"Life's rich pageant...."

Well, it was quite a weekend. Likely it was quite a week as well but I hardly remember that far back, partly because I have hit some sort of wall today where the accumulated tiredness of the past several weeks has me feeling pretty stunned and slow of brain, but also partly due to the fact that there was a lot of stuff crammed into the weekend.

I did get the lawn move completed (save for a few shreds of tidying up) from one part of the back yard to the other, and purchased and planted eight out of nine shrubs for the new "shrubbery" where the lawn used to be. One final one (a lovely little yew) is awaiting the right moment to go in, as it's the designated "Bud" tree, where I will deposit the ashes of my dear cat Bud, who has been waiting patiently in her reduced form for her final resting spot to be determined. I had plans for her to go in under the apple tree Jim planted last summer, but he had it bought and planted while I was riding before I even knew he was thinking about it, so Bud missed out on that one. I haven't looked into the symbolism involved with yews but it seems to me there should be some, so I thought it would be the right one for her to be involved with. OK--I just looked up yew tree symbolism and there is lots. Here's one that seems right for my purposes--symbol of transformation and rebirth. Sounds good to me. I hasten to point out that mine is a small shrub version which will only get a few feet tall. In England they seem to be enormous trees. 

Saturday launched me into the weekend with a trip to Prince Albert, a small city about an hour and half north of here, to watch (and photograph) my son-in-law Bill as he competed in his first  Scott's Firefit competition. You can learn about it by checking the link but the short version is this is a challenging timed course done in full firefighter's gear (including breathing apparatus) that involves a number of elements of skill and strength of the sort used by firefighters in their work. Bill is a dedicated member of the volunteer fire department in their town, and he and his friend Norm decided to give it a try this year. They were among the oldest competitors (both vaguely near 40) and since they decided late in the game to go for it, they hadn't logged the extra training time that would have been useful, but both completed the course and acquitted themselves well. 

Since there are too many events and too few weekends in the summer here, I had to miss the first day of the Ebon dressage show on Saturday, but planned to spend much of the day doing shots of my clients as they rode on Sunday. Not to be. Finally the much awaited "first" rain of the season arrived, and it was torrential. The first few hours of Sunday were cool and damp but actually pretty nice conditions for the horses and riders. Mid-morning things got a little more intense, and much of the rest of the day was a wash, in more ways than one. Apparently we got over 65% of the year's rainfall to date just yesterday, and boy did we need it. Unfortunate timing for the show and for other outdoor weekend events, but for us horse people it means we may have hay after all for the winter, and the farmers of the area can actually hope for a crop. Up to yesterday none of it was looking too hopeful in those respects. 

On to the photos, and I guess I *am* brain-dead since I forgot to mention the moose! Finally "got my moose" on Saturday morning as I was heading out to pick up my daughter and grandson to go to Prince Albert to watch Bill compete. About a block down the street I couldn't help but notice a *lot* of the neighbourhood out on their front lawns looking north, many in their dressing gowns as it was fairly early. I looked around and couldn't see anything so gave a bit of a mental shrug and proceeded along my route. Then two police cars came scorching along from the side road by the municipal swimming pool, turning the corner and proceeding down the street I was on. "Seems a little early for criminal activity" was one of my thoughts. 

My initial thought on seeing the neighbours was "moose sighting!" but I had dismissed that as being too fanciful even for me. However, the next vehicle with flashing lights coming up hard behind me was a conservation officer's truck, so that made me quite hopeful about the moose possibilities. I got out of his way, and carried on with caution. Made it across 8th Street (usually quite a busy thoroughfare and a main artery of the east side of the city) and saw a whole whack of police cars, police on bicycles, and the conservation truck all converged on a parking lot just north of the tire store. There was the poor moose, who it turned out had been darted with a tranquilizer about an hour previously, then followed by officials as it made its way further into the city, until it was finally stopped by fencing, surrounding buildings, and its own inability to keep going due to the drugs entering its system. I got a few shots, then left as it was starting to show signs of going down. Watching big animals forced down by tranquilizers can be upsetting, plus I was on a timeline so couldn't stay to see the end. I am interested but remain unenlightened as to how they pick up an unconscious moose and what they use for transport.  

Today's first shot is of a little chipping sparrow that often comes and hangs out on the front yard trellis of an evening when I am out there reading. These are charming little birds who are much less spooky about people than house sparrows, and which we have had nesting in the front yard for a number of years. Jim says they are the only native sparrow species (house sparrows are an introduced species here) that nests in the cities. 

Shot two shows the moose with the dart in his hind end. You can see how stressed he is by the panting open mouth, also that he'd pretty well run out of options for moving along anywhere else, even if he had been capable of doing so. The moose that venture into the city are relocated at some distance to areas where there are other moose inhabitants. 

Shot three shows Bill at the top of a very tall tower (I think it was six flights of stairs up)  that he had to run up while carrying a 50 lb (20 Kg) hose. In this shot he is hauling a heavy weight on a cable from the ground to the top. Again, check the link above to learn about all the other challenges required to compete this grueling course.

Shot four is one I took for an online"photo assignment" of horse shots that had to be taken on the day of Summer Solstice. Given the pouring rain, I didn't have a lot of options, but got this one from my car window, featuring one of the competitor's horses loaded up and ready to head back home. 

Shot five shows the dressage ring as it appeared when I was leaving the barn in the late afternoon after checking on my own horse (who was tucked up snug, warm and dry in his box stall, happily eating the treats I had brought him). This is the sand ring which keeps a safe footing for horses and riders the longest of any of the show rings, but as you can see, there are limits even to what the sand ring can handle!!