Agility Weekend

SUMMARY: Me and Boost

Saturday, lacking sleep again. Sunrise was eh, OK, but not worth stopping, hence just a quick blurry shot with a little Tule fog over the fields. Better than rain or darkness, though! It apparently poured at the trial site on Friday.

I did not enter everything on the two days we were there. I didn't enter Thursday and Friday at all. How far I've drifted from a couple of years ago, when it was two dogs, four days, every.single.class. I don't currently have the energy for it. And not sure whether Boost does; she was looking tired by the end of the two days.

At least we got a couple of Qs, even if it wasn't the Super-Q that I really want/need to complete her championship.

Here's how it went.

Saturday

• Masters Pairs: I couldn't find the person I thought was my partner, so I walked both halves several times. Turns out that the pairs had been rearranged, so my partner was my instructor. I asked for the easy half, and wouldn't you know it--started great, but the place where both first and 2nd half do the same thing, I then continued with the 2nd half, so off course. Doh!
• P3 Gamblers: During the opening, she popped her weaves when I ran to get ahead (didn't go back and fix), and turned back to me before going up the teeter. Seeing that a lot from her lately; odd thing. The gamble was just tough; pretty low percentage on Qs. I didn't expect that she'd do it, and she didn't.
• Masters Snooker: Got through a 4-red opening with just a couple of bobbles, then #2 in the closing was a straight chute going to a jump, and I just couldn't run fast enough to get there, so she turned back to me after the tunnel, ran backwards towards the jump, finally took it but knocked the bar.
• Masters Jumpers: Ran past a jump where I was hoping to rear cross; I might have pushed her off it, but really I think if she were taking obstacles instead of staring at me, she'd have taken it. I didn't see anyone else miss that jump. I think knocked a bar or two, also; forgot already.

Sunday

• P3 Gamblers: Did nicely in the opening until we tried getting into the weaves from the approach she doesn't do well on--turning towards the left. I had to try 3 times to get her into the weaves, so that wasted time didn't allow us to do our planned 2nd set of weaves. But I adjusted my course, we were in the perfect place to get into the gamble on the buzzer, it was basically a send to a tunnel and she did great, so a Q and actually 2nd place. The Q rate was quite high on this one.
• Perf Grand Prix: Nearly perfect. I released her early on all her contacts to keep her moving and excited. Only flaw was my fault, where I tried to push her out but wasn't enough ahead of her so she almost went off course and I had to call her back. Not a fault, though, just a time waster, although we were still 10 seconds under time (although still almost 10 seconds slower than the winner). But a Q! Her first GP of this Qing season.
• Masters Snooker: I picked a very simple course because it was one of those tiny courses with only 3 reds where it looked almost easy to do something with high points, but I thought that lots of people would crash and burn. I picked a 4-5-5 opening, but she knocked the first red, which pretty much put us out of competition for a Super-Q. Then in the closing knocked the #4 bar. So no Q, but I was right; people were Super-Qing with high 30s points and the winning dog in our height group did a 4-5-5 opening, too. 
• Masters Jumpers: Really felt good--no refusals or runouts or blatantly obvious hesitations, only one bar down. Even did a couple of rear crosses (which can be problems for us) and at the end she also kept going over the last jump rather than turning back. It was a nice way to end the weekend even if it wasn't a Q.

Raffle

For a change, I wasn't working score table, and since I didn't enter everything and had only one dog, I had plenty of time between working with Chip and playing with Tika to work in the rings. Which gave me a free lunch and tickets for the raffle, which, as always, I entered under Boost's name.

View from a pole setter's chair.

As usual, Boost was a good girl in the raffle and won something.

Over all, feels like we both need to get in better shape and take off some weight. So much to do, so little time!

Results from Last Weekend

SUMMARY: Yes we went off and did agility.

My new ambitious training plan slid almost to a standstill last week and this. Just the usual, hard to find time and energy to get up and go do what must be done at locations other than my back yard.

Still, there was one class (Steeplechase round 1) where we had to get over a series of jumps straight across the entire width of the field. Normally she'd have turned back to me. This time, she kept going...with a little hesitation, but she did it! So, one small success for womankind.

We added another useless pairs Q and another useless Plain Old Snooker Q to our Q counts, and nothing else out of 11 classes.

Another real heartbreaker (for me) on the 2nd Snooker--had she just gone over one more jump, it would've been our SuperQ. One. Jump. One! But no, she decided it was time to look at me and run past it instead. [pauses now to tear hair and rend clothing].

On the other hand, that's two competition weekends in a row where we've come within an obstacle of completing it, so MAYBE we're making progress.

On the third hand, we had several runs where all the wheels came off, you know, running past jumps left and right until I didn't even know where I was any more.

Weave poles were excellent except for one set of the 2 in the steeplechase, which she missed the entry on and then, after correction, popped out; and one set of the 2 in the gamblers opening, which she missed the entry on...twice!..and then, after correction, popped out. I really have no grasp on why all the other weaves were gorgeous and these weren't. Dang dog brains.

Still--she's a beautiful, sweet, momma's dog whom I love to be around and who loves to work!

And Tika got to hang out again, have hunks of her hair pulled out by her mom (I despair of ever brushing her enough, so it's easier just to grab wads that are sticking out and gentle wiggle them out of her coat,  although she doesn't like that too much).

Boost *DID* win a nifty collapsing water bowl in the worker raffle, along with a year's free dog washes at the Turlock dog wash--the latter of which I donated back to the raffle, since I'm in turlock only 3 or 4 times a year and am not likely to spend the time to get my dog washed while there. Although it was tempting. "Gee, it's the weekend and I have nothing to do, guess I'll drive 2 hours out to Turlock to wash my dog."

And, so, we're going to do it all again this weekend, in Morgan Hill, so at least I get a nice short 20 minute drive home in the evening instead of doing a hotel or driving for an hour.

And that's our last trial that I'm planning on for this year, until February, even, so that's our last chance to get that danged SuperQ.  Don't know, if we don't get it but are close, whether I'd change my mind and go up to the north bay for a trial or two, but I'd rather not so I probably won't.

Isn't it nice to have solid plans like that?

Other plans for December include the Dickens Faire, maybe Disneyland again, and, hmm, well, maybe Christmas.

Boost the Raffle Dog

SUMMARY: Forgot to mention her special skill--

Once again, maybe she's not so hot on the agility field, but she did win two free video runs from the pro videographer in the worker raffle. Thanks, Boost!

Just One Little Thing

SUMMARY: Another weekend with pretty much no colorful fabric items to hang on my wall.

Here's a quick note about this weekend.

Ha ha! Just kidding, no it isn't.

I really hate having the alarm go off 3 or 4 hours before my normal wakie-wakie time. Groaaan.

Worst thing this time was how much my lower back hurt. One muscle on one side had been bothering me, but probably loading the car Friday evening put the finishing touches on it. Walking very very gingerly as I got ready and headed out.

But, as always, once I'm on the road--and especially at that certain hour of the morning--it all faded away and the excitement of being on the road crept in. I love going places, and moving along the highways at this early hour when so few people are out makes it feel special and almost magical, wondering what's just a little farther down the pike.  I think i got that from all the years of traveling with my parents, who took us to so many interesting and entertaining places.

About 90 minutes later, arrived at the fairgrounds. This sat in the parking lot, blaring recorded loop messages over and over about being kind to the rest of the world. Don't know what this was really about, but it's pretty cool (love the "STOP" flag on the side) and it's a good message.

And then, well, agility. Gah.  Tika had 3 runs, Boost had 10. Out of those, i came home with one Qualifying round that I was happy with, one Q that I accepted but wasn't what I wanted, wayyyy too many near misses, and a couple of disasters.

Like this:

Award for Best Run of the Weekend:

• Tika's Saturday's Snooker course: She ran my 50-point plan perfectly, and so few dogs of any height or level managed to do it. First place, a Q, and proof that she's as fast and as happy and as expert on the course as ever.

Nominations for Just One Little Thing:

• Boost's Sat Snooker: Some bobbles during the opening that wasted time, but no faults (same course I ran with Tika). Closing perfect, perfect, perfect, but near the end I got worried about running out of time because of the bobbles and started pushing hard... and she knocked the next to the last jump, augh! Maybe she would've anyway even if I'd stayed relaxed, and turns out that we did have time (not much, but enough).  But I'll take the blame for that one. (A Q, but not a Super-Q.)
• Tika's Sat. Jumpers: I forget that now, even in class and at home, when I send her to a tunnel, she often pulls away or veers past it. Not sure what that's all about, confidence or hearing or vision, but whatever--I still forgot. First half of run: Fast and perfect. Last half of run: Perfect. But right in the wee little middle there, I sent her to a tunnel and turned and burned... and she went past it on the outside for a runout fault. 
• Boost's Sat. Jumpers: She was PERFECT! But I forgot the course in one spot, hesitated, and she ran past a jump while I looked around to find my position. My fault again, and wasted a perfect Boost run!
• Boost's Sat. Pairs Relay: Only 9 obstacles; 1st 8 were spot-on perfect and fast, then she popped out of the weaves at #10.
• Boost's Sun. Grand Prix: Another almost perfect run on a very difficult course where very few dogs Qed. But. Knocked one bar (the 3rd one). One crappy bar.
• Tika's Sun. Jumpers: Crashed the first bar, the rest perfect and fast and delightful. 
• Boost's Sun Jumpers: Fast and beautiful and kept all her bars up but I moved for a front cross just a little too soon and pulled her off a jump for a refusal. Crap crap crap! (Of course it WAS right in front of her and she WAS running straight towards it...)
• Boost's Sun Snooker: Another gorgeous completed opening, then knocked #4 in the closing, so not even a useless Q.

OK, Fates, I don't mind a couple of near misses, but really, 8 of 13 in one weekend with only one thing?? Why couldn't we convert *some* of them? Jeez--

On the other hand, on the spur of the moment I decided to get Boost tested for the [nonagility] Canine Good Citizen title (Remington, Jake, and Tika all took it and passed it years ago). And she passed! Woot! So I'll probably send away for the official certificate and title. 

Plus, as always, Boost is just fabulous at winning raffles. Here's what she won for me on Saturday:

It was, indeed, hot on Saturday. Not Super Hot, but plenty hot enough. I wanted to try to give the dogs some grass to lie on instead of being zipped into their crates.

This spring I bought and started using a low x-pen (instead of the 42" one I've had since I started agility)--so much easier to carry around and move and get things into and out of, and the dogs stay in it anyway although they could perfectly well hop right over it. (Boost is lying in the crate, you can just see her through the mesh.)

So, the other things of note that happened this weekend in agility:

• Boost's weaves were broken all day Saturday. We attempted 4 whole sets of weaves that day, and of those four:
• As noted above, popped out at #10 in Relay.
• Sat Standard: Popped out at #10. 
• Sat Steeplechase: Popped out at #10
• Sat Gamblers opening: Ran past weave entry, then after she went in, yes, popped out at #10.
• Gah! What's with that???
• Boost's weaves were superb on Sunday. We attempted 2 whole sets of weaves:
• In Standard, at a very sharp angle on her weak side, she worked hard to make the entry and, although she bounced slightly against pole #2, made it in with little help from me.
• In Grand Prix, blasting out of a tunnel and needed to make a sharp turn to the left to the weaves, I was behind and just yelled "Left weave!" and, Lo!, she did. Perfectly.
• Funny dog and her weave poles.
  
•  Some meltdowns:
• Saturday standard: Pulled off a jump, popped out of weaves, left Aframe early, turned back at last jump instead of continuing.
•  Saturday Steeplechase. Instead of doing a 180, came through the middle and backjumped, popped out of the weaves, a bar. (But DID carry out over 5 jumps all the way to the end very nicely.)
• Sunday Standard: Ran past the first jump and it went downhill from there, not sure HOW many jumps she ended up missing in various places. I think that's where I stopped in the middle and said to her, "You know, you have to take SOME jumps, that's what this is all about!" before continuing. (But her weaves and contacts were all good.)

Oh, but then she won something else that I dropped a ticket in in the raffle-- a replacement for one I used to have that broke:

Wasn't nearly as hot on Sunday, although it remained shirtsleeve weather all day.  While I tore down my set-up, sllloooowwwwwwllllllyyyy, trying to save my poor back, they hung out in the shade but let me know what it was that they'd really wanted all along. That purple thing lying there. Yes, that.

Then, the drive home. I had high hopes as the first hour went by without a single slowdown, but then as we hit Berkeley--complete standstill, just little movements here and there.

Things to take photos of while at a standstill in traffic:

What is that a statue of? Angry villagers with rakes and hoes, and a dog with a frisbee? Couldn't quite make it out. Maybe people with kites?

Other end of the same bridge. Obviously Berkeley protesters, with the UC Berkeley Campanile and someone in a wheelchair? Is that The Thinker with a protest sign, too?

Ohhhhhhh noooo, this can't be good: 54 minutes to the Oakland Airport, which is only 14 miles ahead?!?!?

Hum de dum de dummmm... The Oakland Fire Dept. can set this tower aflame and practice their high-rise rescues alongside the Oakland marina.

Whew, it really took only 20 minutes to get to the airport exit, and I did hear on the traffic news that they had cleared away two big accidents in the meantime. Glad I decided to stay an extra hour at the end of the day to hang out and talk with various friends, or it surely would've taken me 54 minutes.

Still, took me over 2 hours to complete the trip that was only 90 minutes on Saturday morning. And my lower back is just a mess. It overshadowed even my sore foot (which felt better sunday than it had on saturday) and my knees (which were--well, not great, but not as bad as they'd been a couple of days before). Always something, dangit.

Fortunately, I found some chocolate chip mint ice cream in the freezer when I got home. Thanks for stocking that for me, Ellen.

-----------------
For further reading:

• That bus: onemillionactsofkindness.com
- A mission to save kids' lives
• SongsForPeace.net (mentioned on the side of the bus)
- A Rotary Club project 
• AKC Canine Good Citizen program
• Statues on bridge
• Oakland Fire Department Training Tower

CPE Day 2, Ah, Well

SUMMARY: Even fewer Qs, and no blue at all.

Welllll, Tika got six Qs in a row this weekend without even thinking about it but the wheels fell off the gocart today. She ended with only 7 of 10 (I had thought we had 8 until I just recounted), so only 2 of 5 today.

Boost also Qed in only 2 of 5 today. And NO blue ribbons! I can't blame it all on Chaps:

• In Snooker, I ran it successfully with Tika for a Q and then (doh!) ran it incorrectly with Boost (thinking, "huh, this doesn't seem to be the way I ran it with Tika"--and a moment later, the judge's whistle blew). Sheesh! Since I picked an easy-to-get-through course rather than a high-point course, Chaps won, Tika took 2nd, and Boost got nuthin'.
• Then in Standard, Chaps wasn't even entered and we still didn't get a blue ribbon--courtesy of each Merle Girl knocking a bar, so no Qs. We still took 3rd (Tika) and 4th (Boost) of 5 dogs. Brenn got the blue this time.
• In Colors, Tika knocked a bar for an NQ, so two runs in a row with a bar down; Boost  had a great run and I thought that Chaps couldn't possibly beat our time but, yes indeedy, Boost's time was 15.65 and Chaps' was 15.16. Curses! So a 2nd and a Q for Boost.
• In Jackpot, Tika just wasn't fast enough to get two dogwalks in the opening (halfway across when the whistle blew, so that's 5 points we missed) plus knocked a bar that we took twice (so minus 2 more points--and that's three classes in a row with a knocked bar). She did get the gamble for a Q and a 4th.
  But Boost was spot on, other than a couple of wider, slower turns trying to get her to the teeter in the opening. She nailed it! And she's really fast! She turned back to me on the approach to the gamble but I finally got her over the first jump and the rest was a breeze. I thought for SURE we had Chaps' number on this one.
  But, to hear Chaps' handler tell it, Chaps ignored her cues and did back-to-back tunnels all by himself in the opening that she hadn't planned on doing while she was trying to call him back to her, which actually turned out to work better than the course she had planned, and wouldn't you know it,  Chaps tied Boost at 49 points for highest in trial, but they were faster through the gamble for the 1st. If we'd had better turns to the teeter, we'd have picked up one more jump at the end for another point and the win, or possibly if boost would just dang go over jumps in front of her at the gamble. Jeez! We all talk about how Chaps seems to always know the right thing to do, but who knew that he could actually scout out the opposition and plan a gamblers opening on his own to get those high points!?
• Finally, Jumpers, and it was very sad. I sent Tika off to the far corner to take 2 jumps and then beat feet across the field--she took one and skipped the next one, so off course. Boost then knocked a bar and decided not to take a tunnel, of all things! And so then I stood there for about 10 seconds, calmly saying, "Tunnel", and "look--tunnel" while she bounced back and forth in front of me in a frenzy.

At least it *was* much cooler today than yesterday, although still really dusty. Here's about my 8th attempt to wipe the dust off the score table. And we were working there all the time, too!

Thank goodness Boost won something in the raffle--another water-bottle cover toy (slip in an empty water bottle and then the dogs love the crinkling noises when they bite on it) and an ice-bottle bolster: Fill and freeze a couple of bottles of water and put it in the dog's crate on hot days. Will have to try it and see whether the dogs like it the next time it looks to be pretty warm.

Sunday at Agility On The Green

SUMMARY: And another agility weekend goes by.

From our running order for the whole weekend: One of these things is not like the others:

Today often felt more like a handler having a bad weekend than the dogs doing so. Both dogs ran nicely, looked healthy and happy and eager to run, although, yep, Tika can't match the speed of so many other dogs in 22" performance now.

Tika:

• Steeplechase Round 2: It had 2 sets of weaves. We can't compete on time with that these days. Placed 4th of 5, all of us running clean. Brought home $7 for it.
• Standard: Ran nicely, got all her contacts, kept all her bars up, went down pretty quickly on the table for a change--and 4 obstacles before the end, I sent her into a tunnel under an Aframe that I thought was a gimmee, but apparently she wasn't convinced because she pulled off it and jumped onto the Aframe from the side for an off course. 100% handler issue (although I don't think I'd have had that issue if she wasn't checking in with so much as she's doing now).
• Grand Prix: A killer of a course, very few dogs Qualified. She ran nicely and clean, although much slower than many of the dogs. However--out of ten  22" dogs, only two of us Qed, giving her 2nd place. 
• Jumpers: A pretty smooth run, although I was late on a couple of front crosses, slowing her down a little. Qed but placed only 5th of 8 dogs. Our time of 25.82 wasn't *horribly* behind the winning time of 22.97... but, well, 3 seconds, that's more than 10% slower. Ah, me.

Boost:

• Standard: A challenging course and there was one spot where dogs needed to make a sharp turn but instead were shooting ahead for an off course or not turning tightly enough and running past the jump. I vowed that we would not make yesterday's Jumpers mistake, where I knew it would be an issue and still couldn't fix it. So--yes, indeed, I came to a dead stop, did an RFP (reverse flow pivot--aka fake front cross), and yelled her name--and, yes, indeed, I managed to catch her and bring her in over the jump, but I think I was in her way, because she knocked the bar. The rest of the run was flawless. Another one of those "just ONE thing wrong!" courses.
• Gamblers: Almost perfect opening, but a bobble going into a tunnel--pretty sure it was a handling thing although I didn't review the video--cost us 2 points and the highest of all opening scores. Still, once again, I believe we were tied for 2nd highest of all. The gamble--I was rushed, didn't make sure Boost had a good approach line, and we weren't even close on a gamble that I think lots of people got. 
• Grand Prix: The wheels on our agility train started wobbling--she had to make about a 30-degree adjustment in her path to come in to the weaves that I was running at and yelling Weave!, and she had at least 20 feet in which to do it, but she just ran completely past them on the opposite side from me. Later, she went offcourse where tons of other dogs had gone offcourse--the strategy that worked for Tika didn't work for her.  Most of the rest was nice, though.
• Jumpers. After Tika's run, I was determined not to be late on my front crosses. But-- the wheels came off completely.

So--4 Qs out of 10 for Tika plus $7 Steeplechase winnings and a 2nd in Grand Prix. Real pity about not getting Snookers, though, so that PDCH-Gold is still aching for 3 more of them. Down to only 38 more needed for her Lifetime Platinum.  (As of mid-June, only 96 dogs have ever achieved that. Peer pressure is omnipresent when 20 of them are people/dogs you know and have regularly competed against--you know,  as Janis Joplin sang,

"Oh, lord, won't you buy me an L.A.A. Platinum?
My friends have all got one, I must raise a hat to them..." )

One Q out of 11 for Boost--the win in Pairs yesterday. She didn't even win anything in the worker raffle this weekend.

Tomorrow we'll go for a long walk to drown our sorrows and get MUTT MVR's brakes and rear windows checked.

And a Shorter Summary of the USDAA Trial

SUMMARY: Qs, titles, and like that.

Well, as I've said before, Boost might not be much at agility, but she sure knows how to do worker raffles. I put in a mere 12 tickets with her name on them on Thursday and won two items, no tickets on Friday because I wasn't working all that much and felt like I'd already gotten my share, five tickets on Saturday (I was handed a handful but gave most of them back for the same reason) and won two items. Go, Boost.

For the weekend:

Tika:

• 9 Qs out of 18, so 50%. Not terrible but still below long-term average. 
• Qs:  (All in Performance) DAM Team, 1 out of four team individual events ( Snooker) , Steeplechase, Grand Prix, 2 out of 2 Jumpers, 1 out of 3 Standard, 0 out of 2 Snooker, 1 out of 2 Gamblers, 1 out of 2 Relays
• Titles completed: Relay Gold (35 Qs), Pf Tournament Platinum (50 combined DAM, Steeplechase, and Grand Prix with at least 10 of each).
• Titles close to: One more for Pf Jumpers Gold.
• Titles not making rapid progress on: 4 more for Pf Standard Gold, 7 more for Pf Snooker Gold (quite a come-down from Top Ten two years ago, huh?)
• 1st in Standard and Gamblers; 2nd in Jumpers, Team Gamblers, Steeplechase Rd 1, Steeplechase Rd 2, and Team overall; 3rd in Team Snooker, Team Standard. and Pairs Relay; 4th in Jumpers, team Jumpers and Grand Prix, out of between 3 and 10 dogs.

Boost:

• 3 Qs out of 18. 
• Qs: (all in Champion/Masters) DAM Team, 1 out of 4 team individual events ( Gamblers), neither Grand Prix nor Steeplechase,  1 out of 2 relay, 0 out of 2 jumpers, 0 out of 3 standard, 0 out of 2 snooker, 0 out of 2 gamblers.
• Titles close to: 1 more for Gambler Master bronze, 1 any tournament for Tournament Silver.
• Titles not making any progress on: 2 Super-Qs for  Snooker Master plus Snooker Master Champion plus Snooker Master Bronze; 2 Jumpers for  Jumpers Master.

Treasures!

SUMMARY: Photos from the weekend.

Many people bring cakes when their dogs finish a major title. I thought that this was a great idea for Gypsy's CPE championship (C-ATCH), earned at WAG with a Jackpot run.

Might have to steal that idea if there's time for me to get them this week-- oh, wow, $130 for a 5-lb bag, plus $25 shipping and $20 expedited delivery to get them by next weekend. Maybe not. But if I loved my friends enough to pay $35/pound for M&Ms, here's what they'd have looked like:

Guess my friends will have to satisfy themselves with looking at photos of our ribbons. Here are ours, minus our final Q and placements from the last run of the weekend. And the only photos of the Merle Girls from the weekend--Backsides of Dogs.

WAG had kind of a fun game. They handed out bingo cards to everyone, and you could use your run times (the numbers before and after the decimal point) to fill out the card. Plus they periodically pulled 2 more free numbers. Here's Tika's sheet--she got a lock on 32 and 33 right away, but we couldn't get 5 in a row.

We had to wait until the last dog had died, so to speak, Sunday evening, when everyone crowded around the bingo machine as they pulled more numbers until all the prizes had been awarded. I can't show you Boost's card; I had to turn it in because we won! A cool, custom-embroidered (purple and black) blanket.

Also Boost did well in the worker raffle again, picking up a Cold Stone Creamery gift card, a bag of dried fruit, and a $15 cert to come back to WAG sometime. She might not be good on course, but she's sure good at raffles and paper games.

I stopped on the way out of WAG's driveway to capture their signs. Fritz was Susan's first agility dog, a big sheltie, who could do no wrong and earned thousands of championships in several venues. They were competing back when Remington and Jake and I were still running. He died of cancer last year, but what a great life he led. The sign with his name is the 3rd one they've put up. The first two were stolen--jerks!--and they've put it up more securely each time. This last time, a lot of us at one trial did a secret gathering of funds and presented it to Susan and Dave to replace the sign once again. Hopefully it won't go away again.

Out on the freeway, a most glorious sunset held sway. I drove frantically looking for a place to get off the freeway and then to stop with a clear view of the sky and hopefuly something interesting in the foreground. Well, nothing interesting in the foreground and by the time I got here, the sunset was way past its peak. But still pretty impressive down near the horizon.

Thus the weekend faded to black.