The long and winding post

The day started early.  Justin, my son, is living with me for a bit, and he needed to be at work at 7:00 a.m., so his alarm went off some time around 5:30, and I was out of bed by 6:15.  As soon as the sun came up, I went outside and started figuring out the best way to make the round pen ... round.   The green border is my property.  The red border is the corner I put the round pen in.  (The "building" near the round pen no longer exists.  That was the mobile home that was removed, hence the concrete pad you see in a lot of these photos.)

So ... as you can see, I had a tricky setup, but it's the perfect spot for it because it's out of the way.  We made it work.  Phyllis and Glenda came over, and we made quick work of it all.   It's hard to tell in these photos, but when you're standing in the middle of the pen, it's pretty round.  There's no real corners for the sheep to get stuck in.  I like the way it came out.  I am going to put a permanent gate in, but that's not for a while yet.  This will work for now.  I will also replace all of the field fence with panels little by little.  Glenda came up with some creative ideas for how to raise money -- including offering advertising right on the fenceline! - to get more panels, but I'll just buy one with every pay check.  It'll come together eventually.

Now what I need to do is turn my attention to the walkway leading to the round pen.  This is where I burned out the stumps, and also where all the glass is located.  This will take a while, like everything else, but little by little ... and it will all get done eventually.

Glenda likes this rock.  She thinks we should stencil a Border Collie and some sheep on it.

Phyllis worked Rook, Rusty and her new pup, Grace.  The sheep were great!  I'm so glad they weren't taking headers into anything.  Here's a few pics of Rook ... who is 4 years old today.  Hard to believe that litter happened that long ago.

Speaking of which, here's Russell -- Rook's brother in Florida.  Photo taken by his owner, Randy.  Thanks Randy!

It feels good to finally start working Reese.  She was quite lovely today.  After the last time I worked her, I wasn't quite sure she was ready, but she showed me something completely different today.  She's getting out and around and keeping her tail down and working quite nicely.  She does some of the woohoo young dog stuff, but for the most part, she's looking good.  I am liking what I'm seeing from her.

Jodi