Must Read!!

I wandered over to Mrs Mom's and read a story that must be shared. Its not a nice, happy, warm holiday story. Instead its a story of abuse and neglect. A mare was attacked by a dog or group of dogs. Her wounds are pretty severe. And her owner, Amber, did nothing.

N-O-T-H-I-N-G!

Instead flyinghorse2 fought to have the horse removed and placed where it could be properly taken care of. Now "Ladybug" (who is almost surely going to have a new name to symbolize her new life) is in the hands of Beauty's Haven Farm & Equine Rescue. She is on the road to recovery, be it with one ear instead of two.
**warning, clicking the link to beautyequinerescue will result in graphic photos of the wounds, if you'd rather not see them but would like more info click the flyinghorse2 link**
Money is tight, tighter than usual for some this year. And its Christmas which makes it even harder to come up with extra cash. However if any of you out there can spare some to donate to help with this tough little mare's medical expenses please check out flyinghorse2 and beautyequinerescue

Some parting words for Amber... if you truly cared about your horse and took proper care of her you wouldn't have to leave statements on the rescue's guestbook about how much you miss her and hope to see her again. I sincerely hope that poor mare never has to lay eyes on you again! Also if your other animals are in as poor of condition as is being reported I hope that soon they are re-homed as well.

The General Store

Continuing our tour down the wooden sidewalks of Boomtown we have now reached the General Store. And what a store! Truly 'one stop shopping' with goods of all kinds tucked into every nook and cranny.

What all can you see here? Oil lamps (plain and fancy), china, snow shoes, washboards, clocks...

kettles, candy sold by the piece (bet "penny candy" was actually worth a penny!) All kinds of grocery items - it was pretty neat to see brands that are still around today such as Blue Ribbon, Magic Baking Powder, Nabob and Maxwell House...

Oh look, the storekeeper and a friend are playing a friendly game of checkers. And yet more inventory! Potatoes, corn and other veggies, dolls, cheese, candlesticks, various implements that I really don't know what to call! Bolts of cloth, some "ready made" garments...

And to ring up your purchases there was this rather beautiful cash register

Although I have to say from the operator's side it looks a wee bit intimidating!

Wordless Wednesday

Hoar frost

on pasture grasses

Dec. 4/09

Boomtown - more Harness Shop & the Blacksmith

In the harness shop at Boomtown there were a few saddles. How would you like to be a lady of the frontier days and ride side saddle?
Not surprising that there was quite a bit of harness hanging in the shop. I can only imagine all the time that went into cleaning all that leather before it was put in the display!

The livery was next to the Harness Shop (which was pictured in the previous post) and conveniently located on the other side of the livery was Galston's, the local blacksmith's shop. I cannot imagine how difficult that work was in days of yore. IMO being a farrier is demanding enough work today!

There was a price list posted by a "desk" area near the smithy's door. One side of the list was for wagon and buggy work. A new buggy box, made with old iron, was $10 (extra for using new iron) A new axle would set you back $5. A set of tires started at $1, a single spoke was $0.50.

It was a whopping $0.25 to set a shoe, $0.50 for a new shoe. Interesting, on a stallion it was $1 for a new shoe and $0.75 to set a shoe. And wild broncos were charged "according to meanness"

Galston's being the "general blacksmith" also did work on plows. Sharpening shares to making them. Prices ranged from $0.25 to $5.50.

Sunday in my City... sorta

Came across this video... its one "my city" made to promote itself:

On the town...

Monday's are Pie's day off. This past Monday we headed over to Boomtown*
Our first stop was the Harness Shop:
Looks like someone was doing some Christmas shopping! This lovely fellow and his sleigh were waiting outside with some gifts:

Okay I'll confess... Boomtown is a street at the Western Development Museum! Its supposed to recreate the feeling of early settler life here in Saskatchewan.
This is one wall inside the harness shop:

Next to it is the livery:

Which had this beautiful cutter inside:

Stay tuned! I have more pics from the museum to share... but for now I have to bundle up and head off to work.

Blankety Goodness

Wow this week has been C-O-L-D! I'm talking anywhere from -20C to -30C... before windchill was added, which often brought the temps into the -40s (for my American friends that is -4F to -22F before the windchill is added)
Sunday it hadn't gotten too cold yet so Ben, Jacquie and I still went penning. As I've mentioned before that is also the day we moved the horses in from the back pasture. When I got back I brought Cessa in to recheck her owie. I left the door open and Applejack wandered in to see what was up.
With all three horses in I decided it was a good time to throw their blankets on. I knew there was a chilly week ahead but was originally going to wait until I came out on Monday. I am SO glad I went ahead and put blankets on Sunday evening because it got very cold overnight.
Monday I took pics of the kids in their winter clothes:

Applejack is modeling last year's Wrangler blanket. It came in a khaki/tan-ish colour with navy. Its a been a tad abused so has some mended spots but overall held up VERY well and is a good blanket. I didn't have any problems with sweat or moisture with this blanket last year.
(Applejack would like to ask that you please ignore the fact that he has gotten a bit tubby and his belly hangs out a bit)

Voodoo modeling his brand new Weatherbeeta. It came with a removable neck piece and is in shades of green. I love these blankets; they are breathable, very water-resistant and have a nice comfy fit.

Cessa modeling her new blanket. And you know what... I can not for the life of me remember what kind it is! It is a gorgeous chocolatey brown with blue and cream lines. The lines are "glow in the dark". It was advertised as water resistant/breathable. Originally it was to be for Voodoo but didn't fit him well, kinda choked up on his neck too much when he went to put his head down. That was okay because it fit Cessa nicely. I like a blanket with a bit more drape on her, the poor old girl doesn't need to waste as many calories staying warm with a blanket that covers down her legs and around her belly!

I feel quite relieved, not only do the horses have a nice big bale of hay, water from an automatic waterer and a shelter but they have good winter clothes to help them deal with this weather :)