June 2026 – OsteoPraxis on the road

Eastern travel once again.

Some overseas guests arrived for a great visit last two weeks of May. It was wonderful to have them here….. we managed a three generation picture just to prove it…..

….and then it was time to get on the road again….

It’s always a little sad leaving because we do love our oasis in Alberta.

But time for some travel adventures has arrived so we will leave our buddies behind and just hope they don’t eat ALL of my trees….!!!!

After a couple of changes to the plan…we started south through Coutts /Sweetgrass and made our first stop in Glasgow Montana.

We have stopped there before…but this time we stayed at the Shady Rest….which sounds more like a funeral home than a campground……but be assured the residents and staff were quite lively…!!!

In Glasgow (Montana)one just has to take the stroll down to the Busted Knuckle Taproom.

We arrived there to discover it was the start of the Milk River Catfish festival. So there were many many people in very good humour….and even some dancing with a live band.

The next days driving was a bit of a challenge. Strong crosswinds straight from the south all day as we drove straight east. Stopping in Bismarck, North Dakota overnight we were pleased to see a pickleball court there….but the wind was so ridiculous there was no way to play.

Back on the road and weaving through Minnesota to a Harvest Host in the middle of cabin country, an overnight at the Snarky Loon kraft brewery in Jenkins Minnesota was next on the list.

A lovely spot…fairly level parking…good beer, food and people.

After some heavy rain overnight I was a bit concerned about just how soft the ground underneath us might have become….I had visions of the leveling blocks sinking straight into the ground….LOL…as ever…my fears were unfounded…

Then a stop in Ironwood, Michigan. The last time we passed through Ironwood we tried to go into Stormy Kromer.….but we were there on the only day of the week that they are closed. This time I planned a little more carefully…and booked the campground at the other end of town….!!!!

…and yes we bought the hats…!!!

One more stop on our journey over to Ontario. We had this great idea that if we stopped at the Straits State Park….right by the Mackinaw Bridge … we would get some good pictures of the bridge…..

We carefully selected a site right at the edge of the park as it looked like we might have the best photo angle……but no. ……it’s an old park…and although the site was definitely big enough …the angle it was at was…well…it was impossible….I should have taken a picture…but was too busy trying to arrange a change of site…and praying there was another we could get into.

We moved a bit further down the loop and pulled onto a site right next to a very lovely couple form Michigan. (Hi Kristie and Tony…!!!) as you can see the grade was a bit scary….but the angle was do-able.

We took a walk down to the beach for some pictures…..through the fog….(and the additional fog of bugs…!!!) ……

……then spent a very pleasant evening round the fire chatting with our neighbours.

Extra Pic

Watching Cowboys Be Cowboys. Sunburst, Montana.

As spring rolled around…we had an offer which simply could not be refused, an opportunity to come and watch the branding of the new calves on a friends ranch in Northern Montana.

A real cowboy event to be sure set in a quintessential wild west big sky landscape…….

The weather was cool but dry…..in many ways a perfect day for it….

A quick trip down to the border, an easy crossing, then sharp right turn heading into the middle of nowhere….this drive in to the ranch is spectacular…….

…a real feeling of isolation and probably not too different to days of old.

On the way in we had to stay well back…as the cowboys on horseback drove the herd in.

Then the emotional part….driving the cows through a chute and separating off the calves. Those moms get pretty upset about where their babies went without them…..

Watching those cowboys work is a real privilege…..the skill and the calmness is impressive. There’s a real sense of carefulness with the animals….

….and a bunch of future cowboys and girls watching the job they will likely be doing in a few years.

Having seen a few rodeos now…watching those guys heel the calves (roping both their back feet from horseback) …takes on a whole different level of purpose.

The next part is a bit hard….as the calf needs to be moved out of the pen….and there is only really one way to do that…

But it becomes abundantly clear why heeling both back feet is so important…..the next bit….the actual branding…

Several sets of irons are heated in a propane ‘stove’….and there are multiple assistants with medications (injections and nasal spray guns).

Two guys on the ground lock the calf…one on the back end, one on the front….to stop it moving while in a matter of seconds it gets branded, vaccinated and medicated nasally…

It looks like a tough job….but important to keep the calf from moving for those few moments. The whole community shows up to help out, and once the work is done there’s a feast.

Occasionally a hoof gets loose…..ouch….

This kid got most of the blood wiped off…then carried on with the job….

Around 400 calves were done while we were there…a pretty efficient operation getting the job done with the minimum of drama…then they released them back to their worried and waiting mommas…….and the whole group wanders back out to the plain..

What an experience…

Extra Pix

Oh Deer..!!! The Burn, the Fire….and the people who come to the rescue..!!

That time of year is upon us…as we ready ourselves once more to get out on the road for another season of adventuring, it’s time to tell the tales of the happenings and mishappenings of the winter season.

It all begins with the journey home from the Patricia Rodeo……we rarely drive in the dark…..but …we decided to head for home after the final evening of the rodeo….classic story…about a km from home, 10pm and dark……a doe leapt out from behind a tree line and took out both doors and the box on the passenger side of the truck. ( didn’t go well for her either ). Thankfully the trailer was spared….no drive damage to the truck….but it did curtail any further travel plans for 2025.

I do have pictures …but probably best not to post them (gruesome..!!)

With travelling done…attention redirected to the filling of the pit……

The old pit was backfilled in May…and a new pit took its place, more conveniently placed for the next section of the pile to be cleared.

The work continued…..Scott does love to pull out those giant beams….

….and it becomes the little tractor that could….lol……

The weather held long enough for us to get the it about 2/3rds full….

…and then Canadian Thanksgiving weekend brought early snow cover….and with snow….we get to have a burn permit…..so burn we did.

We had to retreat to the top of the dirt pile pretty soon after the flames took……it gets warm …fast…..

Very quickly it engulfs the entire pit….

Then the kid arrived in her truck……first time at the burn, she was only there a few minutes before realising how hot it was….so her pretty red truck got moved away to a safer spot….

…and time for a beer….

As impressive as that hungry inferno is…..at night time it takes on an other-worldly persona….

The whole thing was hot…and fast, it was quicker than the previous burns to stop smoking….so 6 weeks later with some milder weather we thought we could take advantage and fill again….

Monday morning I checked out the progress…..a good amount in there for a couple of days work on the weekend…….the weather that day was brutal…110 kmph winds straight from the west. By lunchtime there was smoke coming from the pit……we went to check……not good…five minutes later there were flames and it jumped out the pit and galloped across the field towards the pile…..

Fortunately we are less than 5km from the firehall…and the firetrucks responded in under 5 minutes.

They caught that sucker just in time…..it had just…only just reached the edge of the pile…..

So this is our local fire department…

Having successfully dowsed the escaped flames….the pit got a thourough soaking….

Many, many thanks to our volunteer fire and rescue squad.

An exciting day for sure…….well aware how fortunate we were that it was caught early and that great team of volunteers got to us as quickly as they did.

Next day for us……in the hole with the rakes pulling all the still smoldering ash down off the walls into the base of the pit…….no repeat performance required….!!!

Also left us a little gun shy on putting any more in the pit….for now….

So to the more regular…..less dramatic winter stuff……..with our usual visitors

…and early deep drifting snow where the route out was by snowshoe…

…we had the Christmas market….

…and the ongoing renovations on our primary bedroom……

…with a couple more reclaimed explosion proof lights from the grain elevator debris. Scott spent the time cleaning them up and finding the perfect fairy light bulbs to show them off…..lol