Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Ausfest 2012

We couldn't have picked a better weekend for what is now officially an "Annual" event. 




The Aussies and Border Collies hung out.


The humans dined "al fresco" - although in this picture it looks a lot more like "drank outside".


Catherine brought out her "little" telescope for some late night planet viewing.


and the stars must have aligned because it was a perfect fire pit night. No wind, no rain, no mosquitoes.


The dogs worked the crowd.


caught some air




and had a great weekend in the country.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Fall sun rise


Kudo's to Travis for getting this great shot. Your normal journalist - me - may have been in bed...sleeping at the time. Looks like the blog has a new roving reporter!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

And then there were two.


I mentioned a couple of entries ago that I had made some decisions this summer. Decisions that I felt were in the best interests of everyone involved. Decisions I hoped I wouldn't regret. 




Jake and Jack have both been sold. I thought I might like trying my hand at raising, training, and selling stock dogs. Nope, not for me. Both dogs are in great working homes and I'll see them on a regular basis when they're ready for training.



Bruce moved into a fantastic new home a couple of months ago. He's in agility classes, sleeps on the bed, and has Heather's (and Didi's!) undivided attention. 



Hope has returned whence he came. He's a terrific dog and I want him in a place where he can be used to his fullest potential. 

It's a lot quieter around here, but I think all of the decisions were made with everyone's best interests in mind. So far, it's proving to be true. 

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Friday, September 16, 2011

Kate watches her stories


You can watch them with her right here.   2011 National Sheepdog Finals

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

That's a wrap!


I believe we've lost this year's "keep the garden going at all costs" battle.




With temperatures dropping to minus 5 last night, even covering the heat loving plants won't have been enough.




However, the cold loving plants will do just fine and taste just that much sweeter. 



Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Latest tool on the farm

is this handy dandy thing.




The Gallagher Smart Fence



It can easily be put out or put away by one person.



includes 4 strands and 10 posts (5 of which also include guy wires  for corners) and is 328 feet long.



It is less expensive per foot than nets and is much less bulky to store. It also does a great job of weaned lambs on the right side of their fence. 


It's easy to join one smart fence to another and so far i'd call it a WIN. We'll see how it holds up, but if it does well over then next year or so I think we'll be replacing the nets with Smart Fence's as they wear out. 

Friday, September 9, 2011

Blogger's slump

Cripes, it's been almost two weeks since I last blogged. That's not supposed to happen! I think I'm suffering from "blogger's slump".  It's not like nothing's happening. I could blog about the adventures Suzie had and the friends she made this summer.




Don't worry - he's friendly!

 I could go on about how pleased I've been with Kate this year (and how she got us both "way ahead of schedule" - I know what we'll be working on this fall)



Look Back Kate!


 or how well Ben is coming along. 


Must get good pictures of handsome Ben on sheep.


 I could mention some changes made this summer(.hopefully all for the better an none regretted), or even about the zucchini relish I made today, because it's thirty degrees in the shade so I wisely decided to crank up the heat in the kitchen... 




That takes care of TWO zucchini...


I could, but then I'd have to actually sit down and do it, and so far I haven't that hasn't happened. Right now I'm thinking it will just turn into a "what I did this summer" kind of blog...if and when I get around to it. 


Before I forget, thanks to Kristi and Amanda for all of the recent great shots of Kate and I.