and the band moves on

Trying to keep myself busy so I don't dwell over Dei's illness. . .I've been enjoying running her daughter Jenny. .Jenny floats over the field, her movement is effortless as she glides. . it is truly beautiful to watch, even more so the way they had the Best in Event laid out for the Regional. . .the long straight away cut right in front of you and they were close enough you felt like you could touch them as they went by, and Jenny just coasted by like a ghost. I'm so glad Bonnie told me not to sell her. She is the more confident runner of the two girls, Ziva is soft and has a bullseye on her butt for a**hole boys, Jenny doesn't care. . and exudes confidence on the field and off the field.

She has also brought excitement back to the race track. . .since Gossip died, there have really not been close racing, but now she and her cousin Focus are reminiscent of Gossip & Focus's fueding. . it's a guess who comes across the line first, especially since with muzzles on, you have no clue which black face is which as they come barreling down the track at you. We've been joking Jenny's only been winning cuz her head is slightly longer, cuz it sometimes is Jenny literally by a 'nose'. . .those two are usually shoulder to shoulder, like an 8 legged canine version of Odin's Sleipnir, with Focus occasionally eeking out a race win, but not the meet win.

Bella's been coming out, now that she's learned to use her legs. I look forward to getting her out coursing next year. Unfortunately, she's inherited her mother's short seasons, but we'll squeeze as many events as we can in the 5.5 months she's not in season.

We tried GIbbs, unfortunately trying to find the right combo for a test dog scenario is hard. .either the dogs got a better break then him and he didn't get close enough to see, or he got the break and took off. .. we tried him, but he bounced off of Secret and i'm not sure if it was purposeful or not, so pulled him til I can figure out a way to set him up. . .

Frankie got to run, and he's going to be a ball. Such a sweet goober boy, he got away and was pouncing on the pieces of bunny that had fallen off on the track, pieces of plastic about a quarter wide, he then turned and saw me and the OH MOM!! Lightbulb came on. Ran him thru the box, and he wasn't bothered by it at all. We'll work on the box some more this weekend, and he'll go for his QC next month if luck is with me. . in no hurry, he's a year old, I've got 2.5 and almost 2 yr olds to run, but you definitely can tell who he's linebred on.

And then Ms Bounce. . who is a trip, and is constantly making me laugh. Put her in the box, before we got the door down, she was coming out from between her back legs. .. shut the door, she was facing forward, opened the front door, she was backwards LOL But she turned and was off like a bullet tearing off down the field. She is such a sweet easy going baby girl. She and Frankie remind me a lot of grins, so will have to take it easy with both of them

Otherwise trying to acclimate to the sudden drops in temperature. .we froze at the REgional first weekend in October, it was snowing on the way home. .. following weekend it's warm enough for shorts. . yep, fall is here in the mid atlantic region

Circle of life and all that crap

Circle of life

it just ain't fair.

11 yrs ago, I was waiting on pins and needles to see if my darling Kyra was going to grace me with another litter. .she had had her tryst with the handsome DC Silkenswift Blaze of Chaos SC, CD, LCMIV, SGRC, SORCII and it was a waiting game. She eventually gave birth to what became my most successful litter to date. .. luck had a lot to do with that, I got them in homes that ran them for the most part. . . .lots of firsts, a lot of fun.Unfortunately, luck was not on my side for my three keepers. I lost my Races(Mielikki A Day At the Races SC) to the dog flu at 4.5, after he'd sired a lovely litter that gave me my heart dog Gossip, I lost his brother Obie(BIF FC Mielkki My Fairy King MC, FCH) to bone cancer, but their sister(Mielikki PRophet's Song GRC) stayed on with me. .

she was a homebody for a few years, always the perfect house dog (except for her infatuation with the cat box), never demanding, 23 hr and 50 min bladder if I let her, happy to do nothing more than lay at my feet, tho she did enjoy our long walks. She suddenly took to racing at 6+, finishing her GRC as a veteran against younger dogs at 7+. Giving me a lovely litter at 8+ yrs old, never sick a day in her life, some neck problems for a bit last winter, but bounced back from that and spaying at 10+, winning BOS in a huge veteran sweeps last fall and winning Best in Sweeps this year, not looking her age at all.

Summer 2011 at 10.5+

Last month, my last remaining get of Kyra, my sweet Dei, came up lame, and then a huge lump over her hip bone. Took her to the vet, an aspiration came up blood, so the initial DX was a nasty hematoma. The lump didn't go away, in fact, it got larger, and the medicine, specifically previcox, put her in the ER with a bleeding ulcer. . She made it thru that, only to have that damn lump be even bigger. .and unfortunately in a place that isn't easy to remove. . it pressed into the nerves in her hip joint. . .cancer sucks. So fast, in less than four weeks from no lump to this. ..

Trotting in the Veteran's ring BCGNY 2011

Vet doesnt' want to put her under for a biopsy, so idea what kind of cancer exactly, just a nasty, fast growing one. We're taking it one day at a time. . long as she's eating and able to get up to go potty, we'll just take it one day at a time, but it kills me. . they're just not here long enough. . .

Her two remaining siblings are doing well .. Eros doesn't look his age, Scirocco looks older than both of them, may be her inky dark face. But I don't have the bond with them that I do with Dei . .she was the one who stepped into Obie's shoes when he left, holding the spot for Gossip and keeping it warm, always next to me, always just there. . the thought of that space being empty has me in tears.

Vet called Saturday with no hope from the specialists. .the one said we could go to germantown for radiation, but with 3-4 days a week, not feasible with a day job, and too far to go to drop her off and go to work. Another said chemo might only give her amonth or two, and not worth doing that. . .not when she'd be sick and miserable from the chemo

So, we take it one day at a time. . she's happy, snoozing away next to me, or in front of the TV, enjoying her special dinners of whatever she'll eat. . and I try not to dwell on the near future. .