In loving memory of Kilt

Today marks the Birthday of my first Border Collie "Kilt" .

He was born on 9/12/93 on a farm in PA. Well to be honest he was whelped in upstate NY and when the litter was old enough to go to their new homes they were brought to the PA farm.  I had always wanted a Border Collie. From when and what age , I can't remember exactly. I had lost my previous dog just a few months prior to Cancer. Ironically Kilts parents had bred the day my dog Raven had passed away. I always wonder about things falling together in such ways.

He was always busy and getting into things, always thinking.
I had a crate set up in our kitchen. He had a nice dog bed in it, but he had chewed away a corner and so I had taken it out and put it up on top of the crate until he was a little older and more trustworthy. Our Siamese cats enjoyed the dog bed where it had been located. Nice and comfy with a lovely view of the side yard. I happened into the kitchen and found the three cats in their usual spot, but to my surprise Kilt had climbed up on the chair and then joined them on the dog bed! I was so happy I had a camera on top of the refrigerator and quickly took the shot.

Kilt was I think the smartest dog I have ever known. Housebroken at about 10 or 12 weeks old. Learned his basic commands faster than I could give them.

He knew all of his toys by name and there were well over a dozen for him to pick.We used to hide them about the house and then ask for them by name. He always found them and brought the correct item we requested.

At the time I got him I was interested in competing in Obedience. I felt that living where I did at the time , herding sheep was not really an option.

Kilt did very well in Obedience but when he was a pup of about seven months old , I took him back up to PA and went to a clinic. Kilt was "keen" to say the least. I was hooked on the complicated dance of human, dog and sheep. I wanted the challenge . I started taking herding lessons when Kilt was a little over a year old. He had already had several Obedience Titles and to be honest we were both bored with it.

The next thing I knew I had sheep at home and started off on my journey into the sheepdog world.

I never looked back, nor have a regret to my choice. I have Kilt to thank for every thing that has changed due to that first sheepdog. Sheepdog trials, sheep, a move to a 54 acre farm in PA, each dog that has come after him is all BECAUSE of him. I can't ever thank that dog enough for the changes he has brought to our lives.

I was at one time very involved with horses, showing them. I still was riding and training when I first got Kilt but the shift was permanent. Where I once looked at and open pasture and would think "wow, would I love to open a horse up on that"...was now  "Oh man, What a huge outrun you could do out there, what a great place to work a dog".

While Kilt and I never amounted to much on the trial field , he was a good dog. Just not the stuff for sheepdog trials. As time went and I came to realise/accept this he still taught me so much about dogs, handling and training.
Never, ever to be coined and "easy" dog he was a dog that was ahead of my time.

Had he come to me now I know things would have been better for both of us.

As he aged and I had other dogs to work and train he became my husband Paul's farm dog. He helped Paul with the chores when I was off training or at a trial.

He was keen to work right to the end. I still remember several weeks before he left us , I was starting one of my young dogs out in a bigger area. Somehow, while we were out there I saw out of the corner of my eye a black and white blur squeeze through the gate and join the pup in the balance exercise. The two of them out there keeping sheep to me, the sheep not too thrilled about two dogs on them.

I yelled to my husband to call Kilt.

 He yelled back "Just tell him to lie down!"

I responded "That dog never took one stop his whole life, what makes you think he's gonna start now!"

Good old Kilt. We mourn your passing to this day but celebrate the life and love you gave us.

That'll do , That'll do

we shall never forget

The World Trade Center as it was before the fateful day of 9 / 11

I took these photographs while taking the famous Circle Line boat cruise around Manhattan.

At the time we lived about 50 miles from Manhattan.I never really was a fan of the "city" life. Paul worked there and he really loved it. So we went in for the day and did all the touristy things one does when visiting a city.
I always was intrigued by the "Twin Towers". The simple yet powerful architectural statement they gave. Their huge size as they rose above all the other buildings surrounding them.  While I think the Chrysler building and Empire State building might be more beautiful , there just was something about these two buildings that captured my interest.


The day of the attacks I will have permanently seared into memory.
Too young for John or Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King or Kent State to have had any sort of personal impact .

The day was spectacular. A calm , bright day. The sky was cobalt blue and not one cloud dotted the horizon. The air was a perfect mid 70's, the wind almost non existent.

As I sat that morning with a cup of coffee and the TV on catching the morning news, the first plane hit. In the beginning as they reported on it they really had no idea what had happened. A bomb? It was then confirmed a plane had struck one of the towers.

I called my husband to ask him if he was okay. He worked a few blocks away and said that he had felt his building shake but was unaware of what had happened.
I had told him a plane had hit one of the towers and while speaking to him I watched in horror as the second plane approached and plowed into the second building.
NO ACCIDENT!

My husband then said he needed to go down there, as he is in law enforcement .

Sometime later he called me and told me of the horrific scene that was unfolding.
As we spoke , I heard him scream into the phone  "Holy S*** ! " and I saw on TV the tower collapsing.
His phone went dead and I could not contact him .

Hours went by and I sat mesmerized in front of the TV, not knowing if my husband was alive, hurt or worse.

I finally heard from him later that night. When he finally made it home, his suit he was wearing that was a dark gray was covered in a light gray dust, his car that was black was now covered in this light gray dust.

For many months he as well as his Brother who is a firefighter worked at what was now being called "Ground Zero " helping to recover victims.

Though we lived 50 miles away, you could see the smoke and it had a smell  that had and electrical sort of scent. As the weeks past and the twisted pile continued to smolder,  when the wind blew west you could always catch the scent on the wind.

One of the things that stands strong in my memory of that day and the days to follow was the silence.
At that time we lived in a populated area. You soon get used to the noise that goes with it.
There were no planes flying overhead , no trains traveling in the distance, no road noise to speak of....just silence other than the birds and wind.

 I can still remember driving over the George Washington Bridge as I headed out of town and looked to my left to see the smoke rising from where the towers that I so admired once stood.

As the years past and I had occasion to drive out of town, I always looked to my left as I crossed the bridges. Subconsciously seeking the towers. I always said a prayer  for the lives lost as I looked across to my left, the landscape of Manhattan forever changed from what I had always known.

Today I have my American Flag hanging to pay tribute to the victims of that day.
No, I know I will never forget.

horsen' around

I have been quite bad about blogging. Lots to do, weather too nice , hay to put up for winter. Oh I can come up with more than a few excuses!

I forgot to blog about Diamond coming home and joining up with Scottie , Nugget and China Blue.

I can't begin to tell you how smooth the transition was. This little mare, just turned six is just so smart and easy . Nola was kind enough to bring her around the corner in her trailer. I was planning on riding her over but one thing led to another, Nola's rig was hooked up and well all in all it just was easier to do. Diamond loaded up easy as can be and walked off in like fashion. She took a look around and never even twitched a nerve . Walked down to the barn , like she has done it for ever. I put her up in the round pen for a few hours to let everyone get sniffs in without hoofs possibly flying. Never really much fuss other than my three were thrilled at the new addition. Diamond took it all in stride. After a few hours I opened up the round pen to let everyone get acquainted before dark and for Diamond to get a feel for her new digs. Scottie had been paying close attention and was doing his best eye candy poses. He was really stacking up and showing off his fine American Warm blood (Thoroughbred / Clydesdale ) conformation.

when I let Diamond out he showed off his fine gates, focusing on his collected trot as he knew it might catch her eye

Diamond had a few of her own moves and they were not really what Scottie was hoping for.

I am almost certain I could hear Scottie mumbling " ach, come here wee lassie , now just where do you think ye might be runnin' too ??? "

In the end girl power over ruled and Diamond settled in with her two new BFF's. Nugget and China Blue.

There was grass to be eaten, after all.

There was nothing more Scottie could do but look on . As he let out a big sigh  I am sure I heard him say   "women!" in disgust and frustration.

Splotchity

My favorite photograph of Splotchity.

It has been some time since Splotchity has passed away. We finally have the cable that connects the printer to computer (that little you know what of a Siamese cat had chewed through his second cable ) and I got around to scanning some photographs of her . So now I can pay her a propper tribute.

She was one of four kittens born one rainy day ten years ago this past May. One kitten was born dead and the three others were born to a cat I picked up while at a Lyle Lad clinic in North East PA. "Little Kitty" was I think the cutest , smallest little orange cat I have ever layed eyes on and when I expressed my interest in her I was told I could take "Buster" if I really liked her.
So when I left that March day  ten years ago, along she came in a dog crate. Yowling the whole three plus hours back to where we lived, Long Island.
Little did I know that Buster/ Little Kitty was with kittens. She was so small and maybe six or seven months old but must have gotten knocked up days before I took her home.
Two months later I had a few more kitties than planned , but what the heck and oh my gosh they were just too cute.

Of the three surviving kittens , she was the sweet gentle soul. Copper , an Orange male was playful and mischievous, Tigger was independent and tough.

Splotchity loved Paul and chose him as her person. Not that she did not love me but if there was a choice between snuggling next to me or Paul in the bed, she was next to Paul.

If it was me or Paul's lap to take a nap on she was most always bedded down on Paul.

She enjoyed the out doors but never went far from the house.

She loved the barn, but was just as happy to come inside.

We had at first called her Nickel, because she was dark silver in color, but as she grew we saw she was more a blue mottled color with "Splotches" of orange, black , silver and white.

Paul just kept calling her Splotchity and it stuck.

When we moved up to North East PA two years ago, we noticed Splotchity did not want to go outside at all. She started loosing weight, yet had an insatiable appetite. I knew from past experience this was not going to end well. We changed foods and wormed her but she just kept loosing weight. She was bright and alert....but we both knew something was terribly wrong.

We brought her to Bunker Hill Animal Hospital and tried several different things to no avail. Finally accepting that there was nothing more we could do other than love her until she was ready to leave us. It was a sad time because not only were we faced with her leaving us at a fairly young age for a cat but we had found out that our sweet Deigh was also dealing with terminal Cancer and had only months left.

We let Deigh go (at a fairly youngish eleven years old) when her Cancer metastasized mid May and Splotchity passed away this fourth of July.

It is so very hard when they leave .

"Splotchity" is survived by her mother "Little Kitty" and her sister "Tigger".

Her brother "Copper" passed away several years ago at the young age of five due to a congenital heart defect.

I know they are together at the Rainbow Bridge and he is keeping a close eye on his sister till we are all together once again.

21 years ago today

Paul and I will celebrate twenty one years of marriage today. It is still hard for me to grasp twenty one years has passed. Where does the time go?
It really does seem the older you get the faster the years seem to stream past.

My brother and sister in law are up for a visit. They got here last night after a bad trip. The flight was cancelled due to issues with the plane. They were to arrive in Philadelphia Monday evening but did not get checked into the hotel until about midnight. Then my poor brother Mike tweaked his back messing with their luggage. Both looked weary last night when they finally got here. The weather has been gloomy and either raining or drizzle since the weekend . I hope it will blow out and be sunny at some point while they are visiting. We have not had much in the way of rain and we really need it, I just wish it would have waited a week to do it's thing.

 On Monday evening Paul and I were in the sheep pasture and Paul noticed a large bird coming our way from the west.

Big birds are not too uncommon around here, as we have a healthy population of Turkey Vulture here in the warm months ....but as it flew closer and dropped lower we saw it was a mature Bald Eagle. Stunning bird . I never ever get tired of seeing them and always feel blessed that I was gifted the sight . I wish I had had my camera as it would have been some great pictures. That bird circled around us just about twenty feet overhead and then slipped effortlessly off over the hills to the south. 

15 months old and have their learners permit to drive

It has been a while since I have given you a progress report on the pups, Flint and Rush. I really am enjoying training them.
I have just started working on driving with them and they seem to be picking it up fairly easy.
At this point I still have them dragging a line, just in case .

I am just having them fetch the sheep to me and then setting it up for them to push them past me and fall behind them. No real commands other than a stop and positioning myself to help them cover a side or hold the pressure. I want them to feel this before I start adding flank commands. They still are not one hundred percent reliable to take the correct flank and I don't want to muddy the waters by adding any confusion. I am just allowing them to take the sheep away and walking into a position that  causes them to flank., stopping them before they head the sheep and asking them to walk on .
In this way I am creating a small drive and cross drive and allowing them to get a feel of the sheep and the pressures created by driving.  Both are able after just a few sessions to be able to drive the sheep in a box around me. Other than my moving to change direction I may call their name and "here" to pull them in .  Mostly I try to keep as quiet as possible so they can keep focus on the sheep and the "new" job .



Flint taking sheep away from me.

Flint cross driving

Rush taking them away

Rush on a cross drive

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.