99 Things

Jinnie over at Solstice Kennels passed this along, so thought I would give it a try....why don't you, too?? It's interesting to see just how much our friends have accomplished! :)

Copy and paste, then bold the things you’ve done and unbold the things you haven’t done. Have fun with it! I agree with Jinnie...there are SO many things on here I'd love to do, or need to do! Sherilyn

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charitity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (when my ex adopted my daughter, I acutally had to adopt her, too)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (not a real cruise, but a dinner cruise in Hawaii, so I'm going to count it until Rus takes me on a REAL cruise!)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (does my Grandma's house count where my aunt was born??)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (well, my teachers in school tried to teach me, but I learned more Spanish when I lived in South Texas...and too many of the bad words! hehe)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (used to fish when I was a kid)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Cleaning Up After The Weekend

Ok....who forgot their dog after last weekend?!?!?!?!

Wordless Wednesday

A Night of Nights

Wow, I sure don't know what karma or whatever we had against us last night, but man, we can sure do without that again!! Not sure what I mean? Well, let me give you a rundown of our evening...

We were to meet Henrey and Kristy (our junior handlers) at our house at 5:30 last night so they could pick up a computer for their mom's birthday that they had purchased from me. It was to be a surprise for her, so her mom had no knowledge of this. I had everything ready to go for them when they got to our house, except for the monitor (a Sony 19" CRT, or the tv looking ones), which was in the basement. I asked Henrey to go get the monitor and showed him which one he could have. For those of you who don't know, I work in IT and have several computers and monitors at home. So, Henrey grabs the monitor and carries it upstairs. I ask him if he was ok carrying it, and he said, sure, no problem.

So, his sister goes out of the house ahead of us to open the doors of the car, Henrey right on her heels with the monitor, and me right behind them with the tower. All of a sudden I hear this HUGE crash and I get into the garage, and Henrey is laying on the floor next to the monitor, not moving his hand. It turns out that he went into the garage, cut the corner too sharp, somehow tripped on a cooler and fell, dropping the monitor on his hand. We all thought he had broken fingers (which we later found out that nothing was broken, just mashed like you do when you shut them in a car door). So, we got him back into the house, did some quick first aid, had the kids call their mom and head home (with the present).

After they left, we let the little girls out for a quick run around to stretch their legs and family time. We picked them up to carry them downstairs so they could eat their dinner. Sherilyn was leading the way with a puppy in one arm and the baby gate in the other. Next thing I hear was ANOTHER huge crash and a loud moan. I run to the top of the stairs, and Sherilyn is laying against the wall in a heap, (to use Kim's expression) like a bad yard sale. After making sure that Sherilyn was conscious, I see the puppy off in the corner shaking, so I go to her and pick her up to check her out. She was fine....scared but fine. We think that when Sherilyn fell, she moved the puppy out from under her arm, so her body would cushion the fall for her, as she landed on her opposite side. I quickly reassured her and locked her in her crate. Then, being the outspoken puppy she is, complained about being locked up...go figure.

I then began the process of assessing what Sherilyn had done to herself. Her glasses had smashed against her face and were bent pretty bad. She had also cleared one side wall of pictures on her way down. Then the big damage was a hole in the drywall at the bottom of the stairs the size of a seedless watermelon (it's not really that big as you can see from the picture). As I looked over her head and shoulder, I think that it was her head that went through the drywall, and was DARNED lucky that she didn't break her neck in the fall.

The bad thing is that we now have to fix the hole in the wall and maybe replace her glasses frames. Not sure about that until she takes them in to get un-bent. She also has lots of carpet burns on her side, a cut by her eye from the glasses hinge, and a pretty healthy shiner. The good news is that she has no broken bones, only a very slight concussion, and the puppy is fine and dandy. The tongue in cheek good news is that we found out that she does indeed bounce when she falls. :o)

The cause: She has a bad back which causes her siatic nerve to play havoc with her left leg. Near as we can tell, her leg went numb and gave out when she put her weight on it, and down she went.

We were very fortunate that everyone was ok and only suffered minor injuries. Oh, and the time span from start to finish....35 minutes combined for both episodes. I think I'd rather watch tv...

CIKC Show and Chili Supper Recap

Well, we survived another year of chili supper and dog show. We have so much fun every year, but we put so much of ourselves into the chili supper (26 quarts of chili, and only 4 quarts or so left!!) and showing that we usually need to go back to work on Monday to rest!! But man, did we ever have fun. I daresay it was the best January event we've ever hosted!! We had exhibitors and pet owners come and enjoy all of the festivities, and we even managed to con a couple of Working Group people to come and enjoy us "herding types" for a couple of hours (thanks for coming Steve and Joyce!!).;o) We also got to finally meet Joy (of Tracking Trekker fame) and boy did she ever get a crash course in Corgis!! LOL

We had 10 of us staying in our 1500sq foot house with 18 dogs. It was a big slumber party and outside of the fact that our 3 girls all decided to be in season, even the dogs were all very well behaved and we had no grumbling. The guest Corgis all made new friends and I'm sure there were not just a few people who wanted to smuggle Dove, Ell, and Zoe home with them! Oh, and not all of the dogs were Corgis either! We had our token Puli and a GSP also stay with us.

Everyone loved watching the 4 little puppies (all about 15 weeks old) romp and play and cause as much chaos as they possibly could before the humans decided they had enough and would put them back in their crates. ;o)

We watched the 2005 Cardi National on DVD and we all learned a lot. Thanks to Garrett for bringing his copy to share.

On to the show. I don't have the exact results (I was too busy shuffling dogs), but I think most everyone had a little piece of the winning, as it seemed that everyone came away with at least red ribbons and lots of smiles. There was a lot comaraderie between the exhibitors as everyone congratulated the winners, consoled the losers, and leads were passed between people as dogs were juggled between the classes and breeds (Pems and Cardis were back to back so it got busy right away). Thanks to Cindy McDonald for taking my brindle monster Bear into the ring for me right away on Sunday. I think it really helped calm him down so that he didn't feel rushed for his second weekend in the ring (he won Reserve Winner's Dog too with her handling him!). Congrats to all the winners, but big congrats go out to Connie for finishing Prophet, Sonja and Chelsea for their nice BOB win on Saturday, and to Emily for her Best of Breed win and Group 2 on Sunday with Picasso.

I also have to brag a little and say that Ransom won Best of Breed on Sunday and gained a huge fan following during the Herding Group. He had by far the largest and most rowdy cheering section in the Herding Group. The little man just took it all in stride and showed his little heart out.

Central Iowa Kennel Club Show and Winjammin's Annual Chili Supper

This weekend is the CIKC all breed show and The 4th Annual Winjammin' Chili Supper on Saturday following BIS. Approximately 1000 dogs are entered...pretty good for a winter show where the weather is known to be anywhere from 45 degrees to -20 degrees, sunny to blizzard conditions on any given year.

Forecast for this year: Sat: 28 degrees and light flurries and Sun: 33 degrees and SUN!!!

For those of you who haven't made it up to the great white north yet, here's the scoop:

We, at Winjammin' host a Corgi-Q at our house in September following the Saturday Des Moines Kennel Club show. And NO, we don't BBQ the losing dogs!! Shame on you for thinking that (and I know some of you did!)!!! ;o) We traditionally have burgers, hot dogs (again with those nasty thoughts!! LOL), chicken legs, baked beans, and whatever else everyone decides to bring. We average about 50 people rain or shine every year, and the neighbors love to see all of the different show dogs set up in ex-pens outside in the yard. I think it makes their year! LOL

Then in January we also host, again at our house, a chili supper. Sherilyn makes about 22 quarts of homemade chili and then it's another pot luck. We always end up with lots of good food, and loads of company. I think we average about 25 people for this event. We even light the fireplace as it's usually REALLY cold, so those who are still frozen can warm up.

These two events are solely for fellowship, getting to know one another outside of the dog rings, and to play with puppies who are too young to have at the shows, as we encourage the little ones to come and play with everyone. We also have a lot of pet Corgi owners who come and they are able to talk to other breeders, who they wouldn't normally have met. We also have loads of people from other breeds come and enjoy the company as well.

So, for those of you who frequent our gatherings, THANK YOU for coming and helping to make it a great success, and can't wait to see everyone this weekend!! For everyone else, please consider coming out to Iowa for a show and the big party. We guarantee you will have a great time!! :o) No one ever leaves a Winjammin' feast hungry, and if you do, then it your OWN fault!! :o)

Early Morning Serenade - The Encore

Yes, that's right folks...the early morning serenade has continued, but with a new twist. Frick and Frack have enlisted help...namely Dreamy, although this morning there was another participant as well, and we're not 100% sure who it was.

Ransom has been sleeping upstairs with Bekka at night, so I'm sure Bear has been bored with his "singing" a solo. So, he enlisted Dreamy to help him in the last couple of days. They have been perfecting their routine, and it sounds prety decent, considering Dream's sound is more of a howling twitter (you have to hear it to believe it) than anything else.

Then, this morning, Bear and Dream start in, and are soon joined by a mysterious third voice, who can be heard well above the other two. So, I start to do a process of elimination....Phantom: in bed with us, trying to push me out, Ransom: upstairs and asleep, Bear: downstairs and singing, Dream: downstairs and singing, Cristal and Chianti: in the office playing, Emmy: downstairs and not usually one disposed to singing but is a possibility, and finally Duchess: downstairs and is a known singer (mostly to the song Blue by Leann Rimes), but hasn't in a long time...another definite possibility.

Duchess has her own distinctive sound that I did not hear this morning, hence the mystery. When she howls, she also puts "words" with it...Woof, woof, AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, woof, woof, yip, yap, ROOOOOOOOO, etc. You definitely know when she's a part of something like that.

I got to thinking that if these clowns actually can put all of their distinctive sounds together, we might actually have an album!! Oh, how I feel for our house guests this weekend!!!

To Cindy, Garrett, Cyndy and Emily, and Marla: I hope everyone brings earplugs, because you might need them! I'm sure the kids will try to entertain, and put on a nice little concert for you! Unfortunately, it'll be at "oh my god it's early o'clock...someone shut those d%$$@^ dogs up!!"

Now now another thought to ponder....what is it going to sound like if the GSP client, Frank or whomever of the FB crew comes to socialize, Ell, Zoe, Sulley, Picasso, or Pongo (a Puli....hmmm....might have a reggae sound to it! ;o)) decide to lend a hand?????????

Early Morning Serenade Frick and Frack Style

Leave it to Frick and Frack to liven up what would have been a lovely morning to sleep in. Everyone had been out for their early morning romp and potty, and then right back into the house and their crates for breakfast. This usually buys us anywhere from 2-3 hours more of blissful sleep. Well, Frick and Frack decided that they had had enough sleep and wanted to be back out on the snow playing tag with Emmy (who, by the way, was snuggled in bed with us and in no way willing to move from her warm, soft nest).

We were laying in bed and everything was quiet until we hear this low, mournful, rip the soul right out of you howl from Bear....

AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Then silence.
AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

He must've talked Ransom into helping him at this point because we hear...
(Extremely high pitched) ROOOOO
Silence.
(Slightly lower pitched) ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Silence

They put it together...
AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Then Ransom changed it up, while Bear kept his part going...
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
(slightly lower and harmonized with Bear's howl) AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was a pure pitched call of the wild type of howl that you hear on the nature channel's wolf specials. It was really nice to listen to, even if we did get a good chuckle out of it initially.

Those two boys can really drive you nuts, but at the same time, they can really melt even the coldest of hearts. This was one of those mornings...