September 8, 2009: Here Comes the Rain Again
Another wet week in paradise. We only went to one trial this week and we stayed long enough to have a run each and were home just after lunch. This week the trial was near the beautiful Aberglasney Gardens (http://www.aberglasney.org), which is well worth a visit. Amazingly, the weather was good. So good that we raced off home to mow the lawn, stack cut gorse into a neat pile, and disassemble some old chicken runs. Unfortunatley we did that in reverse order and no sooner had the lawnmower been called into action, the heavens opened up and another rain delay on the lawns was called. Oh well, time to watch the US Tennis Open on the TV.

The trial was well organized and the field super. We ran a nursery trial on this course last year and loved it. With only one dog per person, it was a real toss up who to run. In the end, Kelvin decided to run Tina and I picked Jamie. Tina had a very good start to her run with her trademark super outrun and a good lift and fetch. You could not take a point off Tina's outrun. She was bang on. Things went a bit astray on the first leg of the drive when Kelvin and Tina got a bit overzealous with some flank commands in an effort to keep the sheep on line, and they missed the drive gates. Tina is so fast that when you give her a flank command you almost have to punctuate it with a stop command. If not, then she can overflank and get the sheep going in a zigzag pattern at the very time you need them to go straight. Very frustrating! Still, what's not to like about her speed! Anyway, the same thing happened on the cross drive so Kelvin decided to retire. He was mad with himself but Tina was running well. Time for a cup of tea!

Jamie and I did not have such as neat and tidy a start as Kelvin and Tina. We struggled to keep the sheep on-line on the fetch and in the first leg of the drive. One sheep just did not want to behave or stick with the others. We only got 4 of 5 sheep through the drive gates. On the crossdrive, everything went to hell in a hand basket as I struggled to know just how to contain the one ewe who wouldn't behave and the result was a right mess of the cross drive gate. My mess, not Jamie's! At that point I decided to retire. As I picked up my crook, I made a split second decision to continue because I don't have much experience trialling on collared sheep and here was a big challenge. I wanted to have a go at shedding uncollared sheep...and I figured if things went further astray I'd just walk off and not waste any more time. Well, with a bit of patience, a dose of luck, and no thanks to a collared ewe who tried to break away several times, we did get the two collared ewes off and fairly tidily. I decided to carry on and have a go at the pen. Now as most of you know, my penning record is nothing short of atrocious so I thought we'd have one go and then walk off. We didn't need more than one go as Jamie penned the sheep: I say Jamie did because it happened so fast that it was all a bit of a blur. I couldn't believe it. The sheep were in the pen and I was so excited that I can't remember whether I gave Jamie any commands or not. WE GOT THE PEN!!!!! On to the single...well, that came easily thanks to the one collared ewe who gave us a few heart stopping moments in the shed. She just walked away from the others and in came Jamie behind her. Easy. So, while we were never going to be in the money, the finish to our run was thrilling. And hey, WE GOT THE PEN! It's going to be fun working with Jamie over the winter to really get to know him. He is so unbelieveably responsive. Hopefully I won't let the dog down next year as much as I have this year.

No trials this week :-(

Now on the topic of Chocolate Fish. Yes, some of you will be scratching your heads. While at the Welsh National this year, a friend, Natalie White, arrived from New Zealand to watch the final day of competition. Natalie's husband, Ken, was a member of the NZ team at the 2008 World Trial. As we got chatting, Natalie mentioned that she was to have arrived bearing gifts from my sister in NZ but that the plans had changed and there were no gifts (and none were expected, in case you're wondering). Just jokingly, I said "What? Not even any chocolate fish?" Wow, did I get some weird steers from people in the near vicinity. Even Nigel Watkins raised his eyebrows. What the heck are chocolate fish? Well, here it is (they are).

Officially, a chocolate fish is: New Zealand's favourite reward for a job well done since 1952 - a soft strawberry marshmallow centre covered in delicious dark chocolate. Yum, yum...for a chocoholic, these are MUST HAVEs.

Now the humble little chocolate fish recently came under assault. Cadbury's, who make this delicacy, decided to substitute palm oil and other vegetable fat for cocoa butter. The company cited cost savings for the decision, but the move triggered outcry from environmental groups who blame palm oil production for destruction of rainforests across Indonesia and Malaysia, key habitat for orangutans and other endangered species. Concerns that Cadbury chocolate could be imperiling orangutans led the Auckland Zoo and others to ban Cadbury products. Meanwhile consumers swamped the company with letters and petitions protesting its use of palm oil which eventually forced Cadbury's to back pedal and reinstitute the orginal recipe. It is safe to eat the fish again. Rival company Whittaker's has been the benefactor of all of this hellabaloo but don't worry Cadbury's, we'd be happy to take all that unsold fish stock off your hands.