Skywatch Friday Photos--Wild wild weekend

Okay, just an update on the title as I know that these are great Skywatch photos but no need to create a new post. Have a great weekend!

skyley.blogspot.com

April 26, 2009--Tornado in Eastern Iowa

Picture heavy post--and unfortunately, start at the bottom and work your way back up to the top!

Okay, this is the cute one--see Phoenix running in from the pasture? Yeah, running for shelter!

Moose is taking a small break and will finish up with the remaining days at the Specialty later this week. But tell you what, it's not been boring around here.

This weekend was off to the Marshalltown show(Heart of Iowa) Well, not too bad. Frank took WD for two more points, now at 9 and needing one major. Dove on Sunday took the points and is now at either 4 or 5, I have to verify that with AKC first. Congrats out to Mel H and finally finishing her boy Indy. I felt so sorry for her having been in that position of needing that one single point-and chasing it for over a year. Ugh, not fun. Oh and we didn't get a chance to talk to her but got to see one of Dawn's babies. He's a charmer, that's for sure and took RWD to Frankie's WD on Saturday.

Weather at that show is either good, with no points available or crappy with points. So yes, crappy this year which leads me to my next adventure.....severe weather. OMG, the photos here will tell it all. We live in rural Linn County IA. Our home was 1 1/2 miles to 2 miles south of a tornado that hit the outskirts of Alburnett, IA, then traveled parallel to a connecting road then whiped out a camp ground at the local county park in Central City, IA. The photos tell it all and hope it's not too much to bog down your computers. It starts looking NW of the house then due north. Talk about Alec, as soon as he stuck his head out the door to see what David was looking at, it was -IN THE HOUSE, DOGS IN THE BASEMENT, FUNNEL CLOUD!!!!!!!

Then you hear David with--DEBRIS, IT'S ON THE GROUND-TORNADO!!!! TAKE COVER!!! Sirens didn't go off till about 5 mins later--even with multiple trained weather spotters in our area, it was slow.

Afterwards we did the loop to make sure the neighbors were okay and got a few pics of the damage. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me and I think it was a lifetime chance to watch her in action. Wouldn't be anywhere but out in the country where you can see her coming!!!

So there you go, an adventure in Iowa.

Later gators.....

C

The Moose Report-day 7-girl's day out

Wow, the week has just flown by. It's Friday already and well let's talk about my bath. How is it that those puppies get a nice warm bath while moi gets a cold one in the booster bath at the expo center? I figured I rated way higher on the totem pole then those youngsters! But that's okay, Eddie had to deal with freezing water too. I wasn't that dirty after the sheep on Sunday but I needed to shine for the breed ring on Saturday. Mom said that she didn't expect to do a darn thing in breed but just to have fun.

I forgot to mention that Frankie passed his CGC last night. He was one tired pup after all that ring time but he managed to suck it up for a few more minutes. They giggled at him as he fell in love with Pat and climbed up in her scooter with her. He got a little ribbon too.

So up early as the little black puppy went in for her first time, first class of the morning. She acted cute, had puppy play time in the ring and wow, can she move or what? Everyone was commenting that she looked like a black version of her dad Sulley. No ribbons but she had fun and told me later she can't wait to get back in the ring later in the month.

Meredith had to get up this morning too as she was showing her Dovey girl. How did that pup rate having the kid show her? I much prefer the kid then Mom most days-she gives me more treats in the ring while Mom makes me work for them. Anyway, Dove had her A game on. I sat and watched with Mom-from a distance. Meredith told Mom to beat it so Dove wouldn't be looking for her outside the ring. Wouldn't you know it-they got a ribbon!! 4th place at that and another set of windchimes. I will say, she's a pretty little girl-okay, both of them are. I'm kind of sweet on both of them.

After our bathes and blow dries, Mom surprised us by getting our therapy dog vests on. Okay I admit, I was a little put out. I mean, when I get a bath, the whole show thing is going on, I'm supposed to be out there strutten' my stuff. But the collar with the tags and the vests mean work and I didn't sign up for that this trip. Meredith got to show us off in the ring while a really cool gal named Pat talked about what we do. We did get the biggest ribbon of the week with our names on it and all our titles. Phhtttt-I have more then Eddie right now! We also got a neat blanket embroidered with the words "unconditional love" on it. Everyone hooped and hollared for us and I tried to look the part.

We then headed back to the camp site for dinner-it was steak night!!!! I was bushed so I sacked out in the infamous blue lounge chair. Earlier in the week we found out that that particular chair eats people, especially if they have too much to drink ;0) I figured I was safe but seems the humans were picking on me--photo to come later on. Mom was waiting for Alec as he was driving in early from his FFA convention. We also were surprised last night as Connie came in a day early-she had lost her voice and couldn't teach, so decided not to sit at home but come early. Connie brought out her dolls and did some ventriliquist stuff for us-it was fun. Did I mention that the night before Aunt Sherilyn was having too much fun doing smores for us? That's a story for Mom to tell later. We had lots of visitors to our site and made lots of new friends.

Anyway, it had been such a stressful day for me, I crashed in the RV with Meredith and Nick. Mom didn't have the heart to drag me out so I slept there. Mom said that was good as she and Bekka didn't have to share the bed with me.

Tomorrow is breed and then the silent auction-one day left-kind of sad though, I wanted it to last much longer.

Moosie out!!

The Moose Report-Day 6-the main event

I guess we will call it the main event, since this was the day with most of the dogs doing something. The girls got to sleep in as they didn't have to do a thing, well other then Margie, but today was the only day she had to lift a paw.

The boys were in bred-by so that meant we got to sleep in a little. I made sure it wasn't too late by bouncing on the beds. Packed up, Mom had her tea and we headed to the RV to get bait(umm, last night's left overs!) The boys got all dolled up and headed to the ring. Frankie got his picture on the news(see Mom's earliet post) and so did Bear. Nothing in the class other then a good long look by the judge.

Then came the big events. I sat ring side for awhile and watched. Boo was showing in stud dog with Frankie and Bear. Kerri helped out and handled Frankie all afternoon. That girl is a hoot! I really like her, even though she got a few unflattering photos of me. They took 4th in the class and Uncle Rus was super happy. Next came brood bitch and Margie was, well, not happy at all. Seems she had had a long talk with her boy Alec some time ago about not having to do this "stupid" show stuff anymore. Needless to say she was torked off. Everyone agreed that she looked marvelous-that kind of perked her up some. Most of the time she's very muddy and out of coat-her preferred state. But Mom gave her a bath yesterday and she cleans up pretty good-don't let her hear that though. Anyway, Margie was shown by Uncle Rus, Ruff Ruff was shown by Mom and Frankie by Kerri. Well I'll be darned-they got 2nd in the class!!! Uncle Rus was so happy that when he hugged Mom, he lifted her feet right off the ground ;0) Mom said that wasn't too bad for an old crippled girl ike Marg and Ruff Ruff was on his A game too. They one cool set of windchimes and a big ribbon.

The evening was snack time as the humans waited to go up to the hotel for the annual meeting and awards. Meredith got an award for top Junior level junior. They won a couple things at the raffle--that darn Bekka was the lucky rabbits foot this year-needed a u-haul to bring all her stuff home. They came back to the RV to pick me up-I opted to hang out at the USS Gibson. Then back to the hotel. Tomorrow is an early day as that little shit black puppy has the first ring time of the day-grrrrr.

Moosie out!!!!

The Moose Report-Day 5-sweeps

Just a little back tracking and well shame on me for forgetting this very important part-food! Man do those campers know how to cook! Mom, Bekka and the rest of us spent lots of time this last week hanging around the USS Gibson and the Davenitch Toy Hauler. As noted before, they had lots of xpens up, grass(when it wasn't raining) and toys to play with. While we dogs amused ourselves, our humans worked on the food side.

Sunday night Kim and Kerri did burgers. I got to help too! They were sort of frozen and well, weren't grilling up as well as they should have. Of course some ended up on the ground which I took the serious job of clean up. Nothing like a good burger. Now the humans added in salad, some delicious green beans and brownies. Ummm, brownies, but I heard that the infamous butterscotch bars were headed down with Rus and Sherilyn later in the week.

Monday since it was raining, Mom sprung for Pizza. Everyone agreed, a night off from cooking was good and since it was cold and wet, we all ate in the USS Gibson. Talk about a load of dogs-we tried not to bump into anyone too much ;0)

Tuesday was left overs-not too darn bad either. A little bit from here and there. Amazing what we can pull together!

So here we are on Wednesday. Rus, Sherilyn and the corgi gang from Winjammin arrived late Monday night-boy did that hotel room get crowded or what? The kids were getting ready for sweeps-remember that we had that mass bathing Tuesday afternoon. We'll talk more about my bath later on-brrrr. Of course that means getting up at the "butt crack of dawn". Not sure why the humans get so warped out of shape about that-I'm always game for an early morning romp. Frankie and Bear were all polished, Merlot the wild child, and Dove was being squirrelly-typical girl. Of course I had to wait in the crate until it was mostly over but thats okay, Frankie filled me in that they didn't do anything. They looked cute and had on their best set of ears. That's okay, we aren't holding it against the judges. What usually happens is you do well in one set of classes and poorly in another, so that sets up for a good showing in regular classes. It ended up being a long day with Mom and we headed back to the RV's for some social time while Meredith, Eddie and Nick went to the juniors seminar and handling clinic.

Now, with the entire gang assembled, we decided it was time for some fun. Kudos to Aunt Kathy as she spent most of the day looking for a fire pit. It got a little chilly out and about the last few nights and what better to make the party but a fire. Hum, cedar wood to burn too. Rus, Sherilyn and Mom decided to do some socializing of their very own after dinner--which back to the food--ummm, Kerri cooked the bestest pork steaks, Kim's chicken and lots of salads and of course cheese and wine. Can we talk about wine?? Heehee, Auntie Kim got Mom a whole box of wine. It was okay but Sherilyn came prepared with the official CAW stuff. She and Mom drained most of it on Wednesday night then proceeded to do what they termed as trailer hopping-going down the line of RV's and socializing. Me, well, I went trick or treating! Everyone was happy to give me a pet or two and a treat. Man I love Nationals-the food is awesome!

The weather was turning out better then it started with predictions for lots of sun on Thursday and warm temps. It was a late night on Wednesday and we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for regular dog classes, non regular classes and the annual meeting tomorrow.

Moosie out!!

Interrupting for this news break...

As I pry the keyboard from between Moose's paws, our great friend Laura with Cooper Creek Cardigans and "May Favorite People are Dogs" blog, sent us this cool link to the Topeka news station WIBW. Frankie and I made the news as well as a pretty head shot of Bear.

Here's the link:
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/43109537.html

Now back to the Moose report. Quit slobbering on the key board dude!


Later gators....
C

The Moose Report-Day 4-Rally

So after I got a few good treats last night, now today is Eddie's turn. Rus and Sherilyn made it down last night, which meant that Mom and Bekka were sharing a bed and I had to sleep on the floor. That's not going to work for long. I have to giggle though, Bekka likes to talk in her sleep, so Mom will not get a good nights sleep unless she uses ear plugs.

We got to sleep in some but had to be there early so Mom could help out in Rally. She had so much fun. It was our judge from yesterday and the courses were easy. I got to be a demo dog in the excellant ring. This meant I had to do the honor for the first dog in the ring, then at the end Mom and I ran the course for the last dog to honor. We were awesome, even if it was on leash. I think I might just be ready for advanced, considering how wonderful I did as a demo excellant dog ;0) As we were up in the Expo Center playing, Kim and Kerri were assembly line washing dogs. Tonight is the Megan and Ruff Ruff needs to be clean, while the puppies need bathes for sweeps tomorrow. The booster bathes out by the Expo Center had COLD water only but the RV and Camper had hot, so those guys got lucky with warm bathes and blow drys.

When Mom was done with Rally, she got Eddie warmed up for his "prove it" run. See last year Eddie made a fool out of Auntie Sherilyn. No one after that thought he had enough brains to do anything then. But he went on last year to get his RN and some pretty respectable scores-high 90's. So this year was just to prove to the crowd that yes in deed the floppy blue bear can think. Some days I doubt it but hey, I live with the dork. Unfortunately, Auntie Sherilyn and Uncle Russ missed his run by a few minutes. He was awesome, but don't let him know I said it. Ended up with a 2nd place! Mom got a cool stoneware cup with CWCCA 2009 on it. One of a kind she said and it's on the trophy shelf at home. Don't think any ones going to be drinking out of that one any time soon. Oh and a big ribbon. Which I do have a beef about--did you know the rally ribbons are bigger then the obedience ones? What's up with that???

So now with that done and the stuff all cleaned up and put away, Mom's rushing down to the RV to change into her formal dress for the Megan. Wooo weee, does she clean up good. It was Ruff Ruff's turn to shine and he was a little nervous. Luckily the evil people that try to spook him at the home shows weren't there and he was on his game. He looked good-I got to sit in a chair ring side to watch him and Boo. But alas as it always is, he's just not big enough for the judges. Now granted I'm a big whale of a dog and yes, I admit I'm too big, but my buddy Russ is right in the middle of our breed standard. He is what they call a moderate dog and most of the breeders Mom and Auntie Kim talked to this weekend think he's perfectly sized. Shame that people keep showing oversized and dogs that are too big, can't move and have horrible fronts to the regular show judges. Can that boy move or what! He's got sweeping movement that the judge from last year's sweeps commented on. Just gotta look past the size thing is all. I guess what's a judge to do when all he sees is crap then a good dog comes along-not sure what to do with him.


During the break we went back to the RV's and had dinner. Kerri and Auntie Kim are awesome cooks. Since I'm the well behaved dog, I get to sit out with the humans-I even get my own chair. Sometimes I go and hang out in the RV with Music though. Back down to the Expo Center to watch. Well none of our crew did a darn thing so we all headed back to our beds for a good nights sleep. It would be an early morning on Wednesday with sweeps and then juniors stuff.

Moosie out!

The Moose Report-Day 3-Obedience

After everyone had a nice warm shower, clean sheets and dry clothes, they all seemed in a much better mood on Monday morning. Once again, we loaded up and went over to see Kim's crew at the RV. Mom warned me it was another working day for me but it would still be fun.

About mid day we wandered over to the Expo center and watched some agility, got the grooming area cleaned up and organized. Kim and Ruff Ruff did a run in rally, that unfortunately ended with an NQ and some sort of threat on his boy areas from his mom. Something about a clothespin and/or duct tape. Tell you what, I had a chat with him and said "Kid, you better watch out-those girls mean business!"

Mom had me entered in Novice B obedience and suggested that I get my head wrapped around the idea of not creating my own heeling patterns. What's a guy gotta do to get some respect around here? The only reason I did it before was because my adoring fans wanted something beyond the standard boring stuff. Go figure that Mom didn't think that was cute. I know Rus and Sherilyn did ;0) So with a threat against it being a very very long day if I did't cooperate, or as Mom said, chasing those ghosts of bad runs away, we headed to the ring. Oh and might I add that earlier in the day they left me in the truck rather then allowing me to go in the RV. I got bored, pulled out my brand new braided obedience lead and had a snack on the handle. Guess that wasn't the right thing to do-Mom was beyond pissed. Figured it was in my best interest to have a good run and behave the rest of the day.

And the ghosts, they went bye bye!! I played it cool though, didn't want Mom to get too big a head about it all. I was a little sniffy on my on-leash pattern, little lag on the figure 8, then Mom with a huge sigh, turned the leash over to the steward and asked me to stand. Perfect if I don't say so myself! But I think the sigh was for the next part-off leash pattern. I got a little cocky-it was better then on leash and yes, I did what the judge asked and not what I thought I should do. Mom was pretty proud and she and the judge chatted before the recall about it. He said that I did exactly what he asked me to do and giggled. So to bring Mom back to reality, on the recall-I pretended I didn't hear her-turned my head and looked at someone coming in the door. Mom yelled, yes, yelled my name to get my attention, then come. I slowly turned looked at her and said, if you say so. Heehee, man was there worry on her face. I came, decided not to sit in front until the last moment, then finished perfectly. I like to throw her for a loop on occasion, keeps her on her toes. So out of the ring with a Q so far.

We went and relaxed then it's call back for long sits and downs. Once again, something about chasing a ghost of failed sits. Hey, give a guy a break, on those two occasions, I was tired and heck since I hadn't Q'd, why no just quit while you are ahead? But in an effort to perk up Mom's spirits after the failed goat thingy, I decided to freeze in place. Auntie Kim said that I didn't even blink for 1 minute. The relief on Mom's face was very evident and then we did the long down. Now I kind of like to show boat with that one and do the classic Moose manoveur-roll over on my side of back and freeze with my back leg in the air. Kind of hard to hold for 3 minutes, but I do it for the fun of it. Mom said that between me and the dog next to me(both of us on our backs) the crowd had a good giggle. And when Mom came back she was so happy-glad I could make it up after snacking on my lead, she earned it! We ended up getting 3rd in our class, my first CD leg and to top it off, Mom said I was on good graces again-we won a brand spankin' new leash and it's a nice one too!

After looking at the vendors and chatting with lots of our friends, we headed back to the RV. I got to hang out with Music instead of the kids and Mom along with Kim, Kathy, Kerri, Bekka, Tom, Cindy F and lots and lots of new friends-Charlie, Kathryn and so many names I don't remember, partied into the night.

So the working vacation is going well. The sun is supposed to come out later in the week for us-so on Monday we did a little sun dance hoping it would warm up tomorrow. And I guess tomorrow the kid's get bathes, it's the Megan and my day off! Eddie's chance tomorrow to prove he can really do something with his brain.

Moosie out!