SF2015: The End

Well, this will be my last post for a while.  After all, SF2015 has ended.  The humans have packed up our beds, food, and prizes; most have likely arrived home.

I have included this post just in case any of my fans were curious about my meeting J's brother, his family, and the 18 mo LAB puppy.  The humans are fine.  They all greeted me politely, scratched my head, and praised me appropriately.  

Luke is cute enough, but he is kind of enormous.  He is like 3 times Opa!'s weight (more muscle than chubby, at least).

That's OK in principle, but he cannot take 'NO' or "cut it out" for an answer.  Luke wants to play ALL the time, and he thinks its funny when I air-snap at him.  I was just lying on my own cushion by J's feet, and Luke crawled under the coffee table to slobber on me.  This makes me want to snap his ears off, but J won't let me.  

Opa! messes with him & is acting like an odd combo of a bitch & a slut.  She turns her butt to his face but then snaps when he gets sniffy.  She takes his toy into his crate & just sits with it near her head . . . .  just daring him to come get it.  When he tries to come close she curls her skinny nose up to bare her teeth & snarl.  This looks pretty ridiculous since she is so tiny next to him. 

We are beginning to reach an entente cordiale.  By Saturday I expect we'll have figured out how to play nicely with the monster puppy just in time for us to leave for home.  That's usually how it goes.

SF2015: Leaving Florida

After the racing was done J loaded us in the minivan (I'll call it Dodger) to drive north.  We were headed to Atlanta where her brother lives; there will be a mini-family reunion.  I know I already posted my concerns about that.  Anyway, his house was 6.5 hours away, and we also would be stopping to get Rob at the ATL airport.  That's good; Rob is my guy.  BUT this trip was BORING.  J was a bit sleepy & kept stopping at rest stop.  That at least got us out of Dodger from time to time to walk a bit - but that makes the trip take more time overall.

At one stop after walking us J loaded us in the crates, she locked the doors & ran to the rest room herself.  Then she could not find the key fob.  Her pockets only contained poop bags.  She rushed back & forth between the restroom & Dodger several times, looked in a couple bathroom stalls, and started to panic that it might have fallen into the toilet out of her back pocket.  Then to panic more as she realized that her phone was IN the van.  She could not even call for help - not the rental agency to get another key fob (& we were in the middle of nowhere - so that would not be good), not a locksmith to get us out if it got hot.

Of course, I could have told her where the key was, but she didn't ask.  Well, she couldn't really as I was locked in a crate in the van.  She usually clips keys onto this bone shaped clip that hangs from a loop on her 'dog walk' purse, but she had slipped it into zipper pocket that had not been fully closed.  Sigh.  I guess the lack of sleep was getting to her brain or too many Cosmos the night before at Ruby Tuesdays when out with Keith Hicks, RLynn Shell, Vickie Frey, and a whole 2nd table of Silken fans.  Well, she finally decided to look in the purse a 2nd time, and there they were.  Viola!

Finally, we made it to the airport to get Rob, then onto her brother's house, and finally out of Dodger.

SF2015: LGRA

Finally J has agreed to take dictation. (but she has already screwed this up . . . we were zipping along with the dictation until I asked her to confirm a call name & she managed to lose ALL my work so far.  Dog-dammit, one just can't get good help these days).  Anyway . . .

I understand from some 'comments' that my fans want a bit more of results.  I'll see what I can do, but I confess J pays more attention to this than I do -- unless I know the dogs well.  This year, she was busy helping to show a few other dogs - Circe for Cyndi Dell in puppy sweeps, Rebel for Lynn Wall, and Pasha for RLynn in BIS as well as Stud; so she didn't do a good job taking notes.

I can say that Neeka & Bejewelled (Ginny Poffinger - likely misspelled) beat Opa! & I in brace class.   Whatever, those 2 are a mother/daughter twin set.  A pair of Mary Menges' big boys were there, too - but I think they felt even more constrained by that short brace lead than I did.  Opa! & I managed to squeeze out 2nd.

oh . . . what?  Who won Best in Show?  Actually I do know this because she's an old friend - well, not OLD; I mean we've been friends for a while - so her win is pretty cool.  She used to live in the PNW & even dated Bados briefly (before they decided they were 'just friends').  NESSA!!! aka Avalon Preakness.  Being Altered, I can't enter (until I am a Veteran) . . . so I admit to liking it when my friends win.

Moving on, yesterday was Lure Coursing.  I already told you that I ROCKED & won Singles.  I congratulate the judges on their wisdom (not confusing my hunting techniques with herding behavior) as well as the lure operator for not trying silly 'tricks' or stopping the lure to 'draw ' me closer.  NOTE:  I know it is not alive; and I know it is on a stringi  Just keep it moving, that keeps it interesting.  You will not 'draw me in' by stopping it.  (snort).

The other winners included Czar for Best Veteran!! 11 yo - I hope J still gets me out there to compete (and to win, of course) when I am 11yo.  Cimarron for FCH, and Picacho for Open & BOB.  He is Avalon but reminds me of a Firebird (like me).

Today was LGRA.  I got to be the test dog, but that was it.  There was a huge rush to get things moving along before it got hot -- so time was limited between programs.  Grr.  Opa! was an FTE, but her career got off to a bad start.  Another FTE (who had run 100% clean to cert) decided she was HOT & ran her off the course.  She was really upset about this &, when they re-ran the race without him, there was some incidental bumping, and she stopped in mid-field.  Basically she slowed to a trot to make sure everyone got well ahead & then cantered to the finish.  She ran in the other races, but really wasn't trying.  She'd start fast then slow to a canter & let everyone pass.  She did improve by the final program (after 2 runs with no bumps), and got the best prize:  a BIG, SOFT TURTLE.  I can't wait to help her unstuffy it.

The winner?  Logan.  No surprise there, even though he is also winning Best Veteran these days.

Wow, I managed to write it all before J pulled the plug -- that's amazing in it's own right these days.

SF2015: Lure Coursing

OK.  I need a new typist.  This is getting ridiculous.  How's a girl supposed to blog when her typist is too slept to ever write anything.
Yesterday I was hardly able to make any commentary at all, and today it's worse!!!!  Sure, yesterday I had managed to win Best Companion . . . whatever . . . it's not like I set my sights high in he show ring, but still . . . and today,  I won BEST in Singles.  But will she type now about the day.  No.  She would only type  this one paragraph of me.
Grr!
I keep saying I'll catch up tomorrow,  but who knows

SF2015: The Big Show

Today, Saturday, was the beauty pageant.  J likes to put me in the Companion class.  I prefer the UKC Altered classes.  I am an ALCh after all.  ISWS doesn't have a 'Companion Ch'; that's OK - but it gives bait more gravity to the ALCh classes.
Moving on, just because it's not my favorite thing, doesn't mean I won't behave (at least not usually).   I won.  Not just Best Companion Bitch, but also Best Companion in Show.  J was excited.  The ribbon is longer than I am tall, and there are 2 etched glasses for a prize.  Pretty cool.    But then I was back in the crate for eons.
Opa! was in a American Bred Bitch, but she did not win.  I thought she looked OK.

J is losing it at the moment -- she is falling asleep . . .  I'm going to have to let her stop typing for me.  Damn it!  It's hard to be a blogger when you can't do your own typing.

Tomorrow . . . .                                                                                    

SF Begins

At the moment, I am pretending that it is friday night -- not almost midnight on Saturday.  J is being whiney & wants to go to sleep, but it's not my fault that she did not take transcription for me last night.  No, she went out to dinner with human friends instead.
In any case I will be brief:  health testing (J did not force blood draws on us this year, yeah!), the ISWS annual meeting)Puppy & Veteran Sweepstakes.  These things do not involve me.  I am neither pup nor oldie.  Why did we have to be there?  True, J showed Circe in her age group for Cyndi Dell - but puppies are just not that interesting to me.  I could have found more interesting things to do elsewhere; I suppose J didn't trust me not to get into trouble at the hotel.
OK.  That will have to do for Friday.
Some of you are probably wondering who won best puppy or best veteran in Sweeps.  Oh, well.  This is not a show report; it's my blog.  I am sure someone will get to it soon on either a yahoo or FB group.

SF2015: Transportation turmoil

Let me just say that a ~13-14 hr combined flight/drive journey from Oregon to Florida via ATLANTA is not for the faint of heart.  A bit over 4 hours in flight, 6 hours driving PLUS over 3 hours of airport time (before take off & after landing).
Everything at the airport took a long time & either the airport or airline needed more manpower to make it work at all efficiently.
I will concede that the TSA woman who checked our crates for explosives & shit was very nice.  She offered us water & made sure our cushions were fluffed before we got back into the crates.  This was the highlight of my trip.
I don't know what J's highlight was, from her description of her cramped seat & no leg room, I was probably more comfortable in cargo.
Once arriving in Atlanta, J was flummoxed on how to get the rental car.  She had found a nice porter (Lester) to help her with all her stuff & our crates, but the car rental kiosks are not in the terminal - you take a train to them.  He could not even accompany her to the train platform an adjacent building -- which didn't matter in the big picture,  because she could not have gotten her luggage, Opa!, & I (in crates) off the train before the doors would have shut leaving half of her shit behind.  Lester patiently waited for her with us while she went to get the minivan.  He thought this would take 30 minutes, but this was closer to an hour.  Seriously.
Finally, J got back with the minivan, loaded us up, tipped Lester well, and zoomed south from ATL.  The driving part of the trip was pretty uneventful.  J did make lots of caffeine stops, but this gave us opportunities to stretch our legs.

Tonight there was a meet & greet in the hotel.  A few of my fans recognized me & were thrilled to meet me in real life.  It is nice to feel appreciated.   J picked up her 'welcome' bag & 'welcome' bandanas for Opa! & I.  She managed to find one for me that is floral without being "girlie", but I don't think I need a bandana.  Opa! is happy that her 'girlie' bandana matches her new 'girlie' lure coursing slip that Kati sent from Finland.  Whatever.

Silkenfest 2015: Preparation

My fans may have been wondering why there have been no posts as Silkenfest approaches.
For the past few years I have posted (with J's assistance as my scribe) as we traveled in Ivan the InPhenite Van all across the country to SF.   Last year the trip was short - it was only a few hours away in Olympia, WA.  This year SF is in Florida.  That should be a long trip, right?  Well, not if you are flying.

J is very considerate (she thinks) and wants to limit our flight time & avoid potential baggage handling errors as much as possible; so she is flying direct to ATL.  We are then DRIVING to Florida.  Excuse me?  That is at least 6 hours!  This is pretty ridiculous.  I tried pointing out that Seatac is only 3 hours from Portland.  This means our driving time is twice what it should be.  Grr.

J has argued that flying into ATL will allow us to visit with some of her family on the return.  Well, it will be nice to see my human grandparents, but I've never met her brother, his wife, and their kids.  I might not like them.  AND they have a LAB.  Do you know how annoyingly enthusiastic young Labs are?  And BIG, and probably fat (at least compared to me).  I don't know if I will like that . . .

OK, I got distracted by that side trip.  Back on track to SF2015.
J has been throwing clothes & dog food, & show leads & LC blankets & more clothes, etc into the guest bed room for days.  Today she needs to get her act together & actually put them in a suitcase.  She also has the BadAss Trophy in an enormous box with tons of padding.  She hopes they will let her take it on the plane, but I say it is too big.  Plus the statue has a pointy nose & tail; they might think she could use it as a weapon.

Our flight is not until this evening.  Hopefully it will be smooth sailing!  Or flying, as the case may be.