All In One

This is another one of those all in one blog posts - mostly because I have too many things going on at once, and not enough time to seperate them all into their own posts.

These pictures were taken by Kristie Pope at the Jack Knox clinic in January, by the way. Linc is coming up on 14 months old now, and we're having a ball together. We had a lesson with Robin this past weekend, and managed to graduate to the big field (after working a bit more on our lie downs and call offs). I think he's finally to the point of being interested in working with me, and he's one that really feels good on sheep.

We're starting to use his flank commands (and the little nutter appears to be picking them up quickly) and stopping him off balance some. He's still buggering me a tad about stopping, but then sometimes he drops like a stone. His flanks have a nice shape to them, and he seems to have a nice natural bend. He made a lot of good decisions this weekened, and it's fun to watch his little wheels turning. This is my first dog with a little eye, and I'm finding the difference to be interesting.


It's tough getting pictures of these all black dogs, hunh?


Nick hasn't been turned completely loose yet - this week we're to do the normal warmup stuff, and then work for fifteen minutes. This coming weekend I'm supposed to basically work him like we would any other normal weekend, and allow him to take the normal walks with the other dogs again. I sure am looking forward to that! He's being a total butthead about loading back up in the van while out at Julie's now, resulting in my having crammed him in there sputtering expletives last night. I am reminded of how I'm supposed to be cursing less, and being more patient with him.

Working on Julie's entire flock yesterday I opened up his flanks a little (always a calculated risk since he tends to run wide) just by cleaning up his inside flanks a tad. I reminded him that he does indeed have to stop, and as a result he's working like normal now - no head butting required . See? She can be taught. Shoot, we had fifteen minutes to waste, so why not make it worthwhile? I'll probably drag him around this weekend begging chores off of friends so I can give him the equivalent of a normal weekend for him. Dang, I need spring.

WW wise I'm cranking right along over here. I'm doing well - motivated and back on track. It hopefully won't be too long until I'll be back at goal and working on MTN again. Tell you guys what, I'll post a few recipes here shortly. Until then, here's a recipe that Chuck's Mom sent me - I tweaked it to make it more WW friendly:

Bacon and Broccoli Salad:

1 head broccoli
12 slices cooked and crumbled turkey bacon.(I used the real bacon bits in a jar - Hormel- 1 jar=12pcs)
1/2 cup slices green onions (some people use red)
1/2 cup raisins

Dressing:

2 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1/2 granulated Splenda
1/2 cup light mayonnaise (I used Kraft)

Wash the broccoli. Seperate flowerets and cut the stalks into thin slices; place in salad bowl. Add bacon, greens onions, and raisins. In a separate bowl, stir together vinegar, splenda and mayonnaise. Pour the dressing ove the salad and toss gently. Serves 8 to 10. Don't put the dressing on until ready to serve. It gets watery.

I'm not sure exactly what the serving size is, but when calculated at 8 servings pts = 3.

Whew.


(Picture by Julie Poudrier)

There. Another Wednesday is upon us - and with the rain and blah this one should include fuzzy slippers and a blanket. I'm taking my Nunna out tonight to the Olive Garden for dinner, and then maybe I'll manage to find the bed early. I sure do hope so, anyway.