Mount Vernon Highland Games

So, last weekend Scott and I trialed at the Mount Vernon Highland Games. What a blast! It was an arena trial (smaller) set inside a baseball field. The course consisted of panels and a pen and then each run was a different configuration of figure 8's and loops.

On Saturday I had some serious issues though. The rules of the trial is that you can't move onto the next obstacle until you've gotten at least one sheep through the prior obstacle. You have 4.5 minutes to complete the entire course. Lines don't matter (unlike in USBCHA trials).

So Saturday, I was totally nervous and freaked out by the fact that I'd never run my known-to-grip dog in an arena trial before. Basically, if your dog gripped the sheep at all, you were instantly disqualified. So I was foremost concerned with keeping Scott off the tails of the sheep.

I managed to do that, but ended up getting so caught up in the event - there were 200 or so people watching - that I did an obstacle wrong but didn't realize I had. So, I kept going and actually did okay on the following obstacles, but because I missed obstacle 4 out of 7, I never got any points for the obstacles I did after obstacle 4. All in all, there are 28 points available and I only got 9 points on Saturday. So stupid of me!!

On Sunday, I felt a lot less nervous as I knew I could trust my dog and handle him far enough off the sheep to not put him in a predicament of having to bite them. Again, we have 4.5 minutes to complete the 7 obstacles. 28 points total.

Miraculously, we did the first two obstacles in record time. I missed one sheep when turning the post though (minus 1 point there), then got all sheep around the next obstacles and I penned all four sheep quickly! I did the run in a little over three minutes and got 27 points - it was one of the better runs of the day in fact! But, I still didn't make it into the finals (where the cash prizes were available to win). You qualified for the finals by being one of the top ten dogs from the two days combined! So, those 9 points from Saturday really hurt me. There is next year though!

Here are some pics from the trial (on Sunday)

Sending Scott to go get the sheep

Scott is driving the sheep away from/through obstacle #5

Penning with Scott... he is such a good dog!

Done! Exhausting the sheep back to their hold pen. I think sometimes this is Scott's favorite part of the run!

Some other interesting photos I took today...

So, who needs Uggs to keep your feet warm when you can have three dogs under your work station to keep your piggies toasty? Mattie was asleep too but woke when I grabbed the camera. The boys were actually having dreams (Scott was growling in his dream!).

Mattie is such a pretty girl. So unique!

Sleeping Beauty - soooo comfortable.

I bought this, and another similar cactus, this Spring. They didn't look this weird when I bought them (they looked like sea anemones). Then, they started growing all funky, and flowers are coming out of them...

Spring Flowers

Before summer officially begins, I thought it would be good to showcase the Spring flowers we have here around the house.

Admittedly, I didn't put a lot of time into the gardens and lawns we have on our property this past Fall/Winter/Spring. It's not like we have a castle-sized lot or anything, but we do have a full acre and much of it is fully landscaped. The majority of the plants and flowers we do have are hearty perennials and as a bonus, the elk don't seem to bother them too much. And the vegetable / flower / herb / berry patches we have seem to take care of themselves (can you kill rhubarb?). Regardless, we plan, this October, to overhaul the lawn, fill in patches/holes the elk have made and re-do the vegetable/flower beds altogether. I foresee a lot of work ahead of me and A LOT of trips to the Home Depot.

One of two White Rhodendrons we have. Overall, I think we have about 30 individual rhodies, all different colors. The colors bloom at different intervals but around June 1, they're all in some stage of bloom.

A traditional purple rhodedendron

The stairs from the house to the "triangle garden"

Staircase again. There's a Japanese Maple in there too - it appears to be around 20-25 years old.

My pooch Scott posing with the poppies and alium. These flowers share the same bed with the very few garden veggies I invested in this year - tomatoes, Swiss chard, pepper, basil and a bunch of cucumbers since those grew so well last year. We have two other beds in this Triangle Garden as well for vegetables but I just didn't put the work into them so I've let them go wild this season.

Rhubarb, sage, rosemary, red current, raspberry, mint and a variety of other herbs all in this zone (oh, and a bunch of weeds too)

More pink rhodies... I like them though. They're tropical looking and it makes me think I live in Hawaii.

This is part of the main lawn. When we moved in there was a litlte garden already established in the middle of the yard. Last year, Jerill totally redid it - added rocks and beauty bark and now we have heather, a baby oak tree and a plant I call "lambs ears" in there.

This is our lower yard. It a lawn about 200 feet long and 40 feet wide. Once it's fenced I will build some traditional dog agility equipment for Mattie and if they're up to, Lucky and Scott can run through some tunnels too. You can see most of the fence posts are in, just waiting to link it all together with the rest of the yard!

I liked this plant at the nursery and bought it new this year. It's one plant but the blooms are different colors. It's supposed to attract hummingbirds, which we have a lot of but they seem to be most interested in my homemade raw-sugar mix I put out in those red hummingbird feeders you can get at the store.

Spring Snow

It's March 29; nine days after the first day of Spring, and we awoke to snow this morning. It's now 9 a.m. and starting to melt/rain. However, I was able to get outside and get some nice shots.

These are the woods we walk through every morning and night during our Scott/Lucky walks.

Daffodil

Flowering Cherry


Flowering Cherry Blosson - this bloom will be ready to burst in about 4 days I would bet.


Daffodil - next to house.

I also got some pictures of Scott and his neighborhood girlfriend - we refer to her as "Chow Chow." She is our neighbor's dog - she is 12 and deaf and as a typical Chow Chow is, not sociable to people. She does like to greet Scott though, and Scott always perks up to say hi to Chow Chow...

Scott & Chow Chow
Scott posing for a nice picture in the snow

Our road we walk every morning and night

Spring Is Really Coming!

I'm working at home today and found the sunshine just too tempting. So I put on my boots and went outside to take some pictures of what I call "fetal spring" - I know it's coming, it really is.

We still have about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and the ice on the roads is almost totally gone from our neighborhood. I may actually take the Hybrid to work tomorrow!

Yes, even Border Collies must emerge from their winter slumber and begin to accept that Spring is here!

My tulips... struggling to come up through the snow. Well, they actually look pretty healthy.

Hello fake plastic garden squirrel. I have missed you!


Why, hello Hybrid Civic! Let's get that snow off your windshield, shall we?

And hello to you Camelias... these ones will be pink and really bushy.

Please survive Mr. Heleborous. This plant is "elk-proof", so I have like four of them, but I think one didn't survive this winter.

This is some type of floral/ornamental cherry tree. Just look at those baby leaves and buds!

What's left of you Crocus plants? Poor things came out last week and then got 7 inches of snow piled on top of them. They look pretty good considering...