The end of August

Today is the last day of August and it has been a pretty quiet month. We did not have any competitions and I was home every weekend. I had great plans to get way more done around the house then I did but then that is my life! But I did have a great month with time spent with friends and family, new and old. And I had lots of time to think about what is important and enjoy the life I have!

I love flowers! And this year my flowers and garden of just exploded!! I like lots of color and variety and I definitely have that this year.

The hanging baskets

in front of the two bedroom windows

are huge

and all my pots are over flowing.

And my vegetables have never looked this good

and

we are enjoying all of them.

The dogs were not as excited as I was about the quiet month. They did participate in an agility demo, a fun match, and several practices so it was not like they laid around the whole month. But anytime I thought about sitting down Echo was in my face asking to do something! Echo did have a wonderful herding lesson this month now it is time for me to step up and become the handler Echo deserves and I WILL. Kant and I had a wonderful herding opportunity this past weekend; stock handling at an AKC Collie only herding event at Brigand’s Hide-out in Battle Ground Washington. I was so proud of Kant she worked ducks beautifully which totally de-motivates her but is the price to pay to get to work sheep and work sheep she did. Some of the A course runs did not go as the handlers had planned and Kant had to exhaust the sheep. And Kant got to exhaust B course sheep and she had great outruns and got out around the sheep; these sheep would run if you did not cover them and it was a BIG field for them to run in. Kant and I had a great day and I took home a very tired dog! After the trial was over I asked if a set of PT sheep could be put on the PT course for Echo. This was Echo’s first time to ever herd sheep away from Rocking Dog Ranch. She was wonderful and I was very excited she worked so well with all the new distractions! She had beautiful stands and kept a good working distance off the sheep. She is ready for PT this October. Now I need to get serious about teaching her flanks so she is ready for Started A.

September is looking to be a very busy month for us with a day at the Oregon State Fair, a trip to Reno Nevada for agility, agility in Vancouver Washington, and a week long trip to Klamath Falls Oregon for the Border Collie Sheepdog Nationals. Sounds like a great month to me!!