Working dogs today

Finally, the snow cleared out, the sun came out and I was able to work dogs this afternoon. I first had Jet bring the sheep out and worked with her a bit. Last fall she was giving me a little trouble on taking the come by flank. So, I worked her on that and got her to continue on her come by instead of stopping short. I also got her to loosen up on her flanks. A good session for her. As we finished I decided that we need to get back to walks to get all of us (me included) in better condition.

I then took Sting out to work. I worked him first on his come by side as that is the side that he wanted to come up short on last year. I worked him with the exercise that Vergil had me doing. I just had to do it once and he was like oh yeah, I remember that and was then flanking all the way and looked more relaxed. The exercise some of you might ask was that as soon as he leaves me I run following him. If he stops short I then scold him with a what are you doing in there?!?! And then flank him again with my continuing behind him. This is good physical exercise for me too. It was neat to see him remember us working on this two weeks ago. I then worked him on his away outrun which he did much easier. The other thing is that Vergil did not want him to be too close to me when I sent him. This causes Sting to go straight up the field and stop short. One other thing that I need to work on with Sting is that when I call him to me with a here he needs to "release" the sheep and come to me. This is an ongoing thing for me to work on with him. Sting comes to me, but goes around and watches the sheep as opposed to focusing on me.

And then Jet got to go out and bring the sheep in so that we could put them away.

All in all, it was a good afternoon. I can't ever complain when I get to work dogs.

Spring is coming, pictures on 3/25/11

Look, the tulips are peaking out of the ground.

These tulips are trying to come up thru some of the remaining snow.

Here are some more tulips coming up thru the snow. Can you tell what is right next to them in the snow?

To Sting a sure sign of spring is that he gets to play with his jolly ball again.

Sting say, see you all later. I'm off to play with my jolly ball.

The Zumbro River is on the rise

The Zumbro River in SE MN is on the rise. This is the river coming over the dam in Mantorville, MN. Normally this river barely trickles over the dam.

This is a closer shot.

This is a view from behind the dam. You can see where the water looks calm and smooth until it drops over the dam. It is running pretty high.

One more view just over the dam.

The park area and this side of the river are taped off to not allow the public to get too close. This same river a little further east by Zumbrota had already flooded some farm fields by highway 52 going into Rochester.

Adventure that we do not want to repeat

We went down to do chores this evening. Luckily we went down a little early. I came around the barn and saw one of the ewes out in the field with her lambs. I was like, wait a minute, you're not supposed to be out there. I then noticed that the gate to this field was wide open. One of us forgot to chain it shut on Sunday when we were thru working on stuff and the wind had blown it open. The problem is that last fall the creek flooded so the fence was out in two spots on two sides of the field. As I walked thru the barn I glimpsed into the stall to see if any sheep were in there. The only one in there was an ewe with her brand new lambs. No time to stop and check on them. Now, the next problem was that we had let just Cash and Corbie come down with us and they had both had their altering surgeries the day before. Neither one should be working sheep or running. I had no choice as I didn't have time to run back up to the house to get a different dog. So, I took Cash since a neuter surgery is less invasive. We went out in the field and I saw the one ewe with two other ewes...........shit, we're missing some sheep and lambs. I got those three ewes back up into the barn yard, chained the gate and went looking for the missing ones. Steve went into the woods, I went across the field to the ditch along the road. Unfortunately I found sheep tracks. Darn, they went up by the county road. I went up and looked in the opposite ditch, good no sheep. I then went back to the ditch that runs along out fence. Found some more tracks, kept following them and saw that they didn't go across the neighbors driveway. Went back along our fence and found some more tracks that went up along our fence on the edge of the neighbor's yard. Cash was out in front of me as I came up the hill and I saw his head drop, good the sheep are on top of our neighbor's house. Mind you, they live in an Earth home. Got up there, saw the sheep and started yelling to Steve that I found them. Flanked Cash around and the two newer sheep without lambs took off along the fence. Cash still needed to get the two mothers to move with their lambs. I was so worried that the other two were going to arc out onto the county road. Whew, they didn't. Finally got the two mothers to catch up with them. Then they wouldn't go back across where they came out. They continued down the ditch. Steve was running to open the gate at the end of our driveway. Of course the gate opened towards them so they turned to come back down the driveway. Luckily Cash was there and I asked him to walk up. Got the sheep turned and they went thru the gate and ran to the barn. We both breathed a big sigh of relief.

Went back into the barn to discover that the first time mom ewe had a set of triplets. Two girls and one boy. They are all snugged down in the barn for the night.

I don't think that the vet clinic would think that Cash is being kept quiet. I know that they wouldn't be happy with this, but I had no choice, we had to find the sheep and get them back before they either went into the woods or onto the county road. I checked his incision and it is fine.

Thank heavens everything turned out okay.

Our chickens on March 18, 2011

This is Chris, our rooster.

He thinks that he is all of that.

This is the hen who hatched out the 3 eggs last summer.

This is skunk. She is an Americana. The girls that we got her from had named her skunk because as a chick she had stripes on her back like a skunk.

This is the only hen hatched out last summer.

This is our black Australorp hen. I think that she is the mother of the previous hen.

Lambs have arrived!!

Ahhhh, stretching is good.

But sleeping is good too.

This is one of the triplet girls born on 3/18/11

One of a set of twins born on 3/17/11, this is the ram lamb.

Another picture of the St Patty's Day ram lamb.

What is that I smell?!?! Spring?!?!?!?!!

But, then again, sleeping in the sun is a good thing.

Ah, my sister makes a good pillow.

Girl power!!

Is this what I'll be eating when I get bigger?

Aren't I so sweet looking.

Soaking up the sun.

My 365 Thank Yous

I am reading a book title 365 Thank Yous. It is about a guy who had reached rock bottom and decided to start writing 365 Thank You Notes in a year. In doing this he thought of others instead of dwelling too much on his own misfortunes. It was also inspirational for him to do this.

So, I have decided to do my own 365 Thank Yous. I wrote and mailed 4 yesterday and have one written for today. And yes these are actual thank you notes/cards that will be mailed out with the good ol USPS.

Trip to Kentucky

Made a whirlwind trip to Kentucky with some friends this past weekend. Two of them were picking up some puppies and two of us went to take lessons with Vergil.
This shot is from when we first walked out onto his training field. Isn't it beautiful? At this time of the year the green was so pleasant to see.
I drove down to Iowa to meet up with the other gals and then we left on Friday to head east. We slept in the parking lot of a bank on Friday night and arrived earlier than planned on Saturday. Worked all of our dogs, enjoyed good company and a lunch. We then took off on Saturday afternoon and drove to the west side of Indiana and slept in a rest stop. On Sunday morning we then pulled out and drove to Iowa where I hopped in my van with the dogs and drove home.

Another view straight down the field.

A view off to the side.

And then the unwilling volunteers came out on the field.

Here are my two willing workers. Corbie on the left and Sting on the right. Sting kept a very close eye on the sheep at all times.

Mary and Vergil discussed what she needed to do with her dog.

Mary worked her dog on keeping out on its flanks and outruns.

Jenn and Vergil discussing what she needed to work on with Ben.

Jenn working with Ben.

Shots on my way home this weekend

I saw this on my way down to Iowa this past Friday. This is located just to the south/SW of Rochester. It's kind of neat how this tree was growing out thru the this window.

This is a shot of another window.

Old door on the side of what was left of this building.

This is an older building that was across the street. It is made out of Minnesota yellow stone. There are quite a few of buildings like this around Rochester, MN as there is a lot of this particular rock there.

Possible old mill?