Phantom Ridge Border Collies

Auditioning a new friend

2012-02-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

In the past I have had no luck with Guardian dogs. Luckily now we have Bear and he is super. Just turned two and hitting his stride. With our sheep numbers now over two hundred Bear is needing some help. Raising a puppy just takes too long. We are currently auditioning a new friend for Bear.

Hannah is an 18 month old Maremma. She came from a farm not far from here where they had sold all their sheep and needed to re-home all their dogs.

She is still learning the ropes. Only been here a month now.

Bear and her are getting along good.

Ode to a sunset

2012-02-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

Sunrises are highly over rated
They also involve me getting up very early. Over the last couple of weeks I took pictures of the sun set.

Some pictures with my camera and some with my iphone.

Those are what we call wind clouds over the mountains.

I also took these cool fog pictures the other day.

How do you remove a curse?

2012-01-21T10:46:00.001-07:00

I am not sure it is possible for a dog or a person to be cursed.
All this could be my fault not the dogs. I have certainly had my share of bad luck over the years. Risk being included in the run of bad luck.

I believe Risk is cursed. He has been searching for a new home for over a year now. OK, to be honest a couple of years. We have had some very close calls. Almost to the point of people coming out to meet him and then something weird will happen like their car breaking down on the way here and then never to be heard from again. I will get a call from the perfect home after days of communication they will plan to come and meet him and then not show. I no longer hold up hope that Risk will find a home. I believe the cure is too strong to break.

Too Bad he would make somebody and really good buddy.

He loves to go for ride in any vehicle and gets along well with other dogs.

He has an amazing recall.

There was the unfortunate knife fight incident in New Mexico a couple of years ago when he lost his eye.

Why you ask is Risk looking for a home. Well he is a herding wash out.

Anyone knowing how to break this curse can email be with the details.
phantomridge@gmail.com

Puppy portraits oh the agony

2012-01-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

It has been pointed out that my pup has been here nine days and I have yet to post more pictures. Getting the little turd to pose for pictures is pure torture. For me.

Bless Joe for helping me raise the puppy so far. He taught Gus how to go outside and down the stairs. Joe also is very good at wearing Gus out. I do fear this is coming to an end soon. Gus can now beat Joe in the chase game and is learning what his teeth are for.
Gus has a beautiful set of show dog ears. Really accentuates his bull terrier like head.

I also managed to get this nice pic of Joe before I lost the sweet light.

Happy new year

2012-01-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. Family here for Christmas and then a house full of friends here for new years. The weather has been incredible hardly any snow gives me time to work dogs and give lessons. Also time to avoid the indoor stuff like house cleaning.

Gus has joined the house hold gang. Now I will have lots to blog about.

Lisa took this pic with my iphone.

Craig and Joe are worried about their status.

Winter solstice

2011-12-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

New year new puppy

2011-12-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

Like a lemming I will post a picture of my new puppy as well.

Introducing Gus

Looks like his ears are already coming up.

Gus is due to arrive in the middle of my new years eve party.

What better reason to have a party.

end of an era

2011-12-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Way back when I was in middle school my best friends at the time was Michelle. Her parents had a cow hide rug for under their pool table. I thought the rug was the coolest thing around. I was the only one other than her parents that liked the rug. Over the years that rug saw many party's, sleep overs, wrestlemania's (please don't judge) and scary movies. A couple years after high school Michelle told me her parents were finally going to throw out that old ugly cow hide rug. My heart stopped now was my chance to get my hands on it. I asked her mom if i could have it. Of course she said yes. I was over joyed.
Over the years this rug has traveled with us from house to house. It has raised many puppies and one now 18 year old. Still over time I was the only one that loved this rug. Now the time has come to say goodbye to the rug. The cow hide is missing hair in more spots than not and most of the stitching is breaking down from old age. The stamp on the back of the rug says 1965. Imagine the things this rug has seen and heard.

After writing this I can't bring my self to just toss this in the dumpster. For now I am going to put it in the endless sea can. (which is a story for another time) in case I get nostalgic someday.

Product review time

2011-12-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

How excited was I to be in Canadian Tire and see they had Graty's for sale. I was so happy I bought a couple. One for us and some for gifts. What is the Graty you ask.

Surprise to me the Graty was only $4.00. Score!!

I live in a frat house of cheese lovers so this would be a perfect addition to our kitchen. We have had the graty for a couple of days and what a piece of shit. It has some huge design flaws and the cheese does not come out like it does in the commercial. It comes out all globbed up in a ball.

I am sorry Vince

I am going to give your product two thumbs down.

In an effort to improve the Graty last night I was taking it apart to redesign it and accidentally broke it. Now I see why it is only $4.00.

Wind Carnage

2011-12-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is the price we pay for not having any snow the end on November and 15 degrees. (celcius to my american friends). This is our version of the Santa Anna winds. We call them Chinook winds.

I heard rumors of 130 kms/hr. I would believe it. We couldn't even walk outside.

Let's start with the tree carnage. We just moved all these trees in a month ago.

The burn pile now

The roof took a little beating

So did the internet dish

We are still waiting for them to come and fix it.
Tragic for the frat boyz no xbox live

The shelters took the worst of it.
All the shelters were staked down
This shelter was on the other side of the fence on the left. The fence is six feet tall. It didn't even touch the fence.

All the shelters were built on heavy metal skids

Some of our ewe lambs
really wondering what all the fuss is about.
I guess they will figure it out in January or February.

A bump in the road that turned into a giant crater

2011-11-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

In June I called it a bump in the road but now that has turned into and giant hole that has proven hard to cross. We are still sitting on the other side trying to figure out how to cross. If I was a chicken I would have figured it out by now. I can just hear it "how did the chicken cross the crater?" Answer would be something cleaver that I can't think of right now. But I digress

Craig has what is called a non union fracture. Which is short for very expensive and takes up lots of your time. After seven months of an external fixator last week in needed to come off before it fell out. The solution now is a bone graft and plate and screws.

This is what we started with in June

What it looked like in August

November
As you can see we tried to stress the bone by taking screws out over time
the force some bone growth

this is what we have today

Another eight weeks wait to see if this solution will work. In the meantime Craig goes to Physiotherapy once a week. He gets laser treatment, ultrasound and electromagnetic treatment. Last week he also got some acupuncture.

He loves going mostly because it is all about him.

This was before surgery on Tuesday

And after

Joe is an attention hog and must be in every picture.

Craig has taken this all in stride and is just happy to be living in the house full time.

If I had known how long this road was, I am not sure I would do anything different. Time will tell what the out come will be. I am very fortunate to be able to afford this whole ordeal. I really don't want to think about if this doesn't work out. I picture a lot of liquor and some sort of ledge that my friends will have to pull me off.

Bring on the snow

2011-11-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Were ready to play with our new toy.

Kyle picked up the snow blower today.

I am a little concerned about all the wires that need to be connected.

But Kyle seems confident.

Notice the messy shop that goes along with the hoarding problem the dog has.

Hoarders

2011-11-02T15:40:00.000-06:00

On today's episode

"Guardian dogs who hoard"

Some of this stuff I don't even know where it came from.

He has piles in every field

That pile behind Bear on the other side of the fence would be my husbands hoarding problem. Which we will cover in a different episode.

Good Morning

2011-10-27T09:21:00.000-06:00

Bear doing his thing

Veterinary train wreck

2011-10-25T15:18:00.000-06:00

Somewhere in this house or on our property there is a broken mirror or a ladder that I keep walking under and don't even know it. As you all know Craig broke his leg in June and it is still an on going battle to get him fixed up. I don't think there has been a week go by this year that I haven't been to the vet or a physiotherapist. To top it off my dogs are now looking for ways to hurt them selves. A couple weeks ago Lisa and I loaded up the dogs and headed off the British Columbia for Holly's trial. When we left Meg had thrown up in her dog run but I thought nothing of it dogs do that sometimes. We Meg proceeded to get sick the whole way to Holly's. When we arrived I asked Wendy to look at Meg. She gave her expert opinion of WTF. I think x-rays are in order for the morning. Off I went to Holly's vet in Armstrong. And this is what we saw.

Kind of blurry because I took the picture with my cell phone but you get the idea.

Meg eat 3.5 pounds of rocks from her dog run.

Very unlike something she would do.

She was one sick puppy on the drive home. Didn't move an inch.

A week later we were back to the vet when she developed an abscess and it had to be drained. She was put on heavier antibiotics the help fight infection.

She is still on lock down but feeling much better.

As promised

2011-10-16T18:56:00.000-06:00

Bad cell phone photos

Most days Joe didn't get up until around 10 AM

This was my view everywhere we went. Following Scott and Jenny.

Amanda at Solider Hollow doing her movie interview after her run.

I love the VIP room at Solider Hollow

The famous Meeker statue.

Couple of Meeker locals. If the set out crew wore these outfits then maybe Meg would have seen her sheep up the field.

good times in the princess castle. Joe was the center of attention. I here Alison and him are BFF's now.

Alastair holding court as a webcast commentator. I am told he was very good at it.

Ten minutes from home after three weeks on the road.

What The Bacon!!!

2011-10-11T12:55:00.000-06:00

Someone has learned a new trick

Hey where did my bacon go

JOE

Thank god your cute.

An ugly dog would never get away with this.

Some September pictures

2011-10-05T14:11:00.000-06:00

My co-pilot was less than chatty. He didn't really do a good job of keeping me company.

He quickly settled in to the dog trailing scene

As always Solider Hollow was amazing

I didn't take many pictures of Meeker. Mostly because my mood was teetering on the edge of insanity.

But I did take this picture as we were leaving.

Meeker really is the little trial that could. the middle of nowhere small town that supports the trial.

Next blog is bad cell phone photos.

September a month in review

2011-09-30T10:10:00.000-06:00

So it has been a while. I have been home for a week now and finally getting back some sort of normalcy back in my life. I had big plans of blogging while on the road for three weeks. But alas the great states of Utah and Colorado don't really believe in modern communication. At one point I saw a sign that said pony express crossing. I thought that was a historical sight. No No it is still in service. I never thought of a place without cell or internet service was possible.
Before I go through my pictures and tails of dog trialing. I would just like to talk about some things I learned on this trip. Some I already knew but had forgotten.

- When it says seasonal vegetables on a menu it usually means they have come from a can.
- paybacks a bitch and comes back three fold.
- by day three of no cell phone the shakes will settle down. And the people with free Wifi see you coming and know you by name.
- Apparently in Lima, Montana they don't get many news up dates and still think Secretariat is still alive.
- The is not a gas station between here and Colorado that I have not backed the princess castle out of.
- Words I thought I would never say "I am going to ride my bike up the hill to the lodge" Mostly the words are bike and hill.
- There is nothing like barking dogs as an alarm clock everyday for three weeks. Makes me want to by stock in Tritronics.
- Someone needs to invent a new fuel made from sage brush. There is just to dam much of it. Makes it hard for a girl the ride her bike.
- A recipe for a good time Princess castle, Sangria, lots of friends, wrangler jeans and a tube of Sexy Mother Pucker. Sounds a little crazy I know and it was.
- A girl can drink too much Sangria. But boys can't get enough of it.

No matter how far I travel I make the best of friends and met up with old ones. Thank goodness for no cell service otherwise I would be texting them all the way home.
"do you miss me yet"
"where are you now"

Every time it gets harder to say good bye.

Canadian finals

2011-08-30T08:14:00.000-06:00

I am about to head out for Utah just some last minute things to do. My second run in Cranbrook was mediocre still no pen. Meg was not listening to me which lead to me yelling at her and her taking offense. In the end we ended up one point shy of making the double lift finals. So instead of running a dog I was asked to set out for some runs. Now that everybody knows my prowess on a horse I am the next go to person behind Chris and Wendy Schmaltz. The good part is Chris and Wendy supply me with a nice broke horse.
The view from the top is spectacular. Mountains and hills surrounding you. If I lived there I would defiantly have a horse to go riding in the hills for hours.
I took very little pictures from the weekend. The first half my camera battery was dead and then I was too lazy.
In the end Scott Glen and Don prevailed as Canadian Champions with Dennis Gellings and Jan in the reserve spot.
One thing I did accomplish this weekend was two perfect sheds. I guess you can"t have it all. Didn't hit a panel or pen but now I can shed. Always some sort of Unicorn standing beside me.
Now I am off to Solider Hollow for moral support and shopping.

Canadian finals Day 1

2011-08-25T23:07:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post to make Jenny happy. I asked her to take some pictures of Meg today since I have very little pictures of her and I . We are in Cranbrook at the Canadian Border Collie Championships. The sheep were tough and a challenge for the day. I was happy with Meg's amount of try for me today. Although I will expect more tomorrow. We scored a 74 just out of the top ten for the day with no pen. Thanks to Jenny for taking some pics of me and Meg. Tune into her trial blog for nightly updates.

Yea!! a shed

Shaunavon Classic

2011-08-22T19:41:00.000-06:00

This weekend I traveled to Shaunavon, Saskatchewan.

The hard working Jamie VanRhyn puts on a trial every year. Jamie works her butt off to raise money and put on a good trial.

Instead of talking about my runs I am going to show some interpretative pictures.

The "toilets"

"Garbage" can

And finally
A pile of cow "shit"

Couple days home to regroup and then off to Cranbrook for the Canadian Border Collie Finals and The Western Canadian Fnals.

Working, Show or Sport Bred

2011-08-17T09:32:00.000-06:00

I know the sheer title of my blog gets hackles up and people automatically get defensive. In this case I am not talking about border collies. I have already said my peace about that many times and all to many times on the Internet. In this instance I am talking about my Range Rover.

My Range Rover is working bred

He often in need of a bath. Has been used to chase sheep through fields while I am whistling away to my dog. Also has been seen carrying an escaped guardian dog in the back seat. His inside is covered in dog hair, dirt and some sort of hay or grass on the floor. A very useful machine around the farm. I sometimes feel bad when we go to town and the show Range Rovers point at mine and laugh at how much dust and dirt is on him.

In comparison below is a picture of the show Range Rover.

Yes, shiny and pretty but really what is it good for.
Needs to be kept indoors.
Can it go off pavement and drive through puddles to check on cows.

Can it handle gravel roads at 110 km.

Can it pull out a truck from a snow bank.

I was unable to find any pictures of the elusive sport bred Range Rover. But I imagine it is hard to live with. Can't keep it in the garage. Probably uses alot of fuel because it always wants to go fast. Maybe has some flashy colors on it and driving around with some sort of cooling device on it's roof.

After writing this blog I feel bad for my little guy. I am going to give him a bath and maybe even take the matts out from behind his wheels.

Maybe someone in the house will save me

2011-08-15T13:49:00.000-06:00

Our big tough guardian dog is not so tough when it storms

Bow Valley Classic trial

2011-08-06T13:24:00.000-06:00

I really have not much to show from this trial. I took one picture and the only money I came home with was a refund cheque from scratching Craig from Nursery. This year Ian and JoAnn moved their trial to a different location. Equally as much terrain and challenge as the old place. As always they ran a good show.
The first day Meg and I had a good run. Even shed and penned for a score of 85. Any other time that might have been good to place but not here the top scores were in the mid 90's. That's why I love trialing in Alberta just when you think you bring your game up everyone else has as well. Keeps you on your toes.
Second day we ran in the afternoon with the temperature very high and the wind blowing. Meg couldn't hear, her fetch was way off line. At the drive away panel she just lied down and looked at me "what the heck do you want" So I walked off.

Monday top 12 dogs got to play in the double lift.

I was recruited to do some setting so Wendy could have a well deserved break. Me who had not been on a horse for two years and a dog who had never been worked from a horse. It took meg a couple seconds to figure out where I was. She only tried to heel the horse once.

Below is the only picture I took the whole weekend.

Congrats to Scott Glen and Maid on their double lift win.

Craig update

2011-07-27T11:35:00.000-06:00

We are at the six and a half week mark now. Only a couple more weeks left until we go back to the surgeon for x-rays and he can decide if Craig's leg is good to go or another couple of weeks extra. We are all hoping for the OK sign. Last week Craig developed a skin infection on his foot and upper leg due to the moisture the builds up under the bandage. So my vet opted to remove the bandage and let his skin heal. It took a little getting used to being able to see the screws sticking out of his leg.

Joe is still sitting by Craig's x-pen not because he is concerned for Craig but he wants to eat his food.

Calgary Stampede final Chapter

2011-07-22T18:15:00.000-06:00

I have started this blog about 50 times and then something happens and I forget to save it. As always Calgary did not disappoint this year. Some people go to Las Vegas once a year not us we decide to enter the Calgary Stampede instead. Yes the entry fees are high and it can be a pain to get parking or camping but it is so worth it in the end. This year was no exception. There was lots of food, some liquor, a rodeo and even some sheep.
The first go went well for both my dogs. We were among the few who actually penned. In the end of day one Meg was third and Isla was 7th. Day money is always a good thing.
Day two started bright and early. All 66 dogs ran through starting at 8:00 Am with the finals that night. Isla ran first and didn't get the pen. I wasn't to concerned because if history was to repeat it self one pen and a good chute time would get you into the finals. Meg had a really good run and penned her sheep. Meg and I were among to few with two pens. Which meant we were defiantly in the finals. I am very happy with little Meggie she is getting the hang of this arena trial thing.

The afternoon we blew off some stream and went to the rodeo.

The good news after the rodeo was that both my dogs had made it to the finals. I was one of only three handlers who qualified two dogs. Isla ran first and had a stand off with a cheviot ewe. Never a good thing with Isla who lacks patience. In the end she gripped off at the chute. Meg ran toward the end. She had a good run but we ran into trouble at the pen. It took me what seemed like forever to get the sheep penned. After some quick cutting horse moves from me I finally got them penned. Not quick enough to make any money but good enough for 6th place. Below is the video thanks to Kristi Oikawa

Stunt double or Butt double????????

2011-07-18T19:02:00.000-06:00

This weekend Joe met his doppelganger.

I was all keen to sign her up to be Joe's stunt double for his up coming acting debut.

Meet Penny owned by Judy Burtleson

Penny was less than impressed to meet her long lost twin. Joe tried all his tricks but Penny was having nothing of that. There was talk of needing a butt double for his budding film career but Joe took offence

"Nothing wrong with my butt"

My version of the shedding ring

2011-07-16T19:19:00.000-06:00

As per my conversation in the previous blog.

This is how I feel when I am in the shedding ring or what I like to call it
circle of death or Bermuda mind circle.

Part 2 Wildrose trial

2011-07-16T08:37:00.000-06:00

Once again I find myself with only one dog to run. We were set to run toward the end of the day on the first day. End of the day meaning 10 PM. Just before my run the judge called it a day and said we would run the rest of the open dogs the next morning at 6 AM. Well just great I am so not a morning person. This also meant Meg would run both her open runs with in a couple of hours and then were are done. Our first run was pretty fabulous except for me giving her a couple of wrong flanks on the drive. I am chalking that up to the early morning. Then came my part setting up the shed. Well putting it bluntly I F**** suck at shedding. For some reason it is the only thing I can't figure out. Meg will come through just fine if I make the hole. I am so tired of leaving 20 points on the field. Our first run we scored a 69 no shed, no pen. (You guys do the math). Our second run was much the same. Pretty much bang on until the shedding ring and then timed out. Scored a 65 (again you do the math).
At this time I would like to apologize to Meg for not keeping up my part of the bargain. Sorry Meg you do everything I ask on the field and I fail you. You are a pretty kick ass little dog.
Because we ran so early there are no pictures of Meg's run. But I thought I would post some pics taken from the bluegrass in May.

Photos taken by
Christine Koval

Scott ran Bracken at this trial. She was a little rusty and on the muscle for both her runs. She didn't place in either runs she but showed some nice things. Check out Jenny's trial blog to see pics of Bracken and a feisty ewe. http://altapetestockdogs2.blogspot.com/ She handled it like a pro.

Bracken is coming home on Monday next week. I am a little nervous to take the reins of this little powerhouse. But I am going to try my best.

So much to tell you about

2011-07-13T11:43:00.001-06:00

This trip seemed so eventful I don't know where to start. I could blog about this for weeks. I think this blog is going to be more of an installment type blog. Today is the first of many. Wednesday I traveled north two hours to the Wildrose trial just west of Olds, Alberta.
The first evening Lisa and I spent grazing sheep on the trial field. There was plenty on mosquitoes and plenty of wine. I did not use my camera at all. I used my iPhone for everything.

Family photo of me and Meg.
Do you know how hard it is to get a dog to look at the camera for a self photo.

After a good nights sleep. Lisa and I went on a shopping trip to some local western stores to find some new western garb for our up coming stampede trip. When we cam back we were warned of an impending storm and told to batten down everything. Well the storm took for ever to come.

Lots of cool looking clouds. Then came the hail.

At least I didn't have to go to my trailer for ice.

The tornado looking clouds rolled in.

Is this green or more of an aquamarine?

I the end there was tornadoes to the west of us and some to the northeast of us. But thankfully missed us.

Stay tuned tomorrow for tales of sheepdog handler fashions, stunt doubles and some dog trialing too.

Graduation Day

2011-07-07T16:16:00.000-06:00

Last week Justice Graduated from high School. Funny I remember when he was born I thought to myself "when he graduates I will only be 36 years old and I will be foot loose and fancy free" Well that day arrived and I feel to old to be foot loose. So now what to do with all my free non parenting time. Nothing really Justice is still at home and requires parenting.

As you can see it was a typical graduation.

There was texting

Grandparents

Great grandparents

Aunts

And of course girlfriends

A Bump in the road

2011-06-27T14:40:00.001-06:00

The last couple of weeks have been very traumatic mostly for me but also for Craig. Two weeks ago Craig broke his leg while helping me move some sheep. It was a freak accident that could happen to any of us but that day it happened to me. Of course I can't help but feel responsible even though it was not my fault. It was a very bad open fracture on his front leg. The vets were unable to plate and pin the break so Craig has an external fixator on his leg. 8 weeks of crate rest means no more trialing for this year. We are two weeks in and the vets are confident he is going to be OK. He goes in for weekly bandage changes and to check the screws and incision sites.

Just home from surgery

Joe was very concerned for Craig

North Dakota wrap up

2011-06-16T11:20:00.000-06:00

Now a days a persons travels are rated by how many new facebook friends you come home with. Some of us like Jamie travel around to met current facebook friends in person. Our North Dakota trip was epic in a sense that everything was larger than life. The trial fields, the weather, the flooding, and the friendship amongst
handlers. We started out at The Big One and then on to the Slash J trial. Due to all the flooding most of the handlers camped in town at the local campground. A luxury to have power. Quickly the days all gobbed together I have a hard time remembering my runs. What I do know is that we ended up middle of the pack most of the time.

Trial field at The Big One
900 yrd outrun
This is what it looked like the second time we ran

Trial field at Slash J

After the trial we stayed a couple extra days to take in an Aled Owen advanced handling clinic. We mostly worked on shedding and some turn backs. It was a good learning experience. I really need to work on my shedding and Aled gave me some good drills and things to think about.

We had a great time in North Dakota and will definitely be back.

Catch up blog day

2011-06-14T12:29:00.000-06:00

I have a few moments of free time to catch up. I have been so busy and seem to not get anything done not sure how that happens. Each day the list gets longer and longer. How does someone who is not employed still need and assistant. Oh and a maid would be nice too. I have had a stressful couple of days which I will catch you all up on later. For now lets look back on Kentucky.

Driving through Chicago was an experience.

We visited the Kentucky Horse Park one day. You could spend days here and not see everything. It was raining that day so we practically had the place to ourselves.

Spent a couple hours at the Keenland racetrack.
This place is really a town all to it's self.

The fanciest gift shop I have ever been in.

Wendy tried to find her self a new hat.

Some well known trainers had horses at Keenland when we were there.

Wendy was more concerned about the pretty bird sitting on the fence.

After all this we were there for a dog trial.

This was the open field. A nice rolling field running on yearling ewes.

Nursery field

A small fenced field which proved to be the more challenging of the fields.

I had a great time at the Bluegrass and would defiantly go back.

This much I know is true

2011-05-27T16:56:00.000-06:00

I find my self with barely enough time to breath before we leave again. Lisa and I will be heading out to North Dakota trials on Monday. I thought I would just mention a couple of things I learn on our trip. More blogs will be up loaded with pics of our adventures.

- I will never again fly with American Airlines and always fly with West Jet
- Calvin Jones sings a mean Lady Gaga, Adele and Summer loving
- I will highly recommend the Toyota Sienna mini van.
- It really does get cold and rainy in Kentucky and then bloody hot again
- Apparently saying "For Fuck Sakes" is very funny to most Americans and then becomes the running joke
- The nursery field at the bluegrass is very small and tricky (not sure I will do that again)
- The memoirs of Calvin Jones are going to be very interesting
- Wendy Schmaltz is a die hard blogger. We arrived at one hotel around midnight and she opted to blog instead of getting four hours sleep.
- When you leave the windows down on the van so the dogs can get air it will always rain. But only gets Calvin's seat wet. (haha)
- GPS is always necessary not matter how much Wendy's says we are fine.
- Wendy is not a good navigator
- The Lexington ring round goes around and around. "hey there is the horse park, hey there is the horse park again. Wait a minute!!!!!!! Wendy where the heck is our turn"
- A 12 hour car rental costs almost the same as a week

Until next time

Terrain

2011-05-15T14:27:00.000-06:00

This weeks homework was to get my dogs on as much different terrain as I could. Terrain can be the biggest nightmare for young dogs and their handlers. I wanted to get Craig out so I could maybe know what to expect from him in the near future. In the past big rolling hills have been a nightmare with me when I am running Isla the terrain makes her run wider and she tends to get lost. Outrunning is not Craig's strong point. But I will take it considering how good his mother has gotten at being wide.
we started out at Jerry's in a field we call the buck brush field. The buck brush adds another element which is sight and sound. The brush is noisy to run through so the dogs really need to listen and they also can not always see the sheep and like wise with me not being able to see the dog. This is especially true with Meg who likes to drag her belly on the ground.

The pictures really don't show the rolling terrain and how far away Jerry is standing with the sheep. The outrun is about 450 yards. Turns out Craig really had no problem with the hills or the bushes but his problem was with the set out person. He has patented what Jerry calls the fish hook lift. He comes around the top and proceeds to go around the setter on his left and then between the handler and sheep back to 12 o'clock and then lifts the sheep. Not sure how a judge will point that. Time to fix that. I went down the field closer to Jerry and worked on fixing the fish hook. So far it has not made an appearance again. Only time will tell if I have fixed it.

A couple days later I traveled a few hours north the work dogs with Randy, Abe and Lisa. As promised by Randy hills were a plenty. I have never worked dogs in this field before so it was interesting for me as well.

Started on this hill.

Again the pictures really don't do it justice. There is a dog and sheep at the top of the hill if you look closely. That would be close to 600 yards. I did not send Craig that far but I did send Meg and she did good. I sent Craig to the dark spot on the right. Which still was about 450 -500 yards. He did good. The fish hook did not appear and he stopped good at the top and brought the sheep nice and quiet down the hill. This day I was very happy with him. He was nice and steady on his driving and not exploding into his flanks. I hope that is the Craig that shows up in Kentucky.

I sent Meg on this outrun. She was too wide and got a little lost. But frankly if I had just shut up she would have been fine. But I had to step in and screw it up.

I have tried to finish this blog post four times in the last three days and now I have run out of time. I leave tomorrow and have so much to do. Off to move ewes and lambs and then bath dogs.

Oh No Joe!!!

2011-05-09T18:54:00.000-06:00

Joe

What have you done.

A river ran through it

2011-05-07T19:54:00.000-06:00

This little hole in the ground looked Innocent enough when I found it. Until I realized that the dirt underneath the road was no longer there. With record snowfall this year spring runoff was unusually high.

Well the little hole grew up into this.

and this

The little hole turned big hole is going to cost us thousands of dollars to fix.

This is our only road across our creek into our fields were all the sheep and cattle.

There was a failed attempt to make a bridge. But we are not going to show pictures of that or point fingers.

There are no excuses

2011-04-28T15:38:00.000-06:00

Well that is a total lie. There are plenty on excuses for not blogging for the last two weeks or so. Lambing started and never stopped. We were done lambing in two weeks flat. Our ram was a busy boy. I have tried very hard to get those cute lamb pics and have failed epically. These are a couple of the best ones.

All this has left Bear terribly bored. He is too young to be with the ewes and lambs. So he is stuck out in a field with the ewe lambs. Who are a little crazy and lead him down the wrong path a couple of times. Bear says " I was only running to follow them not chase them" Yeah right I say.

Other news. Rob has been sold to a nice young guy in Tennessee. Rob is going to help Garrett with his ever growing flock. Scott and Jenny have offered to take Rob to Kentucky with them to save on flying. I will get to meet Garrett and deliver Rob to him at The Bluegrass.

I have been feverishly trying to get my dogs ready for our trip south. Working in different fields on different sheep. Each dog approaches new experiences differently. Meg goes the slow and cautious route. Where as Craig goes the fast and furious direction. It is going to make life interesting. Only a couple weeks left to cram all the experiences into Craig before we leave. No matter what happens I am determined to have a good time and met lots of new people.

First born 2011

2011-04-14T17:50:00.000-06:00

First set of lambs came on Tuesday.

Twins a boy and a girl purebred Dorper very cute.

And now we wait for the rest to come.

Of course we had another snow storm last night and got over a foot of snow.

This snow haunts me like a bad ex boyfriend.

Less than stellar

2011-04-11T17:17:00.000-06:00

That is how I would describe my performance at the arena trial this weekend. My dogs are not at fault just me. My head was not in the game just like Tiger Woods on Sunday at the Masters tournament. I was however very happy to be there and visit with all my fellow dog people. I even had a fan write my name on his stomach and cheer for me on Sunday. Shout out to Bryce. Thanks for the support.
Today it was back to the daily grind of fighting snow and now water and mud. Our ewes are due to starting lambing today but they are all looking happy and content for now. I guess they are in no hurry.
Soon I will have all sorts of cute lamb pictures for the blog.
Cheers

Robin French is stressing me out

2011-04-05T18:20:00.000-06:00

I know weird title eh!! But it's true. Robin writes a blog Shoofly Farm and two days in a row she has written about the looming deadline to The Bluegrass Classic. It is exactly six weeks from today that I will go to the post in Kentucky. Thanks to Robin I am now feverishly trying to find places to train my dogs that isn't knee deep in snow. I have been fully aware for months that the time was approaching just not ready to deal with it. I am going to the Bluegrass with a totally new team.

Meg is my open dog and this will be the first time we have ran in a open field trial together.

Craig is my nursery/ Open Ranch dog

This is Craig's first year of trialing. He has loads of potential just lacks the experience and miles on him. Craig spent the winter with Scott Glen and came back to me a month ago. So we lack experience as a team as well.

Game faces on

One of my smaller fields is sort of workable so I am doing what I can there

Meg needs snowshoes and a snorkel at times.

One thing I have been able to do is condition the dogs. We are up to running 10 km (6.5 Miles) with the quad. I try to do it everyday but sometimes life gets in the way. I have three dogs that run three different speeds.

Craig is right beside me

Isla way out front

And Meg usually trailing if not falling behind.

Isla and Craig often get tired of running Meg's speed. It is boring to them.

The snow banks are still over my head.

I look forward to meeting Robin French and sharing with her how much she stressed me out.

I have no words

2011-04-02T18:46:00.001-06:00

Lambing pen ready

dug out and drying off

I changed my mind about words. Do you think there is such a thing as a Cabernet ice cream float?

It's a good thing I am all out of ice cream and we are snowed in so there is no going to town for more.

I do however have enough liquor to dumb the pain.

Waiting

2011-03-21T18:53:00.000-06:00

There is many things we are waiting for

the snow to melt instead of keep falling.

The sun to come out.

And

Babies

Still a couples of weeks away and looking bigger by the day

WLD is ready for the snow to go away as well.

Joe meets his match

2011-03-12T16:49:00.002-07:00

Today Joe had a play date with a worthy opponent.

In the form of 12 week old Australian Terrier named Kuja

Curly tails

In the end everyone was tuckered out

This really is all my fault

2011-03-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize to everyone the weather is all my fault.

I left these up after Christmas right next to our thermometer.

I can't help but think I have jinxed us all.

Not to worry I have put them back deep in the basement.

sympathy votes please!!!

2011-02-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is March 1st. Two an a half months until the Bluegrass and a couple weeks until Craig comes home from his winter retreat. Can't help but thinking this winter is never going to end. I really need to work my dogs and get them into shape.

Our Tractor is DOA in the bull pen

Thank goodness we have two tractors.

Tractor number two thought she was in retirement and needed a little jump to get started

This was my date for the afternoon. Everybody needs food and somebody had to plow the way out to the field.

So you wanna be in pictures

2011-02-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

Joe and I are going to spend the day working on his film career.
Everyone has to pull their weight around here. I am willing to pimp out the Chi for a film career.

Joe has one problem this interrupts his napping schedule.

Today we are going to spend the day with animal trainer Flo Krisko.

Happy Birthday

2011-02-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Today my babies turn Two years old.
All Ready to take on the world.

Finn 8 weeks old

Finn today.

Jen tells me he is almost ready to trial in agility.

Thanks Jen for the pictures

Craig at 8 weeks old

Craig today

Craig has turn into a handsome man.

I am looking forward to trialing him this year.
Thanks to Jenny Glen for the pictures.

Bracken At 8 weeks

Syn at 8 weeks

Even at 8 weeks they were hard to tell apart.

They had a group shot today and I had to really look to see the difference.

They both think the camera is going to steal their soul.

This picture helped me to see the difference.

Bracken is on the left and Syn on the right.

Both girls will be running nursery this year. Syn will be under the guidance of Jenny and Bracken will be handled by Scott Glen at least for the spring run and then I will be taking over the rains.

Thanks to ever so patient jenny Glen for sending me these pictures of the girls.

A couple of new guys in my life

2011-02-09T15:58:00.001-07:00

Finally something to Blog about that isn't about all the snow or my drinking problem because of all the snow.
I would like to introduce you to the two new men in my life.

The first guy is of Yugoslavian descent.
He has joined the tribe to help protect the flock.

His name is Bear and he is a Sarplaninac.

The second new man is of English descent. We are going to call him William or Will for short.
He doesn't have four legs but he does have four wheels.

I am totally in love and may marry him if Kyle doesn't pull up his socks.

Blah's

2011-02-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Yes folks it is that time of year again. Every year I say no teaching lessons in January and February just because of the snow and cold. And every year I still book lessons on a warm stint in the weather and then it dumps snow and the temperature plummets. The dogs and I are stuck in the middle of winter blah's. Meg resorts to getting fat and barking in the kennel. Isla's out let is chewing on her feet and stressing about Meg getting in trouble for barking. The boys are not smart enough to know any better. Me I am sad to look out the window and see the arctic tundra that is a fields. If I wasn't on a diet I would drink my self into submission each night. Another thing that really diggs the knife in your back is facebook. All the post from my various dog friends from around the world. Working dogs in t-shirts, green grass and lawn chairs how sad for me. Yesterday there was talk of flying to Vegas for a couple of days but then we remembered we would still have to come back to the arctic tundra.
Welcome February can't wait for you too leave.

Plans for 2011

2011-01-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

There is nothing much going on here other than the cold and giant drifts of snow. So I am going to take this opportunity to share some of my plans for the year. I looked back at past new years post on my blog discussing my big plans with my young dogs. Funny this about this sheepdog trialing it never seems to go as planned. I maybe jinxing myself by actually putting it in writing. My friend Jerry thinks his blog is the blog of doom. If he writes about how much he is liking a dog or anything inevitably that whatever doesn't turn out for various reasons. So fingers here it goes.

Going to start the year off with a bang

Finally one of my dreams will be realized. I am going to pack up all my flying anxiety and the dogs and go to the Bluegrass Classic in Kentucky. Right now the plan is to fly to Chicago and then drive to Lexington. Another life long dream is to go to Kentucky. I grew up showing and training horses and always thought Kentucky was a magical place. My partner in crime for this trip will be Wendy Schmaltz. Looking forward to all the "adventures" we are certainly going to have. Meg will be running in the open and Craig will be running nursery. Three of Isla's pups will be running at the Bluegrass. I have asked Scott Glen to run Bracken for the spring in hopes of qualifying her for the nursery finals in September. Jenny Glen will be running Syn the Isla pup they own.

Shortly after getting back from the Bluegrass I will be heading to North Dakota to the two trials there in the beginning of June.

Rest of the summer is mostly local trials not much traveling until September. End of August will be the Canadian Border Collie Championships in Cranbrook, BC. After that is the big three trials in a row Solider Hollow. Meeker and the USBCHA Finals. Still trying to decide if I am going to all three as it will be a long time on the road. If you asked me right now in the cold January. Hell yeah I am going. Right now I would go on the road for weeks if it meant I could work and trial my dogs. This is the time of the year I miss it terribly. But I digress. While I won't be running a dog at Soldier Hollow or Meeker (Meg needs some more years under her belt first) I do want to go and watch and cheer my friends on or pull them off the ledge. Solider Hollow was too much fun last time I went and I have never been to Meeker before. After Meeker it is a short drive to the National Finals. So looking forward to that.

So much fun ahead this year.

Kennel is done!

2011-01-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

Just in time for the blizzard

No Joe doesn't live in a kennel. I put him in there for comic relief.

For the first time ever I don't have to shift dogs around in the cold weather.
But we do have some digging to do outside.
My rams are in this pen somewhere

Awesome what wind and some snow can do.
My round pen took a beating.

Reliable recall

2011-01-06T15:31:00.001-07:00

Joe wants to be a border collie so bad he has taken to running out with the sheep and chasing them. For now this is my solution.

OK, you can't tell very well in the video but Joe is tied to Risk just something I picked up from Cesar Millan and it worked out very well actually.

A boy and his dog

2011-01-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

Making Progress

2010-12-31T16:05:00.001-07:00

Strider continues to make progress on his rehabilitation. In the past week I have noticed him really trying hard not to disrupt the sheep with his movement. This is exactly what I was hoping he would learn. Another thing that is interesting is that the sheep really seem to know when he maybe isn't thinking properly. Sometimes he can walk right through them and another time he can't even get with in 20 ft of them. Just the other day he saw the fox running through his field and he jumped up and bolted right past the sheep to chase the fox and the sheep hardly lifted their heads. As it stands right now they really aren't buddy's I think the sheep tolerate him in their vicinity but only because he is the necessary evil. Yesterday it was bitterly cold and I watched Strider try to figure out how to get into the shelter without upsetting the sheep. he desperately wanted into the shelter out of the wind. So he would walk up to it and go around the back and then go around the other side and peek in. Then finally after 30 minutes he lowered his head and slowly walked in and lied down.

Took this picture Christmas day

And this one today

This is currently my full time job. Watching the guardian dog out the front windows. To bad it pays really badly because I am getting pretty good at it. When we are not home he is tied up to his fancy dog house.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T06:41:00.000-07:00

Stand off

2010-12-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Strider doesn't really care for the foxes. There are two of them and they taunt him regularly.

I however really like them unlike Jerry who would rather use them for target practice.

And this is what Joe did while I was taking the picture of Strider.

Clearly not ready to be left alone in the house.

Remnants

2010-12-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

Of a very good time had by all

Leftovers from this weeks girls hangout.
Jerry was kind enough to hunt down my favorite wine as a Christmas present. I think Lisa and I polished two bottles off before supper was cooked and kept on trucking from there. By the time Jenny arrived the next day we moved a little slower toward the wine but the mudslides went down nicely.

Good times!!

Winter chores

2010-12-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

As far as I'm concerned farming in the winter is way more work than the summer. I feel like I coast all summer gain weight only to suffer from muscle cramps and heart palpitations in the winter. I am way to out of shape for all this feeding and bedding shit. It might have something to do with the ten layers of clothing I am wearing.

Everyone loves a fresh new bed.

Kyle multi tasking as always.

Note to self:
Install blue tooth in the tractor for safe driving our fences and gates with thank us later.

WLD (World's Laziest Dorper)
"Who you lookin at"

Strider on his time out chain. He has been a bad boy lately. He now only gets to be loose with his sheep when he can be supervised. He is none to happy about this change by the fun police. I'll tell you training a guardian dog is thee hardest thing I have had to do. Strider has a good heart just lacks direction at times.

Evidence of some badness. This poor girl is the object of Strider's "affection".

Bad dog!!!

Happy holidays

2010-12-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

K.O.'d

2010-12-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

It's hard work being a chihuahua

Joe makin friends

2010-12-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Joe went on his first road trip with me on Friday. Met all sorts of new people, dogs and cats.

He was really more interested in humping the cat than playing with it.

He met this guy who tried really hard to make friends. I should add that this gentleman is in the witness protection program so we could not reveal his true identity.

It truly is exhausting socializing and being the center of attention.

Little dog 3rd Generation

2010-11-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

So far I have shared my life with two little dogs. For the readers new to my life I will recap.

1st generation

I got Guess when I was in high school and shortly after my parents divorced and the children were left to their own devices. Which led to Justice but that is a whole other blog. I bought Guess from a friend of my sisters as an 8 week old puppy. Not sure of what breed he was but I liked to think he was a miniature border collie. He went everywhere with me. Even sometimes to class he rode around in my backpack. I took this picture of Guess after Kyle and his friends gave him an unauthorized hair cut. He was sitting in my bitchin rust colored Mazda truck.

2nd Generation

Lost Fox last year to old age. Poor Fox she was the product of me impulse buying a Jack Russel in hopes of improving the breed. What a stupid pet owner I was. Not only did I have a Border collie puppy at the time but Justice was also two years old and I thought another dog added to the mix was a good idea. Fox was a terrier through and through. Always digging out of her run and running away. We never gave her the exercise or attention she deserved. The last five years of her life were much better. I had much more dog knowledge and she got much more attention. Funny how I didn't think we would miss her but the more time went on the more I missed a "Little Dog" in the house.

Enter the 3rd Generation

Enter Joe. I have been thinking about a chihuahua for about a year now much to the dismay of my friends. Found Joe on line and thought what a cute looking dog. I am as you know a sucker for good looks. Only had him for three days now but he is doing super and loves his mom. Not so much Kyle which is fine by me.

As you can see from the picture below clearly I need to invest in some dog beds.

Skid if you are reading this please know we are still BFF's and always will be no matter what.

Moving day

2010-11-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

We officially got possession of the new house on Thursday.

As you can see it was a day not fit for man or beast. The temperature was in the mid -20C with another -10 degree wind chill. However anything was better than living in a holiday trailer with a negative R value for insulation. I must say the satilite insulation guy who came to hook up our cable had a bad attitude about the weather too. Wrong day to mess with me Bell princess. Needless to say we came to an agreement. By the end of the day we had TV and our beds were on the floor college style living until the weather smartens up.

Back to reality

2010-11-17T17:51:00.001-07:00

I am home from my over week long arena trial extravaganza. Ended with a bang. Both Isla and Meg qualified for the finals. I was very happy with Meg this being her first set of arena trials she handled them like a pro. I on the other hand did not and could have done much better handling my dog in the finals. Oh well until next year.
When i got home it was time to put the ram out. This will be my first time lambing out my ewes. In the past I have just sold and bought new sheep.
Isla was up for the task of sorting and moving sheep.

Our ranger is broken right now so my ATV of choice is my Jeep

All ending with one very happy ram.

Call off the search

2010-11-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

Mojo has been found and it resides in Edmonton. Fifty dogs ran today and both mine finished in the top ten. Very happy with Meg this is only her third arena trial all in one week. This one was very load but she worked her hardest the listen to me. Now off with the girls to Dairy Queen for a chocolate dipped strawberry blizzard.

Has anyone seen my Mojo

2010-11-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

Couple of things I learned about Mayerthorpe. There is nowhere to eat after 8:00PM, the hotels are sketchy at best and I can not run dogs well there.
Saturday was the start of the Alberta Arena finals in Mayerthorpe. The first day went well for me Isla was in the top ten and Meg wasn't to far behind her. After a night of Pizza pop supper from the Esso station and a some alcoholic beverages with Clint and Anita the next day didn't go so well. Sometime in the night my mojo was sucked from my body. Odd because I never woke up during the sucking out process. Sunday I could not pen the sheep to save my life. When others had the sheep just run into the pen I struggled over and over again. Isla had a smoking run going and then nothing. I am hoping things go better the next couple of days. We are in Edmonton at the farm Fair International which run in conjunction with the Canadian Finals rodeo. Also means lots of cute cowboys.Yummy! Wendy couldn't sleep last night in anticipation of seeing cute cowboys and their butts.
The only pictures I took at the trial were for Lisa and Sue Main. This by far is the fanciest outhouse I have seen. Everybody was going on and on about it.

Starts out looking like a normal out house. We were all dreading going in it.

Then when you finally can't wait any longer you go in and WOW!

Just me and the girls

2010-11-05T16:08:00.000-06:00

At least I am having a good time the girls look like they might kill each other.

Me and the girls are gone for a week long road trip running at three arena trials in a row. I am camped out at Penny's house in Beaumount for the week. Yesterday we traveled east 2.5 hours to Lloydminster. The arena was small and the course was complicated with no retries allowed I felt like I was in the middle of a Nintendo Brain Age game. My head literally hurt after the first run. I was so busy trying to think of the course I had a hard time getting my dogs to run good. Isla was "on the muscle" and was not listening. Five dogs went to the finals and she missed it by a couple. This was little Meg's first ever arena trial and she had fun. So much she missed some flanks and forgot her new comebye whistle. So I changed to voice instead. Very proud of our Lisa and Hope for winning the whole sha bang and a Calcutta to rival Vegas.
Today was a me and dogs day. Penny took this picture of the girls and me at the park this morning. While in Edmonton there are some must do's. I know hard to believe Calgary doesn't have everything. Went to G & E Pharmacy for some shopping. This store is a cornucopia (big word for Jerry) of all things especially dog stuff. Then it was off the West Edmonton Mall and the Victoria Secret store.
Apparently tonight Penny is taking me for the best Indian food in Alberta. To a girl born in Saskatchewan and raised on a ranch in Alberta I wouldn't know good from bad Indian food if I had a gun to my head.
Tomorrow off to work dogs at Corey Perry's and then to the big smoke of Mayerthorpe for a two day arena trial.
Stay tuned for more hyjinx I am sure.

Intervention by a friend

2010-10-27T19:42:00.000-06:00

Some of my friends have taken to giving me a blogging intervention. Lisa has started the hinting and sarcastic remarks. I am sure Jenny has some sort of torture device waiting for my this weekend. And Vickie Close is now sending me material I couldn't possible pass up. In June at Scott's clinic Vickie was there taking pictures. I ordered a couple of prints from her. They have not arrived yet but in the meantime she sent me these.

Thanks Vic your the best.

It was all his idea

2010-10-26T18:49:00.000-06:00

Ok, I had planned on posting a picture of kyle that I took while furniture shopping this weekend. But it seems to have been deleted by accident. He made it through the front door of the first place and then got board and started talking on his phone. After the first place he suggested we go to the city and look at furniture. I said "really honey after one place they all start to look the same" So off we went after the third place Kyle's eyes were glazed over and he almost walked into the traffic.
Good news readers I am going for acupuncture and Chinese medicine on Thursday to get over my blogging funk.
This weekend Also entails a trip to a haunted mansion with Jenny.

4 weeks and counting

2010-10-15T21:20:00.001-06:00

Official move in to the new house date is November 15th at the very latest

It's going to be a long month.

Today calls for comfort food and Sangria to take my mind off of the horrible weather. I made roast chicken for lunch had some chocolate covered pretzels for a snack and for supper we ordered in Chinese food. If this weather keeps up I am going to gain a lot of weight. Below is my fabulous sangria recipe

Sangria

3oz Red wine

1/2oz Scotch

1/2 oz Triple Sec

3oz Pineapple juice

3 oz orange juice

splash of Lime

splash of Ginger Ale

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

the badness continues

2010-10-12T11:18:00.003-06:00

Again I have failed to blog and take pictures of the goings on here. This weekend was the Alberta Stock dog field finals and I was involved in organizing the trial. Because of my lack luster enthusiasm lately I failed to take pictures or do any face booking or picture taking. So I refer you too Wendy's blog
The trial was full of good weather and good friends.
Congrats to the winners

I know, I know

2010-10-02T13:08:00.000-06:00

You know when your mother comments on your lack of blogging that things have gone terribly side ways. I seem to be stuck in some sort of vortex lately. A vicious circle of drinking too much coffee and complaining about my house not being done or the amount of rain we have been getting. My friend Bev calls this a "funk" I am stuck in it. Don't want to do anything just want to be a slug. The whole family has packed up for the weekend and traveled up to Lacombe to visit my mom, move some cows and bring the sheep home to go to market this week. Our house is slowly getting finished in the meantime I think our trailer gets smaller by the day.
Next weekend the the Alberta Stock dog year end finals. Should be fun as long as the weather holds. I have only entered Isla. I have decided to sell Rob. I like him as a dog to have around but him and I working wise just doesn't work. Not going to be an easy do to sell and I am particular as to where or who I would sell me dogs too. I hate it when dogs get passed around from home to home. In the meantime he is happy to chase Isla around the yard and move sheep around the farm.
Not much else new. Craig is coming along in his training. Bracken is living with Scott and Jenny. Scott will train her this winter and I have asked him to trial her a little in the spring if she turns out nice. Her personality has change quite a bit since she went to their house.

Boys behaving badly

2010-09-15T20:51:00.000-06:00

Some boys (who shall remain nameless) just can't help themselves. I am sure his wife would be so proud of him.

USBCHA National finals webcast

2010-09-14T13:32:00.000-06:00

Most of you already know that this year for the first time ever the National finals will be broadcast live via the Internet. Starting with Saturday,September 25th's semi finals followed by Sunday's double lift. For those of you interested I have added a link on the right side of my blog. As much as I would love to be there I am stuck at home in my trailer and enjoying the rain. I will be there in spirit cheering my friends on. Lisa and I may watch together via telephone and getting all the juicy details from Jenny via text messages.

The thing that haunts me most

2010-09-11T17:12:00.000-06:00

We currently live in about 350 square feet and are often tripping over one another. One would think you would do what you could to make each other happier. Nah!! not my frat house boys. I am continually being stalked by the same thing. It haunts my dreams and shows up in the craziest places. Any ideas what this could be? I bet you have some but you are probably wrong.

Dental floss. How hard is it to put your dental floss in the garbage can. I find it everywhere. He claims he puts it in the garbage but I still continue to find it on the floor.

Milestone

2010-09-05T10:31:00.000-06:00

This week marks a big milestone in our family. Justice entered grade 12 the beginning of the end of school. Some parents take pictures of their kids on the first day of kindergarten not me I prefer to remember the first day of his last year.

last hurrah

2010-09-01T19:50:00.000-06:00

Grab a coffee or something stronger this is setting up to be a long post. Just home form the last big trip of our dog trailing season here in western Canada since I am not going to any of the big trials down south this fall. This was the last time till next year I will see some of my trailing friends. In October we have the Alberta field finals but then mostly nothing.
Started this trip out at the EID Classic in Brooks expertly run by JoAnn and Ian Zoerb. I didn't take any pictures do to the disastrous way my dogs were running and the copious amounts of Sangria I was consuming. The field at EID is challenging and scenic. The bad thing about terrain is it makes wide running dogs run wider therefore Isla had no chance. The first day she had a not bad run and even got the shed (she hates to shed) but timed out just as I got to the pen mostly because of her 5 minute long outrun. The second day she got lost on her out run and almost ran right back to me. So I call her off. Rob had a major brain meltdown on this trip and hardly listened to me at all. I retired at the drive away gates both days due to him circling the sheep wildly numerous times. Jerry did an awesome handlers dinner for us. Unfortunately he has now ruined us for handlers dinners to come in the future. Double lift winner was George Stambulic and Kate.
Packed up Sunday and headed the Chris Jobe's place to works some dogs and send Lisa's husband to town to get much needed supplies (Sangria ingredients)
That afternoon we headed east to Jamie VanRayhn's trial in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan. This field was totally flat. Still no pictures same excuses. Rob continues to fail me this time just attacking sheep down the fetch line. Just to mix it up a little for a change. Sheep were tough and not sure the hearing was so good. A lot of dogs just wouldn't cover their side and ended up off course all the way to the exhaust. Isla fell into that category the fist day. The sheep got slightly better the second day. Isla did slightly better and got a score something in the 60's I think she timed out at the pen. By this time I could make my Sangria blind folded. And I was starting to divvy up my stuff for my pending suicide if my dogs didn't start running better.
After Jamie's were we off to Maple Creek for the Western Canadian Championships. When we arrived at the trial field the temperature was 36 Celsius and blowing fine dust everywhere. That fine dust would turn out to be our undoing on Sunday. First thing we notice was the absents of level camping spaces. Things were about to get very cozy. We ran a different course each day. Sort of on the flat the first day and up the hill the second day. First day Rob was an ass so I pulled him for the second day. Isla ran pretty good but no single or pen. She scored 68 the first day. Second day I finally pulled out my camera.

Lisa and Hope at the post

Setting up the single

George reliving his youth

Day two Isla had a fabulous run scoring an 84. She even did her single without a blink of an eye. I was very happy with her it has been a long time since she has giving me a good run. Our two runs combined was good enough to get us into the Double Lift final on Sunday. Our very first double lift. Scary for me because I had not practiced a look back in a year. I use it at home all the time. She also hates shedding. Fortunately I had packed a nice shirt in case this exact thing happened. But we woke up to this....................

So my double lift out fit consisted of borrowed rain pants ( thanks Chris) and a faded brown Carhart Jacket. Really did nothing for my figure

funny doesn't look miserable

Scott would have been proud I totally had a plan. Notice the four collared sheep at the front. Isla was right with me but alas my inexperience got the best of us and I never finished the shed. I was very happy just to get in and have my dog work with me. In the end we scored 93 out of 170 and finished seventh out of ten in the double lift.

Sunday also consisted of each handler getting pulled out of the camping spots with a tractor.

We waited till Monday to get pulled out

See ya next year sheep

Pony loving video

2010-08-19T07:49:00.000-06:00

This is for all my friends that grew up and had a pony. I have so been there done that.

Earning her keep

2010-08-17T12:34:00.000-06:00

Like all farms we have a shop cat. We have gone through a couple of cats. We are not cat people therefore we like the cats that are wild and hide from us. Saves them from the dogs too. Our new cat has gone from wild the very tame and loves to be scratched. She greets us when we come into the shop and never goes outside because that is where the scary dogs live. Today when I went into the shop she didn't follow me she sat and stared at the wall.

trying to tell me something

Hello stupid human look up

"what is it lassie"

From a person who is scared of birds. Bats are even scarier. I am going to have to pull Kyle off the baler the come and do something about this situation. Not to be confused with "The Situation"

Survival of the fitest or not !!!!

2010-08-13T20:57:00.000-06:00

Recently I started feeding raw every couple days. I found it easier for me to butcher my cull ewes for dog food than try to sell them. So Jerry and I came up with a deal he would deal with the messy stuff and we would share the meat. Turns out I am the 98% of raw feeders that really can't deal with the killing, blood and guts. And honestly I do not consider my self a raw feeder. Raw is a treat for my dogs. When I go on the road they will get kibble and the majority of the week the get kibble.

Rob attacks it like a pro. Bones stripped to nothing in minutes. I am pretty sure Rob has had to survive in the wild at sometime in the past or a previous life. He eats everything like his survival depends on it. The rest of the dogs are the same. Even Isla who is notorious for not eating. I think she is just to bitchy not to eat it. Just in case the other dogs get to it.

Then we have Craig's Kennel

This bone has been in his kennel for over three hours. He would basically starve if he lived in the wild.

so ashamed for his species

But still the pretty boy with have come to know and love.

Random catching up

2010-08-11T14:30:00.000-06:00

Sorry all it has been more than a week since my last blog. I have been enjoying my two weeks off until my next trial. I have been waging a war with thistles. They seem to be growing incredibly fast this year. I bought my self a new toy to help win the war.

This little red sports car pulls behind the ranger and does an awesome job. Cuts right through the thickest patch of thistles.

Yesterday Kyle and I bought some more sheep. 13 Dorper ewe lambs and 2 ram lambs. My plan is to build a stronger flock and weed out the riff raff.

Two ram lambs plus a runt ram lamb(who is going to lose his man hood today)
Risk and Strider are also losing their manhood today

Ewe lamb

Ewe lambs

I have been working my dogs as much as I can. We have three trials in a row coming up. In the last couple of days Rob has been looking spectacular. Craig has also decided he would like to be a sheep dog. He has move out of the training field and out to the big field for more training. He is not a natural out runner but with Isla being his mother that is fine with me. Meg is doing good as well. We are thinking of changing here name. Whenever I am giving Craig shit for something Meg thinks I am talking to her.
Finally I wanted to post this you tube. A friend posted it on Facebook and it is too funny. Enjoy

Trip north

2010-07-28T22:06:00.000-06:00

What a trip it feels like there was nothing we didn't do. First on the list was not bringing a map. Just assuming my GPS would work all over the world was the begging of the miss haps. Apparently there is no life north of Edmonton. What should have been a three hour trip from High Prairie to Dawson creek turn out to be over four hours. To be honest I lost track of time by the second or third wrong turn. Jenny and I left on Wednesday to head up to Lisa's in Athabasca spent the night there. Thursday we started our journey. Planning on stopping to visit Louise and Eric just outside of High Prairie. Louise and Eric is where I got Rob from last year. This time we wanted to stop for a visit and see the guardian dogs. Louise and Eric breed sarplaninacs.

I got to see a son of Rob. He was too cute holding his dish in his mouth.

Finally after hours of driving we arrived at Dennis and Jean Gelling's place just outside of Dawson Creek, BC. The trial field was a nice rolling terrain framed by trees. Each day we ran a different course. The first day we ran to the left.

Day two

The first day I was surprised by how well my dogs worked. Rob place 5th and Isla a couple of spots behind him. Each day the top three dogs qualified for the double lift on Sunday. Rob missed it by two points. Day two the sheep got the best of my dogs by breaking back to the set out. Rob actually got the sheep off and he brought them through the trees but I was impatient and had already left the post to go and help him.

Dennis and Jean worked their butts off setting sheep and making sure everything was running smoothly. I will definitely be back. Friday night a pig was roasted for the handlers dinner. It was awesome.

This was the exhaust hill from hell the sheep refused just to run up the hill. No they would try to bust through to the trees. By the time you got to the top you were exhausted. Then you had another couple hundred yards to the pen. Most of us did a fine job. Some handlers lost a single sheep in the trees now and then.

Dawson Creek also happens to be the beginning of the Alaska highway. Mile 0 happens to be right in the middle of an intersection. Jenny and Lisa braved it for a photo op.

Our last adventure of this trip was to visit Karen Ramstead and her Siberian husky sled dog kennel. Karen has run the iditarod many times and was happy to take us for a ride. She is also good friends with Lisa. Up at the crack of dawn to beat the heat of the day. We hooked up a team to the quad and went for a run. After the team run we each got a turn of our own. Two dogs hooked to a scooter. It was scary fast but really fun.

Some new additions

2010-07-18T22:25:00.001-06:00

Finally some more calves. We have had two calves in the last week. Our first calf arrived three months ago and he has been dieing to have some buddies to play with. We were beginning to think we had a bad bull. Not the case he was just lazy.

As you can see the calf in the back is much bigger than the newborns.

The other new addition is my new dog. Meg arrived from Virginia last week. So far she is doing great. gets along with every and is listening to me well on sheep.

Thanks to Christine Henry for letting me use her pictures of Meg.

Calgary pictures

2010-07-16T12:07:00.000-06:00

Stole some pictures from facebook

Lara and I with our new best friend
Photo by Lisa Wright

Moving the bitches

Photo by

Lisa I think

Jumbotron in the finals.

Photo by Lisa or Kristi.

Not sure.

What the hell day is it

2010-07-14T21:39:00.000-06:00

I am getting lost in a swirl of dog trialing, house building and genuine debauchery. I am not even sure what day it is anymore. The Irricana trial is best left behind us. Sheep were tough and the dogs didn't try to hard. On to Calgary. I think this may have been the most fun at the Stampede so far. I have no pictures due to the fact that we were having to much fun. The first day we made it to the pen and then timed out. Lisa had a smoking run and hung on for 5th place by the end of the day. There were very little pens the whole two days. The second day Isla ran like a top and we penned at 2:50. That would be my first official time I have penned at the Stampede. And that run was good enough to get me into the finals. This year Lara Forchuk joined our gaggle of girls. Lara's goal was not to embarrass her self. The second go she had an awesome run and placed first for the go. Our motto for the stampede was "sacrifice the body". If you are not willing to sacrifice the body than you don't want to win bad enough. Lara proved to us how much she wanted it by making the ultimate sacrifice and getting down on her knees at the pen in the finals. In the end a ewe jumped right over her and escaped. I believe Lara will have a scar to remember her first Stampede. Isla and I got a tough draw in the finals. She tried very hard for me and basically pushed them around the course. In the end we finished 13th. Congrats to Dave Claypool and Glen. Reserve Champion is Wendy Schmaltz.
I have a week off and the we are off to Northern Alberta to Dennis Gelling's trial. With a stop over at Karen Ramstead's to do some sled doggin.

Packing yet again

2010-07-08T10:03:00.001-06:00

Today is turning out to be a busy day. Thankfully my lessons cancelled. I am getting ready to head out to Wendy's trial and then zip into Calgary for the Stampede trial. My dogs are running like shit right now. But I am looking forward to Stampede as it is always fun. Lots of unhealthy things to eat. Jenny and Lisa will be joining me on this eat till you want to puke trip. On this trip we have a tradition. The person who wins the most buys MacDonald's for the rest of us on the way to Stampede.
Got a call this morning from thee John Scott (head movie wrangler extraordinaire) looking for sheep and dogs to ride on a float in the Stampede parade. They guy who was suppose to do it back out at the last minute. I unfortunately can not do it because I will be at the trial but I have enlisted some friends and five of my sheep to help out. Wish I could do it.
On another note. If you drive by my house and it looks abandoned that is because my lawn mower has been broken and we have been waiting for parts for three weeks. I am about to go postal on John Deere in High River. Or just tell them to forget it I bought a Kabota instead.
Some other very exciting news. A Unicorn has been located and should touch down in Calgary next Thursday. Stay tuned for updates.

Pete Tong

2010-07-04T11:17:00.000-06:00

Pete Tong is an British DJ born in 1960. "Pete Tong" is also a saying the British use when things are going terribly wrong. This is the words I would use to describe my inaugural trip with my new trailer. The trailer arrived a couple of weeks ago.

This weekend was to be the first rip for the trailer. I planned on Staying at my friend Randy's. That way close to town and if things needed to be fixed than we could run and get supplies. I was all packed up and ready to go. Hooked up the trailer and I had no brakes. Turns there never was any brakes on the trailer. Funny it came all the way from Missouri with no brakes. The wires were just hanging there. Fortunately my husband is fairly handy. He wired up the brakes and wanted to take it for a road test. When this happened

He cut the corner to short and got the trailer stuck in the ditch. After uploading these pictures and looking at them it doesn't look as bad as it was. The trailer was siting on its side wall. we couldn't move forward or backward. It took an hour to get it out of the ditch. Jacking it up and putting boards under the tires and the pulling forward and doing it over again.
After all this I was very nervous pulling the trailer. As long as I didn't have to turn I would be OK. My plan was to get Randy to pull in to his driveway but I actually did it my self. Now I am thinking about all my trips this summer hoping I can actually turn in where they are. I am a creature of habit and don't do well with change. It is going to take me a while to get used to driving this new trailer.

Shedding clinic summary

2010-06-29T23:02:00.000-06:00

I am fortunate to call Scott and Jenny good friends. But I would also call Scott my herding therapist. Many a time I have gone for a lesson or made a desperate phone call having some crisis of faith. Don't tell him but I think real therapists charge a lot more than he does. Last year I had a short shedding lesson with Scott and he asked me before I went to my sheep what my plan was. Sounded like a stupid question. But I didn't have an answer. This time a couple of days before the Clinic I came up with my plan. I would start with Isla and as long as she was trying for me I would stick with her for the three days. However if she got pouty and I in turn got mad and depressed about her performance than I would switch to Rob. Not the kind of plan Scott had in mind. Well I am happy and sad to say I stuck to my plan. Isla got a day and a half and Scott nicely suggested I might want to switch her for Rob.
Glad I did switch because I actually got to work on shedding. Rob has many faults but he loves to shed. We even got to try the international shed and succeeded at it. I was happy with Rob and the amount of try he was giving me. I learned lots over the weekend and it really helped to watch all the different level of handlers shedding. Some of us are just starting out and some had been doing it for many year. It was a great group of people. It was just like summer camp.
I would like to shout out to Shannon Fritz. Met her for the first time this weekend. Shannon you are a hoot and you can come over for Chinese anytime.

A Shedding we will go

2010-06-26T11:28:00.000-06:00

This weekend we are attending our very first shedding clinic. Spending the weekend at Scott and Jenny Glen's.
Go to Jenny's trial blog for a full report http://altapetestockdogs2.blogspot.com

Stranded

2010-06-18T11:21:00.000-06:00

I put my sheep in the north alley for a couple of days to graze it down. I didn't anticipate a years worth of rain in that couple of days.

Now my sheep were stranded behind this wall of water.

I wasn't about to cross it. I know how deep it is when it is dried up. Thats why I have my trusty sheepdog. Having dogs has really just made me a lazier person.

It really only takes one sheep to convince the rest they should go as well. OK that and some well placed heel bites from Isla.

Off to higher ground

A happy working dog is muddy and tired.

A dangerous kind of love

2010-06-11T17:47:00.000-06:00

Our shop cat has fallen in love. Not just with Token but with all dogs. A bad choice. My dogs are not used to cats and a couple of them may bite first and ask questions last. When I ordered a shop cat I wanted it totally wild so it had a chance. Thanks to Kristen for this great picture.

Chasing Unicorns

2010-06-07T21:05:00.000-06:00

Ahh the elusive Unicorn. A mythical creature that some people swear they have seen. others have been so lucky to find and purchase their very own unicorn. I once again find myself in search of the unicorn. I have enlisted agents to act on my behalf to help out in the search of my unicorn. So close we have come to reaching our goal. But we find ourselves a day to late or a dollar or two short.

Anyone guessed it yet?????

Yep, That's right.

Looking for another dog. Something trained, easy to handle and able to move western sheep. Sounds simple I know. These dogs are few and far between.

Happiness Is ................

2010-06-03T12:03:00.001-06:00

Good friends to work dogs with.

June is here

2010-06-01T18:29:00.002-06:00

folks June in Finally here although you wouldn't know it by the weather. I took these pictures two days ago.

Today I ventured downtown to pick up my giant settlement from State Farm from my accident last year. We had decided to be the polite Canadians and not hire a lawyer to settle the case for us. That turned out to be foolish because State Farm took it upon themselves to say that I was speeding. Yes thats right people me going 10KM over the speed limit caused their client to run a yield sign right in front of me. Oh I forgot to mention that their client was also speeding. A whole 30 kms over the speed limit. I was sent to the lawyers today with strict instruction from Kyle not to say anything just sign and shut up. And came home with my winnings $7500.00. Just to remind you all here is a picture of my one ton dodge truck after my accident.

OK, Now on to more happier things. I have many things to look forward to in June. Which is good for me and my family. Turns out living in a 35ft trailer with the two frat boys makes me more than a little testy. In my defense I think they have turned my emotional state into a sport. I am not sure of the rules but when I figure them out I will let you know. Now on to the things I am thankful for in June.

1. My new trailer arrives my own personal hideout. (Jerry has dubbed the estrogen express)

2. Jenny is coming home.

3. Shedding clinic ( really looking forward to the alcohol induced girl time) SANGRIA!!!!!!!

4. Start to trailing season ( more alcohol induce socializing. Who cares about running dogs)

Thats all for now. I may add to the list as it comes to me.

PS- Kyle said tonight that the truck still smells like death.

OMG!!! What is that smell?

2010-05-26T15:45:00.001-06:00

Well in a word my truck. I have been totally absent minded lately. Last week Jerry bought me some Jack Mackerel for me to feed to my dogs. Well the bag fell into the cubby of the back door and I didn't notice when I was unloading everything. For those who don't know I have very little sense of smell. A couple of days later it got so bad I did actually smell something. Started snooping around and found the bag of fish. Some of the fish goo had leaked out into the door. I cleaned it up and thought I had done a good job. Sunday night Kyle got into my truck to go to Jerry's for supper and immanently started to gag. "OMG!! what is that smell" I said "Oh can you smell that" Kyle: "pull over I am going to puke". So we took Kyle's truck, all the way to Jerry's he swore that I was smelling of fish as well. I have since cleaned the truck three times and Kyle swears he can still smell it. I think some of the goo is inside the door panel. Not sure how to fix that. Today I got groceries. As the bag boy was loading up the truck I thought about asking him if he could smell it but I didn't. As he walked away from the truck he started coughing. I am sure he may have been holding his breath while loading my groceries.
What to do. I may have to sell the truck and get a new one.
I can just see the ad now. 2009 dodge ram 49,000 kms does not have that new car smell. Fisherman's dream.

Fire sale of sorts

2010-05-17T12:11:00.001-06:00

I know it will seem like I am unloading a lot of dogs lately but rest assured I don't take these decisions lightly. Last week I came to the realization that Bracken and I are not suited for each other. He have butted heads from day one and I think she would be better suited with someone else. She is a tough cookie. Working wise she does have some faults. She has really wide out runs. One thing I learn is that they only get wider with age. At 14 months she is already running fences. She would make a great agility dog for the right person. She is small, athletic and incredibly focused. I will only let her go to an experienced person.

Risk is still here looking for his new home. He had a free wheeling trip around the sheep last week when I was away. It took my husband a little bit to catch him. That day Kyle came to the realization that yes indeed Risk needs to find a new home. No more denial for Kyle.

Real farm work

2010-05-15T15:12:00.000-06:00

The grass is slow to come up this year so I have turned the flock out in the alley and the machine yard. This also means alot more real dog work. I have lessons almost everyday. Which means sorting sheep and brining in a small group to use for lessons that day. I have been using Rob mostly for this because he loves to shed and can get the job done quickly. At the same time Rob does have a hard time keeping a cool head and screws up his own work by over flanking or not stopping. When things go in the pot I usually go and get Isla to fix the mess. Isla hates to shed. But I am going to start switching them up every other day. Hopefully she starts to like it and understand it is part of the job.
Last week I enlisted some friends to come and help trim feet and worm the sheep. I bought one of those deck chair things to help save your back while trimming feet.

Looks easy right. NOT!!! I think they drugged this sheep to get him to comply. Jerry and I wrestled a few of my 200 plus pound Dorpers into the deck chair. It took two people to hold the sheep down in the chair and another one to do this feet. Not to mention some of my sheep hardly fit in the chair. We were had decided to go to town and buy a tilt table. F**k this. But alas Alberta doesn't have an abundance of sheep supply stores. After a Sangria or two we went back to work. It took all day to get those suckers done. Not a product I would recommend.