Most things are easier than bathing Lacey, an 85# dog that doesn’t wish to be bathed. And of course there are no photos of all this, because how does one hold a camera while the dog is forced into a large tub, climbs out, slips out of her collar and goes and hides. However, I cornered her and the second time, she and I were together in the master bath – this time with the door closed so she couldn’t get away. And she is spending the night in the house to get nice and dry before she returns to her digging habits.
We are very much enjoying the fresh vegetables from the garden. I made several Zucchini lasagna casseroles since we are busy enough that it is convenient to have something to quickly take from the freezer and have a good meal. Today I picked 2 small zukes for sauteing. There are many green peppers on the plants that I’m hoping will turn red and orange as they are sweeter, but I needed one today, so I did pick one.
In addition to the vegetables we are enjoying packing away blueberries for this winter. I picked another 15 pounds this morning. I’m very happy to not have to pick them everyday. A new friend from Canada has commercial blueberry fields, and was telling me about the machines they use to pick the berries. I will continue to hand pick these – yes more labor intensive, but I don’t have acres and acres of berries, so it’s okay.
Bracken is an 8-year-old border collie who was in the top 50 in sheep dog trials in the US. She is being retired here because she needs a job and I need a dog that knows how to bring in the sheep when needed. I got so much more than I expected. She is incredibly loving and sweet. She stepped into the stall tonight at feeding time, and I saw her do nothing, but the sheep filed out, I filled feeders and then let them back in. That was so much more pleasant than trying to put hay in feeders over the top of the sheep.
Butler is our new polled ram who will service the daughter of the rams we have been using. He is not only beautiful, he has very soft wool and is halter trained. He will make a great addition to the Shetland flock.
Look at gorgeous red peppers. What a difference a hoop house and a very hot summer make!
Challenges seem to be dominating my life lately and usually that’s good. But right after I posted yesterday, I got a text from DH to come help him by the potato patch. He had gone out to fertilize it because we were expecting rain today. Apparently he felt weak and reached for the fence, but wasn’t strong enough to stay upright and went down. He texted me to say he needed help outside by the gate. When I got there, I found him in turtle position. With Parkinson’s, it is easy to go over backwards. He had been trying unsuccessfully to get up I helped him to his knees, then called a neighbor to help me get him into the wheel chair. The we got him into the car and off to urgent care we went. Fortunately, he only hurt this arm and the doctor glued skin back together.
Most of the sheep have fresh coats on now and will move Sunday to a new field of weeds.
Today was the vet made his visit. The sheep have been given their sleepy injection and the vet (white shirt) is waiting for it to take effect. My neighbors came over to help separate the sheep. These sheep are not supposed to have horns, however, they are descendants of Merino sheep who have very large horns. Therefore, it is not unusual to have small horns called scurs. The problem here was they were fighting and had broken one. The other sheep had them growing in such a way that they would eventually have grown into his face. Not a good thing. 
Since I sprained my foot, I am trying to stay off of it as much as possible ( getting even less done now). So I spent the rest of the day working on my Website class. One of these days you will see the end results featuring these sheep