Walkies and This Weekend

SUMMARY: Guadalupe River walk and USDAA trial.

For this week's Friday walkies, we strolled (fairly briskly) 2 miles along the Guadalupe River Trail from the percolation pond under Highway 87--

--alllll the way to Almaden Lake Park, where the view with Mount Umunhum (with its well-known radar station) in the background caught my eye.

The section between the two is level, paved, and mostly very very straight:

Just a few touches of fall color here and there. Oh, and Tika and Boost.

Here's walkies friend's "I've had plenty of periodic cancer scans, thenk yew very much" t-shirt for this week:

This weekend won't be nearly so laid-back. Nunes Athletic Field's last USDAA trial of the year is also our last of the year--not because there aren't trials, but because I really am cutting back and the idea of two months off appeals greatly to me now (although the dogs get antsier by the day). Six runs (per dog) on Saturday, five on Sunday (or six, if we Q in Steeplechase).

Training we've done? Pretty much NO. THING. Weekly class, of course, where actually Boost is doing better at running and less at inserting refusals or runouts, but still knocking bars. Tika looks great; as usual, her contacts are fast and perfect at home and in class. What will they look like this weekend? Prediction: Slow and accurate or fast and fly-off, as usual.

Sooooo, what titles could we get this weekend?

• Tika needs 1 Standard Q for her Performance Standard Bronze (15 Qs). We have 2 chances. Prediction: We'll get it. She's Qed 8 of the last 11 at the last 6 trials.
• Tika needs 2 Jumpers Qs for her Performance Jumpers Bronze. We have 2 chances. Prediction: 50-50. She's Qed 12 of the last 16 at our last 9 trials, so she'll probably get one of those Qs.
• Those two would complete her Performance Championship Bronze! In just over a year! She likes Performance.
• Boost: Pleeeeeeeeze could we get jumpers Qs and SuperQs? two chances at each. But still need a bunch of both before we approach titles.

So now, as the sun sinks slowly in the west, I bid you all farewell until Sunday night or Monday. Hope you all have as wonderful a weekend among friends and furry companions as I plan on having!

In and From Taj MuttHall's Yard

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday

How Many Points Does It Take?

SUMMARY: Still not paying ANY attention to top Ten points

As you know, I am not looking at or even thinking about Tika's Top Ten points until the end of the year.  However, coincidentally and completely unrelated--

In half an hour on the amazing waybackmachine, I've been able to establish the following history of 22" Performance USDAA points required to make top ten (other heights are too much work for the moment, sorry).

Notes:

• Still no data for 2008
• The 2010 numbers shown are for 10th place as of Oct 10 trials.
• Tika so far (IF I were looking at or even thinking about them, which I'm not): Through Oct 10. One more trial coming, this weekend.

	Gamblers	Jumpers	Snooker	Standard
2005	18	22	14 (9th pl 29!)	34
2006	21	20	18	24
2007	26	21	22	27
2008	?	?	?	?
2009	30	28	30	36
2010	32+	24+	27+	30+
Tika's pts so far	41	50	37	47

I'm pretty confident about Jumpers and Standard, and a little concerned about Snooker and Gamblers with 2 and a half months of trials unrecorded and/or not yet occurred. We're probably OK there, too, but, sure, I just need something to be concerned about.

The truth is, I really did let go of Top Ten points as a determiner in what I was going to do with Tika at trials. It never WAS supposed to be a determiner, but I found myself messing up more because I wanted the placements more. So I've made a conscious effort to not let it affect my enjoyment of my dog and the decisions on courses based on her skills, and I've gone back to doing just fine, thanks.  We could still have a down weekend--it happens--or she could be sore again--but otherwise, we'll be just hunky dory.

Autumn Hike

SUMMARY: Friday morning scenery, with dogs.

Not quite as stunning scenery as some of those Colorado blogger photos, but there is a lot going on here in San Jose, too.

Most weeks, I do Friday walkies with the Merle Girls and a friend who's battling cancer in various ways, including trying to live a healthier, more active life, and by laughing at what she's been through. (Her dog, Sparky, and my Remington went through cancer at the same time way back when.)

We usually hike along the Guadalupe River Trail above or below Lake Almaden, and then on to Los Alamitos Creek Trail. This week, we started at the lake.

Climbing plumbago--beautiful blue (although, yeah, invasive).

Somewhere along the way, Boost picked up a little blue flower on her left shoulder and carried it all 2.6 miles. Does that mean she's single?

The trail is level and paved and winds among civilization and nature.

The autumn flowers are finishing up, like this buckwheat.

And like this horridly invasive nonnative yellow thistle.

Some other kind of grass. Everything glowed in Friday morning's light.

There's always a way to practice 2o/2o contacts.

Spits and spots of autumn foliage along our trail.

And more dried vegetation with the creek running behind.

I think I take photos of the leaves of this kind of tree every autumn; such rich reds.

What lovely dogs you have, ma'am.

The Water is Always Cooler on the Other Side--

SUMMARY: It just tastes better out of someone else's bowl.

I've been wondering why the birdbath water gets so low so quickly.

(Behind her, through the door: Dog water bowl. At bottom of steps here: Dog water bowl. Oh, well.)

The Month of Losing Dangerously

SUMMARY: A purse, a watch, sunglasses, a flashlight, Benadryl, a man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs, a coloratura...but I digress.

I am not the sort of person who loses things, normally. Really, I'm not. Now, I'm beginning to wonder--

First, the vanished purse on Saturday, Oct 16, which I didn't discover until the following Tuesday night, when I had tickets to a play.

That Wednesday was spent searching for the purse and making phone calls and such.

(It wasn't an entirely wasted effort--in the process of tearing the house AND the car apart looking for the purse, I did a lot of clean-up and putting things away, like the bottle of benadryl that had been sitting, unused, on the kitchen counter since Boost had itchies a couple of months ago but then got better.)

So perhaps it was understandable that evening when I took the dogs to class (with no drivers license, no money, no AAA card, nuthin') that I was a bit distracted. As usual, pottied the dogs when I got there, cleaned up Tika's poo in the approved manner using my new spiffy LED flashlight to see what I was doing, tossed it into the poo can, and walked away--yes, the unclear pronoun reference: I realized I still had a bag of poo in my hand.

Retrieved the flashlight from the poo can, made a mental note that it needed to be cleaned before further use, and--I haven't seen it since.

As class continued, I glanced at my wrist to check the time, but no watch. "Huh," I thought to myself, "I thought I put it on, but I was a bit distracted." Got home, tore the house apart again looking for the watch. (Which was a very nice, very expensive Seiko watch that was quite beautiful when I got it as a gift 25 years ago. It's pretty scruffy now, but I like it and would hate to lose it.)

It took me several days to realize that perhaps I HAD put the watch on before going to class, so I called Power Paws and--a miracle--someone had found that dainty tiny black watch in one of the fields.

After I got my purse back, I decided it was time to clean up assorted other business that I'd been postponing. Like, on Thursday October 28, an eye appointment to order replacement glasses. I actually had a warranty of sorts on the glasses, so I could either get an entirely new pair with my new (very slightly changed) prescription for a lot of $$, or get an exact replacement of what I had with the warranty for half the $$. One of the deciding factors was that the not-cheap clip-on sunglasses that I've had for the last 2 years and that were made explicitly for that frame would still be useful to me.

The next day, got into the car to go for my long-postponed haircut, reached for the sunglasses in their holder--and, yeah, you got it, not there. These are useful to me *only* in the car, since I have self-darkening lenses. They almost never leave the car, and almost always are replaced in their holder by sheer habit. I don't have to think at all about them at all--and apparently I didn't, because I couldn't at all remember the last time I had used them (yesterday on the way home from the eye appt? on the way there? the day before? etc.).

So, last weekend, I tore the car somewhat apart again looking for the sunglasses. Nada. Argh. I can't think where they might be, unless I did something like take them off, set them in my lap for some reason, then get out of the car and they fell out. That would be a big Crap. A week later, I still don't know where they are.

Anywayyyyyy Boost has started scratching again. Today seems particularly worse, so it's time to start the benadryl again.

So...yeah... I put it away: But where?

All I can say is, the dogs could be next at the rate I'm going, so it's a good thing they're nailed to the floor.

---

In its entirety, here's the palindrome I started on in the Summary: "A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs, a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni, a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut, a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal – Panama!"

Can You See Me *Now*?

SUMMARY: Spectacles spectacle. Plus from K-TMH, only the finest in hijacked lyrics.

Dang glasses. I don't know how they get so scratched. Makes me nuts. I try SO hard to only clean them in the appropriate way, but in between--scratches. My whole world gets to looking a little foggy. (Or is that "doggy"? Hard to tell with all those scratches, eh, Tika?)

But today: New glasses! WoooHOOO!

I'm sure this will prevent me from running into things, leaving my purse in the ice cream shop, not training my dogs enough, avoiding exercise, and slowly going broke. If only I had gotten them 3 days ago, maybe they'd have helped everyone see clearly enough that Prop 21 would've passed, too!

[Bursts into song:]
I can see clearly now, the grain is gone!
I can see agility obstacles in my way!
Gone are the scratched lenses that had me blind,
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright unblemished day.

Wordless Wednesday Snooze

SUMMARY: Boost shows how it's done.

PICK UP YOUR POOP!

SUMMARY: Why is this so hard?

I know that I'm preaching to the choir here, but WHY is it so hard for people to pick up their dog's poo? OK, maybe you left your bags at home--but aren't there ALWAYS plastic bags lying around in the nearby shrubs? (Well, maybe that'll be fixed as more cities vote to outlaw one-use plastic bags, as they're doing around here.)

But please explain the two I picked up this morning within 5 feet of the poop-bag dispensing station at the park entry? And one ON the sidewalk about 20 feet away? And two more about one foot off the path 30 feet down? You know that those dogs are probably on leash and their owners probably saw them poop.

I walked a straight line through the middle of the huge grassy field and picked up three more. Picked up a couple (as usual) within 10 feet of the garbage can. Left a couple because I was out of bags (even took a couple from their dispenser) and tired of picking up poop.

Who knew there were so many people in this neighborhood with such severe mental and/or physical handicaps that they can't figure out how to pick up their dogs' leavings? As a public service for those to whom it has NEVER OCCURRED for some reason to do this task, herewith:

How to Pick Up Your Dog's Waste/poo/poop/feces/shit:

1. Insert hand into cute designer plastic bag from dispenser.

2. Grab not-so-cute deposit from ground.

3. Invert bag with a sophisticated flourish.

4. Tie cute designer knot and drop into nearby designer receptacle.

[Note that this is NOT the schoolyard a mile away where I and others play off-leash with our dogs, which is always clean of poo. I don't get it, I don't, I don't.]

Dog Butt(on)s

SUMMARY: An amazing collection

One Bay Teamer shows up at trials and events with shirts, notecards, and other things sporting the most beautiful and unique buttons. We ran into each other once, on one of our rare nonagility weekends, doing garage sales. I was in search of inexpensive useful household items; she was in search of rare and unusual buttons.

Here are her agility dogs, which are as cute as (and not much bigger than) buttons:

Anyway, at a trial a year or so ago, we got to talking, and it turns out that she doesn't merely have a few jars of buttons; she is a competitive button collector (who knew you could even do that!) with a house filled to the brim with buttons.

A couple of us begged for a viewing, and when she realized that we were serious, she invited us over wayyy back in August and gave us an hour's tour of a small percentage of her buttons. I tried taking shots with a handheld camera; didn't work out well. I've told her I want to come back and take more photos.

Herewith are just a few of her 10s of thousands--most neatly assembled (by her) on cards in boxes.

Mostly they're assembled by type of material.

They might also be grouped by color.

For competition, the groupings have to have themes--for example, "French things":

I don't even remember all the ways that they were grouped, but she pulled out card after card of amazingly crafted buttons of diverse materials and origins. And showed us her bookcase full of button books, which she's mostly memorized so that she can recognize the good buttons when she finds them at garage or estate sales or antique shops. Here's still more:

She creates attractive displays of related buttons, many of which hang on her walls.

Oh--and you can also collect and compete with studs--you know, those embossed metal things on your blue jeans that you never pay any attention to? Here's a clever display she made of some of hers:

She knows all the art-button crafters in the area, too, and buys their one-of-a-kind buttons (sorry, dogs, had to get this gorgeous cat one in):

Oh, and in case we were wondering about the dozens and dozens of gas lamps all over the house, yep, they collect those, too, and have boxes and boxes of them neatly stored as well. Together, they make some pretty impressive viewing.

And, of course, among all those boxes, there are cards of dog buttons! We looked at a bunch of them, trying to guess some of the uncertain breeds.

The "Victorian Black Glass" on the card above, I pointed out, looked just like recently deceased Scully, who belonged to the friend who went with me on this tour, and to our surprise, our hostess pulled the button off and gave it to my friend! She said that she had some border collie buttons around somewhere but wasn't sure where at the moment.

Now, here it is two and a half months later, and last week, this arrived in the mail:

I am thrilled! These are Fimo (polymer clay) buttons, and it just so happens that I have a friend who got involved in fimo art for a while, so I know a little bit about how these are made. You see how they're the same design front and back (except inverse)? That's because the design goes all the way through. The artist carefully assembles layers of different colors of femo clay into a long roll, then slices through the roll, and if she's done it right, you get little pictures like this. Astounding. Here's a very simple example of how to do this craft.

So now I have some beautiful art border collie buttons. Will have to think what clever thing I can do with them. They look like they have a good sit-stay, anyway.