What an interesting couple of weeks....

Well, I last said that I was on my way to the Historic Reesor Ranch.   When I got there, they were just on their way to herd some cows. Joan decided we should go hunting instead with a couple of her friends.  "Hunting" apparently means, "sit and look and wait" for something to come along and not necessarily "Shoot" anything...

And "shoot nothing" we did!

We returned to the Ranch to have some of Theresa's AMAZING chili!  Helped to warm up the bones before the tree decorating started, that's for sure. After that was done, we all watched a movie before heading to bed.

Sunday, Joan and I pulled out the clay pigeons and some ammo and went to town! At one point there was a REAL bird that flew into my path.  And jokingly I said to Joan that I should try and shoot it.  Well, as it got closer and closer, we realized that it was a bald eagle!  So I decided not to shoot the endangered species and continue to shoot at clay disks ( with no success by the way).

The week passed by pretty quick.  A couple of calls with Mrs Boss, and a couple of full preg check days with Mr. Boss. Cadets Monday night, New Moon on Tuesday, Cadet work on Wednesday, "Downtown midnight madness" on Thursday, and present wrapping on Friday.

Saturday morning, on my way to Calgary for the weekend, I ditched my jeep....The roads weren't all that great between Medicine Hat and Brooks, and especially not the left lane.  It was snow packed, and when my tire caught it, it pulled me in.  Before I could think logically about what to do, my immediate reaction was to hit the brake and cut the wheel. That certainly made it a whole lot worse...  I did a 180 on the highway ( lucky no one was close enough to me to have hit me), and went into the ditch backwards.  I should mention that the ditches out here aren't like the ditches back home. The aren't actually DITCHES, they're just inclines down into a field- if an incline at all. So there I was, going backwards...unfortunately I picked the wrong ditch to go into, because this one had a barb wire fence lining it....  I hit the fence with my mounted tire, which ripped the leather tire cover to shreds and sent me into another 180- which resulted in me side swiping two fence posts.  The posts wrecked my front plate, took out my passenger mirror, and dented the passenger side pretty good. (you can distinctively see two pole indents...) I came to a stop on the other side of the fence, with the barb wrapped around my car and wedged between the fender and grill.  Police were called and informed, CAA came to my rescue, and pulled the barb all out from under me, and then I drove out of the ditch and continued on my way to Calgary. A little more cautiously I might add.  Once past Brooks, the roads were like night and day.  They were 100% fine.

Went to see New Moon again Saturday night with a friend, stayed at my cousins Saturday night, ate brunch with Matt this morning, and then headed down to a Grey Cup/ Surprise birthday party for a fellow RGS guy.  Left at half time though to make sure to give myself plenty of time to get home, just in case the roads still weren't good.  Thank God for a mild Saturday and Sunday though.  The drive home went without incident and I stayed awake the whole time!

Now however, it's time for bed.  Work in the morning.  Hope the week goes by fast.....VEGAS ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!

An update.

Well I've been meaning to update this thing for about a week now.....Ever since I got back from Calgary, really.

My trip to the Big City started on Tuesday night after work.  While driving I saw TWO shooting stars! That makes 3 that Ive ever seen before.  Pretty cool, I think.

I made it into the city around 930 and hung out at a fellow officer's for the night. In the morning we went down to a service at the military museum. WHAT A LARGE CROWD!!  It was a really good service as well. Too many people to go and place poppies at the end though.  After the service we headed down to a local legion.  Not as friendly legionaires as we have in the Maritimes, that's for sure!  Stuck up or something? I don't really know how to describe it?  We met up with many other fellow officers at the legion, all of whom are fellow pilots as well.  Funny story....I got cut off at the legion?!... Who gets cut off at the legion?! NO ONE! They serve everyone and anyone, as much as they want!  ( But no, I was not drunk.) Want to know the reason for being cut off??  Because some dirty old legionaire said something dirty and hilarious to me, and I laughed! NOW, all those that know me, know that I have a very boistrous laugh.  The EVIL server lady, who was evil to us all afternoon by the way, does not know my boistrous laugh, and therefore thought that I was intoxicated and looked at my fellow officers and motioned to them that I was cut off.... EVIL woman.  I  HAVE A BOISTROUS LAUGH?!?!     Anyway, no worries, we were on our way out anyway.  We headed down to the "flight deck", a restaurant owned by West Jet.  Because we were all in uniform, and had wings on, the manager got us our first drinks on the house! So that was a pretty neat ending to a good day.

Friday night I made my way to the Calgary folk club, where I got to see Shanneyganock (good Newfoundland band) play.  I grew up listening to these guys and so although the 5 or 6 people I had invited ended up bailing on me- I wasn't too upset, because I knew that they wouldn't have near the appreciation for these guys and their songs like I do.  I went back to the hotel with the guys for a bit and hung out before driving back to my Cousin's place for the night.  When I got there though, Shane and the boys were a little under the weather....and so chatting with them was inevitable! It wasn't until 4 am that I got to bed!

On Saturday we watched the Vancouver vs. Denver hockey game.  I told Shane that Vancouver was going down. And he chastised me for rooting for Colorado. I had to explain, several times, that it wasn't so much that I was PRO- Colorado but that I am ANYTHING BUT Vancouver  So, when Colorado had their asses HANDED to them in a 8-2 loss....Shane had nothing to do but torment me!  I dont think he's EVER going to let me live that down.

Sunday was pretty low key, heading back to the Hat around 3pm, watching the Chinook arch disappear with the setting of the sun over the mountains.  It was pretty AWEsome, to say the least.

I have found myself in a bit of a pickle the last 2 days.  I seem to have misplaced my pilot licence holder while I was in Calgary.  Not because I was flying, but because I keep my military ID in it, and on Thursday, I got an appointment at ASU Calgary to get some cadpat.  So I pulled it out then, and thats the last place I remember seeing it.  On Wednesday I went to fill out the application for my new licencing booklet and went to grab my licences out of my purse, but it wasn't there!  This is NOT good.  This means, LOTS of money, and Military police, and papers and forms and ugggggggg.....Although Im going to keep looking, it seems as though Im going to have to call the MP's on Monday....

Anyway, this weekend Im going to do like the corb lund song says and be " long gone to Saskatchewan"!. I'm driving out to spend the day and night at my friends ranch in the south west of the province. Plans include shooting coyotes ( which there is apparently a bounty on in the province because they are so over populated) and we're also going to go skeet shooting, and drive cattle.  So it should be a good go.

So, that being said, it's 11:20 pm and I better catch some Zzzzzz's !!

Nighty night, don't let the God damn horriblelittleblackandredflying Maple bugs bite! THEYRE EVERYWHERE IN THIS STINKING PLACE!

GOOOOOOOOOOOO MEDICINE HAT!

NewFINLIND??? That's how this lady pronounced Newfoundland when she was referring to her dog... We were at her place yesterday because one of her heifers prolapsed its rectum.

Last Saturday I participated in a pub crawl with my coworker Joan.  It was Halloween themed, being that it was held on October 31st and all.  That was a good time until we got to the biggest, most packed bar of the evening. That's when I had to call it a night.  There were too many ignorant drunk guys plowing through everyone, large people- plowing through everyone, and people in RIDICULOUS costumes blocking the flow of traffic or plowing through everyone.  And my friend Joan, knowing everyone in Medicine Hat it appears, wants to just walk around in circles around the bar chatting with all the people she knows.  So, in conclusion, I don't like getting plowed over, so I decided to leave. :)

This week was really busy at work.  Complete with prolapses, teeth floats, spays, ultrasounds.

This weekend there is a policemen's hockey tournament going on in Medicine Hat.  So Jason, Natasha and I are going to go down there tonight and cheer on some hockey teams, while also getting our drunk on!  Apparently there are $2 beers- that could be bad... But ultimately should be a good time, regardless!

I made it out to the airport last Saturday to check out the flight club.  While chatting with the instructor about what is required for a checkout etc, this is how our conversation went:
Me: Blah blah blah, Im from the Maritimes
Her: No way? Where?
Me:  PEI
Her: NO WAY IM FROM PEI!!!!!
ME. NO WAY!
Her: Where in PEI?
Me: Cornwall
Her. Im from Summerside, My dad works at veterans affairs, and is a doctor in summerside
Me: Whats your name?
Her: Michelle Chaisson, you?
Me: Ashley Gaudet ( pronounced Goody) - She shrieked because I said "Goody"- apparently she hasn't heard that in a while!

So yeah, I'm going to go flying with her sometime that the winds aren't 90km /hr....like it was yesterday.

Monday night I got home from cadets to find the ceiling outside of my room COLLAPSED!  The washer had overflowed and the water seeped through the floor into the basement.  Very exciting to say the least.

On Wednesday I checked out a basement suite for rent. Now that all of my things are under heavy plastic wrap due to the ceiling incident, I think it's going to be a while before I can move anyway!  About an hour ago I got a reply to a kijiji add I posted back in September stating that I would like to live in the country, East of the city.  So that sounds promising? Hopefully Ill get a chance to check it out this week some time.

Still waiting for my transfer from Atlantic Region to Prairie region to be completed.  There are hoops to be jumped through. Of course they would ask me to jump through them.....I'm not in Kansas anymore.

OH YEAH!!!!! Natasha got advanced tickets to see NEW MOON!!!!!!!!!  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!  I can't WAIT!  It's going to be awesome- obviously.  I think I saw Twilight 5 or 6 times in theaters alone!  So, you can pretty much guarantee that I'll be seeing New Moon a few times as well!

And I've officially got Thursday and Friday off, so I'll be heading up to the big city Tuesday night after work and hanging out with the boys for a few days- going to a remembrance day service with them, and visiting with some veterans at a legion or two.  Friday night is the Shanneyganock concert at the Calgary folk club, which I'm dragging Matt to if he likes it or not! haha and Saturday I'm watching Hockey with Shane- Vancouver is in Denver and THEY'RE GOING DOWN!!!!!!  (Or so I'm telling Shane!  He's got all of the Canuks paraphernalia at home, so I'll be a little out numbered, but I've decided that I'm going to go and buy a shirt from Michael's and make my own Jersey! )

Anyway, Nat and I are going to go to the mall before awesomepolicehockeyinebriation occurs.

Gooooooooo MEDICINE HAT!!!!

An AfterTheFact:  So it's Sunday morning- the party was good. We got home at 2am after an evening with police, a BRIEF visit to Ralph's and then returning to the policemen's event to finish the night. Feeling good this morning. During the event last night, there was a ticket draw for prizes.  There was a really nice charcoal sweater with a scuba button up neck and those thumb holes in the sleeves.  Well, some guy won it, so my cousin, without a second thought, walked up to him and asked him if she could have it.  Well, the drunken police officer put the sweater on....so from across the room, I'm watching my cousin undress this guy! And the announcer is calling Jason up to "control his wife" because she was assaulting this guy! It was pretty funny to say the least.  I went up afterwards, wearing it and told the guy it looked better on me than it did on him and gave him 20 bucks for it.  A fair trade considering he got it for free!

Stick a fork in it...

cause it's done!

That's right, gliding is done for yet another season.  The weather didn't cooperate at ALL this season, however hopefully our luck will change in the new year with the possible move to a new airfield.

The weekend started off with rain, and ended with... a little bit of excitement...to say the least.
The public forecast for Saturday said rain in the morning and sun in the afternoon.  The majority of my 2 hour drive to Vulcan, I could see the stars.  The last 30 mins or so, it socked in and before I knew it, I was driving into rain.  Not very good luck....  Well, the squadron came with 45 first years, and while they were there, it began to snow. Needless to say we didn't bother inspecting the equipment... So we sat in the terminal and briefed them on everything and anything.  I kept referencing the public and its barbecue predicting abilities...but for whichever reason, no one wanted to listen to me! Haha I think they thought that I was joking... so the squadron returned home, and we went for lunch, and when we walked out, there was not a cloud nor a raindrop in the sky!...Okay, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but we definitely could have gotten some productive flying done.

So we made plans to move equipment the next day, and that meant that I was going to Calgary for the night. So I hung out with Matt, had a GREAT pizza at some local pub while watching the hockey game and then returned to his place, only to fall asleep imidiately.  Too bad the sleep I received was HARDLY enough to prepare me for the following day....

The plan was to drive to Vulcan, someone would drive the winch to Netook, Greg would get in a tow plane and come back for the glider.  Sounds easy eh? Not so much.  Why? Well, Greg is the only one with a trailer endorsement on his 404.  So while he drove 2 hours to Netook, we were going to wait in Vulcan.  Wrench #2 was that Greg's xcountry rating was waved in September, until the next available opportunity....Yep, you guessed it, that was magically made to happen on Sunday.  Wrench #3, APPARENTLY it's a rule in this region that for transits greater than 1 hour in duration, there has to be two glider pilots.....And, last but not least, wrench #4 was that cadets, although possessing a provincial drivers licences, cannot drive a league vehicle on the highway, only on the airfield.  (This didn't come to light until we all met at the airport at 8am Sunday morning.....)  So, I got on the phone and woke Matt up!  SO- Chris: Chase, Greg:winch and tow, Matt: the burb, Me: glider, Cadet: glider. Other cadet that showed up to drive the burb- we sent her back to Netook.

So we drove to Vulcan, waited until Greg drove to Netook, did his xcountry check out, then flew to back.  Well, what happens when he shut down to brief us? He pulled the mixture right out of the firewall!!  This is BY FAR an " Oh my dear Lord" moment.  It's like that country song says " Did I shave my legs for this?"...I just spent alllllllll day waiting for this ONE MOMENT, and the mixture decides it wants to detach itself?!  MY GOD!  Thank God Greg is an AME, that's all I can say!  So we got that sorted out and FINALLY got in the air at 3:20pm. Got a few cool pictures- 3 thousand feet over the prairies is a pretty cool sight!  When we got to Netook, Greg gave us another 2 grand- only to have the Netook crew telling us to expedite our landing!  WELL NOW, Why on earth would I waste FIVE GRAND and a perfectly good training opportunity with a cadet that needs it, just because a few guys want to go home?  So we spun and spiralled that thing until we had no more altitude left to do them and then we moved on to something else.  'Aint nobody going to rain on this girl's parade!

So that was that, and then it was time to drive 4 hours back to Medicine Hat. It wasn't so bad at first, I just sat a little straighter, turned up the music a little louder, the the ac a little colder...but then that all started to have no effect, and my eyes got soooo heavy all of a sudden .... before I knew it I was driving into the other lane or crossing over the rumble strips...it was scary.  So I pulled over at a gas station and turned the heater on with the intention of turning my car off when it got warm enough. Yeah, that didnt happen....I fell asleep almost as soon as I came to a stop. I woke up about 20 mins later TERRIFIED! It was one of those " where am I" moments....I didn't remember pulling into the gas station, and because I had parked pretty close to a guard rail, when I woke up and saw that, I thought I had come to a stop near it, or hit it and thats why I woke up!  Car, still running, heat, still cranked.  TERRIFIED.  So after that little bit of adrenaline in my system, I put the window down and tunes up again and made for Medicine Hat again.  I made it home at 11:45pm....exhausted.  


Glad I don't have to do that drive again for a few weeks!  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

Quals? Everything- I'm amazing.

Yep, that's right. I'm amazing. On the weekend I completed my winch conversion!  Would have gotten checked out as winch operator on Sunday if the weather hadn't of been crappy- but thems the breaks. 

Its just like doing autotow actually.  The profile looks and feels the same, but everything happens a lot quicker, AND, you're not restricted in altitude by the lenth of your rope. We were stretching out 5000ft but only getting 1500ft off the lauch with a 10kt wind.

This weekend unfortunately will be our last weekend to fly too.  I'm already looking forward to the spring though! Not for ACGP stuff, but for gliding at a civilian club by the mountains. There are two: Cowley and Black Diamond.  I think it would be awesome to check out one of those spots! 

Greg's got 404 training in the works too. I guess moving equipment is really difficult because of the lack of people with the ability to drive military vehicles.  So a 404 course is going to take place in November for the site staff, and so for me, that means a trailer endorsment!!  Woot woot! 

Speaking of moving equipment- I don't think that it will happen after this weekend's fam flights, so that may mean next week?  And if that's the case then I may not get to participate if it's on Sunday, BECAUSE, Leah asked me if I wanted to go on a 10mile cattle drive!! And of course, I said yes!

Last weekend, one of the guys suggested that I go to Calgary for Remembrance day service. I guess they do what Summerside staff did last year- hit up a service before checking out a bunch of legions. So if that ends in being under the influence, then I figure I should take the Thursday off work. AND, a good East coast band in playing in Calgary Friday night, so instead of heading back to Medicine Hat Thursday just for an 8 hour work day on Friday and then turn around and head back to Calgary, I may just take Thursday AND Friday off. That way I'll be Tuesday night, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun in Calgary!

Monday night at cadets went good too. The change of command was quick, and the cadets did GREAT!  I did some hardcore drill with them for about an hour before hand, and they looked fantastic! All the officers and the ACO and Major from winnipeg went out to a pub afterwards.  Chatted up the ACO about getting loaded on CQ- for the 3rd time. And The CO wants me to do the UHRA course, and I'll need to update my SupplyO skillz....you know, because if Im going to be supply officer, it could be nice.

As for work, it's been a super slow week thus far.  Tomorrow I may be heading out with Bob-ert to go preg checking....but we'll see. 

Ok, now it's time to put head to pillow....Im 'zausted! Uggg. 

Ps. The picture was for Greg- he told me that I was going to be flying all by myself Thanksgiving weekend, (trying to be smart), so Matt and I drove out to Netook and he got a picture of me by a glider- looking like the Michelin man huddled up in my toque, winter jacket and gloves and then we went into the briefing classroom, where I saw this qualifications board.  I couldn't help myself....

A good one

I bought an ipod touch today...... (I’m not a “Mac” person, let alone an iPod person. Heck! I’m not a materialistic person! But I was pretty intrigued by my little brother’s new toy, so I thought I should get with the times and get myself an ipod. Now I just need to figure out how to use it…..)
I am at a pub in Calgary right now, here for some turkey eating! Currently drinking beer and not eating turkey...of course. I came up to Calgary to be “thankful” with my friend Matt. He and I used to live 7 houses apart! (He was our paper boy!) We were in 4-H and Cadets together; he too is a pilot and glider instructor. He moved to BC in high school for a school exchange, and then to Ottawa for his undergrad, and is now finishing his Law degree here in Calgary. So I’m here for turkey and I think tomorrow the plan is that we’re going to drive out the mountains, just because we can!

As for my happenings in the past week, both with work and with “things” it’s been fairly eventful:
Last Saturday, Leah and I went to the clinic with her horses. The clinic itself went really well, except that it was freezing cold and it was my 3rd time in probably 2 years that I’ve been on a horse, so I basically got the crap kicked right out of me. No, not literally, but my entire body ached for a few days after. It was as if I had got hit by a Semi!
Sunday, Gliding was cancelled because it rained (it was cancelled on Saturday too actually). So I just laid motionless on the couch all day (because I was in pain….)
Monday, in my rush to get ready for Cadets, the 2 year old decided that she would go downstairs (while I was upstairs) and go in my room (while I was upstairs) and emptied a half of a bottle of febreeze all over EVERYTHING (while I was upstairs), including the wall, the floor, papers, purses, my cadet shoes, AND MY NEW COWBOY BOOTS THAT I AM GOING TO TAKE BACK FOR A DIFFERENT SIZE!!!! (While I was upstairs)……Her mother dried off my boots, and as for my cadet shoes….well, I was running late, so I had no choice but to put them on wet. At least my feet smelled good…..
On Tuesday, while driving home, I passed a semi, and a rock jumped up at me and I thought I got a chip- but I didn’t. THEN, I passed another semi, and this time, a larger rock most certainly put a chip in my window. I WAS FURIOUS! I’m from the Maritimes! We pretty much never get chips! FURIOUS!
Wednesday, nothing that I can remember happened.
Thursday I went preg checking with Bob. It was cold. There were 200 cows. It was cold. They were NOT organized, so we stood there for an hour before the preg checking actually started. It was cold……
On Friday, Leah and I went to a local stable and floated 4 horses teeth. Nothing like the smell of pulverized teeth to get your day going! It wasn’t until 3:30 that we were done, so neither of us had lunches with us, so we stopped at Tim’s and each had a bowl of chili and one of those new pumpkin donuts. (Really good by the way).
When we got back, I found another bag of jerky from the Hutterites! Bob brought it back with him after his day of preg checking!

Gliding is cancelled this weekend by the way. No Squadrons want to fly?!?!? I said "what is this? If I were in the Maritimes right now I’d be flying all 3 days!" Josh, jokingly of course, said “Go back to the Maritimes then!” He just didn’t want to miss his turkey. I on the other hand was ready to sacrifice turkey (or at least eat it late) for gliding. Weirdo Westerners….

HOLY...

COW!

Dye job #2 in 7 days.  And I'm FAIRLY certain- and by fairly, I mean 100% certain, that when I chose the box of dye, auburn WAS NOT the color that best resembled my natural hair color.

CRAP.

Maybe next week Ill try again- and then Ill have no hair afterwards because it will have all fallen out. 

Went to a Hutterite colony today.  Bob was pimping me out again.....At least this hutterite boy was mildly good looking.  "Hey Whatshisname! Have you met Ashley yet? She's single and looking for a man".....subtle Bob....very subtle....

Then, the hutterite guys gave me a squash- and Ive never had one before, so he had to explain to me what to do with it, and how to prepare and eat it. 

THEN one of them fed me pork jerky that they made. IT WAS AWESOME. The best Jerky Ive ever had! 
THEN one of the ladies gave me a bag of plums from their plum trees.  I ate 2 before we got back to the ranch. AWESOME PLUMS!!
THEN, Richard, the Dairy barn boss says " So Prince Edward Island, that's like, an island?"....."Yes" I say. "And is it connected to the mainland at all?"..."No, it's an island...."....hahaha Too funny. 

Spent a few hundred dollars after work too- had to buy some groceries, had to fill up on gas, had to buy a new pair of jeans and a new PAIR OF COWBOY BOOTSSSSS!!!!!!! 

Ill have to take some pictures.......fast forward....

This is a picture of the first dye job.

This is of dye job #2....much redder....

NEW BOOTSSSSSS!!!!

SAG Equipment: The glider and its tail, and the winch.

Aftermath of the wind storm that hit us on Monday night.

And now, after having watched Grey's Anatomy only partly Im now going to go to bed. 

Weekend update

Well, the box of hair dye that I bought...yep that didn't go over as well as I had planned.  It seemed to have worked out this summer when I did it the night before my cousin's wedding....So I guess this time I was a little over zealous to say the least.  Not so flattering I must say.  So another box or two will be bought this week or next and I'll put 'er back to my natural color. 

As for my weekend of gliding- it was great.  I was kind of nervous initially, both with meeting new staff and about doing winch launches, but I fit in really well and get a long great with the other staff.

Funny things included: everything being "GREASY" to these guys. It's their word or something!! hahah THEIR CLUTCH!!!  I called them on it because I thought it was terribly amusing! 

A couple of the guys thought that I should have a nickname- because the rest of them do.  So, I was dubbed " Spud".....very original eh?.... They thought that that was the best thing since sliced bread!  Seriously....

And my accent, is apparently very noticeable?...I didn't think that I had one....but because of all the razzing that was going on- pronouced RAY-A-ZZING by the way, just like DAY-AD, or GA-RAY-AGE...the razzing continued the whole weekend.......

And Im apparently a "potty mouth"?....I was hardly speaking "french" as much as the boys, but I suppose because I can trash talk as good as them it makes me have as dirty a mouth?....J'ne sais pas?....

Speaking of speaking French..... After I said a few things in French, Greg took to saying some things as well.....hahah it was very amusing to say the least. Good effort though!

On Saturday, we were winded out almost off the bat.  There were only 2 flights accomplished.  My area check flight and a flight I did with one of the staff members to make him current.  Greg ( the site supervisor) and I were the only two instructors present, and where we were doing aerotow- and he was our tow pilot, that meant that I was left doing all the work! But like I said, the wind grounded us though and the Squadron went home without any famils.  I went to Calgary Saturday night and spent the night at a friends place. I was exhausted anyway, so it was a fairly low key night. 

On Sunday, we switched to winch.  It took a long time to set eveything up because some of us had either never done it before ( me ), or this was their first time winching in a couple of years, or their first time with rope and not cable.  It ended up being a very cold morning- frost on the wings and everything! So we took our time getting organized while the sun heated the wings up, and then the squadron got there early.... So we went from being on time to behind.  The plan was for me to do my winch checkout, but I told them that with us starting late, that the cadets should be the priority and my training put on the back burner.  (Very unselfish of me dont you think?)  We had to shut down at 1pm though because we were short staffed as it was and losing 2 guys meant that we couldnt opperate. So the Squadron returned home having completed 15 of 21 famils. 

All in all, they are a bunch of great guys, and they're happy I'm there. I felt included, welcomed, and part of the group....something I didnt think that I could get that back. Everything I know was taken away from me. In a matter of 5 minutes my world was turned upside down and because of that, I didn't want to fly again let alone look at a glider or step foot near a glider again. I even took down all of my flying things and put them in a box. I didn't think that I'd be able to enjoy flying again and Im still not sure that I can, but at least its a start... and I'm happy to be trying it again with a good bunch of guys.

Cadets on Monday night went well.  The unit is about 40 stong, with a fairly small staff. They too are very happy to have me and are going to be bringing me on as a paid member of their staff.  I'm going to be their supply officer and assistant training officer, and because they're losing their Range safety officer, and where I am RSO qualified, they want me to take over the marksmanship program.  AND, they're having a change of command parade in a few weeks and want me to oversee the drill and ceremonial prep for the Change of command parade.  So lots to do in the next couple of weeks. 

Last night before I left work, I rode the horse that Leah wants me to take in the clinic.  She's a little on the fat and pig headed side, but she's an easy rider.  It was nice being back in the saddle after being out for so long too. My butt today is a little sore, as are my shoulders, but the more I ride, the less tense Ill be and less sore! In all honesty, I wish NOW that I hadn't of said that I'd go to it.  I only said yes, because I didn't think that missing a day of gliding was going to be the end of the world- because I just didn't know what to expect.  Now that I've been to the site though, I feel bad about not being there, but the forecast is saying rain maybe? So maybe I wont miss a day of gliding afterall?? Let's hope- for my sake!

Anyway, shower and bed time.  It's been a long day, and my head is kind of feeling as though it wants to explode.....

PS.  Has anyone ever heard the term to " flip a shitty"??????.......because I laughed hysterically when I heard that one.....AND THEY CALL ME WEIRD?!?!......hahahha

Liar Liar...

Pants on fire! 

I CANT GO TO BED EARLY?!?! What was I talking about?!  As I said yesterday, GREYS ANATOMY IS ON TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!

How could I have forgotten?!

Also, I don't have to worry about NOT going to round up 600 calves tomorrow.  The rancher called upon some of his friends and family and got it done today- without Bob's help. 

Tomorrow, though we've got nothing - at all- on the books, Bob and Leah have 105 bull calves, about 20 or so of which need to be castrated.  So it would be a great opportunity to process those calves. So tomorrow may not be a bust afterall!

I bought a box of hair dye before coming home too.  So Im going to take advantage of my time before Grey's and do that, while also sewing, and maybe reading!

Better get to it!

Sounds good!

"Sounds good", I just realized, is yet another clutch of mine.  As soon as I said it on the ....cringe...PHONE....it dawned on me that I say it JUST AS MUCH as I say "Right on".

MUST....SAY....YOU....BETCHA!...... Maybe I should practice. Like think of a sentence and just say "You betcha" every other word?  Think it'll work?.....

Tonight- I've decided, Im going to go to bed early.  I've taken a break, of maybe a week, from reading. It may be even harder to get back into it now that some good shows are starting, but I'm sure I'll get back into it. I just need to pick up a good book and get into it- and once that happens, I'll not likely be able to put it down.Tonight though, before going to bed early, I have to sew a couple of more badges onto my flight jacket.  Might not NEED my flight jacket, because God only knows, it could be 35 degrees on Saturday and Sunday... but I thought that I should at least be prepared. 

OK, now back to answering the phones....

35 degrees and FRIGGIN HOT

Today was 35 degrees. THIRTY FIVE! That is TOO HOT. 

TOO HOT!

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I wish it were, you know, minus 40 or anything, but really? 35? IT'S THE 23rd of SEPTEMBER!!  And it's not like this is the first day in 3 weeks that it's been 35.... I just thought...I don't know, maybe that it would stop being 35 degrees already?

For example, on PEI, we say that after Old Home Week, summer instantaneously comes to an end and with it goes the warm temperatures.  WHEN DOES THAT HAPPEN IN ALBERTA???

By the way, I will be extremely happy when Monday comes, and the NEW receptionist starts.  I HATE answering the phones. Only because I would much rather do Tech stuff all day than answer the phone and all the other stuff Im doing. 

Actually, there's this ranch that had 5 calves die and 20 others are sick, so the rancher is having a bit of a heart attack because that's money gone and more money spent to treat the sick ones. And I guess there are 600 cow/calf pairs, so to catch and treat 20 of 600- it's a little tough. So on Friday, Bob is going to help round up all the calves and vaccinate them all so that they dont lose or have to treat anymore. Well, I REALLLLLLY want to go with him, and I wouldn't be surprised if Leah might be going too, so staying at the ranch to answer the phone would NOT make me happy :(  But, I foresee that happening...........

Had a REALLY bad dream the other night. Shot straight out of bed at 4:30 hyperventilating.   Dont want to talk about what happened in said dream, but Im pretty sure it's going to haunt me- forever. The last 3 days at work have been tough, because Im on edge, constantly thinking about it...not wanting to screw up somehow.   It's rough.

New shows on TV tonight! 
Just watched Eastwick, Mercy, the Modern Family and Cougar town!  All were pretty great!  Grey's Anatomy starts on Thursday, thank God.

And Im gliding in Vulcan this weekend, and cadets at the new Squadron on Monday. And then! ...and then!...and thennnnnnnnnnnnn....Im going to go to bed now.

Right on....

Stepped on a needle today. That hurt more than you could imagine.  It wasnt vertical either. It was horizontal, and my foot swept into it.  It bled- of course. But that wasn't what concerned me.  What concerned me, was what had been injected through that needle last, and what animal it was inject to.  So I was hobbling around 1/2 the day. 

Cant stop saying " right on" either. I think that's the basis of my vocabulary or something...Ok, Right on, No way? , Right on, Really?, Right on, Oh yeah?, Right on, Wow!, Right on , For sure, Right on.  I think I need to be more "western" and say something clever like " you betcha". Maybe that way Ill blend in more....Because, you know how some words become clutches?...And then eventually everyone picks up on it and that's all they hear. Well, Im scared my clutch has been exposed!!

The cryptorchid surgery went really well!  It's a pretty difficult surgery to just DO. I don't think that a lot of Veterinarians do it and therefore it gets referred in to large practices.  You have to cut right into the abdomen and find the testicle that is retained.  And then, to castrate it by using the EMASCULATORS(Now if that's not a scary word I don't know what is!)- hope that you dont cut the intestines!  And THEN, when you finally remove the testicle, you need to sew up the abdomen again- otherwise the horse may evicerate itself- meaning to dump its abdominal contents- ie its intestines out on the ground.  I managed the anesthesia end of the surgery- making sure the horse didnt wake up....you know....kind of important....haha

Leah asked me to go to a clinic next Saturday with one of her horses!   I guess this one horse of hers is kind of ignorant, and Bob hates her hahah. Leah says she's not THAT bad, and that if I want, I can ride her.  So this clinicwill be a good training session for her, and maybe a little bit of an attitude check. 

Oh my goodness, ever seen Hell's Kitchen? I'm watching it right now....man that chef Ramsay is SCARY!!!! Look at those eyes!

Well anyway, better go clean up. Was running .....hobbling....up and down the stairs between commercials while my rice was cooking.

 Still not coming home of Christmas either...

Yep. That's all. 

Short and Sweet

Well, the rest of last week was pretty uneventful. 

Monday night the Standards officer for the prairie region gliding school FINALLY wrote me back!  I was getting a little nervous, because the gliding season has already started, and neither him nor one of the other guys I was told to contact, had written me back :( 

So anyway, he wrote, I emailed the guy he told me I should get in touch with, and I did. Thursday night I spoke on the phone with Capt Smith, the site supervisor of the gliding site, and have made plans to go and check out their site next weekend.

The weekend itself was also uneventful. Did some shopping. Grocery and book.  I dont like books.....but I seem to be reading a lot lately.  Not really sure why. Especially considering I dont like reading.....I bought 2. A second hand Harry Potter 6 ( Yes, I said second hand! Not only am I reading, but Im also going green!- on books anyway) And I also bought "deception point" by Dan Brown. I figure if Da Vinci code and Angels and Demons were good, this one must be okay. 

Today was steady. A couple of horses this morning, a couple of dogs this afternoon.  Leah bought 3 Doc Walker tickets for tonights show, but then didnt think and her husband or son were going to be able to make it, so she asked if I wanted to go!!!  So I saw them tonight for the 2nd time in 3 months!! haha And they were still FANTASTIC! 

Im sick too. The rugrats all went to school and brought their sickness back with them.  Me, of course, having a crap immune system, got sick.  It could be worse, of course, however Im only congested, so I think Ill live. 

Oh yes, and I apparently cant come home for Christmas anymore either. 

Ok, well, that's all Ive got for now. A cryptorchid horse to castrate tomorrow....full details about that in the next post.....( Just for you Dale!) hahah Only because I know he loves my attention for detail!

Toodleloo!

week 2 down

Well, I've been meaning to write these past few days, but just haven't gotten a chance.

Last week was just a so so week. Bob was away all week in Nebraska at the National cattle conference so I obviously couldn't go on the road with him... And there wasn't much going on on the horse side of things either.

My weekend was good though. My cousin and a few of her friends and I went to "Ralph's" the country bar in town. We had a fun time there, and had a lot of good laughs.

Sunday was spent doing laundry and watching movies.

On Monday Leah and I went and castrated 6 minis!!! You know, theyre the cutest things when theyre not trying to bite you or jump in the air at you! I commend Leah for finding the jugular veins on those little tykes too! Their neck (and bellies) are FAT! Not to mention these little jumping fits they take. It's like watching the Lippizzaner Stallions!..."CAPRIOLE!!!"

Tomorrow Bob's got a big day- BSE at one ranch, and dairy herd heath at 2 different Hutterite colonies. I think he's preg checking there....I think.

Friday should be exciting too! We're doing dentistry on one horse and fixing a hernia on another.

These next couple of months are going to be nuts too! I wish I could preg check like Bob can- I'd love to help him out....He's got about.... 2000 cows to preg check in the next 2 months? One ranch has SIX HUNDRED to do at one time. His arm is going to be SOOOOORE! That's a lot of bums to be putting your arm up, if I do say so myself!

And thennnnn!!! It's round up time come October. People will be calling for help to move, treat and separate cattle- all on horse back :) Should be a fantastic time if I get to go!

Anyway, that's all for now! Time for bed, the 2 year old woke me up at 530 this morning.....

Dont let the bed bugs bite!

Yesterday Bob and I went down to the Montana border and tested a total of 65 bulls belonging to the Pinhorn Grazing Association. I guess how it works is that people pay a type of membership fee to belong to these associations and can then exercise the privileges of the membership- which includes releasing your cattle on the land that the members collectively own. They also pay a person to manage the herd! So the manager gets to ride around on his horse all day long to check and treat the herd. They apparently get full medical, dental, gas and accomodations provided as well! What a job eh??

So I met Bob at 0645 yesterday morning, we collected samples from these bulls, then I drove back to town while he napped. He LOVED this! We only got back to the ranch at 330. I then drugged that horse we've been working on, took off the bandage- which stank really bad like rotting flesh!- and then cold hosed her leg before re-bandaging it.

All in a days work!

Sleeping in this morning was a nice treat! After I got out of bed and had a shower however, I didn't get a nice treat :( The shower in the downstairs washroom has such high pressure, that the water got around the curtain and went all over the floor. I rung out a total of 5 towel fulls and 4 "sham wow" fulls of water. NOT fun!

Other than that, I've been watching TV and reading the fourth installment in the Harry Potter series. I plan to do a load of wash and head to the grocery store before the day is done.

Tomorrow is the Irvine rodeo!! I'm really excited about this!

I planned to post some pictures, however my computer doesn't like my cousin's wireless and has refused to work for me. Im going to continue trying to get it to work- until then though, no pictures. Actually, I have been taking a few pictures with my cell as well, but I some how completely screw something up and deleted a few pictures I wanted to share. One included 5 or 6 HUGE John Deere combines all in a field at the same time. That's how the hutterites roll as it turns out. Go big or go home I suppose! But really, because the hutterites are very technology savy, they tend to have the biggest and most up to date equipment on the market. So imagine seeing 5 or 6 of the biggest combines you can get side by side in a field. IT WAS SPECTACULAR! I also got a picture of one coming down the road- we had to get off the road because there just wasnt room for us both!!! It took up the whole road, EVEN THE SHOULDER!!

Anyway, there are still lots of fields around that have not been touched yet, so hopefully Ill be able to get another picture like this, and if Im lucky, maybe Ill get it with my camera instead of my phone the next time!

But until then, keep the shiny side up!

-A

A long day...

Well, the last couple of days have been pretty non exciting. Today however was a long day.

This morning we left the ranch and wen a couple of hours north to a ranch to pull blood from horses that required a "coggins" test. It just tests for equine infectious anemia. Something which people require before horses go in a sale.

After that, we watched as one of the horses we pulled blood on got hot branded.

AFTER THAT! we went and collected the brainstem from a cow!!!! It was for a BSE test. Ranchers are subsidized for doing regular testing- as a way to ensure that Alberta is a BSE free province. So we shot a cow- one that had arthritis pretty bad - not just a healthy cow- and then cut off its head!!!! and then collected the brainstem and tagged the cow. We'll send the sample to the lab tomorrow and in the meantime the rancher will burry the cows close to the surface until the results come back and then- depending on a negative or positive result, the cow will be properly disposed of.

After that we got lost on some back road.... which as mild as that sounds, is pretty sketchy considering we were in the middle of no where to begin with! We eventuallly found our way to the next ranch, and took a lipoma off the side of a horse. We'll be returning to this place in a couple of weeks to take out the stitches and remove another lipoma on the other side of the horse. Apparently we'll also be heading up there again in October to round out their 2000 cows! All done on horse back, and...you should see the view!!!! Its right on the Red Deer River bed, and surrounded by coulee's. So I guess the trek to get the cows will be up and down these coulees.

We only got back to the ranch at 630 tonight, and we still had another call to do. 20 cows needed to be pregnancy checked. I went home though, and Bob went out to do that call on his own.

Tomorrow Im meeting Bob at the Tim Hortons near my cousin's home and we're going to drive down to the montana border where the largest grazing reserve in Alberta is located. They have close to 90 thousand acres apparently, and some 4000 cows and 4000 calves. We're going to test 63 bulls for Tricomoniasis! So it should be another EXTREMELY long day tomorrow!!!

This weekend is the Irvine Rodeo. Irvine is a town about 20 minutes east of Medicine Hat.

Anyway, that's all for now! Better get to bed. Im going to need all the sleep that I can get! AND! Im going to shut off my cell phone this time, because apparently my WONDERFUL father does not remember that Alberta is THREE time zones away from him and therefore SHOULD NOT call me a SIX THIRTY AM ATLANTIC TIME because that means that my cell phone goes off at THREE THIRTY AM MOUNTAIN TIME!!!!!!

Also, I learned today that a "township" = 36 sections and yesterday I learned that 1 section=640acres....and that some people, like the ranchers I met today own a township and a half of land!!!!!!! THATS A LOT OF ACRES!!!!

ok. bye for now!!

-A

1st day of work

Today was my first day of work.

Fairly uneventful. Got to go to the same feedlot as the one I went to this summer, and did another prolapse! I told the guy that Im not sure if Im good luck or bad- Good luck for me, because this stuff excites me, Bad luck for him because I come back and he has another prolapse :S Coincidince?...

I bought this pretty expensive map book thing the last time I was here as well. It details all the range roads and township roads. These roads line sections of fields, which I learned today 1 section is equal to 640 acres.

We also cold hosed a horse's leg. Its been at the ranch for a couple of weeks now. She arrived with lacerations to her hind legs after running through a fence while being chased by dogs. One laceration went right down to the bone!!

Anyway, that was all the excitement for today. Tomorrow should be a little more eventful by the looks of the schedule book.

So, until next time,

Happy trails.....

-A

5000km, 59hrs,8 energy drinks, 7 provinces, 4 days, 3 time zones.......

...And we've finally arrived!

Yep, that's how long our trip was...and don't even bother to ask about gas- I haven't totalled those bills up yet!

The hike across the country started at 6am Tuesday morning. We drove 22 hrs, stopping for food, gas, pee and cigar breaks until we finally arrived at 3am in Huntsville Ontario at my Aunt and Uncle's home.

The hike through Quebec was pretty much ridiculous. Can you say CONSTRUCTION?!? Basically from the moment we entered that province until the moment we left we were in construction zones. Montreal was a little...exciting...dad drove- I navigated. When we finally made it through the city alive, his first goal was to pull over and smoke a cigar. He got a little frazzled and white knuckled doing that leg... And the HEAT! Oh my goodness. I have no A/C in my car and so, Dad and I near boiled to death.

I drove from Renfrew to Huntsville, through the Algonquin park. I was pretty much expecting to hit some kind of animal, considering the time of day, and the fact that it was raining pretty good throughout the entire park. Luckily I only saw 3 foxes, all of which ran away before I could hit them.

We left Huntsville at 1130 Wednesday after visiting with my aunts and uncles and continued for 11 hrs until we reached Wawa, Ontario. This leg of the trip( 11hrs) and the one from Wawa to Thunderbay, was very scenic because it involved driving around the great lakes. Also scenic was the female moose sitting on the road watching us. Immediately after, dad needed another cigar.... There was a spot called Marathon, Ontario that was between Wawa and Thunderbay. About 3 hours away from each. Know what the price of their gas was? It was horrible, and I was so thankful that we had gassed up in Wawa... A DOLLAR THIRTEEN PER LITRE?!?! That was the most expensive we saw during the trip.

During the entire trip, we only saw 3 accidents though, all of which were in Ontario. The first was just past Sudbury. A motorcycle was demolished on the side of the road, police were there, but no ambulance...judging by the look of the bike, I wouldn't think that the driver faired out too well.

The second was between Thunder Bay and Kenora. A Semi TRAILER was sitting on the road and its truck was being pulled out of the ditch. It must have jack-knifed and detached itself from the trailer.

The third was just before entering Manitoba. A minivan had hit a deer. The deer I think was dead, and the van's hood was all crinkled up. The passengers seemed to be okay, they were all out standing on the side of the road.

There are big signs everywhere in Ontario as well that clearly state that if you are caught driving 160km/hr then you will be issued a 895$ fine and lose 10 points!!! Too bad there were no cops around, because we were passed by quite a few people that MUST have been doing at least that!

Also, Ontario have these HUGGGGE rock formations that when they made the highways, they had to blast through. Well, along the side of the road, if you drove through one of these formations, there are these often very large rock faces. On top of them people would stop and make Inuksuks. You know? from the heritage commercial?? "Now the people will know we were here"... well anyway, dad had this brilliant idea that we would buy a can of spray paint and stop along the way and build an inuksuk and spray paint him so that he stood out from the rest. So, we did. In fact we did 2 of them and painted our name on a face as well.

On Thursday night, we pulled into the base in Winnipeg, but unfortunately there were no accommodations available, so we kept driving west and pulled into Portage La Prairie. We drove 16 hours that day.

We left Portage at 8 the next morning and drove 10 hours, arriving in Medicine Hat this evening.

I’m glad that we slept last night though, because I really enjoyed driving through the prairies during day light. I took a bunch of pictures, which I'll post on facebook later! We live in a beautiful country, whether it's the east coast or the west coast, or somewhere in between.

Tomorrow, I plan to sleep in!!!! And then probably take dad down to the ranch before heading to Calgary. His flight leaves on Sunday out of Calgary- however there is a post tropical storm dumping lots of rain and wind on the Maritimes, so he may get stranded in Toronto!

Best roads- Saskatchewan
Best view- Saskatchewan prairies
Slowest speed limit when it should have been fast- Ontario
Most construction- Quebec
Longest individual construction zone- Manitoba
Scariest drivers-Quebec
Most hills- Ontario
Hottest day- day 1 (PEI-Huntsville)
Coolest day- day2 (Hunstville-Wawa)
Most pictures taken- a tie between Ontario's great lakes and Saskatchewan's FLATNESS!

Okay, it's off to veg a little....

...pfewf! That's all I can say!

 

 

Last night on PEI...

I'm officially done working at the VTH!!!

My last shift was this Tuesday night, however I didnt really get a break after that because I was in to Old Home Week with 8 Angus cows!!

I have been working on a string of 8 cows for a friend of a friend these past couple of weeks, working on them after work and between shifts, getting them ready for the show. We took2 heifer calves, 3 bull calves, a yearling, a two year old, and a mature cow. Two of the 3 bull calves were on the cows.

The show was Friday, but we took them in on Thursday and they got to go home on Saturday. Bill and Mary did really well. No one in the string got lower than 3rd place, and they took 1st in the breeders herd, 2nd in the get of sire, and 3rd in the prodgeny class, while also taking premiere breeder and premiere exhibitor!

Saturday evening I asked a few friends to come over for a little "party"... I guess it was bad timing though because a lot of people couldnt make it. One of my most favourite people in the whole world came though, and his name is DALE!!!!!!! THANK YOU DALE AND CONNIE FOR COMING TO MY PARTY!!!!!!

Sunday my family and I drove to west to visit with my grandmother in the mannor, my grandfather, my aunt and uncle, and my cousins new house.

Today, believe it or not, Ive spent most of the day packing. Ive just updated my tomtom GPS and my MP3 player is all charged up, as is my phone. Need to make a few CD's, and get a few more things packed away and thats that!

My mom and I are going to see "Stan Rogers- A Matter of Heart" tonight at the MacKenzie Theater in Charlottetown. We love folk music- and we love Stan!!

And thennnnnnnn......Tomorrow morning at SIX AM my dad and I are Alberta bound! We'll be driving 18 hours straight until we get to Huntsville Ontario to my Aunt and Uncle's home.

Ill make sure to take lots of pictures of the trip and update as often as I can!! But for now...

Happy traillllllllllllllls to Me!

UPDATE UPDATE!!

So in my last post, I had just gotten back from Alberta, and had attended the country concerts. On that Monday, after having packed up the site in the pouring rain, I made my way back to town, only to get asked to work from 4- 730. I obliged, however when I got there, my boss called and asked if I could work from 11-8......THAT SAME NIGHT!

He made some arrangments which only had me coming in from 2am until 8am. When I got there the baby ( the same one I rushed back into town for Sunday morning to take to surgery) looked okay. She had been slowly going down hill all day, so they wanted someone to sit with her in the event that something were to happen. Well, it did!

At 5am the temperature spiked, and she became more ataxic. Half an hour later I decided to recheck the temperature, even higher this time. I called the clinician.
At 6am I milked out the mare, and then went in the separated area to feed the baby. When I entered the partition, she had her head pressed in the corner to keep herself balanced. I had to move her head for her to see the bucket of milk though, but when I did, that made her unbalanced and she pinned me in the corner of the partition. I moved her hind end enough to get out of the stall in time before she fell over against the wall, began to seize then stopped, and died at my feet :(

Although the weekend had both ups AND downs, I think the ratio of downs was slightly greater than the ups.

The next week I was hit by a bus. No not litterally, but it might as well have been. My roomate informed me that she would be moving out, would not be riding out the rest of the lease and would not be staying beyond the middle of August in fact. This meant no more Alberta. Impossible, because I was not going to be able to live there and pay rent, and have an apartment here to pay rent on. So, because of MY legal obligations and aparently no moral obligations for other parties involved, I was going to have to turn down my dream job. Awesome.

Fortunately for me I found a way around my lease, and found some new tennants, who should be signing the lease any day now. I put my mattress and bedroom set on kijiji, but had no success with that. My aunt and uncle bought it though, and picked it up yesterday, and my mom and dad are going to take the mattress.

So, all of my things are ready to get organized and packed away for the drive. I bought a "roof bag cargo carrier" yesterday, so that should help make room in the jeep for all of my other important items. And I suppose my dad needs to have room for his things as well. Or at least he SAYS he's going to drive with me....

So my final day is the 22nd, with a drive out date as teh 24th, or maybe the 25th. Should get there by the weekend and start on the 31st of August. Big rodeo in the neighbouring community on the labour day weekend, so that should be fun!

Anyway, time to head back to the barn for a couple more treatments!....

-A

East bound and down!...again! haha

OK, well I've made my big return to PEI. The last few days have been fairly interesting to say the least....

On Wednesday Bob and I went out the the Hutterite colony in Winnifred, and preg check a bunch of cows. I got a tour of their rotary milking parlour- which was pretty neat. I dont know much about dairy herd health, so I found it pretty interesting. Bob was joking with the Dairy manager about how I need to be set up with a rich rancher, and the hutterite guy said, " we've got some single ones, but theyre not rich"! Anyway, on our way out, he says to me " Good luck on your search for a husband!" and then Bob proceeds to tell me that the hutterites feel sorry for people like me, (older than 20 and unmarried!), because there's basically no hope for me, Im going to be an old maid! hahahah My god I near died laughing!

Anyway, early early Thursday morning, I borded the plane to head back East. From Toronto to Charlottetown, I sat beside DOC WALKER! They were on their way to the country concert! I didnt recognize the guy that sat with me, but I did recognize the other two. So I said to him "Are you who I think you are????" and he burst out laughing and said " I dont know, who do you think we are?" and so I said " You're Doc Walker!" and sure enough, I was right. I spent the next 2 hours talking to them about anything and everything!

That night, we found out that Big and Rich was going to be a Peakes! So, of course, we went down. They had just arrived on PEI at 11pm, and showed up at the bar at 1am. Big Kenny didnt come, but John Rich did. They said no pictures, so I got to stare at him for a bit and then decided to go home, because I had to work at 8 the next monring.

While at work on Friday, my boss asked me to work on Saturday and Sunday.....EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW I HAD TICKETS TO THE CONCERTS! I agreed to work Saturday from 8-4 because I only wanted to go in time to see the wilkinsons at 530. After Tim, we went to the sandbox bar and who did we see but DION PNANEUF ( Calgary flames defenceman!!) Only having gotten to bed at 1am, I wasnt all that aware of what was going on at 5am Sunday morning, when my phone rang. I am on call this week- and there was a foal that had to go to surgery....so off I went. After the surgery I went to the apartment to sleep before heading back to the concerts.

Anyway, as a whole, the festival I thought was a huge success. Well organized, great weekend weather size, and overall a good time had by all!

Now it's time to go to work for a few hours!

Taa Taa for now!

Semen and prolapses!!

So today was another full day of semen testing. This time, it was on 38 HORNED HERFORD BULLS!!!........That's right, I said HORNED. These bastards were HUGE! ( Their racks were too!) Although they weren't as well behaved as the Angus bulls we did the day before, their temperment was not what scared me. It was without a doubt their horns- for the simple reason that the handling system that the rancher had in place was, in my opinion, inadequate for these beasts.

We got back to the ranch at 6pm, only to find out that there were two heifers that had prolapsed their vaginas. One was a little worse than the other, but both were able to be pushed back in. Although I had seen a uterine prolapse corrected before, it was on a ewe, so I thought that this was REALLY interesting to see.

Anyway, I only just got home at 1030- and it's now 11:10, and I'm really tired. So Im going to go to bed now, and do it all again tomorrow!

Pictures to be posted upon my return to PEI!

In the land of cows, cowboys, cowboy hats, and cowboy boots :)

Well, as the subject title suggests, I'm in cattle country!

As previously mentioned- I thought about a July visit to Alberta, to visit friends and family, while also heading up to Stampede ( if I planned the visit right) and to visit the ranch to meet the people and see the facilities.

So I got here on Thursday- left PEI at 6am, tried to bring a knife on the plane....BY ACCIDENT- they took it away from me- of course- and to my surprise, some guy saw my dad and gave it back to him?! Took an RJ to Toronto, a A320 to Calgary and a Beech 1900 to Medicine hat. Crazy cloud build up made for a bumpy flight to the hat, and in that sardine can it fet even worse!

Went out the the ranch on friday- got the big tour in the morning, talked about my resume over hotdogs, and then went on farm calls with Leah for the afternoon. On the way back into the city we met up with her husband and son at a restaurant and they bought me dinner.

On Saturday I drove to Calgary to take in the Calgary Stampede!!!! "THE GREATEST OUTDOOR SHOW ON EARTH"...as the saying goes.

I drove up the number 1 highway and saw 8 random horned herford bulls just sitting on the side of the road.

Past a cop sitting on the side of the road waiting to pull someone over...while I was driving 20 km over the limit-he didn't drive after me-thank GOD!...

Laurie Tom Tom was having a FIELD DAY! ( That's my GPS's name). She didn't know where the hell I was and kept telling me to turn around, take a right, in 80 meters turn left ...blah blah blah! ( I was just thankful that I hadn't gotten around to downloading the Mr. T application) -> "I pitty the fool who doesn't turn left in 80 meters"......

When I arrived on the Calgary city limits, I didnt want to take the chance that Laurie was going to have a melt down again, so I called Shane (my cousin Leanne's husband). When I told him where I was, he didnt understand. So I told him again, and again he said " but where ARE YOU", and so I said I'm pulled over on the side of the road?.... He asked what I was driving, and when I said "A white pontiac Sunfire?" he burst out laughing and said " WAS THAT YOU?!?!?! I just passed you and thought that it was a cop, but when I realized that it was a sunfire I cursed the person driving it for making me think it was a cop!!!"

He then took me to the C-train. I have never felt more like a sardine (even worse than the 1900 I flew in on!) At every stop ( and there were 8 of them), about 30 people got on. I asked my cousin how I was supposed to know where to get off and she said " FOLLOW THE COWBOYS HATS!!!" , So thats exactly what I did. When all the cowboy hats got off the train, so did I, and then I followed them until I got to the entrance of the grounds.

So I spent the day at the fair grounds- and EASILY spent over 300$. I spent it on c-train fair's, a new belt, a hat, a chin strap, a hat cover, a t shirt, two scarves, a pin, a wrangler christmas sock AND A FREE POSTER!!! I also spent like 110$ on tickets to the rodeo and chuck wagon races, as well as food costs, and gas.

On Sunday I drove the number 2 highway back so that I could drive through Lethbridge to see my friend Victoria, whom I haven't seen in 4 or 5 years. I made a stop in Okotoks- but noone was at the clinic, and I couldn't get any Bernie Brown pictures because the gallery didnt open until lunch time. I also took a lot of the same pictures I took LAST SPRING, but this time obviously there was no snow- so still really cool to see.

Today, Monday, was the day we drove an hour, and about 2-3km, from the Montana border to go to the Q ranch!!!!!! We did breeding soundness exams on 38 bulls and had an AMAZING feast for lunch comliments of one of the Q wives. The have about 80-90 THOUSAND acres, and calved 794 calves this spring!!! They also have their own plane!!!! They use it to check the herd and the fence lines! We also saw ANTELOPE! I ...of course...broke into song... "HOME HOME ON THE RANNNNNNGE WHERE THE DEER AND THE ANTELOPE ...something?...."

And cows!....I saw cows too...of course...but they were special, they were in a community pasture and they had a WATTLE!?!?! (There's a picture on my facebook). It's when they cut into the cows brisket and expose a flap of skin and it heals, leaving a lump hanging off the brisket....they use it to easily identify their cows from someone else's cows...

On the way out, Bob and Leah took me to the border- the closest Ive ever been to the States. Unfortunately we couldnt cross because we were loaded with drugs...and apparently they dont like it when you cross the border with drugs....who'd of thought...hahah

Anyway, that's what my visit has been like thus far, and there's 2 more days left of fun!!!! I start at 8 am tomorrow so I better hit the road!!

Happy trails!

Another Alberta adventure on the way???????

I recently saw a job posting on the Alberta tech association website for a tech job at a ranch outside of Medicine Hat.

I didnt really think about submitting a resume because of the situation that I am in, but then I thought, "what do I have to lose?" All I'm doing is submitting my resume, so there's no need to stress about all the what ifs. So I called, got the mailing adress, coresponded a little with one of the vets through email, and am kind of really excited about the possibility.

Feedlot, purebred charolais cows, bull sale, semen evaluation, checking cows during calving season, checking calves, vaccination protocols, artificial insemination and embryo transfer on cows and horses.....IM IN LOVE!!!!!!

I know that 2 of my 3 references have been called..... :)

So, Im thinking that if they want to offer me a job, then Ill go to Alberta for a visit, in July some time, and could possibly start at the end of august? That'd be nice, considering the fact that I havent spent a summer on PEI in NINE years! Unreal eh? It would also give me time to give notice to my current employer, and where I am currently in an apartment, with a roomate, fill her in on the details, while also transferring the lease and such.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ALBERTA!!!!!!!!

Details to come- hopefully Ill hear from them this week :)

My one year anniversary!!!

Well Hello There!!!!

Can you believe it? I am FIFTEEN DAYS away from my one year anniversary
of travelling to Alberta :)

Not a WHOLE lot has changed since returning to the "East"...

Keeping in mind my reasons for returning:
I got my income taxes complete...
I studied and PASSED my national exam....
I renewed my PEI and Military drivers licence...
AND
I learned to drive my "beast" of a car....

I accepted my military contract for the summer and so, I was a flight instructor yet again! I finished that stint around the middle of August, after which I decided that instead of rushing back to Alberta, I would look around the Maritimes and around PEI for some jobs in the veterinary field. Particularly working with large animals.

The hunt began very optimistically. When I saw a few job postings that interested me, it motivated me to get my butt in gear and to put out resumes. But, week after week, I didn't hear back from anyone, and I became a little worried.

Luckily my father happened to see a friend of his, (a veterinarian), at Canadian Tire one day. Their conversation went a little like " How's your family?", "Good! How's yours?", "Well, as a matter of fact, Ashley is a Registered Veterinary Technician now!", "blah blah blah"..."Tell her to drop off a resume". And so, I did!

I worked at his clinic from the beginning of September until the last week of November. I was working both full time and part time, while his receptionist/ vet assistant was having multiple surgeries. So when she was there, I was part time, and when she wasn't I was full time!

I decided however that I would give myself a cut off. A deadline if you will. I was either going to find a large animal job or I wasn't. I would either STAY in the maritimes, or I would not. And if I were to NOT find a job then I decided that I would return to Alberta.

Why not just stay at the Clinic I was working at? Well, I didn't want it to become "safe". I didn't want it to feel comfortable, or stay because it was EASY. It's not what I wanted! Great people, great fun, but not cows and horses...

That's when I came across a job posting for a Large animal tech position at teh Atlantic Verterinary College. I was pretty pumped about this position...right up until I found out that I wouldn't get it because there was someone internal that was applying for it. Again, I got really discourraged, and kind of decided right then and there that I was heading back to Alberta. That night however I checked the website again, and found another position, a casual position. This 6 month term position was for Large animal and Small animal ICU, working mostly nights, weekends, holidays, sick leaves etc. So, I applied, but didn't really get my hopes up. I had already been let down once or twice before...I didn't figure it necessary to become a repeat offender. But this time was different...

I got a call for an interview on Tuesday
Had the interview on Thursday
Got an email Monday asking if they could call my references
And then,
Got a call on the 20th of November telling me that I got the job!!!!

The last week of November was my opportunity to CELEBRATE!!!! So, I went west ! hahaha
Not to Alberta though, instead I went to Regina, Saskatchewan!! I attended the Canadian Western Agribition for about 5 days and then when I returned I started my new job :)

I really like working at the college. I've gotten to do a lot since starting, and I seem to get along well with everyone. I just wish that "everyone" would get along with "everyone else"....

Since the moment I arrived I've found that everyone talks about people behind their backs, they ALWAYS find something to complain about, never seem to give someone the benefit of the doubt, would rather complain about something and do NOTHING than to help out a friend and work together...There's just way too much animosity!! Maybe I should find a John Lennon CD and play it for them all. He sang about peace didn't he??....Jeeze, how would I know, I listen to country music....

Anyway, I find this really frustrating because I LIKE my job. I LIKE coming to work...I LIKE people?...I can't imagine complaining just to hear my own voice?! I mean, I just can't believe that I left Alberta, the AWESOME clinic, with the AWESOME people for a group of coworkers that hate coming to work everyday, and refuse to help you!?.......

SO- that's why I've come up with THE MASTER PLAN!!!!!

This plan includes making loads and tones of money, and falling in love with either a canadian or american cowboy that is attending the college. Then I will travel with said cowboy to anywhere but PEI, and away from immature adults and then I can rodeo on weekends and enjoy my job in the tranquility of the West.....

The End.... hahahah wonderful plan isn't it? Now I justneed to find me a cowboy....

But no, seriously, I've come to realize ( something that I've always kind of known) that although my body was born in Ontario, my soul was born in the West. I kind of feel like an outcast all the time...I wish I could wear my wranglers, fatbaby's, plaid shirt and belt buckle every day of the week.... So I'll ride the immature bus out, but when I do finally have enough money to establish myself, AND, when a position becomes available at another Equine facility, I'm going to move back.

Until then- I'm going to keep in contact with all of the friends that I made in Alberta, and I may even head back this July and take in the Calgary Stampede!!

So for now I guess I'll just have to dig in my heels and hold on tight ( while saying YEEEEEHAWW) and hope that my cowboy is not all that far away....

Night y'all.
-A