First 2016 Farm Day

Farm Club met yesterday with the main task of replacing all the missing ear tags so that the ewes are easily identifiable at Shearing Day coming up in two weeks. There were plenty of other tasks too, but I don't have photos of much since I was too busy to get the camera out. First there was the surprise lamb! See the link for that story.

Dona took this photo of all of us as we stopped for a group photo in the barn.This is Jade sporting her new eartag. The ewe lambs' small tags were replaced with their grown-up tags. I decided to start color coding again. All the 2015 lambs have orange. There were also a lot of adult sheep whose ear tags were missing, so we replaced those.We got son, Chris to the barn to take a group shot so Dona could be in it too.We finished up at the ram pen. I took fleece samples to send in for micron testing.Time to relax in the shop......and enjoy donuts that Mary brought to celebrate Dona's birthday last week.

Random January iPhone Photos

I am getting caught up on my photos and found some to share about life on the farm, life in the shop, and life in general (but not very profound).Its a good sign when the chickens start laying again. That means there is more daylight. I have 5 chickens, 1 of whom is old and the other is ancient. I don't expect eggs from the old chickens, but it's nice to know the young ones have kicked into high gear.Rain. That's a good thing, although I'm never really happy about dealing with the mud on the way to the compost (manure) pile.However, it's good when the manure pile is wet through and through. It will become a compost pile much more quickly. I was going to try these for dye but I went out today and they are all shriveled up. Not very long-lived.My friends came and did a Shop Intervention. I need to drastically change some things and get rid of the clutter. I still haven't dealt with that big box but that is all the newest Timm Ranch yarn. I need to get that on the website and start working with it. After the friends left  there was room......for a Learn to Weave class.Mid-January always means that I'm getting older as my youngest son celebrates his birthday. That isn't the full amount of candles he should have had, but it is bright enough!

TNNA 2016

It's been over a week since I was at The National Needlearts Association Convention in San Diego but I haven't been working with my photos. (And in my mind, what's a blog without photos?) This show is where yarn shop owners go to purchase items to bring into their shops.  I have to remind myself that my shop is small, I'm not open 7 (or even 4 or 5) days/week so don't go crazy. As always I found a few things that I'll be very excited to bring into the shop over the next couple of months. Part of the fun though is hanging out with my friend, Irene, who owns Cotton Clouds. She made our hotel reservations. What fun place!This is the beautiful Horton Grand Hotel......and this is Sunshine, a paper-mache horse who stands in the lobby. He came from the saddle shop that was on the ground floor of the neighboring less formal hotel. The hotels were built in the mid 1800's but the saddle shop originated in 1912. Wickipedia says: "Both hotels were scheduled for demolition in the 1970s when the City of San Diego purchased them to build the Horton Plaza shopping center on the site. The hotels were dismantled brick by brick, with each brick numbered, catalogued, and stored. In 1986 the hotels were rebuilt into an entirely new hotel at the present location at Fourth Street and Island Avenue."Our room was lovely.What fun to decorate a hotel like this. The furniture was all old so I assume it was found at estate sales and flea markets. We even had a fireplace (gas so no wool hauling).We spent a lot of our time at the San Diego Convention Center.Here is a message to be read on the way there. This quote in context of time and author if quite serious. In my world the last sentence has particular meaning and is serious enough in my life, if not with as profound a meaning. Fun view while going up the escalator in the Convention Center.Leaving the hotel at night. This is the Gas Lamp District, kind of like Old Sac is for Sacramento.We ate one night at The Field, an Irish pub, while listening to Irish music and dancers. This sign caught my notice.

So what did I buy? My customers sent me on a quest for "sock yarn" so that is what I focused on.But first I found some new equipment. These are prototypes of cool little sample looms designed by author and teacher, Liz Gipson. The unique thing about these looms is that they will be produced in 8, 10, and 12 epi versions, enabling quick sampling of yarns at those setts (and at 4, 5, and 6 epi). There are a few other gadgets I am purchasing here as well. This is the Meow and Woof collection from Ancient Arts Yarns. Each yarn has a photo of the cat or dog that inspired the color. I strayed from my "buy American" plan because I was so enamored with these. They were spun in Italy and are sold by a Canadian company and a percentage of sales goes to dog and cat rescue groups. I have wove a scarf out of the calico cat yarn--that is another post. I already carry yarn from Imperial Yarn Company and these are some inexpensive and simple kits some of which use the yarns that I already have. I want to have a knit-along with some of these.The Fiber Seed will be a new yarn for me. They have some wonderful gradient yarns put together in kits. I'll get those as well as some of the solids and variegated yarns.

Mountain Meadows is a company who has their own mill. I'm getting a sock-weight Merino yarn that is grown in Wyoming. How to choose from all those colors? I'm getting yarn in about a dozen colors.

What will be first in the shop? I can't wait for the UPS truck to show up.

A White Christmas

We spent a lovely Christmas Day with my son and other family members. We got there in the morning before everyone else so that we could spend some time in the forest that is their backyard. I am not a snow person, but I can brave it occasionally, especially when the sun is out, and I'll admit that it was a nice touch to have a beautiful snowy view from inside Matt & Kaleena's warm house with a fabulous woodstove to back up against. The morning began, however, with us  sliding backwards down Matt's driveway in our Explorer. (I am planning to sell this before the next smog deadline, so no new tires for us.) That little glitch solved (by rocking the Explorer out of the snowbank and then parking at the bottom of the hill), we geared up with showshoes and foot warmers in our my boots and walked down to Jenkinson Lake. 

What time I have spent in the snow has been well after the storms have come through. There is something very different and beautiful about being there immediately after the snowfall......while the branches are still heavy with snow.

I loved seeing the snow clear to the tops of the trees. As the sun started warming the trees, snow cascaded from the highest branches.I spent the night at M & K's (Dan came home for chores and dog duty) and the next day Dan came back and brought Chris and Meryl with him. Then we celebrated our private family Christmas.The younger generation helping the older one with digital issues.Chris plays a mini-flute sporting his new Storm Trooper oven mitt.Here are my sheep/barn related Christmas gifts. My wheelbarrows constantly need their tires pumped up so Dan got the fittings to go on an extra air compressor in the barn. There are tubes and tires for my handtruck. Dog treats from Hawaii. Sheep and dog magnets. All the attachments for my new GoPro (birthday present). Footrot Flats is a comic strip series that I think only a sheep farmer would enjoy. Hand and foot warmers packets that I'll share with Farm Club in the barn. We took another hike that afternoon. This was a great two-day Christmas celebration with family. And it's not quite over. The kids are taking us to see StarWars in a couple of days. The only thing missing was my granddaughter and her family but at least we spent a week with them not long ago.

Hawaii - Day 2

A friend of mine sent me a link to her husband's fantastic scenic photos taken during their recent trip to Hawaii. He wanted to see my photos. Ummm. I don't think they will stack up to his. I'm finding that I don't get the same kind of photos when hanging out with a toddler. I have cute toddler pictures, but not too many of the nature shots...at least so far.The potential for wildlife photography began with turkeys walking down the road in front of the house where we are staying, but that is my only wildlife photo. The plan for the day was to spend some time at the beach and visit with my father-in-law and his wife, who have lived here for several years. First things first. An island girl has to have her nails painted... ...and then stay out of the house until the polish dries.On the way to the beach.

Stopping to smell the flowers.Kirby gets a good view of the ocean.We discover that she doesn't like the feel of sand on her feet. It's hard to get in the water if you won't walk in the sand. The water was a bit cool at the start and Kirby decided that it really wasn't for her. While Mom and Dad swam...Kirby was happier in the safety of the lounge chair, although I walked the beach with her quite a bit too.After the beach trip we met up with my father-in-law and others to see the Macadamia Nut Company.One of many special nut flavors.Photos at the gift shop.

Back to the house for naps and then dinner with the family including my oldest son and DIL who arrived that afternoon.

Sheep Close-Ups

Guess which sheep will let me get this close and hold still enough for photos?  Gorgeous fleece.Why, it's Jade! Who else? She's the one in the Santa hat in the previous post.Sheep going out to pasture last week. I've closed the gate today. The grasses are dormant and need warm weather and more daylight to get growing well again...if they get water, that is. This grass is showing signs of drying out. I hope some of the rain that is predicted comes through.

The Holidays

The holidays are upon us. I finally got a newsletter out. I usually get to it about once a month, but if I expect to sell anything at this time of year I need to do it more frequently. You don't sell things if no one remembers that you exist. So the first one is out, announcing a Holiday Open House  in a couple of weeks with two other local fiber vendors and...  ...a holiday craft project (above) and......a photo op with our friendliest sheep dressed in her Christmas garb.Here are some more ornaments that I made from locally grown and dyed wool. By the way, if you'd like to get my e-mail newsletter let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Black Walnut Dye

Here is one dye pot that won't quit. I guess I didn't actually take a photo of the dye pot. But here is a post that has a dye pot full of black walnuts. I had been soaking black walnuts in a 5-gallon bucket for a few weeks in anticipation of getting a shipment of Timm Ranch yarn here. It turns out that due to medical issues at the mill I won't be seeing this yarn any time soon. But a Fibershed event was coming up and I wanted a naturally dyed cloth to cover my table. I decided to use the black walnut, but I didn't want to waste any dye so I thought I dye some yarn too.

This is 5 batches of yarn out of the same dye pot. The first four skeins on the top are from the first batch. The next four are from the second and I crammed the tablecloth in that pot too. The rest of that row is from the third batch using the same dye. It looked like there was still plenty of dye in the pot so I did two more batches that are on the bottom row. They are lighter but still colored. Here is another view. It is interesting (at least to me) that the fifth batch appears to have slightly more color than the fourth. It is a different yarn. The first four batches included Anderson Ranch yarn, white Jacob, and gray and white Jacob. The last batch was Columbia yarn that hasn't been sold and I'll use in a project now.

This is the white Jacob from the first four batches...

...and this is the gray and white Jacob.

I was photographing the skeins outside and out of the corner of my eye I kept seeing this other brilliant color.

Kid'N'Ewe & Llamas Too

For this trip to Texas I combined a family visit with work, although I'm not sure that I should say that visiting a fiber festival is all work. Kid'N'Ewe & Llamas Too is in it's 27th year. It is held in Boerne, TX which is about 50 minutes from my family's home so it was a convenient event to visit. When I was planning my trip I found out that the organizers were still looking for instructors so I applied.

I taught two classes.

The first was a rigid heddle weaving class with four students.The second class was a new one I developed using the Schacht Zoom Loom. There were 7 students in this one. They had all purchased Zoom Looms previously but had not used them yet.I couldn't bring 16 different cones with me but I had wound off several  groups of all those colors in 8 yards (enough for a Zoom Loom square) each. It wasn't difficult to separate the colors.Students learned how to use the loom and went home with flowers and the knowledge to go further with the little loom.

After that Sunday morning class Katie and Kirby and I walked around the vendor buildings.These are batts of fiber ready to felt......on the needlefelt loom that this vendor brings to the shows. Customers can needlefelt the fiber they buy from her for no charge or pay a fee to use the loom for fiber that they bring.Angora goats are common in Texas and there were some at the show.

Where you have Angora goat producers you're going to have dyed mohair.

A few other images from the show:

I think I know where I'll be next year on the second weekend of  November.

More Cutest Grandchild Photos

As I watch this incredible child working her way through her world with curiosity, wonder, concentration, and learning I wonder when and why does this change? Babies are born with the potential to grow up kind and caring. What happens that an innocent and loving child becomes a hateful, ignorant, and cruel person? That's the extent of my public commentary about recent world events but I've been thinking a lot about it as I spend a week watching this new mind develop. Kirby wondering why Mama's hands look so different. Mama was taking advantage of me being here to get some outside work accomplished.

The photo above reminded me of the one below that was taken about 22 years ago.

Visiting Texas

It's been 23 years since I have had to keep up with a 15 month old.  So much work, but oh, so very cute.

Sustainable Cotton Tour

Earlier this week Dona and I went on a Cotton Farm Tour organized through the Sustainable Cotton Project (SCP) and sponsored by The North Face and the CA Sate Water Resources Control Board. The website of the SCP says: "Since 1996, the SCP has been dedicated to the production and promotion of sustainably grown domestic cotton fiber. In the field we work with innovative growers to produce a high-quality fiber without using the most toxic pesticides and herbicides. And, in the industry we connect growers, manufacturers and consumers to develop a Cleaner Cotton supply chain." The tour was a very full day and I took dozens of photos. I've tried to narrow them down for this post but there are still a lot.In most cotton crops a defoliant is applied prior to harvest. I was reading up on this and find that, as in most things, it is a whole lot more complicated than that simple statement implies. Dozens of factors are involved in the decision of to defoliate or not, type of defoliant (hormonal or herbicidal), and timing of defoliation (based on crop maturity and desired harvest time with some weather predicting skill necessary).Most cotton in the U.S. is harvested by machines that pick four or more rows at a time. Close-up of the rotating barb spindles that pluck the cotton from the plant. Warning signs on the harvester.The fiber is sucked up into the back of the harvester.Dona took this photo of me on the harvester and the one below of me watching the module packing. When the harvester is full the load of cotton is dumped into the module builder......where it is hydraulically pressed into modules that will produce up to 14 bales of cotton.This is cotton in the module builder.Modules covered with plastic and waiting to go to the gin.You can see the already-harvested rows. 

After watching the harvest for awhile we went to the nearby gin where the manager spoke to us before we toured the gin.He showed us examples of ginned cotton and by-products. Acala cotton (left) is a brighter white than Pima and it's seeds remain fibrous. Cotton seed (60% of the weight of the harvest) is an important by-product of cotton production. Most is sold as a protein supplement for dairy cattle. (I found it interesting that the "cleaner" Pima seed doesn't stay in the cow's rumen long enough to be digested and needs addition of fiber to keep it there.) Piles of cotton seed.A module just before it enters the gin.Covers removed from the modules.We waited at this entrance to the gin as small groups were taken through. Finally, because we were on a schedule and lunch was waiting, we were all allowed to walk through the gin. The process was described to us prior to entering the gin but once inside I wasn't sure which machine was which. There are dozens of machines and tubes are running everywhere. In the ginning process modules are broken apart and the cotton enters a dryer which removes excess moisture. It passes through several rotating, spiked cylinder cleaners that break up large clumps and remove soil and leaves. The saw gin separates the fibers from the seeds and lint cleaners separate immature seeds and any remaining foreign matter. The cotton then enters a press where it is formed into 500 pound bales.These are the wires that hold the bales together.The bales are wrapped with plastic. (Some were in cotton bags for a specific destination.)Each bale is labeled so that it can be traced back to the field in which is was grown... ...and then loaded for transport.  Even the gin trash has a value, being used for cattle bedding.

This brought us up to lunchtime. I'll finish the story in another post. 

Navigating the Maze

A couple of adventuresome Farm Club members said that they'd go to Cool Patch Pumpkins with me to navigate the Guinness Book of World Records record-holding corn maze. We showed up at 9 a.m. just as the maze opened. (Note for next year: come early because hordes of people show up just an hour later.) Here was our challenge. No trusty steeds were going to get us through the maze.It was an overcast morning which made conditions perfect for squash photography. This is the view from the structure that overlooks the maze at the entrance. The map said turn left for the intermediate adventurer and right for advanced. We turned right. We figured out strategy. 1. Use the map. Otherwise I think it would be hopeless. 2. Mark the route with a pen. Roy was in the lead and spotted subtle markers every so often.

 Checking the map.  There are four or five of these structures where you can get up above the corn and get a view. We made it out with no need for a rescue call. (There is a line on the map that says to call 911 for emergencies only--people have called from within the maze just for help to get out.) Gynna's step tracker said that we'd gone almost 2.5 miles! The sun came out while we were in the maze.Do we need a bath after working out in the maze? It's actually like a giant sand box but filled with corn. It's in the kids' area that cost another $5 to enter so we skipped that.

Next up for the afternoon was the Solano Grown birthday bash where I set up a booth.There was a great raffle and I won four pots of iris from the Pleasants Valley Iris Farm and a dinner out!

Foxy's Fall Century

There aren't many photos here and it doesn't relate to sheep or weaving, but for me this is a blog-worthy event. I used to ride a bike a lot. I rode regularly enough that I could ride in the Davis Double Century (200 miles in a day), finish before dark, and feel good the next day. I rode that ride a few times on my single bike and another three or four on the tandem with my husband. But that was a long time ago. After two back surgeries I decided that the bent over position wasn't the best for me (although the back problems did not relate to cycling--probably more to running) and I was raising kids and working in our dairy, so I gave up the long distance stuff.  The first of those surgeries was 20 years ago and I haven't seriously ridden a bike since, although I ride a mountain bike short distances and my poor old road bike has been relegated to the inside trainer. Dan continues to ride and in the spirit of togetherness I decided to do one of our regular (from the old days) century rides that is in October. I planned to train all year. Didn't happen. I rode the trainer a few times in September and then had dental surgery which set me back. Fortunately we had signed up for the 100 km and not the 100 miles and fortunately we were using the tandem. I didn't get a free ride, but it wasn't as hard as if I had been on my single bike.Our bike needed new tires and tubes, new pedals and one seat (because parts had been used for other bikes) and a major clean-up.Here's the route. Surprise! In the past the 100 mile went into the hills but the 100 km stayed in the flats (more boring, but easier, unless there was a north wind). This year the 100 km had some climbing too as shown  at the bottom right of the map.Eating cookies at the first rest stop. We never used to stop at the first one, but in this case decided that we would take a break. Besides we paid for this ride so we should eat something.Notice the gray clouds. When is the last time it rained in California? We sure need the rain so I won't complain. We didn't get too much on the ride and most of our cycling in the rain was in the last third of the ride. Leaving the lunch stop. We really weren't hungry so ate a few grapes and kept going.There were a couple of professional photographers along the route and photos could be downloaded for free. If we're going to do more of this we might need to get matching gear. I was wearing red and white on top but needed the blue vest because of the weather. And the shoes don't match but I'm still using the cycling shoes that were my father-in-law's hand-me-downs. They work if I wear thick enough socks.  That's not a tan. That's road grime. 

The ride took us about 4 hours including the stops so we were home by 1:00. Chocolate milk was waiting. It was a good ride and maybe I'll do this again. It would be easy if I could just do a ride every now and then and not have to train in between.

Spinzilla Stats

What a team! We placed 18th out of 64 teams worldwide. That's pretty good. In all 5,246,487 yards were spun by those 64 teams plus some rogue spinners (not affiliated with teams). The winning team spun 271,607 yards and the top spinner spun 48,028 yards. Team Meridian Jacobs spun 81, 730 yds, with our top spinner spinning 5687yds. Her comment was that although she doesn't recommend this for everyone, emergency dental surgery (and it wasn't me) meant she couldn't eat or sleep. Why not spin?

Here are more photos from our great week. Thanks to Dona for all these photos. Lisa. There were lots of prizes to keep us motivated.

Spinning at Kathleen's house.

Taking a break for Ginny's birthday party. See more photos at Rusty's blog.

Spinning in Chico. That's our Illinois member on the left who met up with us at Fiber Fusion. A few of our members were on a Sheep to Shawl team at Fiber Fusion so had to figure out their spinning yards in the event.  Ginny on a time-out with no Toy in sight. In the corral for a group photo. The photo we entered in the contest is in the previous post. Another contest entry.What a great group of friends I have. See you here next year. Same time, same place!

Spinzilla Week

Spinzilla, A Monster of a Spinning Week is, according to the website: "a global event where teams and individuals compete in a friendly challenge to see who can spin the most yarn in a week!" The real goal is as a fundraiser for the NeedleArts Mentoring Program sponsored by TNNA. This year 1754 spinners participated and Meridian Jacobs hosted a team. Timing was tough for some of us because the week of spinning was right in between two other fiber events (blogged about here and here) and I was recovering from dental surgery.Members of Team Meridian Jacobs are a dedicated bunch and many showed up for the spinning days we had here on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday as well as in Davis on Wednesday and Chico on Saturday. Six of the 25 members are from out of state and one spinner from Illinois even made it to California for a Spinzilla day. And of course there was a lot of spinning into the wee hours at home by all the members. Results will be posted tomorrow and we'll know how we stacked up. Here are some photos.It's hard to spin outside here without dogs in the way being involved. There will be more photos of Ginny in Rusty's next blog post. A fun part of Spinzilla is the photo contest. One of our members suggested that we stage a photo where we are running, wheels and all, from the giant Sheepzilla. This is Dona's photo that Alison used to create this:Here is another entry......showing how dedicated Team Meridian Jacobs members are. By the way anyone on Ravelry can vote for these photos before October 22 by clicking "love" on those photo entries here and here as well as other photos by our team members and other teams. Some are quite clever so take a look.

Each of our members submitted their yardage and a photo of their yarns. Here are a few.

 

This is the yarn that I spun...Jacob, of course.

The Second Week Ends with Fiber Fusion

I ended the last post with double doses of tylenol with codeine. I decided that I should treat myself this week the way I should have last week--relax, sleep, sleep some more. It didn't work quite like that because it was Spinzilla week, but it was much better than the previous week. People came here and I didn't have to do much else. I'll write another post about Spinzilla and Team Meridian Jacobs later. However, there was another fiber event on the weekend following Lambtown--Fiber Fusion in Chico.I had not planned to be a vendor here. Instead I was scheduled for a talk about the fiber business. I brought a couple of sheep and fiber, yarn, buttons, and lambskins. Some of Team Meridian Jacobs made the two hour drive here to spin together.One very dedicated Team member, who lives in Illinois, scheduled a California visit to coincide with Spinzilla week so we were able to visit with her in person, all the while keeping those wheels going.Spinning side-by-side Jacob roving.Our neighbors on one side were Shaul's, who make all the panels and feeders that I use in the barn. I brought a few more pieces home with me.On the other side was Elvis, the yak. Jackie had a booth inside where it got hot and stuffy. We had the more pleasant conditions with a nice breeze. Although I always enjoy hanging out with my friends and I was thrilled to meet our distant team member, I was still not back to normal and this felt like a really long day. I didn't look forward to the two hour drive home, but then I saw the most beautiful sky and hundreds of geese flying in from the south. I had to stop. I pulled off the freeway at an exit that I recognized as one where I had slept for an hour or so on my way back from Oregon in June. This is the view to the northwest.You can't make out the geese in these but here is the view with my other camera:These don't do the scene justice. This stop along the freeway was a big boost in a long day. I need to go back up there this fall or winter and spend some time in the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge.

Weaving and Other Woolly Things

I've been  checking things off my endless list. Make buttons. There are over 150 buttons here.Weave more products to take to Fibershed's Grow Your Jeans event on October 3. This are four shawls using very soft wool from Anderson Ranch.

Deal with sheepskins. I got one batch in and one batch out. At first I got four boxes with 29 sheepskins that were not mine. Those went back to the tannery. Yesterday I got the boxes with my 30 sheepskins and I photographed them for my website (although they aren't there yet). Not artsy photos, but I  need to show the size and the color and this is how it has worked best for me. In addition I shipped off 42 more sheepskins and am keeping my fingers crossed that I get them back before December. That's a pretty big investment and I need to be able to sell them before Christmas.

Weave a blanket for a customer using her handspun yarn that she sent me last year. I hate having things hanging over my head. When I was finally ready to get to it I opened the box that I though held her wool. Nope--there was something else in that box. Then I almost panicked wondering if it was possible that her yarn had ended up out in the big yard/estate sale that I had over Labor Day. Fortunately that was not the case.

I had spent a lot of time thinking about how best to use this yarn. One worry was that using yarns that are very different is likely to result in tension issues and different elasticity in the finished piece (showing up as ruffly places where it should be smooth and flat). I'm glad that I waited to plan this blanket because one of the last emails that I had from the spinner had the word "gradient" in it. That gave me the inspiration for how to wind the warp and weave it.

I made a gradient from the darkest brown all the way to white in the warp and then I wove with the same pattern. This is double width so this photo shows only the half that goes from dark to mid-brown. The lighter half is underneath. After weaving and unfolding the blanket...

...this is what you get. This is not a very good photo but I just don't have a good place to take a photo of a full size blanket spread out. I am really pleased with this piece and am inspired to do some more like it.

One last thing. At Spinners Night Out one of the spinners said that her husband had made a discovery in his bowl of popcorn:

Mothers & Daughters

I was trying to get photos of ewe lambs that I want to register. The sheep had come in from the pasture so it was more difficult. In addition the lambs (who don't look much like lambs anymore) are still sticking close to their mothers.Alexandria and her lamb, above and below.  Ginseng and her lamb (who is sold but still here). Foxglove and lamb, Foxy. She will be at the Lambtown Sheep Show in a couple of weeks. Foxy and Foxglove.

Donkey break.Hot Lips and her lamb, Honey.

Ginny's First Lessons

Ginny is 11 months old and a few weeks ago I took her for "instinct testing" at Herding-4-Ewe, a training facility just a mile from my house.This is a photo that Dona took on that day. Clearly Ginny is interested. Debbie, the owner of Herding-4-Ewe, makes a determination if she thinks a dog is ready to begin training. Ginny had her first lesson last week and today  was the second.Here Ginny is waiting outside the arena while Debbie gets the dog-broke sheep out.Pretty soon I'll be the one in the arena with Ginny and we'll both be getting a lesson (and I won't be taking photos), but for now Debbie is the one working with Ginny. Look at how controlled Ginny is. This is the look of a dog that is thinking and can learn something new.  She starts off with her favorite direction, "come-by", or clockwise. Her tail is down and she is focused. Dogs have a direction that feels better to them (similar to people being right- or left-handed). They avoid going the other way. One goal of training is to eventually get the dog willing and confidant in going in the less comfortable direction. (By the way, Rusty's best direction is "away", the opposite of Ginny's.

In this photo Ginny is heading "away" in the less comfortable (for her) direction. Notice her tail up. That's a sign of a dog that is not thinking. She's in "play" or "chase" mode like in the first photo.

This is a calm dog.

 This looks good for Day 2.