A long trip away from home

Well September flew by very quickly thanks to a full calendar of travel . I believe I put about 5,000 miles on my trusty old van traveling about last month!

It all started with Birds in Art, my annual trip to Wausau WI for the flagship art exhibition put on my the Woodson Art Museum there, showcasing 100 of the best sculptors and flat artists in the world in their juried show. I was included again this year (my 18th in 20 years, I do believe) and an added incentive for attending was the induction of my dear friend Terry Miller as the 2013 Master Artist for Birds in Art. I got to hang the medal around his neck after making a 10 minute introduction to our fellow artists on Friday, Sept 6.

Well, it was SUPPOSED to start with Birds in Art. Due to an unfortunate development regarding Thumper, followed by a generous offer from a fan of his, it actually started with my driving down to Paris KY to leave Thumper for a couple of days of veterinary workup (for an issue not affecting his health specifically but needing workup). Won't say much more until all is said and done. So Paris, overnight, where I got to visit a son of his, 'Lock', and see my hosts' lovely horse operation in Bluegrass Country. 

Lock

They also breed Short horns

After that nice afternoon I headed on up to Wausau for the show.

tears flowed!

Hoping the fame can be shared.

Then BACK to Paris Saturday to get my dog, then on westward to the front range of the Rockies. On the way I stopped over at an artist friend's to se her and her marvelous Border collies.

Joni's 'Asher' with new BFF Thumper.

Then onward to Loveland CO to visit and stay with another friend.

 It started raining about the time I was arriving in Loveland and it kept it up until the rivers were overflowing, all week long. We wee fortunate; though we never got up to Rocky Mountain Natl Park, there was no house flooding where I stayed and only the inconvenience of a few road blockages. So many in the region fared far worse. We left Loveland for our planned trip up to Yellowstone and Teton as the rivers were really cresting and had quite the detour that day to get far enough south to find an eastward road that could take us out past the cresting sections of the South Platte river  so we could head north. That little detour added 3 hours to the 1 hour we'd normally need to get to Cheyenne, WY, from Loveland CO.

The South Platte River. 2 minutes after we crossed it, the bridge was closed.

 Once we were in WY and headed west on i-80, the highway overhead signs all read:  ALL ROADS TO COLORADO CLOSED.  I am guessing you don't see that very often outside of the occasional blizzard days.

Dreamer, Deja and Thumper after a little run before entering the park one day.

In WY the weather was fine, if a bit warm, and predictably the warmth made wildlife sightings scarce. the elk remained in the high country (except around Mammoth where they are permanent lawn ornaments), the moose remained hidden, and even bison were in smallish herds scattered about. We actually saw more wildlife outside the park....

Grizzly yearling between Dubois, WY, and the eastern park entrance

Very habituated raven

Female Harlequin Ducks

The Lewis River, heavenly

The Chief Joseph highway. On he way to Cody, and incredible scenery outside the park.

Bison near Tower

Female Harlequin ducks

National Forest road, perfect for an off-lead dog session

A favorite spot in Yellowstone, willow flats. 

Anyway it was a whirlwind trip through the greatest place in the National parks system, but got to show it to my sister and refresh my memory as to what I really want to go next visit. (Paint, and take more time, a week later in the season).  As luck would have it, there was snow in the park the day after we left, which no doubt brought more wildlife down from the high country. and 10 days later came the government shutdown, locking visitors out of the park altogether, *sigh*.

But we (or I and my dog) had a date with the ASCA Nationals specialty show in Greeley, so back to CO we came. Most washed-over roads were reopened but washed-OUT roads will be weeks and months to restoration. Fortunately my commute betweenLoveland and Greeley required no detours.

Quick shot of Invitational judges and ribbon

Mwaaa!

Premier under Jennifer Cannon

Zoe, a Thumper daughter.

The invitational

He garnered a Premier under judge Jennifer Cannon, but was not the other judges' type, apparently, though he showed beautifully with his BFF Maria. However in the top 30 Invitational Thumper was 3rd, a thrilling placement.

Getting their games on.

In the ring

So all in all a busy 4 weeks. We returned home via Kansas (another Border collie visit!) and  Ohio for overnights, and now will stay home for the foreseeable future whil I catch up on work and play with the dogs I'd left behind, none of which appear to harbor any ill will toward me for leaving them here in the east.

AKC/ASCA Ch. Milwin's Silver Ribbon at Inkwell ROMX1

Thanks to wonderful puppy owners participating successfully in AKC events, Ribbon has earned the designation of ROMX1 Dam, with puppies that have earned qualifying titles in Conformation, Obedience/companion events, and agility/performance events.

Her certificate!

The title-holders include Ch. Inkwell's Paintbrush of Milwin OA (agility and Ch.)
                                        GrCh. Inkwell's Tom-tom (Ch.)
                                        Inkwell's Imagine That RE, CDX (Rally and Obedience)
                                       

Favor (Inkwell Milwin Token of Affection) will be multi-titled in agility in coming months and Thumper will be competing in Obedience as well, and all her puppies will continue their most important jobs, that of companions to their wonderful owners.

some updates

Thumper was at my club (Blue Ridge ASC) shows last weekend where we garnered 4 BOB and 1 BOS win in the 6 shows.

ASCA Judge Andrea Blizard

 I also had Luster showing, Milwin Inkwell Iridescent (Satin and Favor's brother). We ended up with WD twice for majors, bringing his  point count up to 13. We were also RWD twice so he had a very good weekend.

Monarch (Milwin's Monarch of Dove Creek), a Thumper son, was RWD at the same shows.

Monarch and his owner

Andrea Blizard again with Luster

AKC Judge Tom Brown

ASCA judge Lynda Shackelford with Lisa Friel handling Thumper for me

Lynda with me and Luster (WD/BOW)

Judge Gary Fisher and Thumper with handler Hope Matkins

AKC judge Shelley Roos with Thumper and Hope Matkins

 Also had a visit with friends at a flyball tournament a couple of weekends ago, where I saw another Thumper son, littermate to Monarch, and I could see the family resemblance. Castle is destined for a service/assistance career with his owner.

Castle, a Thumper son.

 

A couple of weeks ago Lock (Ninebark Cops and Robbers), a Thumper son from his litter by Ninebark (Valerie  Yates) had another Best of Breed win and went on to a Group 2!  Looking forward to seeing him continue his winning ways, mostly owner-handled. I can see his daddy all over this photo, though much more substance, a LOT of dog for 16 months! Lovely dark red coloring too.

Lock, a Thumper son.

A photo session with Jeffrey Hanlin

Just a sampling.

We did it!

The results are all in for the ASCA Year (June 1 2012-May 31 2013) and my very own Thumper is #1 for the year in Merit standings. This is entirely the doing of a wonderful talented handler, Maria Neff, and HER handler (LOL) Debbie Neff, who took care of organizational details like travel planning, entries, and so forth.

 He is home with me now, for Competition Obedience training and some summer fun, but will be out here and there for AKC and ASCA, and we'll be at ASCA and USASA Nationals!

Thanks all!!

Summer!!

And Vay-cay starts

Came home from Michigan with Thumper and turned around pretty quickly to go to Vermont for Camp Gone to the Dogs with him and my old man Flash. As it happens Julie Rigby, Favor's owner (from the last Ribbon litter, by Press) decided she wanted to have 2 dogs at camp and one of them could be Satin if I agreed, so with the proviso that she would be HERS for the week I loaded her up as well an off we went.

The week's weather following humid and stormy conditions on arrival day the Sunday, was spectacular for the first 4 of 5 days of camp, low 70's, dry, sunny, chilly night. In short, perfect for man and beast. All 3 dogs had a marvelous time with my main concentration being positive motivation training for competition Obedience for Thumper, and just some fun training stuff and one-on-one hangout time with Flash. It was a celebration-filled beginning of the week as well and Flash celebrated his 12th birthday on June 2 (TWELVE!!!! Unbelievable), me my 59th on June 3, and Satin and Favor their 2nd birthdays on June 4. (They celebrated in their own way by having a little bitch fight. Oops).  Anyway Julie sorted the girls out and we came to the realization that they are their mother's daughters. Just had to avoid too much arousal while n lead together to avoid escalating to launching onto one another.

Anyway a few photos to show the week. Already booked for next year. And now planning on entering Thumper in Obedience at ASCA Nationals. (The clock is ticking...).

My friend Lisa's 'Abby' moving some sheep.

Satin's sis Favor.

"Does this wet Vermont meadow grass make me look fat?"

Favor turned 2 this week.

Favor moved some sheep

Thumper moved some sheep. Bark-circle-bark-circle---

Satin moved sheep too.

Lisa and Abby await their turn on the sheep.

Ribbon son Teddy, from her first ltter, was there as well, along with his housemate Lila, Thumper sister.

The end of the ASCA Year

Have done some travel since the last post, as the ASCA year wrapped up May 31. Thumper went to Wisconsin to the Rock River Valley shows the weekend of May 10-12, where he went BOB 3 of the 4 shows, under judges Flo McDaniel, Ronnie Bates and Bev Eichel.  The week following, Maria made a quick trip to the Florida Panhandle ASCA shows where Thumper was able to pick up one BOB win (judge Diane Keedy) despite some iffy behavior due to his developing a crush on one of the females in the ring with him. (That's our excuse, at any RATE!).

Thanks Flo McDaniel!

Thanks Ronnie Bates!

Following Florida Thumper and Maria went to Michigan for their final weekend together as a full-time team. They started with 2 AKC shows in Kalamazoo where Thumper went BOB under judges Keke Kahn and Peggy Biesel-McIlwaine.
Then on to Centreville MI where I went to watch Thumper finishe out his year with Maria and bring him home after. ASC-MI does a mammoth 9 shows on Memorial Day weekend and also on Labor Day weekend, plus performance events (I am only counting the conformation shows!). So the breakdown was, of 9 shows, Thumper BOB x4, BOS x4, under judges Kim Cochran, Bruce Caldwell, Liz Gibson, Mary Quam, Gail Karamalegos, Richard Klatt, Cherrie Cannon and Glenda Stephenson. The marvelous Aria (Ch. Sazbrat Enamoured), our main competition all year long, was there as well so we were trading off wins (Aria with 5 BOB's to our 4). Well, if we are going to compete, we are thrilled it is with such quality as Aria exhibits. We had fun.

Aria going for Thumper's bait. The noive.

Aria and Thumper

Once around the ring (x9)

Aria, definitely #1 ranked bitch for the 2012-2013 ASCA year. She was hard to beat! I am glad we were not sharing the same rings every single weekend!

Thank you Glenda Stephenson!

Thumper and Aria, just for fun.

Then it got ugly.

And so Thumper's full time year with his magical handler Maria came to an end. I won't pretend I am not absolutely THRILLED to have my baby back home but I am forever in debt to the Neff team for their endless support and work toward our goals this year, and for their friendship as well. Maria is a true talent, as I time and time again saw her pull a terrific performance out of a dog that sometimes lacked focus or  interest. Virtually every single weekend they were out traveling and showing in all sorts of conditions. I am so glad my dog could be her first full-time special , and so glad SHE could be his special handler.

It will be a couple of weeks before all the final months'-worth of ASCA shows are entered into the ASCA record books. Once that job is complete we should know Thumper's final position in the standings. We know who the Top 3 will be (Thumper, Aria and Jasa Hatcher's Memphis, out of California). The final order is to be determined. Stay tuned!