IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Yea, he has it rough...

Light at the end of the tunnel, frigid air and other unrelated material

I'm in my last week of Finite Mathematics. I can see the light at the end of this particular tunnel. I'd be elated if I wasn't exhausted. The final to take by Sunday and I'm done. Once again I will be thankful to pass the class even it ends up as a C. Now, do I take Statistics or give myself a break? It's not as if there is alot going on in the next 8 weeks, I could probably work through that and then be done with classes related to MATH. I equate the word MATH to the other 4 letter words of SNOW and COLD. Put them in the same category as all other nasty words. We had a foot plus of snow, which led to drifts up to my hips in all sorts of places on the farm. Including the dog runs, which probably won't see the dogs until spring. Now it's turned really really cold and I believe that COLD is worse than SNOW. It will get warmer again but then of course I'll complain because there will be more SNOW.
Let's see, in the unrelated material category I'm still waiting on Spice to come in season. Typical of Spice she is probably waiting until the worst winter weather day known to Iowans in a century to come in. I just keep repeating, "it will be worth it, it will be worth it". Jam is totally into his sabbatical from training. It's so cute to have him "ask" me to work. He'll throw random obedience stuff at me just to get a reaction from me. It's actually making him focus on me more now that I've stopped training.
On another note I have to mention the cows. This years cows seem brighter than the last bunch. The last ones were very sweet and docile and with the exception of the two "jailbreaks" were very good. This batch has something up their collective hooves. First they watch all the time and are very interested in the gates. The back gate was replaced/repaired and I think they gave up on that one. The front gate has been beat to death and back again. They managed to push and bump and rub enough to break two of the four gate bars. They didn't try to escape, but I think it's because they could not figure out how to step over the bottom bar and duck at the same time. Rick fixed the gate but I swear they are still plotting a winter adventure.
Driving to and from work has been dicey more times than I would like this winter and I am grateful beyond words for the Trailblazer, and it's heated seats. Now if only it had a remote starter.
I asked "Santa" (aka, my bank account) for tools this year. A circular saw and drill. I suspect that both Jean and Kim think I'm out of my mind again and worried I'll end up in the ER again. I promise guys, safety goggles and I will actually read the directions on how to use them before I start. Which as a side note, I did not do today while trying to get the postage machine to lick the envelopes for me and no I did not get it to work. Sometimes the old fashioned way is the best. I had visions of building something along the lines of a mini-loafing shed to use as with more kennels, but I'm not sure my methods of duct tape and zip-strips to fix things will hold up an entire building.
And of course the usual feeling of being cooped up is already settling in and my mind is wandering to dog shows and trials. I probably need to get off my rear end and start training again huh? Hmm...maybe after a cup of hot something...

DORA SEEKS ELVIS

Dora is getting a new home! She will be going to live in the Memphis TN area and will no doubt be wanting a tour of Graceland hoping to catch a glimpse of Elvis. Seriously, she will be heading out to live with my sister, her husband and my nephew, Ben. Ben is 5 now and is so excited to be getting a dog. When he was a baby they had a very old Rough Collie that had been a rescue I got from NE. Sam was such a great babysitter and Ben would lay on him and crawl all over him. Ben was asking mom tonight if he was going to be able to give Dora her food and water and if she could sleep in his room. In his room? Try in his bed. I wonder if Ben will share his trains with her? I'll miss her but I have to be practical when it comes to the dogs, that's part of showing and breeding dogs. Otherwise you end up with 25+ dogs of various breeds, alot of them not part of your breeding program and spending their days crated doing nothing. So I've made a committment to keeping only one or two dogs (okay maybe 3) that aren't a part of my breeding program. Of course Dora would stay here forever if I hadn't found such a great home, but I'm tickled that Kim,Scott and Ben will be welcoming her into theirs. As Elvis would say "Thank you, thank you very much".

AN AHHH MOMENT

Here are Trace and his 1/2 sister, Rumor. When I first brought Rumor home Trace was disgusted. He had just decided to tolerate Bella and in walked Rumor. Bella and Rumor bonded immediately and I believe they plot to annoy Trace. Trace and his Collie buddy Spice are only about 6 weeks apart in age and were raised together so he is a Collie. So these new Cardigan girls are, well, you know, beneath him. (There's a small ha-ha in there somewhere!)

After a long morning playing outside here is what I found in the living room. Trace and Rumor cuddled up together. Please note Rumor also likes to sleep on top of a pile of toys (I think that's a Nemo fish under her). And yes, the living room rug always looks like this, dogs, dog toys, dog bowls (because Maddy brings them all out to the living room after a meal--and no I have no idea why) and of course, dog hair. :-)

So this is my ahhh moment for today, Trace's acceptance Rumor, if he only knew how much fun she will someday be!

WHY COLLIES AND CARDIS ARE "MEANT TO BE"

I was hauling stuff upstairs and happened to look out the stairway window today and saw this. I ran quickly downstairs to grab the camera and got a couple of halfway decent shots thru the window. That's why the quality is rough. But these pics of Harold and Rumor are the epitome of why Collies and Cardigans go so well together.

BELLA

I was taking pics today and there was Bella standing there just begging to have her pic taken. She's growing up and looking good right now. She's been doing that puppy thing, one day level, one day high in rear, then level. I just quit looking after a while. She did great at her first show weekend in Sioux Falls and came home with a RWB. Right now she's into growing up, bugging Jam, annoying Trace and perfecting her cardigan wiggle butt maneuver.

SPREADING RUMORS

Introducing "Rumor", Qwaynt's Something To Talk About. Nope, she is not named after the movie with Julia Roberts, she is named after a song by Bonnie Rait. Just a bit of trivia for you all! I have my brindle again-yippee! She is out of Jean's, Danni (Kennebec Qwaynts Miss Danielle) and Webster (Am/Fin Ch. Yardican Cardiridge Weli Welho). This makes her a 1/2 sister to Trace (Ch Qwaynt's Mystery Man) as they share the same mom. Now this should make my Cardigans complete, okay well I could get a red and complete the color palate, but maybe someday Trace and Rumor will produce a red.

With half-bro Trace and "Auntie Maddy" Dang it--this place has a fence!

SIGNS OF THE SEASON

Just a few pictures of the signs of the season. Let's call this one, pre-winter.

KENNELS READY FOR WINTER

These runs go into the garage runs, note new motion detector light

on the corner of the garage--Thanks Don!!

BARE WALNUT TREES IN THE SOUTH YARD

Most of the agility equipment is put away-you can see one

of the weave poles in the bottom right corner, those will be

the last to come in for the year.

BALES OF CORN HUSKS DOT THE LANDSCAPE

THE COWS PLANNING THEIR NEXT WINTER ESCAPE

Grandma Mary and Josh were over yesterday a.m. to rig up

this temporary solution. These are some smart cows, they

have managed to dismantle parts of the gate. Note that the

black cow with the backwards "7" on his head and the one

next to him are 2 that I made friends with this year--I hope they

aren't thinking that if they escape they get to some in the house...

MANURE SPREAD ON A HARVESTED FIELD

HARVESTED BEAN FIELDS

PLAYING THE WAITING GAME, AGAIN

Let's just say I am not always a patient person. I do try and have been told that there are times I do show more patience than I should. But there are times that I just am not and get antsy. Spice is supposed to be in season soon and I am antsy. Apparently the old saying, "a watched pot never boils" is true about dogs and heat cycles. A watched Collie never comes in season...sigh. I do feel sorry for Spice. It must be heck having your owner plop you on the grooming table each and every night and look at your backside. And of course, because I want it so badly I'm doing the same to Dora. Spice takes it in stride and couldn't care less. On the other hand Dora always looks offended. And I don't really expect Dora to come in, that's just wishful thinking at this point. But ohhhh...Spice puppies, I really want Spice puppies badly. Of course I did my usual "name the litter" thing and that has been a curse in the past. I was bored at work on day and came up with an entire list of names. It's the "R" litter. Why? Who knows, it just came to me. My first and favorite is Maiwae Rendezvous with a call name of Tryst. That kind of got the ball rolling, reverberate, revolution, resonance, you get the picture. So I have a list of 8 top names and call names to go with them to choose from. I have to confess, if she has a small litter of really, really nice puppies it's going to be hard not to keep them all to show. Of course that would mean more kennels and fencing. I was recruited to answer the phones one day last week and had time to map out additional kennel runs and fencing ideas, what a mistake that was! Now I know with a little work on layout and some free labor (any volunteers??) next spring I could eventually have 7 to 9 indoor/outdoor runs and an additional 8-10 outdoor only runs. Now if can talk the landlord into letting me have the small outbuilding....
And yes, I know, I don't need nor will I ever be able to have as many dogs as I could actually house. Unless Prince Charming arrives with a full size van, a full time job and has some type of wholesale dog food connection! LOL! (Oh and let's not forget he has to have a riding lawn mower too!)
Until next time...