Lookit!

The Bag Lady is tickled pink about this:

She's never grown a cabbage before!

Weekend Adventures

It's been another busy weekend for the Bag Lady and the Rancher. On Saturday, they drove out west and north to a little independent sawmill operated by a retired fella and picked up some rough lumber for building a corral. On their trip they passed the "hanging tree". Rumours abound about this tree out in the middle of a field - some say it's a hanging tree, others say it marks the grave of a child. It's been there for many years, and hopefully will remain for many more:



It was a rather gloomy day, and the Bag Lady tried to capture a picture of these windmills (that she has never noticed before!) - you may have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see them:



There was also a little pasture with a few buffalo in it - the Bag Lady almost missed getting a picture for you:


On the way home, they crossed back over the river. The sun was trying to shine and turned the river to silver:


Sunday, the Rancher and the Bag Lady worked on building the corral. This picture is of the alleyway - the cows are chased into the little triangle, then along the alleyway into the waiting stock trailer for transport to a different pasture:


Here, the Rancher is nailing the last board on the other side of the corral pen:


There were some dark clouds threatening rain when the Bag Lady was on her way home, but they didn't produce anything.... at least, not at the Bag Lady's house:


And here is a picture of some of her home-grown tomatoes; yellow cherry tomatoes and some ripe sub-arctic maxis (some of you may remember that she posted a picture of them on the vine awhile back):

The weather forecast was for frost (again!) last night, so the Bag Lady picked quite a few of the almost-ripe tomatoes, and she and the Rancher covered the rest with old sheets. It didn't freeze, but it's always best to be prepared!

Photo Finish Friday - Fog

This was the river valley on Monday when the Bag Lady was on her way to work. It appeared to be full of whipped cream.



It wasn't. It was full of clouds.

Photo-Finish Friday is the brainchild of Leah over at the Goat's Lunch Pail.

Thunderstorms and Funnels

It is raining this morning - absolutely pouring! A good cloudburst, complete with lightning and thunder. It is slightly a case of too little, too late as far as this year goes, but it is welcome regardless.The area where the Bag Lady lives has been declared an agricultural disaster area again because of the drought. There has been no rain to speak of all summer - in fact, if there hadn't been that snowstorm in May, the area would have been in very bad shape indeed.The rain that we are receiving now will help a little with the pastures, but is too late for the hay crops, which have already been cut and baled.... the little bit that there was.

There was also a thunderstorm last evening, and the Bag Lady took a couple of pictures just as the sun was setting.


The pictures don't really do it justice - it was impossible to get the whole sky into the frame.


The Rancher was doing some work in the hayfield the other day and the Bag Lady went out for a few minutes to help him. While she was there, she noticed this:

These webs are everywhere in the field, and she remembered the Rancher's brother mentioning them. (If only she could remember what he said about them. Sigh. Something to do with daddy longlegs and ..... she can't remember.)

They are rather interesting-looking though, don't you think? (the Bag Lady has a phobia about spiders and their webs, so she was glad nothing came bolting out of these webs in the 5 seconds she was taking pictures!)

News Briefs

(No, the title does not refer to anyone's underwear....)

The Rancher has been building a catch-pen at the new pasture, and the Bag Lady gave him a hand with the bracing.And, in a totally unrelated picture, here is some of the broccoli she harvested from her garden over the weekend.

She and the Rancher went out on Saturday night. They went to town for supper, then stopped at the dance held at the community hall after the annual fair.

And apparently a tornado touched down somewhere close to their home last night during a thunderstorm.

So, how's that for brief news? (and not a word about underwear! Told ya.)

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

The Bag Lady is a little played out today, but is happy to report that haying season is over on the ranch!

The Rancher cut down the oats last week to use as greenfeed, and, naturally, it rained a couple of days later. Not very much, but enough that he couldn't bale them. It hadn't rained all summer....
He started baling on Wednesday. Wednesday night, he surprised the Bag Lady by pulling into the yard with the baler, and promptly backed it into the shop. Uh oh. The Bag Lady pulled on her gloves and went out to help. One of the rollers in the baler had blown apart. (in fact, the roller on the other end of the chain in this post from a couple of years ago!) A couple hours and much cussing later, they had removed the offending roller and realized that it was beyond repair. By the time they had it out, it was after 9 pm, so they went to the house. (And, still in the linkage vein, here is a post that shows a photo of how big and heavy the rollers are!)

First thing the next morning, the Rancher called the used tractor place which supplies the area with parts, only to discover that they didn't have any rollers. Sigh. The Rancher gathered up the pieces and went to town to find someone to build him a new roller.

He returned with a new roller at 4 pm. The Bag Lady pulled on her gloves and went out to help him. At 7:15 pm, she waved as he pulled out of the yard. He rolled back into the yard at 10:30, exhausted but finished.

In a few days time, he will haul the bales off the field and stack them somewhere accessible so they can be fed to the cows come winter. In the meantime, the Bag Lady and the Rancher are perhaps going to relax and enjoy the weekend. And she hopes all of you enjoy your weekend, too!

Lovely Lily

The Bag Lady only has one of these lilies in her garden, and she keeps wishing it would multiply.

Baggie, Baggie, Quite Contrary.....

....here's how her garden is growing!


She has yellow cherry tomatoes ripening on her deck:

And the Sub-Arctic maxi tomatoes are starting to ripen in her tomato beds:

Last night, she looked out the window and saw this threat approaching her garden! (You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it)



After she scared away the deer (there were actually two of them heading straight for her garden!) she took a quick tour and discovered this:


The deer had only eaten a small portion of the broccoli..... there is still quite a bit growing.


And apparently, they haven't discovered the brussels sprouts.

And, for some reason, they leave the zucchini alone. Sigh. (the Bag Lady may have to take some to work - there are two plants producing like this....)

Camping!

Did you miss the Bag Lady last week?

She and the Rancher decided on the spur of the moment to go camping right after she got home from work on Wednesday. She had been spending a lot of time fixing up the new trailer to her liking and it was only a matter of throwing some beer food in and taking off.

They spent part of their time at camp fixing up their camp spot and building a firepit. It was raining a little on Wednesday when they arrived, but not enough to dampen their beer spirits.
It wasn't nearly as dark as it appears when the Bag Lady took this picture.


This was the view from their campsite. There was a family of wood ducks on the pond, and the Bag Lady spent some time every day watching them. If you click on this picture, and then click on it again to enlarge it, you can just see them swimming along.



It's back to work for the Bag Lady today, though, which is probably a good thing.

Catching Up

The Bag Lady thought she'd share a few photos with you of what she's been doing lately. First, though, here is a picture of the sun taken through the haze of smoke that covered her area the other day. The weather channel explained that most of the smoke came from fires burning in Alberta and British Columbia, but that some of it may also have been from Russia (with love?)
She's happy to report that it has cleared away and the skies are blue again!



She also decided that it was time to finally take the plunge into debt and replace the old motorhome with something a little more comfortable (with a working toilet!). She has spent a lot of time moving things from old to new:


She and the Rancher took it on a test run and the cows seemed to approve:

She and the Rancher (mostly the Rancher, to be truthful) have transformed their barn into a storage shed.....


And she was briefly used as a form of transportation (this freeloader travelled with her into the house, but she isn't sure where she picked him up - didn't notice him until she saw him in the bathroom mirror - and back outside again before taking off.)


Oh, remember this? It is the Bag Lady's workplace, and one of her responsibilities is gardening. This was how it looked when she first planted the flowers:

And this is how it looks now....


And now she has to go back there and do some painting and other repair-type stuff.
She apologizes for her sporadic posting, and even more so for her sporadic (practically non-existent) commenting on everyone else's blogs. This is definitely a busy time for her (she hasn't even mentioned her own gardening efforts.... perhaps later in the week!)

Photo-Finish Friday

Misty morning.


Photo-finish Friday is the brainchild of Leah over at the Goat's Lunch Pail. Check it out.

Flowers

The Bag Lady took her camera on a tour of her flowerbed the other day and captured these pictures to share with you.

Daylilies:
California poppies:


Something she doesn't know the name of.... but it's pretty!

Oriental lilies:


She is waiting patiently for her sweet peas to bloom. She has tried growing sweet peas several times, but has never had much luck with them, until this year. She will probably bore you silly with pictures of them, once they bloom!

Back to Work for a Rest!

The Rancher and the Bag Lady were seriously tired last night.

They had a neighbour make some square bales for them because square bales are easier to handle if they need to keep a cow in the barn or corral for any length of time. They ended up with 450 square bales!

The Rancher brought the first load home, and the Bag Lady helped him unload them and stack them in the barn. (She didn't think to take a picture until the trailer was almost empty):



Then the Bag Lady went back to the field with the Rancher and helped him (as best she could, with her bad back) with the second load.


When they finished with the second load, they made a nice supper, completely from home-grown veggies and meat! (Hamburgers cooked on the barbeque, baby potatoes, new peas, and fried zucchini):



And then the Bag Lady collapsed into her bed, because she has to go to work today! (These darned long weekends really take a toll on her..... )