When you are in the barrel...

When you are inside the barrel, all you can see is the barrel.  Seems obvious, right?  Lately I have begun to realize that even though at times I can only see the barrel, others see much more.

My dog and I train in Novice Rally Obedience.  It is one of the AKC classes that include various levels of Obedience and Conformation and other sorts of competitions.

In Rally training, the instructor sets up a course with a variety of stations.  At each station you and your companion dog have a task to complete.  Your task is to read and understand the sign and your dog's task is to do what you ask him  - what the sign says.  There are close to 50 possible combinations of things you may be asked to perform although mostly you only have about a dozen stations in any particular course.  They "say" that all the dog actually needs to know is sit, heel, down and come but in practice what they really need to do is follow your directions and do those things in the order requested.

And reading the signs is not an easy task sometimes!  They vary from a simple sit and down (that's the dog, not the handler!)  And, PS, "Halt" actually means sit also.

To other signs that take more time to cipher out:

To others that give you a brain freeze every time you see them!

Now the question is always, which arrow is the dog and which is the handler!

Sometimes they seem counter intuitive - a 270 degree right turn?  Means you end up going left - I had a really hard time w/that one until I learned to just slavishly follow the directions!

So then there you are at the Rally Obedience Trial (competition) and you are, metaphorically at least, in the barrel.  The judge will ask Rally Novice are you ready and if you are ready to go you say yes, the judge says "forward" and WOW!  all you see is the barrel.

What I am leading up to here is that this past week we participated in a Trial. During my time in that barrel I was sure that my little buddy had swung wide on the turns, forced me to keep a tight leash (not good), had an off center sit front and a crooked sit.  Because all I could see was the barrel!

When they lined us up to get our results and they handed me a qualifying ribbon (points towards a title) AND the BIG BLUE RIBBON w/THE ROSETTE for first place I was totally blown away!  When I looked at the video a friend had taken I could see (from outside that barrel) how very well he really did and I was amazed.  I could finally see what everyone else had seen:  we done good!  Better yet, we done great!

So the next time you are "in the barrel" and thinking you are doing a terrible job at whatever task you have set for yourself (or has been set for you) see if you can change your perspective and realize that you are probably doing a kick ass job but you are the only one who can't see it!

Have faith, when you are done you can say - I done good!

Fine words doth butter no parsnips

From Wiktionary:  In 17th century, found in various forms with the adjective for the words or the food that is buttered being different, thus allowing combinations of "fine/fair/soft words butter no parsnips/cabbage/fish/connie" before becoming standardized in the form "fine words doth butter no parsnips".

I actually was digging my own parsnips last week when for some reason that phrase crossed my mind.  It's probably because my age that I've even heard it.  Not to say I date from the 17th century, but I have been around for a while.

It's been drifting through my mind ever since and I actually had only a general sense of exactly what it meant.  I knew it was an indication that covering anything up with a more palatable substance (hence the butter) didn't necessarily improve the overall situation or change the item that is being buttered.  

So if a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, then something that is wrong and ugly is still wrong and ugly no matter how you try to cover it up.

Today's world is sometimes sad and scary but covering up the truth with words and actions designed to trick us into thinking otherwise won't help.  Best we put our chins up and stick our chests out and do what we can to make things better.  

When I started this post I really had no idea where it would take me - it seemed a bit darker than most of mine and really didn't have much to do with prepping or gardening or any of the other subjects that I am usually drawn to.  But I think the parsnips are trying to tell me (butter or not) that we all can do something to make things a little brighter rather than ignoring a problem or a situation or trying to bury it in "butter". 

 How about an unexpected act of kindness, a phone call to someone you "keep meaning to call" or perhaps sharing your last summer's canned tomatoes with the next door neighbor -  a batch of cookies to the local road crew as a thank you for all that midnight plowing.  When a person is feeling out of control or depressed or just fed up with all the flying crap that is around on random medias, this could be a pivotal reminder that there are people who care, people who are willing to step out of line and lend a hand and that not everything needs to be covered with butter to make it palatable!

 Sometimes just an old fashioned "wash and brush up" can make even the ugliest parsnips something that you would love to have for supper with or without the butter!