Hard Working Paw

Hard as a rock, stained with sheep dirt. This paw would be very out of
place treading the carpets at Westminster.

Tully on Alert

This picture makes me glad Tully is one of the Good Guys!

Tully on the Job

The ewes are "mowing" the lawn for me, so Tully is watching from his
favorite spot on the front porch.

Shear's Looking at You, er, Ewe

I got exactly one sheep sheared today. She's grateful even if she
doesn't know it yet. I hope "Baaaaaaa!" means "Thank you!"

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

Glamor shot. I love this early morning light. In the previous pic I
said, "Sheep!" and now he's looking for them.

Did you say sheep?!?!

Also Handsome Ted

Ted is getting to be such a ham. He just turned three and he's just
starting to look like a grown up boy dog.

Handsome Sam I Am

Sam is slowing down growing and filling out some. That includes hair!
I'm hoping how furry he us now means he'll have really neat full coat.
None of my other pups have been this fuzzy as teenagers.

I Am Really Not That Fat

Wow. My apron bagged out and I'm having flashbacks to my pre Weight
Watcher days. Yikes. Anyway, more Ted helping me with my new drenching
method.

Ted in Action

Here's Ted doing his new special duty. Knee protection. While he
pushes the one I am working with a bit forward, I cup the ewe's nose a
bit. This makes her open her mouth slightly, allowing me to pop in the
meds before she has time to react to the syringe in her face. I don't
even have to grab or restrain the sheep in any way. Necessity is the
mother of invention!

Same Breed, Different Styles

It's kind of cool to see in this pic how the different dogs handle the
group. Left to right. Ted, still not quite found his groove but
definitely a plain style worker. Cord, with lots of eye, takes a back
seat and scans the whole group. Gus has very little eye and tends to
get distracted by the troublemakers at the expense of holding everyone
together. He's eyeballing Spot the new ram lamb at the moment.

With a Little Help from My Friends

With the orthopedist's permission, a BIG dose of Vicoden, and the help
of PJ and Joey, it was back to work full speed ahead today! I'm happy
to report that the Corid actually seems more effective than the Albon.
However, next round I'm going to use what Pipestone recommends,
sulfaquinoxine.

Bad Hair Day

And you think YOUR bad hair days are traumatic? An illustration of
why I keep Zhi shaved down. This is what she looks like after missing
two grooming sessions in a row (weekly bath/trim/condition).

Sleepy Sam

Morning just comes SO early. Sometimes I forget Sam is still a baby
after all. He'll be just six months the first week of September, still
a couple of weeks away.

Sentry Duty

Sam has assigned himself guard duty apparently. He doesn't bark. He
simply watches silently. I like the impulse control evident - more
like a young livestock guardian learning to evaluate what is unknown
rather than just react blindly to it.

Holy cow, look at those feetsies! Sam is either going to be big or
he's going to walk like a duck!

Handsome Sam

I still call him The Smidge but he's a smidgen no longer. I really
hope he is going to be a big boy.

Sam Says "Good Morning!"

Then Sam notices me stirring and says, "Roooo!" That's Sam-speak for,
"Good morning!"

Ted Does His Morning Workout

This is what usually wakes me up. Ted gets impatient after first light
and goes and finds a toy and amuses himself.

Summer Sunrise

One of the pleasures of warm weather: sleeping outside. Our house has
a nice sized porch and I've been taking advantage of it to escape the
heat of the house at night. Zhi, Sam, and Ted (not shown here) all
keep me company.

Nosies

I just love nosies. Ted's is particularly adorable and smoochable.

In the background you can see R2D2 the shop vac. R2 keeps the dirt and
hair from rolling us out of the house in our PJs in the dark of night.
I date my pet and kid cohabiting life Before R2 and After R2.

How to Break a Leg Without Really Trying

I'm really a genius at accidents. This time I stepped in a hole during
a walk and fell. Not very interesting, and the stress fracture in my
upper fibula that resulted should have been a very minor injury
requiring just a couple days of rest and a couple weeks in a wrap.

The genius entered the picture when I had no idea, shrugged it off as
a bruise, and went on with my usual farm and housekeeping activities.
For a week.

When I finally saw the doctor, he wasn't even sure what TO do, other
than tell me to get off it for a week and see the orthopedist if it's
not vastly improved.

Well, it's been impossible to stay off it. The ewes have been plagued
with a coccidia outbreak, requiring daily medicating. The laundry will
overwhelm us if it's not watched closely though the kids have been
good hellers there. Patrick starts teaching again this week.

So I'm not doing that great. It's off to the ortho sometime this week.

Maggie has been very attentive this whole time. That's one nice thing
to come out of it. Maggie likes having a job.

Dream Team

Cord and Ted holding sheep for treatment. The field behind them is the
last one we had cleared and will be seeded next.

Spot the Ram Learns the Ropes

"Yo! New guy! I'm Ted and you listen to me or else!"

Moving Sheep

Ted moving sheep for us to medicate them. Drenching sheep with a
broken leg isn't much fun, but a good dog literally makes the
impossible possible.

Ducks and New Grass

This is our flock of baby ducks. I know they are runner crosses but
not sure with what. The crested duck is a dilute. We don't know
whether it's a male or female. I'm rooting for male.

This is the field I seeded last Sunday (exactly a week ago). I
simply broadcast it over bare ground, cleared out of the woods. It's
browntop millet.

Besides growing really fast, it puts weight on hard keeper sheep like
nobody's business. Normal sheep we have to restrict access or the ewes
get too fat.

Maggie and the iPhone

Maggie hates cameras and usually hides. She doesn't know the iPhone is
a camera though. I've gottten some great pics of her lately! It seems
impossible that she could be turning sixteen in December. But she is!
Here's to a great old dog.

Smidge Update!

Sam's going to be six months old in a few weeks! Time is really flying and to be honest, I'm just as glad. I'm not one whose favorite part of having dogs around is puppyhood. I stress out too much over the lifelong implications of the decisions I make.

The weird thing is I don't have the same lack of confidence when it comes to the kids. I think it's the time span. Puppyhood is frighteningly compressed and intense.

We're doing fine though. I like Sam's personality a lot. He's really upbeat even when he's being corrected for mischief. He's super honest. And it doesn't take much to let him know I don't appreciate whatever he's doing.

I really can't wait to start doing serious training with this guy. I think he's going to be a lot of fun for me. I'm hoping that we will be able to go up to Christine's for regular lessons this fall. I'm seriously downscaling my sheep operation to that end. The less money goes into feed this winter, the more I'll have to spend on training for Ted and Sam! ;)