Thursday, August 17, 2006

In which we bury "in which"

 

Yes, even *I'm* finally sick of the "in which" conceit, so I'm officially given it up on general principles of ennui. Just a quick post to report on Grass Creek Park, and a quick post is all it'll take: we retired the first day and DQ'd the second. I was the last dog of the day on day 1, which was a pleasant enough time to run. However, I didn't run Phyl very well: I let her push the sheep too hard and too fast on the fetch, and by the time we started to set up our driveaway two of the four had split and started to face off with her, and I never managed to get things back together. (It was a shame, too, because we had a pretty decent start in context: 18 point outrun, 9 point lift, and 17 point fetch.) The second day started out somewhat less well, with a better outrun (19) but a terrible, sideways lift (6), and a fetch in which I had to wrestle with Phyl the whole way down to keep her covering the pressure on her right (13). We had a decent driveaway but managed to blip three of the four sheep around the panels at the last minute, and a pretty good crossdrive in which we made all of our panels. I let the return leg of the drive go to hell out of sheer stupidity--I forgot that the line was from the panels to the pen and not the panels to the shedding ring because the sheep had to enter the shedding ring before the handler was permitted to proceed to the pen. Dumb, dumb, DUMB! We ended up with a 17 on the drive, and I have a feeling my absentmindedness cost me at least three points. At the pen, I was so cautious about not pressing the sheep too hard that I didn't put enough pressure on them at all, and eventually even Phyl (who normally has a saintlike patience) grew frustrated enough to grip, an action which spelled the end of our run and our very first DQ for gripping. So that was that.

Despite my grand total of 0 points for each run, I really had a great time at this trial: the setting was lovely, and the handlers dinners (usually not my favorite part of a trial weekend) were phenomenal. The weather was also magnificent, in the mid-seventies every day with low humidity and a nice breeze--a great change from the 105 heat wave we'd suffered through the week before. And it was nice to see dogs and people I like do well. (Shout-outs to Nancy Obernier, one of the few faithful readers of the PhylBlog: not only did she get third with her Nick the first day of the trial, but she also finished tenth overall with him the double-lift. Go, Nancy!) So I remain cheerful, but this not-placing thing is starting to get old--I can't be expected to root for other people like a humble good sport *all* the time! We leave for Leatherstocking tomorrow, and I dearly hope that I'll have at least one good thing to report when I return.

posted by Heather