New E Dalmatians Is Available On Line

No time to blog.  I spent my blogging time looking through the new edition of E Dalmatians.  This issue covers the DCA National, so is very timely.  Not everyone advertises, but there's a nice cross section of winners pictured, and some of the ads are spectacular.

New E Dalmatians
 

Horticulture And Hounds

The Northern Lights Azalea was fantastic this year.  It's a 5 foot tall shrub that flowers reliably every Spring, but it outdid itself this year.  Hard to imagine that it could have had any more flowers than it did.  My mother gave me this plant many years ago, and she got to see it on Memorial Day, looking its best.  Just as well, because heavy rain last night took it's toll. Fortunately the flowers were past their prime already.

Two new Daylilies too, named varieties developed by my old friend Lynne Dauber.  Such fun to have special plants "created" by someone I've known for so many years.

The Showy Ladyslipper plant came through the winter again too.  This is a plant that once inhabited my grandmother's garden, was passed on to my brother who entrusted it to me when he moved to Costa Rica.  It's Minnesota's State Flower and a member of the Orchid Family.

More electrical projects completed, but still a few things left to do.  New ceiling fan and light fixture in the bathroom - finally enough light!  New track lighting over the bar (between kitchen and family room), but no fixtures yet.  Off to Home Depot tonight to take care of that little problem.  Still to do, the new ceiling fan for the dining room (but the old one still works for now) and the range hood in the kitchen (not a priority).  An open day for Travis on Monday, so hopefully everything will be completed then.  This is taking a lot longer than anticipated, but Travis has mostly been working alone, which I know irks him.  The price bid was by project, not days thank goodness, but we did add a few things later.  Hopefully I did not overspend!

Dog shows coming up soon, Max entered, Fern not entered. Max looks really good for his age, but probably is not ready to win against good adult males, and he needs some ring experience first.  Two Specialties and two Sweepstakes will give him lots of experience!  Am very pleased with Max.  He's handsome, sound, has very good breed type, and a wonderful temperament.  And he's smart and fun.

Fernly is looking good too, gaiting much better, trotting more than pacing, and developing the foot timing that she needs.   Goal is to have her ready for the August Specialties, though perhaps we'll hit some small shows before that.  Hopefully there will be Dalmatian competition at Waukesha in July.  Judges are good there, and it's always a fun show weekend.

Both pups are getting roadworked every evening, yes on foot, so with Argus to walk too I am getting a LOT of exercise right now.  Good for all of us though.

 

Day Five

Travis returned today for the fifth day of electrical work.  Today's projects include a new ceiling fan in the bathroom, a new fan & light fixture in the dining room, new track lights over the bar, and a range hood in the kitchen.  Still to be done, new boxes for the outdoor lights front and back, and replacing the outlets in the kitchen and family room.

Travis seems almost like a member of the family now, and even Fern had nothing to say about his arrival.

Lost Weekend

Mirror mirror on the wall.  Who's the fairest of them all?

Sat at the computer yesterday evening, feeling sorry for myself.  Seemed as if everyone else had gone camping, to a picnic, or attended a dog show over the long weekend.  Me, I sat home.  Well not exactly.  I bought yard plants and worked in the yard, took the dogs swimming and for interesting walks, took mom out for pizza (too wet and cold for a picnic), but mostly I just worked around the house (and played on the computer of course).  So how did I use up four days so quickly?  Three gloomy wet days, I might add.

I cleaned!  Yuck, just about my least favorite way to spend a weekend, but one that needed to be done.  A shame to do it on a Holiday weekend, but the weather made it somewhat easier, and he electrical work made it necessary.  Looking at the pictures in the recent appraisal really drove home how cluttered things are looking too, so I spent my time cleaning drawers and bookcases, throwing out papers, gathering up usable items for Good Will, dusting walls, washing baseboards, sweeping, vacuuming, and throwing things away.  The recycle guy will NOT be happy with me this week, unless they get paid by the pound!  And Ron said, ENOUGH for the trash this week.

Still to be done is ribbons and rosettes.   Boxes and bags of ribbons, mostly for the past twenty years, the rosettes from specialing Rob (just a bit), Morris (extensively), Watson (moderately), and Argus (extensively).  All the class wins, Sweeps wins, Specialty majors, Specialty BoBs, Group wins and placements, and the Best in Shows.  Not only at AKC shows, but at a few Canadian, UKC, and Int'l shows.  That's a lot of ribbons and rosettes.  Flat ribbons are easy, take up little space, and would be easy enough to discard, but I love rosettes and am not ready to get rid of them.  If I had the money, I'd have some of the best ones made into a quilt or wall hanging.  There are people who do that, but it's expensive.  Maybe that's a good hobby for me when I retire.  I really need another hobby.) The rosettes are in piles in the middle of the guest bedroom (which is/was clean) so I need to get this project finished!  Sooner, not later.

And someday I will tackle 50 years of pictures and scrapbooks, thousands and thousands of pictures.  But not this week.