OMG!!! What is that smell?

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

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

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.

Big Willow

Just about to leave Idaho from the Big Willow trial. I have some time to up date my readers on how it went. first of all I must say how pretty the scenery is at the trial sight. The huge rolling hills and winding roads give it the feel of Scotland.

We drove through some horrendous weather on the way down here so the green grass and blue sky was welcome. Over three thousand sheep graze the hills around the trial sight. My friend Judy with her dogs Kate and Maude made the trip down here with me. 

My dogs ran mediocre at best. The range ewes were tough and figured my dogs out pretty quick. The first day Rob got a score of 33. Shocking I know but that was my highlight. Isla Gripped off at the drive panels. 

Today was no better. I retired with Rob and Isla got lost on her out run which I am sure ended up in another state.

I am thinking of training my dogs for the new sport of gopher hunting. I here from Charlie Torre that strong eyed dogs really excel at this sport. 

Not really sure if any gophers were hurt in the making of this sport.

Happy Birthday to me

Yesterday was my birthday. I am no officially the ripe old age of 29. Ha Ha I wish. 

The last week was a really tough week. A near nervous breakdown or two. Thanks to those friends who helped get me through it. You know who you are. Last week I eluded to my birthday present on Facebook. So today I am going to reveal some pictures. These are sample pictures. Mine is a little different but mostly the same interior. Mine is a three horse.

Floor plan

I have been thinking about a horse trailer with living quarters for a while now. I wanted something that pulled better than my holiday trailer. Also something that was more comfortable for my dogs to ride in. Last year we ran out of room. I was limited in what dogs I could bring with me. This way they can all come if I want. Plus who ever travels with me can bring their dogs as well. The opportunity came up to buy this trailer. The trailer is built by Merhow. The custom interior was done by Cowboy Classics. All put together by Shelley Clark of Creekside trailers here in Alberta. The trailer arrives the end of May.