Dog Club Annual Mother's Day Crawfish Boil

L to R:  Allison, Nathan, Me, John, the Boiling Pot

It's that time of year again, and for a 4th consecutive year I landed up being in charge of coordinating my dog club's annual picnic.  Despite the work, I love the picnic because it gives dog trainers a chance to include their spouses and kids in a club event, and I especially love to eat crawfish. For the 3rd year Nedra offered her lovely home and back yard with huge covered patio and shaded yard. I did the shopping and food prep, and John took a day of vacation and was in charge of boiling up the crawfish per my recipe (below).  Clubmate Ken smoked 2 pork butt roasts for the meat eaters, and everyone brought a side dish, so there was heaps of food and scrumptuous desserts. 38 people showed up, and the party lasted 4 hours.

This took place last Saturday, Mother's Day weekend, so it was also perfect for me to combine a club event with visiting my son and his wife, and my sister-in-law, leaving them free on Sunday to party with the other halves of their families. We almost aborted the party due to 2 days of torrential rain on Thursday and Friday and a forecast for Saturday of 40% rain which made a few people cancel, but we took a chance and the weather turned out beautiful. We had no choice, really, as every other weekend is scheduled with trials our members are attending.  There is no perfect weekend, really, to accomodate everyone in our club.  Someone is always trialing in agility, obedience, tracking, or some such.

MY BOILED CRAWFISH RECIPE:
For anyone interested in putting together a cajun (highly seasoned) crawfish boil, here's my recipe (which some say is "the best crawfish they ever had"):

I figure 3 lbs of crawfish per person (some won't eat them, others will eat 6 lbs, so it works out so there are no leftovers and everyone gets their fill.)
So for every 10 people, a 30 lb sack of live crawfish.
Cut up all the ingredients in advance and portion them in zip lock bags to add to each sack you boil.

1st batch:
3/4 of a 73 oz jar of Zatarans Crawfish, Shrimp and Crab Boil
4 yellow onions, cut in half
1 bunch garlic, cut off root end and separate into toes
4 lemons, cut in half and tossed into the water, squeezed.

6 ears fresh sweet corn, shucked and cut into thirds.
1.5 lbs of fresh mushrooms
1 lb. link sausage (any kind), cut into bite sizes
2 lbs. small red potatoes, skin on, cut larger potatoes into chunks the size of the small potatoes so they cook through.

Purging: Fill a large cooler with water and mix in a box of plain salt.  When dissolved, dump a sack of live crawfish in to purge them of their mud, for about 20 minutes.  Drain the muddy water, fill cooler again to rinse, shake to agitate, then drain again.

Meanwhile, fill a 60 quart crawfish pot 2/3 with water, add the Crab Boil, onions, garlic, and lemons, and heat to a rolling boil.

Add the purged crawfish and return to a rolling boil.  The water should just cover the ingredients.

Add the corn, mushrooms, sausage and potatoes.
Boil for 2 minutes, then cut off the flame.
Soak for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a big wooden paddle.
Drain and serve.

Nathan and John bring batch 2 to the table.

2nd batch:
Same as above, but add only 2/3rds Crab Boil, as the first batch leaves plenty of seasoning in the water.

3rd batch:
Same as above, but add only 1/2 jar of Crab Boil or it could be too spicy.

Try it!  It's great! But you will need at least 2 strong men to lift the straining basket and drain the crawfish.  I'm mighty glad to have my two fellas.

When I got home exhausted, to my great surprise, Nathan had sneaked in and left me a beautiful Mothers Day card, a gorgeous vase and 10 gladiola stems which opened in the next few days to look like this.   On Sunday I slept in til noon while poor John had to work, then we called my Mom when John got home and found out she had a nice day too, well remembered by all her grandkids.  John presented me with 2 lovely cards on Sunday, also displayed here. It was thus a most satisfying weekend.

Next week is my wedding anniversary, so there's going to be another party and more flowers right around the corner.  Pant!  Pant! Time is flying by and I still haven't signed up for my next agility trial.  I feel the need to practice and I have to get a better handle on training Pepper!   Yikes, he's 18 months old already and while he is lots of fun, behaves at home, and does all the full height equipment at speed, he still can't weave, is easily distracted, and is lousy at sequencing. I have a lot of work to do to get him in the game.

Upwards and onward!

Port Allen Agility Trial - April 2013

Maxie 6 runs, 2 Q's, 1 2nd place, 21 MACH points, 6 videos
Lucky Lucy 6 runs, 0 Q's, 6 videos

Port Allen is right across the river, 25 minutes from home, so we came home every evening.  It's my own dog club's trial, John participated as 1st assistant Chief Course Builder and was there at 6:30 every morning and among the last to leave.  He put in lots of volunteer hours for this family!  I did some, too, like cleaning equipment, help loading the truck, managing the signage, managing the wireless mike for the FAST classes, and some ring work, but mostly concentrated on running Maxie and Lucky. Pepper came along for the ride and enjoyed visiting friends and prancing about. We did lots of crate games, some leash training, and a bit of off leash training at the warm up jump, where he was easily distracted.

Was it our worst trial ever?  No, but it seemed like it at the time.  No Q's for Lucky.  Only 2 for Maxie.  But finally getting the heart to check Lucky's spreadsheet since then, it's not the first trial she came home with no Q's.  And actually, her first run was splendid, a solid MS Q with 18 seconds to spare, her highest speed points ever, and we both knew she had done GREAT!  Alas, exiting the ring I was informed we had been whistled off because she ran with tags on (can't do that in AKC)  I had put on her agility collar but failed to unclasp the everyday one. A first, and talk about kicking myself all the way to our crates!  How could I do that? Probably got distracted talking to someone.  I apologized to the judge later for not leaving the ring immediately, but I never heard the whistle. She said "no problem" and I will always be glad she let us finish that first wonderful run.  The rest of the weekend was just one thing after another, incomplete weaves, a backjump, missed contact, I missed queing one jump.  Sometimes she was looking for Daddy in the stands. On the other hand, her videos show some brilliant moments -- long stride, great form, spurts of real enthusiasm.



Veteranary therapy is growing in popularity at dog events.  Here's
Tracey's beagle getting an acupuncture treatment.

Maxie is a different story.  His first run he ran by the weaves without even attempting them (a first), Q'd twice his next 2 runs, then NQ'd the rest of the weekend, lots of missed weaves.  His times were a bit slower.  A chiropractor was on site so I set up an appointment for right after the trail.  She immediately noticed that he sits crooked, then diagnosed him as having "LOTS OF THINGS OUT OF PLACE",  and gave him an adjustment which she said "should hold 6 months"! She told me to never again let him jump off our high bed or high couch as it could be doing serious injury to his shoulders.

By coincidence, today I listened to a Bad Dog Agility podcast about Alternative Medicine For Agility Dogs, covering chiropractic, acupuncture, lazer and massage therapies.  It's quite interesting. I had no idea so many performance dogs have regular physical therapy treatments to keep them in shape for competition. 

So therapy is my plan for now.  We're in "take it easy" mode for now.  Maxie laid around the house for 3 days after the trial and looked pathetic.  Was he in pain?  How does one know?  After reviewing the videos carefully all I can see is maybe less push off in his rear legs, shorter strides, a bit less focus.  But it's very subtle.  I notice once in awhile Lucky clears a jump way too high (like 36" over a 24" bar) and comes down hard on her shoulders.  Will they wear out soon?

We've been to the Brandon trial two weekends after this one (previous post), where Maxie did Okay, not great.  He seems okay around the house, but maybe not so "puppy like" or playful. I have to become a better observer, and have begun to give him regular massages.

Oh, there was a videographer at the trial and for $18, I got a video composite of the whole weekend's runs, one for each dog, set to music.  They came in, and I found I much prefer fiddling with my own videos.

Upwards and onward,

Stinging Caterpillers - Declaration of WAR!!!

Buck Moth Stinging Caterpillar

Last spring my front porch, back porch and agility training yard were rendered USELESS from mid April thru mid June by the presence of thousands of stinging caterpillars - of the Buck Moth variety.  We sprayed them, squashed them by the thousands, and cursed them when they stung us or the poor dogs, but still they came.  They climb the walls, up chair legs, under vegetation, on lamp shades, drawer handles, they are everywhere.  All you have to do is barely brush up against those little spines on their back to get a jolt which feels like being electrocuted.  My friend and neighbor, Laura, took pleasure in slashing them in half with a machette by the hundreds last spring after one stung her 9 year old daughter.  I can still hear Portia's hysterical shrieking, indescribably painful at first and sore for days afterward.

My "new" dog walk gets a coat of paint
in March, before the caterpillars arrive.

On April 8th this year, I spotted (and squashed) my first one of the season, then declared war!  Dadgummit, I'm taking my yard back.  My new aluminum dog walk (new to me, that is, won in an auction and recently refurbished) beckons me, and I'm not going to sit inside with all this fabulous spring weather for training and a puppy who needs it, while the caterpillars are the only ones enjoying my yard.

The Buck Moth caterpillars live on oak and willow trees, and crawl up and down the trunks in long lines.  My yard is full of oaks, so my first line of defense was to wrap a band of aluminum foil around the trunk of the two oaks nearest my house and staple it in place.  Sure enough, the caterpillars can't hold on to the smooth surface so they turn around and go back up. 




Caterpillar can't hold onto the smooth tape.

Then I decided to try a smooth surfaced duck tape - a lot easier to apply -- it works just as well, and I can do a lot more trees for a lot less effort, but I still had to staple it in place to keep it snug in the many grooves in the trunks.  While most can't make it over the smooth surface a few seem able to.  I guess there are mutations in every species -- supercaterpillars with feet that can scale smooth surfaces.  But at this point 3 weeks later, the population seems to be far less than last year.  Have I interrupted their cycle somewhat?  Or are they just not as bad this year?

I can't find a website that explains their life cycle and how they spend their days.  All I know is they go up and down the trees, chomp on oak leaves all day for 6 weeks or so (we can hear them chewing) until they are fat, then they disappear. By then it's summer and too hot to go outdoors.  About all Wikipedia says is they are an especial problem in Baton Rouge, LA, (where I live) where so many public areas are planted in oak trees.

First Aid For Stings
This University of Kentucky website on stinging caterpillars, says there is no first aid for stings, but there absolutely is!  I discovered it many years ago studying herbs, from an esoteric book called Health Through God's Pharmacy, by German herbalist Marie Treban.  One little line in that book suggested Swedish Bitters as a remedy for bee stings.  I bought a bottle at the health food store, by Nature Works, and it immediately neutralizes the pain and reduces swelling.  Tried it on ant bites, wasps and stinging caterpillars, too, and it takes the sting out within seconds.  I now keep a bottle of it in my car, RV, purse, and medicine cabinet at home.  I've bought the prepared bottles, and also the dry herbs and made up bottles of the tincture as stocking stuffers. I've used it on kids and my dogs with immediate results.  Just daub some on a cotton ball and rub it into the sting.  Even if you are highly allergic, it works, but you have to do it right away for best results. It's hard to keep a dog from licking it off, though.  You have to hold their paw for a few minutes, allowing it to soak into the skin.



3 25' rows, tilled, covered and mulched.
Cucumber trellis in back, different varieties
of tomatoes and peppers, bush beans,
okra.  In another row, herbs
and pole beans.  Yet to go, the watermelon/
squash patch.
You can barely see it, but my dog walk
sits just behind this garden.

Despite these disgusting pests, beautiful weather in the 70's has enticed John and me outside to bask in sunshine, repair the garden fence, plant, and we have succeeded in laying in about 2/3ds of our spring garden.  But we must examine every single thing we touch, and are so angry at them we squash every caterpillar we see until their guts pop out.  Revenge is sweet against such a relentless foe that poisons our yard and threatens our babies.

Adult Buck Moth

Eventually the spiny caterpillars turn into these handsome furry moths, who mate and lay eggs in the trees. If you see one, do your bit for humanity and KILL IT!  Don't let them lay their eggs. They are pure evil!

Upwards and onward!

 

Brandon Agility Trial

Maxie, 6 runs, 2 Q’s, 1 QQ, 1 4th Place, 19 MACH points, 6 videos

Lucky Lucy, 6 runs, 4 Q’s, 1 QQ, three Places, 11 MACH points, 5 videos

I'm behind in my posting!  Been busy fighting off the stinging caterpillars, spring roundup in my huge yard and my neighbor's, and our club's agility trial in Port Allen, which I haven't even begun to analyze except we did terrible.  Not wanting to go there has made me more willing to take care of my yard!  Even defeat has its advantages!

This trial two weeks later ended up much better, but started out with me nursing the flu my husband brought home a few days earlier – packing the RV was such a drag I almost didn't go.  But I got to thinking about all that wasted trial entry money.  I sprayed Zicam Cold Remedy in my mouth and cheeks at  3 hour intervals 24 hours before hitting the road, and by the time I made it to Brandon (a 3.5 hour drive), I was feeling better. Used it all weekend and made it through.

Thursday night it poured down rain, I got wet setting up camp, and wind rocked the RV half the night. An ominous start. A shot of Zicam before bed and first thing Friday morning I was on the line at 8 a.m.  Running an 8" and a 24" in MS and MJ, I'm almost always bound to be one of the first on the line!  Maxie’s first run was one of his fastest and best runs EVER, with 25 seconds to spare and a full 8 seconds ahead of any other 8" dog, except the very last obstacle he took the wrong end of the tunnel!!! ACK! It seemed downhill from there for Maxie, with no Q's until Sunday, which was a QQ but neither run was fast.  I left worried about his health and my handling skills, then got home and watching the videos, realized we actually ran pretty well.  A few wide turns, he walked his weaves 4 times out of 6, popped out twice, and took the wrong end of the tunnel twice.  Other than that, good runs. What's with the sudden tunnel sucking, I don't know.  Only one error per NQ, though, all of them "nearly Q's", which I still find encouraging.  His stride seems to be getting shorter, which I will address in my Port Allen post where we saw a doggie chiropractor.

Lucky, I felt, was slow and sluggish and Bonnie McDonald, the judge, even remarked to me "Some dogs do agility because they want to, others because we want them to", implying that Lucky is the latter.  I left the trial discouraged for Lucky, dreaming of finding her a more suitable venue.  She came home, and next day jumped the 5' fence and with boisterous enthusiasm chased down and killed an enormous armadillo in the woods, exhibiting all kinds of stamina and focus, and despite a fierce 10 minute battle with a wild animal, got not a scratch on her.  Her skill amazes me. Then, reviewing her videos, Lucky actually looked pretty good and even enthusiastic on some portions of her runs.  Came home with 4 Q's out of 6 runs, 1 QQ, running under course time 5 out of 6 runs, and being the only 24” dog to qualify in both XS and XJ on Friday, got two 1st places! A wonderful change from our last trial where she never Q’d once, plodded through her weaves, and exceeded course time three out of 6 runs.  How can I make the "armadillo connection" with agility?  Do they sell armidallo juice?

Maxie and Lucky's composite videos, with my commentary, are posted at the end of this story!

Ring conditions on Friday

ODDITIES:

• Ring conditions on Friday were HORRIBLE, with huge rutts and cross hatches across the entire arena left by the tractor tines and tires.  We all ran fearing twisted ankles.  Friday night, though, the course was cleared and BARK, the hosting club, hired a private firm to come plow and level, as the horse arena staff obviously had no idea what was needed for a dog trial.  By Saturday morning the ring was in great shape, though the crate area remained rutted all weekend and we had to walk around very carefully.
• A weird thing happened to Lucky after her 2nd run on Saturday.  Within a minute after leaving the ring her whole back became covered with what looked like white snowflakes that I couldn’t rub off.  I've never seen anything like it. Alarmed, perplexed, I had Rosey, a vet, look at it and she said sometimes when dogs get stressed they blow a bunch of dandruff! Maybe ring stress, or she got into some poison grass or something. She recommended 25 mg of benydrill per 25# of dog.  I gave it with her supper and the next day the dandruff was gone, and no reoccurrance since then.  I don’t think it was ring stress because on the way home we pulled into the La. Welcome Center for a pottie break.  Just as I was about to let the dogs out the door this huge 18 wheeler pulls up and parks right alongside me, rumbling loudly and never shut down.  Lucky went into a fit of trembling that lasted 5 minutes, definitely stressed out, but didn't blow any dandruff.

LESSONS LEARNED:
Keeping Lucky in the RV instead of in the arena all day, running her to the start line without loitering around the ring gate, is making a difference in her speed and enthusiasm. She gets nervous standing around at the gate. As opposed to Maxie, who doesn't mind the ring gate at all because it means more treats.  He wants his turn to last as long as possible.

Reviewing the videos, it's clear Maxie reads hand motions far more than shoulder pulls and where my feet are pointing.

Maxie and Lucky will both nail this sport when they consistently RUN their dog walks and weaves, and will place higher when they learn tighter turns and I learn better placed front crosses. That's pretty much all I have to concentrate on to raise our Q rates considerably.  They both handle pretty well.

The puppy, Pepper, is another matter!  We are still working on him not bolting out of the crate, pulling on his leash so hard he chokes himself, and rear crossing the other dogs every 5 seconds on our leash walks.  He is an adorable but tangled up mess.  On the positive side, he follows me everywhere and is increasingly loyal to me, not just to food.  He is developing a very good recall.  He's fast and strong and loves to jump.  My tactic, I believe, is to love on him more, not show so much favoritism.  I'm becoming more aware, I've spoiled Maxie rotten and he has spoiled me rotten.  He is a hard act for anyone to follow.  With Pepper, I'm going to have to fake it til we make it.

Definitely can't let Maxie jump off the bed in the middle of the night as he's been doing the last 4 months or so.  Chiropractor says his spine was misaligned and shoulders may be injured, (will be covered in a post about the previous Port Allen trial, still not written).

GOALS MET/GOALS SET:
I actually had no goals coming into this trial except to survive it as best I could with a bad cold and to observe how Maxie runs.  My mind was mush, too, because I've been mulling over how to scale back my commitments in my dog club.  Too much angst, not enough reward.   I like to contribute my talents to whatever I do and enjoy team work. Without that, I grow bored.  Overhearing other agility folks talk at trials, it seems to be a common problem in many clubs for the old timers to hold the reins tight, i.e., exclude newer members' ideas. Marsha Jones, the brand new Trial Chairman at this BARK trial was a breath of fresh air, though, sharing herself, listening intently, bouncing ideas off of others, greeting everyone (especially the newbies) like a gracious hostess does, gathering opinions, encouraging input.  Nothing done by rote  . . . . . yet.  She's a newcomer on the rise with a rapidly growing club, and my what a difference her effusive attitude and slathering of "thank yous" makes.  It was a delightful trial!

MILESTONES:

My stride is getting a wee big longer
and I'm leaning forward some.

• I'm running better now that I have shoes with cleats, my ankles and calves are stronger and my stride a few inches longer with my leg exercises, and I didn't get lost or confused on course once, (without even looking at the course maps). I still run way too slow for my liking, but the trend is definitely UP! I didn't get nervous either.
• Lucky bounced through (not walked) her weaves twice.  YEAH!!!!!  She got 2 jumpers Q’s with seconds to spare, leaving only three to go for her Master Jumper title. I no longer despair of her getting that title, maybe this year, and that's a heap of encouragement for me to keep her in the game.
• I have some direction to improving Maxie's performance.  First and foremost, keep him from jumping off the bed and couch and doing further injury to his shoulders.  Second, pay more attention to my arm cues.
• There is agility life beyond club involvement.  I've been noticing club members at this and other trials who don't invest much in their club, and attend trials without necessity of "hanging out" with other club members, putting in so many volunteer hours, nor concerning themselves with whether the club thrives or grows.  Their agility training and competition doesn't seem to suffer in the least!

Upwards and onwards!

 

One notices a lot analyzing and comparing one's videos, things you just simply don't notice when running the course. 

For example, Maxie doesn't respond to shoulder pulls and foot placement nearly as much as hand motions. His stride appears to be getting shorter, which appears to be due to less propulsion with his back legs, explaining his slower YPS averages.

 

Maxie's composite video - with commentary.

Lucky walks through tunnels instead of running.  I had not made sufficient note of that before.  Her stride over jumps is inconsistent, and her jump height is inconsistent, sometimes way higher than necessary.  When walking the weaves, she does so with inconsistent footwork.  When she runs well, she runs really well.

Lucky's composite video - with commentary.

AKC National Agility Championship - Masher the 8" Papillon

THE WINNERS:
BACK ROW:  8" Masher & Daneen Fox,
12" Sketcher & Barb Davis, 16" Karma & Cheryl Morris,
FRONT ROW:  20" Sweet & Dudley Fontaine,
24" Roo & Stacey Campbell, 26" Pace & Desiree Snelleman

I didn't go to Nationals, but I followed along as best I could with scoresheets posted on AKC's website and Agilityvision.com's broadcast of the Final Round.  I naturally followed the 8" dogs and especially the Papillons since I train and run Papillons.  So I thought I'd share what I learned about how the Paps fared, and how I discovered the astounding Masher!

In the final round, all the dogs ran the same identical course. In the 8" class, there were 11 dogs - 7 of them Papillons.  1st place went to Masher, a fiesty little Black & White owned by Daneen Fox, who ran the course almost 5 seconds faster than the 2nd place 8", a Toy Fox Terrier.  That was thrill enough to levitate me out of my seat, but further analysis revealed much, much more.

There were 18 12" dogs competing, and 18 16" dogs.  Neither 1st place winners in either class beat Masher's time.

In the 20" class, with 31 dogs competing, only one beat Masher's time, by only 4 100ths of a second.  And a border collie at that.

In the 24" class, with 11 dogs competing, nobody beat Masher.

In the 26" class, with 6 dogs competing, one border collie beat Masher's time by only .786 seconds.

95 dogs competing in the Final Round, and only 2 beat Masher!!!!!!!!! This is one fast little Papillon.

Here's the chart of 1st place wins, comparing their times:
30.550 -  8" Masher ( Papillon)
31.608 - 12" Skecher (Sheltie)
30.848 - 16" Karma (Border Collie)
30.512 - 20" Sweet (Border Collie)
33.267 - 24" Roo (AMD)
29.754 - 26" Pace (Border Collie)

Despite the dog's sizes, there's a spread of only 3.513 seconds between them.  Incredibly close race.

Here's Masher's Final Round: .

Here's the link to the course map for this round, for those who want to try their hand at it:  http://images.akc.org/agility_nationals/2013/courses/Round5_Course.pdf

I felt compelled to go online to find out more about this amazing Masher, and his handler Daneen.  So far I've found out:

• Masher has won many, many medals both in the USA and abroad. 
• He's about 5 years old, and lives in California. 
• His full name is: MACH4 Livewire Its All Gravy MXB2 MJG2 XF T2B 
• His average YPS in AKC jumpers in 2012 was 6.12 yards per second.  His average in Standard was 4.85 YPS. 
• He competes at 12" in some venues, and wins regularly. 

But it wasn't always so.  I found an engagingly different blog, Easy To Spot, written by Daneen's traveling companion and assistant, relating many of Daneen's challenges becoming the handler she is today.  It's a fresh look at the ups and downs -- the spills, the nerves, the injuries, the venues -- the many challenges of agility competition.  It's honest, and gets at the truth. It's a dream of mine to have such a supportive agility friend by my side, and to be one in return.

Probably I'll post more on Masher as I get the time to dig it up, but this is enough for now.  First, Tigger, AKC's top agility dog, now Masher.  Ahhh!  I'm so inspired.  Gotta go hug my little boys.

Upwards and onward!

The Hand Of Man

On Friday's tour through Hodges Gardens (see previous post), drinking in endless vistas of man made beauty embellishing rough terrain, I was suddenly struck by an unusual sight on the side of the road.  I backed the RV up to take this photo.  For amidst the endless array of boulders, pine trees and pine straw bedding on an otherwise colorless hill, I saw an old gnarled stump sprouting a red camelia.




At first I couldn't figure how a camelia flower could be growing out of a stump. Camelias grow on bushes. I backed up the van for a closer look and realized that some hiker must have picked a camelia from the gardens somewhere on the other side of the hill, and thoughtfully placed it there.  An intentional statement?  Another striking instance of the hand of man embellishing nature, juxtaposing opposites?

I don't know why it struck such a cord with me, as much or more impressive as all the gardens and fountains Hodges created.  So stark.  So simple.  So unexpected and ephemeral, like sand art that is laid down for a day then blown away by the wind. The hand of man spontaneously beautifying nature.  How incredibly artful for some casual visitor to place that single flower there, aware that it would soon be gone. Did they hope someone else would notice, or was it just to please themselves.  Did they take a photo?  I was utterly entranced.

I determined to return the next day, find the camelia bush, and retrace the steps of this ephemeral artist.



Spire, with a 360 view
of all the gardens below.

Saturday John, Christina and I toured the gardens.  We climbed to the spire, spotted the camelia gardens in the valley below and made our way there where I found the very bush this flower came from, amidst a hundred other bushes of different varieties.  There were thousands of blooms on towering bushes and spent flowers on the ground in such profusion they didn't look special at all by comparison to the one in the stump.

We crossed over the hill and searched for the stump.  John found it.  As I suspected, the flower was no longer there.  The canvas was mine!  I decided then and there to go back and rescue a few more blooms, try and make an art statement of my own. I carefully chose two different flowers from 2 different bushes, on the ground but in fairly good condition.

 

 

Mine were pink and two very different shapes.


I made Christina and Shadow pose with me for one shot showing the background road and lake. I think she and John thought I was being quite silly, but they indulged me without complaint.  I wish I had picked up a 3rd flower from a white camellia bush, and put 3. 

I had forgotten, flower arranging is always done in odd numbers.

Turned out, the single red camellia carried the most potent message.

This was one of the most memorable parts of my trip, tapping into my artistic side, and I will never know if anyone else stopped to ponder that there were flowers in that stump?  Take a picture of my arrangement?  Next day when we passed by on our way out, only 1 flower remained.  It looked great!  Has anyone else, on other weekends, ever placed flowers there?  How many arrangements has that old stump displayed?

 

Upwards and onward,

Hodges Gardens Star Party

Observation Field of the BRAS Star Party at Hodges Gardens, tent campers spread out across the field.

My husband and I belong to the Baton Rouge Astronomical Society. John is as involved in this group as I am in our dog club, attending lectures, helping host stargazing evenings at CC’s Coffee House, Best Buy, etc., earning amateur astronomer certificates, and contributing articles to the BRAS newsletter. I attend just a few events, and especially enjoy the out of town retreats to dark sky places where I can bring my dogs. It’s one reason we got the RV.

Last weekend (Thurs – Sun, March 14-17), we were off to the Hodges Gardens in mid-west Louisiana near Leesville, not far from the Texas border.  3.5 hour drive through some pretty hill country. Gorgeous weather all the way, and well worth the drive to see this place. On the drive we talked and I discovered that John's pursuit of astronomy is similar to mine in training dogs -- personal development, feeling "fired up", and wonderment at this incredible adventure called life.

Hodges 4700 acres was private until it was donated to the State of LA in 2007.  The Hodges put in lakes, formal gardens, a grass air strip, equestrian center, hiking trails, gift shop, cabins, canoeing, and an RV camp.  The park also boasts a huge field with no light pollution (photo above), perfect for the annual star party BRAS hosts. 66 amateur astronomers showed up, many families rented cabins, others pitched tents right there in the field, a few like us had RV’s.



The Red Barn, and grassy area where we trained our dogs.
In distance, the huge field with tent campers and canopies.

It was our first star party. Thursday afternoon we drove straight to the observation field, set up John's equipment and our dogs' x-pen under our 10' canopy, and I found the perfect level shady place to park my RV beside an old red barn, with a flat grassy lawn for dog training beside it.   I was very happy.  But after dark the dogs were not happy in the field, barking at everything, so I brought them back to the RV.  As no lights were allowed, I draped the windows, lit one candle, and listened to podcasts in the dark on my iPhone til midnight. At some point the BRAS director came over and informed me we were not allowed to park there overnight, nor run our generator, nor even drive vehicles within 1/4 mile of the field after 6 p.m. (light pollution).  I could not stay in my spot.   This made no sense to me as other people had vehicles parked in that field beside their tents for 4 days.

So at midnight curfew we drove the RV 1/4 mile back to the parking lot where a few other RV's were and went to sleep, miffed.  I learned there were no electric or water hookups anywhere.  I was more miffed!. Next morning, I located a shady spot amidst pine trees to park the rest of the weekend, and marked it with orange cones so when I drove off to tour nobody else would get my spot.  The only way I could level the unit was to sink the back wheels into a low spot.  Our new location was too long a distance to walk the dogs back and forth to the Observation Field in the pitch dark.

Thus, John did the stargazing while I spent Friday night in the RV, again, and entertained myself in the dark, again, listening to Podcasts until my iPhone battery went dead.  Then I was really miffed. John was having fun, but this weekend was not at all what I had pictured.



One of the 2 earthen dams
with a road on top.

Day times were splendid, though!  Friday Karen, her kids, John and I took a driving tour together through the park, in the RV, stopping along the way for me to take photos.  We pooled our food and enjoyed several meals in Karen’s cabin, and played a new board game - Gemlock. Saturday John, Christina and I went back and walked through the gardens.  Beautiful!

We could drive up to the field any time during the day, park in shade beside the red barn. I set up my agility equipment in what turned out to be the only level grassy area in the whole park. Christina, a teenager who trains a border collie, had come along with her mother and brother, Karen & Jacob, both active in BRAS, when she learned I was bringing my dogs and equipment. Both Friday and Saturday, we trained during the day while the astronomer geeks did their thing. I brought enough portable equipment to set up jump chutes, threadles, serpentines, weaves, and chute for Maxie, Lucky, and Shadow. Christina helped me work Pepper on short sequences. Lucky especially enjoyed chasing her Chuck-It ball through the tall dead grass in the field, Pepper racing alongside. We drew some interest from others who took a break from star talk and came to watch us train. Alas, I didn’t get pics of any of that.

About Hodges Gardens:
While the park is mostly hilly pine country and rough, with hiking and horse trails scattered about, the formal gardens are cultivated and elegant.  Similar to Bellengrath Gardens near Moblie, AL, but hillier, and without a plantation to tour. 

Built near an old quarry, with plenty of slate and granite around, the Hodges had built numerous architectural stone structures, plus 2 dams creating a beautiful lake and designed gardens with meandering paths, and a series of waterfalls cascading through camelia, azelea, rose and other gardens.  An amphitheater, and numerous lookout points on hilltops – gorgeous!

Karen's cabin by the lake.

There are 12 cabins for rent clustered here and there around the lake (alas, no dogs allowed within), a lodge for retreats, canoes and kayaks for rent, horesback riding trails, and boat ramps.  Lots of outdoor suff to do.

One sad point about Hodges, there were no designated RV spots, no hookups, and no level ground. The sites that used to be there were torn out by the state for "not meeting code", there is no level ground, the roads have many potholes, and it seems our state budget does not have enough cash to fix things, which is why their official website doesn't do the place justice. (The Friends Of Hodges website has a great page on the history of the place, lots of before and after B & W pics, well worth the read.) Many people there were badmouthing LA Gov. Bobby Jindal for siphoning off the money.

Our campsite, just off the parking lot.  That's me with
Willow, Maxie, Pepper, Lucky

Airstrip

Our campsite was in piney woods on the edge of a large grass airstrip some astronomers used at night to view the Pan-Starr comet at nightfall.  I just missed seeing it myself before it disappeared below the horizon. This spot doesn't do for a star party because there are lights in the parking lot and cars with headlights coming and going, destroying night vision.

Friday night John walked the 1/4 mile to the field, and walked home at about midnight.  We learned next day that about 3 a.m. a single huge gust of wind blew down our canopy, despite it being staked down, so we took it down Saturday.  It wasn’t damaged, but some others out there were destroyed.  Some people tent camping had their tents come down on their heads, one a pregnant lady. A few telescopes blew over and were damaged, one that cost $9,000 and has to be shipped back to Japan for warranty repairs. Ouch!

Saturday night was open to the public, with a hayride shuttle, so I left the dogs locked in the RV and joined John at the field.  About 200 people showed up, lots of Asian tourists chattering away who had never looked through a telescope before.  It was a blast.  John was in his element, with people lined up to see Jupiter’s moons through his telescope.  Other scopes were trained on various sky objects, with long lines to see them and BRAS members used their lazer lights to point out the object in the sky, explaining what it was.  The weather was cool, the breeze was brisk but manageable, lazer lights criss crossing each other in the night sky made it all the more exciting. 

Light Pollution:
I caught the hayride back to the RV about 10 p.m, perched on wobbly hay bales with about 20 other folks, mesmerized by the moonlight casting eerie shadows across the road through the tall pines.  One doesn’t much notice light pollution in town, but it’s absence is important.  The Milky Way was clearly visible, as were many millions of stars. They fill your soul with wonderment.

Electricity:
Back at the RV Saturday night, alone in the woods again, I thought, to heck with this no electricity situation, fired up my generator, and spent two luxurious hours with lights and a microwave to heat my coffee -- for as long as it took to charge up my phone and computer!  The generator police didn't come get me.  John walked back around 3 a.m., exhausted.

4 days without electricity, and what inconvenienced me most was no way to charge my cell phone or computer.  I found a single plug in the shower building but couldn't see myself sitting in there 2 hours guarding my equipment!  We charged our phones every time we visited Karen's cabin. I also missed my microwave to heat coffee. I learned Sunday while packing up to leave that I could have run the generator the whole weekend. It was only at the Observation Field after 6 p.m. we weren’t allowed to use it! 

Moral #1 of this tale – ask the right questions, to the right people, and don't take your first answer as the only one.
Moral #2 - RV'ers don't need hookups or a generator if you bring your own water, you don't need A/C, have LP gas for stove and fridge, and you can find a plug to charge your phone and computer batteries.
Moral #3 - Light pollution in cities robs us of much of the magic of night.  We should really do something about that.


L to R:  Maxie, Willow, Pepper watch on as
Mommy hops out to take pictures.

Moral #4 - Dogs don't give a damn about flower gardens, lovely scenery or stargazing.  They only look at you.

Moral #5 - Hodges Gardens is a testament how the Hand Of Man can improve upon God's raw design. (see PS below).

Came home and upon reflection, realized that despite all the inconvenience, I had a wonderful time.

More photos of Hodges Gardens here.

Upwards and onward!


P.S.  Lacking electricity, sitting in darkness, parking in undeveloped woods on rough terrain, makes one think differently.  I celebrated the hand of man several times on this trip. More on this in my next post.

Pepper's Conformation Qualities

Pepper, March 2013, 17 months old

At the recent Monroe trial I met up with some Papillon folks who show in Conformation.  Dawn graciously offered to assess Pepper's conformation qualities.  I trotted him back and forth, she watched with a professional eye, and made an informal assessment. 

I got home and stacked him, which he does beautifully from just the few weeks conformation training we had way back, then I took a bunch of photos.  He was so patient! This one is my favorites.  Here's what Dawn saw:

• A bit long in the body
• A bit tall at 11 3/8", though not a fault unless over 12"
• Ears set a bit low
• Nose a bit long
• Stop a bit shallow
• Great back leg placement, straight and strong
• Good front leg alignment, turned out just a bit
• Good bone structure
• Nice long legs, dainty yet strong
• Beautiful markings
• Nice coat and full ear feathers
• Correct weight for his size, 8#

Some judges are looking for the longer body and longer nose, Dawn said, and don't mind the higher height.  She says I could try to show him.  I doubt I will, but it's nice to know and I'll probably keep him intact awhile longer. 

He grows more and more handsome in my eyes as he gets older (now 17 months).  And what I like most, he is getting more hooked on me and more receptive to training.  With Maxie being my biggest heart throb for so long and so attuned to me, I am having to make a conscious effort to gush as much affection on Pepper as I have always done to Maxie.  It is making a difference, I think, in how Pepper interacts with me.
In case you're wondering, that's a frosted glass table he's standing on, with azeleas both over and under the table.  I thought that was kinda cool.  Here's a few more shots I like:

.

Upwards and onward!

Maxie's Bronze Titles

Maxie indulging Mommy in yet another photo session,
this one to commemorate his BRONZE AGILITY TITLES.

Q = Qualifying Score (no mistakes)
Bronze Title = 25 Q's in either Standard or Jumpers
QQ = two Q's in one day, both Standard and Jumpers courses
MACH (Master Agility CHampion) = 20 QQ's

Maxie's Bronze Lifetime Achievement AKC titles in Standard (MXB) and Jumpers (MJB) both came in this past week and are a very welcome acknowledgement along our way towards MACH.  Interestingly, he got his 25th Q in both Standard and Jumpers in New Iberia this past February 15 and 16, just one day apart. That tells me he is equally skilled in both venues.

These awards are so new to AKC, it never crossed my mind until the certificates came in to pick up ribbons for those titles. I won't be able to get them from the hosting club until next year's trial.  Lacking the rosettes, I decided to take a commemorative picture today, of him amongst our beautiful azeleas, and I couldn't resist sharing one or two of him with our other Paps as well.

Maxie and Pepper doing their "cross your paws" trick.

Maxie acquired his Master's titles (10 Q's) in both Standard and Jumpers almost 18 months ago (my, how time files) and we've been inching up the laddar towards MACH since then, with only 12 QQ's under our belt so far and a long ways to go to Championship.  I'm finding out, it can be long way from a Masters title (10 Q's), to MACH (20 QQ's).  He's had a reasonable 50% Q rate, but rarely 2 clean runs in one day, and doing only about 10 trials a year, it could take a good while longer.

I have reason to hope we can quicken the pace now, as his NQ's (non-qualifying scores) are almost always due to one single fault per run.   I see no scientific or psychological reason why there should be one fault every 19 or 20 obstacles?  In fact, it's absurd for Maxie and me not to Q almost every time!  Yes, yes, that's right, we shall simply quit making errors!!

Master Bronze (25 Q's) in either Standard or Jumpers is, of course, more achievable than MACH.  For slower dogs like Lucky Lucy, who rarely Q's in the fast paced Jumpers courses due to exceeding course time, Bronze and Silver Standard titles may be the only advanced titles she ever earns.  For her to MACH could take years (unless I can speed her up).  So I must say that even though they don't carry the same prestige as MACH, I appreciate the interim Bronze titles.  They give teams some acknowledgement for their hard work, and goals to strive for that can keep us reaching for the gold ring.



L to R:  Willow, Maxie, Pepper
Willow wants no part of those crossed paws.

Upwards and onward,

Cataract Surgery - Part 3

It's been almost a year since my Cataract Surgery on my left eye (March 15, 2012), and the botched job is finally getting so much worse I need to do something.  Studying my videos from the recent Monroe trial, I was horrified to see my handling getting worse.  I know it's because my depth perception is off, as though I'm blathering drunk or seriously hung over all the time.  I have a hard time distinguishing obstacle distances and all the horizontal bars blend together.  I can't rely on vision to judge the distances.  Sometimes the jumps are farther away than they seem, sometimes closer.  I run in halting fashion like I'm confused, surprised, nearly lost.  No wonder my dogs are slowing down despite them becoming better agility dogs.

Worse handling has resolved me to at last do something about my eyesight.  I haven't wanted to think about it, much less deal with it.  But now I see I must.  I can't go thru life seeing things in a blur, not taking stairs unless I have a rail to hold onto, much less run my dogs with confidence.

Taking action on this fills me with fear.  I have no confidence in doctors.  They deal with your most vital parts, but don't know you from Adam.  They make their money and toss you out to fend for yourself.  The highly respected specialist who did my cataract surgery made me feel like a slab of cow meat.  A few months after the surgery I attempted to write a followup post, but I couldn't finish it.  I've finally posted it today, unedited, unpolished, a stream of conscious rambling account of my surgery and aftermath, entitled Cataract Surgery - Part 2.  The upshot of which is . . . . when I told that doctor something wasn't right, his reaction was "I've done over 30,000 of these operations and I've done my job right.  The tests show you have 20/20 vision in that eye.  I don't know what else you expect me to do." 

I don't either.  But you're the specialist.  Do something.  Show interest in my case.  Find out why my left eye is still swollen, it feels like a pin pricking the inside corner when I look left, like a blast of cold air hitting the surface when I look right, and my eye cries all the time. Plus, I'm still looking through a fog, and little brown squigglies float through the eye. My new eye sees things one size, the old eye sees them smaller. Very disorienting. I can't go back to that same pompous jackass, but I can't go on like this.  So now I have to figure out my next move.  What will it be?  Guess I'll confer with a few different specialists and see what they suggest.  I'll keep you posted.

Upwards and onward!