Virus and 100 Days
The corono 19 has really changed things for a lot of people. Here in Idaho, we were one of the last states to have any cases. When it finally showed up here the last week before spring break made that week a roller coaster. We ended up going with kids Wednesday until 1. The teacher's then spent Wednesday afternoon Thursday putting together eight days worth of math and reading. Whew! Those were delivered along with lunch and breakfast to the students this Monday. They sent the buses, all two of them, to deliver meals and the packets. I've had a few questions, but for the most part, it seems that it's going smoothly. I really tried to make it easy to understand!
Distance learning at Nana's.
As far as sheltering in place, living in a very rural area is like sheltering in place all the time. I can easily, in normal life, go a whole weekend without seeing anyone in person. I've been going out and feeding and working sheep. Heather came over for a visit before sheltering in place and we worked dogs together. That was a lot of fun, especially to see a Rooster son so keen to herd sheep! She went home on Monday and that day Meagan's kids have been coming up for distance learning. Meagan is going to college online, so it gives her time to study and something for me to do. Kids come in the morning, we do school until 2. I take them home, then go out to the ranch, work and feed sheep and go for a walk, then back home. Living up here I shop once a month anyway, so having to stockpile food isn't an issue. I've been using a meal service called Every Plate every other week. They deliver a box of three, two person meals which I usually get every other week. I've up that to every week, so I figure I won't need to shop for a long time. I've also been getting take out from our two restaurants to try and help them out.
So the 100 days is Beckit, aka Schmeckit hit our first 100 days of herding! That sure went faster than I thought. We started back in August when she was six months old just once a week for a few minutes. The hormones kicking in made her over emotional and hard to work. She is also a thinker and when she's learning something new, she's gets cautious. I had her spayed and the lack of hormones have helped us out as well as she's really starting to understand. Here's Beckit back in August and one of the first times I put her on sheep.
Picture by Heather Christianson
Click to viewOn day 101 we set up the Kelly Hill virtual sheep dog trial Nursery/ProNovice course. It's a fund raiser for rescue and I figured, why not! I was shocked when she did the whole dang thing! I've never asked her to purposefully drive to something or cross drive or outrun 250 yards. The pen was the horse trailer and she handled that like a pro. We set up the course in a field that she's only been to once before and set them in a different spot. I sure hope there are some Nursery Trials this summer that we can try. Here's her nursery run for the virtual trial.
Rooster is such a fun dog to work now. He was a great helper with Asher and is just on it. I know what to expect and he's such a team player. I ran him for the virtual trial on the pro novice course, which is the same as the Nursery. I thought about setting up the open one, but wasn't sure it would fit in the field we had available. He didn't spot his sheep and ended up running way wide, but he did eventually find them. After that he did a great job. Love my Rooster! Here's his run.
Photo by Heather Christianson
Beep is almost 14.5 and is still getting around. He is still the king grump! He goes on walks with us. We don't go as far so he can hang. So happy to have him still around.
Photo by Heather Christenson
Photo by Heather Christienson
Poppet and Noodle are doing great. Poppet helped with sheep the other day. She's such a funny old lady. She was so happy. I'll have to make sure she gets to go for a spin every once in a while. The Noodle is the Noodle. He hasn't gotten into to much trouble lately.
Photo by Heather Christienson
Photo by Heather Christenson
Hoping that life can go back so somewhat normal again and that there's toilet paper in the stores again when I need it!