Sonoma SDT: Day 1

My editor is demanding copy and all I have is an iPhone.

Yesterday’s trial was a wet one. A driving rain persisted all day. The morale at trial suffered. Hands hunkered down in any available dry place. The socializing, an enjoyable part of west going was a disappointment.

The sheep were not a disappointment. Plump, resourceful, testing, consistent, They made the sort of trial expected of Sonoma. The judge on the hill field was Frank Cashen. The judge on the flat, Barbara Ray. Everything was tricky for sheep and terrain. The rain soaked the fields and became more of a factor late in the day, with water water everywhere. Clive leads my field with a 96 of 110. It would appear he liked his stay with Sandi Anderson in California. My thrilling run, though not as good, came with Roz, who stayed with a bent minded ewe at her sheds and her penning . It careened back and forth: she stayed with it for every turn, like the girl of mine she is. We dried off at Sandy and Arthur’s fire I joined the Howard’s for supper at Mont’s in Santa Rosa.


Overnight a powerful wind took down a gigantic live oak at the ranch gate and blocking Calistoga road. Out with the chainsaws!