ColliesHorsesArtLove

Come Visit Me In A Dream My Dear Cousin

My cousin Cheryl passed away today. She had been battling the residue affects of radiation from cancer therapy. She fought hard for a long time and held on probably more than most could. This is the part of life that seems so hard but I know there are lessons for everyone involved in this seemingly unkind process. Lessons that might not make sense now, but will reveal themselves later. Simply, I believe it contributes to our soul growth.

While I was in the market today, my other cousin Karen called me and let me know she was close. With cell phones you can be in the risotto and pasta aisle and talk about the fact that a loved one is close to passing. How weird it that? Or pathetically convenient.

Then I got THE phone call tonight at 6pm. Karen and I talked for a while. We both rejoiced because we think the same about life and death. Cheryl is free of her broken down body and is having the reunion that we both look forward to. The one with all of our loved ones who have passed. Karen has been the link to Cheryl's progress or lack of and I told her tonight she was one incredible woman. She flew back to Cheryl's home to help her on many occasions, something I have not done ~ Karen's heart is huge. 

Because Cheryl lived in the mid-west, I didn't see her much, but had special though infrequent contact with her throughout my adult life. She called me on the Saturday after Pierre died. My friend Lori was screening my phone calls but Lori told me I needed to talk to Cheryl. I got on the phone with her and she said that she had to tell me something. She was ironing and a voice came to her that said "Diana, ride the horse". She had to tell me but didn't know what it meant. So, she asked me and I told her "It means that I have had a horrible fall and I need to get back on my horse. I think it also means that I need to train Ali'i". I will never forget that. Such a simple message and so huge in meaning in my life.

God Bless you Cheryl. Come visit me. Love cousin Diana.

Chief Solano KC ~ Soleil Wins Her 4th Major Reserve ~ Better Than A Sharp Stick In The Eye

Every day is a new day at the dog show! Melinda Sunnaborg was WB/BOW/BOV with an older bitch who only needed a major so I am ok with getting Reserve to her. More shows to come! Soleil was stellar today again ~ she's finally grown up and hasn't messed with me ~ except in the Bred-By class I was getting a little intense because I wanted to win and she ALMOST barked at me. Good girl for keeping your thoughts to yourself Soleil!!

Chief Solano KC ~ Soleil Wins Her 2nd Major!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaahhhhhhooooooooiiiiiieee!!!!!!!!

Can you tell how EXCITED I AM!!!!!!!!??????????!!!!!!!!!! AND T was there to watch!!! No taking a shower in the RV this time!

The judge was Monica Canestrini. Laura won WD with Flint and we were the only ones to go in to compete for BOV and I told her "Oh no, now that you heard 6 days of how I feel about letting down for BOW......". Canestrini was very nice and compared expressions and noticed (or so she said) Soleil's blue eye. She said they were both beautiful, "but who has the sweeter expression". Thank God she gave it to Laura so Flint also got his second major AND we can still be friends AND I can blog freely on that whole thingy thing!! God forbid I piss someone off!!! Hehehe!!!!

Sooooooooooo much fun!!!!!!!!!! She now has 9 points!! 6 more minors to go. Life is good....lalalalalalalala!!!!!!!!!

The 125th Anniversary of the Collie Club of America National Specialty !! ~ Part IV ~ The Final Post ~

My favorite thing about driving across the country with someone is you get to hear stories. Stories you wouldn't normally hear seeing someone at a dog show, or thru casual email. The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. Ha ha ha.....And the horribly funny.

I told Laura some of my stories and a couple I have only repeated a few times to a few people in my life. The Ugly. She told me many also. The F-ing FUNNY story in particular that I had to think would make a good scene in a movie.

She told me that her father (who bless his soul is still alive), liked to partake in um, alcohol. I had a father also who did such a thing and after my mom died, got into her Firebird (which was now mine, as I had to get to Art Center to go to school) and backed it out of the driveway, mistook the gas for the clutch and flew the car out at high speed across the street to land on the neighbor's brick wall. All I remember is my older brother laughing and saying "You should have seen it!!!!". This was not funny to me as it was my only means of transportation. Luckily I was on break and it could be pulled off the wall and somewhat fixed enough to drive. But, it always had the pushed up rear and drove funky. (I STILL had people wanting to buy it though, as it was a very cool car.)  I hated my brother and couldn't deal with my dad and this was the last straw. I moved out shortly after that and lied that I had income to pay my rent just to get away from them.

Laura's story really made me laugh. She said when she was growing up her parents had an RV and they used to go camping a lot in it. Happy little camping family. One day she came home from school and the RV was parked in it's usual spot in the driveway. The only problem with it was the whole side was peeled back like a sardine can and she said you could see the inside. She walked inside the house to get the scoop and her father was passed out on the couch. Apparently they lived near the BART Station in the Bay area and BART was in the process of being built. There was a wall that bordered the road right before their house. The wall went straight, she said, then you made a left turn to go over a bridge to their house. Her father was driving the RV slowly along this road (going straight) and decided to get up and run to the back to grab a beer in the fridge while the RV was still in motion. WTF???? I couldn't even get out of my seat in Winnie fast enough to not kill myself, much less run back to the fridge. I laughed my ass off. This is the kind of stuff that families are made of. Interesting and creative living at it's best.

On to the trip home. All the way thru Kansas it was windy. Really windy. I really loved the rainy, snowy weather. It was more interesting. Kelly Neeley was not too far in front of us. They were in the HUMONGO Toy Hauler RV and somehow made a wrong turn after stopping at a McDonald's. 47 miles later they came to a stop sign and realized this shouldn't be on the Interstate. At close to $4.00 a gallon WHAT FUN!!! 2 hours later, we were close behind, even though they had left the night before. Anyway, we ended up stopping at her house for the night, seeing her beautiful kennel, house, dogs & the prairie she lives on. Pretty. I really enjoyed that night. Full moon and windy. The dogs got to run in a couple of her yards so they were happy about that.

Colorado. Not a lot of big trees where we drove thru, but vast and pretty nevertheless.

The weather was starting up again!!! Yippie!!!!

Going into the Medicine Bow National Forest. I'm feeling another dog walk is due.

 


Snow fencing. They were all over. Someone please explain.

Laura and Flint waited in Winnie. It was cold but surprisingly non-muddy for the punkies.

Squinty!! I saw a few of these at the CCA! Hahahaha!!!!!!!!! Did I say that??????

Just like the opening scenes of Bonanza! Tirzah's in her position again! Cardiff is winning!! Go Dogs Go!!!!

Back in Winnie and we drove.

And drove.

And drove.

We were getting hungry. Those advertisers.

Ok. Maybe we should Eat Fresh. Out in the middle of nowhere. Like they grow strawberries on the windy prairies. 

But, we stopped anyway because they had 50 cent ice cream cones......................yum.

I looked at something to bring home for T.

Instead I made some minimum wage clerk find a certain "Call of the Wild" Wolf sculpture for him. Then we had our ice cream cones. They were huge. Laura thought for sure they'd be 1/2" high. They were like a foot high. Then it started to storm and I thought I'd walk the dogs again and dodge piles of dog shit on my way out to the sage brush. They had fun. I had to clean my Ugg Boots. Ugg.

We're off again. Wyoming is very high. We went over several "passes" of 7200+ feet and you don't know you're that high because the whole state is high and the grades are LONG and gradual. This one pass was more obvious. At lot of the times I knew we were climbing was only when Winnie switched gears. Winnie was a machine.

Love the light.

And the mountains.

More pretty lighting. Coming into Coalville, Utah.

Again, Coalville, where we spent the first night in the snow. I had no idea what it looked like there. Very pretty, lots of irrigated land and cows & sheep & fishermen.

Park City, Utah. Missed this on the way out also as that's when the snow started with the crappy wiper blades. That's when I scared Laura.

This is how we felt after 14 hours of driving. Psychedelic. Dinner in Montego Bay in Bendover, wait, Wendover, NV at 10:30 at night. Soleil couldn't pee on the dirt, so later I took her over to the fake grass in front of the casino and she liked that. What bladders they have. I'd take one of my bitch's bladders in a heart beat. Thank God for Winnie. But I always stopped the RV before leaving my seat. 

Somewhere in Nevada. 3 or so hours from home. Except for Coalville, we started to see green. By the time I got home I felt like I was in a Photoshop photo ~ our property is sooooooooo vibrant and lush!!!!!

This is my birthday present from Sue Larson. I just love it!! It looks like what I see outside my window everyday! Thank you AGAIN Sue for taking all of the photos of my dogs and my present!!

Also, for Secret Service for all of her photos. She's a great bucket bitch too and she is the reason I brought more wine home than when I started. I miss my Southern California friends. 

And Laura for the laughs and displaying my artwork in her booth. And, for getting me stuff while we drove so I didn't have to get it myself........and taking almost all of the photos of the country. I really appreciated that!!

And for T for taking care of SeaB & Lana and 2 horses on meds and telling me how cute our baby is and how she shed out (she did) and that SeaB slept on my pillow every night. I love you T!!!!!! You are the bomb!! 

And, last but not least.......

Cardiff's Trophy & beautiful blue rosette! 

Funna Funna Funna!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The End for another year!!!!

The 125th Anniversary of the Collie Club of America National Specialty !! ~ Part III ~ The Estonian Girl Wins BOV Rough & The Drive Home

Friday I helped show in the Brood Bitch class with a bitch I just love. The dam is Ch. Collaire Bedazzled By Genwit. She is a Ch. Gambit's Trick of Light daughter, blue merle and finished very quickly. I loved Trick of Light. I had been commissioned to paint him & a blue bitch of Linda's named Tangle of Stars in a life-size watercolor, like my "Tais" painting. Anyway, Dazzle's daughter Indy is the one I got to handle. She is by Ch. Northshield Oktoberfest and her name is Heiress Little Miss Independent. We won 3rd in the Brood Bitch class, so that was fun. Indy has both her majors. Her littermate Ch. Heiress Gimme The Chills, a tri smooth boy got an Award of Merit. He's also very pretty, got a face like his father.

Friday night Sherry picked me up to go to a Performance Banquet with her client Terri, who thankfully paid. We were late for a variety of reasons and I was exhausted, but it was fun and the food was fantastic. Sherry stayed with me Friday night. She had a horrible day as her dog Kip somehow got out of his crate in the back of her truck shell and was laying outside her truck. Several people tried to catch him and he wasn't going to have anything to do with that so he split. She found him later in the morning, but he had been on the freeway among other things. He was limping when she finally got him. Kip had won High In Trial in obedience the day before and also, in Herding, I believe at least once. S T R E S S F U L !  A lot of people rallied together to help her find Kip. I felt pretty helpless as I was tied to the RV, but was able to relay the info to the announcer. Thank God for cell phones.

Saturday was Best of Variety Rough. I debated whether to show Tirzah as she shed out in February so she wasn't her fluffiest, but I did. She groomed up better than I thought and is ALWAYS fun to show. If any of my dogs act like the perpetual puppy it's her. She's so full of herself.

Photo by Sue Larson

Photo by Sue Larson

I was between Ch. Southland's Derby Day HT (fluffy) and GCh. Sassy's Shut Up And Dance (fluffy), so I'm sure little Tirzah looked pretty hairless BUT we did (all 3 of us) make the first cut. 

Here we go!!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was the fun mat to be on, waiting to have the ring steward take your number so you can come back in again. We did and nothing. Done for the day....

In the end Bill Brokken picked Jennifer Laik's tri bitch Ch. Colebrae After Midnight. Jennifer is a fellow Estonian so that was VERY cool, but I also do love her dogs. She always has pretty outlines, faces & good movement. Bill's judging was a little un-specatcular and I don't think she thought she had won. I had heard she asked him if she did. I like the judges who send them around one last time for the big POINT of the finger, because everyone is clapping by then and there is a lot of energy involved with everyone. He just walked up to her and that was it. It really was just a boring end to this HUGE honor.

I really liked the way Larry Willeford did his Winner's Dog class. He did seem to drag it out a bit towards the end, but as he went over each dog, after he was done, he had them go stand in the first corner of the ring, then as each dog was gone over, the dogs would then go to the middle of the outside mats, then the next corner and on and on around the whole ring. That was so nice because most everyone could see the dogs close up. He also sent the dogs around at the end so when he pointed there was a lot of flinging in the air of the handler and dog as they were already in motion. It's more exciting. Way more exciting.

After the national it was time to pack up. Laura & I weren't leaving til Sunday morning, so we could pack leisurely and get some sleep for the 3 day drive home. 

I think this is the part everyone hates. Especially if you lost. 

Ready for the big roll across the parking lot to Winnie. Not too bad. My ancient roller cart still has the zip tie on it from when the wheel unit busted off in MA 2 years ago. It works like a charm. It's really gotta be 30 years old now. Functional with a horse lead rope to pull.

Laura & I had margaritas and frozen pizza Sat night. The pizza was horrible. I hate microwaves to begin with, so this little round piece of cardboard was the epitome of bad food. But, the drinks were great and we still had fun and I make a very good margarita.

The next morning the plan was to leave at 6 am. I was delusional and came to my senses later on after I woke up. We left just before 9 am. All is well until I look back and see Stuffed Lana. This stressed me out for several hours til I could fix her.

Where is her head????????? Uuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really think Soleil had something to do with it. Bitch.

We saw several of these types of buildings in Oklahoma and Kansas. Not sure what they are, but they're weird.

And lots of old homes and barns. 

Going to Tulsa we stopped to get gas and saw a field to run the dogs. On the way home, we stopped at the same place. My poor dogs had been so patient, but it was time for a good run. There was a little patch of snow that kept them very busy and also the lighting was really pretty there. The patch of snow illuminated the dogs.

Niffness running at super speed!!!

 

I have several of this type of photos of Tirzah with her front feet in this position. 

Squishy's so swishy!!!

  

 

Here she is again.

 

Here's Laura with Flint. I don't know if I feel worse for her trying to keep up with him or him being on the flexi. Probably her because he had lots of fun and she kept looking like she was going to loose it and go flying in the air!!

I love this photo all the way around. Tirzah is very pretty and I love how she's so clear and the background is fuzzy.

Squishyness!! This is also cute of him!!

The light in these next photos were really pretty. I like the helicopter that's going to land on Ty's head.

 

Tirzah's going to go dive bomb Flint. Poor Laura.

Fluff blue butts!

Ewwwwhhhhhh......the feet......on all my dogs....poor Winnie.....

 


Eating snow.

End of Part III.

The 125th Anniversary of the Collie Club of America National Specialty !! ~ Part II ~ Winners Bitch & A Tornado Warning!!

Wednesday of the National was the day I was suppose to show Ty. Squishy Squishy Squishy. Well, I needed a break to just walk around and look at dogs. Last year, for some reason I was not able to get around to see the dogs I wanted. This year, I saw several. Melinda Sunnaborg and I went to a few different set ups. I've bred out to two different families in the last 3 years and not sure I want to go to a 3rd, but my wants are probably a little different than a lot of people. Temperament is on the top of my list and structure is also very high up there. I can forgive on some details that maybe put me where I am with my dogs, meaning, I might not win the National any time soon, but it's been hard to find exactly what I am looking for. I have 3 bitches and am really looking for a tri male but I saw 2 sable-merles I really liked. That just doesn't help me. I'm not interested in doing another litter with sable-merles right now, EVEN though they are one of my favorite colors.

What was most frustrating to me is see bites that don't make me happy. I must be the only one who opens mouths, because so many people I talk to seem to miss that step in looking at a dog. I saw dogs with absolutely gorgeous heads and expressions that had the canines smashed into the gum lines of their mouths. I even had a breeder give me some wazoo story on bites & canines, like it made it better. I still didn't want her dogs bites on my dogs. And, this was not just one dog, but sons & grandsons. Then, the other thing that just about sends me over the edge is the flakey temperaments. Dogs who are flicking ears, cowering, getting scared at something outside of the ring (or accidentally running across the electrical boxes underneath the mats). That was sometimes a good temperament test. And, of course, I am not such a dumb shit that the dog shouldn't spook at the sound, but get over it. Like soon. I live with a dog who can't handle REGULAR life on a regular basis. It is not fun and these dogs do not make good pets for the average public, unless they never leave their homes. And that idea is even suspect.

So, my quest continues. Every dog comes with a pedigree who has issues in it. It's a fact of life, so like Julie told me yesterday "Pick your poison". If a breeder tells you there are not problems in the pedigree, or they have never had problems, either they are lying, they haven't bred much, or they are dumb shits.

There is a dog I am interested in seeing more of, and by no means have I decided to breed anyone to him, but he made me smile in the ring. He moved beautifully, had a cute, showy temperament and up close, had a GORGEOUS eye (not too small) and very decent bite. I will keep my eye on him and of course blog him later, if it so happens I do breed to him. The other thing I found (and this of course is not new) ~ Smaller eyes are not better. Miniscule eyes are not in our standard. Granted, my bitches have larger eyes and I know I get dinged for that in the ring, but when I look at a dog and wonder how they can see at all because their eyes are so tiny, that makes me ill. I don't want to win that bad. There has to be a balance and we're losing balance on certain traits. 

Speaking of eyes.....Blondie in Bred-By. We did nothing. She was stellar. Fluffy, showy, and eyes that seemed to be too much for the judge. I was ok with it because I had won with Cardiff. That made it all better. I also went in the ring knowing that her expression might be a problem. But her dark eye is dark and it's not altered.......

These are really over-exposed photos so they're fuzzy, but I still like them. Soleil's always ready to bark or be bad ~ hence the tail. 

Photo by Sue Larson. I love Soleil's movement.

Photo by Sue Larson. 

Here is Nancy with her Open Blue dog, Tallywood Paradox. She won 3 classes with her boys. I was sure she would win Winners Dog with this boy as he was just stunning in the ring and big beautiful coat and outline. Don't you love the balloons over her head??? She probably felt she had those things on her head after winning 3 classes & WD!!! Funna Funna!!

Here is Nancy's 6-9 month puppy dog Tallywood Radioactive. He was cute, cute, cute!! Long, lean head, lots of bone and just a big happy puppy. He was playing in the Winners class with a toy. I was hoping he'd win Reserve.......

Paradox again. Can you say coat factoring??????

I also loved this dog. Highcroft Worth The Wait. Pretty, nice body and I love the length to his head. You can't knock the color or big white collar either!

Getting Cardiff ready for Winners Bitch. I can't say I wasn't nervous because I was. But, I can't say I wanted to throw up from nerves because I didn't. It just was so much fun to be able to go in for Winners. It was the National. What a thrill.

At ringside waiting. Posey.

 

I just love my Cardiff. This was such a highlight of the trip.

After Winners Bitch there was a tornado warning. That was a new one for me. It was pretty weird outside and I decided to put all my pens back in Winnie as I didn't want to retrieve them somewhere down the block or worse yet have them wrecked or hurt someone flying thru the air. While I was there, Secret Service came to help me put stuff away. Since there seems to be a chance of grave damage with tornados, I figured if I lost Winnie, I'd take a few things with me that were small and important. My Nikon, my Mac Laptop, Stuffed Lana & my makeup bag with earrrings from Pierre (I was wearing the ones T gave me for Xmas) & my toothbrush. Important stuff. The dogs were already in the building.

Stuffed Lana in my windbreaker. I was not going to leave her in the RV alone. This would have stressed me out.

We were told to leave our dogs in crates (I didn't have any in the building, so Pete Denbow next door to me just happen to have 4 wire crates ~ Yeah Pete!!) and then we were suppose to go into the bathrooms of the Expo. I was like all of these people. Not much fear. Or maybe being stupid. Honestly I really didn't want to be stuck in a bathroom with 150 people. Ewwwwhhhhh......I was going to take the chance and stay loose.

There was A LOT of water!!! The whole tornado warning episode seemed to last some 2 or so hours. After that, all was good. The CCA activities continued. I was tired. Time for beddie.

End of Part II.

The 125th Anniversary of the Collie Club of America National Specialty!! ~ Part I ~ The Drive & Cardiffness WINS Her Class!!!

I started this post 7 days ago because I knew it was going to be long and I'd be blogging for days, so I've decided to post in sections. Partly because Laura took about 500 photos of landscape. I am thankful for her to do such a thing but my neck hurts thinking about it and I don't know how many I can put up. But not to make a long photo blog shorter to be mysterious and not thankful for my blog photographer ~ I LOVE traveling across country and seeing different states. I also love to see how a state will change at a border, which seems to make sense why someone decided to put the border there. Cool world we live in. But, I also realize I can't have a post that has even 200 photos in it. And, it might still.

Laura and I left for Tulsa on Friday morning April 8th. We wanted to be there by Sunday afternoon, which we were. We stopped at 2 or 3 Walmarts, first to buy me more food & wine (Utah was looming), and then more food for her. We also were considering stopping for the 2 nights there and back at Walmarts, but turned out we stopped at a couple of other places. Her friend Kelly was laughing at us because we didn't have directions, but seriously, how hard is it to stay on an Interstate for 9 hours? I think what we did to get to Tulsa was drive east, turn right, drive south, turn left, drive east, turn right and we were there. We are rebels. Wild and crazy. Artists in a RV. Or Laura said something about it being a modern day covered wagon. This is probably why I love traveling. It goes way back in the very fiber of my soul. 

It took me some 4 or 5 days to fully pack Winnie. T said "You know, conceivably you could pack in one day". Would this be HIS fantasy so I can clean the ceiling fans and behind the night stands at home before I leave? Or cook him gourmet dinners because he is going to miss me tragically? I don't know, but it wasn't mine. Not in any way.

So, I packed and packed and packed, because I could. Laura brought 3 boxes of stuff in Winnie, plus her crate & Flint and she was done. I was glad to hear that she ALSO brought 5 bras though. I didn't feel like such a freak. One bra for every special outfit or something. Or the fact that we probably weren't going to do any laundry for 12 days.

Prior to leaving, Aura lamed herself up, I lamed Summer up also the same day (by tying her too long with the lead rope and she got hog tied. I am a DUMB SHIT), and Tahoe's blood work came back being only slightly better but still not good. So, T & my friend Kathie took care of feeding him antibiotics, and extra mush for him & Summer. And in this whole process of separating Aura to keep her from running on her front leg, she has been weaned from Khaliq, so Khaliq checks out Summer to nurse. That's all I need. Khaliq nursing Summer. But Khaliq's cute and non stressed. AND, she bucks, kicks and rears on top of Sabi because she doesn't get to eat Tahoe & Summer's mush. The night before I left she kicked me in the thigh having a temper tantrum. It didn't hurt much, but I wasn't on my game with going out there with a lead rope to keep her back. She gets bigger by the month. This is stuff I have to remember when I get back. Bring the lunge whip out to keep her in line.

Here is the "Protector Lizard". Pierre had it in the Toy Hauler (even with his custom sticky pad to hold him in place). The lizard had to go to Tulsa. My friend Joanne told me according to her astrological charts that taking road trips between the time we were leaving & coming home was NOT good. I told her "Thank you for sharing", hung up the phone and found the lizard. I was not afraid but figured the lizard wouldn't hurt. He's cute and reminds me of Pierre. He also winks with one eye. He would slide down into the cracks of the windshield sometimes and I'd have to go retrieve him. 

Stuffed Lana also went. She loves going to the CCA.

Donner Summit early Friday morning. Every time I go over that pass I think of munching on humans.

I drove all the way to Tulsa with this person. I don't know who she is but she is sticking her tongue out at me. This happened more than once. Then she would fall asleep and snore and drool. I played country most of the way there and back because when you drive thru the states we did, those are the clearest stations that come in. I was not complaining, but apparently Laura's favorite music is Metallica. Poor thing. 

Getting gas in Winnemuca. The three girls rode loose. Squishy & Laura's boy Flint rode in crates. It was a penis thing.

We drove 2 days thru a lot of snow and slush. It wasn't too bad, though Winnie's wiper blades were pretty messed up. I thought I could suck it up and suffer, but after the first night and a heavy snow storm that we drove thru, we were on wiper blade lookout. We finally found some in Wyoming. Massive, expensive wiper blades. Mondo blades. I did find that the more it snowed, the better the old blades worked. But once having the new ones it was remarkable how well I could see. 

 

Bonneville Salt Flats. T & I wanted to take his Viper here to see how fast it could go. I'd wear a helmet, but what fun!!!!!!!!!!

Where's Tirzah???????!!!!! I would panic several times after we had made a stop wondering if all the dogs were in Winnie. This was her favorite place to lay, right behind the driver's seat and under the couch.

Laura told me about this sign as she was in Utah a while back. It's funny ~ you can't hardly find alcohol in Utah without feeling like an addict, but apparently you can see girls dance in clubs.....what do the guys drink as they drool on the dancers??? This is the kind of stuff Laura and I pondered.

Coming into Great Salt Lake at dusk. Pretty lighting.

We finally pulled over in Coalville, UT to sleep in the parking lot of a Best Western. Laura was pretty scared as I drove because she couldn't see very well and wasn't sure I could either. I could see both the white lines on either side of the RV. No biggie. But, I guess it really was time to stop. We had driven about 13-14 hours.

Here's Winnie on the second day. This was a nice place to stay and quite cheap!! Haha!!

Utah on my birthday. I love these mountains. And, in the snow it really accentuates the detail!

Somewhere in Wyoming. This was my favorite state to drive thru, maybe because it was the first time I've been there. I especially loved Laramie ~ not sure why. The people were so nice when we got gas and they were having a gust of snowy, windy rain ~ just when Laura and I got some dogs out to walk. Tirzah & Soleil got stuck looking into prairie dog holes as I was getting soaked to the skin with the rain. They apparently didn't seem to think going to the bathroom was of utmost importance!! I was pretty pissed!

Colorado. A flat sculpture on the hill. Love it. 

Looking towards the Rockies.

Early Sunday morning. We stayed overnight in a Conoco gas station/truck stop in Colorado just before the Kansas border. It wasn't the most scenic but it was free.

This was intense. I took a photo with my cell phone & sent it to T thinking he'd be up. I forgot it was Sat. morning & an hour or 2 earlier. Poor guy. I just wanted him to know I do sometimes get up with the sun. This is on the border of Colorado & Kansas. Soon afterwards a Kansas Highway Patrol pulled me over. He was just checking to see if we were awake because the RV was swaying. Might have been the wind??????? He was VERY nice!! I told him to please be careful himself.

On the Kansas/Oklahoma border.

We're not in Kansas anymore.

Looking for cheap gas. I got the most out of the tank. Laura was getting stressed. The best price on unleaded was $3.39 in Laramie. The worst: $4.09 down the street from my house when I left. What a joke. No wonder I liked Laramie!!

Downtown Tulsa.

And this must be a Tulsa thing.....

Finally 6:30 Sunday evening we made it!! Our RV's are behind me as I take this photo. It's about a good 5 minute walk there and back. Lots of fun with 4 dogs that haven't run anywhere in days! Cardiff always jumped on Soleil and tangled all 5 of us before we even got walking. It was an ordeal. We did that walk 12 or so times.

Laura's booth. She had it set up really nice and has gotten a lot of work. I do believe my sculpture is coming home with me, but that's ok. I really appreciate her displaying it. Her booth was really pretty. Lots of gorgeous original collie art & sculpture.

The Best American Bred Trophy that Zoe won in Louisville, 2001. Beautiful! I look at it every year.

Awwwwhhhhhhh...................Zoe.............

Our setup. Kinda small. I was uncool without a banner. Hahaha!! 

The logo I did for the Collie Health Foundation.

Here is Nancy McDonald's banner with a portrait I painted for her years ago of a puppy named "BLT". Pretty!

Cardiff for a pre-groom on Monday (before her make-up). 

Soleil's FLUFFY hocks!!!

Kelly Neeley with Cyndella's Pandalicious. She was set up across from me with Laura & friends.

Hahaha!!! Bad puppy!!! My dogs have never done this kind of stuff. Ever.

Here's Cardiffness before going into her class. She was in 9-12 Month Sable & White Puppy Bitch. 

There were 14 in her class and everyone showed up. I just wanted SOMETHING from the class. 14 bitches is a 4 point major!!

Cardiff showed like a dream. I thought Helga would like her, but I've thought things like that before. She was four square and posey and solid as a rock. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before but I REALLY love this puppy!!

 

A little drink.

A little brush.

She was first in line, then pulled out first. There were probably 8 bitches out in the middle and Helga came up from the back to put bitches in front of her. Cardiff had 3 bitches in front and I was hoping for a 4th place ribbon. Then she looked at Cardiff and said "Put her in front". I love that sentence. "Put her in front".  Let me say it again. "Put her in front". I think that's ingrained in my permanent memory. So I went and there we stayed!! My little Niffness. "Put her in front". 

Brent Seymour took these photos of Cardiff in her class. He also was my bucket bitch, but he sucked at that. But since he did photograph her, I am thankful. You rock Brent. 

Later in the day.....

And THEN later that night we had the Elvis Tribute Artist Cody Slaughter sing to us. OMG.....he was incredible and VERY cute!!!! I'm like one of those old ladies who look at young boys and notice how HANDSOME they are and drool!!! He was CUTE and Talented!!! I almost went to see Elvis at the Long Beach Convention Center with my mom when I was 12 yrs old. I could kick myself I wasn't more demanding. This made up for it in a weird way. Probably because Cody wasn't all fat and bloated.....oh.....I'm so mean. But it's true. The truth hurts sometimes.

This guy even had the Elvis dimples!!

And the Porsche....

On to Stalking......

It's interesting to find out who really stalks........these are not the only ones I ran into......they either don't tell you or they just tell you stuff you blogged and then you know. Or they're brave and comment. Regardless on the flavor of stalking, I am impressed anyone goes to look. Even if they laugh. At me. Ha ha ha. He he he.

What they eat. I think this was seconds. I had seconds. The cake had pictures of collie people on them. That was weird. Then I thought about Donner Pass.....I then couldn't eat certain cakes.

I do believe alcohol was involved in this scene. Not that I'm against this type of thing. I was the one to stock up on the Merlot before arriving. Not that I partook much during the week, because I didn't. Somehow I came back with more Merlot than when I left. What a bonus.

 

Back at the RV for the night. Squishy. Not sure what he's looking at. I don't think he wanted coffee...he'd be a real blast to show then!! He'd be SUPER UPPITY!!

Squishy did well with the traveling and grooming but he again didn't get shown. He could not handle being away from the setup and having strange dogs bark at him and unknown events happen near the ring. Being an indoor venue also is not something he can handle. This makes me so sad so I do believe I am done with his career. I am not 100% sure, but I really think he just wants to be someone's house pet and live in a quiet, stable environment. I am sad, but I have to do right by him. I love him too much and a championship is not that important to me.

I kept losing Tirzah in the RV, then remembered she liked to sleep in the driver's seat behind the privacy curtain. Does this look comfortable to you? Not me!! Hahaha!!

This looks comfortable!! Soleil loved sleeping here, but once we were in bed, she was SMASHED next to me all night with Stuffed Lana. I slept like a baby every night of the trip. I tried to catch up on the HBO "Weeds" series on Netflix, but fell asleep about 15 minutes before the end of each episode. I really need to send that DVD back. I've had it for 4 months.

Here is the end of Part I.................................

My First Bronze ~ Going To Tulsa!!

I have always wanted to get one of my sculptures bronzed so when Laura said I could put up a piece (she said "print" or something) in her booth at the CCA, I decided to get this piece bronzed. I'm doing a limited edition of 7 so the first one will be at the CCA. It was so much fun going thru this process and I still don't exactly understand how every step is done, but I enjoyed it so much I expect to do some more.

I chose The Art Foundry in Sacramento http://www.artfoundryinc.com/. Alan and Meredith were VERY accommodating to get my first piece done. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and have missed being involved with artists. They are wacky and unconventional and that appeals to me. Why be normal? And really, what is normal?

Here is Meredith working on a piece. Bronzing is not a one-step process. She repairs any imperfections before they are finalized for the pouring of the metal. The mold for my piece was done in two pieces and I had to do some work on the profile of the collie, among a few other areas. Signing it was a nightmare and Meredith handed me some very strong glasses that were for someone with a WIDE head so I was trying to sign in wax with one hand and hold the glasses on with the other. Next time I will sign the original, then number the waxes. Live and learn and remember to bring my own glasses. Problem is I like small purses. So I suffer. This is the life of an artist. Suffering for the good of the art.

Here is the bronze getting poured. It's the 3rd piece down. 

The original is on the left, the bronze on the right. When I showed up it was being buffed for any imperfections. It looks cool before the patina also.

Here's the buffer guy, or whatever his name was ~ he's holding the foot. My original has seen it's day. It's cracked and not so "white chocolate" like anymore, but it's still useful to everyone who needs to work on the bronze to make sure it's true to the original. 

Here is Alan getting ready to do the patina. He's a kick and was making fun of me earlier because I'm anal retentive about certain stuff (not cleaning ceiling fans or behind the nightstands, or the fridge, but about time....) so he called me at 4:50 to remind me of our appointment at 5 pm. I was just around the corner and knew he was messing with me about our "appointment". He made me laugh. He was stellar and I can't wait to get a few more of these done, as we're going to do different patinas on each addition.

The patina is applied with a brush and then a blow torch. The depth of colors are so interesting. I wished I could just try 20 different patinas. I could do this all day long. So much fun. 

The bronze is cooled with water, then painted again, torched, watered down. Funna funna!!!

A wax is applied and then buffed. I was advised not to molest the bronze tonight (or sleep with it). The wax needs to set for a while. But you can touch it at Tulsa!

I really loved the work area in the back where Alan does the patinas. It looks like some of the "outdoor spaces" on "House Hunters" that you'd see back East. I asked Alan if any of the bronzes have taken a dive off of the railing. He said not this railing, but the one on the other side of the porch. I'd hate to lose a really big one, because this piece is not big, but it's HEAVY!! He has a piece in the foundry that is about the size of our bathroom. I wanted mine it two weeks. The bathroom sized one took 8 months to finish!

Do I look happy? I think it's the same face I had when I was holding Cardiffness for the first time.

I'm really interested to see what people think in Tulsa. My 2/7 & 3/7 waxes are complete, so I should have 2 more to have patinas done when I get back. I'm going to play with different colors, so that will be fun to see how they turn out.

While I was there, I found a horse piece that was laying around not mounted yet. I've been looking for some horse art for in our living room that we made an inset/shelf. This horse is the piece I want there. I kept telling T that when I saw it I'd know. It's simple and beautiful and has a whitish patina with a splash of pink. Lovely. Can't wait to be the owner of that one. I will blog it!

What A GORGEOUS Day On The Ranch!!!!!!

I had to go out this afternoon and take photos of the big pasture horses (Sabi, Tahoe, Summer, Aura & Khaliq). This might be the prettiest time of the year as everyone's pastures look like they've been mowed. This whole area is STUNNING. And I'm not rubbing it in to anyone in Canada......hahaha but this is really heaven on earth ~ right here outside our door!!!!

We had a nice day, as I was able to trim feet on 3 horses (Khaliq being one of them), train Aura, work with baby and brush as much of the winter fur off as I could plus braid Khaliq's mane as it's going on both sides of her neck. I just love this baby. She got a lot of stuff done to her today and afterwards we saw her laying down in the grass for about an hour. She was exhausted. She was eating while she was laying in the grass. Ali'i does that too. Cute.

Khaliq likes to get close.

Poor skinny Tahoe. He's going for another blood test on Monday. I think he's feeling better though because I have seen him out grazing more and his temp is lower.

Summer with baby.

I love this ~ Khaliq & Tahoe.

Sabi ~ love this also.

The two mommy horses.

Mommy & baby.

Aawwwwhhhhh...........

I feel bad for Chubby 1 & 2....just can't take a risk of them foundering so they are in the boring pasture. Actually I just feel bad for Ali'i because Shiiq is kinda mean to the baby. The mud is finally drying up a bit. It's been horrible for WEEKS!! It was so nice to get out and work horses and T took the riding lawnmower he got for $150 and cut all the way down the road on the outside of the fence. It's very pretty! And tomorrow I start packing Winnie for Tulsa...............I cannot wait!!!!!!!!

Horse Stuff

So, I moved horses around yesterday. Summer (in photo) was put out in the big pasture last week so she can eat more. She was not happy because she was away from Khaliq. I switched her with Ali'i because he is verging on being obese, so he got put in with Aura & Khaliq. He was ok with that because now he got to hang out with Khaliq. 

Yesterday I decided it's time to bring Fatso #2 into the pasture without much grass (Shiiq). But that meant Aura (skinny) & Khaliq needed to go into the big pasture because Shiiq is mean to the baby. So, I formulated it all in my mind how I was going to do it. Catch Shiiq, bring him out and tie him to the trailer. Catch Ali'i, put him in the 24 x 24' pipe corral so I could halter Aura and walk her & loose baby thru the hot wire to the big pasture. That was all good. Khaliq & her RAN high speed for about 15 minutes in the big pasture. It was pretty & stressful to watch all at the same time. I did not have my camera.

Back to Ali'i. I let him out, had one strand of hot wire connected and bent down to connect the lower strand. He was NOT happy being separated from Khaliq & mean Aura, so he bolted under the hot wire and ran to the big pasture fence. He's so frickin' cute. And short. I walk over and catch him, the put him back in the smaller pasture and had to threaten him with the lead rope to not bolt thru the 2 strands of hot wire. I really love this horse even when he's bad.

The horse situation now seems good. The skinny horses are able to eat more grass and Fatso 1 & 2 are in the smaller pasture without much grass.

Tahoe is sick. He's lost a ton of weight and has been seen by the vet. His white blood count is extremely high so he's on antibiotics for I don't know how long. He's running a fever also. We're not exactly sure what it is, but the pigeon fever could have gone internal, though it's unlikely according to his blood work. I have really never had a sick sick horse and he does not look good. Makes me so sad to see him like this. Yesterday his fever finally went to normal, but it spiked up again last night. I'll keep you posted.