Trip north

What a trip it feels like there was nothing we didn't do. First on the list was not bringing a map. Just assuming my GPS would work all over the world was the begging of the miss haps. Apparently there is no life north of Edmonton.  What should have been a three hour trip from High Prairie to Dawson creek turn out to be over four hours. To be honest I lost track of time by the second or third wrong turn. Jenny and I left on Wednesday to head up to Lisa's in Athabasca spent the night there. Thursday we started our journey. Planning on stopping to visit Louise and Eric just outside of High Prairie. Louise and Eric is where I got Rob from last year. This time we wanted to stop for a visit and see the guardian dogs. Louise and Eric breed sarplaninacs.

I got to see a son of Rob. He was too cute holding his dish in his mouth.

Finally after hours of driving we arrived at Dennis and Jean Gelling's place just outside of Dawson Creek, BC. The trial field was a nice rolling terrain framed by trees. Each day we ran a different course. The first day we ran to the left. 

Day two

The first day I was surprised by how well my dogs worked. Rob place 5th and Isla a couple of spots behind him. Each day the top three dogs qualified for the double lift on Sunday. Rob missed it by two points. Day two the sheep got the best of my dogs by breaking back to the set out. Rob actually got the sheep off and he brought them through the trees but I was impatient and had already left the post to go and help him.

Dennis and Jean worked their butts off setting sheep and making sure everything was running smoothly. I will definitely be back. Friday night a pig was roasted for the handlers dinner. It was awesome.

This was the exhaust hill from hell the sheep refused just to run up the hill. No they would try to bust through to the trees. By the time you got to the top you were exhausted. Then you had another couple hundred yards to the pen. Most of us did a fine job. Some handlers lost a single sheep in the trees now and then.

Dawson Creek also happens to be the beginning of the Alaska highway. Mile 0 happens to be right in the middle of an intersection. Jenny and Lisa braved it for a photo op.

Our last adventure of this trip was to visit Karen Ramstead and her Siberian husky sled dog kennel. Karen has run the iditarod many times and was happy to take us for a ride. She is also good friends with Lisa. Up at the crack of dawn to beat the heat of the day. We hooked up a team to the quad and went for a run. After the team run we each got a turn of our own. Two dogs hooked to a scooter. It was scary fast but really fun.

Some new additions

Finally some more calves. We have had two calves in the last week. Our first calf arrived three months ago and he has been dieing to have some buddies to play with. We were beginning to think we had a bad bull. Not the case he was just lazy.

As you can see the calf in the back is much bigger than the newborns. 

The other new addition is my new dog. Meg arrived from Virginia last week. So far she is doing great. gets along with every and is listening to me well on sheep. 

Thanks to Christine Henry for letting me use her pictures of Meg.

Calgary pictures

Stole some pictures from facebook

Lara and I with our new best friend
Photo by Lisa Wright

Moving the bitches

Photo by 

Lisa I think

Jumbotron in the finals. 

Photo by Lisa or Kristi.

Not sure.

What the hell day is it

I am getting lost in a swirl of dog trialing, house building and genuine debauchery. I am not even sure what day it is anymore. The Irricana trial is best left behind us. Sheep were tough and the dogs didn't try to hard. On to Calgary. I think this may have been the most fun at the Stampede so far. I have no pictures due to the fact that we were having to much fun. The first day we made it to the pen and then timed out. Lisa had a smoking run and hung on for 5th place by the end of the day. There were very little pens the whole two days. The second day Isla ran like a top and we penned at 2:50. That would be my first official time I have penned at the Stampede. And that run was good enough to get me into the finals. This year Lara Forchuk joined our gaggle of girls. Lara's goal was not to embarrass her self. The second go she had an awesome run and placed first for the go. Our motto for the stampede was "sacrifice the body". If you are not willing to sacrifice the body than you don't want to win bad enough. Lara proved to us how much she wanted it by making the ultimate sacrifice and getting down on her knees at the pen in the finals. In the end a ewe jumped right over her and escaped. I believe Lara will have a scar to remember her first Stampede. Isla and I got a tough draw in the finals. She tried very hard for me and basically pushed them around the course. In the end we finished 13th. Congrats to Dave Claypool and Glen. Reserve Champion is Wendy Schmaltz.
I have a week off and the we are off to Northern Alberta to Dennis Gelling's trial. With a stop over at Karen Ramstead's to do some sled doggin.

Packing yet again

Today is turning out to be a busy day. Thankfully my lessons cancelled. I am getting ready to head out to Wendy's trial and then zip into Calgary for the Stampede trial. My dogs are running like shit right now. But I am looking forward to Stampede as it is always fun. Lots of unhealthy things to eat. Jenny and Lisa will be joining me on this eat till you want to puke trip. On this trip we have a tradition. The person who wins the most buys MacDonald's for the rest of us on the way to Stampede.
Got a call this morning from thee John Scott (head movie wrangler extraordinaire) looking for sheep and dogs to ride on a float in the Stampede parade. They guy who was suppose to do it back out at the last minute. I unfortunately can not do it because I will be at the trial but I have enlisted some friends and five of my sheep to help out. Wish I could do it.
On another note. If you drive by my house and it looks abandoned that is because my lawn mower has been broken and we have been waiting for parts for three weeks. I am about to go postal on John Deere in High River. Or just tell them to forget it I bought a Kabota instead.
Some other very exciting news. A Unicorn has been located and should touch down in Calgary next Thursday. Stay tuned for updates.

Pete Tong

Pete Tong is an British DJ born in 1960. "Pete Tong" is also a saying the British use when things are going terribly wrong. This is the words I would use to describe my inaugural trip with my new trailer. The trailer arrived a couple of weeks ago.

This weekend was to be the first rip for the trailer. I planned on Staying at my friend Randy's. That way close to town and if things needed to be fixed than we could run and get supplies. I was all packed up and ready to go. Hooked up the trailer and I had no brakes. Turns there never was any brakes on the trailer. Funny it came all the way from Missouri with no brakes. The wires were just hanging there. Fortunately my husband is fairly handy. He wired up the brakes and wanted to take it for a road test. When this happened

He cut the corner to short and got the trailer stuck in the ditch. After uploading these pictures and looking at them it doesn't look as bad as it was. The trailer was siting on its side wall. we couldn't move forward or backward. It took an hour to get it out of the ditch. Jacking it up and putting boards under the tires and the pulling forward and doing it over again.
After all this I was very nervous pulling the trailer. As long as I didn't have to turn I would be OK. My plan was to get Randy to pull in to his driveway but I actually did it my self. Now I am thinking about all my trips this summer hoping I can actually turn in where they are. I am a creature of habit and don't do well with change. It is going to take me a while to get used to driving this new trailer.