Dog Fest

Dog Fest was fun, although we got off to bad start. I left the house later that I had planned and ended up having to park way out from the park along the road. In all the bustle of finding parking, and then getting the dogs unloaded from the car, and locking the car up, as we started walking toward the park I suddenly felt like I was forgetting something. . . like my bag with the camera, and water, and money, and KEYS! Gaaaah!

The K-9 Police there for demos didn't have a slim jim, neither did the Tomball Police officer that was stationed at the park, although he said he was heading back to the station and check there. So we went back to the car and I tucked Holly and Mikey up under the shade of the car and waited for the officer to come back. After a very long, hot wait, a Tomball Fire and Rescue truck drove around the corner and I flagged them down. A big shout out to Tomball Fire and Rescue for getting us into our car! Man, it's been years since I locked my keys in the car! The only good thing about that whole situation is that the dogs were out of the car, because it was already getting pretty hot out, and I was parked in the sun.

So, after all of that hullabaloo, we got to enjoy Dog Fest. K-9 Police demo, an awesome blessing of the animals (including a personal laying of hands and blessing after the group blessing), agility demos, lots of vendors, lots of rescue booths, and dogs and people of every kind and size. We're all pretty pooped, and I think Holly and I a least are a little leg sore. Mikey was right in his element, getting to meet lots of people and dogs. I think Holly had a good time early on, but got pretty tuckered out pretty quickly; I ended up carrying her part of the way back to the car (I know, but whenever she looks tired I worry about her hips hurting).

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi' and 'We both got a new toy and a molasses cookie!'

This N' That

Where to start? I guess the first order of business is that I've found a new agility class to go to; I'm going to give them a try this Monday. J is/was a great instructor, but I hear through the grapevine that her 2 month break from teaching is going to continue indefinitely. I don't blame her at all; she's been teaching many classes a week plus privates for years and deserves some down time, but me and the cardikids miss her. The instructor that has taken over all of J's classes and I just don't jive. She takes the whole agility thing a little too seriously. I mean, yeah, I want Mikey and I to be as good as we can be, but hello? I've already got a job. All of the training that I do with Holly and Mikey is for fun and only for fun, and doG help me if I ever forget it!

And. . . we're all going to Dog Fest on Saturday. Sounds like lots of fun. For anyone local reading my blog, Dog Fest is at Juergen's Park in Tomball from 10 am until 6 pm. Lots of vendors (yay! funnel cakes!), lots of demos, and a blessing of the animals. It's being held in conjunction with Tomball's 100 Year Centennial Celebration.

Next we've got some more moth action. There is an area with hundreds of morning glories (I think) on our morning walking route, and one morning I noticed 'something' flying around in them. Since it's still mostly dark when we walk on work days, it was several days before I realized they weren't early to rise hummingbirds, but actually moths - and then of course I just had to try to get some pictures of them! So I stood out there with the flash on, but a totally dark view through the camera, and just kept watching for flowers that tipped when the moths were feeding and then - zap! - tried to capture them before they zoomed off again. Needless to say, the moths were not to pleased to have my flashing camera interrupting their morning meal, but I did manage to get a few good pics. They're actually quite pretty!

And one morning I saw the fog when we woke up and knew there might be some good pictures just waiting to be taken. . .


And of course there was a full moon this week, and I can't resist trying to capture the 'perfect' moon picture. I took these on our morning walk one day this week.

D'Oh!

Thanks so much Border Wars; years of college (thanks mom and dad!), and over ten years as a working research scientist, and the best I can do is a B on an eighth grade science test. Oh yeah, I'm feeling soooo smart at the moment! :-)

Completely Free Personals from JustSayHi

In other news, the CardiKids and I are just boring right now. Very little of any interest is going on here. Well, with two exceptions.

This guy

scared the sh!t out of us one night by bonking into the front door and then frantically fluttering against the door. I can't really describe the sound, but I can assure you that we all got up when he initially hit the door. And when I say got up, I mean we GOT UP - about two feet straight up - all of us! And then when I opened the door to see what was out there, he decided to come on inside. I can assure you that in real life, after dark, this guy is way to big to be at all attractive! I got this picture because he came to visit several days in a row, this day in the morning.

The only other vaguely interesting occurrence was my spectacular faint at work on Friday. Happily our important visitors that we had been meeting with that morning had just left. And no, I have no idea why this happened. I have passed out from heat twice in my life, but never have I just keeled over for no apparent reason. Assuming this doesn't happen again, I'm just chalking it up to a fluke.

Currently re-reading 'Kuchiel's Dart' by Jacquline Carey.

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi' and 'We're booooored', 'whine, whine, etc, etc'.

Better Than An OTCH!

For those of you unfamiliar with the lingo, OTCH stands for Obedience Trial Champion. Years of work and dedication go into obtaining an OTCH, and people who have earned that title with their dog take great pride in their achievement. So what could be better than an OTCH? A dog (or dogs) that are well behaved and (most of the time) easy to live with, that's what!!

I swear my guys get an almost evil pleasure out of performing a perfect sit stay while mommy (me) walks some misbehaving, loose, bucking bronco of a dog back to it's chagrined owners. This has happened more than once (with different dogs) now. Honestly, when I turn around to walk back to them, they look very smug and superior. Guess I can't blame them!

Oh yeah, earning an OTCH some day in the dreamy future would be awfully nice too!

Currently reading 'Kushiel's Justice' by Jacqueline Carey.

Holly and Mikey say nothing, they just look insufferably smug.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So 'Ya Say It's Your Birthday?

Even though my birthday isn't until next week, in our family we tend to celebrate the weekend before or after, if any of us are so unlucky as to have our birthday fall on a work day. So today's my unofficial, official birthday! Cardigrandma came over and shared a nice morning walk on the bayou with the cardikids and I, followed by yack-ity-yack, fresh fruit and coffee. A totally wonderful way to start the day. Then the dogs and I took a nice, indulgent nap. And then another spishy, splashy pool party (which also conveniently wore all the dogs out), then dinner, presents, and desert (fruit tart, yuuuuum). With lots of yack-ity-yack and admiring of our various dogs mixed in; a totally fun day start to finish!

In other cardi news, I've been lazy this week and we haven't done any training, just walkies and hanging out. One day this week I came home half day from work because I just couldn't suck it up and tough out being in pain again. And even with lots of meds, I was still miserable and couldn't escape into sleep. So I escaped into Photoshop and played with some pictures of the kiddos. For comparison I've included the original pictures first, and then Photoshop edited picture. Oh, and Mikey must have been able to tell I was feeling awful, because he was soooo cuddly! Such a sweet boy!

Currently reading 'Kushiel's Justice' by Jaqueline Carey. *Yippee for birthday books!!*

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi'.

Pool Party!

This week is already getting off to a too busy start, so no blah blah blah, just pictures of the pool party on Labor Day.

Currently reading 'The Book of Eleanor' by Pamela Kaufman.

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi'.

Here's Holly looking kind of pathetic, after she tried to eat a bee - again - and was stung in the mouth - again - This is why I carry benadryl everywhere we go. You'd think such a smart girl would learn, but every summer. . .

But then she cheered up and got into the party.

Three Day Weekend, How Do I Love Thee?

To quote Marvin Zindler, 'Have a good weekend - good golf, good tennis, or whatever makes you happy'.

Hope everyone finds some time to rest, get something done, enjoy friends/family, and enjoy your four legged friends.