Springtime in Vancouver

Carly's mom writing today...

Between the time Carly was in California and Mexico (Feb/Mar) and now (May) she spent a week in Albuquerque with a good friend of mine who does bird research. They spent a couple days searching for, and trying to catch/band Shrikes--these cool birds who aren't raptors, but who catch and kill small birds and mammals. They use tools (like barbed wire, thorns and branches) to impale their prey since they don't have talons with which to dispatch their prey. The males attract females by setting up 'displays' of dead and impaled food items, so if you ever see a section of barbed wire fence or a thorny shrub draped with lots of small dead birds or animals, you're in the territory of one productive male shrike!

Carly returned to MN around March 10, and glued herself to our laptop to get all of her work done in her online classes. She took World History and American Literature, and was able to finish all the requirements before her April 15 deadline. She got good grades, and now has 2 open hours in her school schedule for next year that she can fill with other requirements (which will give her room during her 11th grade year for more college-credit classes).

So, on Sunday, May 2, I put her on a plane to Vancouver, BC, where she connected to a flight to Prince George, BC, where she was met by Lisi Ohm, a German woman who lives about 60 miles west of Prince George in VanDerHoof, BC on a farm with about 20 Icelandic horses. Lisi is the Youth leader of the Canadian Icelandic Horse Federation ( CIHF) and chairperson of the education committee of the federation--and Carly says that she's a good teacher. We found Lisi through the friend of a friend, and the timing of this trip worked out beautifully! Visit Lisi's website to learn more about her farm at: www.vindsdalur.ca .

Carly wrote yesterday with a brief update for me to post. She's got dialup internet there, so won't be posting many photos, but the distance between the farm and town will, I hope, provide her with more time for sending blog updates.

Here's what she had to say about her first 2 days in BC:

So far I have just been in the out door ridingarena. I am riding young horses that need miles and just need to getused to having someone else riding them. I have been riding 2 horses consistently, one's a mare and the other is a gelding who needs to seriously calm down.

We are also starting a four year old gelding, he has already had a saddle and bridle and a person sitting on him, now the next steps are to get him moving with a rider on his back,(me). Today I rode a mare that is just out of shape because Lisi thought that she was pregnant but now doesn't think so. She looks and acts just like Rispa (one of the 3-year olds at Kydee's farm), I mean that she has to put on a show for us everytime we're working.

It has been cold and windy (blowing snow in the air yesterday!) here and just today is it finally nice out.

We'll keep you posted,
Thanks for reading!