Thursday thought.....

Be who you say you are..

And say what you feel ..

Because those that matter, don't mind ..

And those that mind, don't matter!


Later gators.....
C

Ohhh presents!

David is a scavanger. Sometimes I wonder about things he finds but other times, it's well worth it.



Era 1940's, art deco and just needs the cord replaced. There's a guy in town who works on old radios so it will get a once over to make sure it works. And even if it doesn't, it's a great piece and it was FREE! BTW-the case alone is valued at $250-300. Imgaine if it works! We also have another one in the study that does work but the volume spikes at times so it needs a new part.

What a find, what a find!!! Now, where to put it?

Later gators.....
C

Thought for the day--courtesy of the dogs

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.
ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!

"Animals come into our lives as gifts from God, for companionship, to teach us, and to heal us. They deserve our very best efforts in caring for them"....Dr. Ihor Basko, DVM


Later gators.....
C

Best layed plans....

Remember those plans I had this weekend? Go figure, by Sunday, nothing had gone as planned.

Let’s start with Friday and the Halloween Trail. Now that went as planned. Not as many kids as usual-it was raining and cold. The Foggy Bottom contingent was very well represented with Lace da’collie, Moose, Eddie and the Hooligans-aka Thing 1 and Thing 2. Kids dressed up as gouls and goblins didn’t faze the pups at all, actually encouraged them to be brats even more. Short night but we all felt good when we got home.

BUT, here’s where it all goes wonker. Camp Hitaga is worse then our place for being a black hole of silence. You can’t get any cell service until after you are 3 miles away, going towards home. My dad had been trying to get ahold of both David and I to talk concrete. Yes concrete. He was ready to pour the pad for Mom’s new garage and needed help. Alec was the only one within cell range and yeap, kind of got guilted into helping. That in turn means either I go alone to the show tomorrow or skip and get some much needed errands done. The one lovely thing about UKC shows is that it’s day of show entry or preentry and I wasn’t donating a single dime to the club by not going, instead saving it in my pocket. Frankie had to stay clean for one more day and I got to sleep in!

Concrete got poured, errands run, lunch at Jon’s and sigh, he’s leaving Iowa . A very dear friend who’s son is in the same grade as Meredith. He always dotes on her when we go in-2 grape Italian sodas, special salad with her lunch plate and lots of great conversation. He and the family are moving to the east coast to help start a chain of coffee stores. We’ll miss him!

Saturday night was once again the Halloween Trail but this time, 4 hours long. Figure this out, how many 10 min speech’s can you give in 4 hours? We had help with two labs coming that night to which Lace spent most of the night in the truck. She was the fun nazi and wasn’t all that amused by the labs tricks. But on the other hand, Moose was a hit with his jumping skills—how high can he go on those short legs? The Hooligans were, well, hooligans, again but for 5 mo old puppies around strangers and kids in costumes, masks and makeup, they could have cared less. Just give them popcorn and everything is cool. Eddie, everyone loves Eddie. He got lots of cuddles. And Merlot got to go.

Like I keep saying, I hate her head, well her muzzle, her ears are very nice. But her head, just not right. Everything else about that little b/w girl is perfect, until you look at her head. I’ve determined that she won’t see the inside of the conformation ring again, yes she will do juniors but she so found her calling this weekend. Merlot, as many know, is called the Little Shit around here. She’s always causing chaos, fights, just general trouble. I’ve always said that she has tons of performance potential. I just haven’t tapped it yet as I have been working with the boys for the most part. But with a dog who barely follows the command heel, sometimes sits and down? Hello, why? She was the perfect dog for Saturday night. Cute, attentive, patient and I keep seeing more and more talent in her. TDI here we come!!!!

Now for Sunday. Up at the butt crack of down, drive to Davenport , enter and then sit and wait, and wait and wait. Similar to a Canadian show but wait and wait and wait. Deb came over and dropped off Nicky for us to take to the next few shows. Frankie kept looking at us like, seriously, have you not read my new contract, which went into effect in July when I finished? Overtime, fine print? I do believe he stated that we would be getting a call from his attorney(aka Kahty) about this and here we go again into contract negotiations.

We had fun though. It was like a mini boxer specialty. Bernard was there, as were a few others we know from AKC. We also saw some cool rare breeds. Dogos’ now there’s a breed I have always wondered about and very far from the big mean dog I had always been told to watch out for. Sweet, funny, and very well behaved. Mischief makers is an understatement. I had a lovely bitch sitting in my lap for part of the afternoon, all moon eyed looking at me with those - take me home- eyes. It's just the white hair I don't think I could deal with.

Frankie ended up with a group 3 and group 4 and lots of admirers. Everyone loved him and he’s ½ to his UKC title!!! One more weekend of shows and he’s got it.

Now we get back home, late. But what to my wondering eyes do I see but once again, David down deep in a hole and up to his knees in water and clay. Dad came over and helped, err, uh, well, okay, just helped make more of a mess on the hydrant front. After several hours of digging, muck, shutting off the well and all that jazz, it was decided to call the well company and BITCH. Looks like when they originally put the well in they did a few things kind of off and the water issues we have had, the frozen hydrant and now this explains my electric bill, are due to an error on their part in installation. More as I know because they are getting called today and being told it will get fixed at their expense!

Weekend didn’t go exactly as planned, but it was fun, lots done and now it’s raining. That means scrubbing muddy paw prints off the floor. Cleaning carpets and getting ready for next weekend’s adventures.

later gators.........
C

Make yo' head spin

Yes it's the weekend, well almost and I am about to make everyone's head spin again with all that will and should happen this weekend.

First the moat is filled, sort of. We need to fix the original hydrant as we figured out our winter freezing issues, it's broke, way down deep in the ground. But once that is taken care of, the lawn needs to be attended to. Of course we'll ask out David's brother with his super duper lawn tractor and mega tiller. Which then means he can do the yard so we can seed it, then of course do the garden.

Which leads me to project #2, I need to get the rest of the carrots out of the ground and either freeze, pickle, can or root cellar them. UGH!

Duck house needs one more side with siding, then fence up and the flooring will need to be reinforced, painted and insulated. Soon too as the ducks really want to get inside asap.

To top off the weekend, the K9 Ambassadors are doing the annual Hitaga Halloween Trail, to which I am in charge of. So Eddie, Moose, Lace and the Hooligans are going along to teach dog safety to about 600 kids, weather permitting.

Really want your head to spin? Halloween Trail 4-8 on Friday, 6-8 on Saturday. UKC show in Davenport all weekend and yeap, we are jumping in and going to take Frankie there. Got his TL, he's getting his bath tomorrow and I still don't know how I'm going to manage it all. 4 shows, two days plus the night activities.

Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin.....

Later gators,
C

Don't you just love....

Sounds like Andy Rooney's starting a piece on 60 Mins. Actually, I just love rereading stuff. Like books-read The Once and Future King about 10 times and starting it again this week. Pride and Prejudice is another good one. But the best is going back and reading old columns by Dave Barry. Gotta love him and so today, here's a few old but goldies from him....

This ones for Garrett:
"Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep. "

or considering it's Monday and yet another meeting....
"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be 'meetings.' "

Sorry Kim, just the picture of Elmer made me giggle......
"Skiers view snowboarders as a menace; snowboarders view skiers as Elmer Fudd. "

And I think you'll agree with me on this one......
"Snowboarding is an activity that is very popular with people who do not feel that regular skiing is lethal enough. "

Finally, one of my favorites....
"You can only be young once. But you can always be immature"

Then I ran across some Erma Bombeck stuff, oh how she knew the heart of moms and women.

"All of us have moments in out lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them. " (Yes I did that - my MIL had white wool carpet in her house in Panora, I was horrified. )

"Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other. "

"My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you? "

"There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt. "


The last gal, Barbara Johnson, is a Christian writter and if you haven't had a chance to pick up one of her books, you need to. A good laugh and very thought provoking. Some of the titles of her books are-Where does A Mother Go to Resign? Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy! Or Fresh Elastic for Stretched Out Moms.

"Always remember that better days are ahead - if not in this life in the next.”

"Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears. "

Have a great day and giggle a little-it most certainly can't hurt and just might help.

Later gators....
C

Confused

I told her that it was coming winter, not spring, but she didn't want to listen. Hey Pam, wanna try your hand at knitting her a coat out of her own hair?

Later gators....

C

Didn't get it from me

Sick sense of humor. More then a few people in my house have one. Especially the oldest and the youngest. And I totally blame that on the pedigree--she got it from him, not me.

The Ms aka Muffin aka Squirrel aka Meredith, has this evil grin, giggle and look. Her father, so similar, it can give you chills sitting in the same room with both when they are at their best, or is that worst?

So the four legged Evil Twin was on his best behavior last night. Could that be he spent most of the day in his crate in the dog room(that btw, is a horrible fate for him)? Could be that he was only allowed to go out in the back yard with the youngsters or could be that he was never given the chance to try anything, until the last potty run of the night.

As instructed, no dogs went out in the front yard. If they did, you watched them like a hawk and didn't let them out with Moose. Eddie did his duty, back inside, wipe paws and into the bedroom so I could shuffle Fred, Phoebe and Tuli out front. Yes it's raining, again and with a moat in the front yard, the backyard is getting twice as much foot traffic and the mud is unreal. Straw went down on the runway section near the duck fence and xpens are up to keep them away from other areas. Fred and crew come back in, wipe paws and impatiently wait for dinner.

Everyone is fed but not content-SP is having a hissy fit because she didn't get to do her laps in the house before dinner. Moose is the last one out. David is already outside, shutting the ducks up in the upper pen for the night. Meredith is under strict instructions to stay on the steps but watch Moose closely as he went out front by himself. Here's where the evil gene comes in.

See Meredith lets him out, stops to find her garden clogs, remembers that she should get a flash light and goes in to get one. In the meantime, David is done with ducks, and sees an opportunity. Oh I just bet you can guess what happens next, can't ya? Yes indeed, he jumps into the trench and calls Moose to the edge. Meredith heads out, shines the light and sees Moose looking over the edge. Then a quiet call, "Dad?", shines the light around, calls again, now slightly worried. I swear the two of them love nothing more then playing their evil tricks on each other.

I of course wander over to the door to see what she's hollaring about and my timing is enough to hear the evil giggle from David as he climbs up out of the trench and the Ms saying something just as evil back to him, then her evil giggle. Moose, he's a little confused and I think he thought, wait, that's my line!

The rest of the evening Moose followed David around, wagging his tail, looking at the door, and you know he was thinking--my plan is almost foolproof! Now that I know that the big guy fits in the trench, all I need to do now is find a way to lure him over so I can push him in head first. Heeheee(insert evil laugh here). Then the lady is all mine--hahahaheeeheee(more evil laughs).

And I live in this house?

Later gators....
C

Evil twin

David is worried. Fears he's next and that all the Evil Twin has been doing with his previous attempts is practice for when he goes after David.

See Abbey was the test run, you know use a smaller object just to get the feel for what he needs to do. But then he escalates to a bigger animal and even worse, the head honcho. Cleaning a rough collie at 10 pm at night after she's been wandering the moat/trench for the new water line, is not my idea of fun at all. Caked in clay, all up the front of her head, tangled in her feathers. And what did the Evil Twin do, just look at us from the side of the trench and showed his paws--look, clean. I have no idea what the heck you are inferring I did. Maybe it was Ella? Shaker? Oh I know, it was Eddie, yeah, yeah, Edwierdo did it, I swear!

Does this look like the face of evil? He still swears this morning that it was some other dog and he has no idea how the heck Clairee ended up in the trench last night. Meanwhile, David's not letting him out of his sight. He swears that Moose had been planning to make a move on his woman(aka me) for some time. Steals the best seat next me at any chance, snuggles between us in bed and let's talk about the chewed slippers, missing tools and hum, the trench looks like a good place to hide the body. All with that innocent look and "what, who me?" attitude. Innocent my foot!

Later gators.....

C

Project #2

Well, talk about gung ho! The guys must have gotten done early today at their real jobs, ie driving trucks and decided that they would come to our house and dig a moat. Yes you read that right, I now have an 8' deep trench running from my barn through the front yard to the well head on the far side of the yard. See it's right there......


No do not live in a castle, just a simple ranch. No the duck house is not some sort of fortress. Farm house, middle of the country, granted Meredith does love dragons, castles and all that stuff.

I guess our agility training is done for the year--they folded up the dog walk. But hey, they went right between the flower bed and bird house post.

To top it off, it's supposed to start raining tonight. Then snow on Thursday. So the moat will be there for some time. Which leads to a rather small issue, how to let the dogs out in the front yard. Actually it's not a small issue, but rather large. Means a few more shifts out in the back yard, letting some of the trustworthy gang out in the front under eagle eye watch. I don't see this project finished till the weekend, then it's on to project #3 and that one should be all kinds of fun.



Spew alert ahead



And just for giggles, there has already been an incident. Moose swears he didn't do it, his paws are clean-so is his underbelly. His sister, on the other hand....Abbey, dear Abbey, well yeah, you guessed it, thinks trenches are fun, until you fall into one and can't get out. For such a loud mouth dog, she was silent as a church mouse. I figure she was practicing for war and sneaking through the trenches behind enemy lines. I opened the door to see only Moose, who gladly left his sister behind, bounded in and said, where's dinner? To which after three calls for Abbey, Abber Dabbers, ABIGAIL!!! nothing, slipped on the wellies and yelled at David. Is she with you? No(see he's out fixing fence at o'dark thirty) So with flash light in hand, an order to Moose to not even think about pissing Eddie off in the house, I went and low and behold, a wet, muddy and very silly looking Abbey---in the bottom of the trench. No worse for wear other then the mud she sprayed all over and the 3 towels it took to get her some what clean before she went in her crate to eat. She seems very pleased with herself and if it hadn't been so dark, I would have taken pictures. Sigh, dare I ask, what's next?


Later gators.....
C

Holes and slow weekends

Okay a few weeks ago didn't I mention 3 little projects that were to be accomplished quickly and efficiently with the help of the back hoe?

Quick my foot. They started with what they thought would be the easy repair on the broken field tile. That quickly escalated to replacing a few feet, er, 15-20 ft of tile. Then when that got really dug into, nope, not as bad as they figured, but hey while we are here, let's just tile the loafing shed. So most of the weekend was spent watching as they played in the dirt. Good news is that the wet area by the barn is now tiled and draining away. Hole in pasture, fixed and filled. Next-hydrant by barn. Then ducks.

So while the boys had fun playing in the dirt, I walked through the house, made my list, checked it twice and cursed myself for not doing the darn errands on the way home. What a waste of time and gas to run back into town on the weekend to do what ever. But making the best of it, we also knew that the orchard would only be available for pick your own on the weekend, so might as well make it worth while? Off to the bookstore, craft store, and then out to the orchard. With $1/pound apples, can't pass that up, unless you go with the Ms. 30 lbs of apples later and by far she is the pickiest picker, we are loaded with apples. Largest apples, no bugs, no dings, perfect apples. Okay so that's not too bad, unless you're the one having to carry most of them.

Back home, boys still playing in the dirt. I made apple crisp, french dip, and loaded up the dehydrator with apples, grapes, bananas and peppers. Only issue is Merlot. Damn dog, any chance she got, she snuck her head in the bag of apples and ran off with one. Oh then there's the grab the string of skin from the peeler and try to run off with it. Do you know how long the strings are when you use the old peeler/corer machine? Really long but at least I got to her before she wove it around chairs and the other dogs.

Finally got too dark for them to play with the big boy toys so it's now parked in the middle of my front yard, just waiting for them to come back and start the hydrant project. Boy dogs love it-great big tires to pee on :)

Lator gators....
C

Holes

Why do most of my pictures of my husband show him up to his eyeballs in mud or in a hole somewhere?This is the on going tile fixing project in the pasture. Can't wait to see how long it takes for the new hydrant and pond considering this was the "easy" project.

Later gators....
C

Life in threes

It’s been interesting around here lately. David likes the theory that life goes in threes. Usually when there’s a celebrity death, there’s three of them in a row. Or horrible things-plane crashes, bombings, terrorist activities. All come in threes.

Three things happened recently that made me think about our effect on the world around us. A dear friend is getting a divorce. I knew something was up but it still shocked me. I am praying for them both. I hope as this finalizes that they can end up as friends and remain close. The end of a relationship is never good, be it a close friendship or even a job. What makes the difference is what we take forward out of that experience and how we turn it for the good.

David talks about high school. We joke that he’s some CIA operative or NSA or what ever. I never meet any of his high school class mates. I see photos, no real people. Yes I know his college chums, but again, hummm, is that real? Laughing aside, he recently sent me an article about an Iowa native who is now living within the shadow of the Iffle Tower in France , doing some sort of interpreting or translating for the government. This same gal, cheated off David’s French tests and homework in school. She didn’t know a chien from a chat. Too funny.

But it really gets you to thinking about what you do in life and how if might affect someone, anyone, how many years in the future. Seriously, think about that. Who you talk to today, teach, argue with, hate or seek revenge on, in 20 years what will the ripple affect be? And to whom?

Running errands yesterday before an appointment and meeting, I had 10 minutes to swing through Goodwill. I love shopping at these types of stores. All my show clothes come from there and most are high end designer names. Meredith loves finding that hidden treasure too. So I found a gorgeous jacket from my favorite name-Herve Bernard. Should have gotten it but it was too dark for the dogs I show. Still I might go back and get it-too nice to pass up. Found a new skirt, couple more of my Fire King bowls and a neat sweater hoody for Meredith. All warm and fuzzy.

So standing in line to pay for my prizes when a gal comments that she saw the same sweater and almost picked it up for a niece. I smiled, turned and it was someone who I worked with about 12 years ago. We locked eyes and both went WOW! It was a fun conversation, short, but fun about what we are doing now, families and life. Mary Ann is a divorced Catholic mom with four kids, she’s going back to school for her masters and doing volunteer work for the time being. Her kids are great and I so enjoyed working with her those so many years ago. What struck me was when she said," You know that rosary you gave me long ago? I still have it and just yesterday gave it to my son." Blown away does not even begin to describe my emotion. Such a simple gift to a friend has made such a difference to her. She said she usually carries it in her purse and on really bad days, puts it in her pocket. Every time, thinks of me and my kindness towards her. Her son is having a bad day, so that’s why she gave it to him.

What we do today, tomorrow or next week will affect someone. Many times we don’t know who, many times we will never know it’s long term affect. But we all need to make a conscious effort to think about our actions. It’s like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon game. One comment, one slight, one atta boy not only changes one person but those they interact with and down the line. It might not be the first person, but 6 down the line.

As the movie line goes: pass it forward. Watch the ripple effect from your single drop of water into the pool of life. It might surprise you that you actually do matter, to more people then you think. As for the rule of three, I’m hoping that the good things in life come in more then three, they usually do.

Later gators…..
C

I stopped them dead in their tracks

I live with a couple Christmas nuts. The moment it even hints at being a Christmas atmosphere, regardless of the time of the year, they start humming carols, planning snow forts and days off school and work for blizzards.

The current temperature, balmy 32 degrees. Forecast-snow. Picture-no that's not just a lot of duck feathers, that's snow.

I immediately said-STOP! No carols, no snow fort plans, no no no no. The rule has been, will be and forever more is: No Christmas till the day after Thanksgiving. You will not dress up like Santa for Halloween, heck we haven't even got pumpkins yet. I refuse to turn on the furnace yet-put on some socks, a sweatshirt, a sweater. Get up and move to keep warm and just suck it up.

It's only October 10th for crying out loud!!!

And for those dog show nuts, hahaha, I'm so glad that I stayed home. The Mason City show is either hot and dry or wet and cold. I think this is a first for me to say it had snow too. Heehee. You know, I really am not missing the shows right now. In all honesty, this might end up being a long term home gig for me-with the exception of a few day trips for obedience in the next few months. Hanging out at home with the family, hot cup of tea and some sewing. Yeap I can get used to this.

Later gators....
C

Just a dog

From time to time people tell me, "Lighten up, it's just a dog," or, "That's a lot of money for just a dog."

They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent or the costs involved for "just a dog."

Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a dog."

Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a dog," but I did not once feel slighted.

Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a dog," and, in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a dog" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.

If you, too, think it's "just a dog," then you will probably understand phases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise.""

Just a dog" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy.

"Just a dog" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person.

Because of "just a dog" I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future.

So for me, and folks like me, it's not "just a dog" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past and the pure joy of the moment.

"Just a dog" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day.

I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a dog" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a human."

So the next time you hear the phrase "just a dog." just smile....

because they "just don't understand."

- Anonymous

I've tried locating the author on this and can't seem to find on. If you know who wrote this, I would love to acknowledge the person who knows, it's not "just a dog".

later gators...

C

Making me a fur coat!

Sad news. Meredith's favorite duck, Sarah, subcombed to her injuries yesterday. Over the last week we have lost a cayuga and now the khaki. I do believe I am going to be getting a fur coat this fall one way or another.

We moved the ducks to the front pen, closed off the pond and the traps are set. Alec feels that it's not the coon invasion we had last year, well maybe one or two, but I agree with him, the mink that we see crossing the road on occasion, has found the ducks. Not enough destruction on the ducks to warrant the coon, but more then likely a smaller critter.

First live trap goes out tonight--we'll keep a tally and see what we end up with. Hum, nice warm road kill coat, just what I wanted for Christmas.

later gators....
C

Re-evaluating

During the drive home last night, I started to re-evaluate my current goals with the dogs. Due to some other things that have come up, I've had to scale back some of my training and well, show attendance. So what now?

First off, since Frankie and Dove are finished, that means I can concentrate on performance. I had three shows this year where there was a ring conflict with obedience. I chose to donate to the club rather then rush, worry and not be totally into the class at hand. Wise choice as each time we ended up with a major on a dog, a huge BOB win or in Dove's case a great best puppy in group win. The hooligans won't be ready to show till December, so the month of November is mine for obedience.

But who to take? I've been working on and off with Merlot and Frankie but neither is there yet. Still some focus issues with Merlot...squirrel....er uh, what were we doing? Fun and really gets it when she's paying attention. Frankie-he's just so soft and just not a super happy kind of worker that it will take some class time for him to really get the hang of it. Once he does, he's awesome though. I foresee both dogs working on their RN's this coming spring.

Then there's Moose. Yes we have one CD leg. Yes he has a 196 from fair this year with the Ms. But the last month he's gone back to the Huh? look and way out of it. We are back tracking to things he knows well and I have enteries in for shows in November. The money is spent, I will get that CD taken care of. I am though, debating on sending the kid in with him at least once. She's got his buttons figured out and damn it, they just look so cute together :)

My other issue has been the shows in the fall. I knew that the Des Moines shows would not be his cup of tea. He gets distracted too much - it's all about his adoring fans that he must suck up to. That's just him and I don't expect anything less. Leads me to this--know your dog. Understand their personality. None are perfect and if you know their weaknesses, then work around them,through them and make sure to laugh when they do exactly as you expected. But what I don't like seeing is people work dogs and then pushing them when they know they just aren't there. Waste of other peoples time, your money and that's what fun matches are for.

I couldn't show in Cedar Rapids just because I had to work at the show. A couple other venues I love going to have discontinued obedience so the pickings are slim. Trying to hang out closer to home, it just wasn't in the cards to travel 5-6-7 hours for obedience. Kick me though as one of my upcoming entries is a huge distance, but lots of other things going on with the trip that make it one I can't pass up.

Mason City has novice in the conformation building, again, for Moose's personality, not a great place to get him to focus on obedience. But there are a couple other shows that have great venues and I think he can work with some sense of purpose.

So last night I worked dogs. Eddie is, well, Eddie. Until we can bottle his happiness, novice is a long way off, let's get through Moose's CD, Merlot and Frankie's RN, then I can try to get serious with the clown. Merlot, always a challenge but she had a few good moments last night. But Moose, he and I went a totally different path last night -- tracking of course!

I laid two tracks out in the south hay field. The first I laid a little more scent and bait for him, just to remember. The second was the same length, but less for him to snack on, more purpose driven to get to the end. WOW! He's got it. The first track he wandered but I laid more food. The second - pulled me down the line, straight and with gusto. Got to the end and we do need to work more on our indictation down but I'm happy with the progress. Tomorrow on the way home, Meredith and I will lay 3-4 lines at the park, go home, change and then run him through those. That should be about the right aging time to.

We ended with some recalls and finishes-his weakness right now. Not too shabby at all. Once he quit scenting up to me-it was actually cute but also shows that he doesn't change "tracks" very well and needs some down time to go from one event to another.

The goals now-finish that CD by Christmas. Frankie and Merlot-RN's by March and then back to Moose for his CDX. I think that's what I can handle right now and the dogs too. Then there's Eddie.......


Later gators....
C

Back to work or am I?

Funny, seems like coming back to work today is a vacation from the weekend.

The backhoe finally trudged it's way into the pasture to do the first project. The guys thought that they would get the "easy" project done first. Yeah, easy my foot. Not only is the tile broke, it's clogged. 15' so far. The new way to fix this is to back track as far as they can, connect into the tile where it's not clogged then rerun it down to the creek. With that, none of the other projects got started.

I opted for hanging out in the house. Meredith and I cooked or attempted. The angel food cupcakes were a little over done, something is up with my oven right now. The bread on the other hand was perfect-watched that like a hawk. Last was the strawberry cheescake, ummm.

Between watching the oven, I went on a cleaning kick and the master bath is super clean, scrubbed and the norfolk is outta there. Next my mastser closet got a cleaning - goodwill pile grew by leaps and bounds. Meredith helped as she went through her dresser and closests. Last, I recruited David to help with the big challenge of rearranging the bedroom for more space. Moved furniture, moved one dog crate out and dusted.

The part I hate about living on gravel roads is the dust. Furnace filters are changed all the time when the a/c or furnace runs--which we haven't turned on yet this year. I go through dust clothes, swiffers and Murphy's like no other. Allergies go bonkers and I just dread the thought of having the ducts cleaned-dog hair and dust-yuck.

Alec and Bekka trekked up to MN with Kim and Kathy. They dusted off Ms Marg - she was not impressed, for a run at those last pesky 3 pts. Now I have to ask this of everyone, is it just us or has any one else run into issues with Boxers lately? In Skokie last December, Music got attacked by a Boxer. Ruby, Little Shit's dam, got attacked a few years back by a Boxer at a show and wouldn't you know it, Marg walked in the door at the show, got attacked. Alec was quick on the draw, got her outta there and she was still freaked when she walked in the ring. The judge was good with her and understood her demeaner for the day-Alec said he was very gentle with her. Ended up with WB for another point down! This pretty much winds down the show season for us. Most of the judges suck at the upcoming shows, so not worth wasting our money going. See what happens after the first of the year.

Now I really have nothing against Boxers or their owners. I think Boxers are a great breed, but just what is it about them? Yes I know they are playfull, but people on the other end of the leads need to understand that our little dogs do not appreciate being trounced on by those long legs and big feet, it sort of kind of freaks our dogs out.

Okay, other then that--oh Krissy got a puppy group 4 on Saturday!! Russ took breed on Saturday too and is back to his old ways-fun, goofy and a "hey baby" attitude. We attribute that to Ms Music being back home and putting everyone in their proper places.

Now back to the work week, relaxing in front of the computer all day long and then seeing what project I can get done each night at home.

Later gators....
C

Visitors

Not an unusual fall evening for us. It's raining, so that means lots of dog towels as the many muddy paws, underbellies and swishy tails come in and out the door. The new flooring in the dog room got it's first test and OMG-you couldn't even tell there was a muddy foot print until, of course, you stepped in the wet spot with your socks on. Needless to say I was impressed.

The night before the neighbor was opening his bean field. I know he was trying to beat the rain, but those combine lights come right into the bedroom window and at 1am it's a little hard to sleep with that. In all honesty, we don't care, it's just part of living in the country. Only hitch is this time of the year I need to remember to close the curtains when I get ready for bed-never know who's going to wandering in the fields - heehee.

Had visitors come for part of the weekend. We are the overnight stop as Bekka and her canine gang head to a show with Alec this weekend. Thank God Krissy is out of season, Fred was in a state as it was. He got his head ripped of at least a dozen times last night and as all about her. Silly old man, he'll never learn but at least he got some exercise chasing the blue blur around. We also got the pleasure of the grand Duchess aka Guppy aka The Toys Are All MINE! I might add here---she looks awesome! I commented to Bekka that she actually has a waist, even her head looked slimmer. Way to go to everyone in DM for getting her back in shape.

Duchess came in and took over the toy box, found Lace's big floppy turtle. Then found the squeaker in it. I forgot that you don't give her squeaky toys, that is unless you want to hear it squeak round the clock. Every one played a little tug and fetch with her. Then she made a point of sucking up to David. When he said no more to her, she turned to Alec. Too funny as she made a big point of what she wanted from him. She's a hoot and a great little pemmie-she can visit any day.

So it's still raining but lots of plans for the weekend. The visitors on Wednesday left the backhoe! So it's water line, electrical, and duck pond!!!! The last Down Town Farmer's Market of the season is tomorrow and yeap, finally home for a weekend so we can go there. Another swing past the orchard--yes 20lbs of apples are about gone-the ones we picked last weekend. Then it's time to clean out the last of the garden, till it and tuck some of my perennials in bed for the winter and just when my new Asiatic Lillies started blooming. Okay I got them in late but at least I got them in! I'll try to get a photo of them.

It definately is fall here. Big time crock pot aka slow cooker time. Holly got me hooked on a great blog, A Year of Slow Cooking , plus Holly's got her own blog about that infamous thing we call out here-the crock pot, Queen of Slow Cooking. I tried the Orange Chicken and yeap it's a repeater. Since I have a lot of chicken in the frezer, will try another one on Saturday and Sunday. But which recipe??

Now, who's going to visit us tonight????

Later gators....
C