Monday, November 5, 2012

AKC Agility (Crosby, TX) and Tracking (Bush Park, Houston, TX)

This past weekend Tracey and I drove towards Houston.  We stopped east of Houston in Crosby, TX for AKC agility on Saturday.  After agility we traveled across Houston so Bern and I could track at Bush Park the following day.

I entered all 3 dogs along for the ride in the agility trial Saturday.  Bern ran T2B, Grace ran Open Standard and Exc FAST and Spice ran 4 times (Nov JWW, Nov Standard, Nov FAST, and T2B).  Poor Bern is a bit out of shape and struggled to get up the A-Frame - that will definitely be his last run.  Grace ran fairly nicely in Open Standard but didn't quite Q; she didn't even try in Exc FAST likely due to the heat.  Spice ran 4 times and was very tired at the end of her runs (hey this the first time I have worn the pup out!) - unfortunately we came home with no Qs.  However, Spice's jumpers run was very smooth until I pushed into her space near the final jump and pushed her around the outside of the last jump (oops!).  Spice and I seem to be improving as a trialing team so there is hope for Qs in the near future.  Several Houston folks commented on how cute and energetic she was.

Just  as we were beginning to pack up on Saturday afternoon Tammy Flaga, Spice's breeder, made it out to Crosby to visit Spice.  Tammy had two 7 month old mini pups with her - BeBop and Cupcake.  We had fun visiting and playing with the pups.  It was great to finally get to meet Tammy and let her see Spice "in person" instead of just video.  We have plans to get together again - hopefully in the spring.  [Tammy drove through some bad weather getting home and had some excitement along her route - she let us know she made it home safely.  Sorry about the bad weather - driving in Houston traffic in pouring rain is not fun.]

Bern Tracking at Bush Park
During the draw for TD tracks Saturday morning, Bern and I were assigned track 3.  Bern's track was in a nice field.  Unfortunately it was a little warm and the sun was trying to peak out of the clouds.  Bern put forth good effort on his tracking.  If you look at the map of his track below he did the first leg (left side of map) but turned a bit short and began angling towards the glove.  He must have gotten a whiff of the glove with one of the gusts of wind as he was pulling very convincingly in that general direction.  Why track the whole track when you can short-cut to the glove?  Oh well... January tracking test at Bush Park here we come.  I wonder if I can get Grace ready to try again?

Bern's track via the track layer
After tracking we hit the road headed back towards Baton Rouge.  We decided to stop and get some lunch on on the east side of Houston near Channelview.  We opted for an exit and selected the Burger King.  Tracey and I are continually amused at our inability to get good service from Burger King.  This was an especially bad visit for me.  First I asked if they still carried the mushroom burger - mustard burger? asked the sales clerk.  From the expression on her face I don't think she knew what a mushroom burger was or that Burger King previously carried a very tasty such burger.  So I opted for a fish sandwich instead - the young clerk then keyed in that I gave her $10 + change instead of $20 + change.  She agreed she made a mistake but had ZERO insight in how to fix it.  Luckily the manager person had paid attention in math and agreed with my request for an additional $10 in change.  You also have to laugh at how my name "Cheryl" got spelled on the ticket - Shelral.  When my order came up the person handing out the food just hollered "fish combo meal" because she couldn't figure out what it said either.  Tracey and I chuckled about the Burger King visit most of the way back to the Louisiana state line.  I understand Chick-Fil-A's business decision for being closed on Sundays but some weekends it would be nice to be able to drive through one of their restaurants on the drive back to Baton Rouge.  Next Sunday afternoon I'm voting for fast food options other than Burger King!