Outruns

Lee came over and he  held sheep for Dually to work outruns. His outrun was fine but his lift was very messy and although I stayed  very calm , I could not get him to stop at the top easily. His driving away from me was fine but the crossdrive was not easy because again he won't take the down so I can get him driving in the right direction,.  Ah well.  this weekends trial will be messy.   At least I know that ahead of time.  After all that work this am, Dually is lame again.  I emailed someone locally to see if she knows someplace I can take him to get him diagnosed.

Later on I went out and worked Edge and I started out with an outrun but decided I needed to work on walkabouts.  Sometimes the sheep just stopped and all 3 of them just turned around and stared at Edge.  I think he was using too much eye and turning them to him.  I tried to let him figure out how to get them moving and I thing he was getting it by  the end.

Went to the movies. I saw McFarland USA.  It was good.

new sheep

I ran down to get a haircut before Lee got here today with the new sheep. He told me mid day but at 9 am he was calling to find out where I was.  I got the haircut but missed the farmers market. I will have to make it a point to go to the Thurs Farmers market.

So back  in time to see Lee putting the new sheep in the pen that I had built  and he did it very easily.  He worked his young dog Sissy for a little while. She is a strong header so he is having some trouble with driving. Not sure how much help he really wants from me. He's going to come over tomorrow so Dually can do a big outrun. 

After he left , I went back out and got some shelves at Lowes for the pantry in the trailer and to reorganize the shelves.   Also checked the post office for the DVD's on training that I am waiting for.  Still waiting...  Back to the trailer and worked the dogs.

I was very quiet and deliberate with them.  I worked Dually on whistles and worked his down on balance mainly.  Trying to get him to see there is a reason for a down.  His flanks on the drive are terrible.  He is not squaring them off at all and it's creating  a problem on the drive.  Not sure how to fix it.  My whistles are getting better.


Edge worked on outruns , balance and pace.  I tried to send him from my side but he kept cutting in so I walked towards the sheep which widened him out at the top.   He had some trouble with one of the ewe lambs.  I think this lamb has not been worked much at all.  It kept lying down and quitting.  So we quit and left it alone.  I just think it needs to be worked some more to get used to it.

I called Dish tonight and got them to program the local channels which I have been living without for months.  Just kept watching reruns of Chopped and  HGTV.  Watching " The Voice" tonight. 

Duck work today

Dually was wild today but I kept calm and he calmed down.  However he just wasn't controlling the ducks very well.  Overflanking and stopping and frustrating the hell out of me.

Edge was not very good either. He kept separating one duck off and then only wanting to work the one duck.  The ducks were very stressed and huffing and puffing. I've never seen ducks make so much noise.  It was warm today but the sun was not out so I guess they need to be worked more.

The whole object of today's work was more for me than the dogs.  Keep quiet and let them work and KEEP CALM.    I did well even if they didn't .

Panicked tonight when I was putting stuff in the fridge, the light went out and the fridge basically shut off.  I went out and shoved the plug outside farther into the outlet and came back in and it was fine..  I made an appt to take the trailer back to Camping World on Monday to get the heat and the fridge looked at.  I  can't change the mode on the fridge to gas and I should be able to do that if I want to.  If it's on auto it will change to gas itself if the elec goes out  but I can't change it manually and there was a point that I wanted to do that and I could not.

Went and got some more groceries so I could make beef chili ala WW for dinner.  Not bad.  Also did a load of laundry because while I was at the trial this weekend I was timing for the judge and we had to walk thru the pasture and the string from the hay bales is everywhere. Anyway I got caught my a string and down a went into a cow pie.  Soooo I needed to get my jeans washed asap. Nobody saw me fall Yay.
Tomorrow the sheep come back. 

Day 2 ASCA trial

Yesterday, which was day 2 was horrible.  I  had a noodle on a string trying to control Dually. He was not taking any direction when I wanted him to take it which caused me to start yelling. Honestly I was yelling at him all weekend and it took it's toll in the last run where he basically twirled and quit on me on cattle.  We never got a placement higher than 3rd and Roger wasn't even trialing. Back to the drawing board.  I'm pretty upset about the weekend.  It was piss poor in my opinion.  Some of the runs looked good but he was doing what he wanted and not what I asked him to do. I got 11/12 scores over 100 so 11 Finals pts out of a possible 24 pts available this weekend.

I had checked out of the motel early yesterday morning so I drove home in the afternoon because the trial finished up early .  We were done by 1 and I was on the road by 2.  The sheep are not here and wont' be back until Tues midday.  So we will work some ducks today. I checked when I came in last night in the dark and they are still here.

ASCA TRIAL IN DOTHAN AL

 Its a 2 day am/pm trial and the judges are Russ Ford and David Clayton.  Russ is a little bit of a harder scorer than David. 

Dually was sick last night numerous times because he ate so much sheep shit while I was working him at Rogers.  We worked the ducks to make sure they were ok and I got on his case pretty hard.  He got me back. I tied him to the table so he would vomit on the tile floor and not on the rug since I had NOTHING BUT TOILET PAPER  to clean it up,  He still did not feel well this am but he ate breakfast and kept it down.

His performance today on all stock was just mediocre.  He was not listening and we were not in snych at all.  We did qualify on all stock and got scores over 100 on all of them.That's nice but no HIT"s.   So we got 6 pts and we theoretically could have gotten 12 if he was on his game.  He was so stressed yesterday that I had to let him play a little today, but still I was not happy with our game.

Out to dinner at Outback and now I am going to bed.    tired from not sleeping much last night

Very cold morning

  It was 35 and the wind was blowing to beat the band this morning. My heater stayed on all night and it was not too bad in the trailer. Letting the dogs out certainly let in the cold air though.  So I let them back in and packed everything before I opened the door again.

We got on the road about 10:30.  I went the backroads up to rt 10. It was much more pleasant than going through any of the traffic areas.  I stopped at  Jeffers to let the dogs out and run and then on to the motel.  My room was not ready so I went to get some groceries and I stopped at a Mexican restaurant and got chicken soup for supper.  I was starving.  I had stopped at Subway and gotten a salad but saved most of it for dinner.

Some people from work -Becky and Bob apparently stopped in at Manatee springs to see me. I guess they thought I was staying there.  Sorry I missed them.  They stay down here from Sept thru May and go home for the summer only.  smart

Dually and Edge are  being every so quiet in the room.  Edge is hiding in the bathroom and Dually is sticking by me. Edge would be on top of me but Dually is always growling at him. poor thing

There is a picture on Facebook tonight of Dare's sister Que trying to climb into the back of a trailer full of sheep.  "just like Dare"   really miss my baby Dare

Wed

cold morning and windy  so I didnt really go outside until afternoon.  Lee came over and picked up the sheep because I am leaving for Al tomorrow.  I have a trial this weekend and of course Dually is still not right.  I need to find a chiro or dog masseuse to look at him when I get back. I rested him for 3 days and he was looking ok so I worked him a little  today and he is lame again tonight.  On the plus side, we worked on penning and we did very well for a change.

 Then I took the propane tanks and had them filled. I was concerned that I would not be able to lift them back onto the trailer but I backed the car up fairly close and it was not bad sliding them over. It is supposed to be very cold tonight so I am  happy I have propane to use for heat.

I went to a yoga class at the Brownwood section of  The Villages.  tough class and my back is bothering me today so some  of the poses were not good for me. I am going to be sore tomorrow.

UPDATE:::::    Just tried to turn the thermostat on the heat and nothing happened again.  So I have no  propane heat again.   coldest night of the year down here and no f'ng heat.   How many times is this going to happen?  Methinks there is a problem with their parts.

Road Trip

  I dont' know what possessed me to today but I took a rid to Old Town to see what it looks like.  On the way I passed Manatee STate park so I stopped in to see if there were any Manatees. There weren't but it is a beautiful and interesting park. you can swim in the springs if you so desire. I did not desire. The water temp stays72  all year round.  I was surprised at how clear the water was considering it looks like a big ole swamp.

I tried to find a piece of property that I've seen on Trulia but I could not find it.  It is quite a ways from rt 75 which makes it feel like you are in the boonies.

Dually is lame so he is on house arrest but they both came with me. They didn't get out much.

Annoyed

   Dually is lame so I am not letting him do anything.  He's annoyed too.

    I am annoyed because the sheep (the 3 I can use) are acting stupid.  They worked better as a group of 5, but 2 ewes have lambs so I only have 3 to work. The ram kept challenging Edge so I sicced him on him. But the ram still is way slower than the other 2 and one of the other 2 keeps jumping out of the working pen back to where the ewes are kept and there is no good gate to do a gate sort so it's not easy to get them separated in the first place. I have no tools to fix the damn fence and it's not my damn fence anyway.  I can't work the cows because they won't work in a small area either and I am not going to get my dogs killed.   So I am starting to think about my own place again.  Maybe someplace with an automatic gate so I can come and go more easily.  Just call  me lazy.

I'm  also annoyed because it's cold and windy  today. frost this morning.

On the other hand, Edge did a nice job of reading the sheep and he took some really nice flanks better than Dually.  Like Dually wont' go into the fence and go around and Edge will. Most days I like  what I see from him but some days he makes me wonder if he is the right dog. Today he is the right dog.

Penning

Today I got up and going early. But the first thing I saw was a new calf in the pasture and then I went over to let the sheep out and there was a new set of twins. a cute spotted boy and a white girl. They are doing well. I was out of the pasture by 9am. I went to Tractor Supply to figure out how to build a makeshift pen. They did not have what I thought I wanted so I decided to go in a different more traditional direction. so I bought an 8 ft gate and some 4 ft u-posts. I had to get short ones because the only way I can get them in the ground is with a hammer. Next year I will bring my pole pounder and anything else I can think of.

I went from Tractor Supply to Rural King and I bought my stuff there. Off to the Farmers market.  they had a lot of vendors and I bought some really yummy orange blossom honey..

Home again and I set up my pen.  It was not hard to set up so should be easy to move if I need to and I am sure I will need to move it.  Dually did a great job getting the sheep in the pen.  I really had to insist on the out but I " finally" got him where I wanted him.  We just did it once and had a party. He was quite pleased with himself.

All Edge got to do was to put the sheep away tonight, but that was really good because he had to take flanks quite a distance from me.  Edge was not feeling well last night and I so hate that because my thoughts immediately go to 'What did he eat? and was it poisoned vomit from the coyote.  Apparently not, he is fine tonight.

Forced myself to go to the Spin class.  I did better .  Inch by inch. pedal by pedal

Right from Spin class, I went to the movies and saw " Black Sea".  It was suspenseful.

Work and pictures

I figured out today how to get Edge to go a distance to get the livestock. I have to send him with enthusiasm and he went all the way without stopping. Hmmm. Must keep working on this.

Dually had issues with taking the right whistles. Of course the whistles are not always the same so I can cut him a little slack.

Fencing Day

Lee showed up at 8 am to fence in an area for the sheep. Now they can stay out and graze while a gad about town. I still have to lock them into the dog kennel at night but that's ok. So we lowered fence on one side , about150 ft of it and stretched it and refastened it to the posts. Then we dug about 10 post holes. Lee is a machine, I only had to fill them and I could barely keep up with him. Then we stretched that section and stapled it up. Finally we put a strand of barbed wire on both sections so the cows won't jump it or press it down.. We also put 1 large posts in. telephone pole sections to hold one corner and to hold a gate when he brings it over. Right now I have to pull the wire fencing over and fasten it to hold the sheep in but that will work for a while. WE finished at 12:30 and I was happy to see him go.

I went inside and made myself lunch and the dogs breakfast and took some painkillers. After an hr I felt better so I took the dogs for a run. Back inside and took a long nap. I woke up at 5 and henmed and hawed up going to the spin class. I was not awake enough. I was awake for the 6:45 yoga class so I went to that. It was the best one I have been to. Truly a workout.

No dog work today. Watching "CHOPPED" right now.

nice start rainy finish

It was nice out this morning. I took the ducks out with Dually and we practiced some outruns and drives. He can drive about 150 ft away from me before He HAS to bring them back. He's doing better and better. I am seriously considering entering him in a BC trial in Pro-novice next month. I have the entry form all filled out. It's in ST Cloud close to where I lived 2 yrs ago when I stayed down here.

I also worked on the rest of the fencing and got that all ready to go so we can refence for the sheep. Hopefully we will start that tomorrow.

Edgie was a star today. I worked on outruns with him too. I need to be closer to the livestock and have to figure out how to push him out at the top. He starts out rather flat too then bends out. I would like him to start out a little rounder. little by little I guess. His driving was better today. I also need to work on his standing stop. agghhh

Called a friend on skype this afternoon and got the lowdown on all the rotten snow. Boyo am I glad I am not there.

Then I went to the library for the first time. I needed a copy of the entry form. I asked about taking out books and they don't want to give me a card without proof of residency. Seems odd for a library.

On to do laundry, buy dog food and then I took myself out for prime rib. Mmmmmm

Sunday --day of rest

Ha like every day is not a day of rest. But today I worked on removing the staples from the fencing and I have them all removed except for 1 post which is kind of a mess. I will do that one tomorrow. If I had some more staples I could start the fence lowering myself and save us some time on Tues.

Then I tried to log on all morning to my hotspot and it just would not work no matter what I did. I got ready to go out and put the dogs in the trailer because it's too hot to day to leave them in the car. I started to drive away and I see Dually on top of my table freaking out with a toy in his mouth. Geez, my new table. I ran back in and put him in the crate which probably made Edge happy anyway.Then I left and I went to Target and bought a door mirror so I can have an idea of what I look like when I get dressed for anything. I have to attach it to the door tomorrow. Then I went to Starbucks and had my first Frapprochino. It was very good. I sat down and tried to log on to their wifi. I could log my pc on but my hotspot still would not work. I asked the guy sitting there who was a website developer if he would help and he did try but could not figure it out so I went next door to Verizon and they took an hr to figure it out. Somehow I had changed the password on the pc so it did not match the wifi password on the phone so we changed that and Voila it's fixed. Panic without the internet.

Got home around 4 and went to work the dogs. I worked Edge first on ducks and he had a hard time getting them out to the field but we finally succeeded and he did some nice big outruns. The ducks just stand there and so that is cool. He did some better driving too. A little longer distance than the last time. It's so interesting that he feels free to walk up when he is on my left side but wants to always come back to me when he is on my right side. Gotta keep working the right side.

I think Dually knows his whistle pretty good, but my whistling is still not good. I wonder if a better whistle will help. Might have to ask the BC people.

I picked up a movie at netflix, but not sure I am going to like it. Seems convoluted.

Lucky DAy

I went to the post office first thing this morning to mail out the last trial entry of the winter for me and then I went to a craft show in Leesburg.I bought some tomatoes and some cukes and I found a lovely shirt jacket and bought that too. I sat for a while at a picnic table while they were doing karakoe. Not very good but every body was having fun. Talked to a few people.

Then I left and went to a Flea Market that I have been eying for a while. I found a small pressure cooker which I got for $3 and I found an airforce dog dryer which worked and I got that for $5. Both really good deals.

Then I came back to the trailer and took a nap. got up and worked the dogs on taking the sheep out of the dog kennel. Dually got them all stirred up but Edge did fine. Then I worked them on the ducks. Edge was funny. He really preferred to work sheep and he tried to do it even though they were in the dog kennel. I guess he is not that fond of ducks. Too bad , you will work ducks and you will work them well.

Not sure what tonight will bring. Might do laundry , might hit another movie.

Lost sheep again

I'm embarrassed to say Bo Peep lost the sheep again!!, I was sitting in a chair watching them graze with both dogs out with me. They went under the fence and out the alleyway and ran down the pasture. It would have been fine but Dually didn't see them so he had no idea where I was sending him. They got to the barbed wire fence and the little bastards just went thru. This is the side of the pasture that has a highway a little ways away. I followed them with Dually and we went into the woods but we didn't see them so I went out to the road and all the way around back to the truck. Had to be a mile and I am not a walker. I went back and got the truck to go out to the highway again and half way to the road I see them and a school bus had just dropped a kid off. I screamed at the kid to stay there and he did and he held them till Dually and I got up there. At that point Lee showed up and let his dog out and took over. They ran in front of us back into the woods but he found them easily and led the "little bastards" back to hte dog kennel which is where they will stay until we get a fenced area for them that they will actually stay in. I am not allowed to work them outside the dog kennel area until Tues when Lee gets back from Al. Ok fine I'll work ducks.

BAck to training

The sheep were a little squirrely. THey kept trying to run away. Dually kept having to go catch them up. I didn't work Edge because I was afraid he would lose them. So Dually was worked on whistles and I think he is starting to get them. I worked on his pushing them over me too. Getting tired of that little move.

The little lamb worked for a while but when she started breathing hard, I put her and her Mom away and only worked 3 sheep.

I went to yoga this afternoon but the yoga class is too easy so I am going to try another one. I think the night class is less attended so I would like that better. But as easy as it was, it exhausted me, but I would still prefer something more strenuous. There were no downward dogs .

Grilled a really nice piece of salmon for supper along with a slice of tomato and avocado and rice a roni. delish.

Talked to Lee about buying those sheep from Stacey and he is going to let me know tomorrow because in actuality, they will end up being his for the year. Or maybe he has other sheep he can leave over here. I want sheep here though. I am getting so much good work done and Edge needs so much more. Dually is really coming along.

TITLES

It turns out that Edge finished his STDcs titles. And Dually would have finished his cattle titles if.......... bitch bitch bitch but he did not. I need one more leg.

Recovery day

Yesterday was recovery day and you would think I would have slept late but Noooooo I woke up at 5:30 and could not get back to sleep so I puttered all morning and then took a nap and then the phone rang and it was the guy that had reported the sheep to us so I had to make arrangements to pay him his reward money. Well at least we got the sheep back.

Coyote is wandering around the pasture this am. We did have a new calf yesterday so perhaps he is looking for that.

Son on with yesterday, I did a laundry, groceries, found my bank down here, and then went out and bought a couple of bales of hay since I could no longer turn the sheep out without watching them constantly. So the sheep did not get fed until 5pm and they were in the dog kennel most of that time. I had turned a couple of ewes out to graze and left the rest in. They are less likely to leave if some are locked up and some are not. But when I brought the hay into them, I was going to leave it in the middle of the pen and let them all out for a while but the damn bull jumped the fence and started pushing them out of the way to eat the hay. I had go in and scare the bull out who promptly jumped back in. At that point I picked up all the hay and put it in the dog house which is attached to the dog kennel and put the sheep back in there. The bull was chased away by Dually and I went back in the house.

BTW---We lost 5 sheep but we recovered 6

Bo Peep is sooooo thrilled

I was at the dismal AKC trial this weekend where did very poorly. Edgie did well, but the cows overfaced him.They were tough and he got tossed by one today and I retired him. He won the STD A class today on sheep. Dually didnt' qualify on anything this weekend which is exremely unusual. Gave me plenty of things to work on.

But as I was getting ready to trial EDge this afternoon, I got a call from a guy who said he found the sheep and to come and get them. They were very close to the last sighted location. I was a minimum of 45 min away so I called Lee but he didnt' have car so he had to scramble. I ran Edge early and started home but Lee called and said he had a ride and could take the dog so I went back to the trial. He walked this squirrely little suckers back to our barbed wire fence, lifted it up and his dog pushed them all thru. He locked them all in the dog kennel. By the way there are 6 now.. a baby was born while they were out running around.

Lee's truck may not be fixed for a few days and when it gets fixed, he is going to take the sheep back to his house because there is another due to lamb and he needs the ram to breed some other ewes and maybe he doesn't trust me anymore?