New Start

Sis is almost 15 months and I find myself doing things with her that I would never have done with a youngster in my past life. Maybe because I did not have any dog except Gyp at this age.....Nell, Bella and Dot came to me older.  Maybe because I have the opportunities to do interesting real work now or maybe, and mostly likely, because I have changed over the years.

At the end of the day, it is fun watching Sis sort things out.  I'm trying to listen with my eyes and hear what she is telling me.  My goals for myself are to work on allowing Sis to grow up, to learn things for herself, to be of help when she needs it, and to trust the whole process.  I believe those are Sis's goals for me too.

Seize the Day!

Lambing

Oh yes, my friend tells me "never and always are words reserved for God" and I believe Murphy sets out to prove us wrong with his Law.  I'm so glad I've not stood on my soap box and said, "I am NEVER lambing again"......like I did  few years back.  I've told my friends, "I'm not lambing this year" and now here I am.....lambing.

I actually love lambing; using my nursing skills with lawyer-less patients that might not appreciate my help but really don't have a choice.  I love bottle feeding babies although I never really had to use that skills as my bummers were rehomed to a good friend's farm every year.  I can pull lambs and sort out tangled legs; I can tube lambs and insert paddles for prolapsing ewes.  I owe a lot of my lambing skills to a fellow in eastern Oregon, who allowed me to come help him lamb years ago.  I've attended three lambing schools at OSU which were held at ranches around the valley.  I enjoyed seeing the different set-ups and learning to band lambs.  Most of my experience has come from the school of hard knocks....the years I lambed at my place.  I think my biggest issues came from over feeding and the big singles that resulted.  But for the most part, I did not have to deal with ketosis or prolapse and my lambing seasons were successful.

I find myself lambing again year, and I'm loving it!

It's the best of both worlds for me....I get to lamb and it does not come with all the worry.  I'm lambing for a friend.....I think there are 1500 ewes that will go through the barn at the end of the season; the first timers come in at the beginning of April.  It's good fun for me.....and secretly I enjoy the bottle babies. I'm the Girl Friday....on call for the times a helping hand is needed.  With a big operation I am learning to let go a little....all those things I cannot control do not allow for obsessing as the lambs keep coming.

Here's to the lambing of 2015!  The perfect scratch to my itch.

Seize the day!

Friendship.....a Small Detour

This came across my Facebook feed today.....very worthy of some brain action.  I know I have already posted a billion times about my experience running my dog at the 2014 finals.....the inside job that has followed requiring some very extensive renovation; walls torn down, ceilings lifted, windows added.  I've taken a break from "trialing" and clinics... I'm not certain how long that break will be at this time.  I do know I need to take some time, how ever long, for the renovations I've mentioned.....finding my way to joy both inside and out.

I've been thinking a lot about "friendship" and how much I truly value and treasure those that are deep and meaningful. Friendships that might have started about the dogs and yet have evolved into being more about "relationship": accountability, authenticity, vulnerability.  I've been working dogs, to some degree, for 10 years now.....and over those years I've met many great people, some of which have become "friends".  I'm amazed, pretty much every day, how those "friends" are still beside me even while I'm taking a break from trialing and traveling.  Those friends have found a way to be interested in my life, my family, my running, supporting my fundraising efforts for St. Jude as I approached my first half marathon.

I understand that sometimes, people come into my life for a reason or a season.  I'm really thankful for those friendships as well.  But it is those that stick with me, faults and all, that I'm celebrating today.  Thank you for sharing in the hardships (both yours and mine), the successes (on and off the trial field).  Thank you for holding me accountable, asking the hard questions, giving advice and allowing me the same. Thank you for knowing my good qualities tied with my less desirable qualities and loving me.

Today, on Marie Forleo, she asked each viewer to imagine what it would be like to be at the end of your life....what will you remember most, what will have been truly important...and then soldier on to create that.  For me, I know there will be dog working days that make my heart swell and trial runs that amazed me in partnership and trust.  There will be challenges that I sorted, both with the dogs and in myself, that in the sorting I became more of me.  There will be trails I've run, inner demons I faced and conquered, times of digging deep with relentless passion, and other sweet moment of the ease in which my heart's desires just came to me.  And smack dab in the middle of those memories....I will see my friends.....I am grateful.

Seize the Day!!!!

PS as the 2015 trial season begins......thank you for allowing me to live vicariously through you!  You know who you are :)