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| Our 2010 started off in January at the NPA Grand National in Utah. The NPA stands for National Pigeon Assn and this is their premier show, kind of like Westminster for dogs. We only took a few birds, but we did very well at the show, considering it was the first big show we've been to. The West of England Tumblers placed well in their classes and Natalya's rollers did well too. One won her class and was Best Young Birmingham Roller and the other placed second in a big class. It was a fun trip, visiting people and the frozen custard store. February we had another pigeon show in the Karcher mall where a young black West I bred took Best in Show. Natalya and I flew back to the Borzoi National Specialty in May in Kentucky. We helped the first two days at the ASFA/AKC lure trials. It was wet but warm. We had a wonderful time in the field with many beautiful Borzoi. On the third day, we were ring stewards for the obedience and rally trial. I don't think we could have HAD more fun! Natalya showed a friend's young Borzoi bitch and won an impressively huge class and on to Best Junior Bitch in Futurity! It was a very nice win. I came home after 4 days of Borzoi madness, but Natalya stayed out to do juniors. While she was gone, Jay and I went to drive an Acura TSX and ended up buying it, so Natalya had a little surprise when we picked her up at the airport! Jay's new car is pearl green with a beautiful tan interior. It was his well deserved present for graduating from college in December 2009. Unfortunately, he was rearended over off of Cole Road by an inattentive driver 5 months after getting the car. Rick's Autobody did an outstanding job of repairing it. Jay was not hurt physically in the accident. All three pups, Dilly Pickle, Robin, and Reefer ran and titled for Junior Courser in Blackfoot in May. It was a chilly trial. We went through spring pretty well though it was a rainy one for most accounts. Natalya and her dog, Francesca, worked hard for a long time to get the final legs on their CD, which is an obedience degree. Can you believe they had back to back qualifying scores and finished up in June in fine style? That's quite an accomplishment for such a young lady. I believe Natalya may be the youngest handler to ever obtain this title on a Borzoi. The Canyon County Fair rolled around - my 4-H girls as usual worked hard to get ready for it. For the first time in all these years, Natalya did not qualify for Round Robin, but she enjoyed helping her friends get ready. As it turned out, I was selected as a last minute judge for the dog portion of Round Robin. Natalya did well at the fair nonetheless. Rita and Natalya took Reserve Grand Champion Obedience, her chukar took Best Game Bird in Show, and her West of England, Butter, took Best Pigeon in Show and RESERVE Best in Show all bird species! I took Grand Champion Parent in Poultry Showmanship for the second year in a row with Butter. Jay took off for his annual climb the mountain trip. This year's selection was Hyndman Peak at 12,009 feet. This rugged beauty lies in the Pioneer range, which is located southeast of Sun Valley. Now he has three of Idaho's 12 tallest peaks under his belt. We had fun all summer with the 69 Chevelle. We went to all of the "Chicken Run" non-judged car shows over the spring and summer. We spent many a Saturday night at Patty's Drive-in, some with the car, some without. One of the fun things we did was race matchbox cars. Jay has a very impressive record, winning one and taking reserve at a couple with his convertible 70 Chevelle. Our highlight of the year was undoubtedly driving the 69 to RoeAnn's cruise for the first time in July. We also drove it to the memorable Payette cruise in early September. Next was the Western Idaho Fair. Natalya qualified for District with her Dramatic Reading, "Every Dog Should Own a Man." She took a blue at District, which is very nice. She didn't qualify with her other demo, "Guitar Parts," but it was good for her anyway to do two oral presentations. Natalya made up for dog showmanship at the WiF, taking the Statesman Award for Best Showman with our brindle Borzoi, Dilly Pickle. She also placed Reserve Pigeon Showman at the poultry show. Fairs are always fun and I got to judge two this year: Gem County Fair where I judged about 21 kids in obedience, and Twin Falls County fair, where I judged about 20 kids in sub-novice and novice classes. Natalya and I trained in rally advanced with a few friends in Caldwell. We entered the local shows in October and were both happy to both do well in Rally Advanced. I had Tulane and Natalya had Francesca. Although we both obtained qualifying scores, I was heartbroken to learn I had put Frank and Natalya in the wrong class; the AKC took their RA title away. On a happy note, Natalya won her open intermediate junior showmanship class and placed on the other day of three days of showing. She did not show all four days. She plays soccer for Middleton Gold on Saturdays. Our club lure trials were fun; Juls came down and we dressed as punk rockers on Sunday because it was halloween. Robin took breed on Saturday and Reefer took breed on Sunday. The last pigeon show of the year was the club's show in November. I was delighted that a homebred bird took breed in Wests (about 38 entered in that breed alone) and on to Reserve Best in Show under judge Keith Casteel. We've been doing some work on the house - in addition to the new windows we had installed last year, we got a new roof this year. Pretty awesome! Natalya and I painted the dining/kitchen area a beautiful blue and bought new curtains for the kitchen and the living room. That's about the wrap up here for us. We look forward to new adventures in 2011 and seeing old friends as well as making new ones. |
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