Puddy, on a diet again.

I tried to fly Puddy free again last night. She was awful. She was at 870 grams. Not much higher than the last time that I flew her, so she can go without for a few nights. Perhaps soon she will get the idea.

Tami and her sister Tara, came over tonight with Jasper, and of course the kids. The kids were to swim after we flew Jasper. Tami has had some scares with Jasper in that there are a pile of Barn Owls in the trees both at their house and in the trees around the houses. The little guy is on edge all the time. She was reluctant to turn him loose because of the way that he had acted last night. Here, however he did not make a bobble, coming either before or as soon as he was called.

Tami has been concerned that he wasn't made to the lure well enough to come to it in an emergency. I suggested that she increase the amount of food on the lure. Tonight she used half of a Starling breast and the wing. Nice and visible. He had flown to one of the rock jacks in the yard, ready for another call. Tami threw the lure in the yard, he took off immediately but of course the creance caught on a weed, so he diverted to her head. She jerked the line loose, and as soon as he had the slack, he flew to the lure.

While he ate we discussed today's lesson. Jasper showed none of the unease here at the house, that marked all his flights at the ranch. We decided that she would bring him here when work at the ranch allows to continue his lessons.

Tami, and Tara

Jasper finished his meal while the kids were swimming in the pool.

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Today the Firestar, Dart, proved its worth. There is a set of springs that have the appearance of being bottomless in one of the fields that the cattle are kept in at the ranch. Most of the cows stay out of them, but occasionally one of them blunders into one of them. If they are not found in a timely manner of course they eventually die. When the weather allows I generally fly over it to check. Most of the time there is nothing there, but today I spotted what I first thought was a calf in one of the potholes. It took me about four passes to decide that it was a full grown cow, but only her head and a bit of her shoulders were sticking out.

Dave, Tami's husband, took the catapillarTractor out to pull her out. That is about the only thing that will travel over the swamp and has enough guts to pull a stuck cow out of that mess. She was so tired that Dave had to prop her up with the blade. When he went back this evening to check on her, she had gotten up and moved to another part of the field.