Working like a Dog

I love writing about my animals, but his week I've spent very little time with them. You see the Alberta Stock Dog Association is hosting the Canadian finals and the Western Canadian finals this August. As a board of director this means I've been working very hard to get some stuff set up. One of the things I'm working on is putting together a sponsorship package - it costs a surprising amount of money to host a trial. The other thing the board of directors is working on is finding a suitable field. While this sounds easy it isn't. The field needs to be within proximity of a major airport, be a "quality" field meaning no big holes, overly rough etc., as well as large enough to host a trial so around a quarter section size. We are currently investigating fields in the Calgary area.

So this week, I've been working like a dog for the dogs. In addition, I've started rehab on my shoulder to try and make it a little more functional. I've set up my chores so I don't have to do any heavy lifting. Normally I fork hay to the sheep off a round bale. This just helps prevent waste. Right now, the sheep have a round bale in a tombstone feeder, so no forking for hay for me. With Buddy gone I don't have the horses separated which means in the morning I feed a few flakes of hay and in the afternoon I turn them out with the round bale for a while, bring them in and grain them. Bottom line, I'm not carrying water or forking hay, thus saving my shoulder some wear and tear. Hopefully enough to give it some healing time.

All in all it's been a busy week with no play time for me.