FINALLY!

Finally got to Carol's on Saturday to work dogs. It was a fun day. They all worked very well, and taking into consideration how little work they have had, they did really well. Cruz worked sheep once and cows twice. We worked on shed work and Carol felt that I (as in me, the handler) am getting much better. My dog of course has "had" it for quite some time. LOL! We shed a group of 10 or so down to a single shed, that he held like a pro! Toss got a great session on control and patience. He pushed the whole flock through a fence line chute (not a Y type chute, just straight-no panel on the end to help "funnel" them in) not an easy task with about 30 head and going away from the natural draw. Then we did a few sends and some drive work. He was a very good boy. I worked on building Gwen's confidence in sweeping a large group out of a corner and then short drives that included through the fenceline chute. She did a good job and was more relaxed in the tight spaces after only a couple times. Deal... well I guess she had a good afternoon with the kids at home... Kinda a funny story there. Dylan was playing with the dogs when I was ready to leave. I got Cruz, Gwen, Deal, Toss, Clare, and Ivy into the truck. The 2 pups, Gwen and Deal jumped back out when Dylan threw the ball before I had the door shut. Well, I thought I got all of them back in, but when I got to Carol's no Deal... The puppy-girls got a short turn on sheep. Clare did a nice job. She was a little cautious. New place, new sheep, etc... She did fine, she was just a little more careful than usual. Ivy was a star. She is such a nice pup off the sheep and really, really showing super potential on sheep. She was very, very keen, covered beautifully, stayed behind the sheep, and listened to me when I called her off, and understood most of the time what I wanted her to "stand". Carol said I have a very nice pup in her- that she is a very true blend of Cruz and Gwen. :-)) I worked Cruz on the cows in both the big field and the arena. He is such an incredible cowdog. And he LOVES it. I swear he has a different look on his face when we're done working cows!! I enjoy the cattle work as well. The weekend after Easter I'm going to a double cattle trial at Roy and Debbie Johnson's. I'm currently trying to decide if I can swing 2 dogs, both days, both trials, or 2 dogs, both trials, but only one day, or just one dog for both trials one day... I don't get to many trials, and I really enjoy the cattle trials, so I'd love to be able to take both dogs (Cruz and Gwen), both days, both trials. It'd be smart to get 2 trials into one trip. Unless something pops up, I don't see any trials for April or May. I'm not going to the April sheep trial at Longshot, and there aren't any other VA spring trials posted that I've seen, and I hate summer trials, so.... Now that I have the hours that allow me to get to trials and can set aside the money to actually go, hopefully we'll have a pretty active fall season. I would guess Ivy and maybe Clare would be ready for a few novice runs by then- but I'm sticking by my vow to not push them even if they seem ready. I have plenty of other dogs to trial. I may even just train them further along before they trial- rather than paying $20 to run them in Novice. I might just wait until they're ready for Ranch. Who knows, too far off to make any plans for.

I'll be SOOO glad when Easter is over!! I am a one man show in the candy/tobacco dept. and other than one 3 hour blitz that has held true even through Easter! At one time I had 8 pallets of candy up in the steel. It was my job, in a matter of only a couple days, to pull them (with the lift) down, down stack them to find all the price points, set end caps, cart rails, 2 aisles, stack bases, and oh yeah, still do all my usual dept manager stuff with the real candy. (order, clear my count requests, need to counts, pick lists, price changes, label changes, work my live freight, keep my over-stock bins straight, etc...) One day last week I set 5 end caps, 2 cart rails, and 2 stack bases in one shift!! And like I said, I first had to down stack my pallets to find enough price pointed merchandise for all of that! UGH! If it was just sitting there, ready to go, that wouldn't be such a process, but it's not. To give you an idea, we get zero, none, naada overtime. Two weeks ago I got 2 hours, last week 5 hours, and as of today- which is MONDAY I already have 6!! (I worked for almost 5 hours on Sunday- I was not in a good mood...) I've already been told Thursday will be a late day, Friday will be an early day (as in late to leave and early to get there), and I'll be there on Saturday. I will not be going in on Sunday. That's over the top and if they can't take no for an answer than I will take the hit for a call out. Every bit of Easter is out as of today, so if they need someone to zone Easter on Sunday they can find a few people who are already working. In fact as of tomorrow, the condensing down will begin... Seasonal is a crazy thing. I'm hoping I don't have to be in a seasonal dept. for very long. New mods. can be a pain too, but it's not like seasonal. I'll have a break now until about (well once Easter is done being condensed and reduced, and reduced and condensed) Sept. when Halloween starts and then won't have a seasonal break again until May of next year... Ewww....

I hope I can get some good videos and/or pictures at the cattle trial.

Oh, the living room/dining room is 90% done!! Yahoo!! I'll have to take some pictures when the new sofa comes in. It's such a pretty room now! The floor is gorgeous! :-)))