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