Ranger's Baby

This is my baby.  

Camera Face says it is her granddaughter Alyssa.  

I disagree.  It is my baby Alyssa.  Amy is her mommy.  I own her too. 

When they come to see me, I sit on the floor with them and take care of the baby. 

I watch over her. 

I make sure she doesn't put bad things in her mouth.  

I am good at my job.  Amy likes to scratch my head.  

Alyssa needs kisses.  

They make her giggle.  

I like it when she giggles.  

It makes me happy, and my tail thumps.  

I take good care of my baby.  I make sure she doesn't get into bad stuff.  

I check her diapers.  

That one is stinky.  Let's help Daddy get a new one out of the diaper bag.  

Alyssa likes to play with me.  

I like to see her smile.  

She makes me happy.  

I am very gentle with my baby.  But her mommy and grandma watch me very closely because they want everyone to be happy and safe.  They will always make sure that Alyssa is never able to accidentally hurt me. 

And they make sure I am not put in a position where I can accidentally hurt her.

That is good, because I love my baby.  She is cute.  

She watches me when I walk around. 

Now that she is crawling I am going to have to be extra watchful. 

She giggles when I look at her.  

I love Alyssa.  

I think we will keep her. 

My Mother Wants to Know....

(Mystery Solved!  Thank you Lasse for emailing!  I have passed your email onto my mother and will let you know if she has any questions.)

I love my mother. But she can drive me nuts too.

I think it is a mother's job in life, to effectively drive their adult children insane. I know I am mastering this art with my own daughter. My mother taught me well.

My mother reads my blog and has discovered the Feedjit widgit thing on the sidebar and enjoys seeing all the people who visit throughout the world.

Then she saw someone from Linköping, Sweden has been reading my blog. After that she has become obsessed.

My grandfather is from Linköping. My father's cousins live there too.

My mother asked me to please write a quick blog post and ask the person who reads my blog in Linkoping, Sweden....are you a relative?

There you have it.

Please email me at bcxfour@yahoo.com if you are by any strange turn of fate a relative from a city of over 150,000 people.

*sigh* 

Tell me Thursday #8

It is time for Crooks & Crazies Tell Me Thursday

1. What is the biggest thing that grossed you out over the past week?

The wound on one of our ewe's leg.  It is not healing well, is infected, reeks like decomp, gobs of proud flesh, exposed bone and muscle.   Due to the location of the wound (inside of her rear leg, near the udder) I have to bend over to treat it, with my face right next to her privates (which are glaringly exposed due to her tail being cropped way too short). On Tuesday she treated me to a lovely gaseous emission cloud that melted my nasal passages and rendered my olfactory system inert for hours.   How is that for gross?  (Before anyone offers advice, yes she is on antibiotics IM and we are doing everything possible to facilitate healing). 

2. What do you feed your dogs?

I feed all of my dogs a raw diet.  This morning they had meaty lamb necks.  This evening they had a mixture of beef tripe, beef heart, chicken liver, sardines, broccoli, spinach, pumpkin, salmon oil, an egg...topped with my left over salad from dinner.  

3. If you could move anywhere where would you live?

I would move back to North Carolina.  I loved living there and never wanted to leave, but the damn US Army decided we needed to live at Fort Lewis.  My second choice would be Pocatello, Idaho. 

4. What is the funniest thought that occurred to you (or thing that happened to you) this week?

I was using Brynn to gate sort the sheep for working.  She had to go between the sheep and Jim the Llama.  Instead of going behind him, she went under him and bumped his leg.  The look on his face was priceless.  Reminded me of Beeker from the Muppet Show.  

5. If you couldn't have your breed of choice what would be next on your list?

I cannot imagine not having a border collie.  But if I was not able to have a BC I would have to choose a rescue dog of indiscriminate breeding.  It is not the breeding or breed that gets me, it is the dog's personality. 

Jim the Llama & Mama

¿Como se llama? 

Yo llamo Jim, el Llama. 

Don't mess with me.

I might spit.

Big honkin' loogies o'slime

I don't spit at Camera Face or John, because I like them.  Once I got to know the dogs and found out they weren't gonna hurt my girls, I leave them alone too.  

I am a nice llama. 

I take care of my homegirls.

With Mama at my side.  My Mama is not a llama.

Mama, the Black Belly ewe is queen of my field.  I like older women. 

Even though she don't have but three teeth in her head, I let her think she is in charge.  That's the way to keep old girl happy.

Mama watches closely when the dogs work the girls.  

She often bellows her displeasure from the night pasture - making sure they all know she is rootin' for them to win.  

We take care of our flock. 

Mama decides our schedule.  When we should be eatin' and when we should be sleepin'.   It works best that way.  I learned not to argue, she is loud and it hurts my ears when she yells. 

It is hard work taking care of all these ladies.  They tell me there are more ladies coming soon.  I want a raise.

Sometimes a dude just has to get away.  

When they aren't watching, I make my move.  

The coast is clear, no one followed me. 

Time to hide.  

I need a break. Them ladies talk and talk and talk and talk... 

If I play my cards right I can take a nice long nap, free of nosey ewes.  

Peace. 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Tell Me Thursday #7

It is time for Crooks & Crazies Tell me Thursday once again.  A welcome reprieve to coming up with a blog post all on my own.  A rare occurrence these days, what with sheep, dogs and summertime to enjoy.






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

• Our children

• My husband (on a good day, bad days replace this bullet with SHEEP)

• My dogs

• Cotton underwear big enough to sail a boat - no thongs or Victoria's Nightmares here, just good old fashioned grannie panties - yep.  Nothing compares for comfort or to cover a overly large bootaaaah. 

• Powder (I am a powder addict, I love body powder, scented powders, deodorant powders, corn starch...any powder, I love it. Most likely I will die of some powder induced lung disease.)

2. How do you transport your dogs? 

• I have a Ford Freestyle.   I love my car.  It is a cross over utility vehicle, or what we used to call a station wagon.  It seats seven.  I have folded down the third row of seats and put two crates there.  We are in the process of building a platform for the crates to sit on with drawers underneath for storage.  When I need to to have four crates I fold down the middle row of seats and can get two more medium sized crates there.  If I really cram them in there I can fit 5 crates total, when desperate.  If I have to take all the dogs with me (short trips to river or field to play) I stuff Bea & Brynn in one crate.  Ranger & Bonnie together in another and Beth is the princess, she is loose in the back seat with the kids. 

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

• I taught Brynn how to sit, lie down, stay, perch work & target.  She knows how to speak and a have worked on impulse control & balancing a toy on her head.  - nothing else that I can think of.  I think the little bit of off-sheep training has helped develop our relationship but other than that, I dont think it has made a difference one way or another on sheep. 

• Beth has the full range of obedience from her former drug detection training & agility training when we first adopted her - but she forgets all of it if there are any distractions - the obedience has helped her with impulse control on sheep - however I think it is the basis of her petulant, passive/aggressive behavior on sheep - to some degree.  

• Bonnie has had all her obedience training and several Rally-O classes, CGC & service dog certification.   When we work on sheep she heels, and I have a very hard time getting her to leave my side to go after the sheep.  I wish I would NOT have done so much obedience training with her before she went on sheep - personally I think it messed her up a bit.  We won't talk about her lack of talent or drive, I prefer to blame the obedience training, mmmmkay?  

• Ranger can do everything except herd sheep, so it is a moot point with him.  

• I have not taught Bea how to do anything other than recall (that'll do), stay behind me when I am walking (sometimes), loose leash walking (sometimes), lie down, sit, target with her nose, we are working on a stay and some impulse control (waiting for release to eat her food etc).  Other than that she jumps up on me all the time and her manners are non existent. But she gives the best hugs in the world. She goes to Dianne Deal for training in a couple of months.  I don't want to mess her up or put a bunch of pressure on her for things that don't really matter to me. 

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

• I cant really answer this, as Dianne started Brynn for me.  She will also start Bea.  Until I am confident I will not ruin a young dog I will let a professional help me with the all important foundation.  The only 'command'  I have put on Bea is "that'll do". 

5. Do you talk to strangers in elevators? 

• Typically...no, I take the stairs.  I hate elevators & avoid tall buildings.  If I am on a high enough dose of anti-anxiety meds I will sing, dance and strip for strangers, or so I am told.  I have no memory of this and as far as I am concerned it never happened.