Domestic Goddess...NOT!

Okay, anyone that knows me, knows that I'm not a domestic goddess. Heck, I'm not a domestic anything to be honest. I have tried over the years to learn to enjoy (or maybe even tolerate better) the finer points of housework, cooking, baking, canning and maybe even sewing. I just have never acheived it. I've just about given up honestly but hope with age some of it will come to me.

Recently I had to apologize to my mom as she has really tried over the years to teach me how to cook, can, bake and attempt to sew. The only thing I've managed to sew up so far are critters. I did sew up the couch once, does that count? I love eating all the stuff my mom cans as well! :-) I wonder if that counts for anything. The one thing that has improved (if even just slightly) is my cooking. The first time I attempted to really cook anything was Rice a Roni when Mike and I were first together. The only thing I managed to do was catch my shirt on fire. I figure you can only go up from there, right?

Most of the time all I can think about are ways to escape to the outside world. Isn't there a horse that needs rode, a well that needs checked, a dog that needs worked or even a fence to be fixed? I'll admit I have to be a bit desperate for that last one to be real appealing. I suppose that's why I thrive on calving and lambing season. It's acceptable to not worry about anything real domestic then. :-) Works for me anyway!

Okay, I suppose I've stalled long enough. The vaccuum would like to remove some of the outside world I insist on dragging in with me.

Pictures

Thought I'd share a few pictures I've taken recently. All but one were taken the same day. It was beautiful out! Plenty of sunshine along with some clouds for shade. I love fall weather. If it could just be spring and fall all year I'd sure be happy.

(Jag)

I really don't have much burdock around here but the day before we shipped lambs about 30 head of ewes found a hole in the fence and went exploring in a draw that's full of them. I wasn't overly happy with the girls!

(Jag)

I like the above picture because of the way the sun is shining on the hill with the trees and yet it's shady where we're working.

(Jag)

If you look towards the top right hand of the picture you can see where the sun is shining on a hill. Jag had just brought this bunch from over there. One of his best qualities is his gather. Anywhere, anyhow is his motto. :-)

(Rock)

The picture above was the morning we shipped lambs. There's a long lane down to the corral and that's where Rock is pushing them right now. He's getting more confident driving all the time. He loves to work a bigger bunch.

(Rock)

Just thought I'd share one of him up close. He reminds me a lot of his mother (Jamie's Reece).

(Rock)

We're working on driving here again and he's really starting to figure out how to hold a line on a smaller bunch on his own now. Yay! BTW, if you can't tell, I REALLY like this dog.

Update and general chaos

Sorry, about how lax I've been on updating the blog. Life has been busy but it's no excuse, just reality.

I went to the Kaycee trial and bombed so nothing real exciting to report there. Wait, Dennis Edwards (one of the nicest person's your ever going to meet) won it with his good dog, Ben. His young dog, Craig (Nell x Lew), also made it into the double lift in his first open run. Yay for Dennis and his dogs!!!!

The boys are back in public school. What an adjustment for mom! I think the first week was much harder on me than it was on either of them. They are both really enjoying the different classes and getting to hang out with friends more. Both of them are also playing football and that keeps us VERY busy right now with 2 -3 games per week.

(Dustin is in the middle of the pack in purple)

Just getting started with the fall cattle work and am enjoying being able to go with Mike more now that I'm not teaching the boys this time of year. We preconditioned our calves last week and we do the cash cattle bunch this week. Loading out yearling steers tomorrow. Preg testing cows with a cousin on Friday. Lots of riding.

We sold lambs last week and did better than expected so that's always really nice!! Used Jag, Cash, Rock and Bet to gather, sort and load lambs. It's fun to watch the young dogs (Rock and Bet) get their first chance at this kind of work. They both stepped right up. I forgot how much I enjoy Cash for this kind of work as well. He is so good in tight spaces! Zac supervised as I just can't bring myself to leave him at the house when we work. I'm not sure if that's harder on him than just staying at the house but he seems happier even if he's just covering a "hole". His favorite job now is setting sheep for the other dogs.

Looking forward to "watching" the finals over the internet this week. Wish I was there but just couldn't swing it this year for one dog.

L & M SDT Results

July 16 - 17, 2009 - Allen, SD - Judge: Dan Keeton
(all tie's broke on gather)

Thursday's Open (23 dogs)
1. Larry Adams - Raid - 84
2. Gerald Bunney - Lou - 69
3. Wendy Schmaltz - Gin - 66
4. Gerald Bunney - Lucky - 66
5. Bud Boudreau - Jay - 65
6. Wendy Shmaltz - Fly - 65
7. Bud Boudrea - Sam - 64
8. Laura Hicks - Jag - 64
9. Kelly Bradley - Jim - 62
10. Rene LaBree - Glen - 60
11. Bud Boudreau - Delta - 60
12. Gerald Bunney - Ladd - 57
13. Dennis Edwards - Nap - 54
14. Gene Weringa - Wills - 54
15. Tim Naasz - Ryn - 50
16. Dennis Edwards -Ben - 33
17. Sue Noll - Kirk - 20
18. Laura Hicks - Zac - RT
19. Sue Noll - Britton - RT
20. Bud Boudreau - Swael - RT
21. Herb Aronson - Bobbie - RT
22. Rene LaBree - Jazz - RT
23. Larry Adams - Mirk - RT

Thursday's Nursery - (11 dogs)
1. Kelly Bradley - Jim - 60
2. Wendy Schmaltz - Ann - 49
3. Herb Aronson - Jake Jr - 40
4. Bud Boudreau - Val - 39
5. Gene Weringa - Jebediah - 28
6. Gerald Bunney - Lyle - 28
7. Laura Hicks - Cash - RT
8. Bud Boudreau - Tine - RT
9. Wendy Schmaltz - Dot - RT
10. Dennis Edwards - Craig - RT
11. Wacey Kornemann - Whip - RT

Thursday's Open Ranch - (10 dogs)
1. Dennis Edwards - Craig - 76
2. Dustin Hicks - Kat - 44
3. Gene Weringa - Abby - 37
4. Gerald Bunney - Lyle - 31
5. Bud Boudreau - Annie - 31
6. Wacey Kornemann - Whip - RT
7. Rene LaBree - Jace - RT
8. John Kellner - Nate - RT
9. Shari Lindquist - Paige - RT
10. Gene Weringa - Rob Roy - DQ

Thursday's Novice (3 dogs)
1. Jamie Spring - Hope - 7
2. Charles Lindquist - Callie - DQ
3. Shari Lindquist - DQ

Friday's Open (23 dogs)
1. Kelly Bradley - Jim - 87
2. Bud Boudreau - Delta - 77
3. Bud Boudreau - Swael - 77
4. Gerald Bunney - Ladd - 76
5. Rene LaBree - Jazz - 76
6. Larry Adams - Mirk - 74
7. Rene LaBree - Glen - 73
8. Wendy Schmaltz - Gin - 73
9. Bud Boudreau - Sam - 72
10. Herb Aronson - Bobbie - 68
11. Dennis Edwards - Ben - 67
12. Sue Noll - Britton - 66
13.. Laura Hicks - Jag - 65
14. Dennis Edwards - Nap - 63
15. Larry Adams - Raid - 62
16. Gerald Bunney - Lou - 60
17. Gerald Bunney - Lucky - 60
18. Wendy Schmaltz - Fly - RT
19. Laura Hicks - Zac - RT
20. Gene Weringa - Wills - RT
21. Tim Naasz - Ryn - RT
22. Sue Noll - Kirk - RT
23. Bud Boudreau - Jay - RT

Friday's Nursery (13 dogs)
1. Kelly Bradley - Jim - 45
2. Bud Boudreau - Val - 39
3. Wendy Schmaltz - Dot - 28
4. Wendy Schmaltz - Ann - 19
5. Herb Aronson - Jake Jr - RT
6. Gerald Bunney - Lyle - RT
7. Bud Boudreau - Tine - RT
8. Dennis Edwards - Craig - RT
9. Wacey Kornemann - Whip - RT
10. Joni Swanke - Will - RT
11. Laura Hicks - Cash - RT
12. Rene LaBree - Jace - DQ
13. Gene Weringa - Jebediah - DQ

Friday's Open Ranch (13 dogs)
1. Gerald Bunney - Lyle - 55
2. Joni Swanke - Sweep - 50
3. Joni Swanke - Lucy - 50
4. Gene Weringa - Abby - 41
5. Dennis Edwards - Craig - 37
6. Bud Boudreau - Annie - 36
7. Dustin Hicks - Kat - 32
8. Joni Swanke - Griz - 31
9. Rene LaBree - Jace - RT
10. Gene Weringa - Rob Roy - RT
11. Wacey Kornemann - Whip - DQ
12. Shari Lindquist - Paige - DQ
13. John Kellnery - Nate - DQ

Friday's Novice (5 dogs)
1. Jamie Spring - Hope - 39
2. Amanda Klaboe - Nat - RT
3. Shari Lindquist - Wren - RT
4. Charles Lindquist - Callie - DQ
5. Jan Stebbins - Jake - DQ

Kelley Creek SDT - UT trip

The 4th of July around our place can be pretty exciting so it was hard to pack up and leave knowing the party my little town likes to throw. We were well rewarded for our efforts though!

Jamie Spring (she lives north of me about 2 hours) and I took off on Thursday the 2nd and it was a LONG drive to Huntsville, UT! I think somehow when she and I travel together time must get lost somewhere. :-) Probably because we're gabbing so much we don't know where we are half the time.

The country is very green all the way from here through WY and into UT. There is so much grass and lots of hay being put up now. Huntsville is tucked into a little valley at the base of a ski resort. It's SO beautiful!!

Kelley Creek farm is a haven for dog people. It's literally built just for this kind of event. There are ponds that Brent designed and built that the dogs are free to play in. There is plenty of room to take them for good walks as well as loads of shade to park under or tie dogs under. It's just great! They also do a bang up job at hospitality. Patsy, Shauna and Carol keep everything running very smoothly.

So, for how our dogs ran. Jag was up 6th on Friday. He was listening good but after watching several runs where the sheep were really hard to move I thought I'd let him have them at the top a bit more. Mistake! I had a heck of a time keeping them slowed down enough to be manageable after that. They were just terrified of him. So, we ended up getting through the course but it wasn't real pretty. I think we were somewhere around 12th. Then Zac ran in the 25th spot. He was his usual steady, reliable self and ended up in 6th place. We had a big bobble on the crossdrive that cost us being up there higher. You couldn't see the dog and just barely see the sheep on the last half of the crossdrive. I gave a little flank at the wrong time and he took it so we missed the panel. Such is life.

Then Cash was up in the nursery. He ran like a champ all weekend and ended up winning both go's of the nursery. He still needs a little polish to be real competitive at the finals but I was pleased with him as this was only his 3rd field trial and 5th trial all together.

Jamie's more experienced dog is injured right now so she broke her pup (16 months) out for her first trial. Hope (Jag x Reece) did really well for her first trial. She ended up 2nd in the novice in the first go and 4th in the next go. She wasn't 100% sure about the set out crew but handled her sheep SO well. Jamie was thrilled with her and I'm loving to watch this whole litter of pups come on!

The second go of Open wasn't good for Jag. Just wasn't wanting to listen so I ran out and had a little meeting with him. Zac was really good in the heat. He was out of the money but had a really good run. There were just a LOT of really good runs that day.

Anyway, our trip was a success on many fronts and we love getting to travel together so you can't beat that! Our trials are next weekend so busy getting geared up for that.

Young dog pictures

Here are the pictures of the young dogs we have right now. More information about them is in the post prior to this one.

(Dustin working Speck)


(Dose - his name came because he was the second pup we kept off of Kat, Uno was first)


(Rock - doesn't he have a HUGE tongue!)

(Bet - little miss thing!)

Young dogs

I love starting dogs. Well, I like the finesse part of training to. I guess I'm really fond of real work and just using dogs as well. Okay, I'll admit it I just like working dogs in general. But, one of the best aspects is to see young dogs come on with their training. That year to two year old range is so much fun because they just seem to soak things up. It can be a bit repetitive in the beginning but the amount of change in a dog in that time frame is really cool.

I'm not a real fast trainer. Probalby because I HATE drilling even more than a lot of dogs do. It bores me to tears. Most of my young dogs start doing real jobs before they really even know their flanks. As long as I have a good stop, recall and they're working off body language well I'll just start using them. I guess you could say it's a bit of baptism by fire. It doesn't work for every dog and sure wouldn't suit a lot of people but for the most part it works for me.

We have a couple of young dogs right now we're just getting started. Dose and Speck are off of Kat and Jag. So, linebred on my Nell. Speck is Dustin's pup and Dose is mine. It started out the other way around but as we're getting them started we realized Speck is going to fit Dustin best. It's his first pup to start and I want to set him up for as much success as possible. Speck is a very natural, talented, level headed pup. Dose is also very natural and talented but not as level headed just yet. It could change but for right now Speck reminds me a lot of his mother. Dustin thinks the sun rises and sets over Kat so he's pretty excited about Speck!

I also have two yearlings right now. Rock (almost 16 months old) and Bet (almost 15 months old). Rock is by Jag and off of Jamie Spring's Reece. He is the class clown around here. Rock is just flat fun to be around! He has more try and heart than a lot of dogs his age already though. He is a bit of an adrenaline junkie. He's not grippy and has plenty of come forward. He's a thinker and tries really hard to figure out what I want. If things get a bit wild he likes to jump right into it but he'll settle with age. I'm not worried. I love the fire in his belly.

Bet is by Don Helsley's Cap and out of Tim Naasz's Ryn (Nell x Spot). She's the kind of dog that everything comes easy for her. She didn't necessarily want to take any training until recently though. In the last few weeks she has just come on gangbusters though. I started using her to gather the pairs (a pretty good sized bunch) in the evenings and her confidence went through the roof! She has decided she's "The Dog" now and whatever I want to do she's sure she can handle. It's really fun to watch.

I have a few pictures of them and if my computer will ever let me get them uploaded I'll put them on here.