What a weekend Gromit and I had at Riverside!



In sum ...
* 7 Qs out of 8 runs!
* including 2 of the needed 3 Jackpot Q's to get out of level 3 Jackpot!
* also including the 4th Q to move out of Level 4 for Snooker, Fullhouse, *and* Jumpers!
* extra bonus of Q-ing on our first ever run (Jumpers) at level 5!

The dogwalk didn't come out this weekend, but we did pretty well on other contacts. Gromit hit 2 of 3 a-frames (the 3rd time was in the middle of a gamble for Jackpot -- I had to be far away, which caused him to miss the contact). We also got 3 of 3 teeter contacts, and did the poles perfectly 7 of 8 tries. He was cutting jumps a bit close -- dropped 4 bars over the weekend, and skimmed a bunch of others.

Generally he was running like a DREAM. He's such a honey of an agility dog. This was our 1-year anniversary of competing in agility -- we started at Riverside at the Dec meet in 2008. We have come so far as a team!! I could not be more pleased with my dog. :)

This month I got in for one day next weekend at Riverside (the 13th) and I'm doing the All Dogs one-day trial on the 27th. Unfortunately none of these trials have Standard runs (the class we are most behind in), so there's no chance to finish that level 2 title until 2010. Oh well! More good stuff to look forward to.

(Thanks to Donna for pointing this out!)

Eli has been waiting for a chance to visit baby Susan:



Julian decided he was interested too, just a little bit:

Overall, it was a pretty good weekend! Gromit and I got 5 Q's, all 1st place -- including the Level 3 Wildcard we needed for his CL3-H (for Handler) title, and his first Level 4 Wildcard Q the next day. In general he was running smooth and lovely -- we only had one complete disaster run (all my fault -- he took the "wrong" obstacle in Colors on Sunday and I got confused -- I opted to just have him take a couple obstacles on the way to the end).

For the first time, I kept a tally of successes in various categories. Since we have been working so hard on contacts, that was my focus for the weekend too. I also tracked knocked bars, perfect vs. restarted weaves, and off courses.

Contact	Attempts	Success
A-frame	6	5
Teeter	6	6
Dogwalk	2	1

Gromit knocked 3 jumps over the weekend, and went off course three times (all on the first day). We attempted the weaves a total of 10 times (all of them 6-ers), and he was perfect 7 times. (He missed the entries, but does not pop out once he has started.)

I had multiple people comment on how well he's running, especially compared to how he ran when we were just beginning! He's come such a long way -- and of course I've learned lots too. I'm especially proud of his "send to" ability -- it's not perfect at all, but it's come a long, long way. Teeter was solid all weekend -- I got to take advantage of his abilities there. Aframe has come sooo far -- I feel confidant when heading to it. Dogwalk is another story -- I will have to seek out a dogwalk to practise on, to bring him up to speed.

As always, can't WAIT for the next trial!

Gromit and I missed out on last weekend's agility trial at All Dogs -- too many people wanted to play, and we didn't get in on the draw. Happily, we have three full days of agility ahead of us this weekend at Happy Tails in Portland, ME. Woo! It does mean I'll be leaving the house at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning, ugh.

I had a lesson with Gromit's breeder a few weeks ago to help me learn how to teach Gromit a better contact behavior. I'm going for "2on-2off" contact behavior, where he stops and the bottom of a contact with his front feet on the ground and his back feet on the contact. He's supposed to wait there until I release him with "ok," and he's supposed to do this regardless of whether or not I'm at his side, behind him, or ahead of him. I've been training every day, at least once a day, and often 2-3 times per day, for about 5-10 minutes at a time. He is not quite independent on contacts, but I did a little test run-thru at class tonight (I was helping Gerilyn with the beginner agility class at CU), and I was shocked at how well he did! He didn't bounce off once. We'll see if that carries through for this weekend :).

My friend & fellow CU trainer got a Border Collie! She is awesome. I'm calling her "Nonamea" because she won't be keeping her previous name. She comes from rescue, and was put up for sale on a C's-list for $75 by her original owners. (People are such idiots.)

Here's Gromit and Nona watching an out-of-frame tennis ball at Nahant Beach this morning:

Apparently I have contracted a serious case of cast-on-itis, a malady that is not particularly contagious but is often transmitted by orders of YARN from KnitPicks.

I have started three new projects in the last few days:

( items for my tutoring family )


Also "on the needles" I have four active projects:
( items for me, my mom, and stepmom )


In addition I have two "backburnered" projects:

( items that may or may not ever be finished )

Apparently, I just can't get enough Baby Susan in my life. Must. Visit. Often. I pay my way by providing fetch-and-carry services and conversation.


( obligatory baby pics )

What I heard:

J: Mom! Mom! Fire! Fire!

Me: Real or pretend?

J: Real! Fire in the little room!


What he said:

J: Mom! Mom! Spider! Spider!

Me: Real or pretend?

J: Real! Spider in the little room!


Of course I leapt up and ran to the little room, dragging and unraveling my knitting as I went.  I was relieved to find a smallish Orb Weaver instead of a conflagration.

Seth made sure I saw this drawing he made at school. I absolutely LOVE it.

( my favorite is the four-armed zombie with guns )

I wonder how the teacher liked it?? (Evil grin ....)

Now that Susan is one day old, both her parents are experts. She remains understandably dubious about this whole "living outside" thing, but since it includes nursing, she's willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.
( naturally Baby Susan has many admirers )

One of the things I love about getting a farmshare is looking at the pile of veg and figuring out what to make with it.

This week I saw butternut squash and leeks and was inspired to make a creamy yummy soup.

(2) smallish butternut squash, halved and cleaned
(3) respectable leeks, thinly sliced
butter (plenty)
cream (enough)
milk (enough)
ginger (a tiny bit)
nutmeg (a bit more)
salt (right amount)

Bake squash (cut side down) at 350F until soft.   Sautee leeks in butter until soft.  Scoop squash meat out of skin and add to leeks -- combine and cook together for a few minutes.  Blenderize with spices and enough milk/cream to make it "soupy."

DELICIOUS!

I know lots of people are wondering how Meg is doing. Meg and Rob will officially be parents sometime in the next 15-20 minutes, when their baby is delivered by C-section.  As many of you know, Meg has had a very long and drawn-out labor. Meg has been a trouper throughout, and up until about an hour ago, the baby was a trouper too.  Then, during hard contractions, the baby started having a lowered heartrate -- enough that the OB on staff became concerned.  They gave Meg & Rob a little time to talk, and then everone agreed that a semi-planned C-section was the best plan.

So, I hope to post very soon with all the happy details!  Please keep them in your thoughts.

Overall, a good weekend. We had many good runs, including two (!!) Standard Q's. Woot! Gromit is getting more and more consistent, though we did have two "wild and crazy" runs with lots of steam-driving ahead and dropped bars. (In both cases, we had a long wait at the start line due to adjustments or previous dogs, which I think had him a bit over-wound.) He did lots of poles and lots of contacts, and some really tight handling.

I would say the two main things to work on for next time is the dogwalk contact behavior (and the A-frame, but to a lesser degree), and also tunnels. We continue to have a "what? tunnel? today? you mean now? really?" thing. It's only on some tunnels, of course, so it's clearly something I'm doing differently ... just haven't been able to sort it out yet.

In addition to the two Standard Q's (wooo!), we also Q'd in Level 4 Jumpers (1st place!) and Level 4 Colors (2nd -- missed 1st by .55 seconds!). The venue was awesome -- indoor faux-grass soccer fields. Great traction and cushioning. Indoor plumbing is always a plus too.

( videos )

It's been too long since I got to play agility (three long weeks! the horror!)  My last weekend was "ok" but not as great as the one before.  We Q'd in the hard classes, and didn't Q in the easy classes.  What's up with that??

This weekend Gromit and I are heading to another Bo-Gee trial, but this one is indoors (yay).  I think the outdoor trials are over for the season.  I will miss having plenty of space to hang out in.  The trial is in Hampstead, NH, which is close enough that I only have to get up early, instead of ungodly early.

( agility details )

Poles are always cool-looking -- possibly the least natural agility obstacle, and very hard to teach.




Then there's teeter -- some dogs don't like the movement, but after we got one of our own (yay!) Gromit quickly learned that teeters too are FUN. This video is funny -- watch Kizzy in the background! What the heck did she find under the stairs??



Perhaps less interesting to non-agility types ... single jump and double jump:

This weekend Gromit and I are heading back to Keene, NH, for a fun day of agility!  Same town as two weeks ago for the CATS trial (where we had a perfect day of 5 Q's, and finally finished CL1!) -- but this time Ruff Agility is hosting, at a different site. It's still a 2-hour drive at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM.  Sigh.  I won't have any agility buddies this weekend either, because all three boys are going camping with Dave at the Cub Scout School's In Camp Out.

( agility details )

Dear LJ,

A few days ago, my Shuffle died.  It went "pop" in my ear while I was listening to podcasts, and none of the usual reboot tricks work.  Although I will give the geniuses at the Apple store a chance with it, I'm guessing that the poor thing is kaput.  

I miss podcasts! So, of course I will be replacing the iPod.  The question is .... with what?  I don't listen to much music, and I delete podcasts after listening to them, so I don't need a lot of storage.  I have been a little frustrated with the battery life of the Shuffle (~12 hrs) on long car trips or when I forget to charge it. I also have sometimes wished for a screen, instead of having to mentally remember what is on the darn thing.  The size has been fun -- it's been mistaken for a piece of techy jewelry! -- but, it's also a little too easy to misplace, and it weighs less than the headphones, which is weird. 

Browsing at the Apple website, I'm considering these three options ...


#1 -- New Shuffle (2 GB, $59)

This has the same drawbacks as the old one -- no screen, 10 hrs of battery life, cute but ridiculously tiny -- about the size of a housekey, and less than half an ounce.  The new headphones have controls on the cord -- the iPod itself has NO controls. This is borderline unacceptable, because it forces me to buy iPod headphones when the first set inevitable wears out. Also comes with the new "voiceover" function that has a fake voice "read" the name of the song and artist -- no idea how this would work with podcasts, though.  No need to buy a case for this iPod.

#2 -- New Nano (8 GB, $149)

Still tiny (3.5 by 1.5 inches, 1,28 ounces), but has a screen! Neat-o video camera capabilities, though unnecssary when I have my regular camera with me almost all the time.  Bright shiny colors. Can pick up FM radio, and pause it (!), and tag songs you like (this last, not so interesting to me, but whatever). Battery = 24 hrs, has the voiceover thingy.  I would definitely want to buy a case -- I'm simply too clumsy to carry around a screen like this unprotected.

#3 -- New(ish) Touch (8 GB, $199)

According to reviews, this is actually the previous generation (2G) repackaged and repriced. I'm intrigued by the wifi capabilities -- I could join the 21st century and text and tweet just like everybody else!  Webbrowsing! Email, even! I'm terrifed of the giant breakable screen -- a good protective case is a must.  It seems like overkill for "just podcasts." But, it also has video games! Although, this could be bad for me. It's substantially larger and heavier (4.3 x 2.4 inches, 4.05 ounces) than the other two options.  Up to 30 hours playback time (certainly less if I'm playing the games, I'm guessing).  No camera, no FM radio.

So, what says LJ? What should I do?