I am one of those...

It shocked me today to realize that I have turned into one of *those* people. We all know them, tolerate them to a point and avoid them the rest of the time. Well, I've joined the club - instead of pulling out baby pictures and telling people what great new thing little Johnny did, I do it with the dogs.

I'm not actually sure when I turned into one of those people, maybe my friends can help me pin point it sometime. But, as sure as shit, I am one now. Apparently I can't go anywhere or talk to anyone without bringing up some silly thing one of the dogs did. Or I'll start talking about the dogs, then segue over to flyball, which really gets them to yawning.

Crap! When did this happen? Last I knew I could hold a normal conversation with normal people and get along just fine in the world of normal people. Sadly, it looks like that time has passed for me. Bummer dude.

I guess I'll have to be more aware in the future - talk dog stuff with dog people and non-dog stuff with non-dog people. The problem I can foresee is that I do so much dog stuff that I am kind of limited on non-dog stuff knowledge.

Darn.

D

the Holidays

It's Christmas Eve and I still have a few things to do before heading to my aunt's house tonight for the extended family gathering. It used to be all the aunts, uncles and cousins but has shriveled down to just my siblings and my cousin Sue & her family. We're really not sure where all the other cousins are - they faded out of the family years ago for reasons we don't know. It's kind of sad because we used to have such fun during the holidays together. It's been so many years since any of us have seen them that we aren't even sure how to get in touch with them. How sad.

This year I'm having trouble with my holiday spirit, as in, it's missing. I didn't put up the tree or decorate at all, which is probably part of it but certainly not all. It's been a tough year and I think the fact that I'm coming up on a year of being unemployed is starting to effect me. I'm not all Bah Hum-buggy or anything, just more neutral. Usually I have a lot, especially on Xmas eve and I'm hoping I'll feel a little bit of it tonight when I'm with my family.

So, the festivities are the same as they always are - Christmas Eve at my aunt's house, Christmas morning at my cousin's house and Christmas afternoon/night at my Dad's house. The dogs will open their gifts after Sue's and before Dad's - we'll see if Ash can figure out how to open gifts this year. :)

I have a few last minute things to pick up today but am done otherwise. I only bought gifts for kids this year so I don't have a lot of wrapping to do, which I'll do today.

I suppose I should get my ass in gear so I'm not late (Ha!) and get everything done that I need to.

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I wish you the absolute best!!

D

Stupid little rat with legs...

Today was a *gorgeous* day - absolutely divine! I was a good girl and did all the things I was supposed to first thing - exercised the dogs, finished and mailed out some tugs, checked the PO Box, went to the bank, went to the unemployment office, went to the supermarket and then came home. I played with the dogs while doing some stuff outside - it's time to empty the vegetable planters that are done producing so I can put everything away.

After playing frisbee with the Tweak & Ash (thankfully they've stopped crashing into each other when I play them at the same time), I figured I'd let them cool down and play in the pool. Millie & Freddie were out as well, but they were on the other side of the gate that separates the pool from the rest of the deck.

(I just have to interrupt my train of thought here and say that one of the dogs is so totally gassing me out of the freakin' room right now. )

Anyway, after playing for a while, Freddie jumped the gate to join us. This happens pretty frequently - he tries to steal the frisbee out of one of the dog's mouths when they're climbing out of the pool - and usually it's nothing to worry about. Not today.

The little shit jumped over just as I threw the frisbee in for Tweak. He scooted right past me and started walking along the rim of the pool, which is a few inches below but right next to the deck, up until a certain point. Needless to say, he was unsuccessful in walking along the rim not next to the deck and fell into the pool.

I wasn't really worried as he can swim on his own for short distances without my help. I just went over to the stairs and called him over. He was panicking tho' and couldn't hear me. Weirdly enough, he wasn't horizontal in the water, he was vertical. It's like he was walking on his hind legs in the water. Weird.

He went under once, then went under again which succeeded in freaking me out and had me jumping into the pool, shoes and all, to save the little idiot. Thankfully Tweak and Ash are good swimmers and got out like normal since I wasn't paying the least bit attention to them while this was going on.

The stupid little rat with legs was/is fine tho'. (But whichever dog is farting must have eaten something dead to have this kind of torrential gaseous eruption.)

I'm heading down to New Jersey for the 10th Annual Min Pin rescue picnic. It was 11 years ago that we started the Internet Miniature Pinscher Service. I think Millie will be kept downstairs for the picnic since there's usually like 80 dogs or so that attend. She's better with Min Pins than with any other breed, but she's getting older and doesn't put up with as much as she used to. I'll let Freddie (the family Min Pin representative), Tweak & Ash have all the fun. I imagine Tweak will start herding all of the Min Pins at some point in the day and when that happens she'll go away too.

Should be fun!

D

What a cutie...

James Marsden - total freakin' yum. Wouldn't have known his name but I've been seeing him on TV a lot lately and figured I'd put a name with the drool action.

Ash & Tweak are getting their final 32nd wind out of their system by doing box turns off of every piece of furniture, and me, in the living room while playing Crocodiles and Alligators. Gotta love that energy level!!

This weekend I started helping my grandmother weed down her stuff yet again. She's moving into an assisted living facility and I/we will need to pack everything up. Again. Every time my grandmother has moved, I've helped pack her up. I'm getting pretty good at it since she's moved like 4 times in the last 10 years and it's generally just my aunt, uncle & self that do it.

I went over to Dina's house this afternoon to start working with her dog. She was going to sign up for classes and then thought, boy that's stupid. So, for the next 6 weeks I'll be heading over to help her with basic obedience. We worked on sit, heeling and come today. Frisco did fabulously - quite the quick little learner and food motivated, which works very well with clicker training. Eventually I'll get out there with Ash and do all the same stuff! I've been so lackadaisical with his training.

I started writing in my journal again, in addition to blogging. I like going back and reading what I've written. I take very large hiatuses from the hard copy version, only writing when I have something to figure out that I don't want to share with the world or when I'm feeling especially creative and want to write poetry or something. I found a couple of kick ass poems I wrote a long time ago. They make perfect sense to me but since perception is key in everything, I'm sure they'd mean totally different things to different people.

I have a store order to finish, the website to fix and a whole lot of cleaning to do this week. Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice so I'll probably swim the dogs a couple of times. I worked with Tweak on a couple of freestyle moves that I learned from the Apryl & Ron seminar. I have a few things in the works that I'll continue to work on with them. More info on that later - like if/when it's done. :p

D

sometimes life hands you lemons...

It's been that kind of week - Murphy's Law on a rampage like bride-to-be's on the day of the Filene's Bridal sale.

I could be all philosophical and say when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. But I own more shares in lemonade than I care to admit and am tired of the bitter taste in my mouth.

Really what you have to do is just breathe through it. Breathe and dodge. Shit happens. Shit will always happen and really your dodgeball training as a kid will help you more than knowing how to make lemonade. Well, that and a good shower.

I think I popped about 28 new gray hairs this week with all the stress & crap. Most I won't even mention.

My friend's dog passed this week - they think he was poisoned in some way, maybe even from eating mushrooms. Peri was a therapy dog who finally got his own little boy this year. So sad.

Scooby has gone quiet so it doesn't look like anything's happening there. I'll be in NJ next weekend but doubt I'll see him. Another one bites the dust.

Next week will be better, life can't suck for all that long!

So to raise my spirits and mood, I'm heading to G&E's tonight for Great Chow and cigars. :) I love sitting in front of the firepit, there's something so zen about watching flames with people you love to be with. Beer helps.

In good news, AgilityVision.com just picked up Tweak's Tugs. :) A rush order was sent to them this week for their booth at the NADAC Championships. I guess I need to start learning what all this agility stuff means :) So if you're there, talk up the tugs!!

D