OMg

I dropped the camper off at Camping World at 9am and I putzed around all day trying to keep busy. I spent 4 hrs this afternoon wandering Camping world until 5 when I finally asked about the trailer and they told me they had not worked on it but would work on it first thing in the am. I was pissed. They certainly could have told me that earlier and I would have gone back to the campground and relaxed in comfort. So I said bring it out so I can take it back to my campground for the night. It took them 30 min to find it and when they finally brought it out, the brand new electric jack had been bent and was unusable. Soooooo I am spending the night at Camping World. The dogs are not happy and the parking lot is lit up like a carnival. And I am right on the main drag. But .... it did give me time and incentive to figure out why my tv antenna would not work. got that straightened out and I think I actually understand it.

Tomorrow, they hopefully will fix the trailer and I am going out to dinner with Kathy and Roger.

I just did some trick training with the dogs. THey love that meat roll from Jeffers. I taught Dually to pick up the dinner bowl and I worked on Edge picking it up and starting to stack them. noisy but cute.

Back to Dothan Al.

I left this morning around 9:30am The drive was only 244 miles, but I followed the Iphone and some times I don't think she has any clue how to get anywhere. Seems like I should have been able to drive a couple miles from the campground and get on a highway that would lead me to rt I85. Instead I took a highway with a lot of stop lights for about 20miles to I85. Oh well, not in any hurry. I did get to go through Atlanta when traffic was "light". Thank goodness because heavy traffic would really freak me out. 16 lanes and they are narrow lanes. White knuckled it and had to remember to keep breathing. It is damn scary towing a 31 ft trailer in traffic.

The rest of the trip was uneventful except when I got to Ross Clark Circle in Dothan and I stopped late at a light and I was halfway into the intersection. I waited until the oncoming traffic passed and went thru the redlight to the left. No cops thank goodness.

Back to the same campground and the same site I have had 2 other times. The owner helped me hook up the dish and she figured out some of why I could not get the outside cable hookup to work. I have cable in the living room tv but not the bedroom. Tomorrow I am dropping at Camping World and maybe they can explain it to me.

The boys and I played fetch for a while and now I am waiting for Dually to eat his new food. He is not eating it. AGhhhh

Christmas is over

I spent Tues thru Today with my sister,nephew and brother in law Mike. Last night we went to the cottage at Lake Gaston again and I left from there at 7am this morning. . We had a nice day on Christmas, opened somme gifts and ate a lot. Matter of fact,all we have been doing is eating. Time for a change of eating habits. I did bring some fresh kale and a rutabaga and some sweet potatoes right from a NC farm with me. I picked up a roast beef sandwich at the local grocery as long as some kale salad when I got home(to the trailer).

I looked at the map and it looks like I have to go straight thru Atlanta tomorrow to get back to Dothan. Yay can't wait.It looks like 240 miles which won't be bad if I can get thru Atlanta at a good time. Not sure what a good time is, but I am going to try to leave here around 9ish. That might be too early but oh well.

I finally seem to have found a dog food that Dually will eat. It's called INSINCT and it's freeze dried raw food. It's a bit pricey but at least he seems to like it a little. I bought the one with the highest calorie count so hopefully he will put some weight on. I bought Edge a lite food and he hates it. Oh well too bad for him. He's a bit fat.

Yesterday Carol and I checked out some recliners at a furniture store and I think I found what will work in here. I might wait until I get to Fla to check the used stuff. There is bound to be some great buys. All the old people die down there and nobody wants their furniture. giggle.

N Carolina yesterday and Virginia today

I left My camper at 7 am yesterday and drove pretty good till about 3 to my sisters new cottage on Lake Gaston in N Carolina. It's a beautiful clear reservoir and it's huge too. They just built a new cottage on a nice piece of land there. It'a 2 bedroom with a loft and they did 2 full baths. It's very very nice. The dogs loved running around the other camps which are empty this time of year.

Carol and I played rummy last night and I beat her soundly on every hand. fun for me. We went to bed fairly early and got up and took the dogs out for a good walk and I got some history on some of the other "cottagea" and pieces of land.

Then we left around 1 to go to their home in Va which was about 2 more hours north. I am now 11 hrs from home. . I will stay here a few days and then back to Ga and on to Al. Not sure how long I will be here though.. Christmas and then ?

Ball Ground Trial Day 3 Whewww

Oh boy am I glad this trial is over and there are no more for the forseeable future. Dually's performance went downhill definitely. I need to get back to training and not trialing. His 2 duck runs today on course A were good until Panel 2 and he got them stuck behind the panels and WOULD NOT LET THEM OUT. I tried every way I knew how to get them out of there. I flanked him around the other way, I flanked him wide on an away but he needed to hug the fence and he came off at the top about 2 ft and would not go back in. I finally crossed the line and made him take the away. I had the same damn ducks the next time and the same thing happened all over again. I took longer to cross the line but eventually I had to cross to get him to release them. I wanted to kill him of course. He did the same thing sort of on 1 sheep run and 1 cattle run. He did let them go but it was a struggle and it was on Panel 1 not 2. So 1 won 1 sheep run with 119 for HIT , 2nd run was 2nd with 109. First cattle run was 4th with 103 and a 3rd with 109 . so a total of 5pts /today. TOTAL WAS 18 pts this weekend. so I guess it was worth it.

Home today by 1:30 and I checked around for a place to park the trailer while I go to see my sister but I can't find one so I will leave it here and pay by the day again till I get back. So I guess I will leave first thing in the am . It's 446 miles to the camp and then onn Tues we will go to Norfolk and I will stay for a while and come back I guess over the weekend or so.

Ball Ground Day 2 Trial

Not sure if he was better or worse today. He did get a 118 and HIT on sheep. He got 106 and HIT on cattle . The course changed to B course so everything was easier. My 2nd sheep run was a Q with a 91. We had trouble at panel 2. He was kind of wild on ducks. We got a 111 which was just a Q and a 106 which was 3rd. His 2nd cattle run was a 112 and 2nd place.. WE had a cow that did not want to play and after panel 1 and 2 kept running back to the repen. I got 2 in the center and tried to get him back to the center so I could bring them all back together but we could not keep him there long enough to get the other 2 out of the center pen. I still got a 9 on the repen. I can't figure scoring out for repens. So 5 scores over 100 and 2 HIT's so 7 pts today. And it didn't rain!!!

Let's see what tomorrow bring since it is here already.

I called my sister and made plans to meet her at her new cabin in NC on MOnday. I am not sure I will make it on Monday. I may have to move the trailer to a storage area first. I hope not because when I come back, I am sure I am going to want to spend a night here before I move on back to Dothan.

I haven't gone the same way twice to Ball Ground with the phone gps directing me. Let's see what way I go today.

Ball Ground Ga Day 1 Trial

The day was cold but got a little better. It was 32 when I started to drive to the trial site. It took about 45 min to get there and that was on all back roads. The trial site was up a steep driveway and I was happy I was not pulling the trailer. It was at Michael and Ally Bryants and they live at the top of a hill and the view was phenomenal. The arena was a bit hilly but it didn't bother Dually or me. Maybe if it rains tomorrow it will be slippery, but it was fine today and the duck arena was hilly but I didn't even notice while I was trialing. The scores were low today. We did course E and you have to get all the panels to get good scores. The sheep were good but Dually was a little wired. We did win the class with 94 which was also HIT aussie . The cows were tough and some were downright mean. Dually won the first trial with 97 which was also HIT aussie. My 2nd cattle run was bad. We had a cow that chased Dually a couple of times and no matter how hard he bit it, it still came after him. He lost a little confidence so I helped him out and crossed the line and we pushed those cows a little. Hopefully that will be good for us tomorrow.

My 2nd sheep run was not that good. WE got an 87

My duck runs were both 1st place I got 101 and 110 both HIT aussie so when they gave out awards I thought I had only perhaps gotten 1pt on ducks but each duck score was worth 1.5 and 1pt for HIT so 5pts there and 1 pt each for HIT cattle and sheep so 7 pts today. NOt bad for a not so good day.

New Campground

I was going to a campground called Twin Lakes but My phone couldn't seem to direct me correctly so it u turned me in a long term campground and I asked them if I could stay for a few nights and they said yes. $20 night cheap. But on my way here, I took a detour thru a very busy shopping center. Gosh this 30 ft trailer can go just about anywhere.LOL

I worked Dually this am on going my way into the pen and taking sheep out and then I kept the gate open and made him go in and complete the flank and keep them in there. He did it both ways. I tried her ducks but they were not being cooperative and I didn't feel like dealing with them. I sent Edgie for the sheep in the field but the horse was out there and I think that threw him. I did not want to keep sending him because I was unsure of the horse and if he would chase the dog. He was chasing the sheep so wasnt'going to take a chance with Edge.

So tonight I have 2 heaters and I am going to be warm warm warm. I was warm last night because I put the heater facing into the bedroom. the rest of the trailer was chilly but I was toasty in my lovely comfortable bed.

oK I will stop whining about you all posting comments

I hung around the campground yesterday and waited for Camping World to call. They did and said the part had not come in but would hopefully come in today. I got confused and thought yesterday was Wed and decided to leave and go to Ga so I am here a day earlier than I need to be.
Cheryl offered me her spare bedroom last night which was nice because it was dark and it was going to be a chore setting up the camper because the site was not very level. So I slept in the house and the dogs slept in the car which of course caused me to worry all night if they were warm enough. They lived. I woke up for the upteenth time at 9 and got dressed and let them out. They seemed fine. It was not that cold but it's really damp and I can't get warm.

I did a load of laundry and then stripped the bed and put the clean dishes away and loaded the dishwasher. Then I leveled the trailer and set it up and went off to Walmart. I picked up a 2nd heater but I can't use it here because I trip the breaker. I can suffer through another night till I get to the campground. I would have gone today but it's farther than I thought. It's 48 miles from here and I wanted to work the dogs before the trial this weekend so I am staying another night.

I worked them this afternoon.Cheryl has some really nice sheep. Not stupid heads. I worked Edge first. ON flanks and then just get around and bring them. He has some trouble if they are against a fence. He sorta goes in the middle and brings me the closest ones. I will fix that but it might take a little while because he is doing it because of the pressure of the fence. So I worked a little on pressure. But before I did that, I sent him into a take pen from a distance to see if he could take them out. He could not. He could hold them really good though. LOL. Just like Dare but Edge will be sooooo much easier to teach to let go. I then put the sheep in a 12 by 12 and I stayed outside and I taught him he could go between the fence and the sheep. AFter I while I think he though it was quite fun.

I put Edge away and took Dually out to work on his standing Stay. It is pretty good now while I am close to him but seems to have little meaning if I am facing him or directly behind from a distance. Oh so useful though and I am loving the results. Also had an opportunity to hold them in the corner and he got stuck and I was able to toss my stick at him and unstick him. The more places I can do that , the less sticky he is going to be.

So Georgia is cold damp and overcast today. Tried to add to my turtleneck supply but Walmart didn't have any. Can't wait to get to Fla and get warm.

Posting

Nobody is reading my blog so why I am writing it?

I packed up and left Rogers today and moved back to the campground in Dothan. It's only 12.50 night. I went to CAmping World and got my receiver updated for the dish but I still can't get it to work tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I am getting the heater and the vent fan fixed at CAmping world and then maybe get a lesson with Roger and on to Ga on THurs am.

Day one Post ADV and ducks

Dually was the first run today on goats in Post Adv. Apparently you are supposed to do a figure 8 around the panels and I forgot. I lost 5 pts for the 2nd panel. I thought I should have lost a lot more, but it left me with 112 and HIT sheep. For my cattle run I remembered how to run it , but I had a little trouble getting those darn cows thru Panel 2. They kept trying to break back over Dually but he kept his cool mostly and we got it done. That was a 116 and HIT cattle. My duck run was poetry in motion. We got 123 and HIT ducks. He did a beautiful job on ducks. I guess all that "training" for the last month is finally showing some results. Lets see what tomorrow brings.

My parts for the trailer should be in on MMonday which mmeans they won't fix it till Tues. I found out tonight that there is a airport surplus store near here where they take all lost luggage etc and sell it. Might have to check that out. It sounds veryyy interesting.

Still don't have the receiver for the dish fixed, Might be a Monday thing too. Need to get some laudry done soon though.

Camping World Day

I had 8:30 am appt and I was there on time. They kept my trailer till 4. There is an igniter and a fan motor that have to be ordered to fix the heat and the vent fan. I am not getting any sense of urgency there. In the meantime I went to Lowes to see if I could find a tv mount for the new little tv that I bought for the bedroom on Tues when I got here. I didn't find one. I went to Jeffers Pet Supply and bought some pro bios and some clickers and some treat stuff. Then I went back to Camping World to pick up the trailer. We discussed the water heater and they have told me that I have to have a certain amount of water pressure for it to work. That makes sense. I brought it to Rogers last night and hooked everything up .. The shower was hot for 2 minutes and then cold. lovely. This am I took the water filter off the line but that didn't make any difference. I am going to fill the holding tank up and see if the pump can give it enough pressure for a shower. Yikes this is turning out to be an ordeal. It was fine at the campground in Texas for a month and great at one campground on the way here. I also went to a store to have my dish antenna checked out and it works but I could not get service last night. I have to go back and have them recalibrate my receiver because it has been unused for so long. Gotta get laundry done today too and work the ducks and the cattle per Rogers' request. Oh and the other thing, is my little space heater is not doing the job anymore so I need to buy a new one even though I have 3 at home. dummy

Made it to Fla today

I only drove 300 miles today but it seemed to take forever. I finally stopped at a campground about 5 miles off the interstate. It is called Vortex Springs and there are no other campers here. It is a natural spring and dive camp. I haven't looked at the spring yet but I will tomorrow. It is supposed to be "gin" clear. That's pretty clear. They are not dog friendly and actually don't accept pets but I guess because they have no other campers, my money is better than none. With 430 acres you would think I could let the dogs run but they said no and to pick up poop and take it with me. Hmmm This is in Ponce de Leon Fla. Nippy here tonight. There is one restaurant in town and it's pretty much a dump. I had overcooked tough pork chops and lots and lots of mashed potatoes with gravy which I did not like much. Ah well better than cooking when I am this tired. Finally figured out why no tv last night. It is called a cable off/on switch and you need it off to watch tv so I have tv tonight. There is no cable at this place and I didn't even bother to ask about wifi. Might stay here 2 nights and might move on to be closer to Dothan.

Leaving Texas

I was sorry to leave Texas today. WE had a great time working the dogs at Joe Sheerhans' all month and his and Mary's hospitality was endless. They certainly made me feel welcome. Edgie got better and learned lots. Dually not so much.

I slept lousy last night, but I got on the road by 9. My goal was a campground in La about 400 miles. I made it, but I struggled to stay away most of the day. About 3 I started to call people to keep me awake and it worked. I did drive right by the campground and turned off into a tight driveway to turn around. It was a bit of a struggle but we all know how determined (stubborn) I can be. Anyway I am here and it's 7:15 and I am going to take a shower and go to sleep. Tomorrow could be a long day or short day depending on if I find some touristy thing to do around here.

Dinner out

Mary took us out to dinner last night at a nice quaint restaurant in Flatonia. They had a wine tasting of 6 wines to go along with the dinner. 3 whites and 3 reds. We all hated the reds. Sorry Joan. I had salmon in a balsamic reduction sauce. It was very vinegary. garlic mashed potatoes and green beans Dessert was an apple tart with ice cream. we had a good time.

I worked the dogs yesterday on corners. Sending Dually in on a straight up walk and then requiring a flank to go around them and scoop them out of the corner. He hates that. He wants to hold, but I am sticking to one command and making him do it. He has gotten better but we have not yet solved the problem and I am sure it is going to crop up again at the next trial, but maybe if I get to Rogers place a day early I can set him up and get a correction in the arena. Edgie did the same exercise and he did it very nicely. Edgie is starting to understand that when I give him a flank he needs to keep going and not turn in on balance every time or at least keep going if I give him a 2nd flank.

Today I am going to get some groceries and get the trailer ready to leave tomorrow. I think Sunday will be a good day to travel through Houston and on towards Baton Rouge for the night. I have an appt on WEd with CAmping World in Dothan to hopefully get the heat fixed and the stove vent working. So today on my list is empty the black water tank and rinse it out, pack everything away in the trailer,shake out the dog beds in the truck, check the air in the trailer tires. I wont' hook up till tomorrow because the trailer has to stay level while the bumpout is out. Yesterday it was truly tshirt weather and I even had the AC on last night. This morning it is cold and I have a sweatshirt on again.

Back to training

So after the weekends fiasco with sticking in the corners with Dually, I set up some panels and worked cows around the panels. I sort of worked a figure 8 and tried to get extra inside flanks in. He got better. Today I am going to work the actual corners in the arena with sheep. Of course its kind of rainy out , but also warmer, should be 60's today.
I worked Edge on the cows on the same panels. He seems to make the cows move a lot faster than Dually does. Not sure why, I will have to watch him more closely to see if I just need to slow him down. Those cows were hustling around those panels. funny. He seems to really understand flanks. go figure. took no time at all to teach him them.

I also worked on Dually's standing stop by using a line between his legs and just walking up. He won't lie down with a rope between his legs and of course that is my goal..

I called Dothan's Camping World today and made an appt for the warranty work which they said they could do. It's been hard finding a CAmpig World that would help me. They did say that the Keystone company is hard to deal with on warranty work and might take a while to get approved. Hope they can fix the exhaust fan quickly. So I guess I will be leaving here on Sunday or Monday. It's a 2 day drive and maybe I can do some sightseeing somewhere?

Today I finally get a haircut. Tomorrow the car goes in for an air sensor and oil change

Twin Creek Farm ASCA Trial

I didn't take the trailer to Kansas. It was about 760 miles from here in Texas and I decided not to try and fight the possible cold and wind. I left on Thanksgiving morning. I was going to stop at Cracker Barrel for Turkey but they were too busy so I stopped at Waffle house and had some loaded home fries instead. I drove about 8hrs the first day and stopped at a Motel 6 in S Haven Kansas right off rt 35. The owner and I got to talking about Thanksgiving dinner and I told her what I had and she offered me some of their family's dinner. She came over with a huge plate of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes,gravy and a piece of pie. It was delicious and the dogs enjoyed a great deal of it too. I didn't tell her that.
Friday we got a leisurely start because I only had about 200 miles to go. Kansas is quite desolate at this time of the year. I found the "town" and the motel and the only apparent restaurant and had lunch. Then I drove out to find the trial site and met Jerry and Sharon Rowe and they graciously invited me to stay for dinner. Lovely people and a lovely trial site. There is a big indoor arena that we worked sheep in and a large outdoor that we worked cattle in. James Bergert brought the ducks and they were very nice ducks and the sheep were really nice and the cattle really had to be worked. I tied with a 79 for 1st place on Sat and could not get around the course on SUnday because Dually was not moving or doing "anything" I asked him to. sticky sticky.

I had ok runs on the sheep and the ducks . I won only 1 class all weekend and it was ducks on Sunday with a 120 HIT and I think it gave me HIT aussie. The ducks ran in the center pen when I downed Dually and opened the gate. No work involved at all. Funny how sometimes that works. I wanted desperately to get him on his feet and make him looke like he was doing it, but I knew if I got him up he would push them around the pen. Oh well, just take what you get and shut up Diane. I left about 2 yesterday and drove as far as the same Motel 6 and got up early and left at 6. I was back at the trailer at 4. Happy to be "home". Time to start thinking about the next trial.

Found out that I also wond HIT aussie and HIgh ADVAnced aussie for sat and sun. Not sure how that was calculated.

Party

I got invited to a Birthday Party last night out in the " country". Holy cow, dirt roads and narrow bridges and a rainy night. I had a great time. Talked to a lot of people, ate fried catfish and hush puppies and apparently signed up some people for dog obedience lessons this week. I hope that goes ok. The home I was in looked like an old very old house that had been fantastically converted to a magical place.

I would have taken more pictures, but I just figured out how to download from my camera this morning.. thanks Hadley.

Movies

I went to see Hunger Games today. It was engrossing from beginning to the end. On the way home I went thru a major rainstorm. I pulled over till it passed alomg with a number of other cars. No dog work today. It was supposed to rain all day but of course it really did not. I think I will not pay anymore attention to the rain forcast down here. The temp is 73 today which is just perfect. Gas price is down to $2.59 which is good too although my check engine light is on again. It seems to go off and on and I am finding no rhyme or reason. I took the boys outside individually today and did a little toy throwing fetch game.Dually has that down of course, but Edge is so used to giving up the toy to anyone around that he tends to run out, pick it up and drop it and leave it. I think I fixed that, but will see tomorrow.

400-500 ft

Just realized I have been sending Edgie back behind the barn to pick up the sheep and he has been reluctant to go but is getting better. It has to bee 4-500 ft. No wonder he has been reluctant. The farthest he has gone in the past is maybe 100 ft at home. Poor baby. Today I have to do laudry, library, haircut?, groceries and then go work the dogs.

220 yd outrun

Yesterday we set the sheep out pretty far. Joe said it was about 250 yds. Dually did pretty well. He certainly went that far but his lift needs work. the field was too narrow to be able to push him out very far. We also practiced riding on the golf cart. Fun to drop your dog and then be able to drive half way up the field and send him. Then we worked on penning again and "get out" and "stop"(on your feet). Edge was sent for sheep that were about 300 ft away. The first time he did pretty good. He kept turning back and askng "really this far?" but he went. The 2nd time he pushed them around the outside of the arena and I had to walk up and help him. Of course there were sheep inside the arena too and that confused him.. He's a good boy. Mary made a hot soup for dinner and a great salad and today I am going to bring some chicken breast and make a dijonnaise sauce. And I am going to buy some vegetable to make with it too. MMMmmm I made eggs and potatoes this morning and because the exhaust fan does not work, I set the smoke alarm off. Gotta laugh. The Camping World in NH is finally talking to me and it turns out they were wrong and will not send me the couch wherever I am so I have a broken couch until next July when I can go up and get it. Stupid people.

More Pen work and Stand work

Dually has taken to lying down when I tell him to Stop, but that is not what I want him to do and I have really let it go. So I tied a rope around his middle and I picked him up when he laid down today. The other thing I did was when he was farther away, is to tell him to get up and then say stop again until he stood there. I just have to be very vigilant. We worked lighter sheep today -2 different groups-- They were a little harder than yesterday's sheep and he did better on them. He stopped way out and I held my side. I seem to do better holding the side opposite the gate. Not sure why that is. Worked Edgie on flanks inside a smaller pen and walk ups and inside flanks. His walk up is a little weak. But his looking back at me when he works is either less annoying or just plain less noticeable. It was cool and rainyish today. very heavy mist so we worked for 2 hrs and then I went "home" to find a restaurant that sold soup. I did and it was empty of customers but the soup was good. Filled up the gas tank for $2.64. And then took the dogs home and went to Brenham to see a movie. I saw St Vincent with Melissa McCarthy and Bill Murray. It was a little shallow but very entertaining.

Pen training

Even though, the weather was less than ideal, I had to go work the dogs or go crazy. So we sat around till noon hoping the sun would come out and then went to Joe's. He had left about 15 sheep out for me so I cut off 5 and started to work them. One of them was nutso and tried to break off from the group and then run into a fence. Joe thought maybe it was not his sheep and had come back from Nationals as a replacement for one that had died, but I think it might be one of his that he had not worked in small groups. After we finished working the sheep today, it was getting with the program. I sure didn't want to be the one that killed it so I let Joe work it mostly. I worked Edge first and we did some driving and some fetching and some flank work. All nice work. And then I worked him on the PEN. because I want him to understand that when I say PEN, he should put them in there. He actually got the idea and was helping me unlike Dually who hates the close pressure and busts in when I am trying to get them in there. I did a lot of pens with Dually but not a whole lot of progress. He sorta understands but cant' seem to do it on his own. Too pushy. Then Joe and I worked Dually and Woody on a figure 8 exercise and that was fun although not very challenging. Need to up the ante. I guess more distance would up it. It was hard enough to judge the distances close up. The dogs were fine, but our timing needed work. Then we had some beans and chili and homemade cornbread which I actually liked for dinner. Home to a nice cozy trailer, hot shower and a DVD.

Day 3

I would have posted yesterday but I had trouble getting into my blog. I had to change the password yada yada yada. So yesterday in spite of the terrible cold and it was bad, I went and worked the dogs. Edgie drove up the side and across the back in the crossdrive very nicely and then I did an inside flank and drove them back again. I did that a couple of times and then I switched it up and when he got to the corner I asked him for a big flank and he brought them out from the corner right towards me (I was in the middle) and then I asked him to lie down and he did it beautifully. I worked Dually on the free standing pen and he fought me and came in the whole time. Gosh that needs some work but I talked to Jan today and now I have some exercises to do. So now it's day 4 and I told Joe yesterday that I was not coming over because it was supposed to be colder and wetter. It is neither. It's is 48 and less windy and perfectly dry. But I don t want to overstep my welcome so I am staying close to "home". I did laundry and I went to the library and took out some videos. I stopped on the way back and let the dogs run in a field I found. I guess I am going to have to stay out of the cow field here because of the stuff that they got stuck in their paws yesterday. It was weird stuff and kinda smelled piney, but was water soluble. But really sticky before you got it wet.

Training Day 2

I got out of bed late this am 8:45 I think. I tried to turn my furnace on again but no go. It was cold this am and windy again. Dually woke me up at 4am to go outside. He had to go but I have a line attached to a tree right outside the door so I can attach him to the line and watch from inside. He came in and 2 hrs later Edgie was throwing up . NOt throwing anthing up so I put him in the crate and went back to bed. I was going to go the mechanic and have him look at my " check engine" light but they were closed at lunch and my light had gone out again so I went to the Mexican restaurant and had lunch. THen I went to Joe's and let myself in the back pasture. He had left some sheep for me to work so I cut off about 15 and started to work them. Dually was overflanking a lot and I tried to correct it but I was not successful. I did corner work again and I also did some driving on the fence. He needs to understand to keep them on the fence without me reflanking him every second. Edgie did some beautiful outruns. Not sure where he learned that. I was close to the sheep but he went the full length of the arena and he kicked out too. I also sent him a number of times with no flanks to get the sheep at the other end of the arena and bring them to me. He is reluctant to go that far without me but he is getting better I think and some times I was able to actually flank him behind the sheep once he got there. He tends to go straight and then can't figure out how to get around them. I also did some penning with him and he seemd to know exactly what I was doing. good sheep helps a lot. After that I helped Joe with one of his dogs who he let go a bit wild. I just told him he needed more structure. He seemed to take it well and was happy with what she was doing. After that I followed Joe and his brother Scott to the house they have been renovating for Scott. It's a great neighborhood and a cute little house. They are doing some nice work on it. Tonight it's going down to the30''s and I seem to have misplaced my earmuffs. They must be in the car and I will look harder.

Training Day

After getting up this morning, I took the dogs to the pasture next door to run a little bit. It was warm when I walked over there and the temp dropped considerably on my way back. It stayed at 50 and windy all day. I had long underwear on. I let myself into JOe's back pasture. I tried to get somebody to open the gate but Mary was on the phone and Joe was gone apparently and I sure as hell was not going to leave without working my dogs today. So I let myself in and took Dually out to gather up 118 sheep but Joe showed up and he ended up doing it. Not sure why he didn't let me try but maybe he was showing his dogs skills. Tomorrow I will do it. I worked both dogs in the arena on about 30 sheep. Dually worked on his corner exercise and his out and I worked some on sqare flanks. Edgie worked on driving and the cross drive from a distance and then the corner exercise and big flanks. I also worked on sending him to gather from a distance and he did pretty good. Not great but needs more practice. We worked some inside flanks too and stops. He's a pretty good boy. I might think about trialing him soon.

Day 1 at my new campground home

This is called Suncatcher RV park. Not much of a park. But I moved the trailer to a new location this morning and it is much quieter and more private. I have a big lawn and some trees I can tie the dogs on. There is also a huge cattle field nearby and I let them loose in that for some running. No cows were in it today. So the trailer is leveled and all hooked up for the long run. I should be here a min of 2 weeks. I hope I can stay busy. Today was all about supplies and meeting my neighbors. They are all very friendly. THere is Jim the oil truck driver adn Skipper the old guy who was a draftsman and his hobby is flying model airplanes. He must be in his 80's. He invited me for dinner so I went over and tasted his fresh fried catfish. It as good. Then I came home and ate my already prepared dinner. Roast beef and a baked potato. See I am going to use the oven. I filled out entries for 2 more trials so I will be busy on the weekends anyway . If anybody has watched Junk Gypsys on Tv there main store is close to here. BTW I am in LaGRange Texas. Also if I neglected to mention it , the heat is working and the hot water has worked most every time except once at the Nationals on a very very windy rainy night.

leaving NATIONALS

I woke up yesterday morning and puttered around. I had planned on leaving but not quite as soon as I had to . For some reason I thought they were allowing us to stay until Mon am on the grounds, but around 9 somebody tooled around on a golf cart and told us to hurry up and get out. 30 minutes later I was hooked up and on the road to ???. I had been planning on going towards Joe's so I did have a campground picked out but I passed it by and went to the next one on the list. The people here are very friendly and it's pretty cheap. They have wifi and cable and that's it. No other amenities which is fine because I can do without a playground. However there is not a good place to walk the dogs. They put me in a site right on the road and it is noisy as hell. I am moving the whole kit and caboodle back to another site this am. I did go see Joe and Mary after I unpacked and we went to Terri Carvers and picked up the rest of his sheep from Nationals. They were great sheep. So now I will have the opportunity to work 118 sheep. That should be interesting. Not today though..Joe and Mary have stuff to do and so do I. This campground is right near town and they actually have a Walmart,Tractor supply , grocerys and more. It's about 24 miles from JOe's. There is another ASCA trial NOve 22,23 and I am going to enter that one. It's about 2 hrs from here.

Nationals Trial Day 1 ADVANCED ONLY

Last night when I got back from the meeting and cleaned up all the water on the floor, I was cold and wanted a hot shower desperately. Do you think the hot water would cooperate and work? Hell no. I went to bed and had to put wool socks on til I got warm and then of course I got too hot in the middle of the night. This morning the hot water heater decided to work. Thank goodness I feel human again. It poured all night so I am anxious to see what it looks like outside. It's still dark so I am waiting a little longer. Nobody told us what time the handlers meeting was going to be yesterday so we were all guessing this am. I texted Jan and she seems to know 8 so I am going to hope she is right. I do have a video on my phone of Finals sheep and cows but it would not download. ok the trial for me is over and theoretically I am done here. Dually had a tough duck run. WE got panel 1,2 ok but the center pen eluded us and i just repenned. My duck run was damn good until we got to the center pen again. I had it set up perfectly and he kept coming in and we played a little sheep pool but got them in eventually. I got a 111 on that run. My cattle run was really good but not good enough to place. We got 114. Dually was on his game on cattle and he actually helped me tuck one cow into the panel opening when I was going to let it go by. He gave me some trouble on the crossdrive by holding and twirling a little and then he held them and wouldn't push hard enough at 2 but they went thru and he took his away flank and took them in a straight line to the Y chute and straight thru. It was a thing of beauty. I think I am going to keep him.

DAY OF REST?

Well it would have been a day of rest if I had not woken up at 4:30 am and could not get back to sleep. I got up and cleaned up the trailer,diddled around. I took Edgie out on the bike and that was scary. He pulls a lot and can tip me easily. I took a trip to the ASCA main office in Bryan because they were having an open house. Somebody else had stopped in and me and that was it for them. Nothing like having a party and nobody shows up. Came back and went to take a nap. I set the alarm for 4 thinking there was a meeting to go to . The meeting was at 7 so I bought a fancy leash and took Dually for a bike run and then sat at the ASGHI booth where they had a running video of dogs who had died of cancer and I had submitted Dare and it was so sad. There was another Alibi dog on the video but it goes too quick to find out who it belonged to . It was a very long video so I did not watch it again. Many dogs died and some were very young. Most were older. Then I went to the banquet. They have a $10 banquet every night. This one wasn't that good. Fried fish shrimp and chicken. After that they had an ice cream social with Blue Bell ice cream. It was good and then the general meeting started. I sat thru most of it until I went out into the hall and realized it was pouring out and had been for a while. I had ridden the bike up there. Getting back was not too bad, because you can stay under the arena most of the way. I left the bike in the stall area and ran to the trailer because I had left windows and the door open. It had poured into the doorway and I took 3 huge towels to mop it up and not I have the heater blowing on the wood and rug area. I also pulled out the little tabletop dehumidifier. Tomorrow is Nationals and all day is Advanced. They have 47 cattle runs and 60 sheep and 60 ducks. Should be another busy day. Only 1 shot to be good though. It's A course cattle and B on ducks and sheep.

FINALS ( A DAY LATE)

After yesterdays runs, I was pretty stoked. Dually was running really nice on sheep and ok on hard ducks and superb on cattle. At the cut at the end of the day, we were 15th on sheep and 4th on cattle. We didn't make the duck cut. The sheep were great. I loved working them, but I hate working sheep so you know they were good. They were young Dorpers and they never tried to beat the dogs, they just went where the dog put them. Dually overflanked surprise surprise and had messy runs. We ended up making the cut but by the skin of our teeth. This morning I had the Finals run and I was a nervous wreck. Only one other person had a worse run than me and she was a first timer too. I was less nervous for my cattle run but Dually was tired because yesterday the judges made an error in timing and I had to do a rerun. That was 2 sheep runs, 2 duck runs and 3 hard cattle runs yesterday and he was tired today. I had trouble getting the cows off the back fence and Jan said I was in the wrong place and doing the wrong thing. She is so supportive(NOT). Dually was overflanking and going to the heads too much. So by the time we got them thru the 1st panel they called a 3 minute warning. I hustled him to get them thru 2 and 3 and skipped 4 and the center pen and they called time as I was putting them in the pen. some of the judges gave me credit for work to the repen and some didn't. Seems like they should be able to get together on that little decision. I can't tell you how disappointed I was in that run. It caused me to go from 4th place to 13th which is basically worthless. There are only 10 placements so basically we lost. I'm sorry you either win first or you lose and we lost. However, I did have some really good cattle runs with Dually and I am really proud of him. I wish I had cows like this work more. Tomorrow nothing is going on so yay I get to sleep in. We are all tired.

Day 1 Pre Trial

I was not entered so I watched cattle a lot while Jan was judging. I didn't see many good runs. There were some good ones, but not many and I watched some of the big hats trial and was not impressed. Hopefully they will be better tomorrow. I set my folding bike up and tooled around on it all day. Thank goodness I had it. It allowed me to do a lot more than if I was walking around to all these different arenas. Cows worked nicely today. The ducks were difficult and you did well to get them around the arena and near the center pen. Same type of ducks tomorrow although I am not sure they are the same as today. I found a place to let Dually and Edge run and that helped a bit. Tomorrow Dually gets to trial 6 times. 2 cattle 2 sheep and 2 duck runs. busy day. They had the welcome banquet tonight and it was Mexican. It was good but they ran out of sour cream and that was bad. Great margarita though. daylight savings tonight so lucky me I get to get up and trial an hour earlier. Handlers meeting at 7:30. and then we find out the run order. Dually's number funnily enough is 001!

At the Nationals site

It was a short drive to College Station today and the check engine light was on the whole way. Great. But I left the key on in the ignition after I parked and so when I went to start the car, it was dead. I asked some guy to jump me and after he did the check engine light went out. SCORE!! I am parked between Joe and Mary and Chuck and Karen. Nobody asked me to dinner so I ate leftovers and went to Walmart to pick up some fruit and veggies for the rest of the week although, there is not much room in the fridge. Might have to eat what's in there. We have grass just across the street for the dogs so that is pretty easy. I venue seems nice although the arenas are all covered and they looked dark, but the light weren't on. The cows are small beef and from what I understand, they have just been weaned and might not have any leaders. They have only been worked in large mobs by BC's so some may not know what a dog is at all. MIght be fast and furious. The sheep are supposed to be light light light. The ducks are the same as what Joe has and they were hard. Tomorrow is a day of pretrial stock and I didn't enter it. I guess I will watch and practice videoing with my camera so I can hopefully get some on my you tube channel.

Worked dogs today

I am still trying to catch up on sleep. I got up around 7:30 and walked over to Joe's for breakfast. they had cooked bacon and eggs for everybody. Apparently I was late because everybody else had eaten and were doing other things. I sorted sheep with Dually and worked in the arena with him. HIs out in the big arena was much better than his out in the duck arena. I worked him 3 times on ducks today and he was horrible the first 2 times. Better the 3rd time after I had taken a nap. I worked Edge from the open handlers line on the sheep. He did fairly well. The sheep were very cooperative. . Then we all sat down and had drinks and snacks till Joe finished cooking us all dinner on the grille around 8. Barbecued chicken and lots of boiled shrimp and salad and lovely desserts. They are going above and beyond. Jan and Carol and Jamie and Donna are all leaving here tomorrow I guess. Roger and Kathy got here around 2 and Chuck is only going to the fairgrounds because he has a sick friend he had to visit in the hospital. Hot water heater worked again tonight.

Day 5 285 miles

Last nights campground was an absolute dump and if I could have gotten my money back I wouIld have asked for it. The bathroom was disgusting not just the shower and there was not a lick of tp. I decided to go to a truck stop instead this am. This campground was on a railway line and they kept coming all night and blowing their whistles because it was also an intersection. Not a lot of sleep. Can't wait to get into bed tonight. I made it to Flatonia Texas by about 1p and we just as I pulled into their road my check engine oil light came on. Pretty darn low. burning oil now? I see a new vehicle in my future. what fun. I am parked in Joe's pasture but I have elec and water and I can let the dogs out the door whenever I want to. heaven. I can't use the AC so hopefully I won't need it. The hot water heater worked tonight probably because I have and appt with Camping World on Fri. I was able to work Dually on the same ducks that they will have at the Nationals. We could not not not get them penned. I worked them twice today. I could have worked cattle and sheep but I am going to save them for tomorrow when I am more rested. Dinner tonight at a local restaurant and it was good. I had spare ribs and I have some leftover. Jan and Carol showed up with all their dogs and their friends Donna and Jamie. They talked about the damage to their trailer form avoiding the deer on the way here. It sounds scary. So glad it didn't happen to me because I am sure I would not have tried to swerve and would have just hit the thing.

Day 4 386 miles to Lousiana. I have no idea where I am

I am at a campground off of rt 10. Small campground, no frills really no frills. Barely anyplace to walk the dogs. I was too tired to go on. It was windy and hard to drive today. Lots of rt 10 is concrete and the bouncing is horrible. I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get the camper fixed. I did not stop at the Camping World I had intended because they told me they could not help me.. They could have but I didn't explain it right so now I am going to try a Camping World in Texas. Hopefully on the day I am going to the fairgrounds so I dont' have to make an extra trip. I unhooked the trailer tonight and went to dinner at a suggested seafood place. I had the suggested gumbo. I would probably not have it again. But I bought some ice cream on the way home and a pecan praline which was to die for good. Tomorrow I will make it to Joe's and the dogs will get to run and work hopefully.

Day 3 all the way to Meridian MS 487 miles

I got an early start this morning. I was on the road by 7:20 but that was not all that smart because it was still dark and I worried a lot about deer. I didn't see any and I didn't hit any, but.... I was not going to drive this far but getting an early start made it easy. My plan was to stop at the Camping World tomorrow that is 200 miles from here. I called them and they were less than helpful. I am at a small campground that is not that nice but the owner was just as nice as could be. When I got off the exit I turned right because you could not go left and then I pulled over because there were no signs. A cop pulled up next to me and I told him I was looking for a campground and he said follow me so we u-turned and he brought me right to the campground. What a nice guy!! There is a small pond here and she said I could swim the dogs so I did. Then I had to wash them off because the water was pretty muddy. It turns out that the hose on the outside shower is too damn short. It was 86 when I got here so I turned on the AC and yay it works, but for how long? Everything that is broken now worked for a while and then not.

Day 2

Today I went 430 miles or so. from Carlisle Pa to Baileyton, Tn. Driving was good on 81 but the hills thru the mountains are killers. I got 7.9 miles to the gal. Yikes. I stopped every 2 hrs to either stop at a rest stop or at a gas station. Gas stations were easier to get in and out of down here because the truck stops are bigger. I finished one book on tape and started another. I'm at a nice campground and as soon as I took the dogs out Edge rolled in something disgusting. I let them go for a run before I used my outdoor shower and washed him. Worked great. Edge is also lame on the right front. I think it's his toe. Thank goodness it's not Dually. We found a little pond and they immeditely went swimming. That would not have been my choice but oh well. I used the oven to cook some potatoes and put a piece of fish in the frying pan and without the exhaust fan working, the smoke alarm went off and I could not get it to shut off. I had to open all the windows and wait for the smoke to dissipate. The oven worked fine though. Not that hard to light the pilot either although you can't see what you are doing . I did try calling a Camping World on the way down but they didn't have a full crew and could not help me. I am hoping to make it to another on Monday. It means I will not make it to Texas on Tues as planned. 400 more miles tomorrow and then Monday am 200 to the Camping World but I should still get there early because there is the time difference.

ASCA FINALS AND NATIONALS HERE WE COME READY OR NOT!!

Yesterday when I was supposed to leave it was a washout. Rain and wind and I just did not want to drive in it so I packed some more and cleaned some more and then Hadley picked me up and we went to the movies. We saw "The JUdge " AND IT was very good. Very Very good.. Go see it.. When I got up this morning, it was still raining and windy but by the time I left at 8:15, it just sprinkling and the wind had died down mostly. I found out right quick that my gas mileage was not even as good as with the other trialer. I am getting about 8.5 to the gal. which means I have to stop more often at gas stations which is what I was afraid of before I bought this monster trailer. The first station which was a Pilot,you would think would have enough room for a car and a trailer but it was tight. I had to back up part way in order to pull away from the pump and not take it out with me. The 2nd station was better but not in a good location to get on and off the highway. HOpefully things will get better from here. It was windy most of the day and I white knuckled a lot of the drive. There was a lot of construction and it's always hard getting out of New England because of the traffic. My first campground taught me something else. Make a reservation dummy because the snowbirds are flying down to Fla too. I had to drive another 50 miles so my total today was 384. And I got to the campground by 4:30 so I got set up in the daylight and I was able to walk the dogs in the light too. Funny thing, I met a couple with an aussie and it turns out they are from Lunenburg going to Texas although not to the Nationals. The dog came from Sandy Landry. Small world. I heated up some leftover soup for dinner and it turns out the fan over the stove doesn't work either. Add that to the list. And because the water inlet is in the rear of the trailer instead of the side I had to use my extension hose which is brand new and it had a hole in it. Thank you Ocean State job lot. I will have to buy another one soon. My little electric heater is on although, it seems a lot warmer down here and that is the idea. LOL Add this to the list. The On demand hot water heater stopped working in the middle of my shower . aghhhh

Dually training

I worked Dually on 2 sheep that didn't want to stay together. We worked on pushing them up to the far end of the arena and him taking my commands. He was good , he was really good . He had to push and hold and he did a good job. WE went in both directions and he had some trouble on the Away side but that is his bad side. The best thing he did which kind of amazed me, was when I was sorting, he did not come in and bust them up. Everytime I gave him a flank , I told him out too and he gave me beautiful sqare flanks. Who'd thunk that actually practicing something would actually be helpful? I am still coughing my brains out and my stomach is starting to hurt from coughing. Just the muscles. I had my lesson cancel today so I went to BJ's and got some matting to put in the trailer and cut it and put some in the bedroom. I have to wait to put it in the main part of the trailer when I can open it out, but it's not level so I can't open it. I also stopped in Home Depot and picked up a 3/4 inch socket that will allow me to do the scissor jacks on the trailer with my little drill. It will be quicker than doing it by hand. Also made a sign for the back of the trailer that says ASCA STOCDOG FINALS . Many people who pass me will be able to see it .

I have a cold

I almost never get sick but I have a crappy cold so I don't feel like doing much. Yesterday it rained most of the day and sometimes it came down hard so I watched tv most of the day. I did take Dually out between raindrops and we worked the sheep a little and then later that night I took out the magpies and we worked them but they were way to coopertive. They ran right in the center pen and that is what we need to work on finesse and so were unable to do that. I tried the Y chute too and that was not good. My timing on that is non existent. So while I was watching Tv and sitting around anyway, I got my taxes signed and sent out and paid a bunch of bills and then I put some DVD's of the Bakersfield 2009 Finals cattle in the DVD player and watched a number of runs. The dogs were not very impressive and the more trouble they made with the cows, the more the cows went after the dogs. Not looking forward to that , although Dually generally doesn't cowboy it up. Hopefully he will have enough push to get them moving and keep them moving. The cows were so handler sensitive that you had to stand 1/2 arena away to not affect them. It was hard at the center pen. Most of the runs were taking the full 10 minutes which makes it a long DVD to watch. If it started out well I kept watching it but if it started badly, I kept watching it too because it was like a train wreck and I couldn't stop myself.

Headstone markers

When Mikey died a few years ago, I went out and begged some scrap granite pieces from a local granite supplier. I bought a little dremel engraver and that is where I got stuck. I tried to find a diamond tip point and I did but I could not get it to fit in the dremel correctly. So with the death of Dare and Peaches, I started to rethink the markers. They have lovely graves with flowers planted and now they need markers. I ordered the correct point from Amazon and I got it last week but I could not find a screwdriver small enough to tighten the set screw until today. I played with the first piece of granite until I figured out how to write with the engraver. I was pressing too hard. Once I got it straight, I was able to whip off an engraved stone for Peaches. Dare's will take a little longer because I have more to say about him. s

HMM DAY 3

We started out yesterday with a decent cattle run. Had a little trouble with the cross drive but recovered and then got 2 threw the Y and had to finesse the 3rd. Ended up in 2nd place to Donna and Gel who got 123. But that gave us HIT aussie cattle pts. My duck run was just ok and we got a 99. I thought it was better than that but what do I know. My sheep run was killer till the cross drive but they were pushing back on him really hard so he blew in and scattered them and had to get them back and push them up there for panel 2. He did it and we went straight to the Y and got them threw. I got 3rd or 4th place. bah. Ended up with HIT Aussie for the day. We were on the road by 4:30 and home before dark. I went out to check the sheep and somehow I had locked them in a dry lot for the weekend so they had no food or water for almost 3 day.. Hmmm still can't remember why I would have put them back there and closed the gate. Anyway the ram lamb had his head stuck in the fence so I unstuck him and then I had to get the ewe that was outside the fence back in. She must have gone underneath somewhere. Only 1 was outside though. Sorry sheepies. I'm sure they spent the whole night grazing. t t

HMM DAY 2

Rain. surprise surprise Although it has been much worse in past years. It only rained this morning and it did come down fairly lightly , but it was cold too so it was kinda miserable and I was glad to have my trailer so close to the arenas. Today was course D and I really like Course D. It is more of a challenge and I like that the stock seems to be quieter and in more control when I am doing it. The cows actually one cow gave us a hard time today and as I was calling time the judge was too. When the cow started to go after Dually I thought that was enough. It was bad for all the dogs. My sheep run was pretty good until the pen when I had them lined up perfectly "again" and Dually busted in and we had sheep going every which way. He would not take his out but he did take his " back up" so that was good. We qualified with the lowest Q you can get an 88. His 2nd run today was ducks and we had a fast set of INdian Runners. Really nice take pen 10 pts. nice 1st panel 9 pts. 2nd panel the full 20 pts even though we only got 4 ducks thru, cross drive 7pts,obstacle 4 8pts and the free standing pen 20 pts so we ended up with 118 which was 1st place HIT ducks and HIT aussie. I just felt it was messy so I was very very surprised. I hope I get a better group of cows tomorrow.

HMM

Well I have a problem with the trailer, The heat does not work. It worked for the first few hours on Thurs night then I spent a cold night and borrowed a little electric heater. I had Pete look at it and he could not figure it out so yet another thing to stop at Camper World for on my way south. I did call the service dept and they could not help me much over the phone either. Dually had a good cattle run yesterday but when we went to pen them, I could not get him to out and we lost them a couple of times around the pen and ended up with 2nd place to a BC. His sheep run was the same damn thing. Good till the pen and then I went at him and outed him but he would not stay out far enough for me to get them in the pen so I closed it and we repenned. I think we got a 90 . HIs duck run, was sloppy . He seemed to be wired. We got them caught in the corner in front of panel 1 and had trouble getting them out quickly. We didn't keep them on a straight line on the crossdrive . Panel 2 was ok and the center pen was direct because the ducks wanted to go into it. call ducks yesterday. runners and khackis today. NO placements on ducks or sheep. The trial is full 3 judges and 150 runs a day. Today will be course D. The Q rate yesterday was not that great on Course B so today will be interesting.

The new Trailer

I've been so busy talking about burying dogs :-( that I haven't had time to update you on the new major purchase. I bought a 31 ft 2015 travel trailer in NH. I had them install an on demand water heater so I can take a hot shower longer than 5 minutes which is a huge deal for me. I get cold easily and warm up slowly and going to bed cold is not an option. I also had them give me a new mattress because the one included was pretty bad. I made them add on a battery operated electric tongue jack so I dont' have to manually jack this thing up. I like it. And new extended mirrors for the car and a new cam sway bar. Of course when they went to install the cams, they told me they would not go on the hitch that I had so I had to spend another 565 and get a new hitch. better safe than sorry. It pulled fine down from NH on Monday but when I got to Worcester on 290 I looked back to see water gushing out of the trailer from the bottom of course. The traffic was heavy so I kept driving. It stopped eventually but I got home in the dark and could not look at it till the next day which of course caused me to lose sleep that night worrying about what the heck was wrong. Turns out they had left the valves for the black and grey water tanks open and the main cap popped off so everything just emptied into the street. It was just clean water because the trailer is brand new. Whew. people driving behind me must have been freaked out though. I had lessons and a dr's appt yesterday and i had to get the registration transferred which I was worried about because the RMV can be such assholes. Anyway that turned out to be out to be no problem.So I could not stock the trailer and get it ready for a trip today so I am stocking today to get on the road to go to HMM which is only an hr away. I unwrapped the new bed and spread it out to fluff up and I started to stock the bathroom only to find there is no toilet paper holder and no towel bars. seems odd that they wouldn't have put those in. As I go thru the trailer I wonder what other surprises I will find. As I stock it I realize everything is really high for me so I need to get a step stool or something to be able to get into cupboards. the cupboards are not the best design. Hard to figure out where they expect you to put stuff. I will need some extra shelving material. All of the shelves could use another shelf in them. Some are high enough to fill will 2 litre bottles on top of each other which of course you can't because there is no shelf. I did get more into the outside storage area than I expected so that is good.

Peaches -the brightest star in the sky

Most of you probably know that Peaches and I went back to the vets on Fri am when I found her white and lethargic and the vet confirmed that she was bleeding internally. At her age there were no choices. We put her back in the car and I held her and she just went to sleep very peacefully and quickly. I took her home and buried her right next to Dare. And I went out and bought some more flowers for their grave. She was such a bright spirit and always so damn excited to see a new day or go out and play with her purple egg. She was an amazing little dog and I wish I had some of her enthusiasm for life. Peaches was the clean up crew here. If you dropped food or anything on the ground she would take care of it. If it wasn't food she would pick it up and hand it to me in exchange for a cookie. She cleaned all the dogs bowls every day and picked them up and brought them to the kitchen. When you lose a dog,you grieve, but she is the brightest star in the sky now and I can look up anytime and see her.

Peaches

Peaches and I went to the vet yesterday. She was up and happy and her normal self. Annie could not feel any large masses but we did bloodwork. Today Peaches is white and lethargic. I have not offered her food but feel sure she would not take it. I let her out and looked outside and she was just standing there and when I looked again she had sat down so I went out to get her and she is here in the living room lying on the floor just breathing. I am supposed to go get my new camper today and I would hate to leave her alone all day. Dying alone cannot be a good thing..

Working dogs

I have been working the dogs 1 or 2x day since the weekend. If I could just keep this up he dogs would be oh so good. Today I started Edge on inside flanks in the small pen and then I took him out to the duck arena and worked driving with inside flanks. Gosh he is quick. I also worked on flanks with no body language. That was a little harder for him. I worked Dually on his outs and a few backs again and then I worked a little on pace since he seems to have lost that. Tried to close up the trailer and could not get it closed. Do you think I could find a pry bar or a screwdriver anywhere? NOt on your life. I wanted to take the license plate off and no screwdriver. Might have to use a dime. I need it to go get the new trailer tomorrow. I'm leaving at 9 to get there early. My appt is at noon but the earlier i get there and get out , the less traffic I will run into. Tonight I am going to dinner at an old friends. Should be fun, I haven't seen them in a while.

It's been 2.5 weeks since Dare passed

I miss him a lot but he was a small presence in the house and I mainly miss him when I go out to work the livestock and he always sorted for me. I am using Dually and Edge and it's fine. Not the same but fine. Today I worked both dogs twice. I had a clinic with George Muehlheim from Ohio Sun and Mond and we were able to work on the problems I have been having with Dually. Mainly just stuff I have let go like Stops, outs and back ups. I've been having problems with penning at trials because he was spiraling in and so I hope I have the skills back to fix that. Anyway, I worked both Edge and Dually on that and then I worked Edge on driving too. Edge was funny. When I had him drive from my right side I had a hard time getting him out of a walk this morning, but tonight he was much better on that side. Dually was much better on his outs but his back ups were very difficult so I took them inside and worked them with the clicker and cookies. He understands back up but just doesn't want to do it when he's on the livestock. Keep trying. Rain today and tomorrow so hopefully I can get training in between the raindrops.

Things you didn't know about Dare

Dare was the most loyal dog in my household. He would not work for anyone but me and he always always wanted to work. He never quit. The night before he died, I worked ducks for a short while and said That'll do and started towards the gate and he just stood there. He was not done yet. I gave in and worked him for a little while longer. It was a good training session. If I went upstairs to take a nap he came with me until I got up. If I took a nap on the window seat, he laid below me on the floor. He was the only dog allowed on the window seat and he came up by invitation and sat with me a while daily. I had to lock the gate to the kitchen at night or he would get into something on the counter. If I left the cellar door open during a clinic, he would go down and steal food. Anytime I went out to the livestock without him he had a fit. Most of the time it was just easier to bring him with me. If he heard me open a gate without him, he would squeal and carry on and try to get out if it was possible. When I sent him for livestock he brought them all or he didn't come back. He could jump like a gazelle. He often jumped 3 or 4 4 ft fences to get to where I was. He always had a happy look on his face when he was working. Dare had a silly side to him. When we went out to the arena to just play, the other dogs would be racing around and he would pick up a dried turd and throw it up in the air and look at me and I would call him silly dog Dare and he would do it again and again. He hated to ride in the car but he did it for me. He did everything for me. If you left him in the pens with the livestock he would not work them on his own, he would find a way to jump out and get to me. He loved livestock but he loved me more. He could send one of the other dogs scurrying away with a sideways glance at them. He never picked a fight but he would finish it if he had to. He had many friends, but he loved Kathy and Ed the best. I chased him down the road many times when he would get scared and escape his pen. Noises scared him. He hated chainsaw, the tractor, skill saws and the pole pounder. He liked to stare at metal poles in hopes they would move and he could bite them. When I picked the garden and put the produce down until we went back to the house , he would steal cukes and run away and eat them. That he always pooped on the way to the arena right on the pathway. When I was in the yard between the house and the barn and Dare was missing , you can be sure he had jumped the fence into the control pen or into the duck arena. I would be calling and he would be staring at me behind the fence. He NEVER jumped back over, I had to go open the gate for him every time. Every night when I climb into bed, Dare jumped right up next to me for some loving before I turned off the light and then he got down for the night and the next morning he jumped up again as soon as he knew I was awake and occasionally I got some kisses. He was a stingy kisser. When I sneezed Dare would run into another room. Big brave Dare who can back a 2000lb cow down was afraid of sneezes. He hated the vacuumm and the lawnmower with a passion. Dare would always growl at me when I kissed him. I miss his growls. And they were true growls, he hated getting kissed. Occasionally when he was really happy or feeling good like in the morning, he would roo roo me. He was a very quiet dog so it was always funny and a surprise and a lovely good morning or welcome home I missed you. If I said Arrr Roo to him he would chime in and talk to me . It was fun because he was such a silent dog most of the time. If a cow didn't do what he wanted, like run in the wrong direction, he would run and joyfully barn k once as he was turning him. It was a how dare you try to go int he wrong direction you bad cow bark. It was a deep rrrrooooooff and the cow turned, but it was because he could back it up with a bite and they knew it.********************************** The most important thing about Dare was that he Loved me in spite of me.

I'll miss you Dare

RIP WTCH HC FINLEY'S DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU AFTDsd OFTDcm HTDdlll HTADslllHBXd(Dare)(I can do it MYSELF!)1LEG AFTDcPATDs ( my 2nd heart dog) -------------------------------------------- ---You left me too soon, we still had mountains to climb together*********************************** 16/15/05--9/13/14 not yet 9 years old a baby--my baby Dare ******************************************************************************************************** I fed Dare a big piece of sheep carcass on Fri am and he ate a lot of bones so I thought he had a tummy ache on Fri night when he threw up and wanted to just be outside. Not like him. Sat am he was feeling lousy but again I thought it was just a tummy ache. I sat on the couch with him for a couple of house and rubbed his tummy. I took him out to the arena thinking he just needed to get things moving. He barely could walk out there. He went up to the top of the hill to lie down under the trailer and would not come when I called him so I had to go get him. He wanted to lie in a corner outside but I made him come in the house until Nat got there to pick up the Billy. He went outside and just laid down. I asked Nat to take a look at him and we wouldn't even look at us so I went to pick him up and he couldn't stand. I called the emerg vet and got in the car and flew to Springfield. By the time I got there he was in a coma. They took him in and talked to me. Their first thought was poisoning from the carcass but the other dogs were fine. They did an ultrasound on his heart and it was surrounded by fluid as was his spleen. I opted to have the fluid removed and go from there. They did that, but he did not bounce back which he should have done. At that point we had to seriously consider brain damage and quality of life. The fluid that they took out was full of blood which indicated a tumor bleeding into the pericardium. The prognosis even with surgery and chemo was only months. He was awake but not all there. He did recognize me so I said good bye and let him go. Sad sad day

AKC TRIAL DAY 2

Dually was not taking his away to me flanks at all and I think it has to do with the work I did earlier this week in getting ducks out of the corner on the away to me flank. He's getting back at me. I will have to fix that and work on his pace because he is just too darn fast and pushy. He did get an 86 and 2nd place but not sure if that will include any CH pts until they run the ADV A sheep dogs. I came home early and left Betty to run Fios and Peak in INT sheep on her own. I did run Fios in STD ducks for his last leg and he won the class with an 86. It was not pretty. But Betty got all the way around the course with Peak and got her first qualifying score in ADV A DUCks. Whoooo whooooo!!!!! RESULTS: Dually 2nd place in ADV A ducks and 3 CH pts which brings him to 10 Peak and Betty 4 th place in INT sheep and Fios 5th place INT sheep for their first legs.

AKC TRIAL

I ran Fios first today in INT sheep. He didn't to too badly although we did not Q. He was bit oblivous to my flanking commands when they were off balance. I can fix that. I also ran him in STD ducks and got his 2nd leg with 2nd place. I ran Dually in ADV A ducks and won the class with an 82 which was good enough for 4pts today. I was really not happy with his run. His outrun was close and narrow. He brought them up the line weaving like a drunken sailor. He turned them around at the Y and the Z was good but then he didn't cover on the corner and we almost lost them going to the hold pen. I tried a new method of getting them out of the pen. It needs perfecting. I sent him to the back and stood with him and when they came out a put him between me and the pen on an away to me and if he had covered it would have been great. He let them string out and we had to get them together to get to number 4. He missed the cross drive panels but i kept on going and she didn't like that we had a retreat at the hold. I guess he was not out and off in the perfect postion. All in all, I just felt that it was sloppy and we need to be better. Tomorrow is another day and I might just send him on a go bye and see if that helps.

DOG WORK

I started with Edgie this morning because he is entered in everything in the farm trial and I realized I had never done any pens with cows with him. Geez he is easy easy easy. I just said get in and gave him a flank and he did it. He was a little reluctant to go in but geez I fight every day with Dare about going into a small pen and Edgie was nothing like that kind of fight. It was just, yes you will go in and he said oh ok. I also was unsure if he would gather a 5 cows since we had never done that either. At first I was worried because I sent him as soon as we walked into the arena and he just drove them away from us. So I stepped up and helped him around and after that he just did it. I sent him the full length of the arena but stepped half way to help him and he did just fine. He knows what get back means and he doesn't do stupid go to the head moves to turn them like Dare and Dually both do. He is still building confidence but once he does, he will be hard to beat. Then I worked Dually on ducks. I had to work the corner again. He did not want to turn away on his away to me flank and get in the corner and take them out yesterday. He kept coming in shallow and holding them. I worked it yesterday and actually today, he did not try to hold them but he wasn't going deep enough for me. I worked it for a while and then we worked on the AKC crossdrive because we have a trial this weekend. He is a great dog too. calm and deliberate and never looks at me but does listen. Dare worked too. At first he was very sloppy on his flanks, but we worked on it and he got better and we both left happy. I was pleased with all of them today and I can't always say that.

Busy weekend

Sat I had lessons all morning and then ERin came over to help with the electric fence. So I worked from 7am to 6pm. We got the fence already to go and connected it to the controller and then let the goats in to try to damage my tree and so we could be entertained when they got zapped for the first time but nothing happened. big disappointment. we tried to troubleshoot but I still don't now what is wrong with it. Sunday I had a clinic here with 7 new people. We had a catahoula and a toller , 3 BC's , one aussie and Bernese MOuntain dog. We saw talent in all of them . The aussie tried to eat a couple of ducks. She would not let go. Not much damage.. It was a fun group and I enjoyed doing it but today(monday)I couldnot get out of my own way I was so tired. It's 9pm and I had a nap and went out for ice cream and I am feeling more awake now. Yesterday after the clinic I worked Edge in the control pen on the cows. He is a cool little dog. You want me to bite heads MOm no problem, You want them to move faster MOm no problem, I will bite heels too. ON command sometimes not on command. He got kicked and stepped on a bunch of times, but it didn't turn him off. It did make him a tiny bit more cautious. I have and AKC trial this coming weekend and then I have my farm trial the weekend after. I have lots of stuff to get done between now and then. Gotta clean the house and the trailer so the judge has a place to stay. yardwork. course set up. I would like to set up the course now, but I still have some students that want to run the AKC course this week. I need to work the A course with Dually on ducks. There are 11 adv A dogs runnning. It would be nice to pick up some points.

The Maltese Cross

I worked all the dogs today on ducks and the Maltese cross. These ducks are not used to obtacles so it was doubly hard. Dually worked them first and was a bit of an idiot like he can be. But we got them thru the cross a number of times after we widened up the entry. Dare did a better job because he is wider and slower on ducks, but sometimes I could not get him to speed up enough to cover the side. Hmmm Edge did it very well too. He's slow and wide and stops on a dime. He's fun but I do hate that he watches me so much. Went to the dump today, big trip. phew I had to clean up the hay that the sheep would not eat in the feeder and fork it into the trailer and drive the trailer to the top of the hill in hopes that the cows will eat it. They are out free in the arena so aren't eating a lot of hay right now. speaking of hay, I think I have a new contact. Going to call right now. s

The Glider ride

Greg and I went to Bar Harbor yesterday. He took me to Acadia National Park and we went up Cadillac Mountain which was very cool and the weather was perfect. I took some pictures which I normally do not do and will try to upload And then we drove threw Bar Harbor but couldn't easily find a parking spot so we didn't stop in any of the neat shops that I saw. It would have been fun but it was getting late. We kinda got lost on the mountain and did a lot of extra driving. really pretty though. On the way home we drove by a biplane ride and glider ride place and I said I would go so we pulled in and Greg said no way he was going up in anything without an engine until the salesman very calmly convinced him it was safer with no engine because there was nothing to fail and you could glide and land most anywhere. It made perfect sense to me. We signed the paperwork, met the pilots and they packed the 2 of us into one seat and closed the bubble top. The pilot explained how the rudders and petals worked and they hooked a big cable to the front of the glider and off we went. The glider rose in the air before the towplane did. It was cool. They brought us up to 4000ft in a circular fashion and let us go. I had always heard how quiet it was in a glider and that is soo not true. It was darn noisy with the air rushing by the vents at sometimes 120mph. Sometimes we were only goint 30 to 40 mph but we did a quick dive and were going 120 in 2secs flat.You could not feel the speed at all. The pilot started to ask us if we did roller coasters and we did not know where he was going with that. I said kiddie roller coasters would be fine and he dipped the nose a couple of times and then turned really hard left and we dropped like a shot , just like in a coaster. It was very cool, but I didn't really want to do much more of that so he stopped. It was great flying over the coastline. You could see quite a distance and the pilot pointed out some lakes and islands and named some mountains in the distance. The landing was the coolest thing. It was quiet compared to a jet and we landed on the grass in what looked like a shallow ditch and he pulled the thing right up to a post sticking out of the ground and the nose touched it and stopped. I thought I had the video camera on the whole way, but apparently not. It was about a 20min ride and when I got out , the pilot had to pull me out like a sardine and Gregs foot was asleep so he couldn't move for a while. We got ice cream on the way home. It was a good day after a rocky start where Dare escaped from his crate in the car and ran down the street. A good Samaritan stopped to tell us he saw a loose Aussie down the street and we went after him. I whistled from the car and he came out of the woods behind us but would not come to me. He looked at me but kept running away so I pulled out my big guns and leaned down to the side of the road and pointed and yelled bunny bunny and Dare came running back to find the bunny and I caught him. Silly dog

Aus Shep club of Maine

Tonight's cattle trial. Dare pulled the cows that not only didn't want to play , they tried to kill him. I let him HIT once good but then another one came back for some and I called the run. He was more than willing to fight with them but I am not willing to watch him get hurt. Not worth it to me. Dually pulled some nice cows but he tried to turn them in the opposite direction at the start because that is the way we went the past 2 days. Darn smart dogs. Finally got them going to the first panel and they stalled so we had to push and pull and push and he doesn't always push well. He would not stop and push where I asked so he overflanked and twirled them and then got aggravated and dove in and twirled them, but he held them on the crossdrive and we finally got it done and got all 3 in the center pen. It was good enough for 107 and 2nd place.. All done and out for ice cream which was not that good. Tomorrow is just sheep and ducks and no cows. Course A sheep and ducks. I need a kick ass sheep run.

Aus Shep club of Maine

I entered the Thurs night trial on cattle with Dare and Dually and Dually won with a 118 and Dare came in 2nd with 116. Fri I did not enter Dare and Dually in the Farm trial because they both have their titles in sheep and ducks but I entered Edgie for haha's and he won Open farm sheep and open farm ducks. Fri night Dare and Dually were in cattle again and Dually won Cattle with 110 and Dare won 4th with 100. Today we ran course D sheep which was a tad bit difficult. Dually had a kick ass run up to the free standing pen and I had them in twice and he punched them out twice. We had to move on so we ended up with 100 4th place and Dare got a 92, but he had fun. In Ducks, Dually ot a 93 on course C and Dare won the class with 106. And then we did a fun time and points thing for $5 run on 2 goats on course D with a minor variation. There were 2 divisions adv and std. I put Edge in STd and he won that and $32

Should I go or Should I stay?

I've been vacillating between going to the trial and the clinic and not going for 2 weeks now. Seems like a lot of work to pack up the trailer and the dogs and make sure the livestock is okay for a few days whilst I am off galivanting. But on the other hand it will mean finals points for next year for Dually anyway. Not sure if Dare will be sound enough to trial this weekend. I was even toying with the idea of entering Edge either FEO or putting him in the farm trial. I am bringing his reg. papers just in case. I have such an issue putting the baby ducks and the chicken in the barn at night that I am going to lock them in a stall and let the caretaker deal with only the older ducks who are apparently 10x smarter. Every single night one of those stupid baby ducks gets caught behind the gate and I have to either wait it out or pick the damn thing up. The chicken has actually gotten with the program so she will go into the barn and back out of it in the morning. She was at first lallygagging around the barn door until she felt like going into her pen. Now she is just trotting out with the ducks. No dogs chased her either. So tonight when I put them in I will lock the chicken and her babies in a stall and they weill stay there until I get home. Easier to keep track of them there. Spent a hot hour putting hay in for the cows yesterday so they will be all set for a few days. I will have to go buy more damn hay next week. time time time. I have nothing packed in the trailer yet and I know I need propane so I should just go get the tanks filled and that will be one thing off the list. I think I will do that in combination with picking up some take out Thai food . Ya that's the ticket.

Back up Dually

Dually needs to be able to take a step back or two when I am penning and when I am doing a lot of things. He does not want to do that. He would rather come forward which of course could get me killed or a broken leg or something. So today we worked on back up. He learned this as a pup so I know he knows what the words mean but he sure did not want to do it when faced with stock. I had to put a line on him to keep him from turning away and avoiding me and then we had to work on it a bit. By the end he was backing up on command without the pressure of me or the stock stick. Now I know this will not hold up till the next lesson but it's a start. Also was working him on whistles. Dare was a good boy today. We worked on driving the sheep to the corner and then I asked for a flank to the fence which I was not gettting. I calmly went out and showed him what I wanted and by golly, the 3rd time he actually did it. He and Edge chased a sheep off and turned sharply and now Dare is lame. of course he is just when we were getting somewhere. Edge drove again and corrected the line on his own once of twice so I am happy with that.

Dog Work

Dually was much more attentive and responsive today. He took better downs and stops and I worked him with the whistle. He understands stop and walk up. I was pretty happy with him tonight. Dare worked pretty well too. I think he knows how to control the stock better than Dually but he is less responsive to commands. I did to the AKC course and we sorta got the crossdrive. It's getting better. I think it's a matte of him understanding what I want him to do. Dually did it almost perfectly. Dare ran by going like hell and the stock ended up as always coming back to me, but he did take the inside flank so I think he's getting it. Feels kinda cook out tonight. I'm closing windows on the porch and the fans are off.. I took a 2 hr nap on the window seat this aftenoon. It's very comfortable. Tonight I think I will work on some whistle lanyards. Now I am going to go put the ducks in the barn.

Smart Bunny

You will be happy to hear , that I have not caught the bunny but it has not been back to the garden to eat my beans either. I'm sure it will be back. Yesterday, I was able to pick my first cucumber and eat it. It was small and I should have waited but it was good. I worked all the dogs yesterday. Dare kept quitting on me so every time he did I made him go outside the fence and I went and pushed the sheep. When he came back, he worked better. I kept calm and quiet and so did he. Dually was a bit of an ass. He would not take his stops or downs so I have to go back to basics on that, but he did take some amazing inside flanks so I was happy with that. Edge was driving out in the big field like a finished dog. Calm quiet, taking some short inside flanks with some body language from me, but the best part was he was more willing to work away from me yesterday. We finished with a couple of big outruns and instead of going straight up the middle he went out and around. Not unhappy with any of that. I had to quit because the bugs were really bad last night. Going to go out now and work all of them. It's 9:30 am and maybe get another work in tonight. Day off from lessons today!

BUNNY WAR!!

The wild bunnies are eating my garden. They have devoured all of my corn plants and 4 bean plants. So I bought a small hav a heart and I just set it up with a carrot and some nice lettuce. If I catch one, I will release it someplace else even though I love seeing them in the fields. Not very nice of them to eat my vegetable garden. Last year it was the chipmunks eating my tomatoes, but I'm pretty sure they would not be eating my bean plants. I went to Mann's Rv for the 3rd time this week and finally got my trailer back. They repacked the wheel bearings and checked the brakes and checked the axle. Looks good to go at least for a while. I had them fix the leaky hose attachment and so I hope that will be good when I use it next. It was very leaky. I have been driving a little with Edge . He need some confidence to go out ahead of me. I'll keep working on it. His flanks and his stop are going to be so easy. He practically skids to a stop when I say it. NICE!!! I checked out a big HAV a heart at tractor supply tonight.. Kathy had a rooster to donate to the cause. They appear to make them with little cages inside that you can put live bait in which has got to work better than store bought chicken. Still not sure what I am trying to catch so it's hard to know what to bait with. I am going to wait till I come home from Maine to tackle that issue. In the meantime I have to put everybody in the barn every night which is working out fine. In the am they troup back to their pen except for the chicken who lollygags . I keep leaving her out but one of these days I am going to forget and let the dogs out and byeybye chickie. I have been enjoying my new porch a lot this summer. In the morning, it is lovely out here in the shade and with a breeze it's just wonderful. I have 2 hummingbird feeders right outside the windows and they keep me entertained too. I have my computer out here and I do a lot of work right here with the dogs either at my feet or behind me in their little room . If I had a recliner out here, I no doubt would be out cold every afternoon.