Sheep In Car

I thought today would be a good day for a Nick and sheep post.  My thanks to www.dogbarkcollar.com for making this possible. 

This morning I loaded up a couple of dogs and headed down the road to pick up some sheep to take to the processor. No trailer? No truck? No problem! Why not just load them into your minivan?

Famous last words, spoken by me...

"Oh, don't worry.  We'll just pop em right on up in there. I don't think we'll even need to touch them."

Hah. Hahahahaha.

Most of the time sheep I've loaded up into trailers seem to prefer to just hop in (as opposed to using a ramp). Well, let me just enlighten you, world. They don't prefer to hop right up into minivans. Minivans with Ex-Pens are instruments of sheepy death.Clearly.

There was screeching halting at the hatch. There was much shoving and cajoling. I even gave them a bucket of corn in the pen. Corn was not the secret weapon I'd expected.

So I had Nick hold the sheep while I (one by one) with the help of the friend who owns the sheep, hoisted them up in there like sacks of very heavy potatoes. I guess the best way to describe it would be one foot at a time. They weren't terribly inclined to help, but we worked it out. The very nice newspaper and shavings bedding got all  mushed around, but it actually wound up serving it's purpose well (see photo).

That photo, by the way, was what I could see in my rear view mirror. Sheep staring at me through the holes in the crate. That particular wether was the sniffiest thing.

Go figure that once we got down to the processor they were not having ANY of the whole getting out of the van thing. Oh but no. "No, thank you," said the sheep. The little unloader dude, who incidentally weighed less than the sheep,  hopped up in there to shove them out. Then he and I and Nick pushed them along the walk of doom, up the ramp, and into their holding cell.

They were Not. Impressed. They did NOT want to go up that ramp.

Nick on the other hand had a ball. He got to do some work on a single - as once I had two in there, the single tried to break and run away. We cured him of that notion, but it took some time and some really good work from my dog and I. It didn't take all that long to get the sheep loaded, or unloaded once we were there. But it certainly wasn't the idyllic lovely pop em in pop em out sort of walk through the flowery meadow that I'd pictured in my mind.

When I got to the processor and starting unloading, this (really hot) guy pulled up behind me to unload two steers.  He got out and came over to see my set up.  With big eyes he looked at me and said, "How did you get them IN there?"  Not missing a beat I answered, "Oh, my dog brought them up and popped them right up in there."

What can I say.  He was cute and I saw no need to mention belly-flopping on the back of a sheep hanging off of the back of my minivan. By that point my cool hairdo had flopped like a wilty flower, and I am pretty sure I was covered in all kinds of things. I had to save SOME face.

I've had two showers today. My hands still smell like sheep.  I am happy.

Nick is happy (photo by Dan King).

Linc is less happy since I didn't get him out, but he'll get his chance over the weekend (photo by Robin French). 

Up Top

A couple of weeks ago we set sheep with Julie P up at Robin's trial at Shoofly Farm. I started documenting as we went but got distracted along the way. But I thought I'd share up to where I forgot to take pics anymore.

We loaded up early. We rolled out around 6:30... though we were up before 5am.



As per usual, I had my priorities in order. See above for portajohn, and below for coffee. Priorites. I has them.



Once we got there we put the girlz into the sorting system.



Then I would lay Nick down over to the side...



And push the sheep out myself.



That being said... both sheep and dog tend to take advantage when you have a camera in your face. That was the first set of the day, and that sheep that turned back on me would turn out to be a troublemaker All. Weekend. Long. For the most part, though, the sheep settled as the morning went on and I thought worked pretty nicely.

I didn't get any pictures of how we worked the sorting system. I would leave a gap in the crush gate just big enough for my dog to get through. The dog - Nick or Linc, or in Julie's case one of her dogs, would go into the big crush pen and lie down over to the side while I'd move sheep up through the system. Once I got to the back pen (which would then be empty) I would have the dog just quietly hold their side while I loaded the last sorting pen from the back. It was a very quiet and (I'd say 98%) hands free system.

Then we'd go drink more coffee.

We did a little pen work and did quite a bit of setting out. Here Nick and I stand waiting for our next packet for the novice classes:



It was a nice weekend. Linc really surprised me with his maturity and some finesse I hadn't realized he possessed. Excepting one minor incident (a ewe lamb wound up feet in the air - still not sure exactly how that happened) he was a quiet but firm presence in there and I liked it. Nick was his usual good self.

I always love the view from the top.

Airs Above the Ground

Airs Above the Ground... aka Shedding with Cheviots.

Some days we all feel like that, Nick.

Robin took these yesterday while we were doing a wee bit of shedding. You can see his lip is still wrinkled on this second shot. I had no idea they were taking pictures until the peanut gallery started howling with laughter. She decided to try to bolt about the time I started calling him through. Silly girl to think of such a thing.

Nick was looking good yesterday - having a ball with this shedding thing. Linc looked really good - he's digging this driving thing. I think the practical work of last week was a really good thing for Linc and I - the "we are a team" thing has done wonders for him. For that matter it's done wonders for me too - it helped me to feel like I could relax and trust him more. He got to work his way through gathering a small group of lambs (with one crazy cheviot ewe) up in the woods and deep grass - and we worked together to basically thread them through an opening in the pens that was like threading a needle. Good stuff - it wasn't easy but good experience for us both.

I don't know if dogs (like Nick) get pouty when the human chooses to use another dog instead of them - but the idea is to use Linc for as much practical stuff as I can get for him. Nick's been my right hand since... well... since about the time I got a stop on him. It feels weird to leave him sitting while I pull out Linc - and I'll admit to a tiny bit of guilt. However, he doesn't appear to be offended, so I'm not sure that dogs reason like that.

It's interesting the differences in these dogs. It's a fascinating journey where often I find myself just hanging on by my fingernails at best. I'm sure enjoying the ride though!

Photos by Robin French

Marching Orders - Week 4 (and other stuff too)

We have our fourth week marching orders. YAY!! Noodlehead's going to be thrilled. I know I am. By the way, that picture is of Nick working sheep at about 7 months old, taken by Julie Poudrier. We were working her unbroke Tunis ewes out in her back yard at the time. See? He's always had some long legs!

Starting today we're supposed to do two 20 minute sessions of trotting/loping daily for the next week. Still no playing with other dogs, and he (the doc) wants me to avoid sudden stops and starts, lying down and getting up, and all of that. If I can seperate the sessions by several hours (ie morning and evening) then we do 2 x 20. If timing is such that I have to do both sessions in the evening (ie 5pm and 9pm) then I'm to do 10 and 20.

He said I can do this at home in the back yard (yep, the Noodle likes to trot the perimeter of the *cough* yard, so we can do that) or out in a pasture with no stock. Consider yourselves warned, Julie and CR, as you'll probably be seeing a good bit of me over the next week or two. The doc said he'd like to see Nick back to regular work within the next 2-3 weeks.

Wanna know what this means? We're done with walks around the neighborhood for the most part. This also means I'll probably be spending some ga$ to get Nick places, but I'm really, truly OK with that. I'll do that just to avoid being drugthugafroguy, weirdguy and scarydog lunch.

Woot!!!

Speaking of drugthugafroguy and scarydog (the two are not related) Nick and I are doing OK. Thank you all for the wonderful support you've all given me. The comments have been awesome and supportive. I've not had time to respond to each and every one as I wish I could, but know that they were each read and appreciated. Nick has relaxed back to almost normal while walking, and though we're both very jumpy we're not looking over our shoulders as much.

I have to say in all honesty that yesterday was hard. The fear was ruling me, and I couldn't think of anything else really. I bailed on cooking CR dinner (sorry babe) and although I did get the house cleaned some I was basically worthless. I still haven't cried - and I'm not sure if that's just the way it is, or if I'm subconsciously bottling it up and storing it in order to unleash it at some inappropriate moment... complete with squeaky seal noises and snot running down my face. I'll probably call Julie if that happens as she seems to be the lucky recipient of those types of calls from me.

Today is better. Today I'm able to appreciate that everything DID in fact turn out good considering. I didn't even think about it until I was getting out of the shower this morning, and even then my thought was, "Holy Cow! I haven't even thought about "The Incident" this morning. Yay ME". Today I've thought about it much less. I won't walk him without a stock stick or ball bat ever again though - not in our existing neighborhood. I'd walk him carrying a golf club, but as CR pointed out my clubs are at his house. Oopsie! Nevermind the fact that I have horrid aim.

Nick has developed a new annoying quirk though... as soon as we walk out the front door he lets out a bark. From what I can gather it's his pre-emptive toughdog gotohellscarydogs bark. Just one bark. One loud bark in my ear, really, since the houses are situated in such a way that sound travels like being in an empty cavern. I figure in a few days it'll get old and he'll be unable to resist the siren song of the bush next to the stoop, and abandon his onebark serenade.

We're both SO ready to get back to business. Linc has some work lined up for the weekend, though, so that'll be fun. I'm going to make dinner for CR tonight, and do our therapy for the evening out there. Thank God.

Lastly I leave you with one completely unrelated thought. It wouldn't be one of my blogs without an unrelated thought somewhere, right? Anyway, I was watching our landscaper dudes a few minutes ago and came up with the PERFECT name for a landscaping company. If it were me I'd call it, "Two Fat Bald Guys and a Garden Hoe".

What??

We Are OK.

Just thought I'd go on and say that - We are OK. Just to not panic anyone. I say that because as I type my hands are shaking, and I've now dropped more "F" bombs in one hour than I've dropped collectively my entire life. That's a lot of "F" bombs. I'll probably go straight to hell. Immediately.

Out on our walk this evening Nick and I got attacked by a bully breed dog. I don't know what it specifically was, other than it was brindled, male, gorgeous, short, muscular, pissed off, and running at us from about 4 houses down. I hesitate to mention that, so let me interject here that I mention the breed for descriptive purposes. Anyway, I only had enough time to think, "OMG, which one of us is he coming for?" and enough time to assume it was Nick and then to think "I'm going to step in here, and then he's probably going to turn on me". His owner by this time was screaming his name (a name that I've forgotten in the aftermath, but I had the random thought, "what a sissy name for such a badass dog") and running after him.

When he got to me I turned slightly in front of Nick and kicked the fucker right as he came into us. He still nailed Nick in what sounded like a body slam, but he more or less glanced off of him and rolled about ten feet into the neighbor's yard. I was screaming "GET YOUR FUCKING DOG GET YOUR FUCKING DOG GET YOUR FUCKING DOG!!!!!" this whole time. The guy was not far behind his dog, who was at the moment picking himself up out of the neighbor's yard for a second pass. By this time I'd already picked Nick up, and had swung him around to my other side (putting myself between the dog and Nick), a move I'm sure my back will thank me for later. That is once the adrenaline stops flowing, anyway.

Fortunately when the guy got there the dog rolled over onto his back before he could make another pass, and that was the end of it. The guy appeared suprised, and apologized profusely. He told me where he lived, and said if there was any damage to come get him. The dog did, at one point get up and circle around to make another pass, but the guy was on him quickly. I bid a hasty retreat after checking Nick over very carefully.

Nick hasn't a mark on him - other than the black spots on the backs of his hind legs where he hit the deck when I started screaming. I'm not hurt either. We both, however, were fairly shaken up. I've worked over the past few weeks to get Nick to relax on these walks, and he slinked (slunk? slank? whatever!) all the way back to the house. I suspect much of that was his reading MY emotions, as I was freaking out. I really hope this won't be a permanent setback to his ability to walk in the neighborhood.

However, coupled with this, the drug thug neighbor dudes who've been ogling me, and the freaky staring guy right before the dog thing, I think I'm done here.

Interestingly enough, Nick never made to fight back, never raised a hackle, nothing. I am not even 100% sure he realized yet what was going on. Oh, and I'm not sure the guy realized I kicked his dog. I'm not sure the DOG realized I'd kicked him. I didn't feel compelled to point that part out though.

You know, I've never really understood on a deep gut level the folks who come onto boards like the BC Boards and post about "my dog was attacked by another dog". I get it now. I get it in a way that I wish I'd never lived to get it. I probably won't sleep tonight, or if I do it won't be well. I realize that sounds dramatic, but there it is.

So, the sidewalk out in front of my house takes me 2-3 minutes to go from one end to the other. That's only ten passes per walk. Nick buddy, you gotta rehab FAST.

So we're physically OK. My one prayer is that emotionally HE is over it already. My other prayer is that a Subway Club is going to do it. At the moment I feel very much like a whole lot more food than that. I've got the points, but I hate to waste them on emotional eating.

That is all.

Week Two

I've received my orders for week two of rehab for the Noodlehead. We're to increase walks from 10 mins to 15 mins, 3x a day. He says we can sneak in another 10 mins if I'd like. I'm to start sit/stand drills 2x a day, and keep up stretching 2x a day. Next week the only change to make is up the walks to 20 mins, 3x a day, with one extra 10 min if I'd like. The doc says that after next week we'll increase rapidly in getting him back into shape, but I'm to continue to be conservative at this point.

While it's frustrating and slow, I do think he's right. Nick is looking nice and sound - carrying his weight evenly (well, as evenly as Nick ever does) and is pushing off of both back feet as he should. He's carrying his weight squarely again, which is good to see, and isn't short striding or hobbling around or any of that funky stuff. The doctor told me not to be too concerned if I see him hop on rare occasion at this point - but if it becomes pronounced or frequent to call him right away. So far, though, the only hop I've seen since starting was last week coming off the patio, and I realized he didn't want to step in the goo.

Nick, on the other hand, would appreciate some love here. He's digging the going for walkies, and he's tolerating the stretching thing (on his side) providing there's no distraction whatsoever. But he is not loving the enforced quiet time. This morning, in fact, the beastie was trying to run zoomies in place. Yeah, I'd say he's feeling pretty good.

So, tonight I'm making a pot of my Chili, plus a pot of spicy black bean soup for lunch at the Jack Knox clinic tomorrow. It's going to be butt crack cold, and I'm not exactly looking forward to THAT part. It feels weird to not enter Nick, but I think Jack and I will have fun with Linc - mr.nostopnocalloffwildman. It's been a crazy week, that's for sure.

My brother is going through a rough patch, and it breaks my heart. His situation sounds similar to what I was going through a little over a year ago, and it not only makes me sad but also makes me quite angry too - on his behalf. That being said, last night we had dinner together and he was telling us (my Mom, sister, and I) about how he likes to go to McDonalds and give them a hard time. He'll go up and ask for a "McNapkin" or a "McApple Pie". Sometimes he'd like some "McFries" to go with that. He insists that life is more fun if you just put a Mc in front of everything. I'm not sure why, but for some reason this strikes me as hysterical. He's a funny guy - and one of my favorite people in the world.

So for lunch tomorrow at the clinic we're going to be having McChili. I might even bring some McCheese to go on top.

Rehab Whoas

Photo by Robin French

I started Nick's rehab plan yesterday. Nick thinks it's stoopid. Apparently I'm supposed to do 3-4 five to ten minute walks daily. Oh, did I mention they're supposed to be reasonably loose leashed? Oopsie. Learned that this morning. I'm spending the whole walk yelling out "Whoa now!". Guess what? The Noodle ain't got no whoa (thus the cool pun of a title - yeah, I know how to spell woes). Oh well, at this point apparently we'll settle for walking quietly with only light pressure on the leash - but loose leash? Hah. He peed on the neighbor's bush, too. Nice, hunh?

We're supposed to do passive stretching too. The doctor called this morning to elaborate, and evidently he'd prefer if we do this stretching business with Nick laying on his back. Uh, hello? Tried that. I got Nick to lay down, of course. Rolled him over on his back, and yeah, that was working out just great. Next thing I know he's sprung up, spun twice, play bowed and hopped sideways three feet in the time it took me just to get up off of my knees.

Obviously that's not working out so great. I 'splained that maybe I'd just have to stretch him on his feet, and that maybe (since we have nothing else we're allowed to do) I'd train him to lay on his back quietly and let me do my thing. Maybe if I cranked on his balls he'd lay there quietly. No, probably not.

I hope Nick and I aren't like... the patients from hell. I know my regular vet isn't all that overly fond of me - but so far this guy doesn't appear to hate me yet. I think my regular vet probably cringes when she sees us come through the door, because I have a tendency to walk in there and refuse yearly vaccinations, and pretty much just not do what she wants me to do.

Anyway, I digress. For the next week we do passive stretching (hah) and quiet loose leash walking (double hah). He was quite firm about this - even when I tried to explain that on a typical day this dog covers miles at a time. He says he realizes that. Eh. Next week we increase in intensity and duration - but he says he's more interested in increasing duration. He wants me to go extra cautious here so that we don't inadvertantly re-injure the muscle, and wind up back at square one. I can respect that. After week two we'll be doing some cavaletti work, which will be fun.

Nick looked at me yesterday after the first walk like, "Is that IT?". Sorry friend, for the moment that IS it. Next week, though, we can progress to some mild hills too. It looks like maybe this will be a good exercise program for me too, so it's not an all bad thing.

Nick just wishes we could get back to normal. So do I Noodle, so do I.

Photo by Julie Poudrier

Noodlenews and a Hat!

Some Noodlenews... I got a message from the ortho guy, and both he & the radiologist agree that we're dealing with a soft tissue injury. I will call him tomorrow to get all of the details, and a treatment plan - and for the first time since this popped up I feel a bit of peace. Hopefully we'll get Nick all right as rain, because I miss him.

And... for New Year's Eve look what I made to go with my new scarf:

I'm too sexy...

Does this ensemble make me look fat?

I'll probably make a burgundy scarf so I can wear either or. The hat is cute as heck, seriously. I'm not even saying that just because I made it.

Nick Updates

I thought maybe I'd put some Nick updates in one spot, and I'll try to update this post as I get information. Nick is at the vet this morning. I just called (and I managed to hold myself in check for THREE hours before calling), and he's being worked on right now. I'm a nervous wreck. When I left him, though, he was happily wiggling and sniffing the vet tech. Obviously he's not too concerned.

New update:

The vet called. She said, laughing like a loon, that he was the hardest dog she'd ever tried to manipulate physically. Evidently every time she'd try to move him he'd go all rigid or push against her. Silly boy. lol Anyway, X-Rays showed that his back and discs and knees were excellent. She said his hips were good but there was a tiny question on them, so I may ask her today for a referral to have a second opinion just to make me feel better. Even with that she said she didn't think the hips are his problem at all - and that they're nothing to worry about. Obviously she doesn't know me very well, hunh?

Anyway, she says his abdomen looks good also. Her feeling is that he strained/sprained/pulled a muscle in his lower back. She's suggesting resting a bit longer, and some more anti-inflammatories. I'll be off to pick him up here in just a little while.

Thanks everyone for the prayers and good thoughts!

Latest getting ready for bed update:

I went in and looked at the X-Rays when I picked him up, and after mulling it over this evening I'm agreeing with Dr. P that I'm not going to worry about his hips. So now we have to worry about getting this muscle thing fixed! He's to rest - not full official crate rest, but no working, and no blazing around either. So we're working on that right now. He's under my feet making chewbacca noises at Linc as I type. Any of you who've ever talked to me on the phone know exactly the noise I'm talking about. Hah!

I'm still not 100% convinced that it wasn't partly an overabundance of poopage. The beast has gone like... four or five times today - once in the vet's flower bed.

And in totally unrelated news, my mother has decorated her house for Christmas. She has all of her lights up outside, including the prelit reindeer flock she has - all six of them. Last year while she was gone my brother made it so several of them were mounting each other. She was not amused. I, on the other hand, almost wet myself laughing. Maturity is grossly overrated.

Broken Back Ranch SDT Update

Well, the good thing is I didn't barf on my shoes. I felt like it, but I managed to at least appear outwardly calm this weekend.

Nursery, Friday, Nick's first run... is mostly a blur. Outrun was nice, lift a little off, fetch started out squirrelly, but got it under control. Actually, we didn't lose many points on that part. I think zero off on the O and L. I can't remember if we made the fetch gates or not, but when they got to my feet it was like Nick didn't want to flank. We made a REALLY wide turn at the post, and had some trouble getting them online to start the drive (right hand). He finally got them online, and the drive away was right lovely (made the panels pretty dead on) - and he was taking tiny flanks on the fly (with whistles) so nicely. We made the turn at the gates, and slightly overflanked, resulting in needing him to flank come bye.

He'd been a tad odd on the fetch, and by this point he was really sluggish and off (flanking REALLY slow and REALLY wide), and acting/moving a bit oddly. We got the sheep almost online on the crossdrive, putting one through the gates and the other three missed low. When I flanked him to bring them to the pen he looked really weird, and I realized he wasn't having an attitude problem but a physical problem. He wouldn't even come all the way to the pen, but the sheep walked in for me. When I flanked him to bring them out he started holding up a rear leg. Yikes.

So Tony exhausted the next set of sheep and I pulled him out to look at him. He was hobbling funny on the back end. Anyway, to make a long story short we wound up in the middle of the pack scorewise, but any good feelings I might have had about the good things were quite overshadowed by my worry for my dog. I scratched his second run. I've had him on anti-inflammatories, and have been resting him. He's looking fine by today, but I'm going to keep him quiet for the rest of the week - and might either pull completely from the cattle trial next weekend or substitute Spottie for Nick. If he's still funky by the weekend I'll take him in and have my vet take a look.

Spottie... was a very good girl. I walked to the post with my heart pounding in my ears. On the first run the OLF was really nice. I did give her a redirect on the outrun, but I'm not sure she needed it. On the fetch the dogs were to turn the sheep at a hay bale instead of bringing them all the way up and I really struggled to get her around there. We got things under control and the drive away was reasonable. Cross drive was really wiggy, and we were having troubles communicating. I don't think she was being obstinant, we just weren't quite together. At any rate, we wound up retiring at the end of the crossdrive (right at the panels one sheep broke away and I had trouble getting her to cover... and by the time she did the sheep were practically at my feet again), but I was pleased with what I felt was reasonably respectable considering she's only been with me three weeks. She wasn't taking my whistles very well this weekend, even though she has been at "home".

Second run yesterday she stopped short on her outrun, so the lift was a bit off, but she did take my flank on the fetch to get them online. But, then I couldn't get her quite around that hay bale to make the turn (almost did, and at the last second she decided NOPE), and we wound up RT with our sheep at the exhaust. The judge was great, and came out and told me that at that point I could have sent her the other way - and although that would have been crossing our course (the reason in fact why I didn't) that it would have meant we could have kept going. See? You get to learn all kinds of cool things when you jump into things feet first!

They gave us these cool handlers badges, and I was so excited I thought about pinning it to my undies and wearing it forever.

We ate good this weekend, that's for sure. All of my friends had some really nice runs laid down, and it was fun to be a part of it. I got to scribe for the judge, and had an absolute ball! It was quite chilly, though, and I'm glad to be back home and in my bed. So that is it - the good, the bad, and the ugly. It wasn't quite the spectacular display I'd hoped for, but reasonable and respectable - and certainly not a total trainwreck! The hospitality was great, and the field was absolutely gorgeous.

Now I have to actually go do some work at work.

A Trialin This Weekend...

So this is me packing. Like it? Yeah, me too. We're headed off to SC this weekend, and if they have room and will agree to squeeze me in I'm going to ask them to let me run Spottie in Open after all. Robin's going to hide in the van. In a trenchcoat. And a Fedora. Just for good measure.

Nick has two nursery runs tomorrow, and I plan to roll out of here by no later than 7am. That means I need to go to bed... uh... now? The jeans I'm wearing tomorrow are in the dryer, my clothes and snacks are in the van, and all that's left is a few minor details.

Oh, and I sent in my entry to run Nick on cattle next weekend. This is me over here throwing up on my shoes at all of the new experiences I'm planning to undertake in the next few weeks... running a dog in Open, running a dog on cattle, getting a divorce, spending Christmas with people I love and truly enjoy this year...

Spottie says, oh, it's you again!

I was hoping you were someone... else. Oh, wait... what is THAT? Are you going to throw it?

I didn't think so. You're not much fun when you have that camera thing in your hand. I'm on to you.

Caught!!

And, drum roll please... I caught the duck!

When I got home from work today he was swimming around in the baby pool in my back yard (where I'd left him after Nick and I put him in the back yard at lunch). So the plan was to put an ex-pen out there, with some food, covered with a tarp... and run him in it. Well, after one failed attempt (and having to go regather him... is it really a gather when there's one? I guess not... let's call it retrieve) and another almost fail, I noticed that he was just happy as a clam when Nick was fetching. Whenever I'd go help Nick drive he got very unhappy and things would go all to heck. Well, the expen thing? Not happening.

I wound up having Nick fetch him up the sidewalk... and in the back door into the house. Yep, we fetched a duck into my kitchen, and then into the living room. I then was able to toss a blanket over him while he was on the couch, and put him in Zippy's crate. He wasn't thrilled about the being handled part but I was as gentle as I could be.

I took him home - and it turns out my assumption and/or understanding was wrong. They tell me he's to be given as a gift to be a pet, and they're leaving tomorrow to take it to some uncle in New York. I don't know if I believe it or not, but it felt like the right thing to do to take it back to them. I tried to explain that he might be tough eating since he'd gotten his exercise, but they looked at me like I'd grown another head. Maybe he IS supposed to be a pet. Except I think HE might be a she.

Oh, and the beast took a dump on my couch.

They should be glad they're getting a mostly dog-broke duck. They should be glad I didn't notice the duck poo or they might not have GOTTEN a dog broke duck, they might have gotten a BROKEN duck. I admonished them to PLEASE not let the duck out again.

Thus ends the saga of the great duck roundup in the city.


For reference, he looked like this:

Image from www.blog.americanfeast.com .

Mary wanted to know why I didn't get a picture of him while he was on my couch. Uh... I have no idea. I figured I didn't want him to have time to see the plant shelf or the archway thingie.

Team Noodlehead & the Duck

Today on my way back to work (about 6 houses down) there were two teenaged girls out in the road... following a duck around. Yes. That is a duck. In our neighborhood. You know, the neighborhood where houses are ten feet apart, quite literally. So I stopped, and asked what was going on. Evidently this duck was intended for some sort of holiday fare, and had snuck out the front door. These gals had been trying to catch it all day.

So, what did I do? Of course. I got my dog. At this point the duck was down at my house, so I brought out a crate, told the girls where to stand and where to move, and flanked Nick around. Good thing he likes him some ducks, hunh? Except... it wasn't SOME ducks, it was A duck. A duck with non-clipped wings, a fact that we learned right as I had it about two steps from the crate. Little bugger flew up on top of my neighbor's porch roof thingie.

No worries, I had a plan. I went around back and got out the Mad Spaghetti Noodle, and got that naughty bird down off of there. We then drove it back down towards it's house - I had a new idea. I had the girl open her front door, and we worked the duck up four steps, and onto the porch. Nick and I, and the girls, had it about three or four steps from the front door, when, whoooooooosh. Off again. That was my fault though - I was getting hurried (uh, wasn't I supposed to be back at work 20 minutes ago??) and put too much pressure on it.

Well, to make a long story short after bringing the beastie back down the road several times I finally had to go back to work when it decided to make another trip up on top of someone's garage. Great - now I have a dog that's looking for stock to work every time he comes out the front door, because according to him where there are ducks there must be sheep. My one regret is that we didn't have more time, because I was feeling rather determined to get that beastie BACK in that front door.

I told the girls that if he was still loose when I got home from work we'd try again. I guess I'd better check Nick's pads, too, as he's not used to working on asphalt and concrete. He sure did work like a champ though.

I sure have gotten a lot of ribbing on THIS one now that I'm back at work. When I called to tell them I was trying to catch up a duck, they were like, "You WHAT????". Just another day, hunh?