Now it's heck or high water

As of June 30th sales of  Calgary Stampede "Hell or High Water" t-shirts have raised over $500,000 for the Canadian Red Cross Alberta Floods Fund (see Calgary Herald story). And now the "G" rated "Heck or High Water" version is available for kids. Available on the Stampede Store Website.

Hell or high water . . .

My favourite photo of flood rescue in Southern Alberta - trust a farmer to come up with an inventive use for equipment!

Thanks to all who enquired about our well being - other than a leaky basement (due to 14 inches of rain) all is fine. We're as green as Ireland and the lawn squishes when walked on.

Many, many others were not so fortunate with the welfare of affected livestock and crops yet to be determined, and no doubt the loss will be substantial. The BBC reported “One farm that we went to had 60 cattle drowned in the fields." (see Calgary Sun article).

Stay tuned for the story on Stampede - it will happen 'come hell or high water' . . .

Updated information at www.calgarystampede.com

FYI - If you are traveling to Stampede bring lots of spray - the number of mosquitos in Alberta now rivals Manitoba!

Calgary Bull Sale in the News

CTV News interview video from the Calgary Bull Sale.  Also a photo gallery in the Calgary Herald. You might recognize a person or two!

Farmer Style

The Peterson Farm brothers from Kansas are at it again with yet another parody - a sequel to "I'm farming and I grow it". According to their Facebook page, this latest offering received 150,000 hits in just over half a day.

Winter again . . .

First snowfall of October and the power has already gone off. Somebody please remind me why we live here again!!!

For all you NHL fans out there

A radio station in Winnipeg has used Taylor Swift's breakup anthem, "We are never getting back together", to lament the NHL lockout. The "official" lockout song.

How do we know it is Angus beef?

Interesting that the "Meat Men" LaFrieda Meats of NY (Food Network) boast they have the best Angus beef, but deliver it in trucks decorated with a Hereford head. Hmmm . . . maybe it is time to update their logo? Find out more on the series HERE.

The Incredible Dr. Pol - definitely worth a watch

Finally - something we cow people can relate to. Just finished watching my second episode of The Incredible Dr. Pol on Nat Geo Wild, and liked it even more than before. This Michigan rural vet is the all-around practioner we all wish we had (a few of us are lucky enough to already know someone like him). Dr. Pol's motto is: "the client has to make money; if he doesn't, I don't make money". To that end he uses time honoured methods combined with radical new techniques to treat everything from a cow prolapse to pet rat stomach problems - on farm, in the clinic, in the parking lot and even in a client's car. This guy is the real deal. He sometimes cries with clients, but is always professional and down to earth. Definitely worth a watch and what I will watching be Saturday/Tuesday night. Find out more at: Nat Geo Wild - Dr. Pol [http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/the-incredible-dr-pol/]

Yet another (excellent) parody - I'm farming & I grow it!

Three brothers from a Kansas beef farm are "Farming and I Grow It". Footage shot by their 12 year old sister has quickly gone viral.

Crisis averted . . . Google & China to the rescue

For those of you who deal with computers every day, you know how important it is to back up your files. But what happens when the back up fails?
A 1TB external hard drive I use every day started to make a "clicking" noise and it immediately went to my computer guy to retrieve the files. Unfortunately, he had no luck getting the drive to run properly either. It looked like the only solution was to send the drive to one of those recovery places that charge a fortune ($800-$1,600) to extract the data.
However, a Google search gave the faint hope that perhaps it could be the power supply that was at fault, not the hard drive. It was easy to find a replacement power cord & converter, but not so easy to trust ordering it from China. The comparatively small $48 cost (duty included) was a powerful motivator, so I took the plunge.
Within a week, the power cord arrived by mail and I crossed my fingers and plugged everything back in. And voila, my external drive thankfully works again (I am madly copying all the files as I write this).
So the next time you have a computer failure, if your computer still can connect to the internet be sure to Google the problem. A solution may be out there just waiting to be found.
While I prefer to buy Canadian, there are just some instances where it is not possible.
(Have also ordered prescription glasses from China with excellent customer service - good quality & terrific price - who knew!)