Monday night - The start of it all--
We just came back from an informal meeting, dinner and the calcutta. There
was no meeting; we had nothing to report from the other meeting. The
trialers were interested in what transpired at the meeting but there was
little we could report.
Dinner was very, very good. Buffet. Very good service. Nice place. The
landowners for the Specialty were introduced. This is supposed to be
OUTSTANDING trial grounds. We'll see for ourselves in the morning. EARLY in
the morning.
The Calcutta was very successful. Marston Jones. He pulls bids out of people
who aren't even present. Good thing Susie Ritch isn't here; she's usually
the butt of Marston's phantom bidding. She's a good sport. Mike Coutu
was active. Bruce and Marlene bickered over Bruce's bidding. Marlene
wants a new BMW and is aftaid Bruce is betting the farm. Marlene. Get
a pickup, I mean life. Scott Martin was here; haven't seen him in a
coupla' years. The Larsons' didn't make the trip. Tim Carrion had 2 major
pieces of art from his father's estate here.
The first piece is trying to be placed at the Retriever Hall of Fame by/on
behalf of ACC. There is a story that Tim's father trained some Cree tribal
members on dog training with some CBR's suitable for hunting. As a show of
respect and thanks the Cree carved a relief of a CBR with a duck (maybe
mallard.) From the carving a cast was made and 3 plaster castings were
poured. This is one of the castings. It is marvelous. Intense.
The other item is an original oil painting of Sassy, the dog who appears on
the current ACC logo, exiting a body of water. The painting is signed and
dated, 1954 I believe. Tim is donating this painting to be auctioned,
proceeds to benefit the Club. The reserve is $1,000.
VERY prominent international showing. I believe the president of the Danish
Retriever Society and her guest were here. Mattias and Moire Frank are back
from Germany; a few Germans, a man from Chile, Teresa Borrell from New
Zeland. About 55 people were at dinner.
The gallery is going to bigger than normal (for field trials.) Marlene has
some friends from Merial who she expects; all the internationals are to
observe. Us, of course.
Julie Cole is running dogs. We're very happy. Linda Harger and Linda
Patterson are running dogs. Joyce Shaw's dog attracted alot, ALOT, of
attention in the Calcutta. The field trail merchandise very cool. Check out
the website. There is not alot here, more can be ordered later.
Gotta' go. See 'ya tomorrow afternoon. Cheers! Fred and Barbara, On The Road
at the 2005 ACC Field Specialty..................................
Where am I? What day is this?
We were awake but the phone ringing at 7:00 AM just didn't compute. Phone.
Oh. Answer it. Right? Oh. I have to reach for it. HEIDI. What are you doing
STILL at the airport? You were supposed to be here last night. Oh. You're
not happy yet either. Oh. You're not having a good time yet? OK. We'll try
to finish waking up and pick you up. Give us a few more minutes. No.
We have not been drinking. Today. A little last night, I think. I'm
putting up the call backs shortly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! great great trial! Jane
is sugarcoating it. This a a FINE Field Specialty. Outstanding.
Gotta' go and pick up Heidi at the airport. I don't even face rush hour
traffic for myself. We're going to brave it for Heidi. This is true love!
Tons more later. Fred and Barbara On The Road At The 2005 ACC Field
Specialty.
................................
What a Field Specialty. What a two-week
run of SPECIALTIES! Great timing, one right after the other like this; in
close proximity. While the Field galleries weren't what we had hoped for,
they were bigger than usual. Who ever heard of Patsy and Rudy attending 2
days of a Field Specialty before? 'Nuff said?
Pat Mitchell -Bruce's wife- is walking around muttering, 'he owes me big
time.' It's become a mantra. I woulda' thought he owed her big time all
along -she confirmed he did- but now it's really, REALLY BIG TIME.
I can just imagine the conversation that took place last year:
Bruce: Honey, I'm gonna' chair the ACC Field Specialty with Kurt next year.
Pat: Over my dead body.
Bruce: No, honey. It's really nothing. Kurt and Angie are gonna' do all the
work, they just need to use my name. They can't be Chair and Secretary
together. Rules or something. Not to worry. It's like honorary, there's
really nothing to it. You won't even notice, it won't interfere at all.
Pat: Remember those words, ...
Pat related through someone in the last few months her children have grown,
graduated college and refer to her as the woman who visits from Field Trial
occasionally. What a good sport! Angie too. The oft forgotten families of
competitors. The support system; the family team.
They deserve more thanks and
recognition than they usually receive. THANK YOU.
That acknowledgement said and noted, the Field Specialty has been GREAT.
Things wind down today. I know Jane will post results (to date) and the
Field Trial Specialty Raffle winners but I should list the winners and here
goes:
1sr Prize: Mike Coutu (RI) who also won the Open!
2nd Prize: Virginia Sistane (MA)
3rd Prize: Betty Johnson (WI)
4th Prize: Ron Haynes (NY)
Thanks to YOUR support -both buying and selling raffle tickets- the raffle
contributed to the success of the Field Specialty. YOU sold about 2,500
tickets in support of OUR club's Field Specialty.
There were ~half-dozen people this year who sold tickets for me and were
awarded Stellar Sellar titles. (The title is honorary!) Once again, SANDRA
DOLLAR (WI) leads is sales. Sandy is irrepressible! She pulls $20's out of
peoples' wallets and leaves them holding the stubs. And she smiles the whole
way along. What a GRAND sport she is. THANK YOU SANDY.
Alex Starr (CA) made a fine showing once again. Jane Pappler (NJ) hawked
tickets like there was no tomorrow. Ken Eriksen (NJ) and Jay Daniell (GA),
Nita Schaeffer (OR) and Dennis Scofield (NY) round out the list of Stellar
Sellers. THANK YOU ONE AND ALL. Without you to buy those tickets though,
we'd have been sunk. Thanks to ALL who supported the Field Specialty by
buying, selling or generally pitching in to help out.
Bruce, Kurt and their wives and the Field Trail Committee pulled off a fine
Specialty. The grounds are outstanding. Judging was imaginative and fair.
The layouts were challenging but not ridiculous. There was only moderate
grumbling so the judges were doing their job!
The landowners who invited us to use their properties deserve a GRAND ROUND
OF APPLAUSE. Thanks to Hank McNeil of Winslow Conservancy and Bill Thompson
of Blue Springs Kennel for their generous support of the Field Specialty.
Edgar and Deb couldn't get a room at the inn, so to speak, and Hank was nice
enough to let them pitch a modest tent at his place. We stopped by yesterday
and they were making the best of a bad situation. Poor Edgar and Deb, their
25' camper leveled off ~35' from a small pond on a nice grassy field. Tough
luck Ed. It's not easy living on battery power. All that quiet and solitude
must be a real pain!
It's always nice to see Julie Cole. Especially nice of late. Besides earning
a JAM in the Qual, Joyce Shaw (and Jeff) really worked their butts off
running the merchandise end of the Field Specialty. As they wanted, there
was very little left on their table at the end. (I just wish we could order
some more fleece!)
I don't know who most of the others behind the scenes were: I know Jeff was
Gun Chair with Bob Guttermuth. I know Tim Carrion was always on the move.
Hustling here or there, delivering a judge or more birds or whatever was
needed. Tim is obviously a good friend and breed supporter.
Marlene continues to be most fun to sit near. Always. You gotta' be there.
(This is really Julie's bailiwick, you know, the real awards. The who did
what to whom stuff!) I got to put some faces with new people like
Christy and Ray Gonzales, competing in the Show Specialty, Hunt Test and
Field Trial Specialty and making marks all around! Congratulations.
Shannon Rollins traveled from the left coast (up north) to both Specialties
and visited friends -and the Statue of Liberty I might add- in the New York
area as well.
Gotta' take a break. The other half is waking and requires attention.
Basherta too. I'll get back when I can. Cheers. Fred and Barbara on the Road
at the Field Specialty (starting to pack it in.)
..................................
Boy. What a vacation!
We decided to leave a little while before the end of Amateur (and the Trial)
last evening. We had a ~6 hour drive and wanted a hot meal before we
started. Just can't get enough of those Jersey diners! There was a nice
one right at the corner. Even got a Philly Steak last night for the road.
I don't think I mentioned Mike Moskowitz and meant to. Mike is from New
Haven (CT), runs a Silver Creek dog and does all his own training. WITHOUT
an e-collar. Mike says he wasn't comfortable using a collar and besides
wasn't good with it. What a shame more people who aren't adept at training
with an e-collar can't just figure out what Mike did.
Don't just turn the intensity up, look for a different way to train. Mike
works harder at training than many of his fellow competitors have to but he
shows results too. Mike is hooked. He's running a puppy now too!
By now you must know the results. The last series in the Amateur was good.
(All the series were hard to watch!) A retired gun a loooooong way out to
the right, past 2 temptations. A live flyer straight out and another around
a curve, past the flyer. The flyer was always first and was pretty
straightforward. It was a tossup where to go next; most chose the retired
gun. The dogs were sent from a high ridge which made it difficult for the
gallery to see much. The series took each dog ~20 minutes; it was a long
day! The judges gave the handlers a chair.
We bought a lot of dogs in the Calcutta, both Monday and Tuesday nights. We
WON on a lot of our purchases. It looks like when all is said and done we
probably broke even, which is a whole lot better than losing! Linda
Harger's Yakity pulled it off for us with a 2nd yesterday. We're still
waiting to hear what it paid but it should be enough to even things out. Oh
well, if you can't win, breaking even is better than losing!
And to some people sitting on a beach is a vacation! Boy have they got it
wrong. All wrong.
I don't have my book handy so don't really know who won what; we don't
remember stuff like we used to. Matthias and Moira Frank were here again
this year from Germany. Mat is a veterinarian; they expect to be in Klamath
Falls next year, ... maybe with a dog! Moira doesn't speak much English so
she sidled right up to Mario Beauregard and they chatted it up in French.
Moira is the handler/trainer in the family.
We got to see Mary Ellen Mazzola's new Ainley dog truck. Very nice, exactly
what she wanted. Nice spot for her boat -when she replaces the one that
flew off!- and a little sleeping quarters above the water tank. Cozy but
sweet. Mary Ellen is living part of her dream, the other part involved Art,
who we all miss.
Mike Coutu (RI) has really made his mark in Field Trials in the past 3
years. While we've known Mike for a while longer, he was sorta' unknown
when he pulled into Susanville for the 2002 Specialty. Boy do times
change. He left this Specialty with an armload of awards AND the first
prize in the raffle. He's a hard worker; he deserves what he wins.
Bruce Mitchell orchestrated a fine Specialty; certainly Pat Mitchell helped
alot. The hotel was convenient although the parking lot repaving irked some
people (our end was left untouched!) The grounds were OUTSTANDING
especially considering that NJ is the most densely populated state in the
US. The generosity of the landowners must be acknowledged; anyone with a
spare moment should consider dropping them a note of thanks. (Names inside
the premiums.)
Bruce arranged for 3 nights of dinners and activities. We like that because
it not only takes the pressure off of seeking out restaurants in a new
locale, it gives you the opportunity to socialize with everyone attending.
All 3 nights were well attended and the food was good. The company was
better.
Let me think about it for awhile, consider all the people, places and things
I've forgotten or overlooked and wrap things up later. For now, ... Fred
and Barbara, back home, done with the road (for now) worrying about
unpacking the Suburban! Cheers.
..................................
Dear Field Trial Specialty Supporters:
On behalf of the 2005 ACC Field Trial Committee, the hard working
volunteers, participants, competitors and spectators I thank each and every
one of you who bought and/or sold raffle tickets. The response was
wonderful. In the end there were ~3,000 entries in the "drum" from which
the winning tickets were plucked.
As a reminder, the winners were:
1st Prize: Mike Coutu (RI) Benelli Super Black Eagle II Shotgun (~$1,500
Retail)
2nd Prize: Ginny Sislane (MA) Tri-Tronics Pro 100 Training Collar (~$475
Retail)
3rd Prize: Ron Haynes (NY) Day's End Shur-Toss Launcher (~$300 Retail)
4th Prize: Betty Johnson (WI) Ainley Stainless Steel Crate (~$300 Retail)
Everyone else in attendance was envious!
Besides the raffle prizes, Linda Patterson arranged for dozens of door
prizes that were drawn at Wednesday's dinner. They ranged from an Ainley
stainless steel bird box to the umbrella I won! Almost everyone present
went home with a prize of some sort.
A special thanks went to the most active raffle ticket sellers I designated,
"Stellar Sellers." The Committee permitted me a little latitude and I gave
them all a piece of logo merchandise from the Specialty.
Special recognition is due to our #1 raffle ticket seller, Sandra Dollar
(WI). Again this year, Sandy beat the bushes and sold tickets to every
single person she knows or even ran into over the last 6 months. Sandy was
irrepressible. At the drawing night banquet she went table to table to make
sure there wasn't a person left who she hadn't tapped for a booklet or two
of tickets. THANK YOU Sandy. This irrepressible Stellar Seller will be
receiving another gift from the Committee in the coming weeks expressing
their thanks for her hard work and dedication.
Those of us who attended were treated to an outstanding show of field work
by dedicated field trial trainers and their Chesapeakes at a breathtaking
series of venues in and around, The Blueberry Capitol of the World,
Hammonton, NJ.
Big, giant kudos to all those hard workers -from the Chairs on down to the
"bird-boys"- who labored for months behind the scenes to make this Specialty
the success it was. Jobs well done, ladies and gentlemen!
Fred and Barbara,
Cheers. |