August 16, 2008: Rain, Rain and Even More Rain
If we thought we might have seen an end to the rain last week, we were wrong. It has been coming down in buckets here. The water has been running down the road so fast that a micro-hydro turbine would not be out of place. We've had a couple of days where we could not get the dogs out on sheep due to zero visibility and some additional days where we had no more than 50 yards visibility. On those days, we took our dogs out to play a 'game' whereby one dog manuevers sheep in and around the other dogs who are lying down in a wide-ish circle. Each dog gets a turn doing this, and when it is not their turn, they have to lie still. Yes, it can be done! Even the young dogs know the rules of this game and they were all well-behaved, perhaps enjoying what little time they could get on sheep in the atrocious weather conditions.

The local village of Llanfynydd show was held on Saturday. Of course, the rain was torrential all day long. One certainly gets to know where there are 'leaks' in wet weather gear on days like that...and leaks there were. Everything was wet and muddy, and many cars, trucks and trailers had to be escorted from the parking area by a tractor. Still, the rain did not dampen the spirits of the brave hearts who turned out to enter the various competitions from showjumping (yes, they still held that!) to the longest thistle (and there were some biggies there). Kelvin entered the quiche making contest but sadly his spinach, tomato and cheese version was far too exciting for the judges. He was more successful in the photography contest gaining 1st and 3rd places. Angie entered the bread contest and finished 3rd. She had to make a 'late night' loaf when Nora informed her that the white bread contest had to be a purely white loaf - no seeds allowed. What kind of a loaf is that with no roughage?!

Mike and Nora's grandkids took home a barrow load of placings (mostly firsts), and Nora's daugther, Maria, 'stole' Nora's recipes and then proceeded to beat her mother in every baking category entered. Things are tense around here....just kidding! Nora and Maria are superb bakers - trust us!

We've been out to a few trials in the last week - perhaps 5 or 6 between us. Gosh, there are so many trials at the moment, it is hard to keep count. Kelvin managed to get a 4th with Tina and 5th with Blade at the South Wales Sheepdog Trials Association Novice event held near Lampeter. Tina is a talented little bitch and an exciting prospect for next year. Kelvin tried the South Wales style of trialling last week while Angie braved that yesterday for the first time (with no success, might we add!!). It takes a heck of a lot of skill and patience to get very light sheep anywhere near the maltese cross, let along through 2 lanes of it. The maltese cross has eluded Kelvin as well. It sure gives one motivation to improve one's penning abilities....which are, ummm, sad (or, as we would say, "pathetic").

Kelvin also tried a double fetch trial with Blade at Tagarreg this week. This is a tough course with some dogs not getting out to their first set of sheep and others having to be commanded heavily to the location of the sheep. Getting out to the second set of sheep was even trickier and unfortunately Blade was in this category. This is a terrific trial and well worth being on our calendar for next year. We have placed some photos from this trial on the Photos page.

Work on the World Trial was busy last week with the souvenir programme finally in the can, so to speak. Phew! That was a biggie. Now that that is done, watching the Olympics takes precedence over all else. Yes, we are sports mad in this household! Angie, being a veritable insomniac, is like a kid in a candy store as her 3 or 4am wake up times are now greeted with live swimming and gymnastics competitions. Athletics has also started so we have been glued to the TV watching for any signs of a kiwi athlete...or a Welsh one...or a Scot...or a Canadian etc. It is hard to know who to cheer for at times given our growing list of passports and 'homes' so we just cheer for any athlete we take a shine too, sometimes irrespective of nationality. We must say that a huge bonus of living in the UK is Eurosport (TV). The sports coverage is almost non-stop and with hardly any commercial breaks. We do not miss the excessive 'Olympic' advertising on North American television channels. The BBC has super coverage too. With Interactive TV, there is usually 6 additional channels of Olympic coverage at any given time showing everything from Dressage to Archery to Rowing (and everything in between). It is easy to spend all day watching the Olympics. Today the kiwis won 5 medals!!!! Gold in the women's shot put, a gold and two bronzes in rowing, and a silver in track cycling. Not too shabby for a small nation.

The Scottish National is on as well and while we could not go to Scotland to watch, we have been sitting by the phone waiting to hear the results. We hear the sheep are very 'tricky' with many retirements and a few disqualifications. Scores have generally been quite low - until today when a change of sheep saw higher scores from some competitors. There will be some very unhappy Scotsmen and women around no doubt. We hear a lot of discussion about the sheep used for trials over here. Many flocks nowdays are herded by quad bikes rather than dogs, and some sheep have never seen a dog before going to a trial. This makes trialling quite 'interesting,' shall we say. It seems to demand a higher level of performance from handlers in terms of one's abilities to read sheep, quicker responses to this reading of the sheep, and, of course, a well trained dog who can take commands quickly and instantly when needed. These are all things that we, as beginners, struggle with! It is nice to occasionally run on well-dogged sheep at a trial! This is what we like about going to Bobby Dalziel's trials in Scotland. His sheep are well-dogged, fairly uniform and it is tough luck indeed if you draw a difficult ewe - and if you do, that ewe is marked and sent to the hill to have a lamb the following year, instead of being a 'trial' ewe. So, to all those unhappy Scotsmen and women, you'll be running on Bobby's sheep at next year's Scottish National.

Oh, Jet had 8 pups on the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008 and the last one was born at 8pm. Eight is a lucky number in China. The word for it -- ba -- sounds so close to the word for wealth ("fa") that many people believe eight is a number that is linked to prosperity. The opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games began at 8:08:08 p.m. on 8/8/08. We have our very own 'Olympic' babies... and perhaps one day they might compete in the Olympics of sheepdog trialling. Kelvin is threatening to call them Phelps (after US swimmer Michael Phelps), Vili (after Valerie Vili - NZ's first female Track and Field gold medallist since 1952), Bolt (after 100 m gold medallist and world record holder, Usain Bolt...although this one might just be too fast to handle!), Liukin (after American female all-round gymnast Nastia Luikin) and Mahe (after NZ rowing star Mahe Drysdale). Thank goodness Kelvin doesn't get to name them!

Raining again here. It is starting to get annoying!