June 17, 2009: We Can't Count
We have been working like dogs (!) the last week or so. Most days have been filled with beating an overgrown garden into submission, attacking thistles and gorse, generally tidying things up, trying to keep sheep from grazing the hayfield, the occasional run, and dog stuff. This week we also added in another day of helping with shearing at Mike and Nora's place. So, we might be forgiven for something that happened last night.

I (Angie) was out with my dogs doing a bit of training. Jamie had the task of getting 10 training sheep from their normal grazing area and moving them into the main training field - an easy task. After playing around with some shedding with Jamie, it was Meg's turn. By the time I had returned Jamie to his kennel and got Meg out, the sheep were huddling by the gate at the top field. Meg was duly sent for them and low and behold, she gathered all but one sheep. This was quite odd for Meg so she was sent to get this one sheep and then asked to do the task again. This time she gathered all the sheep and the next 15 minutes was spent trying to keep this one wayward ewe from breaking back to the gate which leads to the lower part of our hill. After a while, this ewe simply got fed up and went over the top of Meg, squeezed through the gate and made her escape for the hill and her 350-odd friends. Darn! Now we'd have to gather the hill and cut this one ewe out from where she did not belong. Kelvin and Blade were called into action, and Jamie and Meg were drafted to help quickly gather the hill. The gather went quite smoothly. Now the tricky part was to find this one ewe. Finally we located her and set about cutting her out of the main flock. This is where international shedding comes in handy and, unfortunately, I am one of the world's worst shedders! Well, amazingly, all was going well until Kelvin noticed that all the sheep that had been shed off had managed to squeeze through the gate and were duly munching on the uncut hay. Plan B!

Meg, Jamie and Blade were tossed over the fence and sent to get the sheep off the hayfield and back to the hill. As we tossed the dogs (and ourselves) over the fence, our one training ewe also made her escape for the hayfield. This, we figured, would make it easier for us to cut this one ewe out....and it was. We managed to single her off, send her up the field with one dog while using the other two dogs to get all the sheep back to the hill. We finally got this one ewe back with the remaining training sheep who were standing very cooperatively at the top of the training field. Pleased with ourselves and the way the dogs had worked together, we decided to call it a day and put the training sheep away in their grazing area. As we got to the gate, we thought we'd count to make sure we had all 10 sheep. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10....11! To our dismay we had 11 sheep, not 10! Oops...that one sheep who Meg had missed in her first gather and who would not behave during the training session was not one of our training sheep at all but one from the hill who had obviously thought grass was greener on the other side of the fence and was eating away quite happily in the hayfield. When she squeezed (back) through the gate, she was returning to where she should have been in the first place! ...and I didn't think to count how many training sheep were still in the field. You could say all of our gathering on the hill was for nothing...but then again, it was a good opportunity for the dogs to work together, for us to remind ourselves of just how much we have to learn about shedding, and heck, it was a nice evening and what better way to spend it than with dogs and sheep. Yes, it was easy to cut this ewe out from the 10 training sheep and yes, she did seem eager to get back to the hill and her friends. Now we must replace the old gate through which the sheep are escaping.

Earlier in the week we went to help with the shearing at Brynberllan (Mike and Nora's place). Kelvin got a piece of the action shearing the last sheep of the day. We had just about finished off the chocolate cake in the time it took him to shear this one ewe, but shear her he did.

Ffion, Mike and Nora's grand-daughter, was on hand to help. She had taken the day off school to help and did so after some lobbying of her Mum and Dad. Her argument was: why should it be just boys who get the day off school to go shearing? Can't really argue with that in this day and age. But Ffion, how many boys complain that they've broken their newly polished finger nails? P..l...e...a...s...e.

We really enjoy helping Mike and Nora out at shearing time. Although we are not very good at shearing sheep or rolling fleeces, they tolerate us (and Bailey)! I got the easy task of taking the shorn sheep back to the fields and their lambs. Well, it would have been an easy task had it not been for about 6 snotty ewes with sore feet; one of whom decided she was going to protest by sitting in the middle of the road and refusing to budge. She got a sore nose for her attitude and wisely decided not to take on Jamie again. Just have to include this photo Ffion took of Jamie jumping back in the truck. She is chuffed with herself for getting Jamie in mid-air. Of course, it was one of the few times that Jamie decided to jump in the truck as he can be a stubborn little sh*t at times and refuses to jump up....usually when he is having too much fun and doesn't want to go home.

This year Nora cooked a huge meal of roast turkey and all the trimmings. It is like a mid-year Christmas dinner, only at this time of the year you can eat yourself silly and still not feel full. It was miraculous that Nora cooked anything as their kitchen was demolished later in the day in preparation for a facelift. Ffion left this memo on the chalk board:



Oh, and here is a baby photo of Ffion (on the left) and Nora on the right. Don't you think they look alike?

On the farm front, this week we cleaned out the sheds and finally got the concrete flooring in for the kennels. We also cleaned up around the courtyard to rid it of weeds and various 'things' left lying around. The garden by the swimming pool was pruned extensively! We finally got all of the agility equipment assembled in their temporary location. We say temporary because we have decided to clear out a field below the main pond in the garden and we will use this for agility instead. Kelvin started brush cutting this field as it has not been cared for for several years. It has a terrific array of fruit trees in this field which, thankfully, are mostly around the perimeter of the field. There are a couple of trees that we will relocate to make room for the equipment. The present location is a little on the small side but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in beauty. It is in a very sheltered part of the garden and right near the 'dog' pond.

We have also cleaned up a couple of walkways around the garden, pruned back some plants, and laid down some bark on the walkways. This is an improvement on muddy paths where moving from one part of the garden to another meant getting whacked in the face with wet leaves and ferns. It also makes our garden look more like Ross Creek, which if you know Dunedin, New Zealand, you'll know what we are talking about. I think Kelvin is secretly trying to make our garden a mini-Ross Creek (and succeeding!). Next task is to build some steps down to the main pond in the garden.

The main garden is in the process of being pruned and weeded. This has meant ridding it of many stinging nettles - and yes, they do sting! A couple of times the nettles have attacked us and left our hands and legs tingling for hours afterwards. We are winning the battle of the nettles - at least around the garden. I sent Kelvin out to get some photos of our garden the other day and he arrived back with a disk full of dragonflies photos. When the sun reappears here, I'll get behind the camera!

We have both managed to squeeze in a little bit of running as well. I have been getting up early in the morning and taking Jamie and Meg along for a little jaunt. Neither of the dogs like the neighbour's Lurcher as it comes bounding out the gate and runs at full speed towards us. It is a bit of a chicken though but, all the same, I try to avoid it when I have the dogs with me. Kelvin has been running with his dogs and taking Bee and Sioux along on the shorter runs. He is getting to know a lot of trails around here and he seems to have got his bearings in the forest which starts by our top hayfield and goes for miles. There are many, many miles of running to be had in the forest. Yippee! Now that the pool is at 24 degrees, we have been doing a bit of swimming too. Some days, though, our arms are just too tired to really do some serious swimming but it feels good to be in the water. It is quite decadent having our own swimming pool!

Trials start again this weekend so hopefully we can get ourselves organized to get to one. Somehow it would be nice to have a day away from the hard slog of work on the farm.