The Travels of Faith

8/25

Overnight: many wakeups. I think the long nap was too long for solid sleep. Anytime I woke up disturbed Pippin, and 3 of those times (one was at 5:45, not bad – the others were 12:30 and maybe around 2?) – we got some howling or growls that would have become howling… Not helpful man.

Morning: Since Pippin went off yesterday eve, figured we’d try the line. He or the line was in sight almost the entire time. Until we got to the field that he goes off on sometimes – I need to start prepping for that field, so we get out of the habit. It wasn’t even chasing animals. Walk time, 40-45 minutes.

8/26

BAAADD traffic.

Fire pit invite from the 5y/o before I got out the car door, so we went up and hung out there for a while.

Black turkey vulture hanging out on the big black water tub. At least an hour probably 2. He fell in. Came out shortly after. Wow! Is he sick or injured?

Took Champ in with the sheep – I think he did very well. We need less fetching and more driving, and he is adjusting.

Morning walk. Workout. Train. Breakfast. Nap.

Weed whacking – got some of the woods trail, but battery wasn’t full. Champ came and hung out.

Delaying while dogs were being cute and sleepy.

Okay. Finally got out and went to clean up the sheep barn. For starters, the sheep were hanging out in the barn – so while they came out to greet me, they were pretty unhappy that I closed them off. I guess the humidity, cooler in the barn, they wanted a midday nap?

First attempt to clean – I used a leaf blower. This worked – very well, actually. However! Barn is closed in, so lots of dust in the air. Anytime I was near a wall, manure would fly up in the air – I got hit several times, some went down my shirt… Gross. Luckily fairly dry pellets, the sheep are having healthy poops. Additionally, I ended up with a lot of manure dust everywhere. All over my hair, glasses, face, back of neck. Luckily I was wearing a facemask – next time I’ll up it to a construction grade one.

Following cleaning the central part of the barn with the leaf blower, I went down to the historic barn and found a shovel, pitch fork, and a wheel barrow. Wheel barrow has a leak in the tire, but good enough for now – I grabbed my bike pump on the way up. The shovel was very useful for the manure, and then in the stall itself for all the straw and hay on the ground. The pitch fork was not very useful. I had also grabbed the weedwhacker, to get a clear path from the barn to the temporary manure/straw pile Brian had put straw in the day before. I think long term, that won’t work – hay truck would run over it. But I was tired and it was close, so… for today that was it!

Finally put a little over half a bale of straw in the stall – probably should do a full bale next time, they move it around a bunch. I moved the hay + mineral feeders into the barn hall, and then let the sheep only into the stall – leaving the big barn door open so it could air out.

Felt extremely gross. Took a long shower… and then a 1.5 hour nap. Apparently, I had burned a bit yesterday (forgot hat & sunscreen), I think that may have helped make me tired.

Fox at night (and deer).
Pippin probably crossed the road. Bad.
Relaxed by the creek.
Happy swallow chasing dogs.
Bar. Met Justin & Rob.

Let’s see… 8/22 was a pretty normal morning, except for me being tired. Didn’t fall asleep immediately the previous night, so only ~6 hours of sleep. Brought the dogs in, just in case we went to the city after. Did the work thing. Ended up going home after work, friend wasn’t feeling great so we didn’t meet up.

Still tired, but we got out and entertained the dogs & did the sheep chores. Talked with Linhan, trying to explore all options for Champ’s back leg issues – including diet.

8/23, took my time in the morning. We stayed pretty local, rather than a long walk. More on the driveway play and checking out the sheep fields. Abs – awesome that I’ve been keeping this habit up since beginning of last December, with just a few (10ish?) days missed. Mostly during frisbee tournaments or sheep trials.

Let the sheep out – finished the pellets. I’ll need to buy more. Filled up water with the dogs – Pippin really likes watching the hose and water drop down. Got ready to go to herding, could have left about 8:20 – waiting to see if the neighbor was awake so I could grab some squash to bring for grilling. 8:45 decided time to go. Missed one turn, but not the essential one – only added 5 minutes.

10:30 arrival for meeting at 10am was still early. Sheep were not out yet, and fun – Bonnie’s dog Cadence (Pippin’s sister) was in heat! I had only taken Champ out, so not an issue. Champ did actually sniff her, but then he said “you’re still an obnoxious puppy” (growled at her). Since there were no sheep, we went for a big field walk – which Champ decided to try chasing swallows, don’t do that! We need to save your energy!

Meg and Tina were both about, so got to say hi to them. Meg also donated some of her lunch to me, thanks! It was healthy and delicious all at the same time. We had a good talk, and then also met and chatted with Carolyn’s cousin – from NJ, but has been living mainly in Australia for 40 years. Pretty neat – she is a doctor, and works with Aboriginals out in remote (much further than rural) areas.

We had a great training day. Only went in twice with each dog. Pippin we took in to the lower area, trying to rush him past Cadence’s smell… fail. He immediately sniffed her pee and teeth started chattering. However, he was still paying good attention to me! Lie downs and recall, all very good. We started outside the pen, but moved in (with a line) – still pretty good! Not a lie down I would trust once he is engaging more with the sheep, but way better than last time we were out. All that work at home is paying off!

Champ, round 1, I worked on outruns and stopping on the other side. I used some food for the stops, and he also did great 😊. We ended before Champ wanted to, but also that meant before he was physically wiped. After a break and watching Bonnie’s dogs go, Champ and I went in again, same arena (round HT). I didn’t start with a plan, but midway I decided to try getting to certain points along the fence as calmly as possible. In the end, that meant we did some driving practice – which was great! Champ tried going for the fetch a few times, but we recovered with a recall most of them. The movement was very nice, and Champ held a good pace and managed some driving. Good job bud!

Pippin round 2, we went up to the top. Sheep were in two corners (Tanya and I had put them there, human herding), trapped by panels. Pippin was on a line, because these panels he can very easily get under. We worked on going from a more central point to “flanking” the sheep – sending Pippin out towards the fence ahead of me, moving parallel to the sheep. Then stop, I walk back to the central point, recall. Do this a few times, then switch to the other group of sheep. Pippin did great! Especially counter-clockwise, he picked up going out ahead of me and to the fence by the second rep in that direction. Going to be weird to have a CCW leaning dog when Champ is such a clockwise dog.

I was way past when I was supposed to leave, whoops! Grabbed a bunch of cheese and yogurt from the fridge shop, and then headed off – into Philly for a grill birthday/going away party. Took 2 hours, there was traffic… and then MLK drive was closed to cars so needed to walk with all the stuff + two dogs. A bit painful, because I also was trying to not let Pippin pull. But we made it.

Party was great. Lots of food, friends, and Champ wandered freely while Pippin explored the woods on his line. Champ got a lot of burger – I gave him some, and then the birthday girl’s dad was sneaking him some very good-sized chunks. Happy puppy! The hotdog I was given specifically for my dog, I split between Champ and Pippin.

When I did bring Pippin over by popular request on a leash, he managed to get a few licks of cake frosting from poorly placed cake. He also got a small pee out on someone’s cooler bag… boo…

Post party, lengthy time walking back and trying to keep Pippin from pulling again. One error – some guy was kindly de-vining a tree, and I asked him about it – Champ hadn’t seen the guy, so when he talked Champ started barking at him and approached a few steps (still 20-30ft away). Not ideal Champ.

Caitlin walked back after dropping her stuff off and joined us, which was nice to hangout more, plus very helpful because when she took the bag everything with Pippin became easier.

Home about 8:30 – long day! Dogs were tired, even Pippin went to the door. I then went to Tractor Supply to get feed – which I realize now was medicated when I got it last week, and I know little about that. So the sheep are going to be sad.

Actually the sheep will be fine, I brought up the bag of beet pulp and they got that for dinner. Note to self: always carry a knife. I was able to use the car key to open the bag, but a knife would have been easier! The sheep tried to bowl me over as usual, and weren’t very interested in going in the barn. I watched them eat, and then moved the grain pan into the barn before they were done, to add an attraction.

Short nighttime training session with the dogs, and asleep by 10:30.

Life is a highway… I’m gonna ride it… all day long…

Another good day in the Life of Faith. We had a great walk/run. Pippin did go off at one point while we were in the woods. We did the upper loop – I need to do some maintenance back there but not too bad. Champ lay down in the creek, happy boy. We ended by going into the sheep area, and did some lie downs there. Pippin and Champ both did well. Then abs/soccer. Inside upstairs – training. Had some fun with the stair set, had Pippin getting up on it and off (not as good at off!). Kicked Pippin out and did some reversing up the same stairs with Champ. Tried to get a lie down, but he’s only giving me yoga.

Work – went well. Pretty productive. Lunch was fine.

Maybe should have brought the dogs in, Ryan texted that the weather was cleared so he could go grab dinner if I wanted – but I had decided at 7:30 to leave the dogs home, because I thought he was leaving for NY. Oh well!

Home – traffic was sad due to an accident. But made it a little after 6! Instead of a full walk, I stayed local, playing in the driveway for a bit. Then I messed with the system and left Pippin inside while Champ and I went to hang with/feed the sheep. I probably should have left them alone – happily grazing. But once they noticed us it was too late, they came running looking for food. Wish I had video taped, because we had some Champ and Sheep interactions that I would have liked to analyze.

Next, Champ away, Pippin out – we did flirt pole near the sheep, but outside the pen. This went very well, despite 9 y/o adding extra distractions running throw and kicking Champ’s soccer ball and dropping flowers on Pippin’s head. It was clearly mentally tiring, and we went a little too long, but I think overall very good job by Pippin. Lie downs + here.

Stage 3 – took both dogs out, and we washed out the metal trash cans that I’d stored the buggy grain in. No food inside them until I’m certain the bugs are gone! Then, we finally went on our woods walk.

Stage 4 – Champ out again, this time in the riding ring, so sheep were grazing 100ft+ away. They noticed us after a minute, and came running over (looking for food). Champ and I practiced walking up on them until they turned their heads around from the pressure – this was much more organized than the in-with-the-sheep work we did earlier, I was very happy with it. Lambs really need some training – and I’m learning how to train them as I go.

Then I got Pippin out again, more flirt pole but sheep were out of sight and no child. He was still a bit tired I think, and stopped going for the flirt pole earlier than I expected. We got some good reps in.

Went out with Champ weed whacking – Champ does his own thing, and every few minutes I call him to check-in. When I was on the border of woods and pasture, Champ went off and came back wet – clearly hit up the creek. What a good boy he is.

& then finished up the day with Herding Book Club – looked like we were going to end at 9:50, but then Carolyn logged on so we ended at 10:50. & now it is bed time!

Did not get shirt numbers setup or fun run uploaded yesterday. Splurge stuff is done now though! Tonight ATBA fun run…

This was a drizzly day – and I quite enjoyed it. The green of the outdoors is so beautiful when wet. Had a great morning walk. Went through the sheep field (pre-sheep release) – Pippin was definitely paying more attention to the sheep poop then to me, we’ll work on it. Then we wandered and hit the lower trail loop. Upon return had a text that the 9y/o might be on my stoop – she wasn’t, but came up about a minute later. The towel over her head threw Champ and Pippin for a loop, took them a minute to recognize her. She read on my stoop while I worked out, and then she and I went up to let the sheep out for the day and get them some grain. They had enough water, phew! Did not want to fill that in the morning.

Back inside, I did some training with Champ and Pippin. Pippin did not make it through my shower lying down today – he moved into the bedroom and lay down right next to Champ. Oh well! It was probably too big a jump, + Champ started in the bedroom which was different than everyone in the training room. Other training went well.

Running very late, really not sure why… fed the dogs, prepped the car (including grabbing a pen from upstairs – since the other ex-pen is being used as a temp sheep fence), and then off we went. Pippin and Champ got dropped off at the dog sitter’s – her parents had been asking when they’d next see the dogs 😊.

Work – 9 to 5:30, both productive and non-productive depending on the hour. Very tired periods, and very focused periods. The brain is a mysterious thing.

Home – picked up the pups, and opted not to go into the city for an outdoor dinner when the raindrops hit my windshield. Good – because the rain got worse. Bad – because the traffic leaving the city was worse than going in. Oh well.

We had another absolutely beautiful walk in the drizzle. Sheep were out grazing – Pippin focused on them but came off on his own, no problem. Good boy! Played with grass, did some running around, went through the woods, came back, refocused on sheep… came off again while Champ and I played soccer… Good walk.

Pippin inside, Champ in with the sheep on a long line this time. Champ is still a little confused with how these untrained lambs are acting, but tried his best and sometimes even listened to me. Managed to keep the lambs off the door when I was getting grain out, which was good learning for the lambs. Tried to fetch them to me a couple times, but I really wanted to be driving. Too bad I never taught Champ how to drive properly. Maybe we’ll learn now! He also did a good stand while I gave the sheep grain.

Switched out for Pippin -  who I did not bring in, but we did a bunch of play near the entrance. He got focused on the sheep a few times – never tried to go under the gate, even though I know he is capable (tried to day one!). What a good boy! He also came off on his own very quickly each time – sometimes to the sound of me pulling stilt grass, which he likes to leap for.

Got the water refilled (irritating) for the sheep. Came inside – did some training with chicken and fed the dogs, then worked on Splurge stuff. Put the sheep away in the middle of that. Now I’m journaling at 10:10pm and I still haven’t posted the fun run!

… 10:25… Success! Bedtime.

1) Normal morning. Walk, Pippin stayed pretty close – we’re using lawnmower grass leaving and/or stilt grass I pull out of the ground as his favorite reward for some lie downs and coming on our morning walks. Abs – fairly quick. Champ played ball most of it. Inside. Trained with Pippin – front feet on a balance disc. Kicked Pippin out of the training room, did side steps and pivots with Champ (strength work). His rear feet on the platform pivots are so much better now-a-days, though he clearly got tired and had a section in the middle that was harder. Got Pippin back in, and did lengthy lie down practice – aka they stay lying down while I go (make the bed, get ready for work, etc), coming back to reward every minute or two and then resetting. Champ breaks first usually – this time, he was pretty good because when I said “Champ, place” he went back in the training room on his own! Normally I have to bring him back. Pippin stayed the whole time, good job! In Champ’s defense, I was building Pippin up before Champ started joining in on the fun, so I went from zero to hero with him for the exercise.

Fed the dogs, then new part of the normal morning: brought some grain up for the sheep and let them out of the barn. Only adds a couple minutes to the morning 😊. They’re pretty demanding at breakfast time.

2) Work – pretty productive. Making good progress on a project that I’m enjoying, and also had great results on the project that was started in May. Woohoo!

3) Home – took dogs out. We walk through the woods with Pippin on a long line, in case he goes for the sheep – because I know he can get under the gate as it is now. However since the first evening, he hasn’t tried going under. I’ll probably keep the line on anyway because in the event he does, I do not have the ability to catch the little speedster.

We had a great walk with lots of grass chasing, and then ended it with some soccer time, Pippin focusing on the lambs but then coming away on his own to play.

4) Got the sheep grain, and checked water. Brought the grain bucket up via UTV – which both freaked the sheep out but also they saw me and wanted food, so they kept following and then scattering. Very funny. Tried to follow me into the other barn area with the grain bucket too.

The water is enough for tonight, but probably should have filled it anyway because I may need to fill it in the morning… Which will be annoying. I need to get a plumber out to check how easy/hard fixing the water to the barn is. Took Champ up to see the sheep, and we went in for the first time. Interestingly, he went around the front three sheep to specifically target the one in the back, which then caused everyone to react. The leader perhaps?? Champ was much more satisfied with these results than the through the fence sheep barely backing up experience.

5) Went over to Hannah’s for dinner – talked, kids, dogs got lots of good dropped food and cleaned up.

6) Home – phone conversation distracted me, checked on the sheep twice and they weren’t in the barn yet either time! They’re getting more comfortable – spreading out and grazing separately from each other. Only two were in the front yard the first time I visited. Second time they were all together, and I led them into the barn and locked them in for the night. Stay safe little lambies!

7) Lazed. Phone time. Groomed Champ a bit. Played outside with dogs more. Writing this.

8) Before bed, going to upload the fun run stuff to the ATBA website, and maybe get the shirt numbers setup for Splurge… Or might put that off until tomorrow.

Working from home just to monitor the sheep better today. Started the day off normal – walk off leash, abs, dog training. Then I went and let the sheep out – they yelled at me for not bringing grain, so I went back down and got some (grain – still in the driveway, need to move it up). Checked they still had water. So far so good!

Work was not super productive. Got some done, but I was so tired it was not productive. Short nap during the day, and also napped post work. A bummer that the weekend was 90s and humid and today was PERFECT weather. Exactly the weather I like in the morning, and pretty much all day. 72 high. Windows are open and I had a blanket on while working.

Took the dogs out a few times. The sheep came right up to Champ, nose to nose – later after work they also did that with Pippin. Champ’s reaction is to bark a bit or snap near their faces, Pippin seemed to be a little scared. One child visited middle of the day. Pippin was a bit active in the morning, but settled in the afternoon. The sheep when I checked on them were often in the barn, but grazing a couple times – especially in the afternoon. Looks like they’re adjusting well.

Evening dog walk, Pippin was on a line just in case but didn’t have any big rushes towards the sheep. Did see them and sheep came over (as noted above). The kids helped feed the sheep – 9y/o was hand feeding and trying to pet the sheep. They aren’t a huge fan of the petting, but also really wanted the grain. Then we dumped the grain, got water, and the kids came over and played a bit. I cleaned dishes and made dinner, good job Faith.

Now time to: take out the trash, lock the sheep in the barn, and do some Splurge (ultimate frisbee team for sectionals/regionals) logistics. Kept the sheep alive for over 24 hours!

Aside: probably the first time I’ve used my stove in a few weeks… haven’t been cooking much.

Sheep day! But the fences aren’t ready. Ahhhh!!! I did the normal dog morning anyway, and let the necessary parties know I was aiming to pickup sheep in the afternoon, not morning. I finished up the second section of woven wire, stripping the knots etc. Then we were almost at the end of the roll, just enough for the smallest piece of fence I needed. I set it up but didn’t attach. Failed to find sunscreen, and it was hot + humid. Bleh.

On to the second roll – waaaayy to heavy for me to lift. I can barely lift the full 330ft wire roll when someone else has the other end. The tractor supply guy who one-manned it into my car was impressive! So, instead of lifting, I moved it a little further into the driveway, and rolled it out. I cut the three sizes I needed (longer than measured, just in case). Kind of fun – roll it out flat, weight on one end so it doesn’t just roll back together. Snip snip snip – and let it goooo!!! Rolled back together. The first one went nicely, the second one I had to re-roll because it went at an angle and ended up in a very wide roll.

This is about when Nancianne showed up! Took a break from the heat and went on a tour of the area with her. Then we grabbed some water, left the very hot dogs inside, and off to do more fencing! Brought one roll up, and did that partially correctly – but after stripping knots off one side and attaching, Nan was noting that to finish on time we needed to take some shortcuts. Tying and bungee cording things together will keep the sheep in, and be waaaayy faster. So true! & very, very needed. So, bungeed the other side on, and then went down for roll #2. We brought it up via UTV, parked, and then looked at the fence a bit – fixed the rails and took the gate off to prep. Went to grab the wire roll off the back of the UTV and it wasn’t there! No where in sight. I drove all the way down, Nan looked around on the hill… she finally spotted it on the patio next to my house. It had rolled right home 😊.

So this time we bungeed the wire roll on before we went up again.

Got that piece, and then the next piece up – tied on with string for now. The one next to the barn, there needs to be a five foot gate at some point… we just clamped the fence in the door. Other than one break, finished up the rest of the fencing and tied on the small loose piece, then got the gates bungeed into position and closed up. The main gate we rearranged, so half of the 20ft gap was covered, and the other half we would put an ex-pen in when the sheep were up.

Prepped water, and then prepped the car (painters cloth + straw), and off we went! 4:30 we get there, and Julia was SO IMPRESSIVE. Nan manned the sliding car door, and I manned the pen gate, while Julia just grabbed and picked up each lamb and brought it over to the car. Some of these ladies are 70lbs already!! She did this 9 times! I’m just saying – an inspiration. Made it look easy. My job was way too easy.

Drive home was also easy! The sheep quieted down pretty quickly and didn’t case any issues. Van made it up the hill. Didn’t immediately let the sheep out – grabbed some grain and setup the mineral block and made sure the gate was in a decent place. Then we popped open the back and released the sheep!

They did some grazing, and initially were scared of me/didn’t come for the grain. But once Nan and I got in the van and gave them space, they headed straight for the barn.

Nan headed home, and I got the dogs out. Didn’t really clean up… so tired. Hannah & Brian & co had some friends over and they were all out walking, so joined them. Pippin on a line – both dogs very interested in the sheep. Pippin did one big run for the sheep, but was luckily stopped by the fence (it is not yet dog proof in multiple locations), and came off them very easily.

Dogs away and fed, took a shower, and then I went to a restaurant for dinner. Very tired Faith tipped $5 on a $30 bill thinking I was overtipping, but clearly did 10% instead of 20% and then added a couple dollars. Whoops! I realized this when I woke up at midnight… At least the extra dollars put be in a reasonable 18% range. I’ll overtip next time I have that bartender…

Home, sheep in barn, dogs, sleep.

Quick blurb before I go to sleep.

The fences are not ready! I did pickup feed today, but when I opened the car to get it out in the afternoon… bugs. EVERYWHERE. Not cool. Kinda gross. I separated the bags, and it was the sheep/goat grain mix. Corn & beet pulp seemed good.

Adam came and helped – we did not get as much done as I’d hoped, fences are still in progress. There are zero more posts to put in though – got all the end posts I needed in. 2 more sections of woven wire mostly up, the second one I need to do the end. 4 more sections to go, all fairly small but the ends are the hard part – so pretty much they’ll all take the same amount of time. I expect we’ll finish the roll, and then I can’t move the full size roll so it will be a measure and cut situation down at the driveway.

Tractor supply – bought 2 10ft gates so far, and a hay feeder. Also more trash cans to put feed in/protect the food from rats. For now the buggy ones are in there – still don’t want to attract rats – and the good ones (hopefully) are in my car to stay safe.

Nancianne is coming tomorrow for moral support. Yay!!!

Took Champ & Pippin to the dog park after the bug discovery. Some water time, a lot of dog time, a little training time – Pippin’s lie downs are getting pretty good. He did go on one escapade this morning, not ideal.

Need to find all the places Pippin can sneak in and block them – put some logs in the way of one way to high gate until I can fix it.

Still did my regular morning routine. I have bruises and scratches and pinches everywhere. Some I know how, but one on my knuckle I have no clue how it came to be.

Tripped in a fence post hole while backing up with woven wire – did not injury myself, also did not get it on video. GoPro is turning off more than I’d expect – maybe due to overheating in this weather?

Are you ever ready for your first farm animal? Probably not. I’m definitely not! But maybe, if I go to bed now and get on it early in the morning… I can at least be close enough.

P.S. Saw a fox on the way back from tractor supply. Wildlife is so cool. A hawk was flying around all day too – not sure what kind, I think it is different from the previous one. Looks smaller?

If you read August July 18th-August 10th, there is some repeat here... this was my summary I wrote in August to catch up, didn't realize I had already written them (today is 11/14). Just going to leave the repeat in, sorry!

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Well, accidentally skipped a month. A ton has happened, but no records of it… so did it really?

Haven’t been sheep herding much. Worked on fencing a bunch – Adam has been so helpful. As of last night, 9:30pm, got the long stretch of woven wire fencing up in the barn pasture. The first woven wire we got up! The only one we’ll have to stretch with a stretcher – that went pretty well. If anything, it might be too tight! Hopefully not though, seems reasonable. The fence line isn’t straight so we aren’t stapled into every post – that is okay though. After a painstaking day last week rolling it out and hauling the extremely heavy roll around, we did the stretching last night. Stretcher bar attached to chain, pulled by the winch on the UTV. Used gripples on both ends of the fencing. I wanted to try t-gripples, but the night time and the struggle we stuck to the regular ones. Adam was supposed to leave by 8, but wanted to finish the job… managed to kick him out so he could do what he needed to about 8:20, mostly there. I finished up around 9:30 – had to finish removing the vertical wires on the part going around the post, and tie the wires on (with gripples). Messed up the height a bit – fixed that today. Herding Book Club also started at 8:30, so I was on the phone for a bit with Sue while I finished up the night work.

The electric augur has been working well, except in a few areas – Adam spent 2 hours on one rock heavy area while I was at work. On the flip side, easy holes take less than ten minutes. Probably going to hurt my back with it, or bruise my legs or wrist when it flips around… but getting better at using it.

Reached out to Penn Extension, so I have some resources to read through. The main article, nothing new but all good reminders. I’ve been listening to the Grazing Sheep podcast (as well as a bunch of other grazing podcasts earlier on, but settling into the sheep one for a bit) – so I know a lot more about grazing than I ever expected to. Ask – I will tell you the interesting things!

For tomorrow, I need to…

- Finish all the other wire fence sections. Hopefully easier because the roll is smaller and more mobile, plus the wire sections are shorter and can be gripple tensioned

- Put in at least two end posts and 3 gates

- Buy the 3 gates. Worst case I can buy them and just tie them on for now.

- Obtain feed, minerals, and hay/grain/mineral feeders. Also a water trough that is shorter, so I know the lambs can drink from it (option – get a dog pool)

Adam should be here about 10-4, so we’ll see what happens! Backup plan for feed stuff is tractor supply, but I’d rather find a better store. I need a 5ft fence for the gate by the barn – which really doesn’t exist in metal, but there is a 5ft split rail fence that might work.

Got a hay delivery (this past Monday), and 5 bales of straw for bedding, so don’t need to worry about that. Can always get more straw if needed at Tractor Supply. Turns out the hay place used to deliver to this house when there were horses on the farm, before Hannah and Brian moved in. So they are familiar with everything – never put hay in the barn I wanted before, but they’ve been up in the pastures with round bales and put hay in the historic barn.

Also, the plan is to transport sheep in my minivan – the big issue is I’m not sure if the van can get up to the pasture, so that may be an adventure. Julia thinks I might be able to do it in one trip – I’m skeptical that 9 lambs will fit in the minivan though.

FPSL – great season. Our team was so much fun. Snead breaking his foot was sad, but Drew was a great replacement. Disrupted the flow for a couple games as he came in, but we worked through that and had a great last few games. Sadly lost our first game finals weekend, did not flow well enough on offense – but we did win the next three and therefore B pool! Ty was our most reliable hucker. Jesse jumped so tall. All the women matching played great. Peach had a fantastic layout d in the last game. The only missing piece was Sean last minute had to bail on finals weekend, so we didn’t have a #2 man matching.

Also I wasn’t holding Pippin well enough while watching A finals and he got onto the field… so that was bad and a bit embarrassing. Apparently it was a crowd favorite moment though, and most of the players on the teams also enjoyed it. We will… definitely try not to repeat that ever again, whoops. Can I blame the sangria and margarita I drank? Next year, I’ll bring a waist leash so I don’t have to worry. Champ was a star – no trouble at all. I forgot to hook him to anything during our B finals game, and no issues.

Work – going well. Finally getting in good grooves. I’ve been getting some stuff done, but now I actually feel like I’m at a productivity level I want to be at (most of the time – can’t be all of the time), and am focusing better. Also, I bring so much free food home.

Forgot to mention I sprained my ankle (mildly) about 1.5 weeks before finals for FPSL… while running in the morning and I stepped in a hole. Had a brief moment between games 3 and 4 where my ankle hurt and I wasn’t sure I’d play the last game, but iced it and warmed up by playing a point and it felt good again. Post game it also felt fine, so positives! Still wearing tape because driving is hard.

Champ is struggling more to get up, which is very sad to see. Just scheduled an appointment with Penn Vet Rehab for Sept 16th, see if there is anything we can do to improve that for him.

Pippin is lying down so much better. We’ve been practicing a lot. Now when I go get changed/ready for work, we do “long” lie downs where he stays in the room and I leave. Champ I didn’t build up with, so Champ also leaves the room to follow me in the middle sometimes. I was able to do a (very quick, maybe 3 minutes) shower and Pippin stayed the whole time, even through Champ coming to find me. He’s doing so well! Eventual goal is 10 minutes, but he is still young so maybe not immediately.

Squirrel running on the fences and getting chased by Pippin/Champ this afternoon was pretty fun to watch. Pippin is overall getting better about staying close as we go outside, and in range when we walk – especially if I’m not on my phone (which is most of the time, I don’t bring it often). I have “lost” him twice in the last week, so still a work in progress.

Planning Splurge (sectionals/regionals only women matching pickup team). We may have over-recruited this year, we’ll see! But definitely going to both sectionals and regionals, so I’m happy about that part. Playing time, who knows.

Oh – went to MA right before Wildwood, had a small part for my mom that was quite fun. She turned 70 in June. Then went straight to Wildwood, dropping the dogs off on the way. Got lots of play time at Wildwood, albeit no wins. Love playing True American, but don’t like staying up late, so did a mix. Tim thought the empty beer can bag was behind me, and shot for it – and hit me right in the face/shoulder (it bounced and I don’t know which got hit first). It was pretty hilarious and became a theme.

This week I’ve been going to bed early, mostly 9:30-10:15 and one late night of 10:45. Glorious – always good to be asleep by 10. Tonight the writing is distracting me (but also, enjoying it) – so looks like 10:30-10:45 may be the time.

One thing I need to set aside time for: tracking finances, especially related to sheep. & setting up sheep health tracking, food consumption, etc. Maybe Monday I’ll get to that… Don’t have any agreement from Hannah/Brian re: leasing of the field & barn yet. Need to ask Carlos when he’s coming and get back to my tenants about the timing.

I can’t believe I’m getting sheep on Sunday! It is so close!!

Finals weekend for summer league!

Friday night (the 8th) something came up so my co-captain was no longer able to make it. Also our #2 man matching player... ugh. We got a replacement, husband of one of our WM players, but he didn't play much Saturday (just a couple points) because he didn't want to take playing time from the rest of our men - which was the full squad. So effectively - down our 2nd best MM player. Everyone was early to our first game, props to all! We did not play great as a team. Just not quite meshing. Plus on field 7, which is smaller and downhill - not good for our style of play - against a team that loves field 7, and we had already lost to on the same field. Terrible draw.

The game was much closer than our first loss. We did a lot of throwing the frisbee away with bad hucks. Lots of good defense! Does not make up for a questionable offense. One MM player didn't get on the field much, he thought since we were in contention for A pool didn't want to mess that up - I tried encouraging him to play and talked to him about it later. May not be the top MM, but solid player with smart hucks who stays calm and doesn't lose the disc - really exactly what our team needs to stay on track. He played the rest of the weekend (of course, we were also out of A pool contention).

Second game of the day we won. Had a strong lead, but then started playing around a bit in the second half and almost lost the lead. This game, our #1 MM replacement started meshing with the team, really well. Maybe the beer drunk before the game didn't hurt? But overall, it felt much more like how our team played the whole season.

Sunday morning, game 3 - we won handily. Played very well. Their top MM player showed up for the last 2 points, whoops. I don't think it would have impacted us winning, but maybe the scores would have been closer. Game 4, for B Pool Champion - we won! We were tired, and started out more even, but gained a lead and kept it. This was the young YCC team that had forfeit to us, and we had played in the pre-season. Older and wiser for victory.

After the game, went and watched A pool finals. I had Pippin on a leash. Drank some sangria. Apparently did not have a good enough hold on the leash, about 2/3rds of the way into the game play was close, and suddenly Pippin lunged and I felt the leash slip from my hand. Uggggghh. Pippin ran right on the field and lay down with eyes on the disc. Play stopped. I was immediately following (this is all on video...), and took him off. There was a short discussion, the frisbee went back to when the dog originally came onto the field, and luckily it did not seem to impact the play much. Unsurprisingly, I got a lot of comments after the game. Most people thought it has hilarious. I'm sure a couple of the players playing did not - but from everyone I've heard, most didn't mind. One said something like, "it was nice to have the reminder that this isn't a professional game, this is league, and things can happen". Note: Champ stayed where he was the whole time, and I hadn't been holding his leash pretty much at all.

Anyway. We will try hard never to repeat that situation. Also after we went towards the woods, Pippin peed on someone's straw hat... top it off why don't you.

A busy week. One - EXCELLENT bird watching. There was a hawk (probably red-tailed) that was just hanging out for a while, and I got some very good views. I moved my ab workout location up to the riding ring one morning so I could watch it in the background. Also a beautiful red bird.

Lots of fencing. Wednesday I got all the rails up on the big fence line and prepped the missing posts. Adam came in the day Thursday and finished digging the last hole for the H braces, and put those together, but tired out before I got back and went home. We both worked on it Friday evening, getting the (very heavy) wire fencing material up to the spot, attaching one end, and adding the wire supports for the H braces. Not as quick as hoped for, really wanted to get the fence rolled out, but it turns out taking the vertical fence pieces off takes a ton of time. Especially if you haven't done it before.

Also still trying to keep up with the back trails, so did a few hours of weed-whacking. A good procrastination tool for fencing.

We were supposed to have a frisbee game Monday night, but the other team couldn't get enough players together for Monday or Tuesday and forfeit. Very sad. The captains coached YCCs, and also a lot of their team was at YCCs. Probably good for my ankle, which I had twisted in a ditch while running the woods trails the preceding Wednesday. It was feeling mostly better, but I also didn't pickup just in case. Really wanted the game for chemistry with our new #1 MM player. Snead had broken his foot at the last Phoenix practice, and they found us Drew - who is an excellent player, but not quite there yet on the chemistry. Played two regular season games with us (although one the opponent was... well it was a very easy game. They were missing a lot of top players).

No journals were kept. However, I have some photos! And may write from memory a bit.

Big notes: went up to Massachusetts - driving down, I left Wednesday night, but only went partway. Found a nice residential area just off the highway to park in and sleep. Not the best night of sleep, but better than driving through the night! Hung out with Tracey and her two kids in the morning, and in the afternoon we celebrated my mom's 70th birthday with some of her friends at the 135 fields. Holly made tons of food. I made two crisps and brought them all the way from PA without killing them! We had a great time, about 10 of us, talking and eating and enjoying for 4 hours. Champ started barking at the basketball game in sight for a bit, and I considered putting him in the car - my aunt was "you can't do that!". Well... I lived in a van for 3 months, I'm pretty sure I am fairly aware of if it will be okay. Windows all the way down and not too warm, he'll be fine. Didn't happen anyway, but the principal!

I worked from MA on Friday, and then Saturday I drove back to NJ - dropped the dogs off at a Rover - and went to Wildwood. Due to a late start and terrible beach traffic, I arrived just in time for the 3rd game... I think.

The frisbee was fun. I did not drink much and left the beer garden early - so loud, and I was exhausted from waking up super early and driving. Spent a long time finding parking so I didn't actually get back before people, even though I left early. But I got a free spot! That evening we played... True American. A game from the TV show New Girl. It is highly entertaining, and I did not finish out - went to bed. When you finish a drink, you throw it in the bin from wherever you are. Well, the bin was a paper bag, and there was another paper bag of snacks behind me. Tim finished his drink, shouted "Kobe", and hit me with a beer can. Terrible aim, but also a hilarious, surprising, and a running joke the rest of the game and weekend.

Sunday morning I was up early and wandering, Tim also was up early enough that we went and found breakfast at a diner type place. Played a couple games. A little annoying that in the last game a few people really wanted to complete a chicken wing pass. This would be fine, if (a) they were good at throwing it and (b) threw it at appropriate moments. However, it was not - so they just kept throwing the disc away uselessly and not fun for the uninvolved folks.

Picked up the dogs on the way home, I had chosen a Rover that wasn't too much extra driving.

15th: very productive day at work. Dogs at sitter. Frisbee at the ballfields. We lost, sad. Our man matching were dropping like flies (injuries, tired, etc). Started off up a few breaks but collapsed.

Went to Wissahickon Brewing Co after the game, which was excellent. Taco truck, everyone at the table and there was light so it was more like a team dinner than the flexible wander off version at Edgeley.

16th: Semi productive at work, no one scheduled for taking the dogs out – oh well! They’re going to have to get used to it at some point, I’ll probably only hire a dog walker 2-3 days a week in the fall and the neighbor kids are going to be in school full time. We had a very nice evening. Pippin’s fecal sample results came back, positive for giardia (few), whipworm (moderate), hookworm (they didn’t give a level). Stopped at tractor supply on the way home for some SafeGuard, and he’s started a 3 day course of that to handle the worms. We’ll redo it in 3-4 weeks, to break the egg cycle (dewormer kills the adults but not the eggs, so you gotta get the next round before they lay eggs). Ended the day in the training room with Pippin and some toy time. Picked up Pippin for dumb reasons (near the scale, why not weigh him? Well I got his weight at the vet Monday so I know it…), and got a very mild stomach scratch from his paws because I didn’t have a shirt on. Whoops.

17th: Great morning – I did a real run around the property, dogs stayed fairly close/no chases. Abs, and minor training. Semi-productive work day. Champ and Pippin got out for a long time, the new dog walker came and stayed for at least an hour. I think she enjoys being outside on a beautiful property. Looks like Champ got a lot of soccer time in.

Happy hour post work with a focus on ice cream trucks, because National Ice Cream Day is coming up – I’ll take it. There was a whipped banana truck that was excellent (assuming you like bananas). Made it home about 6:30, took the dogs out for 30 minutes – some ball kicking. Fed Pippin his dewormer in a yogurt + tripe mix, and put dinner out – then I started my own laundry. Left Champ’s bed in the wash after Pippin either threw up and diarrhea pooped during the car ride back from the farm on it, so I’ll have to wash that again and then dry it properly. Sat down with both dogs free to finish Positive Herding 201, Chapter 18 – Stockmanship. We skipped ahead in the book because it was recommended. Pippin stuck his nose up my pants trying to get to the treats in the pocket.

Back out with the dogs, while I was moving trash Pippin went and found an animal to chase. Boooo. Champ stayed with me, because he’s an angel. Pippin came back, maybe after a minute – not very long. He was still hype and not really listening though. Kept him in the area, but he went off and pooped and then was able to listen again.

Inside, writing this, and about ready for herding book club! Debating if I’ll “make” anything for dinner or be content with the happy hour food.

Pippin’s poop was diarrhea and mostly yellow goop. This was over 24 hours of liquid-y poops, a little concerning. Still had plenty of energy. We skipped morning training – classes over so we’ll take a short break… for one day anyway. Did get my abs and pushups in!

I was ready to go, but Pippin really was not feeling it – very anti-leaving – so I decided to work from home and maybe deworm or get him to the vet. Didn’t de-worm yet, but he did get to the vet (moved his Wednesday appointment up) and his yellow goop poop is off to a lab to check for worms. Might just be something he ate. My WFH was not very good today, I was apparently exhausted – I think it would have been similarly bad in the office. Oh well – hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.

Pippin didn’t eat much breakfast until I added tripe, and then maybe 1/3. Around lunch I put it back out and he ate another 1/3. Dinner he devoured, so I think we’re doing okay. Vet visit we also got a snap test, and he has exposure to one of the tick diseases (not lyme, but same symptoms). When we get the follow up lepto vaccine, I’ll probably get the full blood test run and get him on antibiotics to clear the infection, even though he doesn’t have symptoms. I don’t want hidden long term effects because I didn’t notice symptoms.

Post vet, Pippin had a long zoomie session where he totally ignored me and zipped around the farm at way-to-fast. Clearly not lethargic. We got some training for each dog in. I did some cleanup of the wood in the shed – didn’t quite finish organizing/cutting up long pieces, but very close. We went on an evening walk that was lovely.

Then I wrote this and yesterday’s!

One thing I didn’t do today: eat very well. Yogurt for breakfast and supplements. Belvita bars, an apple, and a bunch of frozen taquitos and pot stickers that I just threw in the microwave. This is definitely a disadvantage of WFH.

Cannot express how good today’s runs were. I ended up entering three, and after every one I was smiling from ear to ear for 10+ minutes. This was such an excellent day. I also remembered to videotape all three!

Started off, the day was cooler and overcast – very nice. For the RLF (Ranch Large Flock) and HRD (Herding Ranch Dog) courses, we added pools around the “bridge” and put the turtle and headless shepherd status in them. RLF was first – I ran third. Everyone finished/passed, but Champ and I crushed it. We had to do the take pen 3 times, because we left 1 then 2 sheep behind the first two tries. The third I changed tact and sent Champ on an “away”, which was perfect. None of the sheep “drowned” in the bridge crossing (though Champ did). We were on the road the whole time except one attempt by sheep to burst up the hill. The 5 minute graze was PERFECT. Sheep stayed where they needed to be, Champ never once burst in, and the outrun pickup after was decent. No one got hit on the (fake) road crossing, and we got a good re-pen. Plus I walked the whole way. It was such a good run, and I was on a high after we finished. During the graze, the judge joked that I should get bonus points for them actually grazing (other competitors the sheep were bunched up – not correct grazing. I thought you lost points for tense sheep, but all judges are different).

Day kept on smoothly. Stock handlers were there when needed, we had a large crowd of spectators, and the weather held for most of the trial. Carolyn and the judge did decide to change the schedule to give the geese a rest, which was a small hassle. Champ and I did a goose HTD I, after almost never training on geese (just a couple accidental times, never with intention). It was both hilarious and successful! Champ started the outrun trying to figure out where the sheep were, and then latched onto a swallow briefly, before I got him engaged with the already moving geese. He kept a decent distance from the geese, which was a surprise – with sheep he is right next to them. But he must have understood, because the geese work much better at a distance. We didn’t get all the geese through the gates, but the pen was pretty easy. The hold was a fun disaster – I couldn’t get Champ to stop on the opposite side, and the geese weren’t going to stop even if Champ did. I finally got Champ to pause in the right spot, and even though the sheep kept moving the judge called it a hold. I heard “You can’t make the judge laugh!” after I told Champ, “Lie down, for real this time!” 😊.

Another post run high. I was debating whether to run HRD (same as RLF but less sheep), how tired might Champ be? Some people suggested no, leave it there. Carolyn said go for it. I decided to do it, worst case I can end the run if Champ gets tired.

Great decision. This run was so, so solid. In many ways (except the identical score), better than the RLF. The take pen (away!) was perfect, and Champ kept the sheep right next to the pen. The bridge no one died (not even Champ), and the road work was beautiful. The graze I had one burst from Champ, because I tried to make him take a water break and he did not want to, but otherwise was excellent. We had to move a little more to keep the sheep in line, and did it well. The outrun was good. Champ and a sheep or two did die on the road crossing, oh well. The re-pen was also easy.

What a day. Beautiful.

One person showed up to spectate just as the last run (mine) finished – we got her involved though. Helped collect some geese for the judge to use with her dog. Watched the judge with sheep and the geese. I’m getting much better at loading up geese. Judge’s dog, Spring, was fun to watch. Beautiful outruns, especially on the birds. Penned the sheep very nicely. Only thing she didn’t want to do was come in on the shed.

Talked, helped clean up post-trial, collected all my ribbons… 6 blue ribbons out of 7 attempts on the weekend. Remembered to take a picture with Champ. Tried to give Pippin play time with Gwen and Jack, but there was not much running around and instead a lot of flirting between Gwen and the boys (mostly Pippin).

Sue, Sierra, Sara, Carolyn, and I went to late lunch/early dinner at Sango Kura (Japanese street food and sake). Sat outside despite the heat (sun broke out) because it is pretty loud inside. Had a pretty good meal, and followed it up with ice cream at Kelly’s. Black raspberry shake was the right move.

Back at the farm, got ready, gave the dogs some more time to run, and eventually (after catching Pippin who is anti-car) headed home for a 10pm arrival. Stayed up a little late writing (not this one, I was behind). I did forget – for the 3rd time this trial week – to do my abs. Whoops! Trials really get me out of the rhythm.

Summary of the day:

- Get ready for trial

- Champ ran two B course runs. The second he made a good start of an outrun, then flattened out. The first we did great, and the pen was PERFECT. Champ and the sheep and I were apparently in tune, because the sheep basically waited while I opened the pen for them. It was beautiful! Sadly I forgot to hit record on the GoPro, so it will only be recorded here and in the minds of those who watched.

- A German Sheperd did an amazing instinct test – so calm, first time on sheep and doing many things right already.

- The HTs were quite the disaster. The PTs, Carol did well – neither attempt a pass, but greatly improved from one to the next.

- Lunch/dinner at Richmond’s Brewing, again early. I ordered a salad – mistake, despite mooching was still hungry.

- Took a nap, wrote one journal entry, Sierra and Adam came by and we hung out, it was great.

- Last day of Fenzi dog classes. I got paw pods in with Pippin, pretty decent for a first attempt.

- Mimicry with Champ

Mimicry details:

We got our started B title with that run. Very exciting! Another joyful part of my day was the mimicry with Champ. Today, we tried chaining again – did the “jump” + around and back + yoga. The first attempt, I had to cue yoga. Second attempt, he lowered his head but not the full motion. Third attempt, Champ got it! He chained the behavior together! It is soooo cool! I was so filled with happiness! I discovered my camera was not at a good angle to catch it, so we took a short break and tried again, and he nailed it again! When I went the other direction he needed the yoga cue assist, but when I came back and skipped the yoga (bow) he also skipped it. Learning is so neat!!

Trial day one! Beautiful, hot day. Initially good temp for an hour or two. I was tired, because (a) bed a little late, and (b) Pippin had diarrhea twice on the carpet. Take 1 at 5am, take 2 at 5:45, after I tried to pen him into the tile area – but the pen wasn’t secure enough. Sad cleanup times. Took Pippin and Champ out briefly, and then Pippin out a little longer – save Champ’s energy for D course. Cleaned up the sheep poop in Duck A – only one pan full, pretty easy.

Champ’s D course run was pretty good. Taking them out of the pen – no problem. A little struggle at the footbath, but we got 4 for sheep through (out of 11) – exactly what is required for started. No problem calling him off the sheep after dropping them at the pan. All the rest of the elements are just fetching, and Champ is good at that! We qualified, which means Champ has his started D title 😊.

Most events ran fairly smoothly, biggest issue was lunch was ordered for an 11:30 pickup and we definitely should have gotten it earlier… and then the 5 chicken and 5 beef tacos I ordered were apparently individual tacos, instead of meals. Whoops! Luckily the two steak burritos were big, and most people got some food.

I helped out with the instinct test – one place I went to take the line of the dog, but the dog didn’t like it – whoops, shouldn’t have tried that. Otherwise pretty good, I handled the dog some as an example before the owner took over. Handled the dog == held the line, she still does all the cuing – just doesn’t need to worry about the line too as everything comes at her.

Champ’s second D course run, which I did get on video (except the footbath which is out of sight), was also good and a qualifying run! We’re sticking to started because I don’t have much driving with Champ. This time, all 11 sheep went through the footbath! Plus Champ, which lost me a couple points, but was very expected. The rest – again very smooth! Two sheep were lagging behind, but Champ did great with the look-backs and kept them all with us. So, so happy about these runs.

Finished the day about 3:30, did some end of day take down (tents, sheep away, etc). Took the dogs on a field walk – except Champ, trying to save energy. Went to dinner at Allegheny Brewing – pretty good food and beer (I mostly hear, but the sour I kind of like). One major issue with the place is despite a nice outdoor space, no dogs. We sat in the air-conditioning. Different server than last week, but the previous week guy did stop in with food and recognized me.

Since the trial ended at a reasonable time, we made it home while it was still light! I did some homework for my dog classes. With Pippin I did a smattering of things, and sent in a funny 20 second video plus a look back on the class, since it was almost the end.

With Champ, Sue came and watched – we did mimicry and tried with a totally new behavior – going over a “jump” and around the uprights of the jump back to the starting point. Champ NAILED it first try, and when I tested going the other direction out of the jump, he also did it correctly. Seems like he is really getting it!

7/7

PLD (Parking Lot Duty). Then went into the city. Got to see Kiki! Also fixed the window for tenants, they were having trouble closing it. In his defense they are weird mechanisms - but I also asked over text if it was the top or bottom part not all the way closing, and he said definitely the bottom... It was the top. Shove that up 1/2 inch and the window closed. Also, he'd said there was a swarm of flies coming in, probably because the window was open. I said, "what kind of flies, I can pick up a trap" - he said, "they're mosquitos!". Those... are not flies.

7/8

Highlight: Went to frisbee because they didn't cancel it initially... Then I made cheese & apple sandwiches on the porch in the rain storm, because I had brought ingredients for grilled cheese dinner but didn't have anything to cook on. Committed to eating at Edgely.

7/9

At the farm, day one.

7/10

At the farm, day two.
Outrun practice.

List to write tomorrow:

- Morning great hike, no chases

- Pippin threw up – second time in 3 days. Maybe the giant weed we’re playing with in the morning?

- Weed whacking and pulling out posts with Champ

- Dog training.

- Longer than expected nap…

- Pulling out posts, this time with Pippin. Pippin inside for some weed whacking, then both dogs out to pull more posts.

- Dogs rolled in poop.

- Sad baths.

- Head to Matt’s to learn more about Ultra High Density Grazing

- Pick dogs up, Lloyd’s Park. Great time. Met a guy named Jim who was a cool device under his knee to help stimulate his foot to move when he walks. Great time in the creek. Leaving, Pippin briefly ignored me, but the “here” in the second attempt (vs this way, let’s go in the first) worked.

- Dinner at V Restaurant and Inn – good conversation with Blake and Karen, who have great pyrenees.

- Home – deer right by where we park. Didn’t leave despite Pippin barking at it, until I got the dogs out of the car and they’d turned away to go up the stairs. I think a good training moment?

- Tried mimicry with Champ – too physically tired.

- Wrote a lot of journals!

- Wrote bullets for today!

- Off to bed we go.

Herding day! Slept in almost to 6:30, so late! We kept the morning walk light, and still got the abs in. Similarly light on the training. Got to the farm about 10:05. Had an extremely fun conversation with Tina and Carolyn en route.

We did not have the most productive training day for Champ, but he had a great time – and I had a good time hanging out with Carolyn, Linhan, and Bonnie. We also celebrated Sara’s birthday with an ice cream cake. Pippin’s training in the morning was very short/not going well. He got stuck on some baby ducks. The afternoon, we did a field walk – and we got some great recall off sheep practice in. The individual afternoon session also went well, more come & go in the back that was excellent, plus after some of that he was willing to engage with the balls and do lie downs in the yard near the sheep. Great!!

Champ’s first run wasn’t as good because we took the sheep out (excellent take pen), he ignored my “away” suggestions and went “go bye”. Might have caught the sheep, but there was a free sheep at the top for unknown reasons so the ewes were booking it. He eventually brought them all back down, but way more running than we wanted him to do.

Second session was similar – we were trying to practice outruns. Carolyn + Meg did a good job of setting, and Champ’s outruns weren’t bad, but the sheep were just going. Needed more perfect outruns, or to do aways. There were sheep in C holding the first two attempts, which was a big draw, but the last attempt we had moved them, and still the sheep flew. Champ went up the hill twice – once he recalled from up there, but not the second time. So much running! Decided not to have him do outruns in New A, just for tiredness sake.

Went to dinner with Linhan and Carolyn. The first place was closed, the second place said on the phone they allow dogs on the patio – but lied. The owner apparently doesn’t like dogs on the property. It was cool enough we still ate there, and the dogs were fine in the car. The food and drinks were pretty good, other than the dog issue I would recommend.

Drove home, up the driveway, deer! Keep the dogs on a leash getting out of the car, and let them out on lines after a bit. Did a great mimicry session with Champ – in the garage, using the car bed platform as where he goes “up”.

Got to bed about 11:30 because I wasted 45 minutes on my computer watching short clips on Facebook… whoops. 

Fourth of July! Started off both a productive morning and non-productive – I spent a decent amount of time browsing things on my phone, but also got the final non-gate related post in on the main pasture fence line we’ve been doing. Plus put in 27 rails. I didn’t tamp the new posts in after doing the rails because… I lost my digging bar/small tamper in a bush on the drive back after the first post. I finally found it on the last run. I’m going to need more rails, because we’re down to 8.

I found a new dog walker, Tracey, and we ended up meeting just before 4pm – so I was later to Vince’s party. She checked everything out, and we talked a lot – not just about dogs. Had some suggestions to check out in the area. She does photography. I ended up getting out of the house to go to the 4th of July party later than expected, not a problem – and then she was still in the driveway. Battery was dead, needed a jump. No problem, solved and we were both off.

Had a great time at Vince & Lee’s party. Happy 50th Vince! Met various people, most of the guys names began with ‘J’ 😉. Had some good conversation, one good margarita following the provided recipe (minus a little tequila), and a lot of food. Charlie & Nicole were also there, otherwise people I didn’t previously know. They had a HUGE watermelon.

Left about 8:45, home 9:15, dogs out, bed.

I’ve been starting the morning walks with some play time on the driveway first, to help the dogs stay near me more on the walk itself. It had been working… but almost immediately this morning we found a fox. Pippin and Champ were circling the bushes/logs, and I got to watch the fox run casually away and fairly close to me while the dogs didn’t notice.

They found something else too, shortly after, and I think Champ may have gone into the road. Boo, dangerous.

Half day of work! I got home close to 3 (left the office about 1:45, normal traffic + stop at Wegmans for a food pickup).

Good dog training, weed whacking, meant to write trial schedules but took a nap/crashed. Herding Book Club!

Written 7/6. The highlights:

Foam appeared on the floor from an unknown source – apparently Pippin started eating a part of the couch that I would never have noticed (the front edge), except he left the evidence.

Good outdoor time with dogs. Didn’t do any official Wednesday Dancing, but effectively/had good play time.

Got an hour of trail weed whacking in, very satisfying, after which Brian met up with me and asked if I could work on the trails while they are in Dublin. Ahead of the game!

Happy birthday Hannah (sister-in-law)!

Today started out quite zoomy. I was a bit tired, but the dogs were chill so I did sleep until 5:45 and got a little extra rest after that. 69 degrees on the a/c might be key.

Our walk was hype – Pippin stayed in range, but he was zoom zoom zooming everywhere, no stopping. Guess that’s what happens when you stay inside chill for a couple hours when you normally go on a run. My legs were exhausted – not that I did much Monday, but probably the weekend catching up to me.

A short abs session, and some training. Champ and I worked on mimicry, which was ehh. First part was bad, second part was okay. The couple day break was not helpful. Pippin did reversing, which was pretty good – he’s getting better about lifting both rear feet and searching for the platform. We also did some toy play (lie down, here, drop it). I went in twice with each pup, because TBD when I’d be back in the evening – had rescheduled our frisbee game for tonight, but weather wasn’t looking good again. Plus some extra time downstairs.

Then breakfast (for dogs), Pippin in the pen, and onward to work! The dog walker would come, sadly her last day – too many deer ticks in the area. Understandable, but a bummer. Need to find someone new.

Work was excellent. I was very productive. The afternoon I had one hour of wasted time because I didn’t sync and restart one session that was feeding the second, and therefore did not get data I was expecting… but didn’t realize it for a while. Oh well. Worked through all my issues though.

As semi-expected, frisbee was cancelled again. For a makeup game we even were going to have good numbers! Happy dogs though, because it means I was home at a reasonable hour – even with 15 minutes of tired playing NYT games in my car before going inside. Sometimes, I need some free time by myself.

We got all the training in – Pippin did cavalletti, a little slow but overall improved. Champ did another mimic session, and it was MUCH better than the morning. Played a bit. Another session with Champ outdoors, where we did a little cavalletti before working on directionals. Very hard for him if I’m behind him – probably would be easier if Champ had something in front of him to focus on, like sheep. Ya know.

After re-reading the homework reply for Pippin, I did pivot again with him – the suggestions were very helpful, we achieved a lot more movement with less pressure from me.

Dog dinner included salmon again, because work had the same leftovers and I took another one home. Faith dinner (also shared with dogs) included the leftover pizza from Sunday and a salmon sushi wrap from work the previous day. Both shared with dogs.

Submitted my two homework assignments, updated the ATBA website because AKC trial entries closed today. Let dogs out – did I mention the other day I need Champ on a line at night? I didn’t remember that, and off he went again. Should put Champ on a line when it is dark…

Writing this. Just realized I didn’t finish Sunday’s journal, so guess I’ll do that now. Update: after writing, still only 10:10, so teeth and then sleep will get me a reasonable bed time!

Slept well! 7 very solid hours. Maybe the clean sheets, maybe the 69 degrees (vs 71) for a/c setting.

Pippin did decently staying in sight this morning. Definitely not as close to me with the stops, but not running far off.

Brought the dogs to the dog sitter, along with a pen for Pippin. She didn’t notice Pippin pee inside her building… probably part of why he’s started marking indoors. Ugh, have to be on top of that.

Work was decently productive. I had some sloppy changes at end of day but c’est la vie.

Frisbee got cancelled after it poured buckets, so I messaged Kallie to see if she was available. Yes! Drove into the city – took 35 minutes, but found a parking spot right next to her house. We all went up – I gave Pippin some space when entering, because he’s a little scared of Vienna (Kallie’s dog). She’s high anxiety, and has snapped at him a couple times, so it’s deserved. We got Pippin all the way in and behind a gated area, which worked well. He sat next to me on the couch, Champ on the floor, Kallie and Vienna on the other side. I had a great time catching up, and the dogs were pretty chill (good job boys!). I shared the salmon I brought from work for the dogs with Vienna, and all pups were happy about that. Pippin started getting more curious about Vienna, and we moved the gate over a little so she could say hi to me, eventually opening it – success! All pups stayed chill the whole time, not much play – and I think that was for the best. Pretty sure Champ, Pippin, and I looked like a great family photo.

Went downstairs about 8, and took the dogs for a walk around the block (Vienna was so happy!), before hopping in the car and heading home. Got home in the dark, rain… expected the rain would make Pippin want to go inside. False! Apparently yesterday’s learning that water is not evil is applying to rain as well, he ran off and didn’t come back for a few minutes. Did a last minute training session. Finally got the thorn out of my thumb with nail clippers (I think the tweezers are out in the car). Should be turning this off and going to sleep about 11.

(but actually signed Champ up for the trial and was up until 11:15).

Another sad night of sleep – many restless dreams, which I now do not remember. I tried sleeping in but Champ put his head on the bed asking for pets, and then Pippin was chewing on something loud… still stayed in bed until 6, relatively late.

Dogs walk. Abs. Train just Pippin, giving Champ a rest. Worked a bit on organizing my finances/tracking sheep related expenses and time. Re-watched how to string the weed whacker. Failed to string said weed whacker. Grabbed the electric pole saw instead. Had issues getting that tight, but got the right tools and succeeded. Put it in the back of the UTV and went to the bottom of the pasture to take out a bunch bushes. Realized when I arrived that I had forgotten the battery, whoops! At least I hadn’t walked, easy ride back.

Took about 1.5 hours, the chain slipped off only once towards the end, but I got through almost all of it. My hands took a lot of thorn stabs even with the gloves. Very hot and sweaty.

Briefly let the dogs out, then took a nap. More dog time, then took on the weed whacker again after watching yet another video. Turns out – I had it right the previous attempt, it is just harder than I thought to push the string through. This time, succeeded. Went out on the trail with the weedwhacker until the battery died.

I had left Pippin and Champ in the general area, instead of Pippin in a pen – rarely an issue, but this time it was a bummer. He had clearly tried getting a toy off a cabinet, and taken some books down with it, which he then chewed up the cover and a couple pages of one book. There was bubble wrap, which was from around a penguin figurine I’d gotten in South Africa, which Pippin had pulled off a different shelf. Rude, Pippin. I had him go in the crate while I cleaned up, for better or worse. Pippin was clearly acting out a bit because he’d wanted to go outside and I’d denied him… he obviously didn’t know I’d planned a dog park trip.

Which we did go on, despite his misbehavior. I originally wasn’t sure if I’d bring Champ (Pippin only outing?), but decided to take both dogs. We went to Lloyd Park for the first time, which has a creek running through it and paths in the woods and open fields. Didn’t try the paths, but the creek and fields and other dogs were great! A large section of fence is missing, so you come in the dog gate, but if you look about 10 feet over… there just isn’t a fence. Pretty funny. Also the dog gate is too high, so little pups can go right under it (mine did not).

Pippin actually got in the water! Up to his chest! It was gradual, but he got more and more comfortable, and at one point went splashing through on his way to a dog fetching a ball. I’m very excited about this development! He’d been avoiding paws in water for a while. Hopefully we’ll get him happy swimming at some point. I know he can, because of our one disastrous swim lesson (instructor was a throw them in no matter how scared they are type of guy, and I was not okay with it – but Pippin was a naturally good swimmer, he just swam to get out ASAP).

Champ, of course, loves wading and also lying down in the water. & not swimming (he was the shaking dog in disastrous swim lesson that I ended early). Too bad because it would be great for the arthritis.

Over an hour in the park, me wading too, and we were all (I think?) tired. Headed out, and found a place to eat on the way home. Had a very cute back patio, and the pizza smelled good. Service was excellent, pizza was a little soggy (because of the hot honey sauce I think) but good taste. I can’t recall what it was called, but only a 10 minute drive home after.

At which point I discovered Pippin was not tired, as he went dashing off and did not return for several minutes. Not great, whoops.

I was pretty exhausted at this point, out in the sun a lot of the day. Originally thought I might do more, but… not going to happen. So, mostly some dog time, play/walk/train. Is train any different from play?

Up early per the usual. Messed with the system – did some training, and then took Pippin out alone for a bit. I should really be doing single dog walks more often, but it is hard for my brain to leave one behind. Abs altogether, and since Champ hadn’t been on the walk he did feel like playing soccer. Did some stuff on my computer and took a short nap. About 9, took Champ out to the garden center to buy some top soil. Kept Champ out for a walk, where I focused on clipping branches & picking up sticks on the trail. Can’t take Pippin on those walks or I lose him. One set of tree branches had insect eggs on them, not sure what type. Red, and red goo popped out when you squished them. I was kind of thinking they might be ash borers, but on further investigation they weren’t. Anyway – I killed a lot of the eggs, and had the guts splattered on my phase and hands to prove it. Champ did not help in the endeavor.

Back to the house about 10, Adam arrived shortly after. I meant to be back a little earlier to let Pippin out and prep things, oh well. Still let the dogs out, got everything loaded, dogs inside, and then we headed to the fence. Car had the fence posts, UTV had the tools. We got every fence post in, except one we didn’t see, plus an extra by the riding ring. Took less than 2 hours, 7 posts.

After about an hour break and letting dogs run about, re-loaded with fence rails and tamping tools. This is when we noticed the post we missed. Got all the rails we brought up put in, fairly easily, and then filled in the post holes with more dirt and tamped them down. It’s looking pretty good!

Tried taking the weedwhacker out for the trails, but failed to string it correctly and it did not last long. Gave up, went inside, took a shower and then a long nap.

Dogs out again, good walk and some treats, before getting them dinner and heading out to watch the Philadelphia Pheonix take on Montreal. Talked with Andrea much of the game. Al and another coworker were also there. Pheonix had a good lead with 5 minutes to go, and then bombed it to get back to tied. Then an exciting finish where they scored, leaving Montreal only ten seconds to tie it up. Montreal did not succeed, Philly for the win.

Got home a little after 9, and took pups out. Champ went after something (Pippin was on a line or he would have). I need Champ on a line at night, I think.

Bed 10:30 tired.

Wake up in the morning feeling… tired. I did get up about 6am – always before the alarm. Out the bathroom window, a deer! Right near the front door. We’ll have to wait a bit so the dogs don’t go crazy when we go outside.

Pippin got to the front door and noticed said deer – and started going crazy. I debated bringing him to a crate or just ignoring him – and decided to take Champ upstairs and do some training. Champ had a good session, and when we opened the door to the room Pippin was waiting outside, not focused on the deer anymore.

Spent some time on a line (for Pippin) in the front yard, playing, before we went on a walk. The calm time worked well – overall a smooth morning, no lost Pippins. I’ve started using a ball to try getting Pippin to stop near me, instead of blasting past me when I say “this way”. It is working pretty well – he doesn’t always care about the ball itself, but me throwing it is enough of a distraction to get a slow down and often a stop. Then, “click!” to tell him he did a good job, and off we go again.

After that, the usual – abs, training. Briefly talked to Carolyn on the ride to work.

Surprisingly productive at work, especially in the morning. The late afternoon was a struggle.

Home about 6. Hung out with pups, then took the UTV out for a little less than an hour – have to get through this annoying break-in period still. I did move some weeds/branches I’d previously ripped down to a different location.

Attempted an early bedtime. Don’t remember why but still slept poorly.

An extra long morning with the dogs, to make up for the upcoming missed evening. Multiple training sessions, walk, abs, name game. A solid morning, and I left late… before but close to 8?

Work was pretty good.

Post work was better! Zoo night, aka SIG rents out the whole zoo and we have an evening of free food, drinks, and cool animals. Ryan joined me. Failed to see the red panda – apparently just missed it after our 2nd attempt (my 2nd, Ryan’s first) – went to get ice cream, someone said it had been spotted, already gone before we even heard about it. One ice cream cone away from seeing the elusive creature.

Also did not see the cheetahs. But (before Ryan came) the tiger was crossing the overhead catwalk! Always awesome. Eventually found the advertised shandy.

One highlight: the gorillas. Had a view from above when one gorilla decided to go outside, and whipped his/her hand out – caught a lightening bug! SO COOL. He came back inside, then went out again, and caught another! This time he sniffed the bug, but apparently did not eat it (from people with a better angle). Not often zoos are open in the evening, and a lot of animals aren’t as active, but this was an evening only event!

Talked with many people. Didn’t get hit by the big rain – too busy in the reptile & amphibian house trying to spot the animals. The end of night pizza dance party was a bust – no dancers – but they were just handing out boxes of pizza. I think the pizza has improved this year.

Ryan and I parted ways, I took the bus back to SIG and from there a car ride home. Good deed: I moved the branch that was in the road a little past the driveway, so people wouldn’t hit it or have to go around it at a sketchy curve.

Despite Adam taking them out, Pippin was hype. I tried to go to sleep at 10:30 – I got to sleep closer to midnight. So sad. I should have put him in a pen the first time he howled at the window, but I gave him a second chance – and then he went tearing into a box that is usually blocked off. I thought maybe he was hungry – hadn’t eaten much even though it was out the whole time. He ate a lot, and I was thinking great! Now he’ll settle.

LIES. He howled again at 11:45. That was the final straw, Pippin sleeping in a pen tonight.

Morning – very good job keeping Pippin in sight. We did a shorter than usual walk, I got about 1500 steps. Abs. Training. Great job with Pippin reversing. I skipped Champ’s anti-inflammatory, hard to draw the line between liver concerns and arthritis concerns.

Work a little after 8. Morning – a little longer to get things working than I expected, but very productive. Afternoon – so tired. Again only 6-6.5 hours of sleep, really want 7-7.5.

Evening – excellent time with dogs. Great walk with Pippin and Champ, and I did a good job throwing the ball to keep Pippin from (a) blasting past me every semi-recall, and (b) snapping at Champ’s face. Dog Dance Wednesday – and I did a lot of the dancing to Rent, or whatever showed up on the Rent pandora station. I did 2 outdoor sessions with each dog individually, one training and one dancing/fun. During one with Champ the wind picked up like crazy and I was certain it was going to pour on us, but… it didn’t! I talked to Tina and Carolyn (separately), and got all the updates. Pippin and Champ played.

I did not get all the things I intended to done, but we had a lot of fun and none of the stuff I missed was urgent. So – an extremely good Wednesday evening.

Bonus, it is 10:10 and I wrote this plus finished the last two days, so I’ll hopefully be asleep by 10:30, and maybe get 7 hours of sleep if I’m lucky.

Update: talked to Meg until 10:40, woke up before 5, did not get 7 hours of sleep.

The usual morning, followed by loading up the dogs – frisbee day! Back to a previous sitter, because the main one is on a work trip. Like this person a lot, but $$... and found out she’s moving to North Carolina next week so it will be our last stay. Sad.

Work was good. Went on a nice lunch walk with Shannon.

Post work, hit the grocery store before picking up the dogs. Theme for post-game was dip night – I spotted pudding cups and decided pudding + cinnamon sugar pretzels was the dessert dip.

Frisbee we had a last minute WM drop, uh-oh! 4.5 women matching now (one coming late), and a 99 degree day with heat index just under the cutoff for game cancellation. I sent an email asking for a pickup, but didn’t expect to get one… and expectations were met. It worked out well for us, once the sun went down a little. Game was good, Pippin only pulled the stake out once – and I didn’t find out until after the game, because I had also tied him as a backup to Champ’s stake and someone else noticed and fixed the situation. We won 15-12, half was 8-4. Lots of going deep.

Dip night was great, but despite a sports drink from Troy (thanks!) I hit major non-functional driving in question fatigue about 9:15. Maybe heat related, maybe because I’m only getting 6-6.5 hours of sleep (my body keeps waking up at 5/5:15 despite me telling it to sleep in to 6). I did end up driving home, no issues (considered taking a nap but didn’t end up needing it). Arrived about 10, passing a fox about a minute from home… and another fox in the driveway as I pulled up. No question, I knew Champ and Pippin were going to go off into the night howling if I let them, so leashes! They still were pulling and yelling a bit, but at least they didn’t get a chance to run off.

Came back out for the chewy delivery of dog food + dog treats, and the package was damaged. Then I realized the dog food back had claw marks and was torn up a bit. Still most of the food there, but also a ton of little ants… ewww. I moved the bag and tried to get rid of the ants left on the bag before pouring the food into my plastic container, rescuing most of it. The treats were all untouched.

Then I fed the dogs, quick shower, and finally went to bed.

Mixed the morning up with a training session first. Then on leash for Pippin at least half the walk, abs, more training.

Work. I was tired and had concentration issues. However - afternoon snack, see photos for surprise!

Dogs: don’t forget, distract Pippin from Champ with a ball when Pippin is coming in to snap at Champ’s face.

Champ collapsed a little during mimicry session, which was sad. We pushed through and he happily continued.

I got some of the garage/basement cleaned out. I want to move the training area down there so it is (a) naturally cooler and (b) Champ doesn’t have to go up/down the stairs.

Finally registered Pippin with AKC too!

Photos from 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.

Today started on a concerning note. Long line on Pippin for our walk, didn’t prevent the first chase – but he did come back quickly from it. A second chase, similar. Post second chase he went into the woods (not chasing), and then didn’t come back. After a couple minutes I got worried and started calling for him. Pretty quiet, until suddenly I heard a yip – suspicion and worry semi-confirmed, his line may have caught on something. Pippin was quiet again though, so we followed best I could tell, and did not find him. It took about 10 minutes, with Pippin letting out only 2 or 3 more short (a couple seconds) of barking, for me to find him. I went into the woods from two directions, and the first might have worked – but he’d been so quiet I wasn’t confident. The second attempt, I also wasn’t confident, but I looked up and saw him in the bushes. The line was not that caught – I was able to pull it easily, so a little surprised he was stuck. But rescued!

That was tiring.

Post rescue, headed back to the house. I dropped the dogs off and went to grab the weed whacker. Worked for maybe an hour, then came inside and did training with the dogs. Fed them, and took a much needed morning nap, before going back out for some more weed whacking – until I ran out of string.

Took the UTV on a short drive about with Champ running behind (he loves running alongside the golf carts and mule at the farm too). Then Champ and I took a road trip to the garden center (got some herbs), tractor supply (got a post hold digger, should have gotten top soil but didn’t), and target (got two air conditioning units that are more typical to put in than the recalled ones I had). Champ got lots of treats at the first two, and I went quick at Target since he was in the car.

Home, take Pippin out, then dogs away and took the UTV out again. This time I moved some wood with it – not big loads because we’re in the break-in/don’t overload phase of a new UTV. Who knew they had break-in periods… Very pleased with the functionality. Shifting not great. A little jumpy at low speeds. Does crush the weeds, and maybe damages the tall grass – we’ll see if that comes back after the rain.

Dog time, afternoon nap, meant to go out for dinner but didn’t… etc.

Sleep is a great healer, my head felt fine in the morning. Despite Pippin howling at the window at 3am (pretty sure he was waking me up to check for a concussion). Stayed local/barely hiked, but did some abs and soccer. Member Training Day at Raspberry Ridge, so wanted to conserve the dog energy. Got training done, associated videos uploaded, a fake breakfast but enough to give Champ his meds (because I’d run out of food the night before) and then packed up the car and headed out. Stopped at Wegman’s for some clementines and chips to contribute to the picnic, and arrived at the farm around 10. Many people already there, trying to beat the heat!

• Took dogs out a bunch

• Socialized

• Lunch

• More dogs

• Chores

• Dinner

Work day Friday, felt more like a Monday. Usual morning with a little extra training, then loaded the dogs up and headed into work/dog drop off. Due to the storms the previous night, a lane on 76 was closed for flooding, so the commute was longer. Could have avoided it if I paid attention to maps earlier on, but… c’est la vie. Dropped the pups off about 8:30, and rolled into work at 8:45. Did a days work, made the decision between sushi bowl, qdoba, and chick-fil-a for lunch (I did sushi + chicken sandwich). All good options, all in one day – should be spread out more.

Picked up the dogs, hit the grocery store. Got my favorite $1 per pound meat ends, along with 56 hot dog buns (dog night!). Once at the fields, I was slow getting ready due to excessive talking with people, but eventually made it to the fields.

The game went very well – except just before half I got a hand (arm) block, turned to go play some offense, and then a guy on the other team ran straight through my head. Not great dude. I took an injury, and thought I might be back in a few points. The guy apologized after the point, but I really could not tell you who it was. Somehow literally no one saw this happen. People assumed the injury call was from the hand block, maybe the disc ricocheting off my head… nope!

We won 15-8. I ended up not playing the rest of the game. Probably could have, but my head felt tight and a bit painful, and I don’t want to risk anything with head injuries. It started feeling a little better after I finally lay down on the ground close to end of game, and then much better about 9pm during post game food. I got tired and left early, despite it being a Friday night. Plus skipped any alcohol, thought it was GDD (Girls drink drunk) night, and the smoothie drinks looked pretty good.

Was more tired than I thought (or at least less capable of thinking) and at one point debated pulling over, but made it home and hit the hay.

Lets see… Writing on 6/22. Juneteenth, day off! Slept in to 6:15 I think. Overall, a very productive day. We did a hike, training, abs… and then I did an hour of weed whacking (until the string got short, because I didn’t know how to extend it). I holed up inside for a bit to post dog homework, and then headed with Pippin to Tractor Supply for a tamper. En route stopped at the garden center, and picked up a very heavy stone to try out as a step for the front door. Goal: make it easier for Champ and Pippin coming in/going out. This took longer then expected, so I got back a bit late and Adam had already arrived to help with fencing.

We got the augur out and setup, loaded up the posts I had, and brought a shovel and weedwhacker. Sadly, there was a birds nest in the posts that we were not aware of, and all 5 eggs hit the ground and cracked. They were a darker pink, and very small – if you know how to identify bird eggs. I do not.

After forgetting a few things, we eventually got to the place of post digging. Realizing a tape measure would have been useful, we skipped the post intended for a gate. The augur worked great – when Adam was using it. I could use it, but kept losing control having the handle smash into my legs. Painful. Hindsight – can’t have been that bad, not much bruising. So mostly, Adam used the electric augur, I helped with shoveling, and did more weed whacking to make it easier. When I pulled the augur out once, there was a snake – alive, but clearly I’d hit it and the guts were literally falling out. Adam gave it a quick death with his knife. RIP snake and bird eggs.

The first 3 holes, pretty easy. The second 2, a few more rocks and roots – total took about 1.5 hours. Ground not tamped down, need the rails in first. We took a rest and got water, at which point… probably not going back out. Adam was getting ready to go when the fence post/rail delivery came, and we helped unload. 50 rails, 20 posts, 5 “farm” posts (regular circular posts instead of split rail posts).

I relaxed for a bit, playing on my phone but really quite tired, and then took a short nap. Thought Brian’s birthday event had people coming over at 3, but turns out it was actually 4 – might have gone back out if I’d known, but oh well! More time to take the dogs out. At said party, ate lots of food (yum!) and chatted with various people but mostly coworkers. I left to let the dogs out, came back briefly, and then left again for Herding Book Club. This was delayed, however, when the UTV delivery came! They’d been expected at 7:30, but storms had caused traffic, so I wasn’t sure if they would make it. The guy parked on the road and drove the UTV right onto the property. We talked, he made sure I was aware how to operate it, and helped me check if it fit in the garage.

THEN Herding Book Club. Chapter 1 of Positive Herding 201! New book started. Very exciting. The call did have a little strife for me, when I briefly talked about Pippin and it became a much bigger discussion than I wanted and kind of a stressful direction. Anyway, logged off about 10pm, and then off to bed.

I had a good night of sleep, even without putting an A/C unit in. Going to need to do that soon.

Morning walk/jog was very good behavior, if anything Champ was ignoring me and out of sight – Pippin was hanging out well! Did a quick round of lie down practice before abs, and then worked on Movement Puzzles for our training session. Champ loves them, Pippin is learning them but not super excited/not a quick pace. We’ll figure that out.

Drove to the end of the driveway, and apparently coming to the end so I could see – freaked the driver coming down the road out. Honked aggressively, then slowed down/stopped in front of the driveway for a bit as he most likely was yelling, and definitely giving me the finger. This seemed a bit excessive… I was literally in a driveway, not on the road at all. After he got out of my way and the next car came by (since he had basically stopped for 10+ seconds to tell me off), pulled out and was following two behind… sooooo slow. Like, 25 in a 35. Oh well.

Work was reasonable – I didn’t feel particularly productive, but I asked good questions about the issues we’ve had the past two days and instigated good progress.

I finalized the loan for the UTV I bought Saturday (CF Moto UForce 600, 2024 Camo model). The paperwork came in yesterday, but as I was reading through they hadn’t informed me about the insurance requirement, etc. Loan is 2% interest rate, so even though it will be very annoying to have a monthly payment for up to 3 years… it is smarter to invest that money. We’ll see how long it lasts before I pay it off. Also insurance will be $212 per year, so I guess I can afford that.

Made it home around 6pm, and then we went walking. Pippin was not so well behaved, it was not great. Unhappy Faith. Very tired happy Pippin. We’re going to have more leash time.

Came in, did some lazing and started laundry… ate food and read the first chapter of Positive Herding 201 for book club. Then went back out again to do some minor clipping of branches/thorns on trails. Pippin attached via the waist leash, Champ off. Treats and a toy. This went very well, and Pippin was doing a good job. He likes playing with the branches I cut off as I wave them around. Then, as we were heading back… Champ went off and ignored me as he chased something and it was not good. Pippin was attached, but freaking out wanting to follow. Champ, you are not helping man!!

Inside, we did some training – Chin Rest for Pippin, Mimic for Champ. Chin rest went decently, though my mechanics were not setup well – could definitely have a better session. More treats in a quicker time period, I think. Mimic for Champ also did not go well – he was hype and not listening very well, offering random behaviors or sniffing. We took one break, then switched to working on known behaviors – still not good. Took a second break, then went back in. He’d been offering “yoga” (aka bow), which I’ve been trying to get on a verbal cue but not seeing progress at all… Break through!! Not 100%, but a GREAT number on verbal cue, even mixing in some other cues (backup, turn) that Champ had been bombing the session before. Much better ending than I expected.

I put my bed back together and made the error of starting the audio book I’m listening to up – “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow”. I should really restrict this to car drive time… but it is so good. I paused it a few times because there was a hard break-up type part that I didn’t want to happen… but made it through.

Downstairs, did some homework – decided not to submit Champ’s tonight, we’ll see if we get some mimicking in tomorrow morning and decide what to submit after that. Listened to some more audiobook… whoops… & then I convinced myself to write this!

Highlights of the day:

1) Pippin definitely crossed the road. Ignored me and said “I want to cross”. Bad, back corned of the tree field. May need to either (a) avoid the area or (b) get back on leashes for a bit.
2) Carpooled with Brian!
3) I’m still having trouble with Pippin snapping at Champ. Maybe throwing a ball in the opposite direction will help.
4) Pippin is enjoying movement puzzles now!

Herding day!
Yeah that is all I wrote... I'm pretty sure it was great though. Pictures here are from June 11-June 15.

From memory written 9/10.

6/11 - Met Charlie, the barred rock rooster I saw free on Facebook Marketplace and redirected to Carolyn's farm. Very friendly, likes humans. Sad future spoiler - he died, probably going to investigate something and getting a racoon or similar hand to his face when he got too close to the not well protected edge of the cage. Always use chicken wire or hardware cloth! Holes must be small to protect the birds!

6/12 - Picture of Pippin with his farm dog ribbons - which he may be too young to officially qualify for? Found that out late, may need to be a year old. Oh well we had fun!

6/14 - Went to a protest. Best sign there - "Know your Parasites". Pictured! Was talking to various people, and then mostly the guy next to me, and then realized he was really close and thought "maybe it is the crowd"... no. He was definitely flirting with me and hip bumped. I had enjoyed talking with him, but no need to date. I left a little after the official end, using it as a reason. Then I hit up the UTV place in West Chester, and looked at the UTV I'd been chatting with them about. Decided to think about it - left, drove, pulled into a parking lot, decided to pull the trigger, went back. Likely could have haggled it lower, but... oh well!

Dinner - went to my coworker's place, he and his wife are testing putting on dinners that educate you about his wife's home province in India. It was delicious! Good chatting with the people they invited as well. I did almost walk into the wrong house, but my friend saw me through the window and called. Phew! Many courses, education, not too spicy (but some spicy, even though I was promised not - we have different ideas of spice! The first appetizer was almost too much for me.)

6/15 - I visited the maybe future sheep! Julia answered all my questions, I got on the phone with Carolyn to figure out what other questions to ask... Julia was willing to hold them until mid-August, and also get the sheep tested for brucelosis (sp). Cute lambies.

About 2am somehow Champ was under the bed, and he got stuck so I helped him out.

In the woods trail, doing great, and then I throw a stick off to the side – practically hit a deer I didn’t see, startling it and sending it off, which obviously then gets both dogs after it. Pippin came back in just under 3 minutes (Champ came back much more quickly).

Then, I was trying to move a poop off the main path with a stick – and accidentally flung it up and it bounced off my shoulder… Gross! Luckily it was a pretty hard poop, I didn’t see any residue on the shirt (but still changed).

Went to work, decided to take Wednesday off and go herding… went home, out with the dogs and got my homework done. Headed to Raspberry Ridge a little after 8pm, so I could avoid morning traffic. Pretty close to my destination, deer on the road! I slowed down, two were crossing and one was still on the far side. I wasn’t able to come to a stop, but the two cleared and looked like the last one might wait… then number 2 turned around and I hit them. Oh no! The deer landed on the road, wriggling a ton until she flipped back up onto her feet and ran off. I saw no blood, and my car was undamaged, so… hopefully the deer has no serious injuries, just some whiplash.

Images from June 7-10.

Images from June 5th because they were cute.

I was in the training portion of the morning, and Pippin didn’t want to come downstairs. So I left him and went outside with Champ to work on turn (spin, CCW). Middle of training, we hear Pippins yelping – he realized what we were doing, came down, jumped on the counter, knocked the bowl of food I’d prepped off, and started freaking out. I have not figured out getting Pippin to chill out when I’m working with Champ.

So – Champ got distracted, but came back to work, and then it took longer than expected to get out. 

Got a good usual morning in, and then was a little late dropping the dogs off at the sitter’s because we spent time with training. Work, pickup dogs, go to the store before frisbee to get supplies for our after game “Picnic” theme. Was aiming for turkey/apple/brie sandwiches. When collecting the turkey, I saw a sign… $1 per pound for meat and cheese ends! Wowee! What a deal! Dog treats galore! I bought about 3 pounds of it, 2 meat and 1 cheese. I will definitely be coming back!

The game was great – our team is very good. Everyone is a solid player, everyone has an impact, and we have some beautiful movement. The post game – also great. No cook is nice, easier to clean and faster to eat! Lots of people hung out, and we had a good time. Dogs got some good snacks and were happy too.

A good day for dogs. Morning and evening, we had great training with both pups. I finished the cleanup I’d started Sunday, and joined the crew for a s’more around the fire in the evening. Work was also solid. Posted a good video of Champ with some solid voice commands of “Chin”, “Target”, “Backup”, and “Up”. The end!

These two days kind of meshed into one. Starting off with a 5:45 natural wakeup, so sad. We went outside for a bit, hike/abs/training… and then tired Faith decided, after training, to hang out on the bed… Champ was on the twin bed I have at the foot of the bed, and Pippin was in the middle. I was petting them both from the foot of the bed, until I switched to nap mode. 24 minute timer… at about 21 minutes I reset it for another 24. Then again a few minutes early, I just shut the timer off. 2 hour nap at 7:30am! Clearly needed recovery from two nights of insufficient sleep.

Morning plans to go to another UTV dealer shot, I double checked if I’d missed the local sheep lady I’d emailed a month back. I had… at the Phoenixville market. But she was at an even closer market! Texted Hannah if she wanted to join, and we headed over separately. Pippin got left behind, but Champ got to come with. Much easier to have a real conversation with only one dog to worry about… especially if that one is Champ.

The market was very cute – some good stuff, although I just came away with some (sheep) yogurt and strawberries. Plus a ton of information! Julie the sheep lady was very helpful. She had contacts and info for a shearing guy, a hay company, and some potential grain people. She went over the healthcare she does with her sheep (pretty much what I expected/knew, good to verify). She also gets her wool processed elsewhere, and then sells the yarn at the farmers market – so now I know I have that option. I also asked if she knows anyone who might have some sheep for sale – yes! Julie has 9 female lambs she’s interested in off-loading. East Freysian, dairy ladies. Overall – a very successful conversation.

Stopped at home depot for some bolt cutters. I had originally planned to go herding in the afternoon, but that sounded like it was falling through, so was thinking I’d attack the barbed wire. Just as I was about to go, Sierra messaged and asked if I was coming. I called, and sounded like some help was needed on the duck pen. Decided to try and get there 3:30-4, but wanted to get a little done first. Managed some barbed wire removal, and then got ready – semi-prepped to stay overnight but not intending to actually – and loaded the dogs. Definitely not arriving by 4, left too late. 4:30! In time to join part of the puppy field hike.

Dogs had a blast at the field hike, and then I got the plans from Sierra for the roof of the duck pen. The plans were… questionable. Nothing had been started, but supplies had been bought. Initially I decided to ignore the plans, but then went along with trying them. It was basically – instead of wire mesh on a wood frame, put two pieces of wood on either end of the wire fencing, drape it over, and attach with hose clamps. Cut the wood, started attaching the first one, draped it… no. Nope. This was not going to end well. Frame everything!

Sadly I’d already cut a lot of wood into 3 foot sections, so we were stuck with that. Even so, needed more for the lengths of the frames. I waffled a few times, but end result: let the 3 foot sections go, in favor of 4x8 frames and one 10ft x ~53” frame (the pen was not square, one end was 51”). The 10ft frame was due to the little balcony/stairs sticking into the pen area. Otherwise it was a 12x12 – and the balcony was 8 feet in. So the 4x8 would cover the area without the balcony, and the 10ft x 53” would cover the rest.

By the time this had all gone down, and I was two frames in plus supports and some extra framing for around the balcony area (to prevent gaps)… it was almost 9pm. Pippin had spent a lot of time staring at the geese. Champ snagged treats on occasion, but mostly lay in the mud. I forgot to drink the water Sierra brought, but I did stop for pizza. First went to get food for the dogs and discovered I’d left the car door open, and Meg (dog) had trashed the place. She’d finished a bag of treats and most of the bag off supplements, and chewed up my hard plastic food container. Clearly got it open, and there was still some food left – just enough for my pups at least! Whoops, don’t leave doors open.

Bacon/pineapple/pepper, and excellent pizza combo. Ended up staying over, was definitely not driving home. Wrapped up the night posting my Fenzi course intro posts, and got to sleep around 10:30.

 To wake up at 6:15! Sleeping in because the room is so dark, success! Pups and I went on a short walk, and then a little before 7am I started in on the rest of the frames. Obtained the rest of the wood I needed from the barn, and off to the races. I was ready to test putting them up about 7:40, but needed a second hand. Packed up a bit while waiting, and started reading the Fenzi lectures, since class started June 1st (Fenzi, FDSA – online dog training classes).

The frames fit perfectly, and realized we could modify the 10’ x 53” frame a bit due to how I’d put the supports in – getting it closer to 48” so we could just run one length of the wire mesh. I was two screws away when the drill died, inconvenient – guess we’ll swap the battery out. While waiting for the battery (thanks Sierra!) I planned out filling in the gaps for the balcony area. When Sierra returned, I tested the theory with her (needed the 10ft frame lifted back up) – looked very good! So final result: 4 frames, filled gaps, and left the frames for someone else to put the wire fencing on.

9:30am already, and I had wanted to be home by 10am… oh well. I packed the car and ate a piece of leftover pizza as I took Champ in with some sheep (he said, “Finally!”). Champ did very well. Pippin – not so great. We kept it short (3 minutes), but he was circling and a bit amped, and got a bite in after I’d been trying to end the session for a bit.

Loaded the dogs up, went to talk to Lisa briefly, and then on our way… about 5-10 minutes later I turned around. I needed to give Pippin a second run on sheep, he had been so hyped up watching sheep while I was working, and the rest of the time staring at geese… He needed a second session after letting the pent up frustration out. Plus the drive time was perfect for rest. We got back, went in – Champ once, Pippin once. Great job by both of them. Pippin was much more relaxed in his movements (or at least slower and smarter).

Now we can go home 😊. Car, drive, home, do some work cleaning up fence posts/yard debris I’d left behind – partly with dogs, partly without because they were getting tired. Followed a flower path with the younger kid and it led us to some adults and then into a snowy cold world (imagination!) and eventually Candy Land with a chocolate (mud) slide. Also did some more Fenzi classwork – got through all the released lectures, and did some work with both dogs. Only posted for Pippin (FUNctional Fitness). Champ’s class, Mimicry, I needed to figure out what he actually has on solid voice commands, and it was going to be a long first video.

A non-standard morning where I forgot to do abs after deciding to mix it up and go from walk straight to training. Pippin we actually just did some cuddles. He wanted to be in the training room, but didn’t seem in the mindset to actually train. No worries!

Standard day – tired because I couldn’t fall asleep. Dogs at day care with a ne person, ex-coworker who switched to a WFH all the time role. Good day at the office other than tiredness. Ultimate frisbee after work, picked the dogs up and stopped by the store to get bacon and apples for the post game grilled cheese.

Good game – we were doing very well the first half, then the other team picked it up a notch and we started making some questionable decisions under the higher pressure. Still pulled out the win, 15-11. On to Post Game! The apples were a huge success – great add to the grilled cheese. The bacon got cooked up at the end, and Champ and Pippin were happy to help finish the package off. I’d say very successful. The only issue: I was in charge of taking the grill home, and had to wait for it to cool off… so I didn’t leave after 10pm, and didn’t get to sleep until after 11.

Woke up to Pippin chewing on a bone – annoying, but not terrible. Thought I might get Pippin outside to pee before Dad let Ridley & Ender out, but we were just a bit too slow and he got the door open while we were still in the kitchen. Pippin promptly went up to Ender and peed a little, exactly what I was trying to avoid. Gah.

Did a nice little walk with everyone, and then Pippin and Champ and I continued on for a little longer. Back at the house, did some training while and got ready for work before Adam & his dog Crash came. They were outside with Ridley and Ender while I did a little more with Pippin & Champ, then we joined outside. Dogs played. I noticed the time and said if we’re doing bagels, now or never, so we moved inside. 5 dogs was too many – lots of hype and Pippin was getting some corrections that I don’t think were deserved so I took him out of the situation. As I moved him Adam mentioned that Crash is pretty good about giving corrections to puppies (lives with fosters) – but my thought is, no need to leave Pippin in a situation where corrections are needed (or happen, needed or not).

Eventually when things calmed down I did let Pippin back into the fray, shortly after got his food ready and him into the pen as we all left.

Drive was easy – 35 minutes or less, which was good because I was leaving late. Made it just after 8:30 to my desk. Had a great day at work! New project I’m taking on is quite fun so far.

Post work, got home after 6:00. Found the wire cutters I was looking for, but they really did not work. Definitely need something better. So took the dogs out without activity plans. Not a great walk – Pippin disappeared and ignored me for a bit, even when he came back was still clearly ignoring me. Excuse me Pip, rude. We finally figured that out a little and headed back inside. Put out the mats I’d ordered (first of the various rugs I ordered to arrive!), and tested out the nail grinder on Champ’s nails. He is totally fine with it, but I still kept it short just in case. A little a day, we think.

Surprise phone call from the Can Am UTV guy at 7:00pm, had a good talk though. He’s putting up a strong front that makes me think he won’t come down much in price, we’ll see… Then Hannah, Brian, and I finally got together and talked finances + farm maintenance amounts vs rent + sheep. Based on how my body got cold and a bit stiff it was a bit stressful for me, even though it was not a particularly stressful appearing conversation. Nerves, they pop up sometimes! Dogs were hanging out.

Late to Herding Book Club – great attendance! We actually talked about chapter 23 (Bite) finally, and Sue’s ducks, and various other fun little tangents. I was not as in tune as I usually am, guess a bit tired.

Some end of night training, logged it in the book, and writing this… now off to bed!

Great morning walk. We didn’t go the typical direction, but people stayed with me for most of it. Briefly lost Pippin in the main pastures, but less than a minute before he came. I also switched up the morning order – after the walk we went in and did some training, and then did abs afterward.

Got into work 8:15, had a great day. Brief tired spell around noon, but I got up and had a non-work conversation for a few minutes, and it mostly got me through. Got my latest project, and it is very interesting.

Home around 6, didn’t do a full walk – rainy + want to give them some rest (ha! They just make up for it with play). We still went outside and wandered, just closer to the house – and some in the pass through garage, so it was dryer. I need to stop asking for “drop it” with Pippin unless I’m certain or explicitly have it setup so he’s likely to drop the toy – non-ideal training otherwise!

Did some training, some dancing (Wednesday Dance Day! I’d forgotten, but it happened anyway). Not much “productive” around the house, but good dog time. Also Dad is coming tonight with his two dogs, so that will be… exciting. 5 minutes! More importantly, he’s trying to set me up with a guy again, and while he did not invite him tonight, he did invite him to come “see Ridley” (who the guy delivered to my Dad from the rescue) in the morning… 6:30-7am. But somehow seeing Ridley requires me to keep my morning schedule flexible. I’ve repeatedly told him not to set me up with people.

Written much later - Dad came, Pippin was still cowed by Ender. Ridley & Ender got in a big (no inuries) fight, apparently their biggest ever, and Pippin was stuck on the other side, but didn't join, and I managed to get him around and up behind a barrier to make sure it stayed that way.

Woke up at 11:30pm last night to Pippin howling. Not great. I didn’t quite get him in the pen, and tired brain decided to give him a second chance – which worked out, no further howling. Woke up about 5:30, he was chewing on his wood chew – not that loud, I was probably going to wake up anyway.

Off on our morning walk! I actually ran (slowly) this time. 1.5-2 miles, most likely. Used the newly cut (not by me, but beautiful!) paths. Everyone was staying pretty close until… On the creek side, a deer popped up less than 20 feet away! Pippin went chasing, but couldn’t get through and came running towards me – I almost grabbed him, but just slowed him down… enough that he started taking my “This Way!” cues. He was on hype and I had to use a lot of cues as he went bolting past every time, but we made it out of the woods and back towards the pastures without him ignoring me once. Brilliant! I did have the clicker with me, trying to bring it every hike so I can click/acknowledge when Pippin checks in with me or is running towards me.

Abs for me, a tiny bit of soccer but mostly sniffing. Then training – we did lie downs with Pippin, upstairs, mild distance. Pretty good, not as stellar as the night before but quick – using treats, not toys. Champ I took outside and we did a GREAT round of directionals + stands. Got some mid-directional stands in with a treat target he stopped prior to. Very happy Faith.

Got ready and off to work. First half of the day, pretty awake – but post lunch, started getting very tired. I ate a lot more snacks than necessary, using it as a way to stay awake. Finally caught up with Chelsea as well. Talked with the vet and Simparica order went through for Pippin (tick/flea). Talked with a UTV place in West Chester for less then 10 minutes, pretty similar to Blackman’s Cycle in Allentown – it will be ~$14-$15k if I want a new UTV, so expensive.

Home about 6pm, pretty easy drive. I played on my phone a bunch though, and got inside at 6:30. We went on a very nice walk, which ended with craziness. Pippin makes a sound and goes off into the tree field. Champ follows, but is still in sight and barking at a bushy area – Pippin is not involved in that, further along. Champ flushes out a beautiful yellow/red fox, who comes bolting right by me. Champ follows it, but is able to come off it eventually, and is on his way back when I see multiple deer coming from where Pippin was. Champ is able to stay with me (good job bud!), but Pippin is gone, ignoring anything I’m saying – follows them across the entire 9 acre field to the far corner and the street – then I see him turn right before the street, where we normally call him back on chiller walks. I think the boundary worked! Not 100%, there are bushes so it is hard to see, but he comes bolting sideways along the hill. Still not paying attention, but kind of hearing me. Lots of sprinting but turning a little on “This Way”. Eventually settles down and we make it inside. Whoa!

I get lazy again on my phone, but not for too long. Then some outdoor lie down training with Pippin – decent, not as good as yesterday, but not bad – and I stop early enough we don’t lose it. Pippin in for dinner, Champ out for directionals – first few were great, but then I upped the intensity by putting a treat down and asking him to go the other way around the circle to get to it. Very hard – lots more barking than the nearly silent morning. He did get it a few times, and we settled back into easier stuff.

Phone lazing, finished the last 1.5 chapter in Positive Herding 101, wrote this, filling in my dog training… 9pm already. We’ll probably do one more training time/play with Pippin, and head to bed.

Most photos actually from 5/26! A day I didn't record, but know I went into the city for a stint.

Started at Raspberry Ridge Sheep Farm, for context.

Sleep was okay – Pippin was very easy, in his travel crate all night. Champ was also good, but he did wake me up twice panting, and I delivered water for him. Not quite enough sleep, maybe 6.5 hours. Van life!

Pretty lazy morning, around 7am Rob was out with Cole and Rio, and after checking in I sent Pippin out to go play. When Rob was trying to get Cole inside, Pippin did a great recall off him! Then a whole other mass of dogs came out, and lots of good play. Turns out – not much time for pooping, later in the morning the poor stuck-inside puppy decided to bathroom indoors while I was herding with Champ – whoops.

Champ and I got some good morning herding, minor moving of sheep around in the back and then some outrun/stopping practice (stopping without a lie down is hard! & lie down with arthritis is hard). We did a few sessions with sheep in the back over the day – all pretty similar, and I think overall improving. Champ and I also adventured up to help demo with geese for the first time! He did pretty well – A course is a little small for the geese, but we tried running them through. At first he was just looking for sheep, but once he was on the geese I couldn’t get any stop. Very fun!

Pippin we did 3 sessions with. First was pretty good for 4 minutes, and then turned into continuous circles – I was able to switch his direction, but Pippin stopped coming in at the right point. Too long a session.  The last one we did in the big arena. A very beautiful, nice paced 2.5 minutes! Then we took a few minutes break, and went back in… and it was quite hectic as he got tired. Sierra took Jack in after us, and Jack had BEAUTIFUL lie downs. Pippin and I need to work on that!

Lunch we grilled leftovers, delicious. Dinner Bonnie and Linhan had left, but Sara & Sierra came out to dinner with me – then homeward and bedward!

I wrote nothing for this originally. But I have some pictures.

May 18th - post wedding recovery day. Brunch, naps, and eventually got out and went to the Field Museum. Then we walked a bit.

May 19th - started the day with donuts from Firecakes. Very good! I had a rhubarb more bread-y type one, delicious. A co-worker also commented on it. Worked in the Chicago office for the day, then left a little early to catch a flight home to Philly. Dogs were waiting at home, thanks Adam for taking care of them!

May 20th - an uneventful day at work with no photos.

May 21st - Wednesday dance day! Try to dance or otherwise have some plain old fun with the dogs. Got some good hiking pictures.

May 22nd - Herding book club and lots of inside play time.

May 23rd - Run run run! Dance! Have good times outside!

May 24th - Went to Raspberry Ridge for some herding, stopped at a Power Sports store on the way to check out UTVs on the way. Did not buy anything. Had a great field hike with other pups. We then 

Kind of slept in? I woke up at 4:30am Central, aka my normal wakeup time… but managed to go in and out of sleep a bit through 7:00. Not ideal, but could have been worse.

Many of our friends were still asleep or had already eaten breakfast, so Aimee and I hit a breakfast place. From there, went straight to the Lincoln Park Zoo – in search of red pandas! I also had contacted Ari, and he was going to come meet us. Note, zoo: free! Parking – street (good luck!) or $35 for zoo parking. We ended up in zoo parking.

Excellent for a middle of the city free zoo! Didn’t see any lions take one. Did see gorillas and chimps. Ari met us as we were talking to a zoo keeper type person, who was naming the gorillas for us. From there, a lovely time! Ari got us to the red pandas – not moving, but cute. The snow leopards were awesome – their tails are so long! Found some poisonous snakes, and were totally surprised by a wild dog – we weren’t even looking for animals at that point. Changed course to the free conservatory – also neat, fairly small. Has a fern room.

We got a res at RJ Grunts for 12:45, but had some time to kill and hit the farmers market (I purchased meat sticks for the dogs, and an apple honey currant pie). Not a huge market, but we were also late.

RJ Grunts I was very pleased with. A little loud – very busy – but good service, and the wrap Aimee and I split was excellent. Also they pre-split it for us, even the chips that it came with. Post wrap, walked back with Ari and said goodbye, then back to the hotel to prep for Cora’s wedding!

Also – to take a nap. Plenty of time… Turns out, the dress I had packed for Friday night – someone wore the exact same one to the wedding. Stich Fix, pretty sure. Going to the ceremony location the fresh turf right as you got on the grass absorbed any shoe heels, so… walk on your toes! I left my phone in the bag for the night.

Ceremony – very nice, they did a cool sand pouring thing. It blew over a few times during the ceremony (pre-sand) and once post sand – but it had a top so nothing spilled. Cocktail hour the sorority crew talked – dinner we got split tables, so met some new people (mostly from Collin’s frat and college). Also met some of Collin’s cousins. All the toasts were good – not too long and a good mix of humor and serious. Dinner the steak was varying levels of cooked (mine sadly close to well done), but the potatoes were good – and I “stole” some chicken fingers off a child. Promise she was done eating.

Dancing was fun, got some group photos, was able to talk with Cora (albeit briefly), and a huge add – they planned pizza later in the evening at the wedding! What a great plan!

We did not go to an after party – 11pm last bus I was pretty wiped, straight to bed instead.

I could not sleep in… despite tiredness and no dogs. Didn’t sleep well (allergies) plus I woke up about 5:15, why??? I did take advantage – showered (long, shaved in prep for dress wearing), packed, and got out the door by 6:30. I was at the office just after 7am, good job Faith! Especially because the flight I thought was at 5 – actually at 4:12, so I was going to need to leave work early.

I also ordered all the extra supplements I’ve heard about helping older dogs – Myos, turmeric chews, omega oil (don’t think this is relevant to muscles/arthritis, Adam messaged he liked the fish oil on his food, so doesn’t hurt). See what we can do for Champ’s rear end. I really need to get 2 or 3 regular strength workouts in for him a week. As I write, thinking two. More achievable for both us to start, and if it is going well, we can reconsider. Wednesdays and Saturdays perhaps.

Work was very productive – until I crashed from exhaustion. Around noon. Then it was much less productive. I ended up leaving just after 2pm – pretty sure my flight was going to be delayed, because the incoming flight was departing late. Parked in the economy lot (much harder to find a spot this time), and caught the shuttle to the airport. Flight was delayed until 4:53. I would have the original flight time by ~10 minutes though!

Here starts the sad evening of Faith. We boarded on time. We got out to start taxiing. Then – 5:30pm – we stopped moving. Apparently, there was a ground halt due to the various storms and arriving traffic. This continued for a lengthy time, until we finally got hope! 7pm, a route change was going to let us take off. Everyone to their seats asap! Maybe I’ll make it for part of the 8pm-9:30pm Central Time happy hour! We started moving, and soon… stopped. 10 minutes. 15 minutes… 7:25, the captain announces we hit another ground stop. No flights taking off. They were going to wait 10 minutes and then if nothing changed we were heading back to the gate to deplane, because we were coming up on the 3 hour tarmac time limit.

10 minutes… 20 minutes… finally, captain announces we’re moving (just that, no lucky lets fly). Everyone gets ready and we still don’t even head back to the gate for 15 minutes. I’m looking up flights for the morning to Chicago – literally nothing. One $2000 American flight that is already 2 hours delayed and will get in around 3:30pm, wedding an hour away and at 5pm. One Southwest flight might have a seat, not direct, only $500, but again 3:30pm. Ugh.

Finally head back to the gate just as rain starts, and deplane. They say “stick around for announcements”, I quickly snag a bag of chips (they looked good when the person next to me was eating them), and missed the announcement. Asked around, basically: crew was running out of their time, no updates yet, Frontier was offering full refunds or reschedules if you wanted (next direct to Chicago was Monday). But emphasis – flight still officially delayed! Hang around the gate in case the status changes!

We did get $15 vouchers. I got an okay sweet and sour chicken because… the lines at Subway and Chick-Fil-A were long and this place had no line. Lots of unhappy delayed people in the airport. About 9:10, the lady made an announcement – they were looking for a new crew. If a new crew was found, they would try flying out tonight. If not, the flight would be delayed until morning. Yes!!! That means I can make it to the wedding (obviously missed the happy hour though). She also announced that she had to go somewhere else, but promised to be back.

I had a brief conversation with the lady sharing the phone charging station with me, and noted that what I really wanted to do was get my abs in. She was in total agreement, had also missed the gym that day. I was not wanting to be on the floor – but then I realized there was a clean area behind the lockers behind the desk, and went for it! Got my abs in, and then feeling motivated kept going with lunges and squats and deadlifts. Pretty sure many people were a bit jealous – and at least 3 did some very minor lunges/stretching. I started a trend! During the workout, we also got a crew! Soon after started boarding. I had an extra seat next to me, because some people had taken the refunds and gone – it got filled by my other neighbor’s daughter, but more extra seats behind so I moved to have space. Also – the old crew (who’s time had expired) boarded last minute, because they were based in Chicago and didn’t want two empty days in Philly.

We had a big outside morning, I did abs while the dogs mostly sniffed. Inside we did training – after Pippin was in his pen, Champ and I were working (easy stuff, no up/down related movements) and his rear end slid out and collapsed on the slippery kitchen floor. It was pretty heartbreaking, he couldn’t get back up and basically dragged himself onto the bed. I got an anti-inflammatory for him before leaving.

I had lots on my evening to-do list (pack, prep for Adam picking up dogs, pick a dress, …) plus herding book club. Work-ed on backtests, then left on time. Would have been home before 6 if I hadn’t missed the exit. I used the opportunity to go to Tractor Supply and pickup extra dog food (needed) + dewormer (maybe needed). Why did I miss the exit? Because I was on the phone with a third vet office, trying to find some place that would test a dog fecal sample without doing a full wellness exam. No one is willing – I just want to pay for a simple test! My vet for Pippin said that because it was more than 3 weeks after the exam, I’d have to come in to get the test done. Please tell me – why in the world do I need a full exam to check if there are worms in the poop. Very annoying.

Anyway. The dogs were lovely. We went outside and I non-productively spent lots of time with them, and was prepping dinner when Adam arrived to pick them up about 7:10. Got everything ready, hung out a bit, and he was about to leave when the girls came by – I had mentioned to Brian that I had money for the older one, hence the “late” (for them) visit. We got some treats out and played more with Pippin and Champ. Then the kids went on their way, and we tried loading up the dogs into Adam’s car. Champ – easy. Pippin – hard. We had him in the crate the first time, but didn’t close it quickly enough. After that, he put up a struggle. We tried luring and putting the crate on the ground (with food in it), but no go. Hindsight– possible he just had to poop, because… he did poop in the crate on the ride. Oh well.

Then I lazed for a bit before herding book club, slacking on reading the book. We ended up with a pretty good crew – Sue, Bonnie, Carolyn, me. I meant to do productive things during it, but I was tired and did not. Closed up around 10, and then I did get productive – kind of. Cleaned the kitchen. Decided on dressed to bring, made a packing list & morning activity list that was feasible. I ended up in bed about 10:45, not too bad for needing to be up early.

Another tired day, but not as much as Tuesday. Allergies are still in effect. Morning started with the usual outdoor times and training. Got out pretty early, and into the office about 8am. Don’t recall anything crazy for Wednesday Workday. Post work, I stopped in at DSW – needed new shoes for an upcoming (4 days away!) wedding. I found two pairs as options. The no-heel sandals got axed because the material on top of my foot was itchy and uncomfortable after just a minute. Liked the look though! The small heels won – classic look will work with most things, and other than not wearing heels much pretty comfortable.

Got home about 6:30, and my to-do list was short – and included dancing with the dogs 😊. We got outside and had a grand old time. I did some photo shoots, we played around. Came back in and they got dinner, then we did a lot of just chill hanging/photo shoots while I had a lovely conversation with Tina. I could have gone to bed early, but instead I caught up a little on my writing. Still asleep at a decent hour.

We got a good morning in before real rain hit. I kept the walk shorter, trying to give Pippin rest – even though he wasn’t limping, I was suspicious. Abs I did inside – throwing Champ the little sheep toy. Also some training – not for class, that ended, but just general life. I need to work on Pippin’s lie downs, distance + speed. Maybe also holding them longer. But only one at a time.

Champ I’m working on him ignoring me when I say “Pippin Lie Down”, because Champ lying down is unnecessary at his age. Stay standing bud!

Got to work, a little tired but pretty productive. Dog walker came and Pippin also was not showing signs of limping at lunch, good.

Got home a little after 6, and was… very tired. I tried cleaning out the dryer, but gave up – sponge was not going to be enough. Brian came over and finished the job (with the steel wool I got out, apparently the necessary component). As of 5/16, still haven’t used it – obviously need a sacrificial first load, and I did not have the mental energy for that Tuesday.

Pippin and Champ and I did a couple little walks, and eventually I left for frisbee – despite the rain. Last night of the league, and my email asking if the 7v7 combo of teams in 3rd-6th place would be happening at the bar instead of the fields was shortly followed by a “we’re playing in the rain!”. Guess what: the finals happened in the rain, the 7v7 did not. Eventually/9:15 we got to the bar (left watching the game), and hung out and talked for a bit. Fun though I was still wiped.

I left right after 10pm… Let the dogs out – they said ehhh, rain – did a little two dog training – and went to bed.

No photos taken today!

We did our morning walk, abs, and another training session, before leaving ~7:20 to drop the pups off at a sitter. Traffic was good, I arrived right on time… but she came down 15 minutes late/was in the bathroom and didn’t see my messages. Should have texted earlier with my initial ETA… Made it to work on time though.

Good day at work, felt more awake.

Post work. Picked up the pups, and went to Edgely. Women matching spring finals here we come! First, however, got a last video in for Pippin’s class – had to submit by 7pm. There were lots of distractions (including Champ, lawnmower, etc) – but he did pretty well waiting for me to tell him he could go get the treat in the bowl. Patience, young Pippin has… sometimes.

Helped setup the food and drinks, and then game time! Moved the field to some freshly cut grass. Our 10th player was stuck doing a surgery (doctors), so we only had 9 for the evening – and we played great. Lots of good defense. Pretty good offense. They got some points on us throwing a zone. But we just had such good communication, switches, and general intensity. Game ended 15-6, three in row winning women matching!

The only downer was Pippin must have hurt himself on the line, probably got it under his leg and then sprinted to get something and got caught. He limped the rest of the evening (but seemed okay the next day, don’t worry like I did).

Post game was also fun – drinks, pizza, hummus and carrots… Got our Champions discs, and hung out for a while. Eventually headed home, getting back a little after 10. Bed a little later than desired.

WE WON 😊.

Tournament! 8:30am. I stole some pancakes from Zach at the fields. Don’t forget your sunscreen! We were playing the #2 seed, and… it showed. Very windy day, but they were throwing well in the wind (gosh darn Minnesotans). The first point had lots of turnovers, and we nearly scored a bunch – but we didn’t. That was the longest point. The rest was a fun blow-out. We came close to scoring several times, but mis-threw or mis-judged, or… Life. Then 12-0 (game to 13) – WE FINALLY SCORED!! Pretzels not bagels! FYI – team name is Stale Pretzels. Like the Philly pretzel, but since we’re old/masters, stale.

Game two was better, but still lost by a bunch. Much more even with the team, but their use of the wind was better and it showed. I got the spirit award – for moving all the time and “making [the other team’s] cutters cry”. My strengths!

Then VERY DISAPPOINTING, we had no games scheduled for the afternoon. I gorged on snacks, and eventually went back to the hotel and crashed. Starting with phone diving type of crash, and then a 1.5 hours nap. So needed. I only got up because free dinner from the tourney on the beach. A lot of meat – the chicken was good.

Convinced a few people to go on a walk with me, in search of smoothies. While we did not find smoothies – we did find the Decoy Waterfowl Museum! Very cool. It had signs closed for wedding, but the guy let us in for a bit and gave us the grand (one room) tour. We learned about punt guns – nasty giant shot guns that could take out a whole flock of ducks in one shot. Now illegal. We learned about how decoys were used, and how hunting of waterfowl worked, and how it went from local to crossing state lines (ability to ship meat opened up markets) and then back (became illegal to sell wild game across state lines). Apparently there used to be way more birds at Virginia Beach. On top of all this learning and looking at cool (and very expensive) decoys, the guy also had a selection of rubber ducks for us to choose from! What a nice place.

Back to the hotel – tried one more ice cream place, but the shakes side was closed for the non-summer season. I gave up and got a shake at DQ, before joining teammates at the hotel pool. Where we obviously squirted water out the holes in the rubber ducks we just got, and threw them around trying to catch multiple with one hand. 2 – easy. 3 – much harder, but doable (I did not succeed on my try, but Elya did).

Out to the place right next door for dinner and margaritas. I’d say, all okay. Probably would not order a margarita there again. They did have friend plantains and good queso. Virginia also has this weird “white salsa”, which I don’t know that I like. Oddly sweet. It might have helped if I hadn’t thought it was queso when they brought it out with the on-the-house chips.

Post dinner, hotel for some hang and games. I was pretty tired, but made it through a full circle of Wavelength. Very entertaining game, and I did not all asleep. I also did my abs during part of it (gotta fit them in!). Then I said my goodnights and went to bed.

In order to wake up for another 8:30am game! Plus cleaning the hotel room out so we could check out before games. I had a slice of pizza for breakfast, so at least a little more  pre-game food than the previous day. Lower wind/better conditions. We didn’t win any of our three games, but we got 8 points in one and overall played decently. Much better looking scores than day one. Our last game I was very happy with how I played – multiples D’s, good movement. I was playing close defense on one person and got her head to my jaw when she tried turning through me… that was painful.

Post game my car got ready and left immediately, about 2pm. I did no driving at first because my head was a little not happy, and eventually because we didn’t need to stop again. I got home around 8pm, and hello pups! Got a little outside time, some training time (videos for class!) and then bedtime.

Aside: Champ and Pippin had a great time with Robin! There was dancing, hiking, and all sorts of shenanigans. Lots of happy looking dogs. Champ even slept the night on the bed with Robin!

Beach Nationals! Step one: the usual morning. Actually, I took my time and ended up getting to work later than intended, but – half day, so not a big deal. I stayed until close to 1:00pm anyway. Also not usual because I skipped abs, in favor of extra training with the dogs. That way I could prep extra Zen Logic homework, since you can only submit one at a time. Since Monday would be my next opportunity to submit homework, and Monday is the last day.

Very good training though. Worked more on “Drop It” – which I think if I practice like this, Pippin will get better very quickly. He’s already showing signs of improvement. We also worked on “Duration” – waiting longer for me to release him. Not a big deal for Pippin, once he understood he could hold for a while. Champ we went through the stretches, and did some minor strength. I’ll need to sign him up for a class so I don’t lose focus while I’m with Pippin.

Off to work – the air freshener thing has a weird smell in my opinion… but it does mask the dog smell. Pluses and minuses. Lunch today: Qdoba/Chik-Fil-A day! I had a lot of food… spicy chicken sandwich, a salad, and then I took a burrito to go (kind of… ate a little of it first). I left at 1:00pm but tried cleaning the car more while waiting for the 20 minutes to ready text. I had brought a vacuum – ran out of power almost immediately. Sad. Dog fur will stay everywhere.

Pickup of friends took longer than expected, due to an accident on the highway + me ignoring google’s work-a-round and committing to the city. But we got there! & then 6 hours to Virginia Beach, of which I drove about 2. Did a bunch of request round finalization with the help of passengers.

Arrived about 8, went to the brewery to eat + pickup team swag, and was very sadly waiting for my pizza for 40+ minutes. I didn’t even have to ask, they comp’d me the food. Other teammates ordered after and got pizza in 5-10 minutes. I was very tired and hungry and grumpy. Then the pizza wasn’t that great (although it was very fresh!).

Back to the hotel earlier than the rest of the crew, got ready for bed – murphy bed! Pulls down from the wall in the living room. Pretty comfortable – plus not much pollen by the beach, so good for my sleep! Don’t worry – pre-bed, I did get my abs in.

Written 5/14. I thought I had already written the 8th, whoops!

Good things I did today:

- Kept up with my morning walk/abs/training (Zen Logic class still going on)

- Pre-ordered Wegman’s for Robin, who will be coming 5/15-5/17 to take care of Pippin + Champ while I’m at Beach Nationals Ultimate. Pat on my back for this, I think I did well with what I stocked up on. A variety of green juices, some dog ice cream, cheese + cracker snacks… Also air freshener thing for my car, see if that helps.

- Laundry (sheets – prep for Robin)

- Request round picks for FPSL, made a list (on the phone with Sean while driving home… pre Wegman’s pickup!)

- Played with dogs

- Herding book club! Which I (a) was prepared for, and (b) spent some time prepping during, and (c) playing with dogs more

- Prepped car to have other occupants

From the beginning, I knew today would be a tired day. Bad night of sleep, waking up early despite changing my alarm - not good signs. I mixed up where I did my abs this morning. For the bumps/softness it was better, but it was a little close to the road for the dogs to not be engaged, and Champ wasn't feeling soccer. Probably too tired. It worked out, I called Pippin back any time he strayed. Gave out treats to people. Was tricky with the ball to make it close enough to Champ engaging that Pippin focused on it. Abs stayed fairly short, good set of pushups, and then inside. Zen Logic homework of "Leave It", uploaded and transferred to YouTube, then I took the computer to finish the post later and went to work. Older kid (Kid A) was outside, and said wait! Turns out she couldn't let the dogs out today, and Brian forgot to tell me - she was reminding him. Not a problem - texted the actual dog walker, and she was able to make it.

Another 50 minute commute, bad week. I arrived 8:35. Later than desired but not terrible. Tired all day, but got some stuff done and can run the app. Irritatingly, can't run it from Visual Studio right now. I'm going to spend a little time on that tomorrow morning, we'll see if I can get it up. I did catch up on more social onboarding! Tomorrow might get me the rest of the way, with the SIG social after work.

Stayed late -> home late (plus stopped for gas). 6:20. & still quite tired. We walked, Pippin didn't want to come in, we eventually did some training. For Zen Logic/Pippin, some generalization of Leave It. To be honest, not sure if it was good or bad? For both new objects, he grabbed them the first go, and then the rest did well. I'll get feedback tomorrow (maybe try in the morning first). I did get the kitchen cleaned, clothes put away, Lie Down training, draft request round prep, water the plants... and write three journal entries to catch. Probably should have gone to bed at 10:00, but 10:45 isn't too bad. Pippin was restless until about 10:30 anyway.

I just realized I forgot to catch up on my training logs, so that will be tomorrow. Oh! I also finished the homework chapter for Herding Book Club (Positive Herding 101, Chapter 22 - Easy/Hurry). Good job Faith!

FPSL Draft day! I woke up a bit tired. Allergies still not too bad, I think. We did the usual walk/abs/training, though nothing for Pippin's class. Just quick, lie downs and some stretching. Out of the house with the dogs by 7:20! & then... an accident on the highway slowed us down. We didn't get to the dog sitter's until 8:20, so sad. Apartment building, but hey - they don't need much. Pippin escaped his leash in the building - which I felt really bad about because there was clearly someone who didn't like dogs in the front area. The leash was not closed properly, apparently. Luckily he did not go say "hi" to that lady, though he did round the corner and say hi to the person coming off the elevator. Luckily that was the sitter!

Work - some coding, some team stuff, some social. Met up with Andrea at 4:30 to review people in the draft (excellent choice - confidence boosting). Went to pick up the dogs, very easy. Apparently Pippin does --not-- like the elevator. I understand - weird!

We stopped by Edgely to let the dogs run - makeup games were getting ready to start, but Champ got some soccer in while Pippin mostly stalked.

Draft time! Wissahickon Brewery. I was going to leave at least Pippin in the car, but I felt bad so both dogs came. Pippin definitely took some attention, but not too bad. He and a corgi became friends. Everyone got pizza crusts (and actual dinner). The draft, once it started, went very quick! Rapid fire! It slowed down after the first round a bit, but sill rapid. I had a lot of fun - and left later than intended for my game.

Showed up just after the second half started, and apparently they were very far behind. We definitely caught up some with Michelle and me there, but... would have helped if we'd been earlier. I feel a little bad about that. But too late now! Also Sean & I did discuss during that extra time, which impacted our picks. Team isn't complete yet (request rounds + random assignment), but fingers crossed we'll be competitive.

Home late and did a bit of training, then crashed. Writing this 5/7 as well :). Did not get to sleep quickly, or sleep the best.
Only pictures of the draft board - kind of boring.

Felt pretty awake today! Morning walk, abs, training with Champ and Pippin. I got out early so I could get back for the children (helping out neighbors) + dogs… and there was extra traffic. +20 minutes. So sad.

Work I realized that my new team is very different in terms of team dynamics from previous teams. Also that there are technical things I can bring over from my previous team.

Left about 4:10, Brian was worried about making the sitter stay late – no problem! Good traffic. Got the dogs out, kids and nanny came over. Nanny left, and kids came up to observe dog training. I have a lot of entertaining videos. Pippin did very well despite the distractions! Zen Logic, station w/ bowl & handler moving.

Walked outside while the older kid who didn’t want to come made mac & cheese for dinner. Did some “races”, tugged with Pippin, circled with Champ. Beautiful day. Then we went into the main house, to check on food. I was going to put the dogs away, but the girls insisted on them coming. FYI: children, very loud. Harmonica, loud talking, random noises… Whew! Cute but a lot!

Right before food was ready I brought the pups home, did an extra training session for 2 minutes (same Zen Logic w/ Pippin, Champ waiting), fed them, and ran back over with my own food.

Brian got back, I rushed to get ready for frisbee, and we headed out – 10 minutes late, not terrible! Excellent game for us, we won 15-5. I did a lot of handling the first half. Winning also guaranteed us first seed, so we'll play for the championship 5/12.

Champ & Pippin were playing post game, when a BIG dog started coming up. Off leash, owner far away not paying attention (we’ve seen this dog here before). I got Champ out (great recall), but Pippin went to say hi – I let it happen, because once it starts you can send mixed signals if you interfere, and the big dog looked like he/she was happy to say hello. Luckily, this was correct – they sniffed and wagged tails for a little while. I stayed close/ready, while someone else made sure grumpy old man Champ didn’t come – just in case.

EOD: Was too tired to write, hence this is written 5/7. Thought getting sleep was worthwhile. Also - only took one picture today, of the great leftover food I got from work.

Woke up after a great night of sleep and actually felt... awake! The rain maybe helping with the allergies? Or that I started running an air filter in my room? Or maybe because I pushed back when I take the allergy meds to 2pm, so they were working better? Who knows - but I'm happy about it.

Pippin slept in the pen - despite me not putting him in there and the door being open. He went to howl at the window and I managed to get him to the bed instead (before going to sleep), and I think he went again but thought better and self-penned. Good boy! Champ slept downstairs - I think he was too exhausted from herding and playing to bother coming up.

Usual morning, just a little later than I normally start. A very nice walk, piled up some sticks. Went inside and wasted some time on my computer while the dogs recovered from the "walk". Back outside to do abs - where I realized today was Twist tryouts, and not an open day. My first thought was "oh no, I missed them!" - then I realized it wasn't even 8am, there was no chance I'd missed anything. Came back inside, did some training. Chin rests on an object & lots of lie downs for Pippin. 30+ lie downs, in a few sets. Switched from food to toys for the speed sets, he drops down much faster with a toy. Did some me walking away and out the door (just a couple). Champ also joined us for some - good to work with, because he is a big distraction for Pippin. I really need to work on Pippin staying calm while I work with Champ - right now he freaks out if he can't get to us. I tried a line in the room, near the station - I was able to get a little done with Champ, very calm stuff - but hit the boundary very quickly. This may be a slow process. I knew this was an issue already, from when Champ and I work outside and if Pippin isn't in a crate he'll jump up on the counter to get to the window to see us.

Try-outs were good. Well organized, fun, instructions were clear - can't ask for much more! I did some shopping at REI on the way back, and got home about 3:40. Took the dogs out for a walk. My evening was not the most productive - I wasted at least an hour on the black hole that is the internet. But I did check most things off my to-do list. Laundry, FDSA post (late - could have gotten feedback tonight, but my timewasting meant I posted after the instructor checked - whoops). Training with dogs, including some lie downs outside - initially good, but then I went too long for Pippin and ended on a streak of 4 failures. The setup was good though, with Champ as a focus for Pippin making it harder but still doable. I think I should repeat that experiment. Zen logic was generalizing station to a pen - that was extremely easy for Pippin. Champ did a good job waiting while I worked on that. We also did a bunch of little movement things outside (between the lie downs).

Cooked dinner, joined costco, ordered a/c units from costco, could have been in bed earlier but for the wasted time plus my commitment to writing this post :). Also half the post got deleted in a refresh, which was sad... But here we are!

P.S. I do not know how Champ managed to get his head in  the rope, but it looks questionable.

Slept well! My eyes are still unhappy with the allergies, and I would have liked to sleep in... but can't win them all.

Champ was maybe stuck under the bed - his rear end was under, and with the lack of traction he struggled to get out. I slid him over so he could stand up. Note to self: buy more rugs, asap.
Pippin was in the ex-pen, because while he restrained himself from barking out the open windows in my room... I'd opened some in another room to create some airflow, and he started howling out them. Maybe learning though?

We did our usual morning - walk, abs, train - before heading out to Raspberry Ridge for some herding. The herding day was excellent - Pippin went in twice, for about 20 minutes total. The first round he got tired, but the line was too small for me to catch. As he tired out he split sheep more and got a little grippy. After finally getting him and going out, he was tired enough he didn't even go back to the fence line - just found water, then shade to lie down in (under the cart).
Round two with Pippin, we had a real line on so I could catch him, and worked on where to stop and staying out wide. It went very well. Video will be posted on Instagram at some point.

Champ we went in 3 times, and are working on NOT wearing. Straight lines, further from the sheep. We need this if we want to continue herding as Champ gets older. Physically, it is much less taxing than wearing. It is also much more effective when done correctly. Good for both Champ and I to work on.

We hung out with the crew after, though I was exhausted and took a nap. Managed to semi-rally, and we got a yurt setup to be used for sleeping and/or socializing. Ate some ube icecream. Lots of dogs playing. Purchased 2 containers of plain yogurt (so good!). Then decided to head home - hindsight an excellent decision. Sleeping in the van is great, but I don't have guards for rain on my windows yet and windows closed would be so hot.

Dogs are wiped, I'm wiped.

Soooo tired... just not sleeping solidly, allergies, ... Pippin was in the expen again, because he didn't howl - but ran over and made some precursor noises. I'm hoping that is a sign he's starting to get used to the open window sounds. If not - probably going to have an A/C unit soon anyway! Champ started coming to check if I was awake about 5am, every 5-10 minutes. I think - hindsight - it was because his water bowl was empty. Note to self, bigger water bowl upstairs.

I need to make my mornings a little shorter - 5:50, wasted 10 minutes on my phone, shower, dogs out on a walk, abs/soccer, training (this was longer than intended), post video... didn't get out until 7:40. It was all good things though, even if it did run me late.

Training - could have been shorter, but was also good. I did 3 short rounds of chin rest with Pippin. It was only going to be two, but I forgot to record... third one wasn't as good because he was getting tired, but still improvements. We are --not-- there yet on chin rest, but between that and the evening session, progress is happening. He's much more accepting of my hand under his chin now, and will intentionally touch it, but still avoids at times.

Champ training, we did directionals outside. I got a little frustrated about some errors, but it was actually pretty good - going around the circles, focusing on aways. I pre-placed food quite a bit which doesn't hurt.

Work - started coding and got an initial class going. Still need to wire it in everywhere, but it felt good - and like I remember a lot more quickly than I expected. Good sign!

Post work, I was exhausted (well, during too). I didn't leave the car for 10 minutes, but eventually got out and went on a walk with the pups. Tried taking a nap, Champ kept coming to lick my face between playing with Pippin - but still felt restful. Then I was going to do training, but ran into Hannah, and instead went up the hill and watched the sunset with the whole crew. Very pleasant evening - where I forgot to feed my dogs until almost 9, whoops - but they didn't seem to mind. I also didn't have any electronics on me, so no distractions (or pictures), just enjoying the company and outdoors.

Did get some more training in - a few very good recall practices outside. Another round of chin rests inside - with Champ on the mat waiting, and then flipping roles so Champ got his chance.

Aside: the dog taker-outer, aka 8.5 year old, missed with the expen clips (whoops! they are hard to see), so Pippin was loose all afternoon. The only damage he did was to the bed he'd already gotten a small chunk from. Now it is... way worse than a small chunk.

Pippin slept in the expen last night - I had the window open, but top side so it wouldn't be direct access. However, that did not stop him from going and howling at the outdoors - so right in the crate! He did not settle immediately, but beyond some quiet whoofs did not make more noise. Otherwise - slept pretty decently! Not perfect, maybe try taking allergy med at night instead of in the morning to help with the sleep... or switching off claritin type because it seems ineffective.

Morning was 6:15-7:45, I would like to be a little quicker/out earlier. I did get everything in though! Great morning walk with the pups, little ab workout while throwing a ball for Champ and Pippin observes, and training with both pups. Pippin - Zen Logic still, working on Chin Rest. Champ - stretches. Yesterday I did a mini strength session with him, and I want to get back on the ball with that - 3 times a week. Maybe in the evenings, TBD. Need to keep his rear end functional.

Then I got ready, fed the dogs, and on to the commute! Brought my computer so I could finish posting to FDSA when I got to the office/after the video was ready.
Work was good today - finally got Tango building (thanks Clegg!), so ready to start real work. Still doing social onboarding - so many people to talk to everywhere. At least a few more days for that, I'm guessing. Was also reminded to take a midday walk, beautiful weather (which if I wasn't working, I'd be in all day... oh well!). Meeting about spreads felt good - additional details on how things function, but also recalled a lot and some was review. I was pretty tired end of day though - ready for a nap by 4 (okay maybe 2...), but pushed through.

Also, talked with Clegg about ATVs - he had some good recs. I'd like to make moves sooner rather than later on that front. Will be very helpful for farm work, and I don't really want to clean up the current fence debris without a trailer to put stuff on. Why do trailers cost so much??

Evening with the dogs - very tired Faith, but good for pups. Walked up to the fields, wandered around there a bit. More soccer play. Lots of outside time. Some great but short training too! Champ waiting on the mat, Pippin doing chin rest - HUGE progress. Actual chin rest offered a couple times (then we overdid it). Very happy with the effort. Outisde with Champ, I worked on directionals again - also very good. Pippin was a little in the way on the line, but mostly successful. Used red barn for treats, but it was getting darker so hard to see.

Also had Herding Book Club today - mostly caught up on the reading while I ate. Big thought of the day: when I teach Champ directionals, I focus on the direction and not so much the shape he is making. Barbara Buchmayer has a much heavier emphasis on the shape, especially when discussing "out" and "close", that I can probably bring at least some of into my practice.

Yesterday's revelation: it is probably easier for shorter people to not accidentally teach dogs to jump for toys. When I hold a toy, unless my arm is straight down or I'm bent over, Pippin has to jump a little for it. If I was shorter, this wouldn't be an issue!

First day back at SIG. Terrible night of sleep - hot, fan doesn't work, don't have an a/c unit yet, when I opened the window to let air in at 2am... 4am saw Pippin howling at the open window. 5am I started feeling hungry.

But! We made it. Great morning walk with Champ and Pippin (7.5 months now). Everyone stayed mostly in sight and involved - goals I strive for. I got a mini ab session in, and had time to relax. Due in the office at 9am, so I left at 8:05 and was a bit early.

Back at work was good - nice to see so many familiar faces. Managed to push through the day despite tiredness, but I did have trouble reading the screen after 3:30pm... I also felt like I could offer good advice during a meeting, even though I've been out of the game. Nothing's changed! Just kidding, kind of... things have changed, but it is all still familiar and I think I'll get back in the groove pretty easily. Hopefully tomorrow I'll finish setting up my environment in the morning and be ready to start diving in.

Andrea saw me on the way to the car end of day, and we walked and talked. I need to remember to get outside during the day once or twice.

Commute wasn't too bad, ~45 minutes home (40 in). Then I got to just walk outside and run around with the dogs! When all I wanted to do was sleep though... push through! More training with the dogs - and getting back on the workout bandwagon with Champ. I think I should setup a Tues/Thurs workout schedule with him. Doesn't need to be big, just enough to keep the back end strength going.

And... restarting this blog. I might go do some previous stories since moving to the farm, we'll see - definitely some fun/crazy days. I want to focus on what I'm doing around the farm, and future plans. This past weekend I started writing my future business plan, farm to teach herding on. There is work to do to get there, and this is a beginning. While I'm working at SIG, there are other things I can work on to forward my plans. Getting Pippin to a championship, starting training on the side, solidifying the business plan, making projections/timelines.

So... welcome back! Here we go!