Loss

Today we discovered that one of our very special people in our lives has passed. Jack Chernysh.....no one else will ever take his place. He lived on a little farm on the edge of the town of Prairie River Saskatchewan....When we met him he lived there with his mom and his older brother Len... Their dad had died years before and the boys promised to remain on the farm and care for their mother...til she died . She died about 10 years ago...
We were up bear hunting north of Jacks place when we met him . Rion tells the story best today with tears in his eyes. We would be camped in our tent usually in snow and Jack would ride up on his quad every night for his visit. He was so calm and quiet and seemed to not have a worry in the world . HE was an"Northerner and liked to tease us "southerners"  Would laugh at how we did things and teach us how "northerners" did things and it was better.  He didn't want to hunt bears but he was always eager to tag along baiting and getting to know all of us...We always had lots of young hunters with us and there was nothing we loved more than sitting around the campfire at night sharing stories and listening to Jack do his phenomenal wolf call...Hmm just remembered him and Zak my grandson having a wolf call competition this spring ...so glad Zak got to meet and love Jack.
He was skidooing on Sunday. He got a new pup in the fall after losing his 2 elderly dogs in the early part of 2011 the pup loved to run alongside the skidoo and that is what they left the farm to do early Sunday mornig...Lunch came and went and Jack didn't come home for lunch or to do his chores. Len his older brother worried but waited anxiously..by 5:30 pm he knew something was wrong and called the neighbours who jumped on their skidoos and headed to look for him.....They found Jack , dog by his side, face down in the snow....right in an area he called his "favourite spot"  He had gotten stuck then gotten unstuck seemed he sat down to rest and then his heart gave out...he died right there in his spot.
His dog stayed with the skidoo after Jack was taken away....It wasn't until the coroner drove the skidoo the 1/2 mile or so back to the farm that he followed and then he went to lay beside the vehicle Jack laid in....and stayed there and followed it out of the yard ...when they tried to leave. They had to drive back into the yard and the put the dog in the house..the first time Jack would leave the farm without his latest four legged best friend.....He had had  many.. Max and Sam and Skipper and now I forget his name DUKE   OH but the story is they got this latest dog and named it the very masculine name and afterwards discovered it was a female....its a complex story Jack wasn't dumb!!! the guy that sold him the dog said it was a boy and well until they became close Jack just didnt didn't notice it was a girl..But even after the discovery they had wanted a boy dog had decided on Duke and she remained Duke.So I teased Jack last time I was there and  said you got to call it Duchess now ..I would say here Duchess  and he would say NO SHEILA IT IS DUKE...so  man's best friend remained Duke and ....will always be called Duke by me.  I will reminisce more about Jack on here in days to come .....He was my husbands best friend like another brother and his heart is breaking right now knowing there wont be anymore 2 1/2 hour phone calls where they can discuss guns and bows and solve the world problems together...hunting trips together in the Moose shack or quad rides back into the forest with a picnic lunch. My heart aches at my loss but more for  Tom...it is sad to lose a damn good friend....very sad

A Change of Perception

I have been really down lately. Physical pain and other health issues have me drowning in self pity.
Nothing has seemed good nothing has seemed right......The different things I have had to put up with ...and fight for....my daughters health problems, work pressures, aging parents that I adore and the death of my cats. Fighting dogs and one messy husband .LOL....

Tonight I stepped outside to check on Charlotte....there she was greeting me with a meow right on the doorstep ....I found her brush tucked away in her house and proceeded to brush her. ... She squirmed under the bristles of the brush delighting on the caress of each stroke across her winter coat....I started to sing....Dream a little Dream of Me ... Mama Cass....I belted it out you know " sing like no one is listening."....well that was me ..and Charlotte responded with purrs and rolls on the platform I was grooming her on....It hit me here is this little animal ....one of God's creatures and she is just pleased to be fed and sheltered .She has survived thunderstorms in a magpie nest at only days old. Survived torn sutures after being spayed (she escaped a room in the old house we kept them in by clawing her way through a screen jumping 30 feet to the ground ) her intestines were literally seconds away from falling out through her  skin when I discovered the problem and rushed her to the vet...She has had and lost all 4 kittens and regardless of what anyone tells me I know she misses them. She has no doubt escaped coyotes and many other dangers as a farm cat ...yet here she purrs as I sing....
Then to make things a little more clearer to me out of the hedge rows walks a big buck. The biggest oldest buck on Crocus Creek. Yep it is Spikey...Here I am singing loudly (it would scare most humans away) and in walks Spikey. He watches me comb Charlotte and I think back to when he was just a small buck. He was a spike buck the first winter we lived here ...hence Spikey....he was small at year and a half but he was mighty!!! That winter we had Big Bucky , Rudolph(he had a red sore on his nose) Mikey and many other bucks ...and many more have followed but none have survived for the length of time we have been here except Spikey.....Hmm I though Charlotte and Spikey have both been here atleast 5 1/2 years.   then I stopped and realized what Spikey had endured as a wild mule deer.  The speeding cars that had no doubt had near misses with hitting him in the summer as he crossed the usually quiet highways....In the winter there is no traffic but in the summer lake traffic increases vehicle numbers 100 fold. The hungry coyotes that hunger for his flesh on the cold winter days ...and ohhh those cold winter days....that first winter we lived here when at 50 below with the wind chill the young deer cried outside my bedroom window and brought tears to my eyes...the harsh winds the agricultural chemical sprays and that rough spell he had in 2010. We though he would die. By the end of January 2011 he lost his antlers before the rest of the bucks and literaly was chased away from the food by the bucks with their antlers ....they poked and prodded him almost relentlesly cause they knew they could... He was skinny and weary...so different from the young Spikey that would chase and torment all the other deer away from the food in his early years..Karma maybe....I felt obliged and made great effort to get food to him . I would gain his trust and scare the other bucks away. He realized if I stood by the food I placed on the ground for him the other deer would run away and he could get his fill. It worked and well he survived the harshest winter since we moved out here. It was the trust I gained that time that likely made it easy for him to come in to my singing tonight..I gave him some deer candy as a gift...he slowly walked in and ate some... then walked away

It was at that moment I  realized I think too much ...and too negatively.....I wondered what kind of animal population we would have if they walked around in self pity mode all the time...They breathe and live survival....they trust ...trust in something greater than them  Instinctively...

and they enjoy their simple pleasures that nature provides....and endure the hardships..

So my miserable life.....is in my control...and it starts with my thinking and the ability to trust .....tonight I had a change of Perception..thanks Spikey...thanks Charlotte...and thanks Amber....that is another story.....
Take Time and Take Good Care!!

The First Cold Spell

Well the warm weather comes to an end.
Ofcourse the first place my mind goes to is Charlotte my only cat.
She has been a pleasure the last few days.We have enjoyed many walks together.
She gets along so well with the dogs and enjoys hanging out withe the few deer in the yard.
Tonight I will have to turn on her heater. She is so tame I would have her in the house if I could....I have lately been thinking about finding her a home (in a home) as I sometimes think she deserves it. Then I think again from her perspective....she would miss the place she was born. She probably knows more about every inch of this place than we ever will. She has had a good 5 1/2 years of life here. The valley is her playground in the summer and the alfalfa fields provide many fat juicy gophers for her buffet come spring. In the summer its a lazy life for her finding a cool spot out of the sun . Usually curled up under one of the 50 year old caraganas.
Then there are her favourite sports bird and mouse hunting..I really feel guilty sometimes feeding the birds that become her prey...The mice no guilt there lol
So here she will stay.After all how many cats on the farm have a heated condo .

When we moved to the farm Tom said NO CATS...lol  he hated cats . He soon learned when our surprise litter came along that Charlotte and her brothers and her kittens to follow would be a God send as he hated MICE more!!. Now he adores Charlottte..
Well now to keep my lonely cat alive until I can bring her new friends home in the spring...
I hate to admit but I can be found brushing her in the cat condo every few nights. She loves it and curls around the brush as I comb her. I have to brush her as her and the others were "blessed " with very long hair. Barney and Kit Kat had to get shaved this spring as they were so matted...Definitely not the best situation for a farm cat....They endured.. 



This winter I bought a brush that fits in the door of the condo so a good brushing happens everytime she goes in or out...I just enjoy spending  time with her.....and helping her to feel less lonely.

Anyway get on the long johns . Keep warm and here's to the next warm spell.

January 7th Crocus Creek

Setting Sun

Below  4 or 5deer ?

This isn't Zoomed in at all..They trust  me...

Not much snow at all this year so I walked to my Labyrinth .

 Then I walked it...beautiful....and the deer watched.

LOL

This is a picture of Charlotte from last winter......we dont have this much snow this year...  :)


Today I arrived home from work.. I didnt see my only cat Charlotte anywhere....Worrier that I am I figured the worst.
I put the dogs on leashes and headed out for our walk. I called Charlotte loudly a few times... I rounded the corner of the house and started walking towards the barn.... I could see a lot of deer running towards me.....
Interesting I thought and wondered what they were up to ...all of a sudden right at the front of the herd there appeared a furry ball sprinting along ahead of them...Charlotte....the leader of the pack!
The cat and the deer continued to run right to me...at which point Charlotte halted and meowed loudly...The deer turned into the valley...where they stopped and stood..
and here I thought she was alone......apparently she knows how to make new friends   a whole herd of them...
lol
Wish I had the camera with me.....it was priceless!