Pest Patrol

Occasionally, Arni & Eddie, our official pest control officers, come up to the house for a visit with one of their biggest fans.Checking out the blossoms.

Happy Birthday Ev

Wishing my sister Evelyn a very happy birthday today. Love you and hope you have a GREAT day!

This is Ev & Ken taken on their son's wedding day in March.

May Long Weekend

Although it amy be a long weekend off for the 9-5'ers, we in rural Alberta carry on as usual. Friday night we had some rain. Sabbath we enjoyed touring the countryside, visiting the bison & cattle and enjoying the yard. First here are some pics of the shrubs that are in full bloom now.

Needless to say the bees are enjoying them too! ( not pictured here are the Mayday and apple trees also in bloom.)

Sunday night & today (Monday) it is rainy again and seeding is shut down but rain at seeding time is a good thing..

Flowering crabapple

Chokecherry

Double flowering plum

Plum up close

Bison herd

Snuggle time

Notice the yellow flowers. We call them "buffalo beans"!

Bison calf up close

Mother's Day

On Sunday Carol & I took our Mothers out to dinner in Lacombe.Mom & me

Carol & Peggy (my sister-in-law & mother-in-law).

Last summer we decided that if we could find a house that met our criteria in Red Deer, we would put our Red Deer quarter up for sale. (We found the upkeep on the property more than we wanted). Well last month we bought a house in Red Deer (possession July 30) so Monday was spent with the realtors walking through our rural property and spiffing the yard & house up for showings. The renters there have been doing a great job of keeping the yard trimmed but there are always the little extras. Tuesday was major shopping & errand day then Peggy & I came home. Murray was getting tired of 3 days of soggy sandwiches!

If anyone wants a prime quarter between Red Deer & Sylvan Lake, here it is!!!

This is a back view of our house. It is a 2 yr. old basement walkout, facing west onto a park/greenspace.

Crocus

This morning I went in search of the spring crocus that has almost finished blooming for this year.

Springtime on the Ranch

Here is what I learned from the crocus.

Bloom where God plants you. Take the unpleasant aspects of life and use it as fertilizer!

Always turn your face to the sun (Son).

Bloom even if nobody is watching. Your Creator is.

As I stood among the acre or so of blossoms I couldn't help but marvel at their ability to remain in the the cold prairie soil over winter and come up to bloom again every spring with no help from us! Only God can make a flower grow!

Murray's springtime office ready to roll again for another day.

Spring calvingReady for flight.

At the saltbox planning the mischief for the day!

Bison calves

Yesterday we tried to get close to some bison cows and their calves. They were kind of skitish and my camera batteries were dying so the pic is not of great quality. On our tour of the countryside we also saw antelope and deer but couldn't get close for a picture. Now you can understand why our blog is called "Home on the Range" with buffalo (bison), deer and antelope in abundance!