My trip to Ohio and Pennsylvania is winding down and I hope to be allowed to fly out of Dayton tomorrow at 6pm.  I've been watching the weather and it looks like it will be over 20 degrees which is the cut off for accepting the dogs.  

I'm back in Marion Ohio after going to Erie PA for the weekend because Flash was trialing at the Olean AKC Agility trial.  The trial was held at Denise Thomas' Countryside Agility.  Countryside is located in a small shopping mall that seems to be mostly vacant.  There is room for one ring and crating and it worked out really well.  It is heated and air conditioned and they hold training classes there as well as agility trials.  

I managed to avoid the snow by leaving Ohio and heading to PA.  The storm missed Erie so I never saw it snowing.  There was plenty of snow on the ground but I'm thrilled that I didn't have to test my driving abilities in bad weather conditions.  When I returned to the hotel I stayed in last week they had 6" of snow on Friday and Saturday.  I'm glad I missed that!

I will leave the Comfort Inn in Marion OH tomorrow morning and head to Franks for one last breeding with Stoni and then head to Dayton to go home! :-)  I'm looking forward to getting out of the snow.  I don't know how people live in it.  This Comfort Inn was a great place to stay with the dogs.  Very convenient and nice people running it.  I will definitely give them a good review on Trip Advisor.  The Red Roof Inn in Erie PA was good too.  I check Trip Advisor before every trip and have had very good luck with choices made based on recommendations there.

I sure hope both Cherry and Stoni will have puppies.  It's been quite an effort and expense to get them bred.  I really like Flash and know that their pups will be worth all the trouble :-)

I arrived in Ohio last monday night  - February 1st, 2010 - Cherry and Stoni made the trip with me and will get to have some special time with Frank Yang's The Flash. 

The flight went well and I was very lucky that when Russ dropped me off at LAX we pulled up to the baggage people in front of American Airlines First/Business class check in area.  I asked the Skycap if he could help me with the 2 big crates and suitcase and he said he would go inside and check to see if they would allow me to check in at the First/Business class check in.  He came back and said they'd check me in.  Which was awesome.  I didn't have to wait in line and got through checking in the dogs fairly quickly with some questioning about the weather and health certificates delaying a little bit but not bad.  The worst news was that AA now counts my 2 dogs ($150 each dog, each way) as 2 bags and my suitcase was the 3rd bag and they charged me an additional $100 for my suitcase.  So for my suitcase and 2 dog crates the fee is $400 each way :-(  I think that I totally got screwed on the $100 for my suitcase.  Oh, and my suitcase was over weight.  62# instead of 50#.  They wanted another $50 overweight charge.  I got some bags of dog food out of my suitcase and threw them in with Cherry.  She's not a big eater so I knew she wouldn't bother them. After I went around with the AA employee about the additional cost I gave up.  My great skycap then escorted me and the dogs to TSA where I took each dog out of the crate so they could check it.  I then got to go to the front of the security line - woo hoo.  I love business class :-)  Would have been really nice if I'd have been in a business class seat :-)

The dogs and I arrived in Dayton OH around 7pm after leaving LAX at 8am and I had more great service from Enterprise Car Rental.  They have a shuttle van where you go off site to get your car but I asked if they could possibly bring it up because I had the dogs and they were happy to do that for me :-)

I got to Frank & Ann's about 10pm and we got one breeding with Cherry.  Yesterday we got another breeding with Cherry and she's now coming out of season.  I didn't even try today.  I'm hoping I got here in time for Cherry to get pregnant.  Stoni met Flash today and while he was really interested in getting to know her better Stoni was lukewarm so we decided to try tomorrow. 

The weather people say to expect 3-6" of snow Friday & Saturday.  I'm a little nervous about driving in the snow.  Friday morning I'm heading to the Erie PA area to an AKC Agility Trial because Flash is showing this weekend. So I'll spend the weekend in Erie come back to Ohio Sunday night and home on Monday night.

Looks like July is going to be a busy month here at the ranch.  Both Nel and Gabby are expecting pups and are due on the same day no less. I've had several people volunteer to come and help (thanks Laura and Barbara) and I will be taking them up on their offer.  

Nel has had some morning sickness and she's definitely getting bigger every day.  Gabby feels just fine and is a bigger dog with less pups so I'm not noticing a dramatic change with her.  

July 4 is next weekend and the town of Fillmore is gearing up.  When I first moved here I was amazed at the fireworks sales and how insanely crowded the town was with people coming to town to buy fireworks.  The booths are being set up and I'm sure it's going to be crazy in town for the next week.  Thankfully we live about 3 miles outside of town and don't have much firework activity nearby.

I will be breeding Cherry (Fleet x Mike) to Flash using Fresh Chilled Semen (AI).  Will keep my fingers crossed that the timing is right.  Those should be some VERY nice pups.



 

I can't believe it's June already.  Time is flying by - next thing I know it will be Christmas - yuck.

May was a good month.  

I flew to Tampa, Florida to breed Nel to Zing.  That was a fun and very relaxing trip.  Zing and Gabrielle and her mom Charlotte were all great.  I am very happy that I decided to fly out for natural breedings.  I'll be even more happy in 30 days if the ultrasound shows puppies :-)  

Nel was awesome.  For a farm dog that lived in Wales then the Netherlands for a few months then came here and lived in San Diego with Robin then in Fillmore with me she certainly has the most stable temperament and friendly personality anyone could ask for.  She was perfect in the hotel and never barked at a single person or noise.  She was easy to breed, let me sleep in and was a perfect angel.  

I got to see Zing on Sunday & Monday at an agility trial and he looks great.  Gabrielle has done a fantastic job with him.  I took some photos and they can be seen here:

http://cpagility.smugmug.com/gallery/8328796_xFYXQ#545755916_zpkot 

and here:
 
http://cpagility.smugmug.com/gallery/8318105_2FtrZ#544909446_xTGi4

I'm having a great time taking photos.  It's a great hobby. 









  

It's 100 degrees here today in Fillmore and I'm totally jealous of my friends in WA and OR with their cooler weather.

My mom flew up to Washington and picked up my niece and nephew and brought them down to CA for the spring break vacation.  Russ & I met up with them and my daughter Megan today and we went to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.   What a neat place.  I really enjoyed it and will definitely go back.  

Tomorrow we head to Disneyland for a couple of days.   We spend one night at the Disneyland Hotel.  Should be fun!

I went out to Evelyn McGuinness's Bel Canto ranch in Neenach, CA today for herding.  Robin Elliott had a field trip to Neenach so her students could get in a new environment with new sheep etc...  I took Euro and Nel. 

Robin worked my dog Clue - she's training him and going to trial him to his championship in the fall - we hope :-) 

Euro was the devil like she usually is but did settle down and do a nice job once she exorcised the devil a bit.  She's fun and cute and for some reason I don't get frustrated or mad at her at all. 

Nel was good but we were out in a big pasture and I can't blow a herding whistle so she was too far away for me to yell so that was sort of a bust.  I guess if I'm going to work her now then I will have to learn whistles.  Plus Nel is still in love with Robin and if Robin is around she doesn't want to listen to me. 

Clue was pretty good - Robin is developing a relationship with him and it's been a while since he's been worked with an eye toward doing everything correctly and nicely so they're working on that.  I did get some photos that I hope are good.  Haven't had a chance to upload them yet.

It was a beautiful day at 67 degrees and no wind - which is unusual for that area.  The poppies are blooming and in another week it will be amazing there.

The Border Collie Club of L.A. is having their AKC herding trial there in a few weeks and all of the poppies should be in full bloom by then.

We had a 3 day USDAA trial here last weekend and it went really well.  Weather was great if a little warm - I think it was 80 degrees yesterday but it's raining today and I'm thankful we didn't have another trial in the rain.

It was a long weekend and I'm glad it's OVER :-)  After the trial I went to visit my dad who has been in the hospital for 10 days and it looking at a few more days - hopefully not more than that.  He had a heart attack, congestive heart failure and has been having a slow heart rate (30 when sleeping) and long pauses between beats.  This morning he gets a pacemaker which will hopefully help.

Russ and I are heading to Utah today with stops in Vegas overnight tonight and we'll go to the PPA which is a big photography trade show tomorrow.  Then to St. George Utah to visit Marge then 3 nights at a B&B in Bryce Canyon UT then back to Marge to spend the night and pick up Bluff then home.  I'm hoping for some rest somewhere in there. :-)

I got to take some cute pics of a pup that was at the trial last weekend - here's my favorite.

 

I am so irritated.  My computer has been reformatted 2x in the past month and it's still giving me the blue screen and then crashing.  In the meantime Russ trying to be helpful before the last reformat "backed up" my calendar which holds all my stuff and Robin's herding appointments. Well something went wrong and everything is gone after Dec 08.  Not a big deal for my calendar but a pain in the butt to recreate Robin's March herding lesson schedule.  Thank god I printed it before he reformatted the computer.  

Just heard from the computer guy and he wants the computer back AGAIN.  I feel like drop kicking it. 

Today was a nice day at the ranch.  I worked Nel and Euro on sheep and they were both good girls.  The baby lambs (1 set of triplets and 2 sets of twins) are doing very well and are adorable. 

There are a couple of BC's in a local shelter so I went over and checked them out.  One is a cute pup that's probably about 8 months old.  He had tags on him when he was turned in and they called the owner on 2/18 and talked to them and they said they'd be in to get him.  Well it's 2/21 and they haven't come and gotten him or called.  I guess he will be available to the public on 2/23 if the owner doesn't show up.  Lucky for him there are 6 people on the wait list that want him.  There was another nice BC who is probably 3-4.  She came in as a stray today.  Hopefully an owner will show up for her. I will keep track of both of them and claim them if they go unclaimed.  I took meatballs with me and they loved them :-)

 If Animal Control called me and had one of my dogs I'd be there in a nano second to claim my dog.  I don't understand people.

I got pics of Jill and Nina (Freddie's littermates). Jill is the split face.

 

I'm so glad the trial is over and it went well.  It rained on Friday and Monday but we managed pretty well.  The arenas do really well in the rain.  I put the photos up and there are some fun rain shots.

Here's a link to Monday which had the most rain.  http://cpagility.smugmug.com/gallery/7381509_mdWLT#475342856_CD4ou .  The photos are in a separate gallery for each day.

Yipee!  Nel finished her AKC Herding Champion title today with a win and High in Trial.  

She missed out on the Combined Border Collie HIT by 1/2 point but got beat by our friend Rene Weider with Della who had a wonderful weekend at her first herding trial. 

Nel placed 5th in the first trial yesterday, 2nd in the 2nd trial yesterday and 1st this morning :-)  She is back home living with me.  Robin Elliott of www.robinonthelamb.com did the finish training and trialing with Nel.

I've been getting organized and packing the car to go to an AKC Herding Trial in the morning.  Robin is trialing Nel and Euro.  Nel needs 1 win and a couple of points for her AKC Herding Championship and this will be Euro's first time in AKC Started.  I was going to enter Brass in Started and Gabby in HT but didn't get the entries posted in time.

Nel is ready and just last? weekend finished 7th at a USBCHA Herding Trial and got her first point in Open.  

Euro hasn't really been on sheep since before she was bred last spring. She's been worked a couple of times this week so we're hoping for the best.  

The way this trial is set up is that there is a morning and afternoon trial tomorrow and a morning trial on Sunday.  So 3 tries and if she manages to Q she'll have a title.  I'm really hoping that Nel finishes her Championship this weekend because it's a couple of months until the next AKC herding trial.

I'll be taking pictures and video tomorrow.

Things have settled down here at the ranch.  The holidays are our busy season with LOTS of boarding dogs which is a good thing but keeps everyone here on the go.  I have been sick since Christmas which hasn't helped.  I am SICK of being SICK.  

I took some pics of the pups on Christmas day.

Kate and I went down to Long Beach to visit and check out the AKC/Eukanuba National Championships and the AKC Agility Invitational.

 I found the shopping disappointing.  I was hoping to see The Horse Brooch lady but she wasn't there.  http://www.horsebrooch.com/   I originally saw her at the Astro World Series of Dog Shows in the early 1990's in Houston.  I ordered a custom pin of my first BC's Dallas and April. I loved that pin and lost it in Paris when I was there with Dallas doing tourist stuff after competing at the World Dog Show in Belgium with the USDAA World Team.  Thankfully she still had the photo and made me another one when I called to tell her I'd lost it.  I wore the pin yesterday and I still love that pin :-)  If anyone has a black Lab I have a nice pin from her of a Black Lab that I'm going to sell on Ebay.

While we were shopping the fire alarm went off and was ringing for at least 5 minutes with everyone in the place completely ignoring it.  Kate was a little stressed that nobody was evacuating because she likes to "follow the rules". :-)  We also got to see a cool exhibit  with a small poster with a photo and the names of this years AKC Agility National Champions and a video that Kate hadn't seen before of her winning run with Driven.  We took photos of the poster and I video taped her run off the TV.

I got to see a bunch of people that I hadn't seen in a while which was fun and I met Andy and Cindy Hartman. They have Quick's puppy "Fly" and Andy is the Director of Agility for AKC.  Kate is off to North Carolina today for a week of teaching and a USDAA Agility Trial this weekend.  She's staying with Penny Leigh who is also an employee of the AKC and a CPBC puppy owner.  She has June from Hope x Quiver.  Katie has instructions to try to get photos of the CPBC's that live in that neck of the woods.

I took a bunch of photos of the dogs doing agility and posted them to my www.dogsportphotos.com site.  They are in the dogs gallery / agility / AKC Agility Invitational 2008.

I still haven't figured out the photo thing here so if/when I do I'll post a few pics.

 Has anyone checked this out?

http://www.tulipfestival.org/

These photos were taken there....

http://photos.coscorrosa.com/gallery/4778040_6wU9c#275326985_iYYwt

I'd love to go an photograph the tulips.