Touchet, TImmy, GOssip oh my!

Just a quickie note, been busy and tired and keep forgetting to update

Took Touchet to the vet's Wed, and she got a clear bill of health, including a thorough ascultation of her heart. At 10.5, if she was going to come down with a genetic health problem, the consensus would be she'd already have it, but her heart is perfect :) She DOES weigh 80 lbs, so OMG, it'll be on green bean diets here soon for her.


Timmy is leaving for his new home in Boston today. His new mum is driving down to get him. He will be trained to be a therapy dog for autistic kids. He has a wonderfully sweet personality, well, they all do really. That just leaves me Tony to place, Gibbs & Ziva are going to stay here for now, Jenny is goign to be co owned with Bonnie. Gibbs reminds me A LOT of his father, busy, obnoxious, dorky, but sweet. And Keen without the overly keen part. LOL I'm tickled there.

And Gossip. . .Gossip turned 5 this week. Can't believe my baby girl is five, she is out of season, and oh so happy to be. Did some roadwork last night, up the steep hill, she wasn't impressed with me, but did it anyway, cuz I asked her to LOL

where were you?

Where were you 9/11/01?

I remember clearly that day, or at least, the way it began. Co worker was listening to Howard Stern on her radio. How I hate that S.O.B. The pranks, the stupidity, the obnoxiousness. So when the first report came over his show about the World Trade centers, I swore it was yet another bad prank. It's how tasteless he is, so I didn't put it past him at all. . until people came running into our office, asking if we'd heard.

It was so surreal. News report after news report came in over the radio station, first sounding as if it'd been a horrible accident, and then the 2nd one hit, and the eye witness reports chilled our blood. The memories still send cold chills throughout my body. Who could have the balls to run not one, but two airplanes into the WTC?

And then they collapsed. Tears rolled throughout the office. It was just uncontemplatable the thoughts of all those lost lives. We snuck on to watch video on the internet, horrified and mystified at the evilness of it all.

And then when the plane crashed south of Pittsburgh, it really struck home. My grandparents lived south, nothing was known of exactly where it had hit and I couldn't remember the name of the tiny town they lived in. Were they OK? And again, the thoughts of how could someone be so evil?

I lived in Syracuse at the time, 5+ hrs from NYC, but we were affected by the days that followed, heck, by the hours that followed. I remember driving home and having the crap scared out of me by the low flying military craft over the apple orchards. Nine Mile Point Nuclear Power plant is in Oswego, a hop an and a jump from Syracuse, and the worries that swept thru the populace, worrying about what the Terrorists were going to target next was contagious. Military patrols increased in the area, it became more common place to hear planes taking off from the Reserves and Nine Mile was kept under firmer lock and key.

Our work building was below the flight plan of Hancock Airport, and I remember an aircraft flying so low over the building that we all jumped screaming out of our cubicles, sure there'd been another crash. Every sound of a plane overhead would make us stop and wait. It took a long while for that sound to once again become nothing but background noise. Even that far away, we could see the black smoke from the WTC.

My grandparents were ok, tho they did feel the ground shake when the plane hit the ground, but that couldn't be said about so many other families. The images and video that came out day after day after day could NOT but affect you. I couldn't watch or look. I'd already lived thru, in bright, vivid living colour, a previous crash (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramstein_airshow_disaster I would've never've thought something I witnessed would be in wikipedia!) and the images of the WTC ripped those memories from the boxes I'd finally managed to bury them in years ago and made me relive them. For someone who was terrified of flying to begin with, this really did not help. Yet ever day we were given more and more horrific photos.

But also, amongst those photos/stories, were photos that touched the heart, stories that that showed we, as Americans, coming together to help each other.

I was lucky, nobody I knew was in any of the four crashes. Friends of mine lost friends, we lost co workers in a branch we had in NYC, but nobody I knew personally. . .but my heart goes out to all families who still miss loved ones on this day, and my thank yous aren't enough for the fire/rescue men/woman who were heroes that day and risked their lives to save so many more that may've died if they hadn't jumped to their duty without thought of their own lives, many who did die.

Where were you that day?

this N that

Well, Gossip finally came into season. Took the very well educated from experience advice of a greyhound peer and decided to keep her off the racing field til next month anyway, but the surgery screwed with her cycle and threw her off. Trying to figure out how to keep her in shape while she's in season ::SIGH:: LGRA Nationals are in 6 1/2 wks, frustrating little bitch LOL

Went to dinner at a friend's house last month and had a lot of fun working her Aussie. He was bouncing off of walls so I put him thru his paces, worked with teaching him stand and drop(down from a stand) vs down(down from a sit) and other rally commands. Her other company was amazed at how much more well behaved he was after i worked him for about 10 mins. He joined us for Rally class last weekend and I have faith he'll be ready for the ring next month. She's paying me to do this, and it's a lot of fun. Will definitely be a big difference when I take Dei with us next class, as she's nto as happy and upbeat as Ms Gossip. She does it to make me happy, Gossip does it cuz it's FUN!!!

Even better, our agility/OB place was bought by another woman and we now have agility equipment back WEHEEE!!!!!!! I am so tickled about that. Soon as Gossip's out of heat, we'll be back into the agility training :)

Poor Eros, he doesn't know what hit him.

After seeing what was finishing in the ring around here, took a long hard look at Mr Eros, who isn't my cup of tea personally, but others do like him. I asked a handler friend of mine to come look at him and had a breeder/friend who put a DC on his daughter, has shown BIS/SBIS Borzoi to look hard at him, and they both agree that it wouldn't be a waste of time to show him. He's in gorgeous coat, now that his face is grayed out, his head doesn't look so clunky, nice low set and carried tail.

So, I've been confusing this poor boy by bathing him once a week(he's a pig, loves to dig holes and dirty himself LOL) and brushing him out, completely, totally and utterly. Few weekends ago, he went to his first show and picked up his first point. He was confused, but was a good boy, by BOB he was a bit overwhelmed and mentally tired, but he was a good boy.

Soo, with my handler/friend help, I've entered him in two more shows and we're talking other shows. He didn't do anything at GNY, but he was a good boy and behaved himself. Was going to run him some more this fall, but have decided to hold off while he shows. LOL At least he's a happy, go lucky easily food bribed boy LOL And he's such an easy going boy too.

This is the first time i've used a handler, I hate it, but with working two jobs, it's hard to travel on Saturdays, especially with lack of good kennel help. So, off he goes, thankfully he doesn't go long, over the weekend if I don't do ring side drop off. She owns his nephew AM :)

P.S. Of course, we mention shows, and he starts blowing coat big time LOL

puppies

I'm soo tickled with this litter.

It's the closest breeding I've done so far. Grins is by Dei's half brother. The litter is pretty darn uniform, with only the light brindle puppy being 'odd' (She's lighter boned and taller than the others, looks a lot like her half Aunt Rinka from my first litter). The rest are beautiful hunks, with Ziva(the dark brindle) being
reminiscent of her cousin Gossip in body, which has me in love with her.

But most importantly, they're uniform in the area of importance to me: lure drive. They all have it, some more than others, with Abbey having the least. Emma surprised me by gaining prey drive for her owner and I hope she'll run and run clean for Trish

The four (Timmy's puppy sitting Bonnie's younger litter as he has a bullseye on his blond butt that says siblings please run me over) in the big puppy yard are keen as mustard* Took the lure toy out and they all jumped it like giant piranhas, with Jenny ripping the towel off. I use a towel as it's sturdier than the plastic. We'll be heading to coursing tomorrow for some practice runs.

Unfortunately, the economy makes breeding a litter a PITA, as people don't have a lot of spare money. Thankfully, I can keep the litter and grow it out, but it's still hard.




*it's an aussie phrase LOL means extremely enthusiastic LOL I've used
it for years, but never knew where it came from, found the explanation
in an interview with Wolverine's yummy Hugh Jackman LOL