For Sale - DeltaBluez Jade

Jade, a rough coat, tri color female is available to the right home. Her sire is AltaPete Teddy (Tait) and her dam is Imp Peggy (David Brady's breeding)

Tait is one of the top cattledog in the USBCHA. Tait placed 10th overall in the 2008 USBCHA Cattledog Finals and won the High Combined Qualifying Open dog. Tait is qualified for the 2009 USBCHA Cattledog Finals. Tait's sire, AltaPete Cub was 3rd in the USBCHA Sheepdog Finals in TN. Tait has also run in sheepdog trials.

Imp Peg ran in the UK Nurseries and was imported to the USA. She worked cattle and sheep. She ran in sheepdog trials and is a very natural driver. Both dogs are true working dogs and have true grit.

Jade was born in Sept 2007. She is a very strong dog and not for a weak or new handler. She works cattle and sheep. She has been started and has a nice outrun, stop, body flanks and recall.

If you want a tough and strong female to run in Nurseries for the next two year, then Jade is the dog for you. She would be an excellent cowdog or sheepdog.

Potato Soup

1 medium onion or leek
Finely chopped 3 stalks celery
Finely chopped 3 medium-sized potatoes
Cup of Half and Half
3 cups of vegie or beef stock
1/2 stick of butter
Salt and pepper
Bay leaf
Fresh parsley or chives
2 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. Chop the vegetables into roughly even sized pieces.
2. Melt the butter and sauté the onion until they are yellow and soft.
3. Add the other vegetables and continue sautéing with the lid on, over a low heat, for 5-10 minutes.
4. Add 3 cups water or stock and season with salt and pepper and add the bay leaf.
5. Cook until the vegetables are tender.
6. When vegetables are ready, remove the bay leaf and add 1 cup of milk and 1-2 tablespoons butter.
7. Reheat (but don’t boil).
8. Once the soup is on the soup plate, garnish with parsley (or chives or dill).
9. Serve with crusty bread and butter.

The Fantastic Finn

Good Bye, Finn. As I left him at the airport, he suddenly realized that I was leaving him. Mournful howls came out of his kennel and I saw his face pressed to the wire, worried that I was abandoning him. He realized that I was going away from him and he cried even louder.

I cried on my way home.

Finn just turned a year old and he was very mature for his age.

He has solid work ethics and a desire to please.

He has an super bushy tail. It gets busy too...with all that wagging!!

Lots of power and go-forth. After all, Scott Glen's Pleat is in his lines.

Keen as they come. A joy to work. A pleasure to watch.

Honest as they come. Square flanks and nice, crisp turns.


He can take 50 ewes of the feeders and hold them off.



Outruns to 50 yds and knows his flanks. A good walkup and recall. Very fun to work.



Brave in tight situation. Takes sheep off the fence. Not afraid of anything.

Power and then more power. Confident in his work.

And Finn is a real sweetheart. He wants to please and is a kind dog. Takes sheep in and out of stalls. Sorts sheep in and out of the pens. Works around the horse and people. Stays tied to a fence and is quiet. He has been to Murphy's Pub, ridden loose in the car, has been in the house, plays with the other dogs, loves to hang out near you but most of all:

Finn wanted his own handler.

We took Finn in to help him out of a bad spot and put a lot of time in him to make him the shining star that he turned out to be.

So Finn has his own handler now and lives in Georgia.

Finn loves his new handler, Sandra.

We will keep you posted on their adventures.

We all love and miss you Finn. We are happy that we made your journey to your new home a successful one. You took a piece of everyone's heart with you to your new home.

Nike Signs Big Brown To $90 Million Horseshoe Contract

PORTLAND, OR—In a move that added the world's pre-eminent equine athlete to its stable of endorsers Tuesday, Nike signed Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Big Brown to a seven-year, $80 million endorsement contract that included a $10 million signing bonus as well as the creation of a signature horseshoe, the Air Brown...MORE

Email Failure - Dotster

Well, if you have tried to email me today and the email bounced or I didn't reply, I have a good excuse. The mail servers at Dotsters have been down all day.

I called at 5ish and they said it would be fixed in a hour or two. Well, it's 3.5 hrs later and email issues still!! I got some of my emails from this morning but the rest of my emails are gone!! Like into a black hole. Never to be seen. *POOF*

I just got off with the online support and they do not have a time to the servers to be fixed and more than likely my emails will be gone too. Sigh, needless to say, I am bummed. So if you have sent me email today, I will not get it and if you expect a reply from me, don't hold your breath!!

Resend me an email early tomorrow morning or post in the comment section. I will update this blog posting when my email issues are resolved.

ETA: Friday Feb 27 10:10 AM....Just got off the phone to Dotster and all the emails from 2:00 PM to 10:17 PM are GONE. SO if you sent me an email then.....I WILL NEVER GET IT. So resend me the email and sorry about this....my email is working now

Cottage Pie

Well I broke down and made Cottage Pie. I took a recipe and tailored it to my style. I had Ron, Hope, Misty over for a weekend and I served that on Friday night. Ron, Misty, Hope, Getty and I ate it and had two and even three servings. I made two huge casserole dishes and it went fast. This recipe is a keeper. Tailor it to your needs.

One of the casseroles before it was cooked. I took a fork and made a fun pattern on the top.

Here they are just out of the oven and before we inhaled them. What I would do differently is to add mushrooms and make more mashed potatoes for the topping

Diane’s Cottage Pie

2 lbs ground beef
1 lb spicy pork sausage (Jimmy Dean)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions (finely chopped)
2 large tomatoes (chopped) or can of spicy chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped steamed asparagus
6 large potatoes (boiled/mashed – add half and half and butter to make this rich)
3 carrots- steamed and chopped
1 can beef stock
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon sage1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
4 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
dash salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Brown the beef and pork sausage in oil.

Remove from pan and set it aside and drain some fat but not all of it.

Sauté onions until tender, and then add chopped tomatoes, asparagus, carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add broth and stir in herbs and 2 tablespoons butter.

Return meat to pan and continue cooking for 5 minutes until well mixed.

Put all ingredients to an ovenproof casserole.

Top with mashed potatoes (scoring them with a fork.)

Dot with butter and bake uncovered in 375-degree oven for about 45 minutes. Remove when browned on top and center is hot.

Sign of Affection

Valentine Day rolls around and I got a present for my sweetheart. The sweetheart dog that is. Tess.

Naturally it would be a heart. A Heart with a rope on it. I asked Tess to show it off.

Here is Tess on the couch. Side view of the Heart on a rope.

Now the front view. The humor of it stuck on her nose has worn off. See Tess make a face.

OK, so she took it off and is much happier now. It still has a sticker on it.

Not for long though. She enjoyed her new heart toy. After all, one of her nicknames is "Sweetheart"

Thanks to my sponsors for the USBCHA Sheepdog Finals

I want to thank the kind folks who sponsored my dogs and me for the 2009 USBCHA Sheepdog Nationals Finals. It means a lot to me that people care to do such a kind deed. May your kindness be returned TENFOLD.


NAN Sponsors:

Karen Rabbitt, Joan Shelton, Terry Murray, Cindy Evans, Carolyn Crocker from TN, VA, GA, CA


TESS Sponsors:

Janeen Hair (Bimmers Border Collie Rescue), Lisa Rayburn, Joan McGrath, Laura Hanley, Sue Rayburn from VA, NC, NY, KY, WV


SPONSOR LIST


Thanks again for your sponsorship!! I'll try my best to do you proud!!

New rule on flying dogs

This will affect you if you are flying a dog from Canada to the US or from overseas to the USA.


http://petrelocation.blogspot.com/2009/02/breaking-news-new-tsa-directive-live.html


http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=3743

Sheep costumes

Ever want to dress up your child (or yourself) as a sheep? Well, here is the place that has sheep costumes. There is one scary sheep mask so be warned!!

SHEEP COSTUMES

Reflections (Tess)

Need I say anymore?

Click on the pix for a larger view

Fun Match the Sheep game

How good are you at matching sheep?

Sheep Game

Canadians save the Dolphins

The Canadians just rock. They saved three dolphins.

Want something done...call the Canadians, not the Gov't.

GO Canadians

Check out Roo and AltaPete Trial blog

Jenny Glen has been so kind to do an "AltaPete Trial Blog". This week featured dog is "DeltaBluezRoo". Roo is a son out of Tess from the first litter. Pleat is the sire.

Jenny and her dogs. I think Jenny is one of the cutest woman handlers out there. Not to mention, she can lay down an awesome run. What a winning combination!!

 

Roo is my dog to run, well except for this year. He is at Scott and Jenny Glen and hopefully he will do well enough to be successful in Open and (keep your fingers and paws crossed) well enough to go to the Finals.

Jenn is keeping a wonderful and picturesque blog of their trials.


Here is the link:

AltaPete Trial Blog


Thanks Jenn for such a wonderful blog!!

All In The Family

Delmar Kane is a new papa. He and his lovely daughter, Kira were at the Fun Trial this last weekend. There are a lot of similarities between the two dogs.

 

Kane tied for first place at the Finals but got second place due to outwork on the first day. He got 10th overall in the Sheepdog Nursery. He is also one of the top ranked cattledog in the US. Scott Glen ran and trained him.

Kane keeping an eye on the sheep. See how his ears flop down to the side.
 

See the same stance she has. She stands just like her father.

Kane as a pup and Kira, are very similar in their personalities.
 

Kane covering the sheep and not letting them bolt off.

See the intensity in his eyes. He is a nice dog.

See her intensity. She is a very determined pup.

Stopping the runaways.

She says "I don't think so!!"

Walking forward with purpose.

Her eyes mean business.

Quick turn.

Slow turn.

Fast asleep.

Novice, Ranch and ProNovice Fun runs

Here are some pixs from the Novice, ranch and Pronovice class from the Fun trial. I was judging so sometimes I didn't get pixs from all of the runs. Click on the pixs to see a larger view.

Courtney and Meg. Look how nice Meg is doing behind the sheep.


Jack is one nice dog on the sheep. He is being run by Nancy.

Here is Syke run by Christy. In Novice class and very keen.


I love this pix. Kathleen and Emma. I tried to get pix of her sister, Tigr but got rain drops on the lens so they didn't come out.


Emma on a fetch. She has a nice feel for her sheep.

Chuck's handsome Teddy. Look at his intensity.

Teddy getting the pen. Chuck being very patient.

Tait waiting to go. He won PN.

OK, so Kodiak decided to do an outrun the same time as Scott.

Janet and Scott in PN. Look how nice the fetch is. They are a good team.

The top three in each class got nice awards. The rest of the folks got prizes so everyone got a prize!! It was fun and thanks to all who help set up, set/sort sheep and breakdown.

Top three placing:

Novice

Kathleen and Emma 55

Courtney and Logan 50

Nancy and Jack 49

Ranch

Hope and Tigr 65 (the best outrun!!)

Janet and Scott 64

Kathleen and Emma 64 (tie broken on outwork)

ProNovice

Ron and Tait 74

Hope and Tigr 42

Janet and Scott 41