August 30, 2009:
Our 'blog' holiday didn't go over very well! Sorry folks, we were just so busy last week to write a blog. Right, here goes with a catch up.

'Tis trialling season. Last weekend we went to the Llanwrda trial. This trial has been going for over 100 years!!! It is a small field with an uphill outrun and tricky sheep. Very tricky. Last year we went to this trial and the sheep seemed to fly down the hill at a million miles an hour, and right to the exhaust pen. This year there were certainly packets of sheep that did that! Lady luck was on our side and little Sioux took home top prize after holding onto first place for a good few hours! It was our first win in an Open trial in Wales (and hopefully not our last). We received a really nice solid silver cup for our efforts. Yahoo...one more cup than Kelvin now. For those who are interested, yes, Kelvin cooked dinner....cheese toasty pies delivered hot to me while I was out walking the dogs. Tasted good, especially since we did not get home until 10pm and hadn't eaten since lunch time. Anything tastes good at that point even my cooking.

Sunday was spent putting up the tent and getting things organized for the training clinic we hosted on Monday and Tuesday. Kevin Evans lead the clinic. We had torrential rain on Sunday and there we were moving silage bales and pitching a tent, and hoping the rain would stay away for the clinic. IT DID! Amazingly. While it rained in areas surrounding our place, we got the odd light shower but mostly sunshine. The day after the clinic, back to torrential rain. Kevin gave a superb clinic. Not only is he a gifted handler but he is also able to effectively communicate his knowledge to others in a way that is logical and easily understandable. The progress in the dogs from one day to the next was amazing. That was fun to watch. Everything seemed to run smoothly. Kelvin did the cooking so the food was edible. Some people thought it was odd to see a guy in the kitchen cooking...and yes, there were some comments about me not being domesticated. GET OVER IT! I can cook baked beans just as good as anyone else and just wait till you try my spinach, pear and goat cheese pizza.

The French guys - Guillaume and Pascal - who came to the clinic, stayed for a few days and went trialling. On Thursday we passed on going to the Llanddewi Brefi Centenary Trial and went to Llanafan Fawr instead. We heard that there was a big outrun there so we thought we'd test the dogs on that instead of trying the South Wales style of trialling. Llanafan certainly had a big outrun - perhaps about 800 yards (or more). It wasn't a typical outrun though. The sheep were 800 yards away directly in front of the post but 3 fields away from you. The only way to the sheep was to walk your dog directly front your feet through the first two fields and with a small right hand flank, you had to navigate your dog through a gate to take you out of the second field and into the third field. Once in the third field, you could send your dog left or right to the sheep. The quickest route was to send the dog left which was straight along a fence line. The disadvantage of this was that the dog could not see the sheep until quite late. The right hand outrun was long and sucked time. If the dogs fence ran, and they tended to do this, it was a long way to the sheep and high up on a hill. But, the dog could see the sheep unless the sheep had drifted down towards the fetch gates. It was a really good, long fetch. Our dogs didn't do so well! Blade got his sheep after going out right handed and he got his fetch gates and the sheep to Kelvin's feet but they timed up at the start of the drive. I ran Roy and he went right handed as well. He had a good fetch until he got into the second field on the way back. He mistook a right hand flank for a look back and off he went in search of more sheep. We retired. Tina and Sioux had less luck. Sioux got into the 3rd field and took her left hand outrun nicely but she came in under the sheep and I could not get her to look back from there. I called her off, ran up to the 3rd field and sent her for the sheep again and took them off. Tina got into the second field and went looking there for sheep and did not get through the gate to the third field...and she did not take a stop whistle. Little sh*t. Kelvin ran up to get her and sent her from the gate to the third field to get the sheep. So, while we had no success this day, it was fantastic to run on such a big course.

Friday we went to the Llansadwrn trial where Kelvin was judging. I ran Roy in the Novice National and Novice South Wales, and Sioux in the Novice South Wales. I ran Roy early in the morning and had a pretty good run in the National but we could not get the sheep through the chute for love nor money. We finished 2nd in the end as others had the same trouble with uncooperative sheep. The South Wales was not so good. I've only run South Wales once before and continued my non-success! We did not get any sheep through a lane of the maltese cross but with difficult sheep, we still won the Novice South Wales (local) on the basis of the outrun, lift and fetch. Nothing to stand from a tall tree and shout about (more hide in the wellies kind of stuff). We did, embarrassingly, win a cup for our 7 minute effort. We are now 2 cups up on Kelvin's count.

Oh, I should note that in the Novice South Wales trial, the event was won by Michael Larsen from Sweden, Guillaume Josien from France was second and Ann Blomqvist from Sweden was third. The first Welshman was Mike Hemmings in 4th place. What is this? 'Foreigners' coming over and beating the Welsh at their own game. Tut, tut, tut. Of course, John Davies, the South Wales specialist, taught them all how to do the south wales style. Perhaps he is wondering about the wisdom of that. He's obviously a heck of a teacher.

Kelvin judged for over 12 hours on Friday with 118 runs. That made for a very long day. It was a cold day and with Kelvin judging and me competing, I could not sit in the car to keep warm.

Saturday I headed off to Libanus on my own as Kelvin had his niece, Andrea, and her son, Neo, staying. The plan was to run Libanus early and get back in time for a couple of runs at the second day of the Llansadwrn trial. Kelvin was planning on getting to Llansadwrn for a run with Tina so she came with me in the truck. We arrived in Libanus by 8 and managed to get some early runs. The sheep looked good. I ran Sioux first in the National and she had a terrific run. The only bobbles we had was on the cross drive when we had some piloting error, and it was a bit messy getting the sheep together after the shed. The good news was, we got a nice shed and we penned!!! Yes, a pen at long last. Mind you, the sheep were very cooperative so I wouldn't say we are good at penning. We ended up 3rd overall. Yippee. I decided to brave the south wales style again and amazingly we got the sheep nicely through both lanes of the maltese cross after a very good outrun, lift and fetch. We went right to the pen and penned easily. Only problem was, I didn't know the rules for South Wales and I unknowingly made a mistake going from the cross to the pen, and likely lost all my pen points. Ah well, live and learn. The run was one of the best I have had with Sioux but next time I'll know the rules better.

Jamie did not fare so well at Libanus. Earlier in the week he had injured his eye when he ran into some gorse. He was at the vet twice during the week and is back again tomorrow. I was tossing up whether to run him but decided, why not? He can see - thankfully. I ran the National first and at the top of his outrun, two sheep jumped away from the feeding block and ran for the fetch gates, and two stayed on the block. I sent him to stop the two runners, and once they were stopped, I sent him back to knock to the two grazers off the feed. Then I had to send him again for the two runners, who had again decided to head off for home. To make a long story short, we did get them together in time for the fetch gates but I decided to retire Jamie because it was going to be a long day with lots of runs, and this one had no chance of being in the money. No need to waste others' time. In the South Wales we got the sheep through the first lane of the cross but could not get them through the second. I used a minute of time to school Jamie as he was flanking a bit tight for my liking and then retired. Off to Llansadwrn we went.

I like going to two trials in the same day. Different sheep, different fields, but the same group of people. If you've had bad runs at one trial, you get another shot at a second trial. If you've had good runs, well, you just hope to have another set of good runs. Once again I ran Jamie and Sioux. In the national, I retired Sioux when a sheep was fighting her right from the fetch gates. Sioux was winning and the ewe was moving but we missed the first drive gate and then promptly pulled the sheep back throug the gate. Silly mistake so with many dogs to run, I retired. It was not going to be a good enough run. In the south wales, we had another good run getting both lanes of the cross but it took a million tries to get the chute. We did in the end but it wasn't pretty!

Jamie had a good run in the national and a very nice shed on tricky sheep but once again I could not get the chute. ARGHHH! Frustrating to let the little dog down but that's trialling. He ran better at these trials than he had a Libanus. In the South Wales I was once again astonished to get both lanes of the cross and it took two attempts to get the cute but we made it. Not good enough to get in the money but I was happy with the way Jamie ran.

Jamie and I lining up the second lane of the maltese cross at Llansadwrn

Kelvin turned up at Llansadwrn to run Tina about mid-afternoon. Tina had a good run but could not complete the chute with her sheep. She got 2 sheep through the chute the first time, 3 the second time but the 4th sheep refused to go through the chute. Time up. In the South Wales, she got both lanes of the maltese cross and it took two attempts to get the chute but get it she did. For a couple of rookie South Wales triallists, we are slowly getting the hang of it. Perhaps!

We left the Llansadwrn trial early as I had to mow the lawn while the sun was shining. I did not get the job finished as I ran out of energy at about 7pm. It's pouring with rain again today so who knows when I'll get the task finished.

OK, now I have to tell you about Elin Hope. She's a 10-year old who lives next door to Jane Drinkwater. Elin has been out trialling the last couple of weeks and wow, what a talent she is. She might be pint-sized but she is exciting to watch because she has such a feel for sheep, and knows where to put her dogs. I am a fan! This girl is going to be a star. Watch for her, folks. We'll keep you posted. Elin reminds me of Julie Hill.

Elin was presented with a rossette by the Llansadwrn Show Committee. She might not have won a trophy or got a placing but she won over the crowds and she now has her own fan club.

This week Kelvin starts his new job as a teacher in Swansea. He is busy getting organized for that. A few trials on the calendar but with only one car between us and Kelvin needing it to get to work, getting to these trials is going to be a bit tricky. Hopefully I'll get to the Llanarthne trial on Tuesday and then ??? We didn't enter the South Wales Association Open because Kelvin can't go to any mid week trials now. Darn. I am going to have to improve my navigation skills if I am to get to any trials on my own.

There it is. For those who complained about our blog holiday, you're all caught up now.