You're Gonna Be SO Jealous!

Look who I had the chance to hang out with.....

YES! That's right! I spent the day with Pam and Honey from Something Wagging This Way Comes !!!

Pam's boat was docked as close to me as it was going to get, so I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to meet one of my favorite bloggers in real life! I had a wonderful time chatting on a myriad of subjects. We actually talked about things other than dogs and blogging, can you believe that?! I had so much fun talking, I didn't spend much time with my camera, just a couple more shots...

I knew when Pam and I made our plans that the weather would more than likely be too hot to bring Jimmy and Wilson along. And, alas, it was a very hot day. My guys are A/C addicts and would not have fared well in the heat and humidity. At 14, I don't take chances with Wilson's health. I, on the other hand, barely noticed the heat. I was having that much fun!

We walked into town to have lunch and I met Pam's husband Mike. As it turned out, he has relatives who live in the same tiny, blink and you missed it, town in New Jersey where I grew up! Sometimes the world can be a very small place!

One last photo, this time of me posing with the lovely Honey, sweet Golden girl that she is!

Photo credit to Pam, of course!

Many thanks to Pam for inviting a "total stranger" over to spend the day. It will definitely be one of the highlights of my summer!

Because I'm Lazy....

We went away for a long weekend over 4th of July and of course Jimmy and Wilson came along. I took plenty of photos but never posted any here. Today I finally put together a Shutterfly book and since I am feeling a tad lazy (and that book was alot of work!), I am going to share the book here instead of creating a whole new post. Hope you enjoy it!

Click here to view this photo book larger

The Weekend Report - A Table for the 4th Time in a Row!

Yesterday was another fun day of agility. This trial was an outdoor trial held at a farm over on Eastern Shore, Maryland. I was worried the place would be a muddy mess after the passing of Hurricane Sandy, but it was really quite dry. The forecast was for a chilly, but sunny day. Well, the weatherman was right about the chilly, but there was very little sun. It came out for the last run of the day.

The first run was Standard. It was a tight course (the judge runs Corgis!) but not too difficult. It was Aframe to the Table, which seems to be working for Jimmy recently. I front-crossed in between and he hopped right on! Good boy! We ran the rest cleanly and it was a Q! We weren't quite fast enough to place in the ribbons, coming in 5th.

Next, Jumpers. Again, not too tough. A big circle that eventually led to a triple in a corner. Unfortunately Jimmy took this jump out, knocking the top bar. Being an outdoor trial, the ground is not level everywhere, and this jump caused the dogs to jump slightly uphill. It was just enough that a lot of dogs didn't get over cleanly. There was lots of grumbling :-) This was our only mistake but as such no Q and no Double-Q for the day. While I was a bit disappointed, I was stilled thrilled at getting the table yet again in my first run. Success on the table is much more important in the long run!

This trial offered the optional course called Time to Beat (T2B). It was a nice flowing course (as they should be, but some judges seem to forget that) and Jimmy cruised around cleanly and quickly. Now with T2B only the fastest dog get a placement ribbon, and our butt was kicked by a very speedy King Charles Cavalier. Jimmy was the next speediest so he did get 9 points toward his title and of course another leg.

I forgot my video camera so I am afraid there's no agility clips to share. This trial was about an hour and a half ride from home. To get there, I needed to cross the huge Chesapeake Bay Bridge . Well, as it usually is with agility trials, you are driving at the crack of dawn in order to arrive in plenty of time to settle in. Fortunately the clocks going back an hour eased the pain of getting up so early.  I got to the bridge just as the sun was beginning to color the sky. I didn't catch quite the picture I wanted but it gives a hint of how pretty it was to cross the bridge so early. Another reward for arising early!

And at mid-span, I liked the abstract quality of the support structure.....

I've got more pictures from the farm, but I will save them for later. I've got to conserve my blog fodder, don't cha know :-)


Tracking Jimmy's MACH progress:
Excellent B JWW legs: 24  Now he's working on his MXJ3!
Excellent B STD legs: 11 We earned our MX and are working on MX2 now.
Double Q's: 8 (out of 20 double-Q's needed for a MACH.... 40 Percent!)
MACH Points: 520 (out of 750 speed points needed for a MACH...... 69 Percent!)

Time 2 Beat legs: 5 (out of 15 needed for his T2B) 41 points (out of 100 needed)