Sunday Eweful Short status

Got home and crashed with a migraine. never pulled my camera out as it over 90 plus. Maid ran well but took a flyby on the drive which cost us major points and took us out of the placings (20 points worth!) but she ran great. Awesome shed. Nan ran at the late day in blazing heat and had a great run, place 8th, I think. Was in 5th for the longest time. Sheds were tough. We had a chute on the last leg of the drive and you had to stay at the post.

 

More tomorrow and scores. They had a double lift and Noelle and Karen tied for first. Thanks to Sue and George for a top notch trial.

 

Eweful Acres Saturday

Internet still spotty.  Nan ran at 5th spot. Went out well and nice outwork. The drive was a box drive with four set of panels. The second and third was a U turn around a tree with panel on each side. we went in the worn side but corrected but that cost us. Can out high, then got back on line. The sheep had no interest in going into the pen and were super sticky to the people. I went to the mouth and they trotted to me so then I scooted out of the way and Nan put them in. Very hard to shed. We got two to drop their heads and I angled them then called Nan through. She came in like a bolt of lightning and got a perfect shed. She got 77.

 

Maid ran late in the day when it was terribly hot. The sheep did not want to move but she made them go at a good clip. They had their heads buried in the bucket so I let her lift them, a little wobble but we got them online. Nice drive and at the tree one ewe slipped pas one panel. Missed the last panel by inches but a nice last leg. Excellent pen and shed. She got 74. It was hot so I really soaked her down. She was pleased with her efforts. Nan got 7th and Maid got 10th.

I am having a hard time uploading the  copy of the scores so you will have to wait until I get home.

Some Scores from Eweful Acres

Some scores but not all of them. Again, bad internet connection. Times out when I am uploading. I didn't run a dog today but helped with exhaust with Rainey.They also ran Novice and ranch.

 

Tomorrow Nursery and Open.



Eweful Acres Sheepdog trial arrival

Horrible iPhone service by AT&T so you might not get much from me. Novice, Ranch, Nursery and PN all run on Friday. Nursery and Open run on Sat and Sunday. I am running Maid and Nan.  I had Wynn signed up for PN but we are not quite teaming up yet so I pulled him. Rainey is along for the ride.

 

My dear friend, Kathy Davis is coming up on Friday and hanging out for the weekend. It will be good to see her. We first met at this trial 14 years ago. Tess ran in Novice and she brought the sheep down the fetch line in record time. We retired as her sheep suddenly sprouted wings and flew all over.

 

More tomorrow.....

Chick Caption Contest

Time for another caption contest. This time, instead of Border Collies, we are using chicks. Ameraucana and French Black Copper Marans are the chicken breed. 

Rules:

1. Maid will pick the winner in random draw.
2. Enter as many times as you want. Each caption will count as an entry.  Put your caption in the comment section.
3. I will pay for shipping to USA and Canada
4. No rude captions and I will delete if needed.
5. Contests ends in two weeks. (midnight  July 10th)
6. After winner is announced, winner must contact me in one week or prize will go to second choice.

After winner is announced, winner must contact me in one week or prize will go to second choice.

 

I am still thinking of a good prize. As soon as I do, I will update this posting.

 

Dog Grooming gone astray

Sometimes people should be forbidden to use scissors and dyes. Me being one of them. But I guess the folks who did these dogs are far better than me. There is some competition that groomer compete in and here are their results.

I can never look at Daffy Duck the same way again.

I actually like this one

 

The horror...

 

I am afraid to go asleep now.

 

 

Monday and the start of summer

Whidbey Island Open results and my Sunday runs

Nothing fancy. Had less than stellar internet service so this is it. Just got home and uploaded this for you.

 

Maid ran first and was on the muscle. She was too hard on the sheep so we never could settle them. The drive was spectacular in the way we took some extra jaunts on the course. Got the pen by backing the ewes in and she had the sheep scared in the shed and we never got it. She was far better the day before. She left her "down" today in the trailer.

 

Nan ran well but she had two sheep that did not want to set. I stopped her at the top and gave the sheep tons of room but two were high headed and wanted back to setout. We took our time and worked them down to the post and it was slow and holding the runners in the group.

 

One large brown ewe was crazy and tried to go right, then left but Nan blocked her. We had a nice turn, then the ewe took off with a buddy at a dead run, leaving her two other buddies nestled next to my hip. Nan took after them but they had run past the first drive panel and she turned them back and we joined the two normal ewes. for the rest of the drives, the two tried to bolt up and down all during the drive,  wanting to be with their other buddies. No rhyme or reason either. We had a nice last leg and got to the mouth when I stopped the ewes and Nan  and then let everyone settle. The ewe bolted. She ran up the same path to the first drive panel and we got her back. We got everyone settled again and I put Nan further back and I eased off. She ran back to the first drive panel and I could hear the judge say  that ewe has the path figured out. The ewe had no intention of being on the course. After the third runway it took Nan a lot longer as she had to work her back from the first panel, then the ewe bolted towards  to the exhaust and we began to work her back but you could see the ewe had no intentions of coming back so we walked. Nan worked her heart out and even though we didn't get a score, I was happy with her huge heart and try.

 

I will post the Nursery tomorrow as well the rest of the classes. The Novice, ranch, and PN will run tomorrow. I am not sure about Nursery.

 

Saturday Scores

 

 

Sunday Scores

 

Whidbey Island Run Scores (sorta)

My internet connection is no not happening worth a darn. Good for about one minute then goes bye, bye. So you will get the scores and full report when I get home. Lora won the day with Nell with a score of 91. Gayle was second with Leah. Karen got 3rd, 4th and 5th. Maid got 9th, broken on outwork.  Nan was second dog up and was totally off, basically ran up the middle and all during the run, was not herself. We managed to have a perfect pen but sucked at everything else. More later.

Maid went out but as she was going to the top, her sheep ran back to the exhaust so we had a rerun. She was good on the rerun, a little off at the top, but got it together, nice drive but at the turn of the crossdrive, she couldn't hear me. So we got offline and made up for it by hitting the panels, getting the pen and the elusive shed. She placed 9th out of 50 dogs so got points.

Brian Nelson won Nursery with Jake. Dinner was superb and it was Susan Crocker's birthday! She asked us not to sing Happy Birthday, so we all did.

Maid's second run at Turner

Maid and I have been really clicking  as a team. She gives me the look when she thinks she can ewe do better when the sheep are busting or being bad, so I trust her to tuck in the wayward ewe in with the others and she trusts me when I need her to do something that she  thinks should be done her way. Such as when we have to do a reverse panel on the drive. She will look up at me with a surprise on her face but put her head down and do it. before she would fight me on this but now, she tries to please. As a results our runs have been a lot better and most of the issues are my timing...or lack there of!

 

In the second run, she cast out nice and two ewe started to come down the field while the third had her nose buried in the bucket. I stopped Maid and she turned to the holdout, then I shut my mouth and let her lift the ewe. She weaved back and forth, then the first two began to wander, so I flanked her to tuck then back, then let her work on bucket face, She took her time and was thoughtful and soon bucket face, popped her head out and ran to her buddies.

 

I let her set the pace down the field once I got her slow down and only gave her tiny flanks to hold the line.

I told her to Lie and she stood still until the ewe got back online. Very calm and quiet.

The ewes wanted so badly to run to the exhaust but Maid held her line. She was very calm and being so good.

I just love these walk up pixs.

Then I noticed her flashing tag light was on....oops, sorry Scott!!

Nice pen then to the Cross. She has this figured out which is good as the only time she ever see the cross is at the trial. Holding steady on her side.

Then she walks them through. She got the other side of the cross and got 85 points, just 3 less than the two dogs who tied for first.

 

After her run...I try to give the dogs a pat for their efforts. She ran well and is a joy to run.

Nan's second run at Turner

Nan's second run was in the heat of the day. I took her down to the river to cool her off before her run but she was hot. part of it had to do was that she was so amped to go. So I sent her and she ran like a bat out of hell for her outrun. The ewes were happily munching hay and were none too pleased about leaving their afternoon snack to go for a walk. But she persuaded them and nice lift and straight line.

 

Holding the line

 

She is fast and has taught me that I have once chance at a correct command as she will take it at a dead run.

She had to turn them around this cone/ We stood about ten feet behind it. It wasn't easy and you had to be precise otherwise the sheep would blow past you. We had a nice turn, then she had a sweet drive and got all the panels.  We made the pen and then off to the Maltese Cross again.

 



She held her side and we snuck then in for the first half. And she put them through for the second part and made it  look easy. Nan was pretty darn perfect running for me and took every command like a champion. She is a champion in my book.

 

She tied for first place but lost on her outwork. She won Overall Open, over the two trials and won a beautiful print by Vicki Close. I will have to post a pic of it later as I left it in Janet's car and she still has it. Love that Nan!

Maid's first run at Turner Trial

Maid and I have really been clicking. She is a grand dog that wants to please and has partnered up with me. She decided that she would listen to me, even when I was wrong but yet would roll her eyes at me, when I did, so I would know it! Luckily for me, there wasn't too much eye rolling at this trial. She was keyed up and shot off like a bullet and when she got to the top, the ewes had their heads buried in the bucket. I let her figure it out and once, she peeked her head over the ewes, to see if I had fallen dead or went to Starbucks for coffee, since there weren't any commands from me. Figuring out that I was useless, she slowly walked up and carefully lifted them, then went to one side but she straighten them and about 1/4 of the way down, I gave her a steady. Which she ignored so I hit the command harder and she did take it, for a brief instance in time but by the time she was halfway down the fetch, she was in synch with me.  I am trusting her more at the top and letting her lift, if I think she can do a better job when I can't see all the variables. However, when I do give her a down at the top or flanks, she readily takes them.

 

 

 

 

 

She brought the sheep straight and had a nice turn and they trotted quickly to the first panels, so I slung her to one side to hold them online. I had to stop her and give her a big flank to turn them and they started nice and even on the crossdrive, then suddenly bolted to the side, which was to the setout pen. I gave Maid an comebye flank but she saw they were going to the far side, and she whipped out on an away, to head the sheep from breaking, so we were hit for a cross. We got them settled and just skimmed the second panels (drats, twice in one day!)

Maid brought them kindly to the pen and we go the pen, after an ewe wanted to scampered around me but Maid convinced her to go in.

 

 

Off to the Maltese Cross, where she held her side and we got the fist part and almost had them through for the second side, but one turned, we got it going right and time ran out. Again, we needed three more seconds.  It was a great run, aside from the cross and barely missing the panels as she ran well, was soft and was a great team player. We lost 15 points on the drive- darn, but nevertheless, I was tremendously pleased with her!

Nan at the Turner Trial

So onward to the saga of fun times at the Turner Trial. Janet picked me up on Friday evening and away we went.  Rainey’s nose was out of joint as she was left behind. Maid and Nan happily leaped into the rig and waved bye-bye to Rainey!  No traffic issues until we hit Portland, then four lanes into one lane and major slow-up! But we prevailed and powered down to the Double Tree. They gave us the fourth floor which was simply wonderful to haul gear, dogs, etc to the fourth floor.  NOT!!!  Apparently they forgot to read their notes about us wanting a ground floor. Do I think they care? Probably not!  The bed was very comfortable, according to Nan, since she took the middle half and I was squished to one side. We woke up to this bright yellow orb that was staring us in the face and had no idea what it was. I quickly whipped out my iPhone and it claimed it was a “sun” 
 

What is that? I am used to rain, cloud and 48 degrees. But I did manage to pack a couple of shirts that didn’t have long sleeves or wool as the base layer. We got a quick breakfast at MacDonald’s, a short walk from the hotel and a grandmother was quick to try to run us over. She got the wrong order for her grandchild and felt the need to burn rubber on the road and just missed us. Wow, I hope your wrong order so was worth almost hitting two people on the sidewalk. Too add insult to her injury, we managed to get in the line before her and our meals took a bit while she cooled her heels. She was not a pleasant person either.
 

We got our meals and off we went to the trial and got there in plenty of time. Open was first, then PN, then the second runs of Open and PN.  The sheep were fat, good looking hair sheep that were a real pleasure to run. Some of the nicest hair sheep to work. You had an outrun, lift, fetch, drive, pen and a two part Maltese Cross. Nan went out nicely and kept them on line.

 Waiting....

 

Holding the pressure on the fetch from the exhaust



Pearly whites

 

Nice turn and she had to keep off them to make the first panel. They wanted to bust back to the setout which was along the crossdrive and very close but she kept them online. We had them lined up for the second panel but they skimmed.

 

The sheep liked to be near the people at the pen so I used this to my advantage and stood near the moth, then stepped out as the sheep crowded next to me. Nan had to lean on them to get them in but she did.

 

The Maltese Cross was tough and they had no intentions of going in but we took out time and snaked them in as they wanted to hover next to you. You could not cross over the cross line to help them go in so it took a bit of maneuvering but we tucked them in. You had to get two of the four in and they had to go straight through. If they went out the side, it was a redo. We got all four through and had them halfway through the second part when time ran out. We probably needed 3 more seconds. Nan ran well and got first place.

Tomorrow, the rest of the runs.

 

 Open 1:

1. Diane Pagel & Nan = 85

2. Lora Withnell & Bella = 71

3. Lora Withnell & Nell = 71

4. Sue MacDonald & Jan = 71

5. Laura Vishoot & Tucker = 69

6. Diane Pagel & Maid = 65

7. Monique Feyercilde & Lucy = 65

8. Carol Higgins & Hickory = 64

9. Ian Caldicott & Maxie = 59

10. Laura Vishoot & Brynn = 59

11. George MacDonald & Nap = 59

12. Julie Roeter & Jade = RT 

George MacDonald and Nap at the Turner Trial

George MacDonald and Nap at the Turner Trial in Open. Nap is a nice dog with lots of presence. Same goes for George. (nice and lots of presence!)

Waiting...

 

 Fetch

 

 Pen

 

Photos by Janet Thorpe using my Camera

Happy Father's Day

Here are some cool cakes for Father's Day. None made by me. I am of the 8 x 13 pan type with cream cheese frosting and some sprinkles.

 

Big Screen TV....Yeah!

Check out the detail in the wood

 

Hot dogs and Cheeseburgers! 

Super Dad

For the Harley Lovers out there

love this....

 

Nice tie...

Happy Anniversary

It's been 17 years since we tied the knot and Shiro was out ring bearer. It will be 21 years since we got together in Japan. Time sure flies.

 

We went out to the Fall City Bistro and had a delicious dinner. I will write a review alter on the mea. Getty had the Pork Chop, potatoes and apples. I had the Five Star Blacken Sea Bass on Jasmine rice. We got the Tiramisu Dessert as a gift for out Anniversary.

Pork chop...it was yummy!

 

We couldn't eat it all.

 

Happy Anniversary!

Brynn at Turner Trial

Laura Vishoot runs an talented dog named Brynn .  Brynn is a very stylish and wonderful dog. She got 2nd Overall in Open with Tucker at the Turner Trial.

 The sheep really listened to Brynn ! Nice run and a great handler with a beautiful smile.

 

note: thanks to Amy for pointing out the wrong dog name!