Merles ... Working!

Sunday was a blast!  Several of us went out to Couch's to work dogs.  Jaenne, Phyllis and I met out there, and Janet with Ricky was already out there enjoying the nice hot fire.

(L to R:  Phyllis Steveley, Don Couch, Craig Steveley,  Janet [she doesn't have a last name], and Jaenne Surrett.)

(Hey Phyl, I just realized I've been spelling your last name wrong!  Sorry!) (Oh, and see that chair?  Yeah, that one ... on the left?  The one with that very functional little table.  You know what chair that is?  That's the chair that's got all the fancy embroidering on the back of it from the Gem State Herding trial!  Yeah, that's the chair I won at the trial this past fall.  The whole kit and kaboodle.  Yup.  I won it.  Fair and square.  Sure did.  Uh-huh.  That's right.  My chair!  It was worth the price of admission ... and then some!)  (I take "bragging rights" to a whole new level, don't I?)

This here ... this is Ricky.  I don't know if I'm spelling that name right, and I don't even remember if it's a boy or a girl ... but isn't this a gorgeous dog?

And then, of course, there's Ms. Mo.  She keeps asking me if her ears make her look fat.

This is Mo on the left, and her brother, Rook, on the right.  Rook is a year older. 

 
Rook:

 Here's Rook gathering up the lambs so we can get things started.

Jaenne and Mo holding sheep for Phyllis and Rook.  There's a very strong draw to the far end of the pasture.  Yes, believe it or not, that is TWO red merles working sheep ... in the same photo!

Here is a shot I was not happy with at first because the focus is not on the dog.  But the more I look at it, the more I like it because the focus is not on the dog.  I have a series of three of these, but I'll spare you.

Please note the custom hand carved crook in Phyllis' hand.  That was made by none other than Don Couch himself.  They are rare and go for quite a grip of cash.

Here are some more shots of Rook working.

Here's Echo protecting the other draw.

Here is Dawn Marie (Don's wife) and HER custom hand-carved Couch crook.  Notice how much larger hers is.  I don't think anyone can really afford one of those unless your last name is Simplot or something.

And what is this?  It's a bird.  It's a plane ... it's ....

CASH THE MAN!

Remember when I said Reese covers a lot of ground?  Yeah, ummmm ... I wonder where she gets that from.

Cash is awesome to watch work.  

Proof he does stop.

(Hey Don, a Couch Crook would work better...)

And the more I look at him, the more I see Reese, cause there sure don't seem to be a sliver of Echo in her body.

I love those eyes.

After we worked dogs, we went back up to the house for some chili and hot chocolate.  Yummy!  Great conversation as always, and I went home with my face sore from laughter.  Thanks Don for a fun day!

On to other news ... the construction (or should I say de-struction) started in my front room.  Tommy tore out the old cabinets, the paneling off two of the walls, broke out the window (literally), and then we headed out to Home Depot.  Spent a small fortune there for all of the materials, came back to the house, and then Tommy put up the drywall on two of the walls.  And we changed the plan a little bit.  Here is what the front room looks like now.  (It's very small and hard to get photos of.)  Wait till you see the paint color I bought!  Hee hee...

Ok ... so here's a shot of the window from the kitchen he took out (on the other side of the wall on the right of the photo above).

Rather than filling in that hole, we're going to finish it, and put little shelves in there, and I can make a spice rack or knick knack shelf or whatever out of it.  Can't wait!  Tommy's got great ideas.  Despite the small size of the house, it will be quite functional when he gets through with it!

Off to bed,
Jodi