It's been a while since I just blogging about just working dogs. Today was not the day to work dogs but I did. It was super windy and to give you an idea of how windy it was, it took two of us to shut the barn door. It was blowing off the rails! Add a little rain and a lot of cold made not for an ideal day but I prevailed and worked the dogs. It was sunny at least.
Janet was here so we worked on Jude picked off a setout person. Maid was holding the sheep and we had them on alfalfa. They didn't want to leave the alfalfa and when they tried, I talked to them so they slowed down. I wanted Jude have to really work at lifting sheep off a moving person that was talking. At first, he didn't want to be near me but by the end, we had Janet putting him next to my leg and then walking into the sheep. The sheep were weird about working as well due to the extreme wind. The ones that were not working stayed in the barn and had no desire to leave.
In fact, it was so windy that none of the chickens want to leave their coops. The sheep in the other pastured also holed up in shelter. I saw wild ducks trying to fly into the wind and were suspended in the air and they finally gave up trying to fly off and dropped back into the ponds. The other things that were flying about were leaves or branches. We heard a huge tree snap and the horses went crazy at the sound and tore around the pasture. We never could figure out where the tree that fell was located.
Janet and I went out to lunch and then she bolted for home and I went into the house to warm up. Later, I went out and worked dogs. The wind did not abate but I plugged along. The dogs were keen to work but I worked close at hand as you could not hear anything more than five feet away. The young dogs were very hyped and not prone to downing very well and very edgy. I guess the wind got them all fired up. The seasoned dogs, well, I had them fetch into the wind so they could not hear me and it showed who had the natural fetch and areas where I needed to work on. Nan was dead on while a few times Maid would swing to cover the draw and then forget where I was and drive the sheep to the side. It was strange but I gave her a few corrections (running up the field as she could not hear me) and she was more aware of me and the direction of the sheep. I also worked Rain and she was stop on with her fetch, which is good as she is deaf in one ear.
Speaking of deaf, the hearing in my left ear is non existent. I called my doc to make a appt to have it checked. I don't know if it an infection as it does ache off/on or what is wrong. I hope it is fixable. Tis explain why recently I keep asking people to repeat what they said to me.
After I got done working the dogs, and letting them play in the pond, I feed the livestock and went inside to a warm house. I didn't realize how cold I was until I got inside. My ear really bean to ache so I took an aspirin and then crashed hard for a nap. Nan, Maid and rain made sure I was extra warm by hogging most of the bed and snuggling next to me.
It seems like a lot of places lost power but we didn't. We had the power flick on and off but never lost power for more than a minute or two. They had to close the 520 bridge due to waves crashing over it. I could see mini waves on our marsh and pond. No wild birds were flying at all. Everyone hunkered down for the day. They say it will be just as bad for tomorrow. Oh joy, as I have lessons tomorrow and need to work the Open dog for the upcoming trial. I will think I will dig out my cleats, a sailboat and a fifth of whiskey.
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