Hunting Irish Setters -Prairie Training -August 16 - August 23

Saturday, August 16, 2008 – nice cool sleeping night and a clear day on the horizon. We're hooking up and getting ready to do some training. The crew has the chore of packing up today as Phil is leaving early Sunday morning with all the kids and Bob is going home also but he'll be back.

Roading

• Suzie, Hank, Kate & Sorrel – very solid 34 min. and this crew is ready for a jump.

Hills

• Erin & Midge – Last morning for the kids so we have most of them out here riding and helping. Erin out the box into a nice flowing forward race – while Midge bouncing around. Too much back and had to get on her. Both go over a hill and 10 and bust birds and off to the races……… Took awhile but I had her attached and we got her back & Luke got Erin and we corrected. Sent on they hit the front and Midge a bit better – Erin winded and head up a hill, pointing nicely with Midge crowding and busting and both going w/chickens. Once again we corrected and sent on. Erin the better race all the way and both need some polish on birds. 45 min. -5 or 6 chickens.

• Lea & Brenna – Brenna still a flake with back casts and puttering – Lea worked nicely and consistently forward with wide casts and thoughtful application. She crossed in front and established nicely with me calling Brenna in and getting a command back as birds flushed. I fired and more birds flushed in front of Brenna and all toll there were 17 sharptail flushed – awesome piece for Lea with class and perfect manners. 40 min. Lea the clearcut DOD and Brenna on the list & that's not the good list.

• Shauna & Lily – Bob going to attempt to handle this brace. We ran them on the meadows after releasing several Huns and moving them around. Lily got lost for a good bit in the Seidel loop and Shauna just rock and rolled – lots of speed and forward application but no good birdwork. In the area of some released bird but couldn't connect. Lily came in too and they hunted the shelter belt only to have all kinds of birds in the air and no dogs standing still. Young dogs – 28 min.

Birdwork – took 4 down to the pond and worked birds for basic manners. All work on very good flying Huns.

• Erin – Luke cut him loose and he tried to sent the birds I had but then went down the line and pointed solidly though not with a real high tail. Good manners for the flush and shot.

• Midge- fast and snappy, pointed a long way off and while intent, not much style but good manners for the flush and shot.

• Brenna – worked well and got very close and then pointed solidly but with a level tail – touch of styling and she looked great.

• Sorrel – bang out to the box and down the line and a very stylish point with perfect manners. Real good for this guy. Seems to be focusing again.

A very nice morning with all dogs getting the desired work. Back to camp to continue the big pack up job for the kids. The afternoon was spent with Phil's crew getting ready and heading to the Niobrara River for the afternoon. The rest of us will meet them in Valentine for dinner at the Cedar Canyon and the rodeo at 7:30. Linda is not going to make the trip – just too much of that bumpy road ( worse after all the rain this week) and she'll hold down the fort. Bob is still sore but he managed to at least handle one and getting up was a pretty good sign that nothing was broken.

Off to the Rodeo. We meant John Rabidou at Young's Western store. He's feeling good and and enjoying his new place in Nebraska. Suzie Shaitel was with him and enjoying the sandhills.

A good dinner at the renamed restaurant and a big rodeo. It wasn'a over to 11 pm and we didn't make it home till after midnight. Lots of good rides and plenty of action in the wild horse ride. The kids really enjoyed that part.

Sunday, August 17 – Phil's crew up at 5 am and they were looking good by 6:30 to 7 – on the road about 7:30 with 3 vehicles, Jetta, Jeep and the Rig!!! Phil not really happy with him rig – lots of little things making him think twice about his 1 ton Ford. We'll see what happens.
Joe, Rhe'Ann and Whitley came over this morning to help out and see the dogs work. We got them catching our mounts and getting them used to saddling a whole different type of saddle and bit. They caught on quick.

We decided to run the Meadows and started with a couple of A-Team dogs or at least they were until today.

Meadows:

• Ernie & Lea – off they went with Ernie trying to run south when I wanted to go west – finally got him turned with Lea hanging to the front – doing a nice job. Ernie with power but no power steering. We lost him in the back loop going west on a line I needed him to go east on and then lost Lea in the cover – must've been buried in on the loop. Saw a couple of nice mule deer in the loop but no dogs with them. Got Lea going front but no Ernie. We hunted for the dogs to the Hun House and still no dogs - finally had Lea coming out and my scouts were in the middle of the big part of the meadow when he saw Ernie grab the east end going north then across camp and back to the center island and then zero in on a spot where 6 huns landed, geezelled them and then rolled out of site with no intent of handling. Lea had gotten charged up and this beautiful 58 degree morning was heating up as my blood started to boil. We collected Lea – then got Ernie to come with and put this group away. 40 minutes – very cool

Well, Joe and the kids got a good idea of how much ground 'out of control' dogs and fast stepping horses could cover'. It was fun though.

• Clifford & Tess – we new where a bunch of Huns had flushed so we took off with these two. Tess still lingers at the rear and putters with ground sent just too much. I had hoped wild birds would help but she needs to get out front to get the. Clifford is steady – not extremely fast but very consistent and always to the front. Responds well when I call. He almost snagged another tweety bird but missed and kept on hunting. He was steady all the way around and was my DOD. 30 minutes with warming temps.

Roading: got Whitley hooked up to run the rig and he roaded one brace for me – in between braces as we took a break. He's an experienced ATV operator and good with animals so no problem.

Road:

• Erin & Mariah –these 2 were all business – solid and fast 30 min.
•
That was it for the day – Linda busy in the house getting things cleaned and organized and I did the same outside. A big nap was in order and a bit of just relaxing and watched a couple of old Cary Grant flicks. Then time for chores – the crew was diminished and we missed them but we got them done. Everybody is looking good. We'll look at their food intake and check them over thoroughly to make sure everyone is fine at the ½ point.

Had our dinner inside watching the rest of the movie and hit the hay for a great nights sleep.

Monday, August 18, 2008 – A quiet night and cool morning.

Roading:

• Kate, Ritha, Sorrel & Lily – Lily broke away and slipped her harness – 5 months to catch – got her set up and started again –now Tess was loose and got Lily to slip again. Got Tess caught but Lily wouldn't come so I just ran her with the ATV for about 10 minutes till she came to water and hooked her up. Fine after that but she's still new to roading.

Now I need to do some work and a few chores although Linda managed to take care of most things. Got my saddles and stuff set back up and then loaded garbage to the dump and we had a bunch plus I had a 1:00 truck appointment to check out the transmission. Made my stops and got the truck. They said it appears to be okay – we'll test her out and see if it really is okay!

Now back to camp and afternoon work. The dogs will be getting a bit of a break until we get a bit more help – reinforcements due in a few days.

We hear that Phil and then crew got in about midnight. Bob broke down west of Sioux City. Lucas and his bunch stayed with Bob while he arranged a tow. Sounds like front drive train problems. Bob got a room in Sioux City and Lucas went on and caught the rest of troops. Shows the importance of traveling with somebody when possible. Bob found out on Monday morning that it was front end problem and would be ready on Tuesday.

Chore time!!!!!!!!

AND BY THE A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BRO -- STAN'S BIG DAY IS TODAY!!!! WE'LL CELEBRATE THIS WEEKEND BRO!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, August 19th

The Blog will be rather thin this week. Just Linda and I at camp with about 30 dogs, 6 horses and birds to take care of, we have a pretty full schedule.

Tuesday ended up being an 'off day' no dog work at all today. More office stuff and trip to town for supplies, mail etc.

Wednesday, August 20th
Weather has gotten cooler at night and mild during the day, barely reaching 80 at camp. Roger is moving around some – saw him in a truck in town. Looked a bit guilty – thought maybe I knew his doctor. I managed to make it a pretty good morning to road.
Going to be windy today and for a few days.

Roading:

• Erin, Mariah, Lea & Midge – 41 min. – great morning – damp and cool – dogs pulled hard from beginning to end. Saw a big whitetail – 12 point – balanced & wide going south in the home meadow heading to the big meadow.

• Ernie, Suzie, Hank & Ritha –solid roading group until Suzie ( right front) dive to the left after a tweetie bird and got herself run over by the ATV – had to back off her and no signs of damage. – 40+

• Katie, Ritha, Sorrel & Shauna – solid crew with good effort – Sorrel not the best at getting into the water and cool himself off. Seems like his stamina is doing and the treatment for lyme's appears to be working. He's down to his last few days of treatment.

The reinforcements are coming – Mary due in on Thursday AM and Lee and Stan both are driving out and should in by lunch. Dennis was leaving Thursday after work and should be in to run on Friday. Yea Team!!!!!!!!!! Getting more birds on Friday morning. We've gotten rid of the raccoon but our quail have never gotten over the stress of shipping and the loop hasn't been hayed so no opportunity to birdwork there. Next week will be lots of birdwork.

Thursday, August 21st - good night sleeping –Mary called and she'd be in about ten or so. Picking up things if we needed anything. Still trying to get caught up with work.

Roading:

• Inde, Tess, Lily & Annie – Annie and Inde did fine – Tess not as excited and Lily just didn't want to road – had to tie her in the front. (Tess has become the consummate stake puller. She get's her stake out of the ground many if not most nights. She comes right to you dragging the stake and this usually happens at about 4:00 am - I'm sure you realize that the dogs all have to get up and let us know that Tess is loose. We're looking at a cement truck to fix the problem!!!!


Mary showed up and we're doing some catch up chores. Ernie appears to be tender in the front left foot. Can't find a specific spot but no swelling or heat. He's on the IR list.

Friday, August 22, 2008 – Dennis showed up last night and ready to work today. Stan showed up 1st and Lee a bit later on Friday. I picked up birds in town and then got some shopping done. The group was busy getting set up in camp. I stopped and visited Roger and he seems to be making big gains. I was going to the vet but Charlie suggested we wait till Monday and see how he is before we do the x-ray thing.

We took out a road crew and worked on the bird pen – fixed all the wire holes that the coon had done when he was attacking the Huns. Only 12-15 huns left – pulled them out and transferred to the pond Hun house. Hopefully we can drag some birds back to that area.

We loaded the chukar in the bird house for planted bird work and filled the 2 quail houses on the Seidel loop with quail. Hope we get some action at these spots for the last 2 weeks of camp.

Friday afternoon, Dennis took Mary on a couple of braces working Sol & Buck. He was pretty happy with Buck but Sol wasn't handling birds. They saw a 30 bird covey of Huns and 3 bunches of chickens but no positive bird work. Mary road some horses and was enjoying the selection process.

We now decided to make a good dinner and get ready for friends to drop by. Devin, Shannon, Jason, Heather and Sonja(back from her summer in California and week in Australia) all stopped by and later Joe & Lorie with Whitley and a friend came by and visited. Whitley is going to try and do some roading for us tomorrow if his friend is around. We had a fun night listening to music and telling stories out in the gazebo. This makes the nights so pleasant when you can sit out and not have the bugs carry you away.

A cool night is forecast – down in the 50's.

Saturday, August 23 - dogs when crazy about 4:00 am – somebody loose but not sure how – just one dog then for quite awhile. Great weather for sleeping but too damn noisy.

No change in Ernie yet – still holding paw up and doesn't want to put weight on it.

Roading: Whitley made it down and Linda set him up to road.

• Lea, Suzie – 40 min. – very solid pair

• Tess & Shauna – Tess 20 min. – just didn't want to do it – Shauna 40 min.

Hills: Today we have Stan, Lee, Dennis & Mary is back ( hoping to find a horse from Dennis this weekend. We road to Triple Gates and got the show on the road.

• Erin & Kate – Kate did a decent job – wide and good speed and drive – in the area of some birds and had a STB -- Then a STF and a good find on a single. Course was okay and bird work – impoving. Erin, the bigger on the ground with another solid race. He had two opportunities to point and got a knock and chase with correction. Plenty of birds but no cigar for Erin. 43 min.

• Brenna & Gus – Gus has drive ( pointer) range and independence – the other tools are open to question until Denny gets him handling but tons of potential. Brenna was oink of the day. Just got into cactus and never put it together.

• Hank & Sorrel – Hank wasn't with the program today – he was rather short and not hitting a lick. Sorrel showed the range and drive with a NP at the beginning and one opportunity around birds but nothing handled. 41 min.

• Bart & Clifford - worked the meadow and did a nice job, both hunting and going front. No birds observed. 25 min.

The afternoon just begged for a nap. Linda & Mary made it to town with Linda going in Mary's car. That made the trip bearable for Linda but she's at least got to town. She's doing her exercises and doing better but it's a slow process.

Roger , Janet & the whole family are coming to dinner for Lee's famous ribs, corn and beans. Should be a fun night. We got things ready and visited with our good friends the Painter's. Lots of stories and many discussions about " Bob's future as a rodeo clown" or "Matador" is going to turn out. We have definitely determined that there is some real truth to the axiom: ' you can't teach and old dog new tricks' -- did you get that Bob?

It was also decided that both Linda's and Roger's injuries were the result of going above and beyond the call of duty!!! Bob's injury was the result of ……………………. need to change my ink!

Bob will be back Labor Day and we'll need to discuss this somemore. Stan, Dennis, Mary and Lee all agreed that Bob's bull fighting days were OVER!!!!!!!!!

Time to call it a night!! Betty Shearhouse and her friend Russ are due in camp tomorrow and we're taking them to the hills.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 – nice cool sleeping night and a clear day on the horizon. We're hooking up and getting ready to do some training. The crew has the chore of packing up today as Phil is leaving early Sunday morning with all the kids and Bob is going home also but he'll be back.

Roading

• Suzie, Hank, Kate & Sorrel – very solid 34 min. and this crew is ready for a jump.

Hills

• Erin & Midge – Last morning for the kids so we have most of them out here riding and helping. Erin out the box into a nice flowing forward race – while Midge bouncing around. Too much back and had to get on her. Both go over a hill and 10 and bust birds and off to the races……… Took awhile but I had her attached and we got her back & Luke got Erin and we corrected. Sent on they hit the front and Midge a bit better – Erin winded and head up a hill, pointing nicely with Midge crowding and busting and both going w/chickens. Once again we corrected and sent on. Erin the better race all the way and both need some polish on birds. 45 min. -5 or 6 chickens.

• Lea & Brenna – Brenna still a flake with back casts and puttering – Lea worked nicely and consistently forward with wide casts and thoughtful application. She crossed in front and established nicely with me calling Brenna in and getting a command back as birds flushed. I fired and more birds flushed in front of Brenna and all toll there were 17 sharptail flushed – awesome piece for Lea with class and perfect manners. 40 min. Lea the clearcut DOD and Brenna on the list & that's not the good list.

• Shauna & Lily – Bob going to attempt to handle this brace. We ran them on the meadows after releasing several Huns and moving them around. Lily got lost for a good bit in the Seidel loop and Shauna just rock and rolled – lots of speed and forward application but no good birdwork. In the area of some released bird but couldn't connect. Lily came in too and they hunted the shelter belt only to have all kinds of birds in the air and no dogs standing still. Young dogs – 28 min.

Birdwork – took 4 down to the pond and worked birds for basic manners. All work on very good flying Huns.

• Erin – Luke cut him loose and he tried to sent the birds I had but then went down the line and pointed solidly though not with a real high tail. Good manners for the flush and shot.

• Midge- fast and snappy, pointed a long way off and while intent, not much style but good manners for the flush and shot.

• Brenna – worked well and got very close and then pointed solidly but with a level tail – touch of styling and she looked great.

• Sorrel – bang out to the box and down the line and a very stylish point with perfect manners. Real good for this guy. Seems to be focusing again.

A very nice morning with all dogs getting the desired work. Back to camp to continue the big pack up job for the kids. The afternoon was spent with Phil's crew getting ready and heading to the Niobrara River for the afternoon. The rest of us will meet them in Valentine for dinner at the Cedar Canyon and the rodeo at 7:30. Linda is not going to make the trip – just too much of that bumpy road ( worse after all the rain this week) and she'll hold down the fort. Bob is still sore but he managed to at least handle one and getting up was a pretty good sign that nothing was broken.

Off to the Rodeo. We meant John Rabidou at Young's Western store. He's feeling good and and enjoying his new place in Nebraska. Suzie Shaitel was with him and enjoying the sandhills.

A good dinner at the renamed restaurant and a big rodeo. It wasn'a over to 11 pm and we didn't make it home till after midnight. Lots of good rides and plenty of action in the wild horse ride. The kids really enjoyed that part.

Sunday, August 17 – Phil's crew up at 5 am and they were looking good by 6:30 to 7 – on the road about 7:30 with 3 vehicles, Jetta, Jeep and the Rig!!! Phil not really happy with him rig – lots of little things making him think twice about his 1 ton Ford. We'll see what happens.
Joe, Rhe'Ann and Whitley came over this morning to help out and see the dogs work. We got them catching our mounts and getting them used to saddling a whole different type of saddle and bit. They caught on quick.

We decided to run the Meadows and started with a couple of A-Team dogs or at least they were until today.

Meadows:

• Ernie & Lea – off they went with Ernie trying to run south when I wanted to go west – finally got him turned with Lea hanging to the front – doing a nice job. Ernie with power but no power steering. We lost him in the back loop going west on a line I needed him to go east on and then lost Lea in the cover – must've been buried in on the loop. Saw a couple of nice mule deer in the loop but no dogs with them. Got Lea going front but no Ernie. We hunted for the dogs to the Hun House and still no dogs - finally had Lea coming out and my scouts were in the middle of the big part of the meadow when he saw Ernie grab the east end going north then across camp and back to the center island and then zero in on a spot where 6 huns landed, geezelled them and then rolled out of site with no intent of handling. Lea had gotten charged up and this beautiful 58 degree morning was heating up as my blood started to boil. We collected Lea – then got Ernie to come with and put this group away. 40 minutes – very cool

Well, Joe and the kids got a good idea of how much ground 'out of control' dogs and fast stepping horses could cover'. It was fun though.

• Clifford & Tess – we new where a bunch of Huns had flushed so we took off with these two. Tess still lingers at the rear and putters with ground sent just too much. I had hoped wild birds would help but she needs to get out front to get the. Clifford is steady – not extremely fast but very consistent and always to the front. Responds well when I call. He almost snagged another tweety bird but missed and kept on hunting. He was steady all the way around and was my DOD. 30 minutes with warming temps.

Roading: got Whitley hooked up to run the rig and he roaded one brace for me – in between braces as we took a break. He's an experienced ATV operator and good with animals so no problem.

Road:

• Erin & Mariah –these 2 were all business – solid and fast 30 min.
•
That was it for the day – Linda busy in the house getting things cleaned and organized and I did the same outside. A big nap was in order and a bit of just relaxing and watched a couple of old Cary Grant flicks. Then time for chores – the crew was diminished and we missed them but we got them done. Everybody is looking good. We'll look at their food intake and check them over thoroughly to make sure everyone is fine at the ½ point.

Had our dinner inside watching the rest of the movie and hit the hay for a great nights sleep.

Monday, August 18, 2008 – A quiet night and cool morning.

Roading:

• Kate, Ritha, Sorrel & Lily – Lily broke away and slipped her harness – 5 months to catch – got her set up and started again –now Tess was loose and got Lily to slip again. Got Tess caught but Lily wouldn't come so I just ran her with the ATV for about 10 minutes till she came to water and hooked her up. Fine after that but she's still new to roading.

Now I need to do some work and a few chores although Linda managed to take care of most things. Got my saddles and stuff set back up and then loaded garbage to the dump and we had a bunch plus I had a 1:00 truck appointment to check out the transmission. Made my stops and got the truck. They said it appears to be okay – we'll test her out and see if it really is okay!

Now back to camp and afternoon work. The dogs will be getting a bit of a break until we get a bit more help – reinforcements due in a few days.

We hear that Phil and then crew got in about midnight. Bob broke down west of Sioux City. Lucas and his bunch stayed with Bob while he arranged a tow. Sounds like front drive train problems. Bob got a room in Sioux City and Lucas went on and caught the rest of troops. Shows the importance of traveling with somebody when possible. Bob found out on Monday morning that it was front end problem and would be ready on Tuesday.

Chore time!!!!!!!!

AND BY THE A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BRO -- STAN'S BIG DAY IS TODAY!!!! WE'LL CELEBRATE THIS WEEKEND BRO!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, August 19th

The Blog will be rather thin this week. Just Linda and I at camp with about 30 dogs, 6 horses and birds to take care of, we have a pretty full schedule.

Tuesday ended up being an 'off day' no dog work at all today. More office stuff and trip to town for supplies, mail etc.

Wednesday, August 20th
Weather has gotten cooler at night and mild during the day, barely reaching 80 at camp. Roger is moving around some – saw him in a truck in town. Looked a bit guilty – thought maybe I knew his doctor. I managed to make it a pretty good morning to road.
Going to be windy today and for a few days.

Roading:

• Erin, Mariah, Lea & Midge – 41 min. – great morning – damp and cool – dogs pulled hard from beginning to end. Saw a big whitetail – 12 point – balanced & wide going south in the home meadow heading to the big meadow.

• Ernie, Suzie, Hank & Ritha –solid roading group until Suzie ( right front) dive to the left after a tweetie bird and got herself run over by the ATV – had to back off her and no signs of damage. – 40+

• Katie, Ritha, Sorrel & Shauna – solid crew with good effort – Sorrel not the best at getting into the water and cool himself off. Seems like his stamina is doing and the treatment for lyme's appears to be working. He's down to his last few days of treatment.

The reinforcements are coming – Mary due in on Thursday AM and Lee and Stan both are driving out and should in by lunch. Dennis was leaving Thursday after work and should be in to run on Friday. Yea Team!!!!!!!!!! Getting more birds on Friday morning. We've gotten rid of the raccoon but our quail have never gotten over the stress of shipping and the loop hasn't been hayed so no opportunity to birdwork there. Next week will be lots of birdwork.

Thursday, August 21st - good night sleeping –Mary called and she'd be in about ten or so. Picking up things if we needed anything. Still trying to get caught up with work.

Roading:

• Inde, Tess, Lily & Annie – Annie and Inde did fine – Tess not as excited and Lily just didn't want to road – had to tie her in the front. (Tess has become the consummate stake puller. She get's her stake out of the ground many if not most nights. She comes right to you dragging the stake and this usually happens at about 4:00 am - I'm sure you realize that the dogs all have to get up and let us know that Tess is loose. We're looking at a cement truck to fix the problem!!!!


Mary showed up and we're doing some catch up chores. Ernie appears to be tender in the front left foot. Can't find a specific spot but no swelling or heat. He's on the IR list.

Friday, August 22, 2008 – Dennis showed up last night and ready to work today. Stan showed up 1st and Lee a bit later on Friday. I picked up birds in town and then got some shopping done. The group was busy getting set up in camp. I stopped and visited Roger and he seems to be making big gains. I was going to the vet but Charlie suggested we wait till Monday and see how he is before we do the x-ray thing.

We took out a road crew and worked on the bird pen – fixed all the wire holes that the coon had done when he was attacking the Huns. Only 12-15 huns left – pulled them out and transferred to the pond Hun house. Hopefully we can drag some birds back to that area.

We loaded the chukar in the bird house for planted bird work and filled the 2 quail houses on the Seidel loop with quail. Hope we get some action at these spots for the last 2 weeks of camp.

Friday afternoon, Dennis took Mary on a couple of braces working Sol & Buck. He was pretty happy with Buck but Sol wasn't handling birds. They saw a 30 bird covey of Huns and 3 bunches of chickens but no positive bird work. Mary road some horses and was enjoying the selection process.

We now decided to make a good dinner and get ready for friends to drop by. Devin, Shannon, Jason, Heather and Sonja(back from her summer in California and week in Australia) all stopped by and later Joe & Lorie with Whitley and a friend came by and visited. Whitley is going to try and do some roading for us tomorrow if his friend is around. We had a fun night listening to music and telling stories out in the gazebo. This makes the nights so pleasant when you can sit out and not have the bugs carry you away.

A cool night is forecast – down in the 50's.

Saturday, August 23 - dogs when crazy about 4:00 am – somebody loose but not sure how – just one dog then for quite awhile. Great weather for sleeping but too damn noisy.

No change in Ernie yet – still holding paw up and doesn't want to put weight on it.

Roading: Whitley made it down and Linda set him up to road.

• Lea, Suzie – 40 min. – very solid pair

• Tess & Shauna – Tess 20 min. – just didn't want to do it – Shauna 40 min.

Hills: Today we have Stan, Lee, Dennis & Mary is back ( hoping to find a horse from Dennis this weekend. We road to Triple Gates and got the show on the road.

• Erin & Kate – Kate did a decent job – wide and good speed and drive – in the area of some birds and had a STB -- Then a STF and a good find on a single. Course was okay and bird work – impoving. Erin, the bigger on the ground with another solid race. He had two opportunities to point and got a knock and chase with correction. Plenty of birds but no cigar for Erin. 43 min.

• Brenna & Gus – Gus has drive ( pointer) range and independence – the other tools are open to question until Denny gets him handling but tons of potential. Brenna was oink of the day. Just got into cactus and never put it together.

• Hank & Sorrel – Hank wasn't with the program today – he was rather short and not hitting a lick. Sorrel showed the range and drive with a NP at the beginning and one opportunity around birds but nothing handled. 41 min.

• Bart & Clifford - worked the meadow and did a nice job, both hunting and going front. No birds observed. 25 min.

The afternoon just begged for a nap. Linda & Mary made it to town with Linda going in Mary's car. That made the trip bearable for Linda but she's at least got to town. She's doing her exercises and doing better but it's a slow process.

Roger , Janet & the whole family are coming to dinner for Lee's famous ribs, corn and beans. Should be a fun night. We got things ready and visited with our good friends the Painter's. Lots of stories and many discussions about " Bob's future as a rodeo clown" or "Matador" is going to turn out. We have definitely determined that there is some real truth to the axiom: ' you can't teach and old dog new tricks' -- did you get that Bob?

It was also decided that both Linda's and Roger's injuries were the result of going above and beyond the call of duty!!! Bob's injury was the result of ……………………. need to change my ink!

Bob will be back Labor Day and we'll need to discuss this somemore. Stan, Dennis, Mary and Lee all agreed that Bob's bull fighting days were OVER!!!!!!!!!

Time to call it a night!! Betty Shearhouse and her friend Russ are due in camp tomorrow and we're taking them to the hills.