Ten Days To Go!

I took these pictures of two of my AI girls on Saturday. They still have TEN DAYS to go! The 'crutching' was done by two different shearers.

The one above is WillowGarden Elsie Marley. She was 'crutched' by someone new who I wanted to try out. Not happy with the job as 'things' are not as visible as I need them to be.

Below is Great Plains Mia, 'crutched' by my usual shearer. You can see what you need to see easily. Dave did a GREAT job ... and will be staying as my usual shearer ... :-)

A Message from Michigan ... ;-)

I'm sure that you all remember Zimbelstern, the lovely yearling ewe lamb that I bought recently from my friend Stephen. She is pictured above.

She is also pictured below ... :-)

My dear little Zimbelstern sent me these pictures taken after she was sheared ... along with a message ...

"I want to come home to Canada and live with YOU Bill! Stephen took off ALL of my fleece, wwaahhhh."

Is she not a DOLL with all of those black dots all over her body?

LGDs ... Headed for Chile

On Saturday, I drove to Cookstown to meet a livestock transport that was bringing me two Marema puppies from the Vet's in Alberta who did my AI. Seems that there are no LGDs in Chile ... or at least no Maremas. These two little girls will be the first ... and hopefully there will be more ... once they get a male down there with them.
In honour of Dr. Seuss' birthday last Friday ... and in honour of the Cat in the Hat's 50th birthday this year ... AND because of the way they were behaving ... I have named them 'Thing One' and 'Thing Two'. They are VERY cute and make doing chores almost as much fun as lambs do!

I hope to get them on with their journey to Chile next week ... MARCH BREAK ... :-)))

Kayla's 'Log'

I've had a few comments about the size of Kayla's log ... and it not being big enough to slow her down.

The log isn't supposed to slow her down, or hinder her movement in any way. It is just intended to hook on the fence top and STOP her when she goes over a fence.
When I first got her, she was on a farm where it was OK to go over the fences to get from field to field to with with different groups of sheep. That was NOT acceptable here!

She had three spots where she would go over the fence after her arrival. I put the log on her ... and every morning for three days, she was sitting with a sheepish look on her face ... on the wrong side of the fence ... unable to go anywhere ... because the log had done its job and hooked on to the top of the fence.
Now ... it is mostly symbolic. I hang it on the fence by her food dish. That is usually enough of a deterent ... but not this time ... :-)

Bad Dog!!

Speaking of rabbits ... they have been driving Kayla, my female LGD crazy. They seem to know to stay away from her side of the fence, but they do come close enough to tease the heck out of my dogs.

Well ... on Friday morning ... early ... in the hieght of the cold and wet freezing rain ... I got a call from Matt (the kid across the road who makes it possible for me to do this). He wanted to tell me that Kayla, was walking across my neighbours field ... likely after a pesky rabbit!.

I took off like a bat out of 'you know where' and climbed over snow drifts (actually sunk into many of them) to get to a place where she could hear and see me. Once I was in the same field as her, I called to her and told her to 'COME!'. She looked at me for a few seconds and then lowered her head and continued on in the opposite direction. Obviously, her desire to ... get that rabbit ... was stronger than her desire to ... make Bill happy!

I started to run after her ... in a foot of snow ... wearing boots ... in the wet and cold freezing rain. I was furious. Then ... I fell and was face down in the snow. At that moment, anyone could have had a dog REAL cheap!

I finally caught up with her about a kilometre away from home ... and then walked her home via the road. About the time that I caught her, Matt came along ... on his bicycle! Seems that his Mom saw me fall in the snow while she was sipping her tea. Once she had stopped laughing, she suggested that Matt might go and give me a hand.

We were quite the sight, I am sure ... Matt with his bicycle ... me dragging an 80 pound dog ... and all dripping wet and sliding all over the place because of the freezing rain.

Needless to say, as soon as we got home ... Kayla went 'on the log'. It sounds worse than it really is, but she'll have to keep the drag for a few days ... until I can once again trust her.

Winter's Last Hoorah ... I HOPE!!!

My daughter, Kate, called me this morning at 6:15. Of course, I was awake and mobile as today was a work day ... or should have been ... ;-)

I went to bed last night to blowing snow ... and awoke at 5:45 this morning to freezing rain! Everything was COVERED with a thick sheet of ice.

Kate called to tell me that all schools were closed. This RARELY happens. Often buses are cancelled, but teachers are still supposed to make it in. This time ... schools were CLOSED ... A FREE DAY! :-)

By afternoon it was so mild that the ice was melting and the sun was shining. I managed to get a few pictures of some of the ice, but it was almost all gone by the time I got out with my camera.
The only sad thing about not going to work today ... other than not getting to spend time with staff and students ... is that today is Dr. Seuss' birthday ... and I had a celebration planned for my students. I will be back in that class on Monday ... so ... we'll do a belated Happy Birthday then. Dr Seuss' birthday can NOT be left uncelebrated. The man was a genious!

:-)

Hmmmmmmm ... Wabbits, I think!

I was away last weekend in Michigan with my friend Stephen Rouse, and his Mom, for his shearing weekend. As is always the case, I had the BEST time!

Came home to see tracks all though my new garden. Actually, 'tracks' wouldn't be the best word to describe what was there. It looks more like an Interstate Freeway!

All of my roses and shrubs were buried under the snow ... or so I thought. As the snow level drops, I am seeing that the plants were not BURIED ... but rather EATEN down to snow level ... GRRRRR