Merry Christmas to All!

And so it is Christmas......

I usually try to tie red ribbons and bows to dogs, sheep or whatever will hold still. I thought taking still pictures would be easier.

We have made a few changes this year to the farm when we downsized the animals. We sold all are breeding ewes and rams to Painted Ewe Farm in Saskatchewan and kept 21 Katahdin sheep to train the Border Collies with. We also have 8 North Country Cheviot replacement ewes that are staying the winter. 

Four Border Collies still run our lives, Mirk who is 12 now and watches a lot of HBO. The other three are working and trialing. Kip who is almost 7, Hank who is 2 1/2 and Bet who is 2 1/2.

Of course Clarice and Sonny the Livestock Protection Dogs, are ever vigilant watching their sheep.

Len is driving for Reimer Brothers and I am retired from Argo so staying home in a snow storm is quite relaxing.

Here are some pictures of the farm taken this week ...sure looks Christmas-y!
Mirk was in the house watching TV and missed the photo shoot.

Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year to all...



Hank




Bet




Kip





Sonny - Did you bring food?





Clarice - Such a great protector to her sheep



Yam Shepherd's Pie from Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Thought this was toogood not to share:



Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Yam Shepherd's Pie:   Shepherd's Pie . . . what can I say about it? You love it or hate it. I think it's a great family meal if you introduce the kids to it ...

Soon....

The start of the bathroom renos.....

Mysterious "Deer" Sightings

I am going to show you a series of pictures. Then you can guess what they add up to….and no it wasn’t a deer. Answer at bottom of page. 

This is a bottle of pickled beets. One morning when I got to the garden I noticed all the beet tops were eaten and I had to do something with the beets lying on top of the ground!

 This is the "pruned" apple tree over a couple days. I have babied it to this size and was angry at the "deer"!

Lilac bush, just slightly pruned....

Of all the flowers in the long bed, this is what the "deer" ate.

These are the feeders, note the top has caved in ??

 Look at this sweet little face....of the "deer". I caught her the other morning and when I opened all the gates to put her back in, she just hopped over the feeder. Baaaaaaaaaaaaad sheep!

Today I moved the feeders and put a nice big steel gate across the opening. So lucky the rest didn't follow her.

Crap, It's Been A Month Since I Blogged

It seems like yesterday that Jenny Glen, Louanne Twa and I were sitting at the Hilltop Trial having a conversation about what to put on a blog when we just don't have the time, etc. Darned if I can remember what the heck it was?
So the news in Reader's Digest Form is:
We are not selling the farm, decided to pull it off the market and stay put!
All the lambs are shipped so we have 21 dog sheep of our own and 8 North Country ewe lambs "visiting" for the winter.
The Armstrong IPE is this weekend with.......Stock Dog Demos!
That's it for August so here are a picture of the NC gals with one of my Katahdin ewe lambs in the front of the picture.  Their ears are green because they got their tattoos before they came out.

New Girl in Town

We have a new addition to the Paxton Valley Gang. Her name is Bet and she is a 2 year old that we got from Chris Jobe. She is out of Stephen Bonk's Jill (Montgomery's) and MacRae's Nap.  She has a very sweet temperament and loves to work as I found out this morning. We are really enjoying her.

Big Bus to Saskatchewan

Our farm life changed today. The 102 breeding ewes and 3 rams left for their new digs in Saskatchewan. Jennifer L'Arrivee from McBride came down on Tuesday with some yearlings she had of mine and stayed to help load. The Canart Cattle Company from Kamloops pulled in Wednesday morning and the driver was awesome. Travis helped us load.  Now mind you, he is the same Travis that as a young 4-H person worked in the all the take pens at all mine and Lee Lumb's sheep dog trials till he grew up and moved on with bigger and better things. This worked out well.
Had a few glitches when the LGDs took off with the sheep when I turned my back to shut the gate and off they went up the hill by the end of the driveway. Brought them back and started again. According to this incident and the fact that I was using some "industrial strength" language with Sonny and Clarice to make them go back to the barnyard, Travis and Jennifer had a good laugh...but were sensible enough not to tell me till later! To those not familiar with Livestock Guardian Dogs, they are very independent and like to do things in their own time. Makes for great Protection for the sheep but when you scold them verbally, they walk at a snail's pace and look like the wrath of the world is upon them.
The rams were great heading up the ramp....after we got them into the penning area. Good dog Kip was our saving grace there! It was very much a team effort though with Jen and Travis as well. I don't work my rams very much so they only knew eat in one area and in the fall go visit the ewes!
The saddest part was finding Clarice the LGD around the corner of the barn after the truck pulled out crying for her sheep..yep broke my heart. She bounced back after she realized the dog sheep and lambs were still there to look after.
They arrived safe and sound near Melfort and hit the grass running....Bye girls! It is pretty quiet here but the new owners said I can have visitation rights.

Here comes the Bus...

You want us to what?

I thought we going business class

Oh boy, window seats!

Travis and his sidekick ready to go.