Funny Dog Three

Sunday Update

Today the weather was warmer but it still was cold. Later in the day, the wind chill picked up and we got cold to our core. I looked like an obsess penguin with all of my six layers of clothing. My wool hat, wool socks and rain pants helped keep me warm.


I set the first runs with Tess and she was pleased to be working. She has a good effect on the sheep and they like her. We got 4 sheep and 8 minutes. At the end of the fetch you had a Maltese cross and you had to do it from directions. Then the first part of your crossdrive was blind and then to an open pen. The three sided pen had a post out in the front which you grabbed the rope and picked a side. It was not long enough to cover your side so you had be careful.

I’ll post more about Saturday and Sunday runs on Tuesday as my wi-fi is pretty much history and when I do get on, it is for a couple of minutes.


Open run (only first 8 runs)

38 dogs

1. Noelle and Nap 96

2. Diane and Nan 92 (she ran awesome)

3. Rueidi and Scott 90

4. Ken Johnson and Joe 88

5. Rueidi and Teak 88

6. Noelle and Lad 87

7. Sandi and Dusty 85

8. Diane and Roo 85 (broken on outwork)

Funny Dog Two

Quick trial update

Open Placing- top seven


Bill Orr/Boone 104
Rueidi Birendheide/Teak 95
BrianNelson/Pleat 94
Dave Imas/Cap 92
Ken Johnson/Joe 91
Noelle Williams/Nap 89
Diane/Nan 86

My internet connect is poor tonite and it only lets me on for a minute or so.

Roo ran well on his outwork but lost his hearing on the drive. We has strong winds that blew down the field in late afternoon and it made drives horrible. Nevertheless, he was on the muscle and a pill in the shedding ring. Oh well.

Nan was on the money but we missed both panel on the drive (most of the sheep went low) and she didn’t want to give up the pressure. Nice outwork, quick shed, quick pen and took a lamb at the end for the single. It was a nice single and she held it well. We just placed out of the money.

Will write more later when I get better connection

Funny Dog One

Since I am going to be gone at  a sheepddog trial for three days and might not have access, you are going to get three days of dog cartoons. If I can get online, I will also post the trial results and updates.

I am here

I have landed and have wi-fo service, thanks to Sue and George MacDonald.

Today seemed like the longest day ever and it is only 5:30! First, I had to finish packing and get on the raod. I was joined by about 9 million other folks or so it seemed. The normally almost two hours journey took close to four hours. I'ts been nine month since I hauled the trailer so at first I was rusty but got in the groove after a few miles

I had to stop and get gas for the generator and propane. I was fiddling with no success on removing the tanks when this nice young man helped me. I asked him for help and he promptly came over, unhooked it, got then got the tanks filled and hooked up them again. I thanked him and told him that his mom shoulld be proud. He was in his late 20s or so and said, Yes ma'm, no ma'm and was super polite. It was great to see such a nice and polite young man and his mother should be extra proud of him.  I was stressing since my frozen shoulder was hurting and I couldn't lift the tanks. So needless to say, he made my afternoon! He gets five stars for his help.

I pulled in and there were a couple of folks in the parking area already. Since I cannot back up yet worth a hoot, Sue backed up the trailer up. Bonnie Block, George, Sue  and Bonnie Daly helped me set up. Of course, what is a trial without some setup issue. My fridge would not fire up and after a bit, we got it fixed. Namely, the two Bonnies. Bonnie Block aslo helped me get other stuff all squared away. She is a wonderful person.

Bonnie B got a new trailer and it is wonderful. It has a dog mud room and that sold me. I am going to sell my 18 foot trailer and get one like hers. It is very well laided out and is 23 feet long. But the mud room is to die for. That way the dogs can be dry and not in the back of my truck. And I don't have to climb in and out of my truck. Seriously, with one frozen shoulder, that is very hard for me to do. Now, I just have to find one but Bonnie sent me a link. She is good about helping me spend my money. She helped me spend my money for the cameras and the trailer that I am in now. She does a ton of research and find great deals.

It's been raining and the area where we are parked is soaking wet. Some of the rigs trailer wheels had sunk so getting out should be fun. They say the weather will get better. I put out my ground mat and it is covered with water already. I hope it drys up, even a little.

The sheep look nice and fat and the grass is bright green. They are setting the course now and later I will check it out. We are going out for dinner (Mexican) and then I am off to bed at an early hour. I have got a bit of a cold (sore throat/chest) and am run down so I need a good night sleep.

Getting ready for a sheepdog trial....

I am getting ready for my first major sheepdog trial this year. Most of the ones that I have gone to this year are one day trials. This one is a three day trial at Sue and George MacDonalds. They host a second trial in late June. Their trials are noted for being tricky. The dinners are wonderful and the company is fantastic.

Last year, Tess ran at these trials. They have six trial, held over three weekends. The top scoring combined Open dogs wins a stunning handmade quilt. The yer before Tess was two point shy of winning but her daughter won. Last year, she won hands down and then retired. What a way to go out in a blaze of glory. This year, she will be my sidekick and running for Janet in PN. She has been running well for Janet and we hope they do well.

I will be running Nan and Roo in Open. Both have been doing great for me and I hope we continue our success. I am running Taff in PN and he still is a handful. He thinks he knows what needs to be done but that isn't the case all the time.

We had to pull Faye as she was sick. I was going to run her for Tony but she got sick. Bummers, as she is running great. Maybe I can run her at the June trial in PN, or if I can twist Tony's arm, have him run her. He did sign her up for Ranch but signed me up for PN. He is running great with her and they are a nice team.

We got the trialer hitched up. It had dust still from the Finals so I did a bit of cleaning. Dust got everywhere in the trailer so I expect for months, I will be cleaning it up. It's been nine months since I used it so I KNOW that I have forgotten how to do something in it so I will have to ask folks. The water have been filled in the trailer, the grey and black water is empited but the black water light shows it as 3/4 full....anyone have any idea why? I ran the toilet a few times trying to clear it up but it didn't work.

I went shopping and got tons of food. Fixings for spagetti, two types of salads, veggie platter, cheese and crackers, bananas, candy and other misc items. Of course I got Mike's Pink Lemonade and Black Cherry Ade. The two six packs should tide me over for three nights. I love that stuff and the fact that I am not driving. I just have to stumble into the bed. I'll have to shove Tess off my pillow as she is a pillow hog. When I move her, she gives me the evil eye, like "How dare you move me off this pillow as I was here first!" She might be a little spoiled. It will be the first trial that I won't have Lucy along so that will be weird. But, Monique will be there with her so I will have to have her jump on the bed for old time sake!

The weather has been wet, rainey and cold. I was hoping for sun but only in my dreams now, I guess. Got the rain gear all set out. The fleece and long underwear. Smart wool socks. Warm boots and wool hats. Hot cocoa. I need something for my hot cocoa though. Marshmellows just don't cut it.

I am headed out tomorrow morning so I can spend the day just relaxing and reading books. I don't think I will get cell or wi-fi service so I have set up my blog to automatically post for me. So on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, you will three days of dog cartoons. If I can get online, I will put trial updates up but don't hold your breath.

Sue has a raffle in June so I am bringing a huge box of dog items for the raffle. The raffle is super cool and it can get crazy. You can steal a gift so it gets wild! Bottles of wines are very popular. I try to get a bottle each year! Sometimes I get lucky and get several.

That will be my eleventh year at that trial. This trial holds special meaning to me as it was the first trial I ever entered and it was with Tess. Sue and George were super friendly and to this day, I remember their kindness. So I look forward to that trial!

Well off to bed and I need to get up early to pack and hit the road. Wish us luck!

Ohio Dairy Farm Horror

I jsut saw this video and it is horrific. Graphic and it makes you cry. To see the full story go to the fugly horse blog.




I am at a loss for words.

Colored training sticks available

I really hate to go shopping. Once a year, we go to the mall for Christmas shopping. My eyes glaze over and Getty sees me turn into a crab right before his eyes, usually within ten minutes of arriving in the mall.  I hate crowds, waiting in line, parking, you name it!! I try to do my clothes shopping online.

However, my eyes do gleam with joy when I go into a feedstore. I can spend hours walking up and down looking at pitchforks, worming medicine, feed, hoof trimmers and whatnots.

I love to shop online for Border Collie items. One of my favorite places is Border Collies Anonymous...I have gotten my whistles from them and they are a great place to shop.

I was there today and guess what....they now offer colored training sticks...OMG, I have died and gone to heaven. They have raspberry, green, yellow and white.

They also offer colored grips in red, black, green, orange and navy.

Ok, so I am thinking how many, what color of wands and grips....so many choices!!! Lordy, help me!!

Note from Betsy - owner...the shipping charge is incorrect and will be fixed. It will be the regular shipping charge. This is being fixed and Betsy will square it up.

Grilled Pepper salad

 

Ingredients:

• 4 bell peppers, cleaned and sliced lengthwise (pick different colors)
• 1/4 c pitted oil-cured black olives
• 1/4 c chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 -2 tb extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 - 2 tb  balsamic vinegar
• 2 tb of feta cheese
• Dash of salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

 

Directions

1. Grill peppers on med-high, until soft and charred in spots, about 5 minutes per side. Turn once
2. Cool pepers and then cube
3. Add olives, vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes, oil, cheese, black pepper and salt

Joan Ranquet's Animal Communication Book

For those of you that were interested in Joan Ranquet's Animal Communication book, here is the information. Click on the book.

Painted horses are mane attraction for anatomy students

With 205 bones and 700 muscles the horse is a challenging animal for anatomy students to study.

That was until champion rider Gillian Higgins came up with the novel idea of showing people how it all works.

Rather than bog them down with dusty diagrams and skeletal sketches, she hit upon the idea of painting the inner workings of the horse on the beast itself.

Gillian Higgins shows-off her anatomical study on thirteen-year- old Kiitos ahead of a lecture on equine anatomy

Now veterinary students, race horse trainers, eventers, pony club members and dressage judges are flocking to her lectures to see the horse painting in action.

Ms Higgins uses water-based hypoallergenic paints which are easy to wash off afterwards. She takes four hours to apply the equine make-up - painting the skeletal structure on one side and the multi-coloured musculature on the other.

'Painting the skeleton and musculature on the side of the horse really helps to bring the subject to life,' she says.

'You can discover how to get the best out of your horse by seeing exactly what happens as it moves.'

The champion rider Gillian Higgins paints the flexor muscle chain on one side of the horse

Gillian, 27, a sports remedial therapist, from Nottingham, first hit on the idea three years ago after completing a degree in equine business management at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

She said: 'I realized that many riders and trainers could benefit from a better understanding of how the horse works. With all those bones and muscles with incredibly long names, it can be a bit much to take it all in.

'I'm trying to show the anatomy and how the horse works in an interesting and easy to understand way.

'I started gradually with a bit of paint but then became more and more in demand. Now I go all over the country from Cornwall to Inverness and I'm soon flying off to South Africa to give a demonstration there.'

A horse has 205 bones and 700 muscles. Painting a steed helps students remember which one is where

Normally her models are her 12 year old eventer Freddie Fox or six year old Henry - although if she travels further afield from home she relies on schools and colleges to provide a steed for her. Greys are best because the colours show up more clearly.

Gillian, who won a gold medal at the student riders nations cup in 2006, said: 'Freddie Fox is the best model because he has just the right temperament and loves to be the centre of attention at the demonstrations. Being painted isn't much different for them as being groomed or handled. They don't mind at all.

'The worst thing that has ever happened was when a horse that had not minded being painted in the slightest, then had to go into an arena in front of 150 people. He got a bit spooked up by the crowd and was jumping around and became a little bit too much.'

For more information and details of Gillian's book How Your Horse Moves visit www.horsesinsideout .com

Dogs, Dogs and more dogs!!

It’s been crazy the last two weeks. I have worked over 110 plus hours and am completely worn out. However, that big phase of the project is over but in June, it will be crazy again. I am taking a couple days off in the middle of June for trials and NOT bringing work with me. It will just have to wait. During one week, I was unable to work my dogs very much so they got put through their paces on the weekend. This Friday was my day off and I did put a few extra hours in but made sure I worked the dogs.

Epic went home to Ben and Deborah on Thursday and he learned a lot when he was here. He got lots of one on one time plus fetching the jolly ball and swimming and then playtime with other dogs. During his stint, he learned to work the flock with the ewes and lambs, chores, stall work and started to learn how to drive. He was calm in the lambing corral and has settled down quite a bit since he first came here. The first time I worked him on the large flock, his eyes got huge as if to say “WHOA, this is not my 5-8 sheep that I normally work on and what are those little itty bitty fuzz balls” (lambs). But he got with the program and handled all with ease. He learned quickly and was worked by Monique and Janet to get more seasoning under his belt. When they came to pick him up, he showed off his new skills. I sent him and the flock broke back and half went into the lambing corral and the other half went by the pond. He gathered the pond sheep and then I stopped him at the lambing corral gate and flanked him to go inside the corral. He left the pond flock and went into the lambing corral and then I stopped him. He stopped and flanked on the come bye as I told him and carefully brought out the sheep. Emmy, the Arab was standing there and he did not spook her or try to work her.

Then he put the two flocks together and brought them to me. We did some driving and he drove them about 50-75 feet with push and kept them bunched together. He was calm and listened well. Soon he was ready to go home but not before, he played in the pond for one last time. Deborah and Ben brought their new baby, Finley out and she is one cutie. She has the cutest nose and smile. Indy came out, ran around, and had fun. She is one cute little red Border Collie. Soon the one happy family made their way home and I was sad to see them go! They are some of the nicest people.

Rascal came for his lesson on Friday and it has been several weeks since I worked him. He likes to see the reasoning on why I make him do some items in his training. At first, he would cut in and bust the sheep but soon realized the correction was not worth it. He would still weigh in as he ran out he would contemplate on cutting in. As the months went by, the behavior was less but you would see flashes of it. On Friday as he ran out to get the 50 ewes and lambs that were spread out, he slowed down, took a hard look at the sheep and then cast out wide and deep behind the sheep. You could see him brain clicking and for the rest of the lesson, he cast out wide as he now saw the purpose. He worked the flock with ease and on his fetches, he would weave the stragglers back in so the flock was snug and tight. At the end of the lesson, he came off the field, his chest puffed out with pride.

Later that day I worked Meg on a few sheep. She just turned a year old and was able to go both ways by the end of the lesson. I also worked her on Saturday on the large flock and her confidence was growing rapidly. She is a fine dog owned by Tony, her dam is Faye (Nan’s daughter), and Scott is her sire. She is going to be a smooth dog when she grows up. Earlier during the week, I worked Torq and Tam and both had improvements. I worked Taff every night, he is getting better each time, and I am seeing a deep bond grow between us. I did tune-up work with Roo and Nan and of course, had to work Tess. She also did her nightly chores of putting the ducks and chickens, turkeys and guineas away each night. The Open dogs did well and we all enjoyed the sessions.

Saturday greeted us with downpours and cold. Not what I was looking forward to at all!!  Monique came up and gave lessons while I did chores. She has come a long way since she first came here, a rookie then to now giving lessons and working young dogs. I watched her work Kane and it was a joy to see a nice Aussies work stock. Nancy, the owner went out and by the end, Kane was rating the stock well and they ended on a nice walkabout. Monique worked Torq while took photos for their owner. He is in for training and learning to rate the stock and slow down. He has progressed quite a bit and we hope by the end of summer that he will be able to do a Novice course. Torq is a son of Tess and Scott and you can see shades of both parents in his work.

Lucy ran well for Monique and it was a real pleasure to see them work together. They are as one. Later during the day, Lucy lay upside down in Monique’s lap and it warmed everyone heart that was nearby. You could see the intense love between the two. Here is Monique's blog.

Sue and John also came up with Bongo. A few year ago, when I had Bongo, I had put some training on him and then some more this summer. Monique helped Sue in the round pen and it was fun to watch Sue learn that her Bongo is a talented dog. I think they were amazed how talented their little gem was!!

Tam was on the muscle but soon realized that outgunning Monique was a bad idea. He is a lot of dog and we hope he will be out Nursery contender next year. We will be keeping our fingers crossed.

Later in the afternoon, Joan Ranquet came over and did some animal communicator for me. She did reading for Shiro, Tess, Nan, Roo, Taff and Rainey. She also talked to Emmy and Emma, the Arabs! It was very enlightening and showed some insights to my dogs. I’ll post about this in another blog. She also did communication for Janet (Mattie ) and Monique (Paddie and Lucy a couple of weeks ago. I highly recommend her and she is offering a class in July (Animal Communication) in Carnation. I attended one in April and will be going to the July session. Her link. She has some openings for the July session.

Soon everyone left and it was quiet. I took Meg out again and she worked the large flock and was going both ways with ease. She was game and did mini outruns and then I worked on her fetching and getting more miles under her belt. Taff was eager and we worked on squaring his flanks and staying on his down. Roo was spot on, his flanks were nice and square, and I totally enjoyed working him. Nan had been given a bath earlier by Monique since she had rolled in goose poop, I didn’t want to work her since it was muddy but she carried on and on, so I relented. She ran fine, true, and pushed hard on her walkup. After we were done, she was quite pleased with herself and carried her tail high in the air as she danced about. Tess stood at the gate and looked forlornly at me so I turned and went back in with her. She cast out wide and brought the sheep at a fast clip and we drove there around for a bit. When I finished with our session, her eyes were glistening with delight!

Sunday was better as it did not pour buckets and the rain stayed away. It was overcast, cool and had some bouts of sunshine. Nancy and Courtney were my first students. I had moved my yearlings to Nayab’s main field so we worked them. They were not dog broke and wild as deer. They saw the dog, bolted, and were hair trigger light. Nancy was not sure about their dogs working them but part of learning is taking on new challenges. Jack was pushy at first but soon began to rate and Nancy was able to see the bubble and ran well. I am sure she forgot her comment about working the wild sheep as she put them through the course. Courtney and Logan did fantastic. The sheep had attitude with Logan and by the end were working sweet and were getting dog broke. The no longer ran but walked smartly around the course and I was proud of how well Courtney handled the sheep with Logan. Nancy also worked Meg who was trying to blow her off but she did the outrun exercise and Meg decided listening to Nancy was in her best interest. She is a very tough pushy dog that taps Nancy but Nancy rises to the occasion and is beginning to run her well. Both Nancy and Courtney did very well considering they started out with non dog broke sheep and ended up with their lesson by doing a Ranch course with the same sheep. I know when I had worked Taff on these sheep, it was horrible as he was too pushy and they ran and ran. He had to stay way off the sheep but would push too hard and it was hard. I made a mental note to myself to tell Taff that Jack, Logan and Meg had done well and he should too!!

Later the day, Kathleen (Emma) , Toney (Faye and Meg) and Janet (Scott and Tess) showed up. We worked on a mock trial since they all will be running in Ranch or ProNovice next weekend. The first couple of runs were practice runs so they could see what areas they needed to work on. We also set up a pen in the corner. We used an x-pen and with the four of us, it was set up quickly.

They had to pick up the sheep that were set about 150-175 yards away, go around the handler’s post, do a drive to a cone then a slanted crossdrive to another cone, then back to the post, settle and then to the pen. The first two practice runs showed the errors and we worked on squaring up flanks, timing and downs. All of them worked on the problems areas and then the third run was judged with comments. If I saw an issue as they ran, I would call out to them how to fix it on the fly. Tony was calm and smooth during his run and when he begins to be serious in trialing, he will be a real competitor. Kathleen and Emma are really teaming up and she worked on downing Emma to make her run more successful and feeling the bubble. Emma can drive quite well and they have made great strides in the last year. Janet ran her trusty Scott who decided he wanted to slice on his flanks. I stepped out to how her how to fix it since she was being too easy on him Scotty smarten up quickly and suddenly remember how to do clean flanks. Janet ran Tess who tried to run the course by herself and they worked on teaming together. Janet realized that she gave Tess short, quick flanks on the drive when she should have given her wide flanks. The short flanks caused the sheep to veer off course. On her third run, it was almost perfect.

The last run was timed (5 minutes) and no help from the judge.. Kathleen ran Emma and they had a few glitches on the drive but did well. Emma stayed off the stock and Kathleen was calm. Janet ran with Scott and did well, making sure he cast out wide and was not pushing. She was quiet but had firmness in her voice. Tony had a stunning run but twice he gave her the wrong flanks (and I told him but hit him hard for that)…he also had a smooth pen. Tess was last with Janet and she decided she needed to be on the muscle and was really leaning on the sheep. Janet was dinged here and there on her drive, a point here, there as Tess was pushing hard. She got a pen but lost a few points on the drive. She will learn to ratchet Tess down when she is on the muscle. All in all, the runs were quite nice and I think it was Janet (Scott), Kathleen (Emma) and Tone (Faye), they had tied so it was broken on outwork and Janet (Tess) was last. I believe the point spread between first, second, third was only three point. It was very close and you could see the huge improvement by the fourth run, the trial run. I hope that they do as well as they did today at the trial next weekend. I was very proud of everyone today (Nancy, Courtney, Tony, Kathleen and Janet) as they all rose up to the challenge today.

After we were all done, Janet and I ran out for a late lunch then back to the farm for chores. I let Taff run loose and he crawled into my lap, begging to be worked on the sheep. I worked him on the back lawn on the rams and he was wide. I used a Sit for his down and he took it and waited (most of the time) to be release, He did work quite well and I praised him for his efforts. I thought about working Roo but by then after five hours of lessons, I was too tired. I will work Roo, Nan, Taff, Tam and Torq tomorrow. Tess will get the day off from sheep but will do her nightly chores of poultry management.

We worked Mattie and made a challenge for her. We put the sheep in the upper pasture and she had to work them It was tough and she tried to flake out a couple of time but after she got a correction, she decided to work.  Mattie is a Smithfield Sheepdog. Janet learned to use her crook in the proper postion and by the end Mattie was working well for her too. Janet has a blog

It was a fine weekend with lots of dog work and good dog work at that. The end of the evening was topped off by reading the Alta- Pete blog (Scott and Jenny Glen) that Rainey got third in her Nursery run and did her best run so far. She has been on the road with them as well as Kuro and Sava. Rainey is Getty’s little princess and he adores her. Sava has been running well for Scott and she is in ProNovice getting miles under her belt. She was not mature enough to run in her Nursery year so she is now getting seasoned to be an excellent Open dog. Scott has been having success with Kuro. I got Kuro from Angie Driscoll (Kinloch Sheepdog) and he is a son of her Jamie. Jamie used to be owned by Bobby Dalziel and now is run by Angie. We have high hopes for Kuro and Scott at this year’s Nursery finals.

What an enjoyable weekend to be surround be friends and to have a tasty dinner cooked by Getty. We had skewed teriyaki flank steak and mesquite chicken. Of course, Tess and Nan got a tiny piece of my dinner. As I type this, we are watching Brooks and Dunn Last Rodeo and settling in for a cozy night. Hope all of you had as much fun as we did! I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.

Monique works quad dogs

Monique came over today and worked dogs. We let the dogs run in the pond pasture after they get their training session. But the ducks had to be put away first. Monique went to put the ducks away with  Lucy.

But she soon dicovered not only she could work Lucy to put the ducks away but Roo, Bongo and Tess. We were all quite impressed that she could work four dogs at one time and still manage to put the ducks away.

We have heard of  Brace  work but never of Quad work!!

Good job, Monique!

Matilda the Muscovy

Matilda is the fifth generation Muscovy duck that has been born on the farm. True to her lines, she is very protective of her babies. I have large bruises on my legs to prove that. She has her nest next to the back door in the root section of a large oak tree. All of her prior generations have done that. She hatched out 12 ducklings and was raising them just fine until the Bald Eagles began to pick them off. Soon she had none left and was very distraught.

I had just had eight baby chicks and two ducklings hatch out in the incubator. The chicks were two weeks old and the ducklings were one week old. So I snagged Matilda and put her and her "new babies" in a small hen house. She kept calling to them and trying to mother them but the babies tried to run to me. After all, I had just spent two weeks handling them and being their "mother".  So I did tough love and walked away. They had their little faces smashed to the wire cage and cried...it was awful walking away. Matilda was trying to comfort them but they ignored her. Later that night, I snuck into the barn and what did I see?

Matilda giving me the Muscovy HISS.

The chicks and ducklings did keep trying to run to me but I kept my distance.

A couple of them decided that Matilda's back was warm.

She is giving me the evil eye. She tried to nip me through the wire cage.

A few days later, I moved them to the big horse stall. They sleep under her now and  often will give me a look of "Don't I know you from someplace" but go back to her. Again, she is giving me the HISS!! If I get too close, she will fly up and latch onto my leg.

Her new babies all sleep under her and now are her new family. She has done great in raising other species and loves them. I have a little pool that the ducklings go into but the chick are not to sure of going into it! Matilda doesn't seem to mind if the chicks do not swim. She is still one tough mama and two weeks later,  the new babies are her family. The Bald Eagle has left to find other prey as the babies are no longer allowed out of the stall. Matilda is one happy duck and going to raise the sixth generation now....what a great duck!!

A real type of Cowboy

This is Roger Edwards at his first sheepdog tria!!  Roger runs in cowdog trials but recently had made his foray into the sheepdog area. Roger is a wonderful person and I enjoy his company very much. This was taken at the trial in April. Roger drove my truck for me since I am still recovering from the frozen shoulder injury. He is a retired brand inspector and I learned lots about the branding area.

I would consider Roger the "good ole cowboy"....one of thise rare kinds that open doors, says "yes and thank you and please" and what country western songs are all about. Roger has been married to Gaynor longer than most of us have been alive.

Welcome to the dark side, Roger!!

Grilled Garlic Eggplant with Feta and Mint

Ingredients

• 1 large  eggplant (1 1/2 lb or several small eggplants)
• 2 tb olive oil
• 1 tb fresh chopped garlic
• 1/4 c crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tb chopped fresh mint
• Fresh lemon juice
• Lemon wedges
• Salt and fesh ground pepper

Directions

1. Cut eggplant into 1/2-inch-thick slices or if you use small ebbplant, cut into thirds lenghtswise
2. Brush each slice with olive oil.
3. Heat a ridged grill pan over medium-high heat
4. Cook eggplant slices 4 to 6 minutes per side or until tender. Stir in garlic
5. Place on long plate
6. Sprinkle with feta cheese, mint, and squeeze fresh lemon juice over top
7. Put lemon wedges onthe side
8. Add sprinkle of salt and fresh ground pepper

Farm Cartoons

How appropriate as I have a Dell laptop!!

Missing the beer holder.

We will have a toast in his honour!

Kinda how like how I felt after my heart surgery.

I guess this does answer the old age question of "Does a beer sh** in the woods?"

Poor piggie bank.

I love Ice Cream and Chocolate so what does that make me?

I guess the Day shift didn't suit him afterall.

Now where does Chocolate milk come from...?