Many stores have had Christmas decorations etc available for weeks now and we are into the Black Friday week sales. People have their furnaces running as temperatures are in the single digits in the daytime, and often below freezing at night, and many area of Canada have already had at least one snowfall. We have had snow here, but it didn't last as the ground isn't frozen yet and still wet from the rains we've had this fall. Bird feeders are out and filled. It's now dark by 5pm, so not hard to believe we are close to the shortest day of the year, and then the daylight will be getting longer. Many people are now using email letters for Christmas, and with a Canada wide mail strike on with no idea how long it will last, there are no early cards arrving in the mail. Packages ordered from many places are being sent by one of the courier companies who deliver 7 days a week.
We have gone with a prelit artificial tree this year....it will fit nicely in the usual corner of the living room, up on a coffee table to be out of reach of the pups we have that get "free time" in the house and anything like this is a major attraction to them. The tree is tied/secured, decorated with mostly unbreakable ornaments, and has the fencing of a puppy ex-pen in front of it. We may be able to pick up some thrown out trees that the goats will enjoy. On November 1st we nmade three runs into Powassan and trout Creek for "donated used" pumpkins and the dogs and goiats really enjoy them.‘ With pups in the house, The tree is up on an end table, with an ex pen in front of it to prevent decorations being pulled off etc., but the tails of the bigger dogs usually manage to knock some off.
I had hoped to get to a couple of earth dog and retriever field tests this year, but something seemed to happen every w/e that they were held and I had to cancel the entries. We did go out and "instruct/supervise" some tracking sessions and with some great tracklayers was able to judge a couple of Tracking tTests, but not work with any of the dogs we wanted to.
2024 seems to have passed quickly in some respects, slowly in others. Ivan had his knee replacement surgery last december and stayed in town where there were no stairs, for several weeks; in late January I tripped over something in the kennel and went flat on my face/knees on the concrete floor. It wasn't until June that we learned I has partially dislocated my knee cap rather than just bruising it, and this severely curtailed our dog training, trials, and shows during the year. The knee cap finally clicked back in place in late September, but the muscles and tenddons are still re-adjusting. It took many visits tro the local chiropractor to get the knee cap back it - x-rays cofirmed his diagnosis! and while we did get to some shows, rally trials, field tests, earthdog and barn hunt events, we also had time to run some training classes in the spring and fall, and hosted the EPS Tracking tests and rally trials in early June and late September. In late September the Canadian National Retriever Field Trual Championship was held near here and ww were able to get out and see some of the tests/dogs working, but the final day was on the same w/e as our club's tracking and rally trials so we couldn't be there..
This year, we have had two litters of Labradors, several Border Terrier litters, but no Golden Retriever litters. The Labrador litter is just 10 days old now and will be going to their new homes (several to repeat customers) at the end of December. In the Spring we got a pair of Golden Retriever puppies from Alberta and they have fit in well. Their sire is a multi titled, versatile dog, and their dam came from England when her owners emigrated..
This year our participation at shows and trials were all "local". With Rally trials and Tracking tests held here in early June and late September., plus Rally trials at Gravehurst and Sudbury and shows at Bracebridge, Sturgeon Falls, and Sudbury. all making it possible to druve to and come home each night.To the shows we took a couple of Border Terriers rather than the Labradors, and titled
"Ruby" (Otterbay Wimberway I Believe in Ruby Tuesday) (Border Terrier)to her Championship.
"Xander", (Wimberway's Xander) ,young yellow male, owned, trained and handled by Carol Fletcher, his owner ,from near Sudbury, earned his (TD) Tracking Dog title in September, and his (RN) Rally Novice title in October.
"Annie" ( Wimberway's Vanessa), 9 year old black female that we retired to live with Dale Canning, earned her RN (Rally Novice) at the trials here, and completed her RI (Rally Intermediate) in mid November at Lindsay.
Our current oldest Labrador, "Teaka" (Wimberways Trick Or Treat) (black female, also 9 years old, ) earned her RN (Rally Novice) at our club trials, then her RI (Rally Intermediate) at Sudbury a couple of weeks later.
We also trialled a couple of Ivan's Goldens.... "Belle" (Wimberway's Golden Jewel), at 8 years of age. We retired to a home near South River last year, and her owners brought her up and she earned her Rally Novice title,
while her daughter "Tally", (Wimberway's Golden On Tally Ho,RN), completed her Rally Intermediate title.at the Sudbury trials.
Ben (Ajtop Wimberway Ben TD,RN,RI), 7+ year old yellow male, had to have some dental work done in December/23, then managed to break a front toenail soon after that healed, he had a fall and continued limping all spring/summer. We worked with this all summer until it was finally diagnosed as a damaged nerve in his neckshoulder which would never heal. Keeping him on pain medication that totally "zombied" him was not a good option, so regretably, we put him down. He had been doing well in tracking and of course had hoped to complete his TDX title this year. Another loss this year was "Huck" (Ch Wimberway's Huckamuck WCX,RN,RI,WC,) at 14 years of age. We have offspring from both dogs.
I judged both tracking tests for our local club, but had to turn down several judging assignments due to my damaged knee cap.....and judging our local tracking tests meant I couldn't enter a dog and needed excellent tracklayers that were much appreciated.
Fencing is always a big thing (top priority) when one has livestocki...so we hired a local man and a couple of the Amish farmers, and had them clear a wide path up the west fence line *(7/8 mile through busah) where we run into a lot of trouble with falling branches and falling trees every year. They also installed new metal fence posts and the electric wire, which has made it a lot easier to maintain. The local moose also go through it. The guys said they did see a moose while working there, but usually all we see are their tracks, droppings, and where they have rubbed on the trees. Our big Charolais bull is geting older, but still enjoys his annual visits to several other local farms for his 'services'....and will just walk into a trailer voluntarily when going or moving back home., Ivan purchased a new bull calf.in the spring, then he and Bill drove down to pick him up in September when he was weaned and halter broke.
”George” the wild Canada Goose is back again this winter. Last winter he had a friend stay as well. The wild geese headed south weeks ago, but "George" seems tontent to stay here with out three farm geese. We lost our swan suddently in the early summer and so far have not been able to get another. The wild Trumpeter swan (^51) that we "rescued" and had here until a "swan" person could get him to a Vet down south to check him out as it was thought there was something wrong with him as he would let you walk right up to him and pick him up. He was checked out, put back on a local lake, and we saw him once after that, then no further reported sightings of him anywhere.The Trumpeter swan people had kept a record of where he had been seen, and he was a real traveller...going from southern Ontario into Lake Simcoe, to eastern Ontario, to north-eastern Ontario, across the Great Lakes and into several US states. Most of the trumpoeter swans winter near Midland at Wye Marsh or down near Burlington/Hamilton, and records are kept on the tagged ones. Since their re-introduction yto the wild, including on Lake Nipissing, the swans have flourished and a few weeks ago we had a pair and ma cygnet on the pond at the hunt camp.
The last 15 months seems to have been a real problem with computers. The one I had for several years "died". I got another computer,(later finding out it was a used one),and it died after 13 months. First I got a loaner from my regular computer tech who is GREAT and always manages to get me back up and running when we "crash", and also does the transferring of dta etc on the "old" to the "new" including when I got the new one in 2023 as the tech at the store didn't do it properly.Ended up keeping the loaner one in October and it's an "all in one" with speakers, disc player, etc. all in the monitor. Am still learning all the programs and gimmicks on it.. Then, we had trouble with the BELL server, and they came and checked our phone line out etc.and din't do anything. Another call in to repair it, and two very noce guys came, and re-wired us and left a new modem, etc.....More things to learn.
The weekend of Nov 29/Dec 1 saw a major snow storm in southern Ontario and at Saulkt Ste Marie. Some areas got 3' (three feet) of snow and inevitably, the main highway between North Bay and Toronto was closed for 2 days. Special off road vehicles went to the cars backed up, stuck, and unable to turn or go anywhere, checking on the occupants and even relaying hay to a trailer load of horses. Occupants were taken to a "warm" place and abandoned cars were gradually removed from by tow trucks from the highway to a large parking area nearby.The ploughs were finally able to clear the highway and it re-opened on Dec 2. A neighbour of ours, who was in southern Ontario when the strm hit, took a different route home, and said he had no troubel as the roads had been cleared. Some people did try to follow their GPS's and ended up geting bogged down and stuck on back roads......The tow trucks had a very busy few days.
In late November I signed up for the "swim club" at a big hotel (with indoor pool) in North Bay and have unlimited use of the pool, hot tub, sauna etc with this.The swimming was suggested by my chiropractor...too late to comfortably use our own ponds. The seesions at the hotel seem to be helping. I have managed to go 4 times in a week...the biggest drawback is the half hour drive each way, and coming out into below freezing temperatures afterwards. Fortunately one can park fairly close to the main entrance of the hotel.
Wishing you and yours an enjoyable holiday season, with health, happiness, time to relax, and success in 2025. Please note the change in our mailing address...we haven't moved, but the post office now want the actual street name and property number rather than just the Rural Route delivery number.