Monday, August 10

Monday, August 10, 2009

Jimmie Talley arrived at camp last night in time for dinner. He was introduced to all the dogs and people and got a first feel of dog camp. His little pup has been with Tim Hidalgo and she'll go back on Tuesday with Jim and keep her professional training going. I think Jimmy is going to be a real asset to the Irish Setter game. Great guy and is puppy is Sorrel – Tess daughter conceived at dog camp last summer

A new week and most of us had some work to do. Graham, Susan, James and Elisabeth were still sight seeing in South Dakota. Bob has been helping Roger make hay almost everyday. I'm stuck in the work mode today but we're still going to get something productive done –even though I'm a little sore from a spill I took while -----------riding a horse – NO -- chasing a dog – NO – correcting a dog – NO – protecting camp from a pack of wild coyote's – NO –

- falling off a step while cooking --- YES!!!!!!!!!! go figure!

Roading: The dogs and I dog the day off roading.

Hills:

· Lily & Sorrel – Sorrel big and handling – overall a very good job for Sorrel today – solid race –lost with Bob handling at about 15 – went to look and found him standing – very stylish and perfect manners on a single Prairie Chicken. In the meantime it was Lily's worst day – she was involved early with a bump and chase and correction and then did it a 2nd time only to be corrected and now she puttered and got behing. Corinne & Phil tag teaming to keep her front. She finished going front. 40 min.

· Clifford & Bandit – Bandit a very nice forward race with only a NP to show for her efforts. Clifford was shorter but still a very nice, forward flowing GD with a well handled STF on a single. He stood as Phil rode to him and then self released - Phil corrected and ended on a good note with the Big Red Dog. 38 min.

· Charlise, Inde & Galt – 1st time on horseback for us for Charlise. She showed some hunt and run – not bad but no birds. Inde was very big with a solid find only to move in and bump. A mild verbal correction and she finished hunting strong. Galt – no game birds but hooking up with tweety birds on a regular basis – huge race but got to work on the trash birds. 24 min.

Birdwork:

· Shauna – we were after a photo op for the patch and got some very nice pics.

· Mariah – hoping she's pregnant we haven't been working her so we decided a little bird work would be fine

Rhett – worked him on a Hun – worked him on a couple – he ran to the spot of the 1st one – and put his nose almost on it and left – went to the 2nd one and handled it cleanly but nose to nose. He's saying broke but he's getting much too close. Going to try and run him with a good broke dog and see what he does around wild birds. I like his manners and drive – hope the whole package comes together.

Monday afternoon was back to the office for me and everyone doing different things. The weather has been very mild at nights but the daytime temperatures are due to climb. Jenny and some of the kids went to Long Pine to tube in the afternoon. Bonnie arrived in camp this afternoon for a couple of days of training and heading up to North Dakota for a day to get a dog bred. She's always a big help and great to see.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Sunday was a pretty morning but clouded up and rain was closing in on us. . Grahm, Susan , James & Elizabeth all headed to Mt. Rushmore. They planned a day trip and it turned into 2 that included a helicopter ride over the monument. It was a wonderful experience.

No haying today and we have a relatively light day planned.

Roading:

· Kate, Ritha, Hank & Brenna – 42 min. – a bit of a zoo this morning.

Hills:

· Rio – 20 min. with no bracement trying to get him into birds & some focus.

Storms are closing so training is done. Bob, Phil & I took a ride over to check out Hitchcocks & also to look at the CRP. The big area we used to run is posted so we can run unless we have permission We'll have to check. Ken Steel's is all hayed – I need to give him a call and see how he's doing. We still have a couple of Johnie houses at his spot – we might be able to do some birdwork.

We decided to take a ride through Richardson's and see what things looked like as Kip said we could run. Unfortunately, we hadn't come in that way in a while and found a real soft spot where the irrigation kept wet. I didn't think a few cat tails would be too bad – whoops – we were delayed. We were getting ready to draw straws to see who makes the walk out for some help. Phil remembered my son Bob had give me a 'tow truck in a box ' and did I have it with me. Yep – sure enough behind the seat.

We got it out and hooked it together (One was bent ) but still got it together. We decided to go forward and set it up. Very little effort and we moved about 6' then we positioned and we moved it forward and kept going for about 50 yards. All set – we continued our scouting trip and came back to camp – Bob G. ordered us 3 more sets and we will keep them with us – ALWAYS!!!!!!!

It was fun!!!!!!!!

Back at camp we made our spagetti dinner for camp and some of the Painter clan. A very pleasant night.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Dawn was beautiful and the kids were getting ready to head home. Lucas and Chelsea were heading home and getting ready for college. Luke received a scholarship from AKC and the ISCA for his work with dogs during High School. Another reason to get kids out into the field working bird dogs. We'll sure miss him and her – hoping Luke can make Joliet trial and maybe both of them can hit the Nationals in Arkansas or the Red Setter National in Missouri. They were taking Daniel home and Corinne's friend Ann also had to leave today. They all seemed to have a great time – working dogs every morning and enjoying the family and our Nebraska Ranch friends. Just like one big extended family. Plenty of fun things in the afternoon then some nighttime bareback riding in the meadows. Just fun stuff. We sure do miss Kelly her at camp. She's a big part of our field trial family and we sure want her back next year. No excuses!!!!!!!!!!!

& we all know she wanted to be here but sometimes life gets in the way.

Roading:

· Lea, Midge, Brie & Erin – 38 min. – very solid work out.

Hills:

· Robin & Shauna – working on pattern and driving the girls down edges w/ Shauna the bigger but both dogs laid down nice courses with Robin paying more attention to edges. A nicely done point – very solid and above level but it turned out to be a NP with no luck on the relocate. Shauna around the other side with a point on the johnie house – no finds. Robin a bump on a running quail down the track in front of her. Corrected and sent on – good session for her. 24 min.

· Annie & Rhett – Annie carrying her best tail I've seen from her. Rhett a strong run and reaching – just want to let her free for awhile and see what we had. He was immature in pattern but showed plenty of desire and range. He tends to outrun his tail at this point –hopefully that will change. No birds but a very impressive time down for Rhett – stamina and range were quite good for such a puppy. Annie showed far more desire then I've seen all summer.

· Libby & Dani – Dani went over and played a bunch the 1st minute and then things settled down. Libby showed more desire and the chase on a singe. We had her drag a loose cord and it was easy to pick her up. Dani got better the longer down and had a decent overall race. 19 min.

We had a casual afternoon planned here in camp – Phil and Graham went to town on Saturday and got their pool lesson from Frank at the Silver Circle. Phil got working on the Blog and should be up and running tomorrow. Jenny pulled out the Italian Sausage and I planned on making some spagetti on Sunday. Phil got the Blog up and running and we should be able to post daily.

Friday, August 7

Friday, August 7

A damp morning with light rain last night. Not even .2 but still damp. Some folks are heading home this morning. Renee & JT are out bright and early. Deborah & Lucy said their goodbye's last night and were on their way. They all sure had a fun time at camp. Tomorrow some of the kids area heading home & camp will a bit thinner. Supposed to in the 90's today and I see a trip to the river.

Roading:

• Sorrel, Bandit, Brenna & Shauna – 34 min. – all looked good.

• Kate, Hank, Inde & Annie – 32 min. and a bit warmer but they all did good.

Hills:

• Erin & Bart – good races by both dogs & Erin a good find on a Hun. A bit of flagging but styled up on relocate. No birds for Bart under official observaion. 31 min.

• Brie & Tequi – Tequi started all over Brie until gave her a head bob and got her going the other direction. Both disappeared in the same line and when they came back, Tequi seemed to avoid Brie – seems like a lesson learned. Brie a covey of quail find with manners and average style. 32 min.

• Galt & Stiker - Galt a strong race – Stiker shorter and not very memorable. 30 min with Galt very strong but slowing at the end in the heat while Striker had quit and was just going along.

A very quiet day in camp. We worked some and did general chores. Phil, Jenny and the whole remaining crew went to the Niobrara to tube and then hit the Peppermill for dinner. We passed and Linda, Bob & Sue Loyd went to the Golden Steer for dinner. We had a great meal, watched a movie and hit the hay. The crew came rolling in about midnight.
A very warm, muggy night until almost morning when it cooled off. Maybe some details to follow from the kids on the Tubing down the river and locking the keys in the truck. I'm sure there is more to learn about this stuff.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Thursday, August 6, 2009


The morning started out overcast and wet from the rain but the promise of a better day. We're off roading early as the 'cast of thousands' got ready to run dogs.


Roading:

• Lea, Midge, Lily & Clifford – very solid 35 min.

• Robin, Kate, Ritha & Brie – starting to warm but a good 34 min.


Birdwork

• Midge – nice stylish find – crouch on shot – corrected but overall good job on Hun.

• Lily – good piece of work with 10:00 o'clock tail – manners fine.

• Sorrel – he got out of the box knowing this is where we bird work – stalking from the get go – can't do too much of this. Got him to move on and he pointed a nice distance of f and the bird had already run and he did a very repectacle relocate. Good job w'great style.

• Rhett – he handled pretty well and had an okay find – not a lot of class but wanted to go back on being released. I got him lightly and he responded and we ended up positive. Time to try him on the course.

Phil along with Whitney and Katherine helped Phil get the quail ( ugly job) and set up our 1st '09 johnie house at the meadow pond. I road out to give them a hand but they were just about done. We moved 23 quail into it and by the next day we were down to 12. Sneaking out somehow.

We had to use Huns for planted birdwork – need to get another house up and working. A hot afternoon and we had the misters running.

Susan was the "Chef" today and she was cooking with the help of the young girls all afternoon. We had an incredible English meal. The path to success did have its challenges.... About time to get all the ingredients in the oven, the circuit breakers started to blow and then the oven wouldn't work and then some oil boiled over and the smoke emptied the place. Skilled hands got all the windows, doors open and the smoke was dispearsed to greener pastures. Dinner preparations went on and we had a truly marvelous English meal prepared by Susan with help from Grahm and especially Katherine and Whitney. We managed to almost run out of wine( not really) and had a great evening in the canopy telling stories.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Another wake up to rain during the night. We had about .2 so not a huge amount but it sounded like it. The dogs have settled in and once we learned to put Lily & Kate away we all slept very good.

Our misters are being used in the hot afternoons and works great in keeping the dogs cool. Mary got us the tools to automate the system but we haven't perfected it yet. We'll figure it out.

Roading

• Sorrel, Bandit, Hank & Brenna – solid 35 minutes for this crew and they are starting to show the work. Cool, damp conditions prevail while roading and that helps a bunch.

Hills

• Erin & Tequi – Tequi a real pain – following Erin all over the meadows. When we hit the hills he lost her and did his thing which was a big forward race. He was working up the hill when a bunch of chickens left in front of him and he went with them. The next one he stood but flagging and Luke moved him up – he stopped softly with birds being properly flused. Hope the wild birds settles him down on point. – 40 min.

It's starting to heat up. We'll try one more.

• Dani & Stiker – these two just didn't get much done and were hot early. 20 min.

We all had chores to do and Phil had a bunch doing some riding on the ATV. Bob went with Roger to do bulls. Grahm, James & Susan went with Roger & Jason and got a 1st hand view of the delicacies of moving cattle.

We got chores done a bit earlier as we were going to Joe & Lorie McBride's for a cream canned dinner. We had everyone with and Joe & Lori just had a wonderful evening. Great food, hospitality and some wonderful music. Just a geat time and our friends from England really enjoyed themselves. We stayed late and got him for another light rain during the night. Only about .2 but keeping the grass very green.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

A cool, damp morning – great for the dogs. .6 of an inch and that's a nice rain. The rain has stopped and we're going to get some work done.

Roading

• Robin, Ritha, Shauna & Inde – the girls did well and roaded a solid 34 min.

Hills

• Lea & Midge - Lea got better as time went on – too much of these 2 dogs running together. Worked on Midge going front and she improved the 2nd half. 30 min.

• Clifford & Kate – both dogs hunted nicely though not super big. Kate the wider and stretched to the front. A nice find on released birds for Kate with Clifford backing. Average style on Kate w/good manners. 26min.

• Lily & Brenna –Brenna didn't have a game contact – ran a decent 1st half then slowed and finished short. Lily had some very strong moves and had birds in the air that she chased. One step at a time. 29 min.

• Bart & Galt - both dogs like to run and this brace was fun. Bart's best time down to date. no definitive birds. 26 min.

The day was partly cloudy and Phil took the crew shooting. Doing rifle, shotgun and pistols. He concentrated on safety and proper gun handling. When Phil isn't being s shooing instructor he's Training chief for horse riding lessons, ATV usage & electrical repair chief. A repeat on the Hamburgers tonight and a pleasant evening with rain on the horizen. Temperatures had been mild all day. Roger needed some bulls moved and Bob and some others made the journey.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

A great night's sleep for me but not Linda. She couldn't take the quiet and was awake a bunch. Oh well – I slept just fine. We got up and got the crew moving . Lots of new people to train. I grabbed 4 dogs and hit the roading trails.

Roading

• Midge, Clifford, Sorrel & Bandit – 31 min – no problem with Midge today.

• Ritha, Brie, Brenna & Annie – 30 min.

Hills

The crew was orgainizing for their 1st day on the hills and I hope they get off during my 1st brace roading.

• Erin & Shauna – One of the best running braces of camp according to Bob and Luke. These two were big, front running with good stamina. No birds of Erin and Shauna hung herself near time with a bump and chase. 38 min.

• Hank & Lily -- in the words of that fine young bird dog handler – Lucas Ruff with strong support from Bob – this brace stunk!!!! Bump, chase, runoff, not handle – all of the above pertained. 28 sorry minutes!!

So now were ready for some heat. The next few days promise to be quite warm. We got today in and now everyone is packing up to head to the river near Meadville. Kids left( not kids – young adults) left about 10:30 and the rest of Phil's crew left around 2:30. We did a few chores and mainly work stuff for me. Got a good plan for tomorrow. We need to be up and running very early. The evenings just aren't going to be available for us as long as it's 90+ during the day.

Monday night we cooked Imboden's hamburgers on the grill and had a wonderful nice with beautiful weather. We stayed up and talked and watched the lightning start to roll in, it looked like we were in for a storm. I hit the house for a moment prior to hitting the trailer and the storm hit. I got soaked running to the trailer. It was on and off rain for much of the night. Still, the dogs were quiet and it was nice and cool.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Sunday, August 2, 2009

A nice cool morning and a quiet night for the dogs -1st since the start of camp. Up early with everyone moving. I went off to road dogs at 7:00 am.

Roading:

• Lea, Robin, Kate & Inde – a very cool morning – this crew roaded a very solid 31 min w/ barely a water stop. They wanted to go like heck.

Hills:

• Libby & Bart – what a difference a day makes, we let Libby run with a light nylon cord and she had a decent race – 1 nice point and chase on a mature chicken. Bart hunted okay but was out done by Libby. 20 min . as it's already getting quite warm.

• Galt, Dani & Tequi – Galt big and out of control – lots of trash bird chasing but looks great doing it. Tequi improved as she was down and is starting to line out a bit. Dani had moments – not quite as big but still independent. 28 min.

• Striker & Rio – too much play from one to the other. 25 min. but not much good about it.

Lucas back to switch dogs and get Linda for some photo ops.

Birdwork:

• Rhett – 1st chance to work Lee's young male. He was cut loose and let run free but didn't let him get too far. A stylish, mannerly point. Taken on he tried to delay chase and was corrected. Set up again he handled a 2nd bird with ok manners but lacked the intenisity of the 1st bird. He also had tried to delay again and was corrected. Time to get him on a wild bird or two where he can't pick up all those bad habits.

• Shauna – a photo op for her upcoming Futurity patch. Good manners and style but not good composition on my part. Her manners were fine.

• Clifford – he was cut loose and shows solid hunting pattern – a nice solid point, styled up ( limber tail appears gone) and had a good find but turned incorrectly on a mark – still very good for a greenbroke.

That was a good start to week two. Dogs are settling down at night and everyone that's a barker has been identified and locked away at night. This helps us all out. Bob spent the day helping Painter's mow up north and everything was being moved down here to start bailing. That will help. Linda spent the day cleaning with help from Mary and getting the house ready for our 17 visitors. Kids, grandkids, neighbors and friends from England. We'll have quite the crew in camp this week. It's loaded with sheer chaos and fun. Keeps you young at heart!!!!

Mary split late afternoon for her fight to a State Fair. She will be sorely missed and is due back in a couple of weeks. I spent the afternoon ( after a great nap) making more noodles for the pheasant paprikash we promised everyone. Cooked some pork also and lots of sweet corn. The crew rolled in about 5:30 and started pitching tents. By 7:30 or 8:00 they had settled in and we had a great dinner, some fine music and a couple of very nice wines. It was great to have everyone here. We asked Roger to stay for dinner but he was tired from haying and was looking for some piece and quiet ( that isn't happening here for a while. A very pleasant night ensued.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Saturday, August 1, 2009

A nice cool night and clear morning. I needed to spend more office time. Luke raked a lot of hay up. Luke did the morning roading.

Roading:

• Midge, Erin, Lily & Shauna – 32 min and Midge got pretty hot. Got her cooled down pretty easily and she was fine. She just loves to pull but overdoes it sometimes.

The rest of the day was chores with Bob helping the Painter's mow and rake the big field next to the house. We also bred Joy/Clifford for the 3rd time. Puppies due about Oct. 1. We'll see!

Got some better set up for the quail with water and feed. Mary got the sprinkler working well and Luke piled grass and moved trailer back. Mary cleaned some frozen pheasants and I made Paprikash for dinner with Linda doing the noodles. We got a good system going. It takes 3 people about 45 min to feed & water the dogs but we got it down to a smooth system. Someone checks and feeds horses around that time also.

Got our gazebo up earlier this week and that makes for very nice meals outside. Moved
Libby up to the house fence by Brie – she goes away at night.

We finished week 1 with all the adults getting at 3 roading sessions and a birdwork day. The young dogs only hit the hills once we 'll do them again on Sunday. They ran over the 1st weekend. A good week, mild with some rain and nice sleeping weather.