 

First up - fun on the other side of the valley.  Karen knows about the list I've been keeping in my head since I was a little kid. My "modes of transportation" list.  Think about the list for a bit and you can see why it's impossible to complete (which is one of the reasons why I like it so much). You may start with "travel by dog team", but you'll soon realize that there are many ways to do just that.  

Here's the latest.

Not a sled, not a scooter, this fun filled number is a three wheeled cart designed by Henning Bartel of Arctis-Carts.com

Being hauled for about an hour by 6 sled dogs on a cart that handles just like a sled - too much fun!

On the web cam. Lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!

 Well, bears at least.

 and a couple of great racks. 

And back on the farm...

the pups are growing up. I've put Ben on sheep for kicks to see what he'd do and he's definitely turned on and keen. He'll spend the winter growing up and then start training in the spring. 

Sam is definitely GROWING.  After a few tough days learning that humans weren't at his beck and call (as much as he was farm raised it quickly became obvious that someone had definitely spent some time loving these pups), and that fences weren't meant for walking through (guardian pups sure are agile and flexible!), he's really started to settle in nicely. I catch him hanging out with his sheep on a regular basis now and it's pretty darn sweet. Unfortunately it's been hard to catch on camera as as soon he knows that I'm heading out his way he's at the gate waiting for me.  I did catch a couple of "under cover" shots from the deck this morning. 

Raising a guardian dog is totally different than anything I've done before, dog-wise and so far I'm loving the "different-ness" of it all. Doesn't hurt that he's cute as a button. 

Finally, the annual "fall shot". Autumn is my favourite season, and the dogs and I spend a good chunk of it out in the woods. Just over a week ago, I couldn't get over the fall colour. The leaves were a brilliant yellow against deep blue skies. I also couldn't remember to bring my camera along...so...between rain and wind and a young pup who hasn't quite learned to turn and stay on a dime (although when I think about it, he might have been the better of the four...hmmm) this year's pictures could be better. I'll save you from the worst. 

 

 I'll keep working on it - it's a great excuse to be out on the trails. 

 

I think that's pretty much us caught up!