Irritating border collie owners

I am one of those irritating border collie owners,
that like to make their collies jump up and pose on everything.
Not, only that, but the dog then has to stand while I snap a photo.

Lad is my buddy and has to suffer through these indignation's on a regular basis.
What makes it all so much worse is that he HATES having his picture taken.

I was once reading on a photography site about taking pictures of your child.

Taking pictures of a child or a beloved animal boils down to the same thing.

The advice was, amongst a whole list,  to make sure:

• the "subject" is in the mood
• have fun
• don't take too many pictures or make the session too long
• Don't force poses
• Respect their wishes

Yeah right, the ain't happening..

"Up Lad, go up the snow bank"

Good boy

"Now, hang out the window"

"and go up the hill"

"Pose on the old truck"

"Lad, jump on the trailer"

" Laddy, please smile"

 "Lad, stop sulking."

"Lad, come back,

Lad.

Lad!
   LAD!!"

The End.

Mechanical insight..

...was not handed out to me.

I am definitely not as handy as this lass is,

with a wrench.

Oh, by the way, if you like all kinds of retro things,
take a look at my neighbours website
www.theretrobarn.com

When I was at school, I had to do all kinds of aptitude tests to see where my interest and talents lay.

These tests would give me an idea in what direction I should be looking,  to find a suitable career.

Some of the things on my  list of opportunities were jobs such as:

Forrester,

Psychologist,

Biologist,

Dentist (?)

even an agricultural teacher was on this recommended list.

The "other" list was jobs and vocations that I really should not even vaguely consider,

as I had/have no talent whatsoever for them.

On this list was things like kindergarten teacher,

auto technician,

tractor fixer,

salesperson

bookkeeper

Unfortunately, I have had to do a whole lot of these jobs  lately,

I had to get the 2012 taxes done and I have been dealing with some mechanical and technical issues.

The radiator of our tractor tore open,while I was feeding.

Martien (our technical hero and neighbour) and Eric managed to make a temporary fix (no duct tape),

while I ordered a new radiator.

And, then today,

the one side of the front end loader detached itself from the round thing,

you know that round thing that it rolls over when it goes up and down?

See?

And, this needed fixing before I could finish feeding.

So, out came the wrench, and a heavy hammer

and by beating one side and then the other,

I finally managed to have it all back in place.

I have such a sense of pride when I do cope with these mundane technical issues.

I feel like I have conquered my disabilities..

that is,until the next challenge appears.

Sometimes, the nature of the problem is not really mechanical,

more technical.

Oops,

that is not how this grain hopper should be laying.

However, sometimes when putting it on the front end loader,

things go wrong and then the hopper ends up like this..

(mostly it is my doing)

This  challenge is more a spatial problem..

How to lift the hopper up and set it straight, without damaging it or bending it or making it fall in an even more inconvenient position.

My first course of action is to utter some curses,

then have a coffee,

make a photo or two,

phone a few people,

text the photo(s) to some mechanically minded people

and then wait for some solutions.

Eventually, I will get some straps on,

add some chains,

push and heave,

curse,

 and miraculously it all falls back in place.



And,once again I can walk around with that sense of accomplishment.

Today, I had to detach a hitch on one trailer and attach it to another trailer.

All Eric said to me this morning was

try,

look,

figure it out ("it is logical" he added..)

and don't phone me.

My blogs may lead you to think that

 my days are  filled with

sheep whispering,

hugging puppies,

and

visiting with cowboys...

But, as you see, 
it is also plagued by mechanical, technical and spatial problems.

A measure of success?

Our local MD has a bounty on wolves in our area.
$300 per dead wolf.
This bounty was initiated by ranchers who were suffering enormous losses due to the wolves; they were being “overrun” by wolves.
The MD heard their pleas and decided to initiate a bounty program.

According to the MD this bounty is working,
356 wolves have been handed in for bounty money.

However, what is a “measure of success”?

Is it:

• The total number of dead wolves handed in?
• Or, that no cattle are been eaten by wolves ?
• Or is it the ecological devastation it causes?
• How about the complacency it creates in ranchers?
• Or the wasteful spending of (my) tax payers dollars?
• The short sightedness of the program?
• The lack of long term sustainable solutions?
• Co-existance?
• The environmental aftermath of such a program?
• The expansive growth of ungulate populations and other predators?
• How about the number of illegal and fraudulent claims?

Cost of this program?
One hundred and six thousand, eight hundred dollars, (for those who like to see numbers:$106.800,-)
The program is still running.

Math.
Over a 12 year average [2000-2011], Stats from Alberta Wildlife Predator Compensation Program, the average number of cattle predated (by wolves) was 8.75 head of cattle in the High Prairie region, per year.

(These were the ONLY stats available to the general public, documenting predation numbers. I do accept they might not be accurate, let’s assume that these figures are not even close to correct, even if we triple the number, it just does not add up..)

I will let you figure out the Math yourself,
whether the payout is  proportional to the number of cattle being predated on.

That money, could have been  (better) spent on education and finding more effective and sustainable ways to help ranchers who do suffer the most from predation.

Oh, and despite this program,
calves are still being predated on..

So,
how do you measure success?

It is a perversely human perception that animals in their native habitat are running wild.

~Robert Brault