Soup, Storms & Some Family History

As forecast, it was dreary and dull when I opened my eyes after 7, and it seemed to get worse as the day progressed. Coffee was definitely needed, along with our usual social peruse.

Mom was sharing wedding photos taken at the lease Grandpa Jim used to own down by the river, and what a trip down memory lane it turned into. 

We lived in the little house at the top left after moving there from OneFour where Dad rode pasture.

This was where I had my first birthday The little house in the top corner was actually the kitchen from Great Grandma and Grandpa Jay’s house at South Farm that Grandpa Jim moved to the lease.

We lived there until late fall. There was no running water and outdoor plumbing. Mom and Dad had planned to build there, but when looking into school, I would have attended Bindloss, and at that point they wouldn't send the bus down a goat trail. We would have had to drive six miles to the graded road, so they ordered a trailer and moved to Oyen.

Mom also shared some of the history of the ranch. We often visited with Myrtle and Dooly Allen, who managed the ranch to the east owned by Fred Mannix, a gas mogul in Calgary that Grandpa Jim did lots of cat work for at his sites. They were like grandparents to us. Years ago, we learned that Fred Mannix, the horse breeder, was responsible for our fabulous polocrosse horses, Julio and Beck.  Jim Hern now owns the place as a dude ranch.

George Howe and his boys often rode in from their ranch to the south for visits and to help with cattle. Mom can't remember the names of the neighbours to the west. We had 300-plus cows, 35-plus mares and lots of adventures. Branding was like a stampede with lots of help, many times 100 people.

There are photos that show some of that lease life in the book created by the couple who lived in a trailer beside our house in town. He took my christening photo.

It was Dad’s dream place — not where he could rob trains, but where he could live the life of a real cowboy. He always said he was born 100 years too late.

Twelve sections with no cross fences, so there was lots of riding. Three miles by four miles. We often rode that whole area in a day, as we didn't have GPS on cows in those days or a drone to find where they were grazing. We started at the sparse waterholes, as the cows usually came to the creek sometime during the day. Mom can't remember if there was a dugout anywhere.

On the ridge where the wedding was held (lower portion of photo), numerous teepee rings, over thirty in number, are visible as the earth erodes.  The owners are dedicated to preserving this historical site.

It’s a truly remarkable piece of history to document, but I wanted to share it with you all.

After jumping in the shower, I put the chicken carcass on to simmer.

S went out to do some more aerating before the misty rain started at noon. Perfect timing for lunch and the news, then S was off to town before 1 for hockey. The rain picked up off and on as I worked on Great Uncle Wilfred’s family tree, getting the living cousins’ updates done.

During a break in the rain, I went out and dug some carrots for the soup. Carrots were not my number crop this year.

I took another chance when the rain let up around 4 and went out to feed the horses with the help of Harley and Stella. It was like herding burning cats, sorting horses to their bowls and trying to keep them from eating their neighbour, all while getting Bird out of the winter pasture to eat hers.

This little rascal loves taking mud baths in the rain

Wee bit of sun popping thru was short lived.

It seems I timed it pretty good because as I was stacking up the buckets, another storm rolled in. I raced Harley and Stella back to the house, but of course they were much faster. Inside, Harley was fed and veggies were prepped for the soup.

S rolled in from his hockey day with a few groceries — milk mainly! He had tweaked his knee and was frustrated with himself for always playing like he is on the Flames roster. He picked the chicken off the bones while I went out and picked more tomatoes and herbs.

Grama texted that Papa got to go home at 4 today, with future kidney stone removal still ahead.

We had a bit more rain, totalling just over a tenth today. The soup was perfect on such a dreary day, but wouldn't you know it, the sun decided to come out around 6!

I had an hour-plus conversation with Mom, with lots of ancestry collaboration, while S had his knee up in bed watching poker. We then worked on more Lioness episodes, but couldn't quite make the last one as I was tired. S’s knee was still hurting, causing him to be up and down, taking pills and finally heading to the basement to sleep.

A dreary, rainy day, but with a pretty special bit of family history uncovered and recorded along the way. That is exactly why I love these ancestry rabbit holes — sometimes you find a piece of your own story that you didn't realize needed to be written down.