I'm home

I got home last night at 9pm .  I drove from Indiana and it took 12 hrs.  Not too bad. Just a little traffice coming out of NY at around 7:30.  The dogs were starting too get antsy. At least Dually was, The others were ok, but he as whining a bit.
I parked the truck and trailer in the driveway and went up to the house to turn on the pellet stove and the hot water.  I let the dogs out to run and then I brought them in and went to bed. Not a great nights sleep but tonight is going to be superb.

I worked both dogs today.  Dare did some nice sorting today. I am working on teaching him to Hold at the gate and get back and release one sheep at a time thru the gate. I'm trying to make him responsible for Holding and releasing and not make it my responsibility to sort by just moving the gate. I want the dog to understand the job.

Dually was worked on the light sheep.  I want him to understand that when I say get around , regardless of where I am standing , he should go get the sheep. Sometimes he just stands there with this dumb look on his face. I can set him up and do and outrun , but I don't always want to HAVE to be standing in just the right place. He got better. I just need to do more.

The Long Way Home

The campground I stayed at for 2 nights was perfect except no  wifi.  Great for the dogs though.  WE had bad thunderstorms last night and torrential rains and Peaches and Dare had diarrhea because of something vile they ate in the woods.  Dare is fine now. Peaches not yet.

    I got up early to get to the trial site at 7am .  I had in my head that the handlers meeting was at 7 .  It was not. It was at 7:45.  Not a great site for a trial.  Parking was away from the entrance gates and you had to walk down the street and thru  some yard to get there. Duck arena was nice and ducks were fine. Dare did a very nice outrun and lift and that’s it.  He tried to fetch  them directly  to me but they were feeling too much pressure from me and he wouldn’t take his off balance flanks and so they split and he bit and that was just about it.

Sheep  was worse. He crossed over on the outrun and then just stopped. I called him back and redirected him and he took it  but when they saw him  and moved he dived in.  I called  it.  

So I left early and I am southeast of Cleveland but not very far I don’t’ think.  If I push hard tomorrow, I could make it home.  Not sure I want to do that.

I found a campground that has wifi but I can’t get it to work. They have a low signal.  Maybe if I take the laptop to the bathrooms I could get it to work.  I’ll try it. 

I did get it to work . Yay.  HOme tomorrow. 

Tuesday

I let the dogs out the camper door this am and we walked around the campground. Dare found something vile to roll in and I had to hose him off with ice cold water when we got back. I do have an outside shower on the trailer but he hose is so short and the water pressure was so poor that I gave up and just used the camp water. I will have to play with that outside hose when I get home and see if I can make it useful
I found the trial site this morning. It was easy enough to find.  I'ts about 18 miles from the campground and we are supposed to start at 7am and we are in PST here.  So I may have to get up at 4 am my time.  Toooooo early. 
I went to Tractor Supply to get a lynch pin which may or may not fit the sway bar. And then I went to Walmart for some supplies(lots of candy)(bad Diane). Now I am at Starbucks using their wifi .I have been here for about 3 hrs but I am getting ready to leave and see if I can find a video rental place so I have something to do tonight.

To the next Trial

Monday –travel day

I  was directed to a very nice campground last night, but it was in Muncie or close by and I wanted to be closer to the next trial today so I left at noon. Got a load of laundry done first. 

I was trying to charge my cell and my gps at the same time and when the gps battery ran out, I didn’t notice it and I was driving on my merry way north. I’m still not sure if I was on the right road or if I went too long.  I was listening to a book on tape so it really didn’t matter.  I got to Valparoise around 5:30 and went searching for a campground. Not easy to find around here. I went to one 15 miles out of town and there was no one in sight. There was a sign that said to sign in and put it in the drop box and take a map and find a site. There was no map so I drove around till I found some sites and  they were a mess. It was hard to figure out where you were supposed to put the trailer. I kept looking at them and then I decided maybe I didn’t want to stay there. It seemed to isolated.

So on to the next camground which was probably 20 miles in the opposite direction and it was a State park which didn’t have electric or water.  I was then  directed back the way I cam e to one I had missed and I am the only camper here. We parked way in the back and the dogs have the run of the place. No wifi though.  ;-(  . I bought a pint of Ben and jerry’s cherry Garcia and  ate the whole thing.  I’m bad.

I’m watching a documentary on Las Vegas. I think I thought it was a series on the mob when I bought it. That’s what you get at Ocean State. Maybe I will buy something better tomorrow. I have to go out and get some supplies and find out where the  trial site is. 

I’m nice and cozy tonight. The temp dropped 30 deg from noon till 5pm and more since then.  I couldn’t get the trailer warmed up and then I realized I probably just needed to change the propane tanks. Voila all fixed.  I’m starting to look forward to going home. I think I will be leaving right after the trial on Wed. I think we should be done by noon but if not, I may leave anyway because my classes will be done.

Day 2 trial results

ADv cattle 2nd place 72(that;s how hard the cattle were today)
And 4th place with a 41 (we were really cooking LOL)
Adv sheep--JCT ( he took a bite)baaaad sheepie
4th place 107  good run.
Adv ducks-=-2 bad runs on the same freaking group of ducks
Wow was that bad.   1  Q out of 6 runs.  Yikes that is really horrible.

Dually Std cattle 3rd place with a 35 and 1st placed with a 77(good group  of cattle that moved pretty good) and after the first day's encounter with cattle I think he wised up a little--just a little
Std sheep--2Q's with a first and second placed  73 and 74
Std ducks-2Q's with 2 first places 96 and 95 and Most Promising Started Dog
5/6 Q's and no Thank you's today. Hmmm maybe he is getting better.

Wing Wool and Hoof Hoosier trial

Wing Wool and Hoof Hoosier trial Day 1 April 16,2011

It’s over cast here and the wind is blowing the beat the band.  They have 3 arenas set up completely(big arenas )  . It sprinkled off and on all day but no downpours –but it really started to get cold this afternoon. 

   I will try and remember what happened as best as I can.  I remember Dare’s first cattle run because he was just wild. Running them and twirling them and not paying a lick of attention to anything I said.   Got kicked in that round but it didn’t faze him in the least. Becky B eckman was the judge for that run and we got a 57 and 4^th place if that tells you anything.  There were probably 10 entries or so. 

   Dually went in  and promptly got kicked,jumped on and rolled and I carried him out. I thought he had broken a leg or had internal injuries.  He did a nice take pen and it went to hell from there.  W e were just going up the fenceline and they turned back and pissed him off I guess.   So as I said I carried him out and put him down and he limped around a bit.  I took him up to the trailer and gave him traumeel and arnica gel on his leg and we walked a little more and I took him down to the sheep arena and ran him.  He was not noticeably off.   Great take pen and nice control up the right side to panel one. Nice crossdrive and they  sorta ran thru 2 and then ran home.  I didn’t send him because I didn’t want to risk a grip.  Then we cornered them near the repen and had a little trouble getting him to get go so they would go back in the repen.   Rachel Vest judged that and we got a 90 but no placement.

 Then another cattle run with Dare.  A  Beautiful take pen  15/15, a picture perfect drive to panel 1 20/20 and then we had a nice cross drive but lost at at panel 2 , he went too deep to the fence and pulled them off before the panel and  then it went to  hell. No points on center obstacle and 5/10for repen.  Total score 70—shoulda coulda wouda

Dually is sleeping upside down in my bed right now. Should I try for a picture? Too late he moved.

Dually’s 2^nd cattle run was much better. He was only a little subdued.   Under Rachel , 4^th place 87.

Must have been a beautiful take pen we got 15/15.  16 on the panel 1 22 on crossdriveand panel 2k.14/20 on repen and all stock points.  Frankly there was a lot of adrenalin in my blood then and I don’t’ really remember much o f the run except he started to get a little wild again at the repen , but fortunately we were at the end and he didn’t’ have time to really wind up.  This may kill one of us.

Dually 2^nd sheep run under Becky was an 89 and 3^rd place.  I don’t remember the run at all.  Actually I am confusing both runs.  In one run he lost the sheep at panel 2 and they ran back and I didn’t’let him catch them and on the other run we controlled them all the way back.  Scores were very similar so …..

Ducks-

Dually got excused for trying to bit a recalcitrant duck who wouldn’t stay with the group. Dually doesn’t like that and then next round under Rachel – he got a 95  It was a really nice run and I was placed perfectly ((Gr)).

Dare had a really rough first go on ducks.  He had a set of khaki’s that  didn’t’ want to go in that direction.  We got an 81 (not worth talking about).He had a better run under Rachel 109 but no placement.  Ducks were more into it.

And I think that covers everything. 2 cattle,2 sheep and2 ducks runs for each dog and I held up and did okay. 

After awards it started to pour and the wind started up again. It’s blowing so hard sometimes I wonder if the trailer will just tip right over.  We’re a rocking .

So anyway Dually finished his Started Sheep ,cattle and duck  titles.

Day 2

Dare’s first cattle run , he never got them off the back fence.  2^nd cattle run was almost as bad. Becky thank you’d us on his sheep run and I quit on his duck run because he couldn’t/wouldn’t push t he khaki’s up to the first panel.  We  tried and he is better than he was last year but still n ot there yet.

Dually’s first  cattle run was not good but I don’t’ remember it. His 2^nd cattle run was pretty darn good. We got them up to the first panel and did the cross drive to panel 2 .  He got 1 thru panel 2 and they ran for home and I let them.  Repen was fine.  He was well off these cattle and they moved right along. It was a good group.

His duck run under  Rachel was near perfection. One bobble a t the 21nd panel . We recovered and went to repen.  It was fast and felt good.

Dually’s sheep run  was  a little pushy but we made it thru and I’m sure it was a Q

We have 2 sheep runs and 2 duck runs left . one for each.

Dare’s next sheep run was really nice.  I had a little trouble getting them started and up to panel 1 B course and then they got stalled behind the panel so  I called him back to me and reflanked him ala Rachel’s suggestion yesterday.  They went right across to 2 but then cut in front of it so I had to daylight and again called him back to me and reflanked him go bye he took and got them thru but wouldn’t continue it and cam out and caught them on the away to me.  He stayed off the center pen and those damn sheep just walked right in.  Yahoo.  Kinda lost them on the way back to the repen but that’s ok. Rachel is judging .

Dually sheep  run is next. Thank goodness this day is almost over. I am starting to get  really tired. There is a campground close by and I am going  to spend the night there and regroup before I head north. Hopefully wifi and I can post t  this.

Dare had another horrible duck run. I crossed the line and did  aSTD routine to get the damn ducks around.  Again he wouldn’t push same old same old.

Dually had a stellar duck run.  We accidentally got the Adv ducks and it worked in our favor.

Dually couldn’t handle the sheep on his last run.  We didn ‘t get excused but we got moved to the repen. We had a lamb that would not stay with the other 2 sheep.  Oh well. It’s over . 

 

A good nights sleep and back on the road

By the time I got up this morning all the  other campers were gone and I never even heard the one next to me. No dogs woke me up in the middle of the night Yay!   We had a bit of a play session this morning and now I am about to close every thing up and get back on the road. 

 I have decided not to take the main highway from here. Mapquest gave me another shorter way to go. It will probably take longer but the whole distance is only 160 miles and I have nothing else to do. Maybe I will see some antique stores to stop at on the way. 

This a really nice campground although I would not like it if it were full but it's empty. 

Bye bye Dare

    I almost lost the little bugger today on rt 80 in Pa.  I stopped at a rest area and I walked only him because he was sick last night( he was fine) and then I tried to put him back in the car.  He hates the car and backed out of his collar and ran around the trailer onto the entrance road and could have gone straight onto the highway.   Would have been Dead Dare and Dumb Diane.  Anyway I called him knowing he would not come to me but I hurried in the other direction towards the building and the picnic area. He came and when we got to the picnic tables, I sat down and he came right over to me. I tightened up his collar and just in case I made a harness out of the leash and back to the car we went.   He hardly gave me any trouble that time.

I putzed around this morning at the campground walking all the dogs and I'm not sure what else I did, but we didn't leave until 12:15.  I started looking for a campground around 5 and it took until 6:30  to find one, but it's nice and there is a huge area for the dogs to run free ( as long as nobody is shooting skeet).  It is right next to the highway and a bit noisy, but hopefully I will sleep anyway.

Mikey got into Dually's food this morning and so he has eaten 21/2 times more than normal so he may be getting me up in the middle of the night. Dare seems ok though.

Slow Start Today

The sun is shining and it's nice out.   I have the door to the camper open and the heat off.  I walked all the dogs this morning around the pond and came across the Indian Tree.  The Indians started forming it in 1738 . It's a white Oak. and they formed it to be a marker on their trail. It points due west.  Cool.

I'm at a campground in Dubois Pa.

A view of the pond I walked around 3 times this morning.

     Part of the trail around the pond.

And we'll have Fun Fun Fun till your Daddy takes the T-bird away

    And that title line is because Lindy made me think of it.

   I left around 8:45 this morning.  I wasn't in much of a hurry and it was raining a bit and I had chores to do.  I think I forgot something(a spare bra) but not sure what else. At least I have one.
  Driving was off and on rain all day and cloudy and kinda miserable. But it wasn't heavy downpours and for the most part the roads were only wet not dangerous. I drove the first 4 hrs non stop and then I stopped every couple  of hrs until I found a campground which was not that easy. I am in the middle of Pa and there is not much out here. It's kind of like the middle of W Virginia.  Sometimes Scary.  Anyway I stopped and asked 2 nice men for a campground and they sent me to this one which was only 3 miles back the way I came.  It's pretty quiet and the owners were very nice. Mr helped me get the electricity and water hooked up and Mrs offered to set up my tv. I  declined. I didn't think I would have time to watch after I fooled around on the computer. I was right.
    I am ahead of schedule so I have been trying to find a place to train before I get there. But I am not having any luck.  Anybody know anybody in Ohio? So maybe I will find some touristy thing to do tomorrow.
    Truck and trailer are pulling nicely and no problems so far. Not expecting any either, gosh darn it.

All dogs are sleeping . 3 on the floor and one in a crate(MIkey for his own protection).  I think I like camping in the spring much better than the freakin winter.  So far I am not cold, hopefully I won't be cold in bed. I think I am going to sleep well tonight.

Leaving tomorrow in the rain.

  Lovely forcast for driving.  Hopefully I will drive right out of it.  Truck and trailer are hitched and ready to go. Almost everything is packed .  Just a couple of things like the computer and toiletries left.
    I am exhausted tonight. I was up until 4am last night with reflux. Sucks to get old. But on the other hand I feel pretty good for my age and I was just thinking that I have quite a bit of energy this spring.  I think it is due to the Vit D they are giving me.  Keep your Vit D level up!!
   I was checking the hay with Dually tonight and of course the sheep were right there so I walked him up and I outed him and I did a couple of off balance short flanks and quit. Everything went beautifully.  I am using Amy Hills' method of shaking the tip of the stick at him when I want him to flank and he seems to kick out nicely when I do that. Tonight I just used my hand and it worked just as well. I know that if I had stuck my stick/hand to the side and said go bye he would have gone straight in but he gave me beautiful square flanks.  Love it.

It cost my over $100 to fill my tank today.  It's going to be an expensive trip. But I just won't think about it.

Road Trip #2

   I am getting ready to leave for Indiana.  I have cleaned the trailer, flushed the antifreeze out, closed up the hot water heater,checked the lights,put the extra side mirrors on the truck, turned on the frig,put some food in, and started to think about packing.  Everything seems to be working so I'm psyched. 
   I actually worked the dogs a couple of times this week too.  Dare did an awesome crossdrive in the middle of the arena with no redirects.  Very proud mama.    I tried penning today and that went okay, not great but we forgot to practice it.  Oh  well.   Dually  was good and found the sweet spot to keep the sheep against the fence while we pushed them up the arena.  I could theoretically fetch them but he probably will push them over me so we are doing a semi drive and he did well.  As long as I read the sheep and slow him down when they start to get tense it all goes well.

    Had a really good lesson today with BC's.  These are dogs that the owner thought would never work and they just keep getting  better and better.  Made me feed good.

Worked both dogs today

I worked Dare this morning sorting the sheep for a 10am lesson that came at 11 but I got in an hr of raking while I waited. Dare was very good and thoughtful this morning.  It always makes me think he's sick.  I had him drive  2 sheep into the corner and hold them there .  He kept pushing into them and they kept sqirting out.  He would go and get them and bring them back. Sometimes he brought them to me but I made him drive them back to the corner and told him to HOLD them which to him means walk in and make them squirt. I have to say HOLD/STOP  and hope he does.  But he did a very nice job of bringing all the sheep into the pen to be sorted. He wasn't as pushy as usual.  Gotta work that OUT,,keeps going side to side.

Dually worked the same 2 sheep but I brought them out into the big field. He does that so nicely. He is not frantic that they are getting away so they go thru the gate and he lays down and awaits my command.  Very non stressful. At first the sheep wanted to walk on my feet, but I didn't like that so Dually pushed them off of me and I made him walk around the field with the sheep at the end of my crook held out to  the side like a pointer.  It's a Jan thing and it works great. Just point where you want the sheep to go.  He at first didn't cover when they ran for the draw but he got better. I think he thinks he is not supposed to cover.  He certainly can kick it into gear when I ask. We went in both directions and by the end the sheep had stopped trying to escape from him . It was pointless. He is much faster than they are.

Rock raking over 1/2 done

My back / hip is all better in spite of all the rock raking and rock picking that I have been doing. It's really lookin good.  Thank goodness for Edward. I couldn't do it without him. We are using the cart and the lawn tractor and it's making it faster I think although it's really slow going no matter what.
    I'm starting to think about leaving on Wed to go to Indiana for 4 ASCA trials and one AKC trial.  Fun fun fun. Of course, I haven't been training my  dogs much so I guess I wont' be doing very well. I'm trying the dial a hope method.  Actually I always feel I am doing the dial a hope method.  I was truly going to work Dually today but I did too many other things and ended up without the energy.  I had to wrestly with the hay this morning and go to the can return place and then the recycle dump and then I raked a bit and although it doesnt't sound like much it was exhausting.  I raked again tonight after dinner which was take out Chinese.  It was soooooo goood.

Spring Peepers /Future Farm Trial

    You know spring is truly here when the peepers come out.  I thought I  had heard a few in the last few days but today I was out back raking rocks(what else is new)and I heard them in the swamp in full.  I do love the sound of peepers and sometimes here where the house is almost next to the swamp they can be deafening.  It never keeps me awake but it's lovely to listen to at night and fall asleep to.

 New plan..... I am going to try and hold a farm trial here in Oct.  Maybe 1 day maybe 2 , maybe am/pm , maybe sheep, maybe ducks , maybe multi stock ... Lots of maybes--I'm already trying to figure out a course.  If I keep all my lambs then I will have 22 sheep and can do 12 sheep runs.  I have 37 call ducks in the incubator and hopefully they will hatch so will have plenty of ducks.  I can also do an AHBA trial as a maybe. Jan will be here and she can judge everything so that will be a big plus.   

More snow?????????????

 It's April What the heck ....   It flurried heavily as I was leaving the house this morning but it soon turned to rain and it looks like it rained off and on all day.  I was inside a hospital basement taking part in an orientation so I can be a volunteer.  They coudn't have made it more boring if they were really really trying.  OMG it was bad.  Anyway it's over and now I can be of some use.

The good news is the rain didn't seem to uncover a completely new crop of rocks where we have raked them up.  Yay , I'm not sure I could face more rocks there.   Half done maybe.    Looking really good. I actually threw some seed on it last night. It was seed leftover from last fall when I seeded the whole rocky thing.  There are a couple of blades of green grass here and there out there.  It will be sooooo beautiful when it all comes up, but of course I am going to HAVE to use it before it gets well established.    I'm sure there will be a price to pay when I do that, but I will still have fun working my dog out there anyway.

Sore lambs

   The lambs definitely look better today.  I feel much more confident about this whole procedure now.
    I am not nearly as sore today as I expected to be. I thought I would be a cripple.  I picked up Edward on my way back from my new best friends(Tractor Supply)and we started raking again. I bought an aluminum shovel which is helping and we powered up the lawn tractor and filled the tires on the dump cart and I think that is speeding up the process. I am about to go back out and put up surveyors tape for the far side of the arena.  Whooo getting close now.

Successful Rock Raking Party

   There were 7 people that showed up(all women of course)and we raked and picked up rocks for about 4 hrs.    We made a big dent in the job but it's not done by a long shot.

I am sore and I am sure there are other people that are going to be feeling it later. Nobody wanted to work dogs when were done and I can't blame them .   Everybody has a raincheck to come and use the livestock.   I  had pizza delivered for lunch and then we went out and finished the corner of the pasture/arena. 

Blue wanted to take pics of my dogs working so I worked both Dually and Dare a bit in the muck and she said she got some good shots. Can't wait to see what she sends me.  Dually was good but he did dive in a couple of times and Dare was a VERY good obedient boy.

2 of the lambs we castrated yesterday are having trouble walking on one rear hind leg. Not sure what is going on but hopefully they will come out of it.

Shedding with Dare

    I went in the long narrow pen with the ducks and went to the end of it and had Dare bring the ducks to me . We sandwiched them between us and I worked on keeping him out .  He tends to come in when flanked from side to side so we worked on OUT and GET BACK and he got the point. Then we let the ducks separate a bit and I was able to call him thru more easily than the other times.  I did have to use the stick to block him from trying to go around but it was easy and then I allowed him to HOLD one group!!  And then we had a party . He was a good  boy!!

Castrating lambs

    A vet friend came up this morning to show Kathy and I how to cut lambs and remove testicles. I, of course, cut myself with the scalpel first thing. She showed us on one lamb and then I did the next and I made Kathy do the last two.  At least we have the proof that they are wethers. There is no going back on this procedure.  Kathy says she is going to remember how to do this next year.  I, however, have my doubts and I think I will write down step by step and file it.
     There are a couple of inches of snow on the ground but no big deal. not 12 inches like they predicted. Can't believe the weathermen anyway.  However it may be enough to put my rock raking party on hold tomorrow. Can't rake in the snow and can't rake in the mud either.

     Back/hip is still bothering me. I took some traumeel last night for it. I never remember I have that stuff. I should have started taking it last week.