It's been awhile

Dang as they say down South, it's been a "coon's age" (whatever that is) since I went to a dogshow and showed a dog , (well aside from the Rarities show two weeks after my bypass in January). So toodled up to Clarksville today to show Kozima for the first time since picking him up in TX back in February. WD, BOS for 1 pt so I was glad I made it there although I wasn't sure it was going to happen since I24 became a parking lot twice on my way up there and as I pulled in to park they were charging for parking, couldn't find cash had to write a freaking check in a hurry, drive down the hill, grab the dog, grab a showlead, pulled everything out of the show bag because apparently that lead was an integral part of the critical mass in that bag. Put leash on dog and literally had to run up the hill. Got there with less than 2 minutes to spare, the Salukis were already in the ring only two of them and then the Borzoi. Now while some may enjoy being fashionably late it really is not my cup of tea.

On a happy note my friend Rebecca was there with her monster camera so there will be many great photos of Kozima stacked and moving later on this week for his webpage.

Do as I say not as I do...

While this is a rant about dog breeders, it is certainly applicable in all areas of life. I certainly remember it applied to more than one of the Southern Baptist preachers I grew up with.

At any rate years ago I acquired a dog I thought ( and still do think) was fabulous. He had everything I wanted him for, type, speed, dentition, great running gear, topline, tail carriage, and his head on completely straight. I love the dog, he was a very successful competition dog for me, passed the health tests got a CHIC number and I used him several times in my breeding program, in addition to allowing him to be used by a couple of outside bitches. He produced number 1 dogs in racing and lure coursing and many dogs ranked in both in addition to producing ring champions and being a number 1 racing dog himself. He's been a lot of fun. Anyway, this one novice whackado jumped up and down saying I was going to cause some bottleneck in the performance dog gene pool with him and that I shouldn't breed him young (just under 3) even though he was health tested and cleared.
Years later ( and this person is still a novice due to their mindset and lack of animal husbandry skills) I have watched several debacles of this same person doing things they haranged others for either in person or online. Things like:
a. breeding young dogs with no "credentials" and no health testing
b. breeding dogs that had produced things like hip dysplasia without testing the parent who produced it for it before using them again
c. breeding litters and then placing all of the pups (I've never said there was anything wrong with it but this crackpot used to jump on people on lists for the same thing)
d. breeding litters when they don't have money or resources for keeping them all as long as necessary (this was the first thing my original mentor told me was required for breeding Borzoi ie. be able to keep them a long time as they are not always easy to find the correct placements for)
e. contacting people's puppy buyers and saying nasty things about the parents or the lines to try and prevent them getting a puppy
f. linebreeding on the same problems (hell the SAME DOGS) they are intent on giving other people a hard time about
g. selling puppies that aren't permanently identified (one of their puppy buyers told me to my face when she was picking up a puppy that it was not chipped or tattooed)

The list could go on but you get the idea, truly, "Do as I say not as I do". This kind of person really should be breeding Chi Poos or Puggles something they can sell quick, requiring no health testing and bail out of everytime they have a personal problem.

Camera Hog

Last post tonight I promise. Keelo is one of those dogs that ends up with lots of photos of him everywhere. These two taken in New Mexico in February are kind of like, look at the mountains or look at him? So a compromise was struck and I took a bunch of photos of him looking all self stacked and show doggy ( well except for having his rabbit hunting ears on) all over the desert countryside. Here are a couple of my favorites. Above Keelo looking back at me like "Hey, are you getting all this?"

and then "Hmmm, I know if I keep my ears up like this I will HEAR a rabbit."

Two very different Floridas

Last December I judged one of the ASFA trial in Northern Florida. LONG LONG drive for me around 600 miles, drove all night and made a minor wrong turn driving into the property so instead of immediately coming upon the field trial, instead I came upon this lovely little lake at sunrise. I parked on the dam and took this photo. If I ever have time again I'd love to paint it, I love these pastels.

Now this "Florida" ( pronounced I believe Flor EE da) is about as dry a place as the one above is water logged. This is the Florida Mts of Southwestern NM with a storm brewing over them in early February of this year. Love all those yucca or century plants or whatthehellever it is they are called in the foreground. I'm sure there are a bunch of jacks in the foreground too but they are hiding.

My first trip to Wyoming

Found these photos in the disaster area known as the computer room the other day, I have apparently forgotten to put them in an album for 2.5 years. AYEEEEEEEE. Anyway thought I'd scan a few of the more scenic ones from my October 2005 trip to Wyoming where I took the scenic Oregon/Mormon/Westward Ho FuddDucker trail leaving the Interstate at Ogallalla (Is that too many L's or not enough?) going up to Scottsbluff then cutting over to WY on county roads ending up North of Cheyenne on I25. Would scan the Scottsbluff picture but it is surrounded by a freaking golf course so not very "Western" looking to my eye.

The first picture is one of the landmarks of those emigrant trails known today as Chimney Rock (its a national park service place) but locals say the Indians there called it something that means deer penis rock. I don't know, I've never seen one.

Then there's jail and courthouse rocks also a landmark but unfortunately they are on private property so this is as close as you get, there's a marker there on the side of this little narrow county road explaining how they rise 400 feet from plains of the North Platte and can be seen for around 30 miles on the trail. I think the guy that owns the property offers wagon rides around them. Hey a farmer has to make a buck with diesel worth the price of gold.
One of my favorite trail landmarks is this little tree on Interstate 80, it is so unique (and was noted in several emigrants diaries on the Overland trail) that there is a pullout or pullin from both sides of the interstate so you can stop, take pictures etc. You can't go to the bathroom though, no facilities, just the tree.

And the first sign that I was in real cowboy country was this one for the Dead Horse Food and Spirits, 24 hr gas and diesel in LaGrange. Next time I'm through there I believe I will pop in for a bit. Maybe they have cool T shirts.

Back to Vandy, batching for a week

This was my 3 month post op visit. They were beyond pleased with my progress, I fit right in all their little charts and schedules of weight loss. I did find out I haven't been taking enough calcium supplement, my bad, I thought I was supposed to take one big horsepill twice a day but its TWO big horsepills twice a day. Got it. They drew blood for a workup to check by CBC, all the B vitamin levels and all the iron levels and some other things I can't begin to pronounce or spell. The gal walked in the little cubicle with 8 or 9 test tubes to fill up. Jeeze, I thought I'd faint but she was very good got a big vein on the first bite and all the test tubes are apparently vacumn packed so when they put them on the end they just sucked it right up. Took less than two minutes, the woman missed her calling as a vampire, I suspect in the Hindu scheme of things she may be a mosquito reborn to a higher level. So I go back July 22 I think it is for a 6 month check to see where I am then. Maybe I can come up with photos to bore everyone with between now and then.

Came home from the INCREDIBLY LONG drive from Rocky Mt NC trials yesterday ( dang it Dan no photographer so we missed you dude) and found my husband had to go to the academy Sunday night so he'll be gone until Friday afternoon. Of course since we work different shifts, the truth is I'll hardly notice it except the sink won't be full of dishes when I get home ( which I of course ignore in the usual non domesticated female manner).

My Job is kind of funny

I tech culinary arts and hospitality in a medium security prison. One day this week while we were working on a special project, one of my students/inmates was sitting at a table piping out eclair "dough" , he looks up and says you know this just isn't what the judge had in mind when he sentenced me to years in prison. I'm not sure this is really a deterrent. If the parole board hears me and says Mr. Smith we think you should serve at least 6 more months, I'm going to tell them "Don't you threaten me with a good time."

Pretty funny stuff most days.

Happy happy joy joy

This weekend my Greyhound Kix picked up his second lure coursing major. He is such a cool dog I am really fortunate to have acquired just exactly what I wanted in a Greyhound after waiting for almost 3 years for the right pup to come along. It had to be male, had to be pretty, had to have two testicles in case I wanted to show and it had to be self black or self brindle . Now as a Borzoi breeder I would never put that many stipulations on a show quality dog ie. the color but since I'm not and never will be a Greyhound breeder I got to act like a pet person when I bought Kix. He is such a funny dog, he grins and acts silly like a puppy even though he is over 3 years old. 3 more points at AKC lure coursing and then I'll probably send him to a handler to show for his dual champion title. There are just no Greyhounds down here to compete with.

Funny little green eyed monsters

How hysterical. I came home after a weekend of lure coursing and found an email telling me about a real psycho's rant in my breed ( Borzoi ). This crazy chick is ranting about how I must be jealous of her, what's really hysterical is she has been reading my blog apparently like she constantly checks out my website and must have seen herself in one of my rants here . Well if the shoe fits honey wear it is all I can say.

Since she assumes so much and never asks she doesn't know that this "buddy" of mine whose actions she seems to think I admire has heard the same thing I was ranting about earlier here. Running old, noncompetitive veterans doesn't really give you bragging rights for the dog that beats them, applies to my "buddy" and applies to the little freak reading my posts.

I can't help but laugh to think that she would give me so much power as to determine her dogs names ( WTF??) and then say I'm jealous of her. Sorry, honey I would not pick a homeless person who doesn't have the money to live somewhere other than a friends house, whose friend has to pay her vets bills and feed her dogs and finance her breeding program looks like indefinitely. Also and I hope she is reading this, I am so glad to give you a goal in life that will get you off your lazy ass ( even if it makes your friend have to pay bunches of entries you can't afford) one of your friends in the Northeast who you ush and gush over all the time told me that you said your only goal was to break the record that the dog I bred holds. Go for it baby, he will always be the first one you can't rewrite history there.
PS-The one time he was beaten by her crippled dog that couldn't even finish a title in racing was when he was barely a year old and was his first or second race weekend. He beat that dog every time he saw him ( and the dog I bred did actually travel out of his backyard to Nevada, to Texas, to Georgia and South Carolina where there were big entries owned by lots of people ) while her poor dog was usually pulled after one or two programs lame. Oh and the dog I bred was NEVER injured either, so ran for YEARS and never broke a toe, and had to have it cut off, have physical therapy etc etc etc. So yeah baby I am real jealous of you. Actually, I hope that your mental illness gets better and maybe you should be getting your friend to spend that entry money on an appointment with a psychologist or maybe a psychiatrist. Actual meds would be a quicker way to help you.

Fort Smith AR

Last weekend (April 5 & 6) I made a kamikaze drive out to Fort Smith AR and back between Sat and Sun. AYEEEEEEEE. Left a bit later than I had planned on Saturday and took Kozima a bounce back boy over 6 years old who needs some quality time with me ( or I thought he did turns out he is just crazy to go anywhere anytime no hesitation). Arrived in Ft. Smith around 6 PM (left from here around 7 AM that morning) went down to the riverfront took a bunch of photos of the old fort and other buildings which will be here once I have a chance to download them and edit them. Met my friend from NM Leonore who had the Borzoi hostage I was picking up (Vger had stayed in NM when I visited in February in hopes of becoming a daddy via turkey baster but alas it didn't take). I did a bit of shopping here there and everywhere on the way, then when I got to the hotel what was on TV? PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDING OH STOP THE PRESS. Leonore says I, we can't go to supper until this is over. She was a great sport and we watched PBR from 8-9 PM alternating cringing over some hard landings and how young most of the kids were. We decided as mothers we could not watch our sons do that were they so inclined ( or crazy). Then we went to supper (look out if Leonore orders ribs ) came back and crashed. Sunday I bugged out pretty quick went to the national cemetery there took photos then took the Belle something or other historic district driving tour , more pictures then went to Oak Cemetery ( very neat and scenic with great old statuary) and took more photos. Look for them to be posted here or at least some of the best ones later this week. Vger is home and itching for some games to begin.

Shrinking me

Some mornings are amazing around here. I got up earlier this week dressed for work and thought jeeze you look like a bag lady. So, I got into yet another pile of jeans that I could not fit in before surgery and in amazement pulled a pair on and could breathe and function normally in them. This is the third stack of smaller pants for me. To say that I am happy and have no buyer's regrets with my decision is an understatement. I am walking 4-5 miles a day at work on my lunch and other breaks, and have the energy to do things like wash dogs and spray for thistle when I get home. It's nothing short of a miracle. Two thumbs up to Vanderbilt's superb team. Of course I can't take NSAIDs but then I don't have all the arthritic pain in my knees and hips that I had either so that is a fair trade off for me. Notice I didn't mention not eating wicked sugary things which is another off limits thing but I figure I did plenty of that the first 46 years. Good thing I didn't throw away all those old jeans.

Rant Rant

I have never understood the desperate need for attention that some dog owners/breeders have that propels them to make crazy claims and invent titles for wins their dogs have.
Winning a Best in Field is WAY FUN, it is bragging rights, usually expressed as "wahoo my Greyhound Bubba won Best in Field at the Way Out Gangsters field trial in Podunk Alabama". That isn't enough for some people though, their dogs have to win Best in Fields with crowds of people giving only their dog ( not the other 6 that ran) standing ovations much like the Coliseum in the movie Gladiator if they are to be believed.
Then there are the dogs that people label things like BPISS. That is bee piss to me. So instead of saying their dog won Best Puppy at the Podunk Specialty show it is now a bee piss dog. I laugh out loud everytime I read that one.
Of course the best are the folks that look for some obscure thing their dog may have done on the way to its title that no one else did. Here's a new favorite of mine. Such and such titled "Mud Fence Ugly" is the only Moldavian rat hound to have finished this title undefeated, now what should go in small print and doesn't is that Mud Fence's owner dragged out their own old dogs that didn't run, their friends REALLY old dogs that ran well before their heads turned gray and all such in order to make points in the area they ran in because they couldn't travel anywhere else to do it. Mud Fence's owner previously ranted about dogs that traveled all over the country defeating dogs from all over the country being "dragged" around to events. Look who's dragging now. Karma is a bitch and Mud Fence's owner is reaping all the benefits due to them now. I wouldn't wish it on anyone though but I didn't wish that IQ on them so it isn't my fault.