Did you miss me?

Yes I have not been faithful to blogging as of late. You see, it finally has gotten nicer outside. That means I am outside most of the time. I'll catch you up on whats been going on.
Just shortly after my last blog the last of the hair lambs was finally born.I had given up on that last sheep and figured she had not been covered, only to find her with a cute little ewe lamb when I went out to feed one morning. She was a very small thing and I was joking with Erin one morning that she was dinky...so Erin said that should be her name and well it stuck and so it is!

We had a tremendous spring storm blow through a few weeks back with several confirmed touch downs of tornado's and wind shears. We must have had a wind shear blow across our place . The following morning I found several trees uprooted or snapped off about four feet up the trunks. Many branches driven into the ground several inches , standing erect . Some of the trees were old favorites . One a White Birch tree. Paul and I with the help of the John Deere tractor and tow ropes were able to right it and it seems to be doing well. Sadly another old favorite, an old Crab Apple tree was not so lucky. It was snapped off just below branch length and lay helpless . Full of blossoms never to open.

Yesterday marked a year since we said good bye to our Deigh. It still is hard to believe she is gone. We miss her so very much. Cancer is a horrible thing to lose a loved one to , be it man or beast.

Last weekend I went to my first trial of the season. It was great. I only got one dog in Open and ran Spirit. She had a good go the first day with a completed run , but ran late on day two and the sheep were heads down grazing when she came on her lift. She was very patient and polite to a point. When they gave her no other option she grabbed one and "escorted" it down the fetch. Result disqualification, but to be honest I'll take it over a stand off. I looked for that sheep the next day (it had a tell tale tuft of wool on the throat ) and it was very well behaved .

I ran my two young dogs for the first time ever. I chose the Nursery class as I just can't financially swing both Pro/ Novice and Nursery. I was very pleased with both dogs. No qualifying runs but not bad at all. Flint had a 20/10/20 for outwork and fetch. Things fell a part on the drive, not bad ,  but it was the Open drive from the day before and each panel was just a little past his comfort zone. Instead of grinding to get a panel I turned a bit short at each one. It cost me drive points but worth it to me. Finishing with a 10 point pen. Not bad for his first go. Rush had a slight mishap for her first go. None her fault. I was not aware the person before me scratched, so was standing chatting under the handlers tent looking at the run I thought was two before me. Only as the run was finishing did I see that the person before me was not in the waiting area! Uh oh too late now to get there, and Rush never had a chance to see the sheep come to the set out spot before her run. So after the run I headed out to the post from the sidelines, only to have the sheep come out of the exhaust area as we were making our way out. Rush's set was already in place so she never saw movement in the correct direction. At the post I set her up on my left, then my right telling her "look' each time she craned backwards to where SHE saw sheep last. I felt I could never get this fixed and could not convince her to look UP the field. So I set her up on my right. I knew she would cross over but felt if I could stop her I might just be able to redirect her. She crossed over right at my feet as I said away..and yes to her she was going away to get the sheep located in her mind behind us. I blew a stop whistle and thrilled she took it on the first whistle. Then the test as she looked at me confused. I said look back and dang it if she did! She saw the correct set of sheep and the cast was lovely but for the cross at my feet!. She had a 1/10/ 19. Her drive was much better than Flint's but again just a bit too long for her comfort. Her pen had one sheep go almost in but then stalled and almost pop out but she flanked where she needed to be and tucked her in, 9 point pen. When I was walking to the exhaust the judge stuck his head out of the truck to say he did not think I was going to pull that off and that he liked both of my young dogs. I honestly did not think I was going to get Rush to turn back and see the right sheep either and was honoured that someone I admire saw the good things I see in them too. They finished 7th and 8th respectively out of a 14 dog class.

 Had the sheep shorn yesterday. I used a new shearer this year as my usual shearer is not feeling well.

I used Rick Jones who is located down around the Gettysburg area of PA. his # is 717-309-6582

Rick is a very pleasant young man and has a kind way with the sheep. If your in the PA, NJ MD, Upstate NY area and looking for a shearer I highly recommend him.

Last week we had a string of warm sunny days, no rain! I got the garden turned over and raked all the rocks out and started planting. I made a little rock planter in front of the house too.

Each day I took the dogs down to the water for some fun. They just love it and I get a kick out of them splashing and playing.

So that is about it for now. I'll close with a few pictures of the west side of the farm looking to the east. The beautiful old Apple tree near the barn is full bloom.