The Anatomy of a Snow Frap

I love a sunny day after a snowstorm. The pictures turn out so crisp and clear. Here we have the several postures of a snow frap. The boys played for just a minute or two, but completed a full game.....

Here we see "The Eye", an essential move for getting the game off to a good start.


Then, "The Snarl", close to the ear, probably saying something about Wilson's momma....



Next, "The Shoulderhold", to see who is the bigger man, er, Cardi......

Breaking apart, preparing for the test of speed, it's "The Lunge"........

And now "The Circle Game".....

Followed by "The Tackle".......

Finally, "The Takedown".

And then they were done, and continued along their walk.

Word Play

I am a fan of animal behaviorist/dog trainer/author Patricia McConnell. Her blog is called The Other End of the Leash , and sadly her beloved BC Lassie passed away yesterday. Her blog post was entitled Six Words, explained by the famous story about Ernest Hemingway, in which he challenged his writer friends to write the shortest story possible. Everyone agreed that he had won. He wrote: "For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn."
Trisha then asked her readers to choose six words to describe their dogs, past and present, and post it in the comments.

Here's what I wrote:

My three Cardigan Corgis:

For my sweet old Dylan, who lived to just two weeks short of his seventeenth birthday:
Best Friend. Always there. Long walks.

For Wilson (6 years):
Big Shoes. Agility teammate, new paths.

For Jimmy (2 years):
Wild monkey, always happy, joyful presence.

This was an interesting challenge and I thought you all might enjoy the mental exercise. It certainly brings up lots of fond memories.

I would love to read your six words......

The CorgiAid Challenge

Just in case you are not a subscriber to the Corgi-L email/listserv, there's been a fund raising challenge issued by one of the members. This January is the 10th anniversary of CorgiAid. Additionally, they just recently logged their 1000th FaceBook fan. So someone on Corgi-L challenged each of those 1000 to send in $10 to CorgiAid. Not much by it's self, but HUGE if everyone did it. FaceBook has it set up to make the donation easy.

Now, I am not a FaceBook user, never been to the site, it is even blocked at my office. But, I didn't want to miss out on helping the challenge, so I donated through PayPal on CorgiAid's site.

So, if anyone is so inclined to further this good cause, check out their website at http://www.corgiaid.org/.

At The Breakfast Table

So That's Where It Went!

I admit it. I throw like a girl. What can I say.....I threw this tennis ball for one of the boys last summer sometime. It never reached the ground and of course caused a bit of canine confusion.
Once the leaves fell, it's fate became apparent. We have had many highly windy days of late, with 50 mph gusts. This ball has stubbornly remained in it's spot. Click to get a larger view....

Wintery Winky

Today it is Wilson's turn in the spotlight. As with yesterday's title, today's reflects one of Wilson's many nicknames: Winky.

Wilson enjoys a good game of fetch just as much as Jimmy. If you look closely at the tennis ball (or click to enlarge the photo), you'll see a funny coincidence. The ball was made by Wilson brand, too bad the writing is upside down....I'll need to try a posed shot sometime....

I liked this one for the big spray of snow thrown up as Wilson brakes to snag the ball.

Jumping Jiminy!

Today I feature just Jimmy. One of his many nicknames is Jiminy Cricket, hence the post title. You can definitely tell he loves his tennis ball!

After a romp in the yard, those feet must be cleaned. Jimmy always has a rousing game of tug with the offending towel.

The Ball Boys

Our Walk This Morning

The boys cracked me up! I must have taken ten pictures sitting here, and they would NOT look at me. Biscuit, treat, wanna eat, looky, none of those would get them looking at the camera! But this profile shot is pretty funny, it looks like they are trying to strike the same pose.

This one too, mimicking each other.......

How often do you get to pose your dogs on a snowy sofa? There were definitely critters residing inside as the boys buried their noses deep into the edges.

A new day full of possibility.......

Today's Sunrise

Reminiscing

I haven't been taking any new photos lately which makes thinking of something to post a bit harder. The weather has just been too cold for lugging along the camera on walks and then wanting to take my gloves off to fiddle with the camera. Usually I am bundled under layers and layers of clothes!

I went through my photo folders and came across Jimmy's first day at home. I didn't take nearly enough pictures! Here are a few from that life altering day, for Wilson especially!

Jimmy barked a bit when we first started the drive home but settled after 15 or 20 minutes. Upon arrival at his new house, he had absolutely no confidence issues in his new surroundings. He immediately decided anything Wilson had, he should take, as is evidenced by this stick. To this day, sharing has to be a supervised event lest Jimmy winds up with all the toys or all the chews.

Senior??!!

Wilson got his annual exam notice from his vet yesterday. It says he is due for his Senior exam! To that I say, What the Heck?! He is most certainly NOT a senior! But alas, he does turn seven in May, and I guess the computer did the math and decided seven qualified as a senior. I don't think Cardigans even begin to seem old at seven. I see no signs of slowing down, nor any gray fur yet. I'd say seven is pretty darn the prime of life, wouldn't you?

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

I wanted to set up a staged photo of the boys and some New Year's props but never made to the store in time....so may I just wish you all......

A VERY HAPPY and HEALTHY NEW YEAR !!!!!