Happy Mothers Day

As I sit here adding to the blog this morning , snow is blowing outside the window. Such crazy weather. Today I will tell you about the greatest woman I know. My Mother. There is not a finer woman in my life. A caring , loving woman. Supportive. Someone I can talk to about anything. At 87 while she has age related issues she never complains much and takes each day as it comes. She is still sharp in mind and fairing well in body for her age.She still cleans her own home, cooks , bakes from scratch ( I have NEVER tasted better pie crust than my Mother's ) and ALWAYS is positive . Something I admire and envy at the same time. She has showed me the importance of loyalty , listening to someone when they talk to you...really listening. Little things like making sure someone knows you appreciated and act of kindness or checking on someone who has had difficulty in life.
She is a remarkable woman who has had much pain and loss in her life yet she has rose above it each time and remained true to her faith and positive that each lesson though painfull at times has meaning and purpose . I am blessed to have her for my Mother and am painfully aware that our time together is very precious . I wish I could be more like her. I love you Mom.

As to the dog trial I wish I could report wonderful news . I ran Bracken both days and she ran too wide and I never was able to get handle on the sheep or her. I ran Spirit on Friday and she ran well but I turned the sheep just in front of the first drive gate (I really thought I was through them, sigh) and mis read the sheep from the second drive gate to the pen and had a bobble there costing us points to a clean pen. In the shedding ring I was able to get the sheep stopped but each time I tried to line them out with either dog or myself they would run. We did manage a sloppy 5 point shed in the end. Had I not made handler error we would have gained a few USBCHA points but manage to  finish in the high 20's out of 80 dogs.
I ran Dream on Sunday and the weather was very windy. I don't really know why but at the top just as she was starting  her lift, a sheep broke off and she did not cover it. It ran back to the setout pen. I don't know if she could not hear my flank whistle . Still no excuse for not covering that sheep. I don't know if she was on the rise of the hill and did not even see it had escaped as she came down and was set on bringing the two . I tried to redirect her but she looked very confused and so I retired. 
I did see some very nice runs. Barbara Armata had a smooth clean run on Friday and got the win for the day. It was well deserved and a perfect picture of teamwork.
A littermate to Dream and Spirit had two very nice goes as well and it made me proud to see her looking good.
I got to see Lori Cunninghams Mat who I had not seen work since last spring. He is just two and was competitive in the Open class. A very nice young dog and I am happy for Lori to have such a nice dog in her string.

So that is about it . Feeling exaused from the weekend as it never is easy to drive home from a trial with not much positive to think about.

It was nice to see friends though  .