weekend update

The season is now upon us. Sadly, not bird season just as yet... but the Hunt Test season, at least. I took the boys up to Cape Cod again this weekend. Crane WMA is just gorgeous at this time of year, with beautiful flowers and interesting smells. You can get a nice sense of them from this pic of Ivan watering Fruska (who earned her fourth Master Hunter leg this weekend; just one more to go).

This weekend was a little different because a) Jozsi has qualified as a Junior Hunter and doesn't have the skill-set for Senior Hunter yet, b) because hunt tests drive both boys a little nuts when they do them back-to-back in a weekend, I decided that c) I would run Momo on each of the next two Saturdays and judge JH on the next two Sundays. So this weekend was the Mayflower GSP Club fall hunt test and next weekend is 'our' Vizsla Club of Central New England hunt test.

After spending way too much money on hotels and motels last year, we decided to invest in a family tent and some decent sleeping pads so we could camp out. We christened the Kelty Green River 4 in torrential rain in NH at the VCCNE Annual Meeting -- and it survived the remnants of two hurricanes this weekend. While there are some flat spots in the roof that gather water in heavy rain and more guy-lines and heavier tent-stakes would be nice, and besides watching the tent appear to inhale and exhale at around 4:30am this morning, everything worked out. While Meg has yet to test the sheer awesomeness of the PacoPad, if you are rafting, canoe-camping, or car-camping like we are, these are the absolute Mac-Daddy of sleeping pads. And pretty much dognail-proof.

We had pitched out tent in the trailer 'compound'... which meant that if we really had looked like we were going to take off, we could have bailed out into either Jeff + Val's, Ivan + Marlena's, or Manny + Stephanie's trailers. This picture is of M+S's Baron and I+M's Bella... a couple of grand, older vizslas.

So, despite intermittent showers and gusty breezes, despite a bird flushing over his head and behind him, Momo sailed through the third leg of his SH with flying colors. He is definitely a little steadier on point and reliable to stop-to-flush -- and I was very pleased with him. I am still trying to break him of going for the retrieve on the bird-fall, but a hunt test isn't the place to be doing that.

And finally, here is our first picture of Sally + Dennis's new puppy, Tucker. With Sally about to deliver her first litter of pups as well, their house is about to get really crazy. It was great to see the little guy getting his first whiffs of quail and getting all fired-up.

And so, the season is upon us! We head back up to the Cape next weekend, as well. Hopefully we'll have just as much fun!