Feels like Fall

From the house and yard you look across the valley to a large hill.  Have noticed in the last few days that it is just starting to change color.  There is a little hint of red and yellow mixed.  This morning it was 57 when I got up and that was the high for the day as a cold front came through with some heavy showers that slowed us down for a while.  The low in the morning is supposed to be in the mid-30s.  After the front passed we were able to run the rest of the dogs.  Ruby and Maggie have gone to their new homes and seemed to be settling in nicely.  Maggie had her best work out of the summer the day she left.  With three woodcock finds and a back on her new kennel mate Mike (who is a younger brother of Wild Apple Jack).  Ruby had a number of good runs before Ed headed back to Maryland with her.  We also shot a pigeon for her as Ed was curious what her reaction to the gun would be.  She ran out and grabbed the pigeon which had been hit pretty hard.  She then happily carried it around in her mouth as we led her out of the bird field.   I'll see both dogs in October when their owners come to hunt with me.

Tim was here for the weekend and was so impressed with the progress Max has made this summer that he wanted to take him on our trip to Montana.  I think Max is headed home instead where he can get some TLC before Dennis gets a chance to take him out hunting in October.  Jagger is also headed home on Tuesday via Bruce Schaffer who has been up here training and has got his string of dogs into a lot of birds.  Rafael Franco was up to see his dog Biscuit and seemed pleased with the progress that Bruce has made with him this summer.

Once Jagger and Max are gone I'll be down to a very manageable 8 dogs in the kennel.  A bunch of those will be going to Montana to visit Alex and Birdy who pointed her first covey of Huns this morning and was just a dot on the horizon in a video that Alex posted on Facebook.  It looks like I may have a couple of adult dogs for sale in the near future.  I'll post particulars here once I know for sure whose going to be available when.