As mentioned before we left Olga and I went out to Texas for the birth of our second grandchild. Being a parent is one of the true blessings in life, becomming a grandparent is the reward for all the hard work you put in to your children and for growing old. This is our second grandaughter and I can tell you one thing, I am one very proud pappa!
I got home from Seattle last night about 2 AM, it was cloudy when I pulled in to the driveway but still hoped for clear skies this morning so I could resume training after taking a 5 day break and visit out in Texas. This morning it was heavy overcast with light rain so the birds were loft flown. Hopefully in the morning it will be nice enough to take the birds down the road so we can get this show back on the road.
As long as the smoke stays out of our area, we should be able to have the activation race at the very end of this month or the first few days in to September. We reduced our intake this year from 4 months to only 2 so we could start training a month earlier than we have in the past. The last two years we have advertised a optional 400 miler but it just has not been feasible due to when we have finished our final races which were already in to the winter months. Here in central WA we can have mild winters some years, but when we get out to 350 we are releasing down in northern CA and a 400 will be just this side of Mount Shasta, folks the weather down there is brutal starting as early as October. Again, this is why we stopped taking birds this year in April whereas we took birds through May in the past, just gives us another 30 days of wiggle room to get these races in before it becomes pretty much impossible due to snow, fog, and icy road conditions.
Once we have a few more 15 mile tosses, or maybe just one more depending on how it goes tomorrow, progression shoud go pretty smoothly.
Remeber, we are offering two optional categories this year called the Silver and Gold, the main race is the Bronze and all birds must be entered. When Olga gets back from Texas on the 14th and well before the activation race she will put a form on our main page that will be printable for those of you who will be mailing in paper forms of payment. For those of you paying via PayPal which is our only form of electronic payment, you will be able to pay for your Silver and Gold separately from the Bronze.
Rick & Olga (Proud Grandparents)
The birds were released starting at 0800 and the last group of six groups at 0900. There was about a 10 MPH head wind out of the west, the birds flew directly west in to the wind.
The birds will be given baths this afternoon after all have trapped, a few still out screwing around because they feel good!
Olga and I head out next week for a few days to be with our daughter for the birth of her second child. I come back after a few days and will resume training, Olga and Angelina return on the 14th of August. Hopefully I will have time to go visit Lelton at the Texas Dash For Cash, he is about 45 minutes from where our daughter and her family live in San Antonio.
If I do not update again while out in Texas just always remember, pigeons are always on my mind and I really look forward to progressing with y'alls pigeons when I get back! When we get out to about 50 miles that is where the fun really starts for us here!
Rick & Olga
Good morning breeders!
Today the birds were released between 0820-0900 in 6 different groups. They are still clocking in while posting this, looks like all are here just waiting on the last 800 to go in
The birds will be trained again on Sunday, this will be the last toss before Olga and I head to to Texas for the birth of our daughter's second child. We will be gone the 1st through the 5th of August, the birds will be loft flown a few days when we return then we will resume training shooting for an activation race right before Labor Day weekend which is the start of dove season.
Birds are looking great!
We think we are on the right track to having our clocking issue resolved. The clock is working, however times are being combined. We put a call in to Scott with TauRIS, so between Scott and Olga we should have this fixed by tomorrow.
The birds were tossed again from 8 miles, same spot as on Monday. The mornings have been cooler lately so the birds just want to fly, fly, fly! As mentioned before, as we increase distance trapping will take care of itself due to thirst and increased calorie burn.
Have a great day!
The birds had a 8 mile toss yesterday, most had no problem with it but a few struggled. We are keeping the trainer running through today to pick up a few birds who will come in this morning. There were 3 that came in before we let the birds out to loft fly and more should follow, one was completely missing a tail so they must of been hit by a bird of prey.
Plan is to return to the same place to release tomorrow.
We have dropped to mid 80s this week instead of mid 90s like we had last week, the birds are really responding well to the weather change flying high and long.
We conducted the 5th toss today about 2.5 miles south of the loft. Today there was very little circeling, the pretty much shot toward the loft as soon as they were released.
The birds were released in 6 groups today, we will continue to do this until further notice.
We will be attending a racing pigeon seminar/auction, and general BS session tomorrow so the birds will get a day off. The birds will be fed early tomorrow morning and we will resume training Sunday, probably from the same spot.
Good morning again from the Apple Cup!
Today the birds were released in 6 groups starting at 0805 about 5-7 minutes apart. At the time of writing this we have half of the birds trapped in and it looks like half outside. On short tosses such as these they like to circle around checking out the area especially if it is new to them, when they get home many continue to fly. This is a good thing, it shows they are healthy and ready for more distance. Once we get to around 60 miles there usually is not much circling around as their appetites increase with more calories being burned on their way home.
We have mentioned the above several times, some do not read updates daily so this is why we often times reiterate the same points so there is no confusion.
Game plan is to return to the same place tomorrow, Saturday attend a pigeon function in OR, resume training Sunday.
If you are wondering why we are starting so early this year the answers are many.
We only took birds through April, last year through May.
Trying to get some good training in before smoke arrives from NW fires we typically get this time of year, so far it has been clear.
We want to get the final race completed in October, last year it was on Thanksgiving. If we get the final race in early enough and the roads are clear we will offer a optional 400. Last year yours truly nearly slid off the road several times on the last few races due to black ice, snow, freezing rain, it was a true adventure hauling every race down in to southern OR and northern CA. There is a reason our fellow NW one loft races do not offer a 400, we want to show it can be done this year.
Birds are looking great! We owe a debt of gratitude to our two workers Sheila and JD who show up every morning and stay as long as we ask them to, without them we could not pull this off!
Everyone have a great day!
PS: We keep having pop ups show up on this lap top, when they do it stops TauRIS from uploading. When we restart TauRIS those birds who are stored in the system are showing the same time. This is a easy fix, just need to wait for the same advertisement to pop up again so we can disable it, we will take care of this in the next few days. Important thing is that the birds are showing as clocked. We appologize for any confusion.
Today the birds had their third toss. The last three tosses have been from Postma Road, however not from the same spot. The first toss on the 17th was 1/2 mile from the loft, yesterday 1 mile, and today 1.5 miles. We are basically giving them confidence and a good look around the surrounding area by training in all directions as much as possible before we start getting any real mileage on them which will start next week.
The birds look and feel great and their appetites have increased a little with the road training lately. When they return home they are not panting, they seem to be telling us to bring it on!
We will train the next two days, attend a racing pigeon function in Oregon Saturday, then resume training on Sunday.
Have a good one everyone!
Good morning, or afternoon, depending upon where you are at in our great country!
We had the first toss this morning from just down the road. It is nice and sunny with cool air so some of the birds are just lounging around on the landing board which runs the entire length of the loft. On short tosses like this the birds do not expend much energy or calories so trapping is not always instantaneous when they arrive back home, when we get out to around 60 miles this is when they trap quicker.
Plan is to train again tomorrow, another short toss just to get their heads on straight before we start working them out farther.
Good morning to all of our Apple Cup breeders and to those of you paying attention to our race this year!
We are running a inventory today, birds were not forced out and this inventory will run for 2 days just to make sure we are not missing any.
We have had some cool mornings lately which the birds like and most are really starting to fly with many starting to route again.
Flights are nearly completely in so it is about time to start hitting the road in training. A few more times of running them in to the trailer so they can exit out the sides and they will be ready to go down the road.
We hit the lost report today so y'all can see if you have any birds missing. A quick scan through the list of birds missing, comparing the missing birds to the number of birds sent by each breeder, and it is obvious that something has to be going on in individual lofts. For example, if one breeder sends 10 birds and all are still here, another sends 10 and most are missing, well there just has to be something going on at home. Many who lost birds from the virus who took big hits we have already spoken to, nearly every breeder who took a big hit did not vaccinate at least 3 weeks before sending birds this year. A few breeders did vaccinate who took a big hit but right before shipping, this does not help because the birds do not have enough time to build up temporary immunity from the initial vaccination. Please vaccinate 2-3 weeks before shipping so when we vaccinate it acts as a booster.
In summary, flights are nearly back in completely and the birds are really starting to fly again. A few more times of running them in to the trailer and releasing them out the sides of the trailer on the property and it will be time to start inching them down the road.
Everyone have a great week!
