Winning the Group

We are now at the end of a very long 4 day show weekend. Tanner won the Breed all four days. Monday, Newell took him down to the show so I could work, and I went down to pick him up. We were the fourth group. We had not shown to this judge before. Well, I just had that feeling. The judge went down the line, and pulled is cut, the Rottie, the Pry, the Giant, the Portie and Tanner.. Great, we made the cut. WHEW!!! We haven't been doing that. Since he is back from Europe it has been a little bit like starting over. Anyway, he sent them around one and a time and Kevin and I were cheering our heads off. He looked up and down the line again, and pulled TAnner for Group 1.. YEA... BIS was next. The judge examined him and nearly fell over him. Tanner though didn't even notice. He is so solid. She looked at all the dogs, and I thought she really liked him. He did not show as well, was a bit fidgety. But.. the last dog she looked at before making her decision was Tanner. And the winner is...... The Pekinese. UGH>> Oh well.. nothing to be disappointed about. I know his BIS will come. Probably just not when I am there to watch...:(((

re inventing the wheel

So why is it that people feel that they have to always mess with a good thing, just because they can. For those of you who know me well, you know that I follow the weight watchers plan. I am pretty regular about this and rely on the website almost daily to help me keep my weight under some sort of control. Well, for about a week the website has been announcing that they are changing the plan. I am none too happy with this. I love the current plan, I am comfortable with the current plan, and in my humble opinion it does not need to be changed. Well, anyway today is the day they make the big announcement and all of us have to learn the new plan. That is of course unless the WEB SITE DOESN"T WORK!!! I get on first thing this morning, (like I always do) and there is an error.. I try to access the page from Google and there is an error. UGH!!!! Why can't they leave just well enough alone. I swear, I will drop weight watchers and become a Jillian fanatic if they don't fix this soon ....

Things to be thankful for

So. the holiday season is upon us once again and there are many things to be thankful for. Today, we celebrated Thanksgiving at my house like we usually do. I was up at the crack of dawn peeling potatoes and cooking the side dishes. By noon the house was filled with family. It was a beautiful day with a lot of love and joy. I always like Thanksgiving the best of all the holidays because it is all about the food and the people This year, Jay's father was in town and he joined us. We welcomed him to our table and he enjoyed the love of the day. That is what I love about this holiday. The table is always welcoming. My friends Heather and Kevin did not have dinner today. They traveled down to the dog show to set up for the weekend. Well, after we were all done here, Newell and I packed a bag and brought Thanksgiving dinner to them. They were so appreciative. I love this holiday and the way it makes me feel.

Tanner's got a girlfriend

My silly dog.. Roxy came for a visit this week. He has been so excited to see her. He whines and cries and paces all night long in the room, but... when it is time to do the deed, he has been a dud of a stud. I don't really know what his problem is. And Roxy is asking the same thing. She wants him bad... But.. he just can't seem to close the deal. Now. he wants to, he tries, but no luck. Maybe she is just a bit too tall for him.. and to make matters worse, he won't let me help him. It is moments like this that I wish him and I could communicate.. I would tell him that I am here to help.. But.. NOOOO he has to do this on his own, so we have been using the artificial method and he has been left unsatisfied. Too bad....

Short Week

Monday is here.. We have a short week with Thanksgiving. Working today and Wed. and then off for 4 days of dog shows. Next week.. Work Monday and Wed then off to Eukanuba.. And then the following week Work Wed and Thursday. Who knows?? I may get used to only working 2 days a week...

the things we do for our family

So.. yesterday was Marilyn's performance at the local theatre. It was a production of Willie Wonka. Well, we knew it wasn't going to be Broadway, but... Mere and Tyler, Andrew and Leslie came up.. Newell went to the dog show (???). Off we went. Well, I have a few questions. Why is the lead, Charlie unable to sing? He literally talked through his songs... Why? when Marilyn was the best singer, she not given more of a singing part? And why? didn't they sell wine there? It was two hours.. not bad. and we didn't make a spectacle of ourselves like we did at "Living Waters".. But that is another story to tell. We did our deed, saw the family, went to dinner and fun was had by all.

Oh these silly dog shows

So we are four days in Philly. Judges look good and Tanner has decided that he would rather do this from home than stay with Heather, so we are going back and forth. Yesterday was the big day. The judge has seen him before and has given him a Group 2 in a very competative Working Group, so we were pretty confident there, and the Group judge is scheduled to judge Bernese at the Garden. This would be a great opportunity to see him. Well, the Breed judge didn't follow the play book. She looked at Tanner and then the bitch special Taylor and decided that today was Taylor's day. UGH!!! I hate when they don't follow the plan. Poor Dede and Kevin were besides themselves. Sorry Dede said to me.. What?? This is dog shows.. This happens all of the time. Can't be mad, just got to be Oh well, guess what??? Another show today... Yea me.. And I don't have to go... I am going to see my niece Marilyn in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at the neighborhood theater.. Oh joy... More on that tomorrow, I am sure. I think they sell wine there..

Poopy Tanner

So. Tanner is in Philadelphia all weekend for dog shows. I drove to Heather's Wed morning to bring him there and the plan was to pick him back up on Sunday at the dog show. Well, at work Thursday I started to get calls from the show. Tanner had pooped in his crate. The first thing they wanted was for me to drive to Philadelphia to pick him up so he could have another bath. i said, "find a place to wash him and take him there". Kristen offered to take him home and bathe him. That works. Well, they continued to call. More poop. Now they thought he wasn't feeling well. Take him to the on site vet.. No temp, all seemed normal. just lots of pooping. Well, I went and got him. He ate his supper, and no poops at all. No poops all night. He just wanted to come home and not be in the crate at the dog show. This dog...

Wine O

So. newell asked me if I thought I could give up drinking wine. Why in the world would I want to do that? Well, I guess he thought I couldn't. Well, I did.. I asked him if he noticed that I hadn't had any wine all week, he said that he had and asked me how I felt. I said, no shakes, no blackouts, just my old self without wine. See. I like wine like some like ice cream.

Bad Puppy

So,.. Newell and I worked all day on Saturday cleaning out the porch for the holidays. We washed the windows and scrubbed the floor. I went to the store to buy a new rug. We belong to the "rug of the month club".. No sense in getting nice rugs.. You'll find out in a few. Yesterday, I am busy doing something in the other part of the house and when I come back the baby puppy has got a mouth full of green fuzz. She has eaten the carpet. Why? Om what planet is my green fuzzy carpet food? Now. she has chew toys galore. You would think I have a toddler living here with all the toys strewn all over. But Noooo. My shoes and my carpet that is what she wants. She is such a bad puppy. Darn cute, but bad..

swimming with the sharks

So.. Tanner is back out full swing. And so far we have an a pretty easy time of it. He has been the only male special and has won.. This weekend was quite a different story. We were down in Salisbury MD and there were 5 dog specials and 1 bitch special entered. WOW... I can't even name 5 dog specials.. Well I can if you add the two #1 dogs in the country Leo and Nick into the mix. So here we were for 5 days competing with the #1 All breed dog Leo and the #1 breed dog Nick. Well, Tanner held his own. We won the Breed one day and we won Select another.. Not too shabby considering he has not been out for 5 months. He looks like a million dollars and I was so happy with the way he showed.

shopping with Newell

So.. any of us who have just lost 20 pounds would love to go a buy a new wardrobe. Well, not Newell. He has been walking around in clothes that are literally falling off of him. He looks rather pathetic. I have asked him repeatedly, "why don't we go and buy you some new clothes?" His response is "Christmas is just a few weeks away, just get me some them". Well, what size? He doesn't know. So, yesterday we decide that at least we would go and buy some new jeans, so I would have an idea of size. Well, that is what we did.. We bought 1 pair of jeans. Nothing else. It was like he couldn't get out of the store quick enough. While he was in the dressing room, I wandered into the ladies department, because I am always willing to see what is new, he came out didn't see me and was ready to walk out of the store mad at me for not being right there. It was such a lovely time, that we bought the jeans and left. Now I know what size he is, and I will do the rest of his clothes shopping without him.. Thank goodness.

the long ride home

Well, out to New Stanton PA yesterday. 3 plus hours to get there. Ann and I met and now he is gone. I had the long 3 hour drive home by myself yesterday to contemplate these maddening dogs. When we picked Echo up from Natalie, I had no intention of bringing home a boy puppy. I wanted a girl. When we went out there, I just couldn't take my eyes off that big boy puppy. He was great. It took me nearly 2 hours to decided that I could do a boy. He was the first dog in 20 years that I finished from the puppy class. He was always willing to please me. With Tanner being his dad, he was always in the shadows, so he looked for ways to stand out. Well, he was also the only Bernese we have ever had to fetch. Newell always tries to toss the ball with the dogs, and year after year, dog after dog they watch Newell toss the ball, and they just don't get it. Oh. some will go after it, but they never bring it back. Well, Echo did. He ran after the ball and brought it back to Newell. The ball quickly became a small tire. When Newell would go out, Echo was beside himself. A quick question, "where is your tire" would send him over the edge. He would locate it and they would play.. It was great to see. I told Ann and Phil to play fetch with him, I am sure they will. She texted me last night that he crawled up into the couch with Phil and tried to lay completely on top of him. That is Echo. And before she went to sleep she texted again and said he was sound asleep on the floor next to the bed. He will be fine. Its me I am worried about..

It doesn't get any easier

Several months ago, my dear friend called me to tell me that her Berner was diagnosed with cancer. That is so hard.. He was a young dog, only 6 and she was heartbroken. I made up my mind at that time that when Rudy left, my Echo would go to live with them. I have known Ann and Phil for years and her first Bernese was brother to my second one Grey. Anyway, that day has arrived today. Last weekend Rudy died and now Friday morning I make the long trip west to meet them. I gave him his bath and his tire is packed up and he begins his new great life with Ann and Phil. But...even though my head is saying this is so right for him. When Tanner is here, Echo and him fight and we have to keep them separated. My heart says differently. He is such a neat dog. We will miss him. Have a wonderful life dear Echo... Don't forget me

Staying committed

So.. Newell has lost 20 pounds.. How did he do it? I would like to say that he just gave up cookies at night, and trust me he did that before and did indeed lose weight.. But this time is different.. Starting last January he has religiously been working out and slowly but surely the weight has come off. His clothes are falling off of him, and he really does look great. So me.. UM.. what do to do. I have always been the one to work out. But of late, not so much. I have begun the morning ritual again. But it has been a slow process and I am not as regular as I should be. My joke is that I work my butt off to be 10 pounds overweight, but now I am a bit more than that. So each morning, for the last two weeks I have taken myself down the steps and have worked out. Mere says if I give up wine than the weight will come off easier.. Why in the world would I need to lose weight if I can't have wine.. I wouldn't have any reason to get out of bed...