Bittersweet Saturday

This weekend was action packed and I am behind on posting. Friday was the funeral. It was simple, brief and peaceful.

Martha Harwell Obituary

After everyone went to a local Mexican restaurant and had a lovely meal. Plans were made to meet for a barbecue at John's sister's house in Enumclaw on Saturday.

Saturday morning we headed down to Fido's Farm. I was not able to get any pictures as John stayed at home with the kids to get some yard work done before going to Julie's.

First up was Bonnie's lesson with Chris. Since the ASCA trial was going on we were limited in the fields to work in. We were in a larger field with spicier sheep. Each week I am astounded at the changes in Bonnie. She is becoming more and more enamoured with the sheep and her confidence is soaring. When we first started lessons Bonnie would get stressed, walk away, eat sheep poop and or just shut down. There is NO sign of that any more. Now she doesn't stop to do anything - she is on those sheep like flies on stink. She is taking the pressure from my flag well by giving me space. Before she would see that flag waving at her and she would quit, now she remains transfixed on the sheep but gives me room. No more eating sheep poop, not even a moment to stop and smell it.

Between running backward, turning to get her to come into balance & work on her weak side I got a heck of a stitch in my side & a great workout. Bonnie is giving me lie downs and I am immediately rewarding her with her sheep so she will not take the lie down as a punishment. When I leash her up and take her from the field now she is whining and yipping to get back the sheep.

Beth and I had some wonderful work a little bit later too. Chris was in the next field over and saw the work Beth was giving me and she was very impressed. Beth is showing so much confidence driving. We were able to drive the sheep through the panels, back to me, around me, then back down the field a ways. The lines are by no means straight yet, but she is taking directional commands and she has figured out why I am saying them & trusting me.

I am so proud of both of them I could just burst.

Later in the day we threw the dogs & kids in the car and headed over to John's sister's house in Enumclaw for the barbecue.

Julie & Russ have a beautiful home and a lovely large yard. The badminton net was set up, the boys were playing soccer & the dogs were in seventh heaven. Ahhh peaceful.

John had Chuck-it duty, of course, armed with a beer.

Brynn loves the ball



Which drives Beth crazy. She is slowly being usurped as the Ball Queen.



This is Rangers imitation of a pit bull.

The dogs enjoyed playing soccer with the boys.


Ranger played goalie and blocked a good number of the shots.

He was determined to not let that ball get away.

Most of the time he succeeded

After dinner the women were playing cards and John hollered "Beth is bleeding!"

Beth was bleeding heavily from a triangle shaped flap laceration & avulsion down to the muscle tissue. I almost blew my dinner right there. We managed to stay calm, Julie & I got bandages, John kept her immobile and we were able to get a good pressure bandage on the wound and drive to the vet.

The entire drive to the vet John and I were debating the merits of pet insurance.

At the vet they said they were going to need keep Beth several hours for anesthesia and closing the wound. She needed layers of sutures and wound debriedment. Since we left the kids at the barbecue & they were not going to have her done until approx 10pm we went back to Enumclaw.

When we got back we joined the badminton game. The back of their yard is bordered by the fence for the cattle. Two of the steers were amused by the badminton game & were serving as excellent judges.



Mr. Steer watching the serve closely.

Then Brynn spotted the cows. She begins to stalk them.

When they spotted Brynn they became quite vocal and very interested in her.

"Hello little dog". The loud MOO startled Brynn and the grass flew!



She got closer and closer, braver and braver



She pressed herself into the grass and watched them, not quite sure what they were. (I changed the settings on the camera at this point & turned on the flash which made it look much darker)

"Don't get too close to me Mr Furry Head, I have teeth and I am not afraid to use them" I could almost hear the steer chuckling.

"Be afraid, be afraid! I can BARK TOO!"

Come any closer and I will bite you. Grrrrrrrrowwwlllll.....

I paw at the fence - you should be SCARED!

"I will lay here and look non threatening, then when you come in close I will SPRING to action!"

Oh, okay...I will sniff your nose.

I was not able to get a picture of Brynn biting the cow's nose. At that point I moved her away & asked the kids to keep an eye on her. That was a mistake...

Never ask kids in a group to do anything other than yammer nonsense, stuff junk in their face and goof off. Certainly do not trust them to watch a dog.

John and I were playing a badminton game against the boys and having a great time when someone said "LOOK AT BRYNN!" Dear Lord in Heaven she was stalking the cows - on the other side of the electric fence.

I ran to the fence and lifted the bottom waiting to get zapped and began to slide my legs under. Then the cows saw me and started to head in my direction to investigate. They were completely oblivious to Brynn and/or didn't care. In a nice little sing song voice I kept saying "that'll do Brynn, come Brynn, come".

Brynn saw the cows were getting close to me and dove between them and me - at which point I was able to grab her leg, then her collar and drag her back under the fence - where I latched the leash firmly to her collar and didn't let go until we went home.

I don't think I have ever been so scared in all my life (other than when my son fell into the walrus pool at the Pt. Defiance zoo - but that is a story for another day). We were very lucky the cows were so friendly and did not see Brynn as a threat, they were gentle and patient with her.

Brynn was very proud of herself. She is not afraid of ANYTHING!

On the way home we picked up Beth who was still pretty dopey.

Don't look at the next picture if you are at all squeamish.

What started out as a triangle was closed in a line. They had to cut the flap off and bring it together since the wound was at a tension point. It was sutured in layers, the bottom layers then the top. Given the location this will be a tough heal and I will need to watch it closely.

Thankfully Beth is not a chewer or licker and we don't need the E-Collar. I just feel terrible for her. She is on leash walks only and obviously no herding for two weeks at least.

Beth isn't happy about it either. Poor Baby...



I was able to figure out how and when Beth was injured reviewing the pictures I shot. She caught her leg on a dead branch sticking out of a tree. Damn tree owes me $369.00