water world

Do you remember months ago I had wondered what Mother Nature might have planned for our summer? Well, seems she still have a bug up her rear end.

The weather has been all over the charts. Crazy down draft winds, heat , humidity, unusually cool.

Rain...did I mention the rain?

Not just showers but man when it rain's it pours. 5 inches in a few hours type rains. Washing roads out, digging deep crevasses out of  roadside runoff ditches...flooding low lands.

We had a storm this past Friday that dumped about four inches of rain in just a few hours .



sheep pasture



sheep pasture

This also has been problematic for getting hay up. Our hay is still not cut and has yet to be. So sad really as it was looking so good and now is past and gone to seed. There is new growth coming up but the yield will be less than if it was cut back in early June.

I also am itching to have this big field back for training! Seems when I need it the most I can't get on it.

I managed to get to some trials this year. Thrilled to say I got one of my young dogs qualified for Nursery at our National Finals. It had been a goal of mine to achieve this . Both are running pretty well and the other pup ran fine but was just edged out of qualifying. If three were to get a leg he was fourth . If it were four , he was fifth. The crop of Nursery dogs here in my area is pretty nice so it was not easy to get a dog in. I am thrilled that these two, just turned two at end of May are able to run as well as they are.

Dream even managed a few placements in Open with a good healthy numbers in the 70 and 80 dogs entered to run against.

I found running at trials four weekends in a row a bit taxing. I also found my timing got better and I was reading the sheep and adjusting the dogs better. Not perfect by a long shot. Interesting at end of day to talk about runs and gathering different perspective on how one handled things. I thinking one way (wrong choice!) and having a friend explain to me how I should have went about it another way. Of course I wished I had figured it out at the time of the run but that is how it goes!

So I'll be home for a while now. Hopefully putting hay up, working on finishing a fencing project and enjoying my little slice of heaven.



catch a wave

" Catch a wave and you'll be sittin' on top of the world " - Beach Boys

Since I grew up on the shore and swimming was a important part of summer activities as a child, I liken body surfing (no, never tried surfing with a board as I am much to spastic to know I could never stand erect on a surfboard long enough to even entertain riding a wave) ocean waves to competing in sheepdog trials.

As a child there was nothing grander than hitting that sand at a full run , feeling its warmth squishing though your toes as you gazed at the waves you soon would be swimming in. The ever quest to catch that "perfect" wave that picked you up and carried you all the way to the shoreline and gently slipped away from under you , leaving you full of exhilaration. Up you got and back out looking for the next best wave.
Over and over again you would see a wave and start swimming as hard as you could to the shoreline.
Hoped you timed it just right to catch that wave .
Many many times your timing was just slightly off, or the wave was not a good one to give it a go.
It either grabbed you and hurled you forward as you struggled to keep with it and stay on top,  If you stayed with it , you were thrown down on the shore and you quickly got up to your feet so it did not drag you back out and allow the next wave to crash on top of you and beat you up.
Or a wave that started out brilliant only to peter out half way and leave you bobbing or the worse case, it ferociously crashed on top of you, grinding you down to the ocean floor. There you would be rolled , spun, scraped , dragged across the bottom thinking you may drown. You were spit out on the shore, a bit disoriented. Maybe even a little embarrassed as the people standing at the shore line were certain to see you washed up .

After a moment of regrouping, heading out a little deeper into the water to discreetly remove the ten pounds of sand that were now located in the crotch of your bathing suit , you headed back out to deeper waters...because you knew in your heart of hearts that there would be another great wave to catch.

Even if you were there all day and there was not one good wave, you left feeling it was worth it and the next time the waves just may be better. Sometimes the waves may have been very rough and you were a fool to have gone out there swimming, leaving you just a bit tentative about getting out there again.

But again you did go. Once you got over the initial shock of the water and were again looking for that perfect wave, you had all but forgotten about a bad go out there.

When you catch that wave (or have a good run at a sheepdog trial) there in no better feeling. When things don't go as you had wished and the wave eludes you  or beats the crap out of you, you still need to keep heading out into deep water. For me at least quitting is not an option.
That is the only place you can take a chance on the "perfect" wave.
Standing on the shore with the water gently lapping your calves will only cheat you of the pure enjoyment of trying to master something that is not ever completely in your control.
Good waves , perfect timing and a little luck is where it's at.

When you hit the wave just right it will stay with you a lifetime , you will forever be on the quest for the next perfect wave .

blah blah blogging

Well I'm not one who is going to update if there is not much to say. Do you REALLY want to know about what I ate or what store I may have visited  or if I slept well or not? Yeah, I did not think so!

I went to another dog trial a few weeks ago. Ran Dream and Spirit in Open and Rush and Flint in Nursery. What can I say other than I bombed. Dream ran the best of my dogs and that is saying very little. Spirit was not worth commenting about. She has had intermittent lameness on her left and then right front. She did test positive last year for exposure to Lyme Disease so I have her on "Doxy". Still I am not using this as an excuse for her poor work.

 Again I did get several nice comments on my two young dogs from some seasoned Open handlers as well as Amanda Milliken ( Clive is their sire ) commenting on her liking both, Flint a bit more than Rush. The Nursery class started off the trial with un dogged sheep. Both pups worked with valiant effort and managed to get sheep down to me each time, but they were way out of their league. Running out of time without completing the drives or Rt's for loosing them to the exhaust due to running sheep and dogs too wide going around the post..Both dogs crossed over at my feet the first go. Since this has happened with Rush at both trials (granted her first trial she was insistant that the sheep were behind us after she saw them come out of the exhaust pen) and at the first run this last trial with Fint it is something I really need to address! Second go both had beautiful outwork.Their first trial was only one Nursery class and this last was two runs. I at least this time was able to get good outwork on the second runs and need to figure out why they were having issues with "setting up" to run out for the sheep.. There is hope just the same!

Still I was not unhappy with what they did, just wished they had done a bit better overall.

My wool sheep are just about finished with lambing (I have two left who were exposed to the Ram , but neither looks very big) have a nice assortment of lambs . Several colors. Seems I am 50/50 with break down of both hair and wool in sex but ewes are just one each more in both.

Here is a small sample of this years wool lambs

I have started tearing down a fence line that was four strand barb wire and wobbly posts. It took me several days to remove the wire and pull posts out but hopefully Paul and I will start setting posts and stringing the new woven wire this weekend.

The weather has been very temperamental this spring and once again we had some terrific winds blow through late last week and toppled that white Birch tree again. Paul and I topped the high branches while it was layed on it's side and we pulled it upright again. I think it should handle the winds better now that we made it's center of gravity just a little lower. It's blowin' to beat the band today so should be a good test to the theory!

So far this spring we have had late snows, below average temperatures, flooding rains strong winds and or tornado's and just a few days ago three days topping out at 90 F each day. Yesterday was 92 and today it is hovering about 70 with 20 to 30 mph winds. Tonight it is to go down to low 40's! Wonder what Mother Nature has planned for Summer ???

Lastly I'd like to share something I found while out on a walk with the dogs (well to be honest Bracken located it!) A clutch of wild Turkey eggs! I thought it was pretty cool to see them. Not much of a nest builder they seem to be. These eggs were on the ground in some tall brush just under a smallish Multi Floral Rose bush. Mama flew up into a tree when we stumbled on her. I hope she hatches them out and was not too upset with us.

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.

Rainy days and Monday's, Tuesday's Wednesday's.....

What is going on with this weather pattern ?
While I am very happy not to see snow on the ground , that nasty four letter word has been replaced with another. RAIN.
Is Mother Nature having some torrid affair with Old Man Winter and just can't seem to let him go?
Will Spring EVER grow a spine and kick him to the curb?
Is the Sun feeling so guilty about the devastating effect it's causing due to global warming that it has hidden it's self away in deep depression ?
I have more questions than answers.

It's been some time since my last Blog. Sorry about that. No real excuse.
I'll catch you up.

I am feeling better each day.
I had a friend come up last Thursday to work her dogs at a different place. (BTW, it was a rare beautiful day) I have not seen her in years. It was great fun. She had told me about her dogs and what she was concentrating on.
I really liked how kind and thoughtful they were to my sheep. Nothing rash and the sheep were a good indication since they do not get worked often by outside dogs. They were very relaxed to have any of her dogs engaged with them.
These dogs suit her too. She had such a nice , calm way of working them. Her one dog who is about three  she had told me had been getting away with some "on his own" stuff. She has worked very hard this winter to correct these bad habits. Of what she told me he had been doing and what I saw the day she came to work, it has payed off. Her dog showed none of the things she had told me he was doing. I am sure this made her very happy.
While she was here I asked her to set sheep for my two young dogs. Up to now they have only taken sheep off dog/handler once before this past Fall. I had no idea what I would have. I had not worked them in months. I was really pleasantly surprised with the work. Listening for the most part. They remembered their whistles. Heck I was happy I REMEMBERED the whistles!
She set sheep and I had each dog do an out run in both directions. They did well. They were deep enough and lifted well.
Many times young dogs sort of do outrun and fold in behind the sheep. A little tight and cut the top off. Both young dogs had a distinct break between outwork and lift. I was glad to see they were not too bothered by a person or dog. I was most impressed with the fact that Flint was able to take control of his sheep while the bitch that was being used to set was in heat.
 A risk, but he passed with flying colors . Never even gave her a glance.
This gave me a jump start and am getting dogs out a bit each day.UNLESS it's raining too hard. My open dogs are too fat. I have been trying to trim them down and fit them up. The three of them look like blimps with so much down time and too much kibble!

I have a girl coming while I am recuperating from my surgery to care for the farm animals She works for my neighbor Nola and her name is Erin. She (thankfully) likes the sheep. She was calling the last little hair lamb we had Layla. She mentioned she was not sure why she called her this . So Layla it is!




Erin feeding the sheep. Layla is the little lamb just to the right of the fence post

 

We also had a scare with my father . The weekend before last the phone rang at 3:00 AM on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I don't even remember hearing it ring but somehow found myself standing in the living room ,phone up to my ear saying "Hello?" It was my mom telling me my father was having chest pains. Thankfully they live here on our farm so we threw on some clothes and went to their house. My dad did not look good, but he was alert and sitting in the kitchen.

A call to 9-11. They were here in pretty good time. Maybe 20 minutes from when we called. It could have been less but time seems to stand still in these situations. Thankfully after a trip to the hospital and several tests the Doctor said it was an Angina attack. He is doing well. As well as any 90 year old person can do!

We have had a few visitors to our bird feeders as of late. The bird feeders are less than 30 feet from out house and was surprised to see deer out there one evening. Now we know why the bird seed has been vanishing overnight. I managed to get a photo of one of them before they moved off.

A plus is that if you recall both my two young dogs were under the impression last year that they were Scottish Deer Hounds and not Border Collies. They were really irritating (scaring the s*** out of me to be honest) me with taking off to chase deer if we stumbled on them while walking the farm. I worked hard at teaching them this was not going to become a habit.

So a few nights ago around ten I took the dogs out for "last call".  I always take Flint out first because he is too busy and interested in the other dogs that he takes forever to do his business. I'm tired and it just works better this way.

Out the door we went and there was the deer. Less than a stone throw for a fast dog. I said "ahhh you, get out of that" and he stood staring at the deer. I called him back into the house and he turned without hesitation. The deer moved off and we went back out when it was all clear. 

I would not have been too happy to be calling after him in the dark of the night if he had chose to chase. Good dog , Flint.

A deer in the flash bulb light

Lastly, as I mentioned the weather has been pretty dismal .

On Saturday evening I took these two photographs of the weather situation.

To the west was some angry heavy rain and strong winds on it's way in, to the east was a Rainbow.

Today the fog was thick enough that you could maybe see about 100 yards. It's predicted it will make it into the low 70"s F. That would be nice.

Well, I was biding my time waiting for the fog to burn off. Looks to be mostly gone so heading out to do a little training with a few of the dogs.

Today is April 7

let me repeat that. Today is APRIL 7.
When I think of April I envision grass starting to get green, warmer air to breath, less clothes to wear.
Was I a "happy camper" when I looked out my window this morning to see this?

Hell NO!

on the plus side went out to the barn and found a little ewe lamb had come into the wintry world overnight.

Genetics are an interesting thing. Black mother ,black with some white father and she is mostly white with some black and brown spots.

So I have one yearling left to lamb and I will FINALLY be finished with the hair sheep for lambing.

I am feeling pretty good . I had a sciatic nerve issue after my surgery that was making it very painful to walk let alone get around. One minute I was fine and then bam I could not even bear weight on my leg without it feeling like someone was stabbing my right ass cheek. I was getting quite down about it. Between that and the bacterial infection the surgery was a breeze!

Then one night I went to bed and woke the next morning and as the day went on ...no twinge. Then a few days went by and nothing. Whew.

Why it was there and now gone I don't know. I just hope it stays away.

I plan to start up with the dog training next week. I have a good friend who I have not seen in a very long time going to try to come up and work her dogs and set sheep for my young ones. Looking forward to getting back to it and spending some time with a friend is always a bonus!

April Fool's Joke?

Sorry to say but it's no joke, North East Pennsylvania is snow covered once again.
At least the storm moved just a bit more east and we have more of a nuisance type snow than the eight or so inches they were predicting for today.

Still , what is going on ? Where's the " early " spring that stupid groundhog predicted???

What happened to March being ..."in like a lion, out like a lamb" ?

What kind of twisted game is Mother Nature playing?

Two more lambs were born since my last blog. A very tiny black ewe lamb and a brown badger marked ram lamb. Neither looked too thrilled with today's weather.

To be honest the mature sheep don't look thrilled either. I am sure they are looking forward to tender fresh shoots of spring grasses to feast on instead of last years hay to grind through.

Little by little I am feeling better each day. I hate that taking a few walks with the dogs has me spent by the close of the day.

I am sure once I finish with the antibiotics on Tuesday I'll start feeling stronger. I have found myself falling asleep for a half hour in the day and hardly able to stay awake past nine at night lately.

A strange thing for a person who usually has trouble with sleep!

The dogs are completely irritated with my health situation. SO much down time . If they thought I was slow moving before my surgery , I can only imagine what they think of me know. Still, they have been civil for the most part. The two sisters Dream and Spirit finding comfort with each other on the couch. Both knowing soon I'll be up and around and back to my old self.

Hopefully feeling even better than my old self !

 I have entered a few sheepdog trials in May .

I am hopeful that I'll be feeling better and that the weather will be kinder so I can tune up the dogs for them.

I was really wanting to get to more trials this year. Still when I add up entry fee ( three Open dogs , two Nursery/Pro Novice dogs)  travel expense and farm care while I am away it might end up not being as many as I would have liked to get to .

Mega Millions , Power Ball can you help me out here?