To Austin this weekend for the Austin KC shows, held at the Travis County Exposition Center.  This features a large covered arena where all the rings, vendors and grooming was held.  We walked through a door and were amazed to see quite a bit of grooming space on the opposite side of the arena from where most of the set-ups were.  We immediately found out why there were so few people in that area:  a thick layer of loose gravelly sand was put down there.  After three or four steps, my shoes had filled up with the stuff, giving me a clue as to what the Marines went through landing on Iwo Jima (without all the shelling and machine guns, of course).

Ilya played the fool on Saturday and went Reserve.  He settled down enough on Sunday to go Winners Dog for his first point.  Brother Dutch got spooked in the ring on Saturday, showed badly and went Best of Opposite Sex.  On Sunday he looked superb, moving out with confidence and going… Best of Opposite Sex.  Somewhat disappointing, of course, but his awards were good enough for his last two Grand Champion points:  he may now be styled GCh. Soyara’s The Flying Dutchman.