22 years ago today

It really is hard to believe 22 years have passed since we said "I do". 
I guess there is some truth to the saying "time flies when your having fun!"

I do have breaking news! As of 5:30 last night we finished with getting our hay in !!! Yesterday we managed to get 562 bales off the last of the field. With the help of three boys, Cody,Joe , his brother Nick and some help from Rob's wife a powerhouse turbo charged Porche (I mean, if she was a car) Nola.
We put up about six wagons of hay in just a little over three hours.

Remember that empty loft I showed you a while back ?



please note the light bulb at top right of loft.



no room left in main loft , so started stacking in the side loft.

so , lets see...what else have I been up to you may be asking yourself ?
Well, the posts are set for the new pasture/horse turn out/young dog training field.

Still need to set the H braces and gates as well as the woven wire fence .

I've also been brush cutting.
Since we moved here I had a pasture roughly three acres on the east side of our property that was going wild. Blackberry and my Nemesis, Multi Floral Rose were getting a foothold in it. I had been a little leary of it because it was somewhat of a steep rolling field. I have a healthy respect for machinery and it's limitations. Rolling a tractor is just not that high on my list.
Yet it was really starting to irritate me to see land I could be using , but hell it was so overgrown I could not even get TO it .
So I said screw it, lets just try and see how far I can get. Now I will admit , I had a few "pucker" moments while I was reclaiming what is ours but in the end a huge satisfaction to have grabbed this land back from my prickly thorn encrusted Nemesis.



brush cut path to reclaimed pasture

Also finally got around to setting up the sheep handling equipment I bought last year!

We will have some tweaking and modifications to what we have set up right now, but as I mentioned to Paul at least we know how it goes together the next time!

  

Other than that, same old.

Had my friend Lori come up a few weeks ago to borrow some puppy sheep for her next hopeful, Anna. Same way bred as her Matt who she is doing so well with.

My friend Maggie was up Tuesday to visit and work her young dog Strike (litter mate to Rush and Flint) on out flock. I video taped her work sessions for her . Strike looked great.

So now, I need to get back to a little training of my own. Have been doing work but not managing to train. I am seeing that I have been letting some little things go, because I just want to get 'er done. Older dogs can be forgiving of this but I see a little slack in the younger ones. Got lot's of spaces and stock to mess about so will get back to sharpening up a little sloppy handling ! It is after all my fault , not the dogs.

Finally I'll leave you with a sunset from the other night. While having this farm causes me not to be able to get away often, there are so many times I think to myself  "now why would you want to ever leave" ?

hey (hay) there.....

Those of you who follow this blog may be wondering whats been going on here at the farm ?
Well, we have been struggling with getting hay off and put up for winter.

We started out haying on 7/20 just as a heat wave was cresting in our area. Great for drying hay , not so much for those of us putting it up in the barn! It was up in the hundreds outside

Inside the barn offered little relief if any. Just as hot, no wind to at least wick off the sweat .

The first day we managed  280 bales in

Day two we got  an additional 534 bales put up.

Then the weather just would not cooperate and was threatening to, or delivering rain so we were not able to cut and bale again until the 26th.
At least the weather broke (well sort of, it was in the 90's now instead of  100's) and more hay was cut

At the start of this cut we were to have at least three days of sunshine. Then Mother Natured thought she would have some fun and give me an Atomic Wedgie  . 

We managed to get 120 bales put up off the smaller field but the other section of the large field was still just two damp. Rob baled a turn or two and brought it home to be fed straight up to Nola's horses.

Day three was looking to rain in the afternoon and in an act of despair Rob handed me the reins over to his tractor and I worked at getting the hay rolled over and dry while he was at his day job. 

I took 'ol Betty Ford (that is the name of the tractor) around twice that day and got the hay good and dry.

We would have pulled it off too, had we not had an equipment break during baling. All that effort only to have the tongue break between the baler and the hay wagon!

We got 80 bales put up that were in the wagon and Rob raced home to weld the piece back together. Then the rain came. For about 30 minutes it just poured . Why I could almost hear Mother Nature cackling with laughter over the thunder. The witch.

We lost a good three ton of hay that was left out there.

Rob came back with the newly welded part and a rainbow arching over the hay  field as we were hooking things back up.

Ha Ha Mother Nature, your so funny. NOT!

Rob cut more hay on 7/30  and we sold it straight off the field to Nola, managed about 385 bales that cut.

We were going to cut today but again the weather did not pan out, nor does it look good till early next week.

So we have this stacked in the barn, just around 1000 bales

and guessing there is around 500 or  more out there waiting.

In addition to haying we are working on a fencing project. Paul has all the corner posts sunk and part of one fence line the posts are set.

I have not done any training per say with the dogs , but have been pairing up one young dog with one of the older dogs to bring sheep out to E net and again to bring them back to overnight pasture. So other than a little guidance from me they have been just working and figuring things out on their own.It has been a nice break for me too. I also find it interesting to look at the different pairings of dogs and how the work together to get the job done.

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.