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Many of my friends here on The Hill have known that I have been involved in the planning of my family's Cenntenial Celebrations ... 100 years since my mother's family came to Alberta, Canada from South Dakota. We decided it was a good excuse for a party, and to re-acquaint ourselves, especially with the younger families. My particular responsibility was to have our Family Tree current and up-to-date, and to collect photographs, old and new from members of the family. We collected the photos to Photobucket, and I will post a few on my page. My mother was 3 years old when the family moved to Canada, and three more children were added to the family in the next years. We have one aunt remaining, and she was at the Celebration (at 96 years of age). The youngest member in attendance was 2 months old. We had 111 registered guests ... some came for Saturday, some came only for Sunday, and most traveled Saturday evening to their accommodations, and returned Sunday morning for brunch and Worship service in our old church. Lunch was at the farm, and we enjoyed some traditional German food ... homemade sausage and toasted buns, along with salads and desserts, brought by family members, and put together with the caterers' fare. Needless to say, there was a lot of visiting going on! Here is a group photo that was taken on Saturday afternoon ... 
The Celebration was on the home farm (one of my cousins still lives there), and we got to relive fond memories of our growing up years, when we would visit grandparents, and later our aunt and uncle who continued to work the farm for 50+ years after Grandfather 'Opa' was gone. We got to go inside the original house ... tell stories of things we remember about our visits, and then to say "Farewell" because it will be gone before the end of this year. Being a wooden structure, there are too many squeaks now, and no longer safe to live in. 
Drop by my page to find out the new additions to it. You may find more interesting things there. You are welcome anytime! Mona
Tags: Family Reunion Relatives
This blog may take me off the 'Favorite List' (if I ever was on that list), but here goes ... Some of you may know that the 10-day Exhibition and Stampede in Calgary, Alberta is almost over. It seems that there are two constants every year ... thousands of people attend from all over the world ... and animal rights groups working hard to make the headlines. Yesterday, in the steer wrestling competition, accidental injury to the steer caused the three vets, who were working the infield, to make the decision to euthanize the animal because there was no treatment available for the injury. Even though it was deemed to be a rare accident, there was such an uproar from Animal Rights group from outside of our province, who are demanding that the competition be eliminated from the Stampede immediately and forever. Steer wrestling is done on the ranches all the time ... how else can a rancher get control of a steer to get him branded? Would it work to ask the steer to be nice and lay down so that the branding iron can make its mark? You tell me! But what really irks me is what happened today ... a bull rider was bucked off and then stomped in the stomach by the bull ... and that event received only a brief comment in the news. What? Steers are more important than cowboys? I don't think so! It is the 101st year of this event, and extremely popular internationally. Competitors are from our own backyard, and from many areas of the U.S. and Australia, and then come back year after year. My dad was a cattle driver when he was single and I grew up in farming and ranching country. That's where I developed this opinion ... and I'm stickin' to it!
Tags: Competition Cowboys Animals
I'm back ... here to tell you that tonight (Thursday, July 4th) is Sneak-A-Peek Night at the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede. Who would have believed that they would actually pull it off after the devastating flood? Here are some pictures taken after the flood ... Calgary Stampede grounds: post-flood,
pre-celebration The parade is tomorrow morning, and Astronaut Chris Hadfield, the Parade Marshall is in Calgary. If you are interested to see what happens in our city during the 10-day event, here's a good link. The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth Thanks again for all the wonderful and caring messages that I received during this flooding crisis. The community has been brought together in amazing ways.
Tags: Entertainment Calgary Flooding
Just when we thought the city was getting a grip on the flooding disaster, they have a new challenge. In the middle of the night, a railroad bridge over the Bow River in the city buckled under the weight of a passing train. Six tanker cars, filled with petroleum products, are on the bridge, but not in the water. At the moment, the cars are cabled together and anchored to train engines on both ends of the bridge, and the tanker cars are being pumped out. Here is a link to pictures and details ... CALGARY RAIL BRIDGE FAILURE I have had so many friends drop by, asking about what is happening in our "neck of the woods", and this seems to be the best way for me to give updates. Personally, we are fine ... no hint of what is happening in the city that is less than 40 km. from our home. Thanks for the interest and caring messages ...
Tags: Flooding Calgary Disaster
Several days ago, I posted a blog about the flooding in our city. Today, I found this YouTube video as an update. Calgary Strong Song One more thing ... Have you heard of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, the world famous rodeo and exhibition that takes over our city for 10 days in July? It is supposed to start in two weeks, but with the flooding, everyone was expecting to hear that it would be cancelled. Today, it was announced that it will start on time "HELL OR HIGH WATER"! How's that for a slogan? It will be interesting to watch the progress of the clean-up. Thanks to so many on NOTH who have expressed their concern for those affected by this very unusual 'happening' in southern Alberta.
Tags: News Alberta Calgary Flood
It has been quite week in our area. It is often mentioned that we live in an area of Western Canada where there are few disruptions in our way of life. This week has been the exception. There has been an very heavy snow pack in the mountains this winter. Just last week, when hubby and I were travelling to the city, we noted that there was still so much snow on the mountains ... and wondered how long it would take to get rid of it this year. The last few days, we have had very heavy rainfalls, and yesterday was the beginning of the devestation when these two elements decided to "collide". FLASH FLOODS! Several towns have been totally evacuated, portions of the main Trans Canada Hwy near Banff National Park have been washed out, railroad bridges have collapsed and the city of Calgary has been declared a national disaster. Calgary has a population of over a million people, and today the downtown business area has been deserted, 75,000 people have been evacuated from the river valley, and it is still raining! I was born in this province, and we have never seen anything like it. To add to the dilemma, the world famous Calgary Exhibition and Stampede is due to start in two weeks, and the entire grounds are under water. The Saddledome (arena and hockey pavilion that seats over 17,000 people) is filled with water to row 17 ... yikes! It is still under consideration as to whether the Stampede will open as planned! This will be interesting! I started a photo album of pictures to share with family in Europe and am posting the link here too, if you would be interested. I will be adding more as I find them. Click on the title below .. FLOODING IN THE ALBERTA FOOTHILLS By the way, many of my friends here on The Hill have asked if we are doing OK this week ... they know that the main river flows through our Valley. We are doing well ... as we live on a bluff overlooking the valley. I took this picture from our back patio this morning. We can see more of the river now, especially since they had to open some of the slueces on the dam west of us, but there is no danger of us being flooded. Have a look ... 
On second thought, if we see Noah's Ark floating down our valley, we may have to change our thinking about the possibility of flooding here!!!! Our neighbors who live by the river have told us that it is 8 ft higher than normal, and since the sleuces were opened, the roar of the river is an unfamiliar sound that woke them up at night.
Tags: Flood Weather Home
Happy is the man who finally has tires on his tractor. This has been my husband's winter project, and he's almost finished. The next step is to get a bit of fuel in the tank, to see if they can get this John Deere started. 
If you would like to see the progress that has been accomplished, thanks to several buddies who were so helpful in the project, click on the picture above. Now they are encouraging Ed to enter it in a community antique impliment parade. I haven't heard when that would be ... but I'm hoping that we missed that "occasion"! All I can say is that I'm thankful that hubby doesn't hang around the house, telling me how bored he is. He retired two years ago, after being a Realtor for 51 years, and I've learned that you can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't get the farm out of the boy!
Tags: Hobbies Farm Tractor Retired
 The first weekend in June, we were able to attend the annual Three Hills, Alberta Car Cruise, and it was filled with nostalgia ... Vintage cars and long-time friends.
Fifty-two years ago, I started my first 'professional' job in a 19-bed hospital in this town. Two years later, I married my best friend ... and we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary in May. We still consider Three Hills to be our 'hometown', and any opportunity we have, we visit with friends and check out any changes on Main Street.
We were able to see wonderful cars (some brought back memories of cruising up and down Main Street ... the guys whistling, and the girls hoping for a ride!). I even met two nurses whom I worked with during my two years on staff at that hospital. Surprise ... We're all getting older, but we're still here!
If you are like 'old cars', please click on the this link
THREE HILLS CAR CRUISE to see more photos from the weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day ... clear skies and no wind. Sunday gave heavy rain, so the races were cancelled and everyone went home. Thanks to the Community volunteers ... you did your town proud!
Tags: Car Hobbies Friends Community
I'm as snug as a bug in a rug this morning as I watch the snow storm from my window. We had plans for today, but the weather announcements are strongly suggesting that unless we have an emergency, we should stay off the roads. Being that we are 'country folk', and to go anywhere we need to do a bit of travelling, we will heed the warning. This too will pass!
As I have been listening to music, reading email messages, knitting, and wandering around The Hill, I remembered a video from the Moving Art Series that I had watched a few months ago entitled Gratitude. Being that I needed a bit of an attitude adjustment (we had great plans for today), I went to YouTube to see if Living Art had anything that would give me a cheerful and positive attitude about all that snow that is accumulating in our yard and our road. This is what I found ... the beauty of nature! 3D Ice - Moving Art We do so much talking about the weather ... and we can't do a thing about it. There has been some wild weather situations around the world, most of which I have never experienced (tornados, hurricanes, flooding, etc.), so why am I complaining about a common snow storm in our area? Shame on me! Here's something to think about ... "When its cold, we can always put on another layer or two of clothing to keep warm; when it's hot, we can only take off a layer or two before we could be arrested!" Enjoy your day, wherever you are!
Mona
Tags: Winter Snow Gratitude
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