Tower climbing

We went on a little tour this morning to see what the fair grounds status was, considering all the water around here. If you haven't heard, the earthen levee at Lake Delhi on the Maquekota River broke about 1pm yesterday. That created a mess-boats, docks, houses, all lost in the water. Now it's headed down river to Monticello and the Great Jones County Fair Grounds. Yeah, it's under water. Stix's(sp?) concert was cancelled as well as a lot of other events.

Anyway, Central City is on the Wapsi, just the next river down and no less effected. Our favorite DQ is under water in Independence. Fair grounds are okay in CC but it's still not crested yet.

Detour after looking at the grounds and I hate steps. There's a reason I don't have a stair climber. But the Ms wanted to go up for a view of the area.

Pinicon Ridge Park is a county park in our area. Great place to lay tracks for the dogs, hike, huge sledding hill in the winter, great campgrounds along the river-when it's in it's banks and this HUGE observation tower where you climb like 20, 000 stories to the top. Okay not that far but it's a hike. The Ms has some good photos on her camera I'll try to get up later.

I'm now tired and my legs feel like jello.

Later gators....
C

And the sister's turn

Just plucked her outta the yard, ran a quick brush through to get some of the tuffs out of her butt. She's blowing coat and hasn't had a real bath in a couple of weeks, daily pool play time doesn't count.


Later gators....
C

RRR, last one, I think, I hope

AHAHAHA Okay out of my system.

Here's one more of da'Red Man.

Later gators....

C

More Frankie

Something seriously wrong with my computer and dial up today. Yes we still have dial up out here and well, working on changing that this week.

Here's another view of da' boy.....

Later gators.....

C

Frankie Baby

He's certainly not a baby anymore. I've been hounded from tons of people to get new photos of him up. Considering he finished so fast and then became a couch potato, we haven't had a good photo session in a while.

He was not impressed. Bath, blow out, then photos? Serious contract violations. He immediately went over the pool, jumped in then went over to Chateau Quack, under it and rolled.

I also must add that he looks poofy or slightly fat. He's not. He has buckets of short dense, super correct coat that almost never blows. You normally don't use a dryer on him as it makes his undercoat fluff up. Which in turn makes him look poofy-neck and rear mostly. Silly boy.

So many Barkdays!!!!!!!!1

It seems like most of my dogs are born during the summer. Those lucky breeders, summer puppies are the easiest!

So here we go:

To the May baby--rePete. Reminder she is a girl! Our little patriotic kid that turned a year old at the end of May.

To the June kids(I think I already did a post on them but what the heck):

Margie's kids: Dove and Frankie are now 2! Wow. This was the 2am c-section litter. Eghads, Doc still doesn't let me live that one down.

Phoebe--the grand dam of the entire cardigan chaos. Turned 9, yes 9 this summer. She's still going strong, herding the cat, climbing into the horse pasture for yummies and then wandering through the cow pasture for more before sitting at the gate asking to be let back in.

To the July kids:

Lace survived her ordeal this spring and is now totally spoiled and turned 8 this year. She most certainly doesn't show it at all. Not one grey hair, heehee, but how can you tell, she's a blue merle aka the evil blue dog. Sleeps on her own full sized bed and takes so much pleasure in torturing the other dogs in the house.

Margie's first litter--the Alcohol litter! To Ruffles, Lila, and the rest of the gang out there. It's hard to believe they are three already.

Ace-uh, yes, remember him? That would be Alec's graduation present from Randy. An ugly little dog(rough black brussels griffon). Needs to learn to talk like a real dog. He loves to have his nails dremeled-loves it and begs for it. Waits in line while I do another dog then jumps in my lap and says me. Looks like a mini-wookie right now, seriously needs to be clipped. Fun, odd and turns 5 in July. No picture of him, how the heck do you take a picture of a black dog without him looking like just a blob? I'll work on that this weekend.

Fred aka Garbage Gut aka Grandpa. The other half of the cardigan chaos beginnings. He still insists on having his opinion heard, taking over the pool rights from Eddie and getting as much trouble as he can. Sleeping upside down, which in turn gives his thick coat a part down the center and the air foil on his butt. A boy's best friend and turns 9 at the end of this month.

Last but by no means least, the perfect dog turns 11. It's so hard to see them grow old but this one does it gracefully and with attitude. Happiest of Barkdays to our Mary Poppin's dog, Clairee Bear. Someone coined that term on her years ago and it is the perfect description of this collie girl. I just don't know what my life would be like with out her. She's the Ms' security blanket, scarer of monsters in the basement, hunter of dropped morsels in the kitchen, welcoming committee for all who enter Foggy Bottom and above all, pleasantly perfect in every way. In all of my life, she's the one dog that I will never be able to replace, nor do I ever want to. She's a little deaf and a little adsent minded now, but hey, it's her right. And she celebrated her birthday as the usual tradition, going to fair.

So there we go, a summer full of barkdays. We tend to celebrate them all at once, a little icecream after everyone leaves from the corgi frap. I love each and everyone of them and don't know what my life would be with out them!

Later gators.....

C

Iowa Corgi Frap

It's almost here!!

For those of you who don't know, here's the info!!!!

Iowa Corgi Frap
Where: at our house-okay, how about 3846 Lillie Road, Central City, IA
Time: 11am to ???
Who: corgis, corgi wannabes and those interested in corgis

Potluck side dishes and desserts. BBQ chicken, grilled sweet corn, tea, and lemonade provided.

Please bring your lawn chairs and ezups.

Full fenced large yard for the dogs with horses to bark at, ducks to herd, pools to play and lots and lots of running.

Please rsvp at fogebotom@yahoo.com - just need to know how much chicken to grill. Directions will be provided at that time.

Hope you can come--I know we always have a blast!

Later gators....
C

false alarm

3:00am

Smoke Alarm goes off.

One room only.

David and I jump up, start investigating.

False alarm, sort of.

The house is wired with a smoke alarm system that will sound in the room that it detects the issue, then sound the entire system. I shut off the central air last night, threw open a window and put a fan in the window. It was wonderful sleeping weather. Until 3:00am. Seems someone had a campfire, trash fire or something and it was still smoldering late into the night. The fan drew in the smoke, set off the alarm in our bedroom.

This system also goes off when it's very dusty, very humid or a spider makes it's web over the sensor.

I could not fall back to that wonderful open window sleep. I need a nap.

Later gatozzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................
C

Final results are in

They survived with out me. It only sprinkled and she came home happy and eager for the challenge to do better. As she put it to Dad, " you need to push me from now on!".

There were a few parents that were upset about the way the show was judged. Of course we were a little disappointed about the whole halter thing but as a draft owner, you just come to expect some of that. What was upsetting to many was that the judge gave out white ribbons.

For those of you having not been in 4-H or FFA, at least at our county level, everyone gets a ribbon. You get premiums paid back once your record book is turned in. Each ribbon, based on color-blue, red or white, is worth a certain amount.

There's been some serious discussion this year about the amount of time and effort that the kids are putting into their project. I know parents work, I know the committee's demand a lot of participation in clinics, but like The Ms said, "push me!" Horses are dangerous animals, nothing to take lightly. Many of the these kids have no clue and are a danger to themselves and others. Some of these kids also come from families that have done this forever-I even showed with some of them. But unless the kid puts in the effort, wants to improve and is willing to learn, well it shows at fair and if the judge thinks they need a white ribbon, then maybe it's a wake up call that they seriously need to do better.

The Ms got white ribbons. She didn't care, she know that she wasn't up to par this year with a new horse, lack of riding time on him and his first year at fair. But she was darn happy that he did as well as he did, she knows what she needs to work on and she's willing to be "pushed" to do better.

So the results. We know the halter results-first in Draft. Riding classes: Lynn Dunn Memorial Walk-Trot--6th in her group. Such a big class that they split it. Trail-disaster-again, having not really worked with him, she thought he did great but refused the bridge, had issues with the back through and thought the rain coat would eat him. Let's just say Torey has his moments and after having one, he went, Oh, no biggy. She is ready to work with him on this stuff. The big one for the day was Horsemanship. I've never worked with her on this nor patterns. Can you say natural? She got 5th in the class!! And for a horse that she's only done walk trot with, they both worked through the pattern and did well.

Now, she's got the bug. Between dog shows, now it's up to the fair grounds on off Sundays for the Saddle Club shows.

And time for a break. Or not--Corgi Picnic at our place this weekend. Then Kennel Club BBQ next week. Then dog show, then then then-----back to school!!!!!!!

Later gators....
C

Finally the last day of fair

Only a week after the fair was actually done, are we done.

The horse show is today. And yes, it's raining, expected to rain and will rain more.

Got Glory the Clydesdale up there along with Torey the Dork. Feet are washed and chalked, tails braided, manes pulled and whiskers clipped.

I, of course, had to go to work after getting David and The Ms up there and all set up.

Latest results are that Glory won her halter class. Judge has no clue what to do with a draft horse and didn't even give her a second look when she went back in for Grand Champion halter. That bothers me to no end!

Oh and I might add, unlike others that like to brag about wins but leave out just little important things, like being the only one in their class, yes Glory was alone in her class this year as the other draft horse's owner could not make it to the show today. The Ms doesn't care, she just wants the trophy!

More results from the wet riders as they post them to me.

Later gators....
C

Meet Myk

A super cute little bug of a boy, this is Myk. He is a foster dog with Cardigan Welsh Corgi National Rescue Trust. Adorable, gets along with every dog he meets. A little timid about new things but always happy.

If interested please contact the CWCNRT for more information.

Later gators...

C

Bookends and flooring

Like the rug? This is how you find these two all the time. Occasionally you find a corgi lost inbetween, but only during the winter. Right now the dogs are enjoying the simple pleasure of central air.

Later gators....
C

rePete

Da' Peterman, Pete, Sweetie Petey. I swear this dog will never have a real name. A happy go lucky little girl who has an agenda all her own. Not a care in the world. She's teaching the foster dog, Myk, to bark at the ducks and jump in the water bucket to cool off--he's a very quick study.
Here's her group photo from back in May. I just keep forgetting to post it. And yes, it's cropped. Seems the wicked weather got the best of the handler and well, rather not have you see my hair that afternoon.

Oh the judge is Mrs Hartinger. And yes, rePete is curling her lip-ugh.

Later gators....
C

It's not done yet, ugh

10" of rain in the horse arena means that the last day of Fair is not today. Not sure when the horse show will be rescheduled but it had better not be this weekend, the Ms will have to skip.

But anyway, Day 3 of the fair, was nothing. I went to work, David went to work, Meredith and Alec cleaned house. I didn't have to think about fair!

Day 4 was the draft horse pull. Old Glory went up for a breed demo and we had a blast cheering on our favorite team-Pete and Barney, a pair of Belgians owned by the Miller's of MO. They've been there for a couple of years now and are awesome to watch. The heaviest team in the pull at a combined weight of 3600 lbs. But they got 2nd :( They did win last year. There was also an 11 year old boy who had his own team. He was good as were his horses. Now the Ms wants a pulling team--I hate to say this but I wouldn't mind doing something like that too.

At the end of Day 4, two showers later, we then spent the evening tearing down goat pens and setting up for the dog show. Dinner was served at 10pm and then I died and went to bed, after shower #3.

Day 5-DOG SHOW!!! The kids and dogs all did great. Meredith and Merlot won their first Best In Show!!! Beating out the winner in the senior division who had won for the last 2 years. They were on their game and the black menace aka little shit actually stood still for a millisecond.

Obedience, well, Mr Moose was admiring his adoring public and barely managed a qualifying score--lets just say his recall needs a little more work, again. He was hamming it up for the crowd and Ms had to call a 2nd MOOSE to which he went, oh that's right, you want me to come. Meredith totally gets his personality and just laughed it off. What else can you do with a hambone of a dog? 2nd place in Novice A which means they are now off to Grad Novice next year.

Agility was a riot. We had good runs, we had bad runs and we had rain. Buckets. Torrential rain. So bad you couldn't hear Tim count time on the table. Your dog couldn't hear your commands and we halted the show for a little bit. Moose, was well Moose. He did great, 2nd place and the Ms said that some of it was just her not giving the right handling command. Total goof and I think I see Lace getting pulled back in for some agility and obedience.

We had kids that worked a lot with the dogs. We had kids that didn't. We also had kids and parents that didn't read the rules or didn't listen to the instructions given. Not sure but the biggest concern I have is focus--kids working on dog's focus and kid's focusing on their dogs. Ah yes, the project for next year's classes.

Overall, not a bad show. I have some great committee members, awesome parents and great kids to work with. That's what's kept me going for 10 years now. I had a great chat with the Black Hawk dog program person and they have maybe 6 kids each year. She was so impressed with the # of dogs and overall involvement we have. Then asked how we do it? I have no idea but I know after this year, I've already got 5 new kids and dogs coming in!

Now back to work.... I need a vacation from my vacation.

Later gators.....
C

New photo

I've had a lot of questions on the whole farm name thing. Yes Foggy Bottom is a metro stop in DC. Yes there's a long story on that-ask me some day as you can't do it justice in print.

But the new photo at the top of the blog also fits the name we use. That's looking out the back slider door to the SW. And yes, that's what we see so many mornings. It's very creepy at times though, to watch it to the NW of the house as it creeps along the creek bed towards us. It's super cool to see the horses walk out of the fog or the dogs run ahead during walks and disappear from sight.

So there's Foggy Bottom in a nutshell.

Later gators...
C

Two down, four to go

Two days of the fair are now in the history books. Good, bad and ugly. Four left-ugh.


Wednesday as noted before was static exhibit judging, poultry entry and horse and pony game show.


Static exhibits were so-so. The ugly part is that it took ALL DAY for her to get her six entries judged. With a few errors on our part with horticulture and well just the fact that we knew the entries weren't as good as they could have been-blame the weather, she walked away with 3 red ribbons. Rockets-humid weather is not what you want when painting rockets. So the shells and fins were a little rough, made for red ribbons also. But her animal science dog project got a blue! So after umteen hours of waiting, judging, and now the Ms has to rush around with other deadlines looming, she is bordering on heat stroke and a major migraine.


Ducks are sorted, loaded and transported to the fair grounds, with a slight protest from the horse also loaded in the front of the trailer-heehee, serves him right! Duck entry is large this year and the whole show is huge too. Over 370 entries, once again largest poultry show in Iowa.


Horse show went great. Only one kid had to bale off, no injuries to report. Torey took it all in stride, being his first offical show. Meredith was battling a migraine by the time her egg-n-spoon class was up. I think she was happy to drop her egg early on but she actually made it to the 1/2 way point! Not too bad for their first time.


So the end of Day 1. Back home, meds for her headache, unload what we can before the heavens open up and down pour on us. And yes it did rain. North of us 7 1/2 inches in 4 hours. The biggest issue is that all that rain is heading into the Wapsi, which runs past the fairgrounds and crest is expected 5 feet over flood stage, on Saturday or Sunday. Could be a little wet on the grounds.

Day 2-poultry show. I have to give a big hand to Jackie, John and Georgia for running a great program. Judging finished 5 hours ahead of time or 5 hours earlier then last year's record 13 hr show. 2 judges helped a lot. The Ms and Dad spent the day up there, I came up in the afternoon. Great kids, great parents and loads of fun.

Happy to report that the Ms won the Overall Best Pair with her Indian Runners. Then went on to win all blues in the light ducks, winning best of breed and Best Light Duck with her runners. The med weight ducks got blues for the anconas, red of the khaki(he just isn't as nicely colored as he could be right now). The Cayuga got a blue in the heavy duck class.

She also won the Chicken Bingo at the end of the show, a couple cool door prizes and was happy, no super happy with her results of the day. Next year she has bigger and better plans with the runners.

There was also some plotting and planning going on between Meredith and Anna(lives up the road). Seems I might be inheriting a bantam rooster so some sort. My only condition was that the swap occur with the exchange of a duck for the chicken. What have I gotten myself into???

So now it's a day off, sort of. Tomorrow is draft horse. Sunday dog show. Monday horse show. Dogs to wash, horses to clip and wash. House to clean. Lawn to mow--no that will wait.

Later gators...
C

Taking over

I didn't get a chance to post this a couple of weeks ago when Taffy was hanging with us before the shows in MN. Rotten little frenchie, took over the couch, house, well, anything she wanted, she just took it. And no, I'm not getting one of those, it just visits to keep Peterman in line. It's back home now eating sesame chicken.

Later gators....
C

Is it over yet?

I doubt that you ever have those events that are planned way in advance, then they get here and you can't wait for them to be over, do ya?

Not that I want it to be over, but the chaos is enough to drive me nuts. Yes folks, it's county fair time and the next week will be NUTS!

Today is static exhibits, which means rockets. I'll try to get some photos tonight when I go up. The Ms has two rockets this year, no 2 stagers-thank GOD! She feels that after the last doomed launch with a high flyer, that smaller engines and lower heights is good. The one is called Baby Bertha and is a big fat squat rocket that parachute recovers. The other is a little knat like one that is a tumble recovery-very cute and the entry tag is bigger then the rocket. If the weather holds then launch is at noon, but it's not looking good - sky's are heavy with rain today.

Let's see, oh there's horticulture exhibits too. Heirloom lettuce and some herbs. The garden isn't growing as fast as last year so not as much to enter.

Game show for horses today. The ducks are donating eggs for Egg-N-Spoon. Again, arena is a wallow, so not sure if they will run the show or not.

Ducks get entered today too. Right now it looks like 2 ancona drakes in the med weight class, 1 cayuga in the heavy weight, and 6 runners for the light weight classes. Then pairs. They raised the limit on entries and added classes-just for the ducks and the Ms this year so she could participate more. Alec's helping set up those this afternoon.

Then it's Poultry show tomorrow-that's an all day into evening event.

Friday is get horses ready for draft horse pull demo on Saturday. Saturday is set up for dog show, after the goat show is done. Then Sunday dog show, Monday horse show.

And now you know why I'm wondering if we are done yet???

Later gators...
C