Presidents' Weekend Sunday

SUMMARY: Climb Mission Peak

Don't I whine about how I hate getting up to an alarm for dog agility? OK, so today it was 5:30 instead of 4:00, but at least I wasn't looking at a 2-hour drive and a long long weekend. Instead, it was time for me to climb Mission Peak for my very first time.

This is a popular hike because of the view and the exercise. It's only about 4 miles to the top, which is over 2500 feet above sea level, and the hike starts at about 400 feet.

This is part of our Bay Area Ridge Trail project. Our original plan was to do a bunch of shuttling back and forth, but Plans Changed at the very last minute.

I drove about half an hour out to Ohlone College to meet everyone at 7:00.

Mission peak around 6:45. It was chilly; not freezing, but the breeze had a bit of a bite.

We were on the trail by about 7:35. Everyone's fresh and rarin' to go: Eight people, 7 dogs (belonging to only 4 of the people).

I take up my usual position at the rear of the pack--not deliberately, but for a variety of dull reasons.

About 2 hours into the hike of steady uphill (fairly gradual, thank goodness), we can actually suddenly see the little pinpoint top of the peak in the distance. Now it feels like we're getting close. Tika and Boost spend their time going back and forth between the lead dogs and checking up on me.

Just before the last steep push to the top--Lo! A picnic table and ***restroooms***! The crowds rejoiced! And the crowds also stood in long lines while the dogs scouted for food.

Then there's the last, very steep, with occasional rocky scrambles, to the very peak. And there are a zillion other people pushing for the top or already on their ways down. As I said, a popular hike.

And here we are, finally, and it's only 9:50! My uphilling muscles were hurtin' pretty bad by now, but I did manage to walk up the last few stones to pose with the Merle Girls at the doohickey atop the peak. (You can look through the little tubes to see various sights.) Beyond me, to the northwest, is the city of Fremont and then the San Francisco Bay, then the coastal range.

We all relaxed for a bit, snacked on our lunches, enjoyed the views in all directions. Off to the east, could actually see the snow-topped peaks of the Sierras out beyond the far range of mountains, but they're almost impossible to see in this photo--that's a long way far off (couple hundred miles?).

Then it was time for... Group Photo! All the dogs are visible but you have to kind of work at it. Today it's a papillon, a smallish mixed breed, four border collies, two aussies, and Tika.

Also, it was time to get moving again. I could see the dogs' breath as they exhaled, so it's still pretty chilly, and all that sweat from the last 10 minutes of steep assent is cold cold COLD against our bodies. But we timed the day perfectly--just as we start down, the sun comes out! (So we didn't have to do the hard hiking in the direct sun.) And it's only 10:15. [I'm looking at the times on my photos, and I thought it was an hour later...but, dunno, the earlier photos have the correct time.]

Going down is very hard, too hard, on my wonky knee, and I get slower and slower and am hurtin' by the end--not great pain, but the knee just isn't working right any more. It takes us almost 2 hours to get back down the mountain as a result. But we make it in one piece, do our verbal high fives, and head home--and the dogs (all of whom covered about twice as many miles as us feeble humans) just collapse and sleep.

When I get home, I discover that I have a nearly flat tire, so the rest of the afternoon is taken up with taking care of that. And then I have to do a few chores and important other things so that I can get to bed and rest up for Monday's adventure.

Presidents' Weekend Saturday

SUMMARY: Cosumnes River Preserve

UPDATED: Tues, Feb 22, 10 a.m. (see below).
What a great weekend! Very busy, exhausting, still sorting hundreds of photos, but here are glimpses of the whole thing.

On Saturday, I drove with my parents out to the Sacramento delta area near Elk Grove--the Cosumnes River Preserve, where I went a couple of weeks ago but didn't get enough of. This time I had a borrowed 100-400mm telephoto lens, hoping to get some better bird shots. And my mom's a long-time bird watcher and my parents both love exploring and nature, so I invited them along.

We left around noon, drove 2 hours out the Preserve. Looked at some birds there. Drove along some of the roads in the preserve at various locations--this area is intriguing because of cooperation between the Preserve and private landowners. A lot of the land that is farmed during the summer is left fallow and even flooded during migration seasons to make up for so many thousands of square miles of the Central Valley marshlands lost to development and farming.

We saw so many different birds! And, when sorting my photos at home, I discovered more that I didn't even know that we'd seen. After sunset, we stopped for dinner and then headed for home--essentially spent about 8 hours in the car with just a break for dinner. With my additional half hour to my parents house and then half hour home at the end, that's a lot of sitting.

I still have tons of photos sort through, try to make clearer, crop down to a reasonable view, and so on, but here's a taste.

Dad and Mom  with MUTT MVR at the Cosumnes Visitor Center, ready for anything.

So many birds in every direction! Snow geese in the background here.

Pintail getting out of Dodge.

This kestrel didn't like us stalking her. Every time I edged the car forward 15 feet, she'd fly 15 feet farther down the wire and go back to watching us. We did this for about 10 minutes.

We saw Sandhill Cranes! Lots and lots of them! Not many very close, and it was overcast and a bit dark, but, yay!, cranes! This one has bands and a transmitter of some sort. UPDATE: I reported this bird sighting online and got this response: " That crane was marked during my study of wintering ecology of sandhill cranes and was captured as an adult on Oct. 15, 2007. We found it on its nesting territory during summer, near Likely, Calif. It has been observed wintering at the Cosumnes River Preserve every year since."

The sun sent beams out from behind the clouds onto the farmers' fields and Mount Diablo in the background.

And then it was night. Time to get home, pack the car, and get to bed for Sunday's adventure.

Agility Dogs and Life

SUMMARY: Class and successes and misses and aging and all that.

We had a lovely night in class last night, other than me continuing to do not quite the right thing--ok, all right, completely the wrong thing--and my intructor laughing in disbelief (see "what my instructor thinks I do" in Wednesday's post).

Boost ran really nicely. Knocked only one bar, I think. Got some insight into some of the times when she doesn't come in to me over jumps. Did some really nice weaves and contacts. Ran really fast.

Tika and I had some challenges. I'm sometimes feeling like a beginning handler with her now; I'm still not entirely sure whether my handling is changing as I work more with Boost or as Tika slows down or--that other thing--

Yesterday I rattled my hand in the popcorn bowl, which I hadn't touched for hours. Boost immediately got up and came into the room. Tika kept lying on the bed in the other room--right where I could see her, and I saw no reaction. From the food-first dog. I rattled it again. No reaction. Her eyes were open, but no ear twitches and no jumping up from the bed.

I asked her a couple of times if she wanted some popcorn. Still just lay there. Finally I tossed some popcorn on the floor. She immediately got up, came towards me--and started sniffing on the floor halfway across the room from where i was.

So, yes, I think she's having some hearing and some vision issues. How hard for me to accept.

But she seems to be running and playing quite happily.

We're going to do a huge hike this weekend, 10 miles with cumulative elevation gain of about 2400 feet. This is huge. It is a really big stretch for me, and I know that Tika doesn't like uphill that much anymore, and sometimes I worry about her. But at least some of it is off-leash, and I think she's much happier hiking that way.

Her future might hold more hiking and less agility. Just watching and waiting...

Spring Has Sprung Yet Again

SUMMARY: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day--what was blooming in my yard on Feb 15.

The grass in my lawn has gone into overdrive--after a couple of months of not mowing, now I'll be back to that. The shrubs are as high as an elephant's eye--oh, hmm, make that a giraffe's eye, and climbing. The days feel so much longer than in the dark of December. The paperwhite narcissus, so happy in December and January, have just finished blooming, but color is suddenly everywhere.

The geraniums that I brought home in early January are still getting used to their pots, but keep producing splashes of color.

The alyssum just goes all year round.

Only one pansy was blooming, but what a beautiful face.

If I could remember these sprawling, hanging, aggressively growing plants' name, with their tiny white flowers, I'd be so happy--bought one several years ago and now I have it everywhere. Nice pot flower but it won't necessarily stay there.

Another tiny flower whose name I don't recall, growing up among the fronds of the ornamental garlic, whose white-striped leaves are also year-round.

All the primrose are very happy right now.

Alyssum and some lobelia together in a pot--the only lobelia that hasn't died back is this one, in a large pot under an overhang.

Almost all the begonias have died back to the root, except this red-leaf one, in another sheltered corner of the yard.

Daffodils are blooming all around me.

So many varieties.

The violets, with their big round leaves and their just-so little purple flowers, can also be invasive, but right now in their blooming season they look gorgeous.

The very first bloom on the dusty miller.

The very first bloom on the lavender.

White primrose.

The big hyacinths have come up in their pots in the back yard. Not yet ready in the darker, north-facing front yard.

And your standard yellow daffodils. The foliage is really a nice green, but I see that Elements' Process Multiple Files utility (which I asked only to adjust the levels, contrast, and size) has turned it into something a little different.

Sorry, nandina, it was dark, I was in a hurry, and you're pretty blurry. Will try again some other day.

x

A Little Agility Levity

SUMMARY: Something I whipped up in half an hour.

There's this meme I've been seeing a lot of on facebook this week--a poster representing a profession or activity with 6 or 8 photos, each of which is labeled like "What my mom thinks I do," "What my neighbors think I do," and so on, up to "What I really do." They're all pretty funny, and so true.

I hadn't seen one for dog agility competitors, so I whipped this up (giving credit for where I found the photos that I used from the web without asking permission--which no one else that I've seen has done, although it's possible that they had permission). Anyway--

P.S. You can google "What I really do" and a whole ton of items like this will come up.

Cute Local Dogs

SUMMARY: County photo contest.

Santa Clara County supervisor Mike Wasserman runs a photo contest every couple of months. Last one was pets; here's the description:

My winter photo contest is all about pets: big, small, cute, homely, furry, feathered, scaled – we want to see them! Send me your favorite funny or cute image of your pet (preferably enjoying him or herself in our beautiful County!) Once again, I will frame and proudly display three winning 8x10 photos in my office. Get moving, get creative, and send me photos that show why Santa Clara County is a great place for pets too!

I entered a photo that didn't win, but the winners are nice and are all three of dogs.

The three winners are here and you can click through to the Flickr stream to see all 20 entries including mine of Tika and Boost at Santa Teresa park, which I think is a nice photo but not really "funny or cute", although I thought a photo including "our beautiful county" would be a shoo-in. :-)

Weekend Update

SUMMARY: Title chase and summary.

OK, about those possible titles that we could've earned this weekend:

• Tika's Gold Standard (2 chances to get 2 needed Qs)
  Ooops, I miscounted, we still need several more--but we did Q in both Standards; 4th of 9 on Saturday and 2nd of 7 on Sunday.
• Boost's Masters Jumpers title (2 chances to get 2 needed Qs)
  Saturday's Jumpers was a mess, but Sunday's was so close--really, JUST TAKE JUMPS IN FRONT OF YOU. Kept up all her bars both days, I believe.
• Boost's Masters Snooker title (2 chances to get 2 SuperQs)
  I am so discouraged--at least (again) she kept all her bars up, had a lovely opening, started a lovely closing, getting my hopes up, but Saturday didn't take the #6 jump in the closing that was right in front of her, and Sunday on what I thought was a super-simple weave entry at #5 in the closing, she entered at the second pole instead.
• Boost's Bronze Gamblers title (2 chances to get 2 needed Qs)
  She Qed Sunday's gamble and got almost enough points to be 2nd of 36 dogs, but we were 2 weave poles short when the whistle blew, so ended in 8th. Saturday's she did everything I asked, which included when I said "right" just a moment *before* she took an important jump instead of *after*, sigh.
• Boost's Silver Tournament title (2 chances to get 2 needed Qs)
  Steeplechase had some nice moments, but nooo; Grand Prix was spot on lovely except for two jumps right in the middle, upon which I think we Eed on runouts and refusals.

Overall:

• Boost Qed 3 of 11: in Relay with Moxie (2nd of 23 teams ), Snooker (11th of 38), and Gamblers (6th of 36).

• Tika Qed 5 of 11: in Relay with Chaps  (2nd of 11 teams), both Standards (as noted), Sunday Jumpers (1st of 11 and a good enough score that we'd have placed 2nd even in Championship 26", so when we're on, she still has it), and Grand Prix (2nd of 9).

• Disappointed in all the seemingly simple ways in which I or the dogs messed up. 
• Sad that Tika Qed less than 50% again, but it could've been worse, of course, and at least she picked up some placement ribbons this time to salve my wounded hopes.
• Disappointed that Boost's weaves seem to be broke again--missed a whole slew of entries and popped out once, but oddly the missed entries all seemed to be the "easy" ones and she got several hard entries that many other dogs had trouble with, go figure. 
• Glad that most of Boost's runs looked 90% nice and that she hardly knocked any bars. 
• Delighted that Tika seemed healthy and happy and ready to run most of the weekend--3 or 4 runs seemed slow, but others were lovely and she didn't manifest the stiff shoulders/neck that she had last weekend.
• Glad that my pulled hamstring hardly bothered me at all and seems to be pretty much recovered, and that the ankle I twisted while walking the dogs Sunday morning is only a slight ache and not a real mess (what great shape I'm in :-/ ).
• Fun that the trial this weekend featured two of Boost's littermates (Bette and Beck), one full sister from a repeat breeding (TCam), and several half-sisters and brothers (Roulette, Quik, Quas, Rowdy)...did I forget anyone? I lose track of litters and which dad was whose, but they all share Tala as their mom, and most are blue merles (in this list, only Beck and Quik are black & white).

I'm not sure that I (or Tika) have the fortitude, time, money, or even, really, that strong a desire to try to get 75 more Qs for her Platinum LAA. This might become an abandoned part of my Campaign.

There was something really important I wanted to say, but I am, as usual, tired tired tired and I can't remember it--and the dogs are crashed out completely on their little doggie beds nearby--so I think it's bedtime for all the bonzos on this bus. 

USDAA Possible Titles

SUMMARY: Addendum to earlier post.

Titles we could earn this weekend:

• Tika's Gold Standard (2 chances to get 2 needed Qs)
• Boost's Masters Jumpers title (2 chances to get 2 needed Qs)
• Boost's Masters Snooker title (2 chances to get 2 SuperQs)
• Boost's Bronze Gamblers title (2 chances to get 2 needed Qs)
• Boost's Silver Tournament title (2 chances to get 2 needed Qs)

And, well, we know how those Jumpers and SuperQs have been going for the last 5 years.

USDAA Weekend Coming

SUMMARY: Big trial this time.

Bright and early (well--dark and early) Saturday morning I'm off to the wilds of Turlock for a huge USDAA trial. I heard maybe 450 Masters runs on Saturday, in one ring. Yes, it's been done before, but it makes for a really long day. (350 runs is a generally accepted number for a reasonable maximum per judge per day.)

Show secretary says: " This trial is very full and we will probably be turning on the light and running into the evening.  Please park as close as you can and the same thing with crating.  I know it will be tight but the weather should be good, at least no rain.   We will need volunteers to keep this trial running.  The white boards will be at both rings so volunteer often.   Fault limits may have to be set."

Gosh, we hardly ever set fault limits. We'll see how this goes. Usually when we do have to set them, you're whistled off at your second off-course in the same run. 

I can tell that it's big because Tika usually in a field of  5 to 9 22" Performance dogs.  This weekend, looks like 9 to 12 dogs.  Boost, in 22" Championship--chyah, 34 to 67 (Grand Prix)! Wonder if the uptick in entries is because Nationals is "nearby" this year? Well, Denver is closer than Kentucky, anyway.

I think I can run with my injured hamstring. Otherwise it's going to be a sucky weekend, because my dogs won't run for anyone else. I keep vowing to do something to rectify that, but never somehow get around to it. We'll see how things go Saturday. My hotel room is at a super-low, nonrefundable rate, I believe, so I pay for it whether I use it or not.

Dogs are ready to go. Both were very happy in class last night and running well. (Well, there's Tika's ongoing inexplicable missed cues and things that seem so un-Tika like. Still monitoring the situation.)

At least, as noted, the weather should be lovely. Yesterday was like the best spring day you could imagine, and it's still the middle of winter!

Some People Just Don't Ever Get The Memo

SUMMARY: I blew it in the clothing arena again!

I've had trouble in class for the last two weeks getting even slightly challenging front crosses. The challenging ones--what a mess. I feel like I'm back in remedial front cross land. I probably actually am.

And you can see why from this photo:

Certain persons whom I shall not name just clearly don't know how to dress properly for agility class! Who knew it was all about the clothing? ...Oh, wait, *I* knew that.

It was a good, challenging class tonight. It was a beautiful night, too--not quite warm enough for t-shirt weather, but downright balmy. Orion looked down on our little party, thumbs in his belt, tug-toy hanging from his side--one can't see anything except his belt because he's wearing black pants and a black top. And the moon, gorgeous as always, rose from behind the hills to cheer us on (see her in the photo among the clouds above our heads).

Roo, who finished her MACH last weekend, brought flourless vegan chocolate cake for us to share (pretty clever for a dog). Which is like having a giant, cake-shaped chocolate truffle that you cut slices out of. Wow! Mmmmm! All to spur us on to greater heights of achievement, of course.

In our very last, just-for-fun weave-pole challenge, I just couldn't get there the first time, but because I was inspired to greater heights of achievement, I tried again, and dagnabbit pulled something. I think it's the biceps femoris part of my hamstring, for those who know or care about those details (I had to come home and look up some pictures). So I'm looking at agility this weekend, a 10-mile, 2400-foot elevation gain hike next weekend, and 4 more weekends of agility after that, and I'm sitting here on an ice pack.

That can't be good.

I'm hoping it'll all be better in the morning. Next time, I'll know better than to show up for class in bluejeans and a red fleece. I'll be, all, like, black pants and black or gray top, and then I'm sure nothing bad will happen to me and all my front crosses will work perfectly.

Because it really is all about the clothing.

Cosumnes River Preserve: Search for Sandhill Cranes

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday.

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

SUMMARY: A step away from agility for today.

In Taj MuttHall, I usually try to focus on my dogs and dog agility. I often stray off into photos and photography, hiking, flowers and wildlife, and just random daily life, but not usually anything more serious.

Today, in honor of the excellent decision coming down today from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stating that California Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, I thought I'd take a moment to open the doors on where my money goes when bills and dog agility are done. Because I think that staying silent can be an error with dire repercussions.

Not in any particular order:

• Gay rights. Because I want all my friends to be able to go through life without being abused by individuals and by the system, to be able to marry the people they love and want to spend their lives with, to not have to fight to visit and make decisions for their life partners in the hospital when they're ill, to not have to go through extraordinary hoops to get the rights and benefits that heterosexual couples get simply by marrying. It is the civil rights issue of our time that I think that I can most do something about. 
• Environmental causes--in many forms. Because when the last plant dies, when the last of an animal species goes extinct, when a mountain is razed, a sensitive habitat is destroyed, a natural resource is used up, a stunning view is compromised, it's gone. Forever. There are no second chances. 
• Canine cancer research. Because our dogs live short enough lives already, and no one should have to go through what I went through with Remington.
• Breast cancer research. Because people I know, my sister among them, have experienced breast cancer and it's one of the most prevalent causes of death among American women.
• Feeding the hungry. Because hungry people can't be productive and hungry children can't learn, and starved people are ill people, burdening the health care system even more, and in any case, if I were in their place: Food is life.
• Consumer Reports. Because they provide an invaluable service, advertiser-free, for consumers of almost everything. This country is much safer and healthier, and my pocketbook and the quality of things I buy, are much better because of CR.
• ACLU. Because every time a right or liberty is taken away from an individual or group, it becomes easier to take away rights or liberties from other groups. Even if you personally don't like the individual or group.  As Ben Franklin said, "Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power." (Often paraphrased as "People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.") 
• The Cal Band. Because I had a really good time the year I spent in this organization, learned a lot, was drilled into possible the best physical condition I've ever been in, and the University no longer has money to support organizations like this.
• Clarion West. Because I had a really good time the 6 weeks I spent in this workshop and learned so very much. And because writers--and aspiring writers--mostly don't have a lot of spare money for things like this.
• Wikipedia. Because it is the most amazing compendium of human knowledge--you can find the basics about anything here and follow links to the sources for more detailed and/or accurate information--and it's free AND free of advertising. Millions of people have donated possibly billions of hours to make this information available to all of us, but someone has to pay for the servers and upkeep. I don't know what I'd do without Wikipedia; it's more helpful to me now than my bound Britannica.

(And to wrap it up:

• Announcement and info about today's decision that Prop 8 is unconstitutional because it "serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples." And that's clearly unconstitutional. We've already been through this with other minorities.
• A bit of analysis on the ruling. )

On Great Handlers and Good Runs

SUMMARY: Am I a great handler? Did I have great runs?

I received three unsolicited compliments at the CPE trial last weekend about what a great handler I am. I said thanks and honestly enjoyed the sentiments. But, at the same time, I always immediately compare my handling skills to those of the many truly world-class and near world-class handlers whom I see regularly at USDAA trials--and I'm not excluding a lot of people by making that qualification; so many handlers there could be world-team contenders if they wanted to be. And, compared to the high standards of handling against which I compete so often, I'm really only maybe an average handler. 

I know this because I can compare my moves in videos with the moves I see other handlers making on course; by the desperate way I struggle to get to where I need to be (or leave where I need to leave) compared to the easy lope of, yes, even short-legged handlers; by the neatly executed turns and clear, unambiguous gestures compared to what my arms and legs do in seeming contradiction to what my mind swears it's telling them to do; by how far I am, and always have been, so far out of competition to ever be near the top levels of national agility.

I concede two things:

• That I'm a much better handler than I was when I started and for the first few years I ran. I like to think that I'm still improving, but it has been at a very slow rate for many years. 
• I'm a very *experienced* handler. I think I've commented about this before: I almost never watch people go off course and think, "huh, it never occurred to me that that's an off-course opportunity." I believe that I can read courses very well--I know where the traps and challenges are because I can see what the dog's path around the course is going to be.  That is arguably my greatest strength as a handler. And my experience also gives me many options, without thinking too hard, on how to handle those traps and challenges.

So, what I am is, I think, a greatly experienced handler. Who is lucky enough to have two wonderful dogs who love doing agility and want to work with me and can run. But even then, *knowing* stuff doesn't always translate into *executing* it.

Also, I'm not sure that "being able to survive a course with a fast dog" necessary translates into "being a great handler"--well, OK--it's one component of being a good handler, but there's getting around the course any ugly way you can manage and then there's getting around the course smoothly and accurately.

Anyway, what I'm saying is, I appreciate the compliments and that is one reason why I like CPE--I do think I'm in the better handlers group rather than the less capable handlers group, unlike in USDAA. So I *feel* more competent. Sometimes.

The interesting thing is that there are more great handlers in CPE  (or great handlers in training--you know how you can tell just by watching how they move on course?) than one might expect from a venue that's a good starting/intermediate-level venue for the most part, and quite a few excellent dogs, although they aren't always paired up (e.g., competent handler, dog with no drive). Not being on score table allowed me to watch a lot more than I usually do, and I saw some great runs. A very few of these skilled folks also do USDAA. I don't know why more of them don't. Maybe they don't want the higher jump heights? Maybe they like the more relaxed CPE trials? Maybe they like being able to Q with refusals and knocked bars? (I can SO relate to that.) Maybe they just have too many dang weekends of agility? Maybe they're not totally insane like some people?

(This weekend, a friend, Quas' mom, told me that she did 38 weekends of agility last year! THIR! TY! EIGHT! And you guys thought I was nuts for doing 17 last year.)

After Boost's first ugly Standard run on Saturday (read description in yesterday's post), in which we survived several disasters and ended up Qing, a friend gave me a big grin and said "NICE run!" and I shot back, "No, it wasn't." Sure, it was a Q, but it was an amazingly sloppy one on both our parts. After going on about all our refusals, I tried to backpedal and apologize for not taking the compliment. It is sometimes hard to remember to just shut up and smile and say "thanks."

And, meanwhile--spring arrived Monday morning in my front flowerbed, with the season's first daffodil:

Some Weekend Run Details

SUMMARY: Pretty much for my own recollections.

OK, it was fun doing stuff all weekend. Can we do something today, too?

Tika

Tika started Saturday by scaring me about her physical comfort. Going over a practice jump, she looked more like she was catching herself than extending. Part of our warmup involves the "hug", which is really her putting her front paws on my chest and stretching her front legs way out; well, she wouldn't stretch them way out.

I ran her in the first class and, indeed, she continued looking like she was doing jumps cautiously, but at the end she dove in and grabbed at my feet, which is a good indicator that she's happy and excited and eager to run some more.

I had started her on rimadyl on Friday "just in case," so continued that through the weekend; did my feeble best at massage and manipulation of the joints. She seemed a bit more stretchy on Sunday. But she also seemed slow to me all weekend.

Saturday:

• first Standard: A decent run. Not fast. Placed 3rd of 8 dogs, 5 seconds behind the winner, which is a lot in any venue.
• Second Standard: Also a decent run, except for a knocked bar when I raced for, then abruptly abandoned, an intended front cross. So, no Q--and our only NQ for the weekend. 6 seconds slower than the winner.
• Snooker: I picked a course for Qability rather than for glory, and she did it very nicely, but again only 3rd place of 9 dogs because we did two 6s and a 7, one dog did two 7s and a six, and one dog did three 7s. There was ample time to attempt any of those options, and the paths were fairly simple to do it--but I opted for the simplest of the simple.
• Full House: This was supposed to be our glory moment of highest points in trial (remember the awards in My Own Mind). But I sent her to a tunnel, she pulled off it and ran past it and towards me, and I decided it was easier to take her back and pick that up than to reinvent my course on the fly. As a result of that and possibly reduced speed, she was in a 3-pt tunnel when the whistle blew, so no credit, and we didn't have time for the last 5-pointer in my plan. Result, a Q but not top points--5 of the other 99 dogs entered earned higher points (one a small dog with 5 more seconds of point-accumulation time), and dagnabbit 4 of them were in our exact class! So we didn't even place! (Among all 99 dogs, Tika had 47, along with 3 other dogs; two had 48; Boost had 50, and two had 51.)
• Wildcard: A decent run, far from the fastest of all dogs that ran it, but in our group, 2nd place by only .06 of a second. Dang hundredths! :-)

Sunday:

• 1st Standard: Tika turned back before both sets of weave poles. This is one of those things that I classify as "Tika never does that" that have been cropping up more lately. It didn't look like she didn't want to do them; she had her excited face on. Vision? Hearing? My other thought is that maybe she's just enough slower that the way I handle (possibly sloppy) now looks different to her?  Anyway, it wouldn't have been a Q in USDAA, but it was in CPE (which has no refusals). And actually a 2nd place of 8 dogs, although 11 seconds behind the winning dog with those detours to get back to the weave entries. Apparently others had a lot more trouble than we did.
• 2nd Standard: Another decent but not super-fast run, again 2nd of 10 dogs and this time only  3 seconds behind the winning dog. (Oh--the winning dog in all 4 standards--our old friend Chaps the Wonder Aussie.)
• Gamblers (aka Jackpot): This particular gamble was another chance to be The Highest Scoring Dog In The World. But...she knocked the first bar she took, so minus one point.  In the gamble, I sent her to a tunnel and she turned back to me (something else she's been doing a lot lately). She did take it eventually (in USDAA, that would not have been a Q, but again no refusals in CPE). But later in the course I thought I sent her to another tunnel and she ran past it, so between the wasted time and the missed tunnel (3 points), I opted not to take my final optional 5-point obstacle, so 8 pts lower than I had expected, at 67. Out of about 100 dogs who did the same course, 9 had higher points (three of them small dogs with 7 more seconds of time), and dagnabbit 4 of them were in our exact class, so again not even a placement.   (I would've loved to try Boost in this class, but alas, I entered her in other things.)
• Wildcard: A perfectly respectable run over 12 obstacles, but only 4th place. Different from the years of having fastest time of all dogs...
• Jumpers: A perfectly respectable run, in which I lamented how slow she seemed. But turns out to be the only class she won all weekend, 1st of 8 dogs; of the 66 dogs who ran this course, only two were faster-- two small, fast shelties whom I dare say had better turning radii on this twisty course.

Boost

Saturday

• 1st Standard: Refused a jump on a rear cross. Refused another jump on a rear cross. Didn't go into a tunnel that I thought I was sending her to. We fixed all those problems (remember no refusals in CPE.) Then I forgot where I was going and had to make her down while I thought about it. Of all silly things, we Qed AND placed 2nd of 10 dogs. Go figure.
• 2nd Standard: A pretty nice run with I think one bobble but I didn't write it down, so it's gone from my head. Q and 1st of 10 dogs.
• Snooker: As with Tika, I used the same simple-to-handle opening of 7-6-6, but she knocked the red before the last 6 (one of only two knocked for the weekend) and I substituted a 2 for the last 6. A Q and, in her particular group, still a 1st place among 7 dogs.
• Full House: Another failed Top Points Of All Time when she made a wrong entry into the weaves and I went back to pick it up, so with the wasted time we JUST BARELY missed getting our final 5-point obstacle, so she ended with 50 points--two dogs out of the 99 competing earned 51, and one was in her group, so a 2nd place.
• Wildcard: A very nice run with a Q and a 1st.

Sunday

• 1st Standard: A faulting disaster, although no refusals: Popped out of hte weaves when I rear crossed (5 faults); couldn't get a grip when racing up the dogwalk and slipped off the up-ramp (15 faults); knocked the last bar when I slowed down. One of only (I think) 2 bars that she knocked all weekend. One of only two NQs for the weekend.
• 2nd Standard: Ran past weaves that were right in front of her and right next to me. Really. How do I convey this? Then on a long, lightly arcing series of 4 jumps where I tried to get a head start but fell behind and was running at the last one yelling go hup, she turned back to me and we had to stop and get her to go over it. She also did her teeter touch off the side instead of the front, and when I said "touch" again, she left the teeter instead, so I made her down briefly. But, technically, no faults, so a Q and, ahem, with her speed, another 1st place.
• Wildcard: A couple of reallllly wide turns and a hold on the Aframe contact but still half a second faster than Tika who had pretty tight turns and no Aframe hold. A Q and 1st place.
• Jumpers: Why did I enter jumpers when I had a choice? I could've entered Gamblers! My thought at the time was "we need practice doing Jumpers" and, sure enough, we did. In a loop of jumps making a 270, she didn't come in to the 3rd jump; ran past it full speed while looking at me. I reviewed the video and I didn't have my shoulders turned, although I did do my abrupt decel which I thought should've done it.
  The next sequence was tricky and I didn't think I could get her through it without being in position, so I walked her back to the jump she missed, put her in a down before the jump, walked back into position-- and she ran AROUND the jump! So I walked her back, put her into a down again, walked back into position--everything before and after that was spot on, but in Jumpers, even her speed couldn't accommodate that much delay, 5 seconds over time. Oh, hmm, and we had another 5-point fault that I don't remember. Maybe she had a bar down that I didn't notice, or maybe I got called for all that resetting my dog? No idea, didn't notice it at the time. That was only our 2nd NQ of the weekend.
• Colors: We're way behind on Colors, so we need all the Qs we can get. Our choices were a course with 4 more jumps or a course with an Aframe and weaves. To no one's surprise, i took the course without those extra jumps. So our time was slower than those who were just doing jumps or had running contacts. Still, she was spot on perfect, felt nice, a good way to end the day with a Q and another 1st place in her group.

So, for the weekend (counting errors rather than successes because there were so many more successes):

• 20 runs, 17 Qs,  seven 1sts (one Tika's), five 2nds, three 3rds, one 4th, out of 5 to 10 dogs (avg 8 per class).
• Tika, 2 bars, 2 turn backs before weaves, 3 turn backs before tunnels, no missed contacts (although none were actual touch/stops, but none were really creeps-to-the-end, either), one start line where she got up and went sniffing around in the dirt for food but thank goodness didn't go over the start line, no off courses.
• Boost, 2 bars, half a dozen runouts or refusals for various reasons, two missed weave entries, one weave pop on a rear cross, two teeters did contact off the side instead of end, one of those left early but no other early departures from contacts, no start-line issues, no off courses.
• Handler: Forgot the course once, only two or three really egregious handling errors (without watching videos), didn't lose my good attitude, yelled "no!" once on course when Boost went around that jump for the second time in Jumpers (more in stunned disbelief than anything).

In the raffle, we didn't win The Super Bowl (below), but we did win a $15 certificate.

A Good Weekend

SUMMARY: Not perfect, but lots of Qs and those titles are now SO CLOSE!

1. Yes, I had fun.
2. Tika Qed 9 out of 10 (the knocked bar in one Standard was SO my fault when I chickened out on a front cross at the last minute).
3. Tika completed both her Snooker Extraordinaire and her Wildcard Extraordinaire titles (I forgot about the latter on Friday when I was posting about what titles could be completed).
4. Tika's C-ATE count is now down to 480 points, or approximately 22 more Qs.  So close! (Somehow when I made The Campaign chart for the C-ATE, I added twice as many Qs-to-get as we actually needed. So I suddenly realize that we could do this in possibly 3 more trials, not another 7 or 8! That's a tremendous relief!)
5. Boost Qed 8 out of 10.
6. Boost  indeed completed her Level 5 Standard and her Level 5 Wildcard.
7. Boost also Qed in everything else  that she needed towards her C-ATCH, so the C-ATCH count is down to only two Colors and one Snooker!  So close! 

So what will it take to wrap up the C-ATE and the C-ATCH?

Tika's C-ATE: The next CPE trial, last weekend in February, gives us a chance for 12 Qs (equals 270 points); the one after that, first weekend in March, gives us a chance for 10 Qs (equals 235 points).  Tika needs about 22 Qs but exactly 480 points. So we COULD finish the C-ATE in those two trials if we Q in everything or miss just one. Odds: Extremely slim. But for sure we should finish the weekend after THAT! (10 possible Qs equals 220 pts). So--VAST, March 10/11, look out, here we come!

Boost's C-ATCH: The next CPE trial offers 2 Snooker but only one Colors. The one after that again offers two Snooker and only one Colors. The odds are very good that we'll get our one remaining snooker among those four. But can we Q two out of two Colors? Historically, odds are slim, but it's certainly possible that we'll finish at that Haute Dawgs trial. Otherwise, the weekend after THAT--another chance at Colors, and, yup, that's VAST.

Wouldn't it be cool to finish both the same weekend?  Oddsmakers say the chances are 30% for that happening, based on a complicated and arcane format known as "pulling a number out of a hat."

If something REALLY goes wrong, well, then, the weekend after VAST is Bay Team's trial, with TWO chances at Colors. And that's the end of the CPE trial frenzy.

The big thing out of this is that I can knock a couple of CPE trials later in the year off my calendar. (I'm already committed to all the ones through March.)

I'll talk more about the weekend, maybe tomorrow. Feeling really wiped out and almost even ill this evening, so off to bed. Oh--except must email move-ups for the trials I'm already entered in. G'night.

Tired dogs after another busy weekend.

The First of the Crazed Back-to-Back CPE Weekends

SUMMARY: To Elk Grove--and beyond!

Five runs per dog per day this weekend. I find that I'm looking forward to the weekend. I find that I'm not looking forward to getting up at 4 in the morning (duh) nor to sleeping in MUTT MVR, just because it's a pain to take the crates and everything else out and then put them all back in again at the end of the weekend.

But the weekend itself, looking forward to it.

This is a good thing.

Because we're doing all of these CPEs for The Campaign, here's what we could *possibly* complete this weekend:

• Tika's Snooker Extraordinaire  (that's 30 Level C Qs, 4 chances to earn 1 needed Q)
• Boost's Level 5 Standard (4 chances to earn those 3 needed Qs)
• Boost's Level 5 Wildcard (2 chances to earn those 2 needed Qs)

There's no Top Ten thing really in CPE, so don't care about placements, except --mwah ha ha haaa---both dogs will run in Full House this  weekend and I'll be looking for a chance to get high-in-trial score for that with both dogs. (There's no such award except in My Own Mind.)

Weather should be great.

Plus in the paper this morning it noted that peak Sandhill Crane viewing season is in February, and one of the best places to see them, Cosumnes River Preserve,  is only a few minutes from the trial site. Sandhill Cranes were once hunted almost to extinction in California but are coming back well. I might try to get there, sometime, somehow, although the preserve is open only during daylight hours, which is also when the trial is running, of course.

(Map from their web site; CPE trial is about where Bruceville Rd. runs off the top of the map and Twin Cities Road is sometimes the route I take from 5 to get to the CPE site.)

So, I'm off for Games and Cranes! Hope you all have a  lovely weekend.

Photo Club: Stormy Weather

SUMMARY: My photos displayed.

I've recently joined a local photo club. Every month they have a theme gallery, and each member has the option of submitting up to two photos. There's no real list of requirements except that it should, in some way or other, match the theme.

January's theme was Stormy Weather. I submitted a couple of photos and they're displayed as part of the very short slide show on the club's home page:

http://www.sunnyvalephoto.com/

They'll probably be there until around Feb 13; after that, you'd have to click the "Jan. theme" link and then, by March, probably have to click the "More" link.

Me Got Tennis Ball. You Throw. Me Wait.

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday.