First Snow, Marketplace Sales & a Two-Batch Bun Disaster

I fell asleep after working on brain puzzles and reading last night, then woke to brain puzzles and a light dusting of snow! When I got up to feed the cats and make coffee to deliver to S in bed, the snow had started coming down softly. S made himself a second cup before returning to sports on the big screen after feeding the cats their soft food.

Once dressed, I headed outside to toss hay for the chubbies and get the beet pulp soaking. Harley joined me for a few snow frolics before breakfast, enjoying the change in the weather.

Thursday’s blog post went live, along with a Hometalk post featuring the black square coffee table. I also had a lady interested in a plant stand, who turned out to be our pharmacist! She ended up taking the blue-green bench instead. Another sale—yay! A second lady was planning to pick up an ornate frame today, although we weren’t sure how the travel logistics would work with the horses out and about.

Next, I went through the four boxes of tomatoes, washing the ripe ones and putting them in the freezer. We’ll certainly be well stocked for winter! I also put a batch of bun ingredients into the bread maker to mix while I tackled some accounting and other computer work.

Eventually, I decided to run into town to meet the two buyers at Britt’s and check on Gully. Sheldon opted to remain on the couch watching sports, where he spent pretty much the entire snow day. By then, the snow had turned to sleet, which could make the highways interesting later when everything froze.

Gully was absolutely thrilled to see me, happily accepting pets before eating his food. The items were picked up, and I swung through Tim’s on the way home for a Thanksgiving pumpkin spice muffin as a little treat.

Back at the ranch, I had just enough time to head out and feed the horses, with my helper Harley, of course! Sheldon was quite content to stay on his couch, having discovered the addictive brain puzzles himself.

I panned up the buns, although this recipe seemed unusually dense and heavy. While they were left to rise, I made two pans of apple crisp. I took the apple cores and scraps back out to the horses, just in time for another blast of sleet.

While the buns and crisps baked, S and I compared our puzzle words. Between us, we were only missing three of the 64—not bad at all!

Unfortunately, when the buns came out, they were heavy, dense and doughy. BOO! The apple crisps looked tasty, at least. I published Friday’s blog post while slowly catching up, then started another batch of buns!

Before dark, I went out to toss hay to the chubbies, who hadn’t had their pasture time today. I’d thought the gate to the hay field was open for other horses, but it turned out S had locked them in last night on his way to church rather than opening it. 

B made it safely home after 6, thankfully. The QE2 highway is bad enough without freezing ice forming on the road at those 120 km/h speeds.

While the second batch of buns rested, S and I started a movie, The Death of Robin Hood. It had some very graphic scenes, and I wouldn’t recommend it, although the ending was okay. I panned up the buns, gave them an hour to rise while the movie continued, and finally got them into the oven.

Once they were baking and cooling, we started a new series called Kill Jackie, which was a bit off the wall too. Apparently, our entertainment choices weren't exactly hitting the mark tonight!

At last, the second batch of buns was baked, cooled and bagged by 11 p.m. After all that effort, I was hoping this batch would turn out better than the first. Between the snow, sleet, blog posts, marketplace sales, frozen tomatoes and bun-making adventures, it was quite a day to be tucked away at the ranch!

A Windy Morning, Double CFR Perfs & a Day of Catching Up

I woke at 5:30 to the sound of the wind blowing and spent a while tossing and turning. My intuition kept telling me to get up and check the horses, even though it was still dark and cold. So, just after 6, I got dressed and headed out.

Sure enough, the horses weren’t at the middle shelter! I walked along the fence with only my flashlight to guide me, when Roo suddenly popped up behind me, with little Hank following along. I got hay down from the fourth mezzanine, tossed them a couple of flakes, and headed back inside to crawl into bed again.

Shaina FaceTimed from Bali they were having a great time.

Hank was standing at the middle shelter, which was good to see. 

Once up for the day, I had coffee and worked on a brain puzzle while S perused his X with a couple mugs. The other horses had headed out to the hay pasture, so S bundled up against the 2°C temperatures, took the Ranger out, closed the winter gate and let the two chubbies out. No more hay field for those two! He also filled a water tub for the horses east of the house.

It was the perfect sort of day to stay inside propped up on the bed to watch the 11 a.m. CFR performance. I put an orange chicken in the slow cooker, an easy meal for a cold day, and got a load of laundry going too.

While S watched another rodeo on TV, I unpacked my suitcase and finally published Tuesday’s blog post. He then braved the wind for a hot tub, while I tackled the workout I’d been procrastinating. One thing led to another, and I decided to have a shower afterward—but that turned out to be poor timing!

Hank was heading toward the gate for water, giving me the perfect opportunity to get the horses back into their diet pen. With my hair still soaking wet, I pulled on a toque, housecoat, sweatpants and a jacket, then recruited S to come along. I managed to lure them both into their pen, and that was that for the night. Not exactly how I’d planned to spend the time after my shower, but the horses were where they needed to be!

S caught some hockey before heading off to church. I spent the entire time he was gone working on the blog and trying to catch up. There were lots of videos to convert and compress, along with photos to add, but I finally got Wednesday’s post published.

After church, S popped over to feed Gully and put Britt’s parcel inside, then filled the car’s fuel tank. I had rice cooking and spent some time chopping up a pile of the little zucchini to freeze for future soups. I also had a panful prepared for supper, ready to go once S got home with the second round of CFR underway.

Supper was a belly-warming meal on a cold day. The orange chicken was ok but I prefer creamier chicken. I scrubbed up all the pots and pans while S pulled out the disgusting dishwasher drain for a good cleaning. Funny enough, there were toothpicks in it too! You never know what you’ll find in there. :)

We moved to the big bedroom TV to finish watching the final CFR performance. B and Cheyanne attended it tonight, lucky! Once it was over, S switched over to hockey while I worked on more brain puzzles. Those things are addictive! S eventually nodded off, and I read for a while before calling it a night.

With the wind howling outside, it was a good day to stay warm, catch up on a few things and enjoy some exciting family news from Bali. And thankfully, Hank was looking better!!

A Trip to Winners & Keeping an Eye on Hank

I woke early and worked on my brain puzzle until S got up and made coffee. I skipped my second cup since we needed creamer ;) and spent the morning working on blog posts. Monday’s post didn’t get published until the evening, but at least I made some progress.

I bet you cannot keep a straight face on this little performance!

Harley and I headed out to let the two chubbies out and walked all the horses to the winter gate just before 11. It was pretty obvious on our walk back to the house that they had indeed been out last night! I closed all the vents and windows in the horse trailer, as the weather forecast for tomorrow sounds pretty miserable.

Who needs a halter when you have hair :)

Back inside, S and I decided to make a run into town to feed Gulliver, pick up some coffee syrup at our newly opened Winners, and grab lunch. I also dropped off a library book along the way. The new Winners is huge and, as usual, had lots of stuff to browse through. Sheldon even found a camo shirt, but my search for king-size bedding was a bust.

Shaina sent their Bali digs, WOW!!

While feeding Gully, I picked up another book from B’s library. He had some soft feed and off he went, happy enough. Since it was Friday, clam chowder was the special at the Roadhouse. I’d been wanting soup yesterday on our drive home, so this sounded perfect—and it was! We’d also just bought a local football card that gave us 10% off, which was a nice little bonus.

The wind kicked in as forecast, although the temperature did reach 20°C.

Renn circling her Christmas wish items

We were home before 3, and I noticed Hank lying down in the winter pasture. Watching him for a bit, I became concerned that he might have a tummy ache from only 3 hour in the hay. He rolled a couple of times and lay down again, so I headed out to catch him. S was pumping water out of the tanks under the deck, so I had him hold Hank while I checked his heart rate and gut sounds.

After walking Hank for a bit, I turned him out in diet pen while I mixed the horses’ feed. S brought the Ranger around so we could load the buckets and the mineral tubs I’d brought back and washed out. Hank was now lying in the shelter, but he got up and hurried out when we drove over to fill the mineral bucket. Unfortunately, once we moved on to the other gate, he was lying down again. Following B’s advice, I caught him and gave him a syringe of salt water.

I had S walk Hank around while I struggled to get the horses sorted into their feeding spots with a Ranger full of food. I eventually got everyone in place, leaving Bird in the far paddock. We switched jobs, with S picking up the empty buckets and opening the gate when he was finished, while I walked Hank. I spent about an hour keeping him moving and checking his gut sounds and heart rate several times.

S took the Ranger to check along the fences while I let Hank into the barn paddock. He started nibbling on the short grass by the pool table, which was encouraging. I kept an eye on him to see whether he would drink, poop or lie down again. In between watching him, I put away more yard decor, moved the water hose that was pumping out, and did some tool weeding in the garden. Thankfully, everything went well and he stayed on his feet.

Auntie Mindy's after signal fall

When S came back, we grabbed a cold drink and sat on the deck watching Hank a little longer, although the wind was getting downright crazy. I dug some carrots and beets for supper. I’d originally planned to dig them all, but with no cold storage available, I’m hoping to leave the rest in the ground a little longer.

While I was harvesting, the weather turned ugly, with stronger winds whipping dust through the air. S put the Ranger away and shut the shop doors as I went inside to scrub the vegetables and get supper started. We cooked up some of our new beef T-bone steaks on what turned out to be the last nice BBQ day for a while. It was cooler by then, and thankfully the wind had eased a little.

Mayonnaise anyone?

As we were eating and darkness began to settle in, I looked out and saw Hank lying in the shelter again. Out I went! He popped up right away, and I listened for gut sounds. They weren’t as loud as earlier, but I could still hear them. After I let him go, I tried to hear on Roo again, with absolutely no luck. I looked over and saw Hank pooping, which was another good sign, so I went back inside to finish supper and catch up on the CFR.

We moved to the big bedroom TV, and I finally finished Monday’s blog post and published it. The ladies’ barrel racing had some frightening moments. One of the competitors, a vet, had her horse break a leg at the third barrel. Our own girl from Gleichen had trouble too; her horse was so excited that they didn’t enter the arena properly, and she ended up not running.

I went out to check Hank again at 9, then we finally finished watching East of Eden. S was sound asleep, so I started the new book I’d borrowed from B before heading out to check Hank once more at 11. Everything seemed okay.

It took me a while to settle down, but I woke again before 1 a.m. The temperature was down to 5°C, so I got dressed and headed back outside for yet another check. Hank still seemed okay—whew!

Hopefully, we can all get some sleep now. It’s hard to relax when one of the horses isn’t feeling quite right, and I’ll be keeping a close eye on him.

Home from CFR, a Freezer Full of Meat & a Bali Surprise

We slept in after our late night, then got ourselves organized to head home. Sheldon showered while I started packing, and he ran downstairs to move the truck around to the front of the hotel and bring a cart up. By 10:30, we were off having loaded up all our belongings.

Our first stop was to meet the meat-packer delivery man across the city, taking us in the opposite direction from home. We loaded up two animals’ worth of meat before hitting the road south. Tim’s was hard to find so McDonald’s it was — but really, fries for breakfast, LOL!

Sheldon navigated us south, with a stop in Red Deer for him to enjoy a sundae along the way. I had suggested soup or salad but ice cream always wins.

Our first stop in Strathmore was to Paetzs for unloading the one-and-a-half animals. We had a quick visit before the other fellow arrived to pick up one of the animals, then we headed over to Stouts to collect Harley.

We stopped for a beverage and a quick visit before heading home. A huge THANK YOU to Sharon and Darren for taking such excellent care of Harley while we were away! XOXO

Back at the ranch, I opened the winter pasture gate and closed the yard gate as we drove in, hoping the horses would head out to the hay pasture. Food won their attention, though, so they weren't too concerned about exploring. I tossed the chubby ponies some hay before we got busy unloading the truck.

There was a lot of meat to sort through! S weighed everything, I organized it and packed it into the clean freezer. It felt good to get it all put away and know we were stocked up again. This is 1/2 beef.

Harley got her raw food supper, and I worked on Sunday’s trail ride blog post. Matt sent a text from Hong Kong to reveal the surprise destination of their trip: Bali!! My biggest bucket-list destination! ❤️ Enjoy every minute guys!

Eventually, it was time for us to eat, but with very little thawed and ready to go, spaghetti was the easiest solution while the robot cleaned the floors.

I finished Sunday’s post and hit publish while we watched the CFR on the big TV. The Cowboy Channel's audio and video quality are pretty low quality, much better in person.

We tried to finish East of Eden afterward, but we were both too tired to make it through. After a busy CFR weekend, a long drive home and a freezer full of meat to put away, sleep was definitely calling!