Thursday, November 29, 2012

Need...to...take....a....break.....

I feel like I've been running around like the proverbial chicken with it's head cut off.

Or is it the lovely red bird on the blog with it's head cut off?  I have an email into Leelou asking how to fix this, has to be a simple code issue we can tweak.

Yes the blog is now in a festive mood and so am I!

Thanksgiving came, we enjoyed the holiday with food, fun, movies and simply a small family affair.  I grew up with this horrendous huge family get-to-gethers where is was all about one ups manship.  Give me, my house full of dogs, a few family members and I'm much happier.

As soon as morning broke on Friday, I could tell the kids in the house were getting wound up.  Kids including hubby that is.  So I said, okay, let's do Christmas.  Instantly the cd player started up with Michael Buble and carols.  The leaves and garland came down and we spent the morning finding all the red, greens, lights and stuff.   We also watched Serenity. 

The Christmas trees are all in their places--I collect Fenton Christmas trees.  It actually started with my Grandma Daisy as we gave her those for Christmas every year.  She never had a tree in the house, preferred those.  Though now I think I need a bigger area to display them in - hint hint hint.

Eddie's home.  He throughly enjoyed his trip to WI and as soon as we know the breeding took, I'll post the bitch owners information here if you are interested in an Eddlet, though I do believe that there is already a waiting list for pups.  But also, Eddie was glad to be home.  And immediately when I sat down for a moment, took up his rightful, or so he thinks, spot on my lap.  Mal is not impressed with Dad-he thinks it's his spot.

Took the Ms to see Breaking Dawn P2.  Yes I went and yes I've read the books, own all the current movies on DVD and this one is the best, so cliche to say, saved the best for last.  I think the end was a little rushed but it was in the book too.  Afterwards we visited the new JoAnn's Crafts--OMG!!!!!!   It's worse then Michael's and yes we did buy stuff.  And I need to be kept away from there.

Then I baked.  FB's Fudgey White Chocolate and Cranberry cookies, Devil's Food cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, lots and lots of creative turkey and left over meals.   I love cooking this time of year!!!  Then I yelled at Malcolm to DROP IT.  Seems he had been rearranging the nativity(it's in a different place this year) and decided one of the angels needed to be relocated.  I love dogs that learn by watching others.  One "drop it", he stopped, gave me his best puppy dog eyes(Dawn, you know those!) and dropped his angel.  Good boy, now straighten up your own halo dude and tuck those little red horns back behind your ears.

Then all heck broke loose-----I'm now in the middle of dealing with a volunteer issue with our local extension office.  Though I would love to really get indepth with this subject, lets just leave it for another post when I can collect my thoughts.  Two meetings this week, umpteen calls, emails, articles written and my brain is now drained.  Oh kennel club meeting, Ms' riding lessons, I've got dogs molting all over so we need to do some serious baths and blowouts this weekend, eye appointment, more cooking, hubby's working overtime, Ms is on the conduct team, caroling and Christmas party for 4-H and finish up dog show stuff for 2013. 

Oh yeah, and it's month end at work, working up to year end, I have filing to do and I hate filing and well, need to spend some time with Sue as she's also battling some life changes this upcoming weekend.

And we got two of the lottery numbers, no powerball.  Guess my much needed break to some place warm with sand, surf and adult beverages.  Sigh... oh well...I guess...if I have to....I'll just keep trudging on....

Later gators...
C

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Thank you

Wishing all my friends and family a very blessed and safe Thanksgiving.

May your day be filled with love, laughter and the joy of life.

Oh and of course, hug your four legged kids for me-I am ever so blessed to have the most amazing families for my puppies, you truly are one of my greatest blessing.


Cindy, David, Meredith, and Alec

Monday, November 19, 2012

It is finished

At least for me.  Last dog show of the year was this past weekend and I know, I know, I've been a bad blogger and not posted for what, almost two weeks?  That means I haven't caught you up on the Kalamazoo trip, the Mystery Machine's maiden voyage and then our MN trip.

Kalamazoo weekend/Mystery Machine maiden voyage....success, sort of.  The show itself was fun as always, love this show.  Great friends, helpful and looking out for you.  Mal went to his first show, walked out of the ring with a 3 pt major, WD/BOW!   Then the judges showed no love for the baby the rest of the weekend.  That's okay, I referred to the Katie Gammill article about prefferred breed type.... http://www.thedogplace.org/ShowDog/Preferred-Type_Gammill-0901.asp 
Not to take away from anyone's wins in the ring, but when your dog stands out from the crowd of otherwise similar dogs, it does on occasion make the judge do the old "one of these things is not like the other....let's not even look at it"

Cy managed to take WD for his first major on Sunday.  Seem to be having a long drought in that area.   Roughs were about the same though the tri boy I've shown for Rebecca off and on went WD to finish on Friday, moved up to breed the rest of the weekend and I piloted to his first select competition major! 

Alec is now showing bedlingtons and Sheila brought over a couple  nice girls for the show.  Cindy got her final major on Thursday and moved to breed and went select the rest of the weekend.  The Ms showed a lovely little girl all weekend and pulled out WB on Friday for her first major then went RWB the rest of the weekend. 

Loki, was Loki, wd all weekend, now just looking for those darn majors!  Is it all possible that other akita people can help and enter a few dogs now?

And in juniors, a last minute dog change due to ring conflicts, sent Malcolm aka Smelly into the ring with the Ms and wouldn't you know it, that darn puppy and the kid went 4th in a huge juniors class!  

The Mystery Machine is awesome-we had room to spare, packing is a dream, dogs have room and the Ms can stretch out on the long 7 hour drive and read.   Thanks Dad for finding it for us!!!  I'll try to get photos over the holiday weekend, during the day light.  It's definately not new, but it works perfectly for what we need it to do.

A long drive back home in the rain, wind and cold, we made it home in record time, dropped off a very happy Loki, gave Olive some scritches and headed home. 

During the week, which seemed like it took forever to get through, Alec took a few dogs to Doc's for rabies.  Heehee, breaking in a new vet tech is just his joy in life.  See he worked for Doc while in high school until FFA duties called.   So he knows the ropes better then most of them in there.   Seems Frank is like 40 lbs of solid dog.   On the other hand his sister, Dove is 34 lbs of pure mink.  The tech thinks the table isn't working right.  There is no way for Frank to be that big, he just doesn't look like it and honestly, he's a little skinny right now.  Dove, about the right size for her, like her momma was.   Well I know that it's not his well, boy toys, causing him to be heavy, those have always been small.  I think it's big head, like a rock.  Just wish it was filled with the right kind of brain matter.  No he's not stupid, just uncooperative at times.

Now the fun one is that he had to take Tango, the pom and Ace, the griff, in.  Ace is a whopping 8 lbs.  And I have him shaved right now.  Tango is all over 5 lbs or so.  Tech said again, that can so not be right, scale must be way off today.  Hello, anyone seen the amount of hair on that thing lately?  Tango is all hair, there is nothing under the fluff, heehee.   Alec tried but gave up on explaining these things to the tech. 

So then it's Thursday night, I think it's Wednesday.  Mal did not get bathed, Cy and Penny did though, Alec did those two.  I just could not bring myself to do it then watch all my hard work go to waste as he finds more dirt and mud to get into.  The look last week when get got his first official show bath was one of dismay, watching all the hard earned dirt flow down the drain in the tub.

We are packed and off.  The best feeling in the world to start of with $2.99 gas!  Bought the office lottery tickets(we didn't win), then got the call that Shelley had broken down just north of the Cities, hadn't gotten grooming yet and we were still 2 hours out!  Shout out to Dawn and David who went over and got us a primo spot.  Life savers they are!!!!

Then it's crash at the hotel, I'm not sure but I think we were all exhausted.   Early up, find the show site, Dawn's awesome grooming spot and realize, we had plenty of time to get the bedlington done. 

Let me say this right now, I'm not impressed with some people, at all.  We make every attempt to present to the judge a dog that is well behaved, has some idea of what is expected of it in the show ring, is socialized and offers to those standing ring side, a true looking into what the real temperament of the breed should be.  On that note, dogs, okay, I'll be blunt, smooth collies being shown this past weekend, made those watching ring side cringe.  I heard comments about not knowing that the breed was flakey or spooky or unsocial or tended to be scared at the least movement of a chair or cart rolling by.  AND...having had a dog get spooked by a rough judge recently and not getting rewarded for that behavior and knowing damn well that the dog should not get rewarded, to have a judge reward that behavior and poor lack of presentation that made the dog move very incorrectly was just uncalled for.  Now all that hard work of making this breed approachable was thrown out the door.  You should be ashamed of yourself for thinking that this was acceptable and that oh it's a puppy excuse would work.  Sorry, I had 6 mo old cardigan puppies in the ring this weekend, hanging around outside that were perfectly fine with the chaos, the noise and knew how to behave.  And that is a breed totally different then the collie in temperament. 

Speaking of my spooky dog, we've worked damn hard coming back from that horrible incident and work we did for the sake of our dog.  She's now a rock star on the table, allowing anyone to approach her, not shying away and enjoying being outside the ring.  Granted she's always wondering if we are done yet and knows exactly how to get back to her crate in grooming when done showing as well as where the Mystery Machine is parked.  But she's not freaking out, spooking at every sound, shying away from the judge, totally not paying attention to the handler, etc.  

So now you ask, how did the weekend go?  Cy got RWD on Sunday in a group of dogs that paddled as they moved, clipped in the rear, moved on their hocks and had horrible untypy collie heads with prick ears.  Type?   I'm so confused now, I'm not sure if I understand what a correct dog is supposed to be now.  I guess that stringing a dog's head up, basically walking around the ring instead of moving and making the dog stand under itself is how they are to be presented these days.  I've got to get off this topic, I might explode.  I always try to find the good, why did a dog win, what was the judge looking for?  I just couldn't do it.  Oh and forgot to mention, this crap on running up on other dogs, running into other dogs and allowing your spooking dog to mess up another dog, you should be ashamed with yourself. And you call yourself a handler? 

Bedlingtons were fun this weekend, especially when you are the only one.  Cinderella and Alec are becoming a great time, no love in the group, but he's mastering grooming of the lamb like dogs.  And she's an awesome snuggler in bed and is totally getting into playing with the cardigans.

Cardigans?  Oh that's right we had a few of those to show this weekend too.  Ms Penny is getting so much better, but would like mats over that black stoney floor from the weekend.  WB both days for another 2 points.  Next, the wonder twins.....Malcolm and Wash.

What silly boys they are.  Wash is all goober and a big one at that.  Eeeek, 27 lbs and stands easily an inch over Mal, with tons of extra skin, he kind of reminds me of Wally at that age.  Both boys were on their best behavior and kept four feet on the floor, though Mal did a few Tigger impressions.  Saturday Wash was the star and went WD/BOW for his very first point.  Way to go Dawn and Wash!!!  Mal was just too small for the judge, honestly he looked a small fish next to the whales in the ring :)   Just kidding! 

Sunday both boys looked just as good, the judge was slow and we had plenty of time to hang out ringside.  I do need to find out who the lady was that took all the photos of the gang.  She even got the litter theme when she heard us talking to the boys.  She loved the Firefly theme!   Mr Frog Dog aka Wash, was entertaing folks, getting all kinds of love and Mal was trying to figure out which end was which on the OES's ring side.  The look on his face was priceless.   Now for my next beef....

Again not to take away from the wins, but rewarding a dog that is squirrelly on the table(after the handler literally dropped him on it), can't move, can't stand still, I mean seriously how do you get a good look?  Both Mal and Wash were statues, not a muscle moved, no need to repeat a down and back, stood correctly with expression.  Ugh.  So Malcolm ended up RWD and the WD?  Went on to BOB, I so did not understand the judging this weekend. 

At some point after handing out chickens and eggs to eager people, we packed up and left.  It was just intolerable the way things went.  Again, I never have an issue with being beat by a better dog, never.  But I have an issue with being beat by a dog that is out of control, poor handling and buddy buddy politics.  It does no service to the breed to reward that.  I need to get out of this rut.

Made it home, had DQ on the way and made me feel better.  Another day, another judge, another dog show.  Hubby spent the weekend cleaning carpets, digging holes to find the septic lid so we can get it pumped, chasing rogue clydesdales and taking Max to see Doc.  No really, he didn't chase the horse, but when he came home and it was standing in front of the garage snacking, it just wasn't where it was supposed to be.  Seems Rosie jumped the fence, again.  And is bored. 

I was happy to sleep in my own bed, snuggle with Cora and tell Frank he's a dork.   Now it's Thanksgiving planning, put the furniture back-it's all in the kitchen right now, and defrag.  A month and 1/2 till our next dog show, good thing too, I might not make it through another one!

One little ol'brag before I go!   Team Liz went agility trialing this weekend and woo hoo!!!! Max came home with another title, this time his OJP and a leg in standard and a leg in novice fast.  She makes me tired just thinking about it all!

Now, where is that pumpkin fluff pie recipe mom sent me....

Later gators...
C



Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I voted, I think

I don't think in all my years of voting that I can't remember who I voted for.  Honestly, I always flip over the ballot and vote no to keep the judges--seriously folks, they need to earn it.  That I remember doing last night.  I remember voting  yes for enhanced 911 fee.  That was a no brainer there.

But on the front upper left of my ballot?  I sat and stared and stared.  I ran all the arguments through in my head of why this one vs that one.  I was truly one of the undecided walking in last night.   I know why I wanted to vote for the other, then then I knew a reason for that one too. 

And in the end, I walked out, sat in the truck, and had a moment of reflection that said regardless of who I did vote for, I'm not sure if either was the less of two evils. 

And I still don't remember this morning which circle I filled in. 

At least the Tall Kid's wish has been granted, the ads have stopped.

Later gators....
C

Being thankful

I have a home.

A husband who loves me.
Kids who are the best in the world.
Warm fuzzy dogs.
Eddie’s arrooo.
Moo’s still with me.
A job.
Warm blankets at night.
Cool breezes during the spring.
Rain.
Snow(that’s debatable)
Memories.
The right to vote for whoever I want

And being a sensible Midwesterner……

(I've written, rewritten and started over on the next part, about a dozen times.)
Which means when someone says evacuate, we do what we are told.

I’ve been trying to a positive spin on this but honestly, even sitting on this over 6 days still hasn’t made me feel any better, so as I said to someone else, can I vent?

Last week the entire eastern seaboard was hit with a horrific event of unnatural proportions. My heart sank watching the reports come in. Flooding in the mass transit system. Water making streets rivers, entire communities not only washed off the maps but those that were left, fire raced through and destroyed even more. Power is out for millions. Then more rain, cold and wind. Seems they just can’t get a break. I do feel for the heartbreaking sorrow felt by everyone dealing with this.

BUT what got me was this one TV report. This is my vent or the place to start. When given the grave intensity of the storm and the orders to evacuate and get the hell out of the area, and you don’t, you have no right to bitch, whine or berate those that are trying to help you because they are so slow. One news report this weekend was so simple to the point and it came from a child—they heard the news, the orders to evacuate and their parents chose to stay. They are now asking why they didn’t listen? Why they have no power, can’t get out, too dangerous to do anything, food is spoiling, etc. Why didn’t their parents listen?

Here’s some facts folks so that you don’t think this rant is coming from someone who is sitting in the middle of po-dunk nowhere. Remember 2008? I do. Every single day. We have a plaque in our office that marks the high water point on June 13th, 2008.

Some interesting things to note: Our water took weeks to go away, your’s? Gone the next day(for the most part).

How about this-we got told to evacuate and we listened. At any point did you hear a Midwestern complain about not having help? About being stranded because they didn’t listen? That our area set up a temporary animal shelter BEFORE the storm on high ground(the city shelter was by the river) and that within 24 hours hundreds of volunteers were there to help? That city shelters were ready, before the river went to it’s highest in what is considered not only a 500 year event, a lifetime event but in some places a 1000 year event!

Damage costs in Cedar Rapids alone are over 2.1 billion. 9.2 square miles including the entire down town and one hospital were under water-and the hospital was all but evacuated when it was realized just how far the river would reach.

Not once did I hear a citizen anywhere in the Midwest complain about why the redcross hadn’t gotten to them yet. No, we picked our asses up, moved on, helped our neighbors and were appreciative of any and all help offered, didn’t bitch that it wasn’t enough. And remember, we evacated when told to, so most of us were out of harm’s way.

It took us 3 weeks to get back to the normal driving route to Iowa City. The time inbetween, we drove 45 mins north, then 45 mins west, then 45 mins to Des Moines and another 2 hours back east to get what normally takes us 20 mins due south.

2 dozen people died, in the Midwest, which includes Chicago, Minneapolis, St Louis.  I think they included 8 states, more area then the current disaster area.

83 off 99 Iowa counties were considered disaster areas, 21 in Illinois.

Lake Delton in WI emptied when a levee between it and the Wisconsin River eroded.

As of June 24, 2008, the American Red Cross worked in eight states, providing food, comfort, information and other assistance to those in need. The organization has provided more than 713,000 meals and snacks and distributed more than 40,000 clean-up kits to residents affected by flooding and severe weather in the central U.S. The Red Cross anticipated spending in excess of $15 million for this and other disasters that summer. FEMA supplied over 3.6 million liters of water, nearly 200,000 meals and almost 500,000 sandbags during the course of the flood in June.

I guess my long winded point is this, don’t tell the rest of the country we don’t understand. Don’t scream that you have had no help or aid, because you were told to leave and now neither you nor the helping organizations can get to you. Be considerate-I saw tons of reports of those who looked out for each other, I guess it’s the sour grape that ruins the bunch?

It's interesting living in a different area of the country.   I see differences in our value systems as well as, well, our ability to listen, comprehend and understand rather then fight, bully and feign indifference.  

I still send prayers out to those that are dealing with this horrible disaster.  Cardi folks are the best and FB is a buzz with those offering a hot shower, place to do laundry or checking in on those in need.  Wish everyone were like that.

Later gators...
C

Thursday, November 1, 2012

I swear, I tried

But I just can't do it.  We decorated the office, the Ms and I got out the funny candle holders, the ghosts, the pumpkins.  But in all honesty, Halloween is just not one of my holidays.  Now granted I do like the occasional scary movie, the stories about hauntings and such, but the commericalism of it all, I'm over it.

Seeing grownups dressing up, acting stupid, that happens every weekend.  The date just gives them a midweek excuse. 

The Ms commented that a few of her high school friends were planning on dressing up and going out treating.  She looked at them and said why?  But of course, to get candy!  She said first off you're way too old for this and 2nd, go out and buy your candy, you do anyway. 

I also get a little depressed this time of the year as we skip to Halloween in August, miss Thanksgiving as Walmart already has their Christmas stuff up the first of October.   Less daylight, mixedup holidays and skewed priorities. 

Yes I did enjoy this holiday when my kids were little.  I made costumes, took them to events and had fun.  We annually do the K9Ambassadors at the Hitaga Trail, but that's all I can muster. 

Sigh, when did I turn into an old lady?   Sensible shoes, warm cardigan sweaters at night, staying home instead of going out to the clubs or bars.  Could be that I have a great 20 + year relationship with a great guy, 3 great kids and a home I want to come home to each night.

I don't know anymore, wake me when I have to baste the turkey and NO Christmas until I have throughly enjoyed Thanksgiving.

Later gators....
C