Amazing what just 24 hours can do to New England weather! Today it is rainy all morning while I’m at work, hard rain and moderate rain. Just plain rain. After work I come back up to lay a track in the field that was mowed about a month ago and is now ankle to mid calf in height. It is 76 F and lightly raining with a slight breeze from the the mountain to the East. I bring Bea up later and while it is still 76 F and overcast, it is only sprinkling. A first for this field, there is NO wind at all. The first leg run up a slight hill and is about 6-10 feet from the tall grassy edge of the field. Bea has no trouble at all with this leg for most of the length. Close to the end of the leg the field opens up to the left and as we pass the end of the tall grass edge, Bea briefly circles , primarily to the left and then tracks well again. She indicates the open right turn nicely but as is her habit of late she circles left and ahead a bit to confirm her decision befor recommiting. This leg goes down a slight hill into a valley/hollow between hills and as expected as Bea hits the bottom of this hollow she briefly searches left and right with the drift/pooling of scent. She eats some grass and then tracks out of the hollow and finds the first article (Blue leather) very happily. The track then continues in a straight line somewhat diagonally up a steeper hill. It heads straight for the woods but instead of entering the woods, it just goes a couple feet into the tall grass edging it and turns right just 1 ½’ from a deer trail. Of late I have heard this approaching an obstacle but not entering it called “Obstacle denied” and it makes sense. The dog should be using it’s nose on the track and NOT assuming that the track enters or passes through said obstacle. At this corner I expect some issues and I get some but not many. OF course she checks the deer trail a bit. Then she searches the woods edge left and right attempting to find where I enter. Be then circles behind me for a bit, then left again and then right and finds the leg fine, starts down it and comes back to reconfirm before heading down the leg which runs in the tall grass. This leg runs along the top of the hill just inside the tall grassy edge between field and forest, sometimes near and sometimes on the deer trail. Bea usually does tall stuff fine but the deer throws her a bit. She stays mostly on the track with only minor hesitations and side checking. At the point where there is a steep drop off just inside the forest she does some more elaborate checking both sides of the track and shortly after we get to the corner, a right which she has no trouble with at all and she even forgets to reconfirm it. We come out onto the previously mown field again and head down a fairly steep incline back into the hollow mentioned previously (but further down of course). Bea has zero trouble with this leg and just as she hits the hollow there is an article, a yellow bandana. Oh Joy! Bea does some searching back and forth in the pooling and drifted scent of the hollow and then heads out and finds the left corner just before the hollow ends easily. She oly circles once to the right and then drags me along this leg that runs partially down the hollow and up a tiny incline to the flat area. We head straight towards the farm road which is edged with tall grass and I can tell Bea thinks we will cross it. Again though the track goes right up to the tall grass and takes an acute left away. Bea checks the tall grass, briefly checks the road, checks the tall grass up and down a couple times and then finds the corner. Circles around to confirm and off we go. This is a short leg that runs right up to the small incline into the hollow and the glove is just over the crest of this. HAPPINESS! Not a bad track at all. Total length 530 yards and it is 2 ½ hours old
