Family

Kani playing wolf with her sister Reba
Obie's look alike sister Scirocco

Some people hate the things Borzoi can do with their ears, but I love it. . the above is one of my favorite Zois, Flurry, AKA Fluribus. . .she's 13+ yrs old, but doesn't act it.
This is Wizard, I love these ears LOL He is one of the possible daddy's for Dei's litter. .yes, one. . I opted to do a multi sire litter in hopes of broadening her donation to the gene pool . .probably will end up with just one daddy, but maybe I'll get lucky. . they're all nice dogs, in different ways. . I'll be happy to just have a healthy, safe whelping ;)
FC Silkenswift's Bright Wizard SC, FCH

Grins. . well, Grinning LOL I love this pic. .he is another possibility.
And yes, it was all intended.
FC Silkenswift Rider of the Storm SC, FCh, ORC, GRC

Carrot, the last possibly daddy. . .he doesn't stand still long enough for me to get stacked photos. All three daddys to be are temperamentally sound, beautifully built, and keen as anything. .
I can't remember his registered name. . LOL he's not been out yet, but
should burn up the field once he does get out.

I am hoping since the pedigrees are very closely related, that it will negate the one thing they think affects the possiblity of getting mulitple sires: the pH of the sperm is thought to do so. Possibly, every dual sire litter I know of that was a natural breeding are closely related dogs. . father/son, half siblings, etc. .

Grins almost 10 yr old daddy being very silly. .
I know exactly where Grins gets his zest for life and silliness from :)

Obedience and family

Been taking it easy, trying to beat this damn cold.

Those of you who have no desire to work with your dog or don't understand, move on I am SOOO STOKED!! We went back to rally class last week. With expecting puppies, they're allowing us to take four weeks of rally and four weeks of beginner Obedience for the price of one full session of rally. I love these people. . their only condition was I bring photos of the babies later, and I can do that lOL

So, glad I'd taken Gossip with me, I worked her. There's only one place we're having problems with and that's the front, she will sit crooked and if we're doign the backwards bit, she will anticipate(Wrongly) return to heel and flip return. Little snot. . .but otherwise, made me really happy with her workout. . then I took the next big step, put a harness on her(for easy grabbing) and worked her off lead. . a big step in confidence on my part, i've never worked her off lead except at agility off lead. . .

She made me so damn proud. We didn't do the entire advance course because at this time she was warm and getting bored, but she did everything I asked her :) Got the comment when she did her flip return with panache that she's not a poodle, she shouldn't do that, and I told the other lady that she LIKES to, we just have to finess it some. . as she doesn't always hit the right spot right away LOL. I left class with a HUGE DAMN grin on my face. . .we may very well be ready for Advanced Rally in May :)

I am so proud of my speckled wild child. Was going to take Grins to regular class, but he managed to hurt himself. Darnit, he was my next project until Dei is done with puppies. Yes, done with puppies! For those of you who've been waiting, she is most definitely in a motherly way :)

I love it when she does this, makes me think of Snoopy LOL

Where'd my tuckup go mom?

Winds

We had some nasty weather earlier this week. . in fact, as I watched the huge tree outside my 5th floor office window, all I could think of was the whomping willow (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/hogwarts/castle/willow.html) of Harry Potter fame, especially as it continously whomped the giant windows next to my desk causing me to jump.

Traveled home, swirving around tree branches in the road, headed up the long windy road to the house, swirving to miss bigger tree branches, and got told a tree did fall. .took pics, as it's amazing nobody was hurt. The two dogs that were in this run were fine.

You can see the end of the tree on the opposite side. .this run is 20 ft wide. . .if you look closely, you can see how far the fence is pulled down
This is all that's holdint this good 10+ ft of tree off the ground. . I am amazed that the pole isn't bent much more than in is

The original home of that branch. . .thankfully we didn't lose any electricty. . .storms can get fierce here in MD, and we're surrounded by lots of old trees. . .

On

A day in the sun

The sinus problems slid right down into sinus migraine, and wey laid me good for 24 hrs. .been a long time since I've dealt with one of those, and the best thing I can do is go to bed, pull the pillows over my head and try to sleep. Hard to do when your stomach wants to rebell and the back of your neck hurts, and the kitties want to make you feel better, oh wait, your head is under this pillow I just laid on? What the hell is it doing there?

Was supposed to spend time with a friend including dinner last night, HAH, that didn't happen, I was out of it til 9 this morning. . wait a waste of a weekend. . especially considering how HORRID the week at work has been. We're down 2.5 people (Half cuz the one is only half assed there on a good day LOL).

Got up feeling better, if not refreshed today. . .but taking it easy, not sure why it hit me, maybe cuz of work. . we are behind, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY behind, so exhausting ourselves trying to get everything in by deadlines, but tjeu haven't offered OT to help catch us up. I have NO problem taking it, just ask. . .watch, they'll offer it next Saturday when I have a club meeting LOL

So, spent today picking up, cleaning(eww) and spending time outside with my girls. The weather is BEAUTIFUL out, OMG. Our inch of ice is now an inch of mud, but it's TANK TOP weather out. .56 degrees! So turned my camera onto a new setting that allows me to take 16 photos a second(at least, may be more, have to check the thingie), and went out and played
Yes, Gossip is this bad LOL And yes, I didn't help by laughing my ass off. . she wanted that damn bunny, but then when she got there it's like wow, lookie here.

I love this dog. . never ever thought anything could help the hole her uncle Obie left in my heart and life, but she's done her bestest. .she isn't Obie, but she's stepped into that hole he left and has left me laughing and smiling.

You going to try and take this away? Or will you throw it again?

Mine Mine, mine!!!

AAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL MINE!!!

Chasing the bunny on a lunge whip.

Numnumnumnum. .mine mine mine

And now on to. .is she or isn't she? Too bad the only stacked photo I have of Dei last summer, she was nekkid LOL

Last August, and now

Today :) Is she or isn't she?

plans for the year

I'm excited, the BCOA premium is out, now it's a matter of what do I enter, who do I enter, who shall I take.

The Nationals are a big thing, too bad they're being held at a ridiculously high priced hotel this year. It kind of causes me to want to shorten my stay. I don't think I have anything other than Umbra that the judge will like. He won his supported entry BBE class under her when he was younger, but I don't know if I want to stay all week to just show him in Veterans, not when I have exciting plans for that last weekend in May, more to be determined in a few weeks.

I haven’t shown at the “Nationals” since the futurity in 04, so really would love to stay the entire week, but really don’t have anything this judge might enjoy. Gossip'll be too much bitch for her, IMHO, since I've seen what she put up before, and Kani'll be nekkid. . .so it's really just Umbra. . .Katie may like him in sweeps, not sure, but it's worth a shot. .

Of course, there is the performance events, and Grins'll be a veteran, and if I really feel up to it, I could take Eros, he's a veteran too. . who to take, who to run. .

I'm hoping Grins may be ready for Rally, maybe even Eros, it's got to warm up here first before I can start working them. The thirties are just not the weather I want to be working a dog under, heck, Gossip hasn’t' been worked quite as much as I'd like because of the weather. We'll have to get back into class here. . .I'm hoping she'll be ready for regular obedience by then. Time'll tell.

I'd love to take advantage of the various clinics, especially thyroid (I can get eyes done thru Bonnie's friend at Penn because it benefits his eye disease research), but damnit, that means staying til at least Thursday, not sure if I want to take that much time off, not sure if I'll HAVE that much time, especially since I want to hit BCGNY's event earlier that month. LOL. If the tests are first thing AM, I can hit the road and be home that night. .10 long hours on the road, but BTDT before. . and can hit work on Friday

Starting to get my plans worked out for running, trying to make at least one weekend down south and out west. . .can’t travel too far, and will probably have to rent a car, but it’d be nice to run against Bartleby & Sammy, although Bartleby will be at the BCOA nationals so there’s always that J As long as Gossip doesn’t come into season LOL Interspersing LGRA with coursing & Notra, work on Grins’ SORC as well as LCM. .and maybe even Eros if I’m feeling masochistic LOL

Then even more fun, the LGRA & NOTRA Nationals are 3 hrs north of me this fall, I can’t wait, although that’s about when Gossip’s due in season again, evil bitch. . LOL I don’t have anything competitive for NOTRA, but have already volunteered to work it. Grins’ll go, but he’ll be 7(OMG, where does the time go). Hope to have some of his cousins ready to go, and Wizard will be going if I have to tear him away from John’s hands.

And other than that, working on agility J Unfortunately have to find a new class, since a difference in opinions caused the instructor to leave the place I’ve been going to. . .darnit. .but we can always practice on our own, it’s the way we’ve been doing it anyway.

And in between that all, trying to hit a few shows with the girls ;)

What a fun and busy year this’ll be.

Borzoi

Borzoi are sighthounds.
They are hunting dogs.

They were originally bred to hunt fuzzy fast moving things.

It's amazing how many people have Borzoi who want to deny this, who want them to live by their fru fru, ARA correct ways of thinking(Hunting is evil and bad). . .They don't believe in OFC, cuz of the POOR bunny wabbit(as long as said bunny wabbit doesn't go to waste, I don't care)hopefully those same people don't force their dogs to eat a Vegetarian diet.run. Needless to say, he wasn't his usual obnoxious FEED me self LOL

Eros is on a diet. . .(yes, this has something to do with the above topic, I promise). He's been on a diet all his life, much like his mama Kyra, he is a very easy keeper. Unlike Kyra, he is very vocal in his protest of being on a diet. He's a good 90-105 lb dog depending on who's feeding him (my feeding on the lighter end, kennel help on the higher end), but when he's hollering for dinner, he sounds like a chihuahua with balls in a vice. . it's rather funny to hear it come from the moose.

Where am I going with this drug induced rambling?(yes, my sinus problems are still completely and totally kicking my butt). Went to feed him yesterday morning, and found live game in the pen. . .or what's left of it. . .from the wish bone to the end of the wing(wing span of the bird had to be about 5 ft from wingtip to wingtip) lay on the ground, with only the last 4-5 feathers of the wing left on it, the rest seriously gnawed on. . .

I found nothing else in the pen and I looked, trying to discern what my dogs had caught. . .Umbra's the gamier of the two, he'd much rather chase live game, and in fact is the big big reason I caught those kittens last year and placed them with rescue, as I knew if they got in with him, they'd be gone. . .but Eros as I mentioned above, is STARVING. . there's no holes on the two boys, so we can safely assume it wasn't the hawk or turkey vultures, but what was it? We think a big damn crow. . but no way to really tell. . .

How'd they get it? Again, no idea. . did it fly in to eat at their kibble(unlikely, Eros' other nickname is Hoover, just like his mum), did it mistake something in the pen for food? Possibly. . .Borzoi can be fast when they want to, so it's a possibility. . or did a fox or a cat pull the carcass out of the snow/ice somewhere and get too close to the fence and the boys sucked it thru? Wish they could speak and tell me, as it'd be rather interesting to know the tale of how this tidbit got in their run.

Things that make you go hmmm

friends & family

Cuz it's been too nasty to do anything and I've been feeling under the weather, just some random photos of our walks. We've got numerous friends that come over, and Gossip & her cousin Surya get to run and play with them.
Surya is a finished Dual Champion dog who is hysterical. . he loves his toys, to the point he gets upset if someone else has them.

I love this photo. Wish I'd remembered to put the flash on

With one of our many friends. Misty May is a rescued Siberian, a cutie, even if she drove the Borzoi nuts by being a little too dominant.

Surya has to take a toy out for a walk. He's a dork.

Gossip, Surya, and their buddy Quincy. I love when Borzoi coil themselves up like Gossip's doing :)

These aren't friends, these are land rats, and we are infested with them. The dogs went bonkers when they saw them in the next field

Another friend. Pavo, sired by Grins' brother Stardust.

Pavo, racing away from Gossip LOL

A muddy Gossip, getting ready to go pounce on Pavo yet again.

More landrats :)

ramblings

Weather has been horrid. I called in Wed, even tho the Company didn't close down at all(last time it wasn't anywhere near as bad, IMHO, I made it to work, to find out they'd closed, makes no sense hunh?


Thursday, the driveway looked like this. . lovely hunh? Sheet of ice. . .in fact, fell thru said ice and sliced up the back of my achilles tendon, didn't realise how bad until I took off my shoes and saw the bloody sock. . hurts like hell. . was late for work, but finally got it. . .

Nice ice skating rink hunh?

and it's slowly, slowly melting. . there really is nothing more fun(NOT) then chipping frozen poopsicles out of melting ice. . lovely. Now it's watch it or you'll bust your ass falling on ice or slipping in mud, LOVELY!

On top of that, feeling under the weather, freaking sinuses. . .nothing like going to a seminar and not being able to concentrate cuz you feel like complete and total CRAP. . .glad I went, a lot of things were clarified with the new AKC rule changes. . .I like them a lot!