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. .

Potomac Valley Borzoi Club Supported Entry

On to less depressing news

I made it thru our supported entry without a hitch in MY giddy up :) A new knee brace, new tennies, and my knee didn't hurt until the long a**ed trek back to BFE to get in my car. I was very very pleased.

Dei has become somewhat of a ham now that she's 'retired'. . .she strutted herself around that ring, being pointed out for Best Veteran in Sweeps as the oldest Borzoi entered by a few years(next oldest just turned 8!) The judge was very complimentary of the condition she was in, and how muscled she was, even for a 10.5 yr old Veteran! Dei thought the day was great, as if she nudgy'd someone they'd pay her attention LOL

Nacht tickled me pink by following in sister bella's footsteps and acting like a little pro(for me LOL). Kept at a nice trot even when someone behind us kicked the gate, kept her stack, didn't get bothered by having her bite checked, nada. . considering I haven't taken her to a handling class at all for fear of screwing up that knee, I was beyond tickled at how well she behaved, and she went on to win her class of three in Sweeps & in regular class.

Tomorrow is BCGNY, so here's hoping everything goes well there. . .it unfortunately has chances of rain. This show is either rainy or miserably hot. Bathed the girls last night, so tonite is primping them and packing the rental van. Friend's van is in the shop for a new tie rod(EEKS, glad we found that out before we left for the day!) Then up at o dark thirty and off for the day.

Then a nice weekend of doing nothing. . after getting charbroiled last week at my practice, I'm glad to just be able to relax, to charge my batteries for next week. . me, 5 Borzoi, possibly 1 RR, and the weather for the II looks LOVELY!!!

the golden years . . .

For all that they do for us, there's only one way dogs really fail us.

They don't live anywhere near long enough

No,I haven't lost anyone lately. .. but my little girl Dei is starting to show she's no longer a spry young dog, but a 10+ yr old veteran.

She's been having off and on neck problems and when it didn't go away with house rest and some anti inflammatories, I took her in a few Fridays back. . the good news is her heart and lungs sound good, she's in great shape(we'll know more about her kidneys and liver tomorrow when she goes in for a dental and spay), but my sweet silly girl has developed arthritis and will probably have to be on some sort of medicine for the rest of her life to be able to live a normal life, may that be a few more years.

Unfortunately it's bad enough she can no longer go on our long walks, as I found out that even 2 miles is too much and she comes up lame :( hard to leave her sweet face behind. Maybe after a few more weeks of rest and previcox she can start working up to it, but i'm not holding my breath. . will just have to make sure she goes on trips to pet stores or something.

It's amazing how much of a difference that one little pill makes for her. The vet put her on it for a week to see if that's all she needed, we ran out on Saturday, and she was in so much pain Sunday, but within an hour of getting the new RX and giving her her dosage, she was feeling better, and today back to normal. . Now it's a matter of keeping her from doing stupid things like running with the younger dogs and jumping off and on dog houses. She's very very happy as being a house dog. Bonnie's enjoying her: she reminds her a lot of daddy Blaze, even down to the clueless look she sometimes gives you when she decides she doesn't understand what you want. She will miss being able to agility things, that's her joy, leaping on, off, and over things, but want her with me for a few more years at least.

OTOH, she's much more spry and able bodied than her mother was at this age, so let's look at the bright side, shall we? As she looks right now, she should be with me a few years more.

Just sad to realise out of my 4 dogs over the age of 2, three are veterans, (8.5, 10+, 12+) with the fourth going to join the rank of 'veterans' this fall. . .why is that sad? I guess I shouldn't find it sad, when I've had people tell me their borzoi rarely live to see the age of 8, but it means that there are that fewer years left to enjoy them.

Goods news is, Dei's DM test came back and she's clear!! YIPPEE!! Means her pups at the most will be carriers, waiting for Grins' test, should have the results in this week, Kani's was sent to her new mom for her to be done, so last to be done is Sage, hopefully!!

Thanks to everyone who joined in via email or facebook about my last post. . I am going to redo my screening process to ask if prospective puppy buyers have talked with any breeders recently or if they are on any waiting lsits. People can still lie, but maybe misunderstandings with other breeders can be avoided.

PVBC's specialty

I keep writing 'em, and keep forgetting to post them

I had a long, surprising weekend at the show weekend before last. . .

Saturday was PVBC's fall specialty. I didn't want to enter. This had been the show Gossip was going to be in coat for, we were going to go for that 2nd & 3rd leg of our RA, so many plans, down the drain, but Bonnie convince me, so I entered Bella (9-12 puppy) and Dei(almost 10 yr old veteran), I had nothing competitive for the other classes, so that was it. .

Bella's never been shown by anyone but me. . .but she behaved like a little trooper for a good friend, behaving herself pretty much, tho by WB after sweeps she'd had enough and was getting squirrly. But overall, I was very happy with how she showed, not being a twit, behaving like a good little girl.


Dei hasn't been shown in years, but she is looking so damn nice. . still races around the backyard like a bat out of hell, still jumping on top of 3 ft tall dog houses, still playing hard with her kids, nobody believes her age, in fact, they thought she was Gossip's sister at her retirement race back in September. No, she's not as fast as she was when she was younger, but she definitely ran better than some of the dogs at the LGRA nationals!

Her movement suffered after a neck injury when she was young, and she became lifty, nothing like she was as a really young bitch at the 2002 Nationals, that coupled with her dry mouth in the ring(her lips would stick to her teeth, and was painful when judges checked bite), caused me to retire her from the ring, but we had noticed recently that her movement had smoothed out. . unlike other older dogs, her movement had IMPROVED with age, and so I figured, what the heck, I wanted to support a good friend who was judging sweeps, so why not. .

Watching her in the ring, friends outside the ring couldn't believe her age, and she moved like a dream, taking Best Opposite in Sweeps to the male a few months younger who went on to win the entire shebang, so I don't mind losing to him(and his owner & breeder are just the greatest people!). She was having so much fun and the applause just made her shine more.

She went on to win her veterans class, but by BOB she quit. . it was a long day for a dog not used to showing. .but I was very pleased. . I brought home so much loot!

Unfortunately, each stride in the ring caused hair to start falling out LOL Or I'd be looking at fall specialties to enter her in. . hopefully she'll look this ncie come next spring for the nationals. .

The nice weekended ended with Ziva coming into season, evil little brindle brat.

There were tears cried that weekend, people I hadn't seen since Gossip died, but I'm still so thankful for all the friends and people she helped me meet

Dei is Done

As I stated, fall is here, the weather has been GORGEOUS!!!!! So gorgeous last weekend, that when Ms Dei, who hasn't really been interesting in going since she finished her GRC, asked to go, following me around, sticking to me like white on rice, jumping on top of dog houses begging to go. She didn't need to go, but I had room in the car and so I told her she could go, she could have her retirement party. She waggled so hard when I put the leash and collar on her, dragged me to the car, and snuggled in with her buddies

When we pulled up, she got out, quivering with joy, eyes constantly turned towards the track, tracking the bunny, but being oh such a lady like she is. She was just so happy to be there

Dei waiting patiently for her turn at the bunny, watching it go

When it was her turn, she stood so politely to be dressed, still watching the track, eyes lit with glee, looking towards me occasionally, but watching that track was her job that day. I handed her off to a friend, who she gladly greeted like they were a long lost buddy, and she walked down the track.

Dei heading to the box, look at that look on her face

Running first with Grins, then with Tipperary, she ran soo hard on that bunny, coming across the line with such happiness upon her little gray face, she isn't a grinner, but I swore she was smiling with happiness. The wonderful weather lead to a wonderful day for Ms Dei, who ran hard all three races, finishing as the turtle, and boy did she get a great turtle!

When the day was over, ribbons were awarded, it was announced this was her retirement race and people asked me why. I said because she'll be 10 in a few months, and nobody believed me. . ."She doesn't look it", "I thought she was Gossip's sister" were some of the comments, at which I smiled and todl them, no, she was Gossip's Aunt.

A celebratory burger was Dei's finish to the day, which she gladly wolfed down with glee. . .

Dei didn't start running until she was 6.5, but when it did click, she ran and ran hard, enjoying it. No, she wasn't the fastest dog on the field, but she finished by beating dogs younger than her by anywhere from 2-5 yrs just before she was 8.

I wanted her career to end on a high note. Dei ran hard, her body can still take it, but I'm beginning to worry about bone cancer. . I lost her brother to it, and her half brother had an accident on the field that revealed bone cancer, and I'd rather she be at home if something were to happen, then hours away and no idea where to go. She has nothign to prove, she's done her stint. . .but I let her have one last great day, and she ate up ALL the attention she got.

I could keep running her, but she ran in racing style. .nothing saddens me than to see veterans on the field who have the desire, but their body just cant' do it anymore. She finished in racing style, meaning galloping hard, no not fast anymore, but not anything that embarassed me. . .

So, Dei is done, she is now the grand old lady of the yard, beating up her puppies, harassing her nieces & nephews, and jsut being too damn cute. . .I hope that her youngness means I'll have her for many many more years. . .those dog houses she was jumping on top of? 3+ ft tall!

It's hard to retire them, but retiring them on a great day, IMHO, is the best way to go about it, and so, happy retirement to Mielikki Prophet's Song GRC. . .keep on trucking!

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?

Ah, the Joys of breeding. .

How is it, the idiot down the road can throw his dogs together and wham bam thankyou ma'am, they have a breeding and with little to no problem they have puppies?

Grins' girlfriend is in season. There were two that were being bounced back and forth, and although this isn't the one I prefered, she is a nice bitch none the less. She runs, the entire litter does, he improves her tank wide front, tho they're both moderate in the rear. Unfortunately,(fortunately? LOL) they're both full speed ahead personality LOL I've already got a name picked out for my studfee puppy LOL there might even be a blue :) YUMMY!! Hope so, her papa is a dilute.

Anyway, day 13, and nothing LOL. . .so much for the books. . .Does NOT help that we're attempting to do this when it's been 20-40 out, and I've still got this damn cold, tho now it sounds like it's trying to settle into my lungs, OH JOY!

It does make me laugh about the guy who'd wanted to breed to Dei but when nothing came on day 12, he swore something was wrong with his male and gave up. . .I got her bred, but it was day 17-21, nowhere near day 12. Only time'll tell if it took. If it didn't, she'll be spayed. She's already eight. . .granted, she's a young 8. . .LOL. She is unusually bitchy, put Gossip in her place. . so that's a good sign LOL Kyra only ever was bitchy when she was pregnant. .

We had visitors last weekend, and they didn't believe Touchet was 10. . yes, my golden girl turned 10 last weekend. And she spent it playing with the babies and flirting with Stardust :) Such a silly golden snausage she is. The longetivity of her lines is one of the reasons I wanted her, her father lived to be 12.5, her mother the last time I talked to Fern was still going at 12.5+.

Think Gossip & I are going to go hiking Sunday, maybe I'll take Dei, i'm not allowing her to rip roar around the yard, she has a bad habit of launching herself onto dog houses, which is bad on ice, so she's not getting a lot of excercise. She doesn't mind, she'd rather sleep in the house anyway. Loch Raven Reservoir is a wonderful place to walk, just been too damn cold to do much of anything, but it's supposed to be mid 40's this weekend, almost a heatwave! And with nothing else to do, sounds like a good plan. Get Gossip back in shape for this spring :) And keep Dei in shape.

Next weekend is a seminar, and picking up the 30 gallon salt water tank I'm being given. Coworker doesn't have time for it anymore, goign to try and figure out how to set it up as refugium for the 55, adds additional filtration as well as a breeding ground for the copepods my little Dragonnette needs to survive. . probably spend the next two weekends cleaning the tank. Salt water is a lot harder than fresh, not as bad as I thought it'd be, but it can be a PITA. . .especially if you don't keep up on the scraping of the algae. . need to get some more snails. . .expensive little hobby it is, but we enjoy it.

Bonnie's got a handyman tenant, which has me tickled pink. He's going to fix the Aframe, build a teeter for me, and with his help, I'm going to fence in an area at the top of the hill to work Gossip on the property :) Don't do it now, as I don't trust her off leash with all the damn bunnies and deer. it's nicely shaded up there, so it won't be too horrid come summer, but when it is, I can always go to Forest Hill and use that place. It'll be nice to be able to set up my weaves, which are currently in shambles, and be able to work them religiously. . .will also be able to setup jumps, with the shade it doesn't need quite as much mowing. . .I can't wait.

And wishing there was more rally in the next month. There's a hound show next month, I'd love to take Gossip and Umbra too, but it's NORTH Jersey, and weather this time of year is a huge ass crapshoot. May try Syracuse, see old friends, and show her there. She's looking nice, except for those damn spots. .

relax

And that's what I did this weekend.

Reba has been sound, but decided to come into season this weekend, two weeks early, thought of still going coursing, but this cold from PVBC's specialty dunking is still lingering, so why bother? Kinda wish I'd gone, was a huge entry, but oh well, not enough money to go around

So spent it enjoying dogs, especially Brat. . Love this bitch, a lot. Got her entry off for her next Rally show, and wishing there was yet another before the end of the year, but nope, not that we don't have plans for.

This is Kyra's great granddaughter, reminds me of her uncle Eros, a lot, sweet girl.

It's too dark to see, but it's Gossip being a twit(I wanted her to stand on the dog house) saying hi to her cousin First, who wasn't sure what Gossip was doing up on that DAWG house, you're not supposed to be ON it LOL

Touchet looked absolutley lovely in all the gold leaves this weekend. Wish all Borzoi were as spry & bouncy as she is at almost 10.

Dei showing her Mountain Goat Genes. .we can't keep her off the dog houses LOL

Got home today and worked Dei on Rally, since she's my next project, and doesn't have quite as far as El Dork* does. She's not bad, not as happy to work as Gossip, but it's conceivable we can get her RN, we'll be trying this winter. .at least the indoor shows I won't have to battle for her attention with the squirrels LOL

*AKA Grins :)

Got on line to see Payton had picked up yet another point, first time out with his new owner, so I'm tickled for him. All the boys but Dandy(who's neutered) are pointed, Reba's pointed in the field, and Kani'll be going out with Kari this winter, to see if we can build her confidence up. She's a lovely bitch, drives me nuts to see her so submissive

Where's the week gone?

wowza. .just recover from 1st weekend back on the road, and here comes the 2nd. .this week has gone FAST!

Last weekend was survival Sighthound style
1-Saturday, Reba hurt her toe coming out of a box. . so she's down and out for awhile. Dei came out of the box wrong and her rear end gave out from under her. .thank heavens didn't hurt her, good news is she got up and kept going, and did NOT try to run anyone off the track like she did the last time she got hurt

2. Monday- Grins tore off a dew claw, Brightness burnt some pads, the entire greyhound contigency blew at least one pad, some of them ALL four feet, the Saluki entry was pulled down to one dog due to injuries. Gossip scared the beejeezus out of me after doing a practice run in NOTRA PERFECT, she ran for real and bulldozed her way thru the snow fence. I had my heart in my throat afraid she'd get a toe stuck in the fencing or put a fiberglass pole thru her heart/head. Good news is, she got up and kept going, and even tho she was OC, she did NOT interfere. . i'll practice her a few more times, but not sure if i'll bother, plastic is not her thing, even with bunny ears attached LOL

Chantilly had a couple of promising practices, but when I ran her for a cert run, she was a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad girl. . .her sister had a nice NOTRA practice run, and will get out in a few weeks with me for real.

Grins passed the torch on to Wizard this time. .was it his injury? Don't know. . it didn't seem to bother him, but I noticed a difference in the 2nd run and the 3rd when I wrapped his dewclaws(ahd to do both, or he'd refuse to walk on the wrapped paw lOL). . .we'll see once he heals. .but he is 6 today. .gulp, is he that old? Where does time go? Wizard looked good, and in fact, finished his FC on Saturday with another 5 point BOB win, such a pretty, fasty, keen happy boy LOl

I bought Gossip a used jackalure(to support the club's two new ones, which were then killed by the greyhounds the first weekend on the string LOL OOPS!) Well, not just for her, going to use it in training, see if Kani will chase it with some confidence building. Gossip's REALLY happy with her toy, in fact, so happy I found her on the hood of the Neon in an attempt to get the bunny. . oops. . LOl

Umbra got thru his dental ok. After Sera's heart stopped beating when she was under to be spayed, I've been paranoid about having anything done to my guys. . now he's got white pearly teeth. .. see how long that lasts. . :P Wish that dog would chew on Bones, Touchet's are really nice for an almost 10 yr old girl. . but she may have genetically good teeth to begin with.

And Gossip was a dork at our first agility class. . .she was like OMG OMG!! Other dogs, can i PLAY!!!?!?!?! Refused the tunnel, which she usually does well for me. Showed off on the aframe(launching herself over the apex at full speed), unlike the other dogs, she has to work on contacts going up, they have to work on them going down LOL. And she's GETTING the weaves, finally. . .instructor released her to me, and she went thru them, I was so tickled. .and she zoomed over the jumps. We were both beat by the end of class.

Was sooo looking forward to Gossip going ehad to head with Serrano and Wizard today, but we've got that tropical storm heading our way, so Saturday got cancelled, darn! Spent three hours battening down the hatches here, moving dogs into the kennel, moving loose stuff onto the porch, moving the cars out from under the trees. . it's overcast and drizzly, but it's heading our way. . oh joy!

day at a funmatch

Grins went to the funmatch today. . he actually was 50% better than I thought he'd be LOL. He only tried to course the flags on the fence posts a couple of dozen times, and on the go around, he tried to launch himself onto the huge pile of squeakie toy prizes LOl The judge was very nice and allowed me to stack him facing the squeakie toy pile (as well as the lure machine), and he stood rock solid. He won Adult Borzoi, which tickled me pink. .by the time we went in for Best in match he was tuckered and behaved himself. The judge had us go around, went over all the dogs, go around again, and came back and went over only Grins & the Scottish Deerhound before giving it to the Deerhound, so it made me feel good. He's no longer looking like a furry tribble with the 6 inch long topline hair thanks to a quick grooming lesson with Aunti Rebecca

Then was the dismal run for JC for Dei. . she started off looking GREAT. . I thought wow, maybe she'll get this leg. .got half way thru the course and realised she was away from Mommy. . problem was, the Rally ring and the Conf. ring was between us. Instead of doing like any other Borzoi would do, she ran straight to me and jumped OVER the rope of the Rally ring(Which she could've gone under if she'd wanted to), and then over the far side, then over the one side of the Conf ring and she stopped and looked at me like she thought she was in trouble. I raised my arms in the air and hollered "Dei Over!' and she hopped over that rope, to the applause of the crowd. I was laughing so hard I couldn't be disappointed that she'd failed. The Huntmaster came over and said "I'm sorry, but we haven't approved Borzoi steeplechase yet." Guess she prefers Agility & Rally.

Gossip ran thru the Rally twice, and made me happy . .and started talking dirty to the bunny, so i thought what the hey, I'll let her have a practice run. She looked great, then halfway thru she said phooey and started taking off for the tree line. I hollered Gossip COME! Her head came up and she barreled towards me, I then Hollered Gossip SIT! And she did a perfect front sit. . made me proud LOl

I'm tired, but it was a good day.

Agility

Whoot, I drove by that agility place, it's not far(15 miles) and if luck is with us, we'll be starting intro to agility next week(The lady replied to my email saying intermediate started, but her website says intro . .)

It also looks to be air conditioned, even better :) We're going to go to a practice tomorrow. We don't really need the intro, as Dei knows all the obstacles except weaves, but I'd feel better. .and if we missed out on Intro, they start a rally class later this month :) Be nice to have a class under my belt so I can help Bonnie with her fall classes here.

I am so glad I finally got over my procrastination and got things rolling :) Maybe I can add a few titles to Ms Dei before she gifts me with babies next spring(tho she could be nice and come into season early!)

life & karma & movies

Well, as those of my good friends know, we lost Touchet's puppies. Am I disappointed? Slightly, but ya know, it just wasn't mean to be. She is fine, healthy, and didn't have any problems, they just didn't make it to term. . oh well, she's spayed and will be the silly girl she has been. . .I have her lovely daughter to go on with, and her other lovely daughter is also available. .life goes on, you get knocked down, you dust yourself off and get back up. Marie & I are just glad that Touchet didn't have any problems, and that she's healthy, and alive! I've dropped the owner of the stud dog I want to use with her in 2010 a line, and have my fingers crossed.

When I needed it people came out and helped me, and I am so thankful for all those who helped me, truly helped me, not help me then stabbed me in the back. . yep, had a few of those. . anyway, what comes around goes around, but you gotta keep it going. When I mentioned to a truly sweet lady that I had no idea how to repay all those who reached out a hand to help me, and she said to return it to someone down the road who needed it. This weekend I helped my ex roommate(Those of you who've read my other blog know the one, the one with THE KID) move into her new apartment, she's been living with her sister since January. . omg, carrying stuff up steep stairs is a killer on your thighs LOl Then Bonnie & Miranda & I went out for dinner, and had a lovely night.

My summer reviews:
Hulk-Go see it, this is coming from someone who was never into the hulk growing up, it's GOOD!
Kung Fu Panda(or whatever it's called), again, go see it, made me laugh my ass off lOL
Hancock-WTF. .that's what it left me thinking
Wanted-interesting, but not what I thought it would be.
Get Smart-LOVED IT! OMG did I love it.
Indiana Jones-Again< LOVED IT!! :) Even if the ending is CHEEEEEEESEY!!!
You don't mess with the Zohan-funny, but not something I'd go see again LOl
Narnia-Better than the 1st one!!! :)

Think that's everything so far LOL I can't wait for the xfiles one to be out later this month

Weather's been strange this year. .some days cool, some days hotter than hell. . woke up last night with a 70 lb dog and 30 lbs of cat on me when the heavens opened up and rained down. . .don't blame them, i think I left a dent in my ceiling!

Otherwise, doing nothing but fooling with my salt water tank and working on Dei's agility :)

working, wishing, playing

LOL.

Working: Damn it gets warm and humid here fast. . .tried to do some weeding on the flower garden as I have some ideas on how to spruce things up a bit, but damn you get hot and sweaty fast. . let alone the back ache.

Yesterday I did the same to my veggie garden, my tomatoes already bare fruit YEAH!!! I am so tickled, especially with the current tomatoe shortage/scare. . .i love them, but not enough to risk getting sick. My watermelon plants are going bonkers, the peppers not so much. My iris' are growing well, tho only one of them bloomed this year, I'll have to dig out around their bulbs this fall, they are so finicky it's not funny. My star lilly is looking GORGEOUS, too bad I didn't get pics of the bloom when it first happened, beautiful purply red colour. . .goign to have to pick up some more, the ones I gave Bonnie last year are huge and such pretty pinks, customers have commented on them. Planted some more iris & star lillies :) Gotta get mulch up there to keep the weeds away, this had originally been tilled 2 yrs ago for a garden, but the people who did it never took care of it. . .so it got overgrown. . .i'm trying to keep up with it, but the way some of these weeds grow, good HEAVENS!!

Also worked on my salt water tank yesterday. Had to make use of the day off and no puppies darnit LOL And no racing today because of that, damnit :P So scrubbed it of the coraline algae, and put my new coral in. Isn't he purty? He's now all fluffed up and looks to be very very happy. It's hard getting good photos in the tank, may have to upgrade my camera lOL Yeah, when money grows on trees. Hell, there's a 75 gal tank on Craigslist I'd love to have, and Bonnie's all for getting a bigger tank LOL She's more excited than I am, makes sure all visitors comes and sees it. Need to find her her cardinal banghaii for the tank.

Wishing:
Missing the flexibility of my old job. . I'd be able to put in hours in order to take off early to go long distances, but I also had a much more reliable car than I do now. Nothing wrong with my 97 Dodge neon, it has really low mileage(35k), and gets 40+ mpg, but I would not be comfy driving it 8 hrs to Camden SC to run LGRA or to IL, even tho I'd love to pit Gossip against Sammy & Bartleby. Hell, I'd've loved an honest match against Zemny, but that didn't happen :P When I get back in school, I'll have even less time for playing, oh joy, hopefully I'll still be able to fit it in, or i'll burn out, btdt.

Hell, wishing I'd finish school instead of getting distracted with the need to work in order to do more doggy things. . .having only 6 dogs and 4 cats has definitely cut down on the vet bills, that's for sure, and knock on wood, no emergencies in 2+ yrs. Even Fidget's vet bills weren't that high, most expensive part was the food, but that's because I refused to go thru heroics for a 16+ yr old kitty. . . thankfully racing is a lot cheaper on the pocket book than coursing. . .


Playing:



Played with Dei on the agility equipment, she had the zoomies something bad and decided to do it HER way. LOL. Oh well, you can tell she's having a blast, can't you? yeah, the video isn't perfect, hard to do when you're doing it yourself and running the dog. Will have to break down the teeter & the dog walk, as when she gets the zoomies, that's what she runs and does instead of what I want her to do LOL BRAT

well, off to weed some more now that i've cooled down

oh, Piccies!

I forgot to post these wonderful pics that my friend Susan Amicucci took our last time out


That's Gossip's nose you see coming out of the box before it barely opens LOL

That's Gossip digging in to show her competitoin her fuzzy little ass.


Dei racing her little heart out


Dei's adorable little face watching the bunny, I hate to see she's starting to gray.


The three girls(Reba, Gossip, Dei) taking off

And then some lovely photos of them walking to the line.

agility & dei

So, I picked up some snow fencing(not sure if I stated this before LOL) to fence in our agility equipment as I wanted to start working off lead with Dei, and not have to worry about her bolting for the hills like the last time I did this.

So, I closed off the equipment, reset it(had to take it all down for Bonnie to mow), and brought Dei out to play.

I'm tickled that she paid a lot of attention to me, did just about every obstacle I wanted her to do, in the ORDER I wanted her to do, tho I'm going to have to block off her three favs to get her to do things more my way(the dog walk, the aframe, and the teeter). If she decides she has enough, she goes and does that instead.

Shithead LOl

Her standing on the aframe asking me what i'm going to do about her not coming down, BRAT

I am tickled tho she's doing the weaves with the cheese balls, we will continue using them for awhile and then start weaning them out until she gets them only at the end. We've also started doing taller jumps, which she just loves, zoom! She's also doing the chute with increasing speed, so I'm tickled pink

Put her up and worked Bonnie's boy Surya a bit, eh's hysterical, when you praise him for doing well, he gets the zoomies, he has no clue where his ass is on the aframe. Oh well LOL maybe that's not in his future. I looked up to see Ms Dei pouting something fierce, how dare mom work with someone ELSE!

So I got her out and worked her a bit more, than quit for the evening LOL

Nope, not quit, took Gossip out, she needs more work, bulldozered thru the jumps to get the treats LOL. .but did do the dog walk pretty ok(needs to hit the contact at the end), did the baby teeter, did the aframe with glee, and did the chute the first time I asked her to, with speed to, so I'm tickled.



Mamazoi in her palace LOL. She's not quite fat enough she can't lift her leg to pee LOL

Of puppies & things

The wait begins.

I don't breed often, so everytime this event rolls around, I have to pick up my trusty breeding books, dust them off, and refresh my mind. I've whelped 5 litters in 11 yrs, my last one almost 3 yrs ago, things go vague in your mind. LOL. Especially with everything that's going on in life. And since the last litter I cobred (didn't whelp, only litter I wasn't there for) was the breeding from hell with an emergency C-section 5 days before the babies 1st due date, I'm a bit ansy. Thankfully she's in capable hands during the day while I work, but so far all seems to be ok.

She just keeps getting BIGGER.

Started taking her temp this morning, she was not pleased with that at all. I'll take it three times a day, within 24 hrs of it dropping below 99, the babies will be here, helps me plan my day.

And now looking to the future. Dei'll be bred next year, but my attempts to find a girlie for Umbra & Wings is just not going well. . .I was offered a girl I loved as a puppy, love the pedigree of, but her owner took horrid photos of her to send me, so not sure if it's worth the time & effort to get her here, for fear she will be horrid. OTOH, if she's as lovely as her photos were as a 4 month old puppy(and the promise she had at like 7 months), she's exactly what I need.

Decisions, decisions decisions ;P

May just end up freezing Umbra, for future use. . unfortunately Sage is a continent away now lOL

And that's the other issue, breeding Sage again, tho there are two lovely males on that side of the continent that I'd love to use. One related, one unrelated to my stuff. So much I want to do, so little space to do it in ::SIGH:: At least this should make me happy BOo's owner is being uncooperative hunh? LOL

Misc stuff

What a wonderful nice weekend. Weather didn't cooperate Saturday with pouring rain, but it was pretty darn nice for Sunday with a nice breeze off the ocean.

Was a small meet, most of the Borzoi went to the II, but hearing what the conditions were, I was so right in saying screw that.

The ass kissers will deny it, but I've heard from a reliable source who has no problem stating it the way it is and will not bend to peer pressure just to be 'liked', that it was too damn hot on saturday, and crap assed lure operation on Sunday. I am tickled a couple of Northeasterns did well, with my buddy Wizard finishing with a BOB win at the II, he has only been in three ASFA trials, lol, wonder if John is even able to keep his head on work today LOL He didn't find out until today, since he was flying home from China yesterday. Wiz is Dei's intended :) I hope her pups get his intensity. Then Ariel's handsome boy Lemans and Wiz's brother also placed. But i'm still glad I didn't go.

Instead, I went to MAIGC's LGRA, and had a blast. Wonderful people, wonderful dogs, no nastiness, nothing, problems were dealt with politely. . and it was a great weekend, even if Gossip proceeded to break my last halemar muzzle. I've got a quick order in for replacements before this weekend, but boy she did a job on it, splitting the rigid plastic right in half, almost jabbing herself in the eye, and getting her jaws smashed over the end of the muzzle, caught over the p3's on her offshow side. .brat. She's a face pounder extraordinaire that's for sure.

Wham wham wham, as a friend said, i'm surprised they've lasted as long as they have(7 yrs) with the intensity of my dogs LOL. But, OTOH, considering what she did to herself this weekend, she's ready to go with Wiz & John to the next LGRA event while I sit home on pins & needles and wait to hear how they do LOL. She hogtied herself, covered herself with mud, slammed on those brakes, and came up sound and raring for more. Her fans said they'd help him out as needed.

And it'll just show how much further she has to go to get back into shape. Wiz, Novel, Indigo, Basa, all younger than she is, and darn fast, she's beat 'em before, but that was BEFORE the injury, so we shall see (Fingers crossed) I will worry, but alas, must work and help Bonnie set up for the PVBC meeting on Sunday. Thought of not going racing Sunday and letting JOhn take her, but with the new news that the proceeds benefit Karen Lorenzo with Mike's dr bills, i want to go so I can take extra dogs to support this.

Dei picked up 2 more points, sitting herself at 10 of 12 points needed to finish her GRC. Not at all bad for a 7.5+ yr old girlie, who didn't start running till last fall, tho she did tell me two full weekends was enough mom. . she's definitely tuckered out, but she's not used to this either. . .but she's made me proud, close quarters, being interfered with, she keeps going. . She's going to be the bed mouse for the summer til it's cooler for her to run, she was definitely not enjoying herself this weekend.

Wahoo

I took the girls racing this weekend. it's always a small entry, sometimes the canadians come down, the NJ people no longer race because, well, their dogs don't run clean. But I figured even if it was just us, it would be a good confidence builder for Gossip, allow me to see if there's any apprehension coming out of the box, and last but not least, see if she was sound to run.

two days, 6 races, and not a hitch in her stride, WAHOO!!!:)

And Dei did me proud by continuing to run clean.

Tickled pink, hmm, pun not intended(Sunburnt LOL)

ramblings

Gossip achieved her freedom this morning. She got bathed, gussied up last night, and got to sleep with me last night, where she quickly vacuumed up the cat food the Brats(Herbie & Treasure) scattered everywhere while I was gone this last weekend. She knows why I keep her around ;) And then this morning, she was released into the big yard, 1st time since her surgery really. Fingers are crossed I get home and she is SOUND! It's been 3 months since surgery, so here's hoping! She has definitely suffered bodily for restricted exercise since October: lack of muscle, narrower. . .the way she plays, I expect that to be remedied quickly.

Dork boy AKA Grins swears she’s still in season, following her around, and when I yell at him, he stands up and flashes his grin, and continues being the dork. LOL Love him dearly, even if he is a DORK!!!

Got a note from Titania AKA The Queen’s mom, and she’s doing well, even tho she’s also nicknamed the PIG cuz of her habit of wallowing in the mud while digging for gold lOL

Five days away was much needed, could use another week, but boy did the kiddos tell me how much they missed me. Treasure didn’t shut up the 1st night home, and Dei’s been trying to stick to me like white on rice. Gossip would’ve been in my arms if she could’ve fit. Silly Goosey girl.

Was hard, everyone kept asking over Kyra, who’s been gone since 2/06, and Obie, who’s been gone a year tomorrow, and I kept breaking down. The kids remembered them both and adored them both, as did my Aunt. Between that and Gran’s memorial, was a hard weekend.

Dei & Agility

Hopefully we'll get a fence up and I can get a video of this

Just ran Dei thru the agility equipment, and she actually did it with some speed and showed that she does know the names for various items, it tickled me pink. She's still doing the teeter totter without speed, but is getting better with some maneuvering of the harness & leash, overall I was tickled.

Now to lose weight so I can do this with as much speed as she does LOL