A little snow flurry this morning after a great warm, dry yesterday. We are at the high rolls general store finishing up breakfast burritos and coffee. Jim is busy booking us lodging in Rome for nov 3 - nov 12....he is in his element!

We are now in High Rolls, N.M., some 7000 feet above sea level - it is clear and dry, the sun is shining and the temperatures are in the high 40F range.  In Alamogordo, where I am spending some time in the library, it is almost 60F.  We took the dogs for a walk in the canyon; Karen on a long flexi and the other dogs more or less loose depending on their interest in the range cattle who seem to be all over the place looking for something...anything, it seems...to eat.  We all pooped out fairly quickly with the altitude.

So much for the convenience of the new iPad - I am unable to use it at the house - too bad!  However, we did find a local hot spot at the High Rolls General Store where we will be spending our early morning coffee time answering emails!

We are in Guymon, Texas this morning, home to half a million head of cattle.  When we come through here on the way home each year we are amazed at the numbers and the clouds of 'dust' that they generate.  We were surprised to see snow in Des Moines on our way out but it was dry through Kansas...and even dryer into Oklahoma yesterday.  There are a LOT of cattle on dry pastures ~ we sure hope for some moisture for them.  We did see a flock of turkeys yesterday, displaying their heart out, the fields that have winter wheat are green and the water is flowing in the rivers and streams so it seems spring can't be far off down here.  The good news however is that no little towns have gone missing from tornados and the dogs are restless but coping well with their extended confinement on the trip.

It is always with renewed anticipation that we head down to the southwest each year - which little towns will have grown? will we get through Kansas City before rush hour begins? will there be big cotton bales in Kansas this year and will have any towns blown away in tornadoes since last spring? We've been taking the same route - Highway 54 - for the past dozen years now and have become attached as much as one can to those little farms and homes on the byways. We head from the cold and cloudy north through the flat and farmlands of Iowa and Kansas to the warm bursts of air that welcome us to southern Kansas and then New Mexico. Our New Mexican friends will be chilled but we'll have stripped down to shorts and shirt sleeves and sneakers and grins. We'll pull out our sunblock and hats with sunbills rather than ear warmers and will keep one eye on the weather channel so that we can bask in our good fortune down in the southern tier.

A mostly cloudy day here today making it perfect for last minute cleaning and packing for our trip south to sunny New Mexico! Karen has come in season, making me quite happy that she didn't decide to wait until we were ready for another obedience trial with Solo! He's working very well and is ready to go!

We will miss our friends both human and otherwise; there is some talk about possibly coming home early this year if the weather in Wisconsin continues to be mild. We'll see, talk is cheap when the sun is shining and that warm southwestern breeze is blowing!

Noodling around online trying to find some information brought me to a little blog I was working on when Solo was a pup. Here's a most charming picture of him as a 5 week old baby. He's still a charmer :)

This is Zelda, Jim's favorite little dog! He's just pretending not to like her licking his head :) I see that she sleeps up on the bed and that Jim sneaks her down to the kitchen in the morning to join him for coffee. Now, what's so bad about all that? :)

Welcome to the Farm, Karen! UKC Ch. Blackstone's Anna Karenina is visiting us this spring where she will have her puppies by Solo!

Thank you so much to our longtime friend and AKC show judge Nancy Eilks for sending her our way! Karen is a big Bouvier with sound structure and temperament. We hope for some good puppies from this alliance!

Here's our new mare, Charish.

A big day for us here; this morning Solo and Trouble had an alliance. This helps schedule how our spring and summer will look. I will also be taking a picture of our new riding mare and will post it here!

I have put a link to Trouble's litter on the left sidebar of this page. Please look over there for updates!

This is 'Hazel' - she is a young Bouvier that we purchased from Legacy Kennel this past spring and who we are co-owning with a local family. She stands 22.5" at 6 months so will be a smaller girl but hopefully will make size . She certainly carries a lot of coat! She is sired by GCH Ch. Legacy's Zane Grey out of CH. Kari-Dustie vd Vanenblikhoeve.

Our farm dogs had a busy day in the city today - Solo competed in UKC obedience and qualified with a 194 out of a possible 200 points and Trouble competed at the University of Minnesota's Leatherdale Arena where the Great River Stockdog Club was hosting a fundraising event. Entrants brought crates of ducks (5 in a crate) and the dogs participated in an AHBA duck trial. My friend Phyllis handled Trouble to her Started Duck title.

Jim spent the afternoon bringing in firewood from along the road - the County had come along and cut dead and/or dying trees away from the roadway and even cut it into manageable stove-sized logs. We were commenting that in years past the wood would have been gone immediately but this year it sits. The other big news is that the local NAPA auto parts store in our little town went down in flames today! As far as we know, no one was hurt, thank goodness - but the loss of even one business will hurt us all.

A mostly winter day here today; single digit temps and snow falling - all to be expected in the northern tier in January! We rec'd a nice note from the fellow who took our dairy goats home with him last year; he's agreed to send one back here when they're done kidding so that once again we will have fresh chevre! He sent this picture of Clover and Callie, taken last week.

Ziva and Lynn had a great time on Friday with a qualifying run in AKC agility! This great and fast team ran a 38 second run in only 18 seconds! Amazing!!

We wanted to share this photo with you. A friend took this one as Alta relaxed after a houseful of out of town guests,here for my 75th birthday celebrations.

We both send congratulations to Trouble (we do check out the website, though Alta has trouble with the keypad )

Hope you and all the "cousins" are doing well.

Hugs, Caryl and Alta

Trouble has come in season a little early; we'll keep you all posted as developments proceed! To find Trouble on our website ~ her registered name is Briarlea Alta Bella.

Yesterday was worming day for our sheep flock - Trouble brought the sheep into the barnyard and then pushed them all into the barn. I usually have a chute for worming but we took it down this fall which means we were worming them all packed together. Not a lot of fun but with our new Premier worming system it went very fast!

In an effort to get a photo of the sheep for a holiday card...Trouble, Jim and I spent about an hour trying to convince the sheep to cooperate!








Trouble gets their attention and tells them to 'look sharp, sheep!'



"Wait! Wait! Don't go THAT way!"








"We're OUTTA Here!!" Oh, a gate??

With Trouble's help, they were loaded out in the pitch dark at 6:45 - I had them in the barn that unfortunately doesn't have lights - so I was worried a little about how it was all going to go - but the stock trailer has running lights so there was a dim glow. The did not want to go out, especially with the scarey tall stranger standing next to the door - but she pushed them just right. The guy was impressed. I"m back in the house for coffee. Trouble wants to go help some more.... oh how I remember those days when it was me trying to drag lambs by their wool into the trailer...or having them run down the road away from the trailer...she's such a help, you can hardly imagine...

Looking out the kitchen window - wood stacked for the winter, the dog trailer ready for it's trip south, and grey skies promising rain.

Lemon meringue pie made from scratch - is there any other way?? Thick and tangy, the best!! The big trailer will arrive on Wednesday morning to take the lambs away - good to see them go this year when the prices are still high and the new ram is due to arrive later in the week. We're staying once again with a Dorper ram and the 'hair sheep' genetics that seem popular. Hopefully the winter WON'T be colder and snowier than normal!

The dogs are doing well, herding trial season is over and we're gearing up to take Solo to obedience trials again in preparation for the 2012 trial season. He's a great, fun dog to have as a partner!

We picked up a couple bags of daffodil bulbs, trying to figure out where to plant them that the moles won't discover too quickly - a futile task, I fear! The gardens are all tilled up for the winter, new clean straw has been put in the chicken coop and the new little Call ducks are all snuggling down in it. They are supposed to be great for herding training - we'll see!!

Have just finished watching the HBO series "John Adams" ~ it was wonderful and made quite the impression on me - the dedication of those men and women who felt the drive to mold the future of a restless and raw country! How lucky we were and are that they took upon themselves such a responsibility!

I know it's not polite to brag (my parents have told me) but I can't help myself! Trouble outdid herself this past weekend at the ABdFC National Specialty by going High in Trial on Saturday with a score of 95 (out of 100.) This trial was open to all breeds so she won over some very good border collies and other breeds as well. I am thankful to have as my friend and neighbor Phyllis Clark who loves to trial dogs -- she took Trouble to this prestigious win, saving my blood pressure meds for another day :) Trouble was entered in 6 trial runs - 3 on sheep, 3 on ducks - she not only qualified but went first place in all but 1 of the sheep runs where she 'pulled some wool' as they say. It was a good ride home!