This is 9 month old Noche' from Solo and Ruby working with my friend Phyllis. Noche's in season right now so this lesson was a bit distracted but I figured as long as I had my camera with me it wouldn't hurt to document her progress! Noche' lives in the city with our friend Susan who takes her to agility and obedience classes. On another topic, we are glad to report that Solo had his eyes checked today and is eligible for CERF certification.

I believe we now are up to 19 lambs - fun this year because we used a black-headed Dorper ram to sire them which means we have not only white lambs but also black ones and spotted ones. I will post pictures later on. It has been cold here, forecast temps in the single digits at night for the forseeable future and only in the 20's or low 30's in the daytimes. We got around 5" of snow last night and this morning; it's heavy and wet and I have to admit that I am not enjoying it so much. Trouble is looking pregnant now and the phone, emails and mailbox are showing us that our dogs are still in demand despite the economy. We're anxious to see what she will give us since we have some wonderful homes awaiting.

I ordered chicks yesterday; they will arrive at the end of next week - all Cornish x - so they won't be a lot of fun but it will mean new life in the midst of all this snow!

Yesterday I went out to check on the lambs a little late - around 8 a.m. since my back was hurting and I was waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in - and sure enough, #29 had decided to drop her single lamb into the one puddle of icy water in the entire yard rather than go in the nice dry, straw-bedded barn. The lamb was, for all outward signs, dead - I could hardly pry his mouth open and thought dark thoughts about the ewe but decided to take him inside and see what I could do. I filled the kitchen sink (okay, Seth, skip this part...) with very very warm water and immersed him in up to his head and began to massage him until, after about 20 minutes he was moving around enough that I decided it wasn't reflexes, it was actual life. I kept working on him for a while longer and then dried him off with towels and took him into the bathroom where I cranked the heat up as far as it would go and shut the door. Within another hour or so he was warmed up enough that he was up on his feet and crying for his mama. I couldn't decide whether to keep him inside longer or not but finally figured I'd better take him out to his mother before she completely forgot she'd given birth. I put him in a lambing pen (called, in lamb-speak, a 'jug') and she nickered to him, began licking him and (thankfully) did remember that he was her lamb. I was delighted to see this little family together, the young babe nursing this morning. As I told my mom, it was like suddenly life had been breathed back into his cold body, reaching back and bringing him to life. She said that it must have felt really good - to be honest, it was mostly exhausting.

Great news this morning that hip results came back for Briarlea Cayuse and they are OFA excellent! Other good news is that Birdie will soon be heading 'home' to Seth's house in Royalton until she's due to whelp.

Here is a pix of Birdie we had taken down in NM.

It's Saturday and we're home! We had a great (read: uneventful!) drive home, staying last night in northern-most Missouri and arriving home to snowy Wisconsin around 2 pm. We were delighted to see a few vigorous new lambs and plenty of hay left until spring. Ah, the small pleasures, right?


I was able to download a few more photos - one of Jim's favorite place to stop in Liberty, Kansas being "Super Pollo!!" We had stopped by on the way south and had some great (super!) pollo...







I also had taken some pix of the dogs.... This is Birdie and Trouble on my sister Suzanne's porch in La Luz canyon. My friends Cory and Lee will appreciate 'the look' Trouble is giving me...and Seth and Anthony will know that this is Birdie being herself!

We are now in Dalhart, Texas for the night (where it was still 85F at 6 pm) after a (very long) drive through New Mexico to Clovis and Portales - we wanted to look at the incredible collection of windmills we'd seen in the NM visitor guides - and did!

We also made Jim very happy by coming across a retail arm of one of the huge peanut farms where he was able to buy sacks and sacks of peanuts (you're warned, gift-receivers!) as well as a few jars of chipotle/ginger peanutbutter...I am wondering how that will be in peanut butter cookies??? The fields around Portales/Clovis are green with wheat and irrigated from the looks of it - the farmers are out tilling and there were lots of halfgrown beef calves (Angus) that were already weaned.

It looked like there had been grass fires here in northern Texas and man - o -man are the feedlots full!!! I took some pictures which I'll try to remember to post - it's hard to get the scale of those feedlots on film; they're enormous - acres and acres of feedlot cows.

Tomorrow should find us north of Kansas City somewhere and it looks like smooth sailing all the way north. Thanks to everyone who has kept in touch while we've been in our home away from home this winter -

Down the mountain from us, some creative welding!

It's time to get ready to head north - we plan to leave the Land of Enchantment this coming Thursday and should land home in Wisconsin by Saturday. It's seriously warm here now, the trees are leafing out, the daffodils are blooming and I know it's time for me to go home for lambing. I'll miss this rugged country.

Birdie is the news of the day - she and Solo have had 3 successful alliances now which means we'll mark our calendar for a May 10 whelping date! Here's a link to her webpage!

A little roadtrip to Bosque del Apache yesterday finds us in Socorro this morning. We aren't exactly rabid birders but the Bosque is unique in that even midday we saw lots of snow geese and other waterfowl...then on to Fort Craig, the site of the Battle of Valverde. Now long abandoned, it sits alongside the Rio Grande and one can well imagine what it must have been like 150 years ago. We finished the day by gallery hopping in the historic district of Hot Springs, nearby Truth or Consequences. Today we're going to zoom into Albuquerque this morning to the square and take in whatever we can find there along with the art and history museum. Jim's still not had his onion and cheese enchiladas so I suspect either those or green chili burgers are on the lunch menu!

We're excited to announce that Maggie Bennett wrote us to tell us that we have a new super title in the family! Breeze, one of the Ali x Una kids is now MACH Briarlea Life is a Breeze RN. Way to go!!! Briarlea Bouvier Kennel is proud to tell you that our little tiny breeding program has produced dogs who have excelled in French Ringsport, Schutzhund, Agility, Herding, Obedience, Tracking and of course, most importantly, as greatly loved family companions. Congratulations to Maggie and Breeze!!

A quick picture of Solo with his new (short) haircut! He's so clean lined without all that hair! We went to Ruidoso yesterday to look for copper cowboy hats, leaving the dogs in the cool mountain house in High Rolls. Seth is here with me until tomorrow, soaking up the sunshine! The trees now have a mist of green about them, their leaves just coming out for the all-too-brief spring. We see that the elk have returned to my sister's place, leaving their unmistakeable calling cards :( Tomorrow I"m off to El Paso to pick up Jim!

My friend Phyllis called this morning to report another set of lambs born; our ram lambs got in with the ewes last summer when we had flooding. Hopefully the rest of the ewes won't decide to lamb in the next couple weeks! It's in the high 70F here today; dry and hot - I can hardly imagine what it must be like in July! But for now, it's fabulous! Phyllis also chatted with me about a herding trial we are co-hosting during the annual rodeo in Glenwood City; it'll be the weekend of Father's Day, likely a one-day event, using my sheep ~ should be fun!

Seth will be blowing in this afternoon for a few days of sun and shine before heading back up north; he was delivering one of his barrel saunas to a fellow in Los Alamos, NM who works at the Sandia Labs so a great excuse to come visit his old mama.

Una is back home from her spay surgery of yesterday; she seems sore and tired but overall I"m glad we made the choice. She's a wonderful friend and I hope we have many good years together.

Birdie has finally come in season ~ this will be her one and only litter as she is really my son Seth's (and his family's) companion but we do want to save these valuable bloodlines for our breeding program since she's out of our WTCH Briarlea Lark of High Rolls TD CD PT and one of the titled dogs we imported from France - We'll update when we have an alliance with Solo.

It seems the cold weather a few weeks ago has slowed down the green-up here in NM; our flowering jasmine looks dead although our neighbor swears it will come to life...how, I ask, when we have had no moisture all year?

First, a note that my son Seth was quoted with pictures of his Saunas in an msn article! I am unable to put the link here (too bad!) - also, he's coming down here next week for a visit! Yippee!! I'll be so excited to see him ;)

The winds are truly remarkable here in NM - and maybe some rain tomorrow so we're getting ready with books and videos at the library this afternoon. Thank goodness, no snow! I got the contract from community ed for the upcoming family dog obedience classes I will be teaching when I go back up north - it should be fun!

It looks like the wind is arriving in New Mexico a month early this year - predictions of winds up to 80mph are forecast for the weekend. Yikes!! I've been busy raking, pruning, cleaning up the yard and taking trips to my sister Suzanne's place in La Luz to do the same. The dogs especially enjoy her place which is big and fenced in so they get to raz around like crazies until they poop out and flop down in the shade. The grass is just starting to green up and the local Lowe's and Home Depot now have the flats of tomatoes and marigolds out...oh, the temptations....! Trouble's doing well, fat and sassy - Una goes in to be spayed on Tuesday and we're still waiting on Birdie to come in season. Solo had his coat cut down yesterday; the leaves and bits of flotsam and jetsam became just too much. He is figuring out the article indication for AKC utility, has his positions down (for french ring) and we're working on the rest of his exercises for both as time permits. He's a lot of fun to partner with!

Not too much else to report for now, just enjoying the weather and looking forward to having Jim come down next Sunday!

After a quick trip to Las Vegas, New Mexico, we're back home taking advantage of the warm days (70F) here in southern NM. Las Vegas is about an hour east of Santa Fe and is gorgeous mountainy (and very western) country. The dogs enjoyed the cool climate and I began a new collection of copper cowboy hats! We're hearing from our friends up north that the snow has been piling up ~ Jim's gone off to Milwaukee to stay with his folks while his mom undergoes surgery - and will be heading down here the first weekend in March, dragging me kicking and screaming back to the frozen tundra in the middle of the month.

Solo has begun article training in AKC Utility - he loves it - and now that Trouble has been bred, we can all take a break from that particular excitement :)

It's almost 75F here this morning and not even noon yet! I took Una down to the 'dogwash' and gave her a bath; we're off to pick up some blooming hyacinths and crocus to put in the big pots by the front door. We're also going to take a look at fig trees; our neighbor has one that produces for him so it might be worth a try!
The big news is that Trouble and Solo have had 2 successful alliances the past two days ~ puppies would be due around April 19 and ready for new homes Father's Day weekend if all goes as planned. If you have sent a deposit for a pup, you are on the official list now!
Tomorrow I head north for a little adventure (with the dogs!) to visit my son Miles near Santa Fe...he starts a new job near Colorado Springs on February 28 so this is our window of opportunity for a visit. The birds are very active here in the mornings, it sounds like Springtime in Wisconsin!

Happy Valentine's Day! Reports from Wisconsin that the first set of lambs has been born! The old earless ewe had twins on Saturday over at Phyllis' place where she had been volunteered for stockwork. Phyllis has put her and the other two aged ewes in the barn now. Good old ewe to wait until the weather had warmed up to lamb!

Here, we heard from Nancy Culley that Riker had qualified in Excellent Standard and Jumpers and that Bennie had finished his FAST title - Noche, Ziva and Stryker are all out there training and/or trialing in Minnesota and Kaida and now Cayuse continue to work in French Ring out in Seattle. We are saddened to report that Bruta passed away last weekend; I"ll fill everyone in on the details in another post.

In the meanwhile, the temps are in the 60-70F range here, talk of the dry winter and sell-off of livestock on the radio this morning. Trouble is due to be bred this week; I"ll be back in town in a few days to report on her progress!

It's Tuesday and back to 'normal' here in New Mexico with temps in the mid-60's today however we also seem to be having a 'wind event' with white sands blowing across the desert. It's nothing if not interesting! The good news is that I am feeling much better, the water is unfrozen, the house continues to be snug if a bit doggy now that Trouble has come in season. We had an appointment to spay Una last Tuesday but it was not to be .... she will have it done before we head north however. Yesterday we drove up the mountain to Cloudcroft to see what the fire damage looked like - a number of the small businesses went up in fire and smoke right before Xmas but all had been cleared up and the town certainly seemed to have plenty of cars lining the street. We stopped in at a new art gallery and picked up Valentine cards for my mom and my mom-in-law.

We are delighted to be feeding the winter birds; rufous sided towhees, stellar jays, and myriad other 'little' birds, mostly grey and brown, that need identifying yet. Bird feed, like all feed down here, seems remarkably expensive.

Jim reports that winter is still in full swing up in Wisconsin although folks at the little Cafe seem to be mollified temporarily by the Packer win!

New Mexico in the winter ~ this year it's been an adventure! All of January I felt blessed to be where the sun shone every day without fail, the temperature hovered between 60 and 70F and we took long walks in the canyons around High Rolls. February 1 arrived with the snow of the century - our water froze, the windows were caked with an inch of ice, I came down with the flu and Una came in season. Unable to travel down the mountain due to black ice, we holed up for the week, watched movies (War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice (along with commentary) 5 episodes of "24" and watched dog training videos until we could truly take no more! Today I am feeling human again, we ventured out and are amazed to see snow in Alameda Park in Alamogordo, snow on all the mountains east and west of us! There is no water to be found in the local grocery stores and everyone is bundled up although the temps are predicted to be in the upper 40's today! Let's hope we've seen the end of 'winter' here!