Sad news

We learned late in our Thanksgiving weekend that Lori Adams passed away. Since then, we have been busy with the inevitable matters that follow a death in the family.

Thanksgiving

We have much to be thankful for, and enjoyed our day of reflecting on that.

Mother's birthday is the day before, so she was very happy to open her gift of "Magnum, PI, the first season." Her old main TV broke and she had just bought a new flat-screen, so she's going to enjoy watching all her old shows again on the flat screen.

We were going to set up the new TV today, but Rowdy has an upset tummy so I'm staying home to do doorman duty and cook bland dog food while Mike goes out for a bit of shopping. We scoured the ads, but really don't need much. So he's out taking care of those few things and doing a bit of errand running. We have beautiful weather today - clear and chilly. The leaves have almost all fallen now. We're expecting cold weather tomorrow, which I love, and cold and rainy the following two days, which no one loves unless they're spending the day inside with a good book, a fire and some nice hot tea.

T-giving prep

We had such a nice weekend...I'm not sure why; it just was very nice. The leaves are dropping now tho a good number are still hanging on. We're just past peak color now and it has been a beautiful year - a very golden year. Temps are still a little high for my tastes, but as long as the daytime highs stay below 80 with cool nights, I can be happy.

The fridge and freezer and pantry are stocked with food for the big meal. We're not doing anything elaborate this year - just the basic dinner. Then, it's get started with the Christmas decorating and pull out the Christmas dishes!

I'm wrapping up a baby sweater I've been knitting. It is SO cute!! The wow factor is huge with all these cables; it's like a little mini-aran cardigan. I'll post a picture soon, here and on my knitting blog at www.totallytangled.blogspot.com. I just love it when I find a free pattern (this is Trellis from www.knitty.com) that is so well-written and produces such a beautiful result.

We are looking ahead to next year and planning to get back into dog competition in a big way. I'm hoping I can find a show a month for us to enter. We're setting goals and reviewing the calendar.

Christmas events, revolving around dog groups of course, are starting to get scheduled. The Greenville Kennel Club does a very nice dinner that we are looking forward to attending at a charming and delicious restaurant in Greenville's West End. We are still waiting on Speedy Paws' announcement for the annual party, and Footloose in the Carolinas, the freestyle group, has a little party at their December meeting - with dogs attending, of course. Paws 2 Care, our therapy dog group, is making plans for a social event after the new year.

Canine Freestyle

Today we attended a meeting of the Footloose in the Carolinas group. This is a canine freestyle club affiliated with the World Canine Freestyle Organization. This is a very new dog sport, informally called "heelwork to music" or "dancing with your dog." They are excited to have us, because they think they have been the only club in the country without a single Border Collie or Aussie member. So now they can claim Rowdy.

The meeting was at the Community Center gym in Cashiers, NC.

What the heck is canine freestyle? For a great example, click on this video at YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crmD_B8ERzk. Watch it all the way through (4 min). It's worth it. The battle rages on, but it does eventually wind down into more great dancing, and an ending with a twist.

I must say, Rowdy had an absolute ball. He got to meet new dogs, socialize with the dogs, meet new people, play, do some obedience and Rally with me in front of all the dogs, watch the other dogs with their owners working together and doing things Rowdy has never seen before, and he also had a lot of fun with Mike. As usual, Mike and Rowdy invented a new game, and this game had Rowdy lit up like a Christmas tree with excitement and focus. Mike took Rowdy's holey ball and threw it through a basketball hoop. Rowdy's job was to get the ball and return it to Mike.

The club has 30 members scattered around western NC and upstate SC. Today there were three dog/handler teams at the meeting. The club is just beginning their second year. The woman who runs it, Deanna, clearly has made it a work of love for the sport. She is just amazing in how much she has done to build this club, and she has had a lot of success in their first year. They had participants from over 10 states at their first show, which was just recently held in Greenville.

We did a couple of pictures:

Here we are getting ready to pull out from home:

And here is Rowdy meeting and greeting one of the other dogs:

The drive up there was uhhh gorgeous. We took a scenic route through the Jocassee River Gorge area - a conservation area protected in perpetuity by Duke Energy and the States of SC/NC. Absolutely breathtaking in the autumn with vivid colors, canopied roads for most of the way to the main route between Cashiers and Brevard. Has to be one of the most beautiful drives in the country. It also took us 2.5 hours to go 90 miles. The curves were so short you could stand at the apex of one curve and spit, and you'd be hitting the apex of the next curve...well, almost. We arrived an hour late. We came back by a different route - over Caesar's Head - and found it to be a nice, relaxing little drive with a few twists and turns by comparison. (This was formally known as the twisty-est route we've found yet).

I used to think this Freestyle was embarassingly stupid. Then I thought it might be fun. Today I was impressed with many of the moves these ladies have put on their dogs. It was creative, appealing, and it was totally obvious that the dogs were having a ball. Have you ever seen a dog do rollover after rollover after rollover down a floor - with his tail wagging continuously as he rolled round and round? Now that we found an enjoyable route to Cashiers, we're looking forward to more of this sort of fun.

Whew - back in the driver's seat

After a period of being constantly annoyed and in mild pain, the stitches were removed and I'm back to full steam again.

The geneology work continues, and continues to expand! The bug has bitten Mike and now we're busy researching various lines in both our families. Mike's family history really is a straightforward telling of the history of westward expansion in the US with all ancestors tenaciously pursing their manifest destiny and making their way to Kansas, where they homesteaded land. It's fascinating. My family came over early in the formation of our country, and then there were later immigrants too. My family mostly stayed on the east coast, with a branch wandering around the South - including Texas and MO ever since.

I continue to be totally absorbed in knitting. For many years my standard baby gift has been a baby blanket. But now, it just seems that there are too many babies or too many things competing for knitting time and baby blankets are just too much knitting. So I've been searching for some sort of knitted baby gift that meets my criteria: durability (I want a practical gift that will be used and is easily cared for), ease of knitting, and must have a major WOW factor for the mother. Through this new knitting site, www.ravelry.com, I've been able to use the search capabilities to come up with multiple options. Sort of good news/ bad news.....am now knitting my way through a series of test projects to see what will sort itself out as the best option(s). Currently working on an aran patterned cardigan for a baby. More on my knitting blog: www.totallytangled.blogspot.com.

Finally got a reserve of dog food established again. The dogs' are doing much better. It's sort of like, you can get by eating at Subway...but if you want to really feel good - you're going to need some very nutrition and well-balanced food. It's time to resume our obdience training again, and really get serious about putting more Rally titles on Rowdy. Tillie continues to be active,. very loving and uhhhh, demanding and bossy - so we know she's feeling good and doing well!

Mike and I are going to take Rowdy out for a walk around the new ICAR (automotive research park with Clemson University) area today. We all need the exercise.

Yesterday Mike and I went to Black Mountain, NC. We wanted to see the leaves, having heard mixed reviews about the display this year with the drought and heat. The leaves were pretty, but it's not one at the usual spectacular level. Still, it was great to get back to the mountains and spend a nice day wandering around a mountain town. We were in shirtsleeves, and are eager for the temps to get a little cooler. It's hard to get into the fall spirit when you don't even need a light jacket.

What a pain...literally

Not much posting going on due to various minor medical issues that are grinding me down, temporarily.

More in due course.....

A little sample, or a taste

Here are the visuals from our week:

Mike began the week by trying out his new edger. He got it for his birthday this year. He was very pleased with it's handling and performance.

And I was pleased to find that I'd cooked more rice than I realized, yielding me an extra week's worth of dog food. Our dog food production system is transitioning from using plastic freezer bags as storage containers, to using the plastic GladWare. The GladWare is cheap, amazingly versatile and tough, and best of all - it comes with the volume stamped on the bottom in CUPS, not grams or ounces. So out came my Sharpie marker and voila! Now I can easily tell Mike how much food to dole out if we needed him to manage the canine catering service. (This is less than half of the total amount I cooked this weekend. FYI: they eat at least 2.5 cups a day of homecooked food.)

Folding the vacation tent

We're coming down to the wire here on the vacation. We got off track a few times, but also realized that shifting from jobs where we both basically work hard all day to check off the day's To Do list and then taking a vacation with the same plan wasn't working too well. All work and no play....

We've had a nice balance of work and play (mostly shopping). Mike is getting the front yard re-seeded today. Carol cleaned out a few cabinets and sent some bags to the landfill, and stacked up some cookbooks to donate to a charity book sale. I really don't need the 1983 Southern Living annual cookbook....but I did find some old favorites. My goal is to reduce the cookbook shelf space by half, and it's looking like I'll get there. The dog food reserve is re-established, although it could be bigger.

So it's back to work tomorrow. It's good to be caught up on our sleep, and breaking out of our usual routine was SO nice. I'm also so glad we avoided the hassel of traveling anywhere. We've enjoyed the nice weather for eating meals on our deck.

No point in visiting the mountains yet - no color. So - we postponed that trip for a week. No real excitement - just a laid-back peek at retirement living!

At this rate...

we'll be glad to get back to work so we can rest up!

Welcome home to Phil and Alice!

We took the dogs to the vet this am for the annual check up and ran titers instead of vaccinations. They are both having terrific allergy flare-ups from the grass or something like that, and no way we're going to stimulate their immune systems now. Plus - get real, these dogs are going to show an abundance of immunity to these diseases when the test results come back.

Then we wound up running errands for most of the rest of the day. Good thing the leaves aren't turning - we need every day we've got to complete our To Do lists. I stood on the deck tonight and enjoyed the scent of the gardenias - IN MID-OCTOBER!

Did Autumn forget about us?

Why is it still green in mid-October? My favorite maple tree in our yard is a very early turning tree. It is red now, and thank goodness because it's the only red thing around. Some of the trees are starting to turn - the prediction is for peak color next week and the following week. Right after we go back to work! We are postponing leaf-peeping in the mountains for this weekend, and plan to work around the house and in the yard this week.

OMG - a picture from Flickr!

Muir #1
Originally uploaded by herdindogz

Oh wow. I see....We may wind up with two posts today...but I just realized what I'm doing. Flickr allows me to post to our blog DIRECTLY from the photo's Flickr page! Oh my! This is SO easy. Click click click write an entry and click - and Bob's your uncle! It's done. Wow.

So this is my new lace project.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Whew - a blink and September ended

Fall is breaking through here now. A few trees are turning but nothing dramatic. Finally we got an inch of rain yesterday.

October has a vacation scheduled in it - with two day trips to the mountains for leaf-peeking. The rest of the vacation will be spent doing large projects around the house. Mike is going to work on the yard (we live in an area where neither Northern nor Southern grasses thrive) and I think he's going to work on the garden fence. I guess the front porch, with it's peeling paint, will wait another year.....I'm not sure how much longer I can hold off on calling the painters so he can enjoy the porch renovation he's been postponing uhhhhhh, I mean to say, wanting to do. I'm planning on drawing the line sometime during the second decade of annual postponements. And the Fiber Fair is in Asheville. I have a day trip planned for the first day when it opens with a friend who is a major knitter. She works as a paramedic, so when she's not out on a call, she knits at the firehouse.

Mostly I'm just glad I made it through Sept, which was like a marathon of events. I wrapped it up with a board meeting of the statewide paralegal association, and was happy to turn the page on my calendar.

Mid Week note

Uhhh not much going on....

I'm now reading the book Mike loved, Merle's Door. Oh! - it is a wonderful book by an award-winning author. He mingles a little science about dogs in with his story of his journey with his dog Merle. They live in wide-open Wyoming, near Jackson. Mike and I are enjoying discussing it as I read through it. If you haven't read it, and you love dogs, it's a must-read. Let me help you out: www.amazon.com.

The therapy dogs are gearing up for a testing session this Saturday. I'm a little behind on my organization for it - picked up an annoying, minor stomach virus that's going around. It caused me to skip Kennel Club last night, despite an interesting program by the SC K9 Search and Rescue folks.

This Friday is the upstate paralegal's organization's annual seminar. It's a big deal - from 7:30 am until the President's reception ends that evening. This year, it's at the Embassy Suites hotel and I'm really looking forward to it. The topics are very interesting - the sort of thing that everyone is interested in but the size of the specialty is so small that hardly anyone actually WORKS in it - like entertainment law. We have some other topics like electronic discovery that will also generate wide interest. I get to "shadow" ie hostess, the new Chief of Police for Greenville. She has quickly established herself as widely admired and genuinely liked by everyone in the community. I am really looking forward to meeting her in person and keeping her company at lunch. She is the luncheon speaker. I really enjoy networking with other paralegals, so this conference is a Must for me.

Knitting is really progressing. I went home early yesterday with this stomach bug and caught a TV demo of a particular technique that has always intrigued me - a way to knit a moebius strip in one continuous circle, from the center out. These make gorgeous scarfs - pretty and cozy, and staying in place naturally with a beautiful drape. Oh my! Once I'd SEEN it done, it was so easy. So I will need to make one of these - and they are great for using up extra yarn!

Finally got the current sock all sorted out and am half way down the leg of the first sock. It's look good and I will need to post some knitting pictures soon.

Is THAT my dog?

Tonight we got together with a group of other Rally nuts for a little practice session on a tennis court. Rowdy was terrible. Oh well. That's why we went. Dogs' learning is highly discriminating - and they are consequently very poor generalizers. That's why Sit in the kitchen will look so polished, and then Sit in the living room leaves your dog looking at you like, "Huh? What does 'Sit' mean here?"

But after a little refresher work, Rowdy stepped up to the plate and started doing better. Never at his best, we still were able to have a successful training session and a good time. The group is hoping to get together regularly, as we all need the incentive to get out to new places to train, and having other dogs around to distract each other - as at a show - is a big plus too.

Mike has been thoroughly enjoying a book he found about a dog. He finished it today, while we were out playing with dogs. This means I can read it next! yay! Tomorrow is chore day and we will both be busy all day - lawn mowing and laundry.

Responsible Dog Ownership Week 2007

Greenville has only one dog park, and today was the celebration of the one-year anniversary of the opening. Art in public spaces is very prominent in city priorities, and today the City unveiled a statue for the dog park. The sculptor was on hand, from Colorado, to give us a few words and unveil her work. The rescue arm of the Great Dane Club of America helped acquire it, and the statue is named, "High Four." I'd seen a picture of it, but my goodness - in person, it is amazing!! When you look at it, you hold your breath, expecting the life-sized Dane to come to life at any moment. This is the sculpture with the artist (in the red hat).

The Greenville Kennel Club is one of the sponsors of the dog park, and had a tent at the festival area. This is part of our participation in the national Responsible Dog Ownership Week sponsored by the AKC. Other tents were various rescue groups, local dog treat vendors, a large veterinary group which also sponsors the dog park, ChikFilA, and other dog-related vendors (doggie day care, kennels, artists and so forth). GKC also sponsored a demonstration area, where we had an agility demonstration by Speedy Paws. Here's a picture of Kim (who owns Speedy Paws and placed Tillie with us and helped us get Rowdy) with her dog Twisted. Twisted is her only border collie - she also has 4 Aussies at home!

Other demonstrations were canine CPR and the County Sheriff's K-9 unit. We also did Canine Good Citizen testing, and several dogs passed that test - and we immediately linked them with the therapy dog coordinator who was there, as well as making sure they knew about other opportunities to have fun with their dog! I was just helping out with the Club as a volunteer - my job was just to wear my Club shirt and mingle, chatting up folks and being available to answer questions. It was quite shocking to find that there were a number of opportunities to be helpful, mostly linking people up with specialty vets, training, and general education about dog sports.

I wished I'd taken Rowdy to be part of the agility demo. We could have run him over the jumps at a very low height, and there were no obstacles used today that really create knee strain. Next year - we'll join in the fun!

Therapy Dog visit

Tonight our therapy dog group visited at a private psychiatric hospital. There were only 5 dogs visiting tonight - where we often have 25. So there was more work on the dogs. However, we all had a great time and our visit was very successful.

We visited with a number of people who were familiar with Aussies, so Rowdy was encouraged to show off a little bit. We did several obedience and Rally demos, and just a few simple moves in a small space was a lot more impressive to folks that I expected. They were able to see the precision and Rowdy's joyful attitude, which surprised me a little. I taught a few teenagers how to give Rowdy the hand signals for obedience commands and they were thrilled to see him sit or down in response to their silent signal. Many people visited with Rowdy and it was so touching to see how he gave them such love and acceptance and a respite from their troubles. He left everyone he met with a big smile and some heartfelt goodbyes as we moved on to another part of the hospital.

Mike and I are so enthusiastic about therapy dog work. We think it is by far the most worthwhile thing we do with Rowdy. And it is also - BY FAR - the easiest. It is such a simple gift - to make your dog available to bring the healing power of a dog's acceptance and love to someone in need. It is such a blessing to have the opportunity.

Dog tired

We're all pretty tired from a long week and a busy day today. We'll post an update tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Mike

Cards, present, cake, balloon and general hoopla....notice how politely Mike feigns delight to discover that I followed his instructions perfectly when getting his present! I suspect his favorite part was the German Chocolate Cake.

Alien invaders; solving problems

ALIEN INVADERS STRIKE!! Or...as some would prefer...."undocumented workers." We found a trail of ants busily making their way through our kitchen and mud room. Ants have recently been seen in Carol's offices - and often will come inside buildings here during times of severe drought. After poisoning our house with insecticide spray, we found their goal (the dog training bag) and moved it outside. The training bag, contents, and Mike's hat collection are airing out on the deck. The house was sickening for days afterward. Thank goodness for zoned heating and air! Carol pretty much lived upstairs with a sinus headache while we aired out the first floor. The dogs didn't seem to care which floor they were on and Mike is tough.

We put out ant bait on the deck, and secured the area from the Aussies. Still - knowing how clever Aussies can be at defeating barriers of all kinds, we will have to accompany them outside for the duration. The towel is there so Tillie will remember the ExPen is set up there before she runs into it. Rowdy is obsessed with his tennis balls and favorite toys, which were in the bag. Rowdy is going outside regularly to stand and stare at his toys longingly. We go out and night and gain some satisfaction watching the ants crowding around the baits.

We WILL enforce our border and will not tolerate intrusion by these alien workers!

Then...there's the matter of the broken step from the deck to the yard:


Mike is replacing two of the three steps this weekend, and will do the third step soon.


He is using a composite decking material. We're eager to see how it works, since we will eventually have to replace our deck.

Hard at work. Stay tuned for the finished photos. The memory card filled up at this point.

Chores, chores, chores

Today the agenda is: a day of chores. We began by grooming Tillie. It's always best to do this early in the morning, when she feels at her best. If Tillie could see and hear, she would be a formidable working ranch dog because she has a will that is stronger than any bull. She is beyond bull-headed! She doesn't fight us, she tries to out-manuever us. She wiggles, she squirms, she pushes, she pulls. She wedges her head between your arm and chest, and tries to push through - and off the table. Mike was involved, which always helps a lot. But she does not see the point in having her feet groomed, or her butt trimmed. Mike keeps her butt trimmed so she can stay clean. I do her feet. It's a double-whammy. This seemed helpful this morning as she just couldn't keep track of two people to plot her course to freedom. Treats follow, naturally. Rowdy spent some time up on the grooming table, just hanging out. I guess we should have bought a bigger table to hold TWO Aussies!

There is a Tshirt sold to obedience competitors - it says "She who MUST be obeyed." We need to get one in a smaller size and put it on Tillie. This is her personal credo.

Mike is replacing two steps on the deck - we're going to try out the new composite decking material and see how it works during bad weather and how it weathers. We heard the redwood-look composite fades to a violent orange. We'll have to replace the deck eventually, and this will help us decide if we want to use pressure-treated lumber or the composite material.

I still have not recovered from the depletion of the dog food reserve and am totally sick of cooking day-to-day for them. Without taking a couple of days off work to either do chores or cook dog food, it's going to take me about 6-8 weeks to re-establish my reserve of 6-8 weeks of food. Not to mention the freezer space that we don't have at the moment. I could really use a 2nd freezer for dog food (homecooked and kibble w/o chemical preservatives) in the garage. Obviously, maintaining the reserve is the whole key to successfully homecooking for medium-sized dogs. A week of food for Rowdy is a month's worth of food for a Shi-Tzu.

Well, break time is over! Back to work!

What's up, Saturday?

This is a new (to us) butterfly on the lantana bush. We will identify it and add it to our lifetime butterfly list. Isn't it pretty? Mike caught a number of great pictures of it.






In case you've ever wondered what goes on in an obedience lesson, today we had a little serendipity in the form of a couple of folks who were watching our lesson. Their dogs were crated next to them as they watched. The two students agreeably took a few pictures, then my teacher (in the green shirt) took a couple of pictures of us heeling.


First, we talk about what Rowdy and I have been doing in our training since our last lesson a month ago and decided what we needed to work on today. I learned more about how to walk and stop. Heeling is tremendously difficult - if you want to do it well. I spend a lot of time learning to walk in a VERY straight line, learning to move my feet, body and eyes in a way that gives Rowdy the information he needs, and then learning to make this contrived form of walking look very natural. And Rowdy spends a lot of time being fascinated by this cool and complicated system of teamwork. He has his own set of complexities to think about and manage in this dance of precision heeling. Think of it as a competitive Tango with your dog.

Where's the leash? Well, we train off-leash. Don't need it; it just gets in the way.


Next we worked on perfecting Rowdy's understanding of where to put his fuzzy butt when he sits in heel position. He tends to swing it out enough to cost us a small deduction in points.








Then we practiced our heeling in an informal Figure 8 pattern. Rowdy heels in a very nice, head-up style. You can see he is interested in what we're doing. When I get the pace right, he prances along, matching my pace, keeping his body perfectly parallel to my direction of travel - even through changes of direction and speed, and his shoulder-to-nose aligned with my left pants seam. Like I said, a Tango. Before too much longer, we'll do this in a show ring.

More games

When this picture was taken, the official temperature was 105, a record high for all time for our town. We doubt the accuracy of this thermometer, but it was high noon under the full sun on our deck, and 110+ was certainly a plausible temperature. It's really hot!

In these pictures, from last weekend, Mike and Rowdy are playing another one of their games. Mike is telling Rowdy to stay, and Rowdy will not move one whit until Mike releases him - AFTER Mike has thrown the ball. heh heh heh. Rowdy stands there and watches the ball fly, eager to get it. Then Rowdy brings it right back to Mike, eager to play again...and again...and again. This is extremely exciting to a ball-crazed dog, and Rowdy loves to launch himself after the ball as soon as Mike gives him the release word. They both enjoy their game of teamwork and suspense.

Itchy Tillie

Tillie has been itchy recently. We're not sure what's going on - a thorough bath was given today. But yesterday, she decided to work at a spot on her leg and she was pretty determined to work it into a hot spot. We've been down this road before...so we got out our favorite solution for skin irritations, and some corn starch, and the Elizabethan collar. We have an E-collar collection. This one is heavy-duty plastic, a little weighty but very clear - so Tillie doesn't have to suffer more sensory loss. The pipe insulation around the edges prevents them from using the collar to scratch/abrade themselves further, and from using the edge to work the collar off (Tillie views this as an obvious problem to be remedied).

She has been surprisingly cooperative with the collar. We've been able to take it off for long periods - all last night while she slept, and most of today. She was VERY good for her bath today - most likely because Mike was involved from start to finish. She is a total Daddy's Girl. We haven't have to replace the pipe insulation on the edges. We will all be glad when Tillie isn't itching any more.

Dogzilla

This toy is Dogzilla. Mike picked it out on our last sweep of the PetsMart. We go to PetsMart a few times a year and pretty much fill up a cart with assorted treats. First, we have to stand there and critically review the labels - this eliminates 90% of the treats and leaves me totally blown away by the fact that we're going to spend some money on treats that are very similar to what I would make at home for about 1/100th the cost. It's just proof that time does equal money. After we fill up the cart, we do an efficient browsing of the store for toys and equipment that we haven't heard of in the dog equipment vendors who send us catalogs and email ads.

Mike spotted Dogzilla, which meets two of Rowdy's three major requirements: 1. It's a medium- or light-weight ball; 2. It's waterproof and indestructible; 3. The weight balance is off-center. Rowdy likes to hold things (like an obedience dumbbell) by the ends, so he can feel the weight hanging off one end. Dogzilla meets criteria 2 & 3. We also like it because it's NOT a tug toy; tug toys frighten Tillie when Rowdy starts swinging them around her to try to entice her to grab on. Rowdy dearly loved playing tug with Maria Glinski's tugging Lab during our visit in Aiken.

Dogzilla is the Toy Du Jour for about 36 hours out of every 48. In fact, for weeks he was Dogzilla-obsessed. He carried Dogzilla everywhere. Mike teaches Rowdy names for each toys, then they play a game where Mike tells Rowdy to go find a particular toy, and Rowdy will bring that particular toy to Mike and they will play with it. They love this game. We are amazed by the size of Rowdy's receptive vocabulary. Rowdy learned the name of Dogzilla in about 3 repetitions, and Dogzilla has been his nearly constant companion ever since. As you can see, he even fell asleep with it in his mouth.

Running the Rally ring

We had a few folks who worked shorter shifts all day, but by the end of the day, this was the crew who working during the last class of the day. There was a dog on course, and the judge was busy judging, so he's not in the picture. Left to right: Beth - Rhodesian Ridgebacks, does Rally and obedience with them; me; Patrice - don't know her breed, Rally chairperson for this show and one of the Kennel Club VPs; Catherine - Rhodesian Ridgebacks, competes in Breed, Rally, Obedience and Agility, also was one of my sponsors for Kennel Club membership; Janet - Italian Greyhound, Rally, Agility and also Therapy Dog work with our Therapy Dog Inc. group. Janet is timing, Catherine is working the judge's score sheets, Patrice is the executive, I'm checking people in and giving out armbands, and Beth is floating to help where needed. The check-in table was actually about 3 feet to the left of that aluminum post (displaying the ring activities, class and entries info, and course map), but I moved for the picture.

The Newfoundland and Weimeraner Specialty shows (translation: annual national shows put on by an individual breed club only for that breed of dog. Activities at a specialty vary by club and by breed. These are smaller specialties so they piggyback on a larger show - holds down costs.) were held in the same hall as obedience and rally. We saw some beautiful Rally performances by teams who were also showing in their Specialties. There was a very cute little Pug girl doing quite nicely, and several Yorkshire Terriers looking extremely hot as they gave very competitive performances and probably had a number of folks worried about their placements. Their owners told me Yorkies are very smart and highly trainable, but not a lot of people know that. We had about 150 entries in Rally today. That's a lot of Rally-watching and a lot of dogs. From ringside, we had a wonderful seat, but rarely got to see an entire run without an interruption. So - this is how you run a Rally ring at a major show.

It was great fun!! We were a real part of the show, without the responsibility of managing a dog or the tension of competing.

Update

Executive summary:

1. Rowdy's better but doesn't have his stamina back yet. Blood work is all beautifully normal. Still on bland diet for a few more days.

2. The birthday celebration continues.

3. We're all still tired.

Big dog show this weekend - starting today. Our club is very excited - we're the Saturday show. We have a record number of entries, and at 3200 dogs, this show is now established as bigger than the Atlanta show and in league with the Atlanta and Houston shows. We're a major regional show now. We also have over 300 entries in obedience and Rally, which is quite a turn-out. People like to show in Greenville!

I'm off work today and thought I'd be at the show all day long but when I sit down, I fall asleep. So I'm going to go do some more of that. More in due course.

Ups and downs

We had a great week last week, and enjoyed both our classes. We ran a particularly challenging Rally course on Thurday night and that was a ball!

We visited the Happy Cow Creamery on Saturday, and took Mother along. It was a really nice drive out there and we discovered several alternate routes along familiar country roads. We look forward to more visits, and eating their delicious cheeses.

Rowdy caught a stomach virus, and in the examination, the vet discovered he has also been eating more cat poop and would soon be sick from that. Since Tillie is also known for this disgusting backyard passtime, we need to run in a sample on her, too. We had a sick Rowdy on our hands yesterday, but today he has turned a corner. I'll be back at work tomorrow. Our vet offers medical day care, so your sick pet can be watched over during a workday, but I prefer to stay home if possible and do the nursing and supervision myself. I can't get too much done, since I have to stay in one place to keep Rowdy from getting a day's worth of exercise following me around. If I stay in one place, he'll snooze and I can be sure he's not taking a turn for the worse.

Meanwhile, I'll pulling Rowdy's entry for the show on Sunday. I want my dog to think that going to a show is ALWAYS one of the funnest things in the world to do. It doesn't matter how well we do - the most important thing is to have fun doing it together. A dog can't have as much fun if he's not feeling really good - shows are very exciting for everyone involved.

No pictures today - I'm running a little short on sleep. Ancestry.com is about as addicting as crack cocaine, and that' s not helping at all either.

Good bye ambivalence

Went to obedience class last night and said good-bye to our ambivalence with the sport. Despite the impressive number of offensive humans we've met in the sport, we have met some nice people and some nice and accomplished people. Mostly though, the whole point is "What have you accomplished with your dog?" and "Are you AND your dog having fun?" So future encounters with jerky humans will be met with polite dismissal and an immediate onset of amnesia. Well....if it's a judge, onset of amnesia will occur after I write down their name to avoid them in the future.

We had a great time in class last night. Rowdy was SO excited to be back - walked in to the class area with his butt wiggling like a hula dancer, looking all around to see who was there, and making excited noises. We learned a doodle to help with Fronts. We worked on heeling. We learned a few training techniques to help them learn to remain focused even when very excited, and to make showing more fun for the dog. Toys, food and the clicker were involved - Rowdy's Holy Trinity.

The Happy Cow Creamery

Click on the pictures above to make them bigger.

Today we went out to Anderson, and enjoyed a Greek meal at an Anderson diner. How fun is that? The diner owner is Greek, a naturalized US citizen, and we enjoyed a delicious lunch. Then we went to the hospital, where Mike did a little work while I knitted and then we shot a little basketball before heading home. All this is a roundabout way of explaining how we decided to take a turn and see if we could find the Happy Cow Creamery (www.happycowcreamery.com). Without any problems at all, we found it and arrived 10 min before their store closed. What a nice place! It turns out it's probably closer to our house than downtown Greenville, making it our new grocery store for most dairy items. They also trade with a ranch that offers antibiotic-free, hormone-free black Angus beef, and an egg farm that offers drug- and hormone-free, truly free-ranged chicken eggs. So they are able to sell these in their store as well - giving us a local supplier of beef, and a second supplier of eggs. We need to find a local chicken supplier now. Today they had sold out of the home-grown blackberries, so we will go back next week and look forward to some blackberry sorbet. We bought some grits grown on the South Carolina plantation that has been operating continuously since the Revolution - recall I got some rice from there at the Farmer's Market, and we also bought some locally made strawberry bread to eat with Happy Cow cream cheese, and some Happy Cow 3-yr cheddar. They won a national award in 2002 for sustainable agriculture practices. Their farm is amazing - it doesn't stink; the cows look as clean as can be (do they wash them every day?). I'm certainly no judge of cattle, but when my dogs look as good as these cows, I'm very pleased. The cows' eyes were clear, soft, alert, and relaxed; their hides were remarkably clean with bright colors. I didn't see a sore or skin injury anywhere on them. We're planning a trip back next Saturday and will give ourselves plenty of time there.

Here's the finished socks! The patterned stitch didn't show up too well, but they are knit from the cuff-down, in Regia sock yarn on US 2 needles. The pattern stitch is from Charlene Schurch's first book, Simply Sensation Socks. I'll have to try again to photograph the stitch pattern.

I spent the week swatching different stitch patterns for the next pair - made from a yarn that is a blend of wool and silk fibers. Finally found a combination that looks good and have started work. These are knitted toe-up; I'm about halfway up the first foot. Stay tuned - they're knitting up quickly as the pattern is simple and easy to read on the needles.

Yawnnnnn

As I was still recovering on Monday, we skipped obedience class but did keep our appointment for a 3-mos checkup on Rowdy with the rehab vet. Dr Maria was very pleased, and made some recommendations to help relieve some tension she found in his shoulder muscles - probably an old injury. He got a chiropractic adjustment - only his second since he was pre-op - and some serious massage. So now Rowdy gets MORE massage therapy - you know he's lovin' that!

I seem to have escaped the bad cold that took Mike down briefly. But today I'm a little short on sleep thanks to Rowdy. Rowdy does not always remember his priorities when it comes to certain doggy chores. We have a number of pre-emptive strategies to re-direct Mr Distractable back to the A section of the To Do list. Last night during our 9:30 pm outing, he was simply too busy with the bazillion distractions in an empty, dark backyard to remember his A-level priorities. But at 3:30 am this morning, he decided these matters were urgent and notified me accordingly. I gotta tell you, after I get up and get my wits about me sufficient to dare to step out onto the staircase, there's not a lot of point left in returning to bed at 4 am only to get up at 5:30 am.

So I got some knitting done. Those blue socks? Oh they're finished now and awaiting the photography. I started another pair - and re-started it three times using both toe-up and cuff-down construction until I found a pattern and design that spoke to me. They're now underway and looking pretty good.

I sent in an entry for a dog show in the Greenville cluster later this month - sent it in yesterday, via the internet, less than 30 min before closing of entries. What a shock - we're not in the "A" class anymore, and there's an AKC Rally title after my dog's name! Holy cow. We're not in the Rally nursery anymore. I guess it really IS time to start training for the higher levels, and quit fooling around with it. Whad'dya know? I guess my teachers actually know what they're talking about and we're actually going to be competing in some shows this year in both Rally and Obedience.

This month, we're only entered on Sunday in Novice (we already have the Novice title but can continue to show in the "B" class until we want to move up and try the Open level). On Friday I'm a spectator (and a shopper); on Saturday I'm a volunteer (and a shopper with Mike); and on Sunday we're exhibiting with help from Mike. It is hugely helpful when Mike comes along as our Coach. And equipment manager. And I guess I need to do more than browse the show calendars for the fall and winter.

Did you see "Guns, Germs and Steel" last night on PBS? Mike has read the book and convinced me that I would love it. From watching the first part of the show series, I'd say so.

The Fourth of July was a sort of bust around here. Mike abruptly came down with a bad cold, spent most of the day in bed, rallied for dinner and is fine now. But I'm now fighting it off - and fortunately had the rest of the week off work. Hopefully, my armamentarium of immunity-boosters will do the trick. Rowdy thinks fireworks and/or thunder are pretty much the same thing, and can only be ominous signs of doom. He doesn't get really upset, like Monty used to, but he moves to Mike's lap where he worries and watches to see if one of us is finally going to realize that danger is near. He finally opted for an early bedtime, as you can see. Sometimes just throwing in the towel and bringing an early end to a day is the best idea.

We were lucky to make it this far before the summer weather pattern set in. It's 83 degrees with 60% humidity at 11:30 am. I realize that in Florida, this is considered mild, but here it's hot and humid. The mornings on the deck are wonderful, as are the evenings. Fireflies are still glowing in the evenings.

Inspired by the Summer of Socks project, I'm knitting socks. I knit one in a new stitch pattern and re-learned the importance of swatching in gauge before starting off:

Very cool pattern in the self-striping yarn - just a tad too small to really work for me. After a washing or two, this thing is going to feel like an ace bandage on my foot. No thanks. I ripped it out and started over with a tried-and-true pattern. As I'm knitting it, I'm meditating on the importance of swatching in pattern, and tweaking the stitch pattern to create the desired size. Stay tuned for more sock-knitting - fighting off the cold is forcing me to stay still more than I like, so I'm almost done with the pair.

It's not all dogs, all the time

We do have some other activities going on....

We read. This is Mike's current book. The author has an astounding ability to explain astrophysics in a way that leaves you wondering, "Gee, why didn't I major in that? Why isn't this part of the regular elementary school curriculum?" He's an occasional guest on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" whenever Lou wants to talk space with an undeniable expert with outstanding conversational skills. You want to invite Tyson (or Lou Dobbs) over for dinner.

I'm reading:



The best feature of this book is the first section. It is a compilation of boilerplate recipes for vegetables in standard dishes - like stir-fries, gratins, quiches, roasted vegetable combinations, pizzas, and so forth. There's about 10 different basic recipes, and good instructions on the nuances of the variations. You can pretty much determine if a particular vegetable will work, and how to use it, from this section. The rest of the book is an excellent summary of the most common (and delicious) vegetables that come into season spring through fall. Apparently the author eats out during the winter.

It's a big blogging world

Monday's dog training class got cancelled due to some severe thunderstorms and resulting wind damage around our training center. The building is concrete block, and sort of like a fortress except for one big window - obedience is mostly an INSIDE sport but the agility nuts are out there in the weather. Downed trees and power lines really made it a bad idea to try to drive to class, so I was sorta glad to get the call from Kim just before we left home. Good way to get some chores done! Naturally, in the Mauldin micro-climate at our house, the storms were just a nice steady rain.

Rowdy is running out of food, and slowly losing weight. Apparently his metabolism has kicked itself back up to his pre-injury level, and he's really burning the calories now. We weigh both dogs weekly - this has GOT to be the best way ever to control a dog's weight. We catch weight trends, either up or down, early and can really keep their weights stable. So I cooked dog food (translation: pulled some pre-cooked grain out of the freezer and opened some cans) to tide us over till the weekend, and am making sure he's getting plenty of training treats. Last night at Advanced Rally class, he ate a chicken breast, plus kibble treats. This was in addition to breakfast, LUNCH and dinner!

This week was the beginning of the Summer of Socks - an internet knitting event. Actually, I had hoped to join in, and since participation required you to have a blog - well, here we are. But I missed the deadline so I'm just an onlooker now. Holy cow. I've been reading these bazillion blogs by knitters who are knitting socks this summer. Internet knitting has exploded since I was last involved in it, and I thought it was huge then. As soon as I learn how, I'll put up a button linking you to the Summer of Socks 2007. It is AMAZING.

A cool thing I picked up reading all these other knitters' blogs:

63%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Online Dating

Rally class was fun last night - our teacher set up a course that had some very tricky turns and manuevering. Rowdy can't do all the Advanced exercises yet, so we did dumbed-down variations as we came to them. Twisting through the turns and walking a path that steered us around and beside signs was a lot like running through obstacle discrimination challenges on an agility course. Except - the challenge is to the handler, and not the dog! We did some nice Figure 8s. Rowdy is really starting to get the hang of these. A Rally course is sort of like a long, perverted Figure 8, with interruptions along the way. You are constantly twisting and turning you way around a course and the dog must truly understand heel position and be able to anticipate your moves in order to *remain* in heel position.

Spa Sunday

This is how we spend many summer Sundays. Tillie cannot jump up onto the grooming table by herself, but - as you can see from the middle photograph - Rowdy easily jumps up onto it. Anyone thinking about agility training for her dog might want to consider the unintended consequences. (And how 'bout that recovery from knee surgery? Special note to rehab vet: he's jumping and running like an Aussie puppy - had to increase his caloric intake to keep him UP to his atheletic goal weight! ) We have no pictures of the washing, because it takes two people to manage two Aussies when they are both in a participatory mood and the project involves cool water on a hot day. When I groom alone, one dog stays in the house until the other one is done. Today Mike helped, which meant we were able to do almost all the Full Grooming Routine - from thoroughly brushing out all that undercoat, dremeling claws, trimming feet fur, leaving the oatmeal shampoo on for a 10 minute treatment, and blow-drying - for both dogs in about 40 minutes. It also means we both got pretty wet. Aussies are very easy to groom, if you don't consider all the shenanigans that go on.

Tillie loves to be groomed on the deck, where everyone can see her, and well, that's what divas do best. Because her eyes can't tolerate a flash at all, it's great to get some nice pictures of her using bright natural light. Rowdy just thinks anything involving water and his people is wonderful. As you can see, he plays to the camera.

Farmer's Market

Mother and I went to the big Farmer's Market on Saturday. This one is the official Farmer's Market that is open year-round and has a nice facility. I'm sure it's small by big-city standards, but it was a nice size for us. Every parking place was taken; we parked next door. We found more local or regionally grown foods and bought some very interesting things - rice grown from a South Carolina rice plantation that began growing rice in the 1700s, stone-ground grits from a mill in Piedmont. We came home with quite a bit of produce, and are looking forward to dinner tonight. Actually - we're looking forward to dessert: homemade strawberry ice cream! Then we'll use up the remaining strawberries by making strawberry sorbet which is fat-free.

Mike and I decided to put the bread machine to good use and try some whole-wheat pizza dough - probably next weekend.

The knitted lace stole is completed, and awaiting blocking. A new pair of socks is on the needles. This uses self-striping yarn, and the stitch pattern pulls the fabric into waves. This is using yarn I bought at the going-out-of-business sale recently.

Whew - TGIF

We survived our week in one piece. Monday night: competition obedience class, Tuesday night: Greenville Kennel Club meeting; Thursday night: Rally class. Mike has been happy to reduce the number of evening distractions so drastically. He has enjoyed peace and quiet for a change, and done some reading and some weeding.

Rally class was great! But somewhere along the way Rowdy and I have turned into obedience competitors and we now heel like the obedience people do instead of like the Rally people do. I am in shock. Rally is much more informal, and explicit, overt, clear communication with your dog is encouraged. Obedience is all about subtlety. So Rowdy knows that when we're heeling, information about what's next (turn left or right, we're going to stop, turn around in a 180, I'm going to pivot around so stay very close and move your butt, etc) is communicated through my eye movements and my right foot. In Rally, you just....ahem....SPEAK TO YOUR DOG (now doesn't that make sense?) , although you are allowed to do almost anything - so using obedience methods is completely allowed just not required. So our Rally heeling has fallen apart. I will spend some time figuring out how to make this conversion and we'll be back to doing a beautiful heel on Rally courses (loads of very tight turns and very short distances between - precision footwork is important for a high score).

Off to work. Pizza night and we watch Big Love, which Mike taped for me last Monday night.

A pause in the week

Organic heirloom radishes. Don't they look wonderful? They taste as good as they look. Even Mike is eating them. The food from the farmer's market is making for some wonderful lunches. First there was a beet and orange salad, then arugula with the radishes, beets, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, and local goat cheese. Wow.

Tonight I made dog food (most of it was pre-cooked and I cooked grains, mixed it, calculated the phosphorus, balanced for calcium, packaged and froze it). Aside from the time the grains and brussels sprouts cooked, it took less than 30 minutes. I only made one batch - lasts about two days. However, I now have white rice and millet in the freezer for about 3 more batches.

Dinner was turkey burgers, made-from-scratch white beans with sage, white rice, millet, and dill green beans (from a can). It was simple food and quite good.

The new Le Creuset pots are fantastic for grain-cooking. Oh my. Not a single grain stuck to the pot, and they cleaned up beautifully. Cooking was even without any stirring over heat that was med-low. I wouldn't want to be slinging these things around to say, deglaze and reduce and then pour a sauce....but if you're going to cook grains, or stews, or braise - this is The Pan.

Our twice a week dog classes start this week. We are taking Advanced Rally and Competition Obedience. I hope our obedience class continues as there may not be enough students in it. Obedience is very hard, and it is waning in popularity - partly because it is very hard, but also for many other reasons. Rowdy and I do it because Rowdy loves it, and I love doing things with Rowdy. It also gives us a low-impact competitive sport to be involved in, and one that is more like a lifetime sport than Rally, which I am crazy about but unfortunately in AKC Rally, you sort of top out pretty easily. Other sanctioning organizations offer more options at the top tier of Rally competition, but around here it's mostly just AKC for Rally. AKC obedience is changing....we're hoping to be part of the change, but it is a tough sport, with a deeply-rooted system of status and schools, rigid boundaries, known for a chilly climate at ringside, often seen as a guarded and competitive group of exhibitors and tending to favor a small group of breeds. It is a sport of precision teamwork that has evolved over 50 or so years into a system of lore and elaborately nitpitcking scoring that rivals the US Tax Code for complexity. And the idea of demonstrating that precision with undeniable joy in the ring is still a little bit of a new idea over there. You see a lot of grim-looking folks with flat-looking dogs in the ring. People who don't place in this highly competitive venue feel like failures, coming is 5th is known as "first among losers" (placement ribbons are typically given for 1st thru 4th place), even if your score was still close to perfect. We are encouraged by our teachers and others like them who value joy in their relationship with their dogs, who insist on making sure that your furry partner maintains a happy feeling about the sport and competition, and who are very upbeat, progressive and sophisticated in their training methods. That's how I find myself with a dog who starts jumping up in my face when I pick up the clicker, and when I put my headband on (to make my face and subtle cues to him easily seen), he goes wild - this can only mean we're HEELING!!! HOORAY FOR HEELING!! Pull out a dumbbell and he's herding me toward the door.

Coming from agility, where the sport evolved only after the development of modern, motivational training techniques and the activity is so strongly inherently enjoyable for both dog and handler, obedience is well.....a different game indeed.

It's official! Rowdy and I are now registered with Therapy Dogs, Inc (www.therapydogs.com) as a therapy dog team. We received our certificate, Rowdy's tag and my card this week in the mail, along with the organization's magazine. How exciting!

The Downtown Farmer's Market

First, I read The Omnivore's Dilemma, then Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The latter is written by a best-selling author with an academic background in biology, with sidebars by her husband, a biologist and professor of environmental studies. Their experience spending a year eating only foods they grew or raised themselves, or locally grown, opened my eyes to the importance of eating locally grown foods and supporting sustainable agriculture. The huge agricultural companies sure aren't going to tell us how much petroleum products are used in the petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides used in conventional farming, or how much gas and diesel/jet fuels are burnt hauling this stuff all over the country and world. The carbon footprint for a bag of organic salad is huge. And they're certainly not advertising the loss of flavor in the varieties developed for mass production. That's before we start to discuss what's happened with the nutrition and husbandry of livestock. There's much more to learn as well - and some good eating to be done. But for now, I decided to venture out beyond Whole Foods (which does a good job of selling locally grown produce) to find some smaller farmers.

So mother and I made a trip to the downtown Farmer's Market this morning. It's a branch of the big Farmer's Market on the other side of town, held on Saturdays on Main Street from May to October each year. Tents with vendors line the sides of Main Street for a couple of blocks, as you can see from the picture. What fun! You can meet the farmer, and discuss growing methods, varieties, and so forth. The farmer is very happy to tell you about his work and products, and you learn a lot and buy some undeniably healthy food. I paid less than grocery store prices for everything I bought this morning.

Mother bought peaches (and learned that only the early crop was devastated by this year's late freeze), strawberries and tomatoes - all locally grown in upstate SC. I bought South Carolina-grown beets, pattypan squash, and some heirloom radishes - look for a picture later in the week! I also bought honey from an apiary in Campobello, and the bee keeper makes lip balm, soaps, lotions and other items. I've trying out the lip balm - spearmint flavored. And it's really exciting to find the local organic food co-op of farmers was there - including a poultry farmer just outside of Honea Path (close to Mike's commuting route through the countryside.) They retired from Titusville, FL and set up their little farm. Their hens free-range over an actual pasture and through woods - about an acre is fenced for them. Their diet is supplemented with grain. They have Rhode Island Reds, Arucanas (spelling?), and another variety I did not recognize.....some kind of Black. They select their varieties for tameness and treat them as pets. Their eggs - antibiotic-free, hormone-free and truly free-ranged - come in a variety of colors from the blue Arucanas to brown and tan. I bought a dozen for less than the technically "free-range" eggs without drugs that are driven up from Florida at the store. Now if I can just find someone nearby who raises chickens like this, and sells the meat....

How amazing! Who knew so many small farmers are producing such wonderful foods so close to our home? We know about an award-winning goat farm and boutique cheese maker out in Anderson; today we met more small farmers.

We also ran into some friends - Robert and his wife Katherine, who was one of my sponsors for membership in the Greenville Kennel Club. They raise Rhodesian Ridgebacks and compete with their 7 dogs in agility, obedience, Rally and the breed ring. They had two Ridgebacks with them this morning. We had a fun time visiting and catching up. We've had classes together off and on for a long time, but not currently. We had a good time catching up with each other.

A local artisan bread company was there, as was a local restaurant selling shrimp and grits and baked goods. A coffee vendor was there, too, of course. And a dog bakery - Rowdy and Tillie rated the product Excellent. I'm trying to feed us more fresh produce, and now that it's home....well, I wish I'd bought a little more. Next weekend, we plan a trip to the big Farmer's Market, so stay tuned.

The busy time of the year

This time of the year is always busy. But it somehow seems busier. The only ones who get to lay around and be lazy are the Aussies. Of course, that lasts about 3 minutes.

Dog training

We have decided to take on two classes a week, and to be aggressive about earning the Rally titles with Rowdy. Our motto is going to be "Just put the titles on the dog" instead of our usual "Stay home until we're ready to SCARE 'EM." So we're starting to (re-)train the Advanced and Excellent level Rally exercises, and making plans to enter shows. If we can just get that green ribbon (for a qualifying score) and move toward the title, we'll come home thrilled. You don't get a title "cum laude." You just get the title. So....we're going to try hard to remember that and go in the ring feeling like it's a little dicey and we'll just have some fun. Rally is all about demonstrating an enthusiastic relationship between the dog and handler, and we can light up the ring with that.....even if we're not lighting up the scoreboard!

Gardening

Jane and Don got the bids on their home renovation project and flipped out. They decided their home is beautiful just as it is! So - this means there will be no need to move the rose garden to our backyard. Oh well. Mike and I think we need a few roses anyway and are looking forward to spending the fall trying to make up our mind and place an order.

Cooking

We shudda bought a bigger freezer, and that's all I'll say about that. We're considering a second freezer for the garage. Mother and I are going to the downtown Farmer's Market on Saturday morning; I hope to take a picture or two there. It's a fun thing to do. I recently read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (check out the website www.animalvegetablemiracle.com) and continue to get more and more dedicated to the idea that eating all these chemical residues, outright chemicals, perverted foods (ie food ingredients that come out of a chemistry lab), antibiotics, and hormones just can't be good for us. The book is fantastic - extremely well-written, a joy to read as well as very informative.

Knitting

The stole is almost done! Will post a picture this weekend. It's still a snarly-looking mess, as lace always is before it's blocked out, but it's a BIGGER snarly mess now. I'm starting to think about the next project....whatever it is.....

Up and running again

We're up and running again...no thanks to some squirrel damage high up on the pole.

Billy Donovan is back at Florida. Whew. So now we can look forward to following Florida football AND basketball.

We are edging into a drought here. Mike mowed the crispy lawn, and we've been watering all weekend. I ran the garden hose directly onto the base of our Joseph's Coat rose, for over an hour, and the water never ran down the hillside. It just kept sinking into the ground, like watching water go into the sandy Florida soil. Temperatures are in the 90s, but the humidity is below 25% and a breeze is blowing. It's like a convection oven for plants. It was actually nice enough even until the middle of the day that we enjoyed lunch on the deck, though.

There is one way to beat the heat:

Temporarily experiencing technical difficulties....

Please be patient while wait for Charter cable company to solve our connectile dysfunction problem at home. When I called last night and they remotely checked our system, the guy suddenly said, "Oh Wow! WOW! Wow. You have a major line problem - must be some serious damage there. " Mike thinks it's that cute chipmunk who hangs around our yard and digs little holes all over the place and eats sunflower seeds. The techie comes out on Sunday afternoon to get us up and running again. So - no pictures on the blog until Sunday night (hopefully!).

This means geneology work is stymied, too. I am really enjoying ancestry.com. It is just great to be able to do a little census-browsing for 20 min at 10 pm in my PJs.

Meanwhile, our dog training center, www.speedypaws.com, sent out the new class schedule.

So we are trying to decide whether we want to go to dog classes one night a week, or two. And do we want to aim to move up and enter a July show in the Rally advanced class and start working toward our next Rally title, aiming simply for a qualifying score at the same time as we're working that last push to get competition-ready for Novice Obedience? Probably. We'll see. Last year was Canine Nutrition, the year before was TPLO and canine rehab...looks like this year will be Rally and Obedience.

And remember - check back here on Monday and (hopefully) there will be pictures.

Carol

Waiting....waiting....waiting

We are waiting:

For Billy Donovan to wrap up all the Magic and return to the GATOR NATION!! CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP What a roller-coaster he's had us all on! Mike and I follow the story all day, and compare notes at night. It's looking like it's all over now but the shouting. Can't wait to get this over with so we can on building NCAA basketball history at the University of Florida!!

For our dog training class to start back. We took a month's hiatus in May and start back next Monday night. We're taking Advanced Competition Obedience - doesn't that sound impressive??? Only until you see me and my dog!!! LOL!! Then you wouldn't be so impressed. I guess this is why my Atlanta teacher has us planning to enter the Novice ring late this year - how long can we train for Novice before we actually enter the ring? I think we might be working on a record. Sigh. At some point, I guess you have to stop obessing over perfect (particularly when you're a long way from it) and just aim to put the title on the dog so you can move up. And now that we see how much more fun the Open level is than the Novice level....well, I'll let you in on a secret: I LOVE to complain about how hard obedience is to train, or to learn how to train, or both - I'm not sure.....but actually, it is really, really cool when you and your dog do this dance of precision and teamwork well enough to meet the qualifying standard. Rowdy loves to train obedience because it's so mental. He loves to think, and to work as a team. Obedience offers that in spades. Mike is also looking forward to reclaiming Bachelor night.

Yarn for lunch!

Sadly, a wonderful local yarn store is closing. Sigh. So I drove the 25 minutes out there on a long lunch hour today for the closing sale. I've been yarn dieting for over a year now, with only some sock yarn in the meantime (my 10-year old handknit socks are finally showing some wear - THANK GOODNESS). And well, there was that one other exception that I blame Wendy Johnson for. But we'll share that when the yarn arrives. I take my lunch to work everyday and save my lunch money......today, my ship came in! It was like getting yarn for free! Actually, I bought a number of deeply discounted patterns because I never buy patterns and these are cool ones that have ideas or design solutions. And oh yeah - three felted bag patterns. (Wendy - see the Noni bag? Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery.) A gardener needs a felted bag with roses on it, don't you agree? And there is a set of Pony Pearls dps in US 0, Lantern Moon rosewoods in US 2 (one of my most-used sizes), and some bamboo US 2s as well.

This is my stole (long rectangle shape of knitted lace). It's Knitpicks Alpaca laceweight in the light blue color, knit on a bamboo circular US 5. So soft, with that fuzzy halo of alpaca. The pattern is blissfully easy - it's actually my TV knitting. From Victorian Lace Today (VLT), it's Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890. Yes, it's an actual lace pattern from 1890! I doubled the width from the VLT pattern, because I love stoles but hate scarves. It has not been blocked out yet, so it will be about 1/3 wider, and totally stretched out to the nth degree. The pattern will become much clearer. Just wait and you'll see!

Gardening projects are everywhere: Here's Mike with the supervising gardener in the melon patch.