Katie likes snow. (click on photos for more fun filled details.)
Run Katie run!
A lot.
After all she’s a Sheltie and her breed comes from a rugged island in the far north.
So much snow, so little time.
Yesterday we played a little in the snow. She was really more interested in hunting the elusive chipmunk than playing Frisbee. I threw it once and she ran to catch it but then deposited it far away from me.
Subtle isn’t she.
Sitting for Mama’s stupid camera.
Wait! I know it’s Wordless Wednesday…but I have words I want to say. And you know I never quite know what day it is anyway. So let me tell you about community band rehearsal last night. Thanks to Ricky’s Mom I practiced at least 30 minutes every day this past week. Even when I didn’t want to. Some days it was an hour because I just got caught up in the music. Well. Only a couple times did it go beyond 30 minutes. But still.
Just a moment. A certain sheltie who will remain anonymous seems to need my attention….
There’s something OUT THERE Mama!
What? Be quiet??? Really?
Pouting.
ZZZZ z z z..z…z…
…so anyway…I was telling you about last night. We’re a community band and we use a public school to get together every Tuesday night and practice. We have a concert in a few weeks and the music is difficult. So when I woke up to the news the public schools were closed due to icy back roads I just knew the director who is a public school band director would get us in the closed building. I was right and she did, and more than that the school superintendent sent a custodian to open the building for us. We are so grateful to have the support of the school administration.
We had a wonderful rehearsal. Everyone showed up! And you could tell people spent some time on the music since last week; things fell together and there were some nice sounds. Some not so nice as well, but we have 3 more rehearsals so we can pound those out.
So thanks Ricky’s Mom! For making me accountable to practice every single night. I need to do that this week too, but I’m heading out of town this weekend. That means I need to spend time with the music tonight and Thursday night for sure.
OK Katie. Let’s go check out the scary rain before I head off to work. Silly girl.
It’s noisy Mama!
Katie here. Mama says she is just too exhausted to explain everything that happened when I got my new title yesterday. So I guess it’s up to me. Geeze. I have to do everything around here! Besides, my view is the accurate version of the day. No matter what anyone else says. Because I’m the princess.
So anyway, Mama never got anything in the mail about what time stuff started, or how many dogs were entered, so we didn’t know when to get to the big event. It was a HUGE show, about an hour away, where they had conformation dogs, and people in fancy clothes running around in circles with dogs who had their fur poofed up and hair sprayed. Huh. How silly is that!? I mean, Mama didn’t even poof me up and everyone said I was beautiful. Except for those people over on the other side of the building with their fancy shelties who were too busy spraying their dogs to notice me wandering around.
We go the the venue at 8 a.m. because that’s when the website said stuff started. Turns out they were doing stuff already! But our class wasn’t schedule to run until 1 p.m.! Mama was a bit peeved, but there was another person from our school already there, so we set up camp next to her and Dad and Mama and I hung out for 5 hours together. We went on lots of walks, and sometimes I stayed in my crate, but mostly I was content to lay in my Dad’s lap. That surprised Mama a lot because I’m not a lap dog at all.
Sitting with my Dad
Finally it was our turn. By then I wasn’t sure what we were doing there at all. I figured I was there to judge all the other dogs as they came and went. Sure were a lot of beautiful dogs and their crazy owners there! I was getting really sleepy and was all warm and snuggly when suddenly Mama plucked me off of my Dad’s lap and said we were on! On what Mama?
So we’re hanging out at the gate waiting for our classmate to finish her run, and the registration table is right there and there’s this really big lady sitting there, right next to me, and suddenly she laughed really loud and hysterically and that scares me a lot! And I jump up and try to get away from her and my Mama is telling me to sit, and the floor is slippery and I can’t sit and that lady is making a bunch of noise and my Mama is talking to me and the whole thing is just too much and then Mama tells me to heel and we’re inside the ring and I don’t want to be there, and the judge lady must be really tired because she asks Mama if we’re ready and I’m still looking over my shoulder and Mama doesn’t even get to ask me if we’re ready to work, and the judge lady says forward before we’re ready and Mama sighs and starts to move.
So. I figure when Mama moves, I move so I come along too…and that’s when I see it…a lovely jump about half way down the ring! Well. You all know how much I love to jump so I start moving faster, fixated on that jump. I just know Mama wants me to fly over it, to show off all my fur and how beautiful I am. But then my Mama is sort of pushing into me with her leg and saying Katie…KATIE! and back BACK!, and then she herds me! Can you believe it? Mama is herding ME the herding princess! She sort of pushes mes into this big circle left and right then I realize….we’re WORKING! OH! OK then Mama, why didn’t you say so? I thought we were just having fun, I didn’t realize we were working!
You all know I take my work very seriously, so from that point on I watched my Mama very carefully and did almost everything she wanted. OK. I sat crooked on one part but whatever. Everybody said I looked beautiful and I don’t think anyone else besides my Mama knows that I was going to take that jump early. We got either a 94 or a 97, Mama forgot to go read the scores after, she was too happy that the whole thing was over. We got first place too! Well…there were only two of us, and the other doggie walked out of the ring in the middle of his run…but still!
I stayed awake all the way home. Mama says my eyes were closed and my head was bobbing, but I was just resting my eyes. No sleep allowed for the princess. Cause I’ve got to do everything around here.
Mama says there will be video once she figures out how to upload it. Geeze. Mamas are so slow to learn stuff. I could probably do it myself, but I don’t want to upstage her.
A princess is always polite.
Resting my eyes at home.
Devious squash
I just finished reading Forks Over Knives, a book about eating only plant based foods. It was interesting…but I don’t know if I could give up cheese. Still….several of the recipes looked good, so I headed to the store and picked up some stuff to make the acorn squash soup.
Who knew that peeling 3 acorn squash could be so difficult? The skin is hard! I finally figured out that if I cut the squash into sections along the valley in the rind it was easier to peel. But my fingers are still sore from gripping the vegetable peeler.
Katie was the unintended recipient of several small pieces of squash and peel. She loved both. I don’t know if that was because she doesn’t get people food and she thought this was special or because she really likes squash. Could be she likes squash because I know she loves cabbage, apple, carrots and just about anything else that hits the floor.
The soup has the squash, a sweet potato and carrots plus ground ginger and sage. It’s simmering now.
We’ll see.
Hello everybody!
Hey you guys! I bet you’ve been missing ME. ME ME ME ME ME ME…oh wait. I get carried away sometimes but you know it’s all about me. My Mama has been soooooo busy that I hardly ever see her. And when she comes home from work she’s usually too tired to play. But I make her play anyway. She can’t ignore me….not me! I don’t give up either. I have an endless supply of toys to drop at her feet. And while she’s at work I practice the BIG EYES and sharp whine so that I can make her crazy when she finally shows up.
Guess what? It works! And for the small fee of a few dog biscuits I can teach all of you doggies the skill set. Oh wait. You say you already have that down? Well! Doggies rule!
So anyway….Mama and I are going to do a big dog show this weekend. On Sunday we’re going to try to get our Advanced Rally title! Mama says she’s stressed again. Sigh. I don’t know why she gets like this. It’s just another day to spend watching people and doggies do stuff. I like to go to these, and when we’re in the ring I watch my Mama very carefully. If she can just read all those crazy signs correctly I promise to do what she asks. So it’s all up to her.
Me? I’m just having a good time with my Dad while my Mama is at work. And I’ve been dreaming about Mama and me going camping next spring. It’s almost spring, right? Well it should be. After all I’m the princess…and I decree it’s almost spring!
Cause it’s all about me. Yes it is.
Play time!
Frisbee anyone?
Merry Christmas everyone!
Katie and I would like to wish all of you, all over the world, a wonderful holiday. This year it will be just the three of us together, Katie, her Dad and me. We will enjoy a quiet day, mixed in with a bit of barking at imaginary monsters at the front door. She’s practicing that now. Later on I’ll cook a holiday dinner for us and maybe we’ll watch a movie. Or take a nap. Simple, quiet ways to spend the one precious day off from work that I have.
Oh wait! Katie says it’s CHRISTMAS Mama! We have to have an adventure! Well. You never know. A good romp at the park might fit into our simple family holiday.
And then a nap.
Fireplace installed!
Change Is Hard 