I started bright and early, about 6:30 a.m., by giving Zip a bath. Spent about an hour and a half bathing, brushing, and trimming all kinds of crap out of him. He had matts, tangles, tufts of loose hair, grinch toes, the whole nine yards. I took great pleasure in making him do this, especially after all of the leg-breaker holes he's dug this week that I've had to repair and re-repair. And now he's not allowed outside, unless it's to go potty. Belly shaving time for everyone this week. Weeds will start appearing soon.
About 9:00, I went over to awesome-neighbor Dean and borrowed his flatbed trailer so I could go pick up some panels. Hit Walmart and picked up some bungee cords and a few things to munch on, then swung by D&B, got home, unloaded the panels, went and dropped the trailer back off, and came home and unloaded the groceries.
I think somewhere along here, I was able to grab a bite to eat.
Went out and figured out where I wanted the hold pens, measured and re-measured, and cut all of the panels. Collected the T-posts and all of the tools and was about to start pounding T-posts when Phyllis and Rita showed up to work Jade and Pearl.
Used Echo to shed the working sheep off the rest of the crew. The new sheep are starting to blend in with the original set ... right up until some pressure is put on them, and then it's like oil and water. Great for practicing shedding. Echo comes right in, no matter the situation. I love working her.
Jade and Pearl did great. The difference in Jade from yesterday to today has been like night and day. Seems like a light bulb came on and she is really figuring this out. She takes a correction very well, and Phyllis is doing a nice job with her.
Pearl has a lot of eye and likes getting right up the butts and is sort of picking a fight. Using the bitchy ewe is helping her to see where that bubble is and it's fun watching her figure it out. She's starting to really think about what she's doing, and when she applies too much pressure, she's re-adjusting it herself.
A local horse trainer came by to give me a trailer lesson with Kahlua. I was actually able to get her in the trailer! I was very excited. She's a long way from respecting me, and I am sure this will get worse before it gets better (and it will need to), but I am very much looking forward to working with this trainer. I really like her methods and understand what she is doing.
Had an instinct test in the late afternoon, and by the time I was done with that, I was starving. Went out for a bite to eat with Jaenne and then headed back home. Had a bit of time before the sun went down, so I finished putting the pens together. The ground right there is so hard, I actually broke one of the older T-posts trying to pound it in the ground. Yes, broke it. I'm down to real slim pickens on my T-posts. If I decide to do any more projects, I will probably need to buy some more posts. Anyway, here's a few photos of the pens. No big deal ... just two pens ... about 7' x 8' each. Plenty of room for what I need.
Kinda hard to see since the sun was going down, so these photos don't do any of it much justice.
Here's the one pen ...
And the other ...
Yeah, I know. Big deal, right? I've quit using wire to attach the panels to the posts. I've become the queen of the heavy duty zip ties. They've been working out quite well for all of this stuff ... so until I have a major zip tie fail, this will be my drug of choice for now. Twisting wire sucks.
Did I mention that I'm going to have someone come out and remove the concrete base that once held a mobile home? It's taking up so much room in the middle of this little pasture, and I can't wait for it to go. Here's where the contractor and I stuck a shovel under it to see how deep it was, and was very pleased to find out that it's not deep at all, and better yet, there doesn't seem to be any wire or rebar (is that how you spell that?) inside the concrete.
Can't wait till all this is gone.
And here's the view I was enjoying while the sun set.
I know. Big deal. I am just really enjoying the nicer weather and being outside and keeping busy. For all the days I wonder why I live here and what I'm doing with my life ... this is why I live here. Because I love days like these.
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