Homeward bound...again...

You have to make the best of things and let go of things you have no control over. My truck was in the shop to have what turned out to be the drive shaft replaced and the part was going to be three days arriving. We decided to make it an adventure, which it already looked like with the Spanish moss hanging over the trailers.



This morning we decided to go to IHOP for National Pancake Day, then buy some swimsuits and spend the day by the pool. Tough life, I know. Realistically we were all stressed about getting home but there was nothing we could do about it... until I received a call from Ford while we were all looking through a TJ Maxx store...the truck was done and was under warranty! We leapt into action like a well-oiled machine and were on the road within the hour.

I have to say, it was a wonderful experience. What? It's true...the number of sheepdog people that got ahold of us, offered to come get us and the trailers even though they were hours away, put us up until the truck was fixed was absolutely heartwarming. People who don't know us other than seeing us a few times a year at sheepdog trials.

We all need to remember to celebrate this wonderful community of sheepdog people, because they come together and reach out when it counts.

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Location:County Road 235,Brooker,United States

Regrouping...

Well, the tow trucks couldn't find us for an hour and a half...how do you miss two 50 foot rigs on the side of the Florida Turnpike? I think I ate half a bag of Oreos at the side of the highway, a pathetic sight I'm sure. But when they finally arrived they were friendly and efficient...




...and my truck was towed away...




We had found a camp ground and a Ford dealership nearby...
The woman at the front desk was new to her job...she spoke at full volume and seemed to have trouble multitasking so gave us the wrong spaces to pull the trailers into, the tow guy had to move the trailer to three different sites before we were settled...which we later realized appeared to be a giant fire ant hill...
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Location:S Libby Rd,Groveland,United States

Trials, trucks and tribulations

Well the last few days have been a bit of a high for me. I finished fourth on Saturday at the That'll Do trial, had a great time dancing up a storm to some great Bluegrass music and then when we headed north on Sunday after our runs, I was sitting in second place. Life was looking good. Oh, by the way, I should mention I'm writing this on the side of the Florida Turnpike where the transmission fell out of my truck.



I did say I thought this trip might be one too many and I didn't want to push my luck... my lease is up in six weeks...

So as we wait for the specialty tow truck, we are trying to decide how to get three people and a ridiculous number of dogs (don't ask) into one truck and trailer...did I mention the lambs are popping like popcorn at home...?

To make it even better, Mary Lou just got a message that they aren't sending a tow truck until they get more information...it's starting to rain...

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Location:Florida's Turnpike,Montverde,United States

Snow birds

I'm starting to get this Florida thing. We wake up to a spectacular sunrise...



...go work dogs with an International Champion...



...go to the beach...






...and see colourful wildlife.



We even experienced the local cuisine...a place called Bizarros, famous for great pizza and terrible service. The owner was unbelievably rude but the place was packed. A young lady was deciding what she wanted and her boyfriend started to order (I think he knew the system)...she interrupted him to say she didn't know what she wanted yet. The owner (a giant guy covered in tattoos, like ex-navy, an evil
Popeye) looked at her menacingly and pointed outside to the waiting line..."they all know what they want, get out of the way...". Then he yelled at everyone who had ordered and paid to get out and it was an evacuation like a movie set. Seriously? Mary Lou looked at a nearby customers and asked, "You pay for this?" at which point we all ducked expecting a sawed off shotgun to come up from behind the counter...

Back to the safe confines of a farm field!

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Location:Kramer Ln,Malabar,United States

Blind-sided

Today's running is over (for us) and truly it was an example of up one minute, down the next.

The early morning runs were relatively calm, as a beautiful Florida sun came up through the mist. This 575 yard outrun seemed short compared to the 625 yard outrun from the day before. The scores started to drop rapidly as the wind picked up ahead of a storm front, and sheep get nervous in unsettled conditions.

Mary Lou and Dyna went to the post, hoping for a repeat of the previous day. One sheep seemed really out of sorts with the other two, but given the conditions, perhaps not surprising. Dyna's run was a struggle with this sheep the whole way and in the heat Mary Lou decided to retire. On the way to the exhaust, Mary Lou ended up on the sheep's right side and noticed its right eye was opaque, blind in that eye...oh well, have to pray harder to the "good sheep" gods!

My run came in the middle of the day when the trailers felt like ocean liners in a hurricane. Craig had one of only two scores posted out of the 25 dogs that ran in the middle of the day. After a great outrun, lift and fetch, a wide turn and missed crossed drive due to impossible hearing conditions from driving wind may cost him a placing. Although I expect to run well at any time of day, I will pray harder to the "draw at good time of day" gods.

We have been extended an offer to a beach house for bar-b-que and martinis while listening to the crashing surf in the upcoming storm. That sounds pretty good right now! :)

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Location:Sebastian,United States

Blue Ribbon!

Well yesterday was quite the day! Several funny stories to relate which I will share over the next couple of days, but the highlight of the day was Mary Lou and Dyna with a 91 to win the Open class of over 80 dogs!

The wind has picked up today, storms are coming in and the sheep are acting more like the trial sheep we are used to here...very touchy and wild! More to report shortly...

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Location:Brokenwell Rd,Palm Bay,United States

Pickin' on the porch...

We aren't complaining about the cold anymore. The temperatures are above 20 degrees Celsius and the humidity is 94%.

The two days of Open running were tough here at Swannee River. Some groups simply refused to come down the field, others ran down the field like screaming banshees.

Mary Lou and I fared well enough. The scores were low on Day 1, but I managed a 5th and Mary Lou also placed in the money out of 70 some odd dogs. Day 2 saw the first three handlers walk up the field to get their dogs as the sheep absolutely refused to play. The fourth dog to the post was Mary Lou's Dyna and she posted an 88 under extremely difficult conditions that lasted until the last 10 dogs of the day when the sheep finally gave in. One handler was very complimentary, commenting "imagine what your score would've been on the good sheep". Part of sheepdog trialling is luck of the draw, and five of the top ten runs came in those last tries of the day, bumping Dyna to fourth.

I'm running a dog named Taff for Alistair, as he works with a few of his younger dogs. Taff scored an 80, which I was pleased with considering it was only our fourth run together. Actually, both Craig and Taff ran well for me with good scores in the middle of the day when the sheep were difficult, Taff just falling off the board at the end of the day with the last run.

The southern hospitality geared up in the evening, with some local musicians serving up some good old western music. There was a lot of foot stomping and swinging about, and the odd chiropractic adjustment as dancers who had partook of the homemade beverages tried to spin their partners in biomechanically impossible positions.

I'm thinking the novice runs aren't going to start on time this morning! :)

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Double trouble

The day dawned sunny and bright, albeit cold, but the bone-chilling wind decided to take the day off, so the conditions were fine for the double lift at the Lazy J trial.

I was the first to go from our group. The sheep were set far into the corners of the field, quite a distance away from where they were set during the previous Open runs. Dogs often look for sheep where they have found them before, so were likely to draw in. Craig ran reasonably well, but the couple of months off of fields was evident. We completed the international shed with seconds to spare so I was happy with that.

Linda had a great run going with Joe, but gripped in the shedding ring.

Mary Lou had a heart stopping run with Dyna. Good outwork, and with just over a minute to go finished the international shed getting the last two sheep away from the collared five. We were running on 14 sheep and shedding 9 off. The final two uncollared sheep were undecided about whether to join the discard pile or rejoin the collared ewes, which would be disaster. Mary Lou kept trying to chase off the two while the collared sheep started to break and Dyna had to repeatedly stop them, one collared yearling in particular that had been causing trouble the entire shed. The groups edged closer together, all near the pen. With time running out, Mary Lou decided to take a chance, and directed Dyna to take control of the collared sheep, and attempt the pen with the others nearby. Darting from side to side, the collared sheep attempted to escape a few more times, and with seconds remaining, Dyna hooked them into the pen, for an ending more exciting than any Super Bowl!

We packed up and put in a few miles headed south before it got dark. There was a hard freeze warning in effect, and naturally we ran out of propane in the middle of the night, so everything froze, including us! It is the same temperature at home as it is here. I'm starting to think the concept of the the south being warm in the winter is propaganda!

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On the wild side...

The first day of Open ran with lightly dogged yearling sheep that had their own opinions about how things should go. Dog after dog struggled, with an undulating field and a fetch line just to the right of the sheep trod (sheep walk the exact same path all the time and it is hard to get them to come off it). Apparently the trial host had fenced off the fetch gate area for erosion reasons, with the added benefit that sheep didn't think it was possible to go through that space, making the dogs have to work to push the sheep through the fetch gates.

Dyna and Craig both finished in the money, Craig with a stellar performance on his drive, so it was a reasonable start to the trip, considering it was the dogs' first time on grass in two months.

The dogs are tired from the travel and running. Dyna took a nap with the pup's toy as a pillow...



Day 2 has been wild on a few counts...we knew we were in trouble with the red morning sky!


The wind was howling, the temperatures very cold, and the set out horse (when there are big distances, sheep are often set out with dog and rider on horse back) spooked at something and came charging down the field after tossing his rider. Dawn Boyce, the trial host and former horse woman herself, was in the middle of her run. She calmly finished her pen while the horse charged around her, bucking and snorting. We all agreed we would've been jumping the fence, to heck with the pen! Nothing is ever simple when it comes to animals!


As always in sheepdog trials, you can't afford a single mistake and none of us managed anything near perfection on this day. The wind made it difficult to demand precision above the fetch panels and we just didn't get it done. Oh well, another day. The double lift today bodes more of the same, with wind and cold, and many have fled south to warmer temperatures, but since championships must also be won in those conditions, we have stayed, added a few layers of down, and look forward to a good test!

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Location:Carson Farm Rd,Carnesville,United States

Young prospects

Running young dogs is always fun. There is all this hope and excitement for the future, the things that need working on, the talents that keep evolving. Everyone watches the special youngsters that are upcoming, assessing breedings and potential mates.

Mary Lou and Linda both had young dogs on the field, and both performed well. Linda's young bitch, a talented pup from a breeding that Mary Lou had done, finished second in Nursery (a class for elite performers two years old or younger).



My youngster, little Biddy, a five month old little spitfire that is a granddaughter of Mary Lou's little World Team bitch Dyna, was very studious on the sidelines.



Things start to get more serious as the "big hats" and experienced dogs have their go over the next two days. Results from the Open field tomorrow night!

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Location:Carson Farm Rd,Carnesville,United States

Down south

Georgia is a bit of culture shock to a Canadian. You have to watch out for scorpions, fire ants, snakes and the odd 'gator. "Run in a zig zag" is the advice we are given if an alligator tries to chase us...seriously? I suppose we could return the favour by explaining how to escape a bear and drive a dog sled...
This time of year, the perils of the south are fewer as most poisonous creatures are hiding from the cold (yes, it's 15 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees F, but everything is relative), so the dogs are enjoying some much appreciated time in the sun. The downside to this is the Georgia red clay. This clay takes on a life of its own, and we will still be finding it caked in trailer and truck crevices come the summer. The other amazing feature of the clay is its ability to permanently stain white dog fur. A black and white dog becomes a black and orange dog for weeks, despite one's best efforts at exfoliation. Little Biddy, below, is just beginning her transformation to black and orange.




For us Canadians, 60 degrees Fahrenheit is a godsend in February, so we can take a little dirt and deal with the odd killer species.
Why did we come down here again? Oh yes, sheepdog trials! From beat-up old trailers to well travelled motorhomes and massive toy haulers, a caravan of RVs is pulling in one by one to find camping spots in the fields. Next on the agenda, young dogs running! Stay tuned for tomorrow's updates!
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Location:Carson Farm Rd,Carnesville,United States

Sheepdogs, sunshine, and snow tires

Sheepdogs and travel just seem to go together. So much so that our trip, which probably should've taken two and a half days given the fantastic weather (following our initial snow squall experience), stretched into five long days. Okay, admittedly there were several stops for shopping, but with the dollar almost at par, who could afford not to?

I never dreamed I would wish for cold weather when heading south, but we had this conundrum traveling between Canada and Florida in February. It is suicide to not have snow tires in Canada, and it IS suicide to drive on snow tires in Florida with a load in the heat. I've never learned so much about tires in my life.

It turned out a very reputable tire company had sold me four-ply snow tires, despite the fact I had explained my usage very clearly. Apparently I really should've had a minimum of six-ply. Then I learn that snow tires like to blow apart above 15 degrees Celsius, especially with a load. Every year I've been to Florida they've had record lows, and I've had all-season tires so this was a non-issue. Naturally, this year it looks like its going to be really warm and I've got thin snow tires. Great.

A student of Mary Lou's who is extremely knowledgable about tires recommended we regularly check the tire pressure, check for unusual wear in the tread and feel how hot the tires are. So Linda, Mary Lou and I look like a race car pit crew every time we stop...we even calibrated our multiple pressure gauges when we discovered one gauge was faulty...

I think we are all watching the tires in the mirror more than we are watching the road. So really, the shopping was for safety reasons, to give the tires time to cool.

So, finally this evening, we arrived at our first destination (Georgia) having travelled through busy towns...



...some uncertain shopping experiences...


...and finally found water to de-winterize the trailers and have showers! You learn to appreciate the small things when you are on the road...

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The window, the window, the window

The morning routine...get up, let dogs out, make coffee, and check weather on the computer to see if there is a "window" of good weather to get the trailers through to the southern US for a series of sheepdog trials. Then repeat the same routine to get back to Canada, dodging through winter storms that everyone always blames on "Alberta Clippers". Cold weather is always Canada's fault...

Every year, we become so obsessed with this that we get sick of talking about "the window, the window, the window".

And every year we swear we aren't doing the trip again after freezing in record lows, harrowing driving experiences and general feelings of stress, because invariably lambs that aren't supposed to be born at the farm until March start arriving like popping corn, earlier than expected.

Well, here we are on the road again headed south. We decided to leave last Monday, as the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday looked the same and Saturday was beautiful. Well "the window" lasted less than three hours when a heavy snow storm started and we were forced to take refuge in a Walmart parking lot (the first of many, I'm sure). So we managed to get about two and a half hours into our trip... The fun begins...! :)




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