The new cardi - mobile

Well no, its not new, but its new to me. With Darryl and earlier David both unemployed, I couldnt afford to keep my van. I miss my van, but gotta make the choices we can live with. But the problem then was, both of our other cars are old- 95's and really on their last legs. So I picked up this little used number, its very basic, but it should do the trick. Next weekend is another dog show weekend, (although I havent received my entry stuff, so maybe not), so we will see if I can get all the stuff into it!

All is well...

today anyway. Darryl is still looking for a job, David is working a few hours a week, getting ready to graduate college, and hopefully find full time work. All the dogs seem normal (well for them) happy and ready for the day.
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.

Do dogs get a 24 hour virus?

I am not sure what is happening at my house. It seems like the dogs have a 24 hour virus passing between them. Monday night, Kazin whimpered on and off all night and kept asking to go outside, and during one of his 2 am out trips, Grace started throwing up and was really uncomfortable, but by Tuesday morning both were on the upswing, much perkier. By Tuesday noon, you couldn't tell either one had anything wrong, Except for the vomit Grace laid in and was covering her butt. Tuesday night and Wednesday all were fine, except Magic was a bit quiet, and not asking to play. Last night Peace had a horrible bit of diarhea, although she just went in her crate and didnt even let me know she was bothered. Now she too needs a bath, but to look at her she is acting fine and totally normal, other than not pooping when she went out this morning. So far Siren has been fine.

I am really greatful that whatever it is, it is short lived and really not too bad or hard on the dogs, but I wasn't planning on baths this week. Oh well.

Planning agility and training

Since Magic earned his NA last weekend, I need to figure out if I should move him up to Open in the next trial we are already entered into,. I also need to re-read the rules about A vs B classes. If I enter the next trial in Preferred, do I have to enter the B classes now?

Then, can he do 12 weaves? I only have 6 and although he will do all 6 at home no problem, with just about any entry we try, at trials he seems less confident. What to do?

Plus after Grace did so well the other day, I really want to get back to training classes with Grace. But with money at a minimum, I can do classes, or trials (or shows with Peace) so I have to pick and choose. What to do, what to do.

At least with the weight pulling, Magic and I can train at home- assuming I get my tush in gear and get going with it!

Siren and Grace's Day

Since Peace had a day, and Magic had a day this weekend, I thought perhaps Siren and Grace needed some attention too. So this morning Siren and I went over to the agility trial and had some time together just hanging out. We met new people, watched other dogs run while we remained calm and quiet, and practiced a little attentive heeling. She did really well. she also had a (non official) measurement taken and she is going to have to run 12 inches too, but I expected that as she is a leggy girl. We also looked at the photographers pictures from yesterday and as usual, she got some really nice shots of Magic. I may have to buy one of them.

Then tonight, Grace and Magic and I went up to an agility run through at a new training facility. Magic and I focused on contacts and contacts and more contacts, although he also did run the course a bit. But Grace is the one who surprised me. Grace took a couple of 8 week classes last the fall before she was bred, so over a year ago. Today, just to see what she would do, I took her in to the run through. she was so excited to be there and so happy, we let her have 2 - 2 minute runs. The first time, we just went slow to see how she would react, but she was crazy having fun. Not in a bad way, she was listening and trying to do what I wanted, but she was so happy! She did the tire with no hesitation, she wanted to do the A frame, tunnels were good and she took the jumps I asked. She even did the very loud, very hard slamming teeter twice with no concern, or reaction. She just so surprised me. The second run through I asked her to run the course, she did everything, almost perfectly. I didnt ask for weaves, but I did put her leash on and walk her through them at that point on the course, so she wouldn't think it was ok to cruise by, but in her classes, we hadn't gotten to the point of training weaves yet, so I was not at all dissapointed. She blew me away with her cooperation. Those that know Grace, know that she is not all that often willing to do thing my way. This was just wonderful.

Yesterday since the agility trial was so close to home, and we had such a long time between our first run and second run, we came home in the middle and got Grace and took her back to be measured. They had 2 VMO's at the show, so Grace was able to get both of her AKC measurements. They were exactly the same, and definately over 11 so Grace will need to run 12 inches so I will most likely stick to preferred with her.

Agility today

How did it go, well you tell me....

Magic will blow right by that

blue jump- missing the 8

point combination

Can you see the problem here? Yup, fly over the yellow.

Had he given me either one of these we would have Q'd, but alas-no FAST today.

But it wasn't all bad, here we made the send, the tire to the green jump. See the green line out there, Magic was in where he belonged, and I was way out there where I belonged.

Then later in Jumpers, he blew by a super easy jump again, but worked really well with me the rest of the course and got the rest of the course perfectly, including the hard parts.

However, the first run of the day was Standard and we did Q there with a first place. But no pictures because Darryl hadn't come yet. And that should be his NA title if I kept my records correct.

So 1 of 3 today, better than 1 of 6 last weekend! Plus the weather was beautiful and we had lots of fun.

St Peter Dog Show

Today was Peace's day of the weekend. We went to the dog show today and managed to pick up another point with Winners Bitch and BOS (although I lost that ribbon somewhere). Although I am surprised as she couldn't get her nose out of the grass. Diana's lovely boy won Winners Dog, BW and Best of Breed, beating his dad, and by doing so, earned a 3 point major. Yeah for Diana.

Joyce and Music were there today too. He sure has matured into a nice looking boy. Lots of coat, but very handsome.

Judy and her young collie had a successful run in Rally too, but it was at the same time as breed so we couldn't watch. All in all a good day.

Tomorrow, agility with Magic.

insanity i am sure

I had to buy it! I just had too. I can barely knit, but just in case I someday get better at it.

The book is available at

http://www.kanineknits.com/k_knits.htm

Tunnel Fun

The other day I broke down and bought one of those 5 foot kids tunnels. So I open it up and Grace looks at me and charges right through. Over and over. Grace only went to 2 sessions of agility classes, about 16 weeks or so, and that was over a year ago before the pups. And the funny part is she NEVER liked the tunnel. Once we planned her pregnancy, she kind of became the stay home girl. She always loved the dog shows, and she just pranced around at the UKC show in March. Now, Miss Grace has always been a rather independent gal, and although we have done some rally, off leash is a challenge. She often has her own agenda. I wonder if perhaps she is just bored enough now to cooperate? HMM, might have to test that theory. In fact maybe I will have her measured at the trial this weekend?

Now Siren took to the tunnel no problem at all. Peace on the other hand-no way. Its been several days and she still refuses. Silly girl.

Fun, then NO FUN, then a little fun

We went to the dog park today. I had a great time. I ran and ran, and chased with a bunch of other dogs. I carried a tennis ball around when my new friend Brady got tired of carrying it. I ignored Mom when she told me not to go in the swamp. I don't know what the big deal is, when I got out of the water I went and rubbed lots of the slimy green stuff off in the sand.
I didn't think it should be such a big deal, but apparently Mom did. First she spayed me with the hose, then she gave me a bath. She must have put that sudsy soapy stuff on me four times if she did it once. OH the indignity! All of my good sand went running down the drain.

So when I got out of the tub though, she put down some towels for me to roll on. I like that! But those darn girls kept getting in the way- what do they think, they didn't have a bath!

Garden Update

The garden is looking lovely. The seeds are all coming up, along with all the weeds. Finally some of the smaller seed plants are large enough to actually tell apart from the weeds so we gave it a good weeding tonight. Not all are gone, but its looking pretty nice. We put up a fence because of the neighborhood bunnies.

David's garden mascot is also doing well, resting in the shade of some brussell sprouts.

We tanked today

OK, the weather wasn't horrible, but it was cold and terribly windy. One sheltie got thrown right off the dogwalk in a gust of wind. But, those are not excuses. We sucked. 1 Q in jumpers. Clean but over time in Weavers, but in every other class Magic added contacts. Every chance he got to took off to the frame or the dogwalk. The courses today seemed a bit harder than the other NADAC novice courses we have run. Every course had at least 2 if not 3 off course twists. Every course had tunnels under both contacts, there was a 90 degree turn to the weaves. It just seemed hard today. I didnt count all the classes, but in one of the standard runs, over 30 novice dogs and under 10 Q'd.

Now, other than our extra contacts today, we had some nice moments. His chances run was lovely, except of course for that one foot on the ramp. He got the distance work fabulously! Probably the highlight of our day. So my face is either sunburned, or wind burned and the rest of me is still cold, so I think I will head to bed.

Agility Saturday

Saturday is another NADAC trial. Magic hasn't shown any signs of any issues, but after coming up lame at the last trial I am a bit nervous. It's been so long since we were able to take any classes, so I dont expect anything other than having a good time. Which since Magic loves agility should work out just fine.

On another note, tonight I started making a weight pulling harness for the boy. I hope to have it ready to start doing some training next week. I figure it is will be good exercise for us both.

Birthday treats

We went to Liberty Custard today to get birthday treats. We all got our own Frosty Paws WOOHOO.
Magic finished first. Momma finished last.

We figured we better try each others too!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Pups!

Grace would like to wish a Happy Birthday to all her kids. She says she is taking Siren and Peace out for a treat this evening and she hopes all the rest of the kids get a special day too!

Happy Mothers Day to all Mothers

We want to send Happy Mothers Day wishes to all Moms, those with human kids, and feathered kids and furred kids.

A year ago on Mothers Day this was the picture in our home. Happy Mothers Day Grace, thank you for your beautiful pups. Siren and Peace have filled our hearts and our home.

Happy Birthday tomorrow to all Graces kids. We love all of you.

FUN Fun Match

The fun match today was just that, quite fun. David handled Peace in conformation and the judge did a great job helping and teaching him. At one point she told him to listen to his mother. Siren and Talie did conformation too. Siren, is not a conformation dog, but darn, attitude wise I wish she were, she did great. Talie went in with Brendan and I think they both had a good time.

Obedience came out quite as I expected. Grace Talie and Siren did Pre Novice and while not perfect performances, they were not horrible either. Siren hasn't been out anywhere nor had any classes yet either, and we went in just trying to have fun. Her tail was wagging and she was smiling so that was good. I havent really trained stay alot yet, and David had to take her in, so I told him if whe wouldnt stay not to worry about it at this point. Talie had fun playing more than heeling, but she also had fun. Grace blew her stay, so didnt Q, but otherwise gave me fairly good attention. Magic in open though, surprised me. His heeling stunk. I expected him to have trouble with the broad jump , but it was the recall that NQ'd him. He was just to distracted and had to have a second command, and then he didn't sit. He also was really mouthing the dumbbell. I think he does that most when he is so excited to get it that he doesn't get a good hold. He also grabbed it by the bell, so maybe its too close to the ground for him to get easily. Maybe he needs a slightly larger one, we might experiment with that.

It was fun to get out and play, and I really enjoyed the day with David and the dogs.

Fun Match Tomorrow

Tomorrow there is a fun match in Elk River. We are going to go and play. I believe I will be taking all 4 corgis, if I can fit everyone in the car that is! Magic will play at open. Grace sub- novice or novice and maybe rally advanced, she needs practice, but I don't know if she is ready for novice yet. Siren, sub-novice and I think conformation just so she has to experience something new. And Peace I think will go do conformation so David can try the ring. He does not want to, but I want to be able to count on him for help if we should have a conflict with breed time at the UKC show where Magic will be weight pulling.

If anyone is not busy and wants to come play it will be fun!

Naked Corgis! No Photos Please

Tuesday night I had 2 normal corgis- today I have 2 naked corgis! Tuesday night when we were playing on the floor, I did get a few normal corgi hairs. Last night I walked in the door from work, got jumped on by my badly behaving crew and came away coated in corgi hair. I am not exagerating to say you couldn't see the green of my pants through the corgi hair that came off Siren and Peace! So we wnt outside and created a hair storm. I think the little birds are happy though. A couple of the really brave ones swooped down to grab hair almost at my feet. So tonight I think they will get bathed and maybe all the rest can come out. Of course, there is a show in a couple of weeks, so maybe Peace will have to sit this one out. We will have to see how naked she gets.

Knitting and Dog Hair

So I finally got back to doing some knitting today while sitting in the waiting room. I have to say I am really enjoying knitting with the bamboo yarn I picked up. It is light and soft and silky and it seems to knit up nicely. A lady at the store (customer) tried to warn me off the yarn saying it was hard to work with, but I really like it. But I did run into a problem tonight. The yarn is a lovely pale cream color. Any dog hair that gets into it shows tremendeously. I have 5 dogs, how am I going to keep it hair free??

My SNAFU

OK so I screwed up big time. Way back when the pups were little, I got temporary listing numbers for Peace and Talie so we could go to the show and enter the novice puppy classes. I didn't have the AKC registration paperwork back from AKC yet, so I couldn't actually do the UKC registration. Time goes by and I realize that there is a show coming so I fill out the registration paperwork to send in, along with an entry for the show still using the TL number. No problem at all. Right- well normally yes, but of course I screwed it up. We go to the show, Grace gets her win needed to finish and Peace gets wins the next 3 shows, and 85 points. (you need 100 points and 3 wins with competition)

Fast forward to a week or so ago and I get Grace's UKC championship paperwork in the mail. I suddenly (slap up side the head) realize I haven't gotten the Peace's registration. Hmm. I email UKC, they show nothing? I check the bank and the check hasn't been cashed. (I know, had I balanced my checkbook recently I might have noticed). So, now since I didn't get her paperwork in before the points were accrued (remember I thought I had) we now have to pay to transfer the points to her permanent number. And because I got her TL number so long ago, it will cost $200.00 to do so. OOPS!

Well I just cannot afford to do that. So Peace is just going to have to earn 100 more points and earn 3 competition wins again. I guess the positive there is that we get to go play together more!

Oh, and guess what, today I found the envelope. I hadn't mailed it. It slipped under the little hard surface bottom of my tote bag and I never noticed it. (Along with about a buck in change)

Garden again and Rhubard recipe

Well all the little plantings survived the night. It is a little early to be planting, normal years we would wait a bit longer, but they are predicting nothing below 40 for the next week so we gave it a go. If we do lose some plants, we will have time to replace. Heck in northern Minnesota there is still snow on the ground, so we are just going to take advantage and enjoy the lovely weather.

Rhubard Custard pie is my favorite, but the Rhubarb Custard cake is so easy and really wonderful. If anyone wants to try it, it is super easy. Make a standard cake mix, I usually use yellow, but have seen white used. Pour into the cake pan. Cover with 3-4 cups cut up rhubarb, sprinkle that with about 1 cup of sugar (I prefer a little less), then gently poor 2 cups cream over the top and bake. The rhubarb and cream goes to the bottom like a pudding cake, which really is what this is. NMM sweet and tart. Enjoy!

Today we put in our garden. Since we live in the middle of Minneapolis, and we have a tiny yard, we have a spot down at our community garden. I think it looks great, I hope it stays that way.

Dave's Garden Mascot- Mr Potato Head Rock

Sorry for the odd angle photos!

We have tomatos, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, peas, some herbs, chard, zucchini, kale, cucumber, onions, carrots, radishes, leaf lettuce and some flowers. We have found that we can really plant quite heavily and as long as we add compost and peat for mulching our garden can produce quite a bit. And tonight we had Rhubarb Custard Cake for dinner. Yum!!!

But oh am I sore!