What Happened??

Or where did time go might be the more appropriate question...

Here are my girls back in May (That's Ashley in back, with just her nose showing)....and here they are in a picture taken just a few days ago. The puppies are now nine months old!

As you can see momma Ashley(Left) is now the smallest of the bunch. Carly is in the middle and Minty on the right. We are working hard on 'our' manners and teaching group lessons has it's special challenges. Here they are practicing their sit.

From back in May, a (slightly blurry) picture of the girls--Minty on the left, Numy (who now lives in Oklahoma), Ashley behind and Carly on the right...

And a more recent picture of the girls waiting for me at the gate while I do chores.

Carly, Ashley & Minty

They are smart goobers, but that doesn't always translate into easy lessons. Rarely does it take more than two or three times for a new command before it 'clicks', but once they learn, they don't necessarily think they need to keep repeating it! Minty often sasses me about it, and Carly has very selective hearing. Ashley is very 'passive aggressive' --the sweetest thing but stubborn to the core. Fortunately they are very food orientated, so treats go a long way towards mass cooperation.

So far 'we' know how to sit, down, 'touch', 'cookie' (basically posing like a show dog), Come (most of the time), and are working on 'wait'. They know basic day to day commands too, of course--like get back, wait (at the gate), drop it, sometimes they will do 'leave it'--the horrible incident with the rat's tail was a huge 'fail' on this command--, Minty also knows how to do a dramatic 'play dead' after being 'shot' three times.

The girls are pretty hard on each other, I'm not sure how they survive 'play time'. They do allot of running, knocking each other down, and play fighting. Minty has a quick temper and blames Carly for everything. Eventually they'll have to work out their order in the pack but for the moment it's pretty even and they play hard, have spats and play hard some more. They have lots of room to run and I try to take them for a run across the (fenced) pastures every evening. A tired collie is a good collie!

Ashley isn't sitting on the sidelines either, she doesn't play all out all the time like the pups, but several times a day she'll let loose and run around like a maniac. Carly seems to be her 'favored' child, but she will take either of them down if they push her too far. Over all though she loves her 'puppies' and will still give them a good bath if needed.

It has been a little overwhelming at times, but now we are evening out and it's kinda fun living with a pile of collies. They spend most of the evening in the house and at least we've gotten to where they don't even hardly pay attention to the inside cats. The outside kitties still get chased on occasion, but we continue to work on that! The puppies are still crated at bedtime.

Carly, Minty and Ashley practice their 'down'

Hope everyone has a great week!

Almost Wordless Wednesday...Again...

It's stupefying hot here. And dry--crunchy brown grass dry. It's depressing.

Most of these pictures were taken about two weeks ago when we had a nice inch of rain fall. I was in the middle of mowing a small paddock, and after a mad dash to the garage, I waited it out and took a few pictures.

Even sun worshiper Trinity is getting a little worn down with the hot weather

Taken last night on the way home.

Hot puppies (& mom) waiting to get in the house for the night (note all the smudge prints on the glass....)

Holly Hocks in the Rain
These are two of my favorite photos--love how the rain arcs off the side

Beautiful rain, we need you again

Couple of cloud 'action' shots

Holly Hocks again

Sheep just before the rain came--their pasture doesn't look like this anymore...sadly...

Gabe running quality and comfort control on a new rug I made.
(This one is merino/dorset wool, with a few dyed bits of roving for accent)

Collie Life....

Mo-om! They were makin' fun of my nose again at school today!

Saturday Musings

Trinity melts into a fur puddle

July is here! In all it's hot glory. It's been pretty warm this summer, but we've had a few breaks from it, here and there. I took a few extra days vacation off to tack onto the July 4th holiday, so have enjoyed being home part of this week.

I've gotten a few things 'marked off the list', which makes me glad. Not much new going on, but here are a few of the 'big events' of the last week or so.

Picked 16 tomato horn worms off one tomato plant in the course of three days. I know it's hard to handle that kind of news....

The new generation of greeters....

The puppies are growing like bad weeds and are becoming (sometimes) more reasonable. Having two creates it's own special challenges but they do keep each other occupied. Most small 'life teaching moments' end in a brawl on the puppies part, because they are each so busy trying to be the center of the universe until one of the other gets ticked off. Despite this they are learning many things and do not lack for intelligence. How they choose to use that intelligence can be another matter. Can you say stubborn?



The sable merle is pretty independent and tries to negotiate many things --for instance she won't go into the crate willingly unless I toss her treat in first. Yes she gets pushed in anyway, but still sticks to her guns. The tri on the other hand runs right in the minute the crate door is opened. Sable merle also will occasionally not come in the yard. "No thanks, I don't want to right now." Last time she got locked out on her own while the rest of us did fun stuff for a few minutes. That seems to have worked. However she is very good on her sits, cookie command (i.e. standing with ears up, intensely staring at cookie), and puppy recall. She also has a bladder the size of a basketball, just like her mom, Ashley, and can go hours and hours without needing to urinate.


The tri still has her hangups, and her favorite response to anything is to bark. However she is turning into a bit of my shadow and doesn't like to share. I'm working on eliminating the sisterly body slams when she gets jealous, but it's slow going! I really didn't think she would be the one to turn out so affectionate since as little puppies it was pretty much reversed. Back to the barking---she can do this for hours, unfortunately. A carpenter bee burrowing into a fence post at puppy level can become hours of bark-y puppy fun. She is very good about most commands--especially coming when called and going into the yard and/or crate. She can be a bit stubborn on the sit. I'm also teaching her to fall over 'dead' when I point my finger like a pistol and say 'bang-bang'. This is a very useful Lassie skill. Unlike her sister her bladder is the size of a peanut so she lives on the side of desperate by morning.

Ashley continues to grow hair. Finally. She got down to about bald. She is looking better, but that isn't saying much. Her tail is still ratty and she has long coarse hairs hanging around her neck. Otherwise she has a very short very thick coat of fur coming in. She stunk to high heaven though, so this morning she got a much despised bath. I hope it takes care of the stink, as collies usually don't smell (unless wet).

The kitties are 'enduring' the heat too. It really doesn't seem to bother them, except Meshach seems a little bit slower moving. They will actually lay out in the front room where it is sunny and hot and slowly melt into fur puddles. They insist on snuggling close at night and having four or five kitties lined up and down ones person is not very comfortable in this hot weather.

I managed to bushwhack back the old fashioned roses around my front gate posts. There was allot of dead wood in them and some branches that just needed to be snipped back. It was painful all around, but it looks better down there, if a bit bare. Also got another small shade 'garden' started, as I try to reclaim some of the barren grass less areas under the trees. Hostas and ferns were the first ones in, with a temporary fence to keep them safe from marauding puppies. It's a good time to buy plants since most places are offering them half off. They tend to be pot bound and a little sickly looking, but seem to revive quickly.

Next weekend, on Saturday July 9th, I'll be going to the Fiber U event in Lebanon. I'm just going to be there one day, and am going in with two other Shetland breeders to share booth costs. It's an indoor event, which will be so nice--no worries about the hot weather, rain, flies etc. I've been working to produce more rugs (five so far) and scarves (five as well...), and have all the roving packed up and ready to go. Should be interesting as this is our first year with a booth. Last year we scoped it out to see what it was about.

The sheep and chickens are as usual not comfortable in this extreme heat. They have deep shade and water, but the flies are beastly. It's hard on the old ones especially. I'll soon be turning the sheep onto the lower pasture, which is full of clover and lespedeza, they'll have to be introduced gradually so as not to bloat.

That about covers the small farm doings of the week. Not much goes on when it's hot like this. I get up and do what I need to in the morning, or late in the evening. Midday finds me inside working on house projects, crafts, or just wasting time on the computer!

Hope you all have a great Fourth of July!

Collie Puppies At 14 Weeks!

Wow...how quickly time flies.... here are the girls at 14--not so little anymore.

Double Trouble!!

Fourteen Weeks:

Sable Merle

Tri-Color

We gots your back Mom...but we'll stay way back here.......

Collie Play Day

Okay, before I even get started...no I haven't named the puppies yet..really. This naming business is hard for me. (as in they have to have just the right name) I have lists and I try them out randomly, but so far nothing fits. And I'm pretty sure they aren't always going to be called Puppy 1 and Puppy 2, or Sable Pearl and Tri-Trops.


So a few weeks ago, I got an invite to Helen's to bring the pups for a collie get-together, which would involve evaluating Helen's eight week old litter. My girls were going for manicures and spa treatments...not really, but they would be getting their ears taped. From these first two pictures you can see how their ears are starting to run amok. Up and down, off to the side....everyday is a new day.


So this was the puppies first big outing, well, second if you count the day they got their eyes tested. A little background on the two puppies I am keeping. Sable Pearl, er, Merle is typical collie--lalala, I love everybody, life is a lark and made just to please a little puppy. Tri girl is the opposite. Very reserved, thinks too much about new situations, worries about new situations, has reservations about new people and going new places. (I can relate...) Both puppies are brilliant, of course, and already know lots of things. Right now I'm concentrating on getting both puppies out and about for extreme socializing--especially little Ms. Worrywart. She is already doing better, and she does love people once she gets past her shyness.


Well, with all that being said, puppies were loaded up for their big journey. We made it about 20 miles before the drooling and vomiting started. Nice. Fortunately I brought lots of towels, and plastic sacks to bundle up the messy stuff.

As expected both pups were glad to get out of the truck at our destination, and their reactions were also pretty expected. The Sable Merle jumped in and loved every minute of it (except the ear taping), whereas the Tri was prone to hang back and be hesitant. She finally started pal-ing around with the little pups and her Uncle Jeff.

Uncle Jeff & Sable Merle
This is Ashley's litter brother

A couple of other breeders/dog showers brought their collies too, and it was a giant collie free-for-all in the fenced yard. Great opportunity for dog socializing! The youngest were the six eight week old puppies, then my girls at 11 weeks. The oldest was Gwyneth at ten. I think there were 14 collies although a couple had to be rotated back and forth. Quite a sight.

While the dogs were playing, the puppies were evaluated and then my puppies had their ears taped. (This isn't a painful procedure--but does take a bit of time and consists of layers of tape, with the ear tips taped over.)

Three stages of puppy

My girl was the only Tri in a sea of Sable

After a bit we humans went inside and had lunch and visited. I enjoyed hearing some of the 'war' stories of shows past, and whelping puppies.

Gwyneth on the left, Sable Merle middle....Bella (also a Sable Merle)
on the right in front & I think Jeff behind.

All said and done a good time was had by all (well almost all...)

Meeting at the water cooler

I loaded up the tired puppies and headed home. No one got sick, but the Tri drooled some. The little Sable Merle lasted about a mile down the road before she keeled over sound asleep. Tri girl stubbornly refused to give in and stood rigidly for the first ten miles, then finally sat. She never did lay down, but she was so tired that she was nodding off.

Look Ma...no ears and all nose!

Ashley was pretty glad to see us when we got home and the puppies ate and crashed for awhile and were then 'good to go'. They did sleep awfully sound that night!

So...tired....Must not sleep....

They have now graduated to individual crates at night and there has been only one 'accident' in a week and half.

Lots of anxiety issues with this one.....

If you wonder why Ashley isn't traveling with us at this time it is because she has some 'anxiety' issues of her own about new experiences which I'd rather her not transmit to the puppies. Handling two newbie clueless puppies is about as much as I can do right now anyway! Ashley loves people, but traveling and going new places is not something she readily jumps into. During these next two months, I'll be taking the puppies as often as possible until they develop confidence in new experiences and ease with riding in the truck. Once they are confident then I'll add Ashley to the mix, as she definitely needs some socializing of her own. Hopefully by then she will look less like a wire-fox collie too. (She has shed out all her fur until all that is left is the longer, coarser outer coat..and well the kindest way to say it is she looks, a bit, uh, odd.)

Hopefully I'll some more pictures taken of the puppies. It's amazing how fast they are growing. They'll soon be entering a rather homely stage of all legs, nose and will lose that lovely plush baby fur. But I can still pick 'em up for a big squishy hug for a few weeks longer!

Almost Wordless Wednesday....

Puppy Meets Terrapin
No one was injured in the making of this photo...

As I lag farther and farther behind on posting, here are a few pictures to show we are still a kicking. It's hotter than, well you can imagine, here and am hoping this isn't going to be an all summer pattern. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Nature Reclaims

Sheep Going Home For The Night

Grateful (?) Butterfly Saved From The Water Trough

Lots of Terrapins This Year--This One 'Rescued' From The Yard & Pups

Innocent Kitties (Gabe & Tempe)
There is so much, much more to this story, and none of it involves innocent kitties....

The End
(Who is that big old puppy??)

Family Affair

Momma Ashley

Ashley Jr.

Big Tri

Brown Eyes

And, Uh, Tempe--"Lord knows I tried to raise those pups right"