Bliss

If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are--if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.

Joseph Campbell
"The Power of Myth" with Bill Moyers

Upcoming Shows! and a Buzz update

Buzz
APDT Rally-O August 9th
3 runs in level 2 A, and 2 runs in level 1 B (hoping for ARCH points!)

Bailey
AKC Rally at the CMKC show on Friday, August 15th
Advanced B & Excellent B (hoping for a new RE and a 1st RAE QQ)

AKC Rally and Obedience at the TCVESSA shows on Thursday and Friday, August 21-22
Advanced B & Excellent B, Open A (will be her second and third times in an Open ring)

AKC Agility at the SCVKC show on Sunday August 24
Novice Preferred STD and JWW (we have 1 NJP Q right now)

I'm excited! We get to SHOW again! :)

Buzz's stitches came out today and they were very pleased with how well his incision healed! Playtime today at work AND hopefully a bath!

I have...

1. Two super amazingly cool dogs
2. Amazing Ben-brother who put a new radio/cd player in my old car "just because"
3. Super Chris-brother who always helps me out whenever I ask for it
4. New running shoes that are THE best ever... I LOVE new running shoes
5. Air conditioning
6. A farm to visit that has lots of wildlife and walking paths
7. The St. Croix River to look at early morning when the fog is just lifting
8. Hot chocolate from Ali because she knows it always makes me happy
9. Good friends to talk to on the phone
10. Caring, thoughtful, and kind "dog friends" who are frequently more than just "dog friends"
11. A mom who understands my "animal obsession" and helps me out no matter what it is I need
12. A trip to the MN ZOO planned because it's probably my favorite place ever
13. Wannigan Days to (hopefully) hang out with Ben-brother and play catch up with our lives
14. A really funny and cute nephew named Owyn
15. A friend named Kristen! :)

I want...

1. A horse
2. New collapsible crate for Buzz
3. Puppy (toller, ess, aussie, or belgian would be just dandy)
4. Fenced dog yard
5. Cooler weather
6. Forced air dryer for grooming
7. Fenced cat yard
8. Concert tickets (not terribly picky about who I get to see)
9. Free gas forever (or at least a month or two)
10. Live in chef (in the form of a husband or just friend... but cooking good food without onions and peppers and other yucky stuff is a must)
11. Pool
12. Friends who actually want to do stuff without their SO (significant other) at least SOMETIMES!
13. Tanya to be my vet
14. More Milano cookies (milk chocolate and mint)
15. My placement for Student Teaching to be at Stonebridge!

Videos

Buzz: ACTS NADAC July 5, 1008 Regular 1
Q/2nd
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gBJnkAFoego

Bailey: weaves
http://youtube.com/watch?v=szJScgqHzIg

Bailey: broad jump
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Aahn5xhBHPM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vRVE_QP-dSY

100th Post!

Woohoo! Can I collapse though?!?! :)

I've worked the last three days at BOTH jobs.
Thursday was 8-2:30 at the Cafe and 4-close (left about 9:15) at P&C.
Friday was 6-1 at the Cafe and 4-close (left about 9:05) at P&C.
Today was 7:30-10:30 at the Cafe and 12-4 at P&C.

Friday was by far the LONGEST day EVER! But I also made over $60 in tips at the Cafe so... hah!

Buzz news: Pathology report came back and the lump wasn't cancerous! Apparently it was something that acts/looks like cancer but isn't. Still had to come off and that makes me triply relieved. Clean margins too! :) Restricted activity until next Friday and we'll see how he's doing then.

Bailey news: Tracking class went REALLY well on Tuesday. We get to graduate to a 10' leash! WOOHOO! We'd been on a 5' since the start. Her corners are REALLY improving. We're back to using food on the track and that's FINE with me. Most times she blows over it but if she "needs it" it's there. Her weaving is MARVELOUS (for her). I'm quite impressed and need to get a video soon. I can't WAIT to show her again! Yippy! We've also done more broad jump work and I think I have FINALLY taught clearly what the broad jump expectations are. I can send her from *almost* anywhere and she'll take it straight on. I'd like a *little* more distance after the jump, and we'll work on that but it's a fairly solid behavior now and that makes me very happy!

And now... I AM going to sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing... until the dogs need to go outside! :) Tomorrow is my DAY OFF from BOTH JOBS! I am SO freaking excited!!!!!!!

Lump Removal

The lump came off nicely accordint to the vet and his preliminary report is CLEAN MARGINS!

We're waiting for the official pathology report before I REALLY celebrate though!

I'm so relieved!

Buzz HATE this whole "recovery" thing. He has limited activity, a lot of crate time, multiple short walks each day. Limited food because he's on limited activity. But, lots of cuddles and snuggles and belly rubs. He's being a good boy about it even if he's clearly not happy with the situation.

I shouldn't laugh at him, but when I picked him up on Monday he was still groggy and had those glazed over eyes that are just hilarious. He had good balance just silly looking eyes.

I'll try to get some new pictures of my healthy old man soon!

ACTS NADAC Day 2

Well, we actually qualified in all three runs today! That's pretty darn cool!

He had some really nice runs too! Jumpers was almost ELEVEN seconds under time! Chances was very clean and we worked together. He went where I wanted him to go, and I directed him well! Really good teamwork on that run. Tunnelers was good too. It also earned us a new title: O-TN-N!

I really couldn't be happier with how he performed.

All in all, a really good weekend... and now I'm just waiting for tomorrow.

There are videos... on a few different friend's video cameras so it'll be a while before they're posted.

ACTS NADAC Day 1

Today really was a good day. I was kinda sad we didn't qualify in weavers, but that's ok. He was a happy dog... and he DID weave, it just took us a while! ;)

Today we were scheduled to have six runs, but I knew we'd be running five at the most. He just isn't young enough/fit enough/can't mentally handle that many runs in one day. Started the day with regular 1, Q/2nd place by .01 seconds! Good boy, nice run!

Weavers followed... hah. He decided that he couldn't weave, though we'd just weaved (and well too) in regular. He got the last set but we were WAY over time! But, big improvements from this time last year... he was HAPPY in weavers, and didn't really mind being asked to redo them. Very silly boy.

Regular 2 was next, another good run but we knocked a bar. I think he tripped. I'll have to check the video for sure though.

Then we had a nice break and I decided to 'play' in the chances ring. There was a 3 jump serpentine that worked well using the start and finish jumps. So we did 5 jumps and left for a YOGURT party (he absolutely LOVES yogurt). Instead of chicken parties, we have messy yogurt parties (it's not really messy, except on his nose, hehe).

Last runs of the day were Touch N Go and Jumpers. I debated about scratching from one but in the end we ran both. He ran Touch N Go SO well. Seriously, I think it's the best he's ever run. I was so pleased. That is definitely a run to remember! Jumpers was nice too. I thought he was moving a little slow, but he really wasn't. I was going to see how he ran the first few jumps and see if I needed to make a short course. He didn't seem very tired and was still jumping well so we ran the whole thing.

I really couldn't be more proud of my Buzz-dog today. I'm trying to stay positive for Monday, but this really was an amazing day and one I'll not forget soon.

As to Monday, the Buzz-dog goes in for surgery. There is a malignant and infected lump on his neck. The soonest they could get him in was Monday, so we decided to play this weekend. He's on Cephalexin for the infection.

Go Buzz Go!