Posts from — October 2008

A not-so-great photo, but you can see Cian does really exist.  I went out with my digital SLR, but unfortunately, the battery was dead.  These were all taken with my point and shoot camera.  Click on any image for a larger size.

Happy Cian (after being worked).

Cian is now a header on this Journal.

Cat/dog!

Four photos of Fern.

Gel.

Rose.

Esmeralda.

Rain …

and her beautiful udder.

Goin’ for a walk (note the cat behind the goats).

Pumpkin in a bucket.

Cornered!

Confetti.

Crying is a great release.  I love my friend’s Shaping Chaos Blog.  I’m glad she’s keeping it up.  Correct me if I’m wrong, H., but I believe Shaping Chaos was started as means for the two of us to keep up on training notes.  I almost ruined my friendship with H. because of my stupidity and I’m glad that we were able to work through it.  When I turned off my unlimited long distance and Canada calling I felt like I was loosing something very important: my calls to H.  While we converse almost every day via e-mail, I treasure our telephone calls.  She helps to keep me straight.  I’m glad I started to use Skype because now we can talk.  I can’t believe I had been paying over $30 a month to AT&T for long distance calling when I can get it for less than $3 a month through Skype.

As I’m writing this, I’m crying after reading H’s post on Signs.  So many people go through their lives without seeing the simple beauty that is all around us.  Her photographs of her dogs playing in the snow are beautiful.  Thanks for the kick in the butt for me to get out and take photos.  You know what one of the reasons why I love Border Collies so much?  Because they are so damned beautiful doing what the do, be it working or playing.  They are such amazing dogs.

Again, all three of my dogs are here in my office with me.  Just waiting … the minute I get up, they’ll be on their feet ready to go … they don’t care where we go, they just want to go.  Yesterday when I did my errands I took Gel with me.  He stood in the back of my car softly howling.  He howls when he’s happy.  Gel didn’t care where we were going: he was just happy that we were going.

If Wally gets out of work at 2:00 today as he’s supposed to, I asked him if he’d videotape Cian working.  Yes, Cian is a real dog even though I haven’t posted a picture or video of him yet.  What if I died tomorrow?  I’d have wasted so much by not getting out and doing …

Rain was very compliant being milked this morning.  She still has the sores on her udder, but they do not seem to be so uncomfortable.  She didn’t kick at all.  That makes milking so much more pleasant.  I’m going out on Saturday to look at a second La Mancha doe who is in milk.  Obie, the Oberhasli buck that I bought a month or so ago is going to be sold tonight.  Hopefully he’ll bring at least $50 and I have $50 that was paid to me as a consultation fee.  That will pay for the goat.  Rain isn’t giving me quite enough milk to make cheese.  These high quality milk goats (both Rain and the other goat are registered) are essentially money in the bank.  I can always re-sell them for what I paid for them or more if I have to.  Meanwhile, I haven’t bought milk or bread in several weeks.  I was paying over $3 for a half gallon of organic milk and a good loaf of bread is about $3.

Damn it’s a mess!

I spent the morning doing errands: post office, bank, gas station, grocery store and I brought Kitty to her new home.  She went to a petting zoo to do the joint job of guarding the animals at night and schmoozing with the visitors.  It was a perfect fit for her and I was glad to place her there.

I believe I was mislead when I was told to buy the two sisters.  Sure, Kitty got confidence from Rose, but they were bonding more with each other than they were the sheep and goats.  I can’t believe I was stupid enough to believe that.  It took my worry about being able to feed them to make me see the light.  I seriously considered putting them on at least 50% kibble, but I couldn’t go there.  Between having to beat the sheep and goats off their food, the kibble poop and the decline in their general well-being, I just couldn’t do it.

Rose is going to miss her, but she’ll bond with the sheep and goats as she is supposed to.

I milked Rain late today.  I didn’t plan to be out as long as I was this morning.  I spent quite a bit of time visiting with the woman who runs the petting zoo.  She hardly kicked at all!  That is a huge improvement over how she’s been the past few days.

Well, off to try to do some cleaning.

I talked to my friend from Canada for about a half hour.  We are both going to try Skype which will enable us to talk for free.  Unfortunately we’ll both have to be tied to our computers, but for free, we’ll manage.  Then my homeopath called.  She agreed with my remedy selection.  We talked about the various issues (all very small) that my animals were having.  I told her how Cian was suffering from fleas and his other quirks.  I was leaning towards Arsenicum, but she thought Lycopodium might be a better fit.  We discussed Esmeralda’s hard udder and she agreed with my decision to give Pytolacca.  I then told her about Rain: her “clinginess” and how she’s now got sores on her udder (which makes milking her a bear!).  I suspect the sores are from what is called “sore mouth” in goats, but who knows what they are.  We went back and forth between Silicea and Pulsatilla and decided on Pulsatilla (what I had originally thought to give her before the sores showed up).  We talked more about raw milk, the cons of feeding grain to animals (even to livestock) and various other matters.  I love my homeopath.

This morning I made a batch of Anadama bread and it turned out awesome.

Put the goats up and went out to work the dogs.  The sheep are in the back pasture.  I’ve closed all the gates so they really can’t go anywhere.  They are out in about 40 acres.  First I worked Fern.  We did some driving and then I recalled her to me, sent her around behind me into a big, wide flank for an outrun.  I am being really careful to keep Fern on her feet so she doesn’t get clappy.  She’ll also cross over on her outruns if I’m not careful, hence the flanking her behind me which widens her outrun without physically pushing her out.

Then I worked Gel.  I took him to the far end of the field and sent him on an outrun.  It was picture perfect.  The sheep didn’t lift their heads from grazing until he walked up on them.  His fetch was a bit fast, but, alas, I left my whistle at home and the wind was blowing so it was hard to give commands.  I tried to do a bit of driving, but without the whistle, I couldn’t get much distance on the drives.  So we practiced shedding.  He’s doing well.  He hasn’t hit or gripped a sheep during our last few practices.  He comes in like a rocket which is great.

Finally, the rocket: Cian.  When we brought the sheep back to where I parked the ATV to which the dogs were tied to, Cian was weaving back and forth on his tie out.  Lunatic!  I tied Gel, making sure Cian held his down, then sent him out for the sheep.  Gosh, he’s a beautiful outrunning dog.  He’s taking most of his lie downs now and if he doesn’t, I come out after him.  He gets a bit frantic in fetching and wearing and does a lot of sliding back and forth, which he doesn’t need to do.  I think he’s still a young dog who needs to settle down.  I growled his name whenever he started up the sliding and praised him when he walked in straight.  He was happy as a clam when we were finished.

Then I came in and cooked one of my favorite dishes:  I saute either some ground beef or turkey to which I add diced onions and green peppers.  Then I add some diced tomatoes, salsa, Mexican seasoning, frozen corn and canned black beans.  I let it cook on low for about an hour then eat it with taco chips.  Yum!  I’ve been feeling like I need some fiber in my diet and this will do it.

As I write this, all three dogs are lying at my feet.  Tired Border Collies are happy dogs.  The wind is blowing like crazy!  Luckily it’s going to let up and is going to get progressively warmer later in the week.

Many of my very good, very best friends are long-distance friends.  Does that mean that they’d not be my friends if we were closer?  Hard to say, but I am blessed to have these good people in my life no matter what their proximity.

One of these friends, Anne, contacted me some eight plus years ago when she was having trouble with one of her cats, Duke.  Duke had been diagnosed with irritable bowel disease.  The poor cat was about two years old at the time and had never passed a normal stool in his life.  Anne was thinking about switching Duke to a raw diet, but was scared.  I essentially held her hand through the process and from the day Duke was started on a raw diet, his stools have been normal.

Anne edited my book, Raising Cats Naturally.  As with all things however, we cut back on our conversations as we sort of when our separate ways.  Anne got into yoga and I got into Border Collies.  Earlier this year Anne lost her job, not due to a lay-off, but for a worst reason.  We e-mailed a bit after that, then stopped again.  Earlier this week, I wrote her to let her know I had joined the ranks of the unemployed.

Even though from my last entry to this journal it seemed like I was feeling better, I really was not.  Around noon yesterday I shut off my phone, turned off the computer and retreated into myself.  I haven’t been able to re-connect with my homeopath, but decided that I needed to go back to the remedy Staphysagria which I took.  I slept well for the first time since I’ve lost my job.

Anne wrote me yesterday around 9:00 PM: “My stomach went into knots thinking about you, as I truly DO have a sense what you’re going through feels like.”  I wrote back this morning telling her how I was feeling and in reply Anne wrote: “For what it’s worth, keep things as SIMPLE as you can right now, moment to moment.  Even though it seems tedious and silly, always go for the “light” instead of the dark:  meaning, if there’s something at any given moment you can do that soothes your soul (snuggling a cat, for instance) run to it and do it.  It’s not ‘running away’ from your woes and worries to do that, it’s putting yourself in the head space where good stuff is.  And with cultivation, good stuff grows, even though part of you feels like it’s the end of the world.”

Funny, how yesterday I watched Stephen King’s The Stand (one of my favorite moves), took a long walk with the dogs (and the damned dairy goats), took a few pictures and in general, just passed the day in a very simple manner.

We continued our discussion and I told her how I would often call in sick, when I really wasn’t sick, just because I felt like I needed down time.  Now here I was with unlimited down time and I didn’t know what to do with myself and was having fits of rage because of how things turned out.  Anne wrote back saying she got chills from reading what I had written and said: “when I was no longer working and having no CLUE what would come next (and with no financial ability to do anything except be at home and be quiet) said something that really stuck with me.  ‘When these times for quiet introspection come, they are an amazing gift.’  It feels to me like ‘the universe’ intervenes to help us out, to find our souls, and sometimes in ways that leave us feeling like shaking our fist at the sky screaming, “Not THIS way!  What ARE you thinking??”  But if you can trust JUST enough to lean into the idea that there is rich territory here for following your heart, I think that these ‘forced days off’ will be a bigger gift to you than you can even IMAGINE right now.”

There are many parallels in my life and those of my close friends and it’s funny how sometimes it takes a tragedy to see them clearly.  Everything worked out well for Anne:  she got a job where she’s paid well but can work from home, doing a job she enjoys.  I enjoyed my former job, but I hated the commute.  I also hate how the type of law that I work in is so tied to the economy; I hated how my job was always feast or famine.  I’d like to find a job that is a bit more rescission-proof, if there is such a thing, and I’d like to not have to commute to Charlotte every day.

Anne said that the universe will not let me go splat and I hope that’s true.

Another good friend wrote me yesterday telling me in some societies there is no word for ‘work.’  The concept is foreign.  You do what you have to do to survive and live, you don’t have this separate thing that takes up a huge chunk of your life, that you do separate from who you are, just to make money.  How we live is extremely unnatural!  She’s right.  So many of us are tied to our jobs, how we are employed somehow defines us.  All this so we can drive new cars, have beautiful homes with well tended yards, dine out at expensive restaurants, etc.  It’s all so shallow.

This morning, I applied for a Commercial Real Estate position today at Bank of America in Charlotte.  Quite frankly, I almost hope they don’t call me because if I get the job, it will just put me back into that rat race.  I also applied for an Administrative Assistant position at Clark Tire here in Hickory.  I expect they’ll see my resume and think I’m over qualified, but who knows …

Okay, on to the damned dairy goats.  If they are loose in the 15 acres that my house sits on and I try to go anywhere, i.e. out to work the dogs, they have to come along with us.  They are beyond obnoxious when they are out there.  Whenever I try to go anywhere in the future, I have to put them up.  Just this morning I took the dogs out for a run on the ATV.  As we headed into the back fields, I heard baaaaaaa behind me.  I turned around and both Rain and Esmeralda were running along behind me.  Ding bats!

I’ve essentially wasted seven week days off from my day job.  Sure, I am not making the salary I once was, but there isn’t a damned thing I can do about it right now.  I’ve got so much to do around here between cleaning and organizing my house, training my dogs, caring for livestock, reading, writing, taking pictures, etc., etc.  Instead of doing these things, I’ve been essentially feeling sorry for myself.

Done doing that.

I went to the grocery store yesterday and spent $100 on food.  Then went to Wal-Mart and got a few essentials, filled up my car with gas, then went to pick up venison.  I spent about 45 minutes there visiting.  Yes, me, visiting!  What a novel concept.  Usually whenever I go to get venison, I’m in a rush.  The people who run the venison operation are down-to-earth, nice people.  I enjoy talking to them and plan to make it a point to spend time with them whenever I go to get vemison.  Got home, took the dogs for a run, then ate some of the homemade chicken pie I made that day.  I am not sure what a frozen chicken pot pie costs, probably about $3 each.  This is for a single-serving pie.  I made my pie using a frozen pie shell (not so great, need to start making my own), fresh chicken, frozen and fresh vegetables and two cans of organic cream of mushroom soup.  The pie shell had been frozen perhaps too long and didn’t roll out well, but I patched it together.  It didn’t look so good, but it was extremely tasty and cost me maybe $5 in ingredients!

This morning, Wally came over and picked up Obie.  He bought a purebred La Mancha doe at the auction on Thursday and wanted to get her bred.  Esmeralda went into heat earlier this week and Obie has bred her.  Wally said his doe was already in heat so Obie is having another great sex fest.  If all goes well, he’ll be done and sold before the end of the week.  I’ll never keep another buck, they are a miserable nuisance!  When Wally’s doe freshens the end of March, he’ll let me have her to milk her.  Hopefully by that time I’ll be able to afford to buy her from him.

Kitty and Rose have been climbing up on the top of my hoop house which has been irritating the heck out of me.  I knew eventually they’d poke a hole in the tarp covering the hoop house and those heavy-duty tarps are not cheap!  Yelling at them when they were up there wasn’t doing any good.  Yelling at a dog or anyone or anything for that matter doesn’t do any good.  All it does is raise my blood pressure and give me a head ache.  When Wally was over this morning, we ran some field fence around the outside of the hoop house so the dogs and the goats (who haven’t climbed it yet, but give them time) could not climb on it.  One less irritation.

I gave Cian a bath today.  He’s been itching like a fiend and sure enough, he had fleas.  I soaped him up and left him with the soap on him for about fifteen minutes, then rinsed him.  One thing I realized was that my use of canine coolers in their crates was probably adding to the flea problem.  Note, neither Gel nor Fern have fleas.  The heat and moisture in the beds were probably allowing fleas and their eggs to hatch and thrive.  I emptied all the canine coolers and will use towels and sheets for bedding.  I’ll put some diatomaceous earth under the bedding to take care of any residual fleas or eggs.  I always vacuum a lot so that helps.  His itching had been irritating me.  I know now why people are so quick to put their dogs and cats on steroids or flea medicine to make the itching stop.  Now that I’ve cleared him of fleas, hopefully the itching will stop.  One less irritation.

All of the dogs have been fussy about their eating.  They’d love to be able to eat their meat in the middle of the living room on the rug, but I don’t want raw meat on my rugs or floors for that matter.  So I’ve been insisting they eat in their crates.  Sometimes they eat, usually they do not.  For example, this morning I was processing rabbits and cutting up a whole turkey.  I gave the cats the drumsticks to chew on and Gel came out into the kitchen, picked up a drumstick and headed into the living room with it.  I took it away and put him in his crate with it.  Gave Cian the second drumstick and Fern a wing.  None of them ate so I put the meat away. 

This afternoon, I took them all out into the back fields to work.  I worked Fern first.  As it turns out, she got all the practical work because as we were heading out there, Rain and Esmeralda (the dairy goats) and the three steer goats went out with us.  The steer goats were no problem because they work well with the sheep, but Rain and Esmeralda were royal pains in the butt.  I tried tying Rain to the ATV, but she started attacking Gel who was tied to the ATV as well.  So, I got Fern and had her help me bring the goats (and sheep) back up to the house.  I put the goats in the fenced-in area and used Fern to bring the sheep back out to the pasture.  I worked on her driving which is coming well.

Then I worked Gel, again on driving and did some shedding.  He did a beautiful shed and we kept the group separated so I’d have a fresh group for Cian to work.  I worked the crap out of Cian.  It was what he needed.  He’s so keen to work, which is a good thing, but it can be irritating to live with.  Whenever I get up, no matter where I go, he’s up from where ever he was lying, at warp speed, racing me to the door.  When he first got here, he’d actually run me down to get to the door.  That has stopped and he has to wait for me to go through doors and entryways before he does.  He was tired when I finally stopped.  Driving isn’t going to come easy for him.  He’s an outrunning fool.  His stops are getting more reliable.  I spent a good amount of time running out after him when he didn’t take his lie down.  It’s hard sometimes to be consistent enough so that I don’t ask for a lie down more than once before I go after him.

Anyway, back to the food issue.  When we got back, I left all three dogs outside to cool off.  After a while, I saw Gel carrying a hunk of meat in his mouth.  Fern was trying to take it away from him.  I brought out a bag of venison and put it down.  All three dogs ate as they should.  I have been uncomfortable feeding them in their crates.  I know most people do it, but eating in a crate is not natural for a dog.  Think of how wolves eat: out in the open in a group.  Even when the adults come back to the den area with food which they regurgitate, they are in the open.  Eating in a confined area is likely uncomfortable for them.  That doesn’t mean that they are going to be able to eat on the living room floor.  So I’ll feed them outside whenever I can and make sure I offer food after they’ve cooled down from a good work-out.  One less irritation.

Can you see how many irritations I’ve eliminated today?  That’s a good thing because I am quite stressed these days and even little irritations can set me off more than the would normally.

It’s easy to be irritated; it sometimes takes creativity and resolution to change things so the irritation stops.

I finished my soup this morning and is it ever tasty!  I sent Wally home with a large container of it and have to bottle up the rest of it and freeze it.  I used the breast meat from the turkey I cut up this morning, saving the rest of it for the dogs and cats.  It’s turkey season and we’ll all be eating lots of turkey over the next few months.

Off to finish processing rabbits …

I received a UPS delivery yesterday from my former employer.  I opened it and how exciting: a check for $470!  I thought it was a check for my unused paid time off.  Then I looked at it closer and saw some of it was for overtime.  Weird, I thought and called the HR administrator to ask what it was for.  It was for exactly what I thought, but what I discovered was that I didn’t have another check coming the end of October.  I thought we were paid two weeks in arrears, but that isn’t the case.

I feel pretty stupid about this.  I mean, I should know how I am being paid.  I guess I just assumed I was going to continue to get paid as long as I worked and didn’t think any more about it.

So, I won’t have any money coming in until the middle of November when I’ll receive my severance pay.  I don’t understand how the mechanics of the timing is working on my severance pay and the HR administrator wouldn’t tell me.  I can’t start to collect unemployment until November 17.  I can’t work until after November 17 either.  So what to do?

Even though I was initially upset by the above news, I’ve since come to terms with it.  Now I know exactly where I stand financially.  My rent is paid quite a bit in advance as is my car loans.  The rest of my bills (except utilities, insurance, etc.) will have to wait for now.  I cancelled my long distance and Canada calling and lowered my minutes on my cell phone.  These are really hard times, I’m sure I’m not the only one cutting back.

Esmeralda (the Oberhalsi doe) went into season yesterday and I put her in with Obie to be bred.  Hopefully she’ll take and will have babies in five months.

It’s raining and cold.  I have a fire going in the fireplace and it feels wonderful.  Before it started raining I raided an old wood stack, but I’ve almost burned through it already.  I would often use kerosene heaters for supplemental heating, but kerosene is way to expensive.  A few weeks ago I talked to Wally about spending a few weekends cleaning out the old wood in his pastures across the street and now I have a use for that wood!  Maybe … fireplaces scare me.  Kerosene heaters scare me …

I worked Cian yesterday and this morning on the sheep and he did well.  He’s stopping well for me and is starting to learn his flanks.  I can see I’m going to have a hard time getting him driving without using a long line so that’s next on the hit parade.  No sense in holding off on getting him going on driving.

I truly home I can climb out of this depression soon.  I haven’t been out of the house for three days.

I should not watch television.  Between the political ads and the bad news about the economy, it’s incredibly depressing.  I am depressed.  Who wouldn’t be? This country, really the world, is going down the tubes.  I don’t know if it can be fixed.

I haven’t heard a thing from the lawyers I used to work with or the paralegal in my department.  I suppose I shouldn’t have expected to.  My feelings are hurt though.

I did get out and work Cian yesterday which improved my mood.  I used the three steer goats and it went well.  He’s exciting to work.  Later in the day I worked Gel on shedding.  I had the whole flock of sheep out and continued to shed sheep off.  Whenever he either slammed an animal or gripped, I growled at him.  I have to be careful that I don’t dampen his enthusiasm to come in to me; but he has to learn it isn’t a sheep bowling exercise.

Kitty and Rose (mostly Rose) barked a lot last night which disturbed my sleep.  I decided that I was going to find a home for Kitty and keep Rose.  While Kitty is the more friendly dog; Rose is a better guard dog.  I have them separated today as an experiment.  I was told by their breeder that it was better to have two of them and initially I believed that, but now I’m not so sure.  Maybe Kitty has more confidence because of Rose, but I don’t think they are bonding as well with the livestock since they have each other.  As I write this, Rose is curled up with the two dairy does.  Kitty is out with the sheep, sort of, she’s doing more exploring than staying with the sheep.

It’s cold.  I put plastic up on most of my windows.  Especially with the sliding glass door, it makes a difference.  It would be nice to have the heat on, but I can wear several layers of clothes and stay warm.

I really have no where to go, but I should go and take a shower and go out.  I do need to get some iodine to use as an udder wash.  I noticed Rain had a couple of small sores on her udder.  I believe they are chafe marks due to my not milking her out all the way.  I did completely milk her out this morning and unfortunately, the milk got wasted because she was kicking and her foot ended up in the bucket a few times.  While I was milking her I figured out how to keep that from happening: whenever she lifted her foot to kick, I pressed against her throwing her off balance so she would be forced to put the foot down.  I think those sores made it uncomfortable to be milked.  The milk really didn’t get wasted, Kitty and Rose had it for breakfast.

I wish I could kick back and enjoy this unplanned time off.  Here it is 12 Noon and I haven’t done a whole lot, well, I suppose I have … I milked Rain and took care of my equipment and the milk, then took Rain and Esmeralda for their morning walk, moved the sheep and LGDs down into the back pasture, I have a pot of soup going on the stove, made a loaf of wheat and oatmeal raisin bread, vacuumed the front of the house and spot washed the floors … I guess I have been busy.

Regarding soup: I have this marvelous “recipe” for wonderful, gutsy soup.  I start a stock with some meaty chicken or turkey bones, onions, carrots, garlic and celery.  Then I remove the bones and put the pot on my back burner.  Every day I put leftover vegetables such as mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, carrots, turnip, etc., etc. to the pot and every day I bring the entire contents to a full boil, then put it back on the back burner.  I do not refrigerate the soup.  I purposely cook more vegetables for my suppers all week to add to the soup pot.  On the last day, I add chicken or turkey meat, maybe some pasta, beans, etc.  Then, voila, wonderful, wonderful soup.  I’ll freeze it in two quart glass containers and with some freshly made bread, it’s a wonderful meal.  I learned this method many years ago when I traveled to the British Virgin Islands with a friend.  We sailed on a boat that didn’t have refrigeration.  Every day we shopped for a our meals and the leftovers got put into the soup pot and each day it was brought to a boil.  By the end of the week, we had a wonderful pot of soup to enjoy.  I usually only do this around Thanksgiving when I have a turkey carcass to start the stock with, but I figured I’d do it now.  Making soup and casseroles from scratch like this is much less expensive than buying pre-made and of course it’s healthier.

If I can get my act in gear here I plan to go to the Hickory Farmer’s Market to meet a local woman who is selling goat cheese.  She has Saanen goats (another breed I like, well, I think I like all the dairy breeds).  I spoke to her briefly this morning and asked if I could come out one day and watch her make cheese and she agreed.  So, I should go and meet her.  I’d love to find another goat in milk so I can have two goats to milk.  I know I could use the milk, especially once I start to make cheese.

I thought the sheep who had conjunctivitis was better, but he is not.  I’ve given him two more injections of oxytetracycline but I’m afraid he isn’t going to recover.  I’ll let the antibiotic clear from his system and then butcher him.  It’s a shame because he’s a nice working sheep.  I feel terribly guilty about this, but darned, I do check my sheep every day and I didn’t see that he was having eye problems until the day I first noticed he couldn’t see.  I bought the oxytetracycline and administered it as directed, but apparently it was too late.  Having a blind sheep in the mix makes moving them very dicey.  If he gets separated from the flock, it’s hard getting him back.  I know if you have animals it’s only a matter of time before they get sick or die, but it’s never easy.  I think tonight when I bring the sheep up I’ll try to get him into the fenced-in area where the males goats are.  The billy will harass him to begin with, but he should settle down.  Right now he spends most of his time along the fence line near the does.  I wish Esmeralda would hurry up and come in season so I can get her bred and him out.  I have someone lined up to buy him.  Maybe I could trade him for a milking doe.  That’s a thought.

Until I can get the blind sheep separated from the rest of the flock, I can’t easily use my sheep for working.  When the woman was over with the Beardie, I left him in the ElectroNet with a companion sheep.  He went through the ElectroNet.  The three steer goats are working quite well so I could use them.

I guess what it comes down to is that I’m depressed.  One day I had a good paying job that I enjoyed and then I don’t.  I applied for a job this morning working at a Bank in compliance.  Maybe I’ll get an interview.  I’d be willing to bet they got hundreds of resumes in application for this one job.  The only other paralegal position was in litigation.  I sent my resume to a local head hunter in case temporary or contract positions come available.  I expect given how so many law firms have downsized, they will be looking for contract paralegals to fill in as needed.  I hate head hunters though.

Oh, something will come of it.  I should get out and enjoy myself and know that things will eventually work out.  Meanwhile, I am enjoying learning to be frugal.  Like many people, I was living well beyond my means.  It was time I stopped that.  Now, if I could only get myself adopted by the Palin family and have tens of thousands of dollars spent on me for a new wardrobe.

E-w-w-w-w-w! Did not go well.  This is the first “date” I’ve been on in ten years and quite frankly, I can wait another ten years to go on another one.  Oh well, it got me out.  I had to go to Lowes to buy grain moth traps to make sure I don’t end up with moths in my flour.

What particularly irritates me is this man insists he’s a “small time green farmer” and it was my reference to organic farming that caught his attention.  Farmer my foot.  He’s a gym rat.  I don’t do gym rats.  I’m afraid Marcus spoiled me.  Oh well …

It’s gorgeous outside.  As I write this, however, all three Border Collies are curled up at my feet.  I guess in a little bit I’ll go down to where my agility equipment is and move some dirt.  The girl with the Beardie wants to do some agility training as well.  She only has a few pieces of equipment.  I expect her dog is about the same level as Fern so we could train them together.

I pulled Gel from the Huntersville trial.  It was only $20, but it was $20 I didn’t need to spend.  I’ll train over the winter and have him ready to run Open next year and hopefully have Cian and possibly Fern ready to run Pro-Novice.  There’s a trial in GA the first weekend in January which I might enter.  We’ll see.