lawn equipment

Lawn equipment and I do NOT get along. At all, in the least, *ever*. The battery died so I went to jump it and stuff started boiling out of it. I took that as a bad sign. I have to figure out how to get it back to the store (bought it this spring) without burning my skin off.

I've been in tug making world for quite a while now. Finishing that big store order, getting things together for the next store order, making online orders that come in. All good things.

My cousin came by to help me get the accounting software set up correctly so I'm not screwed royally come tax time. Can I tell you just how much I dislike that accounting crap? I have no idea in the world how people can try to figure that crap out all the time. Yikes.

Yesterday I went out to breakfast with Sue & Cameron, then went to Elissa's so we could go shopping at iKea. I need to make some mugs for the next disc competition and didn't have enough in stock.

Next weekend is the Ron & Apryl seminar in VT and a disc competition the next day. I'm not sure if I'll stay overnight for the disc comp or not. Still deciding. :)

Short and sweet because I still have like 20 tugs to make!

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the sound an elephant makes...

....is called trumpeting. I do what I can to share the useless information banging around in this head of mine. :)

Soooo, last time I was in NJ I met somebody. We've been talking but I'm kind of hesitant to say anything more than that because if you've been reading my blog for any length of time at all, you know I pick men about as well as I pick lottery numbers. Since I'm not independently wealthy....yeah. I'll just say we'll see what happens and leave it at that. In the meantime, we'll call him Scooby. :)

Facebook is a pretty amazing tool when utilized properly. For example, I'm in the market for a cartoonist for a small project I have. I asked if anyone could recommend someone in my status and I got 5 people to check out. Pretty darn cool.

I have a couple of big orders to get out the door in the next couple of weeks. One of them I've very excited about and once it's done, I'll tell you all about it. Scooby has some great ideas on business which I'll be trying out after I get these off of my plate. He owned his own business for 20 years and learned a lot in that time, which saves me from making some of the stupid mistakes I'd be probably make. Hopefully, anyway.

Tweak and Ash have been swimming 2 or 3 times a day. Tweak is very cautious, very meticulous when getting in the water. There's a right way to do it (the way I shaped her into the water) and that's the only way she's going to do it. Period.

Ash, on the other hand, is a freakin' maniac. He may not ever win at it but he will certainly be my dock diving dog. He doesn't care, doesn't have a fear in the world when it comes to the pool. He'll dive off any part of the deck for any reason at all. Thankfully both of them are very well trained on the proper way to get out of the pool so I don't have to worry about my liner anymore.

The way Ash learned how to swim? I was in the pool vacuuming it one afternoon and the dogs were in the yard. I was close to the edge near the yard and said hello to him. Next thing I knew, he jumped 4+ feet in the air, landed on the edge of the pool and jumped over to me not knowing it was water. They say dogs don't have that many facial expressions (as humans know them) but I'll tell you that his expression while in mid-jump into the water was so priceless it's burnt into my memory forever! After that, I started training him on the ways in and out of the pool in case he decided to do it again.

Now, if I open the gate to the pool area (which doesn't keep him out anyway since he just jumps over the damn thing), he's at the edge of the deck in a down/stay waiting for me to throw the frisbee for him. I'll have to get some video of him at some point.

My hands are sore from tug making but that's a pretty common thing these days. A friend of a friend runs an agility site and asked about carrying Tweak's Tugs on their site. Sweet! I just got another re-order from one of the other stores that carries them locally so I'm pretty optimistic about how the business is going.

Tug making time...

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4 months...

It's been quite a while since I last posted. I guess I was just going through a phase of not wanting to write. But, I miss it and so I'm back (not sure how consistently, we'll see).

The weekend before last I was in Canada for a flyball tourney. I love catching up with friends that I don't often get to see. The teams Tweak and Freddie were on both got 1st place in their divisions, which was cool.

Last weekend I was in New Jersey giving a couple of disc dog demos for a huge 4H fair they have. Tweak and Ash both did very, very well playing with the kids too. I'm not surprised, they both have very nice temperaments, unlike their mother. LOL

The dogs are all doing very well. Millie is really starting to show her age, which is kinda sad. My once super obedient dog now gives me the furry FU pretty regularly. I'm not sure if it's because she's losing her hearing or she just doesn't give a crap. She has to go back on drugs to stop her leaking or else she'll have to start wearing diapers. I'll also have to get some senior dog pee pads for her if I'm out of the house for more than 4 or 5 hours. Sigh. I hate it when they get older. :(

Freddie is starting to get a little more gray in the muzzle but he's not slowing down really. He's such a trooper. :) Tweak and Ash, being the youngest, are doing the best. They swim a couple of times a day now that Tweak isn't afraid of the pool any more. :) They're both trained to use the stairs so my liner is safe. I have a few videos and will post them at some point.

Back to tug making. :)

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