Snow and Dog Shows and Staying Alive

It snowed in Oklahoma yesterday. A lot. It snowed a lot. Maybe around 5 inches, which is pretty heavy for this part of the planet. Tulsa got over 7 inches. Down south in Oklahoma City, they got a couple of inches of ice UNDER their 7 inches of snow.

I don't mind snow. I really do not. I love playing in it, and I like Listening to it. Did you know that snow is the Ultimate Quiet?  It is one of my favorite properties about snow. The Quiet. I like to go outside and listen to it. It makes my eyes big....

What I DO mind is Living in Purgatory.  You see, The Liddle Wolf Cubbie and I were scheduled to go to a Collie Specialty Show down in Oklahoma City this weekend. There were THREE shows in one weekend. I'd paid our entry fees, made (non-refundable) hotel reservations, and packed my car with grooming tools, table, crates, chairs, blow dryer, towels, show clothes---all the paraphenalia associated with a wonderful weekend of prancing my Collie around the ring.  To quote from the movie, Drop Dead Gorgeous...
"I was ready."

I knew that snow was predicted, but, being the person who sez, "there's Got to be a pony in here Somewhere," I was predicting sunny weather and Winner's Dog.....

When the world began freezing, I then became a resident of Purgatory.  Being raised a Methodist from the cradle, I never really understood that phrase.....Until this week. Now I see that Purgatory is its own special brand of hell. It's the "not knowing" the "you cannot Plan for this" that un-nerves my soul.  I think this comes from being a bit of a Control Freak.....I hate to straddle the fence...to Wait....to keep to myself until someone Else decides what I shall do.

And I must admit that I did not handle it to the Best of my ability. I was a bit snippy, maybe even whiny. Rob will attest to my dour mood. I don't DO dour very well....And tho, I DO try to remind myself that "Life is not a Dress Rehearsal," I did not bear this performance with grace...

By Friday morning, it was apparent that I wasn't going ANYwhere with my Collie....not even out of the cul-de-sac. We were in a Winter Wonderland, and no matter what the weather conditions might be down in OKCity, I was stuck in Tahlequah.  Then, the email came from the show chair.  The 2 days of shows (there were 3 shows) were cancelled.  Cancelled. Not postponed. Not rescheduled. Cancelled. Thank you for your contribution to the Oklahoma Collie Club......

Durn.

Crap.

Dirty toilet seats and pussing sores.

But you know what?! With that email, I was literally launched out of Purgatory, and a huge cloud was lifted from my cold, icy heart. It wasn't so Bad anymore. At least I knew what to Expect.....Cuddling on the couch, cooking delicous meals, romping in the snow, cleaning out the junk drawer, playing Where in the US is Carmen San Diego.....
So, first we romped in the snow.....

Here's a shot of The Cutest Boy in the World:

This is James' "tolerant" look.....He's not too crazy about getting stuff on his coat. He walks Around rain puddles. He will avoid the grass when there's a sidewalk available. He Prefers being inside. Were he female,

 we would call him a Diva.

Prosper, on the other hand, DElighted in the white stuff! He touched every one of his toys, rolling them over and chewing on them to inspect their "frozen-ness." He soared around the yard, leaping over the jumps, tumbling past the other two boyz.

Baden is the Hall Monitor. He can't keep up, rpm-wise with the younger Collies, but he makes up for it by barking. Barking. BARKing.

Prop and I played fetch with this oversized waterbottle until my hands were numb with cold. He found that the red handle was, well, quite Handy for bringing it. I'm thinking I'm gonna use this handle-grabbing behavior in the future and make it work big for me.

The yard was FULL of wonderful "designs" in the snow.  I truly wish I had my friend Joanne's "artist's eye," but I did capture a few artsy shots.  This is the bench in the backyard.

Back inside, I baked a WONDERful turkey pot pie. Rob made coffee, and we snuggled in for a warm, delectable dinner.

One more side note....Regarding Priorties in this household.....The snow has been on the ground/roof now for 2 days. Suddenly, we noticed that the satellite dish was not working. We were only receiving the "local" stations, nothing else. Well, this would Never Do, according to The Man Who Never Turns the TV Off.....

So, Rob went outside with a very long pole he found in the storage barn, and proceeded to tap the Dish until it was free of ice and snow....

Always there must be a Collie in assistance.  Here's Baden close by:

Inside, Rob cked out the TV......It Worked! He got to watch Queen and Paul Johnson, after all....

I Keep TRYIN to tell ya...This boy ain't rite. But he sure does make a good cuppa coffee.  And he Does have innovative ways of solving our problems....

Snow Tunnels

Last week the boyz and I travelled up to KCity because Baby Daughter had surgery on her wrist. I went to change diapers and monitor bath time, but by Monday, three days after surgery, little Ms "I Do Not Need Any Help" was up and runnin' again. My van was packed with goodies for the grandchildren and weineroni for my son in law and warm, wooly clothes for me, so I trekked up there anyway.

It was SO fun to be there with no schedule, no deadlines to meet, no real "purpose" besides reading books and shopping for crickets for the frog.Yeh, the frog named Dav.... If you need more information on this family, Kathryn's blog is listed beside my posts.

Grace is nearly 5 now, and has (nearly) given up her pacifer and (completely) her afternoon naps. As a grandparent, this is Good News. Sleep is greatly overrated and a waste of valuable Time where grandchildren are concerned. Naps cut in to our Time Together.  Bedtime comes soon enough in that household.

So, while (nearly 2 year old) Samuel napped in the afternoon, I had one-on-one time with Grace. We shopped on the computer, we searched for hidden pictures, we played Polly Pockets, we read crazy GrandTone books.

AND....we played in the snow! Kansas City got over 14 inches of snow during Christmas, with more falling every week thereafter. Although it is beginning to melt, and the ground becoming quite saturated, there is still a huge "mountain" of snow in the middle of the cul de sac in front of the Farris' house.

I think I have my brother's engineering heart some of the time....Tho my "structural expertise" is quite lacking, my desire to build and create remains unquenchable. And when one sees a huge amount of snow and ice packed in front of one.....well, the challenge to DO something with it, despite the freezing temperatures and limited choice of tools, was more than I could ignore.

So we dug.  We dug with a garden hoe and a miniature shovel.....
And, of course, there Always must be a Collie helping to supervise the construction. That's James managing the job site.

At some point, in this cold endeavor, Grace exclaimed, "GrandTone! I can see your shovel!" She was on the other side of the tunnel.....mountain climbing, using the hoe as a stabilizer for reaching the peak.

Yep... East had met West....but we weren't finished yet! We had to make the hole bigger so that we could actually CRAWL thru it!  So the digging continued. Do you know how Warm you can get whilst shovelling snow! And while you warm up, the heat from your body can melt the snow you are kneeling on, making your pant legs quite soggy, and, consequently, Cold...

Meanwhile....Our very own Sir Edmund Hillary had reached the summit and stood victorious high in the thin,cold air.....

As a Responsible GrandTone, I must admit that she DID make me a bit nervous up there all by herself....But how could I take away her victory by telling her to be careful....So, I did what ALL Grandmothers do....I prayed for her stability.  Guess that is a prayer that I shall Always pray.......for All the mountaintops they scale.....

Tunnel completed, we now must see what Life is like on the other side.....

And, then, of course, it was MY turn....Once inside, the hole I'd dug seemed quite a bit smaller....and colder....Being born could not have been more difficult.

Never forget the Site Supervisor....He loves to "Go Tunnel!" It's Agility in the snow! Where's the weave poles, Mom?!

And now it is time for some Hot Chocolate, according to the Adult in Charge.....uh, that would be the person on the other side of the camera.....So...one last shot, then we head inside to peel off our wet drawers and warm up by the fire. Anticipating Spring is highly overrated.....

Happy Birthday To ME!!!

Well, even tho my Happy Birthday isn't until next week, my present came early!!! I don't think I would have been more pleased if I had been given a brand new van!!! Thank you SO much, Rob Bailey, for KNOWing me and knowing what I love. But you DID spend more than the allotted, customary $20.

If you go to this site you will see ALL of the products that these folks have to offer. It is a TOTALLY portable set of Obedience Jumps that ALL fold nicely up into this little bag.

I set the jumps up int the livingroom (couldn't Wait till tomorrow, and it is dark and cold outside). Prosper immediately jumped over it.

This is the "bar jump." As you can see, the bar is adjustable to 40 inches (I'm guessing for Schutzhund work?). My boyz jump 24, but to introduce this jump I lowered it a bit. Doesn't seem to be a problem with a 65# breezing over it. The "towers" didn't ever wobble.

The Broad jumps have collapsable poles inserted in them. There are 4 of them. When I had them all "sprung out" and the poles put in them, I discovered that they actually "nest" inside each other, for easy portability even if they are not completely broken down. WOW!


Here's my teenager trying them out. Baden is pushing 13 this year.


















Even Eddy Mercyx the cat liked the bar jumps. He ain't rite, but we keep him anyway. He fits right in to our household.....
























Thanks, again, Dear Rob, for wanting this for me. Fifty eight years old, and getting dawg toys for a present! THESE children think I'm normal.....

Cooking School at the Canebrake!

Today was Baking Day at the Canebrake Resturant (You can access their info via Facebook). Several friends and I drove out there, paid our $20, and had the Time of our lives!! Pictured here is Pastry Chef Sarah. Just a pup, but she's been cooking ever since she could reach the countertop, and man, we learned a LOT. Even the "old salty" bakers learned some new tricks and techniques.

She's rolling out the chocolate pastry dough for the Reese's Cup Pie.

And trimming the dough in the cool pastry pan.

Next she mixes up the peanut butter filling.

Here are some pictures showing how to make checkerboard cookies. Remember to always keep the dough cold. Freeze it, in fact. Stick it together w/eggwash. Then cut across it to reveal the little squares. Butter makes a softer cookie. Crisco helps the cookie to keep its original shape. If you want the Best of Both Worlds (yeh, sing it, Hannah!), then use 1/2 butter, 1/2 Crisco.

Sarah rolls the dough out between two 1/2" dowel rods. This assures that the thickness of the rolled out dough is consistent.

Next she alternately stacks each layer, "gluing" them together with egg white wash. Now return it to the freezer until quite cold. Maybe overnight.

Now the cuts come. One half inch strips. Four of them. This is best done when the dough is partially thawed so the knife can cut thru with a little of resisitance.













Here's 2 strips.
Add 2 more to make the finished bar. Then re-chill. Slice and bake. The unused "ends" you can twist together and make "marble" cookies.












Regarding braided yeast breads. Begin braiding in the middle, then braid to the end. Go back and braid from the middle to the other end. Makes a more balanced rope. Now you can form it into different shapes, depending on the holiday or your mood. Hearts for Valentine's Day, Wreaths for Christmas. You can even wind it into a coil.











Cut out pastry leaves to embellish pie crusts. Or use other shapes from little bitty cookie cutters. I have hearts, circles, gingerbread boys, even dog bones.....













Good friends, good food, good recipes. We learned a LOT today! Even some French stuff I could not pronounce---but I can Bake it!!! Here's me with the Chef. Such a darling girl. I felt like I was living in HG TV for a few hours.

The Things You teach Yer Kids.....

THIS can backfire. It can cost you a lot of Time and Money. Even heartache and effort that you do not want to release.

Teach them to love and respect animals, and they bring home strays.

Teach them to eat healthy and exercise and you become a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers.

Teach them to be neat and tidy, and they pick up after you, and you cannot find anything.

Teach them to be brave, and they move away to strange cities.

Teach them about God, and they remind you to read your Bible more often and to judge not.

Teach them about tithing and money management and you eat generic Cheerios when you go visit....AND wear a sweater in their house...

Teach them about caring for the Planet, and they complain that they have become "just like Mommmmmm!" when they fill their minivans with bags of leaves for their compost piles.

Teach them to love growing plants, and they will dig up your yard.

Teach them to love their husbands, and they WANT to go home after only a few days' visit.

Teach them compassion for others, and your fingers work frantically to knit 3 hats in as many days before you drive halfway across country.

And this is where my story begins......

Kathryn called last night. Coming home from Bible Study....A third friend of hers at church has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The three friends are all losing their hair. But, being from the same church, they have literally formed a "club cancer" and are bonding with bald heads in a cold climate.

Kathryn, after raising a child with very little hair to cover his head (he's getting a bit now that he is pressing towards 2 years old), and being very aware of "holding in that core temperature" when they go outside, asked me to knit. Knit some hats for these three ladies. Purple ones, if you have the yarn, Mom....Purple is our church's icon color.

So, as we talk on the cordless phone, I am digging around in my yarn stash for purple. Purple wools, all shades, from my trek to Vermont last summer. Too coarse for delicate, "newly exposed" scalps. Purple varigated. Too "busy." Something, soft, Mom, and something that will cover their ears. And, oh, yeh...could you include some Collie wool somewhere on it for embellishment?

I'll need at least 3 skeins of matching yarn to make these hats. And several hours of just sitting and knitting to finish the project before I take off for the dog show (and my sister's home) in Georgia. Nevermind that the car needs vaccing and the dogs need brushing, and oh, yeh, I Should be packing some things.....

After I hang up, I remember the purple (dark lavender, really) yarn that I have "recycled." Recycled yarn is yarn that is un-knitted from another garment. I read about it on the internet. There's a whole Group of knitters who only use recycled yarn. You can even buy it on ebay! Find a nice sweater at a junk store, take it home, and spend an hour unravelling it, and give that yarn a New Life. It's been fun to find sweaters that can be easily "un-knitted," and I've even begun a project making a shawl out of one very long sweater.

I've finished two hats. For the first one, I made the brim out of the recycled purple with some Collie wool and fuzzies as "embellishment." The body of the hat is lime green (God's favorite color)of a very soft and fuzzy and sparkly acrylic.

Never one to make 2 things exactly the same (you should see the mittens I've tried to knit!), I knitted the other hat with a lacy brim. Same purple, then topping the brim w/more Collie wool, then using the same green for the body of the hat. I've begun knitting a rib stitch for the third brim, just to change things up a little more....With maybe a few lacy rows in between.

But right now.....Right now I am going to vaccuum the car and plan my packing.....I'll knit when the sun goes down. And mail them off by Saturday. Be on the lookout for the hats in the mail, Kate-o! Boy, I sure did a Good Job (too good of a job!) raising you!

xoxoxo Momma

Hot Springs Open Obedience

 

I post this video because in a very small way, it depicts the Joy that we experienced in the ring. Since we have begun dancing, the Obedience Ring has taken on a "performance" venue for James. SO very blessed that I have a dog who can actually DO all this.....

Marshmallow Test

Marshmallow Test

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Delayed Gratification....One of the most Important Tools as a parent....or a dogtrainer....

Cool Weather and Cooking

Ever notice that when your kitchen is all spic and span and shiny and sparkly---that you suddenly want to Cook Something?!! Add to that, this wonderful "chili stew" weather, and there is nothing else you can do except bow to the Kitchen Gods and create.

So, today, while Rob was struggling with the paint sprayer on the deck, I pulled out the ingredients to a coffee cake I had not made in years. Perhaps 20 years or so. It is an old Pennsylvania Dutch recipe given to me by a lady I met in a shop near Valley Forge....October, 1971....I was a newlywed.....

I made two of them. Might as well, since the kitchen is gonna be messed up anyway. I froze one for company....so you might want to come visit.....Or here's the recipe. You can make one of your own.

SHOO FLY CAKE
1/2 cup sugar
3/8 cup butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup molasses
3/4 teasp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teasp. baking powder
2/3 cup sour cream
1 teasp. soda
dash salt

FILLING:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup nuts
2 teasp. cinnamon

Grease and flour loaf pan. Combine cake ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Spread half of the batter in pan. Sprinkle with half of the Filling. Repeat. Bake 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes.

Sometimes Things Have a Way of Working Out----Romona Jasper, July, 1976

Last April, I travelled to Massachusetts with 2 of my Collies to attend the Collie National Specialty near Boston. While we were there, Prosper took Third Place in Open Blue Dogs.

The final day of the Nationals, a woman in our group got dangerously ill and had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance. This was RIGHT BEFORE the final judging---when the Best in Show would be announced. The VERY BEST COLLIE of the whole nation would be awarded the crown, so to speak. NOT something that one (esp one who had driven over 2000 miles) would want to miss....I left my dogs in the exercise-pen with another dear friend, and elected myself to be the one to accompany Betsy to the ER.

Another couple, Collie breeders from Arkansas, and also friends of Betsy, decided to drive behind the ambulance as "backup." They stayed in the waiting room for an hour or so, as I came out periodically to update them on Betsy's progress and care. Then they were forced to leave in order to catch their plane back to Arkansas early the next morning. I assured them that I would stay until other friends (and possibly Betsy's family from N.Carolina)would arrive after Best in Show. Wonderful, KIND people. Arkansas folk, after all, and living not too far from our older daughter in the Little Rock area....

Betsy is doing just fine these days, but that certainly was a harrowing night in the busiest ER in the country (busier even than Boston or NYCity!).

Fast forward to this past weekend in September.....Dog Show in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Prosper turned 2 this week, and I decided to enter him in his first breed show as a grown up boy (he already has 2 qualifying "legs" on Rally Novice and even a leg on a Freestyle Dance title). I am all by myself in this show. None of Prosper's "family" to help me with showing or grooming or even encouraging....

On Saturday, Prosper came in LAST, and Discouragement was starting to Take Over...I was convinced that I was just not cut out to show in this venue and to stick to obedience and dance---count myself lucky I have such an intelligent, beautiful Collie.

Sunday found us at the show site again (after all, I DID pay my entry fees, might as well stroll around the ring one more time). As I passed the grooming area of the owner of some of the "competition," I realized their owner/handler was talking to the couple who'd driven to the ER in Massachusetts six months earlier!

I greeted them with, "Seems like we spent the night in the hospital not too long ago..." and we all hugged in recognition of our friend Betsy.

Later, they visited MY grooming area, and Prosper, standing on the table, smoozed and kissed them, trying to convince them to take him away from all this brushing and fluffing and puffing...Instead, Neil offered to trim Prosper's ears! A snip here, a snip there, and it made all the difference in the world, getting those tiny fuzzies off.

We took Winner's Dog that day, for Prosper's very first point in Breed! (only 14 more to go!).

Isn't it just Wonderful how this old World just keeps on turning round.....
Thanks, Betsy.....

 

The beginnings of a new shawl. Made from Collie Wool. The pattern is "Cat's Paw," and is my first attempt at making lace. Well, it's a very simple pattern, but I think I kinda Like making lace. Some of the ladies at the Knitting Group call the yarn over directions "YO's." We are ALL working on our Fear of YO's....By facing the YO's and creating from them Lace......