Brad Paisley Concert

Well I need to let everyone know how much I enjoyed my birthday gift last night. Not much really to say than it was WONDERFUL!!

Thanks to my awesome family I was able to enjoy a great concert with one of my favorite entertainers.

I almost missed the concert because I failed to check where the location was and when I arrived at the small city amphitheater I got this sick feel'n that I was in trouble. A mad dash across to the west side of the valley and over 45 minutes waiting in traffic lines to get to the parking area... well yea, my emotions were running at full steam.

Luckily, we missed only a few songs of the opening act with Jimmy Wayne,but "Do You Beleive Me Now" was a great way to start the concert and then Dierks Bentley got us all going "Sideways" and I couldn't believe "What was I thinking".

I was well ready to "Get a little mud on the tires" when Brad began to entertain us. Songs about celebrities,alcohol, mud, women, and fish'n; well I appreciate Brad's insight into life. I have been a fan of Brad Paisley for a long time now and he didn't let us down last night. This guy is one high class act and the real thing.

Nothing better than sitting with my better half and listening to some great music for the evening.

Sheep Dogs and Splash Dogs

Jenny called this morning and said the she and the kids were on there way to Soldier Hollow Border Collie Competition. Cheryl and I said, "Why not" and hurried and packed our belongings and headed up to meet them.



Now I nor Cheryl have ever been to a Border Collie Sheep Herding competition and had no idea what to expect. I had imagine a collie chasing a few sheep around, yelping at their heels and driving them into a pen. Hm, well I was somewhat close but it was much more complicated than my simple mind could imagine.

The collie would have to search and find the sheep on the hillside and then drive them through a gate, drive them to the sheep herder, turn them and drive them back up the hill through another gate, across the hillside through the last gate and then back to the pen. Once at the pen, the collie would spilt the herd for a brief moment and then drive them into a fenced pen. The owner and their dog would receive points for each task and it all had to be accomplished within 15 minutes. No small feat when you consider that the owner would give directions to the dog by way of whistles. Nothing but amazing.


Included in the competition were the Splash Dogs. This was a lot of fun to watch as the dog owner would hold a retrievable toy (rules would not allow anything that was alive or could be eaten) and throw it into the pool and the dogs would run and jump into the pool and retrieve the toy. Just look at these dogs fly!

Well as you can see by the pictures, we had a lot of fun watching these skilled dogs compete in an amazing way. We'll definitely keep this as a fun activity for future years to come.

Master of the Helm and Fishing

Woke up yesterday morning with the urge to go fishing, fly fishing that is. However, we first had to try our hand at mastering the premium water skiing boat. Taylor has been dying to have us join him on his new boat and show us his new toy and his hot dogging skills.

After a few loops about the lake and becoming comfortable operating the boat, we began to see if I had indeed master the skills to operate the craft. Taylor, first with his solo ski on instructed me to hit the throttle and at 30 mph back off and settle in at a cruising speed of 33 mph. Hey, right! Off we went. Oh, now you tell me about the perfect pass setting. Okay this isn't so difficult.



Taylor was able to enjoy the early morning slightly calm lake has he moved from his ski, to wake board and finishing up on the surf board. Hey wait a minute where's the photo of Captain Jeff, Master of the Helm? Hm, my photography crew may be heading for a brusin.








This evening, I venture out onto the river to enjoy some fly fishing. This evening's fishing demostrates my abilities as a fisherman. I hooked one pig of a trout and landed another pig. Hm, the pig I landed has two hooks... hey that is my fly that the first pig took when he snapped my tippet. Yup, that's right, I hooked a fish that snapped my line and so I grabbed another fly and "Fish On!" was the cry.
Best of all I got my first fly back and my pig was let go for another day of fishing.



Hey, it would have been nice to have a photo of my pig. I tried reaching my photo crew by radio but some lame excuse that the battery had died was all I got.

So you'll just have to enjoy photos of my son surfing here and yes, I'm the captain creating the perfect wake for him to surf. I'm sorry, everyone will just have to believe that I am the Master of the Helm and a grand fisherman.