On Thursday, July 2nd, Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser. I asked her to recreate the track from June 18th; the one where Gimme had some issues. The track she laid was very similar, but not exact. The temperature was about 65º and we only aged it for 60 minutes.Gimme did a great job on it. She was slower to make the first turn and cross the road. From there she followed the track almost exactly. She did a great job on the second road crossing.
The track she had difficulty with was 75º and we aged it for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The other issue is pollen at this time of year. I've talked to my honey man and he is trying to get me some bee pollen. It won't be as good as what I've gotten from him, but it is regional and I hope it will help some.
On Saturday, July 4th, I laid a simple track for Gimme at my mother's house. It was 68º and aged for 1 hour. It was just a simple square around the house, with articles on every leg. The main purpose for the track was to see how she would do with the distraction of all the firecrackers going off in the neighborhood. It sounded like downtown Chicago. Gimme has always been really solid on noisy stuff, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to track with all the popping noise. She was every bit as good as I expected. She was sitting in the car for an hour listening to it, so when she got to track, she paid no attention to it. She took her time getting started on a bit of gravel leading right across asphalt. Once she did, she was like a tracking machine to the end.
On Thursday, July 9th, we met at the Auburn Cinema. It was taped off (probably to prevent it from being used for illegal fireworks), so we used parking lots on the backside of the mall. They had been taped off, but the tape was down already and while we were tracking, mall personnel removed the remaining tape.
The track was mostly island serpentines, with a few short crossings. Gimme was not as skilled as she's been in the past. In her defense we haven't been practicing much urban tracking. It had drizzled the night before and early morning, so I hoped it would hold scent better and help with the pollen. If it helped, it wasn't evident. Gimme really had to work to solve this track.
We need to get back to including the parking lot tracks, but it may be awhile. The reason we left off was the potty issue. In the past here, I've been able to go to a nearby McDonalds to use their restroom (and buy a drink), but right now we can't. Likewise at Game Farm Park their restrooms are locked. Oddly the restrooms are open at Flaming Geyser, so I guess the China virus is not as great a risk at a state park, vs. a city park. Who knew?
No comments:
Post a Comment