Howdy Friends

Yes, four weeks and counting until our first tour stop in Grande Prairie Alberta.  Many things for me to do before we hit the road.

As the spring season brings the National Hockey Playoffs to the many fans across Canada and United States of America, so do many fans go to the Playoffs.  Well Cody and Rick were thrilled to be sent off to Toronto to see their team play.  It may have been just  a short trip, but there was no shortage of things to do in those few hours they were away.  Rick got to meet Toronto Maple Leaf legend Wendel Clark.

Cody loves his hockey, and listens to TSN Podcasts throughout the season.  He got to meet and get a shot with the hosts of the show.

And I thought Rick was the most dedicated Toronoto Maple Leaf fan around.  These fellas top the charts!  They arrived at 5 AM to be at the front of the line for the evening game.  Now thats dedicated.    Even though the Toronto Franchise didn’t make it any further  than this round, it was a trip the guys will remember forever.

Back home, the snow, the rain and the cold this spring has made for such terrible mud in the barn yard.  We had to remove the horses to higher ground and wait till the warmer weather appeared to dry things up in order to utilize the corrals.  But you know,  when obstacles arise, you always go above and beyond to conquer and go around them to keep on going.

And keep on going we did.  Throughout all the dumps of extra snow and moisture, we only had maybe 3 down days of training.  We just made sure we donned our rubber boots, warm coveralls and toques……and things were good.

Nickle, our right leader is quite the horse,  he likes people, but yet likes to nip sometimes when we are hooking, so you have to pay attention.  And most of all he loves his rolled oats.

When the horses are in training, so is the driver.  We hook the four horses to the rubber-tired chuckwagon and away they go around the track on the Ranch.   Rick is getting his strength worked up while driving the outfit.  Once in a while, he has a helper sit up on the seat and drive along with him.   There are four lines going to each horse, so when there are two guys driving, they each take a set of lines and drive the team together.  One drives the wheelers and the other drives the leaders.  This only takes place during training.

Its been pretty hard to keep things clean this last while.  The tugs connected to the singletree have stayed fairly mud free, but we can’t say much for the singletree itself.  At the end of the day, its nothing a pressure washer can’t take care of.

Well, the sun has come out and the land is beginning to dry.  We’ve even had a small amount of wind which will contribute to the drying as well.  The bugs are coming out from hibernation, and things are slowly beginning to bloom.  It’s very late this year, as at this same time last year, the apple trees had big beautiful blossoms on them.

Well the grand-kids can’t get enough of the Ranch and the outdoors to go with it.  So many trees to climb and forts to build.

As the smaller one has yet to walk,  it really doesn’t slow him down in getting around.

As a new season of springs is upon us, and the sky’s have turned blue, the warm weather temps are climbing, are you feeling weighted down?  Anchored down? or are you ready to soar the open air to new beginnings?  Whatever  or wherever it is you are in life, always remember that there’s no tomorrow, there’s only today.  So don’t wait to do the things you have always wanted to do.

From Home on the Ranch

Sue with Rick and Crew too

P.S.  Every man has his own destiny; the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.     Henry Miller