Better Blogger? Maybe not so much....

Um yeah, think I am falling a little short in the blogging arena. :)

So let's see...what has happened since my last post...ah, yes, Ace's family was here. 5 labs in the castle, an agility trial and a week of recovery. :)

We had a great time with Ace's siblings. I wasn't quite sure how they would all do in a confined space - I was most worried about Chelsie and Amber, Ace's mom. Chelsie gets very protective of Ace around other dogs when she thinks he is being picked on...god forbid should she play with him, but she gets all protective if she thinks he is the kid on the playground getting beat up. Ace's mom is a little snippy - meaning that she is not shy about curling her lip up and telling everyone to buzz off. Those 2 have had meetings of the mind before, so I wasn't quite sure how it would go in the black dog's territory with all the little yellow fleas around. It went fine.

Poor Chelsie was just beside herself...she had this look on her face all weekend that said...My god, when are they leaving??? Not soon enough for her. It didn't stop her from rocking the house at her trial though...she was only 5-6 and her 1-6 was handler error. Handler saw off course jump out of corner of eye, over reacted and pulled her off a jump. Oh well. She got her treat bag dumped on the ground after her run, that is the no 1 priority for her!

I would like to proudly introduce MACH MORNING STAR'S AMBER WAVES! Amber got her MACH on Friday afternoon...was 1 second short on Friday morning! Ellen hobbled around the course in a well deserved victory lap, and it was a beautiful, beautiful run. Amber had a great time. :) See photo below.

Judge Christie Bowers (the judge we got our MACH under) Amber, Ellen, and judge Don Farage. Brittany, if you ever have a chance to run under either of these judges....THEY ARE AWESOME. If you picking between 2 trials and one of them is judging, pick that one. :)

And, for good measure, a photo of mama Amber and one of her babies. Hard to say which one this is because there was no collar, but if I had to guess I would say it is Blue (aka, Blue Collar boy). Pink collar girl (Lily) and green collar boy (Ace) were really the only ones that wore colored collars when they were this small. Libby was much smaller and lighter in color, so by process of elimination, this is likely Blue. I love this photo.

On another family front, Ace and his siblings welcomed 11 new cousins into the family on April 28/29. Amber's sister McGhee gave birth to 11 pups over a period of 24 hours, causing poor gramma Melanie (her owner) great stress. 6 boys and 5 girls, all healthy, all doing well. According to Melanie, the first puppy, a boy, came out butt first...and apparently there is a "great deal of bitching by all if someone gets pushed off the faucet". According to Melanie, McGhee is a very good mom. There was about a 7 hr break between puppy 5 and 6, and the remaining puppies were born within a span of 6 hours, the last 3 being about 30 minutes apart. Initial estimate of litter size was 10-12 puppies. One of these puppies will be going to live with Ace's Uncle Sniper. He will go home over the 4th of July and will be in town at the end of August at an agility trial. We can't wait to meet him.



McGhee and her 11 bundles of joy.

As it has done the entire month of April here in Ohio, it rained all weekend Ace's family was here. April has been a record setting rain month, and those of us that live in Ohio can certainly vouch for that. Today was the first day we have seen sun in a week, and won't see it again until Sunday/Monday. Everyone's grass, while very green, is very overgrown. On a positive note, I busted my can on Saturday to get my flowers in the ground ahead of the rain all week - it was well worth it. I will try and take some photos...treated myself to a new wind chime at Kroger tonight that matches some yard decorations I got. Hopefully, my yard will be burgeoning with color in a month or so. Pictures to follow. Because of the rain, we have not been able to start the spring softball season, nor have I had my inaugural trip on the water. I hope to change the latter this weekend and the former on Monday...but given the forecast on Monday, I am not holding my breath.

Still working out with my trainer....some days are easier than others, but most days I think my heart is going to explode and feel like lactic acid is oozing out of my legs and booty. :) I like the way my clothes fit, although I did nothing for that tonight by eating a pint of Graeters Buckeye Blitz. It was worth every calorie.

I hope this post finds everyone well. I will try to get some more recent photos on here. :)