Home Sweet Home

We got home last night just in the nick of time. Woke up this morning to a blizzard.
Lost my phone charger somewhere in Regina. Left my camera in Judy's jeep. Just wanted to let you all know Dennis Edward from Sundance, Wyoming won the finals. Dennis is too funny very enthusiastic out of course. As I said earlier his mission impossible moves are amazing.
tomorrow I am being invaded by 4-H kids to learn all about herding dogs.
Should be a fun day snow and all.

Oh Agribition

We are in Regina. This is my first time to Agribition. All I can say is the sheep were great. The first go Isla and me got 1:28 and placed 11th. That's how fast the times were. Second run was not to be the sheep had figured out where the out gate was. Isla ran good and tried her best. Our time was 3:30. Second go fastest time was 1:00. Top five scores were under 1:15. So much fun. Instead of going out hoping to finish the course and not grip off you had to go out and figure out how to shave ten seconds off your time.
My favorite moment was the last run of the second go. Dennis Edwards of Sundance, Wyoming. He had a smokin good run going. As he was closing the pen he tripped and did a mission impossible roll. Really needed to be on video.
Top five runs went to the finals tonight at that rodeo. All five runs had combined times for to runs under 2:49. Crazy fast. No word yet as to who won.
Just heard a snow storm is on the way for Friday so we may go home tomorrow to miss it.

New players in our game

A couple of weeks ago I went out and bought myself some more sheep. I brought home 15 Suffolk and Suffolk/cheviot ewes.

I have owned Katahdins ever since I first got sheep. Easy to care for no shearing required. In doing so my dogs have never learned how to push into pressure and know that it is OK. My Katahdins are like deer. I leave the house and they are already running for a corner of some far away field. I do alot of all breed lessons as well. My sheep have just learned if I am coming outside nothing good can come from it. The new sheep are strictly for me and my dogs to work. Maybe some friends. But they have to pass a prerequisite first. LOL

I love my new sheep. They are cute and don't care what I am doing. So far they blow Isla's mind. She has to get right in their faces to move them. She is learning to enjoy it. A bad side effect is that when it comes to moving the hair sheep she is crazy pushy.

pigs fly alright

I am self diagnosing myself. Yes it is swine flu based on my symptoms. Thankfully I am mostly over it. Just a bad cough and chest congestion left. But have heard rumors of relapses when you start feeling better. Unfortunately my partner in crime Lisa got it much worse than me.

I think these pigs look far too happy to have swine flu.

Better than expected

Got back Wednesday night only to wake up Thursday morning with a bad cold/flu. Lisa went home Tuesday feeling sick and now she is face down on her couch.
The trial went better than expected. After my blog about not being good at arena trials Isla and I seemed to get it together. The first day we had a great run and ended up 5th. The second day we had a tough set and didn't get the pen. The sheep were tough. One minute they were heavy and the next they ran like deer in every different direction. Isla handled them well. We made it into the finals and I swear had the same set as the second go. I think we ended up around 7th out of 10. Happy with Isla she worked her butt off and did everything I asked. The funny thing about having a colored dog is when the do bad they stand out and when they do good they stand out. I had people for two days coming up to me telling me what a great dog I had. One guy even offered to buy her for lots of money. I told him she was not for sale.
Rob was a different story. This first run I couldn't get his over flanking or the not stopping under control so I retired. The second day he ran to the top lied down and wouldn't get up. So I retired from that run too. I am disappointed with his effort. He is such a puzzle to me sometimes.

Now I am off to bed to rest up.

On the road

My plan was to come up with a very clever blog before I left for the dog trial this morning. Well true to form I let time get away from me this morning. I was on the phone to long and then my phone wouldn't stop ringing.
I am currently on a stop over at my mom's on my way to the Edmonton trial. Farm Fair is a fun trial. It runs in conjunction with the Canadian Finals Rodeo. Which means lots of cowboys.
We are hoping to do better than last year. I know arena trials get a lot of flack for not being real dog trails. But let me tell you it takes a certain amount of finesse. I have yet to find that finesse.
What I am really nervous about is leaving Justice home by himself for two nights and three days. He really only has two dogs to look after. When I was his age I was home by myself and looking after the farm.
That is it for now. I am trying to write and my mom won't stop talking to me. Making it very hard to concentrate. Oh! Note to my other critics my mom is now telling me about my spelling and grammar errors on my blog.

Urban legand or Gaurdian Dog?

Some time back I was having problems with what I thought was the neighbours dogs getting in with my sheep. One time Kyle raced out there the chase it off. I was on the deck watching through binoculars. The sheep were certainly not running away like it was a dog. They would run for a second and then turn around and look at what ever was following them. What I saw looked like a small dog maybe Carin Terrier size and color or a pig size. I thought to my self oh great our totally useless Meat Head Team Roper of a neighbour got another dog. Just what he needs. The three he already has jump out of the ditch in front of your vehicle as you are passing his house. About scares the bejesus out of you. By the time Kyle gets out to the sheep it is gone.

Early in September I got a call from the good neighbour saying our pig must have got out and it was chasing the cows. Funny I said we don't have a pig. Thinking back to two months earlier I remembered the little dog chasing my sheep. I asked Ken if he was sure it wasn't a Terrier type dog. "NO NO It's a pig" Then I said Meat Head must be collecting pigs now. Poor Ken that was the last thing he needed to hear. You see Ken and Meat Head share a fence line and are mortal enemies.
This week Jerry and I headed out to the back pasture to sort out some fresh sheep. I sent Isla out to bring the sheep. Jerry says " What the heck is that. A dog." It was chasing Isla on her outrun. It was on the other side of the fence. I called Isla off and we jumped in the Ranger to go and chase the Dog! off. We found this!

Meet my new Guardian Dog! He is mostly a parameter kind of working dog.
As we walked up to the fence he was happily waggin his tail. Still not sure who he belongs to. I refuse the phone Meat Head and ask him if the pig belongs to him. I was totally ready to keep him as a pet and Jerry was totally ready to cook him for supper.

Here he is working the parameter.

Monday morning scenes from my deck

I can't wait to build a new house and see the mountains this every morning from my bedroom window.

I really wished I had a wide angle lens for these pics.