Antelope and dog play

We stopped at a lovely rest area in Wyoming where these antelope were
grazing. There was a large grassy aarea with trees that the dogs could
run and stretch their legs a bit..not near the wildlife of course!

We're on the home stretch now, should arrive home late tonite...then a
day for laundry, refresh the camper, work the dogs somewhere and head
out to Wisconsin Thursday am for the trial at Chaffins. The dogs will
be happy to run around at home after being restrained for two
weeks...not easy for the youngsters...especially with just a few
minutes of work during that time.

Leaving the Butte area

This is the view as we drive out of the peaks of 6400 ft

Driving in to Butte Montana

We've had really great views as we travel home...Saturday we drove
along the Abert rim in Idaho, past Abert lake and that is as erie as
it gets! Very disconcerting...

Today we drove into Montana and the first look at the rockies coming
into Butte is awesome! What a beautiful town, built up the side of the
foothills.

This photo is that first view of the mountains in the far distance as
we drive the foothills.

A great ending

I have a lot to catch up on today..I was planning on posting Saturday
but I had no signal all day.

Let's start with Luc's run on Thursday afternoon...the day was
interesting with smoke and haze rolling in from distant wildfires
settling onto the nursery field making it very dificult to see the
sheep and the panels. Luc ran at the end of the day and the haze
cleared a bit by then...but not enuf for the little man to see the
sheep from the post causing him to cross the field twice hunting
sheep. Finally he saw them and kicked out nicely behind them but then
had a tough time keeping them online as they pressed hard to the right
toward the exhaust. All were settled back online before a very clean
turn and one of the best drives and pen of the round. The sheep really
liked him and flowed around the course and right into the pen like
soft butter on toast...really nice. Score of 73 didn't get us into the
final round.

Friday was a busy day watching the nursery final round and several
open runs from district 5 friends. None of us made it into the semis
but everyone had lots to be proud of.

Luc, Sue and Maya had blood drawn for the Optigen DNA test early
afternoon and were all very good patients making that job so easy. The
two pups were required to have their eyes examined by the
opthalamologist after the 20 minute wait for dilation and they both
behaved well and got a "eyes clear" report.

The last stop at the trial site on Friday was the austrialian hat
vendor where Joe and I bought beautiful waterproof western style
hats...they look great!

The day ended with a dinner invitation from Cindy and beth ann who
rented a stunning townhouse in the mountains for the weekend. The
place was just amazing...breath taking views and comfortable
furnishings. We had an awesome
dinner on the deck under the stars complete with great Oregon wine and
excellent company. We returned to our humble little camper tired and
full!

Saturday morning arrived too soon and we decided to pack up and head
home rather than go back to the trial to watch for a while. So a great
finals week is ending for us as we start a long and beautiful drive
home thru the western mountains and valleys.

Kathy
www.dancinghearts.org
Sent from my iPhone

Not what I had in mind!

Well...Sue had her go at handling the really tough sheep yesterday and
it did not go well at all!

She was really cranked up before her run, she could hardly contain
herself, so I figured it would be hard to get a hold of her at the
top, especially cause of the distance.

I thought she knew where the sheep were set out but when we got to the
post it was clear she didn't have a clue. I sent her to the right but
she did not cast out well and started to cross o er about 30 yards
out, I stopped her, told her to Look, she did and cast herself out to
the left crossing over the course. Not good, but her cast was
beautiful wide and deep, so I had hopes for the rest of the run. That
hope was soon dashed when she lifted with a bang.which caused the
sheep to run, and she then wouldn't stop or flank...I am pretty sure
she gripped on the lift...and now it was basically a chase down the
field ending with a "thankyou" from the judges. Fortunately she called
off right away.

I am disappointed but pleased with the way she kicked out on a great
outrun not knowing where the sheep were.

It was a tall order for such a youngster with so little experience! We
walked back to the camper and she looked at me clearly saying come on,
let's go again, now that I have that out of my system'. She is so
cute!!!

Luc runs at the end of the day...wonder if he will have a better
run...I hope so!!!

Kathy
www.dancinghearts.org

Sent from my iPhone

Russell's run

I am so pleased with our run today...our score is relatively low with
a 121 out of 200 it Russell worked great and looked fit and sound!

His outrun was good but we lost most of our fetch points, the drive
was ok, and we finished with the shed and pen. We had a nice quiet
run and Russell handled the sheep very well. We won't get into the
semi finals with that score, but I am happy nonetheless!

There were some good runs today and three more days of running the 150
dogs

Nursery atarts tomorrow at 9 am and Sue runs tomorrow afternoon -
hopefully well!

We're all tired, dusty and ready for a
Good night's sleep!

Kathy
www.dancinghearts.org

Sent from my iPhone