More work on our pushes!

This time I think he did better! Time to mix it up some!

Orioles?

The finches ate many blossoms from my crabapple tree, but you really can't tell. The tree looks happy and healthy. No photo of it because the wind blew all the petals off yesterday, damn it!

 We have resident phoebes. They built a nest in the barn while we were away. I am NOT happy about that. I have barn cats. I normally knock the nests down as they start to build them, but by now I think they probably have eggs. So, they will stay.

 I saw an oriole the other day and ran right out for oranges. Nothing. No sign of the orioles. Damn!

Rich's snorkeling with his Go Pro!!

Pretty cool!!!

Some agility practice

My friend Shona came over yesterday. She has injured her calf and needs to take a break from running her aussie, Rankin. She is hoping to be nearly back by the Regionals in July, which is SUPER AWESOME because we will room together and have a BALL!!! But, she wants me to run Rankin some, so she had him out for some practice. He has different verbal cues and boy was that hard. I have a hard enough time with my OWN cues, LOL!! So, I think next time I just need to not worry so much about my cues as he is so well trained he reads body language so well I don't need them that much.



I also had Spur practicing his pushes. We have our work cut out for us. Silvia says this is good work and just keep at it until it is something he is super comfortable about. As with everything Spur, it will take time.

A little mediocre........

That's kind of how I feel about the weekend trial. We had moments of "brilliance", but most of the time it was just mediocre. Nothing super great, not many Q's. Some stupid mistakes and late cues on my part and Spur kind of worried at times. He has run well here before, so I guess I was expecting a little more, but I should know outdoors is not his favorite. But, the weather could not have been better! Cool and dry and breezy. Perfect. Still, he ran just mediocre.



I don't know what I can do differently to help him. Some things ARE getting better, like his wraps. He sure is feeling pretty comfortable with those now and that's all good. Pushes still bum him out, so we have work to do there, for sure. I guess we just carry on. He is still happy and not totally bummed out about running, so that makes me happy. I just know he has more speed in him and more skills and he sure runs better at home, so I would love to get that same attitude at trials.

Blue birds must have babies now. They are out and about a lot. I haven't heard them, but they are busy coming and going from the house. Only one of our three houses has occupants.

 This poor Mrs. must have bathed in an oil slicked puddle? She was bathing in our bird bath. She can fly, so I think she will be OK, once she cleans herself up some. Hopefully, she can do that.

 The pollywogs are growing legs!!!

 The bobolinks are everywhere, but too far for good photos.

Poolside!

Somehow this photo never made it on my vacation report. This was our first night. Our room opened up to our private patio that over-looked the pool. Which all over-looked the water. We had hoped for amazing sunsets, but it was cloudy each evening. Still, such a lovely spot! We sat and had pina coladas there every night and enjoyed the warm air!!

 I thought I would post this fun event in Portland this weekend. I will be at a dog show in NH, but this should be a wicked fun time!!!

I brought Roscoe out of retirement!!

I put him in a "Veterans" run. They offer veterans class for any dog over 8, I believe. The jumps are lower, but it is the same course everyone else runs. I did snooker this time, so I could kind of make up my own course. He LOVED it!! Hahahaha! Crazy old man! He's 14 years old!! I guess I will be entering him in some more veterans runs! :D

Spur won his PGP for a bye to Regionals. That's cool!! Glad to have that!! We have missed out on byes because Laura Dolan is entering Race in PGP now and we have NO hope of  beating them. They are world team members. Not really sure why she enters him in performance, he sure isn't a performance dog, he is a double National Champion and a World Team member. But, she wasn't at this trial, so Spur won and got his bye. :D For those who don't know, that means he gets and automatic advancement to the finals in this particular class. We don't have to run clean in round one. It's cool!! It is a nice thing to have and we ARE going to Regionals in July and I can't wait. It will be INDOORS, YAY!!! On field turf, which Spur loves!

Vacation trip wrap up!!

Some of the flora. I think these are aloe plants? They just grow off of anything, the grown a tree, a rock.

 Our first visit to the beach late in the afternoon. All to ourselves!

 Seriously, a week there and we saw three other people all week. 99% of our time there it was all ours!

 Oh and the pelican's. See the fish in his throat?

 They were very entertaining.

 Some little see flora.

 When not fishing the pelican's roosted on the trees and groomed.

 I just can't believe how private out beach was! We checked out some other beaches and all had plenty of people.

 All the way at the other end there were neat little tide pools in the coral.

 I mean, really, does it get any nicer? :D

 These little birds were busy at the hummingbird feeder. Rich thought they were hummingbirds, but they are slightly larger and called bananaquits.

 View of town from our place. We rented a "kitchenette" from a home. They had four rooms available. We had THE best one with our private little deck/patio right in front of the pool with a shade roof.

 This shows our beach down the bottom of the hill.

 This fellow was at the Ritz Carlton. We "trespassed" on a few resort beaches to sit on their cushioned lawn chairs in the shade. This guy was well fed and walked up and down the beach "tormenting" the guests. The cabana boys would chase him up a tree.

 I think that is St. John in the background.

 This one was at another resort beach, but up in the trees, camouflaged.

 Kind of human looking eyes!

 The seagulls all looked like this. Small and tern-like.

 These tiny lizards were everywhere. Colby would have been INSANE chasing them on the path to the beach, or off the grounds around the pool.

 This adorable yellow capped night heron hung out one day.

 Roosting pelican.

 Our private beach!!!! This was the very farthest spot where the coral was and the awesome tide pools were.

 I took these through the tide pool water!

 I tried like heck to get the pelicans in their dives.

 One day this guy shows up and tosses his net out. Pulls it up a minute later full of fish. Probably for bait?

 Rich, skinny dipping.

 We did get rain one day.

 They don't recycle and the home owners just toss their bottles over the side of the drive way. He said to Rich he was "building the bank". What???? It was odd. We would be sitting on the deck and hear smashing glass.

 The mangos were ripe! Each morning she came out and picked some.

 The diving pelicans.

We just had the best time. The travel there is brutal. 12 hours total from the time leaving the house to the time arriving there. I hate that part of it. But, it was really the nicest spot. I just could not believe how private it was. We rented a car and driving around was INSANE!! They drive on the left, but the driver is still on the left, so as a passenger it is FREAKY!!!! And the roads are narrow, winding and in horrible shape. And up and down big hills constantly. And there is no "island time" when on the roads. Everyone is in a hurry and love to honk at you! INSANE!!!!

Arrived home late last night. The dogs were beside themselves with glee!!! Our housesitter had the house tidy and clean. He even ran the vacuum!! What a pleasant surprise that was!!! :D The animals all seemed happy and content.