Everything Is Fine

Here I am, still fine. Sorry for my absence. No real excuse except for having Writer's Block - but I guess that's not really an excuse either. It wasn't as if nothing was happening, I just didn't manage to write it down!

A note from Ken to say that Cloud (the Watson daughter from Florida) is doing great. It sounds as if she has already shown Ken & Magee (his other Dal) that Bitches Rule, at least in this breed. I took this picture of Argus & Cloud when she was at the house. Blue eyes are perfectly acceptable for Dals, but Argus appears to be laughing about it.

Did a lot of driving, and had a successful weekend without doing anything great. Started off on Thursday in Duluth, and quickly saw that the shows were top heavy in professional handlers as I had anticipated might be a problem. Judges were OK for Argus, but MUCH better for Giselle's handler Phil than they were for me. I show against handlers all the time, but under some judges there is just no point. Argus showed well but went Best Of Opposite and we hit the road again, stopped at home for my suitcase and drove to Illinois! Quite a few miles, but I enjoy driving and Argus is a great traveler. Anticipated having a fun weekend in Rockford. Oh well.

Argus went Best Of Breed on Friday and finished his Grand Championship, a new title offered at AKC shows for Champions who continue showing and winning. Nothing exciting, but nice to add. I found out that Meg was going to shows in Nebraska, and Laura was riding along - so much for getting together with them. Boring. Groups were incredibly tough and the temperatures were in the 90s - outdoor shows on a fairgrounds. I'm not a big fan of outdoor shows, and do not handle heat well, but we've got a number of them coming up so it was good to get the practice. Argus showed well in breed, but I showed him badly in group. Made the decision to show in breed on Saturday, and then win or lose head for home. Argus won again, and showed well, and my handling felt good. We hit the road and were home by 6:00. Not a great weekend, but we got a chance to show on grass, and Argus worked well for me in breed all three days. Hopefully we are a team again.

My cell phone was both lost and found, and I learned that Verizon will do NOTHING for you in a pinch. I'll remember that, Verizon. I now own a nice little pre-paid T-Mobile phone from Radio Shack which will be perfect for sticking in my pocket when I got walking or biking, so I can leave the good phone home. Didn't realize you could get a nice little phone with half an hour of air time that is good for 90 days for only $30.00. And the guys at RS were MUCH nicer than the ones at the Verizon store . . .

Got home on Saturday before the storm hit, and we just got an inch of rain. No damage other than a few tree branches down in the neighborhood. Jess, Don & the Shepherds were camping when a horrific storm went through the area. Wind, rain, and sirens, and they sat out the storm in the men's bathroom at the campground, 20+ people and the two Shepherds. Jess & I were texting back and forth and I could tell she was scared. Trees down and a lot of water on the ground, but no damage to the trailer, and they went home Sunday morning to check out their property. Again they were lucky and had nothing more than a tipped pine tree and a lot of rubbish in the yard. Thanks Mother Nature for sparing us all again. It's sure been a violent summer already though!

Ron & I went to the Farmer's Market on Sunday morning and probably bought far more stuff than we can eat, but I shared the bounty with mom, and the dogs will enjoy some of it too. The flowers were absolutely incredible, especially the bouquets of lilies. Took mom out for pie at Perkins and had a nice visit. She loved the fresh produce.

Audrey has a dozen flowers now, and they are quite attractive daisy-like blossoms. Cup plants are obviously grown for the Wow Value rather than their flowers, but it is a great looking plant.

The hanging tomato plant suffered a setback on Saturday night when the neighbor's fence fell apart! Not sure if the tomato was a contributing factor, but it IS heavy so I moved it for now - but don't have a good spot for it otherwise. The fence is fixed and Ron wants to put it back on the fence post. I'm not so sure.

My 35 gallon daphnia pond is producing well and ALL the fish feasted on live daphnia yesterday. Really a bumper crop. I am feeding them a mixture of soy flour and yeast, and they are doing really well on it. I've raised daphnia in tanks and buckets before, but never in such a large container. It's astonishing how rapidly they reproduce. Live food is the best for most fish (except the vegetarians) and it's nice to have a ready source, and one that is not nearly as disgusting as keeping live blackworms in the fridge, or as bothersome as raising baby brine shrimp.