It' that time again

The hay is finally cut and stored in the barn for winter. The yield was less than last year, though still a good amount. Roughly 41 tons stowed and ready for winter. 

In comparison to the year before , Too much rain, equipment breaking, Nola's appendix acting up and needing immediate removal, the Ram's pen in the way for easy off loading of the hay wagons, this year was a snap!
We had one equipment failure with about 100 bales left to go. It was able to be fixed the same day so was only an hour or so of issue rather than weeks. The weather was great and we got it cut and off the field a month before last year and over a few days as opposed to drawn out almost a month last year.
The hay looks great and so all I can say to Old Man Winter is " Bring it on! "

Paul's Dad and Brother and our Nephew came up for a visit last weekend. We had a good time and went to the Wayne county fair. While our Nephew Chris enjoyed this he really enjoyed the farm it's self and it was cute to see him tell his dad when it was time to go that he was staying here with us!
It was great to visit and see Paul's dad and brother as I have not seen his brother since moving and his dad since last year at this time when he and Paul's mom came to visit us.

I am looking forward to my brother coming next week with his wife Linda for a visit. We should have some fun and it will be great to see him.Linda's family lives upstate NY and so the will split the time between here and there. Linda's family has a cabin on a lake and I know how much they both enjoy staying there.

The garden is finally giving us a small sample of what it has to offer.The cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers are tasty. Corn is doing well. Pumpkins look good and I have a few Honeydew Melons coming along. Sunflowers are ready to pop .

Dogs have been working well, now that the hay is cleared off. I went to a trial this past weekend and saw good and bad in where we are at.
Bracken ran a bit too wide on her outwork , though I was able to get her relocated back behind the sheep. I can't get on her too bad as this will be her third trial in about two years. One last year before she had the pups and one this past June. Spirit and Dream did not do bad. The first day it was my fault for sending both to the left when it clearly was a right hand outrun (Bracken who I ran first both days I did send to the right...go figure). Both Dream and Spirit needed to be redirected to go deeper. Day two I sent them to the right and both ran out well.  Day Two Spirit did quite well and was just shy of USBCHA points. If only I had been able to get a shed. Dream got a re run on Sunday because her sheep bolted. She had run out well and did catch them but as I was working the sheep down to me I was asked to call my dog. On her second go she ran out well but something was off at the top.The sheep bolted for the set out but Dream was unable to stop it this time. I later was sitting under the handlers tent and asked if my dog was okay. I answered " yes, why? " and then was told that Dream was vomiting at the top. I wondered if maybe she had drank too much water in the camper.
 After her first go I had put her up in the camper while waiting for the re run. Poor Dream.
Outrun, lift and puke!

The course was changed from past years and it made a good challenge. There were so many dogs that would run out, crest the hill and then be lost out of sight over the back side of the hill .  With a few prayers and a little luck, some dogs would land in the right spot and come up and lift the sheep.
MANY dogs ran past the sheep and would be seen on the far left or right of where the sheep were, still running hard to find them.
Some could be redirected behind and others it was a hopeless cause.
One run that stands out in my mind was Rob Drummond's old Ben. 11 and a half years old. Rob was conflicted about running him on this hilly biggish trial field...but I can tell you he looked fit and keen. Saturday he had a beautiful run.It was a pleasure to see. He ended up in fourth place and I was so happy for Rob. It is hard when you have such a wonderful comfortable working relationship with a dog and know it is time to retire them.
I was happy Rob will have this run for his memory of his dog Ben.

I have been busy in so many ways.
I purchased a few weeks ago a used Sydell sheep handling system in MD and went down to pick it up. Of course on the drive down there was some accident causing I-95 to be closed and I to be sitting still in traffic and 100 degree weather for an hour more than I would have liked. Blech.
Had a great visit and stayed over for the night. Had told my guests I may be up and gone in the AM . I left at about 5:30 to beat the heat and traffic. What I did not know was that on the drive home many of the rods that are used to link the equipment together were bouncing to the back of the trailer and then sneaking out the little gap between the door and floor! I still am amazed that during my four hour drive home not one person pulled up along side of me to shout "hey lady, your dropping metal rods out the back of your trailer!". I am just glad that I did not cause an accident or kill someone with the rods bouncing out the back end of the trailer!

The slide out on my camper was fixed and it was working well at the last trial...of course I had something else happen. Are you surprised to read this, yeah I thought not.
Saturday night after dinner I went back to the camper and cranked up the generator so I could take a nice hot shower. After the shower I read some and then called it a night. I went out, turned off the generator and found that my camper was dark. NO POWER at all. It is now 9:30 at night black as I don't know what out and I can't see a thing.Can't find a flashlight. I find the little lighter thing I have and click it on. So there I am bent over, in the camper with the flame as high as it can go so I came maybe see what is going on.
It dawns on me that I am bent over looking under my cabinets with a high flame . HELLO??!!! I went back outside mumbling things I will not repeat. Thankfully I found another night owl out and asked Barbara Levinson if she may have an extra flashlight I could borrow. She did so at least I could see well enough to take out my contact lenses and call it a night. The next morning I asked Mr Fix it, Warren Mick if he could take a look.Warren has helped me more times that I can count and found that the battery connection was rusty. He is such a nice guy. He sanded the cable and terminals and I was good to go! 

We have a bumper crop of Humming Birds this year. We think they are nesting in the pines between my parent's and our house. I just think they are the neatest little birds. Very hard to photograph!

Well that's about it for now.