Agility video

So, Penn is finally over her kennel cough. It only took 12 days. In honor of that, yesterday I drove to my parents to meet up with a friend who is thinking about a Vizzy in her future. She met a Vizsla after she was on house arrest for 12 days& still was considering one at the end of our walk. I'd say that's pretty impressive.. Penny did her very best to run/ swim/ chase birds nonstop. I'm pretty sure poor Sam didn't even get a chance to pat her until we were back at the house. So funny! I didn't take my camera to the beach so I don't have any photos of psycho Penn. Post-beach, though, we decided to stay at the house. We hung out in the yard for awhile and then I decided to setup a course for Penn.

She hasn't seen agility equipment in 11 days so I wasn't expecting much in terms of focus& taking direction. Well, my little girl sure did surprise me! She was a PRO. I am still over the moon. I had mom come out& videotape us just in case it all went well& I was not let down at all. I'm SO excited for the moment she can start trials. I'm not one to wish the winter on us, but man am I excited for February!



Doesn't she look like an old pro in this video? My reward for all her hard work was a pop bottle ..she's an odd dog who works for strange rewards. Pop bottles are cheap so I'm certainly not complaining. Except I have an entire arsenal of other, expensive toys that are just now collecting dust because the red dog works for bottles& balls. And treats. After we were done with all our training, I gave the red dog a break. She ran over to the table& proceeded to just relax. Seriously ..doesn't she understand the agility equipment is supposed to be exciting?! Briar would never relax on the equipment. Briar would never relax anywhere, but that's beside the point!

Linked with Tuesdays, Muse, P52,

I don't mind though because my goodness she looks some beautiful relaxing in the golden light of the sunset! I think you would be hard pressed to find a more classically beautiful dog. Okay, so maybeeee all Vizslas look the same but still. Penn is extra pretty ;)

Considering yesterday was Monday, it was a pretty stellar one in my books! How did you guys spend your Monday? Was it more or less fun than my day?

Kennel cough& marriage

I was so busy the month of July. We had a trial at the end of the month that was a big one so we spent a LOT of time training. A lot. Did it all pay off? Of course! There were 60+ dogs there& we ended up taking third overall in our division. My little brown Border Collie made me so, so proud.

Look at that smiley face& all those red ribbons! The big green one is our giant third place overall. We clearly rocked that trial. There's only 6 months until my red Vizsla is competing& hopefully winning some ribbons herself! I'm so looking forward to our next season with two dogs.

Aside from that, we were supposed to be putting on a show at a local event this coming week on Thursday& Saturday. Then Penny got kennel cough. She got it Thursday& put a serious damper on our plans. She is now quarantined until further notice. She was going to do all her tricks& an agility demo. I'm still going to emcee the event, now it's just less fun because I won't have an actual dog to run in it. Briar will be run by his real owner so it looks like I'm seriously out of luck, unless someone has a random dog trained in agility that they want to lend me?! ..that's what I thought. Oh well, here's to next year! I'm sure someone will snap some photos of us doing agility& I'll pretend when I write about the event that I was incredibly witty& everyone loved me ;) Mostly, I just hope my pretty red dog feels better ASAP and we can get back to our regular life! Sitting at home, staying away from other dogs is definitely the pits for her.. not to mention that completely awful cough. My poor baby.

So, if you're sick of reading about dogs, the next part of this post is about weddings. Every. single. person. I. know. is. getting. married. Seriously. I feel like the only person not engaged or already married. I know two of my good friends aren't married, either, but that is not important. What's important is that every other person beside them is or is in the process of that occurring. I don't even want a wedding. I want what that image above says. To run away somewhere fun with the dog& have a great day with some beautiful photos taken& then BOOM! Mail people these little cards to have a party with blue drinks& boardgames ..okay, maybe no boardgames. I cannot even imagine planning an entire wedding& spending that much money on it. If I'm going to blow 20 grand, it's going to be on one hell of a summer doing agility& traveling! Not a white dress, feeding people I don't even know& having people stare at me while I awkwardly dance with my significant other. I think I'd rather be in the highlands, in the woods. My parents can come and probably the person I marry can have their parents there as well. Then, we can have Miss Penny, a photographer& the person who says the wedding things (officiant?). That is 8 people& 1 dog. Afterwards, I suppose you go out for a celebratory supper& then have a party a month or so later. That seems genuinely perfect.. for me, at least!

So, people would normally say they have wedding fever but I have elopement fever. I don't need to go anywhere fancy& I don't want a huge event ..I just want people who love me& pretty photos! And to have a party with alcohol& a photo booth. Let's be honest. Those are the only parts that matter to your guests anyway. Sure, vows are sentimental (or awkward), the food is delicious (or awful) and the toasts are hilarious (or awkward). So much room for awkward in the parts before we get drunk& dance the night away! Let's skip the awkward and just have drinks on a beach with a ghetto blaster. Because, clearly, I want to get married in 1990. Or, you know, at some point. Soon?

Sunshine& swimming

Notice any changes around the old blog? I got bored of my old layout ..considering I've had it for a little over 2yrs, it was to be expected! My new one isn't nearly as nice but it fits the fact that Cape Breton is having a hot, sunny summer so I'm keeping it! Once winter gets here, I'll probably loose my positive perspective and change it to something less happy ;)

I spent most of the nice days slaving away but I managed to get away this afternoon with Penny& Briar for some much needed play time in the water. I'll scatter some of those lovely photos throughout this post. Hopefully, they'll make you smile!

The pups had a serious blast chasing down the balls (and the occasional stick) in the water. Penny has been in the water a lot but this was only Briar's second time. The first time, he was pretty sure Border Collies were not meant for water because sheep don't swim ;) By the time we got to the shore this afternoon, he had completely changed his mind on the whole water thing. They spent about 90 minutes on the shore/ dock chasing things into the water& bringing them back. I think they were also happy to see one another after going almost a week without getting to play together!

Aside from playing with the puppies, I have been SERIOUSLY slacking on my running. I should actually put on sneakers and head out right now for a quick 5k ..key word here? Should. I am debating it but it's 8PM and the other two things who live here are fast asleep+ I just ate an entire thing of Smarties. Both of those facts are important because they are draining my motivation to do active things. Granted, Penny swam the whole afternoon so I suppose her activity quota has been met for the day. I just stood on the shore& watched and/or threw things for them to bring back to me. Does that count as 'active'?

I'm leaning towards no. I am making a pinky promise to myself& the people reading this (hello, empty space!) that tomorrow I will either lace up my sneakers or put on my bathing suit& make an honest effort to be able to finish that Disney half-marathon that's sneaking up on me.. January is still a long time away. I have to just keep reminding myself that I really, really want that finishers medal ..and running is fun. That's a lie I tell myself so I will actually go out the door and put in the effort. Sometimes, Penny gives me her best puppy eyes (see below) and that helps significantly with my running motivation. Because gearing up& heading out for a run actually is one of her favorite activities ..she is a crazy dog.

Linked with Tuesdays Around the World& Tones!

Let's get serious. How do you say no to that face? If anyone has a way, please. Let me know! I've had more almost-late mornings than since before we got her because she also gives me these eyes on early mornings when I'm leaving for work. The eyes say 'Stop doing whatever it is you are about to do. I am more important than that thing. Come to exactly what I wish we were doing. Now please.' I am a genuine sucker. I fall for it every. single. time. I have no willpower.

Are you there, Summer?

It's me. Yvonne.

5 points to anyone who can guess what the title& first line of this blog post mean ;) It is SUPER HOT these last three days. I'm cautiously optimistic that summer may have finally decided to stay with us on this little island. I am fully enjoying all the heat because who knows how long it actually plans on sticking around for! My fingers are crossed for a long, long time. I think with all my running/ generally being outdoors/ having some sun exposure, I'm actually getting to be more human colored and less like flour.. or another pasty white thing.

So, I have been so busy since my last post. We went away to an agility trial& we managed to get another first place& pick up another Qualifying run! That means I have 4 altogether now so I, of course, had to start a ribbon wall.

Okay, so it is a pretty tiny ribbon wall so far but considering I've only been to three trials, I'm pretty happy with the end results! More to come before the summer is over I'm sure. Plus, I have about 12 first through fourth place ribbons. I am going to do something really fun with those but only wanted to hang the big ones for now. Do you guys compete in things? Do you collect your ribbons? If yes, do you know of any super awesomely creative ways to hang them? I hope to get some seriously great ones next summer& hanging them in photo frames.

The agility trial we went to was outdoors& considering it was Canada Day weekend, it didn't really go so well as far as the weather was concerned. It rained. Pretty much all weekend. About 65mm of rain fell between Friday evening& Sunday morning. It was also cold. And damp. The field turned into a swamp of mud ..very slippery mud. Thankfully, I managed not to fall. Others weren't so lucky.

The photo above doesn't do it justice. That was at 6AM on Saturday morning so it hadn't been run on yet. It got much, much worse as the day went on but I didn't have time to pick up my phone& snap another one. Take my word for it!

So, the moral of this story is that I had a lovely Canada Day. I hope you guys did, as well, and that you're in the same boat as me- summer :) I am now off to hang out with my pretty little red dog and get ready for another sunny, hot weekend. I know that I certainly won't be complaining anytime soon about this ..I think the weather got us mixed up with a much, much warmer climate. I hope it's a long time before it realizes& goes back to super crappy Cape Breton weather!

Rainy afternoons

These are the worst. The kind of day where it feels like night when you wake up& just never seems to get any brighter. I've been tired since 7AM because of lack of vitamin D. It's only 8PM but I feel like I've been awake for months ..not to mention the fact that it is 10C out. Can you say chilly?! The dogs didn't seem to mind though. They spent 25 minutes at the beach swimming in the giant waves chasing after sticks.

What you just read? That was written yesterday. Apparently, it was such a miserable day I couldn't even bring myself to finish my blog post. Today the weather is more of the same but I have a lot of things to do. We are heading off for an agility competition tomorrow AM& I'm super excited. I am also, however, lacking the motivation to get off my bum. So instead I'm looking through phone photos& remembering when Penny was tiny& cute.

Sweet baby Penny with my sweet baby nephew, Grady! They were snuggled up watching Cars after a hard afternoon playing tug with each other. Now when they snuggle, there's a significant size difference! I guess I'll need to snap an updated photo for comparison.

Well, it seems like maybe today the sunshine will win out over the cold.. which means even worse things for my packing motivation. AND it all has to be done before 6PM because Garret& I have plans for dinner& a movie. It isn't looking too good for an early night. On the bright side, I did manage to get Penn's food packed& my camera charged. If nothing else, at least we won't starve& we'll even have photos of the event to return to you with!

With that, I'm now officially out of slacking time. Off to turn this possibly-sunny day into a productive one and then I'll be back on Tuesday afternoon with a recap of our agility adventures. Anyone out there in Truro want to come visit? Feel free ..as long as you cheer for a brown Border Collie& me ;) Enjoy your Canada Day weekend, Canadian people! You Americans are almost to your national holiday. So keep holding out& maybe wear some red in honour of your northern neighbours!