Separating Cows and Calves

It's that time around here where you gotta separate the calves from the mommas.  Cattle ranchers breed their cows in late summer so they calve in the spring and then the calves are sold at auction in November.  It's a real sad thing for those mommas because you know what happens when you all of the sudden stop nursing right? 

Here are the mommas.

Here are the babies.

Here is a momma with all the babies.  She really thinks she is smart because she wasn't separated from her baby. But guess what?  She is a mean, disobedient and defiant momma so she is going to the auction too. She just doesn't know it yet.  

Just loadin 'em up.

You might think that this process is going smoothly, but not so.  If you look at the the door of the trailer there is a cow turned around.  It is probably that mean old momma cow.  See what I mean?  So disobedient!  Actually, I just enlarged the photo, and it is not the mean old momma cow, just another calf who really doesn't want to be first.

That's Lou Lou making sure everything is running smoothly.  She is a regular ranch hand.

Transportation to the auction.  Twenty-three calves and one mean momma will fit in that trailer.

Ahhh....those poor momma cows.  They were just a moo'in like you wouldn't believe when that trailer took their babies.

See?  It's sad.

Balog Auction in Lethbridge  That is Mr. Balog on the right.  You should hear him do his thing.  I like it.  

Here is a little informaton for you all because I know you are all dying to know what all those lit up numbers are for on the back board.  

The number on the left that tells you how many calves were in the last group that just went through, the middle number tells you the gross weight of the group of calves and the number on the right tells you how much per pound the calves were sold for.  That info. is all under the left board.  The board on your right tells you how much the next set of calves weigh.  The middle number tells you how many calves are in the group, and the number on the right tells you the average weight of the calves. 

The whole view from the bleachers.  See the guys at the fence line?  They are the potential buyers. They buy these calves, fatten them up, then , well, you know.  Some might be kept for breeding but most are not, poor things.  It's just the life of a cow.

I drove by the pasture the day after the auction and the mommas are still there just waiting for their babies to come back.  Good news though.  They are all pregnant and ready to go for the next go around.  It's what cattle ranchers do here.  

" I LOVE ALBERTA BEEF" 

Every event around here serves roast beef.  I'm not even kidding.  I have probably had more roast beef in the last three years than I have had in my whole entire life.  Ok, that might be a bit of a strong statement, but you get it right?  It's all about the beef in southern Alberta!

Surprise!

An ordinary weekend suddenly got funner when we woke up Friday morning to find Brad and Michelle frying bacon for breakfast. They stopped by BYU-I to pick up Laurel, but she had work and class on Friday so she couldn't come. We'll just have to wait a few more weeks until Thanksgiving!

Fruits of our Labor

This spring Michelle was motivated to have a garden so she asked her dad if he could build her a garden box and while he was making one for her I figured I might as well join in.


That is our neighbors dog, Meg. We love Meg. Michelle is holding Rusty the cat. Sad to say she got sick awhile ago and died. Such is the way of cats around here but if we want another one we just make a few phone calls. It's that easy.




After the boxes were leveled and the soil placed inside we decided to make the area around the garden pretty. We planted Marigolds and Petunias and pretty much ignored them and they still grew nicely.


We planted spinach, carrots, green onions, chilis, tomatoes, and peas. It took awhile before the garden really took off due to snow in June! It was fun to make salsa with my very own tomatoes.


Maybe next year we will put flat stones around the garden to cut down on the weeds!

Michelle's carrots are on the left and mine on the right. Hers are perfect. She left for school before we picked them but I managed to smuggle them across the border. Not really. I was honest at the border when the officer asked what I was mailing. I told him, "candy bars and carrots". He still needed to look in the package to make sure there was no soil and I was good to go. Michelle and Brad loved the goodies.


When we took Michelle's things down to school in August we stopped near Brigham City to get some peaches so I could can. I hadn't canned peaches in over 20 years and learned quickly that organization is very important. Next year I will more efficient for sure.

Michelle's blog

Mark is out of town and he has the computer that I know how to use, thus no posts from me lately. I am using a MAC, which is nice, but I don't know how to use it like our PC so for this post you have to go to Michelle's blog here.

Laurel drove down from Rexburg with some roomates for conference weekend and Michelle has posted some fun pictures. I still can hardly believe I am old enough to have four children this old and in college. It is crazy! By the way, Clark is having a great time in Israel and loving every minute of it!

Neal is 14

September

Last Wednesday Marella and Dey were sealed in the Cardston Temple. Marella is the youngest of Mark's oldest brother Bruce. Ahhh, she. is. so. pretty!

Aren't these cute little dresses? The little boys had matching bowties, so cute!


The weather here has finally smartened up around here and the whole week is suppose to be really nice. Hope the weather man is right. Karen, Mark's sister, is having a birthday tomorrow so she wanted a little get together in Waterton Park today. Cameron Lake was perfect for canoing!



This was taken at the head of the lake which I think is in the U.S. Feel free to correct me if that is not true.

Nice! Isn't Mark funny?

From the dock to the other side is about 1 1/2 miles. The water was calm with a slight breeze, perfect!

This is taken as we headed back to the shore.

Gary, Pam, Kelly, Karen, me and Mark.

Trip to Provo

Last week Mark, Neal and I drove to Provo to drop off Michelle's things for school. Michelle had flown out to DC a week prior to drive back to Provo with Brad while stopping at church sites along the way. They stopped for a night in Ohio and stayed with the Mitchells who used to be in our ward in California. (thank you Terry and Cheryl for letting them stay with you, they had a GREAT time and said you guys are SO fun!)Michelle and Brad had a great time driving together with stories to tell which makes for fun memories. Road trips are fun. Laurel also just returned from a road trip as well, with her roomates to the west coast from Seattle to Oregon to the Redwood forest and San Fransisco where they were able to get super great seats to Wicked for 25 bucks! Lucky ducks!

We love to hear Laurel sing so before she took off for the fall we had her do a mini concert for us at Grandma Cahoon's house. Pam, Mark's sister is always to willing to play the piano for us. It is nice to have a piano player in the family to call on.

While in Provo we stayed at Jamie and Rob's home (Pam's daughter) which was nice. They live right off of 9th east so it was close to everything. One morning Jamie put on her second annual "cousins breakfast" which was fun. She made crepes with all the fixings. The gathering was small this year as there could be close to 30 or so or more or less. Lots of them anyway.




Move in day for Michelle.

Her apartment is on 300 North, away from the hustle and bustle of BYU which is a little farther than we intended,but she has nice roomates(who are a bit older)and the apartment is not too shabby. She has her own room and shares with one other girl.

I think Michelle is going to miss me and I'll miss her too. Little Michelle in college? I still can hardly believe it.

Logan Pass

Last week we decided to take a day and spend it as a family before the kids started going in different directions. A quick update on them:

Clark has been here since the end of July after finishing up spring and summer terms and is off to study at the BYU Jerusalem Center fall semester. He will then head back to BYU-H.

Brad has been in Virginia selling pest control and will be returning to BYU where he was excepted into the business program there. Yea Brad!

Laurel took another semester of school this summer and then was in Calgary for EFY as a counselor for both sessions. She is finishing up her last year at BYU-I with a degree in Art Education and a minor in Art History.

Michelle will be living in Provo and commuting to SLC to attend the Salt Lake Center and then transfer to BYU as soon as she can. Right now she is with Brad on a road trip from Virginia. She flew out to DC and they will be hitting the church sights on their way back to Provo.

Neal has had a great summer break doing all things he likes-helping the neighbors, playing with friends, fishing, and helping his neighbors. I'm telling you that boy gets around! He will be starting 8th grade......time flies!

We decided to take a drive on Logan Pass which is just over the border into Glacier Park. It was a perfect day temperature wise and alot of fun. It is still amazing to me that we live such a short distance (an hour) to such beautiful places. Why would I want to move back to California? It is so nice to be content.



I know this looks like a skinny white bear, but it is a mountain goat.

Glacier Park has these neat tour busses that take you around the area.

Clark and Laurel standing on a trail ledge! My kids are growing up, whats up with that?

Clarks cool camera lens!!!



Just a crazy photo op!




This photo was taken looking up at the shear wall.




La Dee Da!!!



Crazy Laurel!

Did you notice the latest family picture? Look at the cars in the parking lot. Our Acura is on the left and our little red truck is on the right. Nope, we didn't plan it, it just happened!

Reunion 2009

Our family had two reunions back to back with the Hatch reunion going from August 6-8 and the Cahoon reunion August 9-11. All of the Hatch's stayed here at the house with people everywhere, including somebody sleeping in the storage area and also one in a small room that will someday be a bathroom. It was busy and fun at the same time. Some of our activities were, of course, the creek, Waterton Park, eating, visiting, eating, visiting, the annual parade, and eating!


Chris brought out his guns and ammo. How cute is this? This is my nieces husband Jon and their youngest, Noah.



Neal is waiting for the clay pidgeon to be launched by Uncle Chris. Neal did a pretty darn good job at hitting them, more than half.

Michelle LOVES the creek. She would spend hours there if she wasn't working so much this summer.
Will, Noah, and Ella, my nieces kids. Not sure what that makes me. Too old is all that comes to my mind!

Kelly (my niece ), Mary-Anne ( sister in law), and Michelle waiting for Cardston's famous Heritage Days Parade to start. Half the fun is visiting while waiting!

Cherilee (my other niece and mother to Will, Noah, and Ella) along with Laurel and Kelly ( my sister's only girl) . Laurel wasn't able to attend much of the reunion because she was an EFY counselor in Calgary, but she had a great time and learned a lot. We missed her!

This aint no Cahoon Reunion because if it was we would have a group picture of at least 150. This is the Hatch Reunion of 22! We were missing 8 family members. Stephanie (my niece) and her family are in France renovating a rental and her sister Kristen and husband Max, were married only a couple of months ago and so it was difficult to fly out from Boston. Next time!



Michelle and my father have the same name in Hawaiian. After my mother died, my father was visiting us and right there during Sacrament meeting my father handed Michelle his Hawaiian wedding band that was inscribed, Mikela. I think they each have a special spot in their hearts for each other.



My father and the "twins".



Can you guess what Ella is eating? See below




This is Sean, Lou Lou's oldest. He works on Vancouver Island in Tofino, a resort, and did alot of the cooking at the restaurant. He is making an apple crisp. When I brought out the "apple-peeler-corer-slicer" he thought he had died and gone to heaven. The kids all of the sudden were interested what was going on in the kitchen. Above is Ella eating the peels. Those of you who had kids attend Mrs. Waingrow's pre-school class when she was teaching will remember this kitchen appliance. During snack time she would bring out this and the kids would line up to help peel their apples.



Clark, Sean. and Jon (Cher's husband), hanging out at the camp kitchen in Waterton.


Here is Seth, Lou Lou's youngest waiting for his clay pidgeon to be in just the right spot, then bang!


My boys! Brad wasn't going to come to the reunion but he somehow managed to talk his boss (his cousin) into it afterall. Brad has had a great summer selling pest control so how could Kyle refuse? Brad drove home from the airport, went straight to work, and sold three jobs just like that. It was great to have him here. Clark has been here for a couple weeks between school terms. He has been going to school for 4 straight terms with no breaks so he has been enjoying his time here. In September he heads off to BYU Study Abroad in Jerusalem.

I aimed, pulled the trigger and BAM! I split that clay pidgeon right in half! Did I say it was my first shot? "It was my first shot. Take that."

Jake, Mary-Anne, Cherilee, David , Jon, Chris, and Lou Lou. David is my brother, Mary-Anne is his wife, and Jake is their son. Cherilee is one of my brother's daughters.

Lou Lou's family. I don't think I have mentioned Caleb yet (on the left). He is very talented at slap guitar. His mother didn't even know he knew how to do it until he surprised us at the little talent show we had. He is Lou Lou's third. He was at EFY along with his brother Seth but neither of them had Laurel as their counselor. Maybe next year.

My family, minus Laurel. We missed her in more ways than one.


I need to update the house projects. The stucco and rock work were completed during the renunion (at least it's finally finished) and then we had our staircase installed and finished the day before. Next on deck, is............the deck! Pictures of the stucco and rockwork and stairs will be posted when the sun is shining and I can get a good shot. It has been so rainy here which of course I am not happy about. I like the rain and I always wished it had rained more when we lived in California, but not here in Canada, in July and August. Oh did I mention that it snowed on my birthday? That would be June 7th!

All is well here, the house is coming along, kids were (are) home this summer, and we are all healthy and happy!

ps. no pics of the Cahoon Reunion, just quadruple this and times it by 4. You get the picture!

Stucco

The time has finally come!
We are doing an acrylic stucco which is nicer than cement because it doesn't tend to crack, is less water permeable, and there are more color choices.

The guys showed up Monday morning and they finished up yesterday, with the scratch coat that is. Roy brought out both of his crews so we could get this finished quickly.(we secretly thinks he is tired of driving past our house and seeing the foam block. It's only been hovering over the hamlet of leavitt for two years now). We let this first coat dry for a few days and then the finish coat with the color will be applied. While it is drying we are starting the rock work in the front.

This is before the scratch coat was applied as you can see the huge difference below.

See? What a difference 2 days and 10 guys can make.

Um, this is the front of the house. Those silly wooden boards that you see are there to hold up the overhang until we are ready to put in the beams and rock work. If you look closely you can see three cement piles where the beams will be.

The lighting isn't the best, but you can see the two different colors of stucco. The lighter color will be where the rock will be and the darker color will be the stucco color.

Can I just tell you how great this is? It's like a Hollywood success story. Work real hard for a good long time and then you become an overnight success!