Agility Committee

Being an instructor apparently puts you on the Agility Committee, which I didn't automatically know!  Being on the Agility Committee automatically makes me feel more responsible for our field and equipment, not to mention our students, which has got me to thinking about the safety of our fence, and the ease of care of our field.

Yesterday I brought my neighbor Thom, the Fences Built guy, out to see our fence, which was damaged in Hurricane Gustav and has yet to be repaired.  We checked every square inch along the bottom for possible holes, found a huge one where the ditch drains the field and the soil keeps eroding, a 50' length of fence that is only 3 feet high, and several places where the fence is not attached to the poles any more or being pushed over by new growth trees.  Thom will give us an estimate on fixing all that, including using used materials he may have salvaged from other jobs.

While Thom and I examined the fence, John was on a laddar loping off the bushes and small trees that grow along the back side of the fence, creating some openings so we could throw our twigs and branches over the fence without them getting all tangled up.  With all the trees on the property, there is always tidying up to do and since we have no "yard maintenance", we have to do it ourselves.  I am hoping everyone in the club helps with this, but you know, it usually falls to a few devoted souls.

It was 37 degrees at Noon, so I took the opportunity to test my 4 layered "freezing weather teaching outfit", and it kept me warm.  In fact, after running Maxie and Lucky a few times, I had to peel off the windbreaker.  Nice!  Maxie was spot on, fast and focused.  Lucky was energetic so long as I was carrying/throwing her toy, but just trying to run the course with her, she became lethargic after the first run.  She followed my signals well, though, including some sophisticated moves, rear steering, and I'm not discouraged despite instructors telling me "Lucky isn't Maxie".  I remember when Maxie used to run half a course, then just sit down and refuse to move.  He had had enough.  I would have to go pick him up.  He still does that occasionally.
Upwards and onward!

Intro to Tracking, Turkey Soup

Yesterday I had a surprise visit from Tracey, a fellow club member that trains about 10 dogs, and is involved in agility, obedience, tracking, lure coursing, as well as herding.  She keeps a blog about dog training, too, which is what originally inspired me to start my own.

She came by with two of her Beagles, Spirit and Xanadu, to practice weaves in a different location.  It's important, see, to get your D used to performing all the obstacles in strange places, with different smells, people, dogs, etc., so they don't get psyched out at trials.  Tracey did that awhile, then it turns out she was going to take another beagle, Lego, out tracking.  She had "laid a track" about 3 hours before in a big field behind a McDonalds in Denham Springs.  I asked if I could come along and watch, brought Lucky, and she gave me an introductory lesson. It was neat.

I have already ordered the book, "Tracking From The Ground Up", and am waiting for it to come in so I can teach Lucky the basics, then I'm supposed to get in Kay's class in January.  Not that I can ever compete with Lucky in AKC tracking, because they only allow pure-bred scent hounds to compete (a stupid rule, in my opinion, since any dog of any breed can accidently have extraordinary skills the same way people do).  But we can have some fun, and I study more closely, learn what she's is made of, and what the tracking thing is all about.

On the way home from the track I got a call from Thom and Judy.  They have some turkey carcasses for me to make turkey soup with, and a bunch of giblets.  They also gave me a whole fried turkey.  So I knew what I'd be doing last night, boiling turkey bones.

Next, we went to Nedra's house to see the progress on her workshop.  WOW!  Impressive.  Now that she is retired (at age 70) she is going to have time for lots of projects.  I got a chance to show John all her framed jig saw puzzles, and we got a chance to talk about LCCOC a bit, possibilities for publicity and fundraising, a stronger mentorship program, and other things that have been on my mind.  Nedra is a fellow club member, our Treasurer and Trial Secretary, who's been in the club for over 35 years.  She's been on the board forever and knows a lot about how the club works, not to mention she is also my advanced agility instructor.

Then I went to Thom's and picked up my turkey.  Turns out there was only one carcass and it was so burned I couldn't use it.  But the whole one was so delicious, I have never tasted such a delicious turkey.  It wasn't burned on the outside like most fried turkeys I've seen, and injected with something scruptious.  I called and told them to remember the exact steps but they said they are always experimenting and couldn't remember what batch that was. So, I'll probably never have such a good turkey again.  Oh, I also picked up about 3 lbs of giblets.  When Thom buys his turkeys, he doesn't use the giblet packages, so he saves them for me.  If I don't cook them for myself (John hates giblets), I will use them to make dog treats.

I sliced up all the meat and put it in the freezer in 1 lb. containers, half white and half dark.  We ate about a pound of it for supper.  I boiled the bones and set them out to cool in my freezer room overnight (in fall and winter, with temperatures in the 30's to low 50's, I open the window and use the room as a refrigerator). Today, I picked 3 lbs of meat off the bones (what most people throw away), saved all the necks and skin for the dogs and cats, and am making a huge pot of turkey soup right now. We have weekend company coming in around 8.  Maybe they'll be hungry.

Gotta go clear some clutter, dust some furniture.

Upwards and onward,