Gloomy

Well today's my day off and it's pretty darn gloomy out there. If we were in the midwest I'd say snow is in the forecast, but since we're in the southeast it'll just be a cold, windy rain. Poop. Hopefully it'll just stay gloomy and not rain until Sunday like they say. I want to work a few dogs today. I'd like to put Ivy on the geese and see if I get more action out of her. My best friend/mentor/trainer said I just need to keep it fun with her and don't ask for much. I didn't think I was, but I've yet to be told something by Carol that ended up wrong. She has always been spot on. Since she has a decade or two more experience than I do she can usually spare me a lot of the live and learns- since she has already done it... I really, really like Ivy and being that she is my Cruz X Gwen pup, how could she possibly turn out a complete flop. It's genetically not possible. Not when she is so much like them both. As I posted before, at her current age is when her mother went thru the worst of her "don't poke that bubble"- it's just that Gwen was so much further along in her training, so it showed up in her driving more than it did her wearing/fetch work.

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I did find someone to take the ram, so that's good. He trading me a most-likely-bred hair ewe, which is perfect. I'm sure mine are bred as well. I need to get back up to about a dozen. It's not good to not have any variety. Last year I was so down that I just about quit everything so now I'm having to build everything back up, and being that I don't have money to buy sheep, I just have to do it via reproduction. ;-) From the group of lambs this winter/spring I'll band all the rams except one. During the summer I'll build him his OWN paddock. That's where I failed with Rambo. Now, after being with "his girls" all his 3 years of life he is frantic when I separate him off from them. And a frantic ram is dangerous... Cruz can handle him, but I see some hesitation and I get concerned that at Cruz's age if Rambo really nailed him it wouldn't be good. It's no lie, when you get older you heal slower. And Rambo can really get a lick in sometimes. Deal can move him, but it's not worth the frustration every single time I want to use the ewes. If I had kept him alone from the get go he would not be so stressed about being away from them. And no fence holds him when he's stressed. The last time I tried (without chaining him up like I do now) he broke off the 4x4 post at the pipe gate. Yup, broke the 4x4! I could lock him in the barn, but he'd just tear it up. So now I have a tow chain around an oak tree. Having a ram get loose while you're working a young dog is NOT a good thing! The last time that happened I was pretty dang sure he was going to slam me good! I had a pup with no real stop and only knew to fetch stock to me. So over and over, at a full run he came flying towards me!! Playing matador with big, horned, ram with a full head of steam is NOT *AT ALL* fun!! Especially when the young dog thinks she's doing the right thing by continue to drive him into your lap!! Not cool!

Well, it's 9:30, so I best get outside. It does look slightly brighter and the breeze has quit.

Wet N Windy

Jim with his big smile says "HI MOM!" :-)) (this was almost a really good shot of him- but I still think it really captures his personality. Handsome boy Jim. He is the last puppy I will ever give a 5-7 way vaccination too. There is little question in my mind that what happened to him was caused by his vaccination. There are no diseases that have similar enough symptoms. I have found references to other people having the same thing happen to their vaccination-aged puppies. Heck, my oldest son was in ICU for 2 days after getting his 18 month old MMR shot. His body basically would not quit killing his blood cells. If you touched him, he bruised... Had he fallen in that state I'm sure he would have died. We were "lucky", because with blood transfusions he recovered. Some need heavy and repeated steroid treatment and some never recover. (ITP) I sure was scared to death when Dylan had to have his. Yup the school can make you. Unless it's your religion, you have no say- it's get the shots or don't send them to school.... Just like now every 6th grade girl has to have that HPV vaccination. Yes, has to in the state of Virginia. But I'm not going to go down that path tonight, it's too late and since I worked a 12 hour shift today, I'm ready for my bed. I got home and let the puppers out for their last pee break. The kids fed them for me at dinner time and put them up. This routine ensures that at 8-9pm everyone has just done what they need to- we all sleep better that way. Emma and Logan stayed out loose in the house when they can came back inside. They roamed for a brief while, then they each pulled up a section of rug and are *crashed*! Out all day/play all day makes for good babies at night! :-) Routines are good. I fussed at Emma earlier because she had my shoe. She quickly changed her mind and while walking around found one of her toys- smart pup she is looked at her toy, then threw a glance my way and I smiled. She smiled back and pranced off with her toy. LOL! I love bright pups. Some of them just "get it".

It's gonna be wet and windy the next 3-4 days.... A good 'ol Nor'easter. For us an hour or so inland, the Nor'easters usually get use worse than the Hurricanes. I don't think it will amount to a great deal where we're at- maybe some swollen rivers and over flowing ditches and whatever decides to come down/off/over in 30-40 mph wind (sustained). I'm glad Ben's Mom is here for a visit, that way the dogs can be let out a few times during the day, rather than me having to make an all-day choice of either out, or put up before I leave for work. Tomorrow I have to run Charlie into Newport News for his braces appt. I need to take Dylan along so we can maybe find a walk-in eye exam somewhere. Last week a student knocked his glasses off and stepped on them. Yup. Dylan says he didn't step on them on purpose, but he did knock them off on purpose. The one and only good thing is that he was a couple months from needing a new script and glasses. But it wasn't something I was planning on now. Not to mention he now has the ever so famous taped up glasses look! Ugh!! He too close to needing a new script for me to just order new frames, that would be foolish.

Off to bed I go!

Hooray For Great Weekends!

The babies are right about 5 months now. They're both quite a lot of fun and very friendly, outgoing, smart, and personable pups. Ben has claimed Logan as his own, and that's just fine. Emma is my girl! She's going to be character and is not always going to be easy, and that's just my type! :-) I have some more pictures of them just having fun, but it's getting late and I'm working 8-8 tomorrow... time to turn dogs out one last time and then hit the hay!
Good Gosh, I think even an elephant would move for that ice-cold stare!!

Sisters, Clare and Kit. (different litters) Clare is Emma and Logan's Aunt.

Below is Kit, Ivy, and Clare

Ivy and Clare are quite close. They pretty much hang together.

It dawned on me that I have never published any pictures of our house. Too bad I didn't think of that while the Crape Myrtle trees were full of color!

It's an1880's (documented babies being born in the upstairs bedroom in 1901) farmhouse. This corner right here is where the bathroom was built on. Between the bathroom roof and the ceiling is part of an old porch... yeah, it was never taken off, just built over. The bathroom is serious project #2 on "the list"- kitchen is currently #1.

The top photo is the side that faces south. I counted one time and I think we have TWENTY NINE windows... might have been 31, but I think it was 29.

This is the side that faces west. Someday this will be a big beautiful southern porch again! It's probably serious project #3, unless something else like a new roof bumps it out of the #3 slot while projects #1 and #2 are being completed!! LOL!

This is the north side.

This was one of Ben's big projects over the summer! (east side- under a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE Sycamore tree- actually it's 3 trees planted together) Whata cool deck huh? The deck around the pool is probably 3' wide or so and the rectangle deck off from it is very generous in size. You could easily fit about 4 picnic tables on it. Ben is so talented. He never does anything half-ass and all of his work looks like you hired the job out to someone with 20 years experience! :-)

The building next to the pool is the 2 car garage (insulated and on it's own power) and the "apartment". The apartment is serious project #52... It's not finished, but all studded for a nice little apartment. It would really be a cute little set up. It'd be great for a home office for someone. The garage has a small septic that is separate from the house. You couldn't run laundry, etc... but you could have a bathroom.

This was one of the first things Ben built for me for the animals. This coop is probably going on 5 years old now. It's a perfect little coop, complete with nesting boxes inside.

My geese have the newest spot. It was either move them and build them a shelter, or let them go. I decided to move them. The now have a very nice size pen and when Ben returns home, they'll have a very nice enclosure, similar to the drawing above. I want to build a lean-to off the barn, starting about that window height and slant it just enough for run off. Then enclose at least the 2 short sides. I don't think in our climate they would need the front made into doors- especially when the open side will face east. So that will be very nice for them. I'd like the lean-to to come out as far as that post- that's why I left it there. So that's quite generous, given that the barn is 12' deep. Their enclosure will be approx. 12x8. Pretty darn cozy. :-)

It's hard to see in the picture, but below is the rest of their pen. It looks very, very nice done up with the cattle panel (or hog panels, whatever...) I had for the round pen I never need. I only had to use 3 panels because of the already existing fence on 2 sides.

It felt good to get that little goose project done this weekend. (and work all my dogs) My next project is making a serious enclosure for 2 pigs. ;-) Oh, I saw the best news tonight on my way home (in the dark)... A farmer harvesting his soybeans!! Yaahoo! That means it can't be long and the farmer that rents the field across the road will be doing his and the dogs and I can once again work on the big field over the winter. I'm sooo looking forward to that, as even my young dogs are in need of more space and less pressure everything single time I work them! (probably what Ivy needs tremendously) I may head over to David's one day this winter and ask him with some real seriousness about renting some land from him. Even if it's not the 30+ acres across from us, I know he has lots and lots more! Truth be told, if I found somewhere close to home to rent or buy (speaking just a big field) we would probably make this our forever home... don't know... might not be a reason to up root and start all over if I can buy enough land for a small farm close to our house.... It's a real serious possibility. Only time will tell. Ben has decided to finish his Bachelors Degree while in the Navy and then do his Masters in Math in relation to teaching.... He has 6 years left if he wants out at 20....

Well.... off to bed!

What Happens When

... you realize who you were at 20 suddenly isn't so different from who you are at 37? When I was 19 I was what most people would call a "hippie". I wanted nothing materialistic, only my car. I owned no more than a suitcase's worth of clothing (and for living in WI, that says a lot), thought the government sucked, and just wanted to live peacefully and not be bothered by the "real" world. My serious other half was the same, maybe even more so. A a very talented artist (still one of the best I've seen to date) who only wanted to smoke his pot and live every day with a smile on his face. When I was 21 something in me switched my gears and I felt like in order to "make it" I had to be main stream. I ended the relationship, moved back in with my parents and got a job. (I had a very good job at 18, but took the lay off pay out) That's when I met Ben and the rest is Apple Pie history. A very normal life, and still a very normal life, which is perfectly lovely. But for some time (a few years) I've been funky. I wouldn't go as far as to say unhappy, just funky... like I'm craving something, but I don't know what it is. Everyday I feel like there's just a little something that is missing. I am NOT unhappy with my life, I just feel a little "lost" in my life. Today I think I have figured it out. Simple and satisfied, that's what I want. I want to grow what we eat, I want to raise what we eat, I want to cook what we eat, and I want to be so busy doing that, that I am not worried about what I don't have that I think I want. Although I don't think I will need busify myself into contentment, since I think simplicity and contentment is what I've been craving. I want to have gardens and flowers and birds, and a few meat animals to tend to daily- hourly. Working hard and caring for animals is what I need to be content I'm now believing. When I think back a few years, the happiest I was was when we had a hobby farm. A little bit of everything. Not a big number of anything, but a small number of a lot. (chickens, geese, rabbits, goats, sheep, and even horses) Problem was, I didn't utilize the animals that could have benefited us, and they were only money pits and eventually had to go. Now I wish for that back, and to use it wisely. My own biggest flaw is that what I want, I want now... I'm going to really figure this out and make it my 5 year plan. Not a weekend project, not something I get depressed about because I can't do it all right now, but a 5 year "phase-in" if you will. Will I become obsessed about it? Most likely, that's what I do, but I am going to promise myself that I will only let that drive work in my favor during this endeavor. Dylan has 6 years left of school, so that's good timing. Ben (hubby) is much more materialistic than I am, but I think he'd go along. He is about easy and convenient, but is also very good about getting the projects too big for me, done. My oldest son is also all about making it easier. He will be an inventor someday, I have no doubt! He is SO smart. He has this amazing ability to imagine something and then make it. It's really mind blowing what he comes up with sometimes! My youngest is the type that at 19 will take nothing but a back pack and $500 and heads off to some long lost country in the hopes of finding proof that dragons or some other legend did indeed exist. They are SO different. In respects to them being happy I can see Charlie being one of those people you see in movies that have gadgets that make their toast and shave their face and robots that mow their lawn etc... LOL! And Dylan I see exploring the world with his back pack and notebook. But anyway.... not sure how I got off on that subject. Back to the previous subject. I do really want to make this happen. I hope that by the time the kids are done in school I can either quit my job or step down to a part time floor associate position. Maintaining a self sustaining type farm (or any farm really) is not something I'll be able to do while working away from home 40 hours a week. If this is my serious plan then I need to also have a serious money plan, as we have considerable debt. (which is the only reason I have to work) If I want to work more on debt am I going to have to cut back else where. Elsewhere meaning animals that are not "giving back" and purchases of material things I don't really need. I may also have to look into trialing. Although I don't really trial all that much anyway. But... my hope was to start to be able to trial more in a year or so, but maybe that is the wrong direction. I can't do it all. Just like at work, I can't let myself get spread so thin that I am no longer doing a good job anywhere. What is the saying? Jack of trades, master of none? Something like that.

Well, I just felt like I need to write this down. I'm off to clean out the chicken coop and get them some fresh straw. I have to figure out what to do with the geese. I either have to let them go, or make them a winter shelter...

Musings...

It's been so nice to have 2 days in row off. I worked 11-8 on Monday, and got a lot of house work done before I left for work. I'm trying very hard to just buckle down on stuff, rather than fretting about it. I'm also getting drop dead serious with the boys about their treatment of this house! I think my new position at work is actually helping me here at home. My position requires me to find hands to get the jobs done, I am no longer a one-woman-show; I'd never get it done. This was hard for me (still is sometimes) and it's hard for me at home. I tend to either do it all myself, or just let it go undone. I felt guilty giving them chores, or even keeping up with their own room, and just like so many of the associates at work, my kids knew it and took full advantage of that. But no more. I can't and shouldn't have to do it all alone! Today I need to get the kitchen and the bathroom picked up. I hate the kitchen, I really do. It never stays right and to be honest by the time I get home at 6:30, make dinner and eat dinner, I sure don't want to clean up dinner! We've gotten better though and the most I let get left anymore are the pots and pans I used. But somehow the kitchen is still a disaster.... :-(

Yesterday I picked up outside and worked all the dogs. I had to fix the fence (again) because the ram busted it while I was letting Emma go around the sheep. He's becoming a real serious pain in the ass because I just don't have the funds to build him a shelter so he can have his own area. So I resorted to taking one of my dog chains (that I use to tether dogs when I'm training at someone's place) and chaining him to a tree in the paddock.

All the dogs worked pretty well. Toss is really coming along on his whistles. He wasn't wanting to give much ground on his "away" side when given as an inside flank to hold a cross-drive type line, but did eventually understand what I wasn't pleased with.

Gwen worked nice and didn't stall out. She was a little wild, but she gets that way if she is not worked a lot. She's a dog you could work hard everyday and she would not burn out.

Deal was very nice and if we can just get this shed thing figured out between us, she'll be ready for Open. She gets really intense and will often use her teeth. I need to consult with Carol on what I should do, because I hate to keep fussing at her. I don't want to make hesitant to come thru. I want to make sure she knows it's the grip I'm displeased with, not the coming thru. So for now the shed work is on the back burner with her.

Mary worked nicely for awhile and then started to slide. I worked on insisting she stop immediately on the first whistle. She doesn't like to stop- especially on the drive. What's interesting is that she has wonderful pace, but to get her honest about her stops is something else! I worked on driving sort of in a square, close at hand. She started out doing pretty well, but I could see I was losing her after not a lot of time. She went from walking thru the stops, to giving me 95% honest, and back to walking thru the stops. So I let her put them thru the chute and quit with her. Mary's such a nice dog, and she really is very talented, but there is just something about the 2 of us... She thinks I'm too demanding, and I think she's a bit of quitter...

Cruz seemed a little odd. I'm not sure if he was having trouble hearing me in all the leaves or just what. I think his body is finally getting a little older and he knows it. I ended up working on stopping and tight inside flanks. He's so funny because as soon as he knows I'm going to "drill" him on a task he goes into textbook mode. He knows where I stand and how I act when we have to step back and drill some tight flanks (his hole in the beginning) and he just pops right out there and doesn't really even watch the sheep- he goes mechanical, so I don't do that with him very much, but he needed to be reminded yesterday. It's not often I have to "train" him, I just have to work him and expose him- he just gets it. He was also not stopping sharply, which is why I think he couldn't hear me very well. Given his age and his honesty, I no longer ask him to lie down. If he wants to stand on a lie down whistle, he has earned that privilege.

Clare was very nice, she is maturing and I think she'll be very much like Deal- just not as much to handle. I've been very light with her as I could see I had a huge influence over her. It was me she was somewhat hesitant about, not the sheep. We did some short fetch work and short send work. She sends and goes around very nicely at a short distance. She likes to stay on her feet, and that is OK with me. In fact I don't think I've seen her lie down now that I think about it, but she has a very solid stand for such a youngster. She'll either be a dog that can stand honestly, or later, when she is more confident I will ask her to lie down, but for right now there is no reason at all to put that kind of handler pressure on her.

Ivy. She is my bummer story of the day. I can't get her off her belly. She'll send and fetch, but once everything is going nicely she plops down and I cannot get her up. I've tried various things. I've tried lots of cheerleading, no voice at all, I've tried just continuing to walk, I've tried to wait her out and stay put (she'll get bored right? Wrong.) The only way to get her back on her feet is step over enough that she has flank. But again, once she has them nicely going she stops and will not get back up. My sheep work nice and when she stops, they stop (and don't run off). If I keep walking the sheep stay put- so she should go ahead and get up and get them to me. If they were knee huggers and didn't even need a dog to stay with me, I would give her the benefit of the doubt. But that isn't the case. I'm concerned this is going to be a forever hole. That even if I get her through this part, it'll show up later when sheep stall out on cross drives and tough pens. I don't want that. I don't at all enjoy telling a dog to get up. I'm much better at reining a dog in. I feel like at her age this shouldn't be an issue. I feel like at her age I should have "yee ha" issues, not "get up" issues... I really like her as a dog, but if she isn't going to come on, then I'm going to have to make a really hard decision...

Emma was fun. She's really going to be a fun pup to bring on! She's so full of herself, yet she is a sweetheart. She's very smart and very stable minded. Her and Logan are both in here with me curled up taking their late-morning puppy nap. Logan is Ben's pup, so he has a forever home. In fact Ben told me if I could find Maddie (the Lab) a home, he was okay with that... Logan is an on/off pup and will melt into snoring sleep in your lap in about 5 minutes! Logan wants nothing to do with stock yet, but oh well.

Kit worked very well. I can now send her from my feet and she does an outrun instead of a bowling ball. LOL! I knew it would come, only because her father was the same way. I just kept it close at hand and did a lot of standing between her and the sheep until she understood. She understands now, so it will be great for her to get to work in the soybean field over the winter. By spring her outrun should be solid enough for ProNovice. She already has flanks and a stop and can do pens and chute work. She has a short drive and will even take an inside flank. So stretching out the drive work and outrun will be her winter work in the big field. :-) She is a very straight forward, hard pushing driver like her father, so I don't forecast stretching out the drive to be any trouble. Probably about time to start putting some basic whistles on her.

Well, time to get some stuff done inside so I can go outside for the afternoon. Maybe today I can just quick play with each dog and take some new photos of the dogs I don't have many of. I didn't take any yesterday because I wanted to really work them. It's hard to train and photograph. When I take their pictures I pretty much send them and then walk around.

My Kids are really growing up!

Dylan 11, Charlie 13

Better Late Then Never...

These are from our trip in late June to West Virginia. The above photo is an example of some of the trails we rode. The picture really doesn't does show the steepness of the trail- add in the ruts and you have quite a ride ahead of you! The trails were beautiful all through the mountains. Many trails ran you right along the edge of ridges- ridges that if you did go over the edge I'm not sure what kind of shape you'd be in! Some of those rides were pretty intense. I was fairly panicky a few times thinking about the kids...
This is the little cabin we stayed in. It was just perfect. It had a bunk bed and full size bed, two windows, and a little window a/c. West Virginia in June was perfect. It would get pretty hot during the day, but cool off in the evening and didn't seem to have the SE humidity. The bathhouse was about 75 yards away. It was very well kept and clean and included a laundromat. It was only luck, but next year I'll make sure we have the same cabin, or at least on that side. Our porch faced East, which was perfect. I'm sure the cabins facing the South West got pretty darn hot. Kudos to my good ol girl F150!! That's QUITE the haul up and down the mountains between Virginia and West Virginia! She ran pretty hot on the way up, but adding octane boost and using the best gas helped. What make the biggest difference though was that Ben bought a timing kit and fixed the timing. It was like we left home with a 150 and drove back home with a 250!

Yup I'm a redneck woman!

This was a fun spot. We were having a contest to see who could get through without getting stuck and have to be towed out. Note the the 2 racing bikes aren't anywhere in sight! Off to the right of the photos was a loop without quite as much wet cement. The 2 Raptors will be replaced with 2 more 4x4's before we go on this trip next year!

I made it... Charlie did not...

...neither did Dylan! ;-)

This was one of the prettiest pull off spots on the trip. One thing I was admittedly a little disappointed in was that there weren't any "look out" spots. It was beautiful yes, but all we could ever see were the tops of more trees. No views to speak of.

Too bad the boys can't ever go on vacation and do "boy" things- like get dirty!! Good Lord!!

My goofballs! The cabin site had a picnic table and a hand pump for water. It was really the perfect little set up. It also had a fire pit. We bought a handy little gas grill/griddle/stove- it was fantastic. I could make beans and hamburgers, and even boil the water for my coffee. :-)

The poor Raptors were really out of their element on a lot of the trails. Thank goodness for the other 2 4x4's and a tow strap! LOL! Most of the time there was a way around the terrain they couldn't get through, but sometimes there was no good way. The 4x4's were awesome!! :-)

I guess this photo pretty much screams "Redneck Vacation"- all Ben and I need is a Lucky Strike and a Budweiser! LOL! I guess rednecks are what we are because we all had a blast.

Got dirt?

View of another trail.