The Annual Meadow Springs Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!!

Here we are once again, the end of the another year, and I am pushing the deadlines for parcels and cards to reach their destinations on time. It's been a busy year, but we were able to spend lots of time with friends and family. It seems this year was a year of landmarks.

At the end of January I had to travel to Ontario as my mother was ill with cancer. She passed away within 24 hours of my arrival. My brother Ted, my sister Beth, and I were all there together with her. Ted and I stayed for another week, staying at my sister's place. It was crowded but my two nieces vacated their beds for us, and we all really enjoyed being together. Many a night was spent reminiscing in the hot tub, with a glass of wine.... or two? Another up side, was that we were able to see old family friends that we hadn't seen since we were kids. We all still miss her so much...it will be a strange Christmas without her for us all.

Our little dog, Annie, also passed away this spring. She was 13 years old. She got sick suddenly so the decision was an easy one to make - but it still feels funny to not have her around. She was the favourite of so many people. :-) DC, Meg and Orso are all doing fine, although DC is showing his age (imagine that....at 14 ½ years old!!!)

When my Mom passed away, we three kids vowed to meet this summer. Beth, Larry and the kids flew out to Saskatchewan and drove here with my brother. They spent a bit of time in Calgary visiting old family friends that we haven't seen since we left in 1979!! When they got to the ranch, they were pooped, but we still went to Barkerville for a day, and then to Whistler to meet my Dad. We spent the rest of our time together riding and relaxing. Mark and I had virtually closed the guest ranch down for their stay, so we got some quality time in the summer - even went to the lake a couple times!!

Another landmark was Mark's 50th birthday, October 1st. I actually managed (with Jill's help) to pull off a couple of surprises. Avril, Jill, Robert and Alan, Lorna and Fran Pugh met us for Chinese food in Clinton to surprise him. They stayed for a couple of days before heading back to the Island. We got some time in riding (with no guests!) so really enjoyed their stay. I also managed to arrange for a surprise party/supper at the Hoof & Harness restaurant in 100 Mile - about 25 people showed up for a really great meal!!

For Mark's gift I bought us a trip to Las Vegas for a weekend of the National Finals Rodeo (Nov 30 - Dec 4). It is the first trip we have taken together with no horses involved and no cowboy society business - just fun! Another surprise for Mark was the appearance of Jill and Robert, and Geraldine and Rob before our plane left. Our vet, Brian, and Marilyn, and another couple (friends of Robert and Jill's) met us in Las Vegas. We had three days of walking, sight seeing, shopping (at the Cowboy Christmas show), and shows. We spent more money on seeing the night shows than we did on gambling - had no time for that! We had a great time!!! Having friends to meet up with, and shop with was extra special!! Poor Ol' Mark hasn't walked so much in ten years!! :-)

Another big decision we made was to cut back on the horseback riding (about 50% less) by not taking anybody who was not staying here. My workload was quite a bit lighter, usually only taking a ride out once a day, and I had lots of help from both Sarah and Erin. The cabins were busy again, but we encouraged guests to look after their own meals.

Mark's haying season was made easier for him because of the willingness of Erin to do anything to be at the ranch this summer. She actually ended up staying with us for the whole month of August, helping with cabin cleaning, raking hay on the tractor, and her favourite - the dirty job of mechanic work on greasy old tractors and equipment (she still preferred this to cabin cleaning!). This summer was frustrating with major breakdowns of equipment: the mower blew up and Mark had to use pieces of it to re-build the spare parts mower; the baler had a main roller break in two - three times!!; and the front wheel broke off the big tractor twice. Each of these breakdowns caused days of extra work and no hay getting done - which seemed to be when the thunderheads rolled in! A special thanks to Erin for all her patience and hard work!! The good side of haying this year was that we had great spring weather and got record breaking crops in! Hopefully we won't have to buy any hay until late spring.

Animal inventory is now at 13 horses, 1 bull, 4 9-month old heifers, 13 cows, and one oopscident (a 2-month old calf).

It looks like Avril will not be coming up this year for Christmas - she feels the trip up here would be too much for her, and she did come up in October. Mark and I will spend Christmas together, looking forward to Jill and Robert coming up at some point.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! We wish you all the best in 2007 and hope you can spend time with people who are special to you.

Thinking of you.....
Mark and Kathy