Trying Something New - Dock Diving

This weekend was the Salmon Days Festival in Issaquah, WA and at that event (which is kinda fun, btw. If you live nearby you should check it out) they have dock diving put on by the Puget Sound Dock Diving club. On Friday night as I was pondering my up coming weekend I suddenly remembered that all this was happening and I should go ahead and spend my entire weekend in a camp chair with Sadie to allow her to chase a ball and leap into water. Who WOULDN'T want to do this on a free weekend? I mean, sane people might opt to sleep in but sanity is for the weak. So off we went.

Sadie was by far the smallest dog competing. She even got to compete in the 'lap dog' category and anyone who knows Sadie knows she is not exactly lap dog material. I got a chuckle out of that title. She was competing against dogs 2-3x her size but she doesn't care. She just wanted her ball and she wanted in the water.

This is how a typical jump looked:

1) First run out ahead of me while I am (slowly) making my way onto the deck. Gotta make sure the water is still there and hasn't disappeared, afterall. Logical - for Sadie's brain. Water still there? Ok, now I can go back to mom and get ready.

2) Throw the ball as Sadie runs to the ledge to JUMP! 

3) Except not. Sadie would hesitate at the ledge, get as far down off the ledge she could while still remaining on the dock, and cuss out the ball and water for being so far away.

4) Finally get brave enough to jump down into the water. LAUNCH!!!

5) Fly!!! But not very far, because you're a brick on legs :)

6) And finally, canon ball.

Even though she didn't jump very far, she still managed to make it to the finals. She was a stand-in incase anyone in the top 6 for novice didn't make it. She was pretty far down the alternate list so I didn't think she'd make it but wouldn't you know it, she was jumping in the finals! She made 5th place out of those 6 dogs. Our final jump of the weekend ended up being our best. I held her back like I do in flyball and said "Reaaaadyyyyy? REEAAADYYYY SET HIT IT" which was apparently the magic she needed. She jumped with the least amount of hesitation and made it 7'1" - not bad for a brick on legs jumping in her first dock dog comp.

A few more of my favorites from the weekend - this was on the first day. I was so tickled she jumped in the water with all those people cheering her on around the pool. You just don't know what they're going to do until you get up there.

This was the scenery - gorgeous Issaquah, WA. This is Leslie and Rhubarb getting ready to jump. I just love those hills in the background. Rhu got 4th place in the Novice Finals, btw :)

Until next time - 

Busy Life is Busy!

As you can imagine, moving is a lot of work. A lot has happened since my last post so let me give you a run down of what we've been up to!

All the icky carpet was removed and hauled away - we now have new laminate in the master bedroom and family room

Moving to a new home, with a completely new and different environment, can present challenges to a reactive dog and her owner. Violet was reacting to anything that moved outside of these windows so we went out and bought window film. Kinda sad because our view went away. We may do something different in the future but for now this is our solution.

One day, after running away from my dentist appt, I decided to go shopping downtown Seattle. Someone from Salon 7 training school stole me off the street and gave me free highlights. True story.

Two weeks later I had it all chopped off - not for free

Got the figs adjusted to their new home - some lost a few leaves over the move but everyone has adjusted well. Just in time for fall!

We've been harvesting tomatoes from the Seattle house. I've made tomato bread (tastes like zucchini bread) and green tomato soup.

We got a new washer/dryer! It only took a month to get them. Long story, one that makes me grumpy. But they are here and we finally have clean clothes again!

We get visited - a lot - by this family of deer. It was cute the first time, but now they are less cute. They ate my cherry and apple tree - and even nibbled on my ginko tree. Now I think they are furry jerks. And Violet wants to eat them. 

We took the girls to a doggy swim place in Lynnwood. Sadie loved it. Violet was a little less enthusiastic but I think she still had fun.

(Many thanks to Danny for this pic of Vi!)

I finally got to try my Go Pro camera :)

And then there's the playing. Oh boy the playing. The girls are really loving all this room to romp around and play fetch with balls and frisbees. What a fun life they live.

And we got their mugs on mugs - how cute is that? We won them in an auction raising money for canine cancer.

I think that's plenty of updates for now - don't you think?

The Joys of Moving

Moving is a pain in the rear. Barring some life altering circumstances that forces me to eat my words, I am never doing this (moving) again.

I have fig trees. Lots of fig trees. All but one are all in containers so my sister came down with a truck and we loaded them up and drove them over to the new place.

(nearly) all the trees in containers!

The larger trees went into the truck

The rest we packed into my SUV

We took the back roads to avoid the freeway speeds for the sake of the trees in the truck. Everyone made it safe and sound. My sister and Rob made one last trip over to bring over maybe a half dozen more trees and as many empty pots and that basically takes care of the trees.

Also done yesterday was Rob got in there and started ripping up the carpet in the family room. When we first saw it, the horrible, stinky smell of febreeze was insanely strong. I couldn't be in the house longer than 5-10 minutes before a headache kicked in. I suspected pet smells would be behind the strong perfume cover up. Once Rob lifted one corner of the carpet we saw that suspicion was correct. Yay animal urine! So the carpet and carpet pad are out and new laminate will be in within a week or two.

Violet likes the little carpet strip Rob left for her

Moving day is Monday. Tomorrow. We have a lot more packing to do before that happens. Wish us luck!

We're moving!

It's official. The pups are packing their bags and hoofing it out of the big city into the more rural setting of Maple Valley. it's a rambler on 4 acres. I think the pups will be running themselves ragged with all this room!

As a bonus, the house comes with a mature fig tree. I didn't know the variety when we put in the bid, but when we got the keys today I noticed that many of the brebas were ripe or near ripe. Definitely a Desert King which is awesome.

Stella Cherry Tree

Last year I planted a Stella Cherry tree (a sweet variety) and this year it gave us some fruit! About 30 in all. Violet stole some while I managed to salvage the rest. Not bad for a first year's harvest - and I only had to wait one year to get it. In my little city yard the crows can be a real bother - they have not discovered this little treasure - yet.

Violet being a little imp - surprisingly SHE discovered the cherries but Sadie did not

It decided to pour down rain so I picked all the cherries before they split. Not really sure that's a problem with cherries but swelling and splitting in the rain can be an issue with other fruit, and they needed to be eaten anyway

nom nom nom - delicious!

Father's Day 2013

I'll use any excuse to head up to Bellingham. My dad owns 5 acres and it's one of the girls' favorite places to go. They explode out of the car and run till their little legs can run no more.

First things first - make out session with Jackie

Run like a loon? Yes please.

Derpy Marley - 70 lbs and 1 year old now!

Marley towers over the girls - he makes them look so tiny

Violet did GREAT with Marley. Minimal snarking and I think she really enjoyed her time with him. Violet being on prozac has made a big difference with her anxiety. Here she is drinking water with Sadie and Marley without any issues.

Good life! And relaxed Violet

My nephews had a BLAST with the pups. They threw the ball until everyone was exhausted.

While the boys ran around like crazy with Sadie, miss Violet found herself aligned nicely with my 1 year old niece. Violet is very mellow and very gentle with babies. They love each other.

You'd think I would have gotten some pictures of my dad - considering it was Father's Day and all. But I didn't. I'll use that as an excuse to go back soon for another visit. Maybe the kids can come over and wear the dogs out again for me.

More photos here: http://niroha.smugmug.com/Family/Fathers-Day-2013/