Into the Woods

The sun has come. At least for the moment. 
I have been told it will remain changeable weather. But the cold has gone. We may have wet and cloudy weather at times. But at last summer is pushing itself into the picture.

And you can see it in the countryside. The meadows have flowers. 
And all the deciduous trees are now in leaf.

I thought I would share with you a view of the woods around me:

The Light and the Dark of the Forest


The Bright Flash of Colour in the Meadows


And then we have the Songs of the Birds

Bear's Second Report Card

This is a Boast Blog.

Bear is on the move↑. 

It is coming together. He still has a lot to learn. Nothing is perfect and he still makes mistakes. You cannot go to the pub for lunch and leave Bear in charge yet! But he understands, feels comfortable and wants to do the work.
And he is becoming less stressed about sheep things (look at video Noisy Sheep; this is what they do to him for no good reason!) He is getting the idea about what to let go to the keeper. As Susan Sullivan (USA) said in a Comment, it is wonderful what regular exposure does for a dog. In good hands he settles and does the job. 
IF we continue on as we are now going Bear might end up as a useful member of the team yet. 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌  (But I think Dana may have a say in that.)

What delights me most is that the sheep have not been in the mountains for a full month. And it really has been a huge learning curve for him. So I believe and hope that from now on Bear can relax into consolidating his new skills.

May 2

May 3

May 5

May 11

May 13

May 17

Whenever he can !

*******no apologies for the blatant self congratulation!! or for the excessive media content!! 
With animals you take your successes as you have them. Who knows what Bear will do to me in the future!!!

The darling buds of May

May would seem to be universally celebrated around the northern world for the coming of summer.

I was here when the locals saw off the wicked spirit of winter (The First Steps 9 March) and now everywhere I go I see the villages and towns are celebrating the coming of the new season. (Even if it is taking longer than they expected.) And like England the Schwaben have a May pole.

The Hausen an der Lauchert Maibaum is right at the bottom of my street, next to this highly perched Church which happens to have one of the most charming cemeteries I have ever seen.

They start to get fancy in Langenenslingen

Our neighbour (and Georg's territory) Magerkingen

I have spoken to several people and there is no real explanation for the Maibaum  "it is a tradition". But an excuse for a party and some drinking is always given as a good reason to have them!!
They are Germany wide so they are not just Schwabische. Apparently villages do often compete on the height and straightness of the Baum. They go up on the 1st May and remain the whole month.
My teacher, Reinhold, confessed as a young man having put one in his girlfriend's garden. (This too is part of the "tradition" and I see single trees quite often.)
And on the eve of May 1 the children go around the village playing practical jokes. There is no Trick or Treat. Quite the opposite. The point is not to be caught out.

But as I pointed out in an earlier blog, these villages are all within a few kilometers of each other, so it is lovely to drive around and see these Maibaum. It gives a sense of wider community and shared experiences. On a (currently rare) sunny day they are a quaint and eccentric delight to me.


Oh, as an extra visual delight for you here is where I am living till the end of the year. In the video I refer to my balcony. At the moment it is Bear who spends the most time there. But when it warms up I expect to have many a gin and tonic (or perhaps a Schnapps) out there on the long summer evenings when the sheep are safely tucked up in their pen.

Working in the mountains

Bear and I are now living the dream of this trip. We are out and about with the sheep in the Alb as Georg moves them from one pasture to another.
The rains have been slow to come and the grass has not had enough sunshine to grow high yet.Typically Georg would expect to cross his mountain territory three times in a season. We shall see how it goes this season.
Bear has a work day then a rest day. It is a good rhythm for me too, although I have a bit more to do with the sheep. I sometimes check out the sheep on the off day or even help Georg move a vehicle/cross a road. Georg is easy going. He lets me set the tempo of my involvement.

A feature of this wandering shepherd lifestyle that I had not quite factored into my brain is the effect of this movable feeding on my inexperienced dog. As well as learning new tending skills Bear has to learn to cope with an ever changing environment. Each time out he is in a new place. It blows his mind. The steep hills, the common lack of defined borders and a large mob of very vocal (the lambs), mobile grazing sheep are new to him. It is nothing like home. And it certainly is not a reassuring environment for him.

But he looks forward to working and each session he shows growth. Bravo Bear.

And I am loving it too. Its challenging just to find my way around. Everything is within walking distance of our starting point of course but it is around corners and behind trees🌲🌲🦌🌲🌲 I am finding I have a lousy sense of direction!!

Here is a taste..

Georg is in Magerkingen with Zora, Yukon, X (featured) and Dana (Bear's working partner and a real sweetie) on the one brilliant sunny day we have had.

and.......

*****those tending people reading this will have noticed that I am always showing Bear along a reasonable border. That is because I am not in a position to photograph (yet) when we are doing other exercises eg corners, pen entries, open ground. Bear still needs help and I am somewhere near him encouraging/instructing.
But in all honesty this is not really about Bear alone. It is about the total picture of a shepherd's working lifestyle.

 

Schwabische Alb

I am off tomorrow to go and be registered as a foreigner living here. It is the first step for the visa I must have to stay till the end of  the year. I have been here for two weeks and I am loving it. Although I complain, and shall continue to, about all the steep slopes I must climb I love being up in the mountains. Although they could not be called "wilderness" they are still rugged enough. Things are not always as neat and lines as straight. The towns especially sometimes struggle to fit in with the terrain.
The weather too has gone its own merry way. We have had snow, bitter cold, rain, mist, overcast and finally a superb sunny weekend. Sunday was my first free day so Richie, Bear and I set off.

I give you my new home....................

 


And my new backyard....................

I make no apologies for the choice of music. 
It had to be selected ♬♪♫♬♪♫♬♪♫♬♪♫♬
I apologise though for the abrupt ending. I blame YouTube 💻💻💻💻