Hot Hay Field

I didn't take any more pix today but when Rose finally(hint hint) uploads the pix she took last week, I will add them. But it is still just more of the same....beautiful great big hay field with Mt.Baker overlooking us in the SE.
It was pretty damn hot today for our dogs, however the sheep seemed to fair a little better. Except they were being total bitches about running off to the holding pens under the Hydro tower. Lynda's young Lark had a tough day; I have no idea what was up with her other than being stretched out further than her comfort zone so hesitating when she needed to take charge. So she lost her sheep several times to the pen. I had Owen out so sent him to pick them up which was a big stressful job for him; sheep would ring-around-the-rosie at the pen until Pam drew them off. It was still hard work for him to fetch them off her & back to me. So he only did one nice outrun picking sheep up off Lynda, then 2 or 3 pickups off Pam and he was done for it in the heat today. No water tub to cool off in so I just sat with him in the shade of my truck til he cooled off. I was very pleased with his work such as it was. Even Rose's Jana had a tough time gathering the sheep off the pens. Then Lynda worked Try and I took Jayne out. Jayne did a fence run of the entire field on her first go.....I need to somehow teach her a 'come in' whistle. But she held the line beautifully on her fetch when she finally did pick up her sheep. The second run, I sent her come by and asked for a walk up to start her off, plus stopped her when she started to go too wide and asked for another walk up. I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but she had a much better gather. Lynda's Try had a super tough time on each of his gathers; he actually went wide and deep(for a change) on his outruns but as soon as he lifted, the sheep bolted sideways on him, trying to get to the pens. Try did some awesome work doing his best to head them off and was able to get them faced off before they got all the way to the pen. What a good dog he was! At age 6, he is finally starting to come into his own and work well for Lynda....tough little headstrong dog that he is. I didn't work Blair as it was just too hot and it is not the best field for anything that he needs. Dusty also was left in the truck...at least til we were all done, then all four got to have a run with Pam's dogs and then come back to hang out in the shade of my truck. 30c on my deck this morning and about 27c out in the field. I parked up on a little knoll so was able to catch a breeze now & again. I can't imagine a better way to spend the day. Tomorrow the lawn mower calls my name.