gopro and a chest strap.

she’s too tiny for the dog harness they make!

i’ve been doing the audiobook thing a ton. it’s the primary way i consume books these days.

thanks! (also, worst birthday present ever, AMERICA.)

thanks!

got my early vote in on friday, since i suspected the lines were going to be long today.

today is my birthday. 🥳

sheepdog festival last weekend was great. echo got to hang out and get a billion pets from all kinds of people, which is her favorite thing! she also had her first hotel stay, which went really well. she only barked three times (at the shower).

last night, our first rally submission was recorded, which i sent in today for judging. pretty sure we’ll get a passing score, easy peasy. i want to look into some more virtual titles we can do, since i get ring stress pretty bad. 😅

A vote for Stein is a vote for Trump unless you’re in a ranked-choice locale.

unless your in NC and voting for josh stein, who’s actually pretty great.

ah, then maybe uncovering is so that i can pull them all out, hahaha.

i have photos somewhere on my phone, but we began clearing the back section of our yard for the eventual meadow installation in a year or so! we raked up all the leaves/sticks/junk and got about 1/3 of it covered in cardboard to kill everything off. i need to read back over my materials, but i think the idea is to uncover for a month every few months to let the weed seeds germinate, then cover it back up to kill them off.

actual seeding will happen in early october of next year, likely with a mix from prairie moon.

another weekend, another fast CAT event! jean did her two runs perfectly (no trying to bite the releaser), which solidifies my thought that the people the weekend before were handling her too roughly. she got to wear her fancy new collar with the handle, which may have helped, too. echo actually ran a couple of times (1/2 distance the first time), but she didn’t really know what was going on, haha. i figure i’ll do a few more practice runs with her before i start entering her “for real.”

echo also starts her first rally obedience class tonight! i’m really excited, even though its from 8-9pm (so laaaate).

i’m just about done with the border collie rescue website (pro-bono work), and i’ll be sure to share that once it’s live. lots of cute dog pictures there. :)

ooblets is one of my favorite in this genre. it’s got a great soundtrack, the humor is spot-on, and it’s got an anti-capitalist message.

Miss Shirley, my 10yo cat, is walking on a leash now!

i love that!

scheduled when i plan to vote (early). need to do my research first!

good news: jean (chi mix) got a new personal best on sunday for her 100-yard dash (8.65 seconds / 23.65 mph)! we have another event this coming weekend at a different club, and we’ll probably meet up with some social media dog friends. :)

i’m pet sitting for a sweet border collie from the same rescue where i got echo, so that’s been fun. speaking of echo, we’ve stalled a bit on our nose work course, so i need to get back into that once i’m back at home. been having too much fun with treibball.

firewatch is a personal favorite.

the individual therapist matters a lot. i know friends who have gone through many before landing on one that actually helped them. i know that’s not ideal, but it is an option. it’s also a slow process for lots of folks.

two friends of mine are actually on ketamine treatments to help with their mental health after trying everything else.

Therapy didn’t help

there are lots of different kinds of therapy, so i hope it doesn’t completely discourage you from ever going again.

saw the substance last week, and i’m still thinking about how great it was.

planted an oak tree.

took loki (aussie) and echo (border collie) to try a couple of new sports on sunday: treibball (pronounced try-ball) and barn hunt. loki liked pushing the big ball around a lot in the former, and echo has a great nose for barn hunt.

oh yeah, no dogs in the front yard thank goodness!

I think posting about your plan would be a good starting point for some conversations and might encourage some other folks to emulate you

once i actually start doing the work, i definitely will!

Did they talk to you about solarizing next spring using tarps?

they did, but this area of the yard is pretty shady, so the guy leading the workshop specifically recommended using cardboard and mulch for maximum annihilation.