Bonnyville: Day 3 (July 25)

July 26, 2015July 26, 2015 / suefraser / 3 Comments

Last night was a late one. Sat out by the warm camp fire chit chatting and then came in to write my blog. I don’t think I laid my weary little head down until after 1am. Coy, our grandson, stayed over in our camper, so we both slept in until 8 this morning. I needn’t worry, as our barn crew girls and Candice, along with Rick, got the chores done up.

When I did arise, I got out in time to help hook an outift for the morning practice run. This made making breakfast a bit later than usual. Once everyone was fed and watered, humans and horses, a few of us headed to town to seek out the local garage sales. We managed to find a few, and everyone came home with some kind of bargain or two.

This weekend, Coy has been having so much fun playing with the kids and adults. His mom Amy won a small swimming pool at the Ladies’ Day Spa Auction, which was just perfect for Coy to have a so-called bath in.

A splash in the pool

Coys loves superheros, but his favourite would be his mom!

Coy’s superhero…his mom

Coy loves lego so much that our friend Nicole decided to bring some from home for him to play with. It didn’t take long for Coy to make fast friends with Nicole, as she is a teacher at the local school and she has the perfect way with the kids.

Some serious Lego playing

Coy and his new friend Nicole

This weekend, we have been fortunate to have Candice join us to help out with the chores and the horses. Candice is like an adopted daughter to us and we appreciate all the assistance that she gives to us when going down the road.

When it’s race time, Candice helps prepare the horses and then comes with me and brings one of the outriding horses to the infield to give to the outriders when our heat is on. This helps me out tremendously.

Bruce and Bonnie, our camping companions

This weekend we’ve really enjoyed our relative’s company here in Bonnyville. I think Bruce and Bonnie have been coming up here to the races every year since it started. They also live in Wetaskiwin, where we do. It’s just like camping when they join us. We share making all the meals and just enjoy sitting and chatting around the campfire at night.

Tonight Rick was excited to be turning the 1 barrel. His hook was Spinner on the Right Lead, Spirit on the Left Lead, Keenan on the Right Wheel and our big grey Zorba on the Left Wheel. Cole rode Bingo tonight and Dustin was on Trixter.

The team was ready to charge and so they did. Ricky turned just a little bit too soon and managed to crunch the top barrel. Oh, how I felt so bad for him. No driver ever wants this to happen. He felt pretty bad when he came back to the barn. He knows we are all part of a team and we rely on him to do his part. But at the end of the day, we are all human and things just happen. On a brighter note, if you took the penalty off, we would be sitting first in the show. What this tells us is that the horses are running very well and performing to their best ability.

Tonight’s recipient of our mini chuckwagon after the race was this good-looking little cowgirl with a very happy face. This sure makes us smile when we get to see who takes it home.

A proud recipient of the mini chuckwagon giveaway

I heard we should be getting some rain tonight, so things were cleaned up and tucked away outside just in case. Tomorrow’s another day; looking forward to another great run.

Don’t wait for the PERFECT MOMENT, take the moment and make it PERFECT.

Calgary Stampede Wrap-up

July 15, 2015July 24, 2015 / suefraser / 4 Comments

I promised to write a final full wrap-up of Stampede. It was just way too late when we got in from congratulating the new 2015 winners and enjoying the company of Team 23’s Stampede participation. Monday was out of the question, as it was a packing, traveling and sleep day. Now that we are home and it’s Tuesday, I found a few minutes to write.

So we celebrated our youngest child’s birthday. Cody turned 24 on Sunday. WOW!!! I will forever remember the day he was born, as he came a month premature. Cody was born only a few days after Grandpa Tommy Dorchester’s passing. He’s become a gentle giant at 6’5. He is just a bit big to sit on our knees anymore but we love to have him around just the same. He’s been a huge help in the box training horses with Rick. He’s going to be a great driver himself one day.

Being at the Calgary Stampede, we always have folks drop by that we rarely see. Kim Nevada swung by for a hug and photo with Ricky. She’s beautiful inside and out and hasn’t changed a bit over the years. Her husband Jimmy used to outride with Rick and also drove a chuckwagon too. Another family, Alden and Natasha Harms, stopped by. What a surprise. Alden went to school with our kids but is just a few years older. My, how the years go by. Great to see them and their family.

Rick’s looking for a new job in the fall so he thought he would try his hand at filming. Not sure how that went for him. There was no job offer after. He’ll keep looking.

We were very excited with our hook on Day 10 of the Stampede. Rick had Spirit on the Left Lead, Ranger on the Right Lead, Law on the Left Wheel and Keenan on the Right Wheel. Our outriders were Cole on Leaders riding Bingo and Rory throwing stove with Trixter.

Coming into barrel 1, I was nervous if they would stand with Keenan being a new horse and this would be his second race. They didn’t have to wait long and the horn blew. Off they went, Rick did a great job turning the figure 8 and they were gone! What a superb race, almost clinching a day money run, but we came in second on the day. We’ll take that! We were first in our heat by quite a bit. What a great way to finish off the Stampede and even better in front of our sponsors, Northwell Oilfield Hauling. A huge thank you to them for all their support. We couldn’t do it without them.

Rick and I and Team 23 made an emergency exit out of the Stampede grounds on Monday morning.

We’re going incognito for a week to curl up and sleep some hours away during our few days off before we head to Bonnyville.

In between my naps, I am tending to the laundry and the garden. It’s pretty dry here so not many weeds and the grass is rather brown.

I must say, all in all, we enjoyed our 2015 Stampede. Team 23 was exceptional with all their work with the horses and all the barn chores. Couldn’t ask for anything better than that. This chick’s happy. Thanks to all of you for following along. Bonnyville is our next tour stop, beginning Thursday, July 23. I may blog a time or two before the show starts. Until then, howdy ho!

Someday everything will make sense. So, for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.

Calgary: Night Ten (July 12)

July 13, 2015July 13, 2015 / suefraser / 4 Comments

This is going to be short and sweet as we are headed home tomorrow, and it’s 1:33am and I have to get up tomorrow at 7am just in time to pack the rest of our belongings.

Congratulations to Kurt and Ashley Bensmiller on winning the $100,000 dash for cash for the second year in a row. Every chuckwagon driver’s dream.

Cody, our son, had his 24th birthday today so we enjoyed some cake along with our supper and we even sang.

Rick and I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Northwell Oilfield Hauling and to his crews. It takes many.

I will write again in a day or two. Looking forward to my bed at home.

Sometimes walking away has nothing to do with weakness, and everything to do with strength. We walk away not because we want others to realize our worth and value, but because we finally realize our own.

Calgary: Night Seven (July 9)

July 10, 2015July 10, 2015 / suefraser / 6 Comments

I’m much like many of you. When I get up in the morning, one of the first things I do is read my morning blog just to see that I got things right. This morning, I chuckled at some of my message. The crew all had a good laugh at some of my sentences and wording.

At the time of writing, I was so tired and I also had had a few glasses of wine. So…when it came time to sit down to put things together, I thought in my mind things flowed quite well. When I mentioned who was outriding, I did name Cole properly but for Chance Flad I wrote “handsome tan”! Not sure how I got that. Just a tad bit embarrassed. Oh well, you can all chuckle with me because Team 23 and I had a good laugh too.

We are so fortunate to live in a free country. I don’t think most of us really understand how good we have it. Every night, before the night show begins, the band plays “O Canada,” a singer leads us, and we all stand and remove cover. A helicopter circles over with a Canadian flag hanging below. What a cool sight. This gives me the chills but makes me proud even more.

Yesterday I received an unexpected, thoughtful and beautiful gift from a lady I do not even know. But what I do know of her is she’s a friend of a relative and she receives my blog, sends it on to others, and is a huge fan of chuckwagon racing and Team 23. The gift was just a little something-something to keep a gal looking and feeling good. What a nice gesture you did for me, Dianne. I thank you so much. Sharing with you and others of my summertime journey has touched me in many ways when I hear feedback from all of you. This instance is just one of them.

I have to share another feel-good story. We were in Strathmore the other year. A lady came knocking at our door. I did not know the lady but she was friend of a friend who passed my adventures along. This lady wanted to personally meet me and thank me for all my writing. She particularly enjoyed my P.S. sayings at the end of the blog.

She proceeded to tell me this had helped her to get through some rough waters, for she had just lost a child in the previous year. WOW! My heart hurt for her. I couldn’t imagine. But what I did learn from this is when your gut feeling tells you to do something…DO IT! It could change another’s life sometime down the road without even knowing it.

It takes a team to do what we do. And I enjoy taking and sharing photos of all the crew doing what they do best. They make it happen around our camp. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to sneak on out and join our sponsors in their suite to enjoy and watch the last half of the races. What a treat that was.

Today was another exceptionally warm day. Hit the 30s, I’m sure. Not to worry, the ponies are well taken care of. Once the chores were all done, we brought out the two big fans that we brought from home and got them going in the barn to get the air flowing. We then kept the cement sprinkled with water, which also helps keep the temperature down. They love it and rest for the better part of the afternoon.

Tonight Rick was off the 3 barrel, which is shorter than the 1 and 2. The team that he decided to hook on this short barrel was Speedy on the Left Lead, Nickle on the Right Lead, Sneakers on the Left Wheel and Law on the Right Wheel. Cole rode Ace and Chance Flad rode Andy.

Rick had a great start and a pretty good run with the team. As a matter of fact, it was the where day money was won.

Once we returned to the back of the barns, we got news that they hung us with a one-second penalty for interference. Rick said as they were rounding turns 1 and 2, Luke and Rick’s wagon touched hubs. That’s it…that’s all. We just don’t understand the judging calls sometimes.

Onward and upward for a better run tomorrow.

Calgary: Night Five (July 7)

July 8, 2015July 8, 2015 / suefraser / Leave a comment

Tuesday already. That means we are at the halfway point of the Calgary Stampede. The days go by very fast when we are here as it is such an important and busy show.

The air was pretty chilly this morning. I didn’t take a coat down when I headed to the barns but I could have used one. Once we got busy doing chores, I had warmed up.

It was laundry day for me today. Rick’s treat while here is dropping off his jeans and shirts with Cochrane’s Dry Cleaning By Dave. They come every day to the grounds from 10am until 1pm for drop-off service. Many cowboys utilize this service so they all look neat and tidy with their starched jeans and shirts.

I like it too as it lessens my load tremendously. We’re also fortunate to have a few machines donated for our use in the barns.

Once I got that all taken care of, Kaylee, Gary and I went to the Big Four to the lost and found. You see Kaylee lost her wedding band yesterday. So we wanted to report it. We’re hoping that it will be located by someone before we leave the grounds.

Out back at our barn we had some visitors that really paid us no attention. These ducks were just looking for some leftover oats to eat.

What a cute couple. I remember years ago Rick and I were discussing ducks, and I was clearly disappointed when Rick filled me in that the female duck was the dull one and pretty one was the male. He’s never let me forget it.

We have many fans abroad, and here we have Rick’s Aunty KooKoo (Sharon) with cousin Tammy and her daughter Sadie. Lots of our relatives love to get together at the cabin or their home, sit around the campfire and make bets on the races.

For the night’s races, my job (along with a couple of the girls) is to take the outriding horses over to the infield and tend to them. I have a tough time getting on the horse myself, so there’s always one of the guys to give me a boost up.

Tonight we brought over a beverage to celebrate our halfway point of the Stampede.

There’s no shortage of love for our horses in our barn. They all get number one lovin’! Ace loves to have his lip rubbed and Jesse has no trouble doing that.

Because of the redraw tonight, we got hooked with different drivers. So in turn we lost an outrider and had to hire a different one. Dustin was riding, but he had to go ride for his dad, Gary Gorst, as we were in the same heat. But not to worry as we picked up 2014 world champion outrider Chance Flad.

Rick decided to hook Spirit on the Left Lead, Ranger on the Right Lead, Sneakers on the Left Wheel and Law on the Right Wheel. Cole rode Beau again and Chance rode Stadium. They did a great job.

Rick was on 1 barrel. When he came in to park, he said he heard someone whistle and the horses jumped ahead of the barrel. Rick tried to back them up, somewhat successfully but we were still assessed a one-second penalty. The horn finally blew and away they went.

Unfortunate luck struck and the top barrel was hit, assessing us another five seconds. That one hurts. This takes us out of the running for the top eight so we will just be running for day money now.

Rick is a great skinner, and I’m proud of him and he’s done well thus far. We were also happy tonight how fast the horses ran. Tomorrow is another day and we will shoot to get a day money.

One of the happiest moments ever is when you find the courage to let go of what you can’t change.

The Travelin Trailer

Thoughts from the Voice Within

Team 23 crew

Bonnyville: Day 3 (July 25)

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Calgary Stampede Wrap-up

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Calgary: Night Ten (July 12)

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Calgary: Night Seven (July 9)

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Calgary: Night Five (July 7)

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