Palm trees!

The flying J outside of Tucson...65 and sunny...cool in the shade but
warm in the sun.

Spectacular sunset in El Paso

We drove into El Paso at dusk and witnessed the most awesome sunset!
The clouds reflected a rainbow of colors as the sun dropped below the
horizon, with sillouettes of the mountains creating a dramatic frame.
Simply breathtaking!

But that was soon to be topped as twilight blanked the valley and the
lights began to glow like a million twinkling stars...and as we
approached the darkened foothills which rose above us - the tiny
lights of the city surrounded us as if we were contained within a
beautiful snow globe. Wow!!!

We drove on to Los Cruses NM and spent a pleasant night at the Motel
6, which takes "pet friendly" to the extreme. The small and
comfortable room had pergo floors! No icky carpeting! Now that's
impressive! Of course the tick tick tick of Luc's nails on the floor
did wake me a few times as he plotted a break-in to Maya's crate.

The hot shower felt great after a good salad at Applebees...and our
road cooties got washed down the drain.

We're nearing Tucson and the scenery is spectacular. What a beautiful
road trip this is!

Dreaming of sheepy days ahead

Finn is getting ready for the big driving day ahead while Nancy checks
the weather.

Checking the weather forecast

So we had to stop in Gainesville cause the wintery mix got a bit heavy
and we decided not to go the extra 60 miles to ft worth. We stayed at
the not so Super 8 and had dinner at the nearby Luigi's Italian
restaurant where the extreme garlic disguised the taste of the gravy
laden pasta...a good thing I suspect!

Nancy checked the forecast for wed and it looked great- and so it is!
Sunny and 55 as we drive thru west Texas. We hope to make it to Les
cruses tonight.

We passed quite a few signs promoting what seems to be a local
favorite - Fried Pies - and we have been building up the courage to
stop...but we may have missed our opportunity...haven't seen a sign in
50 miles. Bummer!

California here we come!

Do you think those californians are ready for us?
.
We got off to a later start than planned but we are now getting close
to Tulsa OK after spending the night near Purina Farms in Missouri. At
the oh so familiar travelodge motel.

After a warm night in the motel that only two menopausal women can
create, we hit the road before 7am. It was so cold last night the side
door froze on the van and we had to load the dogs thru the front door.
Geez!

All went well with the dogs in the room which is an amazing thing
considering Maya is in full blown season and we have two intact males
with us. Maya was sequestered in her crate as was Nick, while good boy
Luc was loose in the room taking turns sleeping on the bed with me or
Nancy.

All good so far! We are on a mission, and plan on stopping in Ft Worth
tonight.

Yeehaa!!!

A job well done!

All of our St Croix and cross bred (St Croix/Cheviot) ewes spent the fall with Sam the Ram here at Dancing Hearts. Sam was quite busy breeding all the girls, so we plan on having lots of lambs in March.

Sam went on to meet his new harem in Minnesota with our friends Gene and Pat Weringa. Pat took this photo of Gene and Sam posing when they arrived back home. What a handsome pair!

We borrowed a Cheviot ram from our friend Margaret, and that wool ram did his work at Nancy's farm where all of our cheviot ewes were bred this fall.

So, we hope to have a nice crop of lambs at both farms this year...some pure bred St Croix, some pure bred Cheviots and some crosses from Sam the St Croix ram. Because we haven't lambed the last three years, we decided to go with two different rams to increase the number of pure bred ewes in both of our favorite breeds.

If you're not up to speed: my friend Nancy Flynn and I co-op our flock and rotate them between farms to keep them fresher and to move them around when conditions warrant. It works out very well, and we have happy healthy sheep as a result!

We are both looking forward to early spring when our lives will be blessed with the new lambs...nursing, playing, having lamb races and just generally being cute!

BTW: You can now easily post your comments!

I changed a setting in this blog that allows anyone to post comments, but I have the option to remove the comments in case some stranger posts rude or inappropriate comments. (ya never know...)

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Working Lambs and a puzzle unsolved

Thanksgiving weekend was much fun...after the family dinner at our house on Thursday, I got up at 3am Friday morning to leave for Vergil and AnneMarie Holland's beautiful farm down in Kentucky for their Turkey Trot Trial. It was an easy drive, and I got there in plenty of time for the Ranch class, which Sue and Luc were entered in.

The trial field is characteristically Kentucky...with rolling hills and interesting terrain, lots of trees on the edges and some in the center of the field. The people are warm and friendly - and competitive! The Holland's have quite a few sheep these days, with choices of several flocks, and he decided to run the flock of spring hair lambs for the Ranch class. That was it - 4 lambs, no ewes. No leader. These lambs had never been worked in small groups and proved to be quite challenging for the young dogs! More than half the class either retired or got dq'd. Challenging may be the understatement of the day.

Luc went first, and the hills caused him to cross over. I did get him stopped, but not before he crossed the center line, and he did then go out on the same side I sent him after all. Success! (Last year was Maya's first time on this field, and it took me two runs just to get her to find the sheep, and finally by her fourth run she was able to get herself out there.) There was a dog-leg fetch thru a deep valley that runs across the field and we did that OK, then an interesting drive which was also good. These lambs had never been penned, and didn't want any part of it, and we timed out at the pen, after Luc gave a great effort and worked the lambs quite well. I was very pleased with his run.

Sue went last, and she ran out well, having no problems with the hills at all. Just like her dad! She lifted beautifully and had a great fetch. Our drive was going very well until the cross drive panel when Sue was pretty sure she had to cover the pressure and insisted on taking a very wide flank at the panel, (just like her dad) so I worked on that a bit and showed her how to hold the pressure in a different way. She got it, and we then worked at the pen, but did not get them in before the timer went off. She had a very nice run!

None of my young dogs have worked lambs very much, since we haven't lambed for the last three years...and they did a great job, I was very pleased with their maturity and the way they handled the lambs!

Maya ran early on Saturday in Open, on the same field with a longer outrun and a much longer and very difficult drive. This time we ran 4 spring lambs from the wool flock...even more challenging than the hair lambs, but their behavior Saturday was easy compared to the next day, as it would turn out. Maya's outrun was a little tight, but her lift and fetch were good. We had a bit of trouble at the drive away panels, but overall a nice drive. Our task was to split the lambs in the shedding ring, which we did very well, then regather and pen. I was closing the gate on the pen when the timer went off...so no pen points!  Bummer! We ended up in 6th place, even with no pen.

Sunday proved to be the most challenging run of all. The group of lambs that we drew to run the course and prove our merit was about as tough as it gets. We had one lamb that just wanted to bolt - anywhere - all the time. And the other three just wanted to eat. Apparently they worked up an appetite the day before.

So, we did our best to manage our small flock, but I didn't handle it very well. Nor did Maya. By the turn around the post, I realized just how difficult this run would be, and by half way up the drive away, I was considering giving up. What I managed to do was create a situation where my dog was holding the running lamb quite well, but because of her positioning to do that, the three others felt free to just drop their heads and graze. Every time I tried something to get this flock moving well, it failed...and what I ended up with was a dog who was not releasing on her flanks at all, and eyeing on her sheep, moving them at a snail's pace. Yiikes! My worst nightmare.

I decided not to give up, but to keep trying to solve this puzzle so that we would have more information for the next time this might come up. Eventually we timed out on the drive, puzzle unsolved. Wow...that was a humbling experience! And, yes, I will keep working on it and let you know what we figure out!

We'll have lambs in the spring and lots of opportunities for new skill building!

Fall Trial briefs

And...finally catching up with the early fall trials in September, there were a few noteworthy events that I'd like to share!

Labor Day weekend was spent up at the beautiful McLeish farm in Portage Wisconsin, where the field is large, the sheep challenging and the competition strong. WWSDA sponsors this great trial. This is the place where Russell took a tumble in the ditch on his first outrun, leaving him stiff and sore for a couple of weeks after...recovering just in time to run at the Finals. The photo is Russell turning the post at the Portage trial.

Maya had a difficult time finding her sheep at this trial and needed redirects to get her to the sheep set out at 500+ yds with the rolling terrain and berms obscuring her view of the sheep. Her runs were good once she got out there, but lost enough points on the outruns to not place or get into the double lift.

The pro-novice sheep were set out at about 350 yds, really stretching the experience of Luc and Sue, but they both ran out well and lifted great. Sue had some difficulty with the lines, working well. Luc had very good lines and handled the sheep well, placing 9th out of 46 both days, bringing home small checks!

The following weekend found us at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival, running in the Crook and Whistle SDT. Now that is a very challenging trial, with sheep that test the strength and focus of both dogs and handlers. Those who were able to finish the courses were in the minority all weekend!

Maya ran very well, and handled the sheep beautifully...her handler, however, had difficulty steering the sheep into the drive gates, missing all of them on both runs. In spite of my poor handling, Maya did place 7th out of 40, bringing home a check and a few points on Saturday.

Luc ran out well on his first run, and a good fetch and drive away, but we just couldn't get the sheep near the cross drive gates, so I retired. And, then I ended up leaving early before his 2nd run, which was to be very late at the end of the trial.

Sue had two awesome runs...with just one small (and costly) problem on the first one: she crossed over in front of the sheep in a deep swail, then came up behind the hill and I never even saw her do it! She ran out well on her second run and handled those difficult sheep with the style and finesse of the good open dog she is becoming...and ended up winning the class of 48, bringing home a very nice paycheck!

Whew...that's the last of the fall trial reports...we all had a great time, with lots of successes along the way! Now, time to get to some advanced training over the winter so the pups are ready for Open and Maya is ready for double lifts and international shedding!

Chaffin SDT in Vesper, Wisconsin

Thought I'd catch up on some of the other fall trials we traveled to, and one of my favorites is the Chaffin's trial. What a wonderful trial! This photo was taken by Bev Grosse www.brushedbybev.com of me and Jim Chaffin, who hosted the trial with his wife Lola...I am accepting the award for the High Combined Overall in Open. The little noodle, Maya, did an amazing job all four days of Open, placing in every run and accumulating the most points for the 4 days of trialing! She was just brilliant, handling the nearly 600 yd outrun, feisty cheviots and challenging course with ease. I am proud and honored to partner with this wonderful and beautiful dog!

The prize for winning this award was a custom painting of the winning dog, painted by the talented Bev Grosse...how cool is that? I haven't seen the painting in person yet, but Bev finished it and sent a photo of the painting - I can hardly wait to see it in person!

Visit Bev's website to have a look at her beautiful paintings of dogs, sheep and handlers: www.brushedbybev.com

Luc and Sue also ran at this trial, and put in some very nice runs...I am very pleased with how they are maturing and handling sheep at various trials! Luc placed 2nd one day with a beautiful run! Sue settled more each day (the pups had three runs each) and the 3rd day her run was very nice, beating her brother easily! Bev took this photo of Sue working at the trial, she's a stylish worker with a great feel for her sheep.

Tennessee in the fall

Is beautiful...here's the view of the camping field with the mountains
in the background.

Water cress SDT

What a great trial! We are in eastern Tennessee and the farm overlooks
the beautiful mountains full of fall trees...gorgeous

Friday brought a warm sunny morning and all the young dog classes. Sue
and luc had one run each at this trial, and Sue had the better run
this time. She had a great outrun and good course work...and her
brother had ideas of his own, and we missed every gate..

Saturday brought cold rainy weather and Maya ran 7th in the morning.
We had an awesome run, scoring a 90 which held up all day and we won
the class of 60+ dogs!!! If that wasn't awesome enough, Russell ran
great with just a few bobbles here and there, finishing with a score
of 84 which earned him an 11th place. We had a great handler dinner
there at the farm and enjoyed the great comraderie. Maya's win also
came with a beautiful engraved whistle.

Sunday was chilly and sunny, warming up nicely by afternoon. Russell
ran first and he ran out well and lifted perfectly with a couple
bobbles on the fetch. The drive and pen were Ok but we were not able
to single from our group of a ewe and two lambs. Score of 72..nice but
out of the money. What a great weekend for the old man!

Maya ran near the end of the day going out with a great outrun and
lifting well...then it went downhill from there with our draw of a ewe
who only had running on her mind. Maya was able to stop and hold her
each time she ran but we never got a hold of her and I retired when
she bolted on the crossdrive. Oh well. Maya did a great job, giving
her all.

We all had a great weekend with several successes and an impressive
win with Maya!

Now for the long drive home...we hope to get home around 2am.

Antelope and dog play

We stopped at a lovely rest area in Wyoming where these antelope were
grazing. There was a large grassy aarea with trees that the dogs could
run and stretch their legs a bit..not near the wildlife of course!

We're on the home stretch now, should arrive home late tonite...then a
day for laundry, refresh the camper, work the dogs somewhere and head
out to Wisconsin Thursday am for the trial at Chaffins. The dogs will
be happy to run around at home after being restrained for two
weeks...not easy for the youngsters...especially with just a few
minutes of work during that time.

Leaving the Butte area

This is the view as we drive out of the peaks of 6400 ft

Driving in to Butte Montana

We've had really great views as we travel home...Saturday we drove
along the Abert rim in Idaho, past Abert lake and that is as erie as
it gets! Very disconcerting...

Today we drove into Montana and the first look at the rockies coming
into Butte is awesome! What a beautiful town, built up the side of the
foothills.

This photo is that first view of the mountains in the far distance as
we drive the foothills.

A great ending

I have a lot to catch up on today..I was planning on posting Saturday
but I had no signal all day.

Let's start with Luc's run on Thursday afternoon...the day was
interesting with smoke and haze rolling in from distant wildfires
settling onto the nursery field making it very dificult to see the
sheep and the panels. Luc ran at the end of the day and the haze
cleared a bit by then...but not enuf for the little man to see the
sheep from the post causing him to cross the field twice hunting
sheep. Finally he saw them and kicked out nicely behind them but then
had a tough time keeping them online as they pressed hard to the right
toward the exhaust. All were settled back online before a very clean
turn and one of the best drives and pen of the round. The sheep really
liked him and flowed around the course and right into the pen like
soft butter on toast...really nice. Score of 73 didn't get us into the
final round.

Friday was a busy day watching the nursery final round and several
open runs from district 5 friends. None of us made it into the semis
but everyone had lots to be proud of.

Luc, Sue and Maya had blood drawn for the Optigen DNA test early
afternoon and were all very good patients making that job so easy. The
two pups were required to have their eyes examined by the
opthalamologist after the 20 minute wait for dilation and they both
behaved well and got a "eyes clear" report.

The last stop at the trial site on Friday was the austrialian hat
vendor where Joe and I bought beautiful waterproof western style
hats...they look great!

The day ended with a dinner invitation from Cindy and beth ann who
rented a stunning townhouse in the mountains for the weekend. The
place was just amazing...breath taking views and comfortable
furnishings. We had an awesome
dinner on the deck under the stars complete with great Oregon wine and
excellent company. We returned to our humble little camper tired and
full!

Saturday morning arrived too soon and we decided to pack up and head
home rather than go back to the trial to watch for a while. So a great
finals week is ending for us as we start a long and beautiful drive
home thru the western mountains and valleys.

Kathy
www.dancinghearts.org
Sent from my iPhone

Not what I had in mind!

Well...Sue had her go at handling the really tough sheep yesterday and
it did not go well at all!

She was really cranked up before her run, she could hardly contain
herself, so I figured it would be hard to get a hold of her at the
top, especially cause of the distance.

I thought she knew where the sheep were set out but when we got to the
post it was clear she didn't have a clue. I sent her to the right but
she did not cast out well and started to cross o er about 30 yards
out, I stopped her, told her to Look, she did and cast herself out to
the left crossing over the course. Not good, but her cast was
beautiful wide and deep, so I had hopes for the rest of the run. That
hope was soon dashed when she lifted with a bang.which caused the
sheep to run, and she then wouldn't stop or flank...I am pretty sure
she gripped on the lift...and now it was basically a chase down the
field ending with a "thankyou" from the judges. Fortunately she called
off right away.

I am disappointed but pleased with the way she kicked out on a great
outrun not knowing where the sheep were.

It was a tall order for such a youngster with so little experience! We
walked back to the camper and she looked at me clearly saying come on,
let's go again, now that I have that out of my system'. She is so
cute!!!

Luc runs at the end of the day...wonder if he will have a better
run...I hope so!!!

Kathy
www.dancinghearts.org

Sent from my iPhone

Russell's run

I am so pleased with our run today...our score is relatively low with
a 121 out of 200 it Russell worked great and looked fit and sound!

His outrun was good but we lost most of our fetch points, the drive
was ok, and we finished with the shed and pen. We had a nice quiet
run and Russell handled the sheep very well. We won't get into the
semi finals with that score, but I am happy nonetheless!

There were some good runs today and three more days of running the 150
dogs

Nursery atarts tomorrow at 9 am and Sue runs tomorrow afternoon -
hopefully well!

We're all tired, dusty and ready for a
Good night's sleep!

Kathy
www.dancinghearts.org

Sent from my iPhone

Getting ready

Today we went over to the ranch where the practice field is located,
about 20 miles away. There was a nice big field and a flock of fit
sheep. We had an hour booked and I shared it with a fellow handler
from District 5 in Minnesota, since he didn't have any time booked to
work his nursery dog. We held sheep for each other and it worked out
well.

Russell looked a bit slow and stiff , so that didn't make me too
happy...but I hope he worked out the stiffness from his muscles and
with the adrenelin of the trial he will be sharp and faster. He loves
to trial so I'm counting on that to help him run well! And with all
his experience, he could put down a great run! Russell is 7th in the
morning so that is a great draw for him, it will be nice and cool.

The pups ran well, sue had no trouble getting out to the sheep, but
Luc needed a little help. They both handled the sheep like troopers -
and looked confident.

The nursery field is very large with a longer outrun than either pup
has gone, hopefully that won't be a problem! Sue runs on Wednesday.

First look at the Open field

The gates are not in place yet and there are bales and the pivot on
the field...wonder if they will get all that off before tomorrow?

It's a beautiful to look out with the green alfalfa and the hills in
the background.

Morning wonder

I hope this photo is good enuf to see beautiful Mt Shasta In the
distance...it's breath taking!

And its cold!!!

We have the practice field booked for an hour this afternoon and I am
looking forward to working the dogs a bit after four days of being
cooped up.

Lots of folks pulled in yesterday and the excitement is building!

We have arrived!

Wow! What a long amd interesting day of driving thru several mountain
ranges on a two lane road. No mobile signal most of the day, and
sometimes we drove for 30 miles without seeing a homestead.

I'll send pics and fun stuff tomorrow!

I'm excited - hope I can sleep...

Wind...it's a beautiful thing

Southwestern Wyoming with wind turbines in the morning sun...beautiful!

Russell - heartaches and miracles

Just when I was starting to condition Russell for the fall trials,
hoping to peak him for the finals I fell and broke my arm. Well...I
figured I would just do the best I could...what I found out at the
Three Sisters trial mid august is that he could barely finish the
course...wow- that shook me out of my broken arm funk!

That Monday we got to work with lots of walking, trotting for 30--40
minutes every morning plus working with me during the day as much as
possible. The next trial to come was the Labor day trial in Portage
Wi. The three weeks of conditioning paid off and Russell finished that
large and challenging course with no problem - he was barely tired.
Great! We didn't get the shed and had an offline fetch but no problem
- well have a better 2nd run the next day. The tumble he took in the
ditch on his outrun didn't seem to have affected him so far.

My eager strategy turned to thoughts of physical trainer when he
showed a slight limp when we got back to the camper...so massage and
traumeel, stretching and lots of love ensued. then an hour later when
I checked on him my heart sank. He was in so much pain he could not
even get up. A handler-vet checked him and prescribed antionflms and
pain meds.

No 2nd run...and I began to wonder about the finals...

Dr Dan Beatty is a major team member to keep my dogs fit and sound and
he worked on him that week and recommended not running him the next
weekend to try to get him sound for the finals...and gave me the Ok
for walking/trotting conditioning. That's good news I thought.

Russ continued to get better every day and Dr Dan checked again
Wednesday before we left. Even better news this time - he's good to go
for the finals!! Yes!!! Thank you Dr Dan!

Did I mention that Russell is 12 years young? As far as I know he'll
be the oldest dog competing at the finals...simply amazing! We have
definitely been blessed with a few miracles that enabled him to come
back to work in great form after a couple scares and surgeries at 10.

I am so very excited and honored to step up to the post with such a
great partner - and I hope to handle him in the grand style he deserves!

In the meantime he is resting up for the big day while we drive.

Wyoming bound

We're on the road again...half way thru Nebraska this morning. The
packing went well and the dogs are traveling like troopers! Last night
we stopped near Grand Island Nebraska at a campground Joe says we were
at in 1998 on our way to Yellowstone. I can't believe he can remember
that!

We fed and walked the dogs in the dark last night and all went well
until the smell of skunk close by scared us back into the camper.
Yiikes!!

A song popped into my head last night and I couldn't remember the
artist or much of the lyrics but it drove me crazy trying to figure it
out. Joe is the king of knowing songs and artists but he was no help.
So I tried googling in the dark until I gave up. So...who can tell me
the name of the country artist who recorded a song called Why Wyoming
in the late 80's or early 90's?

More later...

Getting ready...

Wow...I can hardly believe how much work it is to get ready to leave for a couple weeks! The laundry seems endless...had to clean out the camper and van...having the oil changed and tires rotated on the van was an exercise in patience at the dealership yesterday...the ewes went on vacation to graze on Nancy's lush pastures, so loaded them up and made the round trip this afternoon. The ram and his wether buddy are hanging out at home to keep Maggie (the horse) company, and to get ready for his breeding job when the ewes come home in mid-October. And, of course, I wanted to work the dogs a bit before we left...that's another great story...I'll post that one tomorrow while Joe drives.

This afternoon I will start the "packing up everything a family of two people and seven dogs can possibly need for a two week trip into a very small space" project. Starting with, let's see...5 lbs of raw frozen meat per day, times 14 days is 70 lbs...hmmm...I don't think that will fit into a small camper freezer!! So, I have several meals of very expensive freeze dried meat, I will put a couple days worth in the refrigerator, cram the freezer full, then pack a cooler with the rest. Won't leave much room for people food...I guess we will be eating out a lot!

The weather in Klamath Falls Oregon this time of year is hot and sunny, 70-95 during the day, and very cold at night, down into the low 40's or high 30's. So, we'll be packing summer, fall and winter clothes. Did I mention there is just one small closet in our new 'mini' sized camper? I'm sure to figure it out!! The good news is that I have a ginormous pile of nicely washed and folded clothes to choose from after a two day marathon of doing laundry.

Okay, enough chatting, and time to get packing!

The long and winding road...

I thought it would be fun to blog about our training and trialing journey...inspired by the decision to travel to Klamath Falls Oregon for the 2009 Sheepdog Finals.

This past trial season has been exciting, fun and full of mystery and surprise. I have been trialing four dogs: Russell, Maya, Luc and Sue.

I'll post about each of them, giving you insight into our history together...and then keep you updated with the fall season's trials...including the trip out west!

I hope you enjoy!
Kathy