31 degree rodeo day

Ever have a fly that will not bugger off and keep waking you.. well we had one, actually two that thought it fun to touch down on our sleeping faces and bodies for about 2 hours before death was imminent. At least the effort to swat them required passing the coffee pot to start.

Sheldon went to town to take in the Ford dealer's Stampede breakfast then check panels at grounds. I got busy making beds up for company along with making fresh rhubarb pies and rhubarb syrup for punch.

Britt got up late as usual and after we all had a quick lunch we loaded up and were off to town. What a beauty day it was hitting a high of 31+. Our first mission was to get the tractor and restack all the panels from flat on a pallet to hung on fork arms to standing against the fence for easy pick up tomorrow night. Britt and I did most of the work while the head boss sat in the A/C tractor pushing buttons ;)

tough girls

Once we had gotten this task finished we had a cold drink at the truck before heading back in to watch the rodeo. It was good to see twins from back home there with their kids watching their roping husbands compete. A couple local boys rode as well too. Britt had to head off to work for 3-7 so only got to watch a short bit. It wrapped up at 5 and on the way home we grabbed hamburgers for our supper dropping one for the working girl too.

When she arrived home from work at 7:30 we were getting ready to head back into town, first stop the dump! She jumped in with us getting dropped with friends to head to a party while we went on to get more groceries for the punch. We also stopped for dog food but no luck for the jumbo bag in stock darn it. Well seeing it was such a nice night we picked up Tims and cruised the town checking out our old neighborhood and the chuck wagon horses romping in their pens after running their races.

Back at the ranch we walked the dogs to let the horses back out in the winter pasture. This worked perfect for their fitness regime as they carried on running and bucking for a good spell. The blue moon was just on the rise as we headed back to the house to escape the mozzies and relax for the rest of the night until child pickup from the party. A pretty good start to the long w/e I have to say.

hay gets cut

Sheldon was up at 7 for his golf date with Craig who kindly picked him up and dropped me a hot chai tea. Yeah Favorite BIL award to him

I put another coat on the cream dresser while he was gone and did repairs on the pink. When Sheldon got home he jigsaw cut the final piece for me to glue on.

Britt and I rode Hawk and Bird on a conditioning run in the 24 degree heat. It did not take long for it to get higher hitting 27. Sheldon, after lunch and a nap, started to cut the hay field as we headed out this time on a casual ride, Britt on Pepper and me on Switch. Back in the warm garage, I hand painted the maple growth ruler numbers and markings.

Britt was off  to work for 4 with us following close behind. I dropped Sheldon at acupuncture and ran to pick up a shelf, a parcel and bday gift. After I picked Sheldon back up we quickly snagged some groceries and headed home, He finished the last 2 rows on the hay before a fellow arrived to buy a metal stair set as I cooked supper. It was an amazing steak supper, Costco has the BEST steaks ever, yum and I used fresh dill from garden in potatos and the zucchini too.

After walking the dogs, I hand painted numbers on a vintage white growth ruler I had previously painted for another order that never got paid so was not finished. Since I had stuff out I might as well do and have on hand. These numbers I did a custom tan which looks pretty.

Sheldon worked on de-molding the coin sets I had found in the storage trailer. Britt arrived home from work only long enough to change and then off to a birthday party till almost 1 as I was finishing up some candy crush games ;)

oats come down

Sheldon's project of the day was to swath down the oats. It looks like there will be a fair good crop in the end while he got this underway I started painting the smaller dresser drawers in a soft pink and a 2 coats on the drawers and dresser front of the tall boy.

 whoops broken section, back to the shop before getting started to make a quick repair

 LOVE my purple poppies

 now able to make the first round

 inside swather view

Britt was up at her usual late start but out riding her pony before lunch, yeah B!

Just after a quick lunch I loaded Pepper, Baby (B caught for me after she finished riding Bird) and Switch and was off to the dentist. The next 4 hours for me was trimming all 3 feet while they got drugged up and teeth all done up.

 Baby is an easy drunk

 Pepper's toe

 Baby getting worked on

 Switch, not so pleased, she had 2 wolf teeth extracted and 2 baby teeth

Pepper HATES sedation and tried every way he could to get out

It was a race back home where Sheldon had finished up the oat cutting and showered up as was Britt and Shaina had just arrived. Shaina caught KD to ride while S&B took the horses I unloaded and put away while I quickly got ready. Grady arrived soon after and we all jumped in the Benz and were off to town for the Stampede volunteer appreciation banquet. Shaina came and met us after she finished her ride.

We enjoyed a good supper and visit before Shaina was off to the city. We loaded back up, hit Tim's and found a car wash before coming home for the night.

stain day

Tuesday time to stain day. The growth ruler got a 3rd coat and the 2 dresser tops got a lovely java gel stain. I also painted a first coat of cream on the tall boy dresser.

Britt got up late then rode before she worked 4-8. Sheldon got home around 5 from his busy week back at work. We ate before walking the dogs to check the oats then loaded 3 horses to take to see Murray. A threatening storm rolled in looming over us with crazy color and movement. Once done and all loaded up we hit the deluge of rain in town stopping at the bank and of course DQ. There was a perfect double rainbow, how pretty.

 lucky leprechauns the pot of gold is so close

new projects on the go

Time to get busy. First order of business was flip the growth ruler and put on wood conditioner then stain. As it dried I spent most of the day sanding outside. The vintage tall boy and 4 drawers got a good sanding and another bath then one repair while the white dresser got top sanded down too and the sides buffed. It required more repair so all was fixed and left to dry well.

 Sheldon needed a crop update so snapped these of the oats and sent, he is planning his harvest day

While I had the water out I scrubbed Diego's head up and when it dried I gave him a dousing of tea tree oil as a different take of helping the sores. I am attempting to change the coloring of this ash tree..with more water.. one definitely is the odd ball right?

notice the variation of colors between the 3 same trees?

Britt was not up till noon and spent the day as a slug after making us grilled cheese for lunch. She did head to town at 4 to go to the gym but returned for supper having grabbed the mail too.

Rain rolled in at 7, yeah yard watering made easy! I spent a few hours sourcing knobs for the 2 dressers online but no luck.. Hobby Lobby was my jackpot in Vegas, should have stockpiled more!

summer sunset prairie skies

jackpot

Sunday is forecast to be cooler and possible rain but started sunny so our jackpot is a go. I enjoyed a coffee and candy crush before Britt arrived home from her sleepover at Kyra's at 11 and we got ready to load up and head in. A bowl of fresh fruit and coffee, ponies and we were underway before noon but lovely Canadian summer road repairs had us held up for 25 minutes at the Glenmore bridge. Seems you should always take the right lane, drive up to the front and cut in front of all the people waiting patiently in the other 2 lanes.. can you say road rage!!

Once there, we were met by Shelby who gave KD a great work out. We quickly tacked up and the afternoon of play ensued before thunder and black clouds rolled in. Britt and I headed home thru tons of rain in Calgary but nothing at the ranch but the black western clouds loomed for quite awhile.

 these photo creds go to Emma M, THANK YOU

and this one Krystalle D, thank you!

I stained up the backside of the growth ruler before walking the dogs (Britt tried but they just seem to not want to join her, except Coco of course) I threw on a 2nd coat around 11 when I finished up more PVR shows to try and get a final color to send the customer once dry.

left first coat and right with 2 (photo from next day dry) and she loves it.. this is why I do custom work for customers

want to read a book?

Today I did another procrastinated job. I awoke thinking I best check the boxes along the front near where I found the mold in Kaylin's stuff so once I uploaded the blogs for last couple days I headed out. Unfortunately I found more mold, this time Sheldon's box of money sets from GG were the victim. This will be a chore when he gets home but I believe his quote when I was distraught about Kaylin's stuff was "If there is anything of value, it should NOT be stored in there." Karma is a bugger Shelly.

Britt pulled the quad out and helped load boxes of books from the trailer to quad to house. Thanks B!! The book cases were wiped clean set up and the unboxing began. Many hours and many books later with another trip to the trailer and I had the library all set back up. Man do we have books, I did manage to purge a box full for the library and another for the Paetz family. So many memories as I shelved from all the way back to my childhood, to reading to the girls then them collecting books as well.

 holy cow heh? and that is not all the boxes even! but looks so lovely

Luckily I had a lady pop out as soon as I had the boxes all unpacked to take them away. At the exact same time another gal stopped out for a top I had posted this am so purging is well under way. It feels good to check off another job off the list too.

Britt worked on organizing her room but most of that consisted of laying on her bed watching movies but she did help begrudgingly when asked ;) Supper was more deep freeze purging too. After supper I forced her to walk the dogs, it was only 19 so was a brisk quick one but better than nothing. I worked on scrubbing to tall dresser and removing hardware. As I finished up around 10 Britt headed to Kyra's for  a sleepover. I threw up 2 more blog days and watched some more PVR, happy Saturday night.

 always chuckle at the water rings and designs carved into old dressers

Today is National Cowboy day, here's to the truest cowboy I know, XOXO