Best laid plans

Well, I didn’t get much of anything done that I planned to yesterday.  I found a great deal on a jacket for Wally on Craigslist so I drove out to get it.  After I got the jacket, I met his sister to get the ornaments she was going to throw out and then headed home.

I let Merlin out on the main property to exercise a bit and exercise he did!  One of these days, I’ll need to get some photos of him.  Right now, he’s filthy from rolling in the mud.  I’ll be glad to get his shoes off so he won’t tear up the ground so much.  While Merlin was exercising, I started the ATV and headed up to the Christmas Tree Farm to get my tree.  As we pulled into the driveway, there it was, all by itself.  Last year they had about five trees left and had to put them down on the road to sell them after the Farm is sold.  This year, all that was left was this one little tree.  Brought it home and then headed back out to feed Liath and check the sheep.  Met the owner of the Farm and helped her finish picking up equipment, signs, etc. and then went down to her house to see where she kept the cat, dog and chicken food so I could feed her animals while they were at the beach over the holidays.  Came back home around 3:30, just in time to cook supper.

I elected not to ride Merlin yesterday for two reasons.  Primarily, because my knee was still bothering me a lot; thankfully, it’s much better today.  Also, it was extremely wet and soupy.  Not that the weather would have stopped me if my knee was sound.

A female blacksmith that specializes in barefoot trimming is coming out this afternoon to take Merlin’s shoes off and trim his feet.  Hopefully he’ll be able to stay barefoot for two reasons: it’s healthier for him and cheaper for me.  I’m looking forward to meeting her.

Fern is doing well in her new home.  A friend of mine asked me this morning if I missed her and I had to think about that.  Yes, of course I miss her, but not really.  I know that Fern is better off where she is.  We are trying to run a lean operation here and I don’t want to keep a bunch of dogs around who are not getting steady work.  Where she is, Fern is getting trained on a daily basis and ultimately, she’ll get to do agility which is what she really shines at.

Split got to work the Guinea Fowl yesterday while up at Red’s house.  The excessive flanking stopped while she was working them and I could see her eye kicking in.  The next time I put her on sheep, it will be on a smaller group.  When I think about how she flanks, it brings to mind how Kessie and Cian worked.  That frantic flanking irritated the heck out of me, but the difference between what Kessie and Cian were doing and what Split does is quite apparent.  Split is never out of contact with the stock; whereas, both Kessie and Cian were.  At times, their flanking was mindless.  In addition, Split doesn’t flip back and forth trying to move the stock; it readily moves off her.  Even though she wants to work them, I’ve tried to keep her off the dairy goats because they are quite inappropriate for her right now.  They really bring out the frantic flanking because she really can’t control them.  I’m very much looking forward to March when I’ll have a flock of goat kids for her to work.  She’ll learn a lot from them.

Housecleaning: I just can’t get myself to do it.  I think what I might try to do is break the house up into small portions.  Clean a room, then do something else, come back and clean another room and then do something else.  Trying to keep it clean with two dogs and ten cats tracking in mud is difficult, at best.  When she first came here, Split shed a lot.  Thankfully, that’s pretty much stopped.

Off to clean a room.

Until later …