April 2, 2010: A Wild Week
What a wild week we have had. The weather has been dirty! Rain, hail, snow, wind and just about every other element the sky gods can throw at us. It has been cold. Our place is a mud bath at the moment. We finally got the work done on excavating our kennels so all the excavation work has left a trail of mud...not that we are complaining as we needed this work done.

Two sides of the shed where our kennel is housed were 'underground' and there was no membrane to prevent ground water from leaching through the concrete blocks and into the shed. This left the kennels on one side of the shed very wet and more so when it rained. Although we have rubber mats and raised sleeping benches in each kennel to keep the dogs dry, for the most part, we have not used this side of the kennel all winter long. We have now excavated both sides of the shed, waterproofed the backside and refilled the hole, while the side of the shed has had the soil completely removed and left open. During the summer we will regrout the concrete blocks and try to do something to improve the look of the shed. We now have a new puppy play area, and all the excavated soil has been used to expand our car parking area. Lots of landscaping to do but that will take time! Perhaps we should have a house warming party and ask our friends (all 3 of them) to bring a cutting from their garden! Yes, yes, the shed also needs a new roof but that will have to wait.

This is the side of the shed that has been left open.
The line indicates where the soil covered the side of the shed.

Meg: reminds me of the fairytale Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
"This bed is too soft, this bed is too hard, this bed is just right"

I was sitting at my desk working away one lunchtime and the phone rang. It blew me away when I heard Scott Glen (from Canada) on the other end of the line. My day instantly got better! He said he'd been on my website and for a moment I thought he was going to give me sh*t for saying in a previous blog I didn't think he'd be able to train Bailey! But no, he had found my phone number. Wonders never cease! I like talking to Scott coz we talk about dogs. He's training a Jamie youngster, so it was nice to hear about this dog. There are many things I like about Scott and one of them is that he doesn't do BS; he just cuts to the chase about a dog and gives an honest appraisal. Perhaps that's why I gravitate to people who are frank in their opinions (or is that because I am blunter than most?) Another thing I like is that he is very encouraging and inspiring. He makes you want to head right to the training field as soon as you put the phone down, and that is precisely what I did. After two weeks of being in the doldrums about my training, I had a good day. Thank you Scott!

Mind you, I also reinjured my calf muscle - the injury I got from little Cian last year (gosh I miss that wee chap). Yesterday in the most atrocious weather, I got my wellies on (yes, my wellies are back from their 6 week holiday in Scotland), all my wet weather gear and took Sioux and Jamie up the hill to train on the 'wild' sheep. I sent Jamie on a 600 yard outrun and at the top, he ignored my lie down whistle. I set off to sort that out and bang, my calf went again. It must have looked hilarious as I hobbled after Jamie. I was not happy with Jamie for not stopping and then Sioux went out and did the same thing. Now that isn't typical for either of them so when I went to the top of their outrun, I discovered the wind was howling so hard and the rain torrential, there was almost no chance either of them would have heard me as they were upwind from me (and my whistling still needs work). After my training session (which went very well despite this wee bobble), I then took Jamie, Joe, Sioux, Bee, Meg, Steffi and Bailey for a long walk in the forest to try to ease the calf muscle. No joy as this morning I had to walk backwards down the stairs!

I had a 'wee' trip to Scotland this week as well to get Joe as he is holidaying at our place for most of April. My plan was to go up Wednesday and home Thursday. No such luck as 6 inches of snow fell at Bobby and Sheila's place and I was snowed out. I did get to within an hour of Ettrick and Bobby kindly drove his truck through deep snow to bring Joe down to me. I turned around and came home. A long day and most of the drive was in abysmal weather.

Joe is quite the dog. He just fits in instantly. Often when we have a new dog here, we have to keep it on a lead - not Joe. He just tootles along with us on the walks, never straying too far and always returning to a quiet "Joe." When we take him running, he is always right there with us and is not like some of my scallywags who disappear into the forest for minutes at a time. And before you ask, no, he does not get to work sheep at our place. Wouldn't dare ruin someone else's dog!

For the many of you who have asked about our truck...we'll the saga continues. It is still not fixed and after how many weeks? 6 weeks (!) ...it isn't looking likely anytime soon. Might have to pull the plug on that one. Mitsuibishi rubbish. Oh how we long for the good ol' days when we had a Honda truck in Canada.

Happy easter to all who celebrate the occassion.