The Team Is Sparkly

My sister and her girl friend came over today and helped me hang some Christmas lights. Kel played golf on this somewhat rainy day. It did not rain while we were hanging lights and no adults were electrocuted nor fell off the roof during our adventure.

Usually we hang the icicle lights. I have a ton of them. This year I wanted something different. Blue and white. So off to target to buy something I really don't need, but I feel that every little stimulation to the economy that I do has got to be a good thing. I got the task (it is my house after all) of climbing on the roof. Eve said that me crawling on the roof was the scariest thing she's ever experienced. Since she has lived in Israel and been in the military, I was impressed with my ability to scare someone. I thought living on the edge was pretty good. I would not have tried this last year before we replaced all the rotting wood and put a new roof on. This year, I felt very confident that nothing bad would happen.

My only regret is that I didn't call Laura P. up and tell her I was on the roof. That would have brought the giggles for sure... Well, if I'd started giggling, then I might have truly been in trouble.

Team Whisner is Thankful

The team had the family over for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. One poor 20 pound turkey was scarfed up by 16 adults and one young'un. Maddie is hopeful for scraps from Eve. Eve is new to our group and Maddie decided early on that she was an easy mark. I think she was right. If you look close, Fin is at Eve's feet. Hmmm Eve, I think both girls are work'n you good with those cute faces.

We had an 18th for dinner! Oh no! I didn't have silverware for the 18th. Luckily Dory didn't want to use silverware, and her tummy is about as big as a teaspoon. She enjoyed her visit. We put the "boyz" in the back so she could have a few moments of peace.

A tradition at our family gatherings is to bring "crap" you don't want and we have a raffle. Everyone gets tickets and they put their tickets in cups. We then draw tickets and the winner gets to take someone else's crap, now their treasure home. This works really well unless I put items in that Kel wins....then not so much.

Fortunately, this day, all crap donated went home with someone else. I won some tissue paper, a hot plate, and some gum. Not all items are crapalicous, notice the DVR player and I really wanted those knit caps...

After a full meal, a busy 30 minutes of pulling tickets, our young'n rested a while with the boyz. I love the expression.

All in all a fun day. A good meal. But most of all, a wonderful visit with some truly great folks.

Just when you thought it was over...

...there is a plethora of dog agility happenings going on in my neck of the world.

• Nov 28/29 AKC trial
• Nov 30 Silvia Trkman seminar the entire week
• Dec 5/6 AKC trail
• Dec 7 Marco Mouwen seminar for one day
• Dec 12-13 the Screaming Monkeees will make an appearance at a USDAA team trial (Laura made these really cool T shirts for us...for the future, want a cool T shirt? Team up with Laura Harwick of team small dog. She is amazing!)

Yikes. I was feeling like I wasn't doing much agility. I guess I'm putting that thought to rest. When the heck am I getting all that Christmas shopping done? Gotta ask myself these tough questions.

Today I made cookies for my new neighbor. I haven't delivered them yet as I went over (saw all kinds of cars in the driveway) and no one answered. I haven't actually seen any humans over there. Maybe they are vampires....vampires that own boxers...ok, maybe they aren't vampires. But why don't I ever see them. Only hear their dogs.

I ask myself what they must think of me. All they hear is me calling my dogs, yelling, "Teeter!," "Tunnel," and "Weave, Weave, Weave, Weave!" They also hear, "No bark!" followed by alot of barking...hmmm gotta work on that one.

So I hope to deliver cookies real soon. But I'm only giving these cookies to humans. These are really good cookies!

The times they are a changing...

Love me some Bob Dylan!

So yesterday I realize that Thurs is Thanksgiving. All my thoughts have been on Nationals and I had put the whole holiday thingy on the back burner.

Last year I PROMISED myself that I would have my holiday shopping completed by TG. I'm not sure I'm going to meet my goal. As a matter of fact. I'm pretty much certain that I will not have finished my holiday shopping.

I will host TG this year. 17 of my dearest loving helpful adoring civil good looking relatives, a couple friends tossed into the mix, and we are sure to have a fun time. I'll be cooking up a 20 pound Turkey and the basic trimmings. I try to keep in mind my healthy life style, but also that I have young healthy relatives that like to eat. It will be a balance.

The pups enjoy TG as they get a nice long walk in the morning (so they'll be tired and not under foot - unless your name is Tazz). This way I won't feel bad if I have to put someone (not to name names, but Rocky) in a crate for barking at children and aunt Pat, or someone else (Fin) for fear barking at the children - who she does not recognize as human beings - in her crate for a time out. When the evening rolls around, all the relatives except for the mom unit will be gone and the pups will get another romp (usually chuck-it) in the back or a long walk.

I enjoy TG as I really do like to cook it. I enjoy feeding my family and find that the mess for this meal is not so bad.

We also celebrate all the B-days during the year that we have not been able to celebrate (there are about six). And we do a fish bowl raffle with all the junk nobody wants but everyone puts in a raffle ticket for.

A good holiday...maybe my favorite of the year.

I'm Baaaaak!

Home from the USDAA Nationals. Had a great time. Stayed in an RV literally yards away from ring 6. I felt so special being so close to the action. Found I was incredibly relaxed (except for about 30 minutes before each run!).

Tazz and Fin enjoyed the RV. They were good puppies the entire week.

I covered all the furniture as they sat in every chair.

It was like goldie locks and the three bears. They wanted to know which surface was the most comfy. They decided the bed.

All in all I consider the trip a success although Fin and I weren't as successful as I wanted to be in all our runs. We did do really well the first day coming in 13th, but the rest of the time we had moments of brilliance, but didn't go clean the rest of the week.

I was able to spend alot of time enjoying watching some really great handlers and dogs, and also spent time relaxing reading, walking, and just hanging out.

Now we are back, I am working on a list of training goals. Certainly continuation of my obstacle independence is really important, but also, going wide and around things is a high priority. In two runs, we had problems as I took my eye off her for a moment and she was around the obstacle before I realized it.

It is good to be home and I highly recommend going to the USDAA nationals as an experience. All we did was team (no GP or Steeplechase) and although I thought it was silly at first to do this and not be in the "big" events, I am so happy I did.

I totally missed my best friend as she was unable to come, but it was nice hanging with other people and relaxing at the trailer was fun too. It is good to be back, but I was certainly getting used to walking every morning and going out and hanging with good people doing great agility.

Gone...

I'm off. No time for blogging it. I'm slogging through the last of my work, cleaning house, bathing dogs, packing, and trying not to bring the entire house.

Dreams consist of me showing up at the site and an empty trailer is sitting in the parking lot and when I walk in it is gutted and the end is open. I walk around trying to find the lady that I rented the RV from, and there doesn't seem to be anybody there and no one I know is there. I might even be there at the wrong time and totally missed the dog show. In my dream I'm frustrated and confused. I wake up and think about lists of crap I may want....I know I'm taking too much.

If I can I will update the blog with reports from the site...but we'll see how it goes.

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.