Monday Marie’s van was making a strange noise so they dropped at the dealers then on the way home amp-meter on Tony’s dashboard went to zero and when he got home the truck wouldn’t start. Tony put the truck on the charger and got enough battery to get it started and to the garage on Tuesday morning. So, I took Marie to work and then picked Tony up at the garage and it was already warming up by the time we got back and ran Jack and Little Thuddy through Red Barn. In an earlier post I had given the Little Thudster his due when he out birded Jack. So, this time I want to make it clear that given the choice of youthful enthusiasm or years of experience — I’ll take the experienced dog every time. The Thudster is going really well handling without much effort and in fact ran the whole hour plus without Tony having to light him up once and is doing really well on his birds. He had a legitimate stop-to-flush on a grouse and a broke find on a woodcock with Jack backing. The rest of his bird work was backing drills as he got to back Jack on 5 of his 7 finds. The little sucker is getting really good at it — backing on sight and staying put until we get there.
Today we got out and it started raining. We waited out the first shower and then ran Trip in another new spot with Ginger 3. Ginger had other things on her mind and wasn’t really paying attention which kind of took her out of the mix especially since the DC-30 she was wearing became a 50 – 100 yard device. Trip had a stop-to-flush on a grouse that came out of a tree and when I sent her on to see if there were any others hanging around three more came out of the trees. Then we got LJ and Rigby ready to go at a spot just up the road. It was just sprinkling a little when we cut them loose but within a couple of minutes we could hear thunder and the skies opened. They went back in the truck and we went for breakfast early.
Now the wear indicators in my front brake pads are starting to chirp and when we pick up Tony’s truck this afternoon we’re going to have to leave mine. Maybe I’ll get LJ out on the home course if it isn’t too hot this afternoon. We also have some more quail coming to use with a couple of dogs to deal with specific issues. It seems like it’s always something.