Monroe Agility Trial March 1, 2, 3 2013

Maxie: 4 runs 3 Q's 1 QQ, 3 2nd places, 30 MACH points, 4 videos
Lucky Lucy: 4 runs, 2 Q's, 2 3rd places, 6 MACH points, 4 videos

Left BR Thursday at 1:30 planning to arrive West Monroe before dark.  Oops, before I got on I-10 I noticed my gas peddle was flopping around.  I whipped into Firestone, they did a “curb side” check and sure enough, the pin holding the pedal onto the shaft had broken.  They rigged up a nut and bolt to get me going.  That put me 1/2 hour later on the road.  Didn’t bother me.  Uneventful trip, beautiful drive, little traffic.



RV park at the IKE Convention Center.  I'm on the left.

First time RV’ing at the IKE Center, a vast asphalt parking lot with no shade, no beauty, little grass to potty the dogs, and a 4 minute hike to the arena from my spot up close to the back.  Arrived, picked a spot way back by the grassy area, backed in, leveled the RV, then discovered the electric was 50V, which I didn’t have an adapter for.  S#%T!  By the time I went looking for a 30V it was pitch dark and no night lighting whatsoever.  Running around with my flash light, I found most of the boxes were locked down.  I finally found a 30V connection open close to the arena, then leveled the RV in the dark in 35 degree weather.  So much for picking my favorite spot!  And with all my strength I could not open the water valve, so I did without city water all weekend. Somehow, none of that stressed me out either.
 

Only 2 channels came in on my dinky little AIR antennae, but I got to watch Jay Leno for a change.  He’s gotten funnier over the years.  I opened up my couch and used it as a bed for the first time.  It’s so comfortable, I fell asleep watching TV and woke up there in the morning!  But I noticed the RV walls got cold. Heater worked great after I directed all the vents towards the center of the rooms – they were all facing the floor.  Heater ran almost continuously with temps ranging from 28-55 all weekend (4 days), and used up about 3/4 of my LP tank.   Also learned I don’t need to bother with connecting up the water line.  1/2 tank is plenty for all my flushing needs, and I bring 4 gallons of drinking water for coffee, cooking and dogs.

Our crate space -- daytime home for 3 days.

It was too cold to set up my outdoor yard, and since the arena was far away I set up my crate space indoors. It’s easy as pie to set up if all you do is drive up, level up and plug in. Yahoo!  (But first, be sure you can plug in.)

Now, on to the trial: I only got in for Friday and Sunday, so Saturday I just hung out and tinkered. Dogs ran tall to small all weekend, making Lucky the 6th dog on the line in each class, and Maxie was second to last! Only one ring, which went smoothly and Tanya Lee, Trial Sec, says it goes just as fast as with 2 rings if the judges nest the courses properly.

GOALS SET/GOALS MET:
Maxie:  1 QQ, at least 20 MACH points, and running weaves/got my QQ plus another Q and 30 MACH points, but no running weaves which helped cause his 4th clean run to be 3 seconds over time.
Lucky Lucy:  1 jumpers Q, 1 standard Q, at least 5 MACH points, and running weaves/got both Q's and 6 MACH points, but no running weaves.
Pepper:  better leash behavior, off leash sit/stays in arena at practice bar, attentiveness to me, ease with other people and trial environment/got all except better leash behavior.

Theresa and Breeze, a tiny sheltie

FRIDAY:  Maxie QQ’d with 2 2nd places, placing that high only because Breeze, who usually beats Maxie by 10 seconds or so and working on his 4th MACH, got pulled.  The little 8” sheltie took off from the start line walking– by the 3rd obstacle Theresa picked him up and pulled him out for the weekend – they’re supposed to compete in Nationals in 2 weeks.  She reported he had given a yelp at the practice jump just before his turn.  Musta pulled something. How heartbreaking is that?  Lucky Q’d in Standard by 5 seconds despite walking her weaves, but scratched in Jumpers by walking her weaves plus a refusal in a threadle and taking the table twice. Someone just had to comment that she doesn’t have a good “work ethic”.  I guess that means she lacks drive?  Another chimed in saying I’ve slowed both Lucky and Maxie down by demanding perfection, over-practicing, and not making it fun.  That’s all such bulls#%t, I hardly practice and don't demand perfection, but I wish they’d apply their “make it fun” standards to encouraging me.  I’m going to follow Joe’s advice (who had overheard their comments) –  “Don’t listen to anybody.”

Found out that some clubs comp the runs of their Trial Secretary, Chief Course Builder and Gate Steward, confirming what a few of us have been thinking/talking about recently -- It’s too darn much work to expect key positions of a trial to be filled by volunteers for free, especially when trials are netting thousands of dollars.  We are outgrowing our "hobby" status.  AKC trials have CUSTOMERS who expect competent SERVICE for the thousands of dollars they spend each year.

Tanya Lee studies her club's new tire.

Saw a breakaway tire for the first time, and several of us studied how it worked, with electromagnets holding the bottom sections together. The tire did break apart for several dogs, but Judge Mary Mullens didn't fault that because nobody was sure how to set the tension.  It's clear, several dogs do nick the tire.

Here's a video that explains AKC's new requirement and shows how the breakaway tire works.

Here’s a link to a collection of YouTube videos showing Scary Tyre Accidents, which I’m sure contributed to AKC’s new rule.

Mary Mullens was the most pleasant judge I've encountered so far. She was gracious, supportive, clear, concise, kept things running smoothly, her courses flowed, she nested the courses well.

Dawn in pink with her new pap puppy, Theresa in green
with her new pap, me in red with Maxie & Pepper.

SATURDAY:
Didn’t make it off the waiting list to run Maxie and Lucky, so Saturday was Pepper’s day.  We hung out all over the place. I had several people hold him while I walked away. We stayed in the bleachers awhile, ringside awhile, alone in the crate awhile, did some heel work, and I worked him off leash in the warm up area.  He sniffed a lot but didn't run away. For those who don't know, this is called "proofing the dog", i.e., desensitizing them to the trial environment long before they ever compete.  It's very important because arenas are very noisy, busy and stressful.   Talked with 2 new papillon owners and we had a little party. Theresa helped me measure him and he's definitely going to jump 12" with his 11 3/8" height.  Sorry, boy, you're going to have to run with much larger, faster dogs.  I hope I can learn to keep up with you.

SUNDAY:  Maxie had 2 clean runs and I really thought he had QQ'd a second time with a 1st place as no other dogs in his class qualified.  Much to my dismay, when the results of the last run were posted, he was 3 seconds over course time.  A first for him. In fact, his YPS all weekend were down, in the 2.8 - 3.2 range whereas he's usually in the 3.25 - 3.8 range.  He seemed to run with nose to the ground a lot, and he never once ran his weaves.  This despite running weaves every day at home for the last week and him begging for more turns.  He sits at the end of the weaves or on the see-saw and refuses to budge.   I literally have to fetch him out of the yard to end his turn. Lucky's Q in Jumpers was icing on the day, with her fastest run time all weekend at 3.68 YPS.

RAFFLE:  Great raffle karma this weekend.
 

Bought my usual $10 worth, got 15 tickets, and put 5 into each of 3 choices.  I knew I'd win the Addidas baseball shoes because mine were the only tickets in the bag.  I tried them on, they fit perfect, and I have been wanting cleats for training in wet grass or muddy conditions, and the leather cover over the tied shoe laces means they can't come undone while I'm running around.  Worth between $30-$60.

My other two choices had lots of other bidders, so I didn't expect to win.  I was surprised, then, to win a WOOF Leash Rack and assorted dog toys in a plastic sterlite tub.  The rack and tub will go in the RV. We chew through toys quickly so those are always welcome.

And while I didn't win the little plush dog bed, I did congratulate the lady who won it and to my amazement she said she didn't want the bed, just the stuff in it.  I offered her $5 for it and she agreed!  Said it paid for her raffle tickets! Willow is sure I brought this incredible bed home just for her, but they all take turns nestling in. It is very very plush and very very soft, unlike the other cotton, terry cloth or velveteen lined beds around my house. Can they really feel the difference?  The bed seems always occupied, even by Lucky who barely fits.  Except for FoohFooh the dingo, who doesn't go for such froo froo.  In 12 years I don't think I've ever seen him go in a dog bed!  He prefers the hard floor.

L to R:  Willow, Pepper, Maxie, Lucky Lucy

And as I write my last paragraph, I look over and see this vision of adorableness -- Pepper and Maxie curled up together.  Whipped my iPhone out and snapped another pic to show you.  Couldn't resist. It reminds me what the lady said who gave me the bed:  "It wouldn't suit my dog" (a mid size dog but not sure what kind), "but is perfect for your Papillons."  She was right! Before this, I would never have gone out and purchased a plush bed or blanket for my Paps, but by gum, they really can tell the difference and prefer plush to plain!!!

 

Another bonus: While packing up to leave the arena, I sought out the manager, told him about the dark parking lot on Thursday night, the locked electric boxes and no water, and he refunded me Thursday night's reservation fee -- $20. More details on IKE’s RV accommodations available on my Trial Site Summaries page.  Got home about 8 p.m. and John had dinner cooking for me -- spaghetti and meat sauce, french bread and a big green salad.  Plus he helped me potty and feed the dogs, and unload the RV.  I was quite tired by then, and really appreciated the warm welcome home!

 

Monday morning I noticed the azeleas had popped open all down my driveway. Picked some for my window sill and used them for Maxie's QQ photo. He didn't much like posing amidst those flowers. Lucky would barely pose. I never could get her ears up and she kept looking at me with those huge brown eyes one is always in danger of falling into, as if to say "how much longer must I endure this torture".

Still have my videos to watch and study, so the trial isn't over yet for me.  I look forward to that, but tomorrow is another Agility Bloggers Event so I have to concentrate on that right now.  I also need to catch up on the 2 courses I'm auditing from the Daisy Peel Online Classroom. Not to mention the rest of my life, which is in a state of complete neglect because it is nowhere near as much fun!

Upwards and onward!

 

New Iberia Agility Trial

Maxie: 6 runs, 4 Q’s, 1 QQ, 2 2nd place, 2 3rd place, 49 MACH points, MXB and MAB TITLES, 6 videos
Lucky Lucy: 6 runs, 3 Q’s, 1 QQ, 5 MACH points, 6 videos



Our setup, right at the entrance. 
Each support beam has a 30 amp hookup and water.
Unfortunately,
the asphalt parking lot was studded with limestone rocks,
which is going to hurt us later.

It's Valentine's Day weekend and I'm off to a trial, leaving my sweetheart at home. We agreed to postpone our celebration til Monday night. After a 1.5 hour drive, and another 1.5 hours to set up the RV including my fenced yard, I was completely settled in 3 hours.

The Sugarena has electric and water hookups on every metal beam front and rear of the arena.  I was one of the first to arrive at 4 p.m. Thursday so I got my pick of spots right at the entrance, not far from the rings. No need to set up a crate space, which saved me lots of effort, and the dogs were warm and comfy between runs.  Sweet!  These hookups are new. The weather was cool, crisp, and dry.    Furthermore, most other RV'ers parked in the back or way to the side, so I had the whole front to myself.  The dogs seemed calm and happy.

I got several compliments on my fenced yard, and discovered that by bungying my 2 little wooden tables to the outer corners, was able to increase it's stability when Lucky lunges against it.  So much so, I didn't mind leaving them alone outdoors for short periods. It's always been bungied to the awning uprights and the 2' x 4' table, plus the white strips on top keep it mostly stable, but it needed more.

Temps in the low 40’s with wind early mornings and evenings, in the 60’s during the day. So glad to have my Trapper’s Hat! Still need to work on looser layered clothing that doesn’t make me feel stuffed in a sausage skin. Also need warmer, looser lounging clothes for evenings when taking the dogs out. I had to stay dressed in my day clothes for enough warmth.

Dogs ran small to tall all weekend, and Maxie was the 1st 8” dog on the line all 3 days, Lucky the 2nd 24" dog.

Friday, Feb 15, - Trial started at noon so I stayed up til almost midnight Thursday night, and slept in til the dogs woke me up for breakfast at 8. I'm on vacation!  Maxie's first run wasn't until 2 p.m. He Q’d in Jumpers with a 2nd place win and pretty fast times.  NQ'd in Standard by entering the weaves on the wrong side. Otherwise a nice run.  Lucky miraculously Q’d in Jumpers -- with 2 seconds to spare, then scratched in Standard with several WC's and R's, like she didn't want to be in the ring.  Curious.  I earned 1 raffle ticket for gate keeping T2B, and won a $25 gift card to Chilis’.

Maxie with his placement ribbons, and a
purple ribbon from Mommy for his 11th QQ.

Saturday, Feb 16 -  Up at 6 a.m. Maxie on the line at 8 a.m.  Maxie QQ’d, with a 2nd and 3rd place win.  Darnit, the hosting club offered no purple QQ ribbons!  Lucky scratched both runs, one with so many errors I removed her from the ring. She was totally distracted. I had noticed her licking her right front paw incessantly Friday night and all thru Saturday, leaving wet pools of slobber on the couch and bed.  When we did our traditional hand shake and she gave a cry, I felt sure a lodged stone or bruized paw accounted for her dismal performance Friday afternoon and Saturday.   She would not let me examine it, but by Sunday she wasn't licking it any more, which is maybe why her performance improved significantly with a QQ.

Lucky Lucy's 3 Q's and a purple scarf from
Mommy for her 3rd QQ.

Sunday, Feb 17 – Up at 6 a.m. Maxie on the line at 8 a.m. Q’d in XJ with a 2nd place.  Lucky, to my absolute amazement, QQ’d!  She barely made course time both times, one with only 2 one hundredths of a second to spare, but walked/ran clean and made it. I earned1 raffle ticket on Saturday for gate keeping but too late for the raffle.  They gave it to me for the Sunday raffle plus another, and I won another $25 gift card to Chilis’.  I'll use these cards to take my husband and our dog sitters out to dinner.

Composite videos, with commentary, will be posted when I get enough time.

GOALS SET/GOALS MET:

• a QQ for Maxie and 35 MACH points, which earns him both bronze titles: MAB, MJB.  All that and more accomplished - 4 Q's, 4 placements, 1 QQ, 49 MACH points.
• a Jumpers Q for Lucky.  We did a QQ, and 2 Jumpers Q's, which was beyond what I expected.
• get all my videos taken without stress.  That happened thanks largely to Karen Des Roches and others who stepped up and offered to help willingly.
• Get Pepper used to the trialing environment.  He seemed OK with the noise, let several people hold him, sat in the bleachers a long time, and pranced about like the wild man he is.  He doesn't mind the noisy, bouncy motor home, a great relief as he used to throw up in the car as a young puppy.
• Relax and have fun.  Yes, one of my best trials ever in that regard.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Rhonda Crane was a very pleasant judge.  Her courses were "melodic".  They flowed beautifully and while challenging, were not tortuous. She nested her Open and Novice courses so they could be built with just a few changes from the Excellent setup, making the course builders' jobs much easier.
2. I'm always trepidatious about those limestone parking lots.  How can the dogs not get bruised paws? I must try to avoid them whenever possible.
3. I came home with the outside of my shins aching something terrible.  Someone speculated it's because the hard packed dirt had no "give", like running on concrete.  Do I need to train for that?
4. Gift Cards: I really like the way this club gave out a raffle ticket for each class worked, with a drawing near the end of each day.  (Plus, they also gave out a $5 lunch ticket to spend at Concessions.) They had a range of gift cards from Starbucks $25, Burger King $10, Subway $15, Chili's $25, plus an assortment of agility books and T-shirts.  At other trials I've also seen gift cards offered instead of raffle items, where you purchase tickets for $1, or 6 tickets for $5, or 15 tickets for $10, etc., with cards for Home Depot, Pet Smart, and others included. Much easier for the hosting club to pull cards together (and possibly members would donate cards) in lieu of the extreme hassle of hauling and assembling hundreds of raffle items.
5. Maxie would easily have 20 QQ's by now if it weren't for his hesitation in those darn weaves!  Lucky would make course time way more often.  I've begun to suspect it's the white metal spacer bar that throws them off at trials.  We don't have those at home.  I'm going to paint my spacers white and see if that helps.
6. Most interesting maneuver I learned was in MS on Sunday, second to last obstacle was a 20' tunnel going under the dog walk and pointing straight to the exit.  Very few handlers reached the end of the tunnel before their dogs did, resulting in D veering left to find H (like Maxie did), and taking a WC at worst.  Only way to do this well was to cross before the tunnel and run like hell, which few did.  I noticed it from the stands, and corrected my own performance by the time Lucky ran and she Q'd by 2/100th of a second. A bobble there would have killed her Q. I analyzed video snippets of several people doing this below.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• The road to Lafayette is bumpy as hell in Lafayette and I-10 out of Lafayette towards BR.  They need to fix that road. Good thing I had my cabinets bungied shut because 2 of them popped open slightly and scared Lucky so badly she raced up and jumped over my gate to hide under my drivers seat, with her butt almost touching my gas peddle and I could not budge her, and me on the Atchafalya bridge.  I managed to pull off at the Atchafalya Welcome Center a few miles up the road and calm her down, then chained her up so she couldn't reach me, but that could have been a disaster.
• Label everything.  I left my new Trappers Hat and gloves on the workers table.  By the time I remembered, the crew had packed up and left.  I hadn't labeled them but I emailed the trial sec and she has them.  She'll bring them to me in Monroe.  If I'd have labeled them, someone would have found me and delivered them.
• I'm comfortable as Gate Keeper, but on Saturday I was handed the gate list and envelope of scribe sheets for a large T2B class.  I taped up the list and people began checking in, but when the scribe was nowhere in sight and only 5 minutes to go, I began to sort the the big stack of sheets according to the list as best I could (never done it before).  Many people hadn't checked in.  Those marked ABS I pulled those sheets.  Oops, I was just supposed to mark them ABS and leave in correct order.  Those Moved I moved into the new order.  The unchecked people I left in order and waited to see if they showed up.  If they didn't by their turn I  ran over to the scribe telling her to mark them ABS.  It was controlled chaos.  Next day I was visited by the Trial Sec, who very nicely thanked me for a good job but in future please do it differently . . . . . . . Yes Ma'am!
• Next day I asked the Gate Keeper to move Lucky from 2nd to last (about 5 dogs down) on the 24" running order so I could film a friend running late in the 20" jump height. The gate keeper happened to be a judge, and OMG, how she fussed me for that! "Oh No, you don't get to move because you want to film somebody. You have to have a real excuse, like a conflict getting your 1st dog put away and your 2nd dog on the line on time. If you miss your run in the correct order, you will just miss your turn."  Again, Yes Ma'am!  But then, I'm glad she wasn't gate keeper on Saturday when I didn't get Lucky to the gate on time and the friendly Gate Keeper just moved her to the bottom, as I've done for numerous people in the past. Didn't know that was a wrong thing, especially in a friendly game.  I've seen people move themselves to the bottom and never give a reason why.

So I continue to ask, how hard would it be to teach a little class or write an instruction sheet on how to change your place on the list?  How to put scribe sheets in order??????  Gate keep??????  Time??????   Scribe??????  I hear over and over people say they'll "do anything but scribe", including this weekend.  Getting it wrong affects a team's score, so it's serious stuff.  Learning to watch the judge instead of the dog is hard for some, and scribing what the judge signals instead of what you think you saw is another level of difficulty.  Marking the wrong sheet with faults and time would be a sin.  I propose at the very least providing a laminated chart on every scribe table showing the judge's hand signals. Who knows those starting out?  AKC provides such a chart, shown here, and linked to here. I'm going to print up and laminate a few for our club, plus give them out to Gate Stewards at every trial I go to from now on!  Enough of this nonsense of not systematically training people, then fussing over not having enough volunteers and/or fussing them for getting it wrong.

 

Despite all this complaining, the Acadiana Kennel Club did an outstanding job rounding up volunteers.  I know it was a tough haul for them, but they enlisted some outstanding helpers from other clubs.  If not yet, I hope future Trial Secretaries, Chief Course Builders and Gate Stewards get comped for their trial entry fees or other financial compensation.  They work very very hard all weekend on top of trying to run their dogs.

Next trial in 2 weeks, in Monroe, LA. I look forward to another cool weather trial.

Upwards and onward!

Mobile Agility Trial - March 2012

This is our first trial this year.  We've been on break from trialing for 10 weeks, and when we practice, I'm concentrating on specific skills rather than running full courses.  I've been less interested in pursuing titles, more interested in feeling "connected and in sync" with my dogs (from whence I suspect all titles flow.)

Goals for this trial:
Maxie: At least 1 QQ, some placement ribbons. (QQ goal not met, but 2 Q's and both with placement ribbons)
Lucky: Every run under course time, whether a Q or not. Enthusiastic participation. (goals not quite met, but the trend is up.  2 Q's, 13 MACH POINTS, with 3 more clean runs that exceeded course time by only 1-4 seconds)
Me: Confidence in the ring, faster running, better handling, don't get lost on course. Relax. (my goals were met)
I wrote an extensive summary of the weekend only to have Blogger disappear it.  Big mystery.  Big bummer.  Can't repeat it. So instead, I just made composite videos of each dog's runs, with commentary, and post them below.

What's not in the videos, I report below.
Weather:  It was bitterly cold and windy on Saturday and Sunday.  I didn't bring enough warm clothes, no gloves and no ear muffs.  I managed to borrow those, and wore 2 pairs of leggings under my baggiest pants, which were still too thin a material to keep out the cold.  I had to wear my pajama top under my 3 upper garments to have enough layers on to keep from shivering.  The wind was fierce.  Poor planning!  My nose ran all weekend and sometimes I had to wipe the drip on my sweatshirt sleeves both days.  Disgusting, but I didn't let it distract me. 
Volunteering: The food provided by the Mobile Bay Dog Training Club (MBDTC) trial committee was delicious two days:  5 huge crock pots filled with various types of piping hot chili on Friday, various types of beans and rice on Saturday.  Of course, with sides of bread, salad, desserts, chips.  Sunday was just sandwiches.  Volunteers were asked to donate some cash for the meals.  Instead, volunteers got a raffle ticket for every segment they worked, and each evening several were selected.  First night, I won a huge knuckle bone, which Lucky chewed on all weekend back at the hotel.  They also had a "Whiners" raffle, for every NQ you put a raffle ticket in a jar.  At the end of the weekend several tickets were drawn for bottles of wine.  Cute!  No toys were given for Q's, but every entrant got either a satchel or a collapsable water bowl.  I forgot to participate in the raffle, mostly because the baskets were all wrapped and I couldn't tell what was in there.

Maxie hits the front edge of
the table like a pro.

Photographer:  The photographer was not selling digital copies of her photos, so I didn't purchase any.  I don't ever purchase prints since I like to crop, size, and print my own.  I managed to snip a few thumbnails off her website to illustrate this page, none of which I would have purchased anyway.
Crating:  It was so darn cold, the dogs spent all 3 days "crated" in my car!  A first! I parked in the sun, and sometimes ran the heater when I went out to check on them.

Lucky Lucy:  To start, I ran her in a 2 minute match late on Thursday. We ignored the numbered course, just ran willy-nilly around the ring interspursing jumps in between the weaves, A-frame, tunnels and dog walk several times, with a tug toy in my hand and tossing it if she ran fast.  She was amazing!  Fast weaves!  Fast dog walk!  Fast across the flat!  Accurate!  Tight turns!  No mistakes.  No hesitation.  Total focus.  Full of joy.  It is clear to me that when motivated, she has what it takes to excel in this sport.  I watched her do better than several other dogs who have much more experience and higher achievements.  I think the match is what improved her speed all weekend, alas, not yet enough for consistent Q's. My goal/challenge remains building up her enthusiasm for agility itself, not just for chasing her toys around. Or . . . . . . .  finding ways to trick her into thinking I have a toy in my pocket!

She came home with 2 XS Q's (making 4 total to date), 13 MACH points, and 5 clean runs, 3 of which sadly were over course time by 1-4 seconds.  Here's a composite video of her 6 runs, with my commentary.

Maxie:  Maxie's first run on Friday was a Q 1st place with 20 MACH points.  2nd place was 5 seconds slower, and 3rd place was 20 seconds slower.  Maxie was smokin!  Saturday he Q'd with 2nd place in Jumpers.  All 6 runs were well under course time, 2 were nearly Q's, 2 were just ugly. Video with commentary is here:



Standard Course Times:  Studying the score sheets from last year I noticed the SCT (Standard Course Time) set for 20" XB dogs is shorter than SCT for 8" XB dogs.  Same course.  Different times. XJ is almost always a 6-7 second difference, XS between 9-11 seconds difference.  I suspect this because larger dogs are presumed to be able to cover more ground more quickly with their longer strides. 

Videos:  I was glad I got to witness and video clubmate Loralie's first MACH run with her little Parson Russell Terrier, Jenny.  I was proud that several of our clubmates were gathered in the stands together to honor the achievement, and made quite a racket, stomping on the aluminum bleachers, shouting, and clapping.  It's the first time I've been to a trial where one of our own achieved MACH.  She said later that her heart was beating so fast she thought her chest would burst!  I finally resolved the mystery of how MACH cakes magically appear at trials, like, how do they know when the last QQ will happen?   Turns out, we'll provide both Loralie and Noel a cake at our own trial over Easter weekend, and sign their MACH bars then!  That was easy.

 Nobody complained that I videoed a few folks' runs from my chair while serving as bar setter in both Open and Novice classes both days.  I was still able to set bars between runs.

So many club mates bring their own video cameras nowadays, I don't really need to video them, though occasionally someone asks me to, which I'm pleased to do.  Someone mentioned they didn't bother viewing the ones I post online since they have their own, upload their own to YouTube, and "besides which, it's too much trouble trying to find them."  Still, I like to review some of them myself, so I keep doing it on a "catch as catch can" basis.  I wish we were so rich a club we had a designated "videographer", but that won't happen any time soon.  Someone suggested I offer a video service: $5/video and send them a disk, and that someone else used to offer that.

So that's it until Monroe the first weekend in March.  Two more weeks to practice, if it ever quits raining.

Upwards and onward!