More updates to come, but we're SO very pleased to have set up Greenhill Humane Society as our most recent retail location. We happily donated a few beautiful custom collars, so if you're out there adopting your newest best friend, consider shelling out a few extra bucks for a handsome lifetime collar to bring him home in. Every penny of the purchase price stays with Greenhill!
We hope your holidays were wonderful, we stayed busy from just after Halloween until dropping the tools and collapsing in an exhausted puddle 'round about the 22nd. That's a little dramatic, but I do have to offer a note of thanks for the patience of everyone hanging on to the edge of their seat right at the end there, and am still hoping desperately that everything made it out the door in time. In the chaos I'd forgotten to post a "last call for holiday orders" and wound up taking a few more than I probably should have for comfy shipping times... but to the best of my knowledge everything arrived in fine order, and thank you all.
We spent a lovely Christmas with my family in Northern California, stopping for an AMAZING and tragically brief visit with Jenny P. and her mama in Redding on the way home. Am hoping to sneak away for a visit with the fam again in April for my Pop's black belt test (my dad's a ninja!), and hopefully will be able to squeeze in a slumber party in Redding on the way down.
Hawking season is creeping along, we really haven't caught much of anything this year, and I'm beginning to think we're not going to get much of anything accomplished without a canine cohort. The blackberry thickets are just too handy and options for hunting ground slim. The falconry community has been hunting the same bits and corners of land in this valley for generations, and though we occasionally stumble across the right opportunity, it's hard for me to be of much service to her as a game flusher. I'd really like to add a clumber spaniel to the team, but the economy, et. al. means that may have to wait for next season, too. Meanwhile we'll keep plugging along and I'll report back when and if there's anything to tell.
On the upside of that, I did finish my apprenticeship in late September of 2009. That was right around the time we lost Jack, and I didn't announce it because I was having a hard time being stoked about much of anything. I did finish though with a very kind recommendation from my sponsor. I didn't feel like we'd gotten much done, having a very limited game count for the year, two bunnies and a half-score of tree-dwelling rodentia, but my sponsor later told me that most apprentices here never catch anything with their apprentice birds. The terrain sucks and since most of us persist in choosing to spend our apprenticeships with an RTH over ground quarry, few ever do much with their apprentice birds beyond basic husbandry and management before moving on to flying a pere or gos. So, I guess there is that to be proud about, in retrospect.
The Raw Dog (El Simon) turns six today, so Happiest of Birthdays to the canine love of my life <3
Posts
