It's time eat some concrete and harden up!

Our last month on the farm was all about getting stuck into the tough stuff...cutting steel, concrete work and then the stock started arriving so we got a bit of a taste of processing the cattle as they arrived. One afternoon after cutting steel for about 3 days straight I realised my eye was really irritated and after some investigation we found a piece of steel in my eye!! I tried rinsing it out and using a magnet to see if it would come out but no luck. So I jumped in the truck and headed into High River to see the optometrist, because the piece of metal had been in my eye for a couple of days (very small piece I might add) the optometrist told me it had rusted a little bit so he would have to grind the rust out...needless to say that was followed by a rather sick feeling and me fainting while he was grinding away!! Half an hour later I happily jumped in the truck, made a quick stop at Tim's for some Tim bits and a coffee and I was good to go! Here are some action shots of us hard at work.

Chairing the drink pad to get it ready for the concrete

The boys getting ready for concrete

Somewhere under there is me after cleaning the feed truck!

Enjoying a beer on the lawn after a big day of work

Back at my chairing duties

Fencing on the farm at dusk

Adam and I

James and Adam mucking around

Cutting Steel

James taking a quick break for me to get a nice shot while out fencing

Overlooking the farm

Cutting steel

Me and Katie (Jack Russell version!)

Cutting steel....again

Out for an evening ride

Enjoying an evening snack out the back of the farm house

Our house on the farm

The feedlot at dusk

Ripping out the old rotten fence

James putting up one of the new fences in the snow!

First snowfall in Canada!

As soon as the snow arrived the work started slowing down and it was time for James and I to move on to our next adventure, it was sure an interesting experience but both of us were feeling super excited about the move to Banff and the real reason we came to Canada...snowboarding and skiing!!!

Trip to Montana

When we got back from Harvest in Saskatchewan it was just before Labour Day weekend and so we made the trip down to Sheridan, Montana to visit Jenny, Steve, Sam, Ellie and the rest of the Wood family. It's about a 700km drive which is so amazing and breathtaking!! It gets me so excited for driving through America in 2013!

Are we there yet??

When we arrived at the Wood's we were welcomed with open arms and I instantly felt at home in their gorgeous family house. The next day Steve treated James to a tour round the farm while Jenny, Sam and I tried to recover after a 24 hour tummy bug...great timing I know! Labour Day lunch Jenny's sons Bill and Jamie came round with their wives, Missy and Lacey and Bill and Missy's 3 gorgeous kids. It was such a great afternoon with amazing food and good catch ups. 

The next day we were all recovered from our tummy bugs so Sam (Jenny and Steve's son) took us touring around the farm on their awesome farm ranger. They have about 6 pet sheep which follow Sam around, pretty cool for me to see sheep so quiet, I'm used to them all fleeing as soon as I say boo! We popped into Bill and Missy's place along the way and saw some fainting goats (unfortunately no fainting to be spoken of on this day) then we continued up the hill to where the Wood's were harvesting Barley only to run into a rattle snake!!! Because of the risk to the harvesting team (who fortunately had labour day off) we had to dispose of the snake which Sam managed with the four wheeler and a plastic shovel. James, their pet Jack Russel and I waited safely in one of the harvesting trucks while Sam took care of the snake!

Sam looking after his pets

So much cuteness right there!

The fainting goats (watch a video of them on youtube if you haven't seen them!)

My hairy man x

Missy standing by Bill's chicken coop in progress!

Out on the farm

Spot the deer

James and Sam appreciating the breathtaking view

Another breathtaking view

Barley Harvester

The RattleSnake ssssssss.......

Said snake now no longer sssssss..........

After another delicious home cooked meal and relaxing sleep Steve took James and I out for a horse ride to appreciate the farm in a completely different way. He gave me one of the older quieter horses (thanks Steve) because James' horse was playing up quite a bit and me being quite inexperienced wouldn't have had a clue about what to do!! 

Unfortunately the trip was over well before I was ready to head back to work but we are super excited about visting again on our road trip around America in 2013!!

Farewell Montana

Farewell America!