I was ranch sitting this weekend. I packed up my dogs and my horse and headed out to the Couch Spa for a few days. Perfect time! It was lambie race weekend! The bulls were in town, too, and they were quite ... um ... vocal. Got to see a lot of different birds, too ... some I could identify and some I'm not sure of ... and there was even a bit of excitement, just to make sure my heart is still functioning.
Look who's not afraid of the camera anymore. I think this is my favorite shot of her to date.
The weather was gorgeous and the mornings were beautiful. I didn't normally have my camera with me when I went out to feed, but often times, wished I did. There are two blue herons that were hanging out in the irrigation canal most of the time that would fly off as soon as they heard me. There were a couple of large red-tailed hawks that would come visit and soar overhead. There were lots of birds I hadn't seen before ... little birds ... that would hang out in the standing irrigation water. Some of them liked hangin' with the horses...
As you can see, I am now able to take photos pretty much right in her face and she doesn't so much as twitch. Yay! Finally!
Just like me, she needs her chin hairs plucked. ;-)
This shot was a one-time deal. This is Smokey. After I took this shot, he wasn't sure what to make of me. I am not sure he's ever had his photo taken.
And I love this red roan, but he has far too much giddyup for me.
Aren't these guys a couple of charmers?
Caught a shot of one of the blues, well ... sort of ...
I love this view. This is one thing I don't think I'd ever get sick of looking at.
I am not sure, but I think the taller black and white bird is a black-necked stilt. I'll see if I have a better photo of it. I don't know what the other bird is.
The water was rising, and pretty soon, where all the sheep were standing would be flooded, so we needed to move everyone to the dry pasture next to this one.
A few of the mommas would think about giving Echo some grief, but thought better of it when she broke out the almighty powerful tongue action.
I was so enamored with all the little lambies, I missed a momma and baby standing off in the corner, so I sent Echo back to get her. This can get a little squirrely, but she handled it perfectly. Beautiful outrun, and backed the ewe nice and quietly halfway down the pasture until the ewe finally figured out that fighting would be futile and she turned and cooperated. I, of course, being the oh-so-talented idiot, was too busy enjoying watching my dog that I forgot to snap photos until they got to the gate.
She was in no particular hurry to re-join her buddies, so I had Echo push her up a bit.
In a few weeks, when these lambs have had some time to grow up a bit, I'd like to go back and work Reese on some of this large flock stuff.
Throughout the weekend, despite the fact that the gates were open, there would inevitably be one lamb who was stuck on the other side of the fence. Working a single adult is fun, but working a single clueless lamb was pretty entertaining. It's amazing when faced with choices ... either go toward the dog or go toward the open gate ... what they determined was the best course of action. It was never the gate. At one point, one of them just jumped right over Echo. Had that been a ewe, she never would have allowed that. But she just laid their like a good girl, and looked at me as if to shrug her shoulders before going and gathering that little lamb again. So cute ...
A few gratuitous lambie photos. I hung out here for a long time watching their little antics.
Now for the sticky part.
I was walking my dogs up and down the canal, and happened to have my camera with me. I picked up a stick out of the driveway to toss it into the canal so no one messed with it, but the second I picked it up, Zip gave me a really nice pose. So I took a couple of shots of him, and then just tossed it to him (knowing he'll give it right back to me) to reward him for staying, etc. When I tossed it to him, Reese went to catch it also, and Zip snatched it up quicker than he normally would have, just as it was hitting the ground. And it got lodged in his throat. To give you an idea of the angle, picture yourself pointing straight into your mouth. When he lifted his head, the stick was sticking straight out of his mouth. It seemed like a lifetime before I got to him (probably 2 or 3 seconds) to pull it out, and he threw up a bit of water, but no blood. I kept a close eye on him that evening, and you knew it hurt, and he was a bit lethargic that night. I planned on taking him to the vet the next morning, but when I let him out of his crate, he came flying out ready for action. Without further adieu, here's the stick.
Took some random shots around the place...
And played with the camera ... and bugs.
And shadows:
Found some lettering for my trailer. How does this look?
And a few of Punkeroo. His ears have no idea which end is up.
The end!
