Fun Trial weekend

We went to a fun trial this past weekend by River Falls, WI. I enjoyed myself. The first day I ran Sting in novice. He had a beautiful outrun, decent lift and then got too excited on the fetch. He then decided that he should pick on a lamb and we retired. The second day his outrun wasn't as good, but he managed to fetch the sheep to me and we did the wear/drive and he had a perfect pen! Looking forward to another fun trial.

Now, onto Jet. The first day it was really frustrating with her. She kept stopping on her outrun and then was really slow across the top. She did fetch them to me, but then we just couldn't get the drive started. I was about ready to throw in the towel with her. The next day I ended up taking her out to get the sheep off of the hill and back to the sort pens. I had to flank her a bit, and sent her on two look backs. It seems like something happened in doing this chore as it seems like she finally realized that I might know something and that we can be a team in doing this "game." I decided to run her in open again. Outrun was much better, still a little slow across the top, fetch off line for a bit, but then back on line. Drive went much better, good pen and a good shed. We scored an 80! Good girl, Jet!

It showed me that I need to work Sting some more on his fetch and I need to get a good correction in when he wants to buzz the sheep. He also needs to go to other farms to work sheep. The judge also suggested working him on just lambs to help him with dealing with wanting to single out a lamb. So, I have my work cut out for me.

Easter and a new desert recipe

Had a very nice Easter with hubby's family. It turned out to be a beautiful day. It is always good to spend time with family and appreciate them. We had smoked turkey, cheesy potatoes, baked corn and a whip cream salad. The smoked turkey was delicious and we will do that again. For desert I tried a new recipe that I found on a box of Zesta soda crackers and it turned out to be really good and simple to make, so I am sharing the recipe here.

Blueberry Crumble

Ingredients:

2 cups Keebler Zesta Original Crackers (crushed)

½ cup margarine or butter, melted

1 tsp grated lemon peel

1 can (21 oz) blueberry pie filling

1 tsp cinnamon

½ cup whipping cream (I used cool whip)

Directions:

1. 1. Chill small mixing bowl and beaters of electric mixer. (if you are whipping your own cream up)

2. 2. In medium bowl toss together crackers, margarine or butter and lemon peel. Press half of crumb mixture in an 8 x 8 x 2-inch baking dish. Bake at 400F for 10 minutes.

3. 3. In small bowl stir together pie filling and cinnamon. Spread over baked crust. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 400F about 20 minutes more or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

4. 4. In chilled bowl beat cream on medium speed of electric mixer until soft peaks form. To serve, spoon blueberry mixture into dessert dishes. Top with whipped cream. Serve immediately.

Working dogs today

Finally, the snow cleared out, the sun came out and I was able to work dogs this afternoon. I first had Jet bring the sheep out and worked with her a bit. Last fall she was giving me a little trouble on taking the come by flank. So, I worked her on that and got her to continue on her come by instead of stopping short. I also got her to loosen up on her flanks. A good session for her. As we finished I decided that we need to get back to walks to get all of us (me included) in better condition.

I then took Sting out to work. I worked him first on his come by side as that is the side that he wanted to come up short on last year. I worked him with the exercise that Vergil had me doing. I just had to do it once and he was like oh yeah, I remember that and was then flanking all the way and looked more relaxed. The exercise some of you might ask was that as soon as he leaves me I run following him. If he stops short I then scold him with a what are you doing in there?!?! And then flank him again with my continuing behind him. This is good physical exercise for me too. It was neat to see him remember us working on this two weeks ago. I then worked him on his away outrun which he did much easier. The other thing is that Vergil did not want him to be too close to me when I sent him. This causes Sting to go straight up the field and stop short. One other thing that I need to work on with Sting is that when I call him to me with a here he needs to "release" the sheep and come to me. This is an ongoing thing for me to work on with him. Sting comes to me, but goes around and watches the sheep as opposed to focusing on me.

And then Jet got to go out and bring the sheep in so that we could put them away.

All in all, it was a good afternoon. I can't ever complain when I get to work dogs.

Spring is coming, pictures on 3/25/11

Look, the tulips are peaking out of the ground.

These tulips are trying to come up thru some of the remaining snow.

Here are some more tulips coming up thru the snow. Can you tell what is right next to them in the snow?

To Sting a sure sign of spring is that he gets to play with his jolly ball again.

Sting say, see you all later. I'm off to play with my jolly ball.

The Zumbro River is on the rise

The Zumbro River in SE MN is on the rise. This is the river coming over the dam in Mantorville, MN. Normally this river barely trickles over the dam.

This is a closer shot.

This is a view from behind the dam. You can see where the water looks calm and smooth until it drops over the dam. It is running pretty high.

One more view just over the dam.

The park area and this side of the river are taped off to not allow the public to get too close. This same river a little further east by Zumbrota had already flooded some farm fields by highway 52 going into Rochester.