Compromise

This past weekend was fabulous.  I've had so much to chew over mentally that I'm just catching up now.  One of the "Aha" moments for me was removed from the sheep field.  It was sitting in my dearest friend's kitchen, watching out her window as Diva and Ryder raced around her yard.  She lives in the city.  I live in the country.  Where do you think my dogs had the most freedom?

Her yard was like Disneyland for them.  I don't think they stopped playing the entire time they were out there.  In fact, I think they played sooooo hard that Diva neglected to do her potty in the yard.  (BAD Diva!!!)  *I may, just may, owe her husband something nice for cleaning up after my dog....*  It made me think that maybe my dream of my own little farm needed to be reevaluated.

I've been house shopping.  Land is expensive here.  In order to find anything in my price range I'm a minimum commute of 45 minutes.  The biggest problem I've been facing is everything in my price range is junk.  Falling down, strange additions, junk!  Watching my dogs in the city made me think that perhaps I need to do some compromising.  I've decided that I will begin to look at acreages in subdivisions (generally 3 acres or smaller).  What this means is giving up on having sheep at home and the space to train dogs on site.  It also means finding Bella a new home.  Dumping Bella goes against every fibre of my being.  But can you imagine my new neighbor's joy to discover this giant white dog that roams her "territory" barking to warn off predators?  *said dryly*  I'd be very popular!

The compromise is finding Bella a new home, traveling to work sheep, but being able to keep the horses with me and having a fenced yard for my Borders.  We shall see how it all turns out...