Summer Plans and Such

This morning I tried out my new routine after work. Instead of going to bed when I got home, I stayed up and did a little house work. When it was light out, I went outside and played ball with the dogs for about 20 minutes and gave them their breakfast. When I came in it was 20 to 7am, so Charlie had 15 more minutes before the bus and I got to see Ben before he left. I saw Dylan off to the bus while letting the dogs out for an additional potty break- it was too wet to lock them in their outdoor kennels, so I put them back in their crate. I did leave the 4 puppies out together, as they play- but the adults just lay about and I thought their kennels were too wet for that. My plan for the summer is to stay up, do house work till it's light out, then work dogs etc, till 9-10am and then sleep until 2-3pm. Today was my first day phasing over and it was going to be a perfect day (not too hot in the afternoon), so after Dylan left at 7:45, I hit the hay until 1pm. I just came in from working several of the dogs. The kids will be home soon and I plan to make spaghetti tonight before I leave at 5:30.

I did different things with each of the dogs. Gwen showed me she needed some gate work, so we did about 10 minutes of that before moving on. I did some shed work with her, and she's really coming along. Like Cruz, she needs to be quite close to her sheep since she has such a settling tone about her. She comes in right, and quickly and is turning to look for which group I want. I am not adding that step right now- just the come thru. I added too many steps with Cruz right off the bat and it caused him to start curling in on the group before he'd actually come thru. In other words, he was doing the job but may or may not get a shed called at a trial.... So I have backed off that step with him. The result is much faster come thru. I know he knows what the job is, so I am not at all worried about not adding that final step right now- at least not with every shed. Today he did a fantastic job at really coming thru fast and straight to me 2 times in a row, so on the 3rd shed I let him do the whole works- and then we quit. MJ just went out of heat and Gwen is flaming, so all I did with Toss was flank whistle work. He loses his brain during the heat rotation of 4 bitches! I did drive and shed work with Deal and she is really listening well. Listening to me has always been our hitch. She's a talented, forward bitch and she often times simply thinks she's right and I'm wrong and she'd going to do it her way. She is becoming more and more of an honest team player though and she's such a nice dog. She loves to shed, but unlike Cruz and Gwen, she has to be quite a distance off. Again with that whole presence thing. If she's as close as Cruz or Gwen, the sheep will never stop moving. She comes in fast and furious, so there's no trouble there. Keeping her off and keeping her square is the training drill with her on shedding.

I got to watch all of Dylan's team play baseball last night. Man, have they improved!! They are a real team now!! In their age group, the innings are limited to 4 runs. Well, in their last 2 times up to bat, they had to end the inning because they'd gotten 4 runs!! That's HUGE for this brand new team! They will be very good next season! I watched some of Charlie's, and was 14 minutes late for work because I wanted to watch Charlie hit. It was an intense game, that at tied up, got called because of weather! They play on Weds. night. My night off! :-) Last week's game both of my boys got a base hit! I flew by home last night on my way to work and put the dogs in their crates because it was POURING rain and they were in their kennels. We have a 15 minute window at work- 15 minutes or more and a manager has to clock you in. I swiped my card at 6:14! LOL!

The kids are going to spend 2 weeks in the Mountains of AZ with my parents in July. Ben is flying out with them and he'll be there for 6 days. Then my Mom is flying to VA with them and staying for just a few days. I know they boys will have a blast. My parents have a gorgeous new house in Pinetop, AZ on 3 acres in the mountains. They are very close to all sorts of fun outdoor things to do. My parents do real camping in awesome "camp grounds" (I bulk at camp ground, but really all it is a place you are allowed to tent in state or national forests- about as rustic as it gets- no KOA's for them!!!) they hike and canoe, and fly fish, etc. They are "outdoorsie" and are professionals at it. The kids (and Ben) will fly into Phoenix and visit their Great Grandfather who lives in the Valley with his girlfriend. They'll either spend the night there on their arrival, or the day before they leave. Pinetop is a serious drive from Phoenix- I want to say close to 4 hours.