Snow Day, Back in the Day!

In honour of all the snow that fell last night (And is still falling!!!), I figured I'd post a photo from a snow day a few years ago. I didn't have the day off for this back in the day snowfall but that was alright! I was right out in the nitty gritty of it! And for those of you thinking October 23rd and heavy snowfall warning?! WHAT?!? Well this photo was taken on September 21st! And it's after shot which I will include on this blog was taken on the 22nd. Granted it's up a bit higher in the mountains but still!


This snowstorm occurred during tear down of 2010 in Banff. I had ridden with just myself, my horse
Spencer and my trusty mule Casey, to Flint's park to help that cook start tearing down her camp as soon as her guests left the next morning. The closer I rode to Flints the more the rain turned to snow and by the time we were turning on the lamps in the kitchen tent that night there were quite a few inches on that pristine meadow! I actually found a photo of the cook and I posing in the snow that night before it was too dark. Thanks to #7 for taking the photo for us!

By the morning there wasn't a blade of grass in site but man was the sky blue! There had to be over a foot of snow on the ground just in time for me to start taking down the electric fence. I had two pairs of clothes on the go. One was by the wood stove drying and warming at all times while I wore the other one for a lap around camp to take down one wire. Once one wire was done, the clothes were swapped! I thought it was a pretty good system. By the time the cavalry arrived that evening after there long ride from town in all the snow, the fence was just about all down as were all the outer buildings! What proficient cooks we were! The snow was melting during the day as we worked and by the time we were getting ready to start packing up and leaving the next day this is all that was left of it. But the grande photo of the entire storm? The morning after when everything was just white and blue! Even the TeePee was sporting some great camouflage. Was it a hassle at the time? Sure, snow always is. But was it worth all that extra work it might have caused? Every time!

Enjoy!

Athabasca Ice Flows

In another photo from the past I bring to you some ice flows! OooOooOooo. These beauties are located on the Athabasca River just below the Athabasca Falls. Very gorgeous waterfalls for anyone who ever wants to go see them! There's also a local herd of Caribou that hang around in the area....

My friend and I at the time had decided one day that we wanted to go for a scenic drive from Banff up to Jasper so one day in my truck we hoped and away we drove! We took the Ice Fields Parkway because what's more scenic than that! We rose dark and early to begin our adventure in search of beautiful landscapes and mesmerizing wildlife. We weren't disappointed! I didn't get any shots of good wildlife however the scenery was fabulous and all in all the adventure was a success, producing many shots that I continue to enjoy. Like this one! It has a bit of noise in it but every time I look at it I remember our slipper climb down ice covered stairs from the top of the falls to the bottom. It was perilous and only upon reaching the bottom did we stop to think "Gee, it might be an issue going back UP!" It was challenging that's for sure, but gave us our exercise in an otherwise full day of sitting.

The Athabasca, like other glacier fed rivers, has the surreal turquoise glow. The winter is no exception! This photo shows this off extraordinarily well while also showing that no... the ice isn't the same green as the water! What a mystery :o I also enjoy how the ice flows mimic a puzzle, all fitting together perfectly but gradually sliding too and fro away from each other. Who would have thought ice could be so captivating? Gives you the chills just looking at it and thinking how cold that water is though!

Enjoy!

Farrier Tools

So a couple years ago (according to my computer, over 2!), I was still working as a back country cook in Banff. This job was AMAZING and I loved it. Still tell stories about it and enjoy going through old photos. It was just full of so many photography opportunities that you don't run into very often in this day and age. I'm constantly kicking myself over not getting more photos! However I do have a handful that will remain favourites for me no matter what. I've got a couple here right now!

Now farrier tools aren't really special and hard to find these days. All you have to do is find a farrier! I'm sure that their tools won't be far away. If you're lucky they'll just have them lying around on an anvil like these ones here! Because there were so many anvils floating around at the barns some had run of the mill stands and others just had stumps like this one. Personally I enjoy the stumps, adds more authenticity for me for some reason. I have no clue if farriers back in the day actually used stumps as well! Seems likely though.

From what I remember about this day, there were two farriers working in a pen. Both on mules I believe, or for sure at least one on a mule! Originally I was out to get photos of them in actions but I don't think I actually got any that I liked. I'll have to look that up later... But I did get these two shots! All tools pictured are being used by Roland, you can see him in the photo below. He's the one that may or may not be working on a mule. While there are things about both of these photo's compositions that I wish I would have done differently at the time of shutter button pressing, I'm still very happy with the results of them as a pair and always think of them whenever I think of Banff photos or Western photos in general. The above photo was even a print that was on exhibition during my show in Banff. I hope you like them both as much as I do!

Enjoy!

Blue Cochins

So some of you may have read bits about my growing chicken obsession. It pretty much started in Australia when I wanted a easily attainable and cheap to raise animal that was also fairly easy to get rid of for when I came back to Canada. Chickens fit this perfectly! But I refused to get just a white chicken, those are all we had growing up! So I went to a local Poultry Club Auction. There I fell in love with... Wyandottes! I think they're gorgeous! They were also ridiculously expensive there so I ended up getting a trio of Minorca's instead LOL

Either way, when I got back to Canada and decided to get some chickens here I began looking for Wyandottes of course! In this hunt though I discovered many more kinds of chickens that are just gorgeous and demanded I get them. The ones that stole my heart and my eye were the Cochins! You can't look at them without wanting to hug them or just bury your fingers in their fluffy feathers! However, since this was my first attempt at raising chicks on my own there were some hardships along the way. One of these took the form of a disease called Mycoplasma. After some serious research I decided it wasn't something to go to extremes over so none of my birds were culled and I have the medicine needed on hand for any relapses. One bird gave me a nearly 100% diagnoses based on visible symptoms though, and that was one of my standard Blue Cochins. The poor dear could barely see, had swollen eyes, runny nose, dirty feathers where she tried to scratch her itchy eyes and she was incredibly stunted! The other Cochin seemed to get away without experiencing any symptoms and carried on growing at a normal rate.

Originally I had taken this photo as a way to show the size differences between the two and HOW MUCH the sick chick had rebounded! In a before shot she was barely 1/4 the size of the healthy chick. She looked bad and she was very slow to feather out, while in this photo you can't tell she was ever sick and would just assume she's slightly younger. She's made leaps and bounds in growth and I'm very happy with it. Just like I was happy with how this quick shot turned out with the lighting and poses. The only thing I wish was different was that their feet weren't muddy so you could get a true idea of how fluffy they are!

Even lacking fluffy feet feathers they're still two beauties!

Enjoy!

Old Prairies Homestead

Living on the Alberta Prairies means there's plenty of old homesteads just falling down. I can't even count how many decrepit buildings I see on my drive to work every day. I love it! I wish I could just drive into them all and take photos!

Just south of me is a great little homestead in a coulee. What sets this one apart in my  mind is the fact that is has a BRICK house. I don't remember ever having seen an old brick house on these sites. They're usually the same type of wood as the barns and outbuildings and have gained that nice silvery colour with their age. I really like that silvery colour but man does this brick look great in the right setting! That right setting just happened to be when I was cruising the country side with pails full of chicken guts in the back of my car.

I didn't want to dump these on my acreage because that would lure coyotes in and they have yet to discover the yummy poultry living here and I want to keep it that way! So off I drove down the road to find a suitable ditch on a lesser traveled road that would keep the 'yote's away for the immediate future. My direction of travel, south. The time of day, just before a great big honkin' hail storm! On the way back I couldn't not look at the homestead and think "Aggghhh WHERE'S MY CAMERA?!" So I went home and got it! The house looked amazing in front of all the clouds!

I also took a stroll over to take photos of the barn. It was attached to some out buildings that looked great too. Unfortunately they had powerlines attached which just didn't suit the photos at all! So with some picky composition you get the barn sans the outbuildings! This photo session was pretty quick considering the storm coming in. There were even tornado warnings linked to this one as well as the severe winds and hail so I was pretty much running through the tall grass trying to find good spots for photos! Of course... in my rush I ended up losing my cell phone so once I did a quick search of the house, barn and car for places I may have lost it, back I drove to the homestead to retrace my steps in the grass for my phone. Luckily the place is really close to home and luckily I found my phone! I don't think it would've survived the weather that day.

Here's the barn and the scene of the cell phone misplacement.

Enjoy!

Boo and Zippy

A friend and co-worker loves her horses. She's got a handful of brood mares that had the cutest little foals this spring. One of them, a little boy, got a bit of a crap deal though, when he tried to take on a barbed wire fence. He lost and now has some scratches that need a bit of attention. Alas! This friend had a vacation planned for the next couple of weeks and asked if I would look after her Boo and Zippy and give him his daily dose of fixer upping. Of course, I said yes!

Zippy is about... oh I'd say a month old. I did see him the day he was born and I think that was about a month ago! He's all legs and curiosity and I love it. If it ever stops raining here I'm sure to go out and take more photos. Until then, here's one from the other day of Zippy and his mom, Boo.

Enjoy!

Stella!

So I'm not sure how many of you know I work at a feedlot, but now you know if you didn't! It's not a huge feedlot. Maximum capacity is only about 15,000 - 16, 000 head but even with this many you get calves! It's feedlot policy to give any heifers an abortion drug on their arrival to the feedlot so most calves are premature on some level. This alone would present a huge health risk for the calves not to mention any other drugs their mom is given that effects them as well. To sum things up, life is a challenge that usually ends early for the majority of calves born at the feedlot.

Last Friday we had about 330 heifers arrive from another, for lack of an easier understood term, feedlot. They're called Background cattle, meaning they've received many of the drugs and procedures we use on cattle at our feedlot but they've simply been eating lower ration food. Meaning less amounts of grain and additives to make them fatter, faster! Still, many of the drugs these girls would've received could and would be harmful to a fetus however, because they were from another feedlot setting it was debated on whether we should abort them on arrival or not. Afterall, they should have been sequestered from any steers/bulls where they were and already aborted when they arrived there. This debate was ended swiftly when, two days after they arrived at the feedlot, the pen riders went to their pen to bring them to the barn to be processed for arrival and entered into the computer. What did they find in that pen? Why, about 330 heifers and one baby! This means she may be a full term calf since her mom wasn't aborted yet! Although she may still suffer effects from other drugs her mom received.

I'd been waiting for one of these little beauties all spring as the new arrivals aborted left right and centre. However few calves were found alive and those that were found homes elsewhere for this reason or that, so when one of the pen riders asked if I wanted a calf I said "Hell yeah!". A short while later they brought in this sweet little black girl who I promptly named Stella in my head. (I couldn't say it out loud for fear of jinxing her!) They milked out her crazy mom, fed her a bit and left her snoozing in a box stall until work was over. Then I loaded her up in my back seat on old floor mats which she promptly pooped on. She spent the ride home surfing around, staring out the window and sucking on my hair.

When we got home she was introduced to Farley who really had no clue what she was or what he was supposed to do with her. Growl, play, chew, lick, chase, run from? Too many options, too many mixed signals! She soon settled into her little room in the barn and quickly became a piggy constantly wanting food.

Stella is now five days old and still going strong. She's not out of the woods yet, of course, but she's enjoying running through the grass, chasing Farley and taking naps in the sun while hiding in grass taller than she is! Her only wish would be that she could eat constantly all day and that I didn't have to go to work so she could just follow me around outside forever instead of snoozing in the barn for the day.

Here's a photo of Stella when she's 2 days old. This is the first day she really got to explore outside. She was pretty shy and hadn't quite gotten the idea of me as mom yet so she wasn't super confident but she did give a few things a sniff or two just like the weeds in this photo!

Enjoy!

Sun Flare Pair.

So my laptop is still down but I just couldn't wait any longer so I'm getting a collection of photos going on this spare one I've borrowed.... First up is a lovely bovine shot! Following is the background story!

I work at a feedlot. It's a job that pays the bills. However, the same company/person that owns the feedlot also has a selection of ranches where he calves out his cows. Most of these Old Girls are either Purebred Black Angus or a cross of Black Angus and Black Maine Anjou. At least as far as I've been told. Either way I took the opportunity offered by days off coinciding with the long weekend (and lovely weather!) to go visit the closest of these ranches. Located in the Handhills of East Central Alberta it's a little slice of paradise, albeit fairly treeless paradise....

I arrived at the ranch slightly after noon, just in time to catch the guys at their lunch. I then just tagged along acting as "supervisor" and "manager" for their afternoon fencing. I'm very skilled at leaning against a shovel and offering up my $.02 while watching guys work ;) While we traversed different pastures in our escapades I was clicking away. However it wasn't until that evening that I got this shot:

At the end of the day the guys do their rounds, checking on the Girls one more time. This is to make sure there's nobody having issues calving, to check on the lil' stinkers already on the ground and to tag the brand new babies. It's a pretty much keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual sort of check. I was pretty busy snapping away during the drives through each pasture and I got a couple of shots that I really looked forward to seeing later, but none more so than this one!

I seen it coming but I just couldn't get myself at the right angle out the window while looking through the viewfinder, so I took a chance. I just stuck my arms out the window, pointed the camera in the direction and pushed the button! This is what lead to the slanted horizon but I think this adds to the photo instead of detracting from it and helped make the risk definitely pay off! While the Sun is incredibly bright and gives the photo a wicked flare, it makes what would otherwise probably be a hard to detail, dull black cow, into a striking silhouette. Same with her small replica who's going in for an evening snack. The angle of the setting sun, while hiding bovine detail, gives the grass a large amount of it! All of this combines to give a photo that I find eye catching yet simple and I think it will be a favourite bovine shot of mine for a long time to come!

In other news... While I'm sure I'll have plenty more ranch shots appearing soon, I also did another shoot for AARCS with 3 of their foster dogs. Stay tuned to see their handsome - or pretty - mugs and to spread the word about their search for a home!

Dead Laptop = Photo Delay

So unfortunately my laptop has gone caput. Something about a disc drive 5 dying. Now I'm in the process of trying to find someone to fix it and decide if I want it fixed to begin with. I'm also contemplating maybe getting a desktop since I'm more stationary these days instead of moving around. Then maybe I could start work on an actual website to go with the blog :o

For now I'm enjoying the huge dump of snow we just got! Yahoooo finally. Got some nice photos of the dogs the other day in it. Especially my new boy, Farley! He's a rescue from Prairie Pitbull Rescue and while I still only have him on a trial adoption, he fits right into the house! An added bonus is that he's super handsome and a good model!

Because I'm on my roommates laptop I don't have access to my photos or photo editting program but maybe I'll dig an old one off of my external to post soon. Hang on until then, I guess!

Kiah

The last couple of weeks developed a surprising trend in our household. All of a sudden a bunch of friends asked me to puppy sit! 3 dogs within about 3 weeks, just out of the blue, non related, all going different places... I should start a business LOL Sure it'd be nice to be in Mexico or Arizona instead, just like the owners, but putting up with poochies is second best :D

This was our first victim, a Blue Heeler named Kiah. Or as we call her Kiah Maria or Kiah Rio or Put That Down! She's a sweetheart with a heart of gold and an addiction to fetch. Hide her toy, she'll search for it for hours. When she can't find it, she'll bring anything else she thinks will work. Books, socks, underwear, rolls of paper towel, cans of hairspray... You name it, Kiah will make it a toy.

After a couple rocky first days with Mystic they sorted their stuff out and became partners in crime, and bed hogging! Weird how two small dogs can take up so much bed space.... She is a bit hard to get photos of since she's constantly on the go. Play here, sniff here, find this, bring it to me, wait for a throw, run around like a crazy hound, play with Mystic. Never any stop with this girl. I did manage to get this shot while telling her to lay down and stay. She's trained very well and listens like a dream most of the time so that was about the only way to get a shot! This is pretty much her "Common, throw it! Throw it!" face.

Enjoy!

Pixel

Now last (but far from least!) of the three models of the Adopt-a-Thon, here....is....Pixel!

Pixel is a wonderful little girl, 3 months old now, who's just searching for love. She loves her cuddles, she loves her chew toys, she loves most treats (Not the ones we had to bait her for photos though!) and I'm positive she'll love you! A more beautiful personality wrapped in a cute little bundle, you won't find. She's a typical, rambunctious puppy but don't let that deter you, she's a complete gem who only wants to please you and have fun while doing it! If this includes jumping for stuff, even better!

Pixel is a mixed breed puppy. By appearance she looks like some sort of Heeler Terrier cross but whatever she is, she's worth it. How can you say no to a face like that? In this photo she's scoping out the snow bank she wishes her leash was just long enough to reach. Playing in the snow seems to be a great past time of hers.

If you're interested in Pixel and wish to learn more or contact AARCS about her, you can find her profile here.

Enjoy!

Bounder

One of the dogs that I had the best connection with at last week's Adopt-a-Thon was Bounder. At first impression she was rather shy and overwhelmed by the entire deal. She was more content doing laps around the pet shop than actually meeting with anyone. But after a couple of hours and a few rounds of bum scratches she was happily trying to sit in my lap! Unfortunately, that's one of the hardest positions to take photos of a dog from!

Once she's sure you aren't somebody to be afraid of she's a loving, sweet and beautiful dog. Well... she's beautiful even when she isn't sure of you, she can't help that, it's just the way she looks! She's a Border Collie cross and gorgeous! In today's photo you can see her amazing brown eyes. Aren't they just screaming "Love me! Adopt me!". Really she just wanted the cheese I was using to get her attention...

If you would like more information on Bounder and maybe would like to offer her the perfect forever home, feel free to contact AARCS. Bounders profile can be found here. But for now, here's those eyes!

Enjoy!

Adopt-a-Thon with Flynn

So today was the AARCS Adopt-a-Thon at the Pet Planet in Olds. They asked me to come out and take some photos of the dogs there and I was happy to do so! One of the more important ones they needed photos of was Flynn.

Flynn is a 6 month old, purebred Beagle. He is an owner surrender and as such, has had very little training. Since he is a Beagle he is super high energy and more than likely was completely out of control with his old owners. He's currently appreciating the stability and exercise his foster home is providing him and is working towards being well mannered and calmer for his new, perfect family. Still, it is recommended that prospective family members be familiar with Beagles or be ready to do some intense research into the breed. These are no cuddly lapdogs but outgoing activity partners!

Stay tuned for more photos from today's event but until then, here's a shot of Flynn waving with one of his rather large ears.

Enjoy!

Adoption Day and an Oldee but a Goodee!

So some very exciting news today! Pet Planet in Olds is hosting an adoption day for AARCS on January 28th! They've kindly asked me to join them and take some photos of adoptable critters and hopefully of adopted ones too! I may even get to see Miss Ellie again if she gets to come for a visit. This will also give me a chance to meet other AARCS volunteers in the area and perhaps even the people I've only "met" through email. A day of wonderful possibilities for sure! I just hope I don't fall in love with too many pooches...

For today's photo I'm going back a month and a bit to a gorgeous December day. It was nice and warm out with beautiful blue skies so I figured Hey, why stay inside when I could be cleaning up the disaster of a garbage shed? Of course this is where the cats live so they were kindly keeping me company while I puffed up their bed and gave them kitty scratches. Since I took out my camera with me it was like working with ADD. Every five minutes I had to take some photos. Fortunately, (or unfortunately!), because of the cold and my charging negligence, my battery died :( However! I did get a few wonderful captures of Frosty. He's an absolutely stunning cat but all too often he has his dopey, just woke up from a nap face on. While he's definitely not super alert in this shot, he is still stunning!

You can't tell in this photo but Frosty is a Manx. His dad, Trout, was a reject from an acquaintance's farm. Trout was considered too shy and wild of a kitten so they were going to shoot him. Of course, tell me that and I'll make room for anything so he came home with us and proceeded to starve himself upstairs for two weeks straight. Since he's taken to peeing in the house so he's now strictly a barn cat with his two sons, Frosty and Pilsner! He also eats regularly now, having gotten oven all wildness.

But on to Frosty's photo! And if you're in the area on the 28th make sure to drop by for a visit!

Enjoy!

Ellie

Today I got to do a second photo shoot for www.albertaanimalrescuecrew.com My model was the wonderful, gregarious Ellie! She's an amazing, friendly girl just waiting for the perfect person to come love her. The entire shoot she was busy playing with her three doggy counterparts which helped to get photos since she's a little bit camera shy!

Ellie's story is a too familiar one for rescued dogs. Abandoned at a campground, she was cruising around with two other dogs, one most likely her sister. When she was found she was lactating however no puppies were ever discovered. Ever since she's been living the life in AARCS foster care, patiently waiting with tail wagging. Spread the word and help Ellie's search!

Reba

Today I did my first volunteer photo shoot for Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society. I help them by taking photos of animals they have in foster care that are currently looking for their furever homes! For the most part I sit around waiting for a pooch outside of Calgary. Since most of the animals are fostered within the city, photographers in the city take their photos! But every now and then there's a foster home outside of Calgary. Like today with Reba who lives in Drumheller!

Reba is a 7 month old Collie Lab X. She was born in a foster home and adopted once already but was unfortunately returned because she wasn't the breed her adoptive family had been looking for. It's hard to guarantee breed in rescue dogs sometimes! So for now Reba's keeping her foster family on their toes with her happy go lucky antics and patiently waiting for that perfect someone to come along and fall in love with her. Hopefully my photos will help speed this up for her!

Here is one of the shots of Reba today. She really loves chewing on sticks if her face is anything to go by!

Enjoy!