Sheep/NOT

  I called a  few people about sheep but I can't get anyone on the phone and no one is calling me back. There is a livestock swap and sale on Sat about 71 miles from here, but I might try it and see what they have.  You are supposed to be there at 7am.  It's not even light out at 7am!

Yesterday I rode down to Lady Lake and met a guy with a sofa table. It's very rustic and he though maybe Mexican homemade. I bought it. It's going to fit in well with my new furnishing scheme.  Sorta western/southwestern/shabby chic/anything goes.

The Koi pond got cleaned out this week and the dogs have been enjoying it.  Kip is in and out of it all the time, but he is the busiest of the 3.

STill thinking about livestock

The people down the street have goats but I have not been able to meet them because everybody has a gate around their property and you don't go into gated property.  So I look every time I drive by to see if anyone is outside. Not yet.   But what I did see this week was that they have a guard dog so that must mean there are predators around here.  If that is the case then if I bought livestock Monday I could lose them all on Tues without any protection.  I can't get a guard dog until I am here full time and then that will be another roadblock to travel.  On the other hand I could get cattle and not worry about coyotes. 

I spent the day shopping again (my not favorite thing).  It's getting old.  I stopped at a pawn shop which had almost nothing but they did tell me I do not need a gun license to own a gun in Fla.  Can't carry concealed without some permit but that's ok because I dont' want to shoot myself anyway.

I spent hours at the used furniture store that I like but I bought nothing.  I then went to a new furniture store and found a recliner that I bought (leather) and a sofa and loveseat set that I am pretty sure I am going to get.  It's very comfortable and has a "performance" fiber  cover that sorta looks like leather but wears better. The saleswoman is also an interior designer so she is going to come over and help me with possible placement on Monday.   At least that will be a day I wont' go shopping. LOL

I dont' like Dually's respiration rate so I messaged Annie to see what to do. Awaiting an answer which will probably come late tonight.

My latest order from Chewy.com was supposed to be here today and the Fedex tracker says they delivered it to my door. NOT.  I had to call and reorder it.  I am running out of food for Dually.

need some sheep I'm getting bored

Today I got a haircut from a very talkative women who gave me all kinds of hints re: where to shop for stuff. She is going to call me when she has a name for a good handyman and an electrician. My back deck has no lights and I seem to use it a lot and would a lot more if it was lighted and screened in.

So from the haircut I went to Dunellon to hit all the thrift places that I had missed earlier this week.  They are not the kind of thrift stores that I want to buy furniture from but I got some kitchen stuff and I went into an antique store and got   a good rake and shovel for $7.

Last night I  bought a very large metal garden boot because it spoke to me.  I tried to get it up in the alcove in the great room but it's too dangerous for  me to do on my own so I will wait for Hadley to get here and help me. Hadley and Judi are coming for Christmas. I am going  to cook a ham somehow. We will have to eat outside since the only table I have is the new patio table. I sat out there all afternoon and fought off mosquitos all afternoon. Screening would be nice.

I found the Dunellon library which is a little closer than the one in Williston and it looks a lot bigger. I will go in tomorrow.Today I forgot my license so no point in going in. 

It's day 2 that     I have gone out without a list and not gotten what I need so I started another list today. 
Weather is getting warmer and warmer. 80's all week

I took my new rake and raked the lilly roots out of the koi pond in the front yard. It smells like cat pee and the dogs keep wanting to jump in it.  Not sure how I am going to get all the dirty water out and clean water in.  Still thinking about it.  I can't suction it out because there is no low ground to run it to and I dont' have any hoses anyway. Hoses are hard to buy this time of year down here because they have put all the summer stuff away for winter stuff. Seems like its pretty summery to me down here.  Of course it is  much warmer than normal.  Ok by me.  Need livestock though.

HOuse progress

I didn't realize I hadn't posted since I got here.   I had an empty house when I got here and now it's only a little less empty. 

I had a bed and mattress delivered and set up on Thurs with  bedside table.  I also bought a stool painted like a zebra with 3 legs that have hooves on the bottom. It's cute.

I've been haunting the thrift stores in Ocala.  I found an aluminum step ladder, a microwave, a patio set, a small freezer for raw dog food .

I had the lawn mowed and the guy helped me reverse the refrigerator door so it opens normally now. Not sure how she lived with it like that but then again so did I with my first fridge.  It was not easy to reverse , but this one was really easy. 4

I just got home from Tractor Supply and I got some posts to start the dog pen.  I also picked up a post hole digger for $8.

I almost got a haircut from a   barber but he had just fallen and come back from the Dr and wanted to take some pain pills. I went shopping and gave him some time to get them to work but when I came back he said he did not feel well enough to do me.  I was beginning to wonder about his expertise and cleanliness anyway so it all worked out. 

I checked out plants at Walmart but it was too complicated for me to figure out what I could or could not plant so I will wait for my expert sisters to tell me.

I went to the laundromat and met a fellow aussie person.  Mostly obedience but still a contact.

SEASC DAY 3

 Edgie did well considering he is still a baby dog.  We finished ourADV sheep title with a HIT!  We got 1 leg ADV cattle and ducks. Only 2 legs left for his WTCH.  Might finish that at Cheryls in March or might wait until July in Maine. Probably wait till Maine.  Cheryls' cows are not always the best to work.  Tony has a trial though.  We'll see

Cindy did well too.  Only a few mishaps on ducks and one on a goat.  The ducks wont' miss Newt. It's very hard getting relaxed in the trial arena and you have to do a lot of trialing to get that way. 

I"m on my way out of Dothan this morning to my new house!!  It's 270 miles from here so it will take a few hours.  Almost packed , but have to feed Dually which is always a chore.

SEASC DAY 2

 Edge did an outstanding job today. He finished STDsc yesterday and Open sd and STD cattle today and got his first Open cattle leg.  He won both Open sheep classes, got a 2nd and a 3rd in Open ducks and won  STD cattle and 2nd in Open cattle.

He is an amazing Penning dog.  He knows what I want him to do and he just does it.  He did it today with the cows and it was a little fast and furious but lots of fun.

Dually is hanging around and visiting and eating pretty well. I do think his respiration is too high and I needed to give him an exra pill last night. I need to monitor that to see if he needs more meds regularly.

SEASC DAY 1

 Today was day 1 of a 3 day am/pm trial in Al.   I have Edge entered in everything and I had hoped to WTCH him this weekend, but we nq'd on cattle this morning.   He was a little wild on the cows and would not take a down or a stop where I needed him to.  We could not get the cows off the center pen to get them to the first panel and that pretty much put us out of qualifying.

We had some really nice goat runs and nice very nice duck runs.  I was worried about the ducks but he did great.  Only time will tell if he is ready to move up.  I"m guessing right now he is not ready, but oh well. 

I worked Kip yesterday on all the stock and he was better than Edge. He rates and corrects his overflanking on his own.   After paying for the brake job, I really dont' have enough money to enter him this weekend. He's young and he can wait.  He did work cows in the arena and was not stupid on them which I was worried about.  Actually I think his stupid phase is now over mostly.

It is so nice this week in Dothan.  The door is open and it is 6:30 and I am not cold. It was tshirt weather for the trial . People were looking for shade. I have been here when it was cold and windy and overalls were in vogue at this time of year.

The year that will never end

The car started to make funny noises on the way down from Ga but I persevered.   I  babied the brakes all the way here.  I took the car to a mechanic this am and I need rear brake pads, rotors retooled, new calipers, and new pads for the emergency brakes.  $712  and I can pick it up tomorrow.  Yay for me.

On a good note, I worked Edge and Kip on the billy goats today and they did pretty good.

Out to Mexican dinner tonight and picked up some ear plugs and off to bed exhausted.

LOYAL FOLLOWERSs

Sorry I have not  updated the blog, but the pc was packed away in the middle of the car and too much trouble to get out.  I just stopped for the night in Ga and after picking up my trailer in Tenn.  I love my trailer. It is so cozy and comfortable. I can't wait to get a good nights sleep tonight.


So I took off on Wed in the rain and fog.  I had to winterize the house so I could not leave until 10 and then I drove about 8 miles and realized I had not shut the overhead fan off or the fridge so I went back.  2 hrs later I remembered that I had not emptied the ice out of the fridge.  Too late to go back so  I'm sure there is water all over the floor. .  It was a rough drive because of the fog.  I  decided to go all the way through to my sisters in Va and got there at 10:45.  I stayed at their house for 2 days and left on Sat morning to go to an AHBA judging assignment in NC at Findlay View Farm. I spent Sat and Sun nights at the farm and left this morning to get to Tenn to get my trailer.

I have been driving since 7:30 this morning and finally decided I should stop and spend the night

Another goat gone

   I never checked the livestock SAt night or Sunday night so Monday  am when I went to sort for a lesson, there was a goat missing. Of course it is not my goat.  I checked the fences in case his horns were caught  but no he has simply vanished.  An Alien ship apparently came down and stole him out of my pasture.

I called fish and wildlife and they came up to take a look.  I did find a huge pile of bear scat in the cow pasture and the 100 gal water tank had been overturned and a set of panels had been upended too, but that all happened either Fri or SAt I cant' remember when I saw them.   Anyway fish and wildlife found where a bear had climbed in the cow pasture and where he climbed out near my bedroom window.  But not where he dragged the poor goat which we are assuming he killed.  There was no sign of the goat in the woods or along the roadway. 


Anyway last night I slept with the window open in case I heard anything(it was cold last night) and I had fixed the electric fence and turned it on and locked the sheep near the barn.  But since the sheep are leaving at the end of the week, I decided to lock them in the barn until then.  The electric fence is still on and hopefully the bear will touch it.  I also loaded the shotgun and it's ready to go.

The Cluster

 I took my annual trip to the Cluster today, mostly to see Greg and Laura, but I shopped a little too. I took Dually and he was very excited to see so many potential friends(peoples).  He got very tired even though he was only out of his crate for about 1 hr.  I guess he is not resting much in the car.  But the good news is he is still eating his BARF(which for those of you who dont' know is a frozen raw food).  I am able to mix mashed sweet potato with it to try and up his calorie content and  he is still eating it really well. He is getting about 1/2 cup of sweet potato so I will try and up it a little more. The more food I can get in him the better I will feel.

I bought a pound of a raw pork grind to see if he will eat that.  It is defrosting now.  I also bought  a bag of freeze dried tripe.  I have some frozen I have been feeding him but need to find a source.  I also bought a neat see thru ball with a handle on top and bottom and a tennis ball inside. It squeaks too.  They seem to be intrigued by it.

  Tomorrow is going to be a cold day for me.  I think I have 5 hrs  of lessons in the morning and I don't think it's going to be over 40. yay. But then I will come in and crank the pellet stove and take a few hours to get warm.

Speeding in Va

I don't think I told you about this before so here goes. On the way home from Nationals,after having no sleep for 3 weeks because of the shingles, I got stopped for speeding. Not just any speeding but reckless speeding.  I was trying to  keep my cruise control on rt 81 and I got stuck behind a guy who was in the passing lane and he could not keep  his speed steady. fast and then slow and then fast and then slow and he would not pull over.  I got irritated and when there was an opportunity to pass on the right I gunned it. I have a lot of power in my car and apparently when I crested the hill I was going over 90.  I would have slowed down after I got by the guy but it was too late. There was a cop on the median strip and he pulled me over. 

    He informed me it was an "arrestable" offence.  Clueless as I am, I just thought "Well isnt' that nice he isnt'going to arrest me just give me a ticket. That is not how it works, I found out.  The ticket had a court date on it and no fine. 
    When I got home I decided to use the head in the sand method and just sent the ticket to the court to be adjudicated without me.  Apparently that is a bad decision.   I would not have know that except I got a flyer in the mail from a lawyer in Va who only deals in traffic violations. It scared me a little or maybe a lot. If I am found guilty (which I was) I could get a $2500 fine, 6pts on my insurance,suspension of license,and a jail sentence. Not only that but it's a Class 1 misdemeanor which means I would now have a "record".So imagine how hard it would be for me to get a job.
     I have had to hire  the said same lawyer for $1500 and collect "evidence" for him to go to court and try to get this reduced.  So yesterday I had to drive to Boston and get my speedometer calibrated for $210.  I had to pay $20 to get my driving record from the RMV .  My friends and family have to write me letters for recommendation and have them notorized and I had to call the bank and get a copy of and ATM gas purchase in Va I made that morning so they could determine how fast I was going before I got stopped.   What a joyful year this has been.  This madness must stop.
 Anyway, I have to make copies of everything and send it to the lawyer and then I can stop thinking about it for a while. In the meantime they are trying to get my case pushed out. The original date was Dec 1.  THey have not informed of a new date yet.

So the moral of this story is :

DO NOT SPEED IN VA.   FOR ANY REASON. THEY HAVE NO MERCY!

Dually food

Gosh what a pain in the neck he is.  I mixed up SoJo premix for him and put in ground raw chicken and then I have to prime him like a pump.  After a couple of forced spoonfuls, he decide he can eat it. Too much work for me.

I went down to Janet's and got more BARF raw food that he thinks is crack.  Tonight I gave him just a little of that full strength to get his pills down and then I mixed the rest of the patty with sweet potato and some of that same ground chicken that he is not that fond of. He at it all and licked the bowl clean and then came back to lick the bowl again.  And that was after I gave him a lamb bone with quite a bit of meat on it so he ate a lot for him tonight.  So I should have plenty of food for a month if I am judicious with it.  That sweet potato should stretch it and it's good for fattening him tooPlus I have the ground chicken and a roll of ground beef and a lot of ground organ meat.  We should be fine for  a while.

Today he worked ducks.  I set up a little crazy course for a student and did it first to make sure it was doable with Dually.  It was fine.  He wants to work but he's so slow for him.  But he's still having fun and that's what counts, including taking  a bite every darn time we work ducks now.  I'm not getting on him so he gets worse every time.  Bad doggy.

No work for Edge or Kip today. Tomorrow I will work both of them.

Rain and working dogs

It was cool and rainy this morning off and on. 2 of my students bailed and one came in between the rain drops.  I worked Dually before my student came and  he is quieter at night when he has done something during the day.  Last night he kept throwing toys at me because he didnt' get to work yesterday. Today I sent him out for the livestock into the arena and we sorted and I also worked for 10min or so on the corner exercise. He seemed fine. He is quiet tonight.  I am having trouble with food again.  I tried the armellino chicken raw and added cooked sweet potatoe. He is not too keen on it.  I ordered SoJo's pre mix and we'll see if we add that he gets more enthusiastic.  I was hoping he would eat some dehydrated but he still wont' eat the Honest Kitchen.  Aghhh. 

Then I worked Kippy and he was very good. He is going into the corners around the goats and not biting them anymore.  Yay.  He did the on the fence driving exercise and seemed to pick up on that really quickly.

Dually is eating!!!!!

   A friend gave me some Bravo beef patties and he LOVES  them. I don't have to beg him to eat or even ask him to eat, he just eats them and licks the pan too.  I think I have to give him more than I have been giving him.  I will try 3 patties instead of 2 tomorrow.  Of course I will probably go broke feeding him this stuff, but what can I do?

Today he went out to gather up the goats and sheep for me.  Kinda sloppy but who cares.   I had him help me get the ducks up too with his usual jumping on them , but that was about all he did today. I used Edge to hold out sheep for a student and then I did the AKC A course intermediate with him. He was a little wild.  He was very sure I was giving him the wrong flanks so he insisted on going the direction he thought I meant.  Cute though very cute.

I had to go to a wake today of a former colleague.  He was only 56 and just retired this year. very sad

Out to a late lunch and home to watch more "Orange is the new Black".  Engaging show.  much like the book. 

Auction Day(yesterday) and Today

   I loaded Dually in the car this morning and Kip and Edge sorted the goats and sheep for me.  He loaded everything in the trailer calmly and quietly and off we went.  I pulled in to the auction site about 9:30.  They were a little disorganize but we unloaded quickly.

I just realized this whole post which was a lot longer never got posted yesterday in spite of the fact that my sister said she read it.  Ha caught you.

So must shorten yesterdays story because I am not rewriting it.   Took 4 sheep and 4 goats from Wendy to auction. easy peasy.

I  had to go to Tufts to get pills for Dually in the afternoon.  That was a little fiasco, but all done now. I'm waiting for a mail order script and it's not here yet and he cannot go without his pills.

Ok the original story was much more intersting , but I'm not writing it again.

Today , Dually went out to the top field and brought the sheep in at a walk mostly and then we sorted and then we worked on driving in the duck arena.  After yesterday I decided if he dies, I don't want to say I wish I had let him do such and so yesterday.   He also raced after the boys up the hill once.  I am not going to let him do that much or he will drop dead.  Then he stood around and stared at me while I raked, but when he came inside he cuddled and talked to me and played toy.  He coughed twice today though.

Kathy B gave me some nupro supplement to try on him and he liked it but I think it might be full of salt. There is not indication on the packaging so I need to call the company tomorrow.  It smell like liver and he cleaned his bowl.   It's the am meal that is the problem though.

goat pick up

   When I got up this morning, I hooked up the trailer and loaded all the dogs in the car, Dually rides shotgun now.  I'm not sure if he likes it or not, but at least he is not jumping over the crates to get in the back.  I drove down to Canterbury Ct to Wendy's to pick up 4 of her goats to take to Auction  along with 4 of my sheep this week.  The first thing Dually did was to jump  out of the car window to greet Wendy. Everything looks scary now.  I decided to try and use him to gather and sort the goats. Well the goats were light, really light and they ran this way and that and not in a group but all split up. Dually was willing but I was not.  I put  him in the car and took out Edge.  Edge had to do quite a bit of running inside the pasture just to get them to the gate to sort and then once outside they ran up the fenceline without their old lady leader.  I grabbed the old lady with a rope and sent him for the other 3. He wanted to work the old lady so I tied her to a fence and showed him where the other 3 were. He brought back one and had to go back for the other 2.  Then I was able to load the old lady  and 2 of the younger ones followed and one went off by himself.  So I had to stay in the trailer and keep the 3 in while Edge was sent to bring the other one to me.  He got it done.  He's a good boy.
      When I got them home, I put them in a stall and had to put a scrapie tag in them. Nobody got hurt. I let them out and had him sort the sheep so I could put tags in them. I got them in the stall and got 3 of them done and got to "Crazy Legs" and she was wild.  She ripped her ear open and then I quit.  I did not want to get hurt and I could feel  it coming. Hopefully they will help me at the auction.

      I worked Edge in the duck arena on the "new" beginner sheep group.  We drove them on the fenceline. He is so much better going the away direction. He holds the line by himself. So I guess I need to work  the go bye more.

     Kip and I worked too. He would not go into the take pen and let the goats out.  He still  won't so we will be doing that every darn day.  His corners are much better and his down is better and I am working his out.  I need to keep working on his biting. Alfred said the other dogs in the litter don't much like to bite. I told him that was not the case with Kip.  He was surprised.

Dually works(sort of)

  I have let him work a little the last couple of days. Mostly it was driving the sheep out to a pasture or driving them back, but today I let him sort and gather a couple of times and then I put him in the house.  He came back out still up and peppy and tonight he was playing toy with me and seems fine. I think this is how it will be for a while.   Tomorrow we are going to pick up some goats in Ct and I will take him with me and he may have to load them for me. I will take Edge for back up.
   I am spending way more time with Dually which means when he does go I am going to be completely lost without him. He is going in the car with me shopping and sitting next to me on the couch and generally not out of my sight.  I am not comfortable leaving him outside like a mere dog with Edge and Kip anymore.

    Ok fun times.  When I came home from Tenn I got stopped for speeding in Va.  BAD  BAD  BAD place to get stopped.  I had punched the acelerator to get by somebody who was slowing and speeding up in the passing lane and I wanted to get a head of him so it was longer than the 5 secs it would take to pass and I came over a hill and a cop was right there. He said I was going over 90. I had no idea.  He gave me a ticket and told me it was an arrestable offense and gave me a court date.  I sent the ticket in and put my head in the sand until yesterday when I got a pamphlet from a Va lawyer which said big trouble if I don't pay attention to this. LIke jail, huge fine, insurance points, suspension of license.  F'g Great.  more stress. Now I have to hire a lawyer in Va to try to get this reduced.   I am such a criminal.  Ask anybody.

DUALLY

 We saw a cardiac Dr at Tufts today. She was very nice. She was not the one I was scheduled to see but that one had a family emergency and I was given the option of putting off the appt till tomorrow and I did not want to do that. 

     The test came back negative for Chagus.  I asked if it were possible the test was wrong. They said no, so I do not have to retest or to test Edge.  They did a kidney function test and everything came back normal.  So he remains on the meds and we up the elanapril to 2x day.  He can do anything he wants to do.  Short of letting him run full out I will see what he is up for. He is social in the house and not hiding behind the furniture. He is begging for my food(not his).  I am getting him to eat his food by mixing it with my homemade chicken soup.  He loves it, but it still does not always mean he will eat without coaxing.   He picks up the ball at night and harasses me in the house. He is whining right now which usually in the past means he is bored and he is not getting enough exercise.   So tomorrow I will let him work a little. 

His prognosis remains the same. Severe heart disease and it will kill him eventually and they dont' think he has a very long life ahead of him. If he dies while working sheep then what better way for him to go doing something we both love. 

He has a huge heart and might have killed himself for me at Finals. I was lucky he did not die in the arena.  What a great boy!  I would take a clone in a heartbeat.  He has always been an easy dog in every way.   I hope I have some quality time with him.

worrisome

   I walked Dually out to sheep tonight and he drove them  back to the barn.  He was walking and I was behind him. His rear legs were crossing over quite noticeably when he walked. I have also seen him stumble in the rear. Chagus can affect him neurologically  too.  Great f'g great.

Dually gets a new ball

Dually started taking heart meds on Tues of last week. All week he moped around and hid in corners or on the stairsteps.  Weirdo.  He would not interact with me or the other dogs and when outside he followed me around and when I stopped he stopped and more often than not layed down.
     Sunday he started to feel more normal. He came out of the corners and started acting like good ole Dually.  Today he has been playing ball with me in the house with a new ball I bought him this morning and when outside he is out ahead of me trotting around and acting relatively normal.  All good stuff.  When I leave the house to go in the car without him, you can hear him having a fit until I leave. 

     The lasix is making him pee more.  Last night I closed the porch door which meant he got me up twice to go outside.  I guess I will be heating the porch until I leave for Fla so he can get out at night.

    Good news, I went to my dentist today and he was able to save the crumbled tooth that I just had a root canal on.  He put a screw in it and built it up so he can make a crown for it.  Of course this tooth is going to cost me twice as much as it should have.  yay. 

     I signed up for Netflix because I still don't have a dish receiver 2 weeks after I have gotten home from Nationals.  Geez.  At least I have something to watch and I am watching the series Madmen.  I started it a few years ago when part of it was free on Amazon Prime.  I had to stop watching when they wanted to charge me per show. 

Cardiologist called

  I had a list of questions. She  was very good about answering them. 
If it's a taurine deficiency then it's reversible.  (not likely)mostly seen in cocker spaniels
If it's Chagus then we can treat but only 10% chance he will live longer than 6-9 mos.  He will either have a massive heart attack and die or get slowly worse.
They see this is dogs that have had Parvo and he has not. 

He was good today and his resting respiratory was down to normal, But tonight he is acting weird even for him.  quiet and lying down and not happy.

He did however eat a good dinner an hour ago.  He really likes the chicken soup mixture I have made to mix with his kibble.  I hardly have to beg him at all to eat.   He gets highly offended when I have to give him pills. Maybe he is mad about that.  The dog can hold a grudge.

yesterday and today

I spent all day watching Dually yesterday.  And talking on the phone.  I'm kinda of  a wreck.  Like I said, a death is much easier to deal with.

Today I spent the morning watching him mope around the house.  I decided to take him out and let him be a dog.  So I let all the dogs out and they ran out to the gate and then they ran out to the arena and waited for me to say " ready set go".  I had to draw the line on that game.  Dually picked up toys and played a little and trotted around and played a little keepaway  with Edge.  He had some fun . We stayed out for about 1 hr and then he wanted to come back in the house and lay on the stairs. Not sure why that is his choice spot, but I guess if I am upstairs I have to go over him to get down and if I am downstairs he can see me fairly easily from that vantage point and also if the other dogs come in they ignore him on the stairs.

Not sure what the new normal will be but I am not enjoying the ride.

all day at the vets

  Dually and I left at 730 this am to get his first ultrasound at my regular vets.  I waited for him  and afterward my vet suggested I take him to a cardiologist but we could not get an appt for a few days at best so we went to Tufts emergency dept.  I got there at 10:30 and just got home at 5.  Long day for a tired and stressed Dually dog.    They did another ultrasound and I never did get to talk to the cardiolgist, but a senior resident took care of us. I think that is what she was. 

Anyway the diagnosis is the same. Heart failure and he will not live long. They put him on meds and told me to keep him quiet.  I countered with " WHat's the point if he's going to die anyway he might as well die doing something he loves.".  Jan said I would " do the right thing" but damnit I don't know what the right thing is.   This is really tearing me up  inside.  I can't save him but can I put down a dog that can still wag and smile and love me?  When I go outside with  him all I see is what he can no longer do, not what he can do. He wants to work and he wants to be with me and he is upset when he is denied those things.  Is it fair to him?  

When Ebony died, she was sick for a long time before I put her down.  It killed me.  I would race home from work to see if she was still alive.  It's way easier to grieve a death and get over it than to drag it out for months or even years.

I'll wait and see how he does on the meds before I make any decisions. I wish I was a praying person. And I really wish Mom was here to talk to.

More BAd very bad news

We got home last night about 5:30.  I was in bed by 8 with no pain. but Dually was up and down on the bed, breathing funny and whining every now and then. He is not a whiner. There was something wrong.
I called the Vet at 8 am and got a 9:50 appt.  I told her "There is something wrong with my dog" She checked him out and decided to do blood work, urinalysis, heartworm(oh how I wish it was heartworm)xrays  and the xray showed a very enlarged heart putting pressure on his trachea and causing his little cough which I thought might be kennel cough.(I wish it was kennel cough), She called it cardiomyopathy.  Which when I googled , it's an enlarged diseased heart muscle most often found in male dogs.. Prognosis is not good.  I have an ultrasound scheduled tomorrow and we will go from there, but it sounds like it will be comfort measures.  She said he would never work again.  He;s only 7.  

NATIONALS DAY 1

No sleep last night and I so did not want to trial this morning. My cattle run was awful. I had no energy to give him and he had not energy of his own. 

My sheep run was interesting.  He took them out of the take pen beautifully and then walked them up the right side and the operative word is walked.  He barely moved.  He did the crossdrive by himself, but did turn them a couple of times.  I was set up to bring them out of panel 2 perfectly and of course he would not take his flank.  I called him off  and resent him and he took his away and brought them al thru and then we had a nice set up for the chute but they went by and I sent him to catch them and he bodee oh dode around and picked them up . Not his usual speedy cover.  He's not working normally.  Finally finagled 1 thru the chute and repenned.

The duck run , well we got excused for biting but we  the first 11 dogs got reruns.  The rerun went much better.  He picked up a stick right at the beginning and that settled him for the run.  However he would not take his go bye on the 2nd panel. There is a pattern here. I got all the ducks in the center pen and the repen was fine.  Not good enough for a placement I dont' think.

I was done by noon so I went back and took a nap then I went back and met Jan and we went to dinner Mexican.   Ice cream social when I came back and then back to trailer to bed.

BTW,  I decided not to get a puppy at this time. 

yesterday was pre trial

I did not enter but I was supposed to work all day. Thankfully they replaced me and I stayed in the trailer feeling lousy most of the day.  Felt a little better in the afternoon and went and watched some sheep runs and went to the welcome banquet.

Today, I volunteered for ASHGI for 2 hrs and at noon came back to trailer to find Kip had diarrhea in his crate which of course meant outside his crate on the rug.  Still trying to get that cleaned up.

Then I was suppposed to go to the stockdog committee mtg at 3:30 but it was changed to 4:30 and I was scheduled to work again for ASHGI BLOOD DRAW, But when I got there they had quite a few volunteers so I just went to the meeting.  I am pooped.

I slept fairly well last night but I still have no energy.  No pain from 8 till 1 then tylenol and sleep until 7.  Not bad but I need a week of that.

Tomorrow is the Nationals trial and the cows are just as bad as at Finals. In the pre-trial there was apparently only 1-3 competitors of advanced dogs that qualified.   Great can't wait.

Hopefully they changed the sheep out and I know the ducks are tired but have had today off so maybe.... they will be okay.

Bed early tonight I hope

Finals Day 2

   I gave up my cattle run.  I really did feel badly this am and I know Dually is not his normal self. He's coughing like kennel cough.  Great where did I pick that up?
I did go over and watch some of the cattle runs. They were just as bad as yesterday.. The cows did not get any better and I understand fresh cows are coming tomorrow from the same place.  I am glad I am not entered. If the Finals dogs cannot get them around the course, what chance is the average competitor going to have or especially the started dogs.

I watched a lot of the ducks and they went very well. Some great runs. They grouped the ducks according to color and they worked better than mixed groups.

I watched a few of the sheep runs and they were going really well too. I liked the sheep, they were light but responsive. We'll see how they do with the Started and OPen dogs tomorrow.

I tried to nap but can't.  I bought some extended release tylenol so I am hoping I can sleep 8 hrs tonight. Dually is too. '
'
They relieved me of my duties at the trial tomorrow so I have a free day. 

I did go to Tractor Supply and get some propane and some canned dog food to see if I can get Dually to eat something.  He still did not eat a whole bowl full.

The awards were done better than last year. They did ackowledge all placements thru 15 which they should have.  Hopefully next Finals I qualify for I will feel good enough to go and do well.

Finals Day 1 (THe Horrible,Awful Forgetable Day)

Course E on completely undogbroke cattle.  First run we got them nowhere and the 2nd run we made it a little farther than nowhere. Scores were 47 and 46 or something like that. Not that many people were doing much better but it was demoralizing.

Sheep were not bad but we did not do well on them either.  No scores over 100.  

Ducks got stuck in the right hand corner and Dually  would not take an away flank and take them out, By the time I decided to send him go bye, we were just about out of time. 

I feel crappy.  Lots of pain at night and no sleep

Last night Dually coughed all night and he was exhausted too.  When I got up this am I decided we would not trial today. We made the cut in Cattle Top 15.  But I gave up my run and took the day off. If he has kennel cough then he should not be trialing. I felt like shit this am so I am sitting in the trailer trying to keep warm. 

All in all so far, I am very sorry I made the trip down here.

And I am sorry and upset I am not doing better.  Sure makes you rethink your life choices.

Arrival Day

I didn't sleep well. The pain started at 8pm last night and kept waking me up all night. I had pain until noonish. Weird.

So instead of leaving at 7am I didn't get on the road unti 9:15.  It was another 6 hrs to Shelbyville. When I got there the RV parking was alittle backed up so I had to wait a while and then they took me to a nice spot although kinda far from the arenas. I will not be riding my bike. It's too hilly. I can drive the car just fine and hopefully there will be enough parking close to the rings.

I put my awning out only to have it stick on one side and when I loosened it, it worked fine but has a huge crack in the housing on one end. I have no idea how that could have happened. How annoying. I had to close it back up because of wind and I think it closed ok although I need to look at it closer.

There is an hour difference in time so at least I get to sleep in a little longer tomorrow.

Wish me luck.  2 each runs cattle sheep and ducks tomorrow .

Travel Day 2

 I slept well last night till 5 am and woke in pain. The pain is odd. It last 1-2 hrs and then it's gone for the day. I guess it could be a whole lot worse.  I got on the road about 7:15 and drove till 4.  I did about 450 miles. today   Tomorrow there is only 250 to go.

I stopped at Baileyton RV and they had no spots but they let me park in a tent spot and only charged me for a tent spot and they are willing to let me leave   the trailer here on my way home for only $1 day.  Good deal!!

So I took the dogs for a run and a swim in a pond out back and I'm sure they want more but it's 6pm and I just want to go to bed.

ON the road again to Finals

  I woke up this morning in pain at 2 and it would not subside and I could not get back to sleep.  I guessed I had 4 hrs so (huge improvement)I got up finished packing loaded the dogs and took off at 4:30am.  I avoided all the traffic in Harftford,Waterbury, Danbury and NY.  It was great. but when I got to the first rest area in NY I crashed and slept for 2 hrs. Then back up and on the road again till 1ish.  I stopped for lunch and felt lousy for 2 hrs so stayed in place. Back on the road at 3 and crashed again at 5.  I had a reservation in MD but just could not make the extra 40 miles.  So I am in a nice quiet secluded campground where I can let the dogs loose and no one is watching. I was too tired to stay out there with them long though. 

Its 7: 30 and I just finished dinner and I am  so ready for bed.  Looks like I have some tv reception which will help me fall asleep and I am taking some benadryl tonight.

I managed to make 400 miless but it took me 12 hrs today.  Yikes

I don't think I will get as early a start tomoorrow . at least I hope not. NIght

sleep but not great sleep

The  shingles pain has come on full force.  I went out yesterday afternoon and picked up some homepathic gel to use on the shingles specifically for shingles. Shingles pain is pretty severe and this gel is helping unbelievably.  It is also drying up the blisters or they don't even seem to be coming up.  So last night I tried to sleep in bed but that was too uncomfortable so back to the recliner. Thank goodness I bought that recliner last year in FLA.  The pain woke me up every 2 hrs so I got up put some gel on, sat in front of the pellet stove to dry it and got back in the chair and went right back to sleep.  So my sleep was not uninterrupted but at least I did not walk the floors all night. 

Today my niece and my friend Gail are coming over to help me pack the trailer in case I decide I can drive tomorrow.  It's still pretty iffy. I did fill the car up with gas yesterday just in case.

Heidi came last night and picked up the cows.  Dually loaded them and heeled very nicely to get them in the trailer. I also felt well enough before she came to work them thru the E,C and A course. He did a great job so very happy with him.

3pm and I feel okay

NOt good just okay but that is a big step up.      The rash is bigger and it's starting to blister. Let the fun begin.  Not really very sore.  The percosets are causing digestive upsets and I think that is what is causing the pain that is keeping me up ALL FRIGGIN NIGHT.  I stopped taking them at midnight last night so I hope hope hope for sleep tonight. No sleepy no drivy.

I'd like to say I am all packed to go to Nationals but that would be a huge lie.  Not even started.  Why pack if I have really no idea if I am going on WEd.

I did walk outside and ran the dogs and then worked on some fencing for a minute and I felt better after I did that.  But I am back in side in front of the tv.

4 drs in 24 hrs

  so I have had pain in my side since Sat night.  Not getting better.  I called my gp yesterday and she could see me.  I went in at 4pm .  Doc thought I should see my general surgeon who had done a hernia operation on me 8 yrs ago. I called the answering service last night and got him to call me back.  He agreed to see me today.  But in the meantime I had a root canal scheduled at 9: 30 which I had done. It was not that bad and I feel fine now. At least my tooth is fine but my pain is killing me.  AFter the root canal I went to another appt with an ENT who is going to do surgery with my opthamologist in Oct.  He was very nice.  Then hopped in the car over to Memorial and waited for Dr CZ...  I didn't bring any tylenol so I was beginning to hurt pretty good.  He poked and prodded and decided I might have a kidney stone. good news bad news I guess.  So I am hopefully going to get a CT scan tomorrow.   In the meantime, I am not feelingn very well.  The pain has increased and moved to my back.  Yay.   I am drinking up a storm to hopefully pass this sucker before next week. The internet says it should pass within a couple of days and it's already been 5 days so things are not looking good. 

motorcycle class got cancelled .  bummer

I did get some vicodin from the dentist but frankly it's not doing much for my kidney pain.

Banquet Slide show pic

This will be at the banquet slide show at Nationals.   Took me forever to figure out how to do it, but I am pretty pleased with this. I can do better next time. The red ribbon thing is not my first choice but I was under pressure to get it done.

4 day Jan Wesen Clinic

WOW  just WOW.

What a great clinic and so challenging.   So many advanced handlers and dogs really pushing the limits.   What a great way to get ready for Finals and Nationals which I leave for next week.

Edgie went flying again on a cow.  He has got to learn to bite and let go not hold on.  Cindy adjusted his neck, ribs,sternum, head etc.  He did some really nice work.  What a good boy. 

Dually had his own challenges.  We worked 4 days on trying to get him to take an away to me command when I said it.  He fought us tooth and nail. He was better this morning because we worked before I took Jan to the airport.  We also worked on him staying behind and holding the line.  Tough work.

I can't believe I leave for Finals next week.

It's 3 am

  Well this is getting old.  waking up all night and not being able to get back to sleep.  Not sure its' good to take benadryl  every night.

Cows have arrived for the upcoming clinic. I have not had time to work them.  5 little ones and one bigger one. Her name is Muffin and she has been here before.

I've been working on my front landscaping. Today after lessons, I went and bought some granite pavers to make a wall in the front with. I did the big wall section and tomorrow I will finish the side that is smaller.  Those suckers are heavy.  It looks ok. I maybe should have curved the wall. Not sure.

I'm getting puppy updates daily which is making me anxious to meet the new guy.  He has no name yet.  How does Ten sound?  He's my 10th dog.

Edge has been doing some nice work out back on the sheep.  He is not so sticky in getting them and his walk up has improved.  The shake can helped with that.   Kip is so nice and natural, I need to work him more to establish more of a relationship.  Maybe when I get to Florida this year.  I can't wait to go down there.  I want to see my house and see how it feels to live there.

Ok going to go turn on the tv and see if that puts me to sleep.

Dentist

  I have the best dentist.  He is great fun but he usually does cause me some pain. Ok Maybe he is not all that great, but he's very cute.  I had an appt last night for 6:45 and I got there late because of a huge backup on the Turnpike.   He still had me come in.   I had a cracked filling and it turns out an enormous cavity below.   He was concerned that I would not feel well this am.  But I am right as rain and oh so thankful, because the next thing was a root canal.  NOT

 Today Gail and I went to the Brimfield flea market. From 11-4.  We stopped for lunch at Francesco's and then continued shopping.  Prices were high on stuff.  I did manage to buy motorcycle boots , heavy leather for $20.   And I got 2 industrial styled stools for the kitchen.  I will have to do some work on them but they will be cool.  

The dogs missed me and were bored all day.   Right now it's raining out and we need it so badly.  Off to bed because I did not get much sleep last night.

Worked all 3

 I worked Kip first.  Yesterday I decided I would just bring him in and  see how bad a gate sort would be.  I did not even tell him to but he came up to the gate to hold the sheep off for me.  So I tried it again today. Same thing.  Nice job Kippy Kippy cow cow.

Then I worked Dually on the corner exercise.  He was not himself.  I think Kip has something to do with it.  I guess I need to lock Kip in the house whenever I work Dually. 

Edge worked the corner exercise very nicely. Then I did a couple of flanks and outs and quit.

Now I have to decide if I want to go to Ct and knock on some strangers door and see if they will let me cut some of their bamboo.

Peaches

I finally decided to do something with them.  I made peach habanero jam tonight. Not sure if it set or if it's any good,but I made it.

I went to Ocean State today and picked up a hammock for the Fla house and some a bath mat and an outside mat and some shower squeegees. Will buy more as I think of stuff.  Might be a cheap place to buy down there but I dont' know where it is yet.,

I went to the eye surgeon this am and she confirmed I need surgery to open up my tear ducts.  I guess the drill a hole in the nose bone and put tubes in and made a new drainage pipe.  She said a week with no nose breathing. can't wait.  NOT.   I can't schedule this till after Nationals.  1 month recovery and then they take the tubes out. That can't be pleasant.  None of it will be pleasant, but maybe I will be able to see again afterwards and go outside in the cold and wind without tears running down my face.

The sheep escaped this afternoon when I was moving the tractore so I sent Edge for them. He pushed them back around the outside of the arena and then tried to figure out how to get them back. Dare would have brought them back and at a very brisk pace.  Edge is not Dare.  Dually would have brought them back too. And I think Kip would have.

Peaches galore

  The peach tree is so full it's almost breaking off.  I have invited everyone and anyone to come and pick peaches.  Some are ripe now and they will continue to ripen all week.

I got my bricks for my new front walkway delivered. Now if I can only get someone to put them in.  I have a guy lined up but not sure when he can come.

Boring day. No dog work , at least not my dogs and not much work done either.  lazy me

kippy kippy cow cow

Kip seems to like the cows now.  AFter 3 days of working them, he has gained some courage and wanted to go in for a heel.  He still does not like them turning on him but who does. ?  He was working  away from me on a 6 ft line and taking commands to get back and walk up.  I was pleased with him

Edge worked cows today and he was all about kicking butt and taking names.  He went in on the side of one and came out behind the rear legs.  It didn't seem to faze him.  He dodges the kicks quite well.  Dually is not nearly as fast at dodging them.

I worked in a round pen today and tried to teach Dually to go under the panels when they were too close to the panels for him to get around.  I had limited success at that.

Done working and we went shopping and then I stopped at the Congregational church to pick up lobster and haddock chowder dinner for Greg and I. Laura can't eat it.  Not bad.. I can do better.

Greg and I ran over to Kathy and Eds to taste the striper that Greg and Stewart caught this am.  It was rather spongy I thought, but the taste was good.

Home tomorrow. 

Day 3

THat was yesterday.  But I forgot to blog.  I worked Kip on ducks for the very first time.  He did very well.  I was pleasantly surprised. He liked working them a lot. He likes working anything a lot. I worked Dually and Edge on ducks too. Dually did not bust in on them.  Not sure why.  Maybe because I was ready to go after him.  Edge worked on some flanks and some stops.  I had a lot of trouble getting him to do an inside flank away from me without coming off the stock way too much. He's way to square on the inside flanks. He takes all pressure off.  Not sure how to fix that. I tried having Cindy out there with him with me at the fence. but she could not get him to flank in close either.

Newt worked the sheep yesterday.  And he did a very nice job.  No blow ups. Today we are going to try and see if we can provoke a blow up so we can figure out how Cindy could fix it on her own without me or anyone else there so she will more confidently be able to work him on sheep.

We started Laura's dog Riddle on the ducks too. She was a little dive in and lose interest, dive in and lose interest, but I think we can work with that.

Today we are going to start with the cows.  and then later go to Ellesworth to the LL Bean outlet and to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Sounds like fun.

Day 2

Yesterday my hip hurt so badly I  barely did anything.

Today was better.   Greg and I went to the local flea market this am.  I got a goat door stop and he bought some fishing poles.  I also got some plants for the front yard.

Then I took the dogs to Cindy's and Dually worked 3 cows in a small pen.  I took one of the cows out because she kicked at him for no reason and it was an 'I want you dead kick".  So we worked 2 cows for a while with the other dogs.

Newt did a very nice job on ducks and cattle and Kip got turned on to the cattle.  He thought they were fun  fun fun.  I kept him on lead because I know he is going to try and go up under them.  I want smaller cows when I let him go so at the end of the week, we will bring the baby cows down and work him off leash on them.  Laura worked Riddle on line too. 

Edge did not get to work. I had run out of energy.  Kip got so high that I was sitting outside with him while Laura was quietly working the cows and I put my hand down to pet him and he snapped at me.  NOT one of his better ideas.

Vacation

I had an eye appt in the am yesterday which took 2 hrs and but while I was waiting for the DR. I wrote a calendar and directions for my farm sitters.  Thank you farm sitters!! My field of vision test came out excellent by the way.

So  I started to pack around 10 and got on the road about 12:30.  I made good time and only made 1 stop for gas and munchies which I should have bought ahead of time.1 bad of cheese popcorn, 1 soda and a pkg of m&m's cost me $8.83. YIKES.   Anyway traffic was not too bad and I got to Laura and Gregs's around 5:30.   I set up the trailer no problems , let the dogs run and went inside for dinner. 
Back to the trailer,, walked the dogs again and then played with the shower to get it to work.  You need to turn the gas on apparently.  I was exhausted but could not sleep of course.  I thought it was going to be cold and it must have warmed up in the middle of the night because I had to get up and turn the AC on.  I slept in till almost 9 but I'm still tired and my hip \/back is bothering me partially from driving.  Kip and EDge are in a fenced in yard right now and I can see them both from the table inside the trailer.  They are both waiting for me to come out.

I was talking to Laura last night about the Owner of the Black Prong and she said it sounded familiar. Well it turns out her neighbors across the street winter in Morriston every  year.  We are going over for lunch so I can quiz them on the area I hope.

All set now

So I studied the on line motorcycle permit tests all day off and on on Sunday. There are questions that I got wrong when I was 16.5 and still got them wrong today.   Yes I can remember the questions.  Because I got them wrong and could not figure out why for the life of me.  Obviously since I keep getting them wrong.  Anways, I figured they could not keep asking me that same question over and over and I was doing pretty good on the other questions so  I went to the registry,paid my money, took the test and PASSED.  They have given me a motorcycle learners permit. Now I have to sign up for the class and see if I can learn to ride a motorcycle. How hard can it be?  Nat said I could use her dirt bike to practice which sounds like a good idea.

I got some patch material in the mail for one of the agility tunnels which are for sale. I have a blue 15 ft tunnel and a purple 20 ft tunnel. I also have a panel jump for sale.

I cut a piece of metal for a screen guard but I am not sure I have the right screws for it. I need short self tapping and I have some but they might be too long. 

I am starting to think about packing for Maine.  I am taking a short vacation, I have peeps to take care of the livestock.

I filled the hay feeder up and backed the trailer up to it in case they need to refill it when I am gone. I tried to get Kathy to take the silky hen but she can't because hers would kill it.  So I guess I won't be taking that to Maine.  A student tonight might be able to get rid of it  and maybe the call ducks too this fall.

Still trying to find some hay for next year.  Not having a lot of luck.

Worked Kip tonight on driving.   He's kinda fun to work.  He liked to bite the goats.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

    I met Gail at the Rider Skills of New England Open house and fundraiser for cancer today in Sturbridge.  They had some booths and some raffles and some demos that we got there too late for.  I did here one of the cops fell off of his bike doing a demo and was so embarrassed would not get back on.  Darn I wish I had seen  that. 

    They had a walking poker run which Gail and I virtually ran because it was late in the day and at the end of the run when I turned in the sheet, I had WON.  I won a motorcycle safety and skills class.  I had been thinking about doing it since Gail just bought a new motorcycle and I thought what good transportation for Fla.  Anyway I was hesitating because I thought it would be expensive, but no problem now it's free!! whooo whooo. So I have been online studying for my learners permit test.  I'll try to schedule the class in Sept.  fun fun

      Gail won 2 of the raffles. One was the 59/50 which she generously donated back to the relay for life and the other was $50 to BT's smokehouse.

    I got to meet up with the Caplette clan.  Nora, Mo,Danny,Cassie .  Good to meet some of you and catch up with some others.  Really enjoyed talking ot everybody.    

Training Day

Wow what a successful day!!

First of all Kip is dead lame on left front today. No idea why.  He worked goats yesterday and did a great job.  But no work for him today. He was crated all day although he seems to get a little better if he stays out of the crate. 

I worked Edge on the goats in the control pen .  But first I have to day he is getting better at gathering the livestock without my telling him every step to go on.  Tough love.
So I set some panels up and we worked on me being outside the pen and him taking my commands.  I find that this exercise sharpens them up so much because there is no body language involved. It has to be voice commands only.   He did a good job getting the goats to go in the panels the ways I directed him.

 Dually not so much.  So I go in there and we worked the corner exercise go by.  Apparently I have worked away so much his go  bye is  broke.  I moved the panels in and made a wall so that he could not break out after I sent him around the goats.  Worked like a charm. 

Then later tonight, I took the 2 of them to the top of the hill behind the arena and Dually found a stick to hold and Edge worked the flock in the arena with me on the hill. He did a good job of walking up and he took most of my flanks.  I was very pleased with him.

Dually then worked some aspects of the course and he did a great job.  We had 4 sheep that really did not want to stay together that well and he kept then together and they nade most of the panels and he took my go by at the 3rd panel.  He was a star.  

Sorry I know you probably have no idea what I am talking about but suffice to say I am happy with both of them tonight and I can see where we can go and how to get there.

Sick Sheep

Ok so the sick sheep that I had put in the barn is apparently better.  This morning she was down in the stall and I thought ok this must be the end.   But I gave her penicillin, banamine, b12, BOSE, probios powder, probios paste and nutri drench. And then I wormed the hell out of her.  If the cure didn't kill her then whatever was wrong shouldn't either.   Then I thought, damn it if she dies in the stall I am going to have trouble getting her out so I opened the doors, she got up and wobbled out.  She wandered out to the arena where the other sheep were and started to eat grass. She has eaten nothing in 2 days.  I thought well maybe she is just nibbling and not really eating.  I put her out with the others and she continued to eat.  I left for an hr and came back and she was still eating.  I guess she it not going to die although I have yet to see her chew her cud.  Tomorrow will be the key. 

Went to see Ricky and the Flash.  -don't bother

I got an email from a guy who wants  to take herding lessons from me in Fla.  He also has goats and cows.  Hmmmm sounds good to me.

Training

So I took Dually and Edge out back and locked mr noise(Kip) in a crate in the house and closed the doors so theoretically we can't hear him.  It doesn't really work that way but at least it does not upset Dually when he can't hear as well.

I worked Dually first and we worked on the center panels and had some lighter sheep.  We were getting some consistency and then I put them in the take pen and tried that.  They run to the shed when they come out so he had to catch them and turn them back which is not the way I want to start the course.  I have to figure a way to keep them closer to the take pen so I can finesse the center panels.  I also tried to go on but panel 1 we make ok and panel 2 but then when I want him to take a fast and wide go by I am not getting in.  well that is what training is for right?  Then we worked on the center again with not much success. Sheep were too light and I was not helping enough. 

Switched to Edge and he did some driving. He did a pretty good job holding them to the fence all the way around, but it occurred to me after that they were light sheep and he did not have to push at all.  I need to set up a chute and find a way that he has to push them thru without my help. He was more willing to go get sheep tonight after our training session yesterday. 

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain so maybe no training. 

I gave the sick sheep a beer and some pro-bios.  She has not had anything to drink since yesterday.  It's not easy to poor beer down a sheep.  I think she will die.

ASCNE trial in NH

It was a one day trial yesterday.   Dually was the only dog entered.  It took me 2.5 hrs to  get there and I had to be there by 8am.   short night.

We started on cattle first.  I had a really nice group although they seemed pretty equal to me all day. They moved off the dogs and didn't want to fight. It was A course so there was a take pen. I sent him in on an Away to me, but he would not go so I said go by and he would not go.  Finally he went away to me on his own.  Maybe I should just say get around and let him pick.  Anyway it was a good take pen when he finally went. He did not go in and fight with them.  Maybe that close pen work in Maine had some residual effects.   Started right down the right side of the arena nicely but for some reason he turned them back twice.  Gotta fix that.  We got to the first panel and they wanted to go around but I gave him a go by and he took it and neatly turned them into the panel. Then took a nice away to keep them moving and held them on the back fence for the cross drive.  I gave him the away to me on the 2nd panel and MY timing was perfect according to the video but he hesitated for too many steps and they went in too deep which caused them to come out and hug the fenceline.  I was trying to avoid that so I could get a perfect turn to the chute. Anyway I kept saying away to me and he did turn them but past the opening so we were a little offline.  He got them over to theopening of the chute and they were about to turn out but I gave him a go by and he turned them nicely into the chute and they all went thru like little soldiers.  We won the class with a 113. Hmmm not sure where all those points came from.  It was not obvious to me and I'm usually a tough critic.

My sheep class was very nice too.  He took them out of the pen his way again and then before I could get the gate closed he had them half way to panel 1.  Thru panel 1 and the he had to adjust them back into the crossdrive.  I timed the turn around panel 2 perfectly and he took my flank but not my stop which caused the sheep to overrun the chute opening.  We took them around twice i think before Igot them thru.  We placed 2nd.

The geese run was interesting.  We won but only because we had a good set of geese. There were good and bad. 

We were HIT cattle and HIT aussie.

So today I went out and worked the damn E course again.  This time I used heavier sheep and I broke the sections down.  We were more successful that way.  I will continue to do that until he understands the course but in the meantime I will also throw a chute to the side and practice C course too. fun fun.

Edgie worked a lot tonight.  I worked driving and flanks.  And then I sat by the shed and sent him to get the sheep by himself  in the field back of the arena.  It's only about 150 ft but so far for him.  He stopped to look at me but I insisted and he got better. Then I sent him to get them at the barn .   He needs more of this. But it's frustrating for me because this is on part I feel should be built in already. Not that hard. Get the sheep. I don't care how you do it, just bring them.  He feels it's hard.

E course

     I have been trying to work E course all week and we just can't seem to get it together. I usually cannot make the center panels , I make the 2 up near the crossdrive and then mixx the center again coming back.  Dually has not been taking my flanks fast enough. Or Kip is barking and Dually is not working at all.  Tonight I had to walk back from the arena and put Kip in the house to shut him up which of course did not really shut him up.  I could still hear him in the arena but Dually was working in spite of it. I guess the sound was far enough away.

    I worked Edge out on E course also but not really on the course. I am doing the cross drive with him and trying to get him to walk up on the sheep.  He is doing better on walk up.  time I guess.  Tonight the stopped and he stopped and would not move so I used a "HIT" command and even that took a few to get him to dive in and bite.  He loves that command so I thought it would loosen him up. It did but not as quickly as I wanted it to.  He is doing much better at leaving me and getting around the livestock.   more time

      I used Kip to put the sheep and goats out in the arena this afternoon and we had a bit of a discussion about down means down and does not mean pop up immediately when I bat and eyelash.  I think he started to get it, but will check tomorrow when I work everybody again.

E Course

   I set up the E course today and came in the house to have breakfast around 10:30, but I had to go and help a friend get her house ready for a showing so I didn't get to run it till tonight. I sorted off 3 of my lightest sheep since they hadn't been used in a while.  They were nuts.  I could not get them in the take pen with Dually.    I finally had to fetch them in.  They ran all over the field and he would not take his stops, outs or flanks.  He thought he knew where I was taking them but he was wrong.  Finally after trying for a while and only being mildly successful, I switched dogs.  Edge did better, because the sheep were more tired by then.  He also did better at driving than he had been.  I have hope.  No Really I know he will be fine, but he does need some miles.

new house

    I closed on the Fla house today from here.  I did not go down to close.  I guess wiring money is fine as long as they get their money. So supposedly she is all moved out and the house is empty.  My realtor will go back to check tomorrow probably.  Can't wait to get there and start making changes.

     Mosquito control really worked last night.  No bugs this am and I even sat outside around 8 and only 1 mosquito. There were more in the back pasture but not enough to drive me out.

     The ewe that was bit up it sore and limpy, but she is eating and getting around.  I bought some bug spray to spray her with. It's easier than  smearing Swat all over her.

     Edge got zapped by the electric this am and ran to the house and immediately after Kip got zapped and ran to the house screaming the whole way.  He's a little sensitive.  They both went out back wtih me tonight without much of a problem so they didn't get completely traumatized. At least not for life.

      Finally got some rain tonight but not near enough.  I think we need a day or 2 of soaking rain.

   

OH WHat a day!

 I started with an early 8 am lesson which was fine as was the 9 but the 10 lesson culminated in a bad bite which we \decided needed a vet.  I called at 11 and he said he would be there in 1 hr. Hmmm  maybe.   He did get there about 12: 15 but I had a 1pm dr's appt that i had missed the day before and really did not want to miss again.  Anyway I am sitting there holding this sheep while he is sewiing her up and the owner of the biting dog shows up to tell me she had bought a muzzle and stayed to watch.   I mentioned the appt and she offered to hold the sheep, I said hell  yes and ran in to change my smelly clothes.  I left for my appt about 1pm but I called on the way and they said I would be fine.
     The appt was follow up on my recurring wet and gunky eyes. Dr said they looked better and I said they really were not. She asked if I wanted her to flush them to see if there was a blockage and I said yes.  It was not painful and both eyes were not draining.  Yay my problem can be fixed and I will be able to see again clearly.  But I have to go to a specialist in Worcester and not until Sept.  I am thrilled I can get fixed though.

      Ok back home because I ran out without the bank paperwork I needed to close on the new house.  I grabbed it and went to the bank at 3 which closes at 4.   It took them about 1 hr to get all my ducks in a row and wire the money to Fla.  All done and I will own the house as of tomorrow.
     Left the bank and called about getting a haircut and ran down and got one.  nice and short.
     Back home and out puttin swat on the sheep to control flies.  Change clothes again and run down to Zorba's to meet Gail for dinner.  Great lobster stuffed mushrooms. Yummy.  Rushed thru dinner so we could get to 6:40 movie.  " Train Wreck"  Pretty darn laugh out loud funny. 
     Home at 9"15 and remember mosquito control was supposed to spray I think.  Texted MJ and she said yes and gave me the phone number. I called and he was just about in my driveway .   I went out in my robe and called the sheep in and forgot the electric fence was on and got zapped good or maybe  zapped bad however you want to look at it.  Then opened up all the gates and talked to the guy in the truck and told him to spray the hell out of it.  He was going into the back arena too.
    Back inside 10: 10 and I am so ready for bed.  Night

Trial update

We went to Maine for a trial last weekend.  It was a farm trial and an arena trial am/pm.  Dually needed 1 leg and ADV sheep farm to finish and he did a beautiful job. Almost perfect.  Edgie was next and he was almost as good.  So Edge Q'd in 2 ADV sheep and ADV duck runs and finished his titles .  They both need ADV multi stock titles but that was not offered this weekend.  Edge got High Combined Farm dog. 

Dually did really well this weekend in the arena trials but also showed me our weaknesses.  He won a .lot, but I can't give you specifics.  He did end up with High Combined Aussie, High Combined cattle  and sheep too.  We got excused onducks on 1 run so we missed that one.  He grabbed a duck and was spitting out feathers. The judge was not amused.

His Cattle runs were good and got better each day.  I am going to need to search out some hay and borrow some cows before Finals I think.   That is my next job.

Then on to a 3 day clinic which was awesome.  We did some really hard stuff on cows and on sheep too.  Great practice for Finals but again it showed me where we were weak.   Great fun having Jean Barrett  and Mumble there too to play off of.   She makes me up my game and get competitive in a good way.  Can't wait for the next clinic. She is going to come down here in Sept .

Some papers came re: the new house today and I can't make heads or tails of them.

Edge did some great work at the clinic too. He was really working much farther away from me and actually driving. 

So on the way home I stopped at CAmping world to get the couch fixed and the frig panel replaced. They ordered the wrong color panel of course so they will order another one and hopefully somebody can pick it up and bring it down and I won't have to drive up there again. The damn couch was not broken but the guy that I asked to demo it had no idea how to do it and so he thought it was broken and it really was not.  dumb dumb dumb. 

Off the be the Wizard

Presumptuous as it is.  I hope to do well at the trial this weekend.  On my way to Maine for and ASCA trial .Farm and arena. Edge is entered in Farm ADv sheep ducks and Dually is entered in Adv Sheep and then the arena trial.  Course D is one day,. And I think course C ducks . Should be fun.

I have the trailer all hooked up  and ready to roll. I have the food packed but no clothes yet.  dog food yes. towels and sheets. yes.   cleaned out the crate the Kip got sick in and put it back in the car. I think maybe I will try letting him ride in the wire crate and let Dually ride loose,.  I will also give him some ginger pills that I had for Dare.  Baby Dare  miss you buddy.

Poor Brownie

  I was sitting on the back porch reading my book actually relaxing when I heard a crash and realized the other half of they Y chute had fallen over.  I sorta thought I hope there isn't a sheep under that and went back to reading.  I went out to do some gardening about 3 hrs later and when I stopped I looked out there and there was something white and fluffy caught under the panels.  Poor old Brownie, I thought for sure she would be dead. You know how sheep can be.  She got up a little unsteady but not too bad and went in to the barn to eat  grain.  Hopefully she will be right as rain in the morning for lessons.  I would hate to lose her, she is my pet sheep if you can imagine.

I bought 2lbs of mussels for dinner and at them all. THey were darn tasty.

I have farm work to do, but not as much as other years.  I seem to have done a lot of the stuff I wanted to get done and now I am working more on maintenance and that is why I had time to read today.  Of course the dogs would have preferred it if I worked them but I am not fond of working midafternoon and I had a student here all morning. 

I haven't heard from the  Fla house owner about the lease agreement I sent her yet. i guess I should email and make sure she got it. 

I have an appt for dog massage on Monday. She  comes to the house.  Isnt' that funny? I want to keep Dually tuned up and see if she can tell me why Kip keeps coming up lame. 

Today ,   after a decent nights sleep yay for me I got up and worked Edge and Dually out back.  Both did another stellar job.  I locked Kip up in the house and so when he started barking because we were working, Dually could not hear him much so he worked much better.   Edge would not finish his flanks on the outrun so great another thing to work on. 

I weeded all 3 of the trees and then I put down landscape cloth and covered it with mulch. Now you can see the trees. 

Headed out around lunch to meet some family and sit around and talk for a while.  Back home and decided I should worm the goats. They  are kinda skinny so might as well. Seems like they are skinny no matter what you do but some of them are not mine so I wormed them to show I am taking care of them.

Kip jumped up and gave me a fat lip and a blood blister. Cash rolled in something disgusting and chewed up my gardening knee pad.  bad doggies.

My nephew might be living in my new Fla house while I am not there. Not sure how that will work out but it would be great to have someone in the house during the summer. Might be able to leave livestock with him too.  Hmmmm

Happy 4th of July

  I had a weird day.  I had lessons scheduled from 9-2 I thought.  My 9 cancelled at 8:15 so I could  not fill it.  I took sheep out and sorted them out in the arena but Dually was acting weird.  I think it was because Kip was barking at first and then he stopped so not really sure why Dually was not on his game.

My 10 am  lesson showed up and thought they had scheduled 2 hrs and probably had but I only wrote down 1 hr so my 11 am lesson was on her ownwhile I stuck with the10-12 lesson .  That worked ok for her though I think.  My 12 was on time and then I realized my 2 should have been at 1 because I has not scheduled a 1 and thought I did.   Geez what a mess. 

Finally done and decided to take my new pistol for a test run.  I read the directions first.   The first shot was scary and  then I got used to it.  However out of 10 shots I only hit the target 5 times.  Not good.  Might have to practice some.

Skunks appear to be gone.  

NEVER ENDING SKUNK SAGA

 I caught no 7 today.  He had gone in the trap to eat the bait but the trap didn't snap,so I put more bait in and made it harder to get so they would stay longer and readjusted the mechanism that snaps the trap and got him.   How many more are there?

Cash is back to stay for a few weeks.   He and Kip had a few words but nothing major. Dually growls at him and Edgie is staying out of conflicts way for now.

I went out back and  worked the A course with Dually who was a star .  I could not be happier with him tonight.  Edge worked the same sheep on the same course and did a passable job.  He did more away from me than he has ever done before do I was quite happy with him too. Then I worked Kip and he annoyed me a bit. He would not go around all the  goats and wanted to pick on the billy who is lighter than the other 2 and therefore more interesting. Too bad , work them all.

Skunk b gone

 I caught 2 babies yesterday and reset the trap last night and caught more tonight, but not sure how many till I empty the trap.   I kinda smelled yesterday after emptying the trap even though I touched nothing.  That smell just attaches itself to you.  I'm reluctant to go empty the trap because of that, but I covered up their holes and I will wait and see if something digs them out again. If so then I need to reset the trap.  It's scary picking up a trap of skunks and taking it some place. My heart is going a mile a minute until I throw it in the water(sorry Debby) but they carry rabies and they are too close for comfort and would never leave because of the food they can get here.  That's all I need to is to let the dogs out in my own yard and get them sprayed or worse.

3 more tonight so total of 6 and I think that was the whole family but I am still being very careful as I walk into the barn. I will continue to check their holes to make sure I got everybody and the good thing is I still smell like a rose!!

skunk

The skunk sprayed near the house again last night. This is getting tiring and smelly.   good idea bout using some cat fod for bait instead of the egg.  I only own dry so will pick up a can next time i'm out or see what's in the pantry. There might be something smelly in there.

I feel badly about a lady who showed up today for last weekends clinic. I gave her the wrong date. She wanted to show her dog to Roger and Kathy.  I gave her a lesson for free.  She came from northern VT so it was the least I could do.  damn I hate it when I make mistakes like that.  Happened one other time and that guy was pissed big time.  Anyway I videoed the dog and will try and figure out how to send it.. I have already spent a few hours on it and no success.

Skunk Skunk... Skunk?

  I was woken up last night by a strong skunk smell and it was coming in all the windows so I had to get up and close everything up.  It was not coming from the road but probably the back yard. 

I just went down to get the hav-a-hart out of the water and empty the skunk out of it. It was not as difficult or as smelly as I expected.  I used a rake to grab the towel on top of it and then the rake to grab the trap.  The trap opened easily and I dumped out the body and tossed it  across the street.  Out of smell range.

Then I went back to the barn to reset it and I walked in with the dogs and looked in at the small stall where I caught the first one  and there was another one there. I backed up quick and called the dogs out.  Ok no more dogs in the barn for a while.  So I waited for 30 minutes and went back out and it was gone back down the hole it apparently lives in.  I reset the trap and joy oh joy I can't wait to catch another one.  I'm playing with fire here, but  skunks cannot live under my barn.

The new Boer cross Buck

 He is about 4 mos old and will be breeding the does this year.  cute babies he will make

Pretty

LIve Tree and new trees

This is just an update on the growth of the trees I planted.  I know you could not see them very well in the first pics I posted, but hopefully these are better. These are hybrid poplars planted last year.

 This is a Honey Locust tree that has been in for about 5 yrs, but it had a rough start.

Wildlife

I've been checking on a rather large hole in the barn lately.  I did not know what it was but it was something. Over the weekend we tried to hose it out but nothing came out.  The dogs have been going nuts in the tackroom over something under the floorboards.  I thought it was either a weasel or a rat.  So I put a lot of rat poison out and I tried a rat trap but that got tripped and nothing was caught. Still something under there.   I went out back and got the smaller hav- a- hart trap assuming it was something fairly small.  I put an egg in it because whatever was in the barn was eating the occasional egg the ducks left. The trap was there for about a week and today I went out to check it and the bucket of death we had set up too.  I had all the dogs with me but fortunately there was a piece of lattice in front of the stall door and that was enough to stop Dually.  I looked in and backed up quickly and called the dogs out and just breathed.  It was a SKUNK.    Great , now I have a smallish maybe , skunk and a really small trap.  ok what to do what to do. Well I learned from last years encounter that  you need to cover the trap slowly and carefully with a towel or sheet and take it someplace slowly and equally as carefully .  I took a big towel and I went in the stall on the other side and I slowly and carefully draped the towel over the cage.  Then I leaned over and fumbled for the handle on the cage.  I got it and slowly and carefully picked it up and carried it out of the barn and tried to decide where to drown it.   Yes I could have rereleased it but I was not putting it in my closed in car and I do not know how to open the cage easily soooo I walked it "slowly and carefully\" down to the pond at the bottom of the driveway and got as close as I could and I threw the whole  damn thing in and went to get my mail.  There was a little smell but I smell pristine and so does the barn and the dogs!!!!!!

Not sure how big it was but it was not that light while I was carrying it. I'll see tomorrow.

Roger Stevens clinic is done and gone

  WE had a great 3 day clinic,  12 dogs and 1 day of rain but it was warm out.  We put 2 shade tents together and put a huge tarp over them and we were dry all day.   Lots of exercises with panels and chutes and free standing pens.    I need to go buy some more hog panels to put up a permanent chute.  This building stuff all the time is a PIA.   But of course the stock trailer is full of hay so I can't use that to transport them.  I think I can use the utility trailer and bend them over.  But of course it is not regisgtered so will have to either to it illegally or transfer some plates which is also illegal. tough nougies.

I worked with Cindy and Newt this am before she left and I sent her with my singe duckling.  Wendy took all the baby goats yesterday and suddenly I have so much less to do.  Roger and Kathy had breakfast and I drove them to the airport around 9:30.  I came back and stopped at Walmart for some bleach to get rid of the stuff growing in the stock tanks.   I was pouring it in and it jumped and splashed all over me..  I hate bleach almost as much as snakes.  Tried to wash it off my hands but it doesn't really wash off.   Then the guy with the back hoe shows up and takes out my cement landing and scrapes down the soil some more so now we  are ready for some gravel .. Making slow progress on the front walkway.  

Then I went upstairs and fell in bed for  a long nap.

Just plain creepy

   You would think after the snake I would have a few days of peace, but noooo.  This is not a big deal maybe but I find it creepy to the max.   I looked down at the floor in the hallway going into the bathroom and there is something there.  I though dead mouse,  but on closer inspection(I am not afraid of mice) it is a mushroom or toadstool growing out of  from under the threshold to the bathroom.   This is the 2nd one I have found and it just creeps me out.

   I worked Kip today and we worked on driving.  I talked to Alfred and told him he did well driving and he was surprised I was doing that already.  Might as well since fetching seems to be really easy for him and I hate fetching anyway.   Kip also walked up on a goat facing him in the corner and fairly confidently bit him in the nose and kept nudging his way around the goats.  I was quite pleased with that too. 

Dually worked the light light sheep in the duck arena. He was quiet and thoughtful and was totally obviously keeping them on the back fence without commands from me.  He's a good boy.

Had some people over for a herding party today and I think everybody had fun.  Then we went out to a local icecream shop for lunch and ice cream and talk.   I enjoyed myself.  Thanks guys.

Why me?

  Had a scare today.  I went downstairs to pull a load of laundry out and put it in the dryer.  I got everything out except there was maybe another sock or something. I reached down and Holy Shit it was a snake and It looked alive although I did not see if for long because I jumped back so quickly.  I HATE SNAKES!!     I have no one to call to get rid of a snake for me. In retrospect I wonder if the cops would come and help me out.  Probably not.  shit shit shit It can't stay there.
 I will not pick up a snake in my hands and it looked a little too big to use a towel and besides that it too up close and personal for me.   Sooooo I figured I needed something long to grap it with and  aha, a set of kitchen tongs which are not as long as I would have liked but didn't stop to try and think of anything else.
 I marched up stairs , got my tongs, and marched bravely back downstairs.  do it now before you lose your nerve.  My heart is racing and my mouth is dry.  I reach down and grab him about an inch behind his slimy gross mouth.  I clamped down hard because it started to move and his mouth opened up and he would have bitten me if he could have.
 Out of the washing machine he comes and then the tail starts to swing and curl and  IT TOUCHED ME@@@@@@    Any other location and I would have dropped him and ran but  if I dropped him then I had a loose live snake somewhere waiting to scare me in my basement.  So I chanted don't let go don't let go don't let go and walked carefully but quickly as I could to the bulkhead which I had smartly opened before I got the snake on the tongs.
 I got him up to the top and he touched me again and I just had to let him go right outside the bulkhead opening.   I looked around for something to kill hiim with but there was nothing handy so he slithered away to scare me at a later date and place.  My heart was racing for a long time afterwards.   And now ,  HOW did he get in the washing machine. Some of the options are unthinkable. Most of them are so I just am not going to think about it.