High Ho High Ho, It's off to mow I go...

I have made good progress in getting the pastures mowed. It is slow going since it is so tall and I can't really see any of the hidden rocks. The grade of the land is less obvious as well and since this little tractor is not very wide I need to be careful about this. I have a healthy respect for the limits of our John Deere. I sure don't want to roll it on a hill!

The place looks so much better and I am happy to have some room to work the dogs or even just walk them instead of just the path around the hay field.

I still have a good bit left to go .

But hope to have it done before Rob comes over and Hays our field.

Nola told me they just finished theirs so then Rob will cut my neighbor Maribelle behind me and then us. If I can get the pastures done and then the sheep barn cleaned out we'll be doing well.

Paul has finished the inside portion of the dog runs and I am happy to be able to have more structure to the daily routine as well as them out of the house for part of the day. We hope to have the outside part of the runs done before winter.

The dogs are undecided as to if the new kennel situation is a good thing

yes Virginia , there is a " Farm Fairy "

Today's blog will be sort of in the same theme as that Seinfeld episode that went backwards from finish to start when they went to India for Suzanne Mishki's wedding.

Look at what the Farm Fairy left here this morning !

Yippee ! I can't wait to get cutting the pastures. Even with 45+ hungry mouths, it is not enough to keep up with the pastures . How can you possibly train your dogs when you can hardly make them out in the grass ???

I had my good friend Maggie staying with me the past two days while she ran her newish dog Midge in P/N at Sheepy Hollow Farm in Hop Bottom , PA. It was nice to catch up each evening and I got a chance to see

her pup Strike ( Rush and Flint's sister ) work a little.

For those who know me, they are well aware I have horrible luck with Campers. It is not as though I am careless or wreck less but seems misfortune likes to knock at my Camper door !

This past weekend was No exception. When I pulled into the dog trial Friday most of the good spots had been snatched up. I pulled   (backed into ) a spot and had done the best I could to chock up the front of the camper. Due to the slope of the ground, the camper needed to be raised high in the front to get it off the truck, let alone make it even close to level front to back. As I raised it up off the truck the wood shifted . It was not stable enough to handle the weight in the wettish soft ground making the wood sink in uneven to the ground, leaning the Camper forward on the wood chocks.

So several good  'ol trial pals helped to jack it up and rearrange the wood better . Not a real big deal but still not an ideal start to the weekend ! Could have been better, sure could have been worse.

It was HOT , HOT , HOT. Day one I ended with a retire for Spirit. She had a rank draw of sheep and she really was not listening or could not hear . This trial field, though small in standard is notorious for dead spots and tricky sheep. What ever the excuse, with 80 something dogs going to the post I did not want to waste time on a run that was getting to the point of Spirit gripping. When she gave me a flank on her drive by blowing across and close to a grip I thanked the judge and walked . Not her day.

Dream had a okay run, but both she and Spirit gave me not one flank on the fetch. Not one! Her drive was in hand and I mis judged  the second drive gate and missed them just high. Clean pen and ran short on time in the shedding ring I think, or we had a five point shed. I can't quite remember.

Day two was better. Spirit was second up to the post and ran well,  had a good fetch going and just as we neared the fetch gate the sheep leaned just a bit to the left, I flanked the dog just a tad and they veered sharp to the right and cleanly went around them and back on line as Spirit covered them . Again the flat field was a curse and I turned short in front of the drive panel as my depth perception is just horrible on flat ground and again missed the second panel high. Being up second and the drive reversed I had no chance to study the drive line. I need to see several runs across to get my bearings in even the best of circumstance. Nice pen and time was called just as I called Spirit in on her shed. She had a nice clean shed and it was a shame it would not count.So, while we missed all the panels we had good lines for the most part and Spirit worked well. Just could not see where I was and cost us both drive panels and got bested on the fetch gate by Wiley sheep..

Dream had a super run going day two and I can't count how many times I shot myself in the foot on the drive. Nice Fetch, good turn clean first drive leg out At the first panel as we got close, the sheep leaned hard to the right and I flanked Dream over and covered it. I made the panel but I did not see I had gone just past the plane and made more of a mess and lopped off my points even though we made that panel. Nice drive across and then the dreaded dead spot, Dream flanked and brought them on line to the pen though not by my asking. It looked to me we were too far away from the second drive gate when she had flanked to bring them to me.and I worried of a cut course. I then struggled to flank her to push the sheep back to the panel and again the points slipped away. I was later told I was within a few feet of that darn panel. So I pretty much wiped away most of our drive points in my blindness. Clean pen and ten point shed finished the run. Another strange thing I did repeatedly was to send the dog the wrong way from behind the pen to the shedding ring ! I just could not seem to do it right but for my last run with Dream. I even was so bad that on Spirits run after her pen I flanked her the correct way only to second guess myself and stop her and send the wrong way. I don't know why I had such a mental block with that this past trial! Stupid , careless and costly in points!

Oh well Dream did run very well in spite of me!

After my runs I packed up and got ready to head home only to find that my slide out on the Camper would not slide in ! I fiddled with the switch and it was dead. I fiddled some more and it kicked in and managed to pull it half way in.

COME ON !!!!

Fiddled some more and it went in (or so I thought )

I said my good bye's and headed for home with Maggie following me.

As I pulled out of the farm and made my right turn onto the road , the slide came out the side of my camper much to my annoyance. I limped down the road to find a spot I could pull off and assess the situation. Again I fiddled with the switch and was able to get it to work long enough to pull it back inside.Thankfully I had some help from fellow trialist and a loaner or two tension bars to " lock " the slide in place so I could get home.

So the next day I called the RV repair shop to see about getting it to them to fix...yeah  they are just SOOOOO busy that they could not even let me drop the camper off yesterday for them to look at over the next week or so < sigh  >

I returned the tension bars back at Hop Bottom and ordered two from my local hardware store. I hope I can get this fixed in the next few weeks!

sweet Dream

sweet dreams till sun beams find you,
sweet dreams that leave all your worries behind you,
but in your dreams, whatever they be
Dream a little dream....

I was pleasantly surprised with the dogs running this past weekend.
Having not done much work , let alone training since the sheep camp in May I had some apprehension of what may be.
The field was a interesting shape . Large sweeping uphill 300 something yard outrun. Level at post, large deepish swale then steep uphill and leveled off again. Sending to the left as most did also had a barn jutting out into the path causing many to flatten out at the top end of the outrun.Some jump stands and a roll top jump dotted the left side of the field though it did not cause too much problems as they were maybe fifty to seventy five yards away from the handlers post.
Other than Spirits strange outrun issue cropping up again (to my frustration) the dogs all ran quite well. Listening to me and reading the sheep correctly.
The sheep were tricky but manageable. Not easy , but not impossible. The first day my dogs finished in the 20's out of 71 dogs running. The scores were all pretty close together, with maybe a point or two separating who ended where. On day two Dream gave me a super run. I walked to the post and I waited for them to appear. Most all runs had sheep set while the last run was close to ending. My sheep were not there when I walked out. Finally we saw them and I commented "oh, here they come" And the Judge then said "and there they go!" as they shot back to set out. This always twists my gut even more than it usually feels. Yet when Dream got up there and got behind them she handled them so kind and smooth. I blew a few points at the top of the fetch by being just a tad off the line costing me three or four fetch points. My friend Lori kicked my butt after for my mistake. She's right I should have been more aggressive in my handling . But after seeing them running off while getting set I was worried and handled conservative as I felt to see what the sheep would allow as we started the fetch down the hill. I gently flanked Dream over and got them dead center after feeling them out, the rest of the run was pretty clean other than a wide turn at the post and a bobble on the drive out.We managed a pen and there were maybe only four pens that day.
Dream was standing second most of the day . Nancy Obenier tied our score with her Nick and bested us on drive points to nudge us to third. We held on to third place out of seventy one dogs running. I was so thrilled! This is Dreams first placement in Open. I am sure Deigh was so proud of her girl...now if she would just have a chat with Spirit and tell her to stop coming in half way out on outruns we could be on our way. It is so frustrating. Give her the redirect and she kicks out and takes the darn path she should have stayed on and lifts dead on. Those eight or so points off the out run killed us each day.Did she do this at sheep camp ??? NOOOOO! Nice deep 300+ outwork ,clean (though cautious) lifts. Arrggg.  I am not going to dwell anymore.
Bracken worked very well and had beautiful outwork both days. I was told by the person setting on the second day it was the best outwork of the day. It has been some time that I have had such a good go at a trial. I think I still would have gone home pleased without a placement because other than Spirit dorking her outwork (oh yeah right...let it go ) the dogs worked quite well on a difficult course and challenging stock. Bracken and Spirit still managed respectable runs finishing again in the 20's ( maybe even the high teens, not sure) out of 71 dogs on Sunday.

I got to see the Nursery classes both days. There are some nice young dogs out there. Lori Cunningham's Matt just looks and gets better each time I see him run. She did not run him at the Nurseries but did run him in Open. He managed a good run on Saturday but had some trouble taking an inside flank at the second drive gate. So hard for them to give that up at that age if the sheep cause that pressure that makes them over ride what we ask. He had a super go on Sunday and came in fourth. There was lots of good work out there. Good dogs and good handling. The pen was near impossible. Hard to get them even to the opening, then just as it looked as they would walk in they would split and run.Going around the post was hard to get a clean tight turn as as they turned to start the drive the pen was close to the post and the exhaust just down the hill . Many dogs would run wide as the sheep would bolt around the turn. Yet there were some really sweet clean turns around the post that most of us just could not help but let out an Ahhh  as it was expertly maneuvered. Very few sheds were made and cheers would come out from the side lines when one was made, good bad or ugly!
Warren Mick took the Win on Sunday and Cheryl J Williams got the Win Saturday .

For a first time trial I take my hat off to Mish Ferraro, Joe and Jackie Evans for putting on this trial.
They did a great job and the location was beautiful.

top shelf

I'm off to be humbled. Yes, going to another sheepdog trial.  Just can't get into the groove this season. No heart for it. I thought living on this farm would allow me to bring each dog to it's fullest. Seems I am always too busy to get much serious training in. The grass up to my chest is not helping much , either. Trying to train in the only field that is short enough does not allow for any type of outwork as the sheep are at my feet as the dog is coming around to the top and where they thought they would be when they arrived there. Shedding and driving a bit is about all that can be managed though driving is more point and shoot at imaginary lines to hold because of snotty , spoiled sheep.

The subject of today's blog "Top Shelf" is again to sing praise to the wonderful Doctors of Bunker Hill Animal Hospital. Dr's Michele and Audrey are top shelf in both their work skills and bed side manners.

I got a letter in the mail yesterday from Kansas State University indicating they "recently received a generous monetary contribution from Bunker Hill Veterinary Hospital in honour of your special friend, Deigh".
The letter goes on and the tears spilled as I read .
Back in January when Badger left us suddenly Bunker Hill had done this same service for him, even though they had never had the chance to meet him.
It meant as much to me then as it does now for Deigh.
I am so gifted to have found such wonderful caring Doctors to entrust my animals health with.
Thank you again and again for your thoughtfulness and compassion to my pain and grief of saying good bye to my good girl Deigh.

barenaked ladies

And a few dudes too

so the sheep have finally been shorn today, and as Murphy's law would hold true tomorrow will be quite rainy and chilly! I am just happy to have finally gotten them done. Stripped clean of that heavy itchy wool. Happy souls are they tonight. Tomorrow, not so much would be my guess.

I have been plugging along . Heart not into much of anything. Been riding Diamond sporadically. Same for working dogs. Did get out last week to visit and work with a few friends. Dogs did okay...not great but not bad either.

The grass is too long to work here. I am going to go look for a brush cutter for our little tractor. Most say don't bother but if I wait until we can get a bigger machine it will be years and I am tired of having 50+ acres and no where to train because the grass is too tall! I am forced to work in the home field. Small , hilly with a rock wall and ledge off to south side.and lots of pressure but that's about all I have to work with. The lambs are now just about old enough to use, so should be able to knock some dust off the dogs over the next few weeks.

Going to a trial this weekend. Not expecting great things. I hope I at least can get around..hell, I hope my dogs find the sheep!