Seeking shelter from the storm

In case anyone has forgotten by now

we occasionally use Border Collies to move sheep. It's not just sleeping cats, bathing small dogs, weather reports, and home renos happening around here.

I have to admit that without the looming deadline of an upcoming trial (first one's not till July), it's been easy to slack off in the training department.  This spring has been a real case of "I should get back at it tomorrow."...just like " I should start working out...tomorrow".

Late May Snow Storm

At least it looks like snow when it's falling.

It's Poplar fuzz season.

Claritin anyone?

Apparently we're not feeding Kate enough

and she's  been forced to chew her own foot off...

A little jam to go with those toes?

This is what normal dogs look like after a bath

Hope looking beat down, Bruce feeling like Fabio, and Kate back by the gate, hoping that we'll head to the pond so we can start this whole process over again...

This is what a Yorkie looks like after a bath.

Now I'm starting to understand

why sheep farms tend to look a little "worn". 

For one thing, the fences are all quickly starting to look like this. 

I'm sure the birds love using this stuff for their nests, but there just aren't enough birds around to clean this up.

And then tonight Gordon decided that fences really didn't apply to him. 

I've (as in Hope does the work and I offer advice) been moving him and his buddy in and out of the same yard for a week without any trouble at all.  Tonight things went terribly sideways - I still haven't figured out why - and he decided to jump through the fence. 

 
and into the pen with the ewes and lambs. His much wiser buddy chose not to bust through the fence, but was entirely unhappy about being on the wrong side. Sheep don't like to be by themselves...ever.

 
Well that sucked...but hey, yet another opportunity for "real work".  Incredibly, Hope figured out really quick that I wanted Gordon shed off the girls and moved out of the pen. It only took two tries and the next thing you know we had him out of the pen. 

 
and we didn't put him through the fence on the other side where the ewe lambs were enjoying the show. 

After that it was just a matter of putting him and his buddy back together again and then back to their pen. 

It all sounds pretty straight forward, but it was some of the best work I've ever seen Hope do. He got the job done efficiently AND with a cool head. It looks like lambing has been a really good experience for BOTH of us. 

Gordon and Buy-Low back in their pen. Oh and the tree? That's another "look" that I'm getting used to around here.

Good boy Hopey.

Meet Mr. Skinny Pants

He was born last Saturday.

He was one of three - 2 boys and a girl. He's the one looking at you in case you hadn't guessed.

Between small and easily pushed around by his siblings and the cold wet weather, things didn't look too bright for him.

He was skinny coming, 

and he was skinny going (he's 4 days old in these pictures). 

But he was a cheery fellow, 

so I topped him up a few times a day. 

 Milk replacer - the breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime snack of champions.

and now the replacer has been pretty much replaced.

There's nothing like the real thing...

So ends/begins the story of Mr. Skinny Pants.

And these two?

 They're the girls from the first ewe at almost 2 weeks old - looking like they own the world.

How to mow grass in the rain.