Progress



Resting with Ron

Good night at puppy class.  Letty was certainly the life of the party, and seems to have totally gotten over her apprehension concerning dogs.  She played with everyone during the puppy play time, and demonstrated how fast & agile Dal puppies are.  When she was chased by the Goldendoodle, Berner, Dane & Bullmastiff, she would turn on a dime, run back at them, and leap over whichever ones were in her way.  Amazing how fast she can corner, and so nice to have the large ring with excellent matting for the pups to play on for a few minutes.

Letty is doing very well on her sits, comes, and even on leash walking.  Thought her tendency to get out in front and PULL would be a problem, but she's catching on.  Much of last night's class was spent on greeting people without jumping up, and pups were rewarded for standing their ground with four feet on the floor, or sitting to greet strangers.  Letty does not jump up on strangers (although the same can not be said for friends!) and is still apprehensive about people leaning over her, but is much better now, thanks to class.  If people stand up straight she is quite comfortable, but if they hover over her she backs up - obviously something we need to get resolved before she is old enough to show.  It's a different personality than I am used to dealing with, and much different than her father Argus who always mugged every person he met (and sometimes still does).

Letty needs to go camping again - any volunteers?

Had a scare last night when the owner of the dog we want to breed Lucy to indicated that he wanted to neuter the dog.  Because Indie is a competition Agility dog, it would be easier if he were neutered - less chance of distraction, but I did not want to do a frozen semen breeding with Lucy.  Although frozen can be successful, and Indie has been "collected", it can get quite expensive, and the success rate is not as good as with natural breedings.  I'd rather take my chances on the weather this winter, and drive her down to Lincoln to do a "dog on dog" breeding, so to speak.  Indie's owner agreed to wait until after Lucy was bred, which is MUCH appreciated!  Now we need to get the plans in place for getting this accomplished.  You can be sure it will happen during the worst weather!

You've seen pictures of lovely Lucy, so here's a video of her intended, running Agility at the National,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ToOZU_fQk

Too Nice

The lovely weather continues, relatively warm, sunny and dry.  Temps have been above normal for a month or more, and we've had very little train since June.  What started off to be a dought-busting year with rainfall 5" above normal, has switched to another droughty year with below normal rainfall.  The Land Of 10,000 Lakes may end up The Land Of 10,000 Mudholes.  Anyone who does not believe in Climate Change, make that Accelerated Climate Change, should belong to the Ostrich Society.

Lists

I'm a firm believer in keeping lists, a list always labelled To Do.   I have several of them going at any one time, as I don't always remember to carry them between home and work, and sometimes lose them for a few days. The small spiral notebooks that used to be called Steno Pads are my favorites, and there's normally two or three of them in use at any given time.  One of them was labelled Sue's Mind, but whenever I lost that one it gave me a creepy feeling, so now they all remain nameless.  

Am I more forgetful than the average person?  Am I getting more forgetful as I get older?  It's hard to know, but something that I worry about occasionally.  I do know that lists help me stay organized, add structure to my life and help me get a lot more accomplished.  Because I have several time-consuming hobbies (dogs & fish), an elderly mother, an elderly house, a yard, a car, a job, and am always involved in a variety of half-finished projects (such as the bathroom re-decorating that is still not finished), there are always things to do.  At least once a week I re-do one or more of the lists, carrying forward the things that remain undone.  Then the list seems to be nagging me, but eventually those things get done.   The audiology appointment DID get made, as did the dental appointment that was made & kept.  The list reminded me to call Denise to find out when my haircut appointment was - it was in 20 minutes, so I got there on time - but that had been on the list for a week!

"Buy new dog tags" was on the list for weeks, but the new tags arrived yesterday and now the list says "put tags on collars".  We'll get to that eventually!  "Look at comforters" has been there for several weeks and I've been looking but have not found what I want, so it will be moved forward again.  "Buy beef heart" was accomplished and replaced with "cut up and nuke beef heart" (for training treats).  "Sun flowers and gourds" still need to be purchased, but that requires "go to Farmer's Market" first.  "Replace dryer hose" is back on the list as it never got accomplished last winter so it MUST be done this year.  "Train Argus" and "train Letty" will stay on the list for a long time since it is an ongoing "to do", and "cut dog nails" goes on every week, as does "water changes" (in the fishroom).

Although lists are essential for staying on top of things they also give me great satisfaction when I cross items off the list.  There is a list in front of me right now with 22 items, 12 of them crossed off.  The list on the dining room table came home from the office (I jot down reminders during the day) and contains10 items, a few that will be duplicates.  If this is a productive day, perhaps 6 -8 items will be crossed off, but the rest will be there to keep me on track, or nag at me.  Unfortunately, they are NEVER finished . . .

Another Weekend Gone

Breakfast with mom

Monday always comes too soon it seems, but as my life dashes by so quickly the weekend will be here again almost as quickly.  Where does time go?  Why does it seem as if the carousel of my life is spinning faster and faster?  How can we all be this old? 

Hard to believe I have survived six decades - six decades!  That's a lot of years.  I feel pretty much the same as I have for many years, I'm on no medications except eye drops, and can still do the important (to me) things like running a lively Dal around the ring, driving long distances, and keeping abreast of technology.   Taking my mother to breakfast is always a reminder to take care of myself, and to enjoy these things for as long as I possibly can.  It won't last forever . . .

It's my apple!

Friday evening was spent packing and labeling things to take to the fish club auction.  Saturday was spent at the auction and it was a long long day.  When I left at 6:30 there were STILL things to be auctioned off.  Just an amazing number of bags of fish and plants, buckets and boxes of supplies, and tanks large and small.  Most of my things sold well, some extra fish and lots of equipment I am not using, including a large tank.  Not sure that I broke even, as I purchased quite a few fish and a few plants, but the day's entertainment was not very costly overall.  It was fun to catch up with fishkeeping friends I had not seen in some time.    Saturday evening was spent getting the new fish all settled in.  I still have tank space, so many hang out on Aquabid from time to time.

Argus enjoyed another Dog Park Sunday and spent the time running hard with with Huskies and Labradors.  He sure had fun, and it's good for him to run long and hard.  We try to keep all the dogs fit, and we do a lot of walking, but the yard is small and living in the city there are few places where dogs can run safely - and legally.   Although I pay the same taxes as golfers, there is never enough money in the city's budget to follow up on the proposed Dog Parks.  I would willingly pay fees to run my dogs in a safe and convenient park.   A section of the Highland Golf Course would make a fine Dog Park!

Took mom to breakfast and had a nice time.  She really enjoys getting out, and lives on the way back from the Dog Park, so I can pick her up and leave Argus in the car while we eat.  He waits patiently, knowing that Dog Park Sunday always includes a treat for him, either part of my White Castle Breakfast Sandwich or in this case half of the lovely scrambled egg, ham & cheddar in in a Lefse wrap (it's a Scandanavian restaurant and bakery).

Jess and Don came by with Meribel, the little brownie girl who was up in Canada while Lucy was down here to be shown last weekend.  She's very cute, and will help them survive the winter as 12-year old German Shepherd Simmie struggles with age related issues, and 5-year old Shepherd Pepper battles cancer. Meribel's function is likely to be Therapy Dog for Jess and Don I'm afraid, but cheerful happy pups are such fun!