Attitude Adjustment, Part 1

I closed all the blinds in my office. I do think it is substantially warmer in here (I have my space heater directly on my feet as I type) and I don't have to look at the slushy mess and see the signs/bushes blowing in the wind.

In dire need of....

An attitude adjustment. Right now, I am looking out my window at work, it is snowing again, the roads are slushy and I am going to have to shovel YET AGAIN when I get home. I am not finding the snow beautiful right now...AT ALL. Anything but, actually.

I am open to attempts at humor at this point. Anyone?

Still here...

So, yep, we are still here...thankfully, my boss was insistent that my co-worker and I come home on Thursday from Lexington - and it was a good thing we did. The snow started on Friday and was coming down in big, heavy, wet flakes. The roads downtown were not bad, but by the time I got home, I probably had 6+ inches on the driveway. I decided NOT to run over it, parked my car in the street and tromped thri the snow to go in and change and shovel. Two hours later, I finally moved my car in the garage - shoveling wet, heavy snow just absolutely sucks. I will post pictures. For good measure, it continued snowing while I was shoveling and I had as much, if not more on Satruday morning. I fussed and grumbled and said all kinds of inappropriate things...from "this is a man's job" to "this sucks" to "I am getting a snowblower at the end of this season". My street is currently a sheet of ice and mother nature is supposed to bless us with more of her bounty tomorrow - 8 to 10 inches of it. Fabulous.

Part of why I am so miserable is that my hands freeze - no matter what I have on them. My fingers literally turn white, and hurt when the feeling comes back in them. The pad of my left ring finger was swollen for 2 days after shoveling on Firday, and my hands are interesting shades of red and purple from being so cold. UGH. A man's job.

The dogs, however, are in love with the snow. I took them out with me on Saturday and let them run around while I shoveled. I have to be careful letting the BC out, sometimes he loses his brain and goes in the street. Not a good dog. But he had his frisbee to play with - when my little brat was not taking it away from him. She loved the snow too, and I let her run around in it quite a bit - definitely the most movement I have allowed her since her injury. I was afraid I had let her over do it...but she was fine. I also let them out tonight for a little while and they loved it again. Both got to work for treats tonight too, so they were happy.

Saturday night I went sledding with the Quisenberry's..actually I watched more than anything. Again my hands were frozen and I could barely move. We went to dinner after and then I went back to their house to play Mario Kart with Bryce. Sunday was chores and a Superbowl party and today was work. Long day...and I will be going to bed soon.

And finally...litter of puppies scheduled to be born Sunday or Monday of next week. Amber, the mom, is hanging tough. The breeder says she seems increasingly uncomfortable, and that when Amber stretches out, she can see active little puppies moving around. Still don't know if I will get one, it just depends on what she has and what the people ahead of me want. This seems to be a nice breeding, so we will see. If I get one, it was meant to be, if not, it wasn't. I am really enjoying the change in training routine with Chelsie right now and the fact the she feels the need to closely bond with her mom.

Hope everyone is doing well. :)

Can't Wait...

...to go home and see this puppy. I have been in Kentucky all week for work and we are leaving around lunchtime today to come back. It has been a productive week, but I miss this girl (and the obnoxious BC) and can't wait to get home and cuddle with her tonight!!!

First Agility Trial with the BC...

So today, my mom and I ventured off to the FREEZING venue of Circle G Arena in Dayton - flashback to Nat's description of the horse barn where Naomi takes riding lessons and there you have it. I had never been there before and set up shop near a door where people took their dogs out. Suffice to say, we moved about 20 min after getting there.

I was a little out of practice in packing for agility - and have never done it for 2 dogs. All went well until we were well over halfway to Dayton when I realized I forgot the chairs. As I had never been to this venue, I had no idea what the seating availability was. We had plenty of time and stopped at a Target and picked up a couple of chairs - thank god, because all they had was wooden bleachers. But I managed to remember everything else...tarp, crates, blankets for the crates (X 4 - one to cover the crate to keep the edge of the cold air out and one for each of them to lay on) 2 water bowls, water, cookies, training treats, leashes...quite the production.

Chelsie LOVED her day out...was gushed over and loved on by all her agility peeps. She was not exactly thrilled when she was "zipped and clipped" in her house - her portable crate has a zipper you can clip so they can't nose the zipper undone...little Houdini has done this more than once, so when we leave her in her crate, it has to be zipped and clipped. Being zipped and clipped meant mom and gramme took the BC (border collie) to run agility and she had to stay in her crate...NOT COOL. I had her out for an hour, and she was very focused on watching the dogs in the std ring. She got to work for food when we came home and was a good girl. She is napping on the bed now, all worn out. She of course, has to rest up for her special day tomorrow...

Now, on to me and the BC. Our std run - obstacles 1-8, terrific. 9-13 - disaster. 14-18 - terrific. I was very encouraged by our start, but misjudged a sequence of A-Frame-jump-tunnel. I took my eye off him long enough for him to run off course - he came back to me, but then the little brat ran behind me into the wrong end of the tunnel - in agility, it is a VERY bad thing to have your dog behind you. We got back on track, then he missed the weave entrance - which he has had trouble with since I started working him. But we went on and finished nice - he became unhappy with me at some point during the run and was very vocal about it. I am not used to having a dog that barks during his run. :) I asked him if I was really that bad or if there was something that kicked his little BC brain out of whack for a few seconds.

On to jumpers...at that point, I just did not want to embarass myself. Now, I must say...this BC and I have been living and training together for only 4 weeks. Agility is team sport, and timing is very critical - and is developed over the time the handler and the dog train and play together. He is a lot faster than Chelsie - I work in front of Chelsie because I can stay ahead of her, but I cannot outrun RIP and work behind him. I watched the other dogs from the class before, walked it according to what I thought best, and just went out and ran. We nailed it. 24.88 seconds - I was where I needed to be at every turn...he was focused on me and kept all the bars up. I was amazed - I actually looked like I knew what I was doing. He wants to please and works so hard for me. His reward was getting to stare at the cat in the basement.

As I type this, a first is going on...both RIP and Chelsie are on the bed, laying down, in harmony, quiet. I have no issue having both of them on the bed..but RIP is usually too hyper to settle, then Chel gets irritated and jumps down. But it has been a long day for both of them, and we get to do it all over again tomorrow.

And finally....tomorrow is a very special day. Tomorrow is Chelsie's birthday...8 years young. I can't believe it...my little puppy is going to be 8 years old. Words cannot express what a wonderful companion my girl is. I am so proud of her and all her accomplishments, and there is no better greeting than a wagging tail and lab laps when I get home from work. To celebrate the impending occassion, she and RIP got empty ice cream cones from Graeter's.

I hope this finds everyone well and staying warm. :)

Home

This afternoon, as I left Chicago, I thought about how happy I was to be coming home. To my own house, my own car, my own garage, and of course, my puppies. My grandma always used to say "East, west, home is best". No question of that.

So as the plane was packed to the gills (every seat filled) and I could hardly move, I decided it was not worth the effort to try and drag anything out of my computer bag for entertainment. That meant, I HAD TIME TO THINK. Very dangerous...all of you out there who know me well know that when I have time to think, it is generally not a good thing.

Today, I thought about what it meant to be going "home". This house, my home, has been my home for nearly 6 years. It is where Chelsie has spent the majority of her life. I have ripped it apart, put it back together, colored it, beautified it and loved it. Its what I know, its where I feel safe, its where I walk into the house and am greeted by a wagging tail running through the kitchen. Its the biggest investment I have ever made, requires regular love and care and the highest value asset on the balance sheet of my personal net worth. I have shed blood, sweat and tears over it (so have my parents and my brother - a lot of them).

But it is home...it is mine. Its where I retreat to when life hands me lemons, its where I go to make lemonade from those lemons. Its where I celebrate the good things, cook a meal, plant some flowers. Buying a home was the scariest thing I have ever done, yet one of the things I am most proud of. I take great pride in caring for it, making it comfortable for me, my guests and my canines, and walk in it and know it reflects me, the things and people I love and the things and people that are most important to me.

Among the most prized possessions in it are my grandmother's china, the scrapbooks I made for my grandmother and of course, my animals. The china I see in my living room every day was in the house I grew up in and on the table for special occassions. I have yet to eat a meal on that china in my house, but maybe one day that will change.

While I love my house, there are some things I do wish were different about it...and as of late, I have been looking at houses online to see what is out there. Lots of interesting things, but nothing so far that has grabbed my attention. I almost feel like I am cheating on my little beloved home looking for another one. Crazy, I know, but that is the way I feel. When it gets right down to it, I really have all I need here - and am greatful that on cold, blustery nights like tonight, I have a garage to drive into...and puppies waiting for me inside.

So for now...I am happily off to sleep in my cozy castle, in my own bed with a dreaming little labbie running agility in her dreams next to me. I need nothing else.

Words of the Day

In our house, those words were poop and puke. This morning, at 4:30 AM, my little precious was standing the doorway, tail wagging. This is a sign that the need to go OUT is VERY URGENT - like, now lady. She stands in the door and makes the faintest of sounds until I hear her. Being as she gets me up once a year for something like this, I got up and let her out. She did not come right back, which is never a good sign. Now, at that hour, it was pitch black and she is a black dog...I just happened to see her coming at me and then make a game time decision at the steps to stop and squat. I knew then we had a problem.

I had warned my parents about what they might find, as they were coming to let the pooches out. They came upon 2 piles of poop and 3 piles of puke. Fortunately, our vet was able to get her in, and she got a shot to help with the vomiting, some pills to help her little tummy and some canned food for a yummy bland diet. All of this seems to have done the trick, as she is wagging her tail and sticking her booty in the air to be scratched...

So sad to see them sick and depressed...and grampie said she was definitely depressed. Hats off again to gammie and gampie...I don't know where I would be without them. I had a meeting after work - it was after 5 when they left the house, and I would be home at 8 - and gampie was just sick about having to leave her (he is definitely the softie of the group) But she made it and is well on her way to recovery...hopefully, tomorrow's words will be a little more fun!