I can see myself with a staffy some day!

This is Stan!Ebony's Wicked Sharp Tool. Stanley, for short. Great name, A?
He has a small wee wee for a bruiser of a dog. We LOFF Stan, the Man!! He was visiting at the agility show last weekend. He used to do agility. He was a top Staffordshire Bull Terrier in the country at agility. Now he does tricks. He has a back issue. He is a COOL dog! So friendly and funny. And powerful. His sisters now do agility. Eddie and Halle. I didn't get photos of them.

I love that you can feel their warmth through their thin coats. I love their huge smiles. I love their powerful bodies. I could see myself with a staffy some day. His sister Eddie is a top staffy in agility right now. In the country!!! Halle is just starting her career. These are our fellow students in Wednesday night class.

A chipmunk in his mouth?

I was talking to my friend, a jeweler at the dog show on Saturday. She is a horse friend and boards a few horses at her place. That day the vet was coming for shots and to float teeth and one of the boarders was going to be there for that. She got a call while we were chatting that when the vet went to float the big draft/gypsy cross he found a dead chipmunk in it's mouth. WHAT??????

Yep, you read that right. They are thinking perhaps it drowned in the water trough and the horse sucked it up? And then couldn't get it out? Rodents do drown in water buckets sometimes, but this was hard to believe. But, it is a true story!!! That sure has to be a new one for that vet. ICK!!! And the poor horse? I wonder how long it had been in there???? Oh nasty, nasty, nasty! You might think the horse would have been shaking it's head trying to dislodge the thing. ??????

AKC trial repot!

Wow, what a soggy weekend! But, today was LOVELY! Friday was just plain soggy. I scratched Roscoe. He ain't happy in the rain. Spur, he did fine and Q'd in all three runs. Good little Monkey Pants! He placed second in Jumpers only to a dog who is trying out for the World Team. That felt good!

He finished his Excellent A title, so from now on we work on double Q's and lots of points. Yay!! He's a "big" boy now!!!

His standard from today. Nice dog walk Spur-minator. Still not as fast as in practice, but sure has nice deep hit striding right through his contact. He knows his job!



His Open FAST which he didn't get. It was tunnel to weaves and I should have stayed back a little. Still, look how happy he was!! YAY!!! To think he was such a stress case I almost quit with him. Happy boy say his fan Mary at the score table and decided to show off!!! :D He LOVES his fans!!!



His jumpers from today. A little slow off the start, but then he runs pretty well. Good boy!!!! Placed third! Again, only to the World Team potential dog and a dog on his way to the Invitational, so that was not a bad run!!! :D



Roscoe ran one run yesterday and today. Yesterday he looked AWESOME, but took an off course tunnel. Today, a little pokey and down and he missed his weave entry. So unlike him, but outdoors is just not his think. Next weekend, two days indoors. I hope he feels happier.

We figured it out!

It's in the shade, so you can't really see, but before the straw was loaded on this trailer we looked at that bit of machinery on the trailer and wondered WHAT THE HECK was it???? (I had a close up shot from before the straw was loaded, but I can't find it now). We just couldn't figure it out. It had a place for the bale, but it was definitely not a baler. Now we know!!!! It's a mulcher!!! It chews up the straw and shoots it out. They use it for mulching the strawberries.

Before the crazy hail storm our poppies were BRILLIANT! Sadly, the hail storm kind of beat them down, but enjoy these amazing photos. I don't even remember where I got these plants, but they are so awesome!!!!

As we head into July, the lilies will open. Such pretty time of year, June and July!!!!

For those of you not on facebook, remember this weekend has lots of doggie events to attend. Starting today four days of breed and obedience shows at the Cumberland fairgrounds. Starting tomorrow three days of agility at Wasamki Springs campground. I'll be there running my dogs. And Saturday and Sunday Dock Diving at the Cabela's parking lot in Scarborough. All these events are free to spectators so go watch some dogs having great fun, regardless of the weather!!!!

Last night at agility class Spur came out again. I gave him two weeks off. It was Roscoe's turn. With three days of outdoor agility I needed to try to get some conditioned emotional response to doing outdoor agility and Roscoe got to run, alone. He went to class alone last week, he was THE dog at the seminar last weekend. It was his time. My time with him is limited, due to the inability to control aging. He's at least twelve. He's slowing down some, I can see it and it makes me sad. He still enjoys class, though!

Last run of the night, I decided to pull out Spur. It was the full course, kind of hard and lots of back sides. HE FREAKIN' SMOKED IT!!!! Instructor Anne was like......what have you been doing with him???? I said,.......um.......not much he has been on break. He was ON FIRE!! Leaping the a-frame apex, running perfect dog walks, doing super tight turns. He was FLYING. I think he needed that break. It needs to be part of our training program. On occasion, The Spur Man needs a break. I do think it also helps that we have the jealousy factor going on. There has been some screaming. Pull out Roscoe = crazy, monkey screams of despair from The Spur-minator! So sad.......good to make him want it that bad. I hope he shows that intensity this weekend!! :D And I hope there isn't too much rain for Roscoe. He will NOT run in rain, no way, it's a bummer man. No rain for Roscoe!!

Wow, the grass grows!

This hay field is ready to mow!!! Way over Roscoe's head!!! His world is a little smaller on this path!!! LOL!!

The Indian Paintbrushes just don't come out in film as brilliant as they are for real. They are SO tall this year!!!

You just can't tell, but this pasture is just FULL of Indian Paintbrushes.
The straw baled the other day. This will be used for mulching the strawberries!It's so pretty in the early morning sunlight. The farm changes almost daily.

I love that we live among the wildlife!

How many tail-less foxes can there be? This little guy/gal must be the same one I saw last year. I thought at first it was a stray corgi, LOL!!! It looks a little mangy, but not bad, and certainly plenty plump. Of course, that could be because it is a she and is pregnant. :P

I feel for the wildlife at times. It is a hard life. I can't imagine the ticks, the fleas and mange and the worry.
I do worry about the wildlife. We have the feral cats in the barn. Our dogs are pretty LITTLE. But, we live in a place that is SO awesome. Sharing it with tail-less foxes and deer and birds and last night what seemed like thousands of fire flies!!! :D
It is a wonderful, complicated, complete world out there and I love it all. I know many people who would be angry with the foxes, so many cats around here go missing. But, I believe we all have a place in the world and I appreciate seeing the animals right here in my back yard. My cats seem remarkably savvy. Heck, old man Zeus is pushing 20!!!! Why hasn't he been taken by a fox or coyote. He's savvy, that's all I can think. Don't mess with Zeus, he'll put up too much of a fight. Or he smells like death? I don't know, but he lives among the dangers like this tail-less plump (pregnant?) fox.

Lo's International seminar!

Yesterday I went to Lo's for her International seminar. We worked on back sides, pull throughs, twisty turning courses. I ran Roscoe most of the day and he LOVED it!! He did great!!!! It was his day, but at 12 years old (or older for all we know) he got tired. It got hot in the afternoon. So, I pulled out Spur.

Spur did a few dog walk sessions that were interesting. I have one on film. Notice his slow first run, getting used to the equipment. He needs tons of time before he will be comfortable on different equipment, so I am trying to get him on as many dog walks as possible.

This session was interesting. He nailed everyone heading into the agility field. Going the other direction with NOTHING in front of the dog walk except a HUGE open field that slopes down he had some leaps. But, notice after each leap he got it nicely the next time. Good little monkey pants learns well from absence of reward. He will never see a huge open field after the dog walk in an agility trial, so that was not really fair to set up for him. Still, he learned from the session! :D



On the way home we got caught in a major hail storm. It was NUTS!! I was scared and the dogs were, too. I was horrified that my new car would end up with dents all over it. I mean, Muffin Heads, it was BIG hail!! I think it came through OK. I see one small dent on the hood, but that's it. Amazing, really, it sounded like we were being pelted by golf balls!!! They said it was quarter size hail. It was SO loud!!!! We had to pull over and then I was worried about tree limps crashing on us. Yikes!!!!