Take a Chance....Get a Chance!!

(Woodinville, WA) This weekend we attended an agility trial put on by Mega-Dogs in Woodinville. It is always one of our most favorite trials of the year....one ring, no conflicts, great atmosphere, friends we've been doing agility with for over 10 years, great food (as you'll see below), great judge, the list goes on. And it was a very special weekend for me. Everything was great....except the weather.

Since it was Memorial Day weekend we had to have a cake! Okay, so we use any excuse to have a cake but this was a very worthwhile reason.




In addition to cake, Karen supplied us with great lunch spreads everyday.



The first few years we had great weather at this trial. But ever since we had the "Under the Sea" theme, the trial has seemed to have been run "in the sea". Most dogs don't care and we all come with waterproof coats, pants, boots, hats, and gloves. This year we needed all of that as it was really cold as well....especially on Saturday.

Mike spent time digging trenches in the sand to make rivers to take the water away from the course. But only so much can be done when it continues to rain.




We would rake and rake......




....but after only a dog or two it would be back to this:




Even with all the working on the course you can still see the splashing as Sparkie does the weaves.




Here you can see the water splash up as Sparkie enters a tunnel.




The dogs were having a great time voicing their opinion about things...but that's nothing new!






Gosh, kind of makes you wonder if it's possible to do agility without barking!

When not talking so much it seemed like they were smiling and having a great time.


Go Wazzu!!!




Or concentrating hard.....(funny look on her face....she must be getting ready to bark)




....even hard enough to show such determination.







One thing's for sure, Sparkie is always trying hard....




...and giving it her all.




Sparkie must be running fast to make floppy ears go straight up.




There can be no question about whether Sparkie made her contact! (Calls this weekend were excellent the entire time. I didn't see one missed call.)



Even though it was raining a lot, Boogie still didn't like waiting in the RV. He thought every turn should be his turn!



Looks like Boogie wasn't the only one that didn't like waiting.

Connor


I find it interesting the different start line routines. This weekend, Wazzu was very indifferent.




Sparkie seemed so sad...even pitiful looking.




Shari's dog, Slick, cracked me up. What kind of start position is this?!



Most of us give our dogs directions as we maneuver around the course. But Karen, owner of Mega-Dogs, takes a completely different approach. She tells Quickie the course right at the start line. After seeing their run, I'm thinking maybe we should all try this!



This weekend for the first time in almost two years, I tried to run Boogie in a few runs. Okay, so I didn't run...Boogie did. I stood in one position and sent Boogie out to do the course on his own.

He's never done that before with either us handling him. While we only Q'd in one run, I was extremely proud of him in every run. He came so close in every run....just one little thing. He made me very happy by getting his first Elite Chances Q on a difficult Chances course.



And the people at the trial were great! The all seemed genuinely happy that I was able to be back on the course again. And they clapped and hollered so loud each time Boogie and I ended a run. It was very touching. It was hard to hold back the tears at the end of each run. Happy tears they were for sure. I just can't describe what a great feeling it was to be out on the course with my little boy again. I hope he was as happy about it as I was.



Someone should tell Boogie that you don't need to jump through hoops. Gosh, he doesn't even need to jump this high over jumps! Someone tell him he's a little dog!




What a great end to a great weekend.







After everyone left and we got everything cleaned up and put away, we brought out the "family dogs" for an after party. That would be Karen's dogs, our dogs, and Theresa's dogs. It was so fun just to see all the dogs meandering around cleaning up all the treats that had been dropped over the past three days.





After a while, three of the black dogs decided to have their own little get together.




Debbie
5/29-31/10

Making New Memories

(Olympia, WA) Thirty years may have passed but Izumi and I picked up right where we left off those many years ago. I will cherish these past few days for the rest of my life.

Since I can't do all that much, we mostly stayed home and talked. But we did manage a couple activities.

My dad is in charge of building a new Rotary Park in Olympia. So we went down to check it out. It is going to be so nice....the city will be lucky to have such a nice park right on the water with a beautiful view of the capital.

Weyerhaeuser was really busy across the way as a huge ship was on its way.

Boogie was such a good boy for Izumi as we walked around the park.

In this picture of me taking the above picture, you can actually see more of the park.

A couple things I notice in this picture. It's the end of May and we all look like we're dressed for winter. Seattle is stuck in winter this year. Yuk. And what is it the dogs are all looking at...whatever it is, it is in all different directions.

I happened to mention to Izumi that one of my favorite meals when I lived in Japan with her was Shabu Shabu. So one evening, Izumi surprised me by making Shabu Shabu for dinner. You put all the food in boiling water...only takes seconds....even for the meat as it is sliced paper thin.

And then you reach in with your chopsticks, choose your item, then dip it in one of the two sauces.

This meal took me back to my days in Japan. Oh I'd love to go back....but I have a lot more recovering to go if that is ever going to be a reality. Guess I'll just dream.

We don't have a dishwasher in the RV but after six years Sparkie still remembers that her favorite job is helping with the dishes. I guess you'd call this the pre-wash cycle.

Once a week is sailing club night. Luckily for them, it was about the only time all week it wasn't raining. This was taken from my parent's "rain room". Most parts of the country would call it a sun room....

One day we took a walk around the Beaver Pond. We used to see so much wildlife activity there. But today all the critters must have been on vacation. All we saw was a lazy, and hungry, newt....

....a snail...(exciting huh?!).....

....and one lone pretty duck.

We spent some time playing my parent's Wii game. Most of our time was spent either playing tennis or bowling as that's what Izumi and I did together those many years ago...except for real.

One time, Dad accidentally chose Mike as the player. Mike is left handed...Dad is not. But he decided to try it left handed.

Izumi and I have the same natural style....huge curve.

And what a game! Izumi bowled her highest score and was feeling pretty good....until she saw Dad's score. I'm sure this record will stand for quite some time. And as you may guess, Dad has decided he is indeed left handed.

We wanted to get pictures of everyone before Izumi left. So here is what we got. (And no matter what I do I can't get these pictures to format correctly. Sorry about the mess.)

As you can probably tell, we were having a great time. We took a bunch of pictures so Izumi could share them with her husband, Shusaku, and Okaasan - both of whom we miss very much.

Left to right: Izumi, Deb, Mike

Left to right: Izumi, Deb, Mom, Dad

I sure hope it's not another 30 years until we get to see each other again.

Debbie

5/24-29/10