The Rams - first, Topple

Pretty incredible yearling ram, Topple shows off his best qualities in the photos below!

What vacation?

Peeps has been talking working vacations again...and feeling the need for beach time.

Silly me, the only time I like the beach is when there's something worth watching in the water. Like whales. Maui in February, as the mother whales teach their babies to spy-hop. Popping up out of the water with their heads for a good look-see. Or, myself with a snorkle mask on looking down at the fish swimming around you...preferably in shallow water.

I liked walking the Michigan shoreline and looking for Petosky stones. That was always fun. But I was always lured inland to look at old farms and old houses and lovely fruit trees and perrenials that grew around the old farms.

I'm afraid I'm not much of a water lover, unless it's in a small boat and with a good fishing pole and good bait. I can sit out there all day fishing.

For whatever reason I prefer forests and alpine country and rivers and big creeks for fishing. I love to fly fish for Grayling. I think that is one of my most favorite pastimes that I miss doing. There is nothing like a big Grayling hitting your fly either dry and floating down a river or sinking deep into a hole, just right. And the taste of fresh Grayling skinned, rolled in flour, and fried in butter. Absolutely divine!

Salmon fishing is fun. I have a 58# female 1st run King I had professionally mounted years ago on my livingroom wall. 48 inches long. That was a great day...caught on 20 pound test too. And I've fished and caught many red salmon through the years, a great fighting fish when fresh to the rivers.

Camping out with a good mattress and sleeping bag and plenty of dry firewood in the middle of nowhere is a good thing. Even if it's in the back of the truck in nasty weather. Because I usually camped out next to a creek or river with good fishing to be had if the stars were all lined up right.

I think I need a vacation too! LOL!!

Flowers, you say? And Hay hay hay..

The South field was harvested several weeks after the North field and the hay came off bright green and in beautiful shape - no shattered leaves. Here the John Deere 4010 is getting ready to pull the load up a very steep hill...our friend Cliff at the wheel with Rick making sure the load will stay put... the Case IH 4 wheel drive tractor is at the base of the hill to the left...the one I use around here, especially with the bucket on! I'm not so hot using the forks tho...

Someone loves his B Farmall. Same one he used to drive when he was a little kid - well, almost. As close as he could find in Iowa at the time anyways, and it had to make the long long trip to Alaska to soothe his soul....hehehe. Still works quite well, obviously. The north field of hay got rained on, but was cut early so it will probably test out around 14% protein still. Who knows, at this point who cares! It's dry and waaaaaaaaaay up in the barn loft now too.....

Trolius at the base of a flowering pink crabapple tree....Trolius form a beautiful mound, and my mounds have grown in diameter over the years from tiny little starts. They are cheerful little bloomers...I have both the early and late blooming types here.

One of my favorites to grow, Stock. Night scented stock is perfect for up here in the north country. I put 8 or 10 plants into a big bowl or planter and set them by the deck doors...we open the doors in the evening for fresh air and as the temps go down in to the 50's, their scent comes on super strong and fills the house with a perfume that reminds me of Hawaii or Tahiti......or Moorea or Huahine....heavenly!

Shelties and Shetland Sheep

So here she is, Miss Lola, a lovely Shetland Sheep Dog, the judge Marie on the right and myself on the left, taking the High in Trial award for highest score in the AKC trial held July 6th!! How special that a Shetland Sheepdog trialed on Shetland Sheep won it too! What a wonderful accomplishment, and a joy to train and handle such a sweet and talented girl too!

The sheep worked today

Today was the first of 4 days of herding trials held here on our farm, both AKC and ASCA trials - 2 of each. Judge Dana MacKenzie was an enjoyable as ever, always a wonderful judge to trial under. 2 out of 3 runs that I handled today were good runs, but I terribly botched the 3rd and thanked the judge and left. I simply had the worst brain fart and couldn't recover the run, so to be fair to my hard working Sheltie that I was handling, left on a good note. The GSD I handled took 3rd in her class and I finished her title, that was good. And my Anna, an Australian Cattle Dog, is getting better and better as she gets more time on stock and as she gets older. She's allot like her grandma Aggie, but since Aggie I've learned a bit more so Anna gets to take her time to learn things her way rather than just my way. :-) The sheep worked their butts off but some were quite recalcitrant today, and several gave the dogs a very hard time complete with foot stomps and head butting. Yep, that's a Shetland for you! Here's Anna, myself, and the judge after a very long, sweaty, and dusty day! Thank you, Sheepies!!

Working Hard

I'll be working hard for a while so won't be around to blog much. The weather has been very cool and damp with showers every couple of days. We have finally gotten the stretch of 4 days with no rains, hopefully, to cut and bale our first cutting. So we are hoping for good winds and a dry evening with no late evening thunderstorms off the mountains so that we can bale hay. We have about 250-300 bales laying on the ground at the moment this morning, waiting to be tedded this afternoon and windrowed late in the day for baling. We need 1,000 square bales in the barn for the year here, but it's a start anyways.

And the girls are working now for their living too.... this Friday, the 4th of July, starts 4 days of ASCA and AKC herding trials held here at our place followed by 2 days of herding clinics. So I'm getting the farm ready, the house set, and all the animals squared away because I'm going to be one very very busy person for the next 2 weeks! The sheep are sorted into groups of three that work well together, and are marked - color coded - so that the stock handlers know which 3 go out each time for a herding trial 'run'. The sheep are kept in 14 pens down at the arena in their respective groups of 3, fed and watered together, then at the end of the day all let loose into the big arena to graze and relax. It's a big management job to ensure they are happy and comfortable and handled easily. The grounds are about ready and all the facilities are almost ready for the 50 to 60 people that will be here each day. Yes, let's just do all this AND haying at the same time - EEEEEEEEK! But we'll get 'er done, we always do...and the girls earn some money to pay for their upkeep too! So if you don't 'see' me for a while, you'll know where I'm at, and it won't be inside the house! HA!

The Blanchette

Oh noooooooo! It's the mouth examination!!! EEEEEEEEEEEK!

Miss Speckled Lips....

I like the trees in her eye....the wild roses behind....

It's Boulderneigh Blanche!