Urban Tracking (149) & Field (57)

On Saturday, September 14th, I laid a short track at Mom's. I usually lay them at Flaming Geyser park on Mom weekends, but it was raining hard when I got to the turn, so I headed straight to Mom's. When I got there the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. There was no breeze and the temp was 69º. I aged the track for 90 minutes.

Gimme had no problem on the track and found all the articles readily. Mom's property is in a very rural area and there's often wildlife passing through. Recently a bobcat tried to take-out Mom's cat, just 4-feet from the house. Gimme showed no sign of noting or caring about any wildlife smells. The track through the dense woods was all on needles and very dark - Gimme breezed through and easily found the article there. After the wood was a turn on the blacktop and curve around some trees to the final article. I thought the track might be more challenging; clearly I thought wrong.

On Thursday, September 19th, Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser. It was a cool day with no breeze. I asked her to lay a reverse of the last track, which she was already doing when I arrived. I went to the far end of the park and laid tracks for Cricket and Sugar in the picnic area, which is all mown grass. This area is also close to the river, so it presents some interesting challenges. 

The temp was 70º when we ran our track after 2-hours-15-minutes. Gimme had some difficulty with the first corner. It was in a low area and close to the river, so the scent was doing strange things and she had to work it out. From there she turned, found an article, crossed the road, turned, found an article, turned up the path through the woods - all without a hitch. When we came out of the woods she was determined to go straight ahead, instead of turning left. If I hadn't known the track turned left here, she might have sucked me into the field ahead and might not have gotten back. Once we did make the turn, she crossed another road and made the turn toward the end. Just as she had the last time we tracked here, Gimme was drawn out toward the field in the same area where the incoming road T'd against the other road. I'm not sure what the air is doing here, but her response was consistent with the last time, two weeks earlier. Once she got past this area, she drove quickly to the final article.

I'm so glad to be out of pollen time. I'm sure Gimme is happier too.