While in Kentucky at the Bluegrass Classic, I ran my camera a bit. Hindsight, not as much as I wish I would have...runs I missed filming include Tommy Wilson and Sly, I sure wish I had his runs captured. I did get some great runs: Scott Glen's winning run with Don the first round is one I have watched a few times over. I also ran my camera for friends and, in doing so, caught the shed that was given the honor of the 2012 Bluegrass Classic Best Shed.
With all the trialing I have been doing, I've been thinking about shedding...yet again. Last year I did a 30 day shed intervention, I attended a shedding clinic, and I am finding a little more confidence with my shed. The basic shed comes a little easier than the more challenging shed of "single: last one on the head out of three lambs"! So now, in an effort to take myself and my girls to the next level of our shed relationship, I'm back to studying all things sheddy.
Last night, I found myself chatting with a friend who was giving some input on a project I have in the works. The conversation easily leaned to talking about sheep and understanding them; the whole underlying reason for the border collie if one were a real shepherd. I was reminded that all work that relies on my reading sheep without my dog is not wasted and is the foundation of the master shedders. Sage words.
I've dissected my "worst shed fears" at a recent clinic. Now I find I am disciplining myself each time I go out to work dogs, to shed down to the group I want for the day. And in that dance of letting go, calling in to stop the flow...I am finding a little more trust hidden in the tall grass of my fields.
Seize the Day!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Dear Brave Girl,
A message from your friends at the Brave Girls Club - www.bravegirlsclub.com So here's to the bumps in the road.....and for the brave girls that ride along shotgun! Seize the Day! |
Saturday, June 23, 2012
I Made it to the Other Side
Two days of a higher education and I am exhausted! Tonight I go back for one last shin-dig. The things (how is "things" for an educated word!?) I learned...priceless. Yesterday, I spent some time with an editor. His years in the business, the changes he has seen....where once a publishing house resided on an entire street in New York City, it now exists in an office that does not consume one floor of a building in New York City. Amazon appears to have taken over this world!
He spoke on "fear". Interesting how that is a topic in so many other areas I am studying right now. The fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of completion, fear of rejection,...what keeps us from being all we can be? He recently spoke to an athlete who had participated in the Olympics winning a gold medal in a sprinting event. The athlete spoke of the momentary joy followed by deep soul invading questions that started the minute people could speak to him. What is next? How will you get there? Can you sustain your success? He had to dig deep and do the hard weeding of finding himself amidst his temporary success...find his identity that 'was' the pursuit of the gold and, as with everything in our lives, changed that one fraction of a second where he crossed the finish line: the fastest man in the world, for then.
I sat on campus and pondered my fears...how do they define who I am? Do they? Do I have the strength and courage to dig deep into myself and face, with authenticity and transparency, at the least to my self, the dark fears that keep me in a life of faux predictability?
The editor ended his time by sharing a simple and profound foundational truth to his life well lived. He said, "Life is too short to work with miserable people.....for that matter......it is also too long to work with miserable people." I wonder, do people become miserable when they let their fears swallow them and become their reality?
I'm off to the Black Sheep gathering today...sounds like a sordid affair where all the black sheep of any family meet to show off their motorcycles and tats.....but no, it is an "all things sheep" event. The drive will give me time to over think about my past two days...and dig a bit deeper on what is to come next.
Seize the Day!
He spoke on "fear". Interesting how that is a topic in so many other areas I am studying right now. The fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of completion, fear of rejection,...what keeps us from being all we can be? He recently spoke to an athlete who had participated in the Olympics winning a gold medal in a sprinting event. The athlete spoke of the momentary joy followed by deep soul invading questions that started the minute people could speak to him. What is next? How will you get there? Can you sustain your success? He had to dig deep and do the hard weeding of finding himself amidst his temporary success...find his identity that 'was' the pursuit of the gold and, as with everything in our lives, changed that one fraction of a second where he crossed the finish line: the fastest man in the world, for then.
I sat on campus and pondered my fears...how do they define who I am? Do they? Do I have the strength and courage to dig deep into myself and face, with authenticity and transparency, at the least to my self, the dark fears that keep me in a life of faux predictability?
The editor ended his time by sharing a simple and profound foundational truth to his life well lived. He said, "Life is too short to work with miserable people.....for that matter......it is also too long to work with miserable people." I wonder, do people become miserable when they let their fears swallow them and become their reality?
I'm off to the Black Sheep gathering today...sounds like a sordid affair where all the black sheep of any family meet to show off their motorcycles and tats.....but no, it is an "all things sheep" event. The drive will give me time to over think about my past two days...and dig a bit deeper on what is to come next.
Seize the Day!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
"I Could Tell You Stories"
My day at the writer's conference was filled with Creative Non Fiction (CNF). I'd not thought about Non Fiction being that...creative. Although it is what I lean towards in my readings....sometimes leaning more towards Creative Fiction based on Non Fiction...History....Life. I was introduced to Patricia Hampl.....not personally meeting her but instead the meeting based on respect by two of the Writers Conference speakers.
"I was just riding shotgun in my own life. I could not have imagined containing, as the farm woman slumped next to me did, the sheer narrative bulk to say, "I could tell you stories," and then drifting off with the secret heaviness of experience into the silence where stories live their real lives, crumbling into the loss we call remembrance." ~ Patricia Hampl
Those words....they are heavy with so much responsibility......"crumbling into the loss we call remembrance"....a result I fear and press insatiably forward to prevent that end. Life stories to be told....creatively.
"For we do not, after all simply have experience; we are entrusted with it. We must do something-make something-with it. A story, we sense, is the only possible habitation for the burden of our witnessing. (...) Memoirists wish to tell their mind, not their story." ~ Patricia Hampl
Seize the Day!
"I was just riding shotgun in my own life. I could not have imagined containing, as the farm woman slumped next to me did, the sheer narrative bulk to say, "I could tell you stories," and then drifting off with the secret heaviness of experience into the silence where stories live their real lives, crumbling into the loss we call remembrance." ~ Patricia Hampl
Those words....they are heavy with so much responsibility......"crumbling into the loss we call remembrance"....a result I fear and press insatiably forward to prevent that end. Life stories to be told....creatively.
"For we do not, after all simply have experience; we are entrusted with it. We must do something-make something-with it. A story, we sense, is the only possible habitation for the burden of our witnessing. (...) Memoirists wish to tell their mind, not their story." ~ Patricia Hampl
Seize the Day!
Open Minded
Today, my feet will skip over the paths and waltz through the halls of higher education yet again....some 25 + years post Linfield graduation. HA! More likely, I will climb, panting and red faced, up the steep hills of Corban College to spend a few days lifting heavy weights with my brain! I've been attempting to stretch it out all week in effort to get ready plus I have been taking my Ginkgo, when I remember!
The dogs sigh knowing that they are left home, sheep-less and possibly even crate bound. All this while I attend a writer's conference with my sister-in-law....the writer of amazing Russian literature; Gina Ochsner. Me, well, I am bringing a legal pad, a couple of pencils and my handy dandy voice recorder, hoping my instructors are more in the mood for sharing about themselves and not wanting to see my "work". I am suspecting that I will be surrounded by the highest level of over-thinkers.
I love stepping out and learning the new.....makes life even more sweeter. So higher education, ready or not.....here I come! I wonder if they really meant it when they said, "no dogs allowed?"
Seize the Day!
The dogs sigh knowing that they are left home, sheep-less and possibly even crate bound. All this while I attend a writer's conference with my sister-in-law....the writer of amazing Russian literature; Gina Ochsner. Me, well, I am bringing a legal pad, a couple of pencils and my handy dandy voice recorder, hoping my instructors are more in the mood for sharing about themselves and not wanting to see my "work". I am suspecting that I will be surrounded by the highest level of over-thinkers.
I love stepping out and learning the new.....makes life even more sweeter. So higher education, ready or not.....here I come! I wonder if they really meant it when they said, "no dogs allowed?"
Seize the Day!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Truckin
A
friend got me thinking about the Grateful Dead and now I have Truckin stuck in
my brain, worming around unstoppable unless I can find a more sticky song to
replace it. Truckin...its not such a bad song to be stuck on today:
Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been.
I spent the weekend in Heaven, so to speak. I was at a Kathy Knox clinic...nice and small and allowing me to have two working spots to look at my dogs. Originally my intent was to spend four of the slots on Bella....sorting her top end with Kathy. Fun how the best laid plans change directions under the tutelage of a whisper like Kathy. It was awesome sorting Miss Bella out...putting her in different situations to see her intent and finding so many supple changes in her. Sometimes after clinics, I get a certain training idea stuck in my head and forget to analyze it for all it can bring to a dog. Like for example working a single. I know that brings out eye in a dog.....so I have not done it with Nell. However, it is something she needs to do for other reasons so, every now and again, we will be working a single. I also re-learned that some exercises bring huge confidence to my dogs...... even though they have it mastered, I need to keep with it for just that: Confidence.
There was a real rancher at this clinic...he bought a trained dog for all the tasks he needs done on his ranch. I could sit and listen to "those" stories all day long....the stories filled with grit, sweat, hard work, a bit of pride in jobs well done but lacking egotistical self righteousness. He shared some training ideas that came with his dog, and here is what I took away. I'll never forget my very first Knox clinic...it was a double with both Knox's as clinicians. I have such fond memories of this clinic...filled with so much frustration and tears eased by new friends and laughs. My newly found friend Marilyn had just bought a new dog and was out working her with Jack and I took meticulous notes. Then it was my turn...I went out and did EXACTLY what Marilyn had done with her dog. Jack stopped me, and kindly asked..."what the heck are you doing?"..as only a Scotsman can ask kindly. I told him I was doing what he had told Marilyn to do. His reply has stuck with me over the years of clinics...."that is what Marilyn needed to do with her dog on this day...problem is, you don't have Marilyn's dog!" From that day, I have learned...each dog, each day...needs to be watched/assessed/analyzed to see what needs to be corrected and what is allowed for being correct...and every day its going to change.
A fellow blogger recently asked: "What are your plans for making it to the next level with your handling, competition and the journey with your dogs?"
My answer is this: I am going to look at myself and each of my dogs and work on seeing them correctly...the good, the bad...what needs work and understanding as well as what we rock at. I am going to work at giving up my ego and pride...be willing to leave the post a little more to help my dogs....to work on keeping my temper in check as my dogs really do want to work with me. I am going to put relationship and understanding above "scores" knowing that scores only reflect one man's opinion. Instead of looking at where I placed, I'm going to focus on what I saw and learned about me and my dogs. I'm going to try to give up other's opinions and input (unless of course I have asked for it)...what they think about me and my dogs is none of my business. And while I am at it, I am going to not worry about anybody else's dog or journey but will continue to seek out those to share the journey with. Each of us in on a journey that is for sure and I know there are special people to share the journey with. I am going to embrace my journey as the one I am exactly supposed to be on..and I am going to try very hard to enjoy my dogs and be open to all they are teaching me. I want to lift my eyes....look around and enjoy the view while I climb......
Truckin, Im a goin home. whoa whoa baby, back where I belong,
Back home, sit down and patch my bones, and get back truckin on.
Hey now get back truckin home.
Seize the Day!!!!
Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been.
I spent the weekend in Heaven, so to speak. I was at a Kathy Knox clinic...nice and small and allowing me to have two working spots to look at my dogs. Originally my intent was to spend four of the slots on Bella....sorting her top end with Kathy. Fun how the best laid plans change directions under the tutelage of a whisper like Kathy. It was awesome sorting Miss Bella out...putting her in different situations to see her intent and finding so many supple changes in her. Sometimes after clinics, I get a certain training idea stuck in my head and forget to analyze it for all it can bring to a dog. Like for example working a single. I know that brings out eye in a dog.....so I have not done it with Nell. However, it is something she needs to do for other reasons so, every now and again, we will be working a single. I also re-learned that some exercises bring huge confidence to my dogs...... even though they have it mastered, I need to keep with it for just that: Confidence.
There was a real rancher at this clinic...he bought a trained dog for all the tasks he needs done on his ranch. I could sit and listen to "those" stories all day long....the stories filled with grit, sweat, hard work, a bit of pride in jobs well done but lacking egotistical self righteousness. He shared some training ideas that came with his dog, and here is what I took away. I'll never forget my very first Knox clinic...it was a double with both Knox's as clinicians. I have such fond memories of this clinic...filled with so much frustration and tears eased by new friends and laughs. My newly found friend Marilyn had just bought a new dog and was out working her with Jack and I took meticulous notes. Then it was my turn...I went out and did EXACTLY what Marilyn had done with her dog. Jack stopped me, and kindly asked..."what the heck are you doing?"..as only a Scotsman can ask kindly. I told him I was doing what he had told Marilyn to do. His reply has stuck with me over the years of clinics...."that is what Marilyn needed to do with her dog on this day...problem is, you don't have Marilyn's dog!" From that day, I have learned...each dog, each day...needs to be watched/assessed/analyzed to see what needs to be corrected and what is allowed for being correct...and every day its going to change.
A fellow blogger recently asked: "What are your plans for making it to the next level with your handling, competition and the journey with your dogs?"
My answer is this: I am going to look at myself and each of my dogs and work on seeing them correctly...the good, the bad...what needs work and understanding as well as what we rock at. I am going to work at giving up my ego and pride...be willing to leave the post a little more to help my dogs....to work on keeping my temper in check as my dogs really do want to work with me. I am going to put relationship and understanding above "scores" knowing that scores only reflect one man's opinion. Instead of looking at where I placed, I'm going to focus on what I saw and learned about me and my dogs. I'm going to try to give up other's opinions and input (unless of course I have asked for it)...what they think about me and my dogs is none of my business. And while I am at it, I am going to not worry about anybody else's dog or journey but will continue to seek out those to share the journey with. Each of us in on a journey that is for sure and I know there are special people to share the journey with. I am going to embrace my journey as the one I am exactly supposed to be on..and I am going to try very hard to enjoy my dogs and be open to all they are teaching me. I want to lift my eyes....look around and enjoy the view while I climb......
Truckin, Im a goin home. whoa whoa baby, back where I belong,
Back home, sit down and patch my bones, and get back truckin on.
Hey now get back truckin home.
Seize the Day!!!!
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