Tuesday, October 23, 2007

BORDER COLLIE FOR SALE

I have decided to sell our Border Collie. She is a lovely, lively active girl, and I just can't keep up the pace right now.
Keen-Eye Wisp needs more attention than I have time. I now travel a fair amount with my
job, and am away a lot on the weekends. I decided in all fairness, that she should be with someone who is willing to spend more time with her, or someone who has other dogs or border collies.
Wisp is 4 years old. She is not spayed, but her shots and heartworm medications are up to date.
She is started on the sheep. We have worked a great deal on driving the sheep this summer, and not much on gathering, so her gathering abilities are rusty. She was trained on whistles, so sometimes gets her verbal commands mixed up - but she tries hard. Once in a while, my ducks distract her, and she decides she would rather herd them than the sheep - but she still tries very hard. I would love to see her go to a home with another Border Collie to give her more confidence around the sheep - but she would also make a great house dog - flyball dog, or agility dog. She is crate trained very well.
Please - serious inquiries only. Please contact me either through my blog on the comments section - or by e-mail: tammyward@xcelco.on.ca

Sunday, October 14, 2007

A Weekend Getaway

As promised in yesterday's blog, here are a couple of pictures of our weekend getaway on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend (October 7-8).

First of all, Kevin and I decided to go on an
Artist's studio tour called "Around the Sound"
The "Sound" means Owen Sound, and it is a beautiful little town that is set at the bottom of a sound up in the Bruce Peninsula here in Ontario.

We packed a picnic lunch - and made the 3 hour drive to Owen Sound. After touring several studios, we decided to make the 1 1/2 hour drive further up the Bruce Peninsula to Tobermory.

For those of you that don't know the area - the Bruce Peninsula is part of the Niagara Escarpment, carved out by Glaciers eons ago.

It is a huge tourist - summer spot. So we were
very lucky to get a room. We got the last room at a little inn called the Grandview. The top picture shows the view off of our balcony - out over "Little Tub Harbour". You can see the ferry that travels between Tobermory and Manatoulin Island in the background - and various smaller islands in the back. I should mention - the weather at home was 92 degrees that day - but up in Tobermory - it was only 80 degrees - so much nicer.

We proceeded down to Cragies for fish and chips. Craggies is a little "shack" at the waters edge,
with awesome fish and chips. It's almost impossible to get a seat during dinner - but we were later enough that we got in.

The next day, we journeyed over to "Big Tub Harbour" - which adjoins "Little Tub Harbour", and went to the lighthouse. The lighthouse is not a large structure - but is as pretty as any that you will ever see. Set out on the rocks - it makes for a beautiful picture. We spend about an hour wandering around , and then headed back home, stopping at several pottery studios along the way (did I mention that I am a potter)? We arrived home around 6 pm - to still hot, hot weather. Oh, how I would love to live up in the Bruce - but the winters are brutal.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Back to Reality


It's been a rough month. I've found the loss of my little baby boy Mew to be very devastating in my life. The tears continue to flow on a regular basis - I do want to thank everyone who offered such kind words - both on my blog and privately.

I know that I have to get back into the swing of things.

I have been busy this month, and that's part of the reason I haven't been blogging. Work for me, at this time of year is usually quite busy. I've signed up with the college and rejoined my local
potters group, and I'm going to join one of the local spinning guilds as weel. I have also been away every weekend to a different function, an arts tour, a weekend getaway to Tobermory - and more arts tours, and today, a trip to Carole Dailley's Farm, to see her sheep. I met up with my good friends Cate and Al DeSantis, who also have Shetland sheep. We had a wonderful lunch at their farm - then went out to visit with her sheep. I brought home 2 beautiful "Dorking" roosters from Cate's today - more about them in a few days. Then we took the lovely rolling hill drive over to Carole's place about 20 - 30 minutes away.

Carole held an "invitation only" open house today, to showcase the new farm and property. It is a beautiful 92 acres of rolling land near Brantford, Ontario. She had rovings, yarn, and blankets
all made from her lovely shetland fleeces.

Carole's new farm name is "Chassagne" Farm. The picture above, is of the ewes and small lambs in the main field. Sorry it's a bit distant - my close-up function on my camera made the pictures fuzzy for some reason today.
Off to the left is the ram pasture. Behind us are the beautiful brand new barns. I bought some
rovings (like I need more wool), and a great little tote bag. It was horribly cold - with a biting wind, but Carole had hot apple cider, coffee and cookies galore.

And - here come the rams - checking out the action. Some gorgeous looking fellas in this group. Again - sorry it's a bit fuzzy and distant - maybe because my hands were so numb. Stupid me - I forgot my mittens.



Around 4 pm, we said goodbye to Carole - and wished her well - hoping to someday go back and buy one of her beautiful lambs. Then, off on the long drive home - about 2 1/2 hours with the traffic. I am pooped.

Tomorrow I will try to post again - maybe some pictures of my trip last weekend to Tobermory.

I think I'd better go lie down now -I kind of feel like a walking zombie - I've been on the road since 8 am this morning.