It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Here's what it looked like in St. Louis when we got up this morning. It was pretty but very wet!

We spent the weekend visiting my family and running Legend at the local trial. She finished her novice Fast title yesterday and got 2nd place. Today she had 2 nice runs and got her second AX and AXJ legs with a 1st and a 3rd. Her times were not spectacular-sometimes she gets stressed and runs the first half of the course slow. Something I need to work on I guess. Then there are other times where she's totally relaxed and running fast all day or having fun zooming around the ring. Dogs are weird.











-- Post From My iPhone

Thanksgiving

This year I'm thankful for all the advances in medicine that help continue to keep my almost 14 year old boy as healthy as he can be. I'm also thankful for my two "throw-away" dogs-what someone else didn't want has truly become my treasure.

Thanks to all the rescue groups who work so hard to find, care for, and rehome these great dogs.


-- Post From My iPhone

Bath Day!

My project for the evening was to get all the dogs bathed and groomed. Although it took most of the night they do look great now. They were in bad need of a cleaning plus we are going to my parent's later this week. Of course after the grooming is the cleaning up of the nails and hair and wet towels that are strung out all over the house.

I have the next 4 days off work which is very exciting for me-not that I just get those days off, I had to take a vacation day Friday and trade around my weekends to get it worked out but it's still nice to have 4 days off.

I make this blanket yesterday for Legend with my clearance fleece-make a nice birthday present for her. I just added it to the old boring blanket she sleeps on when we are gone during the day. The picture actually didn't turn out that well-I took it with my phone and I think it was too dark. And her is a picture of her cute cake from the dog bakery. They ate most of it already but there is still a little saved.

Happy Birthday Legend!

Today is the day we celebrate Legend's birthday. We don't know the exact date but her original paperwork from the humane society where she was left gets us as close as late Nov or early Dec. Since Oreo's B-day is in December we arbitrarily chose today for Legend. She's 3 and the dogs will be having cake from Three Dog Bakery later today and some rawhide chewies.

Ever since discovering fuzzy tie-blankets I have been addicted to fleece. I bought these today for no apparent reason. I already have a pile of finished blankets in our computer room that I decided to add to my list of Christmas gifts. Some of this was on clearance and some I just liked. Plus, who couldn't use a nice Christmas blanket for decorating? I'm sure I can find somewhere in our house to put it. After all, we do try to add a few Christmas things each year.





Here is a picture of our bonfire from Sunday night-we finally decided to finish burning our brush but unfortunately we didn't realize how windy or dry it was until after we had a roaring blaze in our pasture. It burned down pretty quick but not until after we started a small grass fire that we had to put out with the hose. The horses were less than impressed with the entire episode but everyone survived ok.

Even though we purchased a more powerful electric fencer the horses (probably Moses) have been trying to disassemble their corral at night. So I spent part of my afternoon off tightening, repairing, and reinforcing the fence-again. Squirt followed along behind me and carefully supervised to make sure I did it right. He's always a big help with projects around the barn and pasture.

I also got a photo taken for our Christmas cards but I will not post it until Christmas. It turned out pretty cute, I just wish the yard looked more wintery to make a better background, but I guess I can't control that part.

The rest of the family

Here's the rest of this sweet family that someone left to die in that dirty shelter...

Mom-Kitt

Another picture of Peyton

The little one-Hope

Tri-color puppy-Tess

They are all available for adoption through MOKAN BC Rescue

Puppy picture

Ok-as requested here is the most adorable puppy picture from yesterday. I will probably be posting pictures of the others later but this one is my favorite pup. Her name is Peyton which means "royal" in Scottish. She's usually a very busy little girl but did take a nap long enough to let us get this adorable photo. She looks a lot like Oreo did as a puppy.

Sunday

We have had a quiet and relaxing weekend for a change. I worked yesterday and the day went very smoothly, mostly vaccines, a flea allergy dog, and a sick cat I sent to the emergency clinic for ICU care over the weekend. Our last appointment was the most interesting-a puppy presenting for matted, swollen eyes. I suspected it would be just another run of the mill conjunctivitis but it turned out to be a much less common condition known as "puppy strangles"-an immune medicated skin condition requiring a lengthy course of steroids and antibiotics as treatment. It did give me a chance to use our new injectable antibiotic-one injection lasts 2-3 weeks.

Then after work it was off to play with puppies! MOKAN recently pulled a mama dog and her three babies from animal control and yesterday was picture day for mom and babies. The pups are all adorable and mom is a great dog-loveable, playful and gets along with other animals. One puppy is very small and not as active so we are giving it special attention and supplementing her nursing with formula. Hopefully she will do ok and start getting stronger.

Once I got home I took our pups out to play then we watched TV and a movie and ate dinner. Today we went to church and then Jerry watched football while I worked on a Christmas present. I also have been putting a big dent in the tremendous amount of laundry that has been building up. Plus I made these fleecy rope toys for the dogs with some scraps I had.

Legend and Zodiac love them but in addition to tugging (which is hard enough on toys) they both like to gnaw them into shreds-especially Legend-so they don't last long. I think I will only give them out one at a time so they don't destroy them all in one day.

Specialty pictures!

Yeah! My pictures from the specialty arrived today. Big thanks to Pup Art Photography for getting great shots as usual. It was hard to decide which ones to get but these are the three I picked.

Zodiac showing off his Rally skills

This one is my favorite. I knows she's not exactly stopped in the two-on/two-off position but at least she's in the zone!

And here's Legend-"Living In Fast Forward!"

Quiet week

This week has been slow and quiet. Obedience classes finished up at work last week and this week was the last agility class until spring. I haven't told Legend yet-she loves Wednesdays. I'm still adjusting to it being dark and cold when I get home-every day.

I don't actually have anything to write about today, I just knew that if I didn't post something soon certain people would get impatient. So here are some random pictures.

NADAC Day 2

All I can say is I'm so proud of the kids this weekend. They were really great. Legend ran so many times and was still giving a great effort at the end of the day. So here's how today panned out.

Open Jumpers-good run but one off course and knocked bar
Open Regular round one-1st place and 10pts towards title
Open Regular round two-1st place and 10 more points (she has 25 now and needs 30-she got a 1/2 Q at the last trial, NADAC can be so confusing!)
Novice Weavers-3rd place and first leg of title
Novice Chances-Q (there are no placements in chances) and first leg of title
Novice Tunnelers-1st place and new title

Zodiac placed 2nd in Novice tunnelers in his division and finished his title!

We are tired!

NADAC Trial Day 1

Legend, Zodiac and I arrived at the local NADAC trial after work and in time to compete in several classes. Legend was great today-she ran so well, very fast and very focused. Maybe she is starting to pull it all together on a consistent basis-we'll see what tomorrow holds. But for today results are:

Novice Jumpers-clean run, first place, new title
Novice Touch and Go-awesome run but missed a contact :(
Novice Tunnelers-second place (by less than a second) and second leg of title

Zodiac competed in tunnelers and got first in his class and the second leg on his novice title

Tomorrow Legend runs in all the classes plus Zodiac in tunnelers and I'm runny Renny for Cheri in several classes. Should be a busy and fun day.

More about blankets and other various topics

Here are a few more pictures of the dogs posing because I have nothing new to post. It did get warmer than expected (I think) today so we were able to play outside some.

I had one person left to get a Christmas present for and thought that this person would enjoy some fuzzy blankets if I could make one that looked good enough to give as a gift. So I got some more fleece and did another practice one. I made sure I measured all the fringe and made all the corners rounded evenly and it turned out great. So now I will be making a few Christmas blankets.

I also did laundry and some house cleaning which was not nearly as interesting. We are all getting ready for the local NADAC trial here this weekend. There will be several dogs competing for the first time so it should be a big weekend for everyone. Sadly, I have to work Saturday morning so will be missing out on some of the fun.

Also I don't think Icy has used her new blanket at all. Jelly has been sleeping on her but no, she is not playing with the fringe. But at least she didn't pee on it. She is still living in the garage but seems ok with that. Jerry gets to visit with her when he works out.

Blankets

When I was at the trial this weekend there was a fellow agility person selling these cute fleece blankets to help pay for her dog's bilateral cruciate ligament surgeries. Since it was cute and fuzzy and purple and for a good cause I bought this one. Upon further inspection it appeared that all that was really done was to cut slits around the edges and then tie 2 pieces of fleece together. I decided that I might be able to do that.

So here is my first attempt. I had some leftover fleece from when I was making the dogs braided fleece toys. It took a bit to figure out what length to cut the strips and how to do the corners but I think now I could do a pretty decent job of it. And now the cats each have a new blanket. I'm sure they really care.

Finally

Finally. Finally. Legend earned her first AX leg this weekend on her last run-after a trial full of off-course obstacles and other mishaps. This is her first standard leg since finishing her OA in February and the first time she has qualified in anything other than FAST since March. Not that we have been to a tremendous amount of trials but enough that I was getting pretty tired of not getting any Qs. After a while just providing crown entertainment is not enough!

The rest of the weekend was good too. We held a surprise 80th birthday party for my grandma-who was very surprised and it was a nice party. I also joined my sister and cousin at another cousin's house for dinner and visiting and Legend got to play with their dog, Sandy-they both had a good time. Legend also got to play with my parent's neighbor's daughter who was staying with them-I think they both had a lot of fun and it gave me a break! Now it's time for me to enjoy the rest of the weekend at home.

Random thoughts

I don't understand why people call at the end of the day, want to be seen before closing-for a non-emergency condition- that has been going on for who knows how long and then not show up.

I teach a session of obedience classes at work a few times a year. Due to our outgrown clinic and lack of space, classes take place in the lobby of our grooming salon. Apparently our groomer has agreed to house several large plants over the winter and now it's like I'm teaching in a jungle.

Apparently after working together for four years my boss can only name one of my three dogs-and he matched that name to the wrong dog. In most work situations this might not be a big deal but remember I have no children, the dogs are a very significant part of my life, and they often accompany me to work. Plus I can name his four children, his current pet and the ones his ex kept in the divorce.

Legend's eye is almost better but a little redness still lingers.

I got bit by a ferret today.




-- Post From My iPhone

Fall Photos

It's a beautiful day here-warm for November, but windy. Most of the leaves are fallen now in our yard, but here is one tree that is still pretty.

And here is a close up of the leaves that I thought looked pretty.

Oreo couldn't be bothered to pose in the fall scenery today-he was too busy eating grass and dirt and then decided he would rather watch from the deck.

Squirt and Moses enjoying the last of the green grass.

Zodiac watching Legend chase a ball

Legend looking photogenic as usual. She had a great agility practice this afternoon. I hope all this great practice transfers to the next trial better than the last one!

Hot

So it's like 75 degrees here and I had to turn the AC on in the car while I was out Christmas shopping. It was weird. But I am almost done with my shopping-I haven't been done this early in forever. Although I'm sure my sister is well ahead of me. I had to submit a list to her quite some time ago :)

It was a great weekend to get in some nice outdoor time with the dogs since it was not cold and Legend has been working hard on agility since we have 3 trials this month! She is doing much better on her weave poles (all 12 of them) and I have been really making her stick her contacts since she gets so wound up at trials sometimes that she tends to just blow on through-sometimes missing, sometimes just getting lucky. I also got some of my gardens weeded out. They were all really neglected this summer.

Isn't this a handsome boy?

Apparently this is what goes on here when I am not home. I'm sure Oreo would be up there too but he can't jump up that high anymore. I actually put him on the bed with me last night since Jerry was gone (Oreo likes plenty of space) and he stayed up there for awhile before defaulting to his usual under the bed routine. I know it's hard for him to drag himself in and out from under there but I can't convince him to stay somewhere more comfortable.

Merry Christmas Grandma

I know that sounds like an odd title but it's because I'm having my blog printed into a book as a Christmas gift for my Grandma. She doesn't have (nor want) a computer and internet access but I think would like to read my blog and see all the pictures.

If any family members are reading this please keep your mouth shut-it's a surprise.

Hope you like it Grandma!

Love, Nicki