So Sunday was the Melbourne Royal's day for Australian Shepherds.

Hope, whom I'd planned to enter since before she was born, wasn't shown this year. I'd missed the entries closing by a day. I was pretty upset but realized after it was probably for the best. Maybe next year if in the 18-24 months age period she matures. (Can someone tell the Australian Post to look for the package containing her chest? It obviously was shipped to Timbucktoo mistakenly!)

I was still feeling a bit reflective about it being different than I'd built up the picture in my mind but also looking forward to enjoying a show just as a spectator - just enjoying the day, the company and lovely dogs as as well without having to do any of the work! ;-p It was the most gorgeous, sunny, warm day you could ask for too... perfect blue skies!

The bonus is that Nic has been off, so I could go without any worry of Laurent getting bored 5 minutes in and wanting to go run in the ring or beseige the nearest dog-owner with requests to feed their dog cookies till it burst!

At any rate, the dogs all looked gorgeous! Wendy from NSW was down and her dogs looked fabulous and fluffy and showed themselves off nicely. Nice seeing dogs I'd heard of but not seen before! I got there after Aussie's had started due to a ticket line hold up but in time to watch the tail end of the boys and all of the girls, puppy sweeps, best of breed etc. I was so busy watching I didn't even notice I was standing right next to Amanda's mum at first! LOL (She had a camera in front of her face in my defense!) The amount of people there was nuts - especially compared to the first day! I spent the rest of the day socializing, gabbing, relaxing, being stuffed by Amanda's mum! I actually didn't even really take photos... okay, well, I took 3 but those were snaps of poses I wanted to sketch so it doesn't really count! ;-p I had a wander back into the chook shed after the dogs were all finished up. Wasn't buying anything but curious I suppose. The Silkie rooster I liked was up for sale for $180. O_O Motivation for me to breed nice ones I guess!!!

All in all a lovely day and I was greeted at home by a happy bubba, DH, clean house, new veggie garden beds, four dogs who REALLY wanted to play tennis ball (penance for being gone without them!) and dinner! Here's my ace new raised veggie beds - finished filling in the dirt and planting the first one today! Several sorts of lettuce, two kinds of capsicum, tomatos (black russian, roma, grape, cherry, rouge de marmalade) and basil! Yum!

Yesterday was Nic's call-back, so that went well and he got it! Yay! He'll now be working much closer - in Clayton vs in the CBD! Plus better pay, more flexible hours, paid vacation etc. He got back around noon and Miss Verity got a busier than normal walk in town (usually pick him up 7pm so it's fairly quiet!) and we spent the rest of the day gardening. In the late evening, we made a run to Gembrook and stopped at the park. La loves the playground and while climbing through a tunnel he started panting and keeping his tongue out. He was pretending to be a dog in a tunnel doing agility! ~_~' Oh dear... one more sign he's going to end up with a severe species complex!

He finished by taking Cade for a walk as he's VERY insistant now about being able to walk a dog by himself thanksverymuch! He's sprouted lately - he looks so tall!

Today was PG which was nice, despite getting there a bit late. Lots of brainstorming so hopefully the amalgamation of MAP with BABs turns out to be a very positive experience. The lady I sold the two chooks to was there as well and happy to report they're doing well and started laying! As it happens I mentioned I was planning to do a bachelors of agriculture (organic) in Feb and as it happens she's not only taken it but used to teach it! Small world!

Then I bopped into Boronia to the aquarium store and into the cross-stitching store for some threads I was out of. The lady there is so nice and thought my idea I'm working on now (about mid-way through the first pannel) was lovely! I also saw two I wanted - they had an Aussie pattern (!) but 'twas $22 and I know I could get in the US for way cheaper. They also had a sweet kit (fabric, thread, mat, frame) with a little boy that looked like La and a BCish looking dog for $20. But seeing as how we got our fencing quote back today and it will cost $14K to fence the front and sides I'll have to wait!

So came home and did more gardening. I spent a bunch of time weeding around where I planted a bunch of wood violets and was accompanied by my chookies who came to visit and glut themselves on the bugs and worms churned up when I weed. People don't realize what companionable little critters they can be!

Of course, I took a break toward evening and the dogs were running around. Then the lambs started running around in their pack and Hope paused to watch. *snap* Ohhhhh.... I love this photo of her! She looks so sweet!