BevLive: not quite what we had in mind

Not quite what either Amanda or I had in mind. Mirk did great gathers and had a good drive going into what felt like the teeth of a gale. He got to the first drive panel, where the sheep didn't want to go. Because of the wind he couldn't hear me clearly and the sheep wouldn't go, so he bit one to get them moving and we were disqualified. Disappointing needless to say.

Really good run by Tom Wilson and Sly. Really nothing wrong, a weavy line here or there but very tidy. He was tenth up and it ended up easily being the winner. Faansie had two good runs (both with problems) that got him 2nd and 3rd. Bill Berhow had a run as tidy as Tom's but lost a collared sheep and never finished shedding to finish 4th.

Amanda ran last. Clive needed multiple redirects on the first outrun, which was really the hardest part of the course. Whether it was the difficult first outrun throwing him off his game or he didn't feel well, he just didn't run like his usual self. He got very confused on the turn back which should have been easy for him. In the end he had a pretty mediocre run and Amanda ended a disappointing 6th.

So we haven't peaked yet. I was not displeased with my dog. He needed to move the sheep and he did. I wish he had found another way of doing it, but he got things going and I'm proud of him for that. The sheep were right pigs for him.

We don't know what happened with Clive–his performance was very uncharacteristic so we need to wait for Meeker and hope he was having an off day.

We all met in the lodge to sign commemorative posters from the trial and receive our checks and say good bye. Most of us are going on to Meeker but a few are off home, including Sue in the morning. Tom took us all out for dinner afterwards. Tomorrow we finish packing up and head six hours east to Meeker, Colorado to our next big test.