I will say that I feel more in the flow with Frye in JWW. This is the opposite of Braddock, where I felt we always had an easier time on STD courses. The issue with Frye and STD is that I don't feel confident on her contacts. In hindsight, I wish I had just trained a "bottom" on the Aframe from the beginning. I think having one set of criteria for the teeter and dogwalk, and another for the Aframe just wasn't working. So, I am now teaching a "bottom" on the Aframe. Also, in trials, I think she has learned quickly that she is not reinforced for the "bottom" and therefore has not been committed to it. And finally, I find that she's not focusing on the criteria, but rather focusing on me (as I'm the one the reinforcement comes from at home). Thus, I am having to adjust my training and make sure the target is in place and the reward is not coming from my hand. Another concern I have is that she doesn't have the confidence in STD as she does in JWW. She's quick over the Aframe, but more cautious over the dogwalk and even more cautious over the teeter. I am going to have to work on building value for those latter two obstacles.
Thus, while I am ecstatic that she got her Novice STD title, I am also a little remiss that the run was so heavily managed. No, I do not believe she is ready for open STD, but at the same time, I am going to move her up so that I can quickly get her on 12 weaves and hope to have a little more handling options in the course than one has in Novice.
We took the 95 N route to Bar Harbor KOA from NH. Weather was much cooler in Maine. We arrived at the KOA Bar Harbor Oceanside, site 272 the best site in the campground. Right on the water. I would say the campground in total has a typical KOA campground feel to it. But, if you luck out to get a nice site on the water, the campground takes on a completely different feel. The campground is not far from the town of Bar Harbor. The cost of the campground is really for that water view and the proximity to Bar Harbor. We headed into town and mom and dad got crabcake and lobster roll sandwiches from our favorite fresh seafood place Peekytoe Provisions. Russ and I got fresh Scottish salmon to put into a salad. On our next trip to Peekytoes we ate the amazing crab cakes and crab bisque for lunch. The bisque was amazing and we recommend paying the $2 extra for more crab meat in the bisque. We were here last fall and had a cafe we loved for popove...
The Winchester area has always been one we've struggled to enjoy as a destination. It's a great venue for agility, but the lodging has been lackluster. Normally we stay at Candy Hill with the RV, but we don't enjoy it. The campground is an easy-in, easy-out, right off the interstate. That is the only positive. Forget about late check-out - they nickel and dime you for every minute. Once we left 15 minutes late, but didn't worry about it until a young kid started chasing our RV on foot to retrieve the $2.00 owed for being late. As far as the campground amenities and aesthetics, there isn't much to speak of. This trip, we decided to try somewhere different - Skyline Ranch Resort. It was a significant improvement in primarily location. The views of the skyline are breathtaking. We stayed in site 132 (the row 130-132 is easy to get set up and rather level, but there isn't any shade). There is another row on the other si...
We finally decided to improve the kitchen. We had golden oak hardwood cabinets and a green/blue laminate countertop. The cabinets did not have any decorative moulding and they were all uniform - no dimensionality. The island had a raised bar portion that was raised 10 inches high. I don't have a picture of that, but below is the picture with the bar raise cut down to only4 inches. Step 1 was to have some dimensionality in the cabinet above the microwave and over the fridge. In addition, we added a light rail moulding at the bottom of the cabinets and decorative crown moulding on the top. Cabinet over fridge has been pushed out Cabinet over microwave has been pushed out Some other things needing to change were the fluorescent light above the island, the chandelier above the table (the light shades were relocated to the den fan), the old white appliances, and the stainless steel sink faucet. The cabinets were in great con...
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