Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Good morning!

Well, keep your fingers crossed. I am, anyway. That's because at the moment I am on a hill near the fourth test and I'm picking up just enough signal to get on the internet. That's not the case when I'm down the hill and closer to the test. But, climbing up here is, of course, in my humble opinion, a much better alternative than having to mobilize and drive X miles to a signal.  

Yesterday's blind, as you've probably seen from the callbacks by now (posted on Jean Wu's page) took a rather bloody toll on the dogs. Cumulative work and/or ragged or failure blinds are simply gone. 

At some Nationals, you see blinds judged less harshly than others. That, however, is not a blanket statement, and please don't take it as such, for many factors go into callbacks and the way things shake down. But, in the final analysis on yesterday's water blind, there was not very much good work. That remained constant throughout the day. And the judges judged the blind. 

And on this brilliantly sunny Vermont morning (after another round of storms last night) 94 dogs remain to tackle this fourth series water triple.

I'm told this signal may not hold out as the sun climbs higher in the sky. We'll see, but test dogs are being called to the line right now. 

When I can, I'll be back up the hill to give it another try. Of course, trips in and out of here by vehicle, if necessary, will be less frequent.

Thanks for reading!