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.

Tracking at the ESSFTA Nationals

Magnum, my 17-month English Springer Spaniel, and I have just gotten back from the 2012 English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association’s National AKC Event held at the Purina Farm outside of St. Louis.  On Sunday, Sept. 23^rd, Magnum completed his first Tracking Dog test after being certified in tracking in August by Tracking Judge Steve Ripley.   I am very proud to say that he passed the test and completed the tracking test in less than 5 minutes.  He is a very fast and accurate tracker.  One of the judges told me she had goose bumps watching him track.  I selected this venue because it is very difficult to get into tracking tests.  The Springer Nationals gave priority to Springers without titles and then Springers with titles.  I got to watch all the other dogs – 3 others attempted the Tracking Dog test, 4 attempted the Tracking Dog Excellent test, and 3 attempted the Variable Surface Track test.  Only 2 other passed the Tracking Dog test.  Thank you to my good friend Michele Johnson and her beagles for being our tracking partners and to my husband Alan for the many tracks he has laid and his encouragement.  This was the culmination of 3 months of tracking 6 days a week and aging tracks up to 2 hours.  I followed the schedule of Glen Johnson.  Some dogs might not want to track 6 days a week, but Magnum loved it.

Tuesday and Wednesday were agility.  Tuesday was all breeds and Wednesday was Springer only.  Purina has a wonderful event center.  Agility was in one ring, obedience in another, and conformation in a third.  This was my first agility trial with Magnum and my first in 3 years since Shadow went blind.  I was really nervous.  I will cut to the chase and tell you that Magnum came out with double q’s both days and first place blue ribbons for all runs.  He had a score of 100 for each of the four runs and was well under standard time.  Magnum was awesome!  He was completely focused and ran fast.  I had not expected such focus and accuracy.  Now, I know that it is much easier in Novice and Open to get a first place blue ribbon than in Excellent, but I am relishing this first time out performance.  Alan says that it is so much easier for the long ride home with your partner when your dog has exceeded all your expectations. 

Will We Ever Get Out Of Dayton?

I had been standing in line with Alan at the United Airline desk after the plane taxied back to the terminal due to mechanical problems.  It seemed like we waited almost 45 minutes until it’s our turn.  We are told that all planes for Chicago have left and we will need to talk with American Airlines to see about a flight for the next day.  We have missed our international flight out of Chicago for London Heathrow.  We are tired and totally bummed.  No one is at the American Airline desk and I am told they have gone home.  I get the 800-telephone number for customer service and call to request assistance.  We are able to schedule a flight for 6:30 the next morning, a flight to London around noon, but will need to stay all night in London and fly into Glasgow on Saturday.  Oh boy, we have already paid for room, dinner and breakfast in Glasgow – and it looks like we will miss our coach taking us to the highlands and Aigas Field Center. 

We head home, tired and discouraged.  The day started so lovely.  We walked the dogs and then took them to the kennels.  Everything goes wrong once we get to the airport.  Our flight has been cancelled by American Airlines due to thunderstorms in Chicago.  There is a delayed United Flight that we are rescheduled to take.  The United flight keeps getting delayed.  Finally we board the plane, get buckled in, and hear an announcement that there are mechanical problems so we need to get off the plane.  We wait in line for half an hour or so and learn there is another flight and the airline will reserve seats for us, but they hope to get the plane fixed and hope we can leave on it.  We wait and wait.  We are told we can get back on the plane.  We get buckled and the plane taxies to take off and then we get another announcement from the pilot about additional mechanical problems.  By the time the plane is back in the terminal, all flights have left for Chicago.

After talking with the airline, I call Road Scholar’s 24-hour line and tell a nice man that we missed the international flight and won’t get to Glasgow in time for the coach.  I ask for help getting a room at a hotel in London.  No problem booking a room at an airport hotel and he says he’ll send a message about missing the coach.

We go home for the night and have about 3 hours to sleep.  I discover that maybe it was good we had to come home because I forgot to leave food out for the cats.  Their friend Diane isn’t scheduled to come until the next day.

Everything goes well on Friday and we arrive at London Heathrow.  While there, I check on trains to get us from Glasgow to Inverness, Scotland.  It is then about half an hour to Aigas.  On Saturday we arrive in Glasgow about noon.  We make our way out with our bags and a friendly man dressed in a navy suit holding a printed sign with our names greets us.  His name is John and he insists on taking all of my bags.  He takes us to a new Mercedes and tells us he will drive us to Aigas Field Center.  He takes the Carriageway and gets us there in about 4 hours.  During the four hours, Alan tries to keep him talking and learn his views on the vote in 2014 on Scottish independence.  He has quite an accent and we learn that folks from Glasgow are the most difficult to understand.  They seem to struggle with our accent.  He pulls up to a very large, grand Victorian home with is at the end of a mile or so long drive.  We are greeted by several friendly rangers and invited to relax and have tea.  They will take care of our bags and take us to our lodge after the others have arrived.  Wow, we have beaten the coach.  The others arrive and we meet our 14 other guests.  One of the guests later tells me he thought I was Lady Lucy sitting having tea because I looked so relaxed and comfortable.  The picture is the home of Sir John and Lady Lucy Lister-Kaye.  All our meals, tea, and some of our briefings are held in the great room, common room, library, or drawing room.  More to come.

Wait, Wait, Hurry, Hurry

Does it ever feel like you wait, wait for something, then suddenly it’s here.  We’re getting ready to go to Scotland.  It’s been in the planning stages for 9 months or so.  Lots of time to get ready.  And, for the most part I am.  But there are all those last minute items to complete.  Bags are packed, documents ready to go, arrangements made and suddenly time seems to speed up.

Today Alan and I went kayaking on the Little Miami at River’s Edge.  It’s a nice place that is open during the week.  The river route is lovely going through rural areas. There were three deer getting a drink at the river along the way.  It was my first time kayaking. We plan to go to Hawaii and ocean kayak, so I thought I should practice.  I’ve done lots of canoeing, but never kayaked. The kayak has more control than a canoe, which is good since I almost went through a small rapid backwards.  But, with the kayak, I was able to turn myself around and was okay.  On the way back, Alan said, “This retirement really keeps you busy.”  It does. 

Last week we went to Covington Kentucky to see an exhibit by the Colored Pencil Society of America. We were the only ones there for half an hour, and then several older retirees came in.  Alan works with colored pencils sometimes, so he really enjoyed it.  After the exhibit, we had lunch at 10 West on the Ohio River.  We had a delicious lunch with a wonderful view of the river.   We are doing more fun things since we retired.  Things we didn’t have time for when we worked.  But we are also continuing to do lots of things we did while we were working.    I could spend all day playing – riding my bike, tracking with Magnum, hiking, yoga, and practicing agility with Magnum.  I also like to swim and canoe.  Then there are the quiet activities such as reading. Now, if I want to add more stuff, then I have to let something else go.  Right now my days are packed. 

So we get to the hurry, hurry for the trip.  All the last minute details.   Magnum will go to Wags Inn and Shadow and Kinsey will go to Dillon’s Kennel.  The three sisters (cats) will be staying at the house with their friend Diane taking care of them.

Tracking Certification

Sunday morning August 5, 2012, a little before 9:00 AM, I follow AKC tracking judge, Steve Ripley to an industrial park in Westfield, Indiana for the tracking dog certification.  It has been raining, but stopped.  The certification is in calf high grass and weeds.  I think, “Oh shit, we’ve been training mostly on mown grass.”  I get Magnum out of the car, offer him water and we walk up to Steve.  He tells me the track starts right off the pavement where there is a driveway reflector. I put the harness on Magnum, walk up to the reflector and tell him to down.  I put the lead on the harness and say track.  Magnum takes off after a quick smell of the start article.  I let the lead out to a little over 20 feet and grab the start article.  He locks onto the track and stays with it.  He goes out about 85 yards, begins circling and pulls us strongly to a right hand turn.  We go out 50 yards and he acts like he’s found something.  It’s a part of a plastic bag – trash.  He circles completely around at the bag and goes left.  Again, he pulls so strongly that I have to follow him.  He is moving at a very fast speed.  He would be delighted if I ran, but I continue to walk quickly.  80 yards and he begins to circle again.  He circles another time, so I pull out the start item and have him smell it.  His expression is like – oh yeah that’s the smell.  He turns left and pulls very strongly.  This time it’s longer.  We go about 135 yards, then he circles and turns left.  In my head I’m thinking that I don’t know if I am on the track.  Maybe the judge is waiting till it’s over and he’ll tell me we blew it.  Magnum is looking back at me with a look that says “Can’t you go any faster?”  He is pulling so strongly and is so excited, then he’s lying down – he found the glove, the end article.  We did it!!

Steve said we were great.  He complimented me on my handling, taking time, and waiting for Magnum to figure out where the track goes.  Magnum clearly knows how to track, he just needs me to be smart enough to read his signals.

I am so happy.  It follows a week in which I began to doubt my preparedness for the certification.  Steve had good advice for me about distractions and to begin to work toward our tracking dog excellent and variable surface tracking tests.  Here is a picture of Magnum, Steve Ripley and me after the successful completion of the track.

Now I can send off my certification to the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association to see if I can get into the Tracking Dog test at the Springer Nationals in St. Louis at the end of September!!  Magnum and I owe much to my tracking partner M and to Alan.  They lay the tracks for us and give me good advice.