Never a dull moment....

So today I had to leave Quill Lake as soon as Morgan got off school and hustle to Saskatoon to drop them off and then onto Llodyminster where Dave is now living. And then at 6am I am leaving for Meadow Lake to do that fencing. In Saskatoon I was supposed to get the rest of Dave's stuff out of his old place so that someone new can move in there. Well....I got there and there was no one there! Dave's keys were safely locked inside the house! DOH! I ended up going through a TINY window in the basement that was about 18 inches square. Just as wide as my hips. It was down a window well and the window well and the window sill had sharp edges. And once you wiggled through it was an 8 foot drop to the floor. Once it was already too late and I was dangling with no way to get back up I wished I hadn't gotten myself into that situation! lol! I only scraped up one arm and I managed to get Dave's stuff out. Ya, breaking into someone's house is only for brave (stupid?) little people. I think the part that bothered me the most was all the spider webs I had to touch and get in my hair. I have NO clue what someone of normal size would do down there if they ever HAD to get out through the window! Scary!

I got his stuff out in record time and managed to hurry all the way to Lloyd to see Dave for about a half hour before he had to go to work! lol! Oh well, at least he has his stuff now. ;)

Happy Birthday Morgan!

Today my little girly turns SEVEN! I am sort of sad because seven is BIG. At least when she was 6 she still seemed like a little kid. But 7 isn't really that little. *sigh* Today she got one present from me in the morning and a present at school. My mom is taking her out for supper today I think. I had to drop her off at my Mom's today with Jimmy because I have to spend this weekend fencing on the land. We are having a BIG party for her next weekend! :) I can't wait. 

Silly Dog

Well, Maddie is special. Real special. See for yourself. Video of a special dog. 

Learned a new skill today!

Today was the day I KNEW I had to get Dave's car into the shop. It's been sitting in the pasture here for 2 years and the darn thing needs to come with us when we leave. It's not a bad car and it will be really cheap on gas! Well, after a few weeks of trying to get someone to come and get it I finally realized I would probably have to take it in. The mechanic explained to me exactly how to drive (steer/brake) the vehicle being towed and I got Dave's friend out here to drive the towing vehicle. I was more than a little scared going down the road with about 5 feet between us. Don't worry! The kids were in the towing vehicle.  :) We only had to take it a few miles. I actually pulled it off and the rope never jerked once. The car got safely to the mechanic. Now I officially know how to drive a vehicle being towed with a rope! 

I also taught my two yearling horses to load into a trailer today. That is a skill they are going to actually need in a few weeks when we take them on their big trip to Skull Creek Ranch! 

So now we are two steps closer to getting out of here with everything! ;)

Back to work!

Dave just had his first after breakup shift last night (12-8am.) I am waiting to hear how it went. I am glad he is back at work, but sad that he wont be around as much to work on the land. Hopefully now we will manage to come up with the money we need to get this show on the road. It's not going to be cheap hooking up power, water and septic. But I have faith we will get it done....eventually! :P 

I spent the weekend in Saskatoon helping Dave pack his stuff and get just about everything out of the room he was renting. I have to go back there on Friday and get the rest cleaned out and then book a carpet cleaner, etc. But then at least it will be done and we can hopefully find someone else to move in there before July 1st. That will save a bit of money.

I also managed to find an apartment in Meadow Lake. Not ideal, but it beats a tent. It's just a one bedroom and we have to sign a 4 month lease, but that should be just about perfect for when we are getting our trailer. I just wish it wasn't a good 25 min from our land. :( I am planning on getting a full time job ASAP and I already found a daycare for Jimmy (Morgan will be at her Dad's most of the summer). There are over 50 job openings in Meadow Lake, so hopefully it's a case of I just have to pick where I want to work. 

It's now less than 3 weeks until we get out of here. I have no idea how I am going to move the furniture. No idea where we are going to put all of our stuff. No idea how any of this is going to work! lol! All the plans I have had so far have fallen through. But I am not worried. If you know us then you know that things always manage to work out. 

Just Click!

In case you haven't figured it out yet (and some people haven't) you can click on the highlighted words on the blog and see different things. I just started that a few blogs ago. 

Farrier Visit

Well there wont be much to write about the land for a while seeing as neither me nor Dave is going to see it until the middle of June. :(  

I eventually want to have a trail ride business on the land as well as some other horse related enterprises. At least I have enough horses to keep me busy. I currently have 10 here. 7 of them are at least mostly broke. That should get me started. ;)

Today I noticed that my yearling filly had a bad crack that must have shown up over the weekend. It wasn't like that before I left. I called my farrier to see if he could come out sooner than June 4th (next scheduled visit) and he was actually able to come out TODAY! So I got her, her brother and a paint mare I am boarding fixed up today. It was nice to get it done. 

Not cool.

I guess it's snowing pretty bad up there right now. I think Dave is giving up and going home to his place in Saskatoon. He needs to get ready for work next week anyway. I just got this lovely picture from him. Glad I left when I did! lol! So much for global warming. 

Back from a stinky weekend!

So I went out there this past weekend. I got out there late Friday night. So late in fact that it was technically Saturday morning. UGH. Someday I wont have to make that drive anymore. 

On Saturday Dave and I drove into Loon Lake to check stuff out. 

We decided to be tourists and stopped at Steele Narrows Provincial Park. I had no idea what Steele Narrows was and I joked that maybe it was about that Sam Steele guy. Shows 

how much I actually know about Saskatchewan history because the park IS named after Sam Steele. I always attributed him to the gold rush. I would have never guessed he spent time in the Loon Lake area! 

After our drive Dave and I decided to take a hike on our land and do some more exploring.

The dogs started to get excited about something right in front of us. Dave was certain it was a bird so he was encouraging them to 'get it'. Whoops! That was stupid. We realized too late it was an angry skunk. Two dogs got hit point blank and one either didn't get hit that bad, or didn't notice she did. It was a long stinky walk back to the creek. And the creek certainly did not help that much. I had a headache all day from the smell. 

 Dave got quite a bit of work done this weekend. He finished smoothing out his rc runway sand and a log drag. Today he plans on putting grass seed down and then it will be done. We also marked out part of the driveway so that the grater can see where to go when he comes to scrape it out for us. I spent some time clearing out some horse trails by hand. I just broke off all the dead branches I could and yanked out the small dead poplars. Trails are looking better already. 

The dogs got in quite a bit of training over the weekend. I am now trained on how to not leave my shoes out. Maddie has a serious shoe fetish and any shoes left out will never be the same again. I only had to wear my shoe for a few hours before I couldn't feel that the insole was chewed. I was also trained on how to put the cooler away at night. I guess if you leave it out the dogs can and will get the lid off and eat all the meat. I had no one to blame but myself when we had to eat instant noodles in a cup for brunch. Noodles don't taste that bad when you wash the down with grassy coffee. Ya, grassy coffee is what happens when the dogs train you how to put the plastic container of coffee away. They chew it up and add a little grass. You are

 guaranteed to remember to put the coffee away after that. Oh and you can't leave tea towels on the back of the chair. The dogs really work their magic on that one. The tea towel can never be used again. Hows that for training me to clean up? Dave didn't really need much training. The dogs have already been training him for two weeks so he keeps pretty good track of his stuff. The only thing they trained him on was how to look first before you tell the dogs to 'get it'. 

Getting ready for another great weekend!

So I got another picture from Dave. He built a stone walkway across the creek so you can now walk across without having to wear rubber boots. That's a bonus! He also just sent me a text saying that he is getting a grater in next week to grade us a driveway. That will make things much easier when we bring in the sea can we plan to use for storage. 

So Morgan just got home and we are leaving in a few minutes. I have the van TOTALLY loaded including a cargo carrier filled with stuff on top. Morgan is off to her Dad's again and Jimmy is going to my Moms. I will be spending the long weekend with Dave on the land.  I'll be back Monday night with lots more great pictures! 

BRRRR!!!

I just talked to Dave and he is pretty cold! I guess it's snowing up there right now. Neither of us thought there would be snow this time of year, so I am not sure what winter gear he has. I am going up there tomorrow, but I am going to leave my son Jimmy with my mom this time. It's not fair to make a short guy sleep in a tent in this weather. He will be MUCH happier at Grannies!

Dave just sent me this cute picture of my dog. She appears to be wrapped up in one of the good blankets on his bed! I bet she really loves Dave now. 

What is that?

     Dave is still out on the land. He is getting to know the place and currently working on smoothing out a runway for his RC plane. He didn't get much done today because he woke up to SNOW on the ground! Yuck! Quill Lake isn't much better. It's -2C (28F)here today with a bitter bitter wind. Yesterday was +20C (68) with a warm wind. I don't get Saskatchewan weather sometimes. So Dave just sent me this wonderful picture of a....grub? from his Blackberry. Ya,  I am glad he picked it up and not me. Knowing him he probably kept it as a pet. lol!

Edited to add...

Apparently Dave has watched WAY too much Survivor Man. He ate it. Said it didn't taste too bad. So much for a pet. :( 

The name

How did Skull Creek Ranch get it's name?

Well, Dave and I have been discussing a name for a future place since last September when we had seriously thought about moving to Fort Nelson and buying land there. He wanted something to do with oil (of course! lol!) and I wanted something that would sound good with livestock on paper.  We never really thought we would come up with a name we both liked, never mind one we LOVED. Well, we decided on our first camping trip up there to let the land name itself. One of the first things we stumbled upon was a cow skull in the creek. I jokingly said we should call it 'Cow Head Creek Ranch' because 'Horse Head Creek' is just east of us. The skull find was the first thing on the land that spoke to us. We knew the name had to have something to do with that. Suddenly out of no where Dave said "How about Skull Creek Ranch'. I said I LOVED it! It was perfect. Gave the place a real western feel. And that was it. We had our name! Now we will have Skull Creek Dexters and maybe someday things like Skull Creek Trail Rides, Skull Aerial Photography, Skull Creek RC Club, Skull Creek Fjords......the possibilities really are endless. 

Another fun weekend!

The kids and I headed out there Friday when my girl was done school. We packed up a ton of stuff in the van, took it to storage in Saskatoon and then loaded up the BBQ in storage to take out there. I also had to pick up a cat in Saskatoon for a friend in Meadow Lake and bring it to her. Thank goodness the cat slept all the way up. My daughter Morgan went to her Dad's for the weekend so I met him in Meadow Lake too. I really wanted to see Dave on his birthday to wish him a happy birthday in person. Well....I actually got there at 11:53pm. 7 minutes to spare! lol! And I was rushing the whole time to get there. That is a LONG drive up there from Quill Lake. It's 517 kms or for my American friends it's 321 miles. 

We didn't get that much done when I was up there. We did a lot of walking around, planning and figuring. We also worked with the dogs so we can leave them loose during the day and they wont take off too far. Saturday morning we went into Loon Lake the back way and we were happy to see that it was a VERY short drive with a nice reward at the end. We went into a number of different general type stores and it was nice to see that 

we are only 6 miles from pretty much anything we want. A few stores are even open on Sunday! We went to the post office and got our new box number so we can start getting mail switched over. 

On Sunday Russ (my ex husband) brought my girl out there. I wanted to spend ALL day on Mothers Day with my kids. Russ helped us with a lot of the planning and he liked our spot for a house. We talked about getting some fish since Russ has done that before. We decided we better check the depth of the dugout to see if it is deep enough to sustain them. I brought out a leaky rubber dingy and Dave used that to go out in the pond and measure the depth. He didn't get TOO wet! lol! We were happy to see the dugout is 17 feet deep. That should work!

I couldn't stay too long on Sunday because it's a long drive home. Russ stayed LATE with Dave and they got a fence brace built where the fence was cut to make a new gate. They also built a new gate and got a bunch of wood chopped for our cook fire. 

So it was a good weekend although it went fast for me considering so much was taken up with driving. Soon I wont have to do that though. 

Unstuck!

So Dave just got unstuck a short while ago. He broke down and called a tow truck. At least he had the fence cut and the trail cleared for them! 

Happy Birthday to the team

My team just turned a year old. Aldor's birthday was April 30th and Athena's is May 5th. They don't know it yet, but I am hoping that in a few years they will be a great chore team. They have the same Norwegian Fjord sire and their dams were Quarter horses. Right now they are with me in Quill Lake, but hopefully soon they will be on Skull Creek Ranch. I think they will enjoy being able to play on 160 acres. 

Boys will be boys

I just got a call from Dave. He got the truck stuck but good in the creek halfway along the north fence. Which means he is about as far away from the road as he can get. It's starting to rain and he is pretty wet. The only way he can really get out is if someone comes and helps him cut the fence in the south west corner and drives up to where he is. He got just about across all the wet area so having someone come in the way he came would be a bad idea. I am calling people in the area right now trying to get him hooked up with some help for tomorrow. It's nearly dark so he will have to wait until tomorrow. 

Working the land by hand

So Dave is on his way up to our land right now to work on it for 2 weeks. He bought a 20 x 10 portable garage to live in. Cheaper and bigger then a tent, and will have some use when he is done living in it. His plan is to make fire lines to hopefully keep our place from burning if the neighbors land goes up. He has a gas weed eater, a pickaxe and a shovel! He also wants to clear trails, plant wildflowers, and put grass seed down on the bare spots. Other projects will be clearing a spot for an RC airplane runway, putting in a wire gate where the new driveway will be, and building a bridge out of cut poplars. I am going up on Friday for the weekend to give him a hand. 

Puppies!

After spending a weekend out there camping we quickly realized that we would need something to protect us from coyotes. It doesn't help that neither of us has a firearms license yet. I don't mind one or two skittish coyotes, but I DO mind a pack of bold ones. After doing some research we figured that our best defense (and the most fun!) would be some dogs that are bred to protect people and livestock against predators. We wanted some that would be old enough to work this year, but young enough to mold into what we wanted. We also wanted some that were raised with some sort of livestock. I found the perfect puppies just ten miles from me at a Hutterite Colony. They are 6 months old, raised with sheep and already take their jobs seriously. They are Great Pyrenees Akbash cross. Both females. I bought them for Dave for and early birthday present! I kept them at my place in Quill Lake for a few days and then they went to the place Dave is renting for a few nights until he takes them with him when he goes back to the land. We both LOVE the show Deadwood and so we named them Jane and Maddie after characters on the show. Jane is the shorter haired one, Maddies is the friendly fuzzball. Both puppies are really coming around after being raised in a sheep pen, which is normal for the breed. We want them to be socialized and happy to be with people. They both walk on a leash already and Jane will already jump into the van when I ask her to. You will be hearing lots more about the dogs as time goes by!