BevLive: notes in the rain

It's raining out. I think it's the first rain I have seen since I left home. We went over to Ellen's this morning and did a little dog work. First time I have had poor Esther out in days. Ellen's sheep are mostly huge range ewes with some fairly aggressive Suffolk types for seasoning. Esther really impressed me again. The sheep didn't want to go from their home field across the road to our practice field at all. It was a very tricky bit of work to keep them off the gates and force them across the pavement.  Esther handled it perfectly. She wasn't quite so good later doing some driving when she again demonstrated a very stubborn form of dyslexia. If she ever gets to be 100% on her flanks she could be very dangerous.

I worked Hemp on shedding. He is suddenly shedding very poorly. I have no idea where this is coming from–he is normally a brilliant shedder. Somewhere on this trip something has thrown him off. We did a bit of shedding and had some success, for which I could praise him vociferously and then we quit. I was reluctant to try and correct Hemp's poor sheds, lest I discourage him from coming in when called. I'm very concerned about this. I have a few more practice chances lined up and I'll try and concentrate on his shedding.

We, Amanda Sandra, and I, left Meeker around 10:30 headed back along the RT40 way for Heber and Salt Lake, planning to stop and swim the dogs at the lake again. Alas, just as we arrived it began to rain and continues to rain still, occasionally with some seriousness. We are currently at Shauna Gourley's place in Utah. It's a beautiful drive here through some really dramatic mountains into this great valley. Really pretty country.

We stopped at Whole Foods in Park City, Utah. Beyond our trucks on the mountain are the ski jumps from the Salt Lake winter Olympics.

Everything in the camper and all the dogs are very dusty from the parking area at Meeker. I am anxious to find a place to swim the dogs and get rid of the dust.