Marigold gets another Title - Aunt Doris Turns 94

     Leonard's Aunt Doris turned 94 on February 3. She lives in Phoenix in the winter. We wanted to visit her on her 93rd birthday last year but Leonard had just torn his quariceps muscle in his leg a few weeks prior. A 14 hour drive with his leg in an immobilizer didn't seem like it would be much fun. So we really made an effort to get there this year. Since we never know what the weather holds for us at this time of year, we keep the trip plans quiet as to not disappoint anyone in case we cannot make it.
     This year, we also entered a dog show in Phoenix. Marigold needed another "major win" to complete her show championship; so, we thought we'd see if she could get that at the Phoenix shows the same weekend.
     We headed off to Arizona Thursday just as the snow started to fall in Colorado. We took all the dogs with in case the snow got really bad at the house and it would be too difficult for the pet sitter to get here. A couple of feet fell here, but the neighbors were able to make it in to check on the cat.

     We got to Arizona and attended the first show on Friday. Marigold did not win that day which was ok since it wouldn't have been a major win anyway. After the show, we headed over to Aunt Doris' house. Her "boyfriend" Michael was out bowling when we got there so we had a little luch with her. When Michael got home we enjoyed a drink, good conversations and met some friends of theirs. We all went out have fish and chips in celebration of Doris' 94th birthday but Leonard came down with a migraine and we had to leave and return to the hotel.

On Saturday, Leonard was still not feeling well; so, I headed to the show with Marigold alone. We were fortunate to take Best of Breed and the major win that she needed. She finished her show championship that day. She also won 2nd place in the Bred-by-Exhibitor Hound Group. She was exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel. We let her rest in the room and we took Rosey over to visit with Michael and Doris again.

Marigold and some of her ribbons and prizes

Michael and Doris took us out to dinner and gave us three grocery sacks full of grapefruits and one grocery sack of oranges picked from their back yards. We've shared those with the cat-sitting neighbors and still enjoyed a bunch ourselves. I wish we could have brought back the other two sacks of grapefruit that Michael wanted to give us but there was no where to put them with all the dogs in the back of the van!
     We had a great time and enjoyed Arizona and friends and family and test driving the new van. It is so enjoyable to travel in this great country and see so many things.

Happy Valentines Day to all!



Up and down weekend

Well, this hasn't been a very encouraging weekend with the sports team I root for. Broncos and Hoosiers were both slaughtered with weekend but I can't say I'm one to get too depressed over sports. I guess that is one thing that dog showing has taught me. There are some things you really can't do much about and it isn't worth getting too stressed about.

I saw on the CBS Sunday Morning show today that Dale Carnegie founded his training 100 years ago. I looked at the dalecarnegie.com website and am struck by the fact that the tenets he based his interpersonal skills training on 100 years ago are still relevant today. I found several inspiring quotes from Dale Carnegie. Here is one I especially like. "The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore."

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day. I was thinking that he was definitely able to "win friends and influence people." I wonder if he ever met Dale Carnegie.  A quote from MLK "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

We did have an enjoyable time making nachos for the Bronco's game and pizza in the wood oven for the IU game. (I should say Leonard did the cooking.) Attached is a picture of Blue helping Leonard with his nacho assembly. I've heard of arm-chair quarterbacks but I think Blue is an arm-chair chef. Actually, I think he is just very hopeful the nachos will make it to the floor.

I did get the RMIWA (dog club) newsletter done and a did a few little jobs around the house to hang pictures and the like. So at least it was a productive weekend.

January kicks off with record high then snow

Why we love Colorado. We started off with record highs this week. It reached 70 degrees in Denver this week. We had 70-100 mph winds in the foothills west of Denver on New Year's Eve. Then Saturday we had a little snow storm got maybe 5 inches but apparently the roads around us were very slick. Several people slid off into ditches.

Fortunately, we got most firewood orders taken care of in December and Leonard was able to get wood split for us.

Oh my gosh! The Broncos just beat the Steelers in a no-way-they'll-win playoff game. Hard to believe but I'm happy for them.

Also glad to see the Indiana University basketball team continue to win. If they keep going like this, we will have to suscribe to XM inside the house or start driving around in the van to listen to games.

Baby steps

I have thought for years that I should start a blog so I could put my thoughts down and about 3 people who might care will read them. I never pursued it further. Then our niece, Angie, started her blog when she moved to Australia. She inspired me to go further with the blog idea because I so love reading hers.

I hope that I can provide some interesting blogs and photos to some who are interested. Welcome aboard!