Virginia-The Open Begins

Well, the well anticipated event featuring District 10 and District 9 are well underway. Corey and Jill were the first victims this morning, and like in the nursery course, there is a great magnetic field bringing the sheep to the exhaust area. Corey did a good job keeping the sheep on the field, and brought in the first score for District 10 (112). Gin and I were up next - right after Alasdair McCrae and Nap. Why I was nervous, I am not sure - got the shakes - maybe I was hypoglycemic. Gin went out good, picked them nicely, and then I was attempting to bring them down the pipe. Miscalculation on my behalf, and we missed the fetch panels. Got them back on line, and with a few interactions with the sheep, Gin sent them on their merry way to the first drive panels. Sweating bullets I was, sweating bullets. We hit those panels and then went to the second set. Gin was running through the bit a bit, but things were relatively on line, and at the last minute I thought I would make sure the sheep hit the panels - once again, I misjudged, and those panels were missed. I made sure the third leg of the drive was flawless, and then got sloppy and let them out of the shedding ring as they came in (4 points per judge lost). There was something like 7 minutes left on the clock. The shed was good, and the pen was perfect (thank God). The single was left, and there was a point I should have taken the single, but thought I should regroup, and in doing so, let 2 out of the ring. We did finally get the single. If I had made the fetch panels, and the drive panels - it would have been probably been an extra 6-8 points per judge (so an extra 12-16 points). I was quite happy to see the 153 out of 220 on the board. District 10 roles on. Scott Glen and Don had a great run, completing his run of course. No 43 score for him (that only occurs in Shaunovan, Saskatchewan) - he brought home a 178. Then it was time for the District 9er's. Mary Thompson and Beauty got a 138, Amanda Milliken and Clive a 158 and Mary Lou Campbell and Dyna had an unfortunate DQ at the single. By my calculations, there is an average of 147.7 for District 10 and a 98.7 for District 9. Denis Gellings and Jenny Glen run tomorrow, and Mary Thompson runs for her team. The beat goes on.

After the days' running, Corey and I set out to meet Vicki Kidd, Chris Chalmers, Lori Cunningham and others for Mexican food. "Follow me", says Vicki. No problem. I had my head buried in the program, trying to figure the best mate for Gin (she is in heat, and I am thinking, what an opportunity) and Corey was trying to call Carl Sneddon with an update. Vicki drove out of camper's village, and disappeared. Out of sight. We tried to find the odor of refried beans, but alas, this was going to be the second night in which we missed our dinner date with Vicki. She may think we are ditching her on purpose. We can't even blame Annie - we had unplugged her. We can't find our way out of a paper bag. We can, however, find the bottom of a wine bottle. Possibly we will try again tomorrow, or maybe we should pack a lunch and stay in camper's village.