On the Road Again...

The USDAA Nationals are here. We leave in one week. The schedules are out and I'm getting excited. My dream of competing at Nationals is upon me, and I feel inadequate to the task. I'm sure once I'm there, it will all come together, but today I would describe my enthusiasm as nervous excitement with a touch of nausea.

Looks like I walk early mornings but don't run till late afternoons. Ten minutes to walk courses at 7:30am and then think about it all day running late afternoons. Fun times.

Good news is that my RV is right there by the rings. I can take long walks and then sit and watch all the other dogs run to finalize my plans (or run in to toss my cookies just before a run!).

My team is awesome. We all want to make the finals, but none of us expect that. We expect that our baby dogs will come in with a few E's and that's OK with us. We are there to have fun.

My plan is to leave early Tues morning and drive straight through (11-12 hours). I've got books on tape and will stop every 2 - 3 hours to walk the pups and hit the restroom. I've decided to take Tazz even though he isn't running and can be a pain. I just can't imagine 1 week away from my snuggle buns. Fin, if given a vote, would probably rather bring Maddie, but I'm making the decisions, so Tazz is joining the party.

Not sure about Internet, but I'll try to report every day.

Today I must focus on work, make lists of what I'm bringing, and not worry so much.

I'm Baaaaack

So I arrived back from the big trip to Arizona. Got a bunch of stuff in the Van. But of all the things I can't find, I can not find my docking station for my movie camera. I have absolutely no idea where it is. This means I have no way to download my movies and pics I took, nor can I recharge my video camera battery.

Could I have left it in AZ? Of course that is one possibility. Have I lost my mind? That is the other possibility.

I remember wrapping it up standing in the kitchen saying to myself, "Well, it would be a shame if I left this here." Evidently I did. I can NOT remember putting it in anything I packed nor can I remember leaving it there.

OK, enough of my battered brain cells, let's talk agility.

I went over on Friday to the USDAA Nationals (www.USDAA.com) and stayed Fri/Sat/Sunday for all the fun. Brazen Benji Warriors came in 8th OVERALL. This is out of 174 teams! Go girls! There were many many of my friends there and quite a few made it to the finals. For me the highlight is always the night agility. Friday night was PNS. Very exciting and fun. Saturday night was Steeplechase and Performance Speed Jumping. Somehow the agility under the lights seems very magical.

The daytime agility is fun too, but there is so much going on all around it is hard to concentrate.

The overriding theme was "Hot!" the weather was blazing hot on Wed/Thurs, a little better, but not much Fri/Sat, and then on Sunday, I think it finally came down a little (either that or I was getting used to it).

Shopping was ok, but I feel that if the USDAA would lower the cost to vendors, more would show up.

There were so many good dogs there, it was a little overwhelming. I'd see a great dog that I know turn in a blazing run that I would feel no one could beat, then a dog/handler team I didn't know would come in and beat them by more than a second. How could that HAPPEN? It was all very exciting.

So. Hopefully I will find my camera connection soon. Until then, you'll get old pictures or none at all.

Can you say internet?

Whooppiee!

I'm here at the USDAA Nationals in Scottsdale AZ. Fin and I have been busy traveling around. Wed we set off for Avondale and made it in 10.5 hours. She was a good girl and pottied at every stop and slept or chewed on her bone the entire time. We got into Avondale around 6:30pm and my friend Helen had just arrived home that day. She and her husband and baby Kayla came over and helped me unload the van. Then we all went for a walk.

There was a frozen dinner of uncertain age in the fridge and I thought, I'll eat this. Unfortunately, the age did not agree with me and I had a rough evening of it. But slept in the next day till 8am, got up and started cleaning. To say the least, EVERYTHING in the fridge is now in the trash. Sunday night is trash night and it felt good to toss it all out and clean the fridge. All is going well on house cleaning, I've got alot packed and ready to go and will load up the Van for the return trip on Monday.

Today I'm at the nationals. Got to watch my friend Laura run in Team standard. Right now her team is in 6th place overall! That is just fantastic! Tomorrow is gamble and send good luck to them to keep their spot.

Tonight was PNS finals and was very exciting. I had a bit of a headache, but stayed for the fun. Left there around 8:30 and headed to my scottsdale hotel (one night only...tomorrow back to AVONDALE). Fin is pass out on the bed right now :)

I'll blog when I get home, will have some video and pictures. It is just amazing!