Hi Quynh,
Sorry you couldn't make the 1998 Lou Abbott Roller Show but maybe next
year. Thought you might enjoy hearing about it.
Janice Klein and I flew to Dayton, Ohio on Thanksgiving. Each of us had a
wooden bird carrier with 16 individual compartments for our three teams.
Janice had gone to the trouble of getting reservations for the birds when
we booked our tickets. This took several days, many phone calls, and
finally had to be approved by the TWA main St. Louis office even though
we have booked our birds each year for the trip for at least ten years.
We were lucky this year that the ticket agent also had birds and was
helpful in getting them checked in. She just laughed at the note in the
computer that they were parrots and didn't even look at our health
certificates. The birds rode in the baggage compartment because our
containers are too large to fit under the seat and they are heavy too.
David Bopp and Billy Richardson met us at the baggage claim section of
the Dayton airport and transported us to the show hall. We unpacked the
birds and set them up in the club cages which were all ready for us to
use. The club allows each exhibitor the option of feeding, watering, and
keeping the doors of the cabinets open to our own desires. We fed them
with our own seed (Janice used Kaytee fortified diet and I used a show
mix consisting of 4 cups Kaytee fortified diet, 1 cup canola rape, 1 cup
sunflower chips, 1 cup niger, 1/2 cup petamine, 1/2 cup bee pollen plus a
saltine cracker each). Cabinet doors were left open to encourage them to
eat and go to bed with the sun. David will go over early in the morning
to get them up so that they will have about 11 hours total daylight.
We then checked into the Cross Country Inn and went to the Bopp house.
Judy had fixed a completely wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for us!!. David
carved the turkey and we all enjoyed the meal and roller chat!! Judy even
gave me the recipe for the sweet potato dish which I loved so much.
Mix well and pour in buttered pan
Crumble topping over sweet potato mixture. Bake for 35 - 45 minutes at
350 degrees uncovered.
On Friday, we all had breakfast at the Waffle House and then to the show
hall to take care of the birds and visit. More exhibitors arrived on
Friday. Earl and Marilyn Nice are really special people. The name really
fits because you can't find nicer people. I enjoy visiting with them
every year!! Earl was co-show manager with Billy this year.
Linda McQueen I met originally when I judged in Ohio a couple of years
ago. At that show she was helping with American Singer competition while
I was judging color bred. She had came by and bought a copy of my book
and returned to the Singer competition. Unknown to me, the singer people
were teasing her because she had bought a book and I had giving away most
of them to show winners and even a novice who was just passing by. After
judging, I dropped by the American Singer area and after awhile I was
inquiring about Dr. Pepper. I had to search all over the hotel to find
one machine with Dr. Pepper so I bought two and returned the American
Singer area. Seeing Linda McQueen and not knowing about all of her
teasing, I offered her a Dr. Pepper. During the next year, she called me
periodically and I advise her on breeding and competing with American
Singers. She attended the Lou Abbot Roller Show in 1997 and she got a
trio from Janice and me (including 603, a 70 point bird and brother of
604). Unfortunately, although she raised many American Singers, various
problems happened and she raised only one male roller. But the one male
she raised is very good!! We all will have some strong competition from
her next year! She came to all activities each day and I consider her one
of my best friends!!
I was so happy to see Jake Steinhour his father George, mother Debbie
and sister Emily. Last year I let Jake pick a male from my teams and sent
him two hens on the condition that he would show in Dayton in 1998. He
had raised seven males and had a team ready to compete in the novice
division! Jake kept his young males and the cock (he named Phil) in his
bedroom!! His mom Debbie brought me a handmade canary scene wall hanging
and refreshments for everyone including a wonderful apple cake and she
even remembered the Dr. Pepper!!
Also arriving were some new friends Clayton Beegle who I had recently
started corresponding with by e mail (I had shipped him a roller hen last
year) and David Caley and wife. David had shown rollers a number of years
ago and achieved amateur status. He is a retired minister from Tulsa,
Oklahoma. Last year he got a trio from me. On Saturday, Stephen Williams
and Ninez Giles and her husband brought birds to show.
In addition, we had shipped in birds from Doris Hochgraber of Chicago,
Steve Billmore of California, and from Efrain Villa, Juan Name, Enrique
Hardouin, and Fernando Martinez of Florida. David Bopp began judging on
Friday afternoon. The order of judging is determined by the exhibitors
drawing numbers. Unfortunately, my best team was picked to be judged
second. The number one entry was Doris Hochgraber good team. Oh well....
Sitting there during my teams judging I reflected on how it had went this
year. I had cut back the number of rollers from 88 last year to about 35.
Just like last year I was running behind and used the card table trick
for training while I went to the National Cage Bird Show in Chicago the
weekend before Thanksgiving. I only got my teams selected on Wednesday
before leaving on Thursday for the show.
On Wednesday, I was encouraged because my 93 year old mother-in-law who
lives with us said "Remember last year how much trouble you had finding a
team? This year this first team is really good! Do you suppose they could
sing in my room today?" So I put some papers on her foot stool and let
them sing several hours in her room. Normally, I only let them sing for
ten minutes but who could resist grandma. I really thought they would
probably perform on Saturday and that would mean a couple of days to
soften down a little after that sing out. This year I experimented using
the high protein show mix instead of hard boiled egg. I also used the
three sprouted hemp seeds as in the past and daily saltine crackers. The
birds sounded good but could they win being only the second team judged
in the show?
Friday night we all went to the Rib House together for an enjoyable meal.
Saturday morning, we all had breakfast together at Friendly's and then
more judging. There were many good teams Saturday and my hopes of
winning the show kept dwindling. Very few teams had any faults and no
bird sang chung glucke.
Saturday night David and Judy Bopp invited the exhibitors to their home
for a Lasagna dinner. Twenty people enjoyed a fantastic meal at the
Bopps. Afterward, we had business meetings for Lou Abbott and Central
States. Next years show will be the first weekend in December rather than
Thanksgiving weekend.
Sunday, we all had breakfast again at Friendly's and the recalls were
judged. Finally the winner were announced and trophies presented. The
winner of the novice class was JAKE STEINHOUR with a team score of 214!!
I was really proud of him. He had worked hard and his team was very well
trained!! Amateur class winner and Champion Young Team was DORIS
HOCHGRABER with a team score of 241!! Winner of Champion class was JUAN
NAME with a team score of 194!! Winner of the Master Breeder class was
ENRIQUE HARDOUIN with a score of 251!! Winner of Old and Mixed With three
young birds and one old bird and Grand Champion Team was LINDA HOGAN with
a team score of 260!! Boy was I happy!!!
When I picked my best team on Wednesday before leaving on Thursday, I had
two really good young birds number 713 and 720. 713 was a son of Naquin
bird number 679 and my hen 500 which was a daughter or Naquin 617 and hen
1711 from Ellen Pugh whose father was 1805 (son of Naquin 850) and a hen
she got from me 2948 which was Gattus stuff. 720 was a son of 604 (father
501 brother of 500 above, and 505 which was a daughter of 679 and a hen
with Gattus and 1805 in the background) and 622 who is a daughter of 679
and 511 a daughter of 617 and 668 Naquin. When I say Gattus stuff they
have 1644, 1668 and 1934 in their background.
But I needed four for a team. I kept only one bird from my last years
Grand Champion Team number 604 who had scored 72 points last year (I had
let the other three go to roller exhibitors). So I pulled him for the
bottom bird. 713 had schockel and water so thinking he would score high
too, I placed him on top. I looked around for the last bird. I had one
who was a free singer, no faults, had schockel which he dwelled on and
hollow bell and good flute but he just did not sing rolls. He was mostly
Gattus with a dash of 1805 on one side. I called him a crow!! So I hid
this crow in the number two spot and hoped that the judge would have his
attention pulled from the table to the top and back and forth taking his
breath away and just maybe since number two was a mimic he would pick up
the strong song or the other three. At first number two just listened and
was intimidated by his team mates. But during the sing out in grandmas'
room, he completed dropped his song pattern and picked up the number 1
birds song pattern!! 713 scored 67 points, 705 scored 62 points (he got a
dot in water instead of the 4 points number 1 got and one point less in
flute), 720 scored 62 points (he failed to give his schockel during the
judging) and 604 scored 69 (17 hollow roll, 16 bass, 11 hollow bell, 9
schockel, 8 and a dot in flute, 2 bell roll, 2 bell tour, 4 general
effect) and they sounded great together!!
Winners of tour special were Enfrain Villa hollow roll 66 points, bass 65
points, and glucke 24 points. Linda Hogan hollow bell 41 points, schockel
24 points, water roll 13 points, and flute 33 points.
What a fun show!! Days of listening to rollers, talking rollers, and
fellowship!! David and Billy took us to the airport and we arrived back
in Wichita around 9 pm Sunday night.
Linda S. Hogan
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