Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Who Stole The Weekend?


OK, who stole my weekend? How can it be over already? Three day weekends seem so long at the beginning, but when they're over you always wonder how they slipped by so quickly. "Sleeping in" unti 7:00 seems luxurious, but it does eat away at the allotted time. I could have been "doing something". My self-imposed guilt about sitting around is always right below the surface. Although I got a lot of projects completed, it would take more than 3 days to catch up on the things that really need to be done around here! So I keep pecking away, little project by little project, and by the time they are all completed it will be time to start over again. Maybe it would be easier to decide they don't need doing after all, but there comes a time with the layers of dust on the blinds is more than even I can ignore!

So nice to see my Aunt Karen & Uncle Gordon who were here from California. Gordon still makes the trip by car, but says this will be the last year for that. He must be close to 80 and that's a long trip at any age. We went to dinner with them, Karen & Gordon, my mother, my daughter Jess, plus Ron & I. Had a great time and did a lot of laughing. I took some video clips, and Jess & Karen took some pictures. Karen brought along pictures of my cousins & their families. Because everyone is in California, I really don't know them as "family", something I regret.

She also brought old family pictures for us. I brought them home, will pass them on to Jess, and they will end up with my sister Kris who is the family historian. Lots of pictures of my father as a boy and a young man, and pictures of my mom and dad as newly weds. Old family pictures of relatives I didn't know but also pictures of my brother, sister and I at various ages - some of the pictures are ones I've never seen, particularly the pictures of my brother during his "hippy period" and my sister as a teenager. Because I was the oldest, I was out of the house at the time. I'll scan some of the pictures to save. Although many are old and faded, they are easy enough to enhance on the computer.

The picture at the top was part of the group Karen had. That's my Beagle "Robbie", the first Rob. (The second "Rob" was a wonderful Dalmatian.) Robbie was a great family dog, and a darned good obedience dog too. He was very competitive and always placed well in his classes, winning a few of them with very high scores including 198.5 and 199 (our of 200). I took obedience competition seriously and learned a lot training Rob. Rob was trained all the way through Utility, but never competed after Novice as he limped, and limping dogs can be disqualified. Hip x-rays showed that he was dysplastic, very dysplastic. Nope, it's not just Labradors and German Shepherd Dogs who can have Hip Dysplasia. No doubt that's the reason I have always been so adamant about doing all available health testing on my Dals.

Heard yesterday that one of my competitors was bragging how many times their dog had beaten Argus. Yep, the dog has beaten Argus from time to time, although not nearly as often as Argus has beaten that dog - no one wins all the time, but why would you brag about it to a stranger, someone from another breed even? Some people are odd that way. The odder part of the story is that this person claims that I "trashed" the dog on my Blog. Hahahahaha. Can't recall that I've even mentioned the dog on my blog, but if it will make them happier I can do that today. Pretty markings, beautiful face, lovely temperament, adequate mover (but more like a Dobe gait than a typical Dal gait), a bit lacking in breed type, but a handsome quality dog who will no doubt beat Argus again, and deservably so. If dogs are healthy, attractive and have good dispositions they do not deserve to be trashed by anyone. Not even me!

Back to work . . .

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