The Crones' Chronicle

Early Morning Coffee

Linda & Lisbeth — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:29:51 +0000

Coffee, a good book, and lying in with the pups is how we start our day at the Rockin’ Lazy Journey. Note: Foster pup, Cross/Kiha has acclimated well to WanderCrones household! Perhaps…too well??

Nicomodes Sheepdog Trial

Linda — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:08:04 +0000

We’ve just returned from Monte Vista, Colorado, site of the Nicomodes Sheepdog Trial. Although Liddy and Linda weren’t on their game this past weekend, we all had a great time anyway! The sheep were tough and the field was deceptively tricky to even attempt to stay on-line. We got around the course each day…even made our sheds and one pen! But, no cigar. As they say, “that’s dog trialing!” Back to the drawing board and trying to chalk up our 10,000 hours of practice!
PS Lisbeth and I got in TWO rounds of golf in Monte Vista. Cute little 9 hole course with some very difficult greens. And,…inexpensive, too!
Thanks Dan and Tina for your hospitality! And, special thanks to Dan for letting me work sheep at his ranch! Time well spent!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kelley Creek Farm Sheepdog Trial

Linda & Lisbeth — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:53:56 +0000

Just returned from Kelley Creek in Huntsville, Utah. Had a really wonderful time. The folks at the Farm sure know how to treat us handlers and our dogs! Thanks to all who worked so hard behind the scenes to make it a success.
Here is a little postcard-video of what it all was like (plus top ten results in Open).

Click here to view the embedded video.

North Dakota Sheepdog Trials

Linda & Lisbeth — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:03:55 +0000

In early June, we took a trip up to Bowman, North Dakota for the Slash J and The Big One Sheepdog Trials. Awesome trials. Long outruns, drives, etc. and three range ewes. Incredibly challenging. Beautiful country. Nice weather. Had a very wonderful time. Here’s some film footage of one of Liddy’s runs. She ran her heart out and then some. What a good girl she is! Brought me sheep three out of the four trials and got around the course and to the shedding ring and/or pen three out of the four trials. At Slash J she placed 5th in a 3-way tie (ultimately 8th based on outwork). So, not too shabby for the girl’s fourth trial in Open!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lisbeth also started a “tapas night” tradition while at The Big One. Looking forward to the next one!

Special thanks to all the organizers of the trials and all of the crews! Job well done!

Cool app for Sheepdog Trialers with iPhones!

Linda & Lisbeth — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:30:35 +0000

Definitely try this one. Good mental practice during down times while waiting for your turn to run! It’s a hoot!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Earthquake in San Felipe

Linda & Lisbeth — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:46:35 +0000

The epi-center of the quake struck about 70 miles from our place north of San Felipe. It was pretty frightening. We don’t know the official times, but, we could swear it lasted at least a minute plus. We were visiting our friend, Millie, over in the electric section of El Dorado Ranch when it hit. At first we thought the winds were picking up again from off of the mountains. Then, things began to shake, sway, and heave up and down. Buildings and electrical poles heaved back and forth and up and down. We are in a sparsely populated area, and the buildings are all single level. So, we didn’t experience the devastation felt in Mexicali and surrounding communities. Our place was fine. Here is a video taken at about the epicenter of quake by some people who happened to be traveling north on highway 5 when it hit. Pretty amazing footage.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sheep Trial Preparations

Linda & Lisbeth — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:05:03 +0000

The last several weeks have been spent preparing for the On-the-Border Sheepdog Trial, here in Campo, California at Jennifer and Ron Ewer’s place. Everyone has been busy drawing the run order and getting that information out to everyone; ordering and collecting food for the crew and the judge; cleaning up the trial field; moving and setting up the set-out pen; tarping the set-out and exhaust pens; preparing for parking; cleaning out stock tanks; repairing equipment; setting up port-a-potties; moving sheep around; and, on and on and on.

The range sheep, all 278 of them got here yesterday. And, they’ve been run through the set-out pen and chutes several times. They look big and healthy and challenging.

Wednesday has been scheduled as the day to set the course. We should begin to see trialers rolling in about then, or, on Thursday. Looking forward to seeing old friends again.

Christmas Healhcare Song

Linda & Lisbeth — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:16:44 +0000

Saw this on moveon.org today. Thought we’d share it with everyone. Merry Christmas, Happy Winter Solstice, and Happy New Year to everyone!

Landed in Campo, California

Lisbeth — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:01:41 +0000

Thursday, November 26, 2009- We arrived at Jennifer and Ron’s about 4:30 pm yesterday. Was so good to see them; it had been a year. Family had already begun to arrive. Funny how before we bought our first RV, we did not know people who traveled and “camped” that way. Now most everyone we travel and hang out with has an RV!! What an assortment from small pop-ups to three axel fifth wheels to three slide-out motorhomes. Today we have seven RVs set-up here.

Last night Ron started the fire in the pit where the turkeys are cooking. It has a steel plate on the bottom and top. The turkeys are triple wrapped in foil after bring seasoned with salt, garlic salt, and pepper. They were put-in at 1:00 am and will be taken out at 11:00 am. When we finished dinner last night with everyone, Cathy, Kenny, and Sue were making massive amounts of stuffing.

Ron retrieving turkey from the pit

When we set up yesterday we could not get the satellite internet dish to tune in. We thought after the weekend we might have to move tne coach and find a clear spot to the southern sky. This morning linda decided to try again. Rather than staring at the modem waiting for the four blue lights to go on, she left to show Jennifer her Kindle. J. wants to buy one for Ron for Christmas. While she was gone, the dish tuned the satellite in and all the lights are blue. Hurray!!

Catching up from Gila Bend, AZ

Lisbeth — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:54:21 +0000

Wednesday, November 25,2009- We’ve been in Gila Bend, AZ for a few days. We came down from Ft. Collins. We connected with Judy and Ron Brundage. Ron installed our automatic satellite internet last November. We needed an adjustment done to the mount so it would track properly when we put it down. We have been really pleased with the system. Sure is nice not to have to climb up on the roof to aim the dish and pick up the satellite signal. We also have internet and email services on our iPhones. Would be less expensive if we could rely on them for internet, but we still spend a lot of our time in areas where the cell phone service is poor to nonexistent and in Mexico the internet dish is a must. We are hoping that since we have changed to ATT for our cell phone service, we will be able to use the iPhones in Mexico. Last winter we bought a Telnet cell phone in San Felipe with prepaid minutes . We were able to sign up for a service that made calls to the US/Canada very reasonable, one dollar US for 15 minutes. We shared the phone with friends. It takes 6 weeks to get the US/Canada calling program operational on the Mexico cell phone. We will be in Mexico the first part of January. We will buy a second phone ($50 US) and put 50 minutes ($30 US) and apply for the US calling package. By the time Sharron and Lynda arrive in late February, we will be able to give them a phone that has the US/Canada calling package. The Mexico cell phone really helps coordinating our “busy schedule” of events.
We are heading today for Campo, CA and our friends Jennifer and Ron’s place. We will share Thanksgiving with them and family. We have not been able to do this for the past few years, and have really missed it. Jennifer is cooking a turkey in the oven- ah, the smells. Ron is cooking two turkeys in the ground. We have not had turkey cooked that way, so will be a treat. They are both really good cooks!
We will stay at their place through Christmas and the “on the border snowbirds sheepdog trial “over New Year’s. Jennifer is a highly successful handler and trainer. She has been Linda’s coach for five years. Our dog Liddy is from her breeding. Linda will have the chance to work with her on finishing the training for Liddy to move to the open class, and Gabi to begin competing. Hopefully, Linda will also get to work with Tristan and get him ready to compete in the pronovice class. Finn and Fly have chosen retirement. I plan on spending my time golfing, reading, and cooking. I want to make and decorate Christmas cookies.