I decided yesterday that it’s probably a good thing that it’s going to warm up today and tomorrow and we’re probably done skijoring for the season. Jack and LJ have definitely gained in conditioning. Yesterday, in a 40 minute run they put me in the bushes twice as we went too fast around a couple corners. It felt like the old days when I used to water ski a lot and the boat would turn sharply forcing you to go even faster as centrifugal force pushed you out away from the wake. Next winter I’m going to have to lay out a course with fewer turns.
I had an interesting e-mail correspondence yesterday with a guy that was interested in buying Wild Apple Deuce. He wanted to know what the difference was between Jack and Deuce. My response was: “The difference between Deuce and many good grouse dogs and Jack is hard to describe but obvious when you see it. Deuce is like a good journeyman player on any professional baseball team. He can play at the highest level but is not a superstar. Jack plays the same game and even the same position but would be the highest paid member of which
ever team he played on.”
The more I thought about that the more accurate I believe it is. It is hard to describe the difference between a big league player who hits 300 and earns a golden glove and one who hits .275 and is solid in the field. In baseball we have lots of stats to measure performance over a season or a career, but on a day-to-day basis if you’re sitting in the bleachers you may not be able to discern the difference.