Visit with Ashley, Spring Flowers

Earlier this month Teal and I went on our last walk together. We went to a lovely park with many spring flowers blooming. Teal is now in her new home and doing very well.








Typically when people come to visit, I like to spend at least one day in the Berkshires. I also never get tired of the Clark Art Institute Museum. So Ashley and I went driving through the back roads of the Berkshires. We stopped at the museum first and then when the sun came out, we started making our way down to the Southern Berkshires. The explosion of green and rolling hills in a mix of wild meadows and small farms was unbelievable.

One of our stops was this covered bridge in Sheffield, MA

At all times during our drive we were alongside a creek or lake and sometimes I couldnt resist stopping and taking a photo.





We also stopped and did a short hike to Bash Bish falls in the Southwest corner of Mass in the Taconic Mountains. Its the highest waterfall in the state.

Some trillium along the hike on its way out for the season

And for a complete change of scenery yesterday we went to Boston. In all the time Ive lived here , I havent actually been to Boston. For a trip to a city that is known for crazy traffic and confusion, it could not have been a less stressful adventure. We started out at the Boston Public Gardens.



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We then attempting to do an official walking tour, but ended up walking aimlessly until we got to Newbury St. Like every other Boston tourist we stopped at the Cheers bar, which is pretty much just a sign outside.







Amy and I waiting out side of Filene's basement, while Ashley bought an emergency sweatshirt. Emerald green and Ralph Lauren, can't get any better than that.




Indy was a trooper all day, letting strange people touch her and not herding any cars. She only growled at one screaming child and tried to herd a skateboard. We were lucky enough to find a place to eat lunch that allowed dogs on the patio and met Ashley's dietary restrictions. It was really good, authentic Thai food and they even had brown rice!

Herding with Anson aka Epic

I went herding with Epic on Saturday. It was a lovely morning to be outside. My feet were pretty toasty in the rubber boots, but I was wearing a t shirt and shorts so it wasn't too bad. Today we working on fetching the sheep from about 100 yards and a little exercise to get Epic more confident about getting sheep out of a corner.
Getting the sheep out of a corner or off a feeder can be a lot of pressure for a younger dog. Sometimes when the dogs are feeling too much pressure they will shut down and not get the sheep. I kept setting Epic up to have to get the sheep out from the corner of the barn. At first it was difficult for him to get all the sheep, and for me to make sure he finished his flanks without turning back. But by the end he was much more confident about charging in there and bringing the sheep to me.
We also started to stretch out his outrun. He was up to about 100 yds by the end of the day. He stays pretty wide and doesn't tend to scatter the sheep at the top of the run. He is quick to cover the run-away sheep, but can't always manage to get them all back- soon enough. A couple times we sent him on a blind outrun (he could not see the sheep), and he trusted us enough to take the flank without knowing what he was getting into. That was a good sign!
We even managed to sort sheep in a fairly calm manner. I think that involves improvements in skill on both our parts. I am getting to be a pretty good sheep sorter/ wrestler.
Too bad I didn't take any picture of video. I can't wait for Deborah to get back with our good cameras so we can catch the dogs in action.

Pictures!

Story time through pictures!

Our neighbors planted flowers last fall. Despite the squirrels a bunch managed to come up this spring. The mix of colors is great.

The raspberries are really taking off this year. I am going to have to really thin them this fall.
Whatever-that-thing-is is really going to town too.
Our herb section of the garden is overfull!

Yes, the picture is a little crooked. Flowers are really coming up in our mini-bed. The passion flower has not put out any new growth, which is a little concerning. Winter may have been too tough this year.
TamTam!
Mister Clingy!
The Boss!
Also staring Mr. Stinky
Tam and Ari aren't starving,
but Anson is eating the good stuff. Baby goat!
He really has to work for his food, but he seems to know what he is doing.
Anson gets a variety of meats.
Dindin time for Anson, Ari and Tam

Fetching and Tugging

Here is Anson fetching and tugging with his favorite teddy bear. He will also retrieve and tug with a tennis ball, but this time I let him pick his toy. My aim is to increase his drive, or the speed with which he gets the toy and brings it back to me. At this point I am pretty happy that he is even retrieving and tugging since he didn't have too much experience with that before a few weeks ago. Soon I should step him up to flyball bootcamp level. We are going to his first official practice tonight, and it will be interesting to see how he does in that situation. It might be a bit much for him, but he is pretty focused so I am thinking positively.

Tam and Anson

This is my bare bones post of the dogs playing ball. They are really keeping me on my toes these days. I will post some stories and pictures hopefully by tomorrow.