The end of November brought us more snow.
On the 25th John and Gregory went out to the Landis pasture to move some snow around so we could bring the cows home. The next day we took a couple of horses and pushed the cows from the south pasture to the native pasture to the north. We haven’t had a chance yet to build any kind of loading area for the south pasture, so we trailed them over to the native corrals.
The cows were quite happy to follow the trail Gregory had made for them with the tractor and blade, but they didn’t feel the need to go home. Though the snow was quite deep, they were still able to get to the tall slough grass and they had plenty of brush to get out of the wind. It took a bit of convincing to get them to go into the corral to be hauled home.
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Visits from family and haying
Mid-summer 2025 saw relatives arriving, amidst baler repairs and haying at the Eppich ranch.
On Dec. 3 we hauled four cows into Provost for the bred sale and two other open cows for the regular Friday sale. Because of the mail strike we were going to have to go to Provost to get our cheque anyway, so we decided to take the kids in to see the regular sale on Friday. They have never been to a live auction, so it was a great opportunity for a quick family trip and the boys had a lot of fun.
On the 15th we went Christmas tree hunting. We called the neighbours and asked them if we would be able to harvest one of the short trees that was growing in the ditch beside their place. They gave us the go-ahead, so we brought home a cute three-foot tree. The boys had a lot of fun decorating it with pictures of the saints.
The following weekend our good friend Aaron came out for a visit. He is Ian’s godfather and he enjoys spoiling him and the others. He brought out some hockey things, a dresser and a toboggan. We took the toboggan out and had a lot of fun with it on the dugout pile out in the pasture. While I was making supper, Uncle Aaron found himself the centre of attention as he read several books to the kids.
We had a nice Christmas, with brunch after mass at John and Barb’s, then supper at their place with Gregory’s siblings and their families. We opened presents in between meals and the boys had a good day for playing outside.
On the 28th we loaded up the boys and Anna and went to Unity to do some visiting. We visited with a neighbour who used to live in Handel, then we went to visit Grandpa Fred, Gregory’s grandfather. Then we made it over to the long-term care facility and visited with Uncle Eddie and his family. He was quite tired after having so much family visit him over the previous three days, so the visit was short and sweet. We missed getting to visit with Aunt Eva as she was also quite tired after all the visiting and was going out to supper with their son.
Next, we wandered down the hall to visit Uncle Eddie’s sister, Aunt Theresa. She lit up when we brought the kids into her room. She was confused about who we were, but she was overjoyed to have company. She and James hit it off really well.
Uncle Eddie and Aunt Theresa are John’s uncle and aunt. Gregory has very fond memories of them growing up. We don’t get up to Unity very often, so we just had to stop in and go see them.
The next evening, John and Barb had John’s sister Marie and her husband over for supper. They invited us as well and so we enjoyed another evening of visiting family. Uncle Paul and Anna made friends pretty quickly and Auntie Marie had her hands full playing cards with the boys.
We hope the Christmas season brought blessings upon you as well, and may God bless you with health and happiness in the New Year.
