Nothing is as nice as a productive weekend with good company!

Friday going into the weekend was less than stellar. In the morning I had a skip delivered to remove the brick and renovation rubble, old fencing wire and assorted junk from moving. So good to have it gone but trying to get it done meant me doing it on my own all Friday (which I probably shouldn't have done...) and then with Nic on Saturday and then finishing up this evening.

On the way home just as it's getting dark my car blew a tyre. And I mean really, truly BLEW... every bit of rubber on the whole tyre gone. No big deal - just put on the spare right? Problem: This WAS the spare. Just previous the regular tyre had gone flat and we'd not replaced it this week. So we're facing a $130 towing charge, plus a new tyre and no way I'd be able to make m appt Saturday morning. The fellow who showed up though is a local and said since we were so close it was $50 and if we'd give him the flat, a mate of his was coming over that night who could match it with a second hand one and would also drop it off at our house the next morning for $50. Just promise to bring the money the next time we're in town. Can I just say this attitude it one of the things I *love* living in a small town again???

Then today was the day of the BYP Victorian picnic get together in Silvan. Much excitement for us as not only as I love get togethers, and especially with BYPers (nothing like a bunch of folks who understands your obsession because they're just as obsessed!) but also because we actually had a real live guest here... two even! We almost never get people over which stinks as I love having people over but most of our friends are still closer to the city and not up for the long haul. BB and his wife Judy had come all the way down from the Albury area for the get together though and so we had them over in the morning before leaving for the picnic.

The picnic itself was great, nice to catch up with everyone and chat as always. Plenty of food to share around and a lovely BBQ site ensured a good lunch for all. BB also had a trio of adorable little Aylesbury ducklings from Jacquie which I had to fuss over. ;-) (I misssssss having ducklings!) Of course by the time we took this picture, you can tell a certain little person who'd gotten up 2 hours earlier than normal (never a good thing!) this morning was well and truly over-tired but on a sugar high from some pavlova which meant he didn't nap, so when asked to stop running for a millisecond and sit for a picture we got the resulting expression - check the zoom in!
"No picture mum! I wanna play!" Mind you three seconds later he was back off and running, grump averted. Thankfully Nic was able to play mum's hero and take La off to play a few times so I could have a break, sit and chat. Veeeeeery much appreciated, especially as atm I'm rather feeling in need of a break between the clean-out, general busy days and being pregnant!

The downside of the day was that a fair number of us brought our dogs as the picnic was at a dog-friendly park and Hope highlighted concerns I've been having about her. She was spooking out and panic barking at various things throughout the day, while refusing to approach and narking at a couple of other dogs from her crate. *sigh* This is something I've been seeing in her more and more lately. It's pretty much coincided with social maturity, which was my worry with her and something I'd been waiting to see if it'd crop up in her second year or so. I'd seen a few of what I suspected were precursor signs earlier on and believe much of Veri's difficulties are inherant and have a genetic basis so I'd wondered if I wouldn't see this emerge at this time even while crossing fingers I wouldn't. :-? After it seeming like the conformation isn't coming together with her pretty much nixing the showring, I'm not terribly happy with the idea sports being challenged by behaviour issues let alone the fact I'd hoped she'd avoid this for her own sake.