Mary's Diary of the 2007 NAC December 10, Monday 5:00 CST  Sunday's flight was uneventful, my dog was happy to be out of the kennel and there was six to eight inches of snow in my yard to shovel and snow blow.  I am back to work.  I have more pictures to post from Wed, Thurs and Friday.  I will work on them as I can and update the Main Photo page as I go.  I am looking forward to finishing them so I can look at Nadine's photos as I have not yet had the chance.  We hope you have enjoyed the National Amateur almost as much as we have.  If you have suggestions on how to improve our coverage please let us know.  You may email us at ess@essft.com.  Thanks for being there for us.  Mary Kemper December 9, Sunday 6:00 am PST  I am at the Spokane airport awaiting my 7:10 am flight to Minneapolis, Minnesota.  With a 4:00 am wake up call and my flight out looming I woke up almost every hour worried that I had overslept.  The judges left Saturday with Janet Christensen.  It is a three hour drive from Chelan to Spokane.  I had time to take the scenic route and see the Grand Coulee dam.  The last few days have gone by in a blur.  Three birds in the third series allowed some dogs to shine, others to survive and still others to have their National over for the year.  We enjoyed new scenery for the fifth series.  The mountainous terrain was covered with sage brush (throughout all the series but predominant in the fifth).  Brushing against the sagebrush set off a splash of sage scent.  The placements are done.  I was sure Bill Willett would collapse before he got up to the judges to accept his blue ribbon.  After a bear hug from Marty Knibbs he was able to accept and hold his ribbon and even say a few words.  Thank you to the Jan and Daryl Johnson and Bob Childs for putting on a very nice trial.  Thanks to the judges, Chuck Nelson and Paul McGagh, who gave up their chance to compete in the trial so they could judge.  Thank the Lord for not burying us in snow every single day of the trial too! December 5, Wednesday 4:15 PST  It is a perfect day for trialing.  The original courses for the third and fourth series (quite a way from the first and second series grounds and farther from the hotel)  were replaced with grounds directly across the road from the first and second series grounds.  No moving!  Yes!  We had a long hike out to the beginning of the course and a very long course.  It is good they have lots of good food on the grounds. December 4, Tuesday  4:30 am We are up early to try to post some pictures before the trial starts.  The wind picked up throughout the morning and was gusting by afternoon.  Some of the dogs thrived on it but it was just too much for others so listening to their handler was difficult for them. December 3, 2007 Monday  -  It is Pat Nelson's birthday today!!!  Happy birthday Pat!! Up at 5:00 to get ready, eat and leave with the caravan at 6:00.  As the 'goat trail' is treacherous we are taking the long way and leaving early.  Bob Ryan (gunner) was bummed at breakfast as his lost luggage was to be here at 5:00 am but did not arrive.  He came in on Saturday but his luggage went on a longer trip.  He says he washes his undies out every night but we are getting skeptical.  He wears Roy Hopkins' pants, Lea Ames' shirt, orange vest from Nadine Kohn and an assortment of begged, borrowed or stolen items.  His gun went with his luggage..... The snow is melted rapidly with the rain throught out the day. The buffet banquet was delicious.  We were able to browse through the silent auction array of items before and after the banquet.  Pro Plan high point amateur and puppy awards were given out by Dean Reinke with Pat Bramwell's assistance.  Pat Bramwell took high point Rocky Mountain interclub, overall high point and the LASHA (high point lady handler) award.  More information on the awards page soon. It was 10:30 by the time we got back to the room with the callbacks through dog number 91.  Once those were posted we did not get much time for photos before we were falling asleep.  December 2, 2007 Sunday 8:30 am (PST)  Delegates meeting There was not a quorum for the parents club meeting.  Steve asked if anyone had issues they wanted the parent club to be aware of.  No one had any items to discuss. Training began after the delegates meeting.  It continued to snow throughout the day.  The welcome reception and calcutta start at 6:30 PM (PST).  December 1, 2007 Saturday, 9:00 am (PST) I headed out to the Minneapolis (Minnesota) airport with light snow falling and cold (20's).  Imagine my surprise when I found Chuck and Pat Nelson waiting to board my flight to Spokane.  We finally boarded our 11:15 (CST) flight at 11:30 and sat on the ground for 2 hours and 30 minutes before we finally left due to icing and engine icing problems.  Janet Christensen and Paul McGagh were waiting for us when we fnally landed at 3:00 (PST) (we gained two hours).  We arrived in Chelan three and a half hours later after driving through periods of snow and snow covered roads.  I think the scenery was awesome but it was hard to tell in the dark with the snow.  Ithought it was a long day.  Pat and Chuck had gotten up at 3:30 am to get to the airport in Madison Wisconsin and then went out to dinner at 7:30 pm.  A twenty  hour day for Chuck and Pat! 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