Weight Loss

Here's a few awful photos of me yesterday, but they prove the weight loss I've been so shamelessly proud of- nearly 33% total loss since about May. I'm wearing size 4 jeans and my goal is to be in 2's by my Birthday in June. I can already pull my low-riders off without undoing them... :-) Yes, I'm as tired and wore out as I look- but that's what nights do to ya! Hopefully that'll change soon... (more on that later) First picture is little miss Ivy who is so silly when I pick her up. She thinks she's to stand on my head!


The Cruz-man and a couple other goof balls.

My man- the ever-faithful and best posing Border Collie ever. In the past I have taken group photos of the dogs for different things and have to take a million to get a good one- however, Cruz is exactly the same in every picture- posing like a pro! LOL!

So funny that I have two clone puppies. They are both their mothers through and through. Clare has a bit more white than Deal, but her build, temperament, and so far her working style are all Deal- and Ivy is a spitting image of her mother in every way!

I'm not sure Clare is even going to be as "big" as Deal. I guess I grew 'em little. I bet she doesn't weigh more than 25-28 lbs. Same with Ivy, she is small like Cruz and Gwen, but maybe weighs more than Clare. Cruz is only a little over 18" and neither Gwen or Ivy are as tall as he is.

Christmas Break!

The kids begin Christmas break tomorrow! I felt really bad for Dylan. He said last night his stomach felt weird. He was looking forward to the classroom party today and my heart sank when I called home at 7am and heard Dylan had the "poops". :-( I bought some medicine to help ease that along with the usual jello, crackers, and sprite. I also bought him some sharp cheddar cheese. I slept on the sofa while he watched tv most of the day. Thankfully by the time Charlie got home around 2:00 he was feeling better. Of course now he says he "so hungry". I'm glad it was short lived. Sick kids on holidays or school breaks is unfair! I remember a Christmas about 3 years that we all got sick, and it was a wicked sick, beat the crap out of you sick! It started with Dylan on the 23rd and went thru everyone, including my visiting parents. I got my round on Christmas Eve- lots of fun trying to cook a nice meal for everyone else that year! Yuck!! Now I have nearly 3 dozen cookies since Dylan was unable to take them to his teachers- I guess I'll take some to work. The kids have a 16 day vacation because both Christmas and New Years fall on days that add a weekend to the break. It'll be a nice break for them. They both got some very nice things for Christmas that they really wanted, so hopefully boredum won't set in too soon. Charlie's big items were new parts for his Vex robotics set. It's quite the robot. Myth Busters did an episode where they tested different robot systems, and they thought the Vex system would be a joke but they were very impressed with it. It's the system that high school and college robotics clubs use. His remote is programmed via code! It's over my head! LOL! Dylan big item is a mountain bike so he can ride easier on the grass etc. We did better with Christmas this year. I think it's the first year ever that we did not use plastic for gifts!

I work Christmas Day night, but the store closes at 6pm on the 24th, so there's no night shift Christmas Eve. So that's not too bad. Being a newbie, (not quite 9 months) I did not even bother to put in for days off around Christmas, I haven't "earned" that, imo. Rodney, one of my asst. managers told me last night that I need to be a department manager. I would enjoy that job I believe. I know I have that checked on my career preferences, but I'm not sure if I have it checked as current or future interest. Barry is going to show me how to set a geographical profile. I would like to stay at the Franklin store, but I'm willing move- to certain cities. Some cities- like Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk etc I would not go to. But I would go to Suffolk or Petersburg/Colonial Heights. Dept. manager is a pretty typical route to being an assistant manager (if that's in your future plans). Who would have thought that I enjoy working enough that I'm thinking of making this a permanent change. I'm thankful I work at a place that recognizes associates that work hard and show potential for moving on. I know when I went from break packs/GM stocker that Rodney was bummed to see me go, but he understood I was ideal for the new overnight In Stock position. It will be similar when the time comes that I leave the In Stock position. I know many other employers will simply hold back their employees because they are so good at their current position. This has happened to my brother who works for a mid-west store that is similar to Lowe's and Home Depot. Ben probably has about 10 more years left in the Navy and how great it would be for me to have a decent paying job for those 10 years. I still want to be a farmer "when I grow up", but that isn't in the cards until the kids are out of school and Ben is done, or nearly done with his Navy career. In 10 years we won't even be 50!

I'm not much of book reader, mostly because I don't really know what I want to read- what I get into. The movie, Twilight looked very cool and I heard the book was better than the movie so I picked it up at work one night. I'm really liking it and I'm turning the pages pretty quickly. I get so darn sleepy when I read... I'm about half done. Yesterday Ben brought home the 2nd book, New Moon for me. Now I really wanna finish the first one. I'm not going to see the movie until I'm done with the book. I like Vampire story lines, with their forbidden love etc... Angel and Buffy The Vampire Slayer were thoroughly watched in our house! We own every season of each show. I had a pup named Angelus. ;-) Another favorite, although it's not about Vampires is Supernatural. It's a really cool show about 2 brothers that are demon hunters. I don't get to watch much primetime tv, so Ben always buys the season dvds for me and I watch them on my kitchen tv while I'm cooking or cleaning in the kitchen. It doesn't take me long to burn through a season!

I'm having a hard time getting our family membership taken care of at the Y. Apparently it's a grant type of thing and they have not done one like this, so I just keep stopping in to see what's up. We get a free membership because Ben's duty station does not have a gym. I drive past the Y everyday to and from work. I'm doing my floor exercises at home, but I'd like to add some things. I'm starting to get some nice definition in my arms, shoulders, and back. My abs are about 90% of what I want. My thighs have greatly improved, but it's still area that needs the most work. I still really like my Bean and Iron Gym. The pushups on that iron gym are absolutely killer, but they are clearly producing results! I do sit ups and leg lifts with the Bean. When I ordered the Bean I also ordered the resistant band set and it works great for my arms, shoulders, and back. And really, when you use good form, it works your abs too. I haven't used the the iron gym as a pull up bar yet, but I think I'm almost strong enough to start doing that. With 45lb. weight loss, (I'm 5'2") I'm no longer going by weight. Now I'm simply looking for "form"- for lack of a better word. I lost almost 30% of my peak body weight. Amazing, as I never really "felt" as heavy as I'd obviously gotten. I also don't really know when or how I let that happen. I'm now back to the same dress size my nearly 15 year old wedding dress is. People at work continue to comment and ask how. I did nothing fancy or impossible. I cut back hugely and did some very doable exercise. (of course working as physically hard as I do from 10pm-7am is an added "bonus"- I no longer have much, if any, sit on my butt time) I've made myself very aware of the calories I take in and try to only eat calories that are going to do something for me- in other words very little, if any snack kind of foods. For a good while I wrote down what I ate, and that helped- seeing it in print. That was 2 fold as it helped me at a point when I got pretty obsessed and was close to over doing the cutting back. I would write down what I ate and would notice I hadn't eaten sometimes in 20-24 hours... You don't do well on that, your body simply goes into storage mode, but I had gotten to a point where I wanted nothing to do with food... I guess it was a stage. What I've done for myself is not a diet, it's a whole new way of looking at food and how I look. I am so happy to once again look like how I feel. :-) Well, it's 8:05, so I have just enough time to do a few exercises, take a quick shower, turn dogs out- put them back up and then head to work.

When Common Sense Goes Out The WIndow!

I guess by this point in my life people should never surprise me, but it still happens! Case in point is the lady that "ordered" Sly when he was a couple months old. She wanted him as a goosedog. He was not going to another handler, he was going to be her dog. I wrote a simple contract. It covered only the basics- it covered that payments could be made and the pup would be paid for before he left. It stated he would have the work done she desired (short outrun, simple flanks, basic ob., etc), it stated no refund would be made unless the dog could not perform the tasks desired or he was injured and unable to work. And of course that his papers would be transferred. No "finished by" or pick up dates were mentioned. In October I let her know he was not ready for much herding work (he was not yet 10 months)- the desire was there, but he was not ready for training. I told the lady that if she wanted to take him she could have him for $800 instead of $1000 and that she could bring him back in a few months and I would finish his training- this way they could bond. Or she could just take him for the $800 and put some work on him herself. She informed me that she had hurt herself and could not get him Oct, Nov, or December. She had already backed out on me in buying a different dog just weeks before, and with no warning she was not coming to buy the dog. I allowed her to put that deposit on Sly... So she has $500 towards Sly, but it's really only $250- if I had stuck to my contract with the first dog she would have simply been out $250- I did not have to transfer the money, but I did. Now remember while you read this that she said she could not get here before January 2009 and that Sly's training as been ongoing...

She is threatening to take me to court (in Ohio) for breech of contract. What? Somehow she thinks that I have not upheld my end because the pup does not yet have all the herding training I said he would have. Yes, I said he would have it- but I gave no dates- none. I had verbally told her maybe around 10 months, but that was not a "he'll be ready by" kind of statement and it was NOT put in the contract. First she said she would take payments until April to return the $500. (why would I return the money, I have not failed on my end) Then a few weeks later, she emailed me and said I had until January 2, listed her investigator and attorney, and said she would be filing if she did not receive the $500. I did not reply. Then last week I got an email from her saying we could "settle" this if I sent her $250 within 2 weeks.... I did reply this time saying I was not returning anything. I told her she owes me $500 and I owe her a started pup- simple as that. There is nothing wrong with Sly in the least- he was just simply not ready for "training" on sheep until recently. I like him very much and he's going to be a very nice young dog. I almost wish he wasn't going anywhere. I'm afraid that this woman is going to be unfair to him because for whatever reason she has a real issue with me. He is plenty nice that I would keep him on if he were mine. His temperament is stellar and his herding abilities are nothing but positive.

She went on to say that she has "well known trainers that have written books" that told her every pup should easily have an outrun and flank commands at a distance by 10 months and that I am a poor trainer because Sly did not. (and that she was told if he was the kind of pup that couldn't handle training pressure at 8-10 months it was not a dog she would want! (for goosework!) ) I told her I would be coming to court with numerous articles stating how every pup starts different and an early or late bloomer really has little to with the finished "product". I also asked her, why, if I was such an inept trainer would she order a started pup from me? I told her I'm a better trainer for paying attention to the mind set of the pup and that my dogs are the proof of my training. And again, please remember she claimed she could not get here to pick him up before NEXT month yet anyway!! He is coming on nicely now- now he is ready for training and to stretch out the distance some. He's very natural with very nice feel for the sheep. By the end of January, first part of Feb. he'll be a very nicely started dog with loads of potential.

Also know his price does not change no matter how long he stays- he was priced based on what he could do, not his age, or how long it took. Moneywise, having him set to go at 10 months vs. 13-15 months makes sense- but I was not going to ruin a nice dog for the sake of a sale. If I had put in the contract a specific age or date and I did not provide that, then yes I would say she would have the choice to either wait or have her money returned- but I did not- because I know you cannot do that with a puppy! At this point I suppose I could send her the lousy $250 and keep Sly so this all just goes away. But I'm holding my ground, Ben is behind me 100% and we're both content to make a trip to Ohio... Is this the most ridiculous thing you've heard!? I'm still lost as to why she thinks I owe her money?

How and why do people end up being so unreasonable and have absolutely no common sense about things!? Ugh! She's not scaring me, but I admit she's putting a bit of damper on my spirits and faith in people! This, coupled with the bs that has been going on at work, I wonder what people are thinking! I guess so many people want something for nothing. I'm also reminded that you can't trust anyone! Anyone could flip on you at any time, and that's really sad. This whole experience has put a bitter taste in my mouth to ever give someone the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the buying of a dog. I guess now I know why so many people have books for contracts- because if you don't, this is what will happen! People are not honest!

I'll try to get a video of all 3 pups today if the rain holds off. All 3 are very nice. Ivy is very fast with big square flanks already. She casts like her mama, but she does not swing to their heads and freeze like Gwen did. I'm really, really excited about her! Clare has wonderful feel for her sheep and has quite natural pace in a fetch. When she flanks she's bending off her sheep beautifully. Sly is very natural like MaryJane. He covers very nicely and is perfect at balancing. He is also very, very sensible to his sheep. I always use Cruz to help keep the sheep in a small enough area for the pups to work. He is a moving fence on the high draw side. Right now I do not have dog broke sheep- just light lambs that run past me. Last night one lamb broke away and when Cruz went to bring it back, Sly went along. He wasn't wrong, so I let him be. I expected to have to call him off once Cruz started bringing back the single. I was pleased to see that he mirrored Cruz. The lamb of course would not turn around, so both Cruz and Sly just calmly pushed him backwards towards me. Pretty nice for a pup! Calm, quiet power from a just now 12 month old- delightful! :-) Many pups would just continue to ring a single as it's quite a high pressure situation and when a sheep won't turn around it takes a lot of patience on the dog's part to keep walking on with gentle authority.

I had yesterday off, so I have the day to get some things done. I need to wrap gifts. The kids and I made cookies for their teachers and bus drivers last night. Barry helped me the other night check the right things on my career preferences for management. I have to take a "test" on the computer and have to be on the clock when I do it. We were way too busy that night and it's not something I want to rush through, so maybe I can do it tonight. Depends on how many other ICS people are on tonight. I really like what I'm doing right now, but if I'm going to stay working I'd like to do something more.

Took The Plunge and Didn't Drown!

Cruz and I jumped in yesterday. That is, we ran our first Open run! It was a good outrun distance, but doable. There was a Maltese cross rather than a shed and that was a fun challenge. We had to put them thru a specific chute, then turn them to the outside of the field to put them thru a different chute. These were FAR from "gimme" sheep! They would get up there and stall out and were professional "squirters"- meaning they'd get right to the opening and either beat the dog or the handler by slipping by. You could stomp, jump, and do just about anything with these ewes and they would hardly flick an ear! They were good sheep IMO, but not easy- as it should be. They stayed well at the top and if the dog would drive with authority they drove nice- but they had no problem turning right around and looking at a dog either! Naturally the outrun was my concern. Sending to the left gave the dog much more room, but it was slightly rolling- just enough you could lose sight of the dog, and that worried me, as I knew I would most likely have to help him some. Sending to the right made the dog tighter as the fence was there, but the fence also flared out towards the top and the dog could in fact do a very nice O/L. It was flat so you could see the whole way. My thought process was that Cruz would be able to follow the fence/woodsline- as he's used to following a woodsline on one side of the big field across the road here at home. I was bummed when he really had no clue where the sheep where even sending him right. I had to help a lot and it still was not a nice outrun. 13/20, which frankly I thought was more than fair. 8/10 on the lift. 17/20 fetch. We had to straighten the first part of the drive, but the rest of the drive and crossdrive was stellar. I think it was 26/30. After the cross drive panel we had to make a hard turn to the inside of the field to come back to the cross that was up by the post. I had one sneaky ewe, that unfortunately was the leader. On both portions of the cross she beat us- we got 2 thru each time, so it 5/10. We had the pen (also far, far from a gimme) all lined up and they were nice settled and time was called. Darn- 0/10. The extra help on the outrun was probably just about the amount of time we would have needed for the pen. We ended up with a 69 and a very respectable run. Several people commented on Cruz and our team work. It felt good that people who know what they're looking at (who didn't know us from adam) recognized his talent and my handling skills. Many people assured me that if I just keep sending him (successfully) at increasing distances he'll get the outrun. Even with the outrun loss, if we had made the pen we would have probably placed in the top ten, I think an 82 won and the scores were very tight. Placing was not even in my mind. All I wanted was to look like we belonged out there, and indeed we did. There were close to 25 entries I believe.

Deal ran in Ranch and I was fairly disappointed with her. Her outrun was crap- which she never does. I can always trust her in that once she sees them she rights herself. Well even with my assistance she went out like junk and her lift was awful. She checked up, flattened out and refused to listen to me to fix it! I was dumbfounded! She didn't give me very good fetch line flanks. The drive was the same as Open. She didn't do badly (we cleanly made both panels) until the turn after the crossdrive. She did not want to come off the pressure and give me the flank, so she ended up with the sheep quite past the panel and way out to nearly the fetchline. She would give me a half hearted flank, but was flat and would commit to flanking as far she needed. We timed out. I wasn't angry with her, but I was disappointed in her. She caught me off guard with the outrun BS. She can get locked in and not want to come off the pressure in a drive flank, but it's been quite some time since she has never given it to me after an additional stop command and big flank command. Oh well, she is only a dog! :-) The lady after us (we exhausted for the next person) ran her sheep into the exhaust fence and then sheep went running up the other exhaust fence line. Deal did a very nice job at peeling the rattled sheep off the fence and quietly bringing them the distance back to the exhaust pen, so at least she got a chance to do a little practical job and do it nicely. ;-)

I have to admit I was a bit concerned about the drive with Gwen with these sheep since they were so prone to turning around on the dog. That's what puts her into "freeze mode". I remembered how Carol had told me to use tiny little flanks to help unlock both Gwen and the sheep when that happens. I've been doing at home, and it's really starting to come together and it's working. (She will hold heads- no back down- but she doesn't like to walk into heads). Gwen's outrun/lift was stellar and it was a perfect 20/20, 10/10. Her fetchline flanks were perfect. I don't remember what the fetch points were, but not much off. The sheep went wide on the post turn (they were getting drawn to the exhaust by now). We straighted the line nicely and she really didn't bog down in doing that at all. (good girl!) She drove nicely and then at the turn after the panel she had a yee-ha moment and dove in. She grouped them right back and on our merry way we went. I want to say the drive was 15/20 or so. We got the sheep nicely to the pen and 2 went in. I should have bumped her 2 steps to the right, but I kinda let my guard down and the 3rd one squirted by! We got them all back in, getting a 7/10 on the pen. I was so proud of my freckle face girl! :-) We placed 3rd in a big class- 15 or so. Had all 3 gone in right off the bat so we got a 10/10 pen we would have been 2nd.

This was a very nice trial, with decent sheep on a nice field. It's a 5 hour drive, but it's worth it. We're definitely going back in January!

Ella and Mary Jane did very well. Perfect outrun and lift, good fetch. Ella got a little trial field frozen and let the sheep get on the wrong side of the post, so she had to re-do the turn. The rest was very nice. They worked the pen well, but alas no sheep in the pen. Ella was nervous and kinda forgot to "own" her side and let the sheep go right past her a couple times. She did a very nice job with her commands with Mary and other than letting her come just a bit too far on a few of the flanks, she was about perfect. Even novice was a big class of nearly 15. Ella got 5th! :-)

It's a beautiful day outside, so that's where I'm going! I forgot my darn camera yesterday, which really stinks because the pen and the cross was right up close- could have gotten some very good shots! I'll make sure to take it in January!

Tired, but oh well

Whew. This has been a long week, but things have a good out look. Because it's very personal, I won't be going into detail about it, but on Tuesday afternoon Ben was admitted to the hospital and will be there until Monday. He is better and all will be fine in the end. Of course this put a huge kink in our routine. My 2 days off this week were Sun-Mon. So Tuesday night I brought the boys and all their sleeping and school stuff to Tony's. Of course he would watch them for me, but he leaves for work at 5:15am, so he normally gets the kids up at 4:30am to take them to the sitter. Instead, his mother came out to the house in the wee hours of the morning. The boys still got up at 5am and I'm sure it was late when they went to bed, as it's hard for them all (7 in total) to settle down enough to sleep when the routine has been changed. They stayed at Tony's on Weds. night also. Wednesday the boys went to his house at 5:00pm because I needed to go visit Ben and visiting hours are only from 6-7pm. I ran around starting at 2pm (I slept from 9am-2) in order to get my usual stuff done, the boys, all their stuff, and food for dinner for all 7 kids to Tony's by 5pm. I drove an hour to the hospital, stayed an hour, and drove an hour back home. Was home long enough to turn dogs out and head to work. I went to work at 9pm instead of 10pm so I could leave at 6am. Tony's Mom was at the house again Thursday morning, but Charlie had an important Gifted field trip and if I left work at 7 and he happened to miss the bus I would not have had time to get him to school in time, so I was to Tony's by 6:45am. Last night the boys stayed at the neighbors- after Dylan's Christmas concert. He had to be at the high school (30 minutes away) by 6:30. It was a nice concert and was done at a little after 8pm. Ben and I were going to drive separately so I could just head to work from the school- since it's only 10 minutes from work. So instead, I drove the kids back to the house, let the dogs out, and left back to work after not quite an hour at home... My truck has put on a lot of miles this week! The neighbors woke the boys up at 6:20am and the boys walked across the yard to get ready on their own for school. I called them from work at 6:45am to make sure all was okay. I slept like crap today and I'm already tired and have nearly 12 hours to go! :-( The 3 of us went to see Ben tonight. We had to leave by shortly after 5pm. Charlie doesn't get home till 4:20... He just enough time to take a fast shower and scarf a little dinner! Dylan and I ran around and got all the animals square. I "slept" on the sofa from 10-3:30, but kept waking up. The dogs woke me a couple times because the VDOT guys were doing something on the corner. Then a board and train dog arrived... I could have slept a lot more than I did! The kids are going to the neighbor's again tonight-in about 10 minutes. I have the weekend off- thank goodness as I won't have either call in to work or interrupt someones weekend. It's been a long, stressful week and I am ready to relax, not drive ANYWHERE, and get some much needed rest! I hope the weather will be decent so I can work some dogs. I've had a stressful week at work as well due to an assistant manager and co-worker conflict in which I had to be called into the office as a 3rd party witness. My co-worker now "hates" me, but I guess that's okay. He was wrong. The store manager has always liked the work I do, and how I conduct myself and was hugely impressed on how I handled and spoke of the situation on Tuesday. He said I need to be in Human Resources... I asked him how I go about moving up in the company. He said to catch up with him, tell him what it is I want, and he'll make it happen... Pretty nice to hear. I'm not sure if I'm a human resources kind of person, but maybe I am and I just don't know it. I've pretty much been put in charge of the ICS group. We all have a job to do and we all know what it is- but I am the one who's being held responsible for the percentage that we all get. I like my job right now, but if I'm going to stay at the store, I'm not going to stay a "grunt" for very long. According to Kevin, that won't be a problem. :-) Nights are good now, but in a year I'll want days and the boys will be old enough that they can handle to occasional times Ben and I would be gone at the same time during the day.

If the sun is out over the weekend I want to take some new pictures and maybe a video of the pups. It's 9:05pm, so I guess I need to let dogs out for a bit and head to work. I am SO tired. I have a feeling I'll be sleeping at lunch.

"Black Friday"

Naturally I worked Thursday night, which of course leads into Friday morning. I have never gone shopping on "Black Friday" as large crowds are not my thing, much less large crowds of intense, sometimes crazy people looking to save $5 on something meaningless!! Thursday night I did not do my usual job. Instead I was put in charge of a group of people to help set up blitz merchandise. Blitz merchandise are the products that are only out for those 5am-11am sales. It's craziness! Our action alleys are cleared and the blitz merchandise is rolled out and we had maps of where stuff needed to be staged. It was an intense shift since I was given responsibility for not just myself but for several other people- I didn't have the luxury of just following orders. I guess that's a positive thing... We had aisles roped off and people were already standing in front of what they wanted by 3am! At 5am I had to work in the toy action alley. Terrific! (sarcasm) The crowd was insane!! You literally could not move at times and our wal-mart is out in the country! (a New York associate was trampled to death) Some people were nice, but some were quite rude! I helped one lady and wheel-chair bound husband locate the tv they wanted (via our map). About an hour later she found me, got right in my face and was very, very ugly! She said "YOU, told me the tv was in site to store and when I finally got up there I was told it was not in this area!!" I took out my map and looked again, the emerson tv she wanted was listed in site to store. I bit my tongue and politely told her "Ma'am the map says site to store and unless I personally put my hands on the product when it came out, all I have to go by is the map". I grew tired of people thinking that just because I work there I am going to magically know right where everything that just got pulled to the floor 2 hours ago is!! I was thankful I only had from 5-7am to deal with that! There is a reason I work in the back! LOL! Customers can be so incredibly rude and disrespectful and because they're customers they can be that way! Bull shit- that sucks! Rude is rude customer or not! I could never work the front end! At least not work it and enjoy it. I'm glad I have the position I have. I am swamped with work every night, move around and lift stuff for 8 hours non-stop. Especially in pets and chemicals. Chemicals is heavy stuff- cases of laundry soap and bleach is quite the work out after a pick list of 50 items or so and then binning of that many or more in the morning (overstock). And of course pets requires the slinging of bags from 5-50lbs. I'd be a bit bored up front and the time would drag. Different strokes for different folks. Many associates would never think of working as physically hard as I do, but it's what I enjoy.

We had a nice thanksgiving. It was just our family. We basically ate all day. I buy lots of things to make "grazing food" along with a ham. Then we have our turkey and fixin's around 6pm.

I have more to write, but need to get dinner made. More tomorrow.

Job Security

So I heard today that another store is about down the drain... Seems VA based Circuit City is filing for bankruptcy. Now more than ever am I glad that we depend on a military income to keep this family sheltered and fed! And to have our second income come from an over-night job at wal-mart... As I mentioned before the local wal-mart did indeed cut back on the daytime hours, but almost 100% left the overnight associates hours alone. My new position as 3rd shift in stock is going well. ICS, as it's called, is a fairly overwhelming job since this store has been "allowed" to acquire back stock that's just simply out of control! We have bins and steels that are 100% full. The paper dept. is an entire trailer that's backed into the building, and there are 3 trailers of housewares and domestics that are outside, as is the toy trailer... We (me and one other associate, or just me or just him) are expected to do several hundred "picks" a night, plus re-bin all the over stock... Hopefully this new system will cut down on the over-stock- but right now it's simply too much! For a week 4 of the dept. managers were working nights along with Sayed and I. We had about 47%. The following Saturday when it was only Sayed and I we had 41%! LOL! Dept managers..... they aren't used to real work. I'm sorry, but 3rd shift is what holds that store together! We walk into in that backroom at 10:00 with crap everywhere and the freight that's put out on the floor that has to go up (or binned- which is mine and Sayed's job after 3am when the pick lists go out of the system). This is why I have job security. Wal-mart is never going to cut 3rd shift- we are invaluable. We are the backbone of the company! If it's not on the floor, customers can't buy it! My job can be a little overwhelming, but I do like it and to work for a company that has job security... that in it's self, says something....

New Faces

My new Dorper girls plus the Dorper ram, Ram-bo (I am not responsible for that name) I've had for almost 3 years now- since he was about the new girls size!

My pretty geese. They're Toulouse X Embden. Not sure that I have a gander in the group. The above looks like it might be, but it is also what a female Dewlap Toulouse looks like.

Yes, that is a cat snacking on chicken food!

Rhode Islands are such pretty birds!

Mr. Kat-King-Cole

The chicken pen and coop that'a built right onto the barn. Guess the coop needs a new coat of paint! The 2 doors on the front open up for easy cleaning and egg grabbing.

Good News

Just had to mention that the other day when I woke up the sofa full of clean clothes were folded, the living room was picked up, and the dishwasher was running. :-) Ben came to realize I need their help and got the boys to understand as well.

Also, the All Hands Ceremony for NRD Richmond was fun. (NRD is Naval Recruiting District) Ben works at the MEPS center at Fort Lee. MEPS is where the recruiters send their applicants for all the processing. At the banquet Ben was awarded Support Staff Member Of The Year and along with that a Navy Achievement Metal (NAM). Richmond (for the 1st time) won the Eastern (there's only east and west) Large District of The Year- beating out cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, etc. All these things are huge "boxes checked" for becoming Chief next spring. So many things will change for us and Ben once he has made Chief. Naturally it's more base pay, the retirement doesn't even compare, and he can stay in over 20 if he chooses (enlisted have to retire at year 20). But more importantly will be the level of respect he will have at work and the type of jobs he will carry. The time he has spent at MEPS has been a huge career boost- it really gave him the chance to stand out and shine as an individual. The 3 year rotation will be up in July and he will be back to a carrier- most likely.

I Love Fall!

It has really been cooling off at night (it's been in the mid 30s on my way home from work), but it's been beautiful during the day. We did have a couple days of rain, but given the lack of it that we had this summer, no one complains much. The trees right now are at about their peak of color and are so pretty... I love this time of year. It stinks the sun goes down so early, but such it is.

Ella was here yesterday to work Mary Jane. They are really becoming a nice team and MJ is really listening. They are about passed the "lie down" struggle. Ella now understands that she is to ask her to lie down, and only once. If she does not get a nice stop, then she is to go to MaryJane and make it known that not stopping when asked will not be tolerated. She used be a little unsure of how much correction to use. I said she needs to give you that "oh I'm sorry" body language. She only had to walk to her a couple times last night, and Mary was giving her the correct signals very easily. I hate listening to people yell their stop commands- especially since when they're yelled they are usually not being obeyed anyway... Sometimes it's good to help someone, as I'm now very aware of my own occasional habit of raising my voice instead of just calmly going to the dog and reminding him quietly (but with authority) that he must listen. (this is what I've been taught- but sometimes I forget...) This is something I especially have to remember with Toss, as he is a very intense dog who only gets more intense if I get verbally overbearing. Today I caught myself loudly saying his name (which did nothing) as he pushed thru his stop on a drive. I went to him about 3 different times during his session and after each time I did he would give many solid stops on the first, quiet stop command- much more effective.

Toss is really coming on and I think 2009 will be a good year to start hitting a good number of trials with him. He's becoming quite reliable. He's an awesome driving dog and typically has a nice outrun. He can slightly slice and rush the lift sometimes and rattle his sheep. He needs some long outruns where I can stop him right before the lift, let him relax for 3 seconds, and then re-direct. He rushes because he's insecure, so letting him take a breath and get his head helps him. He doesn't have enough eye that I worry he'll become sticky. We did something similar with Cruz a couple years ago. He would leave my feet just hell-bent and only thinking about getting them to my feet and would slice and rush the top. It was interesting because a few times we let him just "sneak" off to collect sheep and he was pretty as a picture because he was relaxed and thinking! But send him and all he could think about was how fast can I do this. So we started stopping him a couple times during the outrun. I'd stop him, let him take a breath and would usually tell him to get back. This is when he made the biggest improvements with his outrun.

I traded my woolie ewes for 6 Dorper ewe-lambs and they're just what Gwen needs IMO. Of course they are light, so there's not a lot pushing, more just steering (but they do stop if the dog gets too far off), but the steering has to be in little steps. Her and I went all the way back to fenceline fetches today. I had to use the fence to keep some sense of handler/sheep balance, as they are not at all drawn to me yet. It was a very good session for her. She started out zooming from 10:00 to 2:00 at a hundred miles an hour. (before we got to the fence) Rather than fussing at her, I just let her figure out that was foolish (and a lot of work) and sure enough in a couple minutes she settled down. She was doing quite well with small flanks followed by a stop and walk-up- she was getting back up and moving foward quite willingly. She has to figure out for herself that she has gears! She will and I think these lambs will help teach her how to be subtle. She has nice stock sense, so she should learn some things by simply working the quick, jerky moving lambs. She's young, keen, biddable, very natural and intense- she is a go-getter and no-quitter. :-) I have 3 more lambs on hold from another lady not too far from here, they're Dorpers as well. I won't have any lambs this spring. I'll have to take some pictures of my new girls tomorrow.

Deal was a good girl today after she settled down with the new group. She needed to be reminded that stop means stop and a drive flank means a flank, not 2 steps in first- but other than that she did very nicely. We penned the group she worked. She did a very good job holding her side and reading the situtation- thus doing quite a lot without commands. I personally see no harm in letting a dog use his own brain when he knows what the job is. That is what my "Ol' Man" (Cruz) does so amazingly. How quick he figures out what's going and then how well he does what's needed- it's mind blowing really. It's priceless and on a real farm I can only imagine how invaluable that would be! Cruz was good today too. We tried shedding and it was interesting to say the least! LOL! We also worked the free-standing chute which was fun. I love new sheep when they know zippo! They aren't crazy lambs, running like the wind and slamming into things- but they certainly don't know what's what yet. They're funny because sometimes they will let the dog get really close and sometimes they move quite quickly with the dog way off. They will never be worked roughly or unfairly, so they should grow up to be very nice ladies.

Ella let Wren go around the geese in the round pen when she was here on Sunday. She did fine, she looks as though she will be quite a nice dog. She reminds of Cruz when he first started even though he was an adult. We need to get the lambs more settled and handler drawn before the pups work them. It's good timing for me as I might be tempted to push too much on them over the winter. 11 months seems old enough, but it's really not. They just are not mentally mature enough. I'd rather wait a bit longer so they are mature enough to figure a lot of things out for themselves. Surely I want to see some natural ability by now (and they have it), but to actually expect them to handle training pressure is asking too much- I'm only recently coming to figure this out... (knowledgeable people have been telling me this for years...) I like finding little made up chores for them to do at this age. People with real farms always have plenty of little short tasks for new blood. I have to make up some little things most of the time- things that they can use their own young brains to figure out what they need to do, things that are always close at hand.

I almost pulled my entry from the Long Shot trial, but didn't. I really am looking forward to running at a new trial, and at one I've heard such good things about. I know a few people that are going to the Nov. trial so I'm looking forward to hearing how it went.

What's it all for?

Some days that's a harder question than others to answer. I'm feeling very "revamped" and I'm ready to get our slip sliding household back on track- in numerous ways. First off this house is going to basically be "gutted" of crap and clutter. I said to myself this afternoon I wish I could just pick up the house, tilt it on it's side so everything fell out, and "start over"! I'm determined to go thru room by room and get rid of anything that appears remotely useless. We have become collectors of stuff we don't really need, but for some reason are afraid to part with. I can no longer keep up with that much... well, shit! It's too much for one person and the 3 people I live with refuse to help me on a regular basis, so I need to make it so I can manage it alone! See no one here grew up with their mom working 40 hours a week nor did Ben have a 40 hr/wk wife- that's new, but the habits are old, and we all know how bad habits are... So that's step one.

Step two is taking a more assertive role with the money. I've come to the conclusion that we are both terrible and we need to work extremely hard for the next few years to get our debts paid off. We were "just" surviving without my paycheck in March, now in Nov. we are "just" surviving with my paycheck...hmmm... funny how that works right?? To my knowledge not much extra has been applied to debt since I started working. Ben did use 90% of his bonus to nearly pay off one of the two brand new 4 wheelers (which he bought on credit before I even got my first check!! I'm still not really over that foolishness). My check has only been going into checking to be spent... My next check will go into savings. I'm telling Ben my next 3 paychecks are going into savings and we are to do whatever we have to to get by with only his paychecks. If after 6 weeks it's clear we can't make it, whatever we've been short will go into checking- but not a dime more. Once a month the money in savings will go towards paying something off. That's my plan and sticking to it. My next step is to cash it and hide in a jar in the woods! LOL! It is afterall my check, and if I want to use it to pay only debt, then I think there should be zero argument about me claiming "my" money- it's not as though I'm saying it's "mine" so if I want to buy $100 jeans and $80 shoes I can... (we have never been a yours and mine marriage in regards to money). So serious debt paying down is step 2.

Step 3- The people in this house are going to start pitching in!! I cannot do 40 night-shift hours a week, the dogs, the other critters, the laundry, the dishes, the shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, and everything else that is required of me to keep 4 people straight! Minus going to school for the boys and going to work for Ben I am it!! It's killing me, and quite frankly you can tell I get zero help around here, and I am so over that! Now, they will all do projects or must do nows, but the the day to day maintenance- forget it!

Step 4- Keep inspired! Today I was inspired to start scaling down by the thought that it's really quite doable to become largely self sufficient. I ordered 2 books from booksamillion (from the bank account, not a card- yea for me- baby steps! LOL!) today. (I ordered two to get free shipping- it needed to be $25 or more and my order was $26.02!) One on small scale farming and one on self sufficient living- everything from vegetables to soap. Once I get the books I'm going to make a "in a year goal" in the sense of self sufficiency. I'd love to have the dogs back on a natural diet within a year (Cruz is the only one on it now) and not have to buy any vegetables next year, but I'm not sure if that's a doable first year- I know nothing about gardens- hence the book buying! I think I have also come to peace that the SE is now home. The thought of having a serious farm back in the mid-west makes me shiver... Not sure I'm tough enough anymore. I was looking at some places online today. Check this one out and take the virtual tour! OMG!!http://www.carolinafarms.com/ViewProperty.aspx?id=1501186&c=homes THIS is my home! With Ben being Chief and debt other than the house gone, this type of price range is very doable for us in 8 years. I wanna be a "poor farmer", self sufficient and content. I want to work hard on my own piece of land and simply make enough to continue to work hard on my own piece of land! I want to farm for real with cattle and sheep and have real work for my dogs, and probably never trial. I would love to host trials, I have visions of having a portion of the farm designed solely for herding trials, lessons, and clinics for both cattle and sheep. The above is my dream, and I think it's a very realistic dream, but only if Ben and I can get serious about this money hole we dug ourselves into- starting with our first set of furniture up until about a year ago we were dumb. Buy what we need and put the extra crap on a card... how stupid! :-( I hope we have been clear to our kids that is not the way to do it! Trust me they will get tired of hearing about it by the time they get that first credit card offer mailed to them!! Why do they do not teach kids about the true danger of credit debt in school? They should have a financial class from like 3rd grade on. Ben and I would be living high on the hog right now with both of us working if it weren't for the hundreds of dollars every 2 weeks that go out in credit bills!

Well, off it get some of my overhauling done!

New Look and Taking The Plunge!

Thought it'd be fun to change up the look of my blog. I think it's easier to read now. I went ahead and sent in my entry for the Long Shot Trial in December. Deal is entered in Ranch, Gwen in Pro Novice, and Cruz in... Open. The answer is "yes, I am terrified!"! We need to do it though, since Open the goal for me with all my dogs. I only want us to do our own personal best, I have no expectations for placing. I had Gwen entered in Nursery and then scratched it out. I need to keep her driving close at hand right now to keep her confidence up. She is on the right track and I don't want to push her... After being at this trial once, I'll know if I can put her in Nursery for the January trial. I'll also know if it's a field Toss can handle either ProNovice or Ranch. He is such a nice dog, but so intense and still needs to be fairly close at hand from time to time. He has been stellar lately though- as long as no one is in season anyway! Ella is going to run Mary Jane in Novice. There are still rumors of a cattle trial at Breezy Hill Farm over the winter... I'm in love with cattle work! I wish we could do more of it! It is so different. It's not easier or harder, but very different. The #1 difference is the behavior of cattle. They do not group like sheep. Keeping a group together can be quite a challenge, and keeping them together and putting them where you want them... that's a whole 'nother job! I do enjoy it greatly and Cruz in particular is wonderful. Last time at Carol's we had a heck of a time keeping "Sonny" from going back to the barn. He would drift back further and further because another steer was lagging way back and I kept sending Cruz to push him forward. We'd end up with 3 steers quite well spread apart in the field. Cruz wanted to go get Sonny and after sending him back to push forward the laggers, I finally decided to let my dog do what he thought best, as what I was doing wasn't working that great. Sure enough he was right, we needed to keep control of Sonny since he was the one going in the wrong direction! Leaving the other two to lag was fine, but leaving Sonny to walk (they cover some ground now!) towards the barn while he pushed the laggers wasn't such a good plan. Working cattle is constant work on the dog's part. With sheep there are moments of time where all the dog really has to do is keep doing what he's currently doing, or simply flick an eye, or take 2 steps one way or the other. Not the case with cattle- it's kinda like driving on a curvy, back road in a sloopy steering, stick shift, vs. the freeway in an expensive car. You are driving in both situations, but it's a lot more "doing" on the country road in the old pickup truck. I'm surely not putting sheep work down, (or simplifying it) only explaining the difference in my own words. Cattle will wear a dog out physically much sooner than sheep will. I wish I could work cattle more, as Gwen is more natural on them than sheep. She does not stick on cows. I think she is hardwired for cattle behavior- less following and more controlling at or towards the head. She loves to control her stock via flanking, and the dog has to do a lot of that with cattle- and do it quickly- another trait of hers. I've never seen a dog flank so fast (yet stay 100% square) and of course that isn't always want you want in sheep... Her flanks on sheep are generally "wayliedown" and "comeliedown". (or more often "waywalk"/"comewalk") She's doing well with the combination whistles and I can get smaller flanks. What saves her is that she is SO responsive and stops as fast as she flanks. I know I talk a lot about her wanting to come to their heads. Maybe it's because so far that's her only "hole". I need to get some videos of a few of my dogs. I don't even have any pictures of Cruz and Gwen on cattle...

I need to get outside and take of the other critters and then get myself ready for the All Hands Awards Ceremony tonight in Williamsburg. It's a Navy thing, a pretty big deal. I bought a new $150 dress (size 6- shamless grin!), shoes, the whole works... Might have to post some pictures over the weekend. Ben and the MEPS office he works at are both receiving awards tonight.

November Snap Shots

Gwenie moving the geese around.

Cruz moving the geese around for a photo shoot.

And somehow I ended up with a photo of Broc in this group!

What do Border Collies do for fun? RUN- and preferably along side a motor with 4 moving wheels!

Cruz

Jim is fast, fast, fast!

Toss loves to run full out with the 4 wheeler while carrying the big purple ball! That's Sly in the background. Note bucket, which was also being toted around.

Handsome Jim.

Cruz and Deal

Jim waiting for the bike to get in striking range.

Charlie on the bike, red-dog (aka Edge), Maddie, and Clare.

There's the strike!

Jim or Cruz? I think it's Cruz.

Jim, Maddie, and Sly.

Hot Dog- Broc.

5 minute breather! Charlie and Deal.

Mama and daughter, Deal and Kit. They sure are built the same.

Wayne joins in during break.

Kit

Deal

Kit

Deal.

Red-dog. Got tongue?

Silly boy Toss!

Dylan's dog, Broc. He's such a perfect dog. I believe he is LabXWalker. He has that deer-dog temperament, is very leggy and straight and cannot run without barking! He's just a big dork, and that's being said with affection. He is truly devoted to Dylan. Two of his full brothers used to live 2 houses up the road and they both looked like Labs. One has some white like Broc and the other was a darker "yellow" with no white and heavier bodied. They were free at the feedstore and few years ago...

Pretty girl Mary Jane. I need to start getting serious with her training. She's a very natural dog who wants to please.

Deal and Toss wonderin' when break is over!

Edge and Kit.

Edge and Mary Jane.

Toss (and his tongue)

Broc (and his tongue)

Gwen decided pools can be used year round even when it's 50 degrees! I guess the stock tank wasn't good enough!