Day of Cement

Today was "all hands on deck!"  We decided it was time to pour a cement slab in between the new silo's and the dairy barn.

See the grain bin at the end? Well last night the grain truck came... lucky thing too cause that whole area was about to become wet cement and there would be no way we would allow him to drive on it!

Here we are waiting for the first cement truck to arrive.

Thankfully the rain held off the whole day and we were able to get this poured.  On standby, getting ready for the action!

Getting in the groove...

Splish, splash, splatter!

then it would get raked out to the proper level...

soon after the float would be jiggled over it to make it all smooth

 Loooooong stretch! Good thing for a long handle!

Meanwhile, Katie was bringing up round bales, etc to keep time feeding on the weekend at a minimum.

Just about done! finishing touches... our crew: Charlie, Brooke, Karl, Jeff, Gary & Emma

 Don't it look awesome!  Lots of comments were flying around about how long it will stay clean.

My final touches... when you stand in the wrong place it looks like 2102! LOL In the future someone is going to be very confused about the age of this concrete.

Good Bye JD

On Monday, June 25th, JD took a ride with me to 100 Mile House.  Back to his previous owner.
I have no need for JD anymore as he is related to all of my sheep but 6.  He is a very good ram, friendly, doesn't butt anyone... so it WAS difficult to let him go. 
It did make it easier to have him go back to his previous owner though. 
Our trip was non eventful during the 5.5 hour drive one way... I took my Mom along and we casually made our way north. 
I did take the time to stop along the way to take a couple of pictures!  Like I said in the last post - there is a lot of water up north coming our way - here is proof!
The water is almost up to the highway!
Normally there are HUGE boulders (rocks) sticking up and the water is rushing around them...

Instead, now, the water is rushing OVER them!

You did not want to go near that water as it was very angry and running extremely fast.

We got to JD's new/old home an hour later than planned but made it safe and sound.
Dennis & Beth let him into an area with 4 other rams... they got busy checking him out...

Then they got busy working on the proper pecking order!  JD wasn't one to back off from a fight so they had quite the go of it.  The greyish ram was older and the boss so had to let JD know that.
Not sure who won but JD sure found out he was out of shape and a little too fat for these boys. That fat may have saved him some broken ribs though!  The head butting sounded painful! That CRACK sound when thier heads/horns met - ouch!

I was told they settled down when the food came out and after layed together chewing thier cud. 
Glad to hear he is fitting back in... but I am sure his weight loss program has already started. At my place he was prone to stealing the alpaca grain... he has more competition at the new place so that isn't going to happen!   I am sure I will see him again one day (to visit)... for now I am going to enjoy my quiet nights at home cause I no longer have to listen to him rearranging my shed or him knocking the alpaca feeders off the wall. 

Flood zone

Many of you may be hearing on the news about Fort Langley, Glenn Valley, Chilliwack, Hope... all these towns threatened to flood in our area.

The water is very high (although gone down again in the last few days) but due to major flash floods and never ending rain here and north of us it is not helping the situation.

This is the Fraser River it spilled over its banks in 1948 and in 1972... and I believe it was close to flooding in the 90's too.

This past winter there was a huge snow pack in the mountains and with all the rain we've had... well... it spelled F-L-O-O-D

Karl and I took a drive past our friends place on Saturday the 23rd...

to the left is a farmers field under water and you can see the water creeping onto the road

Further down it was over the road

We, of course, had to take a drive through it!

Many of the roads are closed because of the high water alert.

We tried to continue down the road to a farm we know right on River Road but they had evacuated that section and no one was allowed that far down the road.

So we turned around and came back.  I took a picture of a friend of mine whose house has been sand bagged and they too are evacuated.  The grey behind the house in the trees is the river.

 This is their driveway and yard... in the far back between the trees is the river - the field next to them is covered in water too - the road is sitting a little higher, hence why we are not driving through water.  These photo's are taken in the areas that are NOT protected by the dike.

The next day... Sunday we took another drive down to our friends place... Karl took his transit to measure how many inches or feet the water had to raise before entering his house or mobile home.

On our drive we came across this: This place always looks uninhabitable but someone actually does live here... pretty sure he is evacuated now.

We arrived at our friend, Gregs, property (he has renters living here)... the water has come up over a low part in his driveway.  This day the water has actually receeded... it was higher before.

Karl and Greg measuring height - this house is a heritage house and it never got wet in the flood of 1948 so here if hoping it won't flood this time.

If you turn around from what they are doing you can see the dike.. that is a municipal truck driving along checking the height of the water and the dike.  That is Greg's field covered in water too.

There is another dike and that is between Gregs house and the River - which is also known as the train track.  Greg is on the right side of the tracks but the wrong side of the cross dike!

The evacuation alert has been lifted until the weekend.  There has been major flooding and monsoon rain north of us and they expect that water to come rushing down the river to our area this weekend.

We, personally, are safe from the flood waters but in Glenn Valley there are many farms - one being a 650 head dairy farm.

In the worst case scenario, if the water breeches the dike (meaning Gregs place will REALLY be under water!)  This farm (Pool's) will move thier 280 head of milk cows and unweaned calves to our barn.  We will then be milking 150 of ours and 280 of his!  Its all planned out "just in case" but we are really hoping it won't happen. 

 #1 its a HUGE undertaking,

 #2 his herd has hairy wart (a cow foot fungus that is VERY hard to control - we don't have it in our herd - we have heard that we have the reputation of the only one in the fraser valley that doesn't have it - we would like to keep that reputation!) 

#3 - the only reason he would move to our place is if the dike is breeched... he will then be milking at our place for a minimum of 2 months - that will be a lot of work for him... as his other animals will be pastured on high ground at someone elses place... he will have no access to his own feed so he will be using ours and anything else he can get his hands on.  Tough this time of year when its just the beginning of summer and not much cropping has been done!

I certainly don't wish this issue on anyone.  I truly feel for those in MB that had to go through this ordeal last year.

So far so good here, lets hope we have bypassed the worst of it

It never rains it pours - in the barn?

During milking on the same day as the freak storm...  Tricia and I were chatting in the utility room when all of a sudden water started spraying EVERYWHERE.

We took a closer look (as close as we could get) and realized the pipe to the water cooler had popped off. 

Karl came from the parlor and assessed the situation and turned off the main valve.

It wasn't a crucial part of milking (the tank has coolers too) so it was repaired after we were finished. 

Freak storm

We have been having an interesting spring.. and now turning into an interesting summer!
The day after the first day of summer (June 22) and around milking time Jeff came to the barn to let us know he was going to put Shadow in the house cause he caught him running crazy brained down the driveway.
Now Shadow only does this when he hears thunder.
We saw the sky darkening but heard no thunder. 

About 5 minutes later the lightning flashed and a big bang of thunder rolled across the sky.
Joining the lightning flashes and thunder rolls was a monsoon of rain!
Our "dry" laneway was soon a flowing mini river.
We nearly lost power 3 times but thankfully we got through milking without hooking up to the generator.
This of course is NOT helping the flood issues we are having in the area.

Busy Day

Today was a busy day... all hands on deck.
Katie, Tricia, myself and Emma were spring cleaning the barn. 
It was time for the cobwebs to go! Spiders and all. 
There was a few times that screams were heard as one felt a spider had made a leap.  Not a nice feeling at all!
We worked in the office, milk parlor, tank room, storage room, and shop.  I power washed floors and walls , others sorted & organized, wiped down counters, emptied garbage, cleaned windows and window sills and the bathroom... .
Tomorrow hopefully the job will get finished.  I need to finish power washing the milk parlor and we need to get a tall ladder to reach the cobwebs in the upper windows.  Lots of fun :)

There is incentive to get this done... every year we have a tour group from the UK... they usually show up around Mothers Day (May) but this year they are coming in June (Saturday the 23rd). 
We normally do Spring and fall cleaning in the barn but this gets us going as it gives us a deadline... we have started a little later because of the horrid weather we have been having too.  Who wants to get wet power washing or clean windows when its so cold out!?  At least it has warmed up and it was beautiful and sunny today... Hoping the sunny weather will stay with us for awhile.

Sorry, no pictures.... oh wait!  When it was lunch time and we were headed to the house we saw this beautiful butterfly!  It was fluttering around a puddle - must have been having a drink.

Aunt Anna RIP

It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Karl's Aunt Anna (Charlies eldest sister)
She lived a full, simple life.
I know very little of her accomplishments but what I do know is she was
1. Valedictorian graduate
2. was a School principal
3. taught first nations on the west Coast of British Columbia
4. Lived a very simple life on her self sufficient farm
5. Taught my children to read before they were 4 years old
6. Was a kind and gentle woman

Born in St.Boniface MB on January 25, 1935
Then moved with her family to Langley BC in 1936

Aunt Anna on couch with nieces and nephew, BIL on floor (Uncle Bud), Grandma Iberg (her mother) and Aunt Ida (her sister) standing by tree - I am guessing Aunt Freda (children's mother and Aunt Anna's sister) is taking the picture.

Aunt Anna was a hard worker and involved in the farm when she could

Her teachers certificate... Aunt Anna spent all of her career teaching in First Nations Villages on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and the Northern Interior.

Only way in and out was by plane, boat and/or walking

Karl, Jaylin and Aunt Anna... visiting her at the Queen's Park Care center in New Westminster.

Aunt Anna passed away peacefully on June 13, 2012 at the age of 77.

Rest in Peace Auntie.

Fathers Day

Fathers Day, June 15th, was awesome...

The kids came by and worked together as a team and made a wonderful brunch!

Sadly we were missing Tyler, Katies bf, as he is renovating his apartment and things are a little crazy there at the moment.

All in all we had a good time...

food and memories were shared by all

Love, Laughter and family...
always cherished.

Beauty & the BBQ

I have this beautiful friend who had an awesome BBQ...

I really wish this picture wasn't blurry... but amongst the blur you can still see that sparkle in her eye..

Okay part of it may have been cause she had a few LOL

But she always sparkles... she brings brightness to my bad days.

There was tonnes of food! and we all had a great time!

Including Mr. Smiley and the lantern ;)

The Last one - Grad 2012

I will admit I have done my fair share of feeling mid life crisis... my baby is graduating high school.

It is bitter sweet.  The house feels so empty and quiet without little pitter patter feet running through the house. No fuzzy head to cuddle or Lego to step on. No fights and screams of "I'm telling mom!" and no more can you drive me here or there and no more "I'm hungry"... I now just come home to find his truck gone and the fridge empty.

I am told "I'm going to so n so's and will be back later" or mostly its written in text.  I find laundry started in the laundry room waiting for the fairy (me) to finish.  Instead of him asking his dad to fix his bike I now hear and see him in the shop working on his truck and fixing his own bike; peddle and motorized or creating new things like go-carts.

Yes, he has grown up. He bbq's a real mean steak and can create some interesting "hot" (spicy)  dishes. Although I think he has learned a hard lesson about too much "hot".   He works hard on the farm when the interrupted social life allows.  Soon he will be spreading his wings further and going to University to become a Welder and fabricator.  He also plans to join the reserves and work for them part time. 

I wish him well but I will miss his need for me.  

At home before the ceremony

Karl, Jeff and myself

Katie Karl Jeff, myself & Tricia - it was very bright and windy!

The grandma's joined us - Grandpa was in Manitoba at the time.

Grandma D, Jeff and Grandma I

The siblings... Katie, Jeff & Tricia... under the tree house that Karl and Jeff built - the girls helped too.

Waiting on the lawn outside the Chandos Pattison where the ceremony was to be held... caught you Mom! Yes they are running late!

Jeff after he walked across the stage... one part over

June 2nd... Grad Dinner/Prom... Jeff and his date, Alisha.   Shadow insisted on getting into the picture so Jeff finally relented.  Once it was taken Shadow left!

 All dressed up and ready for Prom/Dinner

Jeff and his buddies...

Jeff, Gord and their dates.  Jeff and Gord have been long time friends.

Jeff, Alisha, Jenn & Grant... Jeff has known Grant since grade 2

Karl, Me, Jo & Blake (Grants parents)  Jo and I are BFF's   Had to take a picture as we dont' dress up much!  Grant is their last one too.

Friday the 15th is Jeff's last day of school... onto the next stage in life.