Knotty Pine Ranch

Sorry Slowpokes!

2012-02-24T12:17:00.001-08:00

Today, the UPS guy showed up at my house and delivered a box for me! It has the LowePro camera bag in it ... courtesy of Pia Gronvaldt at Just Another Dog Blog. Thank you so much, Pia! This thing is awesome!

I can't wait to use it!

Jodi

Nesting

2012-02-23T17:24:00.000-08:00

Depression is a beast. Yeah, I'm putting it out there. Hell, I talk about every other thing in my life on the internet, might was well delve into this.

Having a tough day (that's putting it lightly). The loss of my brother is as raw as the day it happened. The economy and being jobless is starting to weigh on me. The stress of it all is flat wearing me out.

I can't wait for spring to hit so I can get some warm sunshine on my face again. The grass is staring to green. And my house is a mess. I figured I'd better start cleaning the inside of my house, so that when it starts getting really nice out, I won't feel guilty for spending all the time out there with the animals. A room in my house I haven't done anything with since I moved in is my bedroom. The amount of dog hair was starting to make me gag. Damn dogs. The piles of old paperwork that I am clutching to for no reason was starting to become a fire hazard. Time to move forward.

Little by little.

So I threw out a bunch of shoes, got rid of a bunch of old clothes, threw out a ton of paperwork and left a pile to be organized, vacuumed up all the dust and dog hair, got the pictures out of my closet and actually cleaned them and hung them on the walls like I'd been meaning to for the last two years, and it feels better already in here.

Heck, you've seen the rest of my house ... here's my boring bedroom. Yes, like the rest of my life, my bedroom is black and white, by choice. I love black curtains. They keep the light out of the room so you can sleep during the day. I still don't have closet doors or anything to cover the cubbies with. Haven't figured out what I'm doing there yet, as the person who built this house made everything to custom size since he was a contractor, yet the people who lived in it after him completely trashed the place and, therefore, the closets have no doors, and to buy them would cost me a fortune. I'll figure something out eventually.

To the left of the foot of the bed is the giant mound of family photos I've been going through and scanning, a little at a time. The photo hanging on the wall on the left is my mother's wedding photo. The next two photos are two pieces of artwork done by an American Indian friend of my mothers. The larger wolf photo was given to me by my awesome sister. And the Ansel Adams ... is just one of my favorites. Peaceful. Serene.

(Oh, and the layer of black ick on my bedspread ... that's Echo's spot ... and she's kindly blowing her coat for some reason right now. I'm sick of wiping it off, so I left it there.)

And I love my little Reeses box on the nightstand. That was given to me by my very cool neighbor!

I guess the nesting is my reaction to the depression, I don't know.

Something needs to happen.

Maybe I need to make something happen.

J

Tidbits

2012-02-23T11:41:00.000-08:00

We got a little bit of snow last week. Wish there were a couple more feet of it.

And what is that on my deck?

Close up...

Oh, that's just Chuck the Shuck (sheep/duck).

That's the poor singleton duck that hangs out with my sheep because all his buddies flew off in the fall. Sucks being an Indian Runner.

How many people can say they have seen duck prints in the snow on their deck?

The birds are loving the feeders. I have tons of red winged black birds which are dominating the entire setup, but occasionally, I'll see a cool little colored finch or something. There are also quite a few juncos hanging around, too.

Here are some photos of my new trailer. I don't remember if I've posted any on here before, so here they are.

As I was fartin' around with my camera, a visitor came a visitin' ... who is that???

And he was gonna run me over!

Ha! It's good neighbor, Dean. :-) He can run me over any time he wants.

The sun keeps popping out today ... feels good. I'm trying to keep myself busy ... just cleaned out the bottom part of my closet, and now have a mountain of old paperwork to go through. Yippee. Not!

"Is that good?"

2012-02-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

Kahlua's pretty adorable. We are working on reinforcing a trick she sort of came with. This isn't her most enthusiastic example (she really gets going sometimes) ... but it's what I captured ... enjoy.

Word Verification for Comments

2012-02-19T20:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Shirley for pointing out the stupid word verification setting that requires people to complete an extra step to post comments on my blog. I had a hard time figuring out how to turn it off. That's because the option is NOT available if you're using the new Blogger interface. You need to revert to the old interface and then change the setting.

Thanks Shirley! And please don't stop posting on my blog. I'd miss you!

Jodi

Alfalfa Prices ...

2012-02-19T10:30:00.000-08:00

What are you paying for good quality horse hay?

It's generally about $10 a bale here ... tons ranging anywhere from 22-28 bales in a ton, so anywhere from $220 to $280 a ton.

And they're holding pretty steady.

And gas prices are going up ...

It's Official!

2012-02-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

Gunner is a herding washout!

He's awfully cute, and was having fun chasing the sheeps, but he just really wants to be someone's buddy. He lays at my feet, he follows me around, he loves being pet and getting attention, loves to fetch and just hang out with his people. It's not often that a dog this nice, calm, cool and collected, not to mention house trained and well-mannered comes through in a rescue situation. Someone is going to end up with a really nice dog.

I'm going to be pretty picky about where he goes. I'm not in any hurry to find him a home, as he's a very easy keeper. I'd like to find someone who will love him for who he is, and not what they hope they can make him into. He's a good guy and deserves the best home.

Gunner Clarification

2012-02-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

I realized I talked about Gunner on Facebook, but didn't really "introduce" him here.

No, I do not have a new dog.

Gunner is a rescue. His previous owner had to move into a smaller place that didn't allow dogs, so she had to find a home for him. He's 2 years old, and has been tossed around a bit, it seems. He's been fed whatever crap someone could afford, and has even ended up at the Humane Society a time or two. The good news is ... he's a great dog, up to date on shots, is neutered, crate trained, house trained, likes other dogs, is calm in the house, loves to play fetch, loves playing with Reese, and loves loves loves people! I haven't put him on stock yet, but I don't hold out a whole lot of hope. Doesn't matter because he will make someone an awesome companion.

I'll be holding on to him until I get can his coat and skin in good condition. He's a bit itchy and his eyes didn't look right to me (they look a bit better now). He's in the middle of a de-worming treatment and, if all goes well, he should be available for adoption in a few weeks.

I will try to post periodic updates on him. In the meantime, if you know of anyone looking for a buddy, please have them contact me.

Thanks!
J

Critters

2012-02-14T15:53:00.000-08:00

I needed to take some photos of Gunner so I can track his progress here. When he got here, his coat was pretty dry and nasty, but it seems to be getting better. I decided to take him out with the pack up on the irrigation canal and get some photos. I happened to walk out as some clouds were passing over so the light/no light was causing my camera lots of grief. Anyway, here are a few photos.

If I could be a dog, it would be Reese. I have never seen anything happier to be alive in my life. She makes me laugh.

And here is the Echo. She wasn't real fond of Gunner at first, but it seems like she's going to let him hang out.

And maybe even flirt with him.

My handsome old man, Zip.

I couldn't kneel down for these shots. I'd have a Gunner in my lap.

Gunner. Look at that chest hair. Yes, it's as dry as it looks. Egad. I hope that lays down better at some point.

The Monster.

He always looks so surprised! But found out he is quite the fetcher! Gives Zip a run for his money.

And the little Reese a Piece. Have I told you lately how much I love this little dog?

Here is my new horse trailer. My neighbor came over and drilled a hole in the handle so I could lock the tack room. This will not be the final keeping spot of the trailer. It's actually in the way here.

Walking around the driveway area a bit, I'd like to document what it looks like so I can look back at it after I fix this up.

This spot here is working for Dean and his 4-wheeler. And this is where Kahlua and I walk up on to the irrigation canal. So I will make this a nice clean path with a little bridge going over the can't-see-it-now irrigation ditch near the base of the rock.

Here's the remnants of the garden that I didn't clean up. Now that my back is feeling better, the stuff I should have done in the fall is now waiting for me.

If you look beyond the little rock pile here ... this is the area I spent a couple of hours on yesterday cleaning up. Got rid of some fencing materials, loose nails and staples, leaves, etc. That rock pile can now be dragged toward the fence. This will be the parking spot for the trailer, and a great place to bathe, groom, and tack Kahlua.

The start of the spring burn pile. I have large branches all over the yard that need to be added to this pile.

Lots more raking to do on that canal bank. My irrigation ditch is at the base of that little hill, and those leaves will be a pain in the ass when the water comes in if I don't clean them up. Lots to do.

What a mess.

Here is evidence of some great progress. Here's Kahlua standing out in the pasture.

She walked ...

... right to me as I snapped about 20 photos of her!

She got some good scratches once she got to me! Yay! There is a little bomb-proofing event at a local arena that I am going to take her to. It will be a great way to find out what, if anything, spooks her. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh the lambs. Adorableness. One of the two is more of a renegade. She loves coming up to check Echo out, as if they are long lost friends or something.

Here's the family...

That's all for now....

J

22 & .22

2012-02-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon with my son, Justin. He asked me if I would take him shooting. I thought that was a great idea, so I printed out a few photos and taped them to boxes, gathered some cans and water bottles and off we went.

(For those of you that don't recognize him, this is what I was married to.)

Here's my 22 year-old with my .22. I never thought I'd see the day. I was scared to death of guns for a long time. Despite it being Justin's first time with a gun, he did an excellent job of handling it.

Here are the targets.

I forgot to take an "after" photo of this, but here is a "during."

I starting timing my camera shots to coordinate with Justin's rifle shots in hopes of catching something in mid air or whatever. Here's what I caught!

And just some more playing with my camera. Same shot, but different focal points. Fun stuff.

It was really nice to spend some quality time with him. Hopefully, we'll spend a lot more time together this summer.

J

All kinda of stuff

2012-02-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

Where do I start?I've been having a hard time writing ... or wanting to write ... so I just haven't. The loss of my brother has really changed my life and changed my outlook on things. Losing my parents was one (very tough) thing. Losing my brother is entirely another. It's now just my sister and I, and we are both feeling very alone. Having 1,000 miles between us is probably not helping, either. I am very thankful to my friends for playing such a huge part in my life right now and helping me though this. I don't know what I'd do without you.

As busy as Mark has been, we seem to manage to spend some time together and do fun and different things. We went to a play in Boise called "Out of Order." I'd never been to a play before, and that was a fun one. We also went to see Celtic Knights at the Nampa Civic Center. Good music, great dancers, and some history of Ireland that brought back good memories of the stories my mom used to tell me about her family when I was a kid. If I ever make it back to the East Coast again, I'd like to see Ellis Island. I was there as a very young kind, but I don't remember much.

Mark also took me up to Donnelly for a horse-drawn sleigh ride to feed the elk. This was a really cool experience, and one you don't get to do often. The elk come down out of the higher elevations when the temperatures drop, and they hang out on the property owned by the Points family. And, of course, I snapped a few photos ... but I was much more interested in enjoying spending time with these majestic animals.

Starting out ... there wasn't a ton of snow, so the sleigh was a bit noisy, and the trails were kind of rutted. I would love to go on a sleigh ride in very deep snow, where all you hear is the hoof falls and sleigh bells on the horses. (The blur in the upper left corner of this photo is due to Mark's hair. Yup. That same hair that everyone told him he should cut off because it would shave years off his life. Yeah, that hair.)

Something spooked them and suddenly everyone took off.

The food on the sled proved to be a bigger draw than whatever it was that spooked them, and like sheep ... once one was brave enough, they all started coming back.

The little young ones were so cute.

But, alas, the time came when we had to leave.

And here is the youngest one of the crew, a fine young man. In ten years, I expect to go back and see him driving the sleigh.

And here's a lousy photo of the Percherons.

More updates coming ...

J

Scott Glen Training Video

2012-02-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

Things that make you go, "Awwww!"

2012-01-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

I bit the bullet this afternoon, and took Reese out with me to go feed Kahlua. I knew going in this was going to be a pain in the ass. And it was. She herds the crap out of her, or as much as she can with me getting on her every time she looks at her. By the end, she knew I was pissed and just stuck to my side. I don't think Reese will ever be the dog I can take with me horseback riding. The one time I did it last spring was nothing short of a stressful mess.

Grabbed some more hay brought it out to the sheep who are in my backyard. The ram came up, and so did the young ewe. But the older very pregnant ewe opted to hang back near the chicken house. I know what that means!!!! I put Reese away and went and grabbed my camera. I couldn't wait to see!

I think they're both ewe lambs. Mama wasn't real happy with me messing with them, so it was just a quick check. Here's lamb #1 left side ...

Lamb #1 - Right side.

Lamb #2 .. is the one in front. Kind of a roamer.

Even came over to say hi to Echo.

Because this one didn't seem to care too much about mom, I jugged them up, gave mom some hay and water and they are as protected for the night as I can make them. Keeping my fingers crossed everyone does well.

Echo. I love that dog. She is everything I've ever wanted or needed in a dog. She is fearless, but fair. She's patient, but tolerates no crap. And she is very very sensible. I won't go anywhere near the ram again without her. I did that earlier today when I first checked on the lambs, and he (my formerly adorable little Pepe ram lamb) was out to get me. He'd come at me, and I'd kick him in the head. Had to do that about 4 times on my way out. I hate doing that. I should have known better than to go in there without Echo. He won't come anywhere near me if she's with me cause he knows she will kick his dumb ass. I don't need to say anything to her ... she knows where to be, where to stay, when to walk up ... when to back off. Just amazing.

And then ... same dog ... goes up to the little brand new lamb and licks it, wagging her tail the whole time.

As long as I've been doing this, I'm still awe-struck. Watching these dogs work just blows my doors off.

Cute Rescue Girl

2012-01-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

Meet Nana. She's a 9 month old adorable ... something. She's afraid of stock, which is how I ended up rescuing her, and she's quite timid, but adjusting pretty well. But let me tell you ... she is as sweet as can be and just wants to be loved.

She is up to date on her shots, and she will be spayed in the next week or two, and then she will be available for adoption. If you know someone wanting a snuggly companion, this girl is one to check out!

On Saturday, I met up with some of the owners of the Echo x Zip pups and we put the pups on stock for the first time. First up was Zoe. She was interested, but not quite sure yet.

Then Jammer got her shot. I don't have pictures of that, as I was the one that worked her. She did very nicely. Gathered well, was nice and calm, kept everything nice and tidy. Mug shots.

Then there was Jade. The hotshot. She's gonna be a handful, but a fun one. I don't think I got photos of Jade working, but here's her mug.

None of the pups are ready for serious training yet, but we'll start exposing them about once a month and see how they do.

Rita also worked with Jackson and Don. Jackson showed a huge improvement over the last time he was on stock.

A few random shots of Nancy, Finn and Zoe.

The star of the day, though, was Rook. He's got a very nice outrun, and handled his sheep very well. Phyllis did a very nice job of handling him also. Her timing was right on.

A very fun time was had by all! Looking forward to next time!

J

Blugged.

2012-01-13T05:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I've got the blog to a very basic look and was able to get rid of the snow and the other stuff I had on there. I'm now set up on the new interface and I don't like it. Yet. I was able to figure out how to get rid of random stuff that was put back on my blog, but haven't gotten the blog to where I want it yet. It's going to take a lot of work, I think.There's not much going on here. The princess is still ... a princess. See?

I'm looking at 2 and 3 horse slant load trailers, and I think I found one. I am just working out the logistics, and hopefully, I'll be able to bring this one home soon.

It's a 1997 Circle J Apache 2-horse slant with a nice tack room. There's a lot more room in there for Kahlua and it provides me with a nice dry place to store my saddle and tack and stuff since I don't really have a tack room yet. And it will give me a place to tie her up to while I groom her and tack her up instead of using ... a tree.

This economy sucks. I'm hoping something gives soon.

Phyllis and I rescued another dog. She's adorable. Her name is Nana and she's about 9 months old. She's said to be purebred Border Collie, but I don't see how she could be. To me, she looks like a black and white cattledog mix. She won't work cows, so she couldn't stay where she was because she was "burning dog food." But she is the sweetest thing on the planet. I think she will make someone a very nice dog. We're going to put her on sheep on Saturday when we take the pups out and try them out. Hopefully, the weather cooperates and I can get photos of everything. Possibly even some video.

More later,
J

Oops!

2012-01-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I was showing someone how to change their template on their blog, and unbeknownst to me, Blogger has this new fancy layout that i started playing with. I totally messed with it, and now I've screwed it all up and I have no idea how to fix it ... and I'm too tired tonight. Sorry about that. I'll fix it in the morning or something.

I messed around with Kahlua today. I added a writeup to her training page if you'd like to check that out. Nothing exciting. Just getting to know her and what little training things I need to work on.

More soon,
J

A New Year

2012-01-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

Hopefully, this one is a bit better than the last one. It won't take much. In fact, if nothing happens, that would be a huge improvement.

For New Year's Eve, Mark and I went up to McCall for the night. The drive up was rather uneventful (thankfully) because there has been no new snow or even moisture to cause hazardous conditions. Here's a few photos I snapped at one of the rest areas.

I don't think I've ever seen a sign like this before!

Inside the rest area, I was fascinated (doesn't take much) by this phone ... you couldn't even call it a pay phone because it wouldn't take money. You could only make local or toll-free calls. Thought that was odd.

Further up the road, the ice looked really cool

Took a short detour into New Meadows ...

It is gorgeous here in the spring. We found Mark's favorite sign.

There's one on each side of the road. Imagine that.

We stopped again a little later to take some photos of this wetlands area. As I was standing there snapping a few photos, I kept hearing the ice cracking and kept looking for the critters that I was sure were there. But there were none.

And you can't really see it in this photo, but I watched as a crack developed, and then a small chunk of ice fell through and splashed into the water. The cracking was everywhere. We must have hit it at just the right time of day where a little bit of this was melting. The sound was really neat.

Once we go into McCall, we checked into the motel (details deliberated omitted), and then went to the Mill for a couple of yummy chocolate whiskey drinks. Then off to Crusty's for some pizza. They had some great chairs there, and this one absolutely sent me into a fit of the giggles. This one, really, should be in my dining room.

We hung out at the "Forest Service" bar and had a great time. Even bought a t-shirt. Was drinking some sort of yummy nutty beer ... a little heavier than I normally drink, but I think I might be on to something.

Back in town, sort of ... Mark was showing me a little town that's not really on the map anymore (and the town's name I can't even think of now) ... but we passed by a small field of these adorable cows. Highlands, maybe?

Look at her back leg. Reminds me of a Muppet! I love it!

Then yesterday, Mark picked me up so we could go horse trailer shopping and price checking, etc. He said, "Grab your camera. There's a fresh deer kill down the road, and a giant bird munching on it." When we got there, there was a CC Sheriff parked directly in front of the kill, and the bird had moved off the kill and was patiently waiting for people to leave so he could get back to what he was doing.

Initially, I thought it was a golden eagle, but the head isn't golden enough. Looks more like a juvenile bald eagle to me. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Just down the road from there were two (what I thought were) weird looking herons.

Was wishing I had a better lens, and a boatload more talent.

Late in the day, we went and picked up my saddle from DC's house and brought it home. I think I might saddle Kahlua up today and try hopping on her and see how my back feels.

More later ...

J

Pretty in ... Blue!

2011-12-30T15:39:00.000-08:00

I love listening to the news. The weather, especially. They make Idaho sound so exciting with the "STORMS!" that are coming through. The other day, they said it again. We were having a "STORM!" come through and to expect snow!

I woke up and wondered how I was going to get out of my house. The SNOW! was everywhere! Piled high! SNOW drifts 15' deep! You could barely see the animals in the pastures! Forget about getting your vehicles out of the driveway without your own personal snow plow.

Yes, of course I took photos of it! I only had about ten minutes to snap one ... before it all melted.

Yeah, this will get us out of the "DROUGHT!" ... won't it?

Thank god for the weather man. Don't know where I'd be without him.

Colleen came down for a couple of days. Had a blast hanging out with her, as usual. She had her first deer kill this year, so she brought down some venison steaks for me, Mary and Jaenne, so we all hung out at my place and drank and ate ... and ate ... and ate. It was yummy! Then Colleen and I made a deal. I buy a gun, and she'll get a horse, and we'll go hunting, and then we can have the horses help us pack the kill out. Much easier that way.

(Taken with my phone ... L to R: Jaenne, Colleen [holding Jossie] and Mary)

Colleen and I went to the Owyhees the next day and took a few dogs with us. It was nice to go and hike a little bit and loosen up my back a bit.

Reese and Jammer came along and were good girls. Jammer wouldn't stop moving, so I took a photo of Reese by herself.

Colleen went home this morning. Till next time...

Stopped at D&B and picked up a Christmas present for Kahlua. She seemed to like it! The older halter I have for her is not adjustable, and it is pretty tight in some places because her head is a little ... um ... large. This adjustable halter fits her better, and is easier for me to put on and take off because of that cool little clip on the side. And can't have a new halter without a matching lead rope!

She is not nuts about the posing-for-the-camera thing. I brought some lettuce out to her and got some close photos of her, but she does not like the sound of the motor on my camera when it flips the flash up. Here's a pretty good illustration of how she throws her head on occasion.

Sometimes she just gives me dirty looks.

Other times, she's just plotting her revenge.

Makes me wonder if she's just waiting for me to hop on her. LOL! I told her how pretty she looks in her new garb. I hope I scored some points.

The Day After

2011-12-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

I did it. I made it through another Jeff-less holiday. (Deleted a rant.)

First, Mark and I went over to my neighbor's house. Diana has a gorgeous house (and the bathroom is to die for), and it was nice to see her and her family. Dean and Brooke were there, and Diana asked me to take some photos with her point and shoot camera after the Pendleton was already swimming around in my belly. I failed miserably. Sorry, Diana! Had a lot of fun having a couple of drinks, and then stole some of the cheesecake on my way out. I just ate it for lunch today, and let me tell you ... that was YUMMY!

Came home and started preparing dinner. Justin (my son) came over for a while (because that's about all he can stand and will come up with every excuse to leave...) and I took some photos of him. I told him to come prepared to have his photo taken because he never lets me take any of him. Well, I don't have very many. So now I have a few. Here are the highlights of the photo shoot.

We exchanged gifts and had dinner. Mark got me a new breadmaker! Woo hoo! My poor, 12 year old squeaky breadmaker can have a much-deserved break now. I can't wait to try out the new one. He also got me a sound bar for my new TV! I haven't figured out all that the sound bar can and will do just yet, but I did find out that it has a radio receiver in it, and I've been playing some good country music all morning. Love it!

Took Zip and Echo out to feed this morning, along with my camera.

Echo took off up on to the irrigation canal and went down and visited the neighbors or something. In the meantime, I took Zip into Kahlua's pasture with me to see what he'd do. When we first got in there, the first thing he does is try to herd her. With much less effort than the other day, I was able to call him off, and from that point on, he left her alone and was content to eat all of the little prizes he was finding in the pasture.

I clicked off a ton of photos of Kahlua, and was able to get a lot closer to her with the camera this time.

One of these days, I'll take the camera off the "auto" setting and take some real photos of her. We're getting closer.

Here's a photo from the street. My black and white life. Black and white house, white truck, black and white sheep, black and white horse, black and white dogs, etc.

Went and found Echo and took some photos of her and Zip. She was not impressed.

Going for a drive later, so hopefully, I'll have some good view photos. Then back to my house for prime rib leftovers!

J

I guess that answers that!

2011-12-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

Last night, I took the camera with me to feed, and had it on auto, had it pointed at the ground, and "clicked" it right before I was going to toss her food over the fence. The flash went off and she jumped pretty good. I threw the food over immediately, and she didn't really want anything to do with it. So I backed up ... and she came into the food ... I clicked the camera again ... the flash went off, and again, she jumped. Wanting to see where her threshold for the flash was, I backed up again, and got a pretty good distance from her, and still pointing it at the ground, clicked it again. She didn't completely ignore it, but she didn't jump, either. So I pointed it at her, took a flash photo, and she looked, but didn't do anything.

I called it good. Went in the house, fearing a major setback. I had completely forgotten about the flash.

Then this morning's feeding ...

I've been introducing Kahlua to the dogs slowly. In fact, the only one that has been on the same side of the fence with her is Echo. Echo doesn't really "see" her and pays no attention to her other than to get the hell out of her way. So, this morning, I armed myself with some warm clothes, my camera, and Echo and Zip. I grabbed a flake of hay, had the dogs come through the gate with me (where Kahlua met me) ... stupidly turned my back and closed the gate. Realizing this could have been a disaster in the making, I turned around to find Zip trying to "herd" Kahlua. He's being quite stupid, right up on her hooves, went completely under her when she wouldn't move, and continued to "herd" her. She did not move. Did not care. How much of that had to do with the hay in my arm? I'm not sure, but I don't think much. She does not at all seem to be bothered by the dogs. Anyway, once I shut the gate, I called Zip off her and he got in big trouble. I am not sure he was particularly wanting to "work" her, but was doing it because he thought that's what I wanted. Once I told him to get outta that, he was happy joining Echo off at the other side of the pasture, eating horsey dingleberries.

Yuck.

I clicked the camera and gave Kahlua her food. Not so much as a flinch from her. Woo hoo! So I took the opportunity to step back a little bit and take a couple of more deliberate photos of her. She was very relaxed, despite the look on her face in this photo.

You can see in these next few photos, she's pretty relaxed, even with the two dogs in the pasture to my left (out of the photo).

We're getting there...

Don't have a whole lot planned for tomorrow. Spending the day with Mark and Justin and making a simple dinner. Just laying low. Maybe go for a drive or something. It's hard to believe there's no snow yet this year. Hopefully soon. They are talking the "d" word on the news already. That's not good.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The Morning Feeding

2011-12-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

Yup. There's going to be lots of photos of the same thing for a while.

I walk over to her with the hay in my left, and the camera in my right. She is not nuts about this idea.

Clicked the camera, and held the food, and she decided she didn't like this game and walked away.

Notice how she's standing there carefully watching what is in my left hand.

I toss it over the fence, and suddenly that annoying clicking noise just doesn't matter.

Sorry, Kahlua, it's part of the deal.

You're a good girl.

She is going to get a new food trough of some sort for Christmas or New Year's or something, or as soon as something decent lands on Craigslist.

Some Early Success!

2011-12-22T19:26:00.000-08:00

So I grabbed my camera tonight and went out and fed the sheep. I got the hay into my hand for Kahlua, and she started doing her dance and the little grumble-chat she does when I am about to feed her. I took a photo of her, which she did not appreciate ... (these are just random click-in-her-direction shots and I capture what I capture ... I'm not even looking through the viewfinder...)

... and then I threw her food down. She was going to show me. She was going to avoid going to her food.

... but she couldn't stand it ... and lowered her head and took a bite.

She jumped less with each click. So I walked across the driveway and took photos of fatty and friends.

That ewe is due probably in the next month. (I can't tell if the other one is pregnant, but I suspect not since she's quite young.) She is a bit of a ham. She's had dozens and dozens of photos taken of her, and I think she secretly likes it!

Here's the resident, leftover duck. This cute little pain in the ass leaves me gross little piles on my driveway pad. I guess he hangs out on it because the concrete probably maintains some sort of heat through the day. I will not be heartbroken if one day he disappears. His other buddies flew off this fall. Poor Runners can't fly, so he's on his own. Hangs out with the sheep.

On the way back to the house, I pointed the camera in Kahlua's direction again and clicked it a couple of times. She didn't jump at all. Hopefully, this will be as easy as I think. I hope.

Also, I went for a walk tonight. This might not sound like much to anyone, but I walked two miles in about 40 minutes. Getting my back moving again feels really good. I am going to try to walk every day and increase the distance and decrease the time.

Click and Treat - KPR style

2011-12-21T17:56:00.000-08:00

Look who came home today!

Don was hanging on to her for me since I hurt my back. Now that I'm feeling better, he brought her home for me. I took a couple of pictures of her and she jumps every time. It's the only thing I've found thus far that unnerves her. So instead of using a traditional clicker, I'm going to use the click of the camera, and treat her, and see if I can't get her over it. It would be a drag to have a horse I couldn't take photos of!

I'll report my progress.

If Tears Were Pennies ...

2011-12-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

I'd be rich a few times over.

The world lost a true gem this year. Did you ever miss someone until it hurts, and then miss them some more? These are just a few of the gazillion that show who Jeff was. He was always with people, and his girls (be it his sisters or his daughters) meant the world to him. What I wouldn't do to have him back.

(These photos are scans of prints done by my very talented dad. These scans do not do these photos any justice.)

Winter Blahs

2011-12-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

I've been laid up for almost two weeks now with the injury to my back. Today is the first day I haven't taken any meds and it's almost 11:00 a.m. I'm hoping that was the end of them. I can feel a bit of tightness in my back, but it's not uncomfortable enough ... right now ... to justify taking pills and suffering the stupid side effects. We'll see how this goes.

Haven't posted much lately. Haven't had anything going on for obvious reasons. It's been a cold winter, and I'm already through almost a ton of pellets, so I'm having more delivered next week. Mark came over and fixed the exhaust on my pellet stove. The way it was set up, it was going to eventually burn my house down. So Mark bought the parts and got it all fixed up the other day.

You can see by the soot on the house how low the exhaust was previously. This will be much better. He also put up a smoke alarm for me. Every night, I used to think to myself, "I have fire burning in my house and I don't have a smoke alarm. I have dogs in crates and if something should ever happen, they cannot get out." That thought haunted me. Not anymore. Mark, thank you so much for your help!

There have been a lot of people who have been a tremendous help to me through this back injury. Jaenne ... she's just awesome, no matter what day of the week. And my neighbor, Dean. I don't know what I'd ever do without him. He's taken such good care of me over these last two weeks, there's no way for me to ever repay him.

And these two have provided the best company in the world, and they keep the bed nice and warm, too.

He's always checking on me.

And once I'm feeling better, I have a huge job ahead of me of cleaning up from the fall mess.

Kahlua will be coming home from Don's house soon. I've decided to lay low for the winter and let my back heal (we'll see how long this thought lasts). Bummer for her, but she'll get plenty of work come Spring.

Oh and the best news! Look what I got in the mail today!!!!!

I won this from the FV blog, and let me tell you, this is a very nice calendar! The quality of the paper, the photos, everything ... it's one of the nicest calendars I have ever owned! Thank you, Fern Valley!!!

Jodi

Tell Me Thursday!

2011-12-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

Yes! It's back!

1. What are your plans for the holiday season?

Drinking. A lot of drinking. I hope my son comes and spends some time with me. The coast-to-coast calls have gone quiet. I'm sure I'll talk to my sister like I do almost every day. It'd be nice if she could come back up, but that's a lot to ask. Quite honestly, I am dreading this holiday season, unfortunately. I miss my brother like nothing else.

2. Do you decorate? If so, what have you done so far?

When Justin was young, I used to. I have boxes and boxes of Christmas crap in the "garage," and planned on doing a bit this year, but now that I hurt my back, I've decided it's easier to leave it there. No point in getting a tree. I'm the only one who would see it.

3. a. Favorite recent dog photo?

Confirmation of Echo's lettuce ejector ...

b. Photo that shows your mood today (or one word)?

4. There's been a discussion on the BC Boards about "don't train for the novice classes... just train for open and the rest will fall into place." What are your thoughts on this?

The Boards are becoming more and more difficult for even me to follow. Having Mr. Wannabe Writer continue to address people by guessing what level of training they are at is no less insulting today than it was months ago. You're on a message board ... there is NO reason to address people, no less address them by "Dear Wouldbe Sheepdoggers" ... really? Wouldbe ... if what? If you were an open handler? I guess being able to handle moving livestock in real situations excludes you from being a "real" sheepdogger. But if you are running in open, and the thread is geared that way, then you are addressed, "Dear Fellow Handlers." Imagine that. Anyone who says that this is not intentional has their head in the sand. It is very rude and the moderator continues to do nothing about it. But ... who am I to criticize? He has an entire following of people that find everything he posts to be the greatest thing ever written -- even though it's mostly pompous, obvious bullshit, geared toward gaining himself more attention. If there's a 22 page thread, no no ... he won't post to it. He has to start his own quasi-related thread. Ridiculous. He now has another "wouldbe sheepdogger" ("wouldbe" but she's an AKC judge) handler doing the same now. What a joke.

But call Root Beer to the carpet on her experience, and you get your ass in a bind with the moderator in a heartbeat. Apparently, she's special.

And whatever you do, do not question the "expert" trainer / newly-elected magazine guru on why she puts puppies -- very very young puppies -- on stock and promotes doing so on the boards ... when top handlers all over the country do NOT recommend starting pups until they are much older. Oh, and crossbred puppies are acceptable to, since they are "bred for work" I guess. Even though you look back in some of her posts, and she tells a fabulous tale about how she only has one or two litters a year, the story is much different when you start paying attention. But ... don't mention that. It's negative. The boards are for holding hands and singing Kumbaya.

My goal is, and has always been, to move the livestock in a calm, efficient manner, and I train accordingly. Proper handling of livestock. There is a big difference between running a few sheep through an obstacle course while playing "the game" to be able to move up that social ladder ... and actually raising and managing a healthy flock of sheep on a day to day basis. You know ... the "behind the scenes" stuff. The stuff that needs to be done when everyone goes home. To me, that's where a dog needs to shine. That's the part one should train for.

5. What are your top five cannot-do-without-them dog items?

1) My house that they live in.
2) The couches they sleep on.
3) The water bowl I pee in.
4) The truck I drive them around in.
5) Their sheep.

Cabin Fever!

2011-12-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

I am going beserk! I don't remember if I mentioned it here or on FB or what, but I threw my back out last Saturday tossing a couple of heavy bales of hay into my truck. I have never ever felt anything like this in my life. I went to the doctor on Monday (sans insurance) and the doctor was surprised I didn't come in sooner. He gave me some good drugs, which I have been taking religiously. I can sure tell when I am late with them.

I am at least able to walk a bit today. Sleeping is still very uncomfortable, and the mornings are hell, mainly because I am behind the 8-ball on the pain killers and muscle relaxers. Once that gets caught up ... usually about noon ... I have some relief.

Riding, unfortunately, is going to be put on hold for a bit. Hopefully, I'll feel well enough this weekend to go out and do some ground work with Kahlua though. Maybe even work a dog or two. That might be heroic thinking, though. We'll see.

The backbone is connected to the ... leg bone ...

2011-12-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

I've had a couple of lessons on Kahlua now. She is so fun to ride!

First ride: New saddle, new pad, new blanket, new rider, new bridle, etc. Yikes. Took me a bit to figure it out, and it's tough getting the brand new latigo tight enough to handle my fat ass getting into the saddle. Finally figured it out, though. Rode down to the arena. She definitely wants to go ... a lot. Put open space in front of her, and she goes. That's the first thing we're going to work on is getting her to walk. I was stopping her every time she got into a trot. What I am finding out, though, is that a better training method is to make her work when she does that. Make her circle. Don't stop her. Wait until she stops herself. And this method is teaching me a ton. Balance. Big time. Going from a trot into tight circles brings out every little weakness in the way I am sitting in the saddle, how my feet are in the stirrups, whether or not my latigo is tight enough, whether I am leaning to far forward, etc. All at once. She also had a three-beat stop. I'd "whoa" her and she would take three steps. We're getting her to stop quicker. If I don't put her into circles when she goes into the trot, I lead her right into the corner of the arena, and "whoa" her where she doesn't have room for 3 steps. And when she is just standing, she gets bored, and will either start heading off pretty quick, or if I don't let her do that, she's pawing at the ground and threatening to roll on me. So those are the things we needed to work on. We rode for about an hour and, despite the bit of spoiled brattiness I was finding in her, I really enjoyed riding her.

And yes, I was a bit sore but none the worse for wear.

Second ride: (I should start making a log of this so I can see where her training goes.) Had a lot less fumbling getting tacked up, still had quite a bit of slipping with the saddle during mounting, but that will work itself out when everything gets broken in. She walked out to the arena this time -- obviously understanding there was work ahead of her. But I was glad she walked. We got into the arena ... and with nothing in front of her, she walked. And walked and walked some more. Great progress. We stood still. No pawing. No attempting to roll. A few times, she had nothing in front of her and she wanted to trot, so into a circle we went, and she would give up much sooner than she did previously. I was very very happy with the way she worked.

Another very important (to me) thing we are working on is leading. She has been allowed to lead with her shoulder next to the person. I am very uncomfortable with her up there. She is learning to respect my space, and I am learning how to properly correct her -- with a focus on being fair in my correction, having it be firm enough so as to be clear the first time so I don't end up nagging. I have to admit, though, I am a bit intimidated correcting her when I am on the ground. But I'm learning.

Before I went riding, I grabbed a couple of bales of hay and threw them into the back of my truck. When I picked up the first one, it was about 25 or 30 pounds heavier than I had anticipated, and I've succeeded in throwing my back out pretty good. Hard to walk, hard to move, hurts to sneeze, can't lift anything, hurts rolling over in bed, etc. So, I'll be down for a few days I'm sure.

Oh, here's a couple of photos. I clicked this one on our way back to the corral after our ride. If you recall, I mentioned how Kahlua is not nuts about the shutter noise on my camera (the only thing that I've found she is uncomfortable with thus far). Well, my phone has a fake shutter sound on it. So while we were very calmly walking back to the corrals, I snapped this photo, and she took it as me "clucking" her to go, so she got into a trot. I laughed ... thought that was cute.

And here's one when we got back up to the house. She didn't jump when I took this one. Progress!

Gotta love the Owyhees!

2011-11-27T06:38:00.000-08:00

My sister, Jill, and her boyfriend, Bill, came up to stay with me for a few days over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was really nice to be able to spend some time with them while we all had the time to do it. They pulled in Tuesday night and Jill brought me a few boxes of stuff of Mom's ... stuff she had narrowed down from the 30 boxes or so we had in storage. One of the many little treasures in there is a photo of my mom on her wedding day. If you've never seen old photos of my mom, she was one of the most beautiful people in the world. I have the perfect frame for the photo and I can't wait to hang it in the living room.

Anyway, Wednesday we didn't end up doing much. We visited with Dean and Brooke, and Bill helped me with a ton of hay when it got delivered. He also replaced a few of the electrical outlets with three-prong outlets (yes, this house is that old) and figured out how to hook up his computer to my t.v. so we could get caught up on the new season of Dexter. Dexter rocks. Wednesday night, we went and hung out at Caba's for a while and had a few drinks. Came home and crashed early.

Thursday was spent, for the most part, over at Jaenne's house cooking, etc. (Well, not me. Jaenne and Jill did an awesome job on dinner -- two ham roasts from the previous pigs I had, and one of the best prime rib roasts I've had in a long time!) Thank you, Jaenne, for hosting ... and all your hard work! It made for a very nice day ... a day that always has the potential to be much much worse. If I could get rid of a holiday ... any holiday ... Thanksgiving would definitely be it.

Friday, I took Jill and Bill on a road trip through the Owyhees. It was rather chilly and the wind was whipping, but we managed to see some ... um ... sights. LOL!

Starting out in Murphy. We swung by the courthouse. If you've never heard the story about the Lone Parking Meter in Murphy, it's a kick. Here's a couple of photos of the meter from the other day.

From there, we headed to Oreana ... a place that is hardly big enough to call a "town" ... but I've heard a lot about it, so I had to go check it out. My neighbor Dean's friend did a lot of the stone repair work on the little church in Oreana, so I had to see it. What beautiful work!

Continuing down the road, we stopped at the Black Sands Resort past Grandview. The resort wasn't open, but I still captured a few shots of the area itself. This is probably real pretty in the summer.

I saw a few ducks hanging out, and momentarily wondered if the black one was the Cayuga that recently flew away from my place.

Hmmm ... You know what they say about looking and quacking like a duck. Might be!

Here's a cute shot of Jill and Bill.

Finally, we ended up in Bruneau. There is a bar in Bruneau that my neighbor kept telling me about, so I had to stop in and see it for myself. What a cool place!

The goat-roping arena~!

The brands on the walls were really cool. The owner told me they had a big branding party, and everyone brought their branding irons and put their brands all over the walls and on the bar, etc.

Even the bathrooms were adorable!

The bar itself is very unique. The owner mentioned how they really tried to keep the history intact, so all they really did to the bar was put a new top on it.

Some cool bottles...

The best part of the bar, for me, though was the people. Found some information out about the area that I don't think I would have otherwise run across. Very cool stuff! And good drinks, too!

And our final destination was Bruneau Canyon. I haven't been there in years, but it hasn't changed much. Hahaha. It was very very windy and made it quite chilly. We didn't hang out long, but enjoyed the view for a few minutes anyway.

I think Jill's hair explains it all.

Saturday, we didn't do much ... just kind of putzed around. Took Bill to Cleo's ... everyone that visits me, at some point, has to do the Cleo's walk. It's just ... original. Went back to Marsing for a few drinks, then later met up with Justin for dinner. Jill and Bill left this morning. I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all! :-)

Kahlua update. She is lovely. What a nice, calm, gentle horse. And patient. On Thanksgiving, I tacked her up to see how my saddle fit her. Since I had her saddled, I figured I might as well hop on her. So I rode her around in my little arena for a few minutes. I made a million tack mistakes, but that was to be expected. The latigo is pretty well brand new and I have a hard time getting it as tight as it needs to be. Can't wait till that smooths out a bit. But all is well. She's getting to know and trust me, and figure out that I'm an idiot, but a pretty harmless one.

More later...

Jodi

New Arrival!

2011-11-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

Here's Kahlua! (fka "Cheyenne")

And one thing I figured out is that she's not nuts about the shutter on my camera. She'll get over it. Her feet get done next week.

I Win!

2011-11-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

At the risk of making myself look like a slob, I thought I'd share my experience with you this morning.

There was a really annoying squeak going on. Yes, a mouse. It kept popping out from my floor heater and popping back in. So I enticed it some. I'd tell you to ignore the gigantic pile of dog hair, but it plays a part.

I figured out two things.

1. Vans should get into the exterminator business.
2. I have no patience.

And for anyone who would like to see a real close-up of the end result, I will post the link. Be forewarned ... yes, it's just a little mouse ... but it even grossed ME out when I enlarged the photo! Have fun! Click HERE to see it.

No more squeaking!

Prepping ...

2011-11-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

So much to do~! I love winter ... and it is rolling in quick! Lots of paperwork to handle. Putting the trailer back together and moving it out of my driveway. Getting my hay area ready to bring in the hay. Fixing fencing. Raking leaves ... and more leaves ... and more ... leaves. Gonna ask the sheep to help me with some of those. Have a ton of photos to edit from the puppy get-together the other day. Fun to see all the pups growing up. Glad most of them are pretty local.

Colleen was down for a visit. We didn't do much, but it's always nice to see her and spent time just shootin' the shit with her, having a beer, whatever.

Dierks Bentley concert tomorrow ... that should be fun!

Fun fun fun weekend coming up! This is going to be a very long week.

A Possibility ...

2011-11-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

Went to look at a horse this morning. Meet Cheyenne. She's 12 years old ... she's quite calm and patient. I rode her for a bit and she was very nice.

Bloggin'

2011-11-09T06:48:00.000-08:00

K ... I haven't blogged in a while. It's getting harder to sit at the computer. I've been getting headaches almost daily now, so I went to the eye doctor and have a pair of glasses on order. The corrections are pretty minor, in fact my vision is still 20/20, but I sure hope it is eye strain causing these headaches.

Jammer and Reese are glad it's cold out. They both love eating the little wood pellets that inevitably drop out of the bag when I am pouring them in the hopper of the stove. *crunch, crunch* Yuck. I don't get it.

I got sick of looking at my living room with the ridiculous attempt at curtains and the glorified computer monitor as a t.v. screen, not to mention the lumpy futon mattress on the squeaky frame. I also got tired of seeing those 7 Wonders of Idaho posters. While those are nice ... I have tons of photos I have done nothing with but post on my blog where 2 people look at them. So ... I changed things around.

The couch is a microfiber sofa bed. The sofa bed part is brand new, in the wrapper even. There is a little wear on the couch, but for the most part, it's quite comfortable. The curtains are Walmart specials, which beat the hell out of the other ones I had. Had Walmart also print a bunch of my photos and threw them into the gazillion frames I had sitting around the house. The little frame on the table (notice I now have the complete matching set of tables ... coffee table and two end tables! ... thank you, Phyllis!) is my brother's obituary out of the New York Times. I miss him like nothing else. I can't believe I'll never hear him laugh again. One thing him and my mom shared were great laughs. Their laughs alone made you laugh.

As you can see, I'm not quite done with the room, but here's my new t.v.! The last large t.v. I had was a tube, and it landed on the floor from the infamous, drunken Last Stand with the ex-husband and was never the same again.

I am still looking for a horse. It's amazing the crap people are getting rid of. "Yeah, he's broke. He bucks sometimes, but you usually can stay on him." Ummm ... no. "Oh yeah, he has tons of miles on him, but I haven't ridden him in two years so he might be a little feisty." Ummm ... no. "Yeah, that's a crack in his hoof ... he might need a shoe-ing." Um, ya think???? "I didn't realize that there was no protein in this hay, so he lost a few pounds, but we're fixing that now." Ummm ... if you consider several hundred to be "a few." Good grief!

Took my saddle to my trainer's dad (he's a local saddle maker). He's putting the breast collar rings on the front, turning the stirrups, and shortening up the stirrups for me. It'll be nice when he's done, I'm sure. I also bought a nice saddle pad from him. (I put a foam pad in between the layers which is why it's not laying flat here...)

... and I also bought a new headstall from him also. It matches the breast collar I'll eventually be buying.

Jam could care less.

Talk About Perfect Timing!

2011-11-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

So Mark whisked me away to Denver last weekend to just hang out. It was a blast! Last Wednesday, though, Denver got a foot of snow. And today, they got more. But over the weekend, much of the snow had melted and the temps were about 60 or 65 degrees, clear blue skies, and absolutely gorgeous!

We got into Denver about 7:00 p.m., and then Mark drove us around in what was the first of many circles before landing us at the hotel we would be staying at. [ducking and running...] We had dinner at the steakhouse right next to the hotel (Lone Star) and it was awesome! We walked back over to the hotel, watched some t.v. and crashed pretty early. Woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday, and off we went! We were having breakfast by about 6:30 a.m. or so ... maybe 7:00 or something. A very cool thing happened.

We were driving up one of the main road in that part of town, and we passed ... a diner! I said to Mark, "Hey check it out ... a diner. You usually only see those in Jersey." So he said, "Wanna go?" And, with that, he turned around and we went to Davies Chuck Wagon Diner.

Ok, so that's awesome. We get in there, and are looking over the menus (I'm now going blind and need glasses for everything...) and Mark points out the "history" part of the menu to me. Here's what it says:

Diners: For Decent Food At Modest Prices

Besides aging into a classic Colfax store, The Chuck Wagon Diner may well be one of the West's few representatives on an American tradition.

In 1957, this fully equipped diner was bought from a New Jersey manufacturer. The diner, weighing 46 tons, was shipped to Colorado by rail and placed on its present basement foundation. Because of its great weight, it may be as far west as you will find a diner.

These prefabricated diners, having evolved from the horse-drawn trolley cars, turned restaurants, are indigenous to the northeastern states. In 1950, there were an estimated 6,000 of these diners in existence. Now there are only about half that number and "shrinking at a clip."

In 1997, the National Historic Society inducted Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner into the National Historical Registry.

We, here at the Chuck Wagon Diner, greatly appreciate your business. We will strive to make your experience with us a pleasurable one -- one that you'll want to return to.

And return we did ... Sunday morning.

This, to me, was a kick in the pants! I was so wishing my brother was alive at the very moment I read this. My brother and I were supposed to meet in Denver (him flying in from Jersey and me from Idaho) at the end of September to go watch the Rockies play. We could have ended up at the Davies' Diner ... and how ironic that would have been! He would have loved seeing this!

Anyway, I ended up buying t-shirts and getting some post cards and such. Mark said I was grinning from ear to ear.

From there, we headed to Golden. What a cute town!

I loved this sculpture. The detail was incredible!

Stupid thing ... I didn't take any photos of the Coors brewery! Duh! And, because Mark has a very large storage space in his head for useless information, he told me about the history of Coors and the can. I've cheated, and took it from Wiki, but here's the info, which I found quite interesting:

"In 1959, Coors became the first American brewer to use an all-aluminum two-piece beverage can. Coors currently operates the largest aluminum can producing plant, known as the Rocky Mountain Metal Container (RMMC), in the world in Golden, Colorado. RMMC is a joint venture between Ball Metal and Coors, having been founded in 2003."

From there, we headed up Lookout Mountain to the grave site of Buffalo Bill. On the way up, we encountered the first of many deer, who could absolutely care less that we pulled up right next to them.

It was still very early in the morning, the air was crisp, and it was not as clear out as it would turn out to be later in the day. But here are some photos of the grave site, all the same.

On our way over to Red Rocks, we came up on this "preserve" of some sort. I loved the iron work on this railing.

And these lamps.

On our way back down the hill, we saw this house off in the distance.

Made me think of ...

I would have loved to have gotten a tour of that house.

Then on to Red Rocks. I have wanted to see this place since I was real young, and my sister used to bring back the photos from the Dead shows she used to go to here. It's as amazing as I always imagined.

Yes, those are actually people running up and down those stairs. Now remember ... this is at an elevation of 6200 feet. Just thinking about walking on a flat surface got me winded.

We headed down to the gift shop ... very cool.

They had all of the bands who have performed there listed right on the walls. It was fun looking at that.

And other cool stuff on the walls. Jill, this one's for you.

And now ... it's only like 10:30 in the morning! We have the whole day ahead of us! And off we go!

At my sister's suggestion, we headed to the little town of Morrison. What a cute town!

These people were standing on a corner ... looks like they were waiting for some friends to park so they could all head to some sort of costume party, and they were kind enough to let me photograph them. This photo looks like it's against a fake background. Fall bokeh. I love it.

From there, we headed west, through Idledale and Kittredge and into a town called Evergreen. It was all so picturesque! This was another little town with cool little shops everywhere.

I loved all of the water running through the towns. And the bridges. Can ya tell? We found a cool place to have some lunch and then headed back to Denver. Did some shopping, and then we were coming through Littleton, a town Mark lived in for a while. He asked me if I wanted to see Columbine High. Why not? So after driving around in a few circles (yup ... more circles), we found it.

I was very happy to see the kids trick or treating here, as it was a sign of healing.

One thing I noticed in Denver are these really cool bridges. If you notice, there's no center pillar, so instead, they do that arc thing with the supports. These bridges look really cool with a sunset behind them, and they themselves are silhouetted.

We got back to the west part of town, and Mark drove us through some residential areas he was familiar with (and conveniently around in more circles!), and much to my delight, the neighborhood was just covered in deer!

Who has a photo of a deer with Halloween decorations behind its head????

That night, Mark took me to Casa Bonita. What a fun place! Sitting there having dinner, while a mariachi band plays, short pirate-type skits and cliff diving right there in the restaurant! Lots of activities for the kids, and great food! Again, Mark and I went back to the hotel just stuffed.

Sunday morning, we got up and went and had breakfast back at the diner. Again, it was yummy!

We took off and headed up through Boulder and into Estes Park. A cool bridge on the way.

See the big white building with the red roof?

That's the Stanley Hotel. It's where The Shining was filmed, and also parts of Dumb & Dumber.

An amazing place!

From there, we headed up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. On the way, we see this awesome creature ... who could care less about us.

More about this later.

Some of the roads were closed in the mountains, so we drove on the ones we could. The views were spectacular, and try as I might, there is no way for me to capture in a photo the way it makes you feel when you're out there. "Majestic" is putting it lightly.

What you don't see in these photos is that ... the higher we went ... the harder the wind whipped! In the photo below, you can see where the wind is blowing the "snow" off the mountain. At this point, that was almost more like ice and felt like rocks hitting your face.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! We headed back down the mountain. Right around the area that we saw the bull elk in on the way up, we see this. The longer you look, the more elk you see.

So we drop back down into Estes Park and shopped around a bit. It was here that I found my kokopelli earrings, finally! In talking to the woman at the counter, she tells us what a nuisance the elk are when they come into town, and by golly, they were in town the day before and just walking around, getting in the way of traffic, etc. Apparently, the Denver area has its fair share of tree-huggers, so hunting is a bit ... um ... scarce as opposed to other parts of the country. Anyway, as we were walking around, sure enough, elk poop ... trails of it. You could see where they came in and where they left. Too funny. She told us that occasionally there are also moose that walk through town. Now that I'd like to see!

Mark took a different route back down to Denver, heading for the airport. What a gorgeous drive!

Everyone who knows me knows I love Japanese food. This was kinda funny.

And here's something I found rather ironic.

On Dog Chow? Ha!

Mark, thank you thank you thank you for another awesome trip!

Me

Shades of Green

2011-11-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted. I have lots to post, including the bazillion photos of my trip to Denver with Mark, but for some reason, the photos landed in several different Picasa photos instead of just one, so now I have to shift things around. And considering there's about 150 photos I'll be posting, this will take a while.

In the meantime, I went to check out that spotted horse again, this time dragging Don with me so he could evaluate him for me. I'm glad I did. It only took a few seconds of Don working with him for me to see that he was way too green for what I'd like to do. I was kinda bummed because I love his little personality. Oh well.

Got myself some leather cleaner and cleaned the saddle I bought a few weeks ago. Considering I got this saddle very inexpensively, it cleaned up pretty well.

Three Bar Saddlery seems to be a very small place ... haven't found much information about them other than that website. Still have work to do ... need to put some more holes in the leather so I can shorten up the stirrups and trim the extra leather. Need to get a cinch, a pad and a blanket, but then I should be good to go.

Oh ... and a horse. Need one of those.

J

Seeing Spots

2011-10-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, my hunt for a horse continues.

I recently got an email from someone I apparently contacted a while back about a horse. He told me he has an older gelding for sale. I got his address and headed over there with not much information.

I got there, and it turns out, it's a huge spotted Appy. He's not real into people, but he's supposedly broke and safe to ride. From the ground, I wasn't comfortable, so I wasn't about to try to ride him. I asked if they had anything else for sale. He said he has a few 5 and 6 year-old horses ... but they're just green-broke. I figured I'd look anyway. Yeah. That's like going to "look" at a puppy. Uh-huh.

This guy was adorable. He's very friendly, curious, and gentle. Loves people, and loves the attention. I am mulling over whether or not I'd like to work with "green broke" or get something really broke broke. We'll see, I guess.

He's the horse you see first and last in this video.

October ...

2011-10-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

I love October. The leaves are really starting to get very colorful now, and I will be keeping my camera battery on full charge.

Went up to a branding last weekend. I'd never been to one before. It was very interesting watching the ranchers rope the calves in such a nice, quiet, calm manner, the various loops they use, the different methods, and each with their own style. I loved how the stock -- both the horses and the calves -- were handled. Quite different than the rodeo. And there were no fancy rhinestones on saddles, shirts, hats, asses or anywhere else. And no one was wearing bright turquoise anything, and no one had any fancy tassels hanging off of anything. Just real cows and real cowboys.

Here is the owner of the ranch demonstrating for me various really cool loops. These loops ... float ... slowly through the air -- almost like suspended animation -- and land very quietly on the calves.

Once the calves are headed and heeled, they are branded, vaccinated and ear-tagged ... all very quickly, quietly and efficiently. It was very cool to see.

Back at home, the weather is really really nice right now. The skies are amazing, the air is getting a bit crisp, the mornings and evenings are chilly, but the days are perfect.

I took the Sexy Echo for a walk. Yes, she's now showing off her "girly curlies" -- that is, her girly figure and her lovely locks.

We passed by the sheep on the way. I know I've been sort of explaining that my neighbor and I built some fencing across the canal to enclose the sheep in so they can chew down the weeds over there, but I don't think I've posted photos. Here's a visual of where my sheep are now. (Yes, I only have three left, but my ewe is looking prego...)

We walked down the canal a bit and took a few more photos. This tree will be a gorgeous bright yellow very soon. (There are sun spots in many of my photos. I was shooting directly into the sun on auto and didn't feel like messing with it.)

My neighbor's bridge (and the diva on the end)...

Hey Diana ... what are these? They look like giant blueberries. Are they some sort of plum?

We decided to walk over and check on the sheep. I love this field. The neighbors rent it out to a farmer who grows mint every year, and it smells great! It's too bad I can't train the dogs on it. It would be the perfect place.

The sheep ... were absolutely distraught.

They started jumping up and down, they were so mad! Then suddenly, they jumped right over the fence and landed ... yup, whodaguessedit ... right in the field! Echo was annoyed that she had to go all ... the ... way ... out ... there ... and ... get .... them....

(These photos are taken from quite a distance and cropped way back, and shot right into the sun, so the quality is hurtin'. There's my bazillion excuses.) The sheep weren't cooperating, so she had to drive them.

And flank all over the place.

And crossdrive.

... a long way ...

... to be able to fetch them back to me ....

... in a gorgeous straight line (across the corrugates instead of with them) ...

... so we could put those incorrigible sheep back where they belong! Whew! It was a good thing we were there! And I just happened to have my whistle AND my camera with me. Luck-y!

Here's my place on the way home. There's not much water left in the canal.

I actually cleaned my kitchen this week, floor and all. Nope. Not lyin'. I did it. Really. And I went to go clean the floor in the entry way when I noticed what a mess the dog boxes were. They were full of dirt, and I was annoyed at myself for never finishing off what the contractor started. So I went to work on it ... grabbed the shop-vac and sucked all the dirt up ... grabbed the sander and sanded down the wood on the bottoms of the boxes so that they were all nice and smooth and clean ... and then put two coats of primer/sealer on them.

That hole right there ... that's a Reese hole. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I'm not certified in drywall-patching, and my contractor is nowhere to be found. But ... I'm going to paint trim tomorrow and hopefully get this room done once and for all. I have a bunch of cute stuff I want to hang on the walls and would love to get the various cans of paint and crap out of this room and really start using it for what I initially intended using it for.

See? I told you!

But it won't stay like that for long. Why not? Um. Here's why.

These two make their presence known wherever they go. They're like Frick and Frack.

J

Rust and Dust

2011-10-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Worked on my trailer a bit today. Here's what it looked like back in March when I bought it (which is still what it looked like this morning):

Yeah. It's a huge project.

So I started sanding away at it this morning. The neighbor came over and brought me his sander and I eventually went and borrowed his air compressor to blow the dust off as I was doing this. Mainly what I was tackling was the bad rust spots, sanding them down and putting primer on them so I can eventually paint this thing.

Here you can see the difference between sanded and not.

This was quite a bit of work and took a long time. The rust seemed to be everywhere:

So here's how far I've gotten. Not far, but better than it was.

This was an entire can of primer on this back door. This is not going to be fun.

Wheel before:

Wheel after:

I am buying new hub caps and am not going to try messing with those. Getting rid of the rest of this rust is going to make my arms fall off as it is.

Saw this little guy. I imagine it's a caterpillar. I haven't seen a caterpillar in years.

I went to pick him up and he did this:

He becomes invisible, see? ;-)

More updates as this project continues.

J

Sisko Kid

2011-10-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

I went and looked at a horse this weekend. Nice guy. A little herd-bound, but had some very nice training on him. Neck reined beautifully. Stopped on a dime. A friendly guy and good on the ground.

Meet Sisco.

The flies wouldn't leave him alone.

Poor guy. I told him he's a mess. I decided he was a red roan sorrel dappled overo bald-faced medicine hat paint. Prove me wrong! LOL! A nice big horse ... nice smooth gait. A nice ride.

I have another couple of horses I'm going to check out.

Mark and I went to Ontario Friday night. There was a local band playing, and it was out of the way of Bronco madness here in Idaho. The bar was very nice. The band gave us plenty of material to make fun of ... something we're very good at.

Saturday night, we went to THE FARMSTEAD and went through (and got lost in) the corn maze. Then we headed over to the FIELD OF SCREAMS. This is very well done and was quite fun. I highly recommend it!

Next weekend, we'll check out LINDER FARMS with the kids. For anyone who thinks, "How silly ... how do you get lost in a corn maze?" ... try it. Especially at night where your sense of direction is a mess. It was fun. My feet hurt, as does my ... um ... rear end. Thanks, Mark, for yet another fun evening!

Tell Me Thursday

2011-10-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

1. If you won the lottery (a big one... I'm talking stupid muchos cash) what would you do with the money?

Thanks for reminding me! I have lottery tickets from last night's drawing ... will have to pull them out and see if I won anything. I'd buy an island.

2. After winning the lottery would you work a day job? If so, what would you do?

I would be managing my island and hiring workers, etc. "Jodi's Island" would be one of the finest vacation destinations ever. Sort of like a Scotland only you wouldn't have to cross "the pond" to get there. Lots of sheep. Lots of green rolling hills. And cool castles.

3. Do you have any auxiliary dogs? Auxiliary dogs are dogs that are not essential to your main purpose (usually tiny, but not always). If you don't have an auxiliary dog what might you choose?

At the moment, I don't. I used to have the best auxiliary dog in the world in Jag, but I haven't been able to "replace" him. I am not into kick-me dogs, so little dogs are out. I love Great Danes though. If I could afford to feed it, and my house was large enough for one, I'd have one in a heartbeat.

4. Do you have a favorite crock pot recipe (or other recipe) you can share?

Yes! I just made one the other day off of "Crockpot Girls" on Facebook. It goes like this.

Pepperoncini Beef Roast
1 beef roast. Put it at the bottom of the crockpot.
1 package of dry ranch dressing mix. Pour it (just like that) over the roast.
1 package of dry brown gravy mix. Pour it (just like that) over the roast.
1 stick of butter ... place it on top of the roast.
1 jar of pepperoncinis ... add the entire jar (juice and all) around the roast.
Cook on low for 8 hours.

Awesome! It's beef roast with a kick! I served it with green bean casserole made with fresh green beans from the guy down the road. Also made mashed potatoes from his fresh red potatoes. And a homemade loaf of honey walnut bread. It was to die for, and I very happily ate leftovers for 3 or 4 days.

A Horse is a Horse, of course.

2011-10-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

I'm busy distracting myself. I went to someone's house the other day and bought a bunch of their used tack, so made a nice addition to my collection of stuff. Got a headstall with a bit and split-reins, two other bits (one with the little rollie thing), a nice suede-lined nylon halter, a cinch, nylon hobbles, and a tie down. Then I went out to one of the saddle shops and got a saddle stand and a lead rope. Bought a saddle which will be delivered this weekend. Apart from little things like brushes, combs, nose band, chin strap, I'm pretty set, I think. (Yeah, I know ... there's a bazillion other things I'll "need" when I get into this.)

And now I'm looking at horses.

There are tons of them out there, anywhere from free to oh-my-dog, but plenty in my price range. The only problem is ... which is the same thing with buying started dogs ... is there's usually a reason someone is selling it. And it's usually the same reason you'd sell it. And they try to minimize it. "Sure, he bucks a little, but what horse doesn't?" (as they adjust their arm cast). "As long as everything fits him properly and you balance good in the saddle, he probably won't bite you at all." "Yes, he's broke. I've ridden him twice now." "Yeah, she's all ready to go. She might even have been bred to my donkey!" "He was bottle fed as a baby. No, he doesn't step on me or step into me very often. Respects my space most of the time."

So ... pick your poison, I guess. As with any dog I'd get, there's going to be training involved no matter what I buy, it seems.

I'm going to go look at this cute guy tomorrow.

And then on Sunday, there is another young gelding I'm going to go check out and possibly ride if I like what I see -- and the weather holds out. The most important thing to me is finding a safe, sane horse. I will be riding by myself at some point, and I want to be able to not worry about it.

Always & Forever

2011-09-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yup. Jet lag. I've got it. Asleep at 9:00 p.m. ... up at 4:00 a.m.

I got home late Tuesday night. Everyone said it was a "lovely service." I didn't find anything about it "lovely." Religious people are so weird about death. I don't get the "tradition" of the wake, or the "mystery of faith." But ... whatever. I guess the wake and service were comforting to some people. That's great. I'm still quite angry he's gone, am still awaiting the medical records to see what the hell happened, and I'm sure all of this will eventually hit me like a bus.

Anyway, my son couldn't be there, so he asked me to take a few photos of the wake and service, which I did. There's nothing creative about these photos, as I wasn't really into doing this, for obvious reasons.

We got there, and his daughter, Kerri, picked us up from the airport. Jill and I stayed at Jeff's apartment, drove his car, and I even wore his hat and sneakers. It was surreal. It was as if he just vaporized. Everything was the way he left it as if he was just going to the store or something and never returned.

I'll tell you what was really neat to see ... the love of his friends. My brother had some very very good friends. Large, Italian, mob-looking type guys who are really going to miss him. There were people from all walks of his life, including the little old lady that works at the diner where he frequents. Jeff was an amazing man, and the world lost a good one. Damn cancer.

Anyway, I went to pick the dogs up from Jaenne's house yesterday. I figured they'd be happy to see me. They ran right past me and wanted to see ... eachother. Thanks dogs.

Jammer's cute. I'm going to smash her, though. She's decided that the place to pee is in her crate, not outside. So rather than having a very large crate to hang out in, we're going back to the tiny puppy crate with not much room but enough to turn around in. I need to nip this in the bud. Yesterday was her first day here, and I am already sick cleaning up pee.

I walked her down to Dean and Brooke's yesterday, and on our walk, we passed by my sheep, who are now on the other side of the irrigation canal. Jammer's never been on my irrigation ditch before, and when we walked near the sheep, they spooked, Jammer saw them and went to chase after them. She was on a long line, so she takes off, launches herself as quickly as she can, hits the end of the longline ... right over the center of the canal and falls into the water! Well ... needless to day, she now knows there's water there. And she's obsessed with it! She played in the water all the way along our walk, and by the time we showed up at Dean and Brooke's, she was a muddy mess.

Once the sun came up, I started cleaning up the backyard. I was going to do it before I left for Jersey, but that didn't work out. Got it mowed and raked, and I need to get rid of a pile of brush I put there. I'd also like to fence off my "junk pile" so Jammer can't get into it and hurt herself. I still never built the dog run, either. Ugh. So much to do.

Anyway ... here are the photos. I was hanging out at the airport in Phoenix waiting for Jill.

I noticed the "people movers" ... which is just a horizontal "escalator" so you don't have to walk if you don't want to. I thought to myself, "how lazy can someone be?"

So I chuckled when I saw Jill.

Here's Jeff's apartment. Lower level.

And what his complex looks like.

This is the house he and his ex bought that his ex still lives in, along with the occasional kid joining her.

Jill and I took a ride to the beach a couple of times just to clear our heads. It was comforting to see a familiar sight.

I don't know how to describe it, but the sand is so much different on the east coast than on the west coast. "Softer" would be a word that would come close.

It rained on and off the whole time we were in Jersey, so we were never really able to hit the beach with the sun out. And I forgot about this fencing. It's everywhere. I love it.

And the funniest thing happened. While I was taking photos of the beach, a guy walked up, got into position, and someone shot a photo of him ... PLANKING! I couldn't help it, I had to take a photo, too. I wonder if he put his photo up on one of the planking sites. I'll have to check it out.

The Boardwalk:

Mmmmmmmmmm .... REAL pizza!

Across the street ... just thought it was a cool building. "Borough Hall." As you can see, my creativity was at an all-time low, and I didn't care.

Back at my brother's place, I spotted another familiar sight ... squirrels with those awesome silver-tipped bushy-ass tails. So cool!

Here is the restaurant where we held the re-past luncheon after the mass on Monday afternoon. But those of us who needed a drink before the wake on Sunday met here in the bar, so I snapped a few photos while I was there.

I'd have just stayed here and continued to drink if I could have gotten away with it. A bar is a great place to remain in denial. Here's my sister, Jill, and her very dear friend, Pegie, who was a great help to us all. Pegie, if you read this, you are a wonderful human being and I love you like a sister. I felt more comfort from you than any of the pomp and circumstance of the services. I miss you and I hope you are well.

And across the street was the wake.

The funeral home was lovely, and the staff was very professional and handled everything very gently and kept things moving along.

These photos were taken before anyone else got there, obviously. Here is one of the photo boards Kerri (Jeff's daughter) and I put together. There were very few photos of Jeff alone, which says a lot about him.

Here is one of the photos we opted to enlarge. It's Jill, Jeff and I ... 25 years ago.

And here is the other one. Here he is with his own girls, Kerri and Faythe, this year at Kerri's college graduation.

The funeral home put together a slide show for us. Kerri and I gathered about 50 photos from the time Jeff was a baby to present, and put them in order and they played the slideshow on a loop the whole time. It was very nice to have there. Here's a couple of photos from it.

(I think this photo is Jeff from high school...)

And one of the very few photos of all five of us kids together. Jeff is the oldest in the back. I am the punk in the middle, and Jill is to my left at the bottom. The other two are Jack and Judy, two of my siblings that live in Southern California, last I knew.

Isn't this a nice way of displaying the cards?

Here are the flowers Pegie donated. Aren't they gorgeous? I love the ribbon. It's slightly altered lyrics from a Grateful Dead song, Not Fade Away.

Monday, the day of the service. Our chariot.

Jill talking to some of the guys from the funeral home.

I stopped taking photos. I was having a hell of a time finding anything to really take photos of.

The last photo in Jersey I took is this bee hive that was hanging from the eve of one of the buildings in my brother's complex. We asked one of the locals what kind of bees made a hive like this, and they said, "Blackjacks." I think they are just black bees. I would have loved to have someone spray the bees so I could keep the hive. Cool looking hive, isn't it? Hell, the Devil Dogs didn't survive the plane ride, there's no way this would have!

Anyway, I'm glad to be back home. Jammer is a cute distraction, if I don't knock the white off her for peeing in her crate. And Reese needs hugs like every ten minutes. That's ok. So do I.

I went up to turn my irrigation on ... and ran into a critter of a different sort.

Do you see it? Reese didn't ... yet.

It was a good, healthy 4 foot long, and looked like it had eaten recently. Lumpy belly.

I got it to hiss at me, but not really well enough to get a photo of it, and all I ended up succeeding in doing was making Reese very aware of it. Probably not the best idea on the planet. Oh, and no worries, it's just a gopher snake (aka "bull snake"). They bite, but it's not venomous.

There's a new, permanent addition to my blog. It's a small version of this. Thank you, again, Pegie, for these flowers. They're gorgeous. Jeff, I still can't believe it. Seriously. I know it hasn't hit me yet and won't for a while. I love you and I miss you.

CKC Registration

2011-09-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

Because I just can't seem to ignore it, I was browsing the ultimate puppymill advertising website (PuppyFind) this morning. On there, I saw a breeder advertising blue merle puppies. Curiosity got the best of me and I emailed and asked for the pedigrees of the sire and dam. Here is the ensuing conversation with Laura Powell of Morning Glory Farm Border Collies in North Carolina, word for word.

Me: Hi there, Do you have a scan or a photo of Sky and Champ's pedigrees you could send me? Thanks.

Laura: i can can champs abca pedigree.. but do not have one for sky as she is just ckc.. the puppies are just ckc.. let me know if you still wanna see champs

Me: I wasn't familiar with CKC, so I looked up what their requirements are for registering dogs.

https://www.continentalkennelclub.com/Rules.aspx

5. The CANINE Registration Application must be used to register dogs whose parents are not registered with CONTINENTAL KENNEL CLUB. The dog owner must complete the application and provide a copy of registration papers from another kennel club (approved by CKC) as proof of his/her dog being purebred. If other kennel club papers are not available, the dog owner must provide two witnesses who can verify the accuracy and truthfulness of the information listed on the application. When using the witness option, your dog must be at least 6 months of age and you must submit 3 photos (front, left & right) of your dog with the application. If any of the information listed on the application or the photos submitted are challenged, the dog owner agrees to bring forth said witnesses.
So basically ... you don't even need a purebred dog to have it registered with the CKC, as long as you have friends who will say it is, and you submit photos of a dog that looks like the breed the person is trying to register. The rules go on to state:

6. CONTINENTAL KENNEL CLUB accepts registration applications and issues certificates based on the honor and integrity of the owner/breeder applicants, and CKC accepts no responsibility for any inaccurate, false, or fraudulent information submitted on registration applications.
So basically ... they will register any dog as a particular breed with no proof of accuracy ... and make no guarantees. That doesn't sound like a reputable registry to me. Why would anyone buy a CKC registered dog? The registration isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

Laura: Well i bought her because I fell in love with her and that was pretty much it. I had always wanted a merle and didnt really care about breeding her. I have priced these pups accordingly. My ABCA pups sell for 600-850 at this age with no training. We have several ABCA dogs here and an AKC and she is every bit as good of dog as the rest. It sounds like to me you are looking for a ABCA registered dog. That's the best registry as far as a border collie is concerned. We will have a litter of those in the spring and a litter of AKC. Good luck on your search and God bless!

Me: Who did you buy her from?

Laura: i did not buy her from a breeder a bought her from an older lady when sky was several months old. she fell in love with the breed but knew little about them. the lady had nothing for her to do, and was trying to make lap dog out of her i guess. anyway she was more than the woman could handle, because she was bored. she was/is a perfect addtion to our farm.

Me: So who bred her?

Laura: i am unsure.. like you said with the ckc. ... they are not very elaborate with the registration. you have already said that you would not buy a ckc pup, and i totally understand that. i wish you well in hopes that you find the pup you are looking for with a better registry.

Me: I'm surprised someone would breed her when they are "unsure" of her background and pass her off as a purebred Border Collie. Do you even know if she's a Border Collie?

Laura: why is it that you are attacking me exactly? it is what it is.. they are ckc, that's it. i did not buy her to breed but shes a beautiful girl and i decided i wanted some pups out of her. we are just a small farm in nc with a love of border collies. so we have a couple dogs we breed. but they are our pets and working dogs. (There are photos of her dogs working horses through the fence on her Facebook page.)

Me: I'm not attacking you. I'm just asking you. You have nothing to base your claim on that she's purebred. You're advertising her as purebred, no? Registered and purebred. Did you register her with the CKC or did she come that way?

Laura: curious to see why someone would be like this i googled your farm. now i understand you are a border collie breeder. you have some wonderful looking dogs jodi. not sure what the point of all this is but i am not responding back anymore. i love sky she is beautiful and a sweet girl. The fact that she is only ckc means nothing to me.

Me: Be like what? That I am questioning the background of a dog you're breeding? You can question me all you want on the background of my dogs and I can tell you exactly where they come from, who bred them, and why. And am happy to do so. Why are you so defensive? Obviously her CKC registration means something to you or you wouldn't advertise it.

Laura: please stop emailing me

Me: Wow. Ok. That's shady, but whatever.

That, my friends, is what's out there nowadays. She sells her ABCA registered pups for $600-$850 because of where they're registered, as opposed to only charging $350 for the CKC pups, but in the same breath, she says the pups are just as good as the ABCA registered ones. If that's so, why the price difference?

I was under the impression that you needed at least an AKC or ABCA registration to get a CKC registration. Or at least a registration of another registry. I didn't realize that the CKC was just like the other fly-by-night registries that will register dogs on a couple of photos -- oh, and a couple of buddies who attest that the dogs are purebred. What a joke.

She doesn't know where her merle comes from, didn't care about the breeding when she bought it, but now breeds it and passes the pups off as purebred.

Nice.

But they are just as good as the ABCA registered ones who are being sold for twice the price. Twice the price for what? An accurate pedigree? Seriously?

The worst part is ... there are people out there who buy these CKC registered pups. A sucker born every minute. Where would puppymills be without them?

Update

2011-09-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to call this post, and I don't have it in me to try to be creative with it.

My brother passed away today from complications of lung cancer. To say the family is devastated is putting it lightly. This happened in a span of about 12 days and it hasn't quite sunk in yet. He, my sister (Jill) and I were like the three stooges, and Jill and I will be lost without him. He was the leader, the rock, the mentor, and the best brother ever.

I am headed to New Jersey in the morning, along with my sister, to handle the services and whatever else needs handling and to support his daughters through this very very difficult time. I am not sure when I'll be returning.

Phyllis, Jaenne, Mark, Don ... you guys are incredible and I can't thank you enough for all of your support. I'll be in touch.

Bruneau Round-Up 2011

2011-09-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

We had a hard time finding information about this rodeo, so if my blog comes up in your search for the 2012 Bruneau Round-Up and you're looking for what time the rodeo starts, it's probably 12:30 p.m. ... or call D&B in Mountain Home. They have a flyer there and are very helpful.

Mark and I took the kids to the rodeo yesterday. I love these small, hometown setups where there's none of the glitz and glamor of the fancy outfits on the girls with all the sparkles as a testament to how much money they have. That's not what rodeo is about. And this one had it right. They spent a lot of time promoting the next generation. There were quite a few mutton busting runs, and afterwards, they did a group photo, gave all the kids a prize of some sort, and it didn't seem -- like with most rodeos -- that they couldn't wait to get done with this part and get on to the "real" thing. All of the guys helped the kids and encouraged them and made them feel really good about the job they did. As well they should! I love watching this! There's tons of photos. Here they come.

In the beginning part of the rodeo, the Mountain Home Air Show was still going on, so there were quite a few fly-overs, which were very cool.

These two were waiting to watch "sissy" on her mutton.

Look at the determination!

... and the spills that would make any cowboy proud!

There were kids that weren't quite big enough yet, but they still able to participate for a few steps ... and they loved it!

Even cowboys in the making were helping out ... and enjoying the show.

Some rides were a little scarier than others.

This kid is gonna be on bulls some day. Tough little guy.

And watch this kid!

What great form!

This one, too!

Stylish spills! (I really need to learn how to take these very quick action shots. I'm glad at least a few of them came out to where you can at least tell what you're looking at.)

(This might have been "sissy" ...)

They had to re-set the sheep, so in the meantime, it was one of the organizer's birthday ... so someone walked out with these lovely flowers and stuff ...

... and they somehow ended up in a spill all their own. (I love the guys laughing ...)

Back to the action. Here are the first few sheep out ...

This one is making a sharp right turn. Why is that?

Well, because ... of course the first couple of sheep didn't want to cooperate with the cowboy and go to the other side of the arena, so they went to the last place they knew to go -- which is where they were just reloaded. So we had this problem for a while. The organizers are trying to stop the sheep from hanging around the reloading chute, the cowboy can't bring his horse in there to get the right pressure that the sheep weren't respecting anyway, and the cowboys on foot were pretty ineffective. Too bad they didn't have a dog.

Soon, a few other cowboys hopped in and got it all under control, and they took the few out to the center of the area, and got the draw back in a straight line.

By the seat of his pants!

I don't know if they picked one winner, but I'll tell you, it took guts for all these kids to do this and they did a great job!

Here's the Grand Marshall. She's got kids and grandkids and great-grandkids all involved in the rodeo, and she's been in the Bruneau area since dirt was created, and was the postmaster in town, etc. She said she wanted to come to the rodeo on a "mule" and that's exactly what she did.

I didn't take photos of all of the events. I did get some bronc riding and bull riding. These are not the best photos on the planet. I definitely need practice with these action shots -- even in great lighting.

And here's the bull riding...

One of the events was something called the "Hide Race." I couldn't imagine what that was going to be. What it is ... is a team event. One person takes a cowhide that has a rope attached to it, and stands at one end of the arena, the other person is on horseback. When the whistle blows, the rider runs up, and "picks up" the hide rope, and drags it ... with the person on it ... to the other end of the arena. The fastest time wins.

As I was watching this, I heard the name "Andrea Scott." Sure enough! One of the people being dragged behind the horse on a hide was none other than Greenleaf's own Buckaroo Project leader, Andrea Scott! (Sorry, I didn't get the action shots. I was too engulfed in watching the hiders hide from all of the dirt they were being drug through!)

Nice to see you, Andrea! Looks like you had a great time! We sure enjoyed it!

Jodi

Beads, Bugs & Brian Bateman

2011-09-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

It just doesn't get any better than this!

I'm excited about having a nice whistle again instead of using a plastic one, or worse yet ... my fingers. I can whistle pretty cleanly with my fingers, but the second I put my fingers in my mouth, it makes me think about everything I've touch in the last couple of hours and, as many people know, when working with sheep and dogs, that's not real appetizing.

Anyway, since I lost my buffalo horn whistle along with the nice lanyard I had it on, I needed to make a new lanyard for my new corian whistle. I had some charms from a gift my awesome neighbor, Diana, gave me and really wanted to incorporate those into the lanyard. The pieces are little, brown Reese's peanut butter cups, and one even says "Reese's" right across it. How cool is this???? And appropriate to start Reese on whistles with!

My deck. I love my deck. I spend more time on my deck than in my house. Being that my "brand new future ex" is working a million hours a week and isn't around to distract me from the million things I should be doing ... I need to find a way to distract myself by doing the stuff I want to do. So, I went and found my beading stuff, and sat out at my new table and chair set, and whipped up my new favorite album ... The Brian Bateman Blend's self-titled album ... and cranked it up while designing my new lanyard. When the sun started to set, the bugs came and joined me and we had a regular party on the deck!

So, while this isn't my best work (I am seeing just how blind I am becoming as I age), it will hold me over until I am able to afford the chocolate colored pearls and Swarovski crystals I'd like to make this with. I couldn't figure out how to make the three charms work on the lanyard, so I whipped out a pair of earrings. It's a bit (I accidentally typed "bitch" ... how ironic) much to wear it all together, but here they are.

The new whistle is a gold-ish color, so hopefully it matches as well as I think it will.

I've got a really cool little mini-vacation coming up this week. I'll fill you all in later with details and photos. I can't wait!

Jodi

Big Girl Things!

2011-09-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

I took Reese out to Don's to work sheep in a bigger, more open area. It's a little intimidating since the pasture we were working in is long and narrow with a real strong draw to the far side. Don used Tig to bring the sheep up for us. Tig is a dog that's in for training, and holy cow she's come a long way in a very short time. Don has done an excellent job of training her. She was pretty timid the last time I saw her, and he's done her confidence a world of good and she is quite responsive. It's funny seeing mister rough and tough cowboy turn into a bit of a mush when he's talking to her. Shhh. Don't tell him I said that! LOL!

Anyway, I laid Reese down, and got between her and the sheep and sent her on a short outrun. She came up short and split the sheep, gathered them back together and brought them to me ... and that was the last time she did that! Once she had a chance to read the sheep and get a feel for the draw, she worked beautifully! We did a few very nice short outruns, and fetched and steadied up and flanked nice and squarely, and she stops on a dime. I love her down and hope it never changes. I've never had a dog who was sole purpose in life was to make me happy, but I truly think that's what hers is. And she's goofy as all getout.

One thing I noticed about her the other day is her getting wingy and wangy by my feet when I call her to my feet when we're working. And I figured out why she does that. When I am walking to a field or a pasture, I have her off leash, and I want her to stay behind me. If she tries to get ahead, I use my stock wand (flip it on the ground) to stop her from getting ahead of me, and she's real good about staying behind, although will flip from one side to the other. Could be annoying, but doesn't bother me. I'm used to it. But that is the exact same behavior she exhibits when she's working and I call her to my feet, so she's not real willing to drive sheep away from me because she doesn't think she's allowed to. Well, while I was at Don's, I used the draw to my advantage, and got her to get ahead of me and praised her like crazy and she picked it up real quick. I don't really want to start driving with her yet, but I will soon enough, and when we do, I would like her walking past me pretty freely. And I think now she will.

I couldn't be more pleased with how she worked today, and I told her I was proud of her and all of the "big girl things" she's starting to do. Besides the way she's working, she ran with a whole unfamiliar pack of dogs and barely gave any one of them the time of day. She stayed out of the horses, called off the ram pen, didn't hit the hot fence, and basically hung out like ... a regular dog. I know this isn't any big deal for most handlers/dogs, but I haven't had her out and about much, and she hasn't gone anywhere all summer. It was great fun!

I started my new lanyard for my new whistle. As soon a I am done with it, I'll post photos. I like it so far.

Please continue to keep my brother in your thoughts. He's up against a mountain.

Thanks.
J

Her head has arrived!

2011-09-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

18 months old. That's about what I was figuring. And it's only getting better.

I've been working Reese every day for the last week or so, and things are progressing pretty nicely now. She's falling into balance, although, it's not completely natural for her. It's not often now where she hits the balance point and overflanks. We're starting small outruns. I am working on her understanding what the outrun is rather than repeating the same thing over and over. I don't set it up the same way twice. And she's figuring it out. Her down is pretty solid, probably more solid than any of my other dogs. She wants to please me at every step. I love love love working with this little dog. Watching her figure out a problem makes me laugh. The look on her face is priceless. Phyllis mentioned to me today that our new corian whistles have arrived (I lost my buffalo horn whistle, and despite begging Ray Coapman, he won't be making anymore), so once I get that from her, I will start Reese on at least a down and walk-up whistle. Oh ... her walk-up is lovely. She usually comes in with a purpose, but I can put the brakes on her pretty quickly and get her to steady up. Doing that was a complete mystery until the Shannahan clinics with Echo, who used to come in like a bullet. I can't wait to get her out into more open spaces to see where this training is really at. It's easy with a fence really close all the way around us.

Tomorrow morning I am headed out to Don's to work dogs in the morning. Echo is lame (front left) ... I don't know what she did, but she's been gimping around on it on and off for a few days. It doesn't look like a pad, so I'll crate rest her for a few days and see what comes of it. So it'll just be me and Reese. And the story should unravel ... along with the training, I'd imagine. We'll see.

D&B is having their semi-annual sale ... 10% off everything ... so I am going to run down and get a couple of hog panels, which will give me everything I need to complete the dog run I'm putting up. I'd like to get it done (a) before my brother gets here at the end of the month; and (b) with enough time before winter to get the back yard all cleaned up. The dogs have made quite a mess of it since I took the other kennel run down in the spring. This one will be ... not necessarily bigger ... but better. It will have a much better gate on it, and will have a few trees right in the middle of it for protection. And none of it will be near the privacy fence so Zip can't piss on it, or dig under it! Ha! I am sure Reese will still figure out a way around it, or rather ... over it!

Dean, my awesome neighbor, came over this morning and brought me back my cutting board. I gave it to him yesterday and asked him if he could sand the top of it down since something I was cutting on it stained it in several places. I don't mind all of the cuts in the top of it, but the stains ... they were kinda grossing me out. So now it's nice and clean again. It's one my ex-husband made, and he was the type that made stuff that would be the only things left standing after the huge earthquake came and wiped California off the grid.

I was telling Dean that this year I am going to be smart about buying pellets, and am going to buy a ton at a time, instead of a few $5 bags, and then freezing my ass off when I forgot to stop and get some. So I moved the crates out of the laundry room and put them in the dog boxes in the entry way, and Dean and I went out back and found some old wood to make quasi pallets out of. My son's old headboard/footboard combo fit the bill perfectly. Dean trimmed off a few inches and laid those down, and then we grabbed an old sheet of 3/4 plywood I had laying around and cut that down to size and laid it on the headboard/footboard combo, and it works perfectly! There's 50 forty-pound bags it needs to accommodate, so I am hoping the dimensions work. I made it as large as I could, still leaving the laundry room workable. And the best part ... the pellets get delivered! And if I have good beer here waiting ... the "delivery guy" will even stack it for me! Woo hoo! Suchadeal ... Whattabaahgain.

The ice from my ice-maker is starting to taste pretty freezer burned. Time for a new filter.

I wanted to go see the Brian Bateman Blend tonight in Boise, but I am poor broke white trash, so I'll go see them when they play back out this way again. They are starting to become regulars at the Knitting Factory ... very cool!

Please keep some good thoughts for my brother. He needs them right now.

Thanks.
J

Tell Me ... Exploded!

2011-09-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

1. What is the biggest thing that grossed you out over the past week? Llama-spit. On Bud.

2. What do you feed your dogs? Dog food. Diamond, as a matter of fact. Hi-Energy. I've been feeding it since Diamond got inspected. They probably have the cleanest operation now since the world is watching.

3. If you could move anywhere where would you live? Off the JW grid, for sure. Or in a county where they are legally hunted.

4. What is the funniest thought that occurred to you (or thing that happened to you) this week? Every time a fly lands on me now, I wonder if its mouth waters and it gets the spins prior to puking on me.

5. If you couldn't have your breed of choice what would be next on your list? They say cowboys are a different breed. I want one of them. With a big foam hat. On a Zebra. And a sexy mustache. (And now, ladies and gentlemen ... I'll be running for my life...)

Laura, it looks like your Thursdays are getting busier and busier! Sorry to hear about your great aunt. :-(

Jodi

Flying Llamas

2011-09-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

Mark and I went over to Couch's yesterday for his annual harvest party. I was there last year and it was a kick, so it was sure to be a good time. I brought a pasta salad and some salsa. I was putting the food in the fridge when I noticed there was already a bowl of salsa in there. More on that later.

They had put a a new arena, which I had not seen before. Looking off in the distance, I could see several people on horseback and several just hanging out under the shade tarp. So we made the trek out there. We got there to see Don and Bud on their horses and Phyllis husband, Craig, ... on DOC! Yeah, you heard me! MY Doc. Well, not really "my" Doc, but you know what I mean. So Craig comes over and dismounts and looks at me and says, "Your turn." Didn't have to ask me twice. I handed Reese over to my very cooperative and sweet, loving boyfriend and hopped on Doc. Then I was informed that we are going to go herd llamas. WHAT??? I've never herded a thing on horseback. I was a little nervous, and if I was on any other horse, I probably would have sat the first round up out. So we went up to the corrals, Don switched horses, the llamas were let out, and off we go. It was much easier than I thought and the llamas were really cooperative because we stayed off them and treated them, basically, like sheep. We get them down to the arena, put them in the pen, and I dismounted Doc and went and rescued Mark from Reese, who was being an idiot about the llamas and the horses. (Reese, not Mark!)

And then the fun began.

Bud hopped on Doc, and he and Don started ... roping llamas!

Yes, I'm serious!

Look!

Isn't Doc gorgeous? This is the same horse I rode in the spring, but couldn't tell what color he was because of the dirt and winter coat. I still don't know what color you call this. Those spots are red.

Eventually, Bud decided it was just easier to ride the llamas.

Disclaimer: All ropes used were breakaway ropes and the llama didn't even seem to mind unless someone (won't mention any names - BUD!) got in their face and was trying to get them out of the corners. No one got spit on repeatedly (except Bud and his younger horse!) and no llamas were hurt in the making of these cowboys.

Here's Craig.

And Don's neighbor, Jerry, and his friend, Bob. Bob's an interesting guy. We were all commenting on the bazillion flies that were hanging out near the salsa entries (oh yeah ... forgot to mention the salsa-off), and I said, "There's a bazillion of them." Jerry says, "Well, that's ranch living for ya." Bob says -- as flat as flat, "Yeah, every time they land, they puke." I damn near fell out of my chair laughing.

Here's Don and Phyllis. The audio on this was ... interesting. We'll just leave it at that!

(L to R: Michael's wife, Donna, Dawn Marie in the middle, and Michael on the end.)

Their garden is in the same size space as mine, and isn't nearly as overgrown, or riddled with chickens! Plus theirs has the fancy hotwire on it ... AND ... the cool dude in the middle. I need me one of 'dem!

Here's a closeup.

And the great homemade gate!

So the salsa-off was an accident. I brought mine, which was made with some roasted peppers Jaenne got at the farmer's market, but the heat on those is hard to judge, and I didn't want to make it too hot for mixed company. So I only used one bag of them. Fresh tomatoes, onions, etc. Pretty gringo.

Don challenges me to a salsa-off as soon as he sees mine. He goes and gets his. It's a deeper color red, and his is all hand chopped (mine was done by the food processor in about three seconds). And his has a good bite to it. Come to find out, the bite was due to the SALSA PEPPERS Jaenne grew in her backyard that I have tons of in my fridge! Best of all, those peppers have a much better flavor than the stupid million and one jalapenos I grew this year. Fooey on them, I am changing this up next year. Making it with the roasted peppers and the salsa peppers would have been the way to go. People talked about how Don's salsa was a little too hot, so the consensus was ... it was good to mix the two of them together. My entry for next year is going to rock! I have all kinds of ideas now.

So, a great time had by all. Thanks Don and Dawn Marie for having us all out!

Jodi

Long Time Comin' ...

2011-09-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

Of all of the parts of the house, I spend the most time on my deck. Recently, there has been something running across my deck in the middle of the night that is too big to be a mouse, too fast to be a skunk, might be a fox, and it might be living under my deck. I haven't figured it out yet, but I'm getting closer. I put flour down on the deck to see if I could see the pattern it's running. But ... I got nothing.

The dogs loved running through it, investigating it, and licking it. Yuck!

The flour has been down for a couple of days, and I got sick of looking at it. And I also got really sick of looking at this, too.

I've been talking about getting a new deck set for a long time now. I waited patiently. And waited. And waited. Finally, the price came down to within striking distance! So I rinsed off the deck, and voila!

Now I just need an umbrella for it.

Well, and it wasn't quite "voila" either! LOL! There were a few things to put together.

All in all, it was worth it. It took me a while, but I got it done. I only broke one of the plastic clips in the whole thing. I was pretty proud of myself.

And I love the way it looks! Woo hoo! My brother is coming out at the end of September, and just like when my sister came to visit, I am sure we will be spending lots of time right here.

J

Tell Me Thursday!

2011-09-01T07:32:00.001-07:00

1. What five things can't you live without?

Diet Coke, camera, sunglasses, dogs, and of course, my furnace repairman.

2. How do you transport your dogs? This question suggested by several peeps, including Mara.

I have a really nice 1997 Ford F250 with a 460 Big Block and a bed on it that will comfortably fit 4 dog crates, and chairs, and stockwands, and a cooler, etc. So it makes perfect sense that the dogs ride in the cab with me.

3. What role does obedience play in your training or running of your dog(s)?

Around my little place, as long as they will lie down and call off when I tell them to, everything else is pretty much done on body pressure and/or balance. They know what needs to be done around here. When I am working the dogs in the field practicing for a trial or something, I expect complete compliance with my every word, and am surprised when I don't get it. Imagine that.

4. At what point do you start putting commands on your dogs?

As soon as I need them to get me a beer.

5. Do you talk to strangers in elevators? Question posted by Laura #1

Of course! For instance, in California, on my way to work one morning, I had a full glass of Diet Coke in my hands. Apparently, I had a hole in my lip that morning, and dribbled a little bit of it on my shirt. I turned to the guy next to me and asked him if I could borrow his towel. My boss, who was in the elevator with me, buried her face in the corner of the elevator. It was obvious the guy didn't understand what I was asking. As we exited the elevator, my boss started laughing, and I said, "You know, he could have taken that thing off his head so I could borrow it!"

Body English

2011-08-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Something kinda odd happens at these trials. Watch this. See if you can spot it.

You send the dog on the outrun. He comes around and lifts nicely and starts on his fetch.

(Yes, the photographer sucks ... it's the same one that keeps whining about not having long lenses.)

He completes the fetch.

Comes around the post.

Starts the drive away ...

And he's trying to drive the sheep, but something is starting to feel a little weird....

Something feels ... a little off-kilter, but he can't quite put his finger on it.

Hey Phyl, Body English only works in horseshoes and hand grenades!

J