Adventure to Alabama

Not much sleep last night, but got up and on the road at 6:20 still dark  I pulled out of the driveway and heard some grinding noises but thought nothing of it. The trailer always makes noises.  After driving about 4 miles I remembered that Iforgot to close the door and put the steps up. Uh oh. So I pulled over and yes the step were all bent up --crap-- I managed to close the bottom step enough to keep going.  10 more miles and I thought I left the door open what if my stuff that I had just jammed thru the door had fallen out. I pulled over again to check. Phew it was all there.

Uneventful until a gas and empty black water stop. Actually that went very smoothy and back on the road for only another 100 miles.   I get to Rogers and pull in where I normally pull in and the trailer catches a wire that was loose from the storm and I pull the whole thing down which was of course a live electric wire. no shock. yuck yuck

Joe helps me back in the trailer and level it and I look for the keys for the storage areas on the trailer which I had just locked back at the FlyingJ when I emptied it,.  NO keys anywhere,so I cna't get at my "stuff".  water hose, blocks, etc.   Then while I am thinking about the keys and where the heck were they I realize I had probably pulled them out of my pocket when I pulled my car keys out andthey fell on the ground and I didn't notice. Great.   I called the Flying J and sent them out into the parking lot and they found them and will hold them until Monday. Still can't get in the storage bays.

Joe and Roger remove the bent stairs from my trailer and take hammers and a sledge to it for 2 hrs. They gave up and we had lunch.  2 more younger guys show up and pop it twice and its good to go and now its back on the trailer and usable and while they were at it they popped by storage units andthey are open now too.

hot shower and heat on and I'm going to bed.  night

Herding Fun Day

It was a small turnout but the dogs were nice and the people were too. All seemed interested in continuing training. The lady I met when I went to the wrong place to pick up my raw food came back and she might be interested in keeping the goats thru the summer.  It would be better if they did not have horns. 

We reinforced the duct tape on the pvc pipes on the goats horns and we wormed all of them.  Worms are a huge issue down here although they looked pretty good to me. Better safe than sorry. They can just drop dead at a moments notice.

I have the trailer packed and ready to go to Al tomorrow but the weather report is not the best. Might have to hold off for a day. 

Sister and BIL visit

 Carol and Mike got here last Tues and Mike has been working his tail off on my house. Carol and I have been galivanting.  Mike and Carol bought me a TV mount and Mike put it up. It's perfect.  He fixed the rotted casement on the back door, went on the roof and put screening around the chimney so no more birds in the stove.  He hung the heavy grate over my bedroom door and hung a serape by the dining table and another serape over the guest suite(lol).  Carol and I found a crappy picture in a good frame with a double mat and glass to fit my art piece from Jean.  We painted the gold frame black and cleaned it and mounted it and it looks wonderful.  If I had ordered a frame and mat it would have been at least $200 but this cost $35 and $2 in paint. SCORE!!!

We went out to dinner once and lunch once but we ate in the rest of the time.  Today CArol and I went to the Cedar Lake Quarry garden.  We went to Rainbow River state park on Friday and we really liked it. Lovely gardens and waterfalls. 

I found an old log piece today with a bunch of air plants on it and I hung it on the back deck.  I also picked some grapevines and made a wreath covered with spanish moss. Not sure where that is going to go.  It's beginning to look like a home.

Barn Hunt Trial

  I entered Dually in his first trial. He got 2nd place in his first run.  His 2nd run he hit really hard on an empty litter tube and I called it so we nq'd.  I was afraid that might happen because yesterday we did  a senior practice run and he hit on 4 rats bing bang boom and then when I was trying to drag him away he hit on a litter tube hard.  So I guess he's a little confused on what he should be hitting on and that is to be expected since we have had very little training. But oh boy does he think it's fun.

Edge ran in Open and he hit on the first rat fairly quickly but the judge nq'd me because I had my cell phone on me. It was not on but apparently you cannot even carry it.  bummer. His 2nd run was beautiful and he won the class and High in Class too.

Finally I got a haircut today and a good one at believe it or not Walmarts.

I took pics of the goat I want to sell but I can't get them to upload to craigslist. damn phone

The goats

Yesterday I was going to try and work Kip and have Dually back him up in  the big field.  Kip lost them to the barn so we went up there and he had them cornered in the stall so I took the opportunity to work them in the stall. Not one of my better ideas. They tboned Kip a couple of times but then I got him to heel them but he wont' face the head. So I brought Edge in and they tried it on him but he will truly bite. Problem is , he wont' bite heads either, but will bite any goat I point to. Ha

Today we did not work goats. Too cold. WE went to work rats.  Dually was very frantic at first but I left him alone and he settled and found the rats and pounced on them fun.  Edge did very well too and bit again at the tubes if he could see them. Problem is they are always covered with straw and he has to learn to remove the straw to bite them.  I think it's only a matter of time.

I met a couple at barn hunt originally from Maine and we know lots of the same people so that was cool.  they are now living in their 5th wheel and have no real house.  With 4 dogs.

Geezz it's cold tonight

I did nothing all day until it was time to go to the goat roast and of course it started to rain and the temp dropped.  I went anyway and I had a good time. there were quite a few people there and lots of food.  Goat prepared 3 ways, 1 was a curry , 1 a teryiaki and the other was a kabob.  the curry was the best and I usually don't like curry(indian curry).  no cinnamon or allspice or other funky stuff in this one.

Seating was at a minimum since they had to open the house to get everybody out of the rain.  So I stood and talked for 2.5 hrs.  I was very cold when I got home and I am just starting to warm up.  It's down to 43  and still lightly raining.

I'm going over to Alan's tomorrow and going to try the new sheep out.  Should be exciting.

dog training

I wasnt'going to do it, but I was there and the opportunity presented itself(I mean train the dogs). I've mostly lost my impetus and my interest and my mojo. 

I sent Dually about 250 yds to get the goats. He stopped on the way and crossed over a couple of times but they all came back to me.  He stopped on the way back too. He stops a lot now.  He got them all the way back to the barn and I took him out and put Kip in.  I worked them in the little pen and Kip did a nice job. I flanked him all the way around and he did not try to back away from them. I walked hiim up on them and he sorta tried to hesitate but he kept going.  I was very happy with what he did. He would not have been able to do what I asked a few weeks ago.   I need to keep building his courage. 

Then Edge who did some nice flanks and some nice walkups and we are working on the inside flanks with him farther  away from me.  I tried a back up before the flank word and it sorta worked but need to work on the back up a little more.

I also replaced 2 bulbs in my outside lights so both sides of the back deck will be lit now.  Whew easy fix.

It was a cool night and a cool morning and so I didn't do anything until afternoon.  I went and did a load of laundry and went to the cupcake store. It was just okay. The coffee was good though.  Then to the Thrift store and Walmarts.  I got some fabric glue to finish the lining of the drawer in my coffee table and then "fini". 

My new couch will be delivered next Tues and they will  exhange this reclinier for another one at the same time since this one is stuck /half way up .  At least I can use it this way but would like it to work correctly. 

Tomorrow is a goat roast and "party".  BYOB.  I think water will be fine..

stupid mistake

   I signed up to buy raw food from the fla raw food co-op.  They deliver to dif areas of Fla mostly central Fla.  I picked a town that I thought was 20 min away but it turns out I was really wrong. It was 70 miles away so last night i had to make a long trip in the dark down rt 75.  I did meet a nice lady who called me today about setting up an instinct test for her dogs and 2 of her friends.  Hopefully this weekend.

The repaiman  from Blockers came and played with my chair for a while this am. He gave me a new power box but was not convinced that was the problem.  It has worked since he left.   And then the delivery guys came with my new table and cabinet/hutch.  I love it and the table too. Starting to fill up the room .  I will have a couch in a week or so and then I am done buying this year.

One of my neighbors stopped by to give my a price on mowing the pasture. He also asked me if I wanted to go to church with hiim on Sunday. I told him I was not much of a church goer(to put it mildly).

I stared to work on putting wheels on my coffee table and my hand started to kill me again so I had to stop half way thru.  Ice and  ibuprofen. 

It was a lovely day and I spent most of it inside watching Game of Thrones.

Tomorrow I need to get some dog treats to go to handling class with Edge. I still need to find some cloth to line the coffee table and I could take a quick trip to the Habitat REstore or find the store taht advertises stuff to repurpose.  NOT that i am going to buy anything.