Ginny’s birthday was October 12. She just turned 11. I have only about a zillion photos of Ginny so it was time consuming to narrow this down.
December, 2014. Ginny was two months old.
Many of my photos focus on action with a ball. I wouldn’t say that Ginny is ball-obsessed to the exclusion of all else. On the other hand, she is somewhat ball-obsessed. I have lots of photos taken during our walks Across the Road of Ginny leaping for a ball I have thrown. One reason that there are so many is that I kept trying to get that perfect shot and Ginny was a willing subject over…and over…and over…
I am a sheep farmer and the real reason to have a Border Collie is to help with sheep. That is not necessarily a good time for photos because we are trying to accomplish a task. I don’t have as much work for a dog as the dog would like. We have a small place and pasture management and fencing that makes it easy to move sheep. In recent years my main use of Ginny is to help move rams to catch them or to move the ewes into the barn from the corral. When I need to get sheep out of the pasture it’s usually easy to call them in.
This is a photo from 2018 taken on a walk Across the Road. At that time 5 dogs lived here. Rusty, the first red Border Collie came from Terry Mendenhall, as did Ginny. That’s Maggie at the top of the photo. The two black dogs are Finn and Sawyer who moved to Boise when Chris and Meryl moved.
Rusty, Ginny, and Maggie pursuing some kind of critter, probably a ground squirrel that ran into the woodpile.
This was a celebration of Finn’s and Sawyer’s birthday. All dogs had to wait for permission to have their treats.
Ginny in 2019.
Ginny has always created her own entertainment by dropping the ball at the top of the ditch and letting it roll in. I tell her to “get it”, she retrieves the ball, and does it all over again farther up the road.
I try to pay attention when we get to the part of the canal that is cement. There are places where the water level drops a couple of feet and the water flows quickly, creating a whirlpool effect at that drop. Ginny can get in and out of the cement canal when the water is not so turbulent, but I don’t want her in this part. She seems to like the game of dropping the ball at those places and then expects me to get it out. The drop-off creates a turbulent whirlpool and the ball disappears and then resurfaces over and over, but doesn’t move downstream. I’m not getting in there and I’m not sending Ginny in. There have been several times when I was able to create a net with a forked stick and the leash, and eventually snag the ball by leaning over the wooden plank that is the walkway over the canal.
Here is another of Ginny’s habits. When the skirting table is in this part of the barn and I am working Ginny intentionally puts the ball in this spot and then moves behind the wall of the barn and that upright pipe and expects me to get the ball, often barking at me if I haven’t paid attention.
Lambtown was last weekend and Terry was there with her sheep and her older dog that she didn’t want to leave home. This is Jill, Ginny’s mom, who is now 14.
I took this photos of Ginny last week. Looking pretty good for11!
What better place to entertain an 18-month old than a gravel pile with tractors? 
These trucks and tractors have been in the garage for 25+ years
Hose off the spiders and they’re as good as new.
Watching kids can be exhausting. Notice what Ginny is looking at–that’s her ball right next to Dan.
Kasen found the ball-thrower.
That kept Ginny entertained even though Kasen wasn’t able to throw the ball very well. 
See 
Leaves are turning color and falling.
They will be gone soon.
The black walnut leaves are already gone. Or maybe this is one of the trees that is dead. I think the drought took it’s toll on some of these.
The view looking southeast.
Ginny’s ball was cracked and even with the “Chuckit” I couldn’t throw it very far.
Rusty runs after Ginny every time she goes for the ball. Then he runs back with her but he doesn’t always keep up with her now.
There were sunflowers in one of these fields and there were lots of seeds dropped on the road at harvest time. Now they are all sprouting.
This is Ginny while I was on the ground trying to take seedling emergence photos.
So you know that she put the ball right under my camera.
Ginny, do you know that broken tennis balls don’t float? She spent time looking for it after she had taken it into the canal.
Back at my driveway there were beautiful leaves to photograph. A wild grape vine.
Walnut tree.
Ginny and her lamb.
Ginny and her moose.
Ginny at 7 months with the favorite Toy.
Ginny not so happy after her little operation so that I wouldn’t have to worry about what might happen while I was going to be gone for two weeks.
At 10 months Ginny discovered that she wasn’t a big fan of drones.
First herding lesson at Sheepdog Debbie’s place (Herding-4-Ewe) just down the road.
Ginny’s first birthday.
This was taken on the first walk a few weeks ago. The dogs are on the leash until we get off of Meridian Road.
The field was bedded up and planted about two weeks ago.
Can you see the sprouts when you look at one of the lines almost right in the middle of the photo? Those are sunflowers.
The most exciting thing for the dogs is that the canals were filled about a week ago.
On the last walk I noticed that Rusty spent more time than usual in the water. He usually just goes in when he’s hot and gets out again, but this time he spent time cruising (the best way to describe his half walking/half swimming) up the canal. I think his hips are bothering him so much that it felt better to move that way.
He also needs help getting out now. Last year I helped Ginny out. This year it will be Rusty. 
Wet dog.
The alfalfa has been cut and baled once already and is now being irrigated.
Here is another week’s growth of the sunflowers.
The best surprise for Ginny I think is that she got to chase the Toy into the water again. Rusty will have more of these photos on 
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