What I intend this to be, is a chronicle of a life in transition. An upheaval of everything- a career, a lifestyle, everything I find familiar & comfortable. Getting back to basics; however cliche` it may sound. I'm following an inner drive- a yearning to do something- the longer I pursue it, the closer I come to finding what I'm looking for. Like a city-born cattle dog who's never met a cow, but goes around trying to herd things anyway. If she keeps at it, and ends up in the right place at the right time....sooner or later, she'll end up nipping at the heels of the cattle she never knew she wanted so much.
I was born and raised in suburban Florida, and two years ago I found myself in South Dakota, chasing an over-the-road trucking job. When the job didn't work out and the economy flatlined; I found myself ready to get away from trucking (I did it for 5 yrs). I also found myself unwilling to leave South Dakota. The cold winters didn't faze me, the cheap cost of living enticed me....and something I couldn't quite put my finger on, captivated me. Cows in the fields, tractors on the roads, tiny towns where silos were skyscrapers. Vast stretches of two-lane road where I could be the only vehicle for 20 miles. Friendly folks who waved as they passed and didn't think twice about removing their keys from their cars when they parked outside the grocery store. Things unfamiliar- almost alien- to someone like me....and for some reason, I found myself falling in love with a place so simple, peaceful and at the same time new & mysterious.
I've since decided to embrace this place- and find a permanent way to make a living that will be enjoyable for me AND will enable me to live out in the country permanently. Always an avid dog lover, by some glorious stroke of fortune I've found somebody willing to teach me how to train hunting dogs; a profession that might just pay the bills one day here in pheasant country. But I've got a long way to go yet before that happens. For now, it gives me a good reason to get out of bed in the morning, and that's more than I could have asked for 2 years ago.
I've got a long way to go in general. At the risk of sounding like so many other suburbanites who have fled to the countryside with idyllic visions of "homesteading" and becoming "self sufficient"....it's pretty much what I've got in mind too. However without the financial means to invest in property and tackle it all at once, I'm forced to take everything one step at a time. It's frustrating- but hopefully I'll avoid the pitfalls of being "up to my armpits" in unexpected challenges & not a clue how to handle them.
I don't currently own property (I rent). I don't own livestock...hell, I've never laid my hands on a live chicken, let alone eaten a fresh egg still warm from the chicken's ass. I've never planted a garden; at this point I've had poor luck keeping houseplants alive. The very idea of canning frightens me. Sewing machines send me into paroxsyms of hysteria. I can't tell a Simmental from an Angus; and as much as I like the sight of peaceful cows grazing in a meadow- they scare the hell out of me up close. I've never operated a lawnmower, never tilled soil, never pulled weeds. I've never shot a shotgun (just handguns- and only once). For that matter, I've never killed a live animal, except for fish and roadkill. And yet, here I am not only wanting to raise a few chickens and a goat or two....I'm hell-bent on moving to the heart of pheasant country, learning to train bird dogs, which will eventually entail going out pheasant hunting with my own dogs, at some point.
I am fairly certain I've got the chutzpah for it all- I've never been the squeamish type and I'm certainly not a bunny-hugger. What's difficult to handle are the incredulous looks I get from locals, when I admit ignorance to these things that are second-nature to them. Not too many "homesteading suburbanites" make it as far out as central South Dakota; I am an oddity. I embarrass too easily. The learning process is going to be a long one- not because I'm a slow learner, but because the more I learn, the more I realize I didn't know I needed to learn in the first place!!
So this blog will hopefully have it all. Dog training. Human training. A city kid's viewpoint on a "new and exciting" country life, that will hopefully strike a chord with those who can personally relate to my 'journey' AND those who cannot :).
OK this post answers my 'waving' question :) I must have grown up in a much more rural part of Florida than you did - I did all that farm-y stuff as a kid, including owning my own horse and cattle herding on my family's 9000 acre cattle/tree farm (and up close chasing with a stick - we were kids and probably could have outrun them had they turned on us). Being willing to ask the dumb questions is probably the biggest obstacle you'll face, people love to share what they do.
ReplyDeleteOn the herding dogs - I got a huge kick out of that. I have two mutts - a german shepherd/chow mix who is your average, not-too-smart, sweet dog. And a Border Collie-beagle mix (Lucky), who has the worst qualities of each breed. She's SURE she's in charge. She's way too smart for her own good, as well as stubborn as any beagle can be. She is Border Collie smart enough to breach any enclosure, with the beagle wanderlust. She is impossible, and I'm crazy about her.
I once had both dogs (on a Y lead), and the border collie/beagle's cat (yes, is was HER cat)in my arms, a mistake I now realize. I was waiting for the vet to open with all 3 animals on their small porch vestibule, when it started to rain. So the other people waiting, with their dogs, scrambled up on the porch. The other dogs started barking at the cat, she panicked, and climbed me like a tree and was across the parking lot in a flash. As it was next to two busy streets, I panicked too - and let Lucky loose with the plea, "Find your kitty!" one of her favorite games at home, INSIDE the house. She shot across the parking lot in the wrong direction (I thought) between two parked cars. I ran over with dufus dog still on the lead, and found Lucky laying ON the cat, holding kitty down with her front legs, and not moving. I was able to easily pick up the cat and proceed into the vet's office. It was startling to me, since all previous "find your kitty" games had been hide and seek and wrestle each other fun, nothing like this. That herding instinct is amazing!
This is brilliant! So very clever, now lets see what else I might catch in my web of silk spirals. Thank you Will!
ReplyDelete_____________________
Dog trainers Memphis