Leaving Michigan

The morning is cloudy with a mist of rain.  Not bad with what everyone on the east coast is experiencing with Hurricane Sandy.  We’ve been in northern Michigan for a little over 3 weeks and we are heading home, once again with all the bags on the roof of the car.

We were able to complete most of the projects we planned – new appliances for the kitchen, a new garage door, new kitchen counter and sink ordered to be installed when we are there after Christmas, and Alan installed a new range hood.  Alan also put up a mailbox with a snow guard.  In northern Michigan, most folks have a snow guard for their mailbox due to the amount of snow that gets thrown when streets are cleared.  The snow is heavy and will eventually knock over the mailbox unless it has some protection. 

Alan also built an agility teeter for Magnum.  The first facility Magnum and I visited for agility practice had a really old very heavy metal teeter.  All the dogs were afraid of it.  Magnum has never had teeter problems, but developed problems after going on that teeter.  After visiting the other agility facility, which had an okay teeter, he was still having problems, so Alan built one for us to practice on.  It is nicer than the teeter we have at home in Ohio.  It only took a day of practicing several different times for Magnum to be okay with the teeter again.  It was a joint project, I did the painting and we got it completed in 2 days. 

While in Michigan, the trees lost all their leaves.  Walking in the woods meant sometimes there was almost a foot of leaves to walk through.  The dogs loved the smell of the leaves.  We were cautioned that there had been a bear sighting in Michaywe.  I read in the newspaper that a bear had been hit and killed by a car.  We never saw a bear, but I thought they would probably stay away from good-sized dogs.  We also make quite a bit of noise in the woods, which would have alerted any bear to our presence.

Magnum had his first experience of tracking on concrete.  Concrete is probably the most difficult surface for a tracking dog because it doesn’t hold scent well.   I followed the advice of AKC Judge Steve Ripley and had Alan lay a 200-yard track along a curb (behind Lowes in Gaylord).  Curbs will hold a scent so it is stronger than scent on flat concrete. The idea is to convince the dog that a track can be on concrete, even if it is fainter than on grass.  It was fascinating to watch Magnum and it was just as Steve described in his book.  It took Magnum awhile to figure out that the track was on the concrete and not in the grass.  Magnum kept hopping up on the grass and looked all over for the track, then would return to the curb.  Over all, it was a good first attempt.

Northern Michigan

As we pull out of the driveway on our way to northern Michigan, I think about the Beverly Hillbillies.  I imagine that our car has some resemblance to the truck from the TV series that had Granny in the back on her rocking chair with other possessions.   We will be gone for 3 ½ weeks, so we are loaded down.  Inside the car are 3 dogs and 3 cats.  As a result, our clothing and light items are in 3 large water proof bags (canoe bags) on top of the car.  None of the dogs are riding on top of the car, but I must admit that Magnum’s (17 months) bed buddies – 2 different sizes of stuffed golden retriever dogs are inside one of the bags.  When I put them in the bag, I did question to myself if this was okay.

This will be the longest we have been at our place just south of Gaylord, Michigan.  It is also one of the wettest October’s they have had.  The house is in the woods and is gorgeous this time of year with lots of golden, orange, red, and rust colored leaves all around.  We take the dogs on at least two walks a day following a path from our house to the cross-country ski trail – all in the woods.  So, even when it is raining, we hardly get wet because of all the trees.  Our whole area of Michaywe is on an enormous sand dune, so the water runs right into the ground and rarely puddles.  With all of the leaves coating the paths, even when it is cloudy, the paths are light up with the colors.

When it is rainy, we go swimming and when it is sunny we canoe.  We have found several great places to practice tracking with Magnum.  A couple of the sites have transitions from grass to gravel to woods.  One of the sites provides opportunities for cross traffic because animals and humans walk over the track before it is time for Magnum to use it.  The cross tracks are presenting a challenge for him and I need to read up on how to assist him better.  He seems to have no problem with the transitions.

I’ve found a couple of places within an hour’s driving range to take Magnum to practice agility while we are here.  Jane, one of the facility owners, used to train at Bud Houston’s former facility between Marysville and Delaware where I also train.  She built her facility with Dogwood as her model. 

One of the joys of being here in Otsego County Michigan, where the entire county has a slightly smaller population than the county seat of Greene County, is the freedom from the usual demands of living in a community.  It reminds me of something Alan’s deceased mother Maxine said to me when she was in her mid 70’s.  She told me how much she enjoyed going to her family farm because there was nothing she had to do there, no demands on her time – good or not so good.  At the time it sounded strange to have a retired person talk about getting away from retirement, but now I understand.

Scotland

The first night we met for drinks in the common room of Aigas Field Center at 6:30.  At 7:00, dinner was announced with the striking of a large gong.  This was the pattern each day– drinks at either 6:00 or 6:30 with dinner half an hour later.  We always started with a delicious soup, always something that I and the other two vegetarians could eat.  We three were provided delicious vegetarian entrees.  Lady Lucy, a Cordon Bleu trained chef, oversaw all the meals personally.

After dinner, we went to Magnuson House, the educational center at Aigas, for a lecture by Sir John Lister-Kaye.  Magnuson House is an environmentally green building with the roof covered with grass.  Prince Charles had dedicated the facility several years earlier with a visit and presentation.

On the 1^st full day we had another lecture by Sir John on Aigas and the Estate.  Then he gave us a tour of the House of Aigas, which has three sections – sporting lodge, Victorian section, and an addition by Sir John that matches the sporting lodge.  After lunch we were led on a hike by wonderful young rangers on the property to look at the plantations of trees, the loch and three Bronze Age hut circles, which provide evidence of Aigas’s continuous occupation for over 3,000 years.

The 3^rd day we went to the Black Isle.  Along the way, we walked past the ruins of the Red Castle, on an estate, which will pass to Lady Lucy’s oldest son.  We visited the ruined cathedral at Fortrose and then walked along a footpath by the ocean out to Chanonry Point where we saw bottlenose dolphins.  After that we went to the village of Comarty and walked around.  We had about 50 minutes to ourselves, so Alan and I ran to a museum and gave it a quick tour.

On a number of our hikes and walks, we visited ruined cathedrals that are a result of the reformation.

We also visited the west coast.  While on the way, I noticed that most of the signs are written in English and Gaelic (which is pronounced with a short a).  Then we went to the Inverewe Gardens, which had been privately owned by Osgood Mackenzie in 1862 who spent 40 years creating them.  When he died, his daughter Maree worked on the gardens for 30 years.  The gardens have species from all over the world that do very well by this protected bay because of the Gulf Stream.  Maree gave the garden to the national trust because her son was not interested in keeping it. 

Several evenings, Alan and I went to the pine marten and badger blind/hide on Sir John’s estate. We had to keep absolutely quiet or the animals could hear us.  We sat there about two hours and were rewarded by seeing a young female pine marten and a badger that visited several times.  It was really fun.

Another day we went to Glen Affric, which is a remnant of Caledonian pinewood (one of only three left in Scotland).  The highlands were once completely covered with these pinewoods.   We loved the hiking and being in the highlands. 

The last 5 days of our visit were spent with a day in Glasgow and four days in Edinburgh.  We enjoyed both cities and went to a number of museums, cathedrals and of course the magnificent Edinburgh Castle. The Scots are friendly and very welcoming.  Attached are 2 photos.  One shows several of our rangers in green.  Scot from Glasgow is sitting and Allie from England is in the background.