Girls Double It Up

(Boulder City, NV) I was so sure we'd driven from Phoenix to Las Vegas. But I think the RV had a mind of its own and went back to Las Cruces. You can pretty much tell you're in Las Cruces in March when the wind is blowing 20 - 40 mph steady. Well that's what it's like here in Las Vegas this weekend. It is crazy! Tents are blowing all over the place - even though they were staked down, dogs (especially small dogs) are having trouble when they make a turn on course and then have to run directly into the wind, and everyone is so bundled up in the first half of the day that you can't see who is who.

But Wazzu has always loved cool/cold. Combine that with wind, and Wazzu turns into a super speedy, super fast dog. Man alive! I only got to see her do one run on Saturday but it was definitely one for the highlight reel...had I videoed it! But I did get a picture of her flying over the A-frame...her favorite.




I've never seen a picture of Wazzu in full gallop in her 11 years of agility. Wouldn't you know, I finally get one and there is a pole in the way.




Who says dogs can't smile? This is just the fourth obstacle on the course and it looks like she's looking right at me being so happy and proud.




Unlike most times, every picture I took of Wazzu this weekend she had a huge smile.




And we're sure (since the judge said so!)that Sparkie set a speed record in her Chances run. I'm not kidding, she was running low and fast. I think maybe she was trying to stay below the wind! She looked like a snake going over the A-frame she was so low. I don't know how her knees didn't hit the top...or how her chest didn't hit the ramp. We've never seen her do an A-frame like this before but she was really going.




Sunday afternoon there was an extremely hard Chances course. Very few dogs got it - neither Wazzu or Boogie even came close. But Sparkie made it look easy. Here is the hard part. First the dogs had to go straight away from you to do two jumps and a tunnel. You can just see the red jump standard to the right of the picture. And if you look closely you can see the tape on the ground - Mike must stay on this side of the tape. After coming out of the yellow tunnel, almost every dog came in to do the purple jump - you can see Sparkie leaning that way. But Mike gave her a strong "out" to another tunnel - out of the picture to the left....very difficult but Sparkie did it.





After the tunnel you don't see, the dogs had to come back and do the purple jump, red jump and two hoops. As you can see, Mike was very proud of Sparkie.




Okay, so Sparkie still does bark on course.




While it wasn't on the Chances run, both girls earned NATCH's on Saturday. Sparkie earned NATCH #17 and Wazzu earned NATCH #14. This is the fifth time that they have earned NATCH's on the same day. That's amazing. But then again, they have always been great friends and love doing things together. It was way too windy to get a picture...those big ribbons really blow around. But we'll get a picture soon and I'll be sure to post it.

The last run on Saturday was Tunnelers. Mike came back to the RV and said Boogie came in 5th place...behind four other Border Terriers. I was feeling a bit dejected that Boogie was the slowest Border. Oh no, what is happening to little Boogie? He used to be so fast.

But my spirits were lifted first thing Sunday morning when Mike reported that not only did Boogie beat all the Border Terriers in his first Regular run, but no dog beat his time until you got to the Border Collies and Sparkies! In fact, he was over four seconds faster than the 2nd place dog. Gosh, I guess he does still have it...when he puts his mind to it.

Although I must say, I'm amazed he can run at all as much as he barks. He makes Sparkie seem so quiet. What could he possibly be talking about? As you can see, he's saying it loudly and emphatically.




Still barking....but going fast!




I wonder how far Boogie can jump. He always takes off so early and then just keeps on soaring.




No barking! But look, he's checking in to see where to go next.




Even though the wind blew hard most of the weekend, it did let up for a little bit Sunday afternoon. The skydivers took advantage of that small window of time to get a jump in.




Looks like it was a tandem jump. Sure brings back good memories!




I took a few pictures of our very good friend's dog. One turned out really good so I just had to share it. This is Allison's dog Grizz. He is one fast little guy! Look, no feet on the ground.




Slugger and 2iggie were both very good couch potatoes with me all weekend. Early, on Sunday morning, before anyone else was up and about, Mike took Boogie and 2iggie out to the field to run. It's a totally enclosed baseball diamond so Mike let both dogs off leash and 2iggie just did huge laps around and around the field. Mike said the only way he caught her was that she had to stop and "do her business".

Other than the cold and wind, it was a great weekend. All the dogs had a great time (well maybe not Slugger) and we got to see our friends one last time. We'll sure miss them...especially when we get up north and it is cold and rainy and we think of them down her in the nice warm weather. So all of you up north - please start working on the weather for our arrival.

Debbie
3/13-14/10

What Time Is It?

(Las Vegas, NV) I'm the last person you should ask.

When we arrived here it was 3:00pm or so I thought. I was informed that it was only 2:00pm here in Las Vegas. So I set all the clocks back an hour. Wouldn't you know it, now tonight we have to change the clocks forward an hour. Wish they would make up their minds here! We'll be going back to Arizona in a couple days....they don't change their clocks there. Very smart people!

Anyway, so I'm now back on Pacific time. Please remember that if you try to call me.

There is a new feature on my blog. You can sign up to be a Follower. I believe you will then be notified every time I make a new post. I think it's easy. There are two ways to do this.

1) Look just above and to the left of where it says Tails of the Travelin' Trio. You'll see the word Follower. Click on that and follow instructions.

OR

2) Scroll down on this page and in the column on the right you'll see "Follower". Click on the word "Follower" and follow the instructions.

Remember to change your clocks tonight....if you're not in Arizona!

Debbie

3/13/10

PS Speaking of time...I forgot to mention yesterday that it was Wazzu's 11th anniversary of living with us. It's so hard to believe she's been with us that long.

Old Western Town

(Virginia City, NV) After Mike and the dogs had all gone on a nice long hike, Mike decided it would be good for me to at least get out of the RV for a few minutes to see the area.

I told you the other day that we were on top of a bluff...and we truly are. They say on a clear day you can see over 100 miles. It wasn't that clear while we were here but it was still a pretty sight.

From our RV you can see the very famous cemetery. I'm not sure why it's so famous but many tour buses stop here each day and scads of people walk through the cemetery. We didn't go over there but here you can see it from our RV.



Mike took me on a 10 minute driving tour of downtown. Yup, we could drive through town and back in just 10 minutes. It's not a very large town but I must say it is the most "old western town" that I've ever seen. It really did feel as though we stepped back into the late 1880's. There were old saloons, an old theater, a jail, old shops (selling old time stuff), etc. The sidewalks were very old crickety boards that were extremely uneven. They had old music playing all down the streets. It really reminded me of an old restaurant that my parents took us to (many times upon our request) called "Steve's Gay 90's." What memories!

Anyway, we only walked for about five minutes and went inside one store. It was a really fun store. It was a unique store. I'd really love to go back when I'm feeling better....here's why. They had almost every brand of Root Beer available in the world. I've never seen so many brands of Root Beer and that's the only kind of pop I like. If I'd have had more energy I'd have bought a couple bottles of each brand....but I didn't buy any at all. It would be so fun to get two bottle of each one and then Dad and I could each have a bottle and compare all the brands.

They had rooms and rooms full of barrels of candy. I'm pretty sure I've never seen so mauch candy in one place.



They had a few rooms that were full of signs from floor to ceiling. Most of the signs were pretty funny.



We thought this one had to have been made with Slugger in mind.



I guess back in the day, this was one of the top three most populous cities west of the Mississippi as it was a huge mining town. Back in the late 1800's the population was over 40,000 people! That was a lot of people for way back then. Now it only has about 3-4% of that many people.

I hope that someday we get to come back when I can experience this area more as it's a very unique and interesting place.

Debbie
5/1/08

More Pictures

(Virginia City, NV) I just realized I'd forgotten to download the pictures from my other camera. So while Mike and dogs actually went hiking in the hills around Virginia City, NV today - these are actually pictures of a hike they did in Moab while Boogie and I were at a seminar.










Debbie
4/30/08

Drive, Drive, Drive

(Moab, UT/Virginia City, NV) We got an early start Monday morning and headed out of beautiful Moab. The first half of the day we had beautiful scenery. And we had really nice weather too which made it a nice day of driving for Mike. Boogie was a really good boy but all day is a long time for a puppy to be in a box.

The first night we made it to Wells, Nevada. I can't tell you a think about it as I never even got up to look out the window. But the RV park did have high speed internet - it was great to have such fast internet even if it was just for a couple hours.

Tuesday morning we once again headed out on a long day's drive. But today the scenery wasn't at all interesting and we had really strong side winds the entire day. It was a very hard drive for Mike to try and keep us on the road. The visibility was minimal as well since dust was blowing like crazy. This was one of the most difficult driving days we've had in our three years of traveling.

And it was another really long day for Boogie to stay in a box. He was really good about it but I felt bad for him. I'm sure glad he is such a good traveler!

The day didn't get better. It turns out that Virginia City is on top of a bluff. The road to get there is very steep and very curvy. That was really hard on my body and the three big dogs didn't like it either. To top it off, we missed the turn into the RV park and ended up on some small curvy road with no outlet.

Mike had to get out of the RV and take the car off so we could back up and turn around. Then he had to put the car back on. It was really windy during this time as well. As you can imagine, this wasn't a pleasant time for Mike.

We finally got set up in our spot - right on the edge of a cliff/bluff. I was really worried we might back up too far! Scary.

We needed groceries and it turns out the nearest store is almost a 40 minute drive away. While Mike was gone we were having 50-60 mile an hour winds. It was hitting at an angle from the side (coming from the front). I've never heard such loud noises and felt the RV shake so badly. All the dogs were scared but Slugger was petrified...which means he wanted to sit on me...not good. I was truly worried about being blown over the bluff.

When Mike got back, he saw the problems we were having with the wind. It was so bad that he decided it would be very wise to bring the slides in. Now the dogs were very scared and very worried.

So far I'm not real impressed with Virginia City. But to be fair, I'm not happy with much right now.

Debbie
4/28-29/08

Chances...Five of Six!

(Henderson, NV) This weekend we were at an agility trial. The trial itself was extremely nice. The setting and scenery were beautiful beyond belief.



I guess we were kind of in a valley and there were beautiful mountains all 360 degrees around us.



There was no way I could capture the beauty with my camera. Too bad you can’t see my mind’s eye. Just take my word for it – it was very pretty.



We had sunny skies the entire weekend. But by late afternoon on Saturday we had 30-40 mph winds with some gusts that were even stronger. Many tents got blown away and totally ruined. Here you can see just some tent frames.



Tunnels that had four or five tunnel bags on them were blowing away like they were leaves. Too bizarre.

Sunday morning we had a very cold wind. It wasn’t until about 3:00pm that we could get down to sweatshirts. Before that it was coat and stocking cap weather. But the trial was so great, the people were great, and the judge was great so it still made for a really nice weekend.

Probably the thing that really stood out at this trial was the food! Since the trial was just on the outskirts of Las Vegas, they had the head chef from the Bellaggio feeding us breakfast and lunch all weekend. I’m not sure you can get much better than that! I tried really hard to get him to come live with us but unfortunately I didn’t succeed. Drats!!

The trial was held at a very nice park that had beautiful baseball diamonds, tennis courts, soccer fields, and basketball courts. And it was a very will used park. Since there were so many kids there, an ice cream man came around. Oh man, I heard that music from afar and I went right back to my childhood. I couldn’t help it….I ran back to the RV as fast as I could to get my money so I could run out and get some ice cream. Gosh, when I was a kid, I run into grandma’s house and she’d grab a nickel out of the jar and out I’d go for my ice cream. Somewhere along the line there’s been a little inflation! But I couldn’t help it, I had to get ice cream.



Oh, yes…we did do some agility this weekend too!



Mike had a really hard time concentrating as he was so upset about Skatt’r – as were we all. Sparkie ran really nice for Mike on Saturday. But Mike would have momentary brain lapses and that’s all it takes for Sparkie to do what she anticipates to be right. So while Sparkie was running great, they only ended up getting one Q out of six opportunities – just a missed contact here or then or Mike getting lost and sending her to the wrong place. I must say though that they really should have gotten a Weavers Q. It was the second to last run of the day and the wind was blowing so hard the tunnels were rolling across the field. When Sparkie ran it was super windy…she was doing her best and in one direction she had to weave straight into the wind. She worked so hard to do those weaves…she really fought hard. Then she came around and was doing another set when suddenly a SUPER strong gust came and literally blew her sideways right out of the weaves. Mike got her started over again but she missed time by two seconds. Poor Sparkie – she really was trying so hard!



Sunday was a little better for them in the Q department but Sparkie was getting really worried when Mike would be so disappointed when they made a mistake. So she started shutting down and was scared to even walk. Poor Sparkie. She is so soft…and Mike just can’t make himself stay happy when a mistake as been made. My heart really does go out to Sparkie.

Before all their runs they have a little strategy session. Sparkie is a very attentive student.



But when Mike's done talking she has plenty to say.



Her turn actually lasts a long time.



I'm not sure Mike listens to everything she has to say!



In fact, I think he bribes her to get her to be quiet!



Wazzu was a happy girl this weekend – especially when it was so windy! That makes her act all silly. So many people commented this weekend that Wazzu looked so happy – and isn’t that what it’s all about. No pictures of Wazzu as I haven't figured out how to run a course and take pictures at the same time!

Wazzu and I took turns making the mistakes. Saturday Wazzu missed a contact – and it was an expected one. When the dogwalk is the second to last obstacle she often leaves too early as she is in a hurry to finish. But the rest of the run was beautiful and FAST! Our only other non Q run of the day was Weavers. She was going super fast and I couldn’t get where I needed to be to let her know where to go. And the wind was blowing so hard that even though I yelled as loud as I could, nice and early, there was no way she could hear me. When she came out of the tunnel she realized it was wrong (but I was still happy as could be) and she got super silly. The wind was whooshing around, it was cold, and she started doing crazy dog. I loved it. I will take crazy dog on course over a Q any day. I truly love our crazy dog runs. The crowd was loving it too…which only fed her craziness. It was great – probably the best NQ of the day!

Of course the highlight of the day for me was that Wazzu got her Elite Chances Q today! It wasn’t the hardest Chances course I’ve ever seen but a lot of dogs had trouble with it. The second to last obstacle was a dogwalk (at a distance of about 25’) to a straightaway jump. I was holding my breath as this is the contact we are most likely to miss – but she got it! Yippee! (Poor Sparkie just barely missed the contact.)

Our Jumpers run was very interesting. We ran after dark – yup after dark. I asked the gate steward if I could run with a flashlight but she said no as that could be considered a training aid! Somehow Wazzu seemed to know the course as while I got lost (I have enough trouble remembering the course when I can see it!) she just kept going…with me running around behind her saying “oh ya, I guess you’re right – good girl! Wazzu Q’d easily despite the fact that her handler was running around in the dark with no idea where to go next. The judge had a great laugh and gave Wazzu big kudos.

Slugger’s day didn’t start until afternoon and he was in his nap time – he’d been sunbathing in the dashboard. That doesn’t make for a speedy Slugger. So while he did his Touch N Go course correctly he was two seconds over time. No dawdling in Open! But he too liked the wind and was very perky his next two runs. Get this…he got a Weavers Q (with a great time!) and a Chances Q. The two hardest classes for him. What a star!!

Look at him doing the A-frame at a distance all by himself!



Boogie’s day consisted of having the on-site vet look at him. His heart rate is still low and he is a bit lethargic. And the poor guy is sneezing constantly. I feel so sorry for my little puppy. He spent the day in the dashboard watching out the window.



At least he had a nice view.



Sunday morning started off really cold – just not all that pleasant. But Wazzu and Slugger really like it cool and windy so it was tailor made for them!

Sparkie and Mike had another rough day. They had some really pretty runs and also some runs where Sparkie got scared. They got really great Q’s in a Regular run, Chances, and Tunnelers.

They may have had a tough weekend but they had a really great Tunnelers run. What a beautiful setting for the Tunnelers course!



Here is Sparkie at the start line. I thought I'd show you this picture just because I thought it was so interesting that you can see the end of Sparkie's tail bone under her hair!



Sparkie was tearing around the course. On the flat....



...ducking into the tunnels....



...and really stretching out for the finish line!



Today’s Chances run was a real toughie. There was a switch away to a jump that was way the heck out there. While they were out there they had to do an A-frame way out there while you were on the opposite side of a dogwalk! It was crazy! After leaving the A-frame they had to do a jump that was a little further out (we’re still on the other side of a dogwalk). Then the dog turns and has to do four jumps. The problem is that the first three angle toward the handler but there is an off course tunnel the length of the middle two jumps. Of course the handler had to stay on the inside of the tunnel while the dogs were to stay on the other side and do the jumps. As you might guess, a large majority of the dogs took the tunnel. Those who didn’t take the tunnel still had another jump to do. That jump was set a little ways out and many dogs ran between the last jump and tunnel. How weird is that. But quite a number of dogs did that! It really was VERY challenging.

Wazzu loved the wind so she was quite happy again today. It didn’t hurt that I also had really nummy treats! Part of a cinnamon roll in the morning and a polish sausage with a bun in the afternoon. Mmmm, nummy!

You want to know who did the Chances course like it was the most simple thing in the whole world? Yup, my little Wazzu puppy! She truly acted like she didn’t need me out there as she knew the course. What a good girl! Too bad she didn’t know the Jumpers course all by herself. I got totally lost (on a Novice course!) and it wasn’t even dark today! No excuse…I just plain got lost. That was our only NQ of the entire day. Wazzu was a star today – and was extremely happy about it too! Good girl Wazzu puppy.

Slugger had a mixed day. He ran super well in his Regular run. But it was a hard course for a Novice dog. I think Wazzu was the only “novice” dog to Q. I would expect her to be able to do this but I think every other dog in the whole class took the wrong end of this one tunnel – and sure enough that’s what little Slugger did. But other than that it was great!





Next was Jumpers. Mike had just had a disappointing run with Sparkie. So when he took Slugger to the line he didn’t have much enthusiasm. I don’t know if Slugger picked up on that or what but when Mike released him at the start line, he just stood there sniffing the ground. This didn’t please Mike so he just picked Slugger up and off they went back to the RV. Poor Slugger.

So I decided to run Slugger in his next run which was Chances. I wasn’t at all confident as the challenge for the Novice dog was the row of jumps on the opposite side of the tunnel. Slugger doesn’t like being away from us and he loves tunnels – so this truly didn’t look promising. But I figured we’d have fun anyway. He started a little slow but after the third obstacle he really picked up his speed and was having a lot of fun. I truly about fell to the ground in shock when he took the jumps instead of the tunnel. And then he did the last jump instead of running between the jump and tunnel. He did it! He did it! There was a large Novice class and only two dogs Q’d. Can you believe that little Slugger was one of them. Wow, he doesn’t even have an out command and he went out to the jumps. I still can’t believe it. As you might imagine, he now got some of the nummy polish sausage and cheese! I don’t think he had a clue why we were so excited and happy but he did enjoy the treats!

Hoopers was the last event of the trial. Sorry to say this but I really don’t care for Hoopers. I love the strategy part of it – I just hate running it with my dog. I think it is a very demotivating game. Just when the dog gets going you have to have them screech around, which Wazzu hates as she thinks she made a mistake. Even if you design the best possible course it’s still very herky jerky. There really is no “best” course. Don’t get me wrong – we do Q in it often. But even when we get the Q, my dog doesn’t act at all like she enjoyed it. It may be totally fine for a lot of dogs and a lot of people. But I try to do things my dog likes. And while I enjoy the strategy of the game – my dog (neither Wazzu or Sparkie) doesn’t like the game. Why do something my dog doesn’t like just because I like it. That doesn’t seem right to me. It’s all about fun – for me dog first and me second.

Boogie had another rough day. The poor guy isn’t feeling well at all. His sneezing is getting worse. He’s having a lot of trouble breathing as there is just too much stuff blocking his airway. We were hoping he’d be better today but it’s just not the case. If he’s not better by the time we get to Tucson tomorrow then we need to get him right in to see a vet.

When the trial ended today about 5:00pm we quickly headed off to Kingman, AZ. We’re not going there for any reason other than it’s a place to stop for the night between where we started from and where we are headed.

Debbie
3/8-9/08

Rest In Peace

(Henderson, NV)

It is with extreme sadness that we report that dear sweet little Skatt'r lost his battle with whatever was ailing him.

Early this morning we got word that at 10:30 last night, little Skatt'r went into cardiac arrest after two full days filled with seizures. The painful decision was made to let him go.

Our deepest sympathies go out to our dear friend Billie. It's just too sad for words.

It doesn't seem appropriate to tell about our day today other than to say that Mike and I both shed many tears today as we thought about our little buddy Skatt'r and our dear friend Billie.

Skatt'r
12/9/07 - 3/7/08

May you rest in peace little buddy. We love you so much - you'll forever be in our hearts.

Debbie, Mike, and Boogie

Gamble (Chances) - That's What You Do in Vegas!

(Boulder City, NV) This weekend we attended a trial just outside the Las Vegas area. It was a medium sized trial with about 300 runs a day. The weather was very chilly in the morning due to some strong winds but it warmed up to t-shirt weather by noon each day.



Today was momentous in the fact it was Sparkie’s first day running as a Vet. For the very first time ever at any trial we’ve been to there were no 20” Elite dogs. The biggest class was the Elite 16” vets – with a whopping six dogs, all of which we knew.

We didn’t think the lower bar height would bother Sparkie at all. But interestingly enough, it really threw her off. She couldn’t figure out her stride at all and was knocking a number of bars. You could see her doing a lot of stutter steps. She really was confused. But Mike went along like all was good giving Sparkie the opportunity to figure it out without being scared. As Saturday went along she seemed to be getting a bit of a handle on it.

By Sunday she was doing much better at it and she picked her speed back up to her normal rocket speed. In fact she was so speedy that the first run of the day she flew off the dogwalk from half way up the ramp. None of us were sure we’d ever seen a dog leave the dogwalk from that distance - and stay perfectly in stride. Needless to say, Mike couldn’t let her get away with that! So they went into training mode. From then on she got Q1 in every run. She ended the weekend with a very respectable 9/13. One of the missed Q's was Hoopers – I’ll talk more about that later.

Even though I thought the conditions would be perfect for Wazzu she didn’t really want to run most of the time. The surface was perfectly smooth soft green grass, the wind was blowing, and for half the day it was cool. She never walked but other than a couple runs here or there she certainly wasn’t the speedy dog she can be. I really thought we could do the Chances run on Sunday IF Wazzu was really running. However, she started out really slow even though it was a nice sequence – a straight line of jump, A-frame, jump, tunnel. Of course we couldn’t go near the last jump and tunnel in either direction. She did the first three obstacles then just stopped as the tunnel was 20' out to the side and about 30' straight out. I kept telling her tunnel - she'd take one step toward the tunnel and then stop and come toward me. I kept insisting on the tunnel and she kept taking a few steps and again coming toward me. At one point I was very worried that she was going to cross the line. But finally she seemed to figure out what I meant and trotted off and did the tunnel. Then she started to come toward me as there was an off course jump near me. Miraculously she went back out (really far out) and did a few jumps before having to do a discrimination - which she did perfectly. Wow, after a LONG drought we finally got a Chances Q! Thank you Wazzu! Even though she wasn't her fastest, she was pretty consistent and ended up going 8/12. Like Sparkie, one of the missed Q's was Hoopers - once again, more about that later.

Slugger got to participate this weekend as well. Saturday both his runs were late in the afternoon when it was really hot. He likes hot weather - but only for sunbathing. So trying to get him to run was rather difficult. He did his runs clean but was about seven seconds over time in each one. Sunday he had one run in the morning when it was still cool. Mike did his best to get Slugger all excited before his run.



It worked! Slugger got a second place Touch N Go Q! Yea, Slugger. His second run on Sunday was in the afternoon and once again he was too slow - but he was still clean. We were very pleased with him after having been off of agility for so long due to his surgery. Hopefully his eagerness (and speed) will return soon.

The trial location was right next to the Boulder City airport. It was noisy at times with all the planes and helicopters coming and going. Quite a number of the planes were going up full of skydivers. Every so often we'd see six or seven parachutists floating down from the sky and landing right next to the agility field. What a view of the trial they must have had!



Saturday at the end of the day they ran one run of Hoopers. But this was Phase III Hoopers - we never saw Phase II. I think a few years ago I would have enjoyed Hoopers which is similar to USDAA Snookers. Wazzu and I were really good at that. But now that NADAC is encouraging distance - and that's what I'm really trying to work on with Wazzu - I don't really want to do something where you really have to keep your dog close to you. Both Wazzu and Sparkie were running fast and happy during Hoopers but didn't make it. Sparkie ran past a test obstacle with all four feet but didn't go back and do three outside hoops before starting the test again - so they failed. Wazzu also ran past the test obstacle with four feet but we did go back out and do three more test obstacles. We then did the test again successfully but by then we were over time.

What we noticed after watching all the dogs was that even though you are allowed to fix an error, you can't make time by doing so. Therefore, if you make an error during the run you are out of luck. I didn't think Phase I was all that exciting but I had a lot of fun running it. I can't say as though I had fun with Phase III - but maybe I'll like it better after this weekend. I hope so as this weekend we have three Hoopers runs. Hmmmmm.

Debbie
10/6-7/07

Grass

(Boulder City, NV) Since the dogs spent most of yesterday just riding in the car, Mike decided they needed a little walk before we drove a few hours in the RV today. So they went out to the desert where the girls could run and run although it was rocky. The boys had a nice time too even though it was all on leash.

Today was a good day to leave as the weather was changing for the worse. The drive to Boulder City, Nevada (which is just south of Las Vegas) was very smooth and uneventful which is just what we like. We arrived at the trial site a couple hours before anyone else showed up.

The trial site was in a very large park at the baseball diamonds. There were four baseball fields that were immaculate – and a big sign on each that said “No Dogs.” But since we knew the trial was being held on field #3 we took the dogs there to play on the nice soft green grass. It was very safe as the field was totally enclosed. You could tell the dogs hadn’t had much exercise yesterday as they were running and playing non-stop for a couple hours. I haven't seen all six of us have so much fun in a very long time. There's nothing better than seeing all the dogs just run to be running - with total freedom.

Remember the other day when I told you that Mike’s favorite hat blew down a cliff and Sparkie had to retrieve it. Well it was really windy today too and Mike’s hat went blowing across the field. Sparkie chased it and got it and was running around in big laps throwing the hat into air and catching it again. Slugger thought this looked like too much fun to pass up so he went to help. Mike started screaming and running but by the time he was able to catch them his poor hat was much worse for wear. I tried telling him this could be the new style – after all, people wear jeans with holes in them. I don’t think he’s buying it. Let's see what you think....



The dogs sure had a great time – except maybe Wazzu. She loves to roll in the grass. But every time she tried to roll, Boogie would come over and jump on her – he just can’t resist that. She was a good sport about it – she lets Boogie get away with so much since he’s just a puppy. What a good big sister she is.

I’m thinking we need a nice manicured field like this somewhere as we all had a great time just hanging out together somewhere pretty and safe. Hmmm, might be kind of hard to pull behind the RV though.

Debbie
10/5/07

Lost

No, I'm not talking about the TV show.

We were scheduled to leave Carson City, NV at 10:00am this morning to head over to Santa Rosa, CA. But about 8:30 Greg informed us that the bad weather over the mountains was coming earlier than expected so we were all going to leave at 9:00am. That was no problem for us as we were pretty well ready to go anyway. They had filled up with gas yesterday but we were going to fill up on our way out of town so we headed out a few minutes before they did.

When we got to the gas station it was packed with semis. When we pulled in we noticed the station had all their pumps blocked off. So Mike went in to see what was going on. Turns out they had lost power. Not good as this was the last station with diesel before going over the pass. Mike found out from them where another station was a couple miles back. So we drove over to the station exit but there were semi trucks blocking it and just sitting there. Trucks were honking and others where trying to back up. We were wondering why they didn't just leave. Turns out this particular station as an automatic gate - but since there was no power the gate wouldn't open. So you couldn't get out the exit and you couldn't go out the entrance as trucks kept coming in. What a mess!! To keep this from getting too long, just suffice it to say that by the time we got out and got gas we were leaving town over two hours later than planned! Fortunately, even though it was snowing over the pass we made it over before it started sticking to the road.

Since we didn't really have to be to the fairgrounds until tomorrow evening, Mike decided to take the scenic route even though my cousin, Greg, warned us that it was narrow and windy. He was correct that's for sure. But it was very pretty. We went through Napa Valley and saw many beautiful vineyards. My pictures didn't turn out very well though since our windows were really dirty from all the snow and rain we went through. But I'll share a couple of them with you anyway.





When we got close to our destination we got out the directions that were supplied to us. From what it seemed like, we should have been very close once we got off the highway. But we couldn't find the next turn. We kept going and going and going. And as we kept going the road kept getting narrower and windier. It was obvious we were going the wrong way. But the road was so narrow there was no way to turn around. Heck, we could barely even get past the cars coming the other way. The road was lined with huge trees that were scratching the side of the RV the entire way. All the noise from the trees hitting us was scaring the dogs tremendously - especially poor little Slugger, he was shaking like a leaf. There was nothing we could do but to keep going. About an hour later we finally got back to the exact same road we had come on originally. So now we had to go an hour back the other way. Arg.

Just as we were getting to the exit off the highway (for the second time), our friends called to see where we were. We were so lucky they called just when they did as we would have made the exact same wrong turn again. They hadn't taken the scenic route so came from a different direction but the directions from that way were wrong as well. They were kind enough to stay on the phone and lead us to the fairgrounds.

What a day! Our friends, who left just minutes after us, got to our destination over four hours before us. It just wasn't our day - tomorrow is bound to be better!

Debbie
4/19/07