Ginny's Favorite Things
/Rusty and Maggie don't fetch. They don't see the point. Ginny, on the other hand, has learned the fun of getting people to throw things for her. She is obsessed with this $10 toy.
In fact she is so obsessed that I can see the focus that Rusty has for herding is the way Ginny acts with this toy. Hopefully when the time comes Ginny will be able to think about sheep with the same concentration.
Right now it's fun for her...
...and it's good for me to have a way to help her burn off energy with something as easy as standing in one place and throwing something.
Ginny also loves to swim in the canal Across the Road. In a recent blog post I described how Ginny is always on leash now on our walks. Swimming in the canal is an exception. So far when I let her go into the water (which did not work well on leash) she hasn't tried to run off and chase birds. But I don't let her off for long--only while she wants to swim.
I decided to combine the Toy and swimming. 
I started by throwing it right close to the edge in case I was the one that had to retrieve it.
It became obvious that I would not be the one going in the water so I threw it a little farther.
And farther.
No problem.
On one throw however it was much closer to the far bank and that's where Ginny got out...
...and then left the Toy.
I told her to go back for it.
She brought it back by walking along the bank until she got to one of the above-water crossings.
I think she would make a dock-diving dog or whatever they call that sport where dogs (many border collies) jump to retrieve favorite toys in water. That would be fun if there was something close by. But we may have to stick with the canal.
...but Ginny walks on a leash.
I found my sheepdog training flag that I had forgotten about. Carrying that has helped her get the idea of not pulling on the leash.
Much of the 2700 acres is leased for cattle grazing.
The last gate before the ranch headquarters.
The sheep are brought into the barn (on the left)...
These bales can weigh 300-400 pounds.
...but looked them up and found that "coots have strong legs and can walk and run vigorously. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers"
This bird is an avocet. I will admit that although I know the Canada goose, I didn't know the other birds. I ran into a docent in the preserve and asked him. Maybe I'll remember these two.
F
Others were in a pen in the barn and FC members lifted up lambs for people to pet.
Here is the problem. When threading the heddles I inadvertently used 7 heddles from the Shaft #5 when I should have used Shaft #4. This is a 4-shaft structure so #5 didn't lift at all. It is an easy fix for the second blanket. Just tie Shaft # 5 up to each treadle in which Shaft #4 is engaged. 
However, the only way to fix Blanket #1 was to needle weave all 7 threads in after it was off the loom. That should be easy (over-under-over;over-under-under), but it took hours because of the nature of the boucle yarn. Thank goodness it was only 7 threads.
After weaving the blankets aren't done yet. Wet finishing is an important step of weaving. It allows the yarns to "bloom" and fills in the spaces that are there when the yarns are under tension. It turns a bunch of interlocked threads into cloth.
My old teddy bear (I won't tell you how old) featured in some of the shots too.