To:

ya, it's a little early, I'm going to be busy tomorrow.

Well this weekend and last week has been jammed packed getting ready for a dog trial last weekend. The trial was set on the side of a beautiful hill that proved to be a difficult course even for the best handlers. The sheep were slightly dog broke, yet flighty enough to move off pressure easily. The novice handlers (such as me) had the first go of it in the early morning. It was cold and cloudy and the dog could not get within 20 ft of them or they just broke and got all squirmy. Needless to say, it was a fun course that drew a large crowd (not just contestants) and everyone had a blast, well almost everyone. I finished 3rd for both runs.

Here are some pictures of Trey and I.

Here are a few other pictures.

While I don't have a picture, the road crew decided to pave a new section of our company driveway that was cracking, just cracking. The road borders the banks of a creek and needless to say they added so much asphalt they created a crater that is now 1 foot wide and 1.5 foot deep by 12 foot long. They ended up pushing the creek bank into the creek.

The city engineer comes out, looks at it, scratches his head and says "hum, never saw that coming" and walks off.

In the past two weeks I have been in contact with an American Border Collie magazine discussing a series of articles about the Scottish National Sheepdog Trials. They have gladly accepted the ideas and are looking forward to the articles this fall. I just need to get some other financial support to help pay for lodging and I'm home free for a solid week of sheepdog trailing in Scotland. Time to see how good I can sell myself.

Finally putting my farm to good use by buying some sheep for show lambs and commercial production. The added bonus is that I get to work my Border Collies at home now instead of traveling to different places.

Still learning about my new dog and how he works. Been a real pleasure so far. It's nice to have something around that actually wants to please you.

Other than that, I need to learn to blog from my phone. So much happens that I forget about by the next day and things get blurred together. Maybe the few pints of Guinness might have some to do with it too.

What Your Handwriting Says About You
You are a fairly energetic person. You know how do pace yourself, and you deal well with stress.

You are very extroverted and outgoing. You are loving, friendly, and supportive. However, you are also manipulative and controlling at times.

You are very detail oriented and meticulous. You are a careful thinker and a true intellectual.

You need a lot of space in your life, and it's easy for you to feel stifled. You avoid commitment and responsibility whenever you can.

You are somewhat traditional, but you are also open to change. You listen to your head and your heart.

You are a decent communicator. You eventually get your point across, but sometimes you leave things a bit ambiguous.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourhandwritingsayaboutyouquiz/

I think everyone can relate to this at least once.

After my night of drunken abandonment when everyone was awake K & M & P left to go back home. M is not from our area and was only here visiting family for the holidays. M and P (her brother) were leaving the next day so I invited M & P out that night to show them some sites that K had no intention of showing them. They agreed and decided to stay at S and watch the games. Mainly because I was still slightly intoxicated and had no where I needed to be. At S's house in the man-pad (think back or reference from New Years Eve story) we moved all of the TV's in front of the couch and reheated the munchies from the previous night and just watched football and drank some more beer. Best way to cure a hangover is to feed the beast that's biting your ass, in moderation of course.

I stayed at S's house till about 4:00 when i decided it was time to leave, do chores, shower and get ready to pick-up M and P. Around 5:15, K called and said he would take them to the spot we were going that night. They wanted to go see a movie (Sweeny Todd) and our movie complex just so happened to have a bar upstairs. So we bought a couple of drinks and waited for the movie start (about an hour wait). Not feeling fully refreshed M mentioned that a Jack and Coke would be nice for the movie and I had to agree, just had to figure out how to do it. I went to the concession stand and bought a large coke filled 3/4 full and we walked our merry buts back to the bar where M got a triple Jack neat. We went off into the corner, poured the Jack in the coke and walked back downstairs to see the movie. The movie was good and the Jack and coke that M and I shared hit the spot.

After the movie it's only like 10:30'ish and the night was still young, so we went back to K's place and I sampled some of his IPA beer. Not bad, little to hoppy for my taste though. Around Midnight, I got a call from another friend of mine L (not to be confused with S's L). L said she was having a party and her husband wanted to hear me play a song on the guitar. I asked if I could bring a friend (guess who) and when that was ok, M and I left to go to L's place.

Like I said before, M is a partier and L had a full liquor cabinet (well it was full). Since I knew I had to take M back home later I did the responsible thing and quit drinking and just had water, otherwise we would not have made it back to K's place. After everyone had a couple rounds, L pulled out the guitar and I just started playing. Through jokes and more shots this was our evening from around midnight to 3 a.m.. I was getting kinda cozy with M, but knew I had to get her back to K's place.

So we left and I had her safely back to K's place where we just sat out in the car and talked some more. We said some good goodbye's (she had a midday fight to catch) and I took off, sent an email into work explaining I need the day off and went back to L's place. I have not seen her in a while and I just wanted to stay up a talk. By the time I got back, L was praying to the porcelain goddess and her husband was passed out. I explained all of the New Years happenings as we got caught up with what has been going on with our lives. Stayed up a couple more hours, went to sleep on the couch and awoke to the smell of omelets in the morning.

Needless to say I started the New Year off right, at least in my mind.

After spending a week in the warm sunny weather at my parents over Christmas, while my friends froze their asses off in 12" of snow, I returned to the frigid weather only to be reminded of a party at my cousins house on New Years Eve. I instantly got warm with the idea of beer, Tequila and Vodka. So after work on New Years Eve (yes I worked), I got home, did chores, showered and put some decent clothes and headed over to S & L's house.

S has a 2-story house where the downstairs/basement has a nice fireplace and for all intents and purposes is a man-pad. Several TV's, pool table, air hockey, bar and video games. As I make my way downstairs there are only about 10 of us in all hanging out. S is a amateur beer maker and makes a good ale. So I started off with a few beers and introduced myself to everyone. There were a couple of people hanging out at the bar and after a few minutes of conversation we pulled out the shot glasses. I can say honestly that I really do not drink a lot, but I was a man on a mission that night.

After a couple of shots I made my way outside for a cigarette (I only smoke when I drink) and started chatting with M. M is a very cute brunette, a real partier with an addictive personality. You could not help but want to talk to this women. As I said, I was a man on a mission and apparently, she had the same mission in mind. The rest of the night then was spent doing shots, playing pool and chatting. By about 11:45 I was able to say mission accomplished when I was looking at the pool table 5 feet away and all of the balls were blurry. So I stumbled my way outside thinking the frigid air would help me, but oh no the Time Square Ball wasn't the only thing dropping at midnight. After a while I stumbled back inside and was informed of the ball dropping with a kiss on the cheek from M (brave women). In all honesty I didn't even know what time it was and really didn't care. So I sat down in a rocking chair (big mistake) and I don't know how I lasted in the chair but I found myself outside for a second time. Then making my way back inside again with the usual are you sure your alright questions I sat down on the couch (something stationary), put my hat over my eyes, crossed my arms and passed out. I awoke about 4 hrs later still in the same position. how that happened I have no idea. The worse thing of it all is that I could not go back to sleep, so I just rearranged myself and rested until someone opened the blinds at 10:00 in the morning, damn them. It was ok though, the college football games started at 11:00 and I had the munchies. New Years Day story to follow.

Last Saturday I braved the ice and frigid weather to attend a concert about 30 miles away. I didn't pre-order tickets simply because I knew there would be some at the box office. Well I was wrong. So standing there like an idiot I decided I would visit the pub next door and have a few pints while I waited for the doors to open and the ticket scalpers to show up. I was not disappointed, in fact I was lucky. Wearing a KSU ball cap a couple guys from KSU asked if I need a ticket and told me they wanted twenty dollars for it, they wanted to make sure a person from the right university got in. By this time, several other people looking for tickets where all standing around me and they where reaching for the same ticket. Luckily I already had the twenty out, grabbed the ticket and went inside. The other guys were cussing me and I had to laugh telling them "good luck."

So anyway, I made it in in time to see the opening act Back Porch Mary. While they are still a little raw, musically, they freakin rocked the house though. They are a great Texas alternative country band. After their show I went and had a few beers with the band and bought a couple of CD's. I have been rockin to their music all week. Turns out they all went to KSU as well.

About an hour later Cross Canadian Ragweed got on stage and played for ~2.5 hours. I've followed these guys for years and their sound keeps getting better and better. About halfway through their show they sang "Boy's from Oklahoma." Since most of you are not familiar with them, it's all about rollin and smokin joints. On the last verse a couple people up from lit their bongs and it turned into a puff puff pass with the band. The ironic thing is that bouncers threw out a women for smoking a cig, but apparently a bong hit is just fine. Finally they ended their show and were planning on sticking around for awhile after to drink some beer with the fans. I wanted to stay, but the weather was bad and using my better judgment I called it a night.

I haven't done this in years and it was exactly what I needed.