What a Weekend!  When I was a smart person I didn’t travel from the end of Nov thru the end of March, but I have to say despite some of the wintry weather and the fact that the start of the trip was rocky, I wouldn’t have traded this past weekend for any of the mild spring shows.

I started out on Tues a.m. by loosing yet another transmission in yet another Ford Windstar.  Yep you guessed it, the Windstar Rescue Squad in the form of Jean and Don Runge arrived with the big ass truck and trailer and hauled the van, myself and all my dogs to MN, again!  Good thing Don has a sense of humor.  Off on Wed we tromp off to Estherville IA and I find a nice 2003 Chevy Trailblazer.  I wanted a 4WD anyway with the van getting stuck in the ¼ mile drive and knowing I wouldn’t be moving back to the city, ever, period, end of sentence.   Then back to Jean’s to wash 4 dogs and then go to their son’s house for cards, pizza, good conversation and laughter, until 1 a.m.  Ugh, made Thurs really tough.  Packing Jean’s Expedition was fun too.  I don’t think she really thought we would get it all in but hey, it’s just a puzzle to figure out.  And we did have to put the dolley on top. 

Thanks to Amy there was reserved grooming space and we jammed in with our Collie buddies. 

The weekend was wonderful and started out with a bang.  Jean’s blue pup, Jaycee was WB/BOS for her first major at her first show!  What a trooper.  I was honored to take her in for WB and Judy Goodin just could not say enough great things about her.  I heard that she stopped Jean a couple of times that day to tell her what a lovely pup she is.  Trace was RWD which was fine.  I was irritated that the major broke.  I have no problem when majors break because dogs are sick or hurt or don’t need a major to finish, but to break a major for no real good reason really bites.  So I figured it was okay that Trace was RWD.  I wanted the major and could have cared about the 2 pointers.  It was the principle of the breaking the major that really pissed me off.  Jam earned his CGC and put himself within one title of his AWCA VC award. 

There was so much great winning going on this weekend.  Dave’s client Chihuahua, a snuggly little guy named Harpo was WD both Sat/Sun for 2 more points.  His client Bloodhound was WB/BOS on Sat, we didn’t stay to see what happened on Sun.  Amy finished Bishop with a 4 pt major.  Friends Joanna and Becky from NE had a great weekend with Becky finished Charm’s RE and getting a major pull in the regional Jrs competition.  Sahra and her smooth girl Gwen finished her RN and got her first CD leg.  Jean’s Ebbie was RWB to the major on Sat. and the biggest news of all is…..drumroll please…

Trace was BOB/BOW/WD for a 5 point major!  He went BOB over specials, two of which are gorgeous examples of the breed.  I was floored.  I wanted the BOW to take the crossover major, but had no thought of going BOB!  It was a true honor to be awarded the win by Paula Hartinger.  I’ve shown Collies to her for a number of years and one of the reasons I decided to go north in Jan. was because this set of shows has such high quality judges for the entire weekend. 

So Trace came home with a total of 11 points and 1 major.  Guess I’d better start working harder on his rally stuff or he’ll be finished and I won’t have anything else to do with him before I know it!   Thanks to everyone that cheered him ringside, special thanks to Amy for getting the grooming space—I think it may have been a “lucky” space with all the winning that came out of the group of us.

And as always my special thanks to Jean for both Trace and your friendship, both of which I truly treasure.