Bokeh

I got Bokeh....while it may not be the best Bokeh in town, I was very pleased with what I got at my first real attempt at Bokeh. 

Some other interesting photos...

Happy Retirement!

Happy Retirement Dad!  I love you!

Halloween sendables - courtesy of JibJab!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Directionally Challenged



"Reese you have an arrow on your head".

I had my brother take some photos of Reese and I using the Stunt Puppy hands free leash.  His first comment though was about Reese.



"That's so you know what direction to go, huh?"



Very  funny, Uncle Mike,



Here we come....



Lookin' good!

There we go...

 

See ya.....!

I love this leash. Everyday I ask Reese, are you ready....do you wanna "Stunt Puppy"??? And she gets all excited because she knows what it means.  She rarely pulls on it at all anymore and runs next to me or slightly ahead but with plenty of slack in the line.

Only one drawback....everytime I put my windpants on she thinks its going to be time for a run with the Stunt Puppy!

Kitty Cats!

Bella and Sophie always seem to get short shifted on the blog, so I thought I would share some photos I took of them recently.  Notice Bella the bigger cat always takes the smaller bed (bought for Sophie) and Sophie the smaller cat always ends up in the big cat bed (which was bought for Belle), go figure!

Wanna Smile?

Tired of campaign Ads?  Check this Ad out, it is sure to put a smile on your face.

A Weekend Without Work

Isn't that what weekends are supposed to be. Time for fun and relaxation. Not always if you have a house to take care of. There is so much to do before winter sets in.  But....sometimes you just have to take a break and figure it will get done.

So that is sort of what we did this weekend. Didn't really plan it that way. Had planned on getting up early on Saturday to do yard work including getting the leaves up and mowing. Clean out the garage, put the garden to bed and take the fence down. Will be interesting to see how long it takes the rabbits to mow the garden remnants down. But....it didn't happen.

Instead I slept in, ran with Reese with the Stunt Puppy, our hands free leash which works great. Played in the yard. Went shopping, made chilli which I have never made before. I know I should have known it would be easy but it tastes complicated so I just never tried it. It was delicious.

Then we watched some agility. My friends and trainer were running dogs in the Cynosports USDAA Nationals.  After technical difficulty I finally got the live feed to work.  

Even Reese watched for awhile!

Notice her ears. Seems to be a bit worried watching some of the runs. Can you say "fault traps".

 

"Oh I can't watch. I think they are going to miss that weave entry."

Then a nice dinner at my parents, with my brother and his girlfriend.

Some random shots of Reese



No one will play ball with me:((

 

Mom, will you put the black box away and play ball with me?



Should I take the black box away? Is that what you want?





Nap time!

Flanks for Stockwork

Yes, I am getting excited to go to our herding clinic in November.  It is only about a month away and I know the time is going to go very fast.

I really liked this post about Flanks and "natural" vs "mechanical" flanks.  I think there were a lot of good points in this post.  Check it out if you like...

http://abcollie.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/flanking-again/

Also, we got a sub 10 minute mile in this morning with the Stunt Puppy!  Fun to be out there moving again.  I hope to get some pictures that I can post with us using it later today.  And just to confuse the poor girl we may get to a dry land skijoring practice tomorrow where, yes if in a harness she will be told to pull.  Don't know if they will have harnesses there to try on or not...so will have to see when I get more info on it.  I'm not worried I have a very smart girl and she will figure it out, in collar run next to person, in harness pull!

Exciting Happenings Coming Our Way!

The days are getting shorter and darker, but we have been having a lovely Indian summer this Fall. It was in the 70's all week and we have a possibility of hitting 80 this weekend:))

But while I like the cooler weather, note I did not say cold, Reese and I have a number of things to look forward to in the coming months.

First, tomorrow morning our first trial entry is going in the mail for our first trial over Halloween weekend - so excited. We are entering just one day for this CPE trial as I have a photog class on Saturday. But on Sunday we are planning to run the 4 classes that are offered that day - Jumpers, Standard, Colors and Jackpot.  So gotta do a quick study of Colors and Jackpot.  I figured this will be a good introduction for Reese to a trial and I can get an idea of how she will react to running at a different location than where we train and to the commotion that comes with a trial situation. One day will probably be enough for my nerves our first time out too.

There are two other trials I am hoping to enter before the year is out so will see how the first one goes....

In November Reese and I will be traveling across country with our friends Loretta and Donna and dogs to another Kathy Knox herding clinic.  Reese will be happy to room with her beau Spot again.  Will be fun to see Kathy again and some of the other people that work stock in that part of the country again.  These clinics are so incredible, the amount you learn in a weekend is mind boggling and leaves me thinking dog for days and weeks afterwards - which is what they should do.

Early next year Reese and I got into two of the working spots for a Silvia Trkman seminar, woo hoo, happy dance!! I will be auditing many of the other sessions as well, can't wait!

This past week at our lesson Reese and I ran the Jumpers course from the World Agility Championship Large dogs.  What a rush, it was great.  So fun - we broke it down and then put it all together at the end.  Yes, I was wheezing at the end, but I was able to run it.  Reese did great. 

Oh and last weekend we got a fun new tool to help us workout. It is a hands free leash for running by Stunt Puppy.  Haven't tried it yet, no running this past week - just long walks as I've been a bit under the weather. But we hope to give it a good try this weekend.

 

Are you ready yet, I'm waiting!



Okay, lets go!



Come On Lady, lets get out the door already!