Where does the time go?! I can’t believe it’s Sept 1.

Seems like summer just started and now I can feel a bit of fall in the air. I don’t mind that- much cooler and my jewelry glaze is finally cooperating [lol].

Fee has decided that she loves the cooler weather and would like to live outside please. She and Maddie have major wrestling matches in the mornings and come in all wet and muddy. The grass is so wet now in the mornings, and they love to get right down in there and roll around! The boys take a more laid back approach (meaning they follow mommy around she doesn’t escape) and come in long before the girls are ready to give up.

I love the smell of wood smoke in the evenings and feel like one of the dogs as I sit near the window, nose up taking in deep, appreciative sniffs of air. [lol] Fall is my favorite time of year, and not just because I was born then (or maybe it is…if you are born in summer, is that your favorite time of year?) Fall makes me feel more alive, with the crisp air, the smells, and it certainly lends itself to baking, which I enjoy. The dogs like to bake too, well at least like to help clean up and eat any that aren’t deemed “people worthy”. (and I will do my best not to sample too many myself!) They love it when I make soup or stew and sit around the stove offering to sample a batch for me. Trav is quite spoiled when it comes to Mom’s chicken stew!

Enjoy this wonderful weather, it is great for walking the dogs or romping in the yard( ok, I have the pooper scooper in my hand, but mentally I am romping) and having a good came of catch (or in Fee’s case, “catch me if you can”)

Soon we will be on the road to Minneapolis, and will try to get lots of pictures to share. It should be a fun trip!

Have a good day,

Val
and the Avalon bunch

Today is Mac’s 11th birthday. He will get a lovely treat later and is doing pretty good (meaning he still gets into stuff and can irritate the h&## out of me). His sister Mira passed 2 years ago… today I miss her terribly.

I recently did a session on a lovely Beagle. She has cancer and her care-givers have gone an excellent route — using all of the natural and alternative methods available to them.

As I worked on Bonnie, her wonderful spirit came through so clear to me. Her early life had not been easy, and she so loved being where she was right now. She was in no immediate distress and the energy helped relax and balance her. She let me know that she was ok with how things were going for her. She appreciated all that her loving owners were doing, and truly did treasure each moment.

As I talked with Bonnie’s mother, I let her know all that had come through as I worked on Bonnie. We discussed options, and at some point agreed that Bonnie was right. She was fine. Yes she has cancer, but her spirit is in a wonderful place. She enjoys each day, loves her family and is happy with her life. In true animal fashion, she has no trepidation about going to the other side. It is just another level or plane of existence and she will still be around for her family.

Accepting her as she is, and allowing her to just “BE” will go a long way in helping, not only Bonnie, but her owners when the time does come that Bonnie must leave. We can support her with herbs, and homeopathies and energy work, but support is all we can do. It is Bonnie’s body and Bonnie’s journey that SHE has to see through.

I always encourage people to thank animals (or other people) who go through such hard times and remind them that the experience can bring something special into their lives. We learn as we go, and not all lessons are easy.

So today, I thank all those who have left me, those whose journey did not last as long as I would have liked. For what you brought into my life, I am… truly thankful.

Blessings and a Peaceful journey.

Val

Well, we didn’t bring home any points or Breed ribbons from Springfield, but it was so nice to not only see Spirit finish her championship, but our good friend Lesley also finished her dog Fanny on Sunday! It was very exciting. Both girls looked wonderful, and did a great job. We had a lot of fun visiting with our friends, even though the days were long. Traveler’s brother got a Group 1 on Saturday, so we stayed to cheer him on. Don’t know about Sunday, we had to hit the road. No traffic problems on the way home, either!

Fee still needs work on speeding up and looking a bit happier on the go-round. She is “to die for” on free stacking! As long as you have food, she will focus 100% on you (and handler/friend Kathy Kalos calls her a piranha — I told her to watch her fingers!). Traveler was spectacular! He gave his brother a run for his money and I think made the handler sweat just a little [LOL]. Trav was “up” and happy and full of himself, and just flew around that ring. The judge had to have them go around twice to make up her mind (it is so hard
breaking that “shown by a handler” thing!).

Traveler keeps impressing people so that’s good. he has another future “bride” at some point, so that’s nice (not for a couple of
years — she just wanted to let me know.)

We are very excited about going up to the shows in New Brunswick, Canada next month! It should be lots of fun, and Fee will get to hang out with her brother Chester. Maybe he can teach her how to have a bit more fun in the ring!

Val

So Pat has been busy since he got laid off…. the dining room is coming along and should be finished soon. He is partly done putting in the laminate flooring, so we moved the table and crate back onto the new part, so he could finish the rest.

Last night we are sitting in living room watching TV, and I hear this sound — kind of like a penny dropping on the laminate. Brian’s floor is also laminate downstairs, so I thought he was doing something in his room. Well, after a few minutes the sound continued. Then it stopped……. then it happened again. It stopped…. happened again… you get the idea.

I jokingly yell “Fee, you’d better not be in the dog food!.” It’s quiet, then we hear the noise again! Pat slowly gets up and creeps over to the hall, and with the new cutout in the dining room, he can see right in there.

There is Fiona, with the new bag of dog food on top of the crate at “half-mast”, gently nudging the bag and watching as a few pieces fall out! She proceeds to clean those up, head goes up, nudges, the next few fall out, and you can see the cycle [LOL].

We moved the bag of food, and her lovely game came to an end. Guess she likes the new food ok! We just changed to a no grain kibble called Taste of The Wild…..

Val

Pat had to go to the police station last night to make a statement (he was so excited — what does that say about what we usually do?) He found out that the kid that was here was not in the crash. There are actually 2 stories that coincide…..

The kids in the crash were actually on the way to pick up “our” felon and his friend. These 2 were up the road at the new Wal-Mart breaking into cars! Police nab one of them, this kid runs. The driver of the crashed car was this kid’s brother (nice family) The crash (and his brother did flee the scene) and the “nabbing” happened at the same time.

Apparently the police are familiar with these kids. The kid at our house was 17, and after a quick trip to the ER, is now in Long Creek, our local JD.

It makes me really appreciate the gentle way the dogs kept this kid out of the house. If he would break into cars, who knows? He WAS drunk and trying to phone for help to come and get him, but what would he do wandering around a strange house looking for a phone!?

So that is the end of our saga….

Val
back to getting ready for the Regional.. .STOP RAINING , I have dogs to bathe!

Sorry this is long.

Last night I woke up to hear the dogs tails wagging and feet shuffling (they were swishing and hitting the wall — they don’t have loud tails [G]). I could hear someone talking softly to them, and figured my son was coming in and trying to keep them quiet. I could hear someone saying “Shhh” and “sit, sit” (obviously did NOT know my dogs). My husband got up and glanced briefly at the back door (which is a straight shot down our hallway from our bedroom door) and thought our other son was here. After a minute, he got up and went to see what was going on. Well, a strange kid was trying to come into the house! He had the back door open and was trying to get past the dogs.

Traveler, Chester and Fiona were lined up and sitting/standing at the back door, but not moving, still being very friendly. Maddie couldn’t be bothered (nothing interrupts her beauty sleep), and I think Mac was in bed with us.

My husband starts talking to this kid (and I am still in bed, not quite hearing what is going on) and then I hear him say, “no I will call for you, what’s the number?”. He shows the kid that he is writing a phone number down, and then proceeds to call 911. He tells them what is going on and they say to stay on the line, but don’t let on who he is talking to. He pretends to talk to “Lauren,” whoever she was, and asks the kid his name, etc. (getting praise from the 911 operator). I get up and start to go into the kitchen, but Pat waves
me back and now locks the kitchen door (we never have locked the door in 21 years).

I go into the living room to see what is going on and see 2 State Police cars speeding down the street and into our driveway. (we found out they had 10 cruisers looking for these kids) It was like a TV show!! They yell “get down off the stairs” over and over again, the kid is yelling (and obviously drunk), and next thing we know, mace is being used. The drag him down the stairs and out into the driveway, where he is laying and yelling. My son comes upstairs and wants to know what is going on, and we watch from the living room windows. By now the 3 brave Beardies who wouldn’t let this kid in the house are all clustered together on my bed! Real brave.

So my husband threw some clothes on and went outside to make a statement (and found out that mace stays in the air for a while). They had more police come and the EMT’S. This kid never shut up the entire time.

Apparently from what my husband found out (and what we saw on the news today), there were 2 kids that crashed a car a few miles from us. They had them in custody on site and then they escaped. The kid at our house was the driver, but they swapped places (or tried to say they did) because he was drunk. Somehow he ended up in our neighborhood, and why he choose us I don’t know, but in his brain he was looking for a phone to call a friend to come and get him. After a while they put him in a cruiser and everyone left.

I ended up laying in bed watching tv for a while, since I was wide awake and about 1:30 heard dogs barking in the distance, then more sirens. Turns out they somehow got the other kid’s phone number and convinced him to give himself up. WHEW!

So the dogs prevented this kid from coming in and helped to capture someone who was driving drunk, crashed a car, escaped from
police — and they also added breaking and entering!!! (I don’t think they can charge him with stupidity.)

Chester, who is visiting, decided Canada was a lot quieter than here and that we needed extra protection, so he would sleep with us [LOL].

My heroes.

A very tired Val

Had a great show in Scarborough today!

Fiona got another point and Traveler got breed over his brother! Brother Roy is being campaigned with a big handler right now and is
currently in the top 10. We didn’t do anything in the Group, but the judge seemed to have her mind made up anyway. Not to take anything away from Roy, who is a nice dog, but it was so nice to beat him [LOL]. In fact the judge had a hard time, as the 2 boys look similar (even though Roy is brown).

Who knows what tomorrow holds, but today was nice… although COLD and windy!! My word I needed my winter coat and some gloves. Poor Karen was still at the show waiting for Best in Show to end to do CGC tests!

Val

Having a lovely phone conversation last night…checking up on impending arrivals, etc… dogs are outside wandering around. I am standing next to the kitchen sink where I can see out the window into the back yard. All of a sudden I see a shadow, then wings and say… “what the heck is that?!”

It was a turkey! It flew over the fence and into the backyard! It was huge. Well I hang up, run outside to see what the dogs were
doing, and they are just wandering around, not doing much of anything. I guess they scared the turkey off.

We have a flock that lives in the woods across the road but have never had them in the yard like that.

Who you callin’ a turkey!

Val

I have just been asked to do a radio interview for a national radio program called “Living the Country Life”. It airs in 32 states, twice
daily on 240 radio stations.

The target audience is people who live on acreages. The segment I am doing is called “Best Country Dog Breeds: Bearded Collies”. She wants to know about personality, coat care, training, activity level, etc….

So if anyone has any words of wisdom, pass them along [LOL]!

The interview is Monday but doesn’t air till the week of June 8th.

Val

What a beautiful day! Wish a few more people had come to cheer us on, but there is always tomorrow. It’s fun to watch and very educational, so come on by. We will be on tomorrow about 9:00.

Rocky was SO excited today and bouncy, but had some good moments in the ring. He is very smart, so I know that when he gets more practice and maybe a few handling classes, he will really get the hang of it. He is growing so nicely and looks like Dad, Traveler. He will give it another go tomorrow, and sometimes they do better the second day. (being tired helps those puppies sometimes [LOL])

Fee went in to her class and did ok, being the only one [G]. Then she went in to compete with the Beardie who had won the Open class, and was then chosen Winner’s Bitch for her first point! We are very excited and happy that her first point was at a “Mainiacs”show.

She then had to go in again when it was Best of Breed time. She was getting a little tired by then, but we managed ok. Traveler was lucky enough to win Best of Breed but after a long day of waiting for the Herding Group, got a “thank you for your money” [LOL]. That’s ok. Been there, done that.

Trav hasn’t been in the ring since November, so it was a lot to ask of him. He looks great though, and had SO MUCH FUN seeing all of his old friends. He talked up a storm!

Right now it is very quiet here… haven’t the heart to tell them we do it all again tomorrow.

Val