Training Day

  We went to 5 guys for lunch.  It was very good.  I would recommend it.

Then home again to work the dogs. First on ducks, Both dogs were on their best behavior and did everything I asked them to do even though I had a rock bottle ready to throw at Dare.  He was good.  It was close quarters and he knows I can get to him. We even tried a little shedding.  Need to work on that more.
Dually was a good boy. Just flanked and fetched a little. Then we worked some outruns in the big field and they had a tough time . Duallly didn't seem to know where to go and had trouble completing the outrun.  Amy held the sheep for us and I dont' think they wanted to go by her either. Finally he completed it with my walking up the field and fetched them to me nicely.  Dare had trouble on the outrun too, but then he kept diving in.  I caught him up and put him away twice and then moved to a smaller field where he did the same thing so I tied him to the fence and ignored him. The next time I sent him , he was more thoughtful and diidn't dive in.  Maybe it worked and maybe it didn't .  Don;t know with him.

Tomorrow I leave here in the am and go to my friend Norma's place.  I am camping there till Monday. I will be driving to the trial from there. I am really excited to see Norma. I havent' seen her or talked to her in 12 yrs.  Many changes for both of us I imagine.

Florida arrival

   I started from the KOA in NCarolina yesterday at about 6 am and  had a good trip with a good book on cd .  I got to Amy's at 4:30.  I set the camper up but had trouble with the water. I will fix that today.  We are going to work dogs and then go to lunch at 5 guys and then work dogs again. I will stay more night here and then go to Judith Kelly's tomorrow to work dogs on B course.  Apparently I didnt enter either dog on A course. Duh.

The dogs look like they have recovered  from the trip and are ready to work.

I had fresh oranges this am --OMG  \
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Last night I had a mint tea with a fresh lemon (grapefruit size)

The sun is out and it is beautiful  although a little chilly.  Maybe no jacket. Not sure yet.

   

Day 2 ends in the rain--580 miles today!!

   I woke up at 4:45 and I had set my alarm for 5 so what the heck.   I wanted to get on the road before the Harrisburg morning traffic . I had trouble getting the sewer pipe unhooked from the trailer so I was out there at 6 am banging away on it with a wrench.  My neighbors must have loved that. It took me a while but I never give up!! Almost never.  Dogs fed walked and mostly pooped out. lol

I finished up yesterdays book on cd and started another one.  This one is about a family tracking some old family history , but it really about a slave's life and what could have happened to her. It's very engrossing.  I listed to 5 tapes today before I finally shut it off to concentrate on driving .  I hit traffic in Charlotte NC and it started to rain at the same time. Once it rains, I'm done.  It Was 4:30 anyway so I pulled in at the next KOA.  My friend Laura wanted me to pull into a Walmart campground and stay there, but not without water and elec.  I need my internet fix every night.

So driving today was good, but more traffic than I anticipated. I guess maybe the south is just getting more populated so it's almost like driving up north. Not quite but sometimes.

Nothing eventful happened today although Peaches did find a big piece of chicken that somebody had thrown out at a rest stop. bones and all. And then she found a pb and J sand.   Pig.

It's supposed to rain heavily tonight which will be nice to go to sleep to.

The people I hit yesterday went to the hospital and are claiming back and neck injuries.  Welll.... Maybe but they were fine yesterday.

I did finally get  a call from my friend Norma in StCloud Fl and I am definitely going to go see here and I can stay at her house too which is good. Still no confirmation for the trial this weekend so maybe I am not going to trial but will find some places to train which is fine with me. It will cost me a lot less!!

ROAD TRIP TO FLA --DAY 1 IS VERY EVENTFUL!

   I had planned on leaving at 7am but I didn't want to get out of bed.  I still had packing to do and the trailer was not hooked up or even closed up..  I was still doing laundry this morning.  I forgot poop bags.   I had to back up numerous times this  morning to get hooked up. My lining up ability was bad.  I actually had time to take the dogs out  back for a little exercise before we left while Mikey wandered to the front yard and waited for me on the front porch.  Dare did not want to get in the truck and we had a fight about it.  Now I know why.

   Drove fine till about 3pm and apparently there was a backup on 81 just north of Harrisburg. The family in the minivan had too stop short and I didn't have enough room to avoid smashing into them.   I stood on the brakes but with the trailer in tow, I just couldn't stop.  No injuries even though the back window shattered all over the kids in the car.   Sorry....

I looked at my truck and could hardly find a scratch. They told me it was a tank when I bought it.   The minvan will need a whole back end including the hatch and probably some stuff on  either side. It was drivable but they thought perhaps they shouldn't with the kids and all. They  were incredibly nice about it.  Sorry

Anyway I'm ok , the dogs were unhurt  , I stopped at a campground right after that  because the traffic was too heavy to want to keep going anyway.

It 's a nice KOA and I can run the dogs in the cornfield,although they are all asleep at my feet and it's only 5:30?  Maybe we are all stressed. Tomorrow will be better because the Thanksgiving traffic  will be over?

THANKSGIVING DAY

  Ok there are a lot of things I am thankful for.  Family (even though they drive me nuts sometimes)Friends(everybody needs friends) Dogs (they make my life complete).

We had our turkey at the Public House restaurant.  It was pretty bad.  Suffice it to say, I will not recomend them or ever go there again for Thanksgiving.  But that's ok , My  friend will be giving me a leftover plate tomorrow maybe with homemade yeast rolls.  Mmmmm

So I was home from "dinner" by 1pm.  I went out and sorted the light sheep and went out back and worked the dogs. I worked again on calm and quiet and everything went very well with both of them.  Dare's down didn't get better and at the end it  seemed to get worse,but I kept calm.  Dually  worked the A course and I stayed at the handlers post  .  He did very well . Calm and quiet is the key.

cookies

just one batch of molasses cookies and then  new type.  cranberry cookies and then I made clam salmon chowder for supper and after that I made a loaf of cranberry bread, but may not get to taste it until last tomorrow because I don't want to eat much in the am since I am having my Thanksgiving dinner at 11 am. Achhh

Yoga Day

   I am really starting to like my Yoga class. There are 2 of us most of the time and the instructor is great.  She wants us to do things right and she  is always explaining and adjusting us.  I can do things now that I could not do when I started. One of them is childs pose.  I could not sit back on my heels to save my life. It killed my knees but now no problem.  Not sure if my balance is improving but I think it is.  I'm not as tippy as I was when I started.  Tree pose isn't much better but the other stuff is stronger. I am going to miss this class when I am in Fla and Alabama in the next 3 wks.

    Thanksgiving is going to be at the local Public House Restaurant this year.  We have an 11 am seating which had I been asked , I would not have agreed to, but....  There will still be time to work dogs when I get out of my $49 lunch.  It  better be damn good!

   Got the rest of my hay today so I should be good until May. hopefully.  I am down to 11 sheep and 3 goats and they generally only eat 1 bale mo and I have 10 bales I think.  Also they hay is set up so maybe nobody will have to touch it for a week.  So my volunteer livestock feeders will have little or nothing do do with the hay other than to MAKE SURE THE TARP IS TIED DOWN TIGHT.

 Also got another calf hutch this weekend, but I sold the first one to Laura so I still only have one but hopefully another one on the way courtesy of new student Erin.  The horse trailer is still out there so when it rains the sheep and goats go in there too.  They are set for the winter. More shelter than they usually get.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain pretty hard so I think it will be cookie day. MMmmm  molasses cookies and spice

chowdafest

   So last night we went to the chowda fest at the nearby high school. It was $5 and you walked around and picked up samples from different restaurants and schools.  There was seafood chowder,clam chowder,corn chowder and other less traditionally soups.  The best for me was from Picadilly Restaurant.  It was the most normal without odd flavors and no smokiness.  The best other soup was a red pepper corn chowder with a little kick. Surprisingly it was made by a chef from the Masonic Home(nursiing home,assisted living and elder homes).It was realllly good.

Friends and students

  I had friends come for lessons yesterday and they went very well with all the dogs.  3 aussies and a corgi  The corgi is a little pistol but she likes to pick fights with the sheep.  My ram was not impressed and I hope she stops doing it because the ram went home with them. They also took a ewe lamb and I  think I am down to 11 or 12 sheep and 3 goats.  My other friend took 2 goats and 3 Indian Runners home with her and so I am down to 11 Indian runners and about the same in calls.

We had a nice homemade meatloaf with mashed potatoes and carrots for supper.  lots of conversation and fun.  After dinner we loaded up a bunch of ducks and 2 goats into the back of a minvan and off they went. Good luck Shelly.  Laura and I set up the ROKU box on my tv later that night and it took us forever because it kept asking for passwords and they didn't like the ones I kept giving them. Finally made a phone call to Verizon support and they told us where the network password was located.  So it's up and working and I can watch netflix on my tv now.  Better than watching stuff on the laptop screen.

So this am we got up and lazed around for a while and then went out and loaded up some ducks and some sheep and off they went. Now I have a full day of lessons ahead of me. Hope it warms up some.

Trial day two am

The bathhouse  is beautiful here. nice and pristine clean and warm and the hot water is really hot.  It was nice to take a shower and stay under the water for a while.

The trailer is great except there seems to be a wire short  which is associated with the overhead lights and the heating fan. When you turn on the lights the fan goes on too.

Last night we followed the GPS to what we thought was a steakhouse and it sent us to a trailer park with no steakhouse. Strange. We ended up at Cracker Barrel and had a lousy meal.   Oh well, note to self, no Cracker Barrel down here.

B course outruns were good on both dogs but the sheep didn't want to lift and Dare dove in and got excused and before Dually did , I downed  him and called him off.

Dually's duck run was more controlled and he got 2nd place and RHIT on ducks
Dare's duck run was less controlled and he got 4th. Since we started trialing in AKC , we have not yet nq'd on ducks.  Easy to get the new Master duck title.

Dare had a great run going in ADV A sheep but we got to the Hold pen and they slipped by and bolted for the repen.Dare swung out to turn them but they ignored him and leaped over him but did turn and he got them back to me working each one individually, but he opened his mouth to bite one(but didn't connect)and she called our run.  I was really bummed.

Betty got 2nd in STD B sheep with Fios.  and 2nd with Zest on STD sheep(nice run).

We decided to stay  the night even though the trial was over at 1pm.   So we went Walmart and picked up some stuff and went home and had dinner in the trailer.

In the morning we got up at 7 and we were on the road by 8:15.  I drove all the way thru and we got home at 5:30..

Trial Day one

Not Good.

Dare got excused 2out of 3 classes but got 2nd in ADV ducks and reserve HIT
Dually got excused from both of his classes even though judge Amy Hill tried very hard to ignore the big mouthfuls of feathers he was coming up with. He was a very bad boy.

Dare attacked him last night in the trailer and wouldn't let go. Betty had to lift both of his back legs to make him release Dually. I think it was about food but not totally sure.

Dually could not do the outrun on the B course until I sent him the other way and it was beautiful but then he couldn't bring the sheep to me and ran at them and out we went.

Dare did a nice outrun and ok lift and messy turn around the post in couse B

  We sort (not really) fetched thru the first panels and he of course was pushing too hard.  We lost them at the 2nd set and he shoulder bumped one and it tipped over and out we went again.

Dare's ADV sheep run me runnning down the field trying to get control of him on the outrun. WE did and we continued but we got really screwed up at the hold pen  and he ran them down again with a bite this time and we left the arena again;.

Tomorrow is another day.

Va day 1

   We started at 1pm and drove thru till around 8pm last night. We did stop at Cracker Barrel for dinner and then we found a campground using the GPS.  It was dark  and the mountains we were going down made the brakes on the trailer burn  a bit and catch a lot.   We got there though.  It looked like a dump at night but we hooked up and stayed the night.

I couldn't figure out how to get the water heater to work so we didn't shower. We couldn't fine the bath house either. It was way to hell and gone as we found in the am.  Left there about 10am and went up the mountains which is harder on the truck but easier on the brakes.  Drove a few hrs and stopped at cracker barrel again. The food is good mostly.  Back on the road and in traffic going around DC and Baltimore.  It probably caused us an extra hour, but this campground is nice and they have a fenced in dog yard.  Got the water heater to work and took my shower yay.  The dogs are sleeping in the trailer tonight and I think Dare is very happy about that.

ducks

I guy came to buy one black Indian Runner hen today and I sold him 3. Wish I could have sold him more.

Packing tonight for the trip  to VA tomororrow with Betty.  It wouldn't be that hard except the trailer is not set up with stuff so I need to think about that as well as the stuff I need for me . And to top it off , I have to drop Mikey and Peaches at my sisters with all their stuff tomorrow morning. I also have to make sure all the fences are down so the pellet delivery can be made while I am gone and put in the right place and oh what else?  I did remember to put Dare and Dually's special collars on tonight.  I am afraid I will forget something important like meds for me or them.

Sheep gone

  3 got butchered today and 4 left on a trailer for breeding stock.   They practically ran onto the trailer. Kinda hurt my feelings.

2 more will be sold as breeding stock on Tues and the ram and a lamb will go to Maine next week for breeding stock.  My sheep are just pretty darn lucky. I'm not sure how many that leaves me with.  I think I will end up with 6 bred ewes and BB, Jake,Pete and Redi.   plus the 3 goats.   I will be glad to have less stock to feed and deal with.  I also sold 2 call ducks which I hadn't intended on but what the heck!

It's Friday and still no power

National Grid said we would have power by last night.  I guess they didn't actually come out and look at the damage.  Anyway there are power trucks on the street today, but I'm not holding my breath for power today.

I've been working Dare on the hold pen and going to 4 and sometimes going to 5.  I am using the heavy sheep so he stops panicking about them getting away. He is getting better.  Yesterday I had to work on the down again and I will do that again today. It seems to slip away so easily.

So I have been sending him in to get the sheep  out and then continuing the go bye until the sheep hug the fence and then I am calling hiim off and then we start the drive to 4 and at 4 we turn the heads into the fence and i call him off again. Then I will send him on an away and a quick go bye if I need it and then a walk.  If he perceives they are going to run then the away to me is at hyper speed and I can't stop him on the other side. It's a balancing act.

Heavy snowstorm update

 This has just been not good!  October is not supposed to be a snow month and with all the leaves on the trees , it created a  huge huge problem.  The amount of tree and line damage is extensive.  I am still without elect. day 4 , but I purchased a generator and that is keeping me warm and the frig cold.  Unbelievably, the internet and phone lines are working. If you saw what the lines looked like you wouldn't believe anybody had service. Yesterday they finally cleared the road so that it wasn't like driving thru a maze of downed branches and wires. It's not completely clear but it's way better.

Oh ya , no water here either. Fortunately the sheep are eating a lot of snow so I haven't yet had to take them to the swamp to drink.  I used the tractor to pull buckets of water up to the house  from the swamp pond to flush the toilet and then I figured out how to catch the runoff of the roof which is 1. closer to the house and 2. cleaner water.

Last night I watched a movie on the computer thru netflix.  The problem with no elec is you can't do anything. You can't clean, or cook or fix anything. You are really dead in the water and the town still has no elec either. I mean main st.  Walmart has been closed for 4 days. Can you imagine? There are a couple of DunkinDonuts open but they are on the way to Southbridge which is okay because daily I drive out and try to find out who and what has electricity.  I also have to go to Southbridge to use the hotel to shower. My sister has a gym membership there and I am using her card to get in and shower.  I can also use the pool or hot tub, but I haven't done that yet.  I was just too tired to do that stuff the other night. I need a shower this am , but I have somebody coming to look at lambs .   I need to sell the lambs more than I need a shower.

The temp has been below freezing every night and that isn't helping either. I have 6-8in of snow on the ground in some areas and I need to have it melted so I can give lessons this weekend.  There is also a trial on Sunday that my sheep are going to . I hope her arena is cleared out or those collies are going to be mad.