Saturday, October 31, 2009

Crossing the barriers....

..this is a touching story...who says dogs and cats can't get along...(from the news article)


A dog and a cat which have recently given birth in China are taking it in turns to 'childmind' for each other.

Both animals are owned by Gao Shunhong, of Fushun, Liaoning province, who adopted the dog two years ago and the cat one year ago.

"They get along together incredibly well for a cat and dog," he told the Fushun Daily newspaper.

Two weeks ago, the cat gave birth to a litter of two kittens, and three days later, the dog produced a litter of six puppies.

"Both mothers put their cubs together in the same box, and rotate in nursing them," said Gao.



"When the dog is out, the cat will lie down and nurse the kittens and puppies, and when the dog came back, the cat would go out, leaving the nursing job to the dog.

"If both mothers are in, the cubs can get quite mixed up, with the cat nursing the puppies, and the dog nursing the kittens.

"It's really odd - but a great picture of harmony

Friday, October 30, 2009

Imp Sava

This is the last set of photos from the Oct 10th trial. I ran Sava in Ranch, which is a scaled down version of ProNovice. These sheep are a lot heavier than she is used to working. It was a good run.


Just before she is sent. We had worked just recently on taking sheep off people. I helped her on her outrun, just in case she was unsure. She is a very willing partner.


On the fetch. She took my commands well.


Sava is a very stylish worker.


On the drive.  She really had to push but did it. She had a nice crossdirve and was wobbly on the turn on the crossdrive.


At the pen. We never practiced penning before. I use her to sort sheep at home so that experience helped us at the pen.


She held her line and got the pen. We only lost one point at the pen. I really like Sava and she is going to my upcoming, young star!!

Pups for Sale

Posting this for a good friend of mine:

For sale: 5 females from a litter by L&M Belle (Laura Hick's Nell X Michelle Howard's Imp Moss) X Deltabluez Caden (Diane Pagel's Tess X DelMar Scott). All are black and white and should be lightly rough coated. Belle is CEA DNA Normal and preliminary hip x-ray looked very good. DOB 10/11/09





Laura Hick's Nell is the mother of Tommy Wilson's Sly, Laura Hick's Jag, Diane Pagel's Nan while Michelle Howard's Imp Moss is the father of Scott Glen's Maid and is out of Henderson's ##Sweep; DelMar Scott is a grandson of Bobby Dalziel's Wisp while Diane's Tess was the 3rd dog to get ROM through ABCA and placed 6th in the nursery finals in 2001.


For more information contact Lora email

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Sheepdogs wear plaid

I didn't know sheepdogs wore plaid.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Trial Photos for Oct 10thTrial

Some photos from the trial. Mainly the Ranch and Novice Classes.
The Cattledog. I don't know what the name of the dog was but it was game.


 

Kathleen and Emma.

Rainey on the fetch.

Janet and Rainey at the pen.

Bonnie and Ellie Mae. Ellie is Nan's daughter.

Audrey and Dan at the pen. They got it!!

Pam and Colin at the pen.

Colin!! What a nice dog.

Why do we love children?

A friend of mine sent this to me. I hope this makes you smile as it did me.


1) NUDITY
I was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, 'Mom, that lady isn't wearing a seat belt!'

2) OPINIONS
On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, "The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents."

3) KETCHUP
A woman was trying hard to get the ketchup out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone. 'Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle.'

4) MORE NUDITY
A little boy got lost at the YMCA and found himself in the women's locker room. When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover. The little boy watched in amazement and then asked, 'What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a little boy before?'

5) POLICE # 1
While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about 6 years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, 'Are you a cop? Yes,' I answered and continued writing the report. My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?' 'Yes, that's right,' I told her. 'Well, then,' she said as she extended her foot toward me, 'would you please tie my shoe?'

6) POLICE # 2
It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. 'Is that a dog you got back there?' he asked..
'It sure is,' I replied.
Puzzled, the boy looked at me, then towards the back of the van and finally said 'What'd he do?'

7) ELDERLY
While working for an organization that delivers lunches to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my 4-year-old daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly intrigued by t he various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs. One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered, 'The tooth fairy will never believe this!'

8) DRESS-UP
A little girl was watching her parents dress for a party. When she saw her dad donning his tuxedo, she warned, 'Daddy, you shouldn't wear that suit.'
'And why not, darling?'
'You know that it always gives you a headache the next morning.'

9) DEATH
While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased.
The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: 'Glory be unto the Father, and unto the Son, and into the hole he goes.' (I want this line used at my funeral!)

10) SCHOOL
A little girl had just finished her first week of school. 'I'm just wasting my time,' she said to her mother. 'I can't read, I can't write, and they won't let me talk!'

11) BIBLE
A little boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible.. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages.
'Mama, look what I found,' the boy called out.
'What have you got there, dear?'
With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, 'I think it's Adam's underwear!'

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Some pixs from the Oct 10th trial

I took a ton of photos of the Oct 10th trial and will put them up in the next couple of days.


Linda and Pooka. Linda does our scorekeeping. Pooka is a grandaughter of Tess.


Janet and Rainey. Rainey is a Scott x Tess daughter. She ran very well and after her run, she had to cruise the crowd to get her "good dog" pets!!



Bonnie is the person who always takes the photos so it was only fitting that I took a photo of her.



Kathleen and Emma.


Nan, with her paws crossed watching the runs. I love how she looks in the photo.

Tomorrow, photos of some of the runs.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Winter Series -Oct 10 at the MacDonalds

Ok, I am trying so hard to catch up now. I ran Roo, Nan and Sava in a trial on Oct 10th at Sue and George MacDonald’s. It was a one day trial held on Saturday. Janet ran Scott. Monique ran Lucy. Audrey ran Dan. Kathleen ran Emma. We ran a bunch of dogs.

I was first with Nan and she had a nice outrun and a little wobble on part of the fetch. She is a real joy to run and loves to please. She is a lot of dog but a willing partner. She has filled Tess’s shoes quite well and her 100% style different than Tess. The Scotties were tough and had some tough draws. At the end of the fetch you had a chute with one chance. I had the sheep set up but flanked her too slow so didn’t get the chute. The drive was to the right up a steep hill, then after you went through the first panel, you had to pull through a second panel, then over a rocky path to the last set of panels. Then you had to push through the cross drive panel and then pull through another one. That was a lot of panels. And she got all of them. We lost 6 points off the drive!! We timed out at the shed. She ran very well and was pleased with herself after the run. She loves to be fussed over after her run so I did just that and I am blessed to have her.

Roo was the next one to run and he is a lot of dog. I set him and gave him a couple of flanks, just in case he thought about cutting in and he took them. I gave him a down and he took it and had a nice lift. He was a bit pushy on the fetch but listened well and held a nice pace. He got three sheep in the chute but they only marked one down. He really listened well on the drive and didn’t push but had a good pace, hit the panels and we lost 6 for the drive. I was very impressed with him. We also timed out on the shed but he was trying really hard for me. I was very happy with his run and had he ran like this at the Finals, I would have been over the moon. However, in time, we will work well together. Nan got 4th and Roo got 6th.

Janet ran Scott in ProNovice and he was on the muscle. Janet had a hard time but Scott was pushy and they will have to work on their fine-tuning on the course. Scott has been pushing the edge with Janet so she knows how strong he can be.

I ran Sava in Ranch and she cast out nice. I’ve been working hard on picking sheep of people and she did fine and had nice outwork. I flanked her throughout the outwork so she would feel like she had support and she did well. Her first leg of her drive was nice and she pushed the slow ewes and got the first panel, lined them nice for the cross drive and we had a very wide turn for the last part. She did great pen work and I haven’t done any penning with her so I was very happy with this. She was pleased and turned herself inside out with joy. She is so transparent and wants to please. She is a stunning driving, stylish dog on the course.

Audrey ran Dan in ranch and he was on the muscle. He has no problem with his sheep and is a very powerful dog. Audrey ran him well and was very quiet. Kathleen ran Emma and she had a crossover and that killed her. Emma is looking really good and is one nice dog.

Kathleen ran Emma in Novice and at the last moment she crossed over. If she hadn’t crossed it would have been almost perfect. Jeanne ran Moses and they are an awesome pair. What a run.

Janet ran Rainey and flanked her to keep her free on the outrun. Rainey just had learned to pick sheep off people the day before so Janet was making sure that Rainey had the support she needed and she lifted the sheep well, had a nice controlled fetch and penned them with ease. After Rainey’s run, she made a point of running up to us in the crowd as if to say “Didn’t I do well?”

The nice part about these Winter Series is that you can use your time to train your dog. It’s low key trial and lots of fun. We really appreciate that they put this on for us. I am using it to fine tune my Open dogs and me. As for my younger dogs, it gets them to a trial field, get exposed to everyone and if needed, I can leave the post to help them. After a few of these trials, their confidence just goes up and they just get better and better.

Nan got a whopping .6 point for the Finals so she is at 7.6 right now. I hope to get a lot more points on her and go to VA. I am hoping the same for Roo. When he listens, he is a wonderful dog. He is always a happy dog. I am enjoying running my dogs now. It is still weird not running Tess though. She has been my right arm for so long.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Animal Brain Teasers

Put your answer in the comments. I'll post the answer in a few days.


1. What kind of animal was “Black Beauty” in the book with that title by Anna Sewell?

2. What kind of animal was Tarka in a 1927 book by Henry Williamson?

3. Complete this title from Rudyard Kipling’s “Just So Stories”: “How the…Got His Hump”

4. What kind of animal was Babar in picturebooks created in the 1930s by Jean de Brunhoff?

5. Richard Adams’s 1972 novel “Watership Down” is about a community of which animals who set out in search of a new home?

6. What kind of animal is Kipper in stories by Mick Inkpen?

7. Which animal is named in the alternative title of Ben Jonson’s play “Volpone”?

8. What kind of animal was Archy in Don Marquis’s stories about Archy and Mehitabel?

9. In George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, what was the name of the noble carthorse who was sent to the knacker’s yard?

10. Fill the gap in the title of this story by Mark Twain: “The Celebrated Jumping…of Calaveras County”.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

"Hanson's Gael"

Gael is the newest member of the DeltaBluez dogs. She is from Chris and Terri Hanson. Chris and Terri are good friends of mine and I got Scott from them a few years ago. They are very good people and I love them dearly.

Gael is a pup from their Zac and Teak. My Open dog Nan is Gael's greatgrandmother. Zac is Zoerb's Mik x Gyp. Mik is my Nan's son. Teak is Elvin Kopp's lines.

We picked up Gael at the USBCHA Sheepdog Finals. Lee Lumb brought her down. Gael did very well for being away from her family and fit  into our pack easily. She was a great lapwarmer and seranded Ben late at night. His tent was next to her crate.


Gael is a smooth coat was was born in April of this year. She is an excellent lap warmer. Here she wanted to leap out and give Audrey a kiss!!


She has the hugest airplane ears and might blow away in a windstorm.



She is always in motion so it was hard to take pictures but I managed to get her to stand still for one second. She has the longest legs!!



OK, maybe a quick lie down but not for long.


Time to go and off she went. She will spend this year growing up, going to downtown Seattle, making new friends, getting socialized, getting used to everything  and being a spoiled puppy. Katheen has her for the socialzation. She does a wonderful job.  We really enjoy her bubbly personality and she is a real charm.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Step Back in Time with Scott


Once again, I was looking through my old photos and pulled out these. Scott was my Open cowdog that I ran for a few years. He also ran in Open sheep  and did well. Now he is retired and living with Janet and runs in ProNovice on Sheep.  Scott was the main cowdog on the Coldstream ranch for many years. He was owned by Chris and Terri Hanson.


This was a few years ago. Just before the run. This cowdog trial was on horseback.


Bringing them from the pasture into the arena as part of the course.


Putting them through the Y chute.


Down the alley way.


To the arena.


We won Reserve Champion trophy which was a silver cinch...very stunning.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Listen to me!!! Or just run to my Mom, instead!!

When my mom comes over here, the girls (Nan, Rainey and Tess) have a heyday. First of all, they get lots of treats. My mom gives them a bag of dog biscuits. And that is not enough, so she feeds them part of her lunch. Then to top it off,  some bread from the barn. They are too full to eat dinner. Sigh, I can't tell my mom not to do that and it gives her great enjoyment so I  let her. They get to play ball when she is here!!



Rigby loves her. When she comes over, he gets a can of cat food on the front porch. Then he gets to come into the house and sleep in the dog bed. He is now a part time barn and house cat. As a housecat, he is quite good and we have learned to put all food away now. What he doesn't eat, he will knock to the floor for the dogs to eat. He believes in sharing the wealth!!



Here is my mom in the kitchen with Tess and Nan. I called them over to me to put them away and they promptly ran to my mom. They ignored me and my mom fussed over them. They have learned when I tell them to go to their bed, they can run next to my mom and they don't have to go to their beds. They know that I have NO authority over my mom!!

As you can tell, they are the Assistant Chefs to my mom!!


Now, my mom told them to go to their beds. They ran and jumped on my bed and made themselves at home. My mom thought it was funny!!



Tess even took over my pillow. Afterall, it was a hard day. Eat treats, play ball, repeat, repeat and repeat!!

I guess Rigby and I will share the dog bed then!!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A Class Act

I just got the most wonderful handwritten Thank You Note from Allen Mills. He ran a talented bitch named Sis. Sis is a daughter of Amelia Smith's Price. Allen thanked me for the blogging and his gesture that he wrote me a note, touched me.

It's not often a simple gesture moves me but this one did. He took the time to write and he had already thanked me at the Finals, so this came as a real surprise. A tons of people thanked me via email but Allen went the extra step.


So, Allen (or I am sure his friends will tell him)...if you are reading this...you are a real classy Gentleman!! I'll be your biggest fan on your simple, thoughful gesture.

Keep being the gentleman that you are....we all appreciate it!!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The New Lap Warmer

Since Tess didn't go to the trial with me on Oct 10th, I had to use her daughter,  Jackie,  as backup. Jackie is now owned by Sue MacDonald. She placed 20th in the Nursery Finals a couple of years ago.  Recently, she worked at a sheep operation, that had over 700 sheep to get some seasoning.

Sue ran her at this trial. We all cheered for her. She reminded me of her brother, Roo. Very pushy and a handful. Roo is her brother but from an earlier litter.



See how well she fits on the lap. As a pup, Jackie was always in our laps. She is a great housedog. She kept me warm during the trial.  She is going to be Sue's lap warmer now.



Belly rub time. It was nice to see that Tess's daughter was keeping up the family tradition of being a lap warmer. Where was Tess? She was asleep at home on my pillow.

photos by Carolyn Harwell !!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Salmon Chowder Soup

This is a quick and easy meal. Very tasty and the smoked salmon adds a bit of flavor. Good for those cold and wet days.

Ingredients:
1 TB canola oil
1/4 C thinly sliced carrot
1/C C chopped celery
1/3 C chopped Onion
4-5 C reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 C milk
1  large raw salmon fillet, in small-med chunks
1/2 C Smoked salmon
2 C cauliflower heads, in small chunks
3 ts fresh chopped chives
2-3 cups leftover mashed potatoes or cubed cooked potatoes
2 ts tarragon
1 TB Dijon mustard
1/4 ts salt


Directions:
  1. Heat oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Brown carrots. onions, and celery.
  3. Add broth, milk, cauliflower, and chives and bring to a simmer.
  4. Cover and simmer.
  5. Cook raw salmon in another pan with butter until done and set aside.
  6. Stir potatoes, tarragon and mustard into the soup and blend.
  7. Simmer and add salmon and smoked salmon and reheat. Add salt and pepper.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sept 5-7 Rocky Ewe Trial

I went to a trial just before the Finals. I never got around to writing about it due to work and trying to get ready for the Finals. But here it is…a wee bit late but nevertheless, the trial wrap-up. The trial name is Rocky Ewe and it has been going on in one shape or form for many years.


I pulled my trailer and got there early. Tess, Nan, and Roo were the dogs that I had. I had gotten there early and got a choice spot. The weather was cold, wet and rainy. I packed tons of warm gear so that was good. The heater worked great in the trailer!! In addition, snuggling with Tess and Nan kept me warm. Janet dropped off Rainey on Saturday so that was good.

Open and ProNovice ran on Sat and Sunday. I set with Tess much to her surprise. She was fast asleep when I pulled her out of the bed and put her to work. She thought she was retired but worked hard. The outrun was not very long but a bit tricky. On the away side, the dogs would be close at the top and come over a dip but most of them came short on the dip. On the comebye side, if the dogs came in flat, they sheep would run back to the setout. Nan was the first of my dogs to go and she was on the muscle. The sheep were super light hair sheep and she had to stay way off of them and since she is a fast dog, they reacted very quickly. We lost 6 off the outrun and most of our drive points as the sheep turn and skimmed the first panel and didn’t go through. She had a pen but we timed out on the shed. Roo was one of the last dogs to run, I whistled him out on the outrun, and the fetch was fast. He had a nice drive but was squirrely at the first panel, nice pen but no shed. Roo placed 7 out of 18 dogs. Roo and Nan are fast and go forward dogs and the light sheep just run when they are near them.

Jenny Coleman was tenting and I invited her to my trailer. It was very windy and cold. Therefore, right after the runs, Jenny and I went to Wal-Mart. She has never been to Wal-mart so that was a real revelation. First, we got a huge shopping cart. I got portable storage bins so I could put clothes in them and leave them in the trailer. We got camping plates, cups, and the set. Jenny was the QA and examined each one for chips and by the time, she was done, I had a nice set. We had fun and laughed the entire time. This was before we drank the hard lemonade. She is a riot to be with and I had a good time.

We had a nice handler’s dinner. Everyone brought a dish and there were tons of food. Jenny and I waddled back to the trailer. We had a few Mike’s hard lemonade and giggled quite a bit. If you read my earlier posts, I have been drinking the lemonade without realizing it was stronger than beer. Now, I have Jennifer hooked.

Sunday was wet and cold. They ran PN first. Janet arrived with Scott and Rainey. Scott had a wonderful outrun losing only one point. He was pushy on the drive and on the first leg, and then the sheep ran back to the setout so they lost almost all of their drive point but got the pen. I think they placed 9 out of 30 dogs. I don’t remember the other runs as it was a bit ago.

I ran Roo first and he was tight at the top and we fought down the fetch line but he finally listened. He did the same goofy error on the first panel but then I had notice quite a few dogs had the same issue so it had to be something with the hollow in front of the panel. He had a better drive, it was slow and controlled, and a sweet pen but no shed. The sheep were terrified of him and I couldn’t get close to the sheep. It was later in the day when I ran Nan. She ran sweet for me. ON her outrun, she went out and wide but by the time she got to the top, her sheep had bolted and were at the fetch panels. The setout crew didn’t hold them and she stopped and took my redirect. She lots four off her outrun work, even though the sheep were at the fetch gates and she never had a chance to get a hold of them. She go them through the fetch panels and had a nice turn at the post. He drive was controlled and steady and she lost 8 points, had a nice pen and textbook shed and lost four for that. She got 2nd and I was very happy with her work. Roo placed 9th out of 20 dogs. I set also and put Tess to work. She did double duty as our replacement crew forgot to come up. We worked until as late as we could, then I had to race to get a dog to run. Tess was pretty tired and no doubt was wondering why she was working hard when she was supposedly retired.

Monday, the Ranch and Novice classes were run. I was the judge for these classes. I have seen great improvement on some of the handlers. The night before Judy, Bob, Jane, Norm and me (and I can’t remember if there was anyone else) set up the course. I didn’t want to do the Open direction as the sheep would bolt past the post to the exhaust and I wanted the Novice and ranch folks have success. We ran a dog a couple of times so it was looking ok. We ended up tweaking it a bit in the morning and that made the classes run better. The weather go worse and the rain was going sideways. All of the Open handlers had left and we really didn’t have any Open dog to set so I had Janet pull Tess off my pillow (she was fast asleep) and use her to hold the sheep from bolting to the exhaust. Tess would run back and forth to stop the runaways but made it work for the Novice. We put up an orange fence later where the sheep were bolting and it worked out as the sheep help well.

Then Monique worked most of the day getting the sheep from the setout, holding the sheep and then exhausting the sheep. She used Tess for the rest of the day. Tess would have to outrun to the setout, pick the sheep up and bring them to the setout point, hold them with Monique and after the run, push them to the exhaust. The rain got harder, windier and more miserable. I could see her ears flattened down and her getting more tired. By the end of the day, she was totally exhausted and at the food trailer, I snatched a huge chunk of lunch meat for her and feed her. The setout crew worked long and hard and they did a great job. We all got drenched!!

The first class up was ranch. There were some great run. They had a small drive, crossdrive, and pen. The sheep, even though they were light, were not used to this section of the field and ran very well. Susan Crocker and rain won the class and had a nice controlled drive. Judy did great with Abby and Britt, her tow upcoming dogs. Monique ran Sava and they did well. Very nice outwork, a good rive and they placed 4th. The point spread between first and fourth was not very much, only four points. I was impressed on some of the good handling. On the second go round of Ranch, it was pretty much the same. The first place scores lost 4 points or 5 points. People worked on keeping the dog off the sheep, doing the proper turns at the panels and being calm. I was very impressed.

Novice class was one of the best that I have judged. Nora and her Lucy had a almost flawless run and lost one point. It was very good and controlled. Monique handler Sava great in both classes, winning the first one and placing second in the second run. Nora and Lucy traded spots with Monique and Lucy in the two classes. Janet ran Rainey and she was not too sure about picking sheep off the setout but did it and placed 6th out of 12 dogs. Jane Hickman ran for the first time with Rachel, placed 5th, and had excellent outwork. She also ran Ryder and placed 6th in the first run. Tanya ran Molly and did well for her first time out. Carolyn ran Beth and almost had the pen but had to retire.The quality of the Novice folks was nice to see.

After it was all done, we handed out awards and packed up to go home. I loaded up Sava, Roo, Rainey, Nan and Tess and turned on the heater. As I drove home, I noticed that Tess had crowed the other dogs to far side of the back seats and taken over half of it. Her tongue was hanging out, her paws were slowing moving and her snores would rival the jackhammers working on concrete. I whispered to her that she was a good girl, her eyes opened a little and she quickly fell fast asleep, her smile widened as if to say “you sat all day while I worked all day in the pouring rain and did all the sheep work”

Later that night when I was eating my steak dinner, Tess leaned against me and sighed. I fed her half and she fell asleep against my legs, her belly full and content to know she had been duly rewarded for her hard efforts.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Kelpie Book for sale


Our Australian Kelpie
by Tim Austin and Pieter Zaadstra



 Australia,First edition. No Date shown.

 Hard Cover. Book Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition is Excellent. RARE book in excellent  condition.

THE ELFINVALE KELPIE STUD STORY with lavish illustrations - stunning full page paintings and charcoal drawings by the Dutch artist Pieter Zaadstra done in a free and easy style with acrylic washes, showing the unique colours of Australian country scenery and the rich gloss of the Australian Kelpie Dogs, these are reproduced in all their glowing beauty.

No longer printed and a limited edition. I am cleaning out my bookstore and selling my old, rare and hard to find dogs books. There are mainly Border Collies, Sheepdogs, Footrot Flats and Sheep books. All old, rare and out of print. I'll put up more soon.

If you are interested in this Kelpie Book, let me know. Price is $300 plus shipping and insurance to the USA.

Red Border Collie Study

Lucy is such a cute dream to photograph. And a darn good Open dog, to boot. I have made her the subject of Red Border Collie study.


Thinking about the run.


Hum, looking good so far.


Now, slow down on the drive.


Oh, you are so close. Hurry and do the shed.

I'll post about the trial tomorrow.  I am two trials behind on blogging. On the good note, Nan has close to 8 points so far.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Only 20 books left so get your book NOW

My friends, Angie and Kelvin who live in the UK have only 20 of their books left. It is an limited edition, only 500 copies were printed. This means it will be a collectors item. Once they are gone, that's it!! I got three myself, two for gifts and one for me.



Details:

  • 52 dogs and handlers from 19 countries are featured in the book
  • Pedigrees of the dogs
  • Worldwide coverage- UK, North America, NZ to Europe
  • World Champions 2002-2008
  • International Supreme Champions 1906-2008
  • Continental Champions 1985-2008
  • Scandanavian Champions 1998-2008
  • USBCHA Champions 1979-2008
  • 130 color photos



From their website:

The World of Sheepdogs is a photographic tribute to working sheepdogs the world over. It quenches the thirst of the many border collie enthusiasts by bringing to life some of the dogs and handlers that most of us only get to read about in the results columns of local newspapers. The book features fifty-two dogs and their handlers from nineteen countries, plus many more photographs of top ranked border collies.


Get yours now!! They would make great Christmas presents.



Thursday, October 15, 2009

Are you hungry?

A friend of mine sent me these. These are actual cakes. Some people are really clever at this. I am not. My cakes are simple and covered with frosting. My brother's birthday is coming up and he is going to get a square chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

So for your Halloween pleasure and a wee bit early, enjoy. If you know the baker of these cakes, let me know and I will give them credit. Afterall, they did a awesome job.


Dead raven. perhaps from Edgar Allan Poe?



Jaws.



The liver looks real/



I think I used to work with this guy?



Eyeball soup. Got any crackers?



Roadkill.



Notice the beers in the background. I would have to drink beers too.



Who invited them to dinner?


I now look at squid in a new light.



Need any extra hands to help you in the kitchen?



OMG, this is really disgusting.  Good job!!



Now, I remember why I do not date smokers!!



I dated his brother once.


He looks anemic, don't you think?



Hockey mask...gone bad.



Quit inviting them to dinner.



No thanks, now my heart is working just fine after all that surgery!


See what a good dentist can do for you?


Eye see you.



Look up!!



Quit being a rat!



Just take a little off the side, please.