One of the MOST fun nights out, EVER!!!!!

Muse Paint Bar Pet Night!!!!! So cool!!!!!

Just getting started.......

This was totally the most awesome fun!'!! Wish I had taken more photos!!! There was a mom and daughter doing the same kitty and it was SO cute!!!! 

TMI?

Too Much Info????

I don't care, this is MY blog.............so..........here goes............I hate this age. I am 52 and definitely going through "the change". It may be why I can't find the time to post here like I did and because I feel like a grumpy complainer all the time. Waaaaaaaa..................just waaaaaaaaaaaa....................I end up feeling sorry for myself most of the day because I can't get comfortable...........first I sweat, then I'm cold, then I look at my wrinkles in the mirror, then I sweat again!!!! Argh!!!!!

I can't sleep. I run out of energy quickly. Bitch, bitch, bitch, it is a CRUEL joke! This should be an age when you are settled into yourself, comfortable with your life and choices and friends. No, it is a time when you just want to regroup, rejuvenate and change your curtains! Hahahahaha, yep, I decided to just throw away our old curtains. They were the cheapest we could find at the time that had ANY style to them, but now they are just faded and outdated and OLD. Crazy, but I found a valance that looks fine and was only $10. How about that???? Cheap change!!!

I wish my body's change was so easy and cheap, LOL!!! No, it appears that I am in for a LONG haul. Since, well, this has been going on now for over a year already. It is TIME to stop this crap and get it over with!!! Change already body!!! Just get 'er done!!!! When I discuss this with my doctor or my friends or read up on the internet, well..........everything/one says "more exercise". Hah, like I don't get enough walking dogs all day doing about 10 miles? Nope, I don't. My body adjusts to what it feels is "normal", so my job walking dogs all day is MY body's normal, so I need MORE exercise. Really???? OK, so I was doing the strength class twice/week and could start that up again. Because, damn it, I DO need that class. My legs might be in good shape, but walking dogs does nothing for abs or arms. Sigh...........

I tried Black Cohosh herbal remedy for "women's hormonal balance". Not working, yet!!!! >:/

Then the next article I read said I don't want to "change" too quickly because once my estrogen is gone, well, there goes my plump skin and youthful appearance. GREAT. Like my skin is SO plump and youthful now?????? Bwaaaaaaaaa............OK, so I still have SOME brown hair and there might be a spot of skin that doesn't have sun damage, but that might be the back of my neck that never SEES the sun. Or my ass. My ass is plump and doesn't have sun damage. Sorry, but no one is going to see my plump and "youthful" ass. Hahahahaha, maybe a skin transplant. Take my ass skin and move it to my face. Yeah, that's a GOOD idea!!!!

OK, so now you have TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!!! How about I switch gears and go back to dogs. Been teaching Spur a 2o2o. Why? Just to see if I can. I have never taught that to a dog and, well, I won't ask him to do it on the dog walk, but I am curious if I can even teach a fast 2o2o on planks. Here is our latest...........

Gotcha day!!!!

Well, looks like my photos added from my computer. Woohooo!!!! Today is Spur's "Gotcha" day! 7 years ago today we brought him home. Damn he was a cute puppy! He was 5 1/2 months, lived in a cage up until that day. Amazing how well he has done! Especially having to live with Rotten Roscoe...........huh, could RR's mouth get any bigger?

 He was such a cute little boy............

 And SO happy!!!!

 And turned into a very handsome little boy..........

 But, this was his beginning.............

 And then he was FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE................

 SO freakin' cute I could NOT let anyone else have him. I just HAD to have him.

I knew what I was getting. I knew he had worries. I knew his structure wasn't great. I knew he had no neck. I knew his front legs were crooked. I knew he was nervous. What I didn't know is how much I would adore him. Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa...............and did any of you believe that??? LOL!!!! I knew the minute I saw him and cleaned his crappy little cage at the kennel how much I would adore him. He is very special. He has taught me SO much. He is an amazing little dog. And I am not sure I have ever had such a friendly little dog. He absolutely loves everyone!!! Well, except for kids. Not a fan of kids, but he sure thinks all adults are super cool and his friend. He barks, gets nervous sometimes when meeting new people, but all because he just gets too excited. He is super friendly and just a pleasure to live with. I love his furry little self!!!!! Hard to believe it has been SEVEN years!!!! Wow!!!

I am going to try somethign different

I am just becoming a total computer LOSER. It just seems I can't get ANYTHING to work right. This computer is so old and full, I can't load any more photos here. So, my photos are all on my iPad or iPhone or laptop. But, my iPad is SO hard to type on. I am a pretty fast typer, on a decent keyboard. On an iPad or lap top I seem to be all thumbs. So, anything of any length I want a good keyboard. I will try to make my post on my desk computer, then I can go to my iPad or laptop and add photos from there? I don't see why that won't work.

Not that I have new photos to share. I don't. I just haven't had any decent photos to share, honestly. We have a ton of bluebirds hanging around, but I don't think I will get any better photo of them than what I have now already. And, now we have snow I am tempted to take photos of Spur racing through the snow. But, I have a ton of those photos.

And, honestly, I have just been TOO DAMN busy! The weather was SO good there for a while. Absolutely, fabulous fall!!! Tons of hiking and playing agility and gardening. It really was a spectacular fall. The trails were nice and the footing was awesome.

Well, in the blink of an eye that ALL changed with about 7" of heavy snow. It damaged the horse fencing. It nearly collapsed one of my tunnels. It covered all my agility jumps. It frost solid and heavy on the cars. I wasn't ready. Should have been ready. It IS that time of year, maybe a we bit early, but it is nearly December. It's just that last year we had this same situation. Early snow that NEVER left. I don't want THAT again. I want THIS snow to leave and give us a few more weeks of bare ground.

We made it through another Thanksgiving. It was great fun, awesome food, a LOT of driving, a dog bite (not MY dog, not me bitten), kids everywhere, we made it. Yeah, someone got bit breaking up the two dogs fighting. These two had not met before and one is not a nice dog. She really should have been kept away during dinner clean up, but she arrived and decided to KICK ASS on the resident ancient lab. Oi! Someone stepped between them and got bit. I can't believe I had to presence of mind to be sure to grab a hind let and put in circles, but I did and it worked, but not before someone got bit. It wasn't horrible, some breaks in the skin, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I said.............Oh dogs, they can be such assholes. But, hey kids fight and sometimes bite, too. She said..........no, MY kids don't bite. OK, so yeah, right they don't, but I was just trying to make her feel better. It was HER dog who started it. I simply reveled in that it wasn't MY dog. LOL!! For once, MY dog wasn't the "bad" dog. YAY!!!

So, remember that, grab the dog by the hind leg and pull in a circular motion. That prevents the dog from turning around and biting you. They end up having to stay on their front feet too much. And then once the fight is broken up the dog you have by the hind legs will usually calm down.

OK, so I am going to the Muse Paint bar in a couple weeks and I need to decide which photo to use?

I love this photo, but he looks so serious and one side of his face is dark.....

This one is nice,but his eyes seem squinty?"....

Love this one, but will it look funnyin a painting?.......

I feel like a complainer

I complain and complain about my technology. I complain about not having enough time in the day. I complain about menopause. I complain about my sister posting endless photos of FOOD from her trip to Portugal. Really?
Why do people like to do that? Post their plates/tables/meals on facebook? I don't think food really looks that good in photos unless you are a professional photographer and can really make it look NICE. It usually looks like globs of guck to me from the layman photos. I just don't get it. I complained. I complained and my mother called me pissy and posted she wanted to see all the food. Me? I am sick of the food, she is in Portugal! I want to see scenery and horses and people. Sure, she posted photos of marble and buildings. OK, I think those are all cool and everything, but mostly they just come out as grey stone. The weather must be a little grey and cloudy, so the marble and buildings end up washed out and little definition. FINALLY, she posted some horse photos. I mean, really, that was the reason they went! A gift to her youngest who is a horse fanatic. Thank goodness no more food photos!!! I even asked the question....."are you doing anything other than eating???". Yes, I was pissy. You are in PORTUGAL!!!! I can look in a magazine about food to see food photos!! I want to see PORTUGAL!

So, I felt pissy again this weekend. I decided to do a local (one hour away) CPE trial. Rich calls it the "loser" agility. I didn't put that word in his mind, he came up with it when he watched my runs one year, many years ago, in a CPE trial. He said, "huh, the courses are really simple"?? Yes, they are, that is CPE, very simple courses. I find it sometimes annoying they are so simple. Like up one side, down the other. Yep, like 14 obstacles and you're done. But, sometimes a good venue for a dog like Spur because it is so simple. And this one was on dirt, so we decided to do it since I signed up for the big AKC trial in Springfield coming up. On dirt, four rings, biggest AKC trial in the country. It is a fun trial except it is in Springfield. And, well, on dirt. The dirt is GREAT for the dogs, but it does produce some dust and make everything dirty. I haven't really liked it in the past, but hey, Spur seems to like running on something other than rubber, so this year I decided to go and give it a try. We haven't been trialing as much as last year, so what the heck, give it a go. Well, this past weekend's CPE trial was kind of a warm up for that. He seemed to enjoy it. We haven't run on dirt in years. It is HARD for us humans!!! But, Spur seemed to like it. Took some adjusting, he has been badly stutter stepping on rubber lately after knocking a few bars, probably from slipping. He is such a worrier. No slipping on the dirt, but he did have to adjust some.

OK, so what is my beef about that trial??? Well, CPE people bitch and moan about how HARD AKC and USDAA trials are, courses are way too complicated, too many rules and bitchy people. Hmmmm, well, I can not remember a trial where they were more uptight about rules, the judge's briefing was full of what not to do's, she sounded like she was reprimanding a class of fifth graders. And her courses had many sections where the distances between obstacles and the approaches to contacts were HORRIBLE. Talk about complicated. No, not tight twisty lines, but damn bad approaches to obstacles. And so many straight lines that people could not possibly do with a some what fast dog. I saw more dogs pull off obstacles because the handler wasn't running. I mean seriously some of them barely broke a jog. WHAT? This is an agility "run". You RUN people!!!! I had a woman complain to me about her dog being distracted and not paying attention. Huh, well, when you barely jog around a course and are SO late with your cues, why would the dog pay attention!!!! LOL!!! Fucking RUN the course and the dog might start paying attention!!! These people did not look injured or old or sick. RUN people!!! It is called agility and it your "run" with your dog! RUN!!!!

OK, enough of that. Now for some videos. Been training Tess for Sharon while she recovers from some minor surgeries. We are doing Silvia's foundation class and it is very fun. She is a curious and fun little dog. She has some worries, doesn't totally understand it is all about being fast and tight, but she is learning and  she sure has the ability! We just need to figure out how to make her understand exactly what it is all about. She is coming along nicely!!!



 



and a run on the beach one morning. YAY!! Look at Spur GO!!!



And some fun tunnel discrimination practice with Spur!!!

Stuck in computer hell!!!!

It really does seem like hell sometimes!!!! I have trouble with my ancient computer, so I get a laptop and can't get that to work. My ever trusty iPad is now giving me fits. WTH!!!!!! 

But, hey, these are minor issues. We are not cold or hungry, have Ebola, or the flu. But, I still want to complain. I mean, today my keyboard locks up. New batteries, so it isn't that. Ugh. The worst part is all this techno trouble is SO time consuming. I sit and wait for sites to load, or my forms library to open, or a word document to open......wait, wait, and wait some more. I am tired of waiting on a computer.

I am currently "attending" Silvia Trkman's online agility class with a friend's dog and want to post videos. But, after all the time it takes to make the videos and load them to the classroom I have no patience any more to make blog posts!!!!! ARGH!!!

So, for now settle for a few photos. -

poor Roscoe must have gotten the sun in his eyes and ran into a jump. Then summersaulted, a MinPin lawn dart!!!!!

Spur, working hard to keep up with Tess. He actually does a pretty good job!!!

OK, so a tech I am NOT!!!!

My friend suggested I pay the $100 for the unlimited istore guru advice. I am not hesitant because, well, .........I hate that stuff. I mean, really, I have limited time in my life for stuff as it is, why would I make appt. to spent time doing stuff I don't like. ????? well, the answer would be to give me MORE time, right? So that I am not spending my time trying to figure stuff out for myself. OK, maybe I will do that.......later. I am a PROcrastinator!!!!!

I love the technology I have.......for some stuff. Making training videos, taking photos, playing games and watching videos. But, it does sometimes seem to suck my time into outer space, gone with the wind, time I will never get back. Time spent doing NOTHING!!!!!!

Oh well, with the help of technology (I had to look up the M logo), I made a fun Halloween costume for a party last night!! BIG hit at the party!!!! everyone thought it was so cool and loved to bounce into me! At the end of the night I want to stab the balloons one at a time and have others help. Hah, Rich AND the hostess wouldn't let me!!! WHY!!!! like I was going to save it?????? Nah, I had to pop the balloons today anyway, would have been fun to pop them at the party. 

poor Roscoe had to endure a photo! He was so intrigued by the costume, I finally put it over his head, silly dog!!!!

The balloons were attached with safety pins to a big t-shirt. the M was made with a template and spray paint. It really was fun!!!!!

So many things to tell!!

And nothing of any great interest, really! My life is so simple. Enjoy the outdoors, my dog, flowers and photos. That/s it, that's all.

First, this is a flower  =my neighbor gave me this spring. From seeds brought in from Puerto Rico. It never did anything all summer......until NOW!!! NOW it decides to flower!!!! Funny plant!!!

F

Finally found the photo of Spur joinging us for lunch in 

Bar Harbor. Such a good boy!!

 And the pretty garden ornament made from plates and glass cups. COOL!!

 

This next series of  photos I love because it shows two dogs having such a great time playing!! The little white westie is only four months old and just met the bigger dog. They were fast friends!! Lovely play!!!