Pictures in Ohio

Sparkie having fun!


The water had risen so high it was way up over the trunks of the trees.


Slugger crawling into a hole in the end of a huge log. He was sure there was something in there.


And he was right! Eye balls are staring back at us. We're not sure what it was - maybe a possum or a raccoon.


The beautiful forest we hiked through.


More pretty scenery on our hike.

Goodbye Ohio

Wazzu having a great time playing with Hayden - Mike's step-mom's daughter's kid.

Mike's dad's house











We've spent nine days in Ohio visiting Mike's dad. Unfortunately, Mike was pretty sick the entire time. He still sounds bad but is feeling a bit better. Even though Mike was ill we did manage to do a couple things.

Each evening we went over to Mike's dad's house to have dinner. Mona, Mike's step-mom, made a wonderful dinner for us each evening. She was even kind enough to do lots of our laundry for us. Big thanks! The dogs stayed in the RV each night while we visited and had dinner however Wazzu got to go over with us a couple nights.

We took one day to go to Minster to visit the gravesite of Mike's mom. On the drive there Mike found a great park with some nice hiking trails. We stopped there for what we thought would be about an hour walk. But it was so nice (and flat) that we hiked for about two hours. The girls were able to be off leash most of the time and did they ever take advantage of that.

After the hike we continued to Minster. We visited the gravesite of Mike's mom, her parents, Mike's aunt & uncle, and various other family members. Then we drove around town to all the places that were important and had meaning in Mike's life growing up.

The weather has been cold, rainy, and miserable the whole time we've been here until yesterday when it was sunny and 69. So even though it was a bit of a trek, we went back to the trails we had found yesterday to hike again. It was gorgeous and since it was a weekday it was fairly empty of people. The girls once again spent 3/4 of the trek off leash.

Today the weather is once again rainy and windy so Mike took this opportunity to go to the Air Force museum while I do a bit of cleaning. We leave in the morning to continue on our journey.

Debbie
10/31/06

Hello Ohio

Today was our day to make our way to Springboro, OH to visit Mike's dad. It didn't quite start as planned. We'd been having trouble with one of our tires and had planned to have it fixed in Ohio. But it was clear this morning that we couldn't drive any further without getting it fixed.

Fortunately there was a large truck stop just down the road from our RV park. They got us in about 45 minutes after we arrived. Turned out the valve was stuck so that every time we filled up the tire it just continually leaked until there was no air pressure left. The guy had a special tool (it was the inside back tire) and was able to reach in and fix it in just a couple short minutes. The guy was really nice and didn't even charge us. How nice was that!

Even though we only had a couple hundred miles to go it took us all day as Mike was feeling very poorly and needed to rest often. But we did make it without incident.

Mike's dad and his wife (Mona) met us at their new house. They had a special hook up wired in to the house so that we could park in the driveway as there were no RV parks anywhere around here at all. Unfortunately the electrician installed it all wrong and it wouldn't work. So Mike, his dad, and Mike's dad's wife's dad (got all that!) worked and worked and got it all rewired so that it works perfectly.

While they were working on the electricity Mona and I took Sparkie and Wazzu on a short walk in the neighborhood. And get this....it snowed on us! Yes, the dogs backs were white! Fortunately it didn't stick on the ground....just on the dogs.

We fit nicely in the driveway of their new house. And since they don't live there we aren't in the way at all. The house they currently live in is only one or two minutes away so it is all very convenient.

After feeding the dogs, we left and went to the other house for dinner. We had a wonderful visit. It was so nice to see them again. We didn't stay real late as Mike felt pretty bad.

Hopefully both the weather and Mike will improve by morning.

Debbie 10/23/06

What a Difference a Day Makes

Today was very cold and very windy. It rained most of the night so the ground was muddy. I don't think there is any mud left there as it is all in our RV.

Amazingly enough the actual trial grass area was in good shape. The cold air and the winds made the dogs very frisky. And Wazzu was a totally different dog. Our first run of the day was Regular. Wazzu did four or five obstacles and then got the zoomies - she reminded me of our Novice days. She would do crazy dog and then run near me and do a big play bow. I could hear people saying "way to go Wazzu." I think they were all happy to see Wazzu feeling so much better than yesterday.

Needless to say, we didn't Q on that run! But we Q'd in all remaining five runs. She was fast and happy and silly all day. It was so great. What a great day for Wazzu.

Poor Mike is feeling worse. His cold is really hitting him hard. Sparkie wanted to do well for Mike but they had a couple differences here and there. They got three Q's. Mike felt sick and Sparkie felt a little scared about being wrong on the course. Poor Sparkie.

Slugger was really excited to get to play. He was very focused and very excited. He ran faster and sillier than we've ever seen him run. He got a big goofy face and his legs were going everywhere. There was one part of the course where you HAD to have a switch - and there was a tunnel right in their line of sight of the side we were on and they had to turn the opposite way. This move is not in Slugger's repirtoire.

He ran his little heart out but both times he came to the "switch" he didn't understand. And while he would try to turn his speed put him on the outside of the tunnel. So he'd stop and put his nose up in the air to sniff the horses next door (far away.) Mike would get his attention back and he'd go off to the races again. Other than the two times he had to stop as he didn't understand the "switch" he was awesome. I don't think he's ever run so fast on or off the agility course. We were very proud of him and he had a blast.

We pulled out in mid-afternoon and drove to someplace between Chicago and Indianapolis. By early evening we found a nice RV park right on a lake. It was a nice place but man was it cold!!

Debbie
10/22/06

Yahoo Wazzu, Yahoo Wazzu

I think my Mom said it best: Yahoo Wazzu in agility and Yahoo Wazzu in football.

Early this morning we got up and moved to Manhattan, IL the trial site for this weekend. It turned out to be a really odd day. Since I hadn't been out of bed all week, I wasn't up for running Wazzu in six runs so Mike started off by running her in Jumpers. Wazzu didn't want to run and no matter what Mike did she just lagged behind. Sadly she was over time.

The next run was Weavers. Of course I had to try to run her in that as this was an important run in our agility career. And although Wazzu wasn't as fast as she normally is she did make time! This gave Wazzu her Triple Superior Versatility!! In our wildest dreams we would never have put this in our list of goals when we started. But as Wazzu progessed we slowly over a long period of time added that to our goal list. I expected it to be a big moment. But we'll celebrate some other day as none of us in the family were up to it today. In The Zone did give us a very nice ribbon and Arlene Courtney was the judge so that was a nice moment.

Wazzu wouldn't even pretend to run the rest of the day. It didn't matter if I tried to run her or if Mike tried she just wouldn't runs so we E'd in almost every run as she would just walk so we'd just exit the course after a couple obstacles.

Mike isn't feeling well at all today either. He woke up with the beginnings of the flu. Ooh, nasty! So he couldn't really concentrate and his timing was way off and he sent Sparkie off course in many of her runs. But on the three runs they did connect they got three Q's - all 1st place by quite a bit.

I'm not sure what is wrong with the girls but they act like someone drugged them. Of course we didn't! Usually Sparkie whines and cries in between her turns and paces around the RV. But today she was totally sound asleep and we had to wake her up to go run. And instead of being all excited while in line she just stood still and quiet.

We know Wazzu acts differently depending on how I feel but we didn't know Sparkie did that. Actually now that I think about it, the only time Mike has been sick Sparkie laid in bed with him the entire nine days - she didn't want to eat or go out to potty. So I guess maybe she is feeling Mike's sickness.

Slugger however feels just fine. He got to run Weavers today! Problem is, he has never practiced going from a tunnel to the weaves. He has practiced tunnels and he has practiced weaves - but not together. So he had no clue how to collect himself to slow down to enter the weaves. But he did the tunnels really fast! So he passed the weaves each time. But Mike did get him back and he completed each set and did run clean - but I'm sure he was over time. Oh gosh, I never even looked. Bad mommy!

Guess it's early to bed for all of us today. In fact, I'm the only one still awake and it's not even dinner time!

So since everyone was asleep I watched the Wazzu/Oregon game on the internet. Well, not really watched the game but "refreshed" the screen every 30 seconds to see if the score changed! When the score got done changing Wazzu had won! Yahoo.

Good night. Be well.
Debbie
10/21/06

Chicago

We spent the week of October 16 in Joliet, IL which about 1 - 1.5 hours SW of Chicago. Mike and the dogs did a lot of hiking and exploring around the area. One day Mike went into Chicago and toured the Field Museum and went to his old college campus, University of Chicago. When he got home he was so proud of himself. He informed me that he hadn't killed any kids! Needless to say, I was glad to hear that. He said there were busloads of kids there and they kept leaning over all the display signs so he couldn't read about the displays.

Debbie

Agility Fun

Today we got another five runs. Is this a trend in the PNW or just out here - many clubs are only offering one Chances per weekend. I think that sucks. You still need just as many Q's for a NATCH but now you're getting fewer opportunities. What's up with that?!

We had a very good day today as both dogs went 4/5. Sparkie had two 1st's and two 2nd's. Wazzu had two 1st's, and two 3rd's. They both NQ'd on the same run. I truly feel it was an unfair course - and I think the results will back me up as only one dog in the entire Elite class Q'd.

Normally I find that the required distance challenge isn't really much of a challenge. But in today's course it really was both a distance challenge and a directional challenge AWAY from you that was layered. I wouldn't be surprised to see something like that in Chances but certainly not in Regular.

This fundraiser was the smallest one we've attended. But Lisa and Dwayne Bonker were extremely nice and ran the trial very well. It was probably the most smoothly run fundraiser we've been to - and that's saying a lot as most fundraisers go pretty smoothly.

We got to meet a lot of really cool dogs. In fact, there were so many Pointers there including a Pointer puppy that we were on the internet searching for another Pointer/Whippet mix. Wow, hard to find right now. We found one in Pennsylvania but they absolutely wouldn't allow out-of-state adoptions. Pooey. We found a Kelpie/Whippet mix but Mike thinks that they have such different personalities that the dog would be in a constant state of confusion. I think Mike is really for another Pointer mix as he kept commenting on how we would handle five dogs. He said I would need another husband to help walk them all. Teehee!!

We've now moved to Joliet, IL for the week. We are in a very large campground that is right on a lake. In addition to being huge it is totally flat - like everything we've seen around here. Anyway, this will be great as I can easily walk the dogs on the day that Mike goes into Chicago to do a museum.

Well, gotta go watch football!
Debbie
10/15/06

Another Day of Agility

We awoke to a really cold and windy day. While that's not my favorite conditions, Wazzu and many of the other dogs seem to think that's just perfect. A really good thing for us was that they ran Elite Weavers first. That's always our best chance at a Q. And sure enough Wazzu ran really fast, came in 2nd (wow!) and got a Q. Sparkie ran well too (of course) and came in 1st.

I guess Wazzu used all her energy doing so well in Weavers that she had nothing left for Jumpers as she was 3.57 seconds over time. Sparkie ran very well and came in 1st (of course!) Neither dog Q'd in chances as it was very difficult. I knew during the walk-through that we had no chance. And I guess Wazzu and Sparkie both agreed!

Each girl got one of two Regular Q's. In the non-Q runs they both ran extremely well but just had a litle boo-boo. Wazzu's boo-boo was having me as a handler.

We got done around 2:00 so we drove to the next town over - about 20 miles away - and grabbed a couple things from Michaels real quick and got back just in time for the start of the baseball playoffs. Slugger is bored so I've been playing hide and seek with him. He loves that game but is just way too good at it so I can't keep him busy vey long! One of us will tire of the game soon - can you guess whick one of us it will be? tee hee.

Debbie
10/14/06

Stairs, Stairs & more Stairs

Amazing how your perspective can change. As you could probably tell, the last couple days I thoroughly enjoyed Starved Rock State Park. Well today I hated it with every ounce of hate one can conjure up.

We had to be out of the campground by noon and only had an hour drive to the location of our next agility trial. Problem was that we weren't allowed to arrive there until 5:00pm. And with the price of gas you don't just drive this thing around for five hours to waste time. So we drove to Starved Rock State Park and parked in the Visitor Center parking lot. There is a trail that starts there and then branches out to other trails.

Have you heard the saying "I wasn't a happy camper?" Well, I wasn't a happy hiker - and neither were my hiking mates. Since we were close to the Visitor Center there were a lot of people around so the dogs had to stay on leash. Plus we seemed to be on the top of all the canyon walls I've been telling you about so it would have been extremely dangerous for the dogs to be off leash. But they were excited and of course were very anxious to run.

I had Wazzu and Mike had the other two. Problem is Sparkie was so excited she just wanted to go. So she was pulling ahead. Slugger wanted to look off into the distance and enjoy the view. And Mike wanted to go a different direction to look at the posted map. Needless to say there was quite a bit of tension. Neither dog seemed to be listening at all and this was making Mike mad. So he yanked Slugger's leash to get Slugger to come. Unbeknownst to Mike, Slugger had just gone to the edge of a bridge. So when Mike pulled, Slugger was slammed into the edge of the bridge. Poor Slugger came up three legged and had a chunk out of his shoulder. Of course Mike felt bad and Sparkie was way behind standing there looking very scared.

Little Slugger limped for a while but seemed better as time went by. His shoulder has scabbed over so I think he'll be just fine. Mike is giving him extra love and attention today to help them both feel better.

So after that incident at the beginning of the walk none of us were in a very good mood. And it deteriorated from there. No matter which way we went there were monstrous staircases - I'm talking over 100 steps on each staircase. Stairs are really hard for me and all we could find in any direction were stairs. By now we were stuck. To go back we had to do all those stairs all over again. So I wanted to keep going - each time figuring we must have surely finished all the stairs. But no. By now my legs were really complaining and just walking was tortuous. My right leg felt like a one ton piece of lead and it was hard to drag along. But it was either turn back and re-do all those stairs or continue on. So on we went. And each time we turned a corner there was another staircase. Wazzu was so sweet. Instead of pulling on the leash to keep up with the others she would slowly do the steps with me. Needless to say with each step I took I was getting more furious. If you could ever see steam coming out of someone's head you'd have seen it here.

We finally found a route that we thought would take us back without so many steps. There were fewer but still quite a few. Poor Mike now had to carry me up and down each staircase. I would get on his back and he'd carry me as I held all three dog leashes. They were so good. None of them pulled at all on the stairs. In fact, Wazzu was a little worried about me so she walked right beside us with her nose way up in the air trying to keep contact with my leg.

After quite some time we found our way to the Lodge but we had come from the Vistor Center. We then saw a sign to the Visitor Center - but of course it was down another couple hundred steps. By this point I refused to do any more steps either walking or being carried. So I decided to go via the road. As it turned out the road was a long way around and it was down a very steep hill. At one point it said people couldn't walk on the road and to take a side trail. Wouldn't you know it was another set of stairs. So I broke the law and walked on the road. But it was so steep and windy that I'm not sure it was any better.

By the time we got back to the RV our planned one hour hike had been over three hours. Three hours of frustration and misery for all of us. So much for a nice carefree walk.

Then it was on to Manhattan, IL. It's a very small town and we're way out. We got lost so our one hour drive was two and a half. Oh well at least I wasn't walking! It is a very peaceful setting here surrounded by beautiful (and now dead) corn fields.

Time to rest!



This is one small portion a staircase. I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing because they turn back and forth. But multiply this by five or six and you'll have one staircase.


Turn after turn we'd see another staircase.


Looking down one of the canyon walls.


The end of a canyon.


Little Slugger staring out into the water wishing he was allowed to swim - even though it was in the low 30's.

Debbie
10/13/06

Snow

We awoke this morning to the ground covered in snow - just a dusting really but the ground was white. The dogs wanted to go out but it was windy and cold so we told them they had to wait. Good thing we waited as it started snowing again and got really windy.

The plan was to stay in all day and just try to stay cozy. But by about 11:00 it seemed better out and the dogs (read: Sparkie) were driving us crazy. So we decided to go back to Starved Rock State Park - is that the weirdest name or what, rocks don't get hungry. Anyway, we got our long johns on along with coats, hats, and gloves and we put coats on Sparkie and Slugger and off we went.

Oh my it was cold! But there were many trails we hadn't explored yet and the dogs were anxious to run so we braved the cold. Amazingly enough we met seven or eight twosomes along the trail. Can you imagine going out in that cold of weather if you didn't have a dog that needed walking?!

Wazzu didn't have nearly the energy of yesterday and she just hiked along the trail with us. But she still looked very happy. Sparkie on the other hand acted as though she hadn't been allowed out of the house for a month. She was running all over the place - up hills, down hills, up rocks, through waterfalls, everywhere - all at full speed.

Quite a bit of the trail was along the Illinois River. This was really hard for Slugger as water always calls him. He wanted to swim so badly. He kept pulling Mike toward the water and then when Mike wouldn't let him go in so he'd just sit on the bank staring at the water. Poor guy. But it was in the low 30's and windy and I'll bet that water was freezing. It would have been cruel to let go in that water. But of course he didn't understand that.

We were only home about an hour and a half before Sparkie decided she'd must have been home and idle for days. So I had to play hide and seek with her in the RV. But that didn't placate her for long. Oh Sparkie! I guess that's what happens when you get your dog in such good shape.

Oh, there is one thing I forgot to mention about yesterday's magical hike with Wazzu. We got down into Kaskaskia Canyon and there must have been a large windstorm at some time before we got there as there was a huge pile of leaves - just as if someone raked a whole bunch of leaves into a pile. Wazzu was in the midst of her crazy dog period and she ran and literally dove into the leaves head first and then jumped up into the air spewing the leaves all around. She then swooped back around and did this again three or four times. It was so funny to see her play in the leaves all by herself. She was laughing the entire time, as were we. We had forgotten how much the dogs used to like to play in the leaves back at home.

Well, gotta go make some hot chocolate. I think I'm going to turn into a big ball of chocolate - cold chocolate. Brrrr.

Debbie
10/12/06

Pictures from Starved Rock State Park

Phew. Five hours later and I finally got some picture to load. I tried for four hours last night with no success. So frustrating. But anyway, here they are - hope you enjoy them!



Thursday we went on hike and came across another waterfall. This is a picture taken from behind the waterfall.


Most of the hike we were walking next to these large rock walls. You could walk above the walls but we felt this would be dangerous with the dogs so we chose the lower trail.


Beautiful scenery that we saw along the whole hike.


One of the many canyons we hiked through.


Wednesday we hiked through two canyons. The second Canyon was called Ottowa Canyon. It was so pretty and so large it was impossible to get pictures to show the beauty.


The first canyon we hiked through was Kaskaskia Canyon. There was a waterfall and a wonderful swimming hole for Slugger. Too bad it wasn't summer as Slugger could have swum for hours. He swam until we made him leave but he was shivering like crazy.


This shows some of the beauty the trail took us through.


Canyon walls.

So Happy

If I die in a car crash tomorrow please don't feel sorry for me. Don't worry though, we don't plan on going anywhere tomorrow as it is supposed to snow. It is really cold out! So we plan on staying inside, sitting by the fireplace, and drinking hot chocolate. Hmmm, too bad - we don't have a fireplace. Okay, so maybe we'll just drink hot chocolate. Oh, now back to my original point.

Today we drove to Utica, IL. For those of you following us on a map, we're a bit west of Joliet. We looked at every weather map there is and there is no place we can get to that isn't going to be cold and snowy tomorrow. What?! I thought the whole idea of a "mobile" home was to get to be in warm weather always. But it's been warmer back home the whole time since we left than where we've been. This itinerary is not nearly as warm as last year's.

Anyway, we got set up in a nice RV park and decided to take the dogs on a walk before it got any colder. We found a nearby park called Starved Rock State Park Not knowing anything about the park we just drove along the road and randomly choose one of the many parking lots. Needless to say, with weather like this we were the only car in the lot!

The park is famous for its numerous and incredibly high bluffs. Bluffs and off leash dogs definitely don't mix. So we were very careful to keep the dogs on leash. The trail started of going parallel to the road about 20' back in the lightly treed forest. But then it took a sudden turn away from the road into a canyon. It was beautiful. I get the feeling that a couple weeks ago it would have been totally amazing as currently on the ground are thousands of brilliantly colored leaves. I could just imagine all those brilliant colored leaves on the trees. But even with so many of the leaves on the ground it was still a beautiful place.

Unfortunately I couldn't really capture the beauty on my camera. Everything was too big and too close. We ended up in a canyon with huge rock walls on both sides. Down the middle of the canyon was a small creek. At this point it was quite obvious that we were in the bottom of a canyon so there was no danger of flying off a bluff. So we let the girls off leash. It's moments like this that make you remember that life is worth living. I haven't laughed this much in a long long time.

Wazzu turned back into a one year old puppy. She played major crazy dog. For those of you that don't know what crazy dog is, well it's something only my Wazzu can do. Other dogs may try to imitate it but no other dog I've ever seen can even come close to true crazy dog. Wazzu just runs full blast but never in a straight line for more than six feet. I truly don't even think she has any idea which direction she is going next. She was over tall rocks, on downed logs, through the creek, over the creek, zig zagging through the forest, and every couple minutes she would run toward me and instead of doing one her sharp turns as usual she would jump on me - and all in one motion she would turn and run away laughing the whole time. She thinks it is so funny to jump on me and make me scream. One time it was a dire scream as she just about sent me into the creek about eight feet below. Oh, she thought that was REALLY funny.

She must have kept this up for half an hour. It was so special. I didn't know if I'd ever get to see her like this again so to have a time together like this again was just the best thing in the whole world. And it actually came at a very good time for me. And I think Wazzu knew that.

The dogs hadn't been off leash for a few days so Sparkie was especially happy to be free. She ran and ran up ahead of us and then ran just as fast back. She went up cliffs like they were totally flat pieces of land. She came down so fast that she couldn't stop and would go zooming by us and have to circle way around before she could stop.

After a while we came to the end of the canyon and you couldn't go any further unless you were an expert rock climber with ropes and the works. At this point we felt safe letting Slugger off leash. Especially since at the end of the canyon was a waterfall and a very nice swimming hole. Slugger isn't going to run off anywhere if there is an opportunity to swim! Keep in mind it was 38 degrees out and the water was super cold. But that didn't stop Slugger from swimming. The poor little guy was shivering so badly yet he didn't want to stop swimming.

I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow of our fabulous time - but don't expect to see any of crazy dog. Any pictures of crazy dog would be VERY blurry as she was moving so fast in no predictable direction!

Debbie
10/11/06

Pictures

I finally hit a time when it would let me add photos. But I can't get the layout to be nice. But I guess you'll figure it out.
The first four pictures are in the Underwater Adventure at the Mall of America.



One of the sharks swimming by


Mike petting a stingray


A stringray swimming above us


Mike standing on the moving walkway viewing the sharks and other fish


Mike at the Mall of America sitting on the original Forest Gump bench - good thing the box of chocolate wasn't real!


A few of the rides inside the Mall of America

Trying to Stay Ahead of the Weather

We spend a lot of time now looking at the weather forecast of various locations as snow is predicted and we definitely don't want to drive in the snow. Plus, if snow is predicted that means it is cold! This year's route is definitely much colder than last year's itinerary.

So today we drove 275 miles to Fond du Lac, WI arriving just before dark. Fond du Lac is just to the south of Oshkosh and Winnebago Lake - for those of you trying to follow us on a map and learn some geography. After checking the weather forecast when we arrived, we've decided to leave here Wednesday morning as the snow is coming! As you might have guessed, it is chilly here. But there are a lot of fields and wilderness here in Wisconsin so the dogs love it.

Debbie
10/9/06

Goodbye Minnesota

Today was a little better than yesterday energy wise for Wazzu. While she certainly wasn't what I consider fast and happy she at least acted as though playing agility was a fun activity. She went 5/6, her stride just barely missing the contact on the dog walk during one Regular run.

Sparkie was as speedy as ever and had a great day going 4/6. She had a flyoff on the teeter but it truly wasn't her fault. There was quite an angle leading to the teeter. Sparkie tried as hard as she could to grip the teeter so she wouldn't fall off but she just couldn't hold on.

We were done with all our runs by about 3:00pm. And since the wind and rain were picking up in preparation for snow in just a couple days we decided to head out. We said goodbye to the many very nice people we met and to some really cool dogs. We arrived in Menonomie, WI about 5:00pm. The dogs acted like they hadn't done anything in weeks so Mike took them for a walk on a nature trail. There were lots of squirrels so they all had a good time.

Wisconsin is a new state for us in our travels so we're excited to do a little touring.

Debbie
10/8/06

Stadium for NATCH Wazzu?

We're at a trial in Lake Elmo, MN. It's at the Washington County Fairgrounds out in a huge grass field. It's a two ring trial with each ring marked by flagging tape. Results are put in one of two notebooks and there is a five drawer plastic tower for holding ribbons. Workers are supposedly given coupons per class worth $5.00 off your next trial entry or for a class. But we didn't see them - no big deal since we doubt we'll be back - but not because we don't like the club or people. Mostly because it is becoming winter here very quickly. It's supposed to snow on Wednesday. SNOW.....that's like our cryponite.

But back to the trial. Wazzu was so slow - it was like she had lead in her veins. She didn't even want to walk around. We don't know if she got too tired from hiking all week long or if she's just having one of the bad days they told us to expect. Or maybe she has decided that she only runs in stadiums where there are scores of people to root for her like at the Championships.

The first runs of the day were Regular (2 rounds) and Weavers. We were 2.68, 7.64, and 2.67 over time. Doesn't help to be clean if you don't actually run! So we had Mike run her in Jumpers to see if she would speed up. She ran a little faster and did make time. But she was never ahead of Mike. So I ran her in Touch N Go. With as much experience as Wazzu has she should know to do the last obstacle - in this case a tunnel. But she ran right by the entrance. so I had to call her back and that was enough for her to once again be over time.

The last run of the day was Chances. Mike had been telling me all day that Wazzu wouldn't be able to do this as the last four jumps were really far away and in between you and those jumps were another layer of jumps. That usually spells trouble for us - especially when she is slow. When she is moving slow she always comes toward me. So we started the run and Wazzu did the tunnel/teeter discrimmination just fine (you had to take the teeter and it was the near obstacle.) I had a brain fade moment and took my attention off agility - I'm not exactly sure where I went. When I "came back" Wazzu was walking toward the dogwalk - NOT the place to go. I called her back and she did a series of jumps and a nice (but slow) switch to some more jumps. Then she slowly went into the tunnel. I took off as fast as I could hoping she'd do the far set of four jumps and not come into me to do the closer jumps. She came out of the tunnel like she'd been shot out of a rocket. She did the final four jumps as fast as any dog. YEAH!!! It was NATCH-6!!! I celebrated a little too vigorously and pulled a muscle in my hip. Oh brother. But I don't think it's too bad and hopefully will be fine by morning. They were very nice and gave us a NATCH ribbon, a squeeky toy octopus, and a Chuck-it frisbee. How nice was that!

Sparkie had a very nice day. She Q'd in every run except the two Regular runs. They were the first two runs of the day and she was a little excited. She did a teeter fly off in Round 1 and jumped the dogwalk contact in Round 2 - it was the last obstacle before the final jump of both the course and the distance challenge. But they were pretty runs other than that.

It sure seems weird to be doing these courses where the obstacles are so close together. They aren't much closer than any other normal weekend but after the Championships where the obstacles are easily 20 - 30 feet apart they seem so smashed together. Sparkie really prefers the Championship courses where she can go full out and really use her speed.

Well, time to check the stakes. The wind has been very strong here ever since we arrived yesterday. I guess that's what's bringing in the scheduled snow storm! Brrr.

Debbie & NATCH+6 Wazzu

I Don't Do Beetles

The dogs got one last romp in the park while I started getting the rig packed and ready for travel.

I neglected to mention that in addition to ladybugs swarming outside the rig there were also flying beetles. Fortunately, none of those managed to find their way inside.

While getting ready to go I vacuumed up the last of the ladybugs that had managed to come inside. One of the final preparations for travel was to bring in the windsocks. Shortly after that I noticed there were MANY beetles on the skylight above the shower. We keep the windsocks in the shower when we are traveling and I guess the beetles had gathered on the windsocks. So when we brought them in we inadvertently brought in LOTS of beetles. I'll tell you right now, I DON"T DO BEETLES. Much to Mike's dismay he had to keep coming back to get the many beetles I was finding. He was now sorry he had lied to me earlier in the week when he told me the beetles bite as I'm now screaming each time I see a beetle in the RV. The bigger problem is he thinks it's very funny that I'm so scared of them, so he chases me around the RV with them. NOT NICE!!

We decided we'd had enough of the NADAC balloons taking up so much space in the RV so we thought it was a good time to get rid of them. Being a guy, Mike decided to breath in the helium from each balloon - we probably have 18 or 19 ballons. Then he would talk and laugh. The dogs hated it! I've never seen such a strong reaction out of all three of them. Mike had so much fun with that he wanted to see if it would change the dogs voices. So he shot a bunch of helium into Sparkie. But no matter what he did she wouldn't bark - now that's a first. So apparently helium makes a dog unable to bark. Guess we'll be buying a lot of helium!

I tried to add pictures but no luck. Turns out this site has troubles on and off with the picture function. So I'll keep trying.......

Debbie - who hates bugs (as you may have guessed by now)

Moving Time Again

We've had a great time in the Minneapolis area. In fact, maybe too good a time. After the first couple days my legs got angry and I had a string of migraines. So instead of participating in all the fun stuff I stayed down for a couple days.

The dogs have just fallen in love with the great park we found nearby. In fact, when it's time to come home each day, Wazzu stalls and pretends she is busy and wanders away. Eventually and sadly she returns to Mike. They all return to the RV with very long tongues and huge smiles - Mike just has the smile.

Mike has kept very busy. In addition to walking the dogs, he has been cycling, gone to the Science Museum of Minnesota - which he thoroughly enjoyed, gone out to eat, gone shopping, done laundry, washed the car and RV, and has watched the baseball playoffs. I think he enjoyed most of those.

I've stayed behind to rest my legs and vacuum up large quantities of ladybugs every couple hours. In addition, I've tried to get started on scrapping a little bit.

Today after Mike got back from hiking the dogs we went to the Mall of America to go through the Underwater Adventure. It took about 30 minutes and was very fun. There were a lot of sharks, stingrays, turtles, and many other kinds of fish. They could swim on either side of you as well as over you. There was even a petting pool. We both petted stingrays (who were quite the hams) and sharks, who interesting enough felt like sand paper. It was a great place and I'm so glad I decided to go.

But now we must pack everything up as it's time to move in morning. We're not going far. Just across town for an agility trial. Wazzu especially will be very sad to leave her most favorite park. Oh, at the park this morning, Wazzu and Sparkie caught a squirrel. Mike told them to leave it and Wazzu immediately did so. But Sparkie grabbed it and shook her head. You can guess what happened to the poor squirrel.

Well, gotta pack - and I've made quite the mess with all my scrapping stuff!

Debbie

Renaissance & Bugs

Sparkie crossing the beautiful pathway. Most of the trail had an arch tree covering.
Wazzu & Sparkie running back on the path after a long run.













This morning we decided to go back to the park we found last Friday. The entrance to the park shares a road with the entrance to the Renaissance Festival. I'm not sure how long the festival lasts but I do know that this is the last weekend.

When we tried to leave they had changed the road so that you could only come in - you couldn't leave as all as all lanes led in. In order to get out they had us go through the festival parking lot.

I don't really even know what a Renaissance Festival is but I'll tell you this - it is popular. I am not exaggerating at all when I say the parking area was bigger than that at Disneyland. And it was packed full of cars and RV's. There was a whole city of permanent structures that looked like castles and other old looking buildings. It was amazing - whatever is was!

When we got back to the RV there were hundreds of bugs flying around. We tried to get in without any bugs following us. But since it is warm we needed to have the door open so we just had the screen door shut. Mike had gone out to run some errands and when he got back I told him that I had spent the entire time he was gone killing bugs. He didn't believe me until he looked inside himself.

Fortunately they are just ladybugs - one of the few bugs I'm not afraid of. However, I don't want to live with hundreds of them in my house. Mike decided it would be much easier to use the vacuum. It's not too hard to vacuum up the dozens of them that are walking around. But I'm pretty sure I could have won the Funniest Videos if someone had filmed me trying to vacuum up all the ones that were flying around. Don't laugh....it's hard!!

I should have thought to take a picture of all the lady bugs inside but I was much more interested in getting rid of them. I really don't mind a lady bug here or there - but hundreds are just a little much!

Debbie & ladybug friends
10/1/06

4,000 or One?

A side channel off the Minnesota River
Wazzu exploring a beautiful meadow
All along the hike was beautiful scenery











Our first task after getting the rig set up in the new park was to find a place for the kids to run. It's been a few days and Sparkie especially is getting a little hard to live with.

We found a park not too far away that we thought we'd give a try. On the way, we had to stop and wait for a train that was moving very slowly. Then just as the last car got to the road the train stopped! Mike opened the window to let a little air in and 5-10 mosquitos came in.

A few minutes later we got to the park. As soon as we got out of the car we were swarmed with mosquitos. We figured it wouldn't be so bad if we kept moving. It did seem to get better as we moved along. Then it started sprinkling and that really seemed to help.

But by then the damage had been done. I'm now trying to figure out if I got 4,000 little bumps or if I'm just one big bump! Oh well. The dogs had a GREAT time and it was very pretty - despite all those bugs that thought I was the tasiest thing to come along in a long time.

Debbie
9/29/06