My baby did it!!!

I can't even begin to explain how proud I am of my little girl!! She ran her first 3.9 and I couldn't be more freakin' thrilled if I tried. :)

Freddie is a *great* flyball dog. I love him to death and think he's the coolest dog. That won't change, either, because the two dogs are just so different. He ran great today, never spitting the ball and going over the jumps with the exception of one race when it bobbled into the other lane. He kinda tripped over the first jump and dropped the ball in another race but that was just a fluke. Otherwise he was great - solid, decent times and more importantly, clean.

Tweak was doing well in warm ups, she was driving out harder, her box looked good (from what people told me) and she wasn't stopping to see if the dog in the other lane was racing or not. So we tossed her in for a race, racing against another Border Collie, and she did it. She ran a 3.981. I've never had a dog run that fast (that was mine) so I'm uber thrilled that she accomplished it. :)

I actually didn't even know (bad mom!) that she ran it until Jo yelled to me and I saw the time. I was psyched and played with her that much more vigorously. She's so good. :) I'll love her to pieces no matter how fast she runs, but I will admit it's not killing me to see that she can do that!

And now we're off to sleep so we can do it all over again tomorrow.

D

busy week...

I had a vendor in on Monday and Tuesday to demonstrate his software product to my internal customer. That went pretty well and I'm hoping we can make a decision and get the ball rolling within the next couple of weeks. I'm hopeful that this project won't have me tearing all of my hair out. It's doubtful, but I'm still kinda hopeful.

I got some cleaning done around here. See? Miracles do happen. The rest of the time was spent playing with an open source software a friend recommended. I'm having a ton of fun with it and am planning on using it for a few projects. I just have to wrap my head around the infrastructure.

I ran into my cousin Diana today, which was such a cool surprise! She came by with her youngest son a few hours afterwards - we hung out by the pool and caught up on family goings on. I have to say I was just so pleased! I haven't seen her in a couple of years and we used to hang around a lot when we were younger and had less going on in our lives. Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch more frequently now that we're live close again.

I have a flyball tournament this weekend in Foxboro. We have exactly 4 people going, which is pretty short handed. This tourney is all about puppy practice! Working with the puppies and being as successful as we can with them. It's all about getting them up and running, giving them some good real-life practice and building up their stamina.

I have a headache tonight for some unknown reason. I actually laid down earlier and ended up taking a 2 hour nap because of it. Even with the nap, I'm still tired and am going to bed very soon. I'm wondering if it's a lack of caffeine headache since I didn't have coffee this morning. I would've thought I would've had it this morning, but whatever. I have to get up early anyway. :)

D

A weekend of my own...

My weekend consisted of only one dog thing - practice on Saturday. Of course there was 6 hours of driving for said practice, but for dog stuff, that was it! Aunty Michelle might be taking Tweak for a few weeks to tighten up the things I can't do on my own. If I had one or two people here to help it would be a different story but alas, I do not.

While driving from the Bershires to home, I saw things that made me long for my childhood when things weren't as complicated. I saw kids walking home from the local watering hole with tubes over their shoulders. No shoes, no grownups, just kids doing kid things on a beautiful summer afternoon. I saw families at a small ice cream stand at the side of the road. I saw rolling rivers and country living. I saw farms and animals on said farms. It was idyllic and calming and not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon, let me tell you.

Of course, before that I saw a bear crossing sign and after that was a moose crossing sign - two animals I really don't want to meet in person, thanks anyway. :p

I found out my mother was in town on Saturday and stopped to chat with her and her friends at Kowloons. I thought I would see her today, as I invited her up, but apparently there wasn't enough time. I really don't know why I let her bother me at times since she'll never change and I can either take it or leave it. Let me tell you how close that decision is made by a coin sometimes.

Today I went out to breakfast with Sue & Neely. I taught him lots of useful things, like playing En Guarde! with spoons and making towers out of empty creamer cups. It's good being the aunt. :p We did a bit of shopping afterwards and then parted ways.

After that I poked around the house a bit, did a couple of dishes, vacuumed the pool, threw the frisbee for Tweak, played a couple of games and did some web stuff. It was a lazy day, a good day. I have a ton of cleaning to do and I might even get to it sometime this week (doubtful) or something but I was able to push it all aside to keep my zen state of mind.

Right now I'm nice and relaxed and ready for bed. I'm gonna slide into the soft sheets, read a chapter or two and cuddle with my girls before falling asleep. It just doesn't get much better than that. :)

D

healing and time...

I was driving to my aunt's house last night when I thought of Skootchie. She's been on my mind lately because Tweak will occasionally do something to remind me of her. Also, I've messed up and called her Skootchie a few times. While thinking of her last night, I started crying. I miss her so much even though it's going on 2 years that she's been gone.

Does your heart really ever heal? Does time really heal old wounds or just make them pop up less frequently?

I wish everyone in the world had the chance to meet her. She was a zany little thing with a bright personality. She wasn't perfect but then again, that's what real love is, right? Loving someone or something despite their imperfections and quirks. I'd give my right leg to have her back, even if it was just to drive me up the wall.

People come and go in our lives. Sometimes it's sad, sometimes it's just losing touch over time, sometimes it's over something stupid, and sometimes it's a really, really good thing. I know that dogs will come and go too, darn that shorter life span. But I wasn't ready for her to go. I still had years I wanted to spend with her, things I wanted to teach her, places I wanted to take her. I think she would've liked going to Canada and camping. I know she would've liked doing all the tricks demos for kids, she was a pro. I wasn't done having her in my life and I'm still sad that she's not.

I don't think time heals all wounds. I think some wounds are too deep to be healed. I also think any parent that lost a child would agree with me there. I think life just keeps going and forces you to think of other things. I can see why, I'd hate to walk around crying all the time because she's not with me. But I definitely wouldn't say I'm healed.

D

catching up...

I love going away, but I'm starting to despise how long it takes for me to get back into the swing of things when I get back. It takes one full work day to understand the hundreds of emails received while away and another day to act on them in some form. Ugh.

Then, every night after work is booked up visiting family, doing errands and taking care of the dogs so they don't drive me stir crazy. My poor Tivo is going to go on strike soon if I don't start watching a show or two. Meh.

I snapped a quick picture of the medals we won while in Binbrook. Pretty cool, huh?


Pretty soon I'll have to build a room for all of Freddie & Tweak's ribbons, medals, plaques and trophies. I'm just as proud of them as a mother is of her kids. I have the coolest dogs ever. :)

Tonight I'm off to visit the g-rents & help my aunt with some computer stuff. My cousin is going back to school and they want to have everything set for it and her phone.

This weekend I have nothing to do except flyball practice. I repeat: I have *nothing* to do except flyball practice. How freakin' cool is that?! We have another flyball tournament the weekend after, a disc demo at Tufts Vet School the Saturday after that and then a disc competition in CT the next day. September looks nice and light right now too -- with the exception of my week in San Francisco at a conference.

October heats up again with 2 flyball tourneys, a wedding and a weekend in New Jersey to teach disc basics for Barking Hills - all in the first 3 weeks. Yikes. Two more tourneys in November and then we're done until after the holidays (unless someone sanctions something between now and then.) I'm sure I'll probably lose my mind not knowing what the heck to do with myself with a whole *month* of downtime!

There are grumblings of Wicked! being made into a movie. Some people have already started talking about it so eventually it will happen. I just wish it would happen *now*! You know I'll own that the day it comes out on DVD. I might even disregard my dislike for going to the movies alone and hit it on opening night at the theater.

Good lord I can't wait to crawl in to bed tonight. :p

D

Another boost for us New England girls was holding our own against Kelly during the jousting contest. We figure she was having an off day since she'd normally hand our asses to us.

Thanks to John on Ruff Enuff we got to hear all about how great Guitar Hero was from Jo after she completed two full songs. It now rivals Dance Dance Revolution and might be a necessity on future camping trips. Speaking of necessities, I brought the Keurig on this trip and it will be tied to my body for every camping trip after that. It was a godsend for getting us moving in the morning.

Gritty again ran a 3.7 at this tourney which had Aaron threatening to kill our pups when he realized we had 5 up and coming puppies. He's just kidding because he and his team are the reason why we have most of these puppies.

We're in New York now on our way home. We're *finally* going to stop at the biggest Camping World I've ever seen and I can't freakin' wait! I'll probably get home around 6 or 7 tonight. I can't wait to see Millie and snuggle and rub her and kiss her and hold her and love her! I hate being apart from her as she grows older. :(

Until I think of more......

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Sent from my Verizon Wireless LGVX9900 device.

1st place for Freddie

They keep saying those 1sr place ribbons are hard to get in Canada but I'm just not seeing it. I'm kidding. The competition is tough up there which makes us work harder, push it that much more and generally kicks us in the ass.

We've been running Freddie in Open while we wait for his CRN to switch over. So far we've done really well there, coming home with 1st place in the 3 Canadian tourneys we've entered this year. Plus we got a boatload of points for Freddie's race for 30K.

A bonus of the weekend was winning the Good Sportsmanship award at this tourney. We also won it at our last in region tournament which is pretty cool. Jo says I'm ruining NET's reputation and to knock it off. :p

I think Tweak did really well in warmups this time. We kept the props in and really just ran her during the warm up time. I think she needs a little more of that and she'll be good. She finally had a chance to do a head to head race with a dog in the other lane and she ran a 4.0. Not too shabby for a green dog, with props, who will only speed up with time and practice.

The highlight of the weekend was the zip tie incident, which sadly, we had no part of. 3 or so teams got together and zip tied shut every single crate belonging to Rocket Relay - which was about 60 crates or so. Before the awards started, the guilty party did a lap around the ring to the Olympic theme, which had Aaron laughing and Kelly swearing vengance on all of them.

(TO BE CONT'D)
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Sent from my Verizon Wireless LGVX9900 device.

Highway Robbery Part Two

The reason I say this is because if you pop a tire on the NY Thruway, it'll cost you $135 to get it changed. Just to clear up any confusion, that's not purchasing a new tire and having them change it, that's just them using the spare.

Oh, and if you have AAA, don't bother calling them because they're not even *allowed* on the Thruway. Another lesson learned is to make sure AAA has RV coverage just in case the tire that blows is on the camper.

Say it with me, I love New York!
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Sent from my Verizon Wireless LGVX9900 device.

Highway robbery

Now I know where that saying came from - the New York Thruway.

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Sent from my Verizon Wireless LGVX9900 device.

Man...

To use Jessica's saying, today blew chunks.

Some plaid flannel wearing, cheese eating yahoo of a dog owner didn't check all of her dog paperwork to get over the border until last night. Yes, that would be me. So at 2pm Tweak and I were off to the vet to get her rabies shot updated, 10 days late. Sigh. Normally they send out reminders so us yahoos won't do that but because my account is a rescue account, they turn those handy little things off. Grumble, grumble.

I remembered to grab the Keurig this time so we'll have delicious coffee whenever we want it! I think I managed to remember everything else but we'll see. I always manage to forget something. Thankfully I still have some Canadian cash left over from the last trip so I can just run to the store if I need to.

Today consisted of trying to get *some* of the 9-5 work done, running to the vet, running to the butcher, running to the supermarket, coming back home to meet a potential adopter, then running to Walmart to get propane for the grill. We will certainly be eating in style this trip!

So now there's a big pile of crap near the door that needs to be packed in the car. I'd do it tonight but, quite frankly, I don't feel like it. Plus mosquitoes freakin' love me so I'd get eaten alive doing it. I don't know why it seems like there are soooo many more out at night. Unfortunately the bats don't get close enough to pick the little blood suckers off of my body. Lord knows there'd be enough of them.

I'm pretty much all set for the last camping trip to Canada of the year. We'll camp again in October and we'll be in Canada again in November, but we won't do both again until next summer. How thoroughly depressing. If anyone knows of a big company that wants to sponsor us so we can all stop working and travel the country attending flyball tournaments, feel free to send them my way. :p

I'm off to cuddle with the pups for a bit and then hit the hay. I'm wiped!

See y'all on Monday or Tuesday.

D

Pictures are up

Knock yourselves out:

Sarah's Birthday dinner

4th of July

Michelle & Dan's wedding

I think Pedro might be going to his forever home tonight - fingers crossed! Now I just have to see if the people interested in Reco are still interested. I hate it when people don't call me back.

No time to chat.

D

It was fun!!

Everyone had a good time at the wedding, no surprise there I'm sure. :)

I have pictures and will toss them up sometime today to share - I just won't share *all* of them. :p

The rescues and Pacie were complete assholes to my sister once it was time for bed. The cried and barked for hours before she finally said enough was enough and left at 4am to go home and sleep. I was panicked at first, thinking she might not have let them out at 4am but she did. She sent me a text message letting me know so I was on the road first thing in the morning. I was a little sensitive and stopped for coffee as soon as I hit civilization.

Yesterday was a lazy day since I needed it to recoup. I cleaned the pool and played with the dogs in between being a couch potato. A home came by to look at Pedro, which went pretty well. Her and I will talk today and make plans for the transfer to his new home! Another home is interested in Reco, which I have a call in to. I'd really like to get everyone placed before the trip to Binbrook if possible.

Speaking of which, we're heading to Canada again on Thursday. It will be our last camping trip to Canada for the year. I'm hoping Freddie can hold his shit together and not spit the ball like he did at All Dogs. I still don't know what's up with that but you can be damn sure there will be some training on the "hold" command this week. I have to remember to bring Tweak's training noodles too.

D

wedding day

Today is Michelle & Dan's wedding and I'll be leaving shortly to drive across the state to attend it. My sister is being a doll and staying over with the dogs - including 2 rescues. Which reminds me, I have to write down what they get for food.

At least I can appear to be a little more put together than normal since my hair is newly colored and the tail feathers of my tattoo are now vibrantly colored as well. Out of respect, I asked if Michelle would prefer I cover it for her big day. She laughed at me and said No but thought it was kinda cute.

I still have to pack but that'll take no time at all for an overnighter. After that, I'm off again, with camera to celebrate their joining. :)

D

1 down, 2 to go

Kona, one of the rescues I'm fostering, found a home yesterday with Auntie Kim! I can't wait to hear how her nephews take the news of a new dog in the house. :)

That leaves me with 2, both of which have had potential homes inquiring after them. I would be thrilled if they were adopted before leaving for Canada again next week so my brother only has the normal amount to look after while I'm gone. He's good with the dogs, but I don't think he can handle 7 of them. :p

I'll make arrangements today for one home to meet with Pedro sometime this weekend and will send an app out to the family interested in Reco. Thankfully the calls of dogs coming in has slowed down too. It can pick up after Binbrook, I'm fine with that, but not before Canada!

I need to do as much cleaning as possible tonight so my sister doesn't have to sleep in a pit while staying over while I'm at a wedding. I also have to charge my camera so I can have plenty of photos to share.

Speaking of which, I have to get the pictures up of of

Sarah's birthday dinner and Mario & Cathy's 4th of July BBQ. I'll add that to the list of things to do for today, like it's not long enough. You know you're in deep shit when your to do list could be considered a novella at 8am. :p

D

What a picture....

What a bizarre picture!

I was leaving the house for work and I noticed the flies on the screen house. I know what 2 of them are doing - or at least I'm guessing what they're doing, not being familiar with the mating rituals of flies. But the other guy/girl? Couldn't tell you. Do they need supervision? Is it waiting in line? Cheering them on? Is it a parent and they're in trouble? Or is it just a voyeuristic fly? lol

I don't know, but I thought it was kinda funny so it's here.

Freddie had trouble this weekend, for some unknown reason, at the flyball tournament - he kept spitting the damn ball. We switched to small balls to see how he did with those and then he boggled the ball and went around the jumps. I guess it was a good thing it was on a vets team and was just for fun and a couple of points.

I'm kind of worried about Binbrook and hope he was just having an off weekend or something. I think we have the extra bodies that I can pull him if I need to.

Neutron went home today, one less dog for me! Now I'm debating whether or not I should mention some of the damage he did while here or just leave it be.

This weekend is Michelle and Dan's wedding. I'll be heading west really early Saturday morning so I can do her hair for the ceremony. I'm even wearing a dress. I know, just breathe. But it's true, I'll be wearing a real dress that I actually own. It's a somewhat casual wedding so it'll fit in with that. My darling sister is staying with the pups Saturday night. :)

I'm going to admit something that I'm not at all proud of. I can't stop watching The Two Coreys. I can't even call it a guilty pleasure because it's not - at least it doesn't feel like it! It's like a plane crash man, I can't look away. It's the most bizarre thing ever with the "Haimster" acting like a spoiled, petulant child. The drama that kid brings to himself is unreal - on levels I didn't even think were possible. In the last episode, he was acting like one of those old people that swear at the kids for walking by their house. Then they (Corey, Corey & Corey's wife Susan) get into a screaming/swearing match that ends in a dramatic 'we're through'. He sits down with the cameras afterwards and states he's through with them because they're "ugly people to me" with, ironically enough, the ugliest sneer I've ever seen on anyone's face. Child.

But damn it if I can't stop watching the stupid show.

I picked up Acheron today by Sherillyn Kenyon so I'll be heading to bed early so I can get a head start on it! I can't wait!!

D

Hanging plants

I haven't done a thing with my garden this year - at least not as much as the last couple of years. But, it still looked pretty good if you can ignore the tall milk weed stalks growing up against the house. :p

The one thing I have trouble with? Every year? Hanging plants. I love them in the front of the house, but I kill them all the time. I don't mean to, and I'm not exactly sure how I do it either, but I do. Right now my hanging plants have 2 flowers each on them and are more brown than green. I think they *say* they can take full sun all day, but in reality they really can't handle as much sun as the front of my house gets. That could just be a cop out, who knows.

I water them, I feed them, I pluck all the dead flowers off, I don't know what else to do. The side that's facing the house doesn't look nearly as bad as the front, which is what makes me think the sun is the culprit. I'll take them down, give them a good soaking, trim off all the dead stuff and give them a couple of days of not so much sun to see how they do. If they don't come back, they'll join the empty husks of hanging plants from years past.

Freddie and I are heading to All Dogs today for the tournament. It should be fun and will be quite a treat for him since I won't have Tweak with me. He gets a little full of himself when he has me to himself so I'm sure there will be a lot of grumbling when we get home - Freddie telling everyone to keep their distance 'cuz he's too sexy for them. He's a hoot.

D

Slight change of plans...

Today's still about reflection - so far I've hit on old friends, situations, and relationships - the normal garbage.

Other topics, yet to be decided upon, will come to me as I float in the pool. :)

D

Reflection

The weather this morning is warm and cloudy. There's a calm feeling in the air (although I'm not sure that word can really be used in a household with 8 dogs....) which has put me in a reflective mood.

Kinda like Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy but not nearly as silly and probably fringed with sarcasm. :)

I'm not sure what I'll think about today, but I can tell reflection time is here. Time moves forward so quickly as it is; responsibilities and commitments making it move that much more so. I know most of that is my fault. I concede, wave the white flag and take the responsibility. I bite off more than I can chew and have nobody but myself to blame.

Today I'm going to focus on the basics: Work, because if I don't I won't get paid and that's pretty essential to do things like pay bills and buy dog food. Dogs, because with this many mine aren't getting the attention they're used to and the rescues need more attention to get through being moved around. And finally, me because although most of my time is spent doing what I want, sometimes I don't give myself what I need, whether it be a break from the hustle and bustle (where did that saying come from?) or, like today, time to reflect on the past.

BTW, I never did clear coat the bookcase. With as much hair floating around this place (including my own), it seemed wiser to hold off until there were less dogs. :p

Pedro the rescue did not go to his forever home last night. He wasn't so keen on the man half of the couple and he was inexperienced with dogs, making his movements and expectations a bit awkward. Pictures will be taken today and their bios will go up on Petfinder later today.

I have a flyball tournament this weekend up at All Dog's Gym in Manchester. Freddie is running on a veterans team, which he's old enough for. So it'll be a non-competitive weekend, which could be considered a refreshing change of pace. We'll see if that's actually the case tho'.

D