Summer is beginning to wind down; we dug half the potatoes yesterday - they are beauties! We moved them up out of the swampy garden area of last year which turns out was the right thing to do. Looks like the reds were the most prolific; I'll be curious about the Yukon Golds since it seems to me we've had quite a bit of rot with them in the past.

We hosted a cattle herding trial here this past weekend using our steers, then co-hosted a sheepdog trial at my friend Phyllis's at her place. It was a lot of fun; the dogs did well and the people are generally a good bunch. Thank goodness the weather cooperated!

The pigs Alice and Arlo, are doing well and are planning a trip to Mike's sometime the first full week in September. We'll miss them as they've become great pets. This picture was from the weekend, Alice is watching the dogs from under the big pines in her yard. I have a great pile of old hay and straw in this corner that they spend quite a bit of time digging and playing in - their yard is big and keeps very clean and dry with the exception of the mud bog they insist on creating near their water!

I'll need to get a little picture of the quail - we're collecting a few eggs every day (I only have 6 of them) and the plan is to make pickled eggs. Too much fun!!

Here are some pictures of Trouble dog-breaking some steers for a stockdog trial we're hosting in another week. Look at the tails on the steers and you'll see they're just flicking flies, not concerned about the dog. She moves them in both directions (flanking them) and turns them back without biting, maneuvers them where she wants them to go in an orderly and calm manner....keeping that expensive weight on them - !