Sunday, January 06, 2008

More Winter Photos 'n' Stuff

Woke up this morning to see this freaky-looking ice hand reaching down off the roof... (took the photo from the outside)



There's still more than enough winter to go around. Dinah had a nice bounce with her sweetheart Traveler this afternoon...



Meanwhile, at home, Charlie is still the King of All He Surveys...



...and Seamus still keeps trying to shovel the steps with his face.



Yup, just another weekend here in Frozen Frickin' Paradise.

Minor Successes Are Still Successes

I've always been a bit leery of knitting anything for Greg that he doesn't want. When I was learning to knit, I made him a scarf just because it was the only thing I knew how to make at that point. He's not really a scarf kind of guy, so he thanked me profusely for it... but I haven't seen it since. The nice gray Jawoll socks have likewise never seen the light of day, though he assures me that they are not lost, just waiting in the sock drawer for his next winter hike.

Well, I've finally struck knitted-gift pay dirt with The Man. I made him a watch cap out of Lion's Brand Wool-ease Chunky, and handed it to him while we were watching a movie. He removed the hat he was wearing, placed the watch cap on his head, and said that if I ever felt like knitting him more hats, he would absolutely love to have them. I'm taking him at his word, so the next project will be a regular toque out of a pine-green heathered Encore Worsted.

We're Number 4! We're Number 4!

The 2007 rankings for APDT Rally are out. Whereas Seamus was #2 in the country (out of 2 Beardies) in the rankings, this year he's #4 out of 4. That's actually okay, considering that we made it to only one weekend of APDT trials all year. This year, we need to practice, practice, practice and finish up that RL1X title. We've entered the Monadnock APDT trial at the end of March. If we qualify all four times that weekend, we'll be up to 7 Qs, and will need to qualify only three more times to finish the title!

I'm still not completely sure we'll ever go on to APDT RL2 or AKC Advanced with Seamus. Seamus is still not reliable off-lead, though little Dinah Moe is better off-lead than she is on-lead. She's coming along in rally-roo, though it'll be a while before we reach anything like military precision. We start up agility classes this week for both pups, which should make them both very happy (and tired). We all could use a chance to run around and have some fun, now that we don't have to go to shows every frickin' weekend.

Not that the wheels of the dog-show machinery haven't been turning. I spent most of yesterday afternoon with the show chair and the specialty clubs chair for my local kennel club's dog shows in May. We work well together and got quite a bit done, but the process was L-O-N-G. BCCME will have a supported entry both days of the show, and as Trophy Chair, it's my happy task to compile exhaustive lists of all of the rosettes and trophies being offered by everybody for all of the breed rings, obedience, and rally-roo (especially those prizes being offered for Bearded Collies at the show).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I still have never figured out what to knit for my husband.

I love your dog/snow pics, though I'm curious why Seamus finds that method best for sweeping snow. I suppose if he used his tail, though, he wouldn't be able to see what he was doing. With this method, at least he can see what he's doing for a few seconds until his face gets full of snow. Anyway, GOOD BOY, for helping clean up!