Part 1 of Packing for an Agility Weekend, Then and Now

SUMMARY: First in a series comparing my 1996 gear to my 2010 gear, and transitions between.

I got to thinking about all the Dog Stuff that I now own, carry around with me without thinking about it, and/or load into the car routinely, that back in 1995 I'd never thought about that, in 1996 when I attended my first competitions, looked entirely different from what it looks like now.

My list of topics is so long, I think I'll break it into several posts over the next few days. This is Part 1. This could be a continuing series as I think of things I've got now but didn't then, had then but don't know, or tried in between and abandoned.

Dogs:

• Then--Just one, Remington, my pet dog who made a decent agility dog some of the time.
• Now--Two dogs (Tika and Boost), both obtained specifically with agility in mind.

Vehicle:

• Then--My grown-up luxury sedan, my four-door Acura Legend. I got an amazing amount of stuff into it, but when I decided I wanted a 3rd dog and a canopy, it was right out.
• Now--Minivan, MUTT MVR. I bought it for only one reason: Hauling dogs and their gear around.

Dogs in vehicle:

• Then--Rem sat in the front seat and watched the world go by. After a year or so of that, I bought seatbelt harnesses at the SPCA. They proved to be pretty flimsy, in retrospect. When I read friend Holly's post on good harnesses, I bought two sturdy ones (for Rem and Jake at that time).
• Now--When I got my 3rd dog (Tika) and my minivan, she began riding in a crate right away. Jake and Rem continued using their harnesses until they passed away. Boost and Tika now both have their own crates strapped into MUTT MVR.

Hauling stuff to and from the vehicle:

• Then--We had a red metal dolly that could convert from a furniture-moving upright to a 4-wheel thingie. Tiny wheels, tiny dolly, very heavy and very difficult to move across, say, gravel or grass. I scoped out what was available over several years.I love the huge metal carts in brilliant powder-coated colors with huge wheels and folding handle, but they are huge and I don't have a lot of room, plus they are expensive. The basic wire or tubular crate-sized carts that people pull don't work well with my problem back & shoulders and the wheels aren't the best over rough terrain.
• Now--I saw the light when a friend showed up with a light-weight folding dolly with an extra-deep shelf. That was what I wanted! But also expensive. I was delighted when, at a flea market one weekend, I found a guy selling his, nearly new, for practically nothing. (Looks something like this.) Have used this for several years now.
  

Where to put the dog at the trial:

• Then--I didn't own a crate and didn't think I wanted to. At my first seminar, I planned on just putting Rem in a chair like I did in class. But when I arrived--everyone else had a crate or an x-pen! Doh! I think the instructor loaned me an x-pen and noted that my leash/chair plan wouldn't work at a trial. So I went out and bought a huge x-pen "so he could move around." It was really heavy and space-consuming in my Legend.
• Now--Each dog has her own zippered soft crate (purple, black, and teal). Each cost considerably more than the x-pen, but combined they are so much lighter and so much easier to store and move around, and the dogs are generally happier than they are in the x-pen. (Read how my dog converted me to crate use.)

Clips and bungies:

• Then--Oh, yeah, we had the usual pile of random long bungies in a box in the garage. After a couple of trials, I started taking the box with me for the trial, futzing with long bungies, then putting the box away afterwards.  I saw that people had metal clips that they used for various things, and we had a couple of old metal clips in the garage that I'd likewise borrow for the weekend.
• Now--I have a bag full of metal and plastic clips of various sizes (some even blue and purple) that I've bought through the years and stay exclusively with my dog stuff. Same thing when I discovered loop bungies: have a whole bunch of different lengths on a clip, and some straight bungies (purple) that I bought specifically to go with my dog stuff.

Over the River and Through the Woods--

SUMMARY: To agility trials we go.

My dad looked at my online weekends calendar and asked how many miles I put on MUTT MVR each year.

(I didn't point out that there are a lot of competitions that I *could* go to but don't, as exemplified by the famous Karey's Calendar.)

Because I don't have a regular commute, I always say that most of my annual mileage (12,000-15,000 miles [19,000-24,000 km]) is dog-related. But is that so?

Rough guess on dog-related miles per year:

• Vet. At least one per dog for check-up and shots. Usually at least a couple more for various reasons--pick up a prescription, medical issue, whatever.  Let's say 6/year, 17 miles round trip=about 100 miles.
• Agility class. We don't really have class once a week (holidays, rain, instructor out of town, etc.) but with extra trips to rent the field, get a private lesson, and so on, let's say 52 weeks a year. 26 miles round trip. 1350 miles.
• Competitions. In the last few years I've not gone to trials that take more than 2 hours to get to (other than Nationals). That's still at least 20 weekends a year, including occasional fun matches, seminars, and what-not. There are either the 2-hours-away trials, in which case I don't come home to sleep saturday night, or the 1-hour-away trials, in which case I do come home Saturday night. Either way, the mileage for a weekend is probably about the same. Say, 200 miles round trip. 4000 miles.
• If you throw in a trip to Nationals in Scottsdale (heh--that's not happening any more, thank goodness!), that adds another 2000 in one week. But didn't go last year, and I'm not going off to the more eastern parts, for sure.

Well, lessee, that's only 5500 miles [8850 km].

I don't go to the groomers; pet food is usually picked up on the way by the store--huh. Might make special trips here or there for dog things, but nothing immediately pops to mind. Still, that's roughly a third to a half of my annual miles.

And there you have it: The whole reason I have a minivan instead of a nice sporty or luxury car. Dog travel. That is, it is indeed a MUTT MVR.

More on Car Emergency Labeling

SUMMARY: Another source for tags

Johann the Dog notes:

There's also a site called BarkBuckleUp.com; they have emergency cards for your car with a window sticker to alert emergency responders. They are free with the cost of shipping...Here's our post. And the site to order: http://barkbuckleup.com/Members/Registration.asp

Published!

SUMMARY: Wikipedia does it again.

For a couple of years, I enthusiastically took photos of any different breed of dog I encountered for wikipedia. (Which wasn't that many, given that mostly I saw dogs in agility, and mostly there aren't that many different breeds doing USDAA or CPE agility.)

That photo enthusiasm was because, when WP hooked me, it had very little dog info of any kind. At one point, I had created, expanded, seriously edited, and/or added photos and infoboxes to every breed page on the entire site, and every other dog-related page, too. (Before I got unhooked. But eventually there were billions and billions of dog-related pages, and billions and billions of people making less than helpful edits, and I just got tired of keeping up.)

Anyway, many of my breed photos are still used in articles, even though many are nothing to write home about (leashes very visible, etc.). And they are all still ON wikipedia even if not being used.

Photos from wikipedia are quite popular. By publishing them there, I allow other people to use the photos (basically for noncommercial purposes) if they give credit to me and a link back to where the photo exists on wikipedia. People don't all seem to bother with that, so my photos are all over the web now, sometimes even with other people's copyrights watermarked on them. I got tired of chasing those down and asking them to fix them, too.

For example, if you go to google images and search for any of the following, you'll see these photos over and over:

• "smooth collie" or "collie dumbbell", a smooth tricolored collie with a dumbbell in his mouth, on a field of grass, facing left (sometimes right, when they've reversed the photo). That's my photo of my agility friend Rowan.
• "rat terrier", there's an angled full body shot of a rat terrier looking up, with a purple leash coming out to the foreground. My photo.
• "australian kelpie", red and tan guy, side view, with him looking out at you, leash going off to the side. Mine.
• "boston terrier", side view with him looking slightly at you, brindle and white, grass background. Mine.
• "cavalier king charles spaniel." Sitting on a wood surface (actually it's a picnic table). Mine.
• "clicker training." A hand holder a clicker, looking down at the hand and at a sitting dog who looks remarkably like Tika. Oh--wait--it IS tika!  Surprise, another photo of mine.
• And on and on.

I'm no longer bothering to check whether these are legally copied.

You can see all my wikipedia dog photos here.

I've made three or four sales of  photos based on ones that people found on Wikipedia.

So now, last week, I just received a mysterious package, from someone i'd never heard of, containing a book I'd never heard of, on a topic I'd never pick up a book about on my own.  But, leafing through it, it occurred to me to check the photo credits: Oh, yeah, a couple of years back, this guy actually emailed me about using one of my photos. So, in this book, on page 44, next to an image of a dachshund from a hundred years ago, is my photo of this miniature dachshund.

To be polite, I started reading the book, The Origin Then and Now, by David N. Reznick, from Princeton Press.  I'm only about 3 or 4 chapters in, including intro and background and such, and it is in fact readable and interesting. I'm not sure whether I'll make it all the way through, but so far, so good (I just don't have patience or time for dull or badly written material). I'm proud to be part of this project and to have my name listed in the photo credits.

Updates

SUMMARY: Filling in on a couple of previous posts (last weekend and crate emergency info).

Emergency crate info

I just updated yesterday's post with more info about my crate tags including a note from the lady who makes them.

Head bonk

Hey, I forgot to mention, on top of all of my other physical woes, my huge head-whack last weekend at the trial. Monday morning, I somehow lost track of where my hatchback door had stopped (tree branch in the way). So I leaned over to do something with the dogs, stood up rapidly, and whanged my head on the corner of the door. It really hurt; I am not making this up. I had to sit down and make loud moans on exhales and hissing through my teeth on inhale sorts of noises. I'm sure it was an ugly picture, and glad no one was crating near me, but now I'm telling you about it anyway.

I had intended to spend my few spare minutes packing up, but instead spent much more time packing ice on my head and wondering whether one could get a concussion from a corner hit like that. It was hard to stand up for a few minutes, but that's because it hurt every time I moved, but on the outside, not the inside, if you can picture that. There was no blood, thank goodness, but even with the ice I had a lump the size of half a golf ball. I am reminded of that every time I shower. That was just the capper to one of my more uncomfortable weekends.

I seem to hit my head more and more often as the years go by. Can anyone tell me whether the top of one's skull continues to grow? I don't get it: I can look straight at an open car door, bend to get something out of the seat, and whack my head on the way *in*. If someday they find me dead on the kitchen floor from multiple blunt force traumas to my head, it'll probably be from repeatedly standing up under refrigerator or cabinet doors.

Pet Crate Emergency Info

SUMMARY: Vital information in case of an auto accident.

It's nice to assume that, if you are in an accident, things are not going to be too bad and you can take care of your dogs yourself. However, that might not be the case; you could be badly injured or even killed. Assuming that your dogs are still alive, injured or not, it would be so much better if rescuers had all the info they needed to ensure that the dogs are taken care of correctly and that the right people are contacted about them.

I have emergency info attached to both dogs' crates. The outside has a photo and brief message; inside the zippered compartment, there's detailed info about my dogs and contact info.

 

You can make your own pretty easily--tape it to the crate or laminate it or put it in a protective plastic sleeve-- or you can buy cards from various places.

Buy the ones I have

From pethints.com.

More info on mine added: July 11, 11 a.m. PDT-- They're pricey but well made and definitely eye-catching. They have two zippered pouches: The front one with the basic emergency message and the dog's photo, and the one underneath in which you can put as many documents as you want. It comes with a couple of detailed forms that you can fill out.

I just emailed a request for new forms since (thanks to this article) I realized that my emergency info is out of date. She sent me new forms as Word docs and also said:

"pass on the good news since I have not been able to attend any agility events this year, I have some new spring pouch colors, pink, lime green and baby blue. I can also do special orders with your color choice for the paws on each side. I have about 20-color options. Unfortunately not all of these details are at my website so if anyone has interest they can call or email me.

Thanks.
Peggy Hintz
Owner PetHINTS.com
650-573-7400
PetHINTS@hints.com"

Buy a card

Here on zazzle, you can upload your dog's photo and your info and purchase cards. I like the message on the front; it's short and to the point (and reproducing here, also for archival purposes):

Make your own; from the SF Bay West Highland White Terrier Club

This article has recommendations on what info to include; I'm repeating it here in case the link every goes away (you know how the internet is):

The following information should be attached to each dog's crate as well as maintained in the glove compartment of your car:

• A paper copy of your dog's vaccination records, especially rabies.
• Documentation of your dog's special needs and/or medications.
• Color photo of your dog and his microchip information.
• Your vet's phone number and two emergency contacts.

We recommend making a crate tag with the following emergency information:

---

IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT

In the event that I am incapacitated and unable to make my requests known regarding my dogs, please honor the following requests:

Please notify (name) at (telephone numbers) as soon as possible. If he/she can not be reached, contact (name) at (telephone numbers). If he/she cannot be reached, contact (more names and telephones numbers).

ALL EXPENSES FOR THE DOGS' CARE
WILL BE GUARANTEED BY THEM!!

If the dogs are not injured, they are to be cared for by one of the above parties or by the nearest reputable boarding kennel and be kept in the best possible manner until arrangements can be made to get them home.

If the dogs are injured, they are to be cared for by the nearest reputable veterinarian. I prefer my veterinarian (name) be contacted at (telephone umber) regarding decisions on the dogs care and treatment.

If the dog is injured BEYOND ALL HOPE of recovery, as attested by a certified veterinarian, they are to be humanely euthanized.

My dogs may be identified by microchip (number).

THE WELFARE OF MY DOGS IS MY
PRIMARY CONSIDERATION

Your Name (print)
Signature
Address
Telephone Number

---

(Thanks, Mutts, for the idea for this post.)

Another Week Gone

SUMMARY: More about last weekend's agility trial, and just stuff.

Don't you hate it when you start having a major hot flash just a little while before bed time so you're suddenly craving a long cold drink but then of course you have to get up in the middle of night from all that last-minute liquid you consumed? If you don't know what that's like, well, pfui on you!

I have been so tired this week--recovering, recovering, and then recovering some more.

Last Saturday, the 5:00 alarm put me into my usual "why the heck am I doing this again? Can't I just lie here and sleep a few more hours?" mode. But no--paid my entry fees, committed to being score table czar, gotta go.

Fatigue and damage

The hole in my eardrum certainly didn't help. Imagine filling one ear full of water and then stuffing an earplug into it; that's sort of what it feels like, all the time. When my teeth click together, feels and sounds like my whole head is full of water, that weird underwater echo sound. And accompanying it is this always slightly vertiginous feeling. Not dizzy, not actually off balance, not really disoriented, but something that feels like i ought to be. And a little tiny wee bit queasy to go with it. That's wearing, all by itself.

Throw in that I'm so much more out of condition than I was last year. I set up MUTT MVR on the far south side of the field under the trees so I could crate out of there instead of having to haul and set up canopy and gear. Saved my time and back and shoulders, but that meant that I walked a LOT. Almost 11 miles on my pedometer friday, 9 Saturday, 7 Sunday. Seems like I often put that kind of numbers on it, but--not doing my walkies! So that really wore me down.

Not doing well in the competition was wearing, as well. Or at least, not doing what I wanted to do.

And my muscles were just so so tired by the 2nd day and positively leaden by the 3rd day. Out into the ring and I felt as if I could barely move. No wonder Tika was spinning when I couldn't keep up with her.

On top of that, for some reason my left running shoe dug into my ankle and bruised it. Same shoes I've worn for agility for quite a while; don't know what that's all about. Eased it by taking the laces out of one row of holes (which then made the shoe a little loose), but by then the damage was done.

Sleeping challenges

I also had decided to not move the crates out of MUTT MVR and sleep in the van across the width, rather than the full length as usual. Can't do it well with the doors shut, but if I can slide them open six inches, they pop out about 6 inches on each side, giving me plenty of room to be able to stretch full length. Because it was going to be really hot, right?

Well, WAS hot--in San Jose, 45 miles north (nearly 100F/37C). But the advantage to our site in Prunedale is that it gets the mitigating coastal weather. There was sun for a few hours each day, but the wind carried an arctic chill. Brr. Not a warm weekend.

So although I tried very hard to sleep with the door popped--even tried clipping blankets over the openings, but noooo still way too cold--I ended up closing the doors, which made for two cramped nights of sleep, and Sunday night, my one knee couldn't get comfortable for nothin'. By Monday morning, it had achieved a good solid ache whenever I walked that never really went away.

I was a pitiful sight, lumbering slowly across the field to get my dogs by the end of the weekend.

The emergency room visit that didn't happen

The piece de resistance was Boost's Sunday night bladder issue, or whatever it was. We all settled in to sleep for about half an hour, and then she got restless restless restless. I thought maybe it was the fireworks all around us (go figure--we're out in a wooded area, fire planes already had to put out one fire a couple of ridges over the day before--). But finally got half dressed, took her out. She peed once a little, then kept trying and trying and not doing any more. Wouldn't settle back down. Convinced her for about 15 minutes, not comfortably, and then wanted out again. Up and down every 20-30 minutes until 1:00 in the morning, when I finally called the emergency clinic.

The closest one was well over half an hour away, and I so VERY much did not want to have to pack things up, rearrange the van again so it was driveable, drive half an hour, wait an hour or two or three, pay a couple hundred bucks and be back in the morning. The first one I called said it sounded bad and I should probably bring her in. The second one I called (first clinic referred me to a closer one) said it didn't sound like a medical emergency to them, maybe a bladder infection although you never know.

Then I had a flashback to something like this happening before. Couldn't remember the details, but when I got home, I found it in my blog here, as well as a follow-up note here, where I note that my vet thought it might have been "some kind of noncalcium bladder stone".

Anyway, I decided to tough it out. Took Boost out again after the call, insisted on her settling in. She was restless for half an hour but finally slept for an hour or so. Then out again around 3, restless for a while, and then thank goodness slept until the alarm went off at 6:30. So I got maybe 3 hours of sleep at the end and a few scattered cat naps before that.

And that was the end of that. (Although since we've been home, she's needed to go out at 3 in the morning twice. Hope that's done with now.)

Other than that, how was the show, Mrs. Lincoln?

So I don't mean to sound like all I have is complaints. Agility friends are good friends. Had dinner with the judges and trial committee and a few others on site Saturday evening. Chocolate cake twice in one day, woot! And dinner sunday evening on site with a few other friends in their big ol' motor home.

An amazing number of championships were awarded this weekend, and lifetime achievement awards, huge things like that. And Bernie the Beagle--not the fastest or most driven dog in the universe, but he keeps on keepin' on--he earned his championship, something like only the 3rd beagle ever in USDAA to earn a championship. Yay Bernie! It's so cool that everyone always claps and cheers when these things are announced.

Also, Boost's littermate Derby earned his ADCH over the weekend. That might make Boost the only one of the USDAA littermates who doesn't have hers yet. Not positive about Gina or Beck, but pretty sure they've both got it. Bette definitely does. Ah, well. But mine's got the best name. ;-) (Hi C-Era Interstellar Propulsion. But you knew that, right?)

I love the names that people are coming up with for their dogs. Making their debuts this year: Space Monkey and  Tricky-Woo. Then there's Jenn, the party girl, whose newly debuted dog is Tonic, so they're appropriately Jenn and Tonic. (Tonic is another half sibling to Boost.)

We were done around 4:30 both Saturday and Sunday, and 2:00 Monday, thank goodness! I needed the rest! Although mostly the dogs got to do a lot of running off leash.

Boost goes off to play with her friends

My SMART club had a meeting Sunday afternoon. Had both dogs with me on leash. Tika's OK to hang out and get scritched and rubbed, but Boost couldn't stand it that there were border collies out running around in the field and SHE WASN'T THERE TO HERD THEM! I finally let her off her leash and she ran wayyyy out to join them (her half sister and my teammates from this weekend).

She came running back a couple of times, suddenly remembering that I wasn't there, just to check up on us. After that, she didn't worry about me at all and just hung with them. Got a lot of good running in that day. (I wondered whether that could've caused her problems that night, but not sure how.)

It was funny to me that I could do that with her, just let her go, and know that she wouldn't run off randomly or get into trouble. Unlike Tika.

Who, when she was off leash, spent most of her time scrounging around on the ground for minuscule tidbits of one sort or another, particularly around people's canopies. Must have been many good crumbs. Or else hunting gophers. She stalks them so professionally! But hasn't caught one yet.

End of the weekend

Not many ribbons to bring home this time. Although, dang, realized I forgot to pick up their Pairs Relay Q ribbons. Dangies! My hoard of ribbons is now incomplete! What shall I do?!

The drive home Sunday was very slow. As in, about 20 minutes at a literal complete stand-still. When we finally started inching forward again, eventually we came to a collection of police and tow trucks at the side of the highway. There was a huge drop-off there, and I suspect that someone went over the edge. 

Sleepinnnnng...

I have slept very soundly and very long every night this week and it has never felt like quite enough.

Tiring myself some more

Tuesday I was so sore and tired that I did nothing (no agility class this week due to a funeral in their family), and Wednesday also did nothing. THEN I figured that a  nice strenuous hike Wednesday evening with the Sierra Club would be fine, right, because I was all rested up?

We drove up to Skyline and parked looking out over the valley. Not the clearest air, by far. But can make out the blimp hangers at Moffet Field although the hills on the far side of the valley and bay are iffy.

Then we walked to the cutoff down into Coal Creek Open Space. And went down--down--down--at a fairly rapid clip for over half an hour. I knew I had some sweaty miles ahead of me coming back up!

The area was amazingly lush, filled with ferns and other big-leafed plants (and the ubiquitous poison oak). The uphill was a lot of work for me; as soon as we started climbing, I realized that my muscles were a very long way from recovered from the weekend. It would've been challenging for me at this time even without that, but, wow, whew!  I was *not* the very last person--one guy who used to hike a lot but hasn't in a few years beat me on that score--but we weren't that far apart.  I was glad for a quick rest at a trail junction.

I didn't take photos most of the trip to avoid falling even farther behind. When we crossed the creek, someone said later that there were newts, but I hadn't even stopped to look at all. Maybe some other time.

Just a leetle tiny hike Friday

Thursday I was so tired that I didn't do much of anything at all. My friend with whom I've been walking on many fridays came by this morning and we walked at least a couple of miles, but at a leisurely pace and all on level paved paths along the Los Alamitos Creek trail with the Merle Girls, who think it's something fine to do in between REAL exercise.

I had thought I might get some good hiking in this weekend, but am rethinking that plan.

This afternoon I took a nice comfy, although short, nap. All my muscles are still telling me that they want more rest, not more activity, and I'm inclined to let them have their way. Fortunately, no agility this weekend and I've got time to recover before the following TWO weekends of agility.

And now, yes, it's time to:  SLEEEEEEP!  Hear that, Bladder o'Boost? Let there be no midnight runs!

Performance Tournament Top Ten

SUMMARY: OK, something that we're not even close to being competitive in.

There has been a Championship Tournament Top Ten posted on the USDAA site for a few years. Until yesterday, I thought that there was no Performance Tournament Top Ten, because none has ever been posted. But apparently now, according to this USDAA News article, there IS such a thing.

And, unlike the other four top ten categories, Tika is not even close to Top Ten and never will be. The 25th dog on the list has 28 points as of a month and a half ago. Tika has 25 as of two days ago. Dogs who compete in Regionals and the national championships are likely to go wayyy beyond what we'll get, because there are more dogs there, more rounds that count, and therefore more points. So we'll never catch up, so I don't have to worry about it. :-)

Thanks to Ashley, who explained what counts after I couldn't find it in the USDAA rules, here's where Tournament Top Ten points come from:

• Grand Prix in regular competition, both round 1 and round 2 at Regionals, and both semi and finals at Nationals.
• Steeplechase round 2 in regular competition, round 2 at Regionals, and finals at Nationals.
• DAM non-relay classes in regular and Regionals, not nationals.

Top Ten points earned are based on the number of dogs competing in that round (with some exceptions...in a moment) (same numbers apply to Top Ten in regular classes--Standard, Jumpers, Snooker, Gamblers):

• 1 dog: 0 pts
• 2-3 dogs, 1 pt 1st place
• 4-5 dogs, 3 pts 1st, 1 pt 2nd
• 6-10 dogs, 5pts 1st, 3pts 2nd, 1pt 3rd
• 11-20, 7pts/5pts/3pts/1pt
• 21-30, 9pts/7/5/3/1
• and increase like that for every additional 10 dogs.

Exceptions:
Pts for steeplechase at local show and in finals at Nationals are based on
the number of dogs in the previous round (that is, in round 1 at regular show and in semis at Nationals).

This is one reason why 8" performance and 12" championship dogs hate it when there are no other dogs in their class. Doesn't matter whether, for example, they beat the scores or times of all the dogs in the other heights; if they're not directly competing against another dog, they get nuthin'.

And also explains why, in the 22" championship classes, the top 25 dogs currently range from (in Jumpers) 32 to 85 points, while Performance 8" jumpers ranges from 2 to 12 points.

Dull USDAA Class Results From This Weekend

SUMMARY: In which I enumerate what happened in the various classes in a not particularly interesting way. But maybe the summary could be of vague interest to others.

Summary of what needs work:

• Got several spins from Tika when she was ahead of me headed towards jumps. This almost never happens and tells me that I was too far behind and not quick enough with information. I was very slow this weekend (yes, I really was), and I REALLY need to start doing a bit of jogging and those sprints I keep talking about working on and lose that extra weight. Would also help in all the places where I can't even come close to matching Boost's speed. Just generally have to get back into AT LEAST the shape I was in a year ago and just got lazy.
• Boost ran past 2 or 3 weave entries.  Popped out of only one, I think.
• Tika, dang it, what to do about dogwalk and Aframe contacts? Afr's she usually gets (but no always) if I can be there--see 1st item--but dogwalks are a mess.
• Boost running past jumps while looking at me, not coming in for serps, and just not taking obstacles in front of her (including coming to a complete stop or turned to face me and backing in towards them) if I'm in the picture anywhere.
• Boost knocking bars--although she didn't do a LOT of bars this weekend; Sunday Jumpers had no bars down (but a runout, see preceding item), but Sat's Jumpers had 4 bars down.
• Tika knocked the first bar twice or maybe 3x. I started setting her back even farther than the 12' or so I've been using, and she didn't do it again. Not sure what the issue really was.

Summary of what worked well:

• Boost's contacts were solid. Left one Aframe early in gamblers, I think, but there was a distinct stop. (Although she does tend to veer towards me rather than aiming straight ahead.)
• Neither dog broke a start-line stay all weekend.
• Distance work was good for Tika (actually TOO good in Sat's gamble, where she went out to a REALLY HARD obstacle rather than to the gamble obstacle) and not too bad for boost.
• Wraps: Both dogs seem to have pretty good wrapping skills. Maybe it's because that's one of the few things that I can, and actually do, practice in my back yard.
• Tika's weaves, as usual. Not super-fast, but still decent and reliable.
• Boost's lead-out pivots, even ones where I stood offset (tired--forgetting term for that--horizontal lead-out pivot?), worked nicely for a change, no knocked bars or runouts.
• Both dogs looked like they were having a good time in the ring.

Dull details

Tika Saturday:

• Jumpers: Smooth but not quite fast enough to take 1st (1.3 secs too slow) or 2nd (.15 secs too slow). So a Q and 3rd for one top 10 pt.
• Gamblers: Enough opening points for 2nd place BUT, in the gamble, on the send to a near tunnel, she first sees a FAR tunnel and goes for that. I call her off it, but then, thinking I was out of time, stepped across the line to finish the gamble--turns out I had plenty of time left. Doh. So no Q, no top ten pts.
• Snooker: Get through a slightly tricky opening, good for 1st place, and then front cross in the wrong place in the closing and shove her into the SIDE of a jump, and the whole thing goes down. Yes, indeed, I DID do something stupid in Snooker!
• Standard: Trying to get enough speed for a win, I pushed way too hard on a jump and she knocked a bar on a turn, which right there meant no Q. So then I let up, didn't work it hard at all, and she took an off course.
• Grand Prix: Flew off the dogwalk big time, then no response on "Tika! COME!" and off course on the following obstacle.  I froze in place--body is all pointing where I wanted her to be, nowhere near where she went. Just locked on halfway down the dogwalk, apparently.
• Steeplechase: Pretty nice, took 2nd with no faults, and so a Q and on to Round 2 tomorrow.

Boost Saturday:

• Jumpers: Hit 4 bars and played "this jump?" on the last jump.
• Gamblers: Pretty good opening, did gamble no problem, Q and 7th place which in this huge class was enough for an actual top ten point!
• Snooker: "This jump?" on 2nd red, then knocked it, which immediately took us out of Super-Q contention; "this jump?" on 3rd red and finally took it, but out of time from the dilly-dallying before enough points for even a regular Q (missed by 1 point, sigh).
• Standard: Really a very lovely run, then knocked the next to the last bar. Aughh!
• Grand Prix: Eed on refusuals/runouts.
• Steeplechase: Ran past 2 jumps and had to go back for them, burning time; then crashed the broad jump big time, thought she had hurt herself, but she decided she wanted to finish, so we did, way over time.

Tika Sunday:

• Standard: Knocked the first bar, so no Q right there.
• Snooker: Knocked the first bar, so no top ten points right there.
• Relay: Tika and teammate both ran nicely; ended up in 3rd place with a Q.
• Gamblers: In the opening, FLEW off the aframe big time, dropping us from 1st place to 2nd; then because she was so far ahead, she came back and grabbed my feet, so I had trouble lining her up for the dogwalk and she ended up running PAST it, dropping us to 7th place. Did get the gamble and barely enough opening points. Embarrassing way to get a Q and not even close to top ten pts.
• Jumpers: Smooth and fast on a twisty course, 2nd place, Q, 3 top ten pts, just .3 secs behind the 1st place dog.
• Steeplechase round 2: What the heck, no Q at risk, just a check for some small amount of money. So really pushed it, she responded, we won very cleanly.

Boost Sunday:

• Standard: Knocked the 3rd bar, ran past the weaves, kept one elbow up on the table by about an inch for about 20 seconds before she relaxed enough to let it drop so we could go on.
• Snooker: Wasted lots of time in the opening doing "this jump?"; in closing, because I had to babysit a jump, I was in wrong position for the next one and she backjumped it. No Q again.
• Relay: Boost ran past a jump and I had to go back for it, but she and partner were very fast; we Qed and managed 7th out of 22 teams.
• Gamblers: Nice opening, did 4 out of 5 gamble obstacles perfectly and then scared me with the "this jump?" thing before the 5th, finally going over it with only a second to spare. A Q.
• Jumpers: Kept all her bars up but ran past one jump for a fault, no Q.

Tika Monday (all Performance DAM team events):

• Gamblers: Decent run, 3rd place and a "floating" Q. Teammate Brenn just a few points behind us.
• Jumpers: A couple of awkward places because I was behind her. 3rd place and another floating Q. Teammate knocked 2 bars but that's bearable in team.
• Standard: A couple of miscommunications and a runout, so wasted time plus 2 faults. No floating Q on this one, but at least we didn't E, and teammate did pretty good on this one.
• Snooker: Tika had a great run, won this one. Teammate not too far behind in 3rd place.
• Relay: Clean! Whew! Ended up 4th overall with a Q, just out of the medal places, drat. (Out of 9 Performance teams.)

Boost Monday (all DAM team events):

•  Gamblers: Bobbles in the opening, reducing points accrued; had a lovely bonus round and all we had to do was to get over the finish jump to avoid losing all the bonus points... and she ran past it. Teammate Beadle had same number of points; teammate Quik had a lot more. It wasn't a great round for us overall but not a disaster.
• Jumpers: Bar and a runout, but didn't E. Quik had a great run, placing 3rd; Beadle Eed but one E, especially in jumpers, isn't the end of the world.
• Standard: All three dogs ran clean or close to it (no Es, in other words), a very good thing in Team.
• Snooker: Ran past wvs in opening, futzing with getting over jumps in front of her, etc. Got through reasonably high point opening and fairly far into the closing before she both (a) ran out of time and (b) ran past jump #5 instead of taking it. Teammates were in similar ranges.
• Relay: Mostly clean! All 3 dogs ran well with just a couple of faults, solidifying our Qing position. Ended up 7th out of 21 teams, better than I might have expected.

One of THOSE Weekends

SUMMARY: Not what I'd planned for, although not a disaster.

Here's what I really wanted to get this three-day weekend:

• For Tika: Top Ten points in Gamblers, Snooker, and Standard. (More Top Ten points in Jumpers would be OK, but mainly as security padding, as I think we probably have enough to stay in the top 10 for the year already.)
• For Boost: Jumpers Qs and Snooker Super-Qs.

Here's what I got:

•  Tika: A very few Jumpers Top Ten points (4, out of 2 runs), one gamblers Q (no top 10 pts), one pairs Q, one Steeplechase Q and win ($20, pays our Steeplechase entry fee), a DAM team Q (not even in the top 3 for medals), and three "unattached" Qs for DAM individual classes that count towards lifetime totals but not towards anything else. Including a lovely win in Snooker and 3rd in Gamblers (sheesh--needed those in the *normal* snooker and gamblers classes!).
• Boost: Two gamblers Qs, one pairs Q, and a DAM team Q.

Sigh. It's definitely better than a no-Q weekend. And the dogs mostly held up well, no problems from Boost's broken dewclaw toenail. But really, couldn't I have gotten at least ONE of the things I particularly wanted?

I am amazingly exhausted and sore. I will undoubtedly write more at some other time.

DANG Dew Claws!

SUMMARY: Taj MuttHall Mom messed up again.

So, it was Thursday night. I noticed that the dogs' toenails were rather long again. Check the Dremel (for honing off the ends of the toenails) but the battery, as usual, had drained completely between uses. Plugged it in overnight.

So, it was Friday night before an agility trial. Exercising the dogs in the yard. Go up to the deck, grab the dremel to do the toenails. Boost is sitting there waiting, licking licking licking at her paw.

Yes indeed, it's a torn and bloody dew claw again. Waited too long to trim. Even a day too long is apparently too much. Not as badly ripped as last time, so I trimmed off the too-long end as best I could, poor baby dog, and I'm not going to pay $200 again to go to the emergency room to have them cut out and cauterize the broken nail.

And hope for the best. Just what I need, Friday night before a 3-day trial. Ah, me. Ah, Booster.

Can I Hear You Now?

SUMMARY: No, I really can't.

Back in March, I got an ear infection. No idea how. (Every time, they ask me: Do you swim a lot? Answer: Maybe once a year. Do you clean your ears with Q-tips? Answer: Never; the smallest thing that goes into my ear is my finger.) Doc said, doesn't look too bad, here's some drops. Took drops, got better, then fine for about 4 weeks, then it came back.

Repeat.

Repeat again, only that time didn't really get better, so--in to the doc. (Different doc than the 1st time.) Who said, doesn't look too bad, here are some different drops.

Used them (diligently). But it wasn't getting better. So-- in to see the doc. (Different doc than previous 2 times.) Who said, can't see a thing, ear is completely gooped and swollen shut. (Guess I can write off THAT type of ear drop.) She said, go see this ear/nose/throat person.

Who cleaned it out and gave me new type of drops. Pain went away. BUT. Still can't hear out of ear. Head still sounds like it's underwater. And then I notice that I'm *tasting* a bitter taste every time the drops go in. That's REALLY not right.

So it's a week later, I'm back to the E/N/T doc. Infection is completely gone but, yup, there's now a hole in my ear drum. "Not very big"; about 15% of its surface (?! sounds big to me). Should heal on its own in a few weeks or maybe longer, she says.

Meanwhile, can't really hear well out of that ear. And now I'm *truly* empathetic to those (multiple) agility friends who are deaf in one ear, who sometimes have trouble hearing the buzzer for the gamble, or trouble telling whether it's their ring or a different ring. My 3-D hearing is having trouble with directions of sounds. Fortunately my dogs don't talk to me much. But in a place with background noise, hard to hear someone next to me, even through the other ear.

Argh.

And still no good answer on why the recurrence. Will discuss more in 4 weeks, next time I go back in. Meanwhile, hope I hear my gamble buzzers!

Gearing Up For Agility

SUMMARY: Mentally, at least.

Yesterday was been odd. I printed the running order lists for our three-day trial, which were just posted, and with each one, the dread grew of trying to run a run and go clean or get a Q.

Why dread? Dunno. I had fun running my dogs at the Sunday Funday last weekend. I don't usually dread that sort of thing. Just my growing ambivalence about agility, growing on both ends, maybe, because then I started thinking about Tika and Top Ten points and the excitement reappeared, tinged by that dread.

You know, the "I can't do this! I'm incompetent! I haven't been practicing! Our last trial was a disaster because I made so many mistakes! I'm not capable of having a top ten dog, even in performance! I know what our issues are and haven't done anything about them! Boost can't BUY a Q! Tika comes up sore so often (although not since last fall, knock on Aframe)! Tika won't get any of her contacts! I'll forget the course! I'll do something stupid in Snooker! I'll miscue the gamble! Bars will be knocked everywhere! AuuuuuughhhhH!" sort of dread.

I'm working on letting it goooooo, letting it gooooo, breathing deeply and closing my eyes and relaxing my shoulders.

Because usually when I'm running my dogs, I'm not feeling anything like that. (Only when trying for, say, that Last Dang Super-Q. When I *DO* do stupid things in Snooker.)

So, to perk myself up, let's think about the possibilities for titles this weekend:

Boost:

• Needs 3 Super-Qs (Snooker). Chances: 2
• Needs 4 Jumpers. Chances: 2
• Could finish her Standard Champion title with one more Standard Q. Chances: 2
• Could finish her Tournament Bronze with 2 Tournament Qs. Chances: 3 (GP, Steeplechase, and DAM Team)

Tika (PDCH! Doesn't that sound better than APD?!):

• Man, she really cleared the slate of possible titles this spring!  Need to get more Qs in all classes to get close to more advanced titles.
• Top Ten points: There are two chances for each of the Top Ten-counting Masters classes this weekend, with 9 or 10 dogs in her height, except for Snooker with 11 or 12.  With the 9 or 10, only the first three places get top ten points (5, 3, and 1); with 11 or 12 (hoping none drop out), top four placers get top ten points (7, 5, 3, and 1). So there are opportunities to advance at least a little. If I just relax and don't think too hard about it.

[Note 1: Top Ten update: Per the USDAA site, up to but not necessarily through two weekends ago, Tika holds steady at 3rd in Jumpers (! the bar-knocking dog! who doesn't so much any more!), and dropped to 4th in Snooker,  9th in Standard, and 11th in Gamblers. ]

[Note 2: Top Ten Competitors: Other dogs who are currently in the top 25 in one or more class or who have been in the top ten in years past who will be competing against us this weekend: Brenn, Hobbes, Chaps, CateE, and Gidget;  I don't see Kash, Apollo, Crash, Kipper, or Bling entered this weekend, so the field isn't as tight as it could be.]

And there you have it. Things to look forward to. Or things to ignore so that I can just have fun running my dogs and being out in the beautiful weather with my friends (151 of them, 6 named Linda, 5 named Lisa, 4 named Laura) and their canine companions  (214 of them, 3 named Dakota, 2 each named Ace, Annie, Epic, Maddie, Sweep, and Trek; among them, 98 Border Collies, 23 Aussies, 18 All-Americans, 11 shelties,  and 9 Jack Russells).  I'll run at least 16 runs per dog (out of 2079 for the weekend), competing under 2 different judges (not the 3rd one for Starters/Advanced).

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

USDAA Gets Around to 24" Weaves and Other It's About Times

SUMMARY: New rules forthcoming!

In today's news posting on the USDAA site, FINALLY! 24" weaves are acceptable! I believe they were the last agility organization in the known world to allow it (but they did it by making it 22" spacing with 2" tolerance. So you better not be MORE than 24")! Did I actually predict that in my blog earlier or just in general chitchat? I know I predicted to someone that it would be soon, because there was just no reason to stick with the 20-21" when everyone else had changed.

AND, this is equally fantastic, they're finally changing the Performance program title names to parallel the Championship program! No more of the old "Just earned our APD! That's the Performance Championship!" Now we can *legally* say, "Just earned our Performance Championship!" Yowza! I'm'a bein' vera happy about dis one, jes I am!

They had already changed "Performance Whatever It Was" to "Performance Grand Prix," thank goodness, now the only holdout is "Performance Speed Jumping" instead of "Performance Steeplechase." I'm still hoping that someday they'll see the wisdom in changing that, too.

I salute you, USDAA; late on these issues is better than never!

(There are other changes; these were just the best IMHO.)

Mario Brothers Agility

SUMMARY: Life imitates art: Getting to agility class.

I've never felt so much like I was playing a video game in real life as I did last night on my way to agility class. Spooky, how things kept stacking up, like some insane game designer was chortling in the background as he threw things at me. I wasn't sure whether to hope for, or fear, moving up a level, because then doesn't it get harder? Even though maybe you've gained a 2d20 vorpal sword or the equivalent? 2d20 front cross? Anyway--

Pedestrians were everywhere, which is odd, because in Silicon Suburbia, no one walks anywhere. And of course they weren't using crosswalks. Which I sometimes don't, either, but at least I have the courtesy to stay on the sidewalk or in the median as a car approaches. But no, they'd stop, so I'd continue at my 40 MPH, and THEN they'd step out into the road. Two different locations. How quickly can you say Stop? Or the guy walking along the narrow windy hillside road up to class. OK, if you're going to walk and you're up there, well, that's all you can do, be in the road. But scary driving by.

My Stimulus Dollars are going to work repaving the badly disintegrated roads in my neighborhood, which is great, but that means that there are no lines yet painted on the 2--or is it 3--lane roads with MPHs of 35 to 40. I know where the lanes are from experience, but apparently other drivers don't, so watch out for those weird drifting motions in front of you.

And I seemed to hit traffic lights at that awful "Do you stop or don't you" point, that fractional second where it's not clear which is better, then at one you decide to jam the brakes, then realize that the guy behind you has decided to go for it. Yikes. I think I was very lucky that he didn't hit me; all I could think was that the dogs were in their crates in the very back and that's where he'd be hitting MUTT MVR if he couldn't stop.

Then there was the bird in the grass next to Hwy 87 who decided to take off just when I whipped past at 65. Whap! I hate it; don't remember whether I've hit a bird before, but probably. I try not to think about little nestlings somewhere whose mom isn't coming back. Like the abandoned nest and egg on my back porch. I'm just lucky he didn't get 12" further along, because I could just see him hit next to my windshield. At that speed, I might have had a cracked window.

CHP vehicles were driving on I-280. And paranoid dingbats all slow down to the cops' speed, even if the cop is in the slow right lane bogged down by traffic and the dingbats are in the fast lane. Plus that merge from 87 to 280 is always a weave-fest anyway.

On Alum Rock, the major arterial leading up to the foothills, traffic came nearly to a stand-still; I could see one or two cars going through the next traffic light each cycle but couldn't see why so few. Finally got to the intersection, where there's a cop car and a broken water main. There are 3 lanes of traffic and NONE of them are blocked by this, just right turners. Had to have been the looky-loos holding things up. (I got a photo while stopped at the light.)

With long daylight hours and nice weather (only low 80s F yesterday), the road up to class is a popular place for bicyclists. Another popular thing that you'd probably never catch me doing; narrow and windy and wayyy too many cars. Scary when you're driving up and see a bike veering out into your lane coming down the curve ahead of you, and there were a couple like that last night.

AND cars doing the same thing! Yikes! Usually people are pretty careful on this road. Maybe they were pissed off about having to drive behind bicyclists.

Fortunately, no deer running out in front of me this time (that was last week; half-sized guy still with white spots). But at the driveway entrance to class, some turkeys were having some kind of family reunion. Couple of adults and a whole slew of teenagers. Yeah, REALLY turkeys. And they were not impressed that I wanted to drive into where they were hanging out. The finally dispersed; guess that when one of the adults felt worried enough to actually FLY up onto the fence, the others decided that discretion was the better part of valor and scrambled for cover.

Whew! And then I was at class, still alive, not bumped up one level to where it was impossible to survive. The girls did very well in class; Boost knocked some bars but not really a lot. Serps are still a problem both in bars (maybe I'm in her way) and in not wanting to come in to the serp jump. But everyone's contacts were lovely! Remember that when this weekend's trial rolls around... and we start feeding the quarters into the REAL agility NASCAR game.

Giving Away Stuff

SUMMARY: Giving it away is sometimes hard.

As a fairly active member of FreeCycle, I often OFFER to give away things that I'm trying to get rid of. Usually minor things--you'd be surprised at the interest in, say, large, sturdy, empty Almond Roca cans. Old plant pots or flats. Clothing with stains but otherwise usable. A huge lilac shrub I didn't want in the middle of my yard any more (they even dug it out for me).

But it's harder for me to give away things that I spent larger amounts of dollars on, particularly if they're almost new or in otherwise excellent condition, or rarer, or so on.

This, despite the fact that I have a beautiful oak entertainment center, like new, that I got for free on Freecycle (someone OFFERed it).

And a gorgeous, really heavy and effective wrought-iron patio umbrella stand, also for free on freecycle (I posted a WANTED--and got about a dozen offers for various types of patio umbrella stands!). I have a Lazy-Boy recliner (another OFFER) that has a broken bracket so it's not perfect, but is in really good condition and is quite comfy.

I try to remember those treasures when I'm waffling about being reluctant to post these items and instead save them for the garage sale that I'll probably never have and probably won't make financial sense anyway. (And actually taking photos and dealing with selling things on craigslist or ebay--too much time, and nothing's worth *quite* enough to make that time pay off.)

Sometimes WANTED postings come through for things that are easy to give away. Cardboard tubes from wrapping paper. Pieces of PVC pipe. Things that are already in my garage sale boxes, so what the heck. I always leave the things that people want (whether they asked for them or I've offered them) out on my front porch & they just come and take them away. I've left SO many things over the last several years; other things I've given in response to WANTED don't come to mind, but I know I've done many.

I've failed to give away the huge ancient satellite dish that needs dismantling, despite a couple of OFFERs and a couple of WANTEDs; previous owners really installed it solidly and in a complicated manner. Ah, well.

But then there are people's WANTED requests that I've got a match for that I don't really need or use but are in that second category of Things I Paid A Lot For or in the category I'll Use It Again Any Day Now.

Last year I finally broke down and gave away all my unused film to a student who WANTED some for classes. At that point, most of it was expired or about to expire, and I was coming to the conclusion that I wasn't really going to ever use it. That might have been a hundred bucks worth of film. (Sorry, Dad, I should've offered it to you first, but didn't think about it.)

And then this year I gave away my first-ever SLR camera to someone who WANTED one, the film one that I was going to use the film with. It was still a perfectly lovely camera, but I've become completely hooked on the ease of digital, and I hadn't used that camera body in 4 or 5 years. And I KNEW it wasn't worth much any more, having taken it to a used camera shop and been offered maybe $25 for it, although I paid hundreds for it only... erm, well, ok... 14 years ago. That was hard to do, even though I had given away all the film already.

Now there's my ZIP drive. I used it for backup enthusiastically for several years. I have forty 250 MB disks that I used with it. Of course, when I'm backing up 300 GB drives, that backup gets really tedious, really fast. So I haven't used it in a while, maybe a year or two. Or... erm...well, ok, someone posted yesterday that they wanted a ZIP drive for college. I looked at the dates on my backups. Latest: 2003.

So it's been sitting here, plugged into my computer, using energy and space (although it's really quite small), for 7 years without ever being used. SO despite it having originally cost me almost $300 (including firewire adaptor) and the disks collectively about $500, well, really, they're of no use to me know, they're obsolete technology and not really even supported any more, and this person needs the drive. So--

In the background, I'm running all 40 disks one at a time through the zero-out-er utility to be sure there's no private data that anyone could ever read. And then I'm givin' 'em away. If I had a Winibago, or a whole herd of Winibagos, I'd be givin' them away, too. (Or maybe I'd keep one for dog agility. But I don't, so I'm not.)

I just have to decide--what about all the storage drawers that were the perfect size for 3.5" floppies (oh, yeah, still have hundreds of those) and zip drives? Do I give away this beautiful teak roll-top storage box that won't really fit anything else neatly? Or do I throw smaller stuff into it randomly and use it like a general storage box? It was a gift, and it's really nice teak. Sigh...

Freecycle.org is the best thing in the universe since sliced dog agility.

Fun Day in the Heat

SUMMARY: Got some practice, exercise, socializing, and food!

It was the Bay Team Fun Day in Hollister today. Yesterday's weather was lovely. Who knew it would shoot up into the 90s today? (Well, yeah, ok, there's always looking at the weather report ahead of time...) Everyone spent their spare time darting from shade to shade. And consuming beverages.

After I walked a couple of rough miles at the San Jose Airport (checking out the new terminal) last night, my legs were already tired. (Why is that kind of walking so much harder than 5 miles round trip up a mountain several hundred feet and back down, like I did Wednesday evening on Black Mountain?) With the heat and the sore legs, I was set up to be just too tired to do much.

I got there at 8:30 and by 11:00, I was finished. The day was scheduled to go until 5:00, but with the exception of a few people who showed up at lunch, we all pretty much cleared out after the EXTRAVAGANT pot luck. Lots of fruit salads today, for sure. Wayyyy too much food for us to make even much of a dent in. Bay Teamers are such good providers!

But we did get in runs on the Jumpers, the Standard, the Gamblers, and the Whatever courses; I think I did probably good 4 sessions with Tika and 5 with Boost, each session with maybe a minute and a half of good solid course running. So probably at least twice the on-course time that we'd have at a typical real trial--since they'll both typically finish a jumpers course in 25-30 seconds and a standard course in maybe 40-50.

I used some of the preset courses, but also made up a lot of my own. With Boost in particular, I practiced lots of just running fast around a large loopy shape both to send her ahead of me or to get way ahead of her. She seemed to be getting the idea as the day went on. Also practiced some aggressive rear crosses on weaves and Aframe, and she didn't blink an eye on those.

I took a small 6-pack cooler with drinks and the usual blue-ice soft-drink-cooler frozen thingie, but by the time I was packed and headed home, the drinks were warmish and I was aching for ice-cold libation. The agility site was wayyyyyyy out in the boonies in Hollister, but there is a roadside cafe not too far down the road.

I popped in and asked whether I could buy a big cup of ice, but the guy said, Just go ahead and take what you want from the ice dispenser (on the soda machine). So I did! Ahhhh, wonderful!

And they really do make great sandwiches, out there in the middle of agricultural land (and just up the road from where we had our only herding lesson).

Sooooo I don't know that I'm completely ready for next weekend's trial, but at least this afternoon and evening the dogs haven't been pestering me for attention. We'll see how long THAT lasts.

If you want to see the rest of my photos (just of people at the trial, mostly), they're here.

About to Be Swamped By Dog Agility, Plus Drawings

SUMMARY: My leisurely spring is coming to an end.

No more quiet, relaxing weekends at home doing calming, casual activities like frantically trying to clean up a yard that hasn't actually been guestified in a couple of years to be ready for a blackberry sorbet party (Prince sings in the background: "Blaaaackberry sorbet..."). [FYI, yes, thanks for asking, my 25-yr-old electric ice cream maker worked great!]

Summer used to be agility down time, but not no more.

• This Sunday: My club's agility fun day--agility plus potluck plus hanging out and enjoying each other's company.
• July 4 weekend: 3 days of USDAA agility
• July 10/11: Open
• July 17/18: 2 days of USDAA agility (it actually starts Friday night but my common sense finally absolved me from having to go friday night for one run).
• July 24/25: 2 days of USDAA agility.

Whew, I will be having had enough of agility for a while after that, and WOW LOOK no agility for 4 more weekends after that! How'd that happen?!

I can answer that: Because all the clubs scheduled all their USDAA-like events IN IMMEDIATE SUCCESSION starting at the end of August:

• Aug 28,29 SMART USDAA
• Sep 3,4,5,6 Bayteam USDAA
• Sep 11,12 VAST USDAA Turlock
• Sep 18,19 TRACS USDAA
• Sep 24,26 USDAA course-building clinic (if I can afford it by then)
• Oct 2,3 NAF UKI** (** UKI being USDAA-like, if I may be so bold)
• Oct 8,9,10 Haute Dawgs USDAA
• Oct 16,17 VAST CPE

and those are ONLY the trials I'd consider going to; not even mentioning the many ones that I'd not attend.

I think that I will not do all of those, but it is hard to decide which to skip! I mean, all my friends will be there!

Meanwhile, Tika and Boost are bored bored bored while I do exciting things like try to catch up on sorting all my photos, cleaning the house once a year whether it needs it or not, trying to see all the good movies while they're still in the theaters--oh yeah, and working--

So, because I always like stealing good ideas and using them to avoid doing the things that are nominally at the top of my priority list, I was reading Team Small Dog's blog, and once again TSD's talented producer who is an actual artist produced some actual drawings of her dogs in yesterday's post, and I thought, hey, I'm a writer, which makes me capable of drawing, too! (Oh, yes, I get this all the time: "I'm an engineer, but I know how to type, so that means I CAN WRITE!" and "I'm a marketing person and have my MBA and I wrote term papers in college so that means I CAN WRITE!" and "My mom loves my stories so that means I CAN WRITE!" and so obviously having any kind of skill, call it SkillA, means that you automatically also have SkillB, call it DrawingSkill in this case.) (Plus someone gave me a book "How to draw dogs" when I was a kid, likely because they saw one of my earlier drawings of dogs, and I faithfully followed all the exercises, mostly by tracing the pictures in the book.)

So I labored over drawings of the Taj MuttHall dogs for at least 3 minutes, and now in the future instead of photos I can use my extremely accurate, talented, dog-drawing skills to illustrate my tales of agility woe and exhilaration. As you can see for yourself.

I hope that no one will mistake my drawings of Tika for a mangy dwarf coyote. Poor Tika. I wonder whether she'll hold still long enough for me to trace her on a large sheet of paper?

Ack! Finchester.org having troubles

SUMMARY: Photos missing from blog sidebar, etc.

This is twice in a week that finchester.org has been suspended because some automated tool (or some person) reported that I was sending spam. I spent an hour trying to resolve it Friday, spoke at length to a person who unsuspended me, and then today, bam, with no warning at all, I'm suspended again.

Because my blog is now hosted on Blogger (Google actually) apparently this blog is OK, but everything else on finchester.org (including the photos of my dogs, in the right sidebar) is out of my reach. I am so frustrated!

Spoke to a guy again. He said they will resolve this so that it doesn't happen again. They're supposed to be sending me copies of the offending emails so that I can try to figure it out. (A month or 2 ago they suspended me because someone else sent ME email! I have a feeling from something that one of the 4 people I've talked to so far said that because THEIR system is set up (under my account to forward my emails all to the same name (so, e.g., webmaster (at) finchster (dot) org just forwards to my main email address (at) finchester (dot) org), that some tool is reporting that as spam because webmaster (e.g.) isn't a real email alias.

But if I'm not getting their emails, I can't prove it!

I know that you don't want to hear about this, really. But in case this blog goes dark suddenly , not just the missing photos, you'll know why, until I get this straightened out again.

Party Done, Dogs Aren't

SUMMARY: The advantage of having people over is that you clean up!

The back yard now looks SO much nicer than it has in a while, because I spent hours and hours over a couple of weeks getting things organized, trimmed, ready for summer, put away, and so on. (Plus the tree trimmers coming through a couple of weeks back and getting rid of all that dead wood helped tremendously.)

This is why I should have parties more often.

The blackberry sorbet was, as always, astonishingly delicious, the friends were good, the weather was pretty much perfect--not too cold for sorbet, not so hot as to make us uncomfortable.

The only thing that didn't work well is the fact that my dogs are so dang bad about bringing toys for people to throw. I have to send them repeated graved invitations every day when we go out into the yard. It's not that they don't WANT the toy thrown. It's just that Tika prefers to prove that she can get it and then wait for me or Boost to do something with the toy (and I refuse unless she brings it back). And Boost gets tired of bringing it back and then always having Tika--Ms. Dominant Dog--get it first when it's thrown.

But, even when Boost DOES get it, she brings it back about 20 feet away, drops it, and stares at it, waiting for someone to throw it.

Oddly enough, this does not get a lot of action from party guests sitting in their chairs on the patio chatting cheerily with their neighbors. So the dogs are not completely worn out. (Jake used to be the superhero of retrieval. Nothing deterred him from dropping the toy at people's feet endlessely.) But at least they were on their feet pretty much all day from around 1:00 until just now (8:00) following me and/or the guests around, so that should hold them anyway.

Oh, and I saw Toy Story 3 this morning. I cried at the end (it was happy but sad at the same time, you know?) and then I laughed at the further end in the credits. But I also got the lump in my throat when the family dog--who was a bouncing crazy fun little guy in the earlier movie(s) showed up old and gray and barely mobile. Dang dogs. Movie was well worth seeing, and the 3-D was nicely done, not gratuitous.

I Hope It's Out Of My System Now

SUMMARY: Droppage and breakage.

The last week has been a real mess around here. I don't know why. It's not like I'm sleep deprived or anything--that I know of. There was the plate of spaghetti I dumped in my lap. (Don't recall ever having dumped a plate of food in my lap, ever, since i was maybe 3.) The milk jug I dropped while trying to put it into the fridge. (I think I'd remember having ever dropped a milk container before.) The glass I knocked into the sink and had to clean out all the tiny glassy shards. As three examples. But by the time I had gotten to the milk thing, I was already thinking, "I can't believe I'm knocking over/hitting/dropping/breaking so many things this week, like, more this week than I've done in the past 5 years cumulatively," and I already can't remember what they all are.

This morning on my way to my desk, I knocked the houseplant off the top of the speaker, where it has been for the last 9 years with no problems at all. Miraculously, the large ceramic pot it was in hit the carpet and did not break. However, the ceramic saucer that matched it hit the tile next to the carpet, shattered--sending tiny sharp bits of ceramic across the room as far as the eye could see--and, large crap, broke two of the ceramic tiles in my floor. This is not a trivial fix, even if the previous owners left matching tiles in a box in the attic somewhere (possible, but I haven't checked).

I don't know what's going on, but I'm a little worried about hosting a blackberry-sorbet-making party this sunday (I haven't left anyone deliberately off the invite list, and this was sort of a last minute thing) which involves carrying large containers full of pureed blackberries which, if spilled or dropped, will stain everything in sight with no hope of redemption.

Let's just hope that my system has gotten whatever it is out of itself. And if not, hmm, maybe I'd better have someone else carry the mush.

Vacation Photo Teasers

SUMMARY: --because I'm completely photo-backlogged and it'll be a while before I get all the Arizona trip photos up.

Self-portraits of one sort or another (sometimes using a person as a tripod and remote control).
(Friday) Andersen's Pea Soup in Santa Nella. First time I've ever stopped here, although wayyyyy back when I was in college I often partook of the Solvang location's all-you-can-eat pea soup on my way by. My expectations were low, but lo! the pea soup was excellent.

(Sunday) The Arizona Museum of Natural History was my sister's idea, not mine, but I think I ended up having more fun than they did. Plus it was air conditioned, a bonus with 100-degree heat (38 C).

(Tuesday) Tuzigoot is a small National Monument, ruins of a huge pueblo perched on a ridge overlooking Arizona's Verde Valley.

(Wednesday) The Grand Canyon has not yet ceased to amaze me. What also amazes me is how I never get any of those famed glorious sunset or sunrise photos. This was sunrise. Nice lighting, huh?

Time to Get Buns In Gear

SUMMARY: Work on those agility issues before the president comes and kicks my--er--butt!

Once again I'm almost entirely frittered away my huge gap between agility trials during which I was going to Fix Everything Once And For All. Instead, we play some fetch in the yard, run through some tunnels, sometimes go for walks and play frisbee in the park.

Dogs are actually bored; I can tell this because Boost disassembles the dog beds and empties the toy buckets everywhere, thereafter tossing the toy bucket around.

I passed up my chance this last weekend to attend the first actual UKI trial in California, at which some of my agility friends earned, say, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd UKI titles ever given in California. They will probably also earn the first UKI championships ever given in the U.S. Maybe. Who knows.

It's not a venue that seems likely to give me free entries for working the score table, since they do the score table. Maybe crew chiefing, but I'm not very good at that with 2 dogs in different groups (championship & performance, or even 22" and 26"), I've discovered.

Plus I'm trying to do less agility, not more.

Plus do I want to start on the title track for yet another organization? Tika, for example, already has legs towards her NADAC titles (is in Elite in several things, but not everything since we haven't competed in NADAC in ages, but that's maybe ok because), she also has legs towards her ASCA titles (is in Elite in some things, not as many as NADAC because not all the NADAC trials we did earlier were dual-sanctioned). Plus is now maybe halfway to her CPE C-ATE, which at our current pace will take maybe 10 more years at one trial a year.

Plus Bay Team is having trouble finding trial committee for our CPE trials, so maybe we won't do any? We have no trouble getting people to attend and pretty much fill up 2-ring CPE trials, but those of us who wanted to chair/secretary/etc. have pretty much done our share (and sometimes more than our share) and are really ready for a break. Maybe all those people competing aren't actually Bay Teamers and maybe that's why we can't get a committee out of them? We do have someone who seems to like being trial secretary for CPE, so that's lovely. Anyway...I'm seeing NOT more CPE in my future.

We could start AKC, now that mixed breeds are welcome (at some clubs, not all). Tchyeah, like that'll happen.

Anyway--the point was that Boost still knocks bars and has trouble with serpentines and rear crosses, Tika's contacts are getting worse, I'm not doing any running of any kind except in class these days, and in fact am not even getting out for hikes or walks, so I'm in no great shape at the moment.

Where does all the time go?

Time to get a move-on! As soon as I've put in 50 hours at work to make up for all that vacation, sorted all 2700 photos--oh yeah plus a couple hundred more for two nieces' graduations, cleared all the stuff off the table, finished organizing & photographing the ribbons spread all over the living room floor, arranged for a blackberry sorbet party for next weekend and cleaned up the whole yard...

OK, any day now. SOMEone better start kicking my butt or this mess will NEVER get cleaned up.

From Hopeless to the Top

SUMMARY: A Journey with Dylan video.

Some video clips at the beginning of this inspiring agility-dog vid show how far down one can get, before going on to how far up one can go.

Watching the Top Ten

SUMMARY: Watching the rankings rise and fall...

OK, I apparently lied when I said you wouldn't have to hear about Tika and Top Ten rankings until July after our next USDAA trial. I happened to be on the USDAA Top Ten page for something else, so just thought I'd look.

Tika is currently:

• 9th in Performance Gamblers
• 3rd in Performance Jumpers
• 3rd in Performance Snooker
• 6th in Performance Standard

Yeeehah! Love fantasizing about this!

(Disclaimer: This is results through the 1st or 2nd weekend in May, and our next trial isn't until 1st weekend in July, so people have 2 months in which to push us further down the list.)

OK, that's all, just stoking my ego!

MUTT MVR aka Swagger Wagon

SUMMARY: I never realized how cool I was for having a minivan, until now.

Thanks, Team Fernandez-Lopez, for pointing out this video.

Home Again

SUMMARY: Another whirlwind vacation to Arizona.

Whew!

• Days on the road: 8
• Miles driven: 2150
• Photos taken: 2775
• Weddings attended: 1
• National Parks, Monuments,  Forests, Recreation Areas, and Historic Landmarks visited: 9
• Tuzigoot national monument
• Coconino nat'l forest
• Grand Canyon nat'l park
• Prescott nat'l forest
• Kaibab nat'l forest
• Lake Mead nat'l recreation area
• Hoover Dam nat'l historic landmark
• Joshua Tree nat'l park
• Taliesin West nat'l historic landmark (Scottsdale)
  
• State Parks visited: 3
• Fort Tejon SP (Tejon Pass, CA)
• South Mountain SP (Phoenix)
• Red Rock SP (Sedona)
•  Tourist-trappy kinds of fun places visited: 6
• Casa da Fruta (Gilroy)
• Pea Soup Andersen (Santa Nella)
• Alien Fresh Jerky
• Mad Greek
• Peggy Sue's '50s Diner
• Nevada casinos
• Educational, culturally meaningful places visited: 8
• Arizona Natural History Museum (Mesa)
• Harvey House, plus Railroad Museum and Route 66 Museum (Barstow)
• Twenty Mule Team Museum (Boron)
• Borax "mine" tour (dang, closed, photos from outside only) (Boron)
• Calico Early Man archaeological dig site (Yermo)
• Tehachapi Loop (railroad) (Tehachapi pass)
• Jerome, AZ
• My sister's house in NV
• Geocaches found: 1 in Arizona, 2 in Nevada.
• Dog petted (that I remember): 3 (Shiba Inu at wedding, Labrador at Tuzigoot, terrier at Harvey House)
• Photos involving dogs: A few
• Agility sites visited: 1 (Westworld, although there was no agility there at the moment)
• Wild mammal varieties seen: 5 (jack rabbit, elk, deer, cottontail, big horn sheep); photographed: latter 4
• Wild reptile varieties seen: a bunch, mostly lizards (some photos), a couple of snakes (no photos), desert tortoise (wow! Yay!); also big red-eared sliders in a domestic pond
• Wild birds photographed--none very well or very close: quail (from a distance), scrub jay, raven, though maybe condors but now I think they're just turkey vultures (sigh) from a LONG distance, lesser goldfinch (I think), white-winged dove
• Wildflowers photographed: Wow, were there a lot of wildflowers this trip! Identifying them all will take a while.

Dogs were very happy to see me; I'm very tired and have unpacking to do plus go through all those photos! I think I'd better do the wedding first and get to the others later, but just because I've already edited this one, here's a white-winged dove on a blooming saguaro.