Speck's surgery

Okay, today is Speck's surgery day to fix the ruptured ACL. It's going to be a long spring for this young, exhuberant dog trying to be quiet and calm. It puts his training behind schedule as well but hopefully the time off will allow for more maturity. In turn, maybe he'll progress quickly once we get going again. I'm going to miss having him for all the cattle work these next several months as he's right up there with one of the best young dog's on cattle I've seen in awhile.

Think of all the quality time he will get to spend in rehab with Dustin and I though! Do you suppose he feels real fortunate? If you would keep him in your prayers today I know I'd feel very forunate. Thanks!!

Black Hills Stock Show

Wow, if there was a cloud 10 I think I'd be on it right now! Cash, my young dog, won the Black Hills Stock Show dog trial. It was his first year to compete there (it's actually been just a year now since he first set foot on a trial field) and the crowds and noise didn't seem to phase him at all. I couldn't be happier with the boy! He handles his sheep well and penning with him is just about like using Zac already.

We actually had a really good day in Rapid City yesterday overall. Zac just missed the cutoff to make the top 16 by one place. He was 4 seconds slower than Cash. He held the 16th spot until the last dog and then got bumped out by my good friend Tim Naasz and his good female, Zoey. Tim was first with Ryn (Nell x Spot) and second with Zoey (Tim's breeding) in the preliminary round. Rene LaBree and Jazz, were 3rd in that round and Dennis Edwards and his good young dog, Craig (Nell x Lew) were 4th.

I also ran Nell to fill in for Jag who is still out with an injury. She did really well for not being to a trial in a long time. She was slower than she needed to be but got around the course and was still in the top half out of 60 dogs. Dustin ran Kat and it was a good learning experience for him. He got through the figure 8 handily but then got hung up at the Y-chute. He learned that it's pretty important to run your dog the way it works best for them and not try to run them like someone else runs their dogs. He has come so far as a handler and I couldn't be more proud of him. He handles loss with more dignity than some adults.

Dustin was also great about helping me stay focused and calm before my runs in the semi's and finals. He took the time to pray over Cash and I before each run and the whole time we were running as well. He is definetly a shining light in this world!

Here are results that I have recorded. I don't have the way we placed in the semi's but the cumulative times to get into the finals. I know Cash was the fast time in the semi finals and I believe Dennis Edwards and Nap were second. They pay fast two times in the prelim's and semi's. Then everyone in the finals.

Prelims:

1. Tim Naasz - Ryn

2. Tim Naasz - Zoey

3. Rene LaBree - Jazz

4. Dennis Edwards - Craig

5. Murray Ketteler - Jack

6. Jeff Garman - Matt

7. Alison Ramsbottom - Cap

8. Alison Ramsbottom - Rob

9. Joni Swanke - Sweep

10. Shannon Fritz - Ben

11. Gerald Bunney - Lou

12. Tim Flint - Lad

13. Dennis Edwards - Nap

14. Pete Carmichael - Liz

15. Joni Swanke - Griz

16. Laura and Cash

Combined time order to get into finals:

1. Murray Ketteler - Jack

2. Tim Flint - Lad

3. Laura and Cash

4. Shannon Fritz - Ben

5. Gerald Bunney - Lou

6. Dennis Edwards - Nap

Finals:

1. Laura and Cash (Yay for my boy!)

2. Murray and Jack

3. Dennis and Nap

4. Tim and Lad

5. Gerald and Lou

6. Shannon and Ben

Signs for a modern woman

I got these in an email yesterday and just wanted to share. They would fit in with my "decor" around here so well! Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

This and That

Okay, basically I'm just trying to get back in the habit of posting more often again. So, hopefully I don't bore you to death with everyday "stuff".

Dustin is taking fiddle lesson's and is riding up to Rapid City with my dad for one today. Brady plays the guitar and dobro and my dad plays those as well as the banjo. Dad LOVES having grandkids that want to "jam" with him now. Dad and Brady are especially fond of Bluegrass and Gospel. Dustin thinks anything by Charlie Daniels is the greatest.

Winter has been long in our country again this year. Seems like it's been rough for a lot of people though. Our livestock are all doing well though so we really shouldn't complain. We still do from time to time, but we really shouldn't! The next 10 days are forecasted to be in the low 30's for highs and the teens for lows so at least it's not brutal cold for now. A welcome reprieve from the -35 windchills we had for 2 weeks around Christmas.

The procession of calves coming in has finally begun. We've been feeding calves for another producer for the last couple of years. He buys them in various load sizes and then we process them and they stay here until going to grass at our cousins. It works well for us. Lots of work but enjoyable work. I wish they could all come in at once so we could have one really big branding day and then just go on with feeding every day. Alas, that's not how it financially works best for the other guy though.

So, I was looking forward to all this cattle work again for our young dogs this winter and spring. Rock and Bet are at a perfect age to be a lot of help and I'm thankful for that. Dustin's young dog, Speck, has already proven to be a good cattledog but unfortunately he will be out of commission the whole time these calves are here. He was going way to fast around a corner and clipped a metal gate with his hind leg. He ruptured his ACL and has surgery early next week to repair it. He won't be able to return to work until early summer. Huge bummer for us!

Jag is also out of commission right now and we're not sure what's going on. He's non weight bearing on his left front leg. It appears to be in his shoulder but my vet can't find what would be causing this much pain on xrays. They've been sent to the University and hopefully they can give us something to go on. We've started him on Adequan and if that helps we know it's joint related. He was moving some calves from one pen to the other and went to jump off a snow drift (there are a lot of them here) and took a pile drive into a metal feedbunk. It wasn't pretty! He seemed fine right afterwards but it's progressively gotten worse. Keep him in your prayers please as we'll be lost without Jag's help this spring. Not to mention I hate seeing him in pain!

Okay, I'm sure I've bored you to tears now and for that I apologize. We're preg checking cows and moving another bunch tomorrow. Then the Black Hills Stock Show on Monday. So hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to report on next time.

PS - If you made it this far, way to go!

Denver Stock Show

First, I must apologize for how lax I've been with the blog. No good excuses just busy with life and didn't feel much of it was news worthy. Then I pile things up and don't feel like I can write about everything that's happened in one blog so I just do the big one's. I'll try to do better now. :-)

Just got back from the Denver Stock Show. Spent quite a bit of time with my family down there and really enjoyed their company! I think it's the main reason I go to that trial every year. That and to go somewhere warmer even if it's just a couple of days! My brother Dan rode down with Dustin and I. It was nice to spend some time with him. We ran into a little snow coming home but for the most part it was good driving.

Our dogs did well down there. Can always do better but overall we're very happy with them. Dustin and Kat were up first for our crew in the Intermediate. Kat always handles lambs so well and she didn't disappoint us this time either. She had one that refused to go in the pen and it cost Dustin being in the money but he still ended up 11th out of 49 dogs so he was still happy. Then I ran Cash one last time in a lower class. He did a really good job. Handled the lambs really well and did everything I asked of him. If I hadn't dropped the ball at the pen (let a lamb slip under the rope twice) our score would have been much better. As it was we ended up 5th so in the money.

Then on to Sunday and the Open Sheep. Zac was my first dog to run and he hasn't worked since his surgery back in early December to remove the broken toe. It was like driving a cadillac again!! I just adore that dog and love working him. He put down a good run that could have been better if his partner (me) hadn't pushed on the lambs so hard at the Y chute. He ended up 5th in the prelims. Then I ran Cash in his first open trial. I had planned on running Jag but he's injured and still working on recovery right now. Anyway, Cash wasn't quite like running Zac but nonetheless he was a VERY good boy! Missed a couple of whistles on the figure 8 but still had a fast enough time to come in just under Zac and get 6th in the prelims out of 42 dogs. So, in his first open run he got the exact same place that Zac got in his first open run. Suppose that's a good sign! ;-)

So, both dogs made it back for the finals where both drew up towards the end. Cash was getting a little tired of the lambs trying to break back on him and wasn't listening quite as well but still managed to get them around the course. He is SO good at the pen. Zac was the last dog to run for the day and went out looking good. I've been a bit worried about his foot since it's only been 6 weeks since the surgery. He looked great in his first run but when the lambs broke back on him and he tried to beat them between the fence, something happened. Not sure if he hit the fence with that foot, got stepped on a little or just twisted it wrong but he threw his tail and I knew it hurt. So, I slowed things down for a little bit to see how he was. He seemed to be okay and wanted to keep going so we did. He had a great run despite the limp and ended up 5th in the finals. He was running and playing with Kat outside 10 minutes after his run and has worked sheep again this morning so everything is fine. Must have just been a stinger.

Great trip. Wonderful people to visit with and great dogs to watch. Overall I was thrilled.

Christmas blizzard

Well, our Christmas plans were derailed by mother nature this year. Thankfully we got a bit of a repreive on Christmas Eve so we were able to make it to church and then supper with my family. I'm really thankful for that now!

We got some snow on the 23rd but then it quieted down again until Christmas morning. Wow, she cut loose then. All day Friday and Saturday we got hammered with snow and wind. Visibility was horrid. We had fed everything really good the day before and moved the cows and sheep into better protection. Still it was a long two days of not being able to find them on Friday and Saturday. Sunday morning the wind let up and Mike was able to see good enough to find all the sheep and the cows we were short. They had blown into a deep draw and weren't much worse for the wear. I was so relieved!

Thought I'd share this cartoon with you from one of my all time favorite strips. It's pretty fitting of how I felt Sunday morning. :-)

You can see more of "The Barn" at www.creators.com/comics/the-barn.html. It's one of my daily reads anymore.

We ended up with close to a foot of snow but the drifts are what are horrible. They range from 4 feet up to 14 feet. The roads are getting opened today though. Really tough feeding right now as the snow is getting a hard crust on it now. I'm fairly certain we'll have a good portion of these drifts until spring now.

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and enjoys the New Year!

Puppies!

I'm the worst about taking puppy pictures so haven't shared yet about the puppies at my place. Sorry! Nell blessed us with one more litter of puppies by Don Helsley's Cap. I can't say enough good things about my grand old gal. She has been a true gem as a working dog as well as a producer. We are very fortunate to have her in our lives. She has basically moved into the house and is convinced she is the queen of the couch. She still helps out around the place but is basically enjoying retirement.

(Gage is the tri and Don's pup is the B/W)

The 3 puppies were born on October 4th. 2 females and 1 male. One of the girls (Soot) and the male (Gage) is staying with us and the other female is going to Don. I'm pretty excited to see how they mature and work but for right now we're just enjoying the antics of puppyhood.

(Soot)

We also got our stud fee pup from Jamie a week ago. She is off of Reece and Jag. This is a repeat cross and I have Rock from the first litter. I got a female this time and her name is Jess. She's a ball of fire and has a hard time slowing down right now but we sure enjoy the heck out of her. This of course means we're going to be raising way to many puppies right now but I just couldn't turn down one from this cross again seeing how much I love Rock. I had planned on only keeping one pup from Nell but with it being her last litter I want to give myself time to see them grow up before I decide. So... the boys and I are going to have our hands full this winter. It's a good time for us to raise pups though as we're not terribly busy until after the first of the year again. It also means I'm going to have to have a young dog or two for sale in the next year.

(Jess our Jag x Reece pup at 7 weeks old)