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Hot Cowboy Names. Ladies? You’re welcome.

August 1, 2011 By 2 Comments

Another Stampede has come and past, so it time for another edition of Hot Cowboy Names! This past Stampede was my fourth consecutive Stampede in a row (I’m truly surprised I am still alive and functioning) and while I really only got one night of Stampeding in, it was worth it. Also, remember that the five of us grew up on a farm, so country is on our blood. See all of our posts about pigs here (apparently we have quite a few posts about pigs? Odd.)

Aside from Ranchman’s and Nashville North and country concerts and cowboy boots, my favourite part about Stampede is the Chuckwagon Races and the cowboys. I have said before and I will say again, pregnant women should go to the nearest rodeo to get baby name ideas. (I was going to link to their profiles, but … well, I’m not going to. You can Google them if you’d like but I wouldn’t recommend it.)

First off, and in no particular order, we have Kelly Sutherland. Kelly is like an 11 time Chuckwagon world champion or something,  and while I’m not too sure about stereotypical female names for men, Kelly pulls his off with brute strength.

Now let’s talk a bit about Colt Cosgrave. Sexy name, for sure. I bet Colt was a wild child, doesn’t the name give you an image of a dreamy man who lived on the edge and a real hit with the ladies?

Obrey Motowylo is such a such a unique name, not one that I would want for my children but it really sticks in your head.

Dusty LaValley is an awesome name, but the real winner here is his young son – get this – Austin Outlaw. Mothers, lock you daughters up.

Dallas Dyck, I’m sorry, but it just makes me laugh. Just think of the nicknames this guy had…

Hunter Herrin, you are killing me softly. Hunter is probably an impermeably tough man who comes home and lights candles for his lady.

Chanse Vigen is a … nice  name. I’m sorry to a certain person that I just said that, but it’s true. The end.

Tilden Hooper unfortunately reminds me of Tilda Sweeney, but it still a hot cowboy name nonetheless.

Oh my lord, I just noticed Quinn Dorchester. Not too keen on the last name, but is another example of girl-name-for-a-guy and me likey.

Lanson Gaudry – it just never ends. Hot. Name.

Next up we have the the deathly frightening bulls and horses (seriously, who comes up with these?)

Wrangers Crackalakin: Haha, what?

Skippy’s Fine Line: While ‘Skippy’ doesn’t connotate a giant 300o lbs that wants to smush you to pieces, trust me – don’t get too close to Skippy. Names can be deceiving and he would like to rip you to pieces.

Swervyn Mervin: I just can’t take this bull seriously. It makes me laugh. This bull would probably stop to crack a joke in the middle of it’s eight second ride.


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Those were just my favourites out of the many competitors at the Calgary Stampede this year, but there is pretty much a jackpot of names on the Results and Bios page of the Stampede Events page.

 

Filed Under: agriculture, animals, Calgary, leah

A kitten, a mustache, and some serious baby excitement.

November 27, 2009 By 8 Comments

I’m working on the living room update, and I have the cutest little helper in the world. Levi needs to be 100% involved in everything we do at all times. He would never, ever consider hanging in out in a different room than Kent or I. I just needed to share this picture of Levi helping me sand the coffee table:

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This is my last post for NaPoBloMo and it’s been fun to see updates by my sisters every day, but I’m actually very glad November is over. Kent and everyone at his restaurant have been celebrating “Movember” this month, growing mustaches to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer. Of course I support the cause, but I’d prefer not to have my kisses with a side order of mustache! On the other hand, I don’t even recognize my dad without his mustache, so maybe it’s something you get used to. Kent has been trying to tell me that next he will be celebrating “Mothousand and Ten” so perhaps it’s something I’ll have to get used to… (no way.) He even has the handlebars goin’ on:

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The end of November also brings us closer to BABY SEASON! Our good friend Laura’s is due on December 29, and Kate’s is due on January 18. How am I supposed to get ready for Christmas when it’s so much more fun to just sit around and ask Kent, “GUESS HOW MANY MORE DAYS!?!?!” and “Look at this picture of Kate’s belly for the 43895th time!!!!” Luckily he’s just as excited as I am so he plays along.

It’s also made me realize how much more fun it is to not find out the sex of your baby in advance. I realize there are advantages and disadvantages to both, but the suspense in not finding out, to me, is pretty amazing. It wouldn’t be nearly as suspenseful, I don’t think, if we already knew what Katelyn or Laura were having. People always say “it’s the only surprise left in life,” and I was reading a book (I forget which one, maybe it wasn’t even a book*) where someone said something like, “What, no one throws surprise parties anymore? No surprise flower deliveries? What surprises have fallen by the wayside in the past few years???” which made me laugh because of how true it is. It’s definitely not the only surprise left in life – but it is sure one of the most exciting! Previously I’d been unsure if I’d want to find out or not when I have kids, but now I’m sure that I won’t.

*I remembered, and it was a book – Love the One You’re With by Emily Giffin

Filed Under: animals, cats, micaela, nablopomo, Scott & Kate Plus One

The family that just keeps on growing…

October 16, 2009 By 11 Comments

Last weekend I came for Thanksgiving to an amazing surprise! Well, it wasn’t a surprise per se, since I kind of heard about it a couple of days earlier, but I was excited to see this new addition to our ever growing family!  Now we’ve had dogs before, we started with Clara when I was a baby, and we had Clara for about 10 years.  Clara was an awesome dog, and was also the child of our Oma’s dog Sammy, who was the child of Oma’s dog Sammy! ( I edited this. Apparently Rags was Clara’s DogOma)

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Yes, that is me being puppy loved by Clara and her brothers and sisters! :) After Clara died we had a couple more dogs that we had from puppies, and honestly? Puppies and farms do not mix…and that’s all I’ll say about that.

At Christmas Micaela decided that she wanted to get a dog for Dad.  She wanted a DOG though, not a puppy, since we’re not looking to train on our farm.  We went to the London Humane Society to look at some dogs in the Fall, but didn’t end up getting one.

Last weekend I came home to a very happy dog named Waldo (aka Wallie, puppy or pappy).  Waldo is a 7 year old (we think) Beagle who loves walking outside, cuddling, kissing and teasing the cats.  He is very chill and will just wander around our house and sit with us.  Mom really likes him because she thinks the cats don’t like her, but Waldo definitely loves her.  He whines when she’s not around, and in a big group, he’ll choose to sit near her.  He will also let me jump with him in my arms!

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend!

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Decorations that I made!

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Me and Waldo!

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Perfectly posing for the camera

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This is how d-dawg walks a dog.

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Posing with moms Thanksgiving decorations!

What did all you Canadians do for your Thanksgiving weekend?

Filed Under: animals, Family, Holidays, lauren, life, photography

A Royal Weekend

November 11, 2008 By

All five of us girls have been in a youth program called 4-H.  This is a program for kids in rural areas, and are interested in things from livestock to crafts.  Being from a pig farm, we blondes were involved in swine 4-H!  Our parents are the leaders of the club, and we’ve all been in it at one time or another.  We learn about different areas of pig farming, as well as go to fairs and “show our pigs”.  I know, I know.  You’re looking at the computer screen going “What? How would you “show” your pig?”.  Don’t worry, we’ve all gotten it before.

In about March a baby pig is born, and believe me.  It’s SUPER cute!  My favourites are the spotted ones and the brown ones.  In November-just this past weekend actually, we take these pigs to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.  There are people from all different counties around us, and there are different 4-H clubs in these counties.  When showing a pig there is a judge, and about 10 other people in a big pen with you.  This big rectangle shaped pen has little pens surrounding three out of the four sides of it.  These little pens have gates going into the big pen, and are usually only big enough to fit you and your pig, with just enough room for the pig to turn around.  At the Royal, there are three different age groups- senior, junior and novice.  Senior is ages 16-21, junior is ages 12-16, and novice is ages 10-11, and also, this group is for people who have never shown at the Royal.  To actually “show” the pig, you and the people in your class have canes, which you hold with the curved part down.  This helps direct your pig, and keep it under control.  Your job while in the ring is to give the judge a good view of the pig you are presenting, to always keep the pig between you and the judge, and to always be looking at the judge, and know where he/she is.  Also, to always SMILE!

This past weekend I showed my pig at the Royal in Toronto.  All the other five blondes are too old now, so the only ones from our 4H club there were me and two others.  I actually met my pig the day before the show, but sometimes people meet their pigs and work with their pigs for a couple of weeks before the show, just so their pig gets used to walking with them, and being in an open space with other people and pigs.  I was incredibly lucky though, since I had a GREAT pig!  She was very affectionate towards me, and was great at walking and being directed.  I was in the senior group, and placed second!

There is also a “conformation class”, where the judge is only judging your pig, and not your showmanship.  My pig did not do very well in this class.  There is then an auction for the pigs, and the top 30 pigs in the show get auctioned off, and the price is per pound that the pig weights-mine weighed 262lbs.  My pig was 23rd in the auction, which means I was the 23rd person to auction my pig off.

All in all it was a VERY successful day, and since my mom didn’t even think I would make the auction, I’d say luck was on my side!  Here are some pictures from the day taken by our mom:

Toronto

CN Tower after leaving the Royal on Thursday night!

Me and Pancake

Me and my pig Pancake

Group photo

Group photo

In the pen with Pancake

Showing

Showing

Ribbons

Ribbons

Pancake resting after her big show

Pancake resting after her big show

Sleeping while trying to study

Sleeping while trying to study

Filed Under: agriculture, animals, farming, pigs Tagged With: , , ,

Cowboys and Shower Curtains

October 6, 2008 By 21 Comments

Tim and I went to the Canadian Rodeo Tour Championship today, no pictures because … well all rodeos pretty much look the same. Generally winners are decided upon based on times, lasso-ing skills, sheer brute, manly cowboy strength, speed, and general overall craziness for actually choosing to sit upon a 3000 lbs animal while its testicles are being yanked so hard that it wants to eat you. I don’t even watch the bull-riding anymore. I witnessed a horrible accident at the Calgary Stampede earlier this summer and I because of it I now choose to hide my face behind Tim’s back and whimper for the 8 seconds rather than watch and have heart palpitations for 8 seconds.

The real winners, in my books, are the (sexy) cowboys and their (even sexier) cowboy names. Pregnant women and bloggers like Swistle should go to the nearest rodeo to be inspired by these amazing men and women. Okay, moreso the men than the women, but I will get to that.

Cowboy Names, in order of preference:

1.) Come Bouvier (They pronounced it as in “Come over to my house for dinner,” but I pictured it more like “Co-Mee.” Just gorgeous!)

2.) Cimmaron Gerke (Simm-ah-run Gur-Kee. WOW! Be still my heart, and co-mee over to my house for dinner tonight, I will spoon feed you Bananas Foster for dessert and then we can talk about your muscles.)

3.) Tied for third are Blade Young and Dean Edge (Hello Blade and Dean, welcome to my dreams.)

4.) Rocky Dallyn (Like my old boss’ Welsh pronounciation of “darling.” Rocky Dallyn sounds like a cowboy superhero. Little did I know, but it is my favourite kind of superhero. Okay, well it is now.)

5.) Dallas Frank (Sounds like a country singer. Dallas has probably got an edge, and a real knack with the cowgirls. I picture him, bottle of beer in hand, leaning up against a bar in his little plaid shirt and cowboy hat chatting up all the ladies, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Hi Dallas! I am a lady, come chat me up – I, too, have a little twinkle in my eye…)

6.) Davey Shields Jr. (I just think this one sounds like a really strong name. A name that has lasted through generations. I bet Davey is a real stand-up guy,)

And the team cowboys (some events are team events) overall winners are:

Murray Linthicum and Dwight Wigemyr. (Dwight? Wigemyr? I know, right? But when you put the two together it just sounds so right. And Murray Linthicum – what a beautiful name.)

And then there are the cowgirls … Honestly they are all amazing, talented women but I am sorry ladies – you have awful names.

1.) Gaylene Buff (Gaylene? Really?)

2.) Aimee Willis (I envision the 28 year old redneck living in a trailer with 4 kids and her new boyfriend.)

The others were fine, nothing to write home about (literally, in this case! HA!) but not as lovely and imaginative as my cowboys. Even the horses and bulls get really awesome names. Our cats at home are names Herman and Dragon Baby, which are actually pretty awesome cat names, but dogs and cats generally have names like “Sadie” and “Patch” but these animals had names like “Border Denial” and “Street Dance” and “Gallant Warrior.” Now you have a whole other reason to watch the PBR channel while pregnant!

One more thing I am excited about – my new shower curtain! I have been admiring it for months and finally on Saturday I went out and bought it, and I want to share my excitement, because Tim apparently doesn’t get excited over things like shower curtains – come on Tim! It’s the little things in life. On that note, he also doesn’t get excited over cowboy names. One thing I am learning really well out here is being able to entertain myself! I kind of like it, it’s a new idea for me as I have been surrounded by lots of really awesome people the past 21 years and always had someone with as much energy as me entertaining me.

See that little hint of red on top of the toilet? Those are candles that are usually in the kitchen, but last week I woke up at 5:35am feeling really sick so Tim got up and drew me a bubble bath complete with those candles! It was so unbelievably sweet.

Also, I am currently becoming a surrogate Aunt. Currently as in, Nat’s sister is in the hospital RIGHT NOW having a baby boy! Be expecting some baby photos on here real soon. I am going to spoil the heck out of that little baby! Hopefully Nat’s sister has been to a rodeo lately, and got some good cowboy names!

Filed Under: animals, Calgary

New Kitten!

June 13, 2008 By 28 Comments

EDIT (Tuesday June 17)

WE HAVE PICKED A NAME (Well I let Scott pick a name, because I named our other cat [Chase])

The cute little black kitten’s name will be:

Co Co Beans Tlastname

Or

Co Co (for short)

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions, I really liked lots of them, but Scott is a picky man.

Scott and I are the proud owners of a new kitten!
Our friend’s cat had 4 kittens and I some how convinced Scott that it would be a fantastic idea to get another kitten. I’m still wondering how this happened. We have a cute orange cat at home- Chase, of whom you have seen pictures. But I think that cats are happier when there are 2 of them so they can play together! So we got another!

So here is the new addition to our family! He’s been pretty scared so far, so no great pictures. So far he likes to hide under the couch and the bed in the spare room.

I promise I’m not strangling him..

But friends and readers we need your help!

We need a name for our cute black kitten! It- is a boy, and he has a a white patch under his neck, but otherwise he’s totally black.

Any suggestions?

Filed Under: animals, cats, kittens Tagged With: , , , , ,

The World is Amazing

January 24, 2008 By

I was forwarded this email while at work. It is especially fitting because we are pig farmers!

We have since found out that the story associated with these pictures (read it below) isn’t true. Nonetheless, the photos are real! The tiger and piglets are indeed in the same cage and are cuddling up to each other. No photoshopping here :)

Enjoy the pictures!

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In a zoo in California , a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother’s cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only orphans’ that could be found quickly, were a litter of weanling pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops? Take a look…you won’t believe your eyes!!

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So cute, right?! Oh if only I had a tiger..

I went to the barn last night to visit the baby pigs. But they were all sleeping and then I woke up the mommy pigs and they started being all possessive like I was going to steal their piglets. Imagine it was a tiger instead? I’d be attacked in an instant!

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Filed Under: animals, pigs Tagged With: , , ,