July 8, 2008: It's been almost a year....
...since we started this blog. It's not easy writing a blog on a consistent basis! Some weeks there just isn't a heck of a lot of interesting things to report. This week being one of them. We haven't been anywhere (petrol is too expensive to go on frivilous trips), haven't done anything special other than work and play with dogs, and we didn't go trialling on the weekend - just as well, the weather was horrible. We did, however, watch the Wimbledon tennis finals - which, amazingly, suffered very few rain delays. It seemed that the rain stayed mostly in Wales.

Of course, we are huge tennis fans and Wimbledon is our favourite so it was no hardship at all to plant ourselves firmly in front of the TV - having only enough breaks to exercise the dogs. The finals were terrific - Serena versus Venus Williams; Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal. One highlight of the weekend was seeing Roger and Rafael recite one of our favourite poems - Rudyard Kipling's 'If'. Two lines of this poem (lines 11 and 12 - in bold below) are inscribed above the entrance to Centre Court at Wimbledon.

IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Yes, we admit it, we like the occasional inspirational poem. Hey, if it's good enough for Wimbledon and Roger Federer (still number 1 in the world), it's good enough for us!

Things are just quietly ticking along here. We've been working on the World Trial Souvenir Programme which has to be finished at the end of this month in time for printing. It's rapidly becoming a very big book! It's been fun finding photos from around the World to include in the programme, and to try to make the programme interesting. Of course, we have the obligatory ads to insert and there are actually some very good ads! We've been busy shipping calendars all over the World as well and the response from people who have received their copies has been very positive. Thank you to those who have taken the time to email us! Kelvin has been swamped with his summer university classes as he started teaching two new classes this week. His classes are both over-subscribed so he's going to be very busy for the next 6 weeks.

The dogs have all been out regularly. We have lots of sheep to train on at the moment in different fields. The largest group is about 60 yearlings and they are a nice group. They move well off the dog without sprinting away, and they don't mind being shed into smaller groups. They are quite good to practice International shedding with, which isn't easy with 60 but it's oh so much fun trying. We also have two other groups of 5 training sheep in different fields. One group is a cantankerous lot of yearlings which can be completely uncooperative, unmanagemenable at times, and virtually impossible to pen. They love to stamp their feet, head butt, and/or runaway at high speed and sometimes in different directions. They also like to hide in a clump of trees right on a fence line. Roy loves them (OK, not the head butting but he loves their futile escape attempts)!

They look so innocent here but this is the 'fast and furious' group which shows the dogs no mercy.



The other group of training sheep is a nice, cooperative packet of two year olds, and perfect for the younger dogs. They give you a chance to practice driving, shedding etc although for penning they simply walk in.

This week Mike repaired his round pen as he has a pup (Kay) and a young bitch (Mist) that he is starting. While we don't use a round pen very often (or at all), we did take the opportunity to put the nice sheep in there and work the dogs in a more confined space. Most of our dogs are so used to, and prefer, an open hill.

The sheep are all in for a foot bath today - the first day in a while where the sun is shining (although showers threaten).

Well, that's it for a week of slim news. There are no trials in our neck of the woods this coming weekend so we might just have to go further afield if we can find a trial not too far away. Petrol prices might keep us at home if we can't find a trial close enough.