Monday, August 31, 2009

WHO TOLD

mother nature that I have today off!!?? :-(
It's cooled off nicely, but it's pouring rain. I hope it lightens up and stays a reasonable temperature.
The pups did pretty well last night. I let them outside one time during the night. It took Emma a few minutes to be quiet again after that, but otherwise they were quiet and no pee-pees in the crate. They woke up when Ben got up for work, so I let them out again then. Now Kit, "mama" Deal, and the 4 pups (Emma, Logan, Hattie, and McCoy) are on the big front porch staying pretty dry. Since she's allowed the 2 older pups to be with her babies her mama instincts must finally be wavering a bit- last week she would have never allowed them that close. (it was interesting to watch her when the pups first started spending some time with the pack. She would allow some dogs free access, closely watch others, and completely ban others from being within 30 feet of her treasures!) Mama Deal has been a baby sitter since the pups came to be. I've never seen a dog with such strong maternal instincts for any baby. She loves her grandbabies, but she also no push over. LOL!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

The night has come

...that the pups begin crate training. It's been so hectic at work, that I delayed starting because sleep was already sparse. It was not the time to be dealing with pups during the night. So last week I quit putting Kit in the whelping box at night. (she had only been with them at night for about a week). So at least they're already used to not being with mama and those late night comfort suckles. They've been coming into the house each evening to play and eat. They've been eating a lot of ground turkey, yogurt, and eggs. So far Logan has been quiet as a mouse. Emma... not so much. She's pissed, not scared, just mad. I've "mama grabbed" her a few times and that little toughie hardly notices!! I can pull her neck all the way to the side and unless I take my other hand and push her butt over, she will not drop her rear! She doesn't even whimper when I correct her for barking, not whining, but BARKING- and loudly! (but she does respond and quits for 10-15 minutes) She's quiet now. They are both very smart pups, it won't take them long. Really the routine is no different, they're just in a crate rather than the box. They already know 9pm is bed time. I set the xpen up by the door for that early morning pee-pee. It's easier to plop them in the xpen then follow them all over the yard. I think the xpen also helps with the "you're out to pee/poop, not play".
I have tomorrow and Tuesday off, so hopefully I can get some new pictures of the babies. :-) Off to lay on the sofa and watch a little tv. I'm just gonna sleep down here so I'm not going up and down the steps throughout the night to correct Emma. I know some people prefer to just let them figure out that carrying on is not going to get them anything, but I can't seem to tolerate it long enough to allow that to happen. I'm all about properly correcting them for screaming and hollering. It works better for me. I end up with very honest adults. If any of my dogs fuss in a crate I know I better get there quick!! ;-) ......Hey it's been quiet for quite awhile. :-)

Thursday, August 27, 2009

WHEW!!

WOW, what a whirl-wind, hard core, busy week this has been! Last week was the start of inventory prep, and inventory is today! OMG, what an undertaking. I worked 5 hours OT last week (remember how clear they've been about no OT?...). I got up at 2:30 am on Sunday to get the trial, and have been working no less than 10 hours every day since. I only had to work 6am-11am this morning, as Michelle and I split the 10 hour grocery shift. Tomorrow will be another fast-paced, intense day because we have to do all the verification sheets. By the end of the day tomorrow I'll have about 52 hours for this week!! I've about killed myself this week, but there were a few of us that had to be the ones there, and heck, think of the check!! All that OT on my new wages- nice! Saturday officially starts our new positions and hours. Tuesday is the 1st of the month, so the weekend through Weds. will be hellbent in departments 4, 13, 92, 92, 95, and 96. All of them are mine of course.... Ugh!
I've started writing about the trial about 3 times... Twice it didn't save, so I gave up until I'd have to finish it in one sitting. Gonna do that now. The dogs were wonderful! :-)

Monday, August 24, 2009

Glad I went

...even thought it meant I had to get up at 2:30 Sunday morning, load up the dogs and head off. We got there about 7:15 which was great timing. Just enough time to hang out for a bit first.
They ran NN and PN in a small field at the top of the farm and Ranch and Open in the big field on the lower end. The NN PN field had oodles of pressure because of it's size. PN was a good size class of nearly 20.
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Mary ran first and did quite well for how much I have worked her (she has basically been Ella's dog this past year). I was pleased with her run. The sheep had several places they'd just freeze up, but Mary handled it well. The drive away panels were hard to make because although it was away from the exhaust and the set out, it was in the same corner as "home". So a lot of the time it was simply luck- they either went thru or missed, and you could very little to correct the short, high draw line. The pen was eating dogs up as Roy's sheep are FAR from 'gimmes' at the pen. They're sneaky, and they will stall out right in the mouth of the pen, and getting the first one in does not by any means mean the other 2 are going to follow all the way in. Several handlers had trouble with this. The first sheep would go in, but the other 2 would stall out. The handler kept focused on the 2 not going in and in the meantime, the one in the pen would slip back out and around the pen. It was a fun test of penning abilities on both the handler and the dog's part. Many a young dog timed out playing ring around the pen. Mary got them in no problem. We missed the drive away panels however. But I was happy with her. She stopped at the top (although she walked thru the whistle and I had to use verbal with her) and stayed off her sheep during her drive flanks, and stopped probably 80% on the first whistle and never blew it off enough that she ruined us. So that was wonderful for her- especially given the pressure of that "field".

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Toss was perfect. He stopped at the top nicely and never really took a wrong step. I can't remember if he made the panels or not, but if he didn't, it wasn't because of him. He penned them with absolutely no trouble at all. He ended up 2nd. When he finished I told him we really need to get his whistles down pat because he's a Ranch level dog. I'm going to leave him in PN until winter. I don't want to set him up for not hearing me, and not being 100% on his whistles on a larger field. I'm entering Montpelier and that's a much bigger field. PN will be plenty for him at that trial. Not only is it a larger field, it is full of tips, rolls, and dead spots. It's a challenging field. Handlers have to send a separate form for their 3rd dog, so I'm going to enter Cruz and Toss on my first entry. Montpelier is a 'Toss field' more that it's a 'Gwen field'.

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Gwen also ran very nice. I have to admit I thought this field had a good chance of putting her into "bubble girl" mode. All that pressure. I was pleasantly surprised. Never once did she stall out. She happily took the little bump flanks that kept her from going too far to their heads on the drive. She made the driveaway panels nicely, but her handler let her down.... I had her push them deep through the panels and then fought for line points too soon... They came back through in a pull through. I asked Debbie what she took off and she 1 point per sheep, plus line points. Funny thing is that when I looked at the board it would have moved her to (by adding 3 points to her score) 2nd place. I had no idea it was Toss who 2nd until they handed out ribbons. She ended up being 5th I think. The pen was flawless, so I was really, really happy with that with her. Again, the sheep and the situation was the perfect scenario to put her into "must protect the pressure" mode. But she did not!! :-) She gave me little flanks and big flanks, and walked right in when I needed it. Carol told me several months ago that she had no doubt Gwen would work through this bubble stage, and I can see it happening. I need to keep on doing what I'm doing, which is keeping work at home close enough that she knows I'm there, and not ever setting her up to fail. I adore her so much. Actually I adore all of my dogs, but for some reason Gwenie is special. Gwenie will be my #3 dog on my entry for Montpelier.

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Sunday was Deal's 2nd time in Ranch. She was absolutely stellar!! It was on the big field and the sheep were set the same distance as Open. The way this field is set up there is a good size pond with a "dam" across it (path the sheep know, and most of the dogs don't). The pond is not far off to the right of the handler's post. Also off to the right (but slightly behind the post, whereas the pond is in front of the post) is the barn. The sheep wanted badly to either (or both) the set out or the pond/barn during the cross drive. LOTS of retires. Deal had a very nice outrun. I stopped her and gave her a redirect twice. Both times she stopped instantly and kicked out- it was perfect. 6 points total off the outrun. (3 points for each redirect the judge told me) It wouldn't be long and she won't need that. The fact that she stopped on a dime and kicked herself out so perfectly from that distance with the pressures of being at trial is great. She lifted nicely and our fetch was dead on nearly the entire way (the lift was the end of several runs). We made the fetch panels and had a nice turn. She had her line well to the driveaway panels and made them. Then it quickly fell apart. As I said, it was her 2nd Ranch run. As the sheep made the panel she swung all the way around to the left to bring them to me!! Stop Deal, Stop!! LOL! It was the only time on the whole course she didn't listen. We were still within recovery, but because of the dang pond it was over. The sheep came running up and beelined over the dam, across the pond and to the land on the other side of the pond, and were heading down the fenceline back to the set up. From the post, once they get to the pond, you can no longer see to help the dog. But if they go around, or across the pond, you can see them again. I was told I was off course once they went over the pond. It was a bummer because Deal peeled them off the fenceline and brought them back to the barn (exhaust) without anything but whistles and with no hoop-la. :-( Even if we had missed the cross-drive panels and not penned, we would have placed because so many people retired or DQd. Losing the sheep across the pond was not caused by her, except for the fact that she had PN in her brain and wanted to bring them back to me and then could not cover before they beat her across the pond. (if it had been cattle I could have swung her back to the right and she could have stopped them before they got to the pond...) So although we didn't get a score, I was thrilled with her!! She was OODLES better than the she was in Maryland in January. The biggest thing I look for in her is listening, and other than the one time she really, really thought she was doing the right thing she listened 100%- good girl Deal! :-) Deal's #4 on my Montpelier entry because the Ranch course is really a big one there. Gwen has a better chance at being successful in PN. I don't care about placing, that's not how I define successful at this point. Right now successful simply means the dog listened and the dog worked to the fullest of her current capabilities.

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Cruz and I ran for the 2nd time in Open. I have to admit I was really afraid. Not that my dog would let me down, but that we wouldn't look as though we belonged out there. Again, there were RTs and DQs left and right. The lift and/or the cross drive were the problem. Only a few got to the pen, and most of them were not pretty. A few less got to the shed. Some did some didn't. There were almost 30 dogs and Cruz was about 20th, which was to our benefit as I've never been to a sheep trial there (I've been to 2 cattle trials there). I sent him and asked for a stop about half way. I kinda sorta got a stop and kinda sorta got a little kick out. But he has such awesome stock sense that he can be a little tight. He lifted beautifully even though he didn't have a big huge outrun. The judge only took off 6 points. Fetch was great, made the panels. (by now I'm almost forgetting which way to turn). Turn was nice, drive away was nice, made the panels. (now I'm going- holy shit!) Crossdrive was awesome!! Couldn't believe it. This is where most lost the sheep and I hardly even had to help Cruz keep the line. I can't remember if we made the second panel, or just missed it, but either way it was nice considering most didn't even get that far. We got to the pen and penned them almost right off the bat. (thanks to Carol and talented dogs penning is always very, very likely for us) Now I'm really going holy shit!! I hadn't even thought about the shed. We only worked for a bit and there it was. I called him through, held one.... then I hear "you have to take two dear!" SHIT!! It was a damn split, not a shed!! I had watched the chosen few that had gotten that far, but I guess I didn't pay close enough attention to the fact that they were taking two. We worked and worked, but of course now the sheep are on to us. It was 90 degrees and 3 O'clock in the afternoon. After several attempts I pretended to keep trying, but basically just had him hold the sheep till time ran out. The split wasn't judged, it was 10 or 0. Out of 28 dogs (competitive dogs) Cruz would have been 4th with 10 more points. He would have had an 85- and 89 won the class!! I felt so bad I did that to my dog!! But it's not about placing and I'm not going for points. I can't afford the time and the money to run enough to qualify for or feel worthy of running at finals. I'm so proud of my dog!! I know now that we're on the right track and we just need to keep plugging along even through the times that I don't feel like I'm getting in enough training or big field work. As Carol has been telling me- we can do this. :-) I don't feel like this was a lucky run in the sense of my handling or my dog's abilities. There is always an element of luck with the sheep you get, yes of course. Sometimes no matter the handler's skill or the dog's talent the sheep are going to win... I'm excited for Open now, and that feels really good! :-)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Monday's Exercise

So I decided I needed to pull my head out of my ass and just do what I can at home. There's a lot here that I can do, I just have to get to other places enough that the dogs understand they need to take the same direction at 300 yards that they do at a closer distance. To me the biggest obstacle here is the constant draw to the barn. Although my little ewes are finally getting a lot better. They graze the whole property at night, so they are familiar with the area which helps a lot I think. They're also finally figuring out that none of my dogs are going to eat them, chase them, etc...
So this was my little exercise for Gwen, Mary, and Deal. These are my 3 that don't always like to pop off the pressure. Actually Gwen comes *off* wonderfully, but she wants to fly all the way around to keep holding the pressure side. Because I do so much better when I can see it, I thought I'd try to make a diagram of what we did.
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It's simply driving along, at different distances away from the fence, then flanking either to the right or to the left and fetching them back. Of course flanking "comebye" is no problem, as that's the side they want to protect. To make this side a challenge, I ask them on at the "top", stopping them at about 3 O'clock and have them drive *towards* the barn (This is hard for Gwen as she's certain I've lost my mind and the sheep are going to get away), flanking them to cover before the sheep escape, then fetching them back to me. Flanking "away" in this set up is hard for Deal and Mary. Mary was very, very responsive though, and trusted me. I was very pleased with her. She would want flank "comebye", but a quick and not overly harsh "Mare" would snap her out of it and would go correctly. (she didn't get all "pissy" because I was insisting she do it my way) The great thing about Mary is that she has wonderfully natural square flanks, so all I have to do is get her to trust me and once she does, the flank is beautiful. Deal however sometimes lets her eye pull her in when she has to flank like this. She has to be reminded to not curl in/get flat. She has really, really gotten better with experience though, and as long as she's thinking and not reacting, she does wonderful. Going "away" in this situation is so backwards for Gwen. I think being so well bred for cattle, it can sometimes hinder her sheep work. She is always thinking heads. In a cattle trials of course there is no "center line" the dog can't cross. That is how Gwen prefers to operate. However yesterday, she did this very, very well. She started to relax and never dove in out of frustration. She was also willing to stop at 3 O'clock on the "comebye" flank, which is hard for this little control freak as she knew stopping there opens the door for escape. By never letting her lose them during this, I hope we're building a level of trust. I think the last couple sessions of pen work really made a difference in her. I did better yesterday reading her on the drive and flanking her, rather than stopping her when she would start to come up too far on the pressure side. This keeps the sheep moving, so we don't end up with stopped sheep and frozen Gwen. I played give and take with her, sometimes flanking her further to the sheeps rears in order to keep them moving, regardless of what kind of "line" it made, then would ask her to flank in a manner that would hold the line- which would sometimes mean walking into their faces as they were stopped. (she likes to just hold them in this situation) She seemed much more confident to walk right into them to get them to move. And I'm more on the ball about making sure that I don't allow her to then flank in the direction that's going to stall them out again. (if Gwen had a motto it would be "I got 'em and I'm not gonna let 'em get away"- but she is really learning and Carol says it's nothing she won't work through) To make things harder or easier, I varied the distance away from the fence and from the corner. To switch the flanks around, I simply started at the other end.
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I did a little bit of this with Toss, but it's not really a difficult task for him. He doesn't mind pressure in any form- he'll flank into it, and off from it, all the way around it, walk into it, follow it, hold it, whatever you want him to do he does willingly. His exercise was whistles and keeping his driving flanks square. Especially his "away" side. Once he knows I'm going to kick him back, he flanks beautifully, but he is still in the stage of being reminded. He's really, really a nice dog. I know I'm going to appreciate his forward approach when he's more experienced and we completely trust each other. He's been a long maturing dog and hasn't done much trialing because he was always so hot or cold. And when he was cold, it was not pretty!! (for quite awhile I'm sure my neighbors thought his name was goddamit!) I didn't need him doing that at a trial! He is still on and off, but is now more on than off, and the off is less severe. He is also really, really becoming a team player. He is really turning into a dog that wants my approval greatly. Cruz and I just did some shed work. It's hard with just 3 hair sheep!! We got a couple though. I figured out that when I say "this one" rather than "in here" he's not coming all the way through- like he gets too focused on the one sheep. I had better success with the "in here".
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So that was my morning yesterday. I got all the "trial dogs" worked and was very happy with what they gave me. I'm letting them be today and then tomorrow I'll do some pen work again. I don't like to repeat stuff back to back, I think it gets boring for all of us. My plan is to work them again tomorrow (Thursday) and Saturday. Then go to Breezy Hill on Sunday. I went ahead and entered. I just have to think of it as expensive training.... I need to get my dogs on to different fields, so I just need to start entering trials.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Only a few minutes

to write before I need to get ready for work. Everything came to a head with me and my attitude yesterday. Ben basically said I need to change my attitude or he can't take it anymore. It's pretty hurtful when your spouse tells you having to spend the whole weekend with you sucks, but I guess it's also eye opening. The two of us have dealt with depression in the past, so he knows what he's talking about. He pointed out that I am whole heartily living every single classic sign. I'd rather sleep than do anything, I don't do the things I used to really enjoy ( I make excuses as to why I can't), and I don't have a positive outlook on a single thing... ugh.... He also told me that my desire to have a 50 acre farm right now is unattainable, so I am only setting myself up for constant (and it is/was all consuming) disappointment. He said I have to start doing some things that I enjoy and can do with what I can realistically acquire.... He brought up that I never did ask David last fall about leasing any of his fields to work dogs in- which I have not and he (David) had even told me the only reason he could see that it would be a problem would be if it meant the farmer who rents his farm (hundreds of acres) would not want to rent it if he lost one of the 15-20 acre fields.... He also said I just need to go to the trial and quit worrying about how much big field work they've had. And he's right. Yes, we'd do better if my dogs were accustomed to running bigger outruns, but we always manage and I still have a good time... So that's that- I gotta get ready for work. I colored my hair late last night, so I went to bed with wet hair- I look like I've had a much wilder weekend than I really did!! LOL! I bought some plants for in the house on Saturday- I miss plants. I used to have them everywhere. I even had ferns in the bathroom.
So I guess I'll see where 150mg Wellbutrin takes me... along with a more aware attitude. I didn't realize just how negative I had become... yuck.
The hardest decision will be what to do if I can't rent a chuck of field somewhere close from David. It's too hard to depend on going somewhere to work in a field large enough that it's fair to expect the dogs to be USBCHA competitive on their outrun. We have the rest down, but to be in the running we cannot lose all those outrun points due to redirects. I'm always bummed when we still manage to place despite that- I can't help but look at the scores and figure up if we had the average outrun points (I'm talking in Open and sometimes Ranch- the PN outruns are fine) we'd be right there in top pack! :-( If I can't rent something from David I am highly considering going back to agility- as I do that fully here. I very much enjoyed it and I have some dogs that were excellent agility dogs, and I know I have some that would be! I may have to go that route along with trialing in some (and I mean no offense here) lower caliber herding trials...
Geez, I really gotta go!!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Havin' a hard time

staying positive this week. Not sure why, it's just been one of those week's I guess. I hate feeling like this and it never flies well here at home at all. Ben gets really bent out of shape when I'm pissy. So I try to not be pissy and then he badgers "what's wrong", "what's up with you", etc etc... To say he's less than understanding is an understatement. I guess he takes it all personal or something, I don't know. Yesterday evening it was cool enough to work dogs, but a friend who's really had a rough 2 years came over and needed to vent.... Poop. So I figured it'd be nice enough early this morning to get them all some work. Woke up at 6:30 to rain.... :-( (heavy rain). It's about tampered off now, but in all honesty maybe I'm not at all in the right frame of mind to work with them. Sometimes it helps me, and sometimes it makes it worse because my mood only "lets" me see everything that's going less then expected. Carol's already got a day full of people tomorrow, so no field work again for the dogs... sigh. Somedays I just wanna give up.... Probably no point in going to Breezy Hill next Sunday since it'll be a month or more since my dogs have been on any decent size field.... Plus I'm down to $225 and it would be $142 to take everybody for the day and I don't get paid till Thursday. I have 100# of dog food to buy before pay day and I need to get some straw for the kennels, and of course keep us fed... So I guess yet another trial is out the window. I'm beginning to think my dream is hopeless. Starting to think I should let myself be crushed and get on with leading a shell of person, robot life of work and house cleaning....

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Ivy











Ms Ivy. To say I'm not bias would be a lie. Of course I don't think she can walk on water, but there isn't much she does that doesn't impress me or make me laugh. She is the perfect child in my eyes. She is a highly intense, likable personality like her mother, and a very sensible stockdog like her father. She gets a double helping of brains from both of her parents. She is witty and clever, but does not use it to get herself into trouble. If there was one word I would say "fun". On sheep she is my kind of pup. She's speedy, yet has lots of sense. She's going to have a very "can do" attitude (which comes from her parents) and does not seem like she is going to be the type that is always trying to out-think or out-do you. She's going to be a team player and she's going to be fun to train. She was much more keen to do a few easy things my way this morning, so I'm happy to see that's back. Because this session was about building that drive back up, I let her yee-ha the sheep once or twice and it was fun to see that puppy-gleam in her eyes. Next time out I won't have the camera and I'll go back to working on putting some verbal commands on her. When I send her to sheep she very much prefers the comebye side. This morning I set the sheep up so it made sense for her to go to the right. She still wanted to go left, but took my body language "correction" very well and did a couple very nice sends on the away side. I'm looking forward to the cooler season so I can get her on sheep a few times a week. I think she'll be a breeze to train.





Clare






Clare was more keen again today. She went around nicely and this time when I told her "that'll do Clare" she came to me instead of hightailin' it off to the stock tank or her kennel. The second time I called her off to set her up for a mini-outrun (really just a real big flank), she thought about leaving me, but she stopped, sat there a few seconds, then changed her original plan and came trotting to me. Good for her- she remembered our last "session" about a month ago when we quickly went from playing with sheep to working on recalls via a line! If there is one thing that a dog can do to get my blood boiling it's to hear his/her name, stop and look at me, then turn tail and head off... I-don't-think-so!! Although it gets me spun up, I am typically very fair about it. I may be fuming, but I do my best to not be at angry at them, just go get a line and do 2,000 recalls in a matter of 3 minutes! Seriously. I guess the recall blow off gets to me because it's something I do with my pups from the word go, and I do it right, so when they go through those testing stages (and they all do), I just have to keep my head and go back to the line and re-enforce that a recall is not a request. Right now the little Walker female, Hattie is pushing her luck with me on recalls. The male has it down, but 3 times in the last 2 days I've called Hattie only to have look right at me and beeline the other way.... Twice I've gotten leash, this morning I have to admit I took the easy way out and just went and carried her to the kennel. (I'm fast learning that Hound dogs to NOT like to be contained). Anyway, Clare was a good girl today. She seems to cover both sides equally well. She still gives me the impression that she's not yet ready for me to start putting any huge demands on her, although is a pretty natural young dog, so she should be able to learn the basic stuff by simply putting the word/whistle to the action she's doing. She certainly has her puppy moments with the sheep, but generally is she is very, very quiet and correct. She's going to be a very deliberate working dog who does not waste any energy on working harder than she needs to. She has to be quite a distance off my sheep, so she apparently has her parents' presence- which I guess allows her to be very quiet and easy. She is not going to be a "flash in the pan" kind of worker, but instead one that is always right on the money with amount of power needed to get the job at hand done. I've had both, and yeah, the flashy dog is fun to watch, but when you just need to get something done, and done without all kinds of extra hoop-la, the steady dog is where it's at! Off sheep Clare is complete sap and would be just thrilled if there was a lap she could be in all day long. She has about out-grown her troublesome puppy behaviors (she liked wrecking stuff- she wasn't picky, simply anything she could find). Next time I take her out I won't take the camera and I'll start putting some verbal flanks on her. I think she's going to be a pup that comes along pretty quick once she's mature enough to handle several sessions a week. She should be ready for that once the weather starts cooling off a bit. I think I'll have a busy and fun fall with my girls.





Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Seven Weeks

I didn't get any good ones of Logan... he sure is a fluffball!

Typical Emma form- she's spotted somethin' good & is about to get into it!


"Half-sissy Ivy is fun, except when she's stalking me"

Not a good picture, but still funny. It was almost dark when I took these.

"Gotchya"

Emma not sure what to think of Ivy "flanking" her.







Another New Look

It is so darn hot!! Not much to do but work in the house and mess around on the computer. It's not even cool enough in the morning or in the evening to work a few dogs! I think it's supposed to cool off a little after today- which will be about 97, 105 or so with the heat index! When I went outside last night at quarter to nine to put dogs up it was still hot enough to make you sweat!! Yuck! I do hate these few weeks in Virginia! June and July were very reasonable, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. It stormed last night. I got up to put my truck windows up, but when I went outside this morning guess what I found on the picnic table? My phone. Crap!! I doubt it will work. I cannot be without a cell phone, so I guess now I get to buy a new one. I'm sure leaving it in the rain is covered, and actually I don't even know if Ben put insurance on them or not. I reckon he will give me the 3rd degree, because he never makes a mistake!
I have Sunday off the weekend of the trial at Breezy Hill, so maybe I'll quick send an entry off for the one day. We'll see. I need to see how much of my check I have left and now I probably have to buy a new phone.... It's always something, and unfortunately trialing does not sit above much at all on the priority list... :-( Someday, someday....
The pups are doing great and growing up already! They are pretty much only with their mama at night now. They are both very outgoing, friendly babies. Emma is trouble! LOL! She remains very full of herself and she is always doing something. The other night they came inside for a couple hours and Charlie had Emma about coming out of skin playing with a big wad of paper towel. I can't help but think what a shame I'm not still doing agility! She is really going to be over the top with drive and intensity and she is going to be quite a petite little thing. Logan is still the happiest little guy. He is forever wagging his tail and he just has that happy boy expression. He really enjoys people. I can see him being the kind of dog that will try and try and try because he loves you so much. The kind with no "hidden agenda". I'm anxious for it to cool off so I can put Clare and Ivy back on sheep again. They've had a good break to grow up a little more, so I'm excited to see what they'll do. I have today and tomorrow off. Thursday late morning I'll meet Michelle at work and we'll head to Richmond for the last 2 days of training. (it changed from Lynchburg to Richmond, which is great!) Then I have the weekend off. So if it cools down some, I should get in some nice work with the dogs. Thinking about going to Carol's on maybe Sunday. I hate to go on Saturday after being gone Thursday and Friday. I work 2 11am-8 shifts next week, so that'll be interesting. I'm curious as to what I'll be able to get done here at home that I normally wouldn't, and I'm also curious about what I'll be doing for 4 hours after all the dept. managers leave at 4pm. You really can't do anything in the backroom because it's all set up for them to throw the truck, so I'm not sure what I'll have to do- but I'm sure there'll be plenty.
I should have taken some pictures, but I didn't. Close to a month ago while we were (well Ben) building the pool deck Jim had a run-in with the trailer. We had it backed up to the house, loaded with lumber. When my dogs are in a particular mode, they run intense laps around the 3 acres. They all have a pretty set path, and going around the back side of the house up by the pool is the path of Jim. Well, he tried to squeeze (at full tilt) between the trailer and house. He hit the trailer with his shoulder and laid himself right open! Because of his "condition" I didn't think having him sedated for stitches was doable. I really didn't know what to do... (and of course it was like 7pm, and we all know how much it is to simply walk in to the ER) So naturally I called Carol. She told me to get some Nitrofurazone. So that night I cleaned it up with peroxide and iodine and brought his crate into the house. The next day Ben held him (and surprisingly he was a perfect patient) so I could shave the area. The gash was awful and I questioned weather this would heal without stitches. But being a farm girl, I have seen the power of healing when it's simply kept clean many times. Additionally, I trusted Carol's recommendation of the Nitrofurazone. She had healed a very ugly wound on a goat with it. I had to order it, so for the first 3 days I simply kept it clean and "open" with the peroxide and iodine. The size of the gash is hard to explain, but was almost the distance from my thumb to middle finger. There was little to no "flap"- it was just open. I have to say that stuff is amazing!! He is 100% healed and I never had to struggle with it getting nasty or wanting to close from the top. He will probably end up with a slightly raised scar maybe the length of my pinkie (but maybe not even that long), but I'd say that's impressive given the size of wound that healed without stitches or staples. I know Jim was glad when it had healed enough that he could go back outside most of the day. For 2 weeks or so he really only went outside to pee or maybe for an hour in the evening. He went from being quite content in his crate to becoming pretty restless. The ride to the vet, being at the vet, being sedated, coming around from sedation, and keeping him from pulling at stitches would have all been really, really traumatic for him, so I'm happy he didn't have to go through all that! Jimmy is a special pup that means a lot to me!!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

So Much

Last week was a crazily full week. Working in a consumable area in wal-mart, I have been conditioned to hate the first of the month! It's insane! And low and behold we had both a revisit from the market team and the 1st of the month happen at the same time! Thursday I worked 7am-2pm, then went BACK to work at 10pm and worked until 10:30 am on Friday! THEN went BACK to work and worked 4am-1pm on Saturday! UGH! I'm very much looking forward to the new position and schedule, as it's supposed to run so structured that there is no room for switching hours around. Michelle and I share an assistant and co, and they have both about run Michelle and I into the ground when push comes to shove.... Sunday evening all 7 of us new Zone Manager Supervisors (ZMS) met at the store to car pool (in 2 cars) to Danville, VA for our training classes. The training classes were for the most part a scaled down assistant manager training course. We were there M-W. Michelle and I were supposed to go to "Food School" (procedures etc of the fresh areas) Th-F in Lynchburg, VA- but our co screwed that all up by having us work 4-1 on Saturday. Market said NO, NO, NO overtime.... So now Michelle and I get to drive to Lynchburg Weds of this week. The others will have one day of training for either the backroom, front end, or GM school.
I feel a little better about new position, but getting the bent-out-of-shape people on track in my areas will still be my biggest challenge. I have pretty strong people/management skills, but the training gave me some more ideas and insight on how to correctly talk to associates. I have a HUGE area, so I will have a lot of people to keep productive. I have pharmacy, HBA, cosmetics, candy, paper, chemicals, pets, and dry grocery. The best thing about the ZMS position is that it is only a baby step to becoming an assistant- who are salary and make enough money to live on... Becoming an assistant off from a dept manager is a pretty big leap. I was told yesterday by one of our assistants who just became a co (now called shift managers) that I need to make sure I put in for the assistant manager training... And I've already been told by both the store manager and a different shift manager that I will be able to do whatever I want to do. So I guess I just need to have confidence in myself. The ZMS position will be a great way to get some real hands on experience before taking the training courses. The assistant manager training class is 8 weeks. They do 4 weeks of class, then go back to their home store for 2 weeks, then back to the class for 2 weeks.
So that's that. Because too many good things can't happen to one person, I have next Fri-Sun off, and the Breezy Hill trial is the next weekend. I'm sure I'll be working the weekend of the trial... :-( I'll have to take my trial dates in to work and put in for some weekends for the fall trials. I'm just going to have to be patient with my life right now and remember I can't do it all. Right now if I don't have a decent job we will not be able to do much more than pay bills and buy food. And I'm fortunate that I stumbled upon a line of work that not only I enjoy, but I'm apparently very good at. Hence the bent of shape department managers.... 15 months is not a very long time to go from back room grunt to the 2nd level of management (especially when I had a zero 5 year work history and no management type experience anywhere in my job history). I need to run with this and not let the occasional missed trial interfere. It's funny where life leads you... I'm still going to train and work dogs, trial when I can, and not let go of having a small scale cattle/sheep farm as my ultimate goal. My biggest challenge will be not letting myself get wrapped up in thinking that it all has to happen NOW.... That's something that is very hard for me! I have a real hard time with waiting for "eventually".... I also have to remember to take the time to enjoy my boys while they are young and still in great need of our guidance. Of all of my responsibilities, they can never come in 2nd place! They're approaching some really important years, and I need to make sure I have my head screwed on straight and my attention correctly prioritized!! I do feel like the new schedule of 8am-5pm and 11am-8pm is going to help me get more done here at home. I have a hard time doing a whole lot of stuff when I get home somewhere between 5-6pm after busting my ass (mentally AND physically). Typically all I have in me are the things that have to be done- feeding the animals, making dinner, cleaning up dinner, getting kids to ball practice, going to ball games, helping with homework etc... I have a hard time pushing myself beyond much more than that. Now my "extra" time will be before work, and there should be no reason I go to bed any later on the 8pm days than I normally do, which is between 10-11pm. I'll just be missing our tv time- but instead have a few hours to do some things like working dogs or getting some house work done that's above and beyond what typically gets done. Even simple things like running errands will be easier since so many times where I need to go is closed by the time I'm off work. And as I mentioned this whole new system is supposed to be run very structured, so there should be no more of this "can you come in" crap. Structure is good....