Day 2

***update**** Mouse number one had a wife/husband and now I don't know where they are.  I caught the first one on a glue trap and  it was a rat sized trap so I am room to catch more so I was reluctant to throw the little b'd  out, but I threw him out the door and tried to sleep.  I heard a noise that I could not identify so I turned the lights on and there is Mrs Mouse staring at me on the stove. She had been eating my donuts in the crinkly package.  She stood there and we stared at each  other while I was trying to figure out how t o kill her and then she escaped under the burners.  I went outside and got the glue trap with the other mouse on it and put it right where the donuts were and went to sleep. I was awakened by them ,(both of them)in the middle of the night and got  up and threw the both of them out the door -glue trap and all.  And then tried to sleep again which I dont't think  I did much off gauging on how tired I am today. 

Anyway when I got up in the morning  and went out to throw the glue trap away , the whole thing was missing.  I hate to think what is running around out there with a glue trap stuck to it's nose.

Anyway I got on the road about 9 and quit close to 3. There were no  campgrounds on the map and I was too tired to keep driving. Until 1 min ago, I was the only camper in this campground which is always nice for the dogs, because I can turn them loose and let them run.  Somebody just pulled a few spots over from me.  At least tonight I have running water in the camper.  Feels good.  Hot water too.  It's not yet 5 and I really want to go to sleep.  I found that I cannot hang the tv if I don't bump out the front bed which I try not to do for overnight stops. I bought a cable to get tv, but still need another one to attach inside to the tv.  I'm sure I had these dumb cables at home too.

I tried to get somebody here to look at the running lights but he said he knew nothing  about them and gave me Curtis's number to call. I called Curtis and I am meeting him tomorrow morning a few exits down in the Walmart parking lot and he is going to look at it. Whoo whooo the adventure continues.

******UPDATE*****

The mouse has been caught.  Hopefully he was not married with children.

Leaving Massachusetts

I just had to really think how to spell Massachusetts and not sure I got it right.  Anyway, I slept in this am knowing I was doing a short trip  today.   I was still loading and closing up the trailer at 10am and then I ran the dogs a bit before we left.  Of course when I went to close the dining table bumpout it wouldn't close so I had to go get the step ladder in the barn and drag it down and used my ice scraper to get the pine needles and leaves and ice out of it. It didn't take too long but it was jut another thing. I checked one blinker before I left and it worked so I assumed the rest did.  It turns out I have no running lights so it is good I stopped early tonight. So  I left at 10:30 and stopped to get a cup of coffee for the road and some of those bad for you mini frosted donuts in a package.

I gave the puppy stuffed kong and a raw bone to keep him busy and it must have worked because I only heard peeps from him as the car started and by the last gas up he had stopped peeping. I couldn't see DAre but I imagine he was not having a fun time. He seems exhausted.  Actually everybody is just laying around right now.  Dare and the pup are in crates and Peaches and Dually are out right now.  Taking turns so I can keep the peace.

It turns out that I get 8.6 miles to the gallon towing this thing. Whoowhoo.  I wish I hadn't figurred it out.

I have internet here and might have tv but I don't have a tv cord to hook up outside. Not sure if I have one for inside either.  More to discover! And yes I have had this trailer for over a year and never had a tv in it.

I'm hoping the resident mouse was out when I left this morning. I will set the trap toight. Yesterday he ate the peanut butter and didnt' get caught.  Smarty pants. Old trap too.

7pm is probably too early to go to bed so maybe I will walk half a mile and take a shower or watch a movie

Day before

 This is the day before I leave.  BUsy busy busy.  I have been loading stuff in the trailer off and on all day.  It's hard to decide what exactly to take with me and there is not room to take everything. I really hate to leave my printer and maybe I wont'. 

I also had to run over and get a last minute haircut and then run into Worcester to get fitted for a mouth guard since I am clenching my jaw all the time.  Then I went to AAA and got my triptik and stopped at Collinswood to drop off some stuff for Betty and pick up my wool gloves.  Back home and worked on the taxes some more and then I was so tired I was just sitting there staring at the screen.  I  skyped my sister which is hard because they are so  hard to hear on my tablet.  Turns out they could not see me and when we hung up I realized why. duh.  I had put my cover back on my tablet which has no hole for the computer so no they will never be able to see me that way.  Too tired to figure that out while I was talking to them.

Ed is out of the hospital and will be back to finish up sometime here. Drain the water from the house and clean up and winterize the tractor.  Not much left to do.

I have decided I will go to Jonestown Pa and check into the KOA there. It was where I stayed last year after the accident.  It's only about 6 hrs so it will be a short day. 

Guilty

  No help today since Ed is in the hospital. Hope he is doing ok. I haven't heard anything since this am.  At that time they had transferred him to UMASsMemorial and had ascertained that his pacemaker was ok but maybe his valve was malfunctioning.  Bummer

I attached the new batter on the trailer and added the haspto the back stsorage box.. I bought a big toaster oven and put that in and found out I had bought a broom and already had one in there. I opened the slider so I can start filling up the drawers. I have a mouse in there and I am hoping he bastard steps in the glue trap tonight. If not I will be forced to buy and set a trap tomorrow along with a myriad of other things I have to do.  I finished attaching  the hay tarps to the fencing so hopefully the hay will remain covered all winter and I filled up the cat food  and brought the dog food to the trailer.  I have sheets blankets and linens all set.  I started to fill some bags with staples tonight to go out tomorrow.  I'm still trying to figure out which crates to take and where they are going to stay.  Peaches is wearing a no bite collar so she could use extra room in the car so I was thinking of letting her ride loose.  Not sure if that will work  and will I have enough crates when I get to where I am going.

So the guilty part is... I just started last years taxes tonight. procrastinator that I am.  I made a good start on it and hopefully will get it done in the am and drop it off at the cpa's tomorrow am --She will be surprised. 

WHen I started this blog

WHen I started this blog I was following a number of other people, all of whom have seemed to fallen off the face of the earth and I am still blogging away about my mundane little life. Lucky you

So here is some trivia about the puppy.  He adores Dually and follows him around like a little shadow. He will occasionally branch off and follow Peaches but always quickly comes back to Dually. He treats Dare like the King he is and kowtows to Dare's every move.Dare has been very lenient with him and only puts him in his place when the pup gets in his face a bit too much.  Edge takes the most license with Peaches and yet she is constantly harping at him.  He just doesn't take her seriously. 

Edge is pretty much housebroken. He did pee on the floor in deference to Dare tonight and kept peeing so not completely housebroken and I yelled at him for the first time and he went and hid and peeked around the corner at me.  Poor little thing. If only he would come when I called him. If he thinks there is something in it for him he will come as long as he doesn't think I am going to put him somewhere that he doesn't want to go like the house or the crate.  So he ddrags a line a lot so I can catch him when I need him.  He is also a bad fence runner when I am out with a lesson or working another dog or even just outside the fence.  He has worn a path on the fence.  Must remember to put him in the dog kennels when I go out to work next year when I get back.

He does something odd in the car too. He whines and cries when it starts to move. He seems to settle down after a minute or 2 but poor Dare.  If the puppy barks, he practically wets himself. I think I have sensitized hima bit too much to noise. 

THanksgiving.

  What a beautiful day it was outside.  I went out to run the dogs with my down coat gloves and earmuffs but took all that off .   It was almost warm. 

I baked a new recipe today.  It was called banana rum bars.   OMG are they good. cream cheese cinnamon frosting. is to die for.  I gave some to Joan and Michael and I have some to go to Laura and Greg tomorrow and still half a pan left.  I would make these again.  A little labor intensive but not too bad.

Then I took a nap and got ready to go to dinner at Ed and Kathy's .  What a spread she had out.  Enough for 3 times or more the people at the table.  Turkey,dressing,sweet potatoes,cauliflower,green beans, onions,homemade cranberry sauce,mashed potatoes,gravy and apple,blueberry,pumpkin,mincement,chocolatecream pies with fresh whipped cream.  It was great and the company was fun too.

Tomorrow Kathy and I are going to the Cluster to see Greg and Laura and shop the booths a bit.  I am going to take Dare and Edge and see if I can get Mike to do a Snap 4dx on Dare to see if his weirdness is related to any tickborn diseases.  Worth a try.

What to write?

   I got Skype up and working on my tablet so that has been kinda fun. I have been skyping my sisters. One in the next town and another in VA.  I need more people to skype. It's so easy everybody should be doing it.

I just filled out and entry for the SEASC ASCA trial in Al.  3 days am pm 2 dogs.  12 runs a day.  I am going to see if I can park my trailer on site so that should relieve some stress and I will be able to go and get warm too. Last year it was pretty darn cold there.  I had the down coat with all the layers and the quilted overalls on.

No work for the dogs today.  I should have because the weather was nice in the middle of the day.  I'm not getting going until after lunch lately. 

Dare had a little session of get in the truck and the last time he willingly did it, I ran out and let him work sheep a tiny bit.

I put a new bale of hay in the pasture and enclosed it with the round bale feeder which is so heavy I have to take it apart to move it to a new bale.  I guess they wont' have time to eat it though, because they may all be leaving on Sunday. I talked to Shelley this am and told her I wanted to keep the goats. I dont' think she was too happy with me.  Sorry.  I also told her i was bringing ducks to her,Surprise.

I just found  a recipe for banana-rum bars that I think I will try --I have some very overripe banana to get rid of.

Maine training

Betty and I got up early today and I was on the road at 7am .  I packed in 3 dogs and went to Westford on rt 495 and met Betty and Sandy and Martha there. Betty put 2 dogs in my car and we drove another 3 hrs north to Gardiner Maine area.   We went to work with Brenda Buja. 

Brenda has a very nice farm-- a huge indoor arena  and 2 nice sized outdoor pens.  One was good sized , maybe 175 by 250.   She had light cheviots in there and I worked both Dare and Dually on them.  The dogs were really good today.  I was very pleased with them.  We worked on some distance driving and holding the line by themselves. Dare can do that but Dually needs more work.  Apparently my timing is off so I need to work on some timing issues.

Edge worked some nice dog broke sheep and he was on task and very interested showing great balance and perfect grouping.  He was much more keen today than  he was the last time I had him on sheep about 2 weeks ago.   He was not that hard to catch either.

Training

   I had intended to get up early and go and watch a student at a BC trial today but I could not get out of bed and it turned out she overslept and never went anyway.  So at 10:30, I finally was ready to get out the door and I went to Eunice's to give her some lessons on her stock.  The dogs did some really nice stuff and I gave her some ideas of stuff to work on while I am gone.

Then I worked Dare on her heavier sheep.  I like heavy sheep,  because you dont' 'have to worry about them killing themselves.  He did some long distance driving and took some nice flanks and stops and I was pretty happy with him. Of course , it did make a difference that Eunice has pieces of hose laying around and I could pick on up and fling it when I needed to. Once he knows I can throw something, he starts to tow the line a bit better. No time to work Dually because I had to get back for a lesson here.  busy busy now tired tired

Happy Dance

  TSH levels are down to 50 from 600 and so they did get the cancer.  But even more important haha is I can go to Fla. Yay --Starting to pack now.

Bathroom renovation completed

 This is a ceramic tile floor that looks like wood. I love it. I added the beadboard wainscotting and a new comfort level toilet.  I still need to add towel bars to the right.

 I bought an old beat up sideboard and retrofitted it for the sink. The drawers are usable  and so is the middle section on the bottom for storage.  The top is a piece of granite I chose for the unusual color(green) and the faucets are Mouen and finished oil rubbed bronze. I found a matching soap dispenser at Walmart.

You can't see this very well, but it is the shower. It's 32 by 48 with 2 glass walls and a glass door and the other walls are marble look alike.  The seat is teak and very comfortable. The shower fixtures match the sink faucet and it's on a slide bar which is very useful.

So this morning I was sitting on the arm of the loveseat  and the puppy was next to me and I had just made myself a hot cup of tea and sat down and the puppy stood up and snatched the end of  the tea bag and pulled it out before I could respond. It landed on my knee and then on the couch. It was HOT. cute puppy though.

I let the dogs out in the barnyard this afternoon and went down to talk to Ed who is working on the new gates to the back pasture area. Pics tomorrow.  My phone rang at the house so I ran up to get it and talked for a while and when I came back out , Dare was gone.  He had jumped the fence and walked or ran right by Ed who never saw him and down the street.  I was lucky, I didn't have too much trouble catchinig him and he didn't fight me getting in the car.  Darn, Now I think he is just joy running.

No call  from the Dr.

New thought about the new stockade fence gates.  They would make a great location for a mural.  So now I am going to search for some type of design. It would be really nice if we could paint a large herding scene on it.  Not sure I am capable.

Ok I was wrong

   It wasn't the dust yesterday that was making me sneeze, but a incoming cold.  I have a scratchy throat and a little congestion and a cough.  It's not bad yet.  Hopefully will  be gone tomorrow.

I watched a video of a trainer who trains her dogs to stand on 2 legs(on the same side) yesterday and it has intrigued me.  I don't particularly like that trick but  think what else I could teach them.   Her heeling was pretty amazing too.  So I am going to borrow one of the video trick tapes that she sells.  It's Sylvia Trkman if anybody wants to know. 

Worked Dare again today  and although he was not wild, he was not good. His driving was odd.  He would not push and kept fading off and running around them. I used 3 heavy sheep and the goats and he didn't want to push them.

Edgie is under the desk being a good boy chewing on a bone. I have taught him down,stand, back and sorta sit.  Today I worked on touch my hand and tomorrow I will try and get him to touch with his foot something other than me.

Ed came with some guys today and removed the old wood stove from my cellar. Yay, I have been trying to give that away for 4 yrs or longer. They used the tractor to pull it out of the cellar.  Good ole tractor.

I called the Dr's office today to find out what the TSH levels were and I got the nurse who said the Dr was checking with the pathologist and was waiting for them and would call me on Monday.  Limbo again. I am beginning to seriously think I am not going to be able to go to Fla this year for 4 mos. 

dust and sneezing

   I spent the morning cleaning out my bathroom closet.  It has probably never been cleaned .  Guess it's time.  I threw out 2 garbage bags of outdated stuff and stuff I wont' ever use or miss.  Everything was dusty and dirty and I have been sneezing since this am.   I freed up a shelf or sheets only and one for towels only and removed the bottom shelf and now I can stuff 2 vacuums in there and get them out of my living room.   I still have some odds and ends to sort thru and place someplace else.  Where? 

Edgie gave me a hard time tonight about coming into the dog yard.  I went to him and dragged the little shit back to the gate and he took off again. I did that a couple of times and finally put him in the dog yard. We are going to have many future discussions about coming when called.   I am not having a lot of luck teaching him to pick up and carry his dog bowl.  He will pick it up and basically throw it at me as long as I am close or just pick it up and drop it and run over to get his cookies.  He'll get it sooner or later and it's good that he has no aversion to picking up metal. 

Dare was wild tonight on the sheep. crazed.  I was trying to burn off some energy but I'm not sure it worked to well.  Tonight we worked on fronts and hand signals in the house.  I think he gets it.  He's not perfect but he is getting the idea.  His finish is looking much better too.  It's amazing what some actual training will do.  lol

Still lots of snow out there.  Only a few lessons tomorrow.Hope they where boots. 

The Surgery

 Since I didn't blog about it, I will tell you how it went. It was about 3 weeks ago and I was totally back to normal in a week.  They kept me in 1 night as expected  and I got zippo for sleep.  CAn you imagine waking someone up at 3 am and saying good morning time to take your blood. Not this chickie and they got an earfull. I had just fallen asleep at 2am.  I was not a happy camper.

Anyway, the pathology came back negative, which you would think would be a good thing, but it was not supposed to be negative. There was a positive biopsy for cancer and the PET scan had lit up and the TSH levels were way too high. So basically it looks like they went in and removed everything they could see even though nothing looked cancerous and closed me up. So now I am waiting for the results of another TSH test and if they levels are low then they got it and if not then they missed it.  The unfortunate thing is that it is screwing with my departure date for Fla.  I am now planning an AHBA trial stop on the way down and then maybe an ASCA stop in Alabama before I get to Fla. 

I have also been giving some thought to buying a house lot to park my travel  trailer on while I am down there. I have been looking on line, but that is hard so I might have to wait till I get there.

5 lambs went to their winter home  yesterday and she will take one more this SUnday.  The other sheep will be here for a while longer. I am still doing lessons, although after all the snow we got yesterday, I am not sure how much longer I can do them.

Tonight was my obed class and my nosework class. Dare was great and in a good mood. His heeling was very nice and we did stands, and recalls and finishes etc. If he could do that well at a trial I would be fairly happy. Anyway, he has never been worked out if the training building so it would be a miracle for him to do well at a trial.  Dually was a big happy goofball. His heeling was bad but he was happy.  Nice recall and fronts and great retrieves.

Peaches gets the nosework and she did really well tonight. Very much on task.

Back on line hurricane pics and pup pics

 Ok I got my laptop back tonight and it is working pretty darn good.  So I am going to show you the hurricane  damage which luckily wasn't much.  Just a big tree that missed the car but  hit the house , but still  no damage.
Now tonight we are having a northeaster which was not supposed to include snow  but very much is all snow and the roads are slippery and even with 4 wheel drive , it was not fun to be out.

Usually I park the car right under where the tree fell-didn't that night

MIghty mighty veg a mitey!