Tag Archives: Blue Heeler

June-July: A List

Whew! This summer has been crazier than any other summer I think I’ve experienced. And by crazier, I mean BUSY. And by busy I mean, my poor little blog takes the back burner more than I would like.

Today, I’m going to attempt to squeeze June-July into one post.

1. I’ve been working 2 days a week at the law firm I work for in the city. I love the job, but I do not love the 2.5-3 hours I spend on the road getting there and back. And see, my right foot is kind of on the heavy side and I’m all about efficiency, so I’m waiting for the day when I become both an employee and a client.

2. After returning from Orange Beach, we had the Tri-County Fair to go to. This is Taegan leading her calf, Triumph, into the barn.

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She’s looking less and less like a toddler every day, which means I catch myself just staring at her while wave after nostalgic wave rolls through me all the while trying to picture who she’ll be when she grows up…

WAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

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She had a great time and made new friends. Some human, some bovine.

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Naturally, she and Triumph won first place.

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(Little secret: It helps when you have absolutely no competition. Zero.)

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A blue ribbon, a new lead rope, and a good friend.

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Because of Triumph’s star status and her new position as playmate, she gets the privilege of just running free in our yard. I look out the window and there’s Triumph just walking around, picking grass, looking in windows, chasing Banjo, or being led around by Taegan. (She still gets “showed” on a daily basis). Basically, Triumph is now a pet.

She sometimes gets tired of being led around and runs into the brush and weeds. This occurred a few weeks back. Never fear, though. I’m definitely not raising a dummy.

Who does one call when a cow won’t come out of the brush and weeds?

That’s right…Banjo.

I stepped out on the deck and witnessed this: Triumph had made it impossible for Taegan to get to her, so I heard Taegan yell, “Banjo!”

Dun-Dun-DAAAHHH! He really does need a cape.

He runs to her and looks at her like, “What ya want me to do?” She says, “Go get it!” Trust me, you don’t have to tell him twice. He lives for this. He bounds off barking and carrying on, gets behind the calf, and drives her straight to Taegan.

I was totally enthralled. The intelligence of both my daughter and her dog…I couldn’t do anything but laugh and then go call her dad.

Triumph doesn’t run into the brush anymore. And Taegan really doesn’t need a lead strap for Triumph to follow her around now. She just does it.

And Banjo gets to lay in the shade and enjoy some reprieve.

For now.

(Note about Banjo: I mentioned that we were sending him to get trained a few posts back. Weeeeellll, it didn’t go so well. See, we wanted him to learn how to herd. Like, go get the cows and bring them all to the barn for us. Long story short, he got kicked out of herding school. You should have witnessed my husband. The disappointment. The anguish. The embarrassment. Blue Heelers are what the trainer called “drivers.” Border Collie’s are “herders.”She told us up-front that she didn’t know if he would do it, but she’d give it a try. Yeah…no. But you know what? He’s still very useful around here. As a playmate, as entertainment, as a guard dog, and as a helper. Taegan obviously knows what he’s good at and when the farmer is out rounding up the girls to go the barn and he has one that just doesn’t care about going, all he has to say is, “Where’s Banjo?” and she’ll start moving right along. She doesn’t think we really need to go to extremes, now, do we? They’d rather him not be around.)

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Getting a picture of all of our kids even looking at the camera is impossible, but they all really enjoy this time of year. It’s a lot of work getting these calves ready and they (and their parents) put a lot of time into preparing. My sister-in-law, Tanna, was the one that really worked hard with Taegan and her kids and we’re glad because Taegan probably wouldn’t show at all if it wasn’t for her. Thank you, Tanna!

There’s a lot more over the last couple of months to tell you about, but I’ve got to take Taegan to swim lessons, so I’ll just have to write more throughout the following days. Stay tuned.

 

To be continued…

 

Breauna

The Babysitter

This is Ace. He’s Dad and Mandy’s dog.

He’s a Blue Heeler, one of the stereotypical farm dogs. He’s actually a “Blue Header,” though. My dad works on the road a lot and never really got to teach Ace to go for a cow’s heels. He tries to latch onto the tops of their heads. He’s been knocked for a loop a time or two, but it never phases him much. He also has been accidentally run over with the four-wheeler numerous times. Trying to bite the tires of a moving ATV is never a good idea. My brother-in-law, Jason, actually got in a four-wheeler wreck trying not to run over Ace. He landed in a patch of briars and sported a black eye for a week.

Not cool, Ace. Not cool.

Ace spends his days sleeping on the porch, chasing birds (that are flying up in the air, mind you. Some day, maybe one will croak mid-flight and fall right out of the sky) and squirrels, killing varmints, “helping” with the evening cattle feeding rituals, bringing tree limbs onto the porch (sticks would be too easy), and babysitting.

The babysitting is my favorite part. Ace may not be the smartest dog in the world, but he loves Peanut. I like to think of him as a muscle-head security detail. All he needs is some black sunglasses.

If Peanut is out and about, Ace is always a close distance behind her. She gets really mad at him if he gets in her face, so he tags along a few feet back.

SQUIRREL!

Sometimes, Peanut falls asleep on my way home from somewhere. Instead of getting her out of the car and waking her up, I sometimes leave her in the car and check on her every little bit. Most of the time, Ace lets me know when she’s awake, though. He goes down there to my car and just sits by the back door and stares at the house like “Helloooooo? Baby’s awake.” It’s so cute!

Needless to say, he’s endeared me to him.

  

P.S. That first pic of Ace was taken with that new lens I showed ya a while back. When I saw what a good picture it created of Ace, I was shocked that I was the one that  actually took it. Highly recommend.