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Jim

Derby Day is here again!

It doesn’t happen often, but we are getting the day off! We tend to work most weekends, but not this weekend. Saturday is Derby Day! It’s the 88th running of the Canadian Derby. What a great chance to get out and enjoy some fantastic thoroughbred racing. Thoroughbreds, what a beautiful, sleek, fast animal.  Did you know they were derived from breeding English mares to Arab Stallions? I’m not going to turn this into a horse breeding lesson but since Twyla has such a soft spot for Arabian horses I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it. I would have to say there isn’t an animal on the farm that Twyla admires more than her Arabian. I confess, I have a bit of a soft spot as well. Maybe a little more about that sometime down the road. For now, we’ll stick with the Derby. Derby day is jam-packed with fun. It has everything: fine clothes, great food, exciting entertainment (read: betting), and a great selection of beverages.

Let us start with getting all shined up.

It’s not mandatory, but it definitely adds to the experience for us. To be sure, you will see everything there from summer shorts and flipflops, to tuxedos and walking canes. And sometimes you see them combined. For me it’s the hats, the ladies wear some of the most fantastic hats.

I love this butterfly hat.  

Twyla ran over and asked the wearer if we could take a picture and she agreed.  Isn’t it cool?

Between heats I find myself doing two things; grabbing a beverage, and looking at the various hats. There is literally anything and everything there. It’s fantastic. For ourselves this year, we went through a number of choices in the store before deciding on the hats for us. It can take awhile to pick just the right one. And yes, the guys will wear some pretty cool hats too, so I admit I also take my time.

The ‘Seamus’ hat.

(I should make a note here, that it is important to remember whose hat is whose when getting ready.  As you can see, Seamus got a little confused. Now, I’m not going say it didn’t look real nice…but perhaps the wrong venue?)

Okay back to the horses.

There are a ton of things to consider when you place your bet. Too many in fact. Explaining the various ways you can bet at the track is something I’ll leave to the experts. If I tried, this column would be a mile a long and very confusing. So for now lets forget the words exacta, trifecta, quaddie, treble, etc.

We’re just passive race bettors and that’s how we approach the Derby. We generally place the simplest of bets: “Race 1, Horse 6 to win, for $2 Please”. It doesn’t get much more stress-free than that. Watching the horse race is incredibly exciting on it’s own, but by placing that $2 bet it ensures we have some skin in the game. It’s what gets you on your feet as they round the clubhouse turn heading down the home stretch. “Go 6! Go! Get the lead out boy!!! Come On!” Oh yeah, that’s fun stuff!

How does one pick their horse?

Well, at one time we used to walk down to the outside tarmac and look over each horse carefully; size, musculature, walk, spirit, etc. We would even gauge the track conditions. Oh, and don’t forget the jockey! Does he have a winning record? The list goes on. It’s too much. And wouldn’t you know it? It did not change the outcome one lick as far as our betting was concerned!  We don’t do that any more.

Each of us does it slightly differently, but here is my very ‘technical’ method: “Yep, those are decent payout odds, boy that’s a cool name”. This year, for the final race I had to pick ‘Double Bear’.  The name just gave me no choice, right Brenna?  I screamed when they rounded the club house turn cheering on my ‘Double Bear’, it was so exciting!  It looked as if we were set pull it off too! We were actually going to win this thing! Then there was a bump from ‘Chief Know It All’.  Subtle, but there it was. Well, to make a long story short, that bump cost me my wager. Damn, that was close!  (As a side note, that bump is still being contested and although the race was given to ‘Chief Know It All’ during the derby, it won’t be official until the appeal launched by ‘Double Bear’ is ruled on.  Unfortunately for me, I threw my ticket stub away, so that bet is an official $2 loss now. Double damn.)

No matter, it was a very fun day. Although I ended up with negative winnings I figure it was $32 well spent.  When the last heat wraps up it’s time to head off to the Hotel Selkirk (a must stay) for some much needed supper, drink, and an old Fort Edmonton walkabout. We’ll take our time to enjoy all three before closing the doors to our rooms at the Selkirk for some shuteye. Tomorrow it’s back home to the farm we go. Once there we’ll have some coffee, look at our pictures, tell a few tales from the day before and believe it or not, start planning for next year’s Derby…what to wear, what to wear?

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cowlick on a cow
Jim

During the last 15 months or so I’ve begun to feel that I’m being observed.

It’s as if I’ve become a player in someone’s private showing.  The play is nothing special – it’s a terrible script, there’s no plot, and the actor is sub-par.  In fact, if I had to describe it, the word would be tedious.  Not only is it dull, but it repeats.  Daily.  There are subtle variations of course but the overall message and general narrative remain nearly the same.  And yet somehow the audience seems mesmerized.  She must be, for she has been seen standing for hours every day, just waiting for the curtain to rise.  Even again today.

Meet Sophia, the pail-bunter turned audience-stalker.

There is an old, rough lumbered, grey wooden corral just a few steps from the front door of the house.  Within you will find plenty of fresh water, acres of green grass, and a cozy warm shelter.  From time to time there can also be found special rolled oat treats in a red plastic feed pail, treats never last longer than a second or two.   In fact that pail will usually just be touching the grass when a soft black muzzle plunges deep to retrieve all those scrumptious bites. Sophia cannot seem to get enough. And in case you’re a bit late with those tasty morsels in the morning, she’ll remind you.  She’s as good as any rooster we’ve ever had, and will unabashedly inform you that your clock is running a little behind.


Sophia has never lived anywhere else.  Often times on the farm things come at you a bit sideways and you just have to deal, there really is no choice.  That’s how Sophia came to be in her home.  Her momma, although she is a great cow, just didn’t have the milk Sophia needed.  This new born calf had to be fed from a bottle to ensure that she would get everything any young heifer needs to grow.  Soon she went from milk bottle to pail, to water trough, to grass, and even oats.   She stayed with us, in her corral, and grew.

The sun is up as I close the door of the house, enter stage left, and walk towards the barn.

Soft big brown audience eyes are palpable with my every step.  I look at her as I pass, moving only my eyes.  I can’t move my head.   If I turn my head she’ll notice, get excited and start bucking up and down on her side of the fence trying to get my attention. It’s her way of saying “Come on!  Come over here!  Let’s play”. Oh, by the way, did I mention she likes to wrestle?  It was kind of fun and funny to wrestle with her when she was a small calf.  But now, 600 (or more!) pounds later, the wrestling is completely-one sided.  But even so, her invitation is always irresistible.

“Ok Sophia, just a minute or two.”   If oats are her favourite, well then getting attention and spending quality time with her family is a close second.  What a character.

Exit stage right.  Curtain.

 

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bales in the field
Jim

I love baling hay.

I love the smell of it when it’s freshly cut.  I love the smell of it when it’s being wrapped into bales.  I love the smell of it as I haul it down the road to the hay-yard.  I even love the smell of it when it is first stacked, awaiting its winter use.  Haying is fun for me, there’s no doubt about that.  However,  there is one thing about haying that can be a little less enjoyable.  The heat!

Of course to make hay you need that heat.  Those warm breezy mid-summer afternoons help to dry it for several days so it can be baled without spoiling.  Everyone has heard the phrase “Make hay while the sun shines.”  Actually I think it’s probably less of a saying and more of a rule.  Yeah, let’s call it a rule.  The first rule of making hay, lots of sunshine!

Now with all that sunshine, comes some pretty warm temperatures around home.  I’ve spent many days baling hay in an open station tractor with the sun glaring down, or in a cabbed tractor with no a/c and no working fan.  It can get awfully warm, dusty and sticky, baling hay.

As those hot days start coming one after the other, after the other my mind always wanders to the very same thing; water.

A lake, a river, a stream, a dugout, even a pool.  Always filled to the brim with nice, cool, refreshing, dust removing, life-giving water!   Once the thought of water enters my brain there is no getting rid of it.  I become fixated.  Normally that’s as far as it goes until I end the day.  I simply pass the hours day dreaming about swimming in some perfectly clear lake.  In reality at days end I wind up in a shower to rinse off all the dust.  But this year was going to be different!

I decided to put in a pool!

Nothing too fancy.  A small pool for sitting and visiting.  You know, sort of like a big hot-tub but without the ‘hot’.  I’ve been dreaming about it forever, but this year I was biting the bullet and installing my very own fresh water pool.  Something I can jump right into when the haying is done for the day.  I was so looking forward to it.

As it turned out, the actual installation of the pool was rather quick.  But filling it up?  That takes a bit of time.  I can’t tell you how long I waited, as I watched it fill with the garden hose I think I may have dozed off for a bit.  The good news is – it did fill and when it was finally up to overflowing I couldn’t wait.  I ran to the house to put on my trunks and in I jumped!

And holy smokes it was cold!!  I should point out that Seamus, my fellow ‘haymaker’, was first in the pool.  I was a distant second.   But we were equally frozen by the end of it!

If I could offer some advice to anyone making a similar pool, first, put a black tarp on it for a few days to the let sun warm the water a bit.  Second, install a swim-up bar.   As you can see, I put one in and it was one of the better pool ideas that day.  Finally, third, make sure the cows aren’t already using it.  They may not appreciate you in there if it’s in use.

homemade pool

What a great way to get that hay dust off and my water fixation out of the system.

I think a pool was one of my better haying ideas this year.  In fact it may become an annual thing!

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