Across The Range

A front started blowing in yesterday from the north and then it snowed through the night. Snow is predicted for the next several days and we could end up with a foot which is a lot for this area. Farm work is at a standstill for now. Dad and I were discing but we are glad to be able to stop because of the weather. :D With extremely dry conditions this year so far, moisture in any form is welcome.

We've all been sick here again. The cold I had several weeks ago, which never went completely away has come back. :P This is the worst sickness I think I've ever had or at least the longest one. The flu pretty much hit all of us and now I'm coughing quite a bit and have a sinus cold.

Both feedlots called Erin on Thursday with a total of 10 calves for her so now she has 32 calves. The inn is full. LOL!

Mom and Sherra had their birthdays this past week and we were going to celebrate them tomorrow but with the weather we might not be now. We'd be picking up my aunt in town but with the weather and roads I don't know if traveling is the safest in these conditions.

The quilt patterns continues to be confusing and unclear in areas so we are working through it a bit slowly. My instructor said to wait on cutting out the next pattern until she makes a block herself and sees if she has to make any changes. Today I'm going to try and work on my other blocks(Bear's Paw and Pine Tree). With my schedule, especially during the week days, it is sometimes past 9 PM before I'm able to sit down and work on my blocks. Quilting is more time consuming for me since you have to be so exact on the measurements.

So, that is what I've been up to. :D Hope you all have a great weekend there!

It has been snowing here for a couple days now and is so pretty outside. We probably have 3" + which is more for here, especially at once. I took some pictures and will post them later. The temperature is staying around - 14C during the day so that isn't too bad except that it makes hauling water a little more work. I have to use the torch to warm up the valve on the water tank because it freezes and will break if you twist it too hard. Then it also freezes the water quicker in the troughs so you have to make sure the ice doesn't build up too much. Fun, fun...:P :D

Last night we ran out of water as the RO system stopped working. I think I'm going to change my name to "Lindsey the Water Hauler." Haha! I've done the water route run so many times I think I could do it blindfolded.

Dad checked the waterer at the other corrals below last night. It gave him quite a shock so that was not good. We have never had shock problems with waterers for how many years and then it has happened both at our place and Graham's within a couple months. It could have been a real disaster here as well but I think the problem was caught in time. I guess we'll tell in a day or two. Dad said that he thought everything looked pretty much okay. I'm just thankful it didn't happen when Dad and Mom were away. Enough water talk.

I made tortillas the other night. They turned out fine (they were far from the perfect 8" circle though LOL!) but were very bland. I'd like to try making them again but I'll be looking for another recipe. Anyone have a good recipe to share?

Graham and Dad put an animal scale in at his place a little while ago but it wasn't calibrated right so it would only show half the weight. The scale company showed up yesterday at the door here(they had calibrated ours as well before so just came here first) and then Erin gave him directions to Graham's. Everyone was gone here except for Erin and I. Erin had put a couple chickens in the oven for supper later on and we were just having some dinner. Erin called Graham to tell him that they were coming to find out that he was gone to a calf sale so we left quick to go down to Graham's as we had to get the scale head and show them where the scale was. Nothing like sisters to save that day. Haha! Thankfully it didn't take long for them to get the scale working again so that was good. And we didn't end up with cremated chicken so that was a plus. :P :D

Today was the first day in several that we didn't have to treat any calves of Dad's pen below. Sickness hit and we probably had to treat over 20. We lost one too so that was disappointing. It was okay the night before because Erin had walked through and checked them all the calves and didn't notice anything and then in the morning was frothing and breathing heavy. I was able to give him a shot of medicine just standing in the alley and, when you can do that, the calf is sick! I went down to Graham's to get some electrolytes because the calf was looking dehydrated and then Dad and I gave it to him. Of course, the calves always let you put expensive medicine in them before they decide to keel over but you still feel you should do something because sometimes treatment is effective. The joys of owning animals. :P :D

This afternoon Erin and I helped Graham weigh calves at his place. I went early to use my laptop and the wireless connection wouldn't work for me. Grr! It was working for Graham so it must be something with my laptop. Graham wonders if there is problem with my wireless network card or something. I decided I would take it home and download and install the updates and it is says I need like 15 hours of updates. So, I started that this evening and then exed off the page when seven downloads were done as I thought it would save the downloads that were done. I guess they all had to be done at once when I clicked on the download. I'm sure my laptop would run too hot and shut down if it ran for 15 hours so I'm going to try and do it manually and see if that works. Edit: It looks like the downloads were saved but just aren't installed yet...yay!!

When we finished weighing we had to remove all the snow, dirt, etc. that gets stuck between the scale and chute. I had to get in the alley to get to a few narrow parts and while I was croached down trying to check it closer, one of my contacts popped out. I actually thought it just moved around making my vision fuzzy but it had popped right out. So, I had to drive home with one eye closed. LOL! Thankfully my contacts were needing to be replaced (I always wear them a bit longer than a month) so it wasn't a big deal.

So, anyways, that is what I have been up to. Sounds exciting, eh?

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Seen on a name tag...

My name is: Irrelevant