The sign's posted

Right beside the front door. 

"Good food available, but you'll have to work for it. "

My side of the family came out for Christmas dinner this year, and given that we don't have kids of our own at home to put to work, we took full advantage of the nephews and had Liam and Griffin take care of all the farm chores. 

Liam feeding the sheep.

After feeding the sheep, Liam and Griffin figured we needed to pack some trails down for the animals...

Which of course involved a quad, a chunk of rope, and a calf sled.

After all of that hard work, we figured they deserved to eat.

And without further ado, pictures of the feast. I tried to capture my family at their best...

My brother Paul

His mostly vegetarian wife Chriss loving the brussel sprouts.

Griffin and his best "I HATE VEGETABLES!" face.

Uh Dad, you've got a little something...right there...just below your nose...

Never mind dinner, Uncle Travis just said I could shoot his paintball gun!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth (I'm thinking maybe you should wish for a top plate Mom)

Just smile and nod, smile and nod...this is why we don't have her side of the family over often...

Still hating the veggies...

As far as Gramma's concerned, "As long as there's lots of dessert, I really don't care what goes on at the table."

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone

King of his castle

Snow day

Really it's been a whole slough of snow days lately. We've gotten a bit, and in some cases a lot more than a bit of fresh snow pretty much every day lately.

Kate and I pushed the sheep to the other side of the yard yesterday through pristine chest deep snow - and I kicked myself that I didn't have the camera with me. Today I did bring the camera and while the pictures aren't as good as they could have been it certainly gives you an idea of what the snow is like here already. 

My how things can change in a day or two.

Gordon and I headed off an a road trip on Tuesday. He's been sold to Mish Katahdins in Saskatchewan and I agreed to meet them half way - which meant it was only an 8 or 9 hour drive each way for them. 

Gordon was none to happy about leaving his friends Skinny and Skinny's brother (not to mention the ladies), but between Hope, Kate, Travis, me and some hog panels we finally got him loaded up. 

Janette and Jeff Mish met me at Louanne's, driving a pick-up with a plywood box in the back.  I WISH I had taken pictures of them moving him over to their truck. Honestly, Louanne and I both figured it was a disaster waiting to happen - that the 6:00 Calgary news would feature word of a Katahdin ram running amok in Okotoks. The Mish's assured us that it would be a piece of cake to get him in the box, "We'll just lift him up", and while Louanne  and I watched, with our Jaws dragging on the ground, the two of them jumped in the trailer, picked him up and tossed all 250 pounds or so of him up into their box. It took less than a minute. Amazing. 

Afterwards I had a great time as usual hanging out with the girls (Jenny came over as well), drank too much wine, ate loads, laughed a lot - good times!

Eventually the party had to end and I drove home yesterday.Added a little excitement to my drive by shredding a tire just north of St. Albert and had to be rescued by my dad.

Got home to WAY more snow than when I left...

and more from the never ending "reno from hell". 

My "favourite" new windows - not even close to the right size and...the wrong colour. Feel free to drop me a line if you're looking for new windows and doors and want to know who to avoid...
Look for us on an episode of "Holmes on Homes" soon... ;-)

More from Sam Sheepdog

He may not be growing up, but he sure is growing!  Sam's about 5 months old now.  He's big enough now that I don't have to lean over to pet him, but still so much a pup. 

 Sam Sheepdog - the king of "squishy and sweet".

Because of the weather (for the next 4 months or so) the sheep are less active right now. Odd thing about sheep, when you put a ton of feed in front of them, they stop grazing and just stand around and eat, except for when they're lying around chewing their cud or sleeping - kind of like humans at a Christmas party.

However with Sam's age he's getting more active (and has occasionally played with the sheep - no damage yet, and I'd like to keep it that way) so I've been taking him for a couple of walks a day out in the field.  When I'm not out with him, he wears a "dangle" which so far has worked like a charm.  


I thought the walks would be a bit of a chore, but so far I'm really enjoying them. There's nothing like a happy puppy to make your day just a little bit better. 

 Ready for take off. 

Sam's favourite stop on our walks is his Jungle Gym...or as it's more commonly known...The Manure Pile. 

It's his most favourite place. Really.

At the base of Mt. Poopsicle.

and at the top.

but in case you think I'm telling fibs about a manure pile being his favourite place to hang...

here he is between top and bottom - pure Maremma joy!

When we're back from our walk? It's business as usual.

 "Nice day, ah Sam. Yep, good to be alive Ralph."

Christmas came early this year

for the dogs. 

I should have known it was inevitable. Almost every working Border Collie owner I know has one.  

The dogs love it. I love it. How did we live without a quad? Aside from running dogs, it's been great for clearing the driveway (although oddly enough, there hasn't been much snow so far this year), and in the summer it will come handy for things like hauling water etc.. 

Merry Christmas kids!

Good things are worth waiting for.

Way back in June, while Hope and I were at Scott and Jenny's for the shedding clinic, Vickie snapped a great shot of Hope.  Hope looked great for a change (he's a tricky dog to get a good picture of), the sheep...looked like they were being worked on a hot day (which it most definitely was. 

Vickie worked her magic and here's the finished product.

click on this picture to see a larger copy

No more panting sheep - magic!  I love it and can't wait to get it framed and up on a wall. If you'd like to see more of Vickie's work go to vickieclose.com