Trialing Days of Summer

Ronni & I teamed up for TWO 3-day weekends of back-to-back trialing (AKC Scent Work on 6/4, 6/5 & 6/6 and Barn Hunt on 6/11, 6/12 & 6/13). What fun!

Yes, that was definitely pushing MY physical limits, especially recovering from a concussion in between 🥴, but obviously it was far from “too much” for Ronni! Oh, I wish I had trial pictures!

I can’t let this accomplishment pass without … OK, serious bragging 🤷‍♀️. Our teamwork really came together at the AKC Scent Work Trial in Soldotna – not that we didn’t struggle once or twice (Ronni is going through a phase where smooth, shiny floors are somehow alarming) – but we worked thru it and had an UNFORGETABLE weekend! These just don’t happen often! 💗

I want to share our weekend results with you, although quite a few of my followers probably won’t have a clue what some of it means – and the rest of you probably already read my Facebook post. Sorry for the duplication. 🤷‍♀️ I hope you’ll just enjoy MY joy at this achievement.

In fact, the last time we passed all four searches in one trial day was Ronni’s K9 Nose Work NW2 Title about a year ago. Imagine our managing that two days in a row! I was floating on air!

AKC Scent Work Trial:
Friday, 6/4: 4th place Advanced Handler Discrimination (locating and alerting on a cotton ball carrying MY scent, hidden in a room); max time allowed; 4:00 minutes – Ronni’s search time; 49.09 seconds.

Saturday, 6/5: 4 for 4!! ❣️❣️
2nd place Advanced Exteriors (max time allowed; 4 minutes. Ronni’s search time; 36.75 seconds), earning her Advanced Exterior Title!
3rd place Advanced Buried (search time; 54.66 seconds).
❣️ 2nd place Excellent Interiors! (1st Q in an Excellent-level search!).
And followed by a Q (qualified score) in Excellent Containers.

Sunday, 6/6: Another 4 for 4! ❣️❣️
3rd place Advanced Buried with a time of 25.25 seconds (allowed 3 minutes).

This Buried Q earned Ronni her overal ADVANCED LEVEL TITLE! ❣️
Moving on to 100% Excellent Level! 😯
(Same day);
4th place Excellent Containers (1:38.78)
4th place Excellent Exterior (2:26.91)
And a Q in Excellent Interiors (2:50.65).

Holy Moly! What a weekend.

AKC Scent Work trial bling!

The very next day (last Monday) I did my now infamous face-plant in a campground and gave myself a minor concussion. 🤷‍♀️ Four days for recovery and we were off to a (thankfully local) Barn Hunt trial!

I’ll be a little briefer in my Barn Hunt summary. 😂

It should go without saying; Ronni LOVES hunting rats! Note: No rats are harmed in this dog sport.

  • Take-off!
  • Rat!!
  • I know there’s more!
  • Rat? Yes!
Photos courtesy of Laurie Wilson. 💗

Over the weekend, she added two more Masters B level (RATM) Q’s; one 3rd place & one 4th place, plus 3 Crazy 8 ribbons, earning an additional 220 points towards her 2nd Crazy 8 title.

I had to giggle … Ronni seems to have learned that when I lay ribbons out on the table, I want her to pose. She assumed the position before I asked! 😄

Then we came home and crashed out in the beautiful Alaskan sunshine.

Obviously, Mom is stretched out right next to Ronni. 😴

Yes, I probably overdid a little … and I’m paying for it [again] with body-insistent extra rest today, but hey, Ronni thrives on this stuff and summers are too short. ☀️

Skidding In Broadside

Well … I’m not quite sure where to start. I think I feel a ramble coming on.

I have some thoughts to share, brought on by recent events, but having just returned home after nearly ten days of solo RV travel, I’m tired and finding my thoughts a bit disjointed. So, we’ll see how this turns out.

Right this minute, it seems important to get them written down. Not sure where it’ll go from there.

I believe I left off in my last blog post just after settling into my “campsite” in the parking lot of the Soldotna Sports Center, where Ronni and I were looking forward to a 3-day AKC Scent Work trial.

Camping on asphalt

I think I might just take the past five days and work my way backwards, breaking it up into two or three blog posts – starting with today and meandering back to where I left you in my last entry. Because today feels important.

So, back to the present (for now). Let’s just say, I’m home from my latest adventures safe and [mostly] sound. No worries. 😉

I have several more RV trips loosely planned over the next two months. Planning, however, does not seem to come naturally to me. Mostly, I’d rather wing it.

I have seldom been touted for planning ahead. If I had, my life would surely not have taken so many “interesting” and unexpected turns or wandered down quite so many rabbit holes. Maybe I was a Dachshund in a prior life?

I’ve pretty much always taken life as it came, for better or worse. Regrets? Yep, lots of them. Would I do it again? Most of it … you bet. It took me to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan – and it brought me to Alaska.

On the other hand, a little less impulsiveness might have meant I wouldn’t have found myself falling on my face (figuratively or literally) as often as I have over my 70+ years of life. 🤷‍♀️

Like Alice in Wonderland, over the years, I have often wondered how I got there – wherever “there” was. And what it is I’m still looking for. Because, obviously, there is something.

Life is a journey though, and the idea is to enjoy the journey. What would be the fun of it if nothing unexpected happened?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Who said that? Charles Dickens, I think? In any case, the past week has been a little of both.

The Scent Work trial was definitely a highlight (more to come!). I was floating on Cloud Nine. Then I crashed to earth.

So, this happened yesterday.

Clean-up needed!
24 hours later

It looks worse than it is, and honest – I haven’t been in an accident. I very literally was quietly walking Rhonda along a dirt and gravel road in a campground – and fell flat on my face. How embarrassing.

In future, I assure you I will heed the advice of my friends and my podiatrist – and wear proper footwear when on rough or uneven surfaces.

My excellent Hoka One One walking/running shoes … which I wasn’t wearing <sigh>.

So, I’ll heal up while looking forward to the next [properly shod] adventure. This silly incident just goes to show – I really am trying to live up to my favorite quote:

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” – Hunter S. Thompson

Hey, next Friday is the first day of the Cook Inlet Kennel Club Barn Hunt trial! Ronni and I are busily resting up.

The Shortest Journey

Starts with filling the gas tank. OK, not exactly poetic, but an essential part of any journey if you drive an RV.

From the gas pumps, we moved along to the propane tank and had that topped off as well.

Since we (Rhonda and I) are heading for another 3-4 days of dry-camping (boondocking), I had to add dumping my black and gray tanks to the list of pre-journey chores.

I’m happy to announce the tank dumping procedure THIS TIME around was the normal 10-minute job. No fuss, no muss – thank goodness! 😉

With all this accomplished, it was still just shy of 1:00 pm. Being a tad early for arrival at my next destination, I pulled into the RV parking area of Fred Meyer in Soldotna, and headed inside.

A pair of leggings and several warm pairs of socks later, I was once again ready to hit the road. Heck, the socks alone should guarantee warm sunny days for the rest of my trip!

So, back to my “short journey”. It took me five minutes to make it back to the road to Centennial Park Campground. I passed by the entrance to the campground, went about a quarter of a mile further, and turned into the Soldotna Sports Center – the site of the 3-day AKC Scent Work Trial that starts tomorrow.

Ronni is looking forward to lots of sniffing fun! I’m looking forward to three days of scent work searches with Ronni and camping fun with friends. 🚎🚎🚎

Wednesday Wanderings

One of the best things about a motorhome; if you don’t like the weather (or anything else) where you are at – you can go someplace else.

For me, that meant departing the [usually] wonderful waterfront campground at Seward, Alaska a day early. Even my potted plants were drowning in the rain!

After checking my weather apps first thing Wednesday morning, even though the morning weather was cooperatively windless, I could see the calm was destined to be temporary. It was also still uncomfortably damp and chilly. I’d had more than enough of that.

I chose a new destination, loaded everything up, unplugged and, after taking Rhonda for one last potty walk and taking a few final pictures of a remarkably calm Resurrection Bay, I sailed off – before the winds could pick up again.

It was a dreary, rainy drive over Moose Pass, but by the time I made the turn from the Seward Highway onto the Sterling Highway, the clouds were beginning to lighten up. My windshield wipers were still in use, but only periodically. I could almost feel the barometer rising, and my mood with it.

The temperature was also already warmer by 5 degrees over the current temps in Seward – I checked. I was going the right direction. 👍🏼

I stopped for lunch along the Kenai River near Cooper’s Landing, under only partially cloudy skies. Another bonus to traveling in an RV – being able to enjoy a “homemade” soup & sandwich lunch with a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 view like this one!

I dallied along the river bank for over an hour, watching the occasional bright-colored raft float by, but eventually made myself pull back out onto the road.

A bit more than an hour later, I pulled into my chosen destination. Centennial Park Campground, with over 200 roomy campsites – some of them situated right on the lovely walking path meandering along the Kenai river. This is one of my favorite stops in the Soldotna area.

I didn’t bother wandering through the sprawling campground, but headed instead straight to my go-to campsite near the boat launch.

I knew from experience that this particular site was just right; perfectly level, right on the walking path and with a lovely view of the river from my “bedroom window”. Being mid-week, I was confident there would be few fellow campers, and I was right.

  • My favorite site!
  • Satellite view of campground

Ronni and I checked out the boat launch and day-use area, then took a long walk along the riverfront walking path. Note the gloriously blue sky. Definitely the right decision.

There is an abundant moose population in the area, and it’s calving season, so Ronni was constrained to a 6’ leash and I kept a running conversation going so as not to surprise any 4-legged ruminants. Or bears, for that matter.

Fortunately, the only wildlife we scared up were a couple of chittering squirrels, much to Rhonda’s delight.

Later, after a light dinner, I relaxed with my knitting and my beautiful river view while Ronni kept a vigilant watch for more squirrels – they kept her happily entertained by using the wood-rail fence along the nearby walkway as a handy squirrel highway from tree to tree.

Eventually, even squirrels couldn’t compete with a warm sunny spot on the bed. We girls had come to the end of a long, satisfying day. It was time for bed – sunshine or no sunshine.