A day in the park.

We were invited to a wildflower tour in the Great Smokies with an eclectic group of individuals. They've been meeting on the same weekend for over 30 years. They are in to the third generation, now.

We took a long hike the first day and I logged almost 20 new species of wildflower. I downloaded a wildflower app on my iPhone 5. It enabled me to not only identify plants, but also to keep a log of the ones I found.

We had a great time with good people. I'm hoping we are invited back!

It looks like the Purina Brittany has the lead early in the first turn, over to you Bob...

Ace and me at the Ironman, Sparta, GA

 

 

 

Sitting around telling lies and stuff during a field trial, a few of us came up with an idea that still has me chuckling. I think we should put a mini cam on both dogs, a cam of both shooters' guns, mic the shooters and the judges- oh, and a camera on the heads of both judges, as well. Then we could run the feeds back to the "control booth" and have announcers give a blow by blow account of the brace. Dog cam to gun cam to judge cam with audio feeds of the judge making comments. Of course sponsors would be encouraged, Purina, Tritronics, etc.

I can hear it now...

Bob; "Bill, it looks like Randy and his Tritronics Brittany have a nice find in the back corner there!" 

 Bill: "Yes, Bob! Randy is still humping out of the ditch to get to his dog. Ace, The Tritronics Brittany, is locked tight and we just have a glimpse of the little rooster quail, right there, in the clump of grass just upwind of his nose. It looks like a good find, here! And, now over to Andy and the Purina Setter.....Andy?"

Andy: "Thanks, Bill! Buck, the Purina Setter, is having a terrible run here and seems to be a little loose in the front end after a strong start. His half mile, full out intial cast was dry and now he's low on fuel and his tongue is dragging the ground. Wait! Here's a point...(bird flushes)...Oh, no! Team Buck won't be happy with that flushed bird! Back to you, Bill."

Bill: "Thanks, Andy! Randy is flushing the little Triple A Game Farm quail, you can see it here on the Purina dog cam- there it goes!"

Switch to the Tri Tronics gun cam.....bang, bang..."expletive deleted"!

Judge audio..."Hey, Randy, I'm sure you hit it twice. Amazing, how those little buggars can fly with all that lead in them, isn't it? Well, it looks like it went another mile out of bounds..."

Bob: As Ace, the Tri Tronics Brittany, and Buck, the Purina Setter, head for another find, let's take a short station break to learn how to force fetch a dog in 30 seconds or less with Dr.Bubbas secret training system...

And so it goes......

Flowers are out!

The best time of year! Other than the terrible pollen, the South is great in the spring. It's a constant surprise when the bulbs come up, the grass begins to green, the turkeys are gobbling and the bird dogs are depressed. All the trials here are finished and we are beginning to make plans for next year already! One of my dogs, Cap, is off at summer camp to sharpen up his retrieving. He's good, but he needs to be better. I know a professional trainer, who is also a NSTRA competitor, who can fix this little glitch. I can and do force train dogs for others, but this will not be an easy one or two day fix, so I wanted an outside opinion and expertise. He should be back in a week or so, ready for the summer conditioning and brushing up in anticipation of that first hunting trip in September. Where will it be this year? Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, Minnesota? It really doesn't matter....it's all good!

The backyard looking to the pasture.

Can they just not come in?

Ruby

She's a month late.  Ace is looking at me like I can do something, and I don't have any answers at all.  What a lousy time to not come in season! She's been as regular as a clock for the past 3 years and now, after permission from the Ball and Chain and all the hoops to jump through, she decides to not come in to season.  The vet says she appears close, and I've checked her out so much she is starting to turn away from me and jump up on her front legs to get her rear end in the air as I approach! I'm thinking some more investigation as to dogs and estrus cycles, etc., is in the cards here.