That's Dog Trialing

Bridget Strang and Emil Ludecke

I scored a 28. I don't think I've ever made it to the pen and scored so low. All I can tell you is that I thought my dog ran better than is reflected in our score, but that's dog trialing, and the judges decision is final. Mirky ran out well, then did just about everything I asked around the course. We didn't get any cooperation from the sheep after the first half of our fetch, and trying to finish, I slipped panels and took a stupid shed. During our run the wind was at its highest, which didn't effect us too badly, but probably made the sheep a little weird. Where it killed us was at the pen. Even a 10 point pen wouldn't have made any difference, but it would have been somewhat satisfying to finish. With the wind pushing it closed, I had to dig my heels in and lean against the gate to keep it open. Then trying to muscle the ewes into the pen, I let the gate slip. The wind caught it and slapped one ewe smack in the butt. She almost cleared the other 4 sheep leaving there, took the other 4 with her, and we timed out.

Meeker Overview

On another note...I sold 18 hats today that were made as a fundraiser for the 2011 national finals. A few months back, the trial organizers sent me 20 hats to sell. Apparently, I did such a good job selling them that they gave me 20 more when I got to Meeker. Never one to mess about with a job at hand, I got busy and sold 16 of them today. I'm terrible with money, and hate to carry around that which doesn't belong to me. So, I would sell some hats, wad the money up in my pocket, then hunt down Ellen Nieslanik and off load the loot. I have 2 more to sell, then I promise I'm going to say "no" when they try to give me some more. Thanks to all those generous souls who donated to the cause, and Mike Hanley, where's my 15 bucks??

Dennis Edwards, Chris Jobe, Dorrance Eikamp and Jim Swift

The weather is supposed to calm down tomorrow, and I'll wager you will see higher scores if it does. After 80 runs, the high score by Dennis Gellings and Jan is a 74, with a 70 by Bob Stephens sitting second. After that it drops right down to a 66, and I think there are scores in the 50s going through to the semi-finals as of today. Personally, I am out of it, but I'll just glue my butt to the bleachers and watch my friends from here on out. I've been enjoying cocktail hour with Stormy and Pat Winters each  night, and tonight Pat made dinner too. Why would I leave? Little Starman has exhaust duty tomorrow morning for a few hours, and I have an hour booked at the practice field tomorrow afternoon. What am I practicing for? Well next time of course, and my dogs need every opportunity to run on new ground and fresh sheep.

See y'all tomorrow...