Tuesday, June 30, 2009

NADAC Fun-Raiser Corvallis Oregon

May 29 – 31 Kant and I ran in the NADAC Fun-Raiser. Friday night was two rounds of Hoopers. Round 1 was one of the most technical courses that I have ever seen in Hoopers and we were over time; you could not have one little bobble on this course. In Round 2 I found a course that Kant liked much better and we qualified. We did not have a very good day Saturday only getting Qs in Touch’N’Go and Weavers. I was very distracted and not handling very well and Kant did not like that. I worked much harder to stay connected with her on Sunday and Kant was much happier. We got a Regular Q, our 1st Elite Jumpers Q, and a Weavers Q. We have not had a Regular Q since the end of October so that was very nice to get. And of course I am thrilled with the Jumpers Q since that is the hardest class for us; only 12 more to get our NATCH!

Our next NADAC agility trial is June 19th – 21st in Auburn Washington and I am looking forward to going and just running my dogs. This will be Echo’s debut agility trial. The last two NADAC agility trials have involved me judging and with me being VERY new to judging I found it very difficult to switch back and forth from judge to competitor.

Memorial Day Weekend

This was a “work” weekend for me. It started Friday afternoon when I worked Echo and Kant on sheep. Echo and I improve every time we work sheep. I am so lucky to have such an excellent herding instructor and great friend in Lora with excellent sheep for whatever we are working on. Kant and I had tasks to do very similar to a ranch course. This is what Kant and I are best at where we can work together. I entered Kant in an AHBA Ranch Large Flock trial in June. Echo’s herding debut will be in PT this summer.

I ordered a unit (7 ½ yards) of bark dust to be delivered Saturday. Late last summer I got tired of maintaining the grass in the front yard and decided to remove it all. I planted a few shrubs and put around pots with flowers and vegetables with plans for finishing it this year. So Saturday I put down 220 feet of weed cloth and covered it with the whole unit of bark dust. Jordana got home from work just after 6:30 then we had dinner. After dinner Jordana helped me finish spreading the last little bit of bark dust, put all the pots back in place, and put down the step stones that my dad made for me years ago. We finished just before 9:30pm but it was all done and the mess was cleaned up. This is what we ended up with;

low maintenance, clean looking, and done!

Sunday morning I woke up with very sore muscles from moving all that bark dust but I was determined to get the inside of the house clean. I deep cleaned the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Monday I was hoping to kick back and enjoy the two days of hard work but the day did not go completely that way. My dad came over with 2 tomato plants, chives, parsley, and a salad mix that all needed to be planted.

We got all of that planted and will enjoy all of it all summer. Then he and Jordana headed in to the bathroom to replace the fan while I headed for the kitchen to get the ribs in to the oven, make potato salad, and strawberry shortcake. We all finished at the same time and enjoyed a game of Up Words that I won by the way. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of BBQ ribs, potato salad, and of course potato chips because you cannot have potato salad without potato chips. Jordana and dad wanted a rematch that dad won and then we enjoyed the freshly made strawberry shortcake. It was a great way to end a great weekend and the fan in the bathroom is so quiet I can hardly hear it.

A dog naps so much because it loves so hard. –Anonymous