Walking in LA

The song says no one (or is it "nobody") walks in LA, but whoever wrote the song hasn't met our family.  For what it is worth, we hardly did any walking, but sadly, Sister was sick, so the walking we did was plenty.  This was Christmas week when Sister was still here.  She has long since departed for her residence on the east coast, but I am just getting around to blogging about it now.

We took the train to downtown LA to sight see and visit oldest younger Bro at his place of employment.

All photos are taken by my tablet, so the quality isn't amazing.

Train riding.

Niece posing for Mommy's camera on the freeway overpass.

Thrilling view of the 101 freeway.

Impressive downtown building.

Walking.  In LA.

Heading towards City Hall.  That tall building on the right.

I give a "speech" in the room at the top of City Hall.

Pretty ceiling in city hall.

The intrepid LA Walkers, minus me.

Niece also gives a "speech."

The vies from the top of City Hall are worth the trip.

The tall redish building is Bro's office.

Tiny Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory.

Dad in Bro's office.  What a great view!  Jealous of his window.

Niece in front of Japanese American War Memorial. Some of her relative's units are listed.

Heading back to Union Station, the day is done.

As always when I'm with my family, it was a great day and a great trip.

Christmas 2012!

Posing with my dogs.  Dottie wanted a stomach pat.

Christmas 2012 was made great since my sister and niece were here from the other side of the country!  Christmas is for family and ours was all together.  We had good times, good food and good presents!

Posing with the parent's dogs.  Kerby wasn't too keen.

I love how Muffin is framed by Pie's ears.

The boys pet the dogs.  And there is no room for Laura on the couch.

My Godchild and I!

Fancy gets a tummy pet.

Fancy pat.

She loved Muffin and Muffin loved the pets.

My sister and I as seen by Niece.

Before Church pictures.  Fashionable girls.

The men minus Oldest Bro who hadn't arrived yet.

The girls.

The kids.

The whole family!

Christmas Morning- let the unwrapping begin!

She was very excited.

Out of order pic, back at Church.

Christmas morning was too early for Dad.  My new jumps.

What is Sister getting?? Niece looks on.

A great morning.

Mom opens presents.

Sister and Niece have to say goodby. :(

2013 AKC Nationals

At the last minute (entries close on Wednesday) ffluffy and I decided to enter the AKC Nationals.  It is back in Tusla, OK this year.  We have another road trip coming up!  We plan to see the World's Largest Mound- hoping it is finished this time- and the GPOL, Giant Pair of Legs.  Other than those 2, we do not plan on revisiting the other attractions such as the Red Giant Arrow.

I was surprised to see Dottie is qualified.  Who thought my "baby" would get to go?  ffluffy will run Pie again and I'll run Dottie and Fancy.  I'm already getting excited!

Last Agility Trial of 2012, First Agility Trial of 2013!

After my sister flew home (sad) I had Sunday free, so I went to an agility trail.  I had all 3 dogs entered.  On Saturday it had rained all day, so I was glad I wasn't entered then.  However, we were still suffering the after effects since the ground was quite soggy and it was rather cold.  Much to my dismay, I discovered I forgot my chair, and I had to stand all day since the ground was too wet to sit on.  The order of the classes was different than usual (open ran before ex- now called Masters) so I was standing (literally) around waiting for some time. 

Fancy did not double Q because she knocked a bar in jumpers after running clean in standard.  Since Fancy NEVER knocks bars, I'm guessing she slipped on some of the mud or perhaps the shavings they had put down on top of the mud in an attempt to make it less slippy.

Pie did not double Q because I forgot to be stern on her dog walk contact, and although she made the contact, she came off so much faster than I expected, almost had an off course before the weaves, came back and made the weave entry, but couldn't "hang onto" it due to the now extreme angle and her fused spine.  If she had approached it as it was supposed to run, it would have been fine.  So, my fault for getting caught flat footed at the end of the dog walk.  That was a fun challenge.  It was dog walk to weaves but the weaves, dw, chute and the panel made a box and many dogs went off course to either the chute or the panel.  Fancy barely made it through.  Pie did Q in jumpers.

Dottie did not QQ because I attempted to get lateral distance from a jump and she pulled off with me.  I forget that Dottie will get out and stay out and will go ahead, but if I try to ditch her laterally, I'd better be very clear she is supposed to take the jump and not bail to come with me.  Darn.  She also Qed in jumpers.

It was a long, cold day with no spectacular results.  The most excitement we had was when a gopher wandered onto the course and was almost trampled by a Bernese Mnt. Dog who never even saw him.

The next day, Monday, I took off work since ffluffy was coming for the New Year's Eve trial.  She ended up not making it in time for the trial, although she did arrive later in the day.  Pie had a very nice QQ and Dottie did not Q at all.  :(  She knocked a bar on the serpentine coming into me.  Anytime she feels I'm in her way or our paths converge, a bar is likely to come down.  I forget what happened in the other run, but I do remember that she did her weaves correctly each time.  Fancy was not entered.

After ffluffy came, we had a very yummy dinner at Denny's then retired to our Motel 6 room, and did not stay up to great the new year.  However, the fireworks at midnight woke us up, so I was awake to welcome in 2013.  Funny story about the Motel 6.  After checking into our first room, we had to request a different room because one of the beds was defective.  It was as if the springs were missing from a large area of the mattress.  I would have been sucked in never to be seen again.  It was a large depression on one side, but not the entire side.  We were given a new room with minimal fuss. 

Fancy and Muffin approve of this bed.

The next day Dottie had a great standard run for a second place, but we messed up jumpers.  Here is the video for standard.



We had a nice turn on the 180.  If I can speed her weaves up a little more, I think we could have more first places.  I was really happy with this run.

Pie ran past a jump in standard (the one before the teeter, I think with my front cross she just didn't see it) then jumped off the table early, then didn't stick the weave entry.  I'm not taking the time to post the video of that run, but it is noteworthy in that you can see her breath in almost the entire thing!  You can also see how much fun she is having.  :)

Once again Fancy wasn't entered.  Poor Fancy.

Now it is back to work for me tomorrow and I'm working this weekend.  No agility for a while- the following weekend is an IPO trial, then obedience again, then probably USDAA.  I'd like to focus on AKC and get Dottie more QQs, but sometimes other things get in the way.

Happy 2013 to everyone.  I hope 2013 is an amazingly good year for all my family and friends, and anyone who is reading this!

Moon

A photo of the almost full moon taken with my new Cannon PowerShot SX500 IS (30x optical zoom!)  My old Cannon was failing in a few ways so it was time for a new camera.  Thanks Santa!

I will be blogging about my sister and niece's visit, Christmas, a trip to Los Angeles and other such goings ons at a future, less busy date.

A Little Play Time

Three dogs on one toy that I brought out of storage.

Not too much to say here, just a little play time in our new yard.

Christmas Cookies- Yum!

I find making cookies to be very messy!

My helpers, who are move annoying and less helpful than I would hope.

I took the opportunity to use my Mom's kitchen to make cookies.  Her kitchen is bigger than mine, and my new stove only has one rack, so backing the cookies would take even longer.

I ended up making enough cookies to give my parents a lot, and I also made some for my sister and niece, and my friend K.  I took a few home also.

Finished product!

Yum!

Moving Day!

Moving day was actually 2 weeks ago, I think, but with the moving, the blogging got behind.

On all my other moves I've done all the boxes myself then had helpers with the truck for the bigger stuff.  This time 2 friends offered several times to help, so I decided to take them up on it.  The Friday before the moving Saturday, we moved all of the boxes, and anything small enough to fit into my van, my friend's full sized truck with a bed shell, and my other friend's mini truck also with a bed shell.

Each vehicle was filled up, and then my van and the big truck was filled up again.  I always wonder how I have so much stuff.  Especially when I lived somewhere as small as the studio.

The view from the back of my car.  I won Mr. Potato head in a raffle.

Side view of the first trip with the van.

Second trip with the truck.  My flash wasn't working.

 
 It took us about 3 hrs, then I took us out for pizza afterwards.

The next day after the utility attempt (see previous post) was moving day.  With 2 teenage boys and a uHaul truck, moving the rest of my stuff took 3 more hours.  Good thing I don't try to do it all at once.  6 hours of moving would be a lot.

After everything was moved out, cleaning of the studio was next on the list.  I left the Malinois at the "new" place, since I knew they wouldn't be any help.

On the previous Thursday (2 days before Moving Day) I had cleaned the bathroom and kitchen.  All that was left was sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming any cobwebs and window sills that needed it. I gave the stove its final cleaning, and used a lot of 409 on the floor as well.  I got a little 409 overdose and needed a break.  Then I finished up with the mopping, and the final task was to sweep the garage and turn in the key.  I had one last trip to make, with the cleaning supplies, and then it was good-by studio.  I really enjoyed living there, but it was time to move on...

While I was cleaning, Fancy picked a spot and just sat there.

And while I was sweeping the garage, she sat in the door and watched.  Very helpful.

CAT

Not as in "meow" (good thing I can spell the sound a cat makes) but as in "Coursing Ability Test."  This is a new AKC event open to all breeds.  The dogs chase a plastic bag on a string (lure) and if they make it around the 600 yard course (one quarter of a mile!) without loosing interest or giving up, they are given a passing leg.  Three legs and you have the coursing ability (CA) title.

Since Dottie had one leg from when my friend took her when I was working doing my weekend duty and our club was holding the trial, I decided to finish up the title before the end of the year.  Last time Dottie barely passed the leg she did pass, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I know a quarter of a mile is a long way for her (a dog with no stamina) to run all out.  I also entered Pie, although the two other times shes done lure coursing she has left the bag in order to find a real critter to chase.

I had to drive pretty far to get to the event.  I won't drive that far again.  I'm not that into it.

To get the dogs excited, I let them watch the lure and let them watch other dogs run.  It seemed to do the trick.  Dottie went first and made it all the way around, even though she did slow down at the end.  Next it was Pie's turn and she zoomed right around.

By the time the second run came along in the afternoon, both girls were very much into it.  Both passed in the afternoon as well.  So Dottie now has another title, the CA, and Pie needs one more leg.

I say I'm not that into it,  because even though it was fun to watch the dogs run, I had no sense of teamwork (all I do is stand there) or accomplishment.  There is no training and no prep.  Sure, we were all joking that this is the way to earn titles (just show up, and your part is done) and while I like earning titles, I suppose this proved to me one reason I like to earn titles is because of the work that does into it, and the teamwork with my dogs that it requires.  If all I had to do to earn a title was fill out paperwork and send money, I wouldn't bother.  There is no point.  This trial was pretty much like that.  Yes, the dog had to fulfill the requirement, and a few dogs did not pass, but I just don't see myself doing to too many of these trials.  I will finish Pie's title, and if there is a local one put on my club I'll go and help out and run my dog, but it isn't my thing.

Oh, and if my dog was so untrained that it took 15 minutes to catch him afterwards, I wouldn't let him off leash until he had a 1/2 decent recall.  Not only due to the embarrassment of holding the trial up, but what if you never caught him?  That isn't safe.

One part of the trial I really enjoyed was watching all the different breeds run.  The small dogs only do 300 yards and the tiny doxies were so cute!  The ground was uneven, so they had some trouble with the bumps that the big dogs didn't even notice.  There was an amazingly fast dalmatian and watching the greyhounds seem to gather speed with each gigantic stride is breathtaking.  Very cool.

And one last item to note is the hound people holding the trail are very, very nice.  They help you or tell you anything you need to know.  And if you mess up a tiny bit- I let Pie go when the bag moved, not when the person said "tallyho"- it isn't like obedience or agility where they NQ you for not following the rules exactly.  Heaven forbid if you go before the GO in agility or let your dog bark in the obedience ring.  Off with her head!  Nope, none of that going on here.  So that part was very enjoyable.  In fact, I don't want it to sound like I didn't have a good time or that it was a waste of time.  It was not.  All I am trying to convey is it is not my new favorite sport.

Our ribbons:

The fun part was even though the trial was far away, there were several local club members there.  There is a group photo:

The schnauzer passed also, he just didn't have his ribbon for the photo.

A Winter Rose

Taken at my parent's house last weekend.

Pictures!

Some pictures I ordered a while ago still haven't come yet, but to make up for the delay, the photographer sent me the e-versions.

I love Fancy's tail flowing in the breeze.

Dottie exiting the teeter with all haste.

Pie agilitwheeeee!

 As I recall, I was going a blind cross at the bottom of the frame, which cased the extension we see here, which caused one hit on the downside, above the yellow, and yet another QQ lost to contacts!  Obviously I needed to manage the contact better.  We missed the contact and the Q, but we got a great picture.  I know everyone thinks this about their own dogs, but dang- she is a good looking dog!

Upside down Cake. Pie.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night I was reading on the couch (The Twelve, by Justin Cronin, second in the series, very good!) and I looked to my right to see Pie, upside down and very much asleep.  Gravity pulled her lips into a toothy smile.  I tickled her feet, and while they twitched around a lot, she didn't wake up.  Upside down sleeping dogs get bonus points towards being good dogs.  Who doesn't like free amusement of seeing and upside down sleeping dog?

Pretty view on the way to Los Angeles for a meeting today.