Interesting days...

Geeze, the past few days have been so busy and had so many rather big changes I'm not sure quite where to start... mark it down on your calanders guys, for once I'm at a loss for words! ;-)

Okay, now that THAT'S over... here's my ramble! ;-)

I suppose part of it is that I'm reconciling myself to the idea that there are various priorities and I need to really rank them in terms of most to last and will have to compromise some of them for the others because the Ideal World isn't where I live and it seems this one is being rather stubborn about rearranging itself to suit me! ;-)

I do have more research to do... yup, heaps and heaps. Not just about Laurent's education and college requirements but about my own and where I want to go in this new year and in the years beyond it. While I definitely love being a stay at home mum, I know at some point in my life I want to resume pursuing my own outside interests as well. Most likely that will be in the realm of dog training, as it's been a life-long passion (...shocking secret there...) and I think I have a lot to offer, though I still have quite a lot to learn as well. In terms of qualifications, I'd like a good hard-science grounding... theory and research is the part of dog training I'm most passionate about aside from the dogs themselves. ;-) I'm really fascinated with the work done in the States and the UK and I would adore being involved in something like this over here. (I know... ambitious much?) This is of course, still a year or two off because it would be too much to take on something quite so time intensive and attention demanding with what I've already got on my plate at the moment. When I do it, I want to be able to focus on it and that means not right now. This year and the past few have been ones of major upheaval and adjustment, mostly one right after another if not on top of each other, so I'm planning to take a little break from the major life-changing stuff for a little while! ;-)

I think that it's something I need to plan for though and am really thinking about it as I take stock with the new year approaching. Like I've told Nic since we first discussed children, I don't believe you can raise a balanced, WHOLE person by neglecting yourself and being incomplete and unfurfilled. Need to take my own (darn good!) advice sometimes! Rather I think one of the best ways to instill a child with a passion for life, for learning, for a sense of "drive" for lack of better terms, is by living that way yourself, by being furfilled, by having that balance and being a 'whole' person.

Other than that, I've also been indulging in a lot of art at the moment. I used to be very artsy, did a lot of painting, sketching, some sculpting, though everything just self-taught. I've been getting back to that lately and really enjoying it. I'll scan pics and put them up later tonight or tomorrow afternoon after the house inspections. (We're having the regular one plus a private inspector ocming after!)

Have been working with the dogs quite a bit in short little bursts. Some of it's just memory games, seeing how fast they can whip out a behaviour on cue, rewarding the really fast responses big time, rewarding the slower ones less and with lesser value goodies. Working on distractions with Sierra, seeing how many different variations I can get her to ignore, which is probably convincing the neighbors I've well and truly lost it. ("Hey look, it's that crazy dog lady... why on earth is she doing jumping jacks in a circle around the poor dog with a santa hat on her head?!?") Also finding 'heel' position no matter where she is relative to me. For Hope I'm trying to stick with teaching her to stand, to stack, to gait, to make and hold eye contact and put up with exams. I'm also having to watch her like a hawk as the little termite decided chewing up bits of the window frame was a grand idea despite ample chew-bones!

Yawning now, have been EXHAUSTED with L's cutting 2 new teeth! Playgroup was really nice today, even if I was nabbed by the NH volunteer and had my head crammed with more information than it ever has hope of holding in my brainless state! Had two new mums who were really nice, one of whom was very much a country girl from NZ with a city slicker husband and could really relate to my, "OMG, I'm in the city! EWWW!!!" reaction to moving here! LOL

Anyhow off to scan those pics! :-)

Have been in a very crafty mood lately, partially as a bit of stress-relief and partially as a bit of 'reclaiming' myself as I used to be very artsy-crafty.

A ceramic necklace pendant I painted the other day. Kind of neat but I need more practice before it's any good really. The paints are like watercolours but dry faster and are less translucent. The other trick is that the colours look less vivid than they are once fired, so even though it looked greyish, it came up black! I also need to bring my own brushes next time. The finest brush they had was a SIZE 3!!! Trying to get fine detail was nearly impossible... need my 20/0's!

Happy news! Hope now has 8 brand spaking NEW half-siblings through her sire Courage, who has a new litter by RUBISS Ch. Silvanwood Dark Force! They are GORGEOUS! Total is 2 black tri females, 1blue merle female, 1 red merle male who is struggling a bit at this point and would appreciate good thoughts, 3 red tri females and 1 blue merle male.

What else to do on a hot day but hang out pool side??? *G* Some pics from the morning play session:

Blowing raspberries with mouth-fulls of water is amusing! (Yes, even the pool is GREEN!)

Shouting with pleasure while he pours water over himself. That's a toy watering can in his hands.

He's got a tennis ball. LOL You can't see it but that's what she's after!

Refreshing! :-O I love the fact half the cup is dribbling down his face. (At least it's fresh pool water! Slightly less yarg-worthy!)

Hope going snorkling for dog treats. We were in stitches as she'd stick her nose on the bottom, blowing bubbles while snarfling around for the treats.

Soggy pup coming up for air, chicken-stock-ice-cubes-with-hot-dog-bits successfully being devoured!

Even Sierra, who doesn't really like pools, needed to cool off!

The sketch we got done by a street artist a few days ago for a few dollars. Amazing the guy got anything sketched because L was doing a remarkably good impression of a mutant-eel-creature the whole "sitting".

Okay, so I've been looking at the show schedule, which is pretty quiet due to the holiday season, trying to figure out what shows to enter Hope into. ~_~'

Sif, I will have to look more into requirements. I have been mainly listening to a friend of Nic's who just graduated law/IT and said that basically if you don't go to a private school, you're S.O.L. and he got bumped for students who scored lower but were from higher ranked schools. I've definitely considered that what *I* want for Laurent may not be at all what he wants or what he wants may shift over time. Have considered that even if he's fine with country living as a youngster, many teenagers in the country find trouble out of boredom. Not all kids, but growing up in a rural area I've certainly seen it happen plenty.

My thinking is, yeah I'd like him to go to college, but if he wants to go another direction that's fine too. However I want the opportunity there for him if he wants to explore/go after it yk? It would kill me for him to have the marks and interest only to not be able because he doesn't have the right names on his records. (Yes, those are MY issues talking I know! *G*) That's one of the reasons I liked Preshil, among others... it's basically Reggio Emilio philosophy and goes from preschool to HS but also has the rankings. Teaching him the stuff I think the philosophy will do is SO important but I don't want to gain one at the cost of the other. (Hence other RE schools being 2nd/3rd, also the question of continuity of style.) From my talks with the principal - while they don't advertize it because they don't want people coming whose only goal is ranking and not the philosophy, they do have a VERY good ranking, comparible with Carey, Camberwell Grammar etc and without asking students to leave to maintain their ranking. Overall I really DO like the school, it seems (up to gradeschool, haven't seen HS yet) to be very compatible withthe style which I'd probably use to help him at home if he needed it also. Other things are important too, including my wants but I can't help but feel I'd be selfish insisting on MY wants coming above practicalities and what's good for N and L too. Trying to be kind to myself though too and thanks for reminding, goes to Leah, Loz and Amanda too! Would be interested to hear more about those areas you're mentioning as well. Thanks guys! :-)

After last nights novel-length post, this is going to be mostly photos. I should say last nights post was really just me needed to get it all "out" there and see it all laid out in black and white yk? It's been rolling in my head over the past few years really, examined at every angle I can think of and come to a head with the impending sale. It's not solved, still weighing on me, I am thinking over what everyone has said and more... but amazing how theraputic it is just to verbalize it!

Bit of great news: Hope's dad Courage (aka Thornapple's Sub Zero) took CC and Best of Breed at a show today, completeing his Australian Championship ! HUGE congrats to his owners, Amanda & Ben at Cuebiyar Australian Shepherds, Linda Keogh of Myriahill Australian Shepherds and Andrea Bosco of Waikikamukau Australian Shepherds!!! Hope says, "WHOO HOOO, GO DAD!"

View from our street of Melbourne today, showing how much smoke is limiting visibility. Can you spot the buildings? (hint: the tops of the skyscrapers end ABOVE the top two powerlines)

Air Sierra! Sierra might not love playing ball but she is learning to love it now that Hope loves it! LOL The ball is the faded and dirty pale green blob in the upper left corner.

Cade shows that a grumpy old fellow can still keep up with the young hooligans! (The red/white blur in the bottom left corner is Sie's rump.)

No, she's NOT supposed to be on the bed! CHEEKY imp! I caught her relaxing there this afternoon!

Christmas puppy... with a bow and jingle bells, demonstrating a down. LOL

Two views of her left and right sides. (I flipped the one in photoshop, look at the front legs and you can see the difference.) Just to show how she's growing. Taken at 13 weeks on the dot.

Cross-roads

I've been doing a lot of drawing within lately, becoming somewhat introverted while thinking over a lot of things. It's rather all encompassing, as I've been thinking about where I am, where I'm heading, what I want from the future, how the choices made now will affect the direction of the rest of our lives. Part of this is the time of year... at the beginning of the year we were going through the major change of adapting to life with a baby, my dogs were recently arrived from quarantine, Charlotte passing away, we lost Nic's grandfather on almost the same day after a lot of emotional decisions to place him in full-time care as his memory and mobility were degrading to the point he couldn't be unattended safely. I felt the weight of my choice to move to a foreign country, marry and have a baby settle on me and fully realized that so many of the things which had made up my life previously were now gone or different. Rather naeively, I hadn't thought the country would be very differently structured in some ways... discovering that I would have to choose between city and country was one of those, as many places in the US have farms right next to the city and intermingled even. So many of the things I took for granted as simply being part of how the world worked were different here, sometimes unavailable, sometimes just unaccessable because I didn't know how to find them in this place. I felt like I was starting all over again as I had to relearn what was involved in virtually everything, because while some things were similar, some were quite different and I had no way of knowing which was which until I landed knee-deep in it... a most disconcerting experience to be sure! As much as a culture shock, there was also the huge difference of going from a place which was supremely rural and which I deeply loved, to living in the inner suburbs and having to adapt to a fashion-concious cafe culture where what label you were wearing and the cut of your hair were much more important than previous. Looking back, it's been a huge amount of changes in such a whirlwind, short time. It's daunting to look back on and realize how monumental it's all been.

At the start of the year, I'd made a list of New Years Goals. Some of them I've achieved, some of them I haven't. Some still seem important, others not so much. Other things have happened that I didn't plan on, both bad and good, that have made me reassess a lot.

Another part of this is that this is Nic's mum's birthday and the anniversary of her death. The fourth birthday, the fourth Christmas, the fourth year she won't be able to spend with us and we feel her loss so keenly. Gods, it still seems like such a short time ago and at the same time, ages and ages ago. Her loss at such a young age, when she still had so much to live for and so much she wanted to do highlights for me the reasons why I feel your dreams should be pursued. She spent her whole life wanting to move to the country, to pursue her interests, to live her dreams... and kept telling herself that the time wasn't right, she needed to do this or that first, she'd have it "someday". She lost that when we lost her to a reoccurance of cancer. I've seen my uncle pass away still with so much to do. I've seen too many others wait until it was too late as well. I don't want that for myself. I've always been that way and other things that have happened have highlighted the importance of pursuing your goals avidly and not waiting... almost 10 years I've been waiting to show dogs and actively trial and time after time I let things get in the way. I do regret that, I regret not pursuing those dreams more actively, working to make them happen instead of telling myself there was always time to do it later, time to do it when I didn't have so many other obligations, when "the time was right" and conditions were ideal. Life thus far has shown me that conditions are never ideal and they don't need to be to go after what you want and be successful.

I suppose also, my time in college comes into this, as I really wish I'd been able to complete my veterinary degree. I do understand that at the time it would have been darn near impossible, just too many other things stacked against me and I wasn't in the right place for it to happen. I still toy with the dream from time to time, taking it out and cherishing it, imaging what it would be like, though I do also feel that it's no longer something perfectly suited in that it would mean a huge amount of time taken away from my family, the stress involved in attaining the degree and I do have other interests I'd like to pursue as well. But a part of me wishes the idealistic dream had happened and I had that diploma to my credit, something to show that I'd gone after and fought for and won. The not-so-mature part of me would like to throw it back in the face of my father for every time he told me I was stupid, worthless, a waste of time and would never amount to anything. The more mature part of me knows I've accomplished more than he ever will and that the most maginificent achievement in my life and my number one priority is my beautiful child and my family. But that immature side giggles manically at the idea of thumbing my nose at him still. ;-)

The last part of it is that we're almost about to move. After waiting to sell this house for 2 years, we've only got a few days till auction on the 16th. I'm insanely nervous. What if we don't get a good offer? What if this drags on for months? What if we run up thousands of dollars in advertizing? What if it's not enough to get us the house we want? What if it IS? What if.... what if! Such an uncertain feeling, as if the floor might drop out from under me but I can't be sure of it. And then there's still the question of where to move.

I dearly want to move to the country. I want acerage, I want peace, I want to be able to have dogs, do agility, herd... eventually breed and start my own kennel. I want a huge vegetable garden. I want quiet walks down country lanes. I want the place I left when I moved from the US.

I also want a school which uses a particular educational philosophy for Laurent as education is such a hugely important thing for me. I also am concerned that it's decently ranked because such things do count when it comes to college and I want him to have that opportunity if that's what he wants. Unfortunately the school for that is about a 5 minute walk from where we live in suburbia. I'm no fan of suburbia, it's clausterphobic and noisy and I hate having neighbors piled on top of you. I don't like that the only trees are ones that are carefully pruned and neatly tended in fancy gardens instead of just growing wild and free and not made to conform. Anthropmorphizing? Why, yes! But no less true for it. It's not that I mind the shops and the cafes, that I don't like the fashion or the food... it's that I want those things near where I have my nice acerage and can have the lifestyle I want.

I also have to consider work. Work is in the city. It's where the vast majority of jobs are and if I move to the country and drag Nic along, that means finding a new job or a way to commute, which for a person who doesn't drive is a big obstical. And if he looses a job, then it's that much harder to find a new one in the country.

I also have to consider what the area is like. Unlike the US where country doesn't necessarily mean the people are backwards, feral bogans... here it often seems to. That's not the type of community I want Laurent to grow up in or the values that I want him to come up with.

I very much also feel the need to settle. I'm tired of everything shifting and being up in the air. I've moved from place to place and been as rootless as a gypsy wanderer since I was 18 and moved wherever school and work were. I don't want more major changes. I want to settle, to put down roots and not budge. I want a house isn't just a house but a HOME... one that I'm going to stay in till I'm old and wrinkly and surrounded by fat, happy grandchildren.

So it feels like whatever path I choose at this point, it will really define the majority of my life.

I can choose to stay in the suburbs, which I really don't like and won't be able to realize my dreams in. I can set up my life here, have a few dogs but never breed. I can reconcile myself to the fact that this is what's right for Nic and best for Laurent's education. But it won't change the fact that that's ALL it will ever be - me reconciling myself, settling for what's "right" despite what my heart and soul tells me. The idea of staying in the suburbs for the rest of my life makes me physically queasy. From as early as I can remember, I always hated living in them and loved living in the country, loved the small townness, loved the quiet and solitude. I suppose it can be said that when I'm ready to "retire" then I could go out to the country and live my dream but that goes back to what I said about how I feel about waiting for "someday" to come... I'm only too aware that it might not and that would be something I regreted forever. It also goes back to what I said about not wanting to uproot myself and my whole life again to move from the city to the country someday, leaving behind everything I've established here for myself, leaving the lifestyle that Laurent will have grown up in, the one that Nic will then have another 30-40+ years in.

On the other hand, I could move to the country but that would be a very permanent move because there's no way that once I set up my life there, started a kennel, invested my everything into that... no way could I give that up. As absurd as it sounds, I really didn't know I was giving it up the first time when I moved here. I decided to move here 3 days after arriving, knowing virtually nothing about the place and only having Nic's word that we'd sell and find a place more suited to us. I assumed at the time this meant that we'd be able to find an acre or two on teh outskirts of a major town because this is how the US is laid out. Had I been told I'd be stuck in suburbia for the rest of my life by moving here, I'm not sure I would have moved here.

This isn't to say I regret my choice to move here. I've gained several wonderful things, not the least of which is my family, my child, my cat and my beautiful new puppy who is in a way the furfillment of a long-time dream. I've grown into myself in so many ways. I've definitely changed. Some of that has to do with becoming a mum I suppose but a lot of it I think is just plain old personal growth.

I feel like I'm casting about trying to understand it all and find a direction and something solid to stand on but I feel completely certain and calm too. I'm not sure there's really a point to this... or maybe that is the point: that there is no point because I feel like I'm lacking one at the moment. Just trying to sort this all out in my head! If you've made it this far you deserve a medal... I'm not sure I made it this far and I wrote it!!!

Random stuff...

Have been feeling pretty lousy lately, with my ears flaring up again. It's been on and off over the past few weeks but this week I'm feeling really washed out, woozy, very tired and spacey. It's not a bad one but if anyone is wondering why I've been quiet, that's why.

A couple of nice things have happened in the past few days though. At a big sale on baby clothes I got 7 pants and 2 shirts for about $10 each, which is great considering they retail $50+ a piece.

Ordered the Büche de Noël, happy to see that even though Regal d'France was sold the new owner is French speaking. Not sure if she's French or not... maybe Belgian? Lovely lady though.

I ended up missing the ASCV's Christmas meeting but I made Freestyle last night even though I was pretty out of it. We didn't do as well as I'd have liked, due wholely to me slacking off on practicing. I'm hoping my ears settle and I can catch up over break! Sierra got a gorgeous Christmas gift from my instructors!!! They got each student a bag of special dog biscuits made to look like Christmas cookies. There's Christmas trees frosted and decorated with carob & yogurt "choc", gingerbred men, choc/vanilla swirl cookies and the cutest - a bone shaped biscuit printed with Sierra's name!

Also found two pieces of music I'd like to do routines to as well. The first is another Michael Buble one, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. The other is a French one from Juliette Gréco, La Fete Aux Copains. Gorgeous voice, strong ideals, song is sort of period-esque parisian bohemian cafeish.

Also need to take care of Chrissy prezzies. The train we'd planned on for L may not arrive in time - a wooden pull along train with letters spelling out his name. Still working on his shoes. A few other small things for him to open as well. Nic... the first part of his gift will be a hand-painted ceramic mug or something, which L is going to paint. Going to go down to the ceramic shop in Malvern or Kew or Camberwell for that maybe later today or tomorrow? Other than that, I'd like to do something meaningful for him but a model kit would be more appreciated. Other thing on my list is one of those wooden advant calenders with little pull out drawers that you can paint up yourself and a brass hangie-thingie that goes over the door to hold a wreath... maybe Lincraft would have those?

I also realized last night that Miss Hope is 3 months (EEK!) and I probably ought to look at what shows to enter her in and such. Hnn. Actually I think first I ought to look at registering her here in Victoria actually... and probably should read those show rules and regulations and such. And I should probably talk to her breeder about all this and about her papers and contract and such! LOL I know things are winding down now but these are probably things I ought to at least look into, y'think! ;-)


A recent trip to the beach... The first one is Laurent, charging straight in before deciding he Did Not Like this one bit! He's a pool guy! The second one is Sierra, stalking a seagull and looking rather wolfish! LOL The last ones are a series of Hope's reaction to being asked to join us in the water: 1.) "You want me to WHAT?!?" 2.) "Okay, if you say so..." and "I'll stick with you but I still think you're nuts for wanting to be in this bunch of wet-stuff!" It was VERY windy btw, so don't worry, her one ear isn't going prick! ;-)

After last Sunday at Croyden obedience, I spent a lot of time weighing options. I'd wanted a beginners class where Sierra knew the skill set and we could focus on working quickly and accurately in high distraction settings with her giving good, consistant focus. The class we were promptly promoted to for being overskilled is a slightly faster pace which means there's less wiggle room to work on what I want to without obviously doing something different from the rest of the class.

I was also debating if I was right about Croyden being the place for us as well. There were several rather unexpected negatives and while I did feel the instructor had a clear idea of what is desirable for the ring (IE what will cost/gain us points and placements) I was debating if getting that knowledge here was worth the affect of coming out of class feeling distressed and upset. However since this was a substitute instructor (albeit the CHIEF instructor subbing...) I figured I'd wait and see.

As it happens, we had another substitute but this one ended up being much nicer. She still dismissed the clicker as an inferior marker to a word (*biting tongue FIRMLY*) but she was very nice and seemed to have a a good idea of training, so overall it was leaps and bounds better!

You know, thinking about this in print, it sounds like I think I know better than everyone else and am really arrogant, which totally isn't the case. I do have plenty to learn, heaps in fact and I adore getting the chance dig into new information. My mind is just too curious... I love learning and understanding... my mind chews away at challenges, turning them over, looking at them this way and that trying to figure out what I'm looking at and anything I don't know is a challenge. When I "get" a new concept, I feel it must be a little bit like Helen Keller felt at the moment she understood the sign for 'water' and "got" the concept of language, thirsty for more and more words to paint her world. It's the same thing really, both moments were learning to hear, to understand, to communicate, to relate. So that was Sunday.

Monday, instead of our normal freestyle class, I had a seminar hosted by Melbourne Canine Freestyle, on identifying and managing stress in dogs by Dr Debbie Calnon which was nicely put together. It wasn't anything new but she was a good speaker and it was interesting to see a couple things I didn't think I would. Steven Lindsey recomending something that sounds remarkably like reiki for one! ;-) Hadn't heard about the left side massage stimming the right side of the brain, which was interesting and will have to do an experiment some day to see if it makes a difference. IMO the rest of his method sounded very much like Shirley Chong's conditioned relaxer. Would have liked her to go further into the remark on poisoning the cue seminar she went to as well, since I haven't been able to get to the US for those seminars! *G*

Tuesday morning, bright and early we packed the car, hitched up the dog trailer (new, second time driving it!) and took off for Toora, which is just past Foster in South Gippsland.

Me, bubs and my hooligans, joining some friends with their kids. Easy drive, if a long one and heavens that's some beautiful country! I spotted several big hills I'd love to live on but if Nic thinks Woodend is too out in the sticks and small-town, no way he'd go for anything here either.

Did get to see lots of cows and calves, sheep, an echidna , dozens of butcher birds, gallahs, cockatoos and a wombat. We actually had some yearling heifers in the paddock next to the camp site, which Hope saw early in the morning. At first she wasn't so sure (what the #*$%# is THAT!?!) but then she figured she'd have a go at herding it. O_O She only got as far as the fenceline though and the cows were totally unimpressed!

We had a great time with everyone, I think Laurent had an absolute ball with
all the other kids around and general atmosphere. He is SO much happier
when he's got other people and kids around, I am SO ready to move to a big
Attachment Parenting community yk!

Even with a few little upsets it was one
of the most relaxing days I've had in recent memory! I wish it could have
lasted a week or so! ;-) Although I'm guessing a few of the other mums
whose littlies came down with gastro are quite happy to be home now... poor
mites got a bit of gastro and weren't feeling so well for the trip home!
The dogs had a great time of it as well, though it was quite busy for me as
I was trying to watch Laurent as well as all three (off-lead) dogs as they
mingled! They got plenty of attention from the kids (yay for knee-high
puppy socializers!) who were gorgeous with them. Cade in particular was
soaking up the attention, the sookie-sookie mook! *G* All 3 were a bit
scatterbrained though, as everything was so whirlwind, I didn't really have
time to settle them into their new environement like I normally do. Still
they did pretty well, although I won't mind next time being just L and I.
We had to leave the next morning but I saw so many pretty spots on the way
there I wanted to stop and photograph but didn't due to trying to hurry and
get there, so I figured I'd have a bit of a meandering trip back. Initially
was planning to go with Jayne to Wilsons Prom but as I had the dogs the park
couldn't let me any further than the gate.

Yes, that's a photo of the gate.

Bummer! I really wanted to see it! Even though they were trailered and I asked about parking the trailer at the rangers station. No deal. Only acceptable thing was to leave the trailer outside the boundry of the park, which was a ways back from the rangers station and no way was I going to leave 3 dogs in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. A farmer down the road said he'd keep an eye on it but with the trailer fully loaded it was just to heavy for me to unhitch on uneven ground. Ah well, just means I have an excuse to go back again! *VBG* Plus I'd like to see that alpaca farm/weaving studio Beck found and try some of that jam. I'd dearly love the chance to go through the area on bike or hiking even, so I could take as many photos as I wanted! Pity there's not a hiking-camping trip for dog people! Anyhow, on the way back we meandered around wherever looked interesting and stopped at a few small towns to look at the little shops and such. L and I had a bite to eat for lunch before getting underway
again and getting back at 3:00.

(Where we stopped for lunch.)

Today was pretty boring, until Nic came bursting back in, told me RE Agent Dude called him regarding the showing that was going on this afternoon. This was the first I'd heard of Thursday showings. The sign outside our house only says showings on Saturdays and we were told nothing about Thursday showings, let alone THIS Thurdsay! Thankfully everything was tidy but sheeeee-yyyiiiiiiiitttt, talk about your communication FAILURES... we TOLD him before the first showing we wanted a list of dates/times! He says he sent out a list before that which we should've got by now... well ain't that interesting because we asked all communications to be e-mailed because I can't use the phone and can respond to the matter asap. So it shouldn't have been posted. Either way, we didn't get the letter so had no idea.

And just to show how little miss is growing... here she is at 11 weeks.

Okay, so it's not the greatest version of a stack but to be fair I'm only up to
teaching her to accept a hand under the chin and relax into her head being
moved in prep for planting those front feet. So the rest of it is a natural
stand rather than posed.

So... first inspection. EEEP!!!!

EEEPPP and may I repeat EEEEEPPPP!!!! Basically we (cough) worked most of the night and all morning and afternoon to get things ready. I know it prolly sounds like our house is a federal disaster zone given how long I've been saying "I've still got heaps of cleaning!" The trick is 1.) cleaning with a 1 year old is painfully slow due to the "helpful help" and b.) a lot of it is repetative cleaning. IOW I get it clean and by the next day (if it lasts that long...) it's quite generally a disaster again courtesy of Nic, Laurent, Cade, Sierra and Hope.

Laurent is definitely the biggest messmaker... quite often, he'll be directly to my side pulling things back out as fast (or faster!) than I can tidy them or causing me to pause and remove him from or remove from him. Bless him, he now RUNS with his booty as well. Nic is definitely a close second though, the only thing that Laurent has on him is that L drools and is generally has sticky fingers from it... otherwise I'm pretty sure it'd be an even tie. Although, come to think of it, Nic does have height on Laurent... Hmmm... *ponders*

At any rate, we did as much as we could by 2pm and while there was still stuff I'd like to look more posh to appeal to those nice dinks with deep pockets or at least a big loan, it was clean and neat and there was only 1 drooly handprint on the windows.

We got 7 people over 45 minutes, several phone calls planning to check it out next inspection and one person registering their interest. Not great but not bad. I'm chalking it up to voting day. So that's that... right now I'm just tired, after having run on adrenaline most of the past few days. Tonight I'm spoiling myself. We went to a patesserie for a severely indulgent Chai tea and nibbly and I'm going to have my nails painted, a nice massage, a long hot oil infused bath in the evening and just relaaaaxxxxx into a blissful puddle of goo!

Dog training notes: been dabbling here and there with the advice Jan gave me. Not sure how that is going as it just feels really, really uncoordinated at this point on my part. Working with Miss Hope as well. She is just too clever by half! She is a very INSISTANT little thing about these automatic sits! I stop, she ploinks and stares holes in my head till I move! Walked to town today and took her, she got to see policemen in full uniform, a display of ceiling fans blowing sideways with ribbons, a flittery banner, a lady with two obnoxious pulling schnoodles, a bunch of screaming kids, several clueless adults who were bluntly told they ought to ASK permission before reaching to pat her (GRRRRR.... major pet peeve for me!!!), walk over two types of sewer vents (open slats and the solid clattery kind) and see a big noisy motor bike.

For non-dog people, this is part of trying to expose her to all manner of weird, bizzare things we take for granted but which from a puppy POV look intensely weird and kind of scarey. I'm convincing her that weird stuff is not only NOT scarey but very probably intensely rewarding to be brave around! ;-)

Another neat thing, I found a picture of her sibling, Cuebiyar Body N Soul aka Floyd on his new owners website! Too cute! Reminds me I need to get a photo of Hope stacking and work on her webpage... usually too busy with child, dogs and moving to do so!

OMG the first showing of our house is tomorrow afternoon! I'm stuck between this weird zen place of feeling like it'll go how it'll go, so it's not worth stressing over and just going, "OMG, the first 2showing of our house is tomorrow and everything has got to be CLEAN!" (Hey in a house with a toddler, one puppy, two hooligan dogs and a crazy white spirit cat it's all out war to keep things sparkling clean! They're all demolition experts!)

We're moving the last (hopefully) of the boxes out tonight. I have to drive a BIG horse-float sized trailer here clunk-clunking over every pot-hole all the way. EEP!!!

The painters finished the dining room... and the handyman finished with the bedroom and such. Going to sweep up their dust and take pictures tomorrow! :-) It looks weird without our pretty antique fireplace inserts and mantles but the walls look nice.

Last but not least here is Bubby Bunny Lala in his new swimsuit I got for our trip to Toora and new wading pool! He's sooooo cuuttteeeeee.... *huggles my squidgey boy*

General Yayness!

Going to Playgroup today we noticed the sign for the house on Birdwood St was still up, so figured it must have been passed in after all! Called in and yes, it was passed in and yes they are still open to offers. Soooo.... we are wrangling the bank, working with the agent to see if this is doable! OMG! I'm scared to hope at this point!

Other bit... for those who've been wanting a peek at the advert for our house click here. It's only a shot of the front, the bathroom and the backyard (partial view, not showing the spa or garage on the right side of the yard) as we're having the tradesmen finish up tomorrow and then they can take more shots.

More yayness! Hope's sire Courage, aka BISS Throneapple Sub Zero is very close to adding Australian Champion to his name - he took Best of Breed at two shows this past weekend, leaving him just 7 tiny points shy of his title! :-) He is as lovely as he is sweet so I'm sure it won't be long now! Hope says, "Yay Dad!"

First things first: I gotta show off what good friends they are! ;-)



Last night at freestyle I was one of two students who showed up so we got a bit of a private lesson! (We have two instructors - Sue and Jan, so one each! ) The freestyle stuff is of course always fun but we also got to pick our instructors brain and got some absolutely wonderful advice about several training issues I'd been finding frustrating. (Namely that I know basically what I want and need to progress but am uncertain on where that type of education exists here, as ideally I'd like to go to top/masters level.) I got a couple of new exercises to help refine some behaviours that weren't as nice as I'd like.

I found after being corrected in my other class (not freestyle) my body language was back to being more noisy than it's been as I've concentrated on calming down and not working my poor dog into a frenzy trying to extrapolate all my extraneous body language from the actual cues. In Sign language, I was told it was the equivalent of a echo/stutter. Consequently Sierra was really "up" last night as well... doubly so after being buzzed by a standard (BIG) poodle who got loose! Drat. Most of that reaction on my part, after thinking about it, stems from my childhood. My father was not a nice person and got off on proving that we kids were little, weak, stupid, inferior and he was big, strong, smart and superior. (Well, not really because strong people don't need to pick on kids to feel big but I diverge...) One of his favorite things to do was play head-games in which he'd pin me in a corner, ask a question and there would be a punishment for answering incorrectly. It was a blatant trap: there was NO correct answer, including not answering at all and so no way to avoid punishment, though the illusion of an 'out' was given... just answer the question correctly. Even knowing there was no way to avoid it, your mind would desperately be trying to think of a correct answer and I'd be in a total panicked frenzy which translates to me getting very panicky when I'm "corrected" or confronted with that type of authorative person now. This in general translates to jittery movement in front of persons in a position of authority. (Including teachers. ) Being in a clicker class, proper learning theory is practiced on students as well as dogs, so punishment, shouting etc. just isn't used... even on the owners. And I've found I'm much better able to keep my body language calm and quiet in that setting since I'm calmer myself, as I relax into not worrying about the instructors hollering or 'correcting' me, but rather teaching and going over patiently, reinforcing with praise etc. While I can (and certainly HAVE plenty of times) handle myself and asserted myself with people in the position of authority and have no issue speaking my mind with them, that sharp tone still elicits a momentary reflexive cringe reaction and moment of 'ack!heartattack!panic!' initially. It's SO quick now I doubt anyone notices it, but it's there. Interesting to see just how far the fall-out from punishment runs isn't it! I'm 25, live half a world away from him, have no contact with him for years, understand he was sick and what motivated his actions ... by all means I'm a responsible, independant adult and a mother myself... yet that legacy of aversives is still something I struggle with! Goes to show why I won't use it in my training!!!

Another question she asked me was why I wanted to do this. (This being not just freestyle but pursuing high precision, top level obedience stuff.) That one took me back a bit... geeze, I've ALWAYS had dogs and worked with them since I was teeny tiny. Sports are fun. You and yoru dog get to go play around a bunch of other people and their dogs, and everyone is as dog-nuts as you! Working dogs is fun, I get to acknowledge all the good stuff they do and my dogs do HEAPS of really neat stuff as my dogs are super cool! I enjoy the relationship it builds, the dogs sense of humor, I learn from them and about them. They are more pleasant to live with since they can get what they want and I can get what I want and we can communicate. It's neat to watch their minds work and peek into their thoughts. I enjoy seeing them enjoy it. I also enjoy the challenge of seeing if I can do it. So yeah, it's just plain fun. I know some people get way too serious but in my (albeit) limited conformation and agility, I've found that's really not me because we're competing against ourselves yk? I already know my dog is a great dog! If something happened, it points out a new challenge for me to understand how do to things better. Can I get the same stuff out of training if I only do freestyle? Yes but the other stuff is also really fun too. Agility is fast paced, instant decisions and it really highlights teamwork and strategy between you both. Tracking is so cool because you REALLY have to trust the dog and your relationship, since you can't see the scent to know if it's right. Herding is super challenging because you've got the wildcard of the sheep and it's a big need for communication and instinct and the dogs love it! I just want EVERYTHING! I'm greedy. LOL

Anyhow, just generally feeling really pepped up and like I've got a few more places to check to get the resources I need/want! Three cheers for lovely teachers!!!!!

As a cool little brag: Ms Hope, at 10 weeks, and is adding the target wand to her bag of tricks. She is coming along with it quickly! (See? Told you my dogs are cool!) She got to see the vets today (for weighing, she put on 1kg at 5.6kg) and a worker who was doing renovations!

Going to be a longish post guys, getcher selves a cuppa... first is non-dog stuff, so dog folks feel free to skip down. Second is dog stuff, non-dog folks feel free to skip that! :-D

As per the last post we missed out on the Birdwood house. Majorly bummed about that. Went to Jayne's that afternoon for a psychic reading and drink tasting party. Sounds like an odd combo but made for a rather nice break.

I had quite a long reading and a lot of it was about Nic and really confirming what I already knew and had been saying and most of you have probably heard about that stuff before so I won't bore you! ;-)

I will say it was absolutely spot on and at times she was using exact words and phrases I've spoken to Nic. So that was the main bit but there were a few other interesting things that came up. Laurent and I apparently were best friends in our past life and that will follow us through in this one as well. He is going to be a real ladies man and charmer. (Did anyone whose seen him flirting shamelessly with every passing stranger not know that?) She apparently saw him in a white shirt, maybe in IT type job. She did say that while one of my fears is that our money will run out, I am protected and will never be without resources. I am apparently going to have 3 children - another boy and then a girl. My paternal grandfather came through and was acting as an extra bit of strength for me. Nic's maternal grandmother came through, complete with the stroke paralysis, to say she loved Laurent and was watching over him. (I said Nic would not be amused by that... he didn't like her to put it very mildly...) His mother came through as well and appologized for doing him a disservice by mollycoddling him as a child, say Laurent was the apple of her eye and that she liked me as well. Interesting since that's always been a concern of mine, with us both being very strong minded (and mouthed... *cough*) women. I'd always figured we'd either get along famously or be at absolute loggerheads. She also said that I very much felt the shadow of Nic's mum hanging over me and apparently his mum asked (through her) why I was fighting so hard against her. I replied that I didn't want to be in her position or follow the patterns that had been set up in that relationship. That was their relationship, this was ours, two different things and I don't want to play the role she did to him. She said there were a LOT of wish cards in my reading, lots of things I wanted coming true, lots of spiritual backing in my corner from the sounds of it but the bug-a-boo was that there was the Tower card which definitely had to do with Nic. So the long and short was I have pretty much everything I wanted in life or am on my way to getting it but there is a big gaping bunch of hurt emotionally which was sort of compared to feeling very battered.

So that brings us to today. We woke up late and had to dash to Croyden. Had the hardest time trying to find my instructor on the field! Our instructor was standing in for the normal Basic 2 teacher and had us fall straight in line and begin drilling. Egh. Sierra needed to settle in so I did a little focus work.

I'm not sure how today went. I was put off by a few of the techniques used. Not that they were unduley harsh but dogs were being lured or failing that induced to down and restrained to keep them down. One Staffie was on it's back and looked on the verge of shutting down because it simply didn't understand what was being asked of it. Cues were being given when the dogs hadn't even learned the behaviour. "STAND!" Well you started 1 minute ago. The dog has NO idea what stand means anymore than if I started giving you orders in French or Sign. It hasn't been taught, the dog doesn't know it and it's not fair to expect them to. If you worked on it a couple of weeks, got the behaviour fully fluent and then attached a cue which you reinforced, betchya you'd get better results.

Okay... so not how I'd do things, not how I'd teach things... but it's not my class, these are not my students, it's not my place. She said something about how you didn't want to "pussy-handle" a Staffy, have to know your breeds, you could pussyhandle a little fluffy dog but a Staffie would walk all over you. Yeeahhhh, you do need to understand breed traits and some breeds in general have different traits but regardless good leadership is based on respect and understanding. There are lots of ways to cement the idea in a dogs head that the way to get what IT wants is to do what YOU want which don't involve stressing the dog. :-/

Upside, we DID get some nice critiques... ie keep your dog straight, mind your hands, watch how when you use that motion you're pulling her forward and that will detract from your later work... that sort of stuff. YAY! That's what I want! I figure we do basically what we can at class and just teach it at home, fine by me as that's my prefered way to work. Gimme my homework, tell me how I've come along and let me go work on it. I think I frusterated the teacher because I didn't understand what she wanted me to do and couldn't easily hear her from a couple meters away facing away from in a biiiggg field!

The trouble for us came when the instructor had us sit the dogs in front of us. Easy peasie, Sierra did a nice job, click and treat.... Sierra stood to get the treat. "Don't treat her! She's out of place and she's broke the sit before you commanded her to do something else!" I figure she probably didn't see I'm using a clicker and it's an i-Click so it's quiet. I said she hasn't broke the behaviour at all because she was clicked. The behaviour was marked, the behaviour ends with the click and so she was effectively released to get her reward. I don't disagree with treating in position and am happy to do that (generally do except in free-shaping) but I don't click and not treat. If I'd wanted to use a "you're doing good, keep going signal" (I generally don't - I prefer to build up slowly to the point the dog doesn't need reassurance because it's confident this is how it's done) I'd simply reward without clicking and then when I was satisfied, click and treat. I'm told, no, no, have her do it again and then click and treat her. Eep. No... she's already been clicked. I'm happy to do it again but after she's been rewarded for this click. Instructor says Ah... you do things that way. (Uh oh.) Who trained you? We do things the Mary Ray way in this club. (IE click multiple times, treat sometimes, the idea being that the click is used as a 'go on' signal which contradicts current long-standing scientific data and which is NOT the Mary Ray way at ALL!) Eep. First day and having to contradict instructor twice. Okay, okay, being polite, being respectful, being veerrrrryyy mindful not to appear to be 'sassing' the teacher in front of her class which is disrespectful but at the same time I'm my dogs advocate. So am trying to project that into my voice while saying that no, this is how I do things with my dog. I always reward after every click. My training is from Janet White, along with techniques based on the Bailey's and the studies of Karen Pryor, Kay Lawrence, Steve White, Ken Ramirez, Emma Parsons, Kathy Sdao, Jesus Rosales, Kellie Snider, Morgan Spector, Steven Lindsay, blah blah blah..." Sooo not wanting to step on toes but my dog is mine and I don't let anyone do anything with them I'm not totally comfortable with. Likewise, I don't have to do something the way someone wants simply because they want me to, especially when it flies in the face of what I know to be true and have experienced with my dogs. No disrespect but I've seen too much evidence that clicking and not treating is counterproductive and as far as I'm aware she has no formal education in the field or any related field. (IE Precision training etc.) There are plenty of things I simply won't do to my dogs but I'm not here to disrupt, to contradict you in front of your students, to be disrespectful, be preachy, push my methods on you or otherwise cause trouble. I am here to learn, like everyone else, though perhaps different things than others at my level of progress. I'm hoping once that gets across everyone will be more comfortable when I do things somewhat differently.

At any rate, we got through class with some nice critiques and some nice praise as well. She asked me into the clubhouse after and basically asked who had assessed me (no one...) and started talking about a 'blue ribbon' (pass certificate?) you need and if I want I can do a Basic 2 Assessment next weekish or opt to continue in this class. Hm. So... I pass that and then what? Go on to the next level????? I look at the list and it's not horribly difficult but I'm not just gunning to get to the next level. The whole point for a basic class was so that I was working with skills she KNEW fluently enough we could do them with the class while working on being relaxed and focused in high distraction settings since Sierra tends to still be a bit wired in those settings - her focus and her latentcy turn to a pigs breakfast. I distinctly didn't want a bunch of new skills to be mucking around training while trying to focus on that! Sooo.... not sure what to do. She also said something to the effect (her back was turned, my hearing is crap) that I probably wouldn't want to/be suited to the instructor training program because I wanted to do things my way. About that time she mentioned she's the Head Instructor. Oh. Ohhhhh... Joy. Two sessions in and I've already been switched twice and the probably cheesed off the Head Instructor. Not that I'd have said anything else if I'd have known... but wow... this is just doing wonders for my batting average. o_O

Very brassed off. We missed the Birdwood house due to lack of stuff that someone was supposed to take care of getting taken care of in time. That was the one I -really- wanted. Nic has STILL not contacted the people he was supposed to weeks ago. Our auction date is moved back. Again. From 25 Nov to 2 Dec to 15 Dec. Very much NOT a happy Amanda atm.

Reading everyone's blogs I'm struck by how much a lot of people around me have this whole really deep, complex sublife going on. You know, how we all have the surface stuff and even the more serious stuff which we discuss day to day but behind the scenes, below the surface of our minds we're busy thinking about things are just somehow "more"... the big important life changing stuff. These are people I see and talk to on a pretty regular basis, know fairly well if not intimately and then you read something and just realize how many layers we all have..

I keep meaning to write something like those posts. Something deep and meaningful and thought provoking, something significant, something based on what you've gotten out of the day and drawn out of the experience of truly living life. Hm. Maybe that is just me feeling like my life needs more of those things and that's why I'm seeing them in others? I do believe every day honestly IS precious and should mean something, it shouldn't be wasted and allowed to slip by without notice, yet too often we do just that. We try to rush from where we are to where we're so sure we need to be to live life, both physically and metaphorically, that we ignore the fact that we're busy living it now.

Unfortunately it seems like every time I try to think of something, my mind is completely blank. I've been just sort of humming along, existing because I'm tired. Very drained, crappy memory thing going on that I suspect may actually be a low-grade infection? Not sure. But just very tired. Not discounting the effect of the excess of surface 'stuff' which is hogging up my time and energy. Most of it is of course, situations and crap of my own doing... or at least my own allowing and I probably need to reevaluate how much I'm willing to allow it to run away from me, before I call it to a screeching halt and readjust things to a better balance.

Anyhow, enough jabbering. PHOTOS, what all y'all REALLY come here for right! ;-) After picking up the new mantle piece for the bedroom (we're taking our original antique ones) we went to the park.

"That is one TALL tree mum!"

At the park, they were having a huge rally/music event of some sort and he was pretty fascinated with the music and cheering!

Random Sierra shot. Not the best I've ever taken but something about it I like.

Still trying to work out how to photograph black dogs well. Especially black dogs with plenty of white bits. *_* Seems like I'm constantly either getting too much or too little light reflecting off her coat or it's imbalanced with her surroundings. :-O Hard time defining her eyes as well! She has really pretty eyes honest! X-)

Having fun puttering around with oil pastels at the moment. Mostly just experiementing to get the feel for how to make it do what I want. They're a little bit weird but fun. I feel like I'm channeling my inner preschooler: they're not nice well behaved paints, they're messy and you have to be right there in the moment... they are smudged, pushed, pull it, swirl it, strike it, scratch it... it's finger painting pretending to be grown up! ;-)

Well we finally got to Croyden and even finally found our way to the correct class! Turns out we were placed in the most basic class and Sierra already knew pretty much everything except Stand which she kept confusing with (freestyle) Backing. Several folks seeing Sierra were quite interested in the clicker, which was a bit tricky as I felt I had to answer their questions but at the same time I was there in the role of student and didn't want to step on the instructors toes or appear to be taking over or 'preaching' clicker. Not to say I didn't want to say something when I watched a couple of the students try to get behaviours by luring or pushing their dogs into position while telling the dog "Sit! SIT. SIT!!!" and I was thinking, ohhhh.... that could be done so much quicker and clearer and less frusterating for dog and handler with a clicker! I also felt a bit bad for some of the students as they were truly just starting out whereas Sierra and I weren't. My dizzy redhead just needs a class where we she knows the behaviours pretty well so we can focus less on the skill sets being taught and more on getting her used to being calm and working in a highly distracting environment as I could tell she was all over the shop emotionally due to the stimulation! A couple of times two of the students remarked to the effect their dogs were hopeless and they just wanted to trade them in for one like mine. I kept saying, "Look, less than a year ago this was HER... you are just starting, your dog is just starting, you'll get there! (Hey you'll probably go beyond if you don't also have a toddler distracting you!) Just give it some time!" Not sure if they believed me or bought into the idea that Really Good Dogs are born Really Good or turn that way Presto-Bango because they're Really Smart when the truth is that it's just a smidge of training really, combined with the fact she's learned that the way to get what SHE wants is to do what I want. I love Sierra, she's a *good* dog, she's incredibly sweet and she'll work her heart out for me... but she's neither particularly naturally obedient, nor calm (rotflmao!) nor intelligent. She's actually the least drivey, least skilled in problem solving/assessment dog I've had... compared to some evil genius masterminds I might mention.

It also made me realize how far Sierra HAS come in a relatively short time. Up until Laurent was born, I was way more interested in agility and pretty much ignored obedience classes, just working on basic manners stuff and dabbling here and there at home with the rest. We got her CGC** but that is an incredibly easy certification. I only really worked with her on obedience stuff after L's birth and even that has been catch-as-catch-can! LOL She maintained attention even when a couple dogs came incredibly close and two stuck their noses virtually up her bum. Even 7-8 months ago she wouldn't have been able to maintain that, would have been bouncing on the end of her lead wanting to pllaayyyy with everyone, absolutely frentic, especially in such a majorly distracting environment! Croyden is a HUGE club! Not that she hasn't got a long way to go yet but it occured to me how far she's come!

I got a call later this evening from my instructor who basically said that while it'd be nice to keep me around as an example to the other students, she's going to advance me to another class because Sierra knows too much. It's still going to be basic enough that we can keep the main focus on working on distractions, fluency, latentcy etc rather than new skills but the instructor feels it should suit us more. So tomorrow I have to give the new instructor a ring to find out what has gone on in the past few classes and confirm our place there.

** Non doggy translation: CGC= Canine Good Citizen Award. To get this award, the dog must pass 10 tests: accept a friendly stranger, sit politely for petting, allow the examiner to groom/examine it, loose lead walk, walk through a crowd at a loose heel, sit & down on cue and stay in place while handler walks away before returning, do a recall, react calmly to a distraction and behave itself during a supervised seperation.

Also: big gripe - what the heck is up with tradesmen who think it's perfectly fine to miss an appointment, rock up 4-5 HOURS late without even bothering to give you a courtesy phone call and and in the latest case - cop an attitude when you're NOT THERE figuring they skipped out on you since they didn't even bother to call?!?!? Grr... and we are on a deadline too with the auction coming up!

Cuteness: Laurent had been calling Hope "Sisi" (Sierra's nickname) but has now come out with a new version for her: "Goo guu" which is Babybabble for GOOD GIRL!!! (Guess what Hope hears all the time....)

Yayness: Laurent's bday photos are done and now I just need to arrange for a time to pick them up! :-)

Puppy news: We all took a walk to Glenferrie today, stopping at the local plant nursery and going through the park. She got to see HEAPS of people, a fountain and waterfall, truck being unloaded, a motorcycle and a LOUD weed whip and practice a nice amount of loose lead walking. I clicked her a few times for being in the heel position, otherwise just rewarded for being in the LLW position... little miss smarty pants figured it out quite quickly! She is doing great at auto sitting when I stop too!

General news: Laurent has more teeth coming through again, which is an evil of indescribable proportions in our home. Clingy and whiney are understatements the likes of which have never happened in the history of mankind. And tantrums. Have I mentioned tantrums? Loooooottttsss of them. Bigguns. Over everything and nothing. Panadol? Bauers Teething stuff? Teething gel? Bupkiss. Cool things to gum on. Schyeah rightttt. It was still better than yesterday when there was about a 6 hour period during which he didn't go 5 minutes without screaming, wailing, flailing and just plain not being happy. I've had my fill for oh... the next 40 years or so... can I have my sweet bubba back now? You want to know the sick thing? Even when he's being like this and I'm ready to ship him express to Antarctica for a few minutes peace, I'm clucky for another bubba. X_X NO, I'm not nuts enough to do it while I've got a 1 year old and a 9 week old puppy, not to mention the two older dogs to suck up my time but I'm still clucky.

Further gardening help...

Despite how innocent she looks, yes it WAS her who opened the bag and spread it all over the verendah! She was *quite* proud of herself too, wiggling and dancing around my feet when I spotted it, with little bits of dirt still clinging to her and full of glee! Cheeky girl!

Had a great day shopping for Bubby Lala gear.

Ms. Hope got to meet Helen the groomer whom we buy our Eagle Pack from and see a whole bunch of construction... jackhammers, pressure spayers and the works, replete with guys in work gear. Worked on the usual stuff, adding in our food routine. (All dogs must park their bums in their place, wait till bowls are filled and set down, eat AFTER being released and then park their bums after till I pick up the bowls again and release them.) She obviously doesn't do the whole thing but she is working on waiting to for her food in a sit and staying in her place for short periods of time.

Also looked at another house the other day, this time in Blackburn on Kerr St. Nice, big, roomy, very "family" feeling, good light and storage, I liked the trees. Needs some updating, outside needs a paint, shed needs replacing, a thorough cleaning, bedrooms were a bit small, I'd want to replace the kitchen and carpets but I did like something about it's feel. Not as much as the Box Hill South (Birdwood) or Belgrave ones though but the price is less than the Birdwood one at $510K Need to go out to Belgrave to follow up with the RE agents out there.

Everything is a game!

My gardening helpers.


In the spirit of the game!



She looks decievingly innocent when really she has a very puckish sense of humor! Still trying to work out how to photograpgh a black dog well but I liked this one!

I know several people out there have been going through difficult times in their lives lately and just wanted to let everyone know my thoughts are with you. Wishing you everything you need, at exactly the time you need it to see you through the darkness.

Not much to say other than that... L and I are still buggered getting over this thing. I'm feeling better, just reeeeally wiped. Took the dogs to the front of Safeway and sat on a bench where the dogs could watch the stream of different people. Worked on sits and eye contact for Chibi Pup, backing up for the Red Fuzzle. Cade held down the couch which was in dire danger of floating away. Laurent spent the day alternatingly nursing and trying to pry the clicker from my hand (NO way bubba, not my i-Click you don't!) and seems to still have a touch of it but I'm getting glimpses of my cheeky lil' man too. He woke me up playing peek-a-boo with the bed covers, pulling them over my face, off my face and giggling madly. Showed off his newfound ability to stand and take a few steps. Hundreds of cheeky gap-toothed grins. Hugs. Belly flops into my lap. Serious conversations held in baby babble. Gotta love this mum gig...