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!