Deer, Chipmunks, Hens & Chicks

The other day my nephew Mikey came and got me telling me there were two bucks on the top of the Horn Field and I should get over there right away to take some pictures.  I hopped in my truck and followed him over there leaving the dogs behind.  We spotted the bucks under one of the big trees.  I, oh so silently, stepped out of the truck and inched my way over there… their ears went up as soon as they saw me but I then noticed they weren’t looking at me…. I turn to look back and there’s Doolittle and Teddy hot on my heels!  Using hand gestures and a really stern face I directed them back to the truck (and that’s where they still were when I was done) heads hanging.  Well at least Blue stayed home because if he would have saw them I think he would have felt the need to protect me and started barking like crazy!

Deer on the Horn Field

I’m still waiting for a shot of “the big one” Sydney and I saw coming up from the river a couple of weeks ago.  MASSIVE buck, never seen one that big in my life!  Hopefully I’ll get a shot of him before someone else gets a different kind of shot. :(

Yesterday the kids and I headed up to a friend’s house because she’s out of town and she needed her dog fed & plants watered, and the kids were able to swim in her pool.  Just before we headed for home Sydney spotted a chipmunk in the backyard.  It sat still long enough to grab a few pics.

If you’d like the pic, with no watermark, for your desktop wallpaper feel free to grab the link here: http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/0a77bcb4b4bde569695542a4874290da6g.jpg

Sydney was playing with the hose and having a blast.  The weather has been really strange, hot for a few days and then brrrr cool so we are reluctant to put up the pool and we just might not if this weather keeps up.

And lastly I just had to share with you that my “Hens & Chicks” bloomed for the first time!

They look like little mini trees.

Well we’re off to the river today, hopefully the fish are running and the Fisheries are at home. ;)

I’ve created a Facebook Photography page on Facebook and if you’d like to join please click the icon on the right side of my blog, Facebook will open and then click “Like” while there.  I find I’m putting pictures up at Facebook and Flickr before I get to my blog so if you’d like to see them earlier please join me at Facebook. :)

For a more pictures visit my flickr site:

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Hot, hot, hot… rain.

What a major weather change!  The last week it’s been extremely hot, so hot we’ve had to hose down the pigs on a regular basis.  They have a mud hole but if you don’t keep adding water it warms up something awful.  Then this morning the weather took a heck of a turn and we now have rain, and lots of it!  It’s thunder and lightning in town right now but so far there’s been none out here, although I did wake up to no power for an hour.

Speaking of the pigs mud hole, they keep pushing their heavy trough into it and Sydney and I had to move it out of there the other day.  Here’s a pic of her after I’ve hosed off the rubbers she’s wearing.  She asked me to take a picture of her so she could look back and remind herself why she does not want to become a pig farmer when she grows up.  Sorta makes me wish I would have had pics of myself when I was a young girl…. that is if I was actually doing this when I was a young girl. :)

The pigs were happy and Sydney has titled this pic “HOGS and Kisses.” lol

Last week I took the kids up to Black’s Field and snapped some pics of them.  Because Jevan gets bored pretty fast I had him holding a reflector which lasted about two minutes which probably felt like an hour to him.

He was even less interested in having his own photo taken.

But I did get him to look at the camera for one pic.

Ahhh the joys of having a son. :)

And a sad note to my blog post this morning. :(  A pic of my Mom and Tacobell taken on Thursday when I was in Kamloops, Mom has finally moved into her new home from Nanaimo.  Taco is the daughter of my two dogs Meegie and Spike, and the sister to my other chihuahua Annie (all three, sadly missed, are buried beside the willow tree near our chicken coop).  Taco crossed the rainbow bridge (14 yo) on Friday July 9 2010 and her ashes will be spread with her Mom, Dad, & sister the next time Mom comes to the Ranch.  RIP Tacobell and say hi to everyone over there. :)

I’ve created a Facebook Photography page on Facebook and if you’d like to join please click the icon on the right side of my blog, Facebook will open and then click “Like” while there.  I find I’m putting pictures up at Facebook and Flickr before I get to my blog so if you’d like to see them earlier please join me at Facebook. :)

For a more pictures visit my flickr site:

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Busy week, getting much better

Wow time sure flies the week the kids get out of school!  Trips to Lytton for field trips, awards day, and anything else that involves school.  So sad that one event was cancelled and that was the end of the year school play.  Sydney was supposed to be Friar Lawrence in Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet.”  Unfortunately all time for the play was to be done outside school hours and I think a lot of kids lost interest, as well as it was a bit of a hassle for parents to give up so much time getting the kids to the school for rehearsals.  Sad really, because I think the arts, drama, etc. should be just as important as sports in school.  I bow to Mr. White and Ms. Peters for the many hours of time and dedication they put into the play and I’m extremely sad to see Mr. White leave Lytton Elementary School.  My oldest daughter was in school for 13 years, Sydney for 7, and Jevan for 2 (I’ve come across a LOT of teachers), Mr. White taught Sydney for grades 3, 4, & 5 and he is the best teacher I have ever dealt with, good luck in your new position Mr. White and if I ever win the lotto you bet I’ll be hiring you full time to teach Jevan & Sydney! :)  I’d also like to thank Chris from Peoples Pharmacy in Lytton for driving Sydney home from the play on a few occasions. :)

Awards Day was a day for me to be proud of the kids!  Both of them received attendance awards, Sydney has only missed 3 days of school in 3 years.  She also received Citizenship, Best Effort, and an AVID award.  Jevan earned himself an Excellent Reading Skills award and a Homework award for completed all 29 of 29 homework packages.  Yup I was beaming when I came out of the school that day! :)

Jevan receiving his Homework Award.

We have new babies on the ranch!  Mildred and her flock.

Cuties for sure!

We did some fishing at the Fraser this past couple of weekends but I swear there’s no fish left in the river because we came up with nothing!  Hopefully things will improve soon.

McGillivray Creek is still running into the river and in the last 18 years I’ve only seen this creek run twice, I do not like that it takes all our soft sitting sand down to the river with it!

We took a drive up to Blue Earth Lake last weekend and Sydney caught her first fish!

After getting lost for over 2.5 hours it was well worth the trip, beautiful place, but I wish we could have spent more time there.

Jevan earned himself a kite for perfect attendance for the month of June and him and I headed up to the field to try it out.  The wind was a tad strong and he had a heck of a time holding it down!

He lost it a few times and here he is winding it in.

And lastly my “Eighties” entry into DPS this past week… yup it was “all about the hair” back then. LOL

For a more “Blue Earth Lake” pictures visit my flickr site:

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If you find it let us know. :)

When Sydney let the balloon go it went up directly towards the two power lines, we thought for sure it was going to hit them… as we held our breath, it gently floated right between the two lines!  You can see it’s made it quite far. :)

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Cowboys & Cowgirls!

A few weeks ago I asked Hubby if he wanted to take the kids and I over to the Ashcroft Rodeo.  He said “Rodeo? You?”  He was raised on ranches, rode horses, & milked cows, I, on the other hand, am considered a “town kid” around here.  It doesn’t matter that I went to the Lillooet Rodeo’s when I was a kid, or even attended and worked as the treasurer for Pritchard and we did quite a few rodeos there.  In a way I can see his point, I really don’t have much to do with rodeos unless I am somehow involved or at least know some of the people who are riding in them.  So my sudden interest in the Ashcroft Rodeo sort of surprised Hubby.  But you see there is a method to my madness… I wanted to take some action shots… and what better place than a rodeo! :)

So on Saturday we all jumped in the truck and headed for the 48th Annual Ashcroft Rodeo.

There was breakaway roping.

And lots of barrel racing.

Bull riding is always fun to watch, especially the faces of the guys hanging on the fence.

Ouch!  That looks like it might hurt a bit!

None of the riders made 8 seconds and the bulls all won.

We got dusty and dirty, ate hotdogs, hamburgers, and french fries and had fun.

And what would a rodeo be without a clown to keep us entertained during the breaks.

I can’t remember all four of us heading out to do anything off this ranch so it was a nice break away.  I think next month we are going to head back over that way to see the drag races, after all I still need some more action shots. ;)

For a ton more action pictures of the Ashcroft Rodeo visit the collection at my flickr site:

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