Bad Blogger....Again

So I have not been the greatest blogger as of late...so here is the 411.

1. My dad had his hip replaced last Wendesday. According to him, he didn't need it. His doctor disagreed...the hip was "a mess" (I was there when the doctor said this) All went well for the most part, he is still working through a few things, but each day seems to get better and the pain is a different pain. He will get physical therapy at home 3X per week for the next three weeks and has a follow up in 6 weeks. I am going to fertilize his lawn and plant his bulbs this weekend with my mom. I will probably take him some flowers too...I definitely get my love of flowers from Big Bill.

2. Part of the reason for my bad blogging is because I have been sick. I even called the cute doctor and got some medicine..and added Mucinex and Robitussin to the mix last night. I had an appointment with the rheumatologist last week, and I will continue the medication for 3 more mos. This is a medicine that requires time to work, and they will evaluate my blood count in June. I have been having minor episodes of the rash on my legs, but compared to what they were, this is nothing. Hopefully, the weather stays nice and I will feel better soon.

3. The end of the era has come and gone...I am done running BC dog in agility. We had trials the last 2 weekends...and this past Sunday, our last day of showing together, was our best 2 runs yet. We didn't Q, but we looked pretty darn good....like we had been running together for a lot longer than three mos. He will be going home for good in 2 weeks, as Scott and I split up last month. Schedules and distance proved to be too much. Although I know long term this was probably the right thing, I am having a very hard time and miss not having him in my life. While having BC dog around is difficult, having him go will be difficult as well. We have agreed on a day, but have not worked out the logistics just yet.

4. The baby puppy was 4 weeks old on Saturday. All of them except 1, "Little Girl", the true runt of the litter, are completely weaned. They have been outside multiple times and ae starting to mouth and carry toys around. Light Blue boy was tugging with the breeder's hubby this past weekend, and then took the tug toy into the crate so he didn't have to share it with his siblings. She has a crate in the pen, and the puppies seem to go in there on their own, which is a good thing. New pictures and mugs are up.

www.simplesite.com/labkat

Click on the AmberCody litter, puppy photos. And watch the video titled "Ella" - little girl maybe little, but she can sure throw her weight around. Ella is token black of the litter.

5. Chelly-Bean continues to do well...February was difficult on our rehab walks, so I hope March is a little better. She goes back to Medvet on 4/8 and I am hopeful that I can begin to re-introduce agility to her after that. My hope is to compete in a trial in July. She continues to be her mom's princess in every way...and mommy is mildly concerned about what she will think of her new brother. It will be interesting to see how she reacts to Rippy going home....

So that is what has been going on here. Hopefully, spring has sprung..winter was nasty, snowy and cold, and some nice weather is definitely in order. March is about to become MAD with basketball, and that is always fun. I think tomorrow my crew and I are going to go somewhere to watch tip off of the festivities...it is supposed to be nice outside and we don't get out of the office enough to begin with.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Rachel and Cessy

This weekend, me and BC dog competed in a trial. Saturday was a disaster, today was a lot better. 0 for Q today, because his handler was an idiot and made the same mistake twice on a rear cross. A rear cross is when I change directions left to right behind the dog - this is not something I do with Chelsie, as I am always ahead of her and cross in front of her. The timing is totally different and something I am not used to.

The first time I screwed up, I had good reason..if I missed, we were for sure doomed, as he probably would have gone into an off course tunnel staring him in the face - it is important to note that the dogs were approaching a very tight sequence of obstacles with a tremendous amount of speed...I cut the angle too close and sent him right by the jump. Fast forwad to jumpers...same opportunity, only no off course out there - I thought, great! I can fix it - this is a good course for him, we will get past this and be good...wrong. Praise the dog, slap the handler...

Anyway, about Rachel and Cessy. Rachel is in 5th grade and trains her Samoyed Cessy (a big fluffy white dog) at our club. I first saw Rachel and Cessy about 2 summers ago, at one of our NADAC trials. These trials are less intense than AKC and great for jr handlers. My first show with Chelsie was a NADAC show. Anyway, it was on dirt, and Cessy found a stick and became obsessed with it. It was obvious Cessy had zero intention of doing anything but getting that stick. So the judge walked over, got the stick and gave it to Rachel and let her run the course with a stick in her hand - a big no-no. But Rachel and Cessy finished, quite well actually all things considered.

This weekend, in her second AKC trial, Rachel and Cessy completed their novice titles and moved into open. They got their novice jumpers title yesterday and competed in open jumpers today, and in one of the last runs of the trial this afternoon, they got their standard novice title - and there were some tough obstacles out there, primarily a horrendous weave pole entry off the A frame and a horrendous angle on jump 13 going out. A lot of dogs ran by jump 14 because of the angle. But it was great to see them finish - yesterday, they did the only thing they could have done not to qualify and that was knock a bar. The standard ring was the ring I was course building in, so I saw it all.

We were all so happy for this little girl. She is one patient kid and has worked so hard with this dog. She trains in the class before me on Wednesday nights, and it is obvious that she has stuck with and kept on going - Cessy is not an easy dog to train. It was great to be able to see her reap the benefits of 2 years of hard work. Not only did the dog qualify, she was 21 seconds under standard course time - the look on her face when her mom told her that was priceless.

Made it all worth it to be there close to 2 hrs after the other ring was done and gone home. :)

The Right Thing

This afternoon, my parents were downtown and had the opportunity to see my office and meet my coworkers. I am blessed to have some pretty great co workers, and was glad my parents had the opportunity to meet them.

After they had left, I was talking to my boss, and he asked what they were downtown for. As it turns out, they were downtown to go to the state insurance board. There is a creek not too far from where my parents live, which puts them in a flood zone - so they have flood insurance. Flood insurance premiums are based on where you live in the flood zone. My parents ended up switching insurance companies, only to find out the one they left had overcharged them because they had my parents in the wrong zone - and had overcharged them for 2 years. My dad called the Union County offices and FEMA and verified this information was correct, that they had overpaid based on where they lived in the flood zone. My dad called the former insurance company to try and get their money back - to no avail. In the event you are not familiar with flood insurance, it is quite expensive.

Clearly, the former company made a mistake - and is not owning up to it. Lord only knows how many other people are paying far more than they should. That being said, my dad has reported this issue to the state insurance board. Whether or not they get a refund at this point is irrelevant - my dad fundamentally believes in doing the right thing, and he feels the right thing in this case is for the insurance company to own up to their mistake. I told my boss that my dad is a man who believes in doing the right thing, even when it is not always convenient.

Fast forward to 2 hrs later. While my parents were stopped at a red light (they were the first car waiting for the light to turn green) a car ran the light and t-boned another car crossing the intersection. The car hit another car, for a total of three cars in the accident. When I was talking to my mom, she said they driver at fault told the police that the light was green - I asked how she knew that. She said that they stayed and waited for the police - that my dad felt obligated to provide information to the police being as they had witnessed it all. The 2 cars behind them stayed as well.

Growing up, the phrase "Its the right thing to do" came out of his mouth quite a bit. Wasn't always what I wanted to hear back then, but I hear it loud and clear now, and it has left a lasting impression. So for all my dear friends out there who wonder whether their kids "hear" them - while they may not acknowledge they hear you, they do. :)

Pupdate

The puppies were 2 weeks old on Satruday and continue to grow like weeds. Their little eyes are open and they are sitting up and walking around...looking like real little puppies. I have included the link to the breeders website. Click on the"Amber/Cody Litter" link, it is on the top left. Apparently over the past 2 nights, they have become quite proficient at "expressing" themselves regularly every every 2 hrs...hopefully MY little puppy stops that before he comes home...

http://www.simplesite.com/labkat

Voo Doo Medicine?

As an athlete, aches and pains are part of life. Some days are better than others - some days I think I am a 35 yr old rock star and other days I feel my age and the years of abuse I have inflicted on my poor, defenseless body, all in pursuit of some stupid round ball varying in size. However, over the years, one source of discomfort has remained constant - my neck and my right shoulder. I have had massages, Xrays, taken hot showers, ice it on a regular basis - with limited success in ridding myself of the discomfort. .

More recently, I have added lower back pain to that mix (prob 5-6 mos). I am a belly sleeper, which is causing a high level of discomfort for me. I get up and walk around like an old lady - in fact, my brother gave me grief just last night for getting up slow and walking hunched over. I can't stand for long periods of time without my lower back just aching.

Many people have suggested a chiropractor to me...but I just haven't been able to bring myself to go there. Sure, like most other athletes at Woody Hayes, I would line up eagerly on the days Dr. Pangoinis was there to throw us around and crack every joint in our neck and spine, but I never game much thought to what he was actually doing for us. I hear people swear by the chirpractor, but I wasn't sure I believed it would work. However, modern and conventional medicine has been scarce in providing relief to my discomfort and I have reached my limit. I was talking to a friend of mine in whom I have great faith and he was able to share his positive chiropractic experience with me, as well as some of his reservations before actually seeing one. He spoke very highly of his experience and encouraged me to go. The clinic he goes to is acutally covered in my insurance - a benefit I know most people are not fortunate to have.

So off I went today. They were very educational, explained why proper alignment of the spine was imprtant and how improper alignment affected the rest of your body. It appears as though I have some inflammed nerves at the top of my spine that are creating the discomfort in my neck - one of them is attached to some nerves in my arm, which explains some of the tingling I have been feeling in my right hand. I attributed the tingling to an old shoulder injury I had. I also had some swelling and inflammation in the lower part of my back (they took some sort of scan) that is the likely culprit of the lower back pain. While I was laying on my stomach, it felt like he was running my back over with a mack truck...thankfully it was over quickly. I also had multiple xrays taken of my spine.

So I will give this a try. I am going back in the morning to get "adjusted". I am hoping it provides at least some immediate relief, but am prepared that if in fact this does help, it will be a period of time before I see some consistent, noticeable relief.

This past year has definitely been frustrating - the sinus thing, the rash thing, the autoimmune thing and now this. Really what has pushed me over the edge is the lower back issue. I went through all of this stuff today with the doctor, and he said that the inflammation in my neck could have played a part in the TMJ situation...but who knows. I am hoping to see enough of a result tomorrow to encourage me to go back, but am also prepared for the fact I could feel like I have been run over tomorrow. :) Here's to hoping for relief...

Our Beloved Truth Ann....

UPDATE: The vet was able to determine Truth had a mass on her spleen that ruptured. She also had suspicious spots on her liver the vet believed to be cancerous. No intervention would have prevented the outcome. Sharon is relieved to know there was nothing she missed or nothing she could have done to prevent this...but is still missing little Miss Truthietoes tonight.

This afternoon, I received a call from Sharon to let me know that Chelsie's very best dog freind in the whole wide dog world, Truth Ann Schmidt, left us today. It is unclear as to what happened - she was ill last month with what appaeared to be the doggie flu, but seemed to recover and be back to her old self (and her antics). This morning, Sharon left for work as usual and got a call from Larry about 11 30 to say Truth was panting and had collapsed. She passed shortly after that.

Truth was Sharon's second guide dog and her second golden. Her first golden Sheridan had cancer, and never made it to retirement. Although the decision to retire Truth was difficult, Sharon was adamant that Truth would have a few good retirement years.

I met Sharon when Chelsie was just over a year old and Truth was about to turn three (she would have been 11 on March 10) The weather had been miserable and on this particular day, it had broken enough that I took Chelsie out. I remember seeing someone walking a golden and thinking to myself....if God loves me, that lady will bring that dog over here and she will play with Chelsie. Sharon called out in my direction and asked if I minded if she let her dog off leash. I said no and walked that way. When I got to her and saw the harness on her shoulder, I asked her how she knew where I was. She said that she heard the dog tags to her right and figured that whoever was with her was that direction. That was eight years ago this month.

We had not seen them in awhile...Forsythe is a 2 year old male that has lots of energy after a long day of resting like a good guide should at work. With Chelsie's knee still very much in the healing process, I thought it too risky to take her over there, so it had been months since the 2 saw each other. Sharon moved into her new house in anticipation of a bigger house and a bigger yard for 2 dogs.

Chelsie and Truth were very special friends. We only ever had to separate them once...and they really were not playing that hard. Chelsie always had to walk next to her friend while she was in harness, but knew not to bother her when the harness was on. When we stopped to let Truth potty on our walks (Guide Dogs are taught not to relieve in harness) Chelsie waited quietly and patiently for her friend - any other time we stopped on our walks she often acted like a screaming banshee.

Watching these 2 was something. Chelsie was jealous when I petted Truth and Truth knew this. She would get a toy that she knew Chelsie liked, play with it so Chelsie would pounce on her and take it and then come back to me when Chelsie started playing with the toy. She never barked just once - always 4 successive barks in a row. I never got to see her face first...usually her back end so I would scratch the golden booty as she threw her entire body weight into me. Always hungry, she knew just how much food she could snatch and swallow before someone could pry it out of her mouth. The risk was worth the reward - she knew she would get in trouble but knew we could never stay mad at her. When Sharon was really mad at her for something (usually for her food antics) she would tell her "I am not happy with you" - Truth clearly had a look on her face that said "Yeah, lady, whatever". She was fiercely loyal to Sharon and was always looking for her when they were not together.

Nothing I say will ever do Miss Truthie any justice. All dogs are special, but Truth was a notch above the rest. I always used to tell her that if there was not enough love at her house, she could come to mine. But there was more than enough love for Truth at home, at work and just about anywhere she went. She knew how to turn it on and play the "look at me and how cute and smart I am" card - and everyone ate her up. Some of my favorite Truth memories:

 - 4th of July when I sat and watched her eye the plate of brownies, thinking to myself...that dog is going to go after those brownies. No sooner than I thought it, she had snatched up three of them.

 - The night Truth snatched the last bite of hamburger from Sharon's plate as she was sitting on the couch

 - How "vocal" she was when she was not satifisfied with the amount of attention you were giving her

 - Like her friend, she could belch like a trucker.

 - The day we were in Target after a long day of shopping when this kid started screaming at the top of its lungs....she turned and looked at me as if to say "Lady, get me out of here".

- The day she took up the whole back seat of my accord...so much that Chelsie had to lay on the floor

- The day she first went for a ride in my Pilot and got pissed about being put all the way in the back...she squeezed herself around the tiny opening in the cargo net to get in the back seat. Two seconds later, Chelsie did the same thing and neither of them rode back there ever again.

- The look of pure dog happiness when her Aunt Nicole showed up to take them to work...when I was working downtown, I would take them to work. Truth hated the public transportation Sharon used to get to work, so when I could, I "saved" her. Sharon would open the door when I got there and Truth would run out and greet me and get in the car and lay down...as if to say "Oh, thank you for saving me from Mainstream!!!"

I could go on and on...but you get the point. We are all heart sick...but I am greatful that whatever happened seem to happen quickly. Please also think of Larry, Sharon's BF, who was wtih Truth when this happened. They had really bonded in her retirement and I know Larry is devastated as well.

Truth Ann Schmidt - 3/10/99 - 2/16/10. We will miss you.

First Photos

Here are the puppies fist photos!!!! The litter was 2 yellow females, 2 yellow males and a black female. In the picture below, the uncollared yellow on lying to the right of the black one is the other male. The smallest of the group was the lighter female, in between the black dog and the pink collared female. One of the males will be Chelsie's little brother.

I love the look on the mother's face...it clearly says...YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!

More to come as I get them.

To commemorate my softball career, this dog will have a baseball related name. I am open to suggestions.

On a final note, congratulations to my follow bloggers for their accomplishments this weekend:

Maddie - proudly presented Guide Dog Gabrina (FYL) to her new partner in San Rafael, Ca. this weekend.  Gabrina is Maddie's first puppy for GBD. She is curently raising FBL Betsy.

Kelsey and Emily - proudly presented Guide Dog Burgess to his new partner in San Rafael, Ca this weekend. Burgess is Kelsey and Emily's 4 puppy for GDB. They are currently co-raising Keno, and MYL.

Madison - proudly presented Andros II to his new partner as a Service Dog for CCI in Dublin, Ohio. Andros was Madison's second dog for CCI and she is currently raising Butler, a MYL.

Congratulations raisers!!!