As our journey evolves, we find ourselves continuing to explore our home country. Make no mistake, we are in no way moving away from international travel, it is just life sometimes forces you to adapt a bit. But exploring new areas is what our life is about so when Karen mentioned that there was a three week house sit just outside of Whitecourt, Alberta looking after bison among other creatures it was a no brainer, we had to check it out.
When we arrived at the house sit we were able to spend a couple of days with the owner so she could pass on the key routines and procedures. She also took the time to have some friends over and introduce us in case we needed to call for assistance.
I find spending time on properties like this very grounding. Most people in developed nations go through life getting their food from a grocery store of some type and rarely give its origin a second thought, we certainly did. But the logistics and work that go into raising animals for food and large scale gardening is impressive. Fortunately we are here at a time of year where the actual work is very minimal.
There are some serious aspects to caring for the animals. There are no lack of coyotes and hawks in the area which make the life of a free range bird a little more hazardous than you might think. Also the coyotes are quite brazen and make an effort to bait the dogs into chasing them into the bush. Fortunately Rocky and Polly know not to get too carried away when chasing them off. The owner told us the coyotes had taken several birds over the summer. We did our best to prevent that from happening while we were here.
On the lighter side are the Guinea Fowl. These birds are pure comedy.
Quality entertainment occurs when you put a container of yogurt in the chicken coop.
We were fortunate enough to have an inordinate amount of beautiful warm days while we were there and this allowed me to be able to sit outside and comfortably try to get some photos of a number of the birds in the area. I had to wait my turn with the birds though.
The main reason we took the sit though was for the bison. We learned they are very shy and quite challenging to photograph. But one chilly morning they were good enough to give me the shot I wanted.
A few other shots of these magnificent beasts. Such a wonderful experience to be able to spend time here.
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