He Did It!

Yep, my JJ gave me the only birthday present I wanted this year and managed to get the third leg (i.e., the third qualifying score) of his Open Jumpers title on my birthday! Now he can finally move on to the Excellent class. Thank you JJ, you silly, "Venice Beach Boy Blonde" dog.



(Don't you love my pink "dogs"?)

I have video of JJ's successful run but I'm not going to post it. It's not my best work. I tried twice to take him off course. I don't usually have a problem remembering courses. I think I was a bit nervous this time. Instead, I'm posting snapshots taken from that video. These pictures might not be the best quality, but I do love my Flip camera. It's perfect for events like this.



Here we are, both jumping for joy at the end of his run. I'm also about to reach down and quickly grab JJ before he runs out of the ring without his leash on, thereby disqualifying his run. Why am I prepared to do this? Because JJ, that little social butterfly, has already disqualified more than one successful run by doing this. JJ is so sure those spectators outside the ring are totally enamored with him and will give him more pets and lots more treats than I do.

Some of my other dogs had a bit of success also. Dusty, JJ's sire, completed his MX (Master Agility) title and also picked up the ninth of ten passing scores needed for his MXJ (Master Agility Jumper) title. I moved Dot down to the "preferred" classes which means she can jump one height lower than her measured height. Dot loved going back to the easier Novice Preferred classes and managed to qualify in four of four runs. Good for you Dot!

A Lovely Gift

Knitting

I received the loveliest gift from Bridget.



Aren't they sweet? These are five stitch markers made to resemble Fame. Each marker is in a different position, sitting, begging, laying down, playing, standing. They have Fame's white face marking and her half white collar. Since I always carry some knitting project in my purse, I'll always have these markers with me to remember Fame. So thoughtful of Bridget. Thank you so much!

These stitch markers were made by WeeOnes Creations.



So what am I knitting these days? I've set aside my Cameo sweater. I have completed the body, still need to do the button and neck band and the sleeves. I'll finish the sweater, I'm not unhappy with it at all, just bored and needed a change. I started the Bath Time Blossoms, a project I've always wanted to knit. I'm enjoying this very much. It's fast knitting and enough variety to keep me interested. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fine and really like this yarn. It's just the size and texture of yarn I enjoy working with and knits up easily. I am currently using two different shades of lavender and white for this project, which I plan to give as a gift. I see me ordering more Cotton Fine in the future in my favorite colors.

I've also decided to teach myself a little about quilting. No, I do not have plans to become a master quilter or anything, I simply want to learn enough to make a few small quilts of my own. I took a class but it didn't go very well. I did not learn much and left with the feeling I was imposing on the teacher. My choice of first project may also may have been partly to blame as turned out to be almost all fusible applique and didn't give me much chance to learn about cutting and piecing. So I've been scouring the web and library books for knowledge. I taught myself to knit and I don't remember that being too difficult, but teaching myself to quilt seems very challenging. Maybe I've gotten too old to learn! No pictures to show yet but I promise to share my failures along with my successes. Hopefully there will be some successes.

Dogs

Nothing new on the dog front. We have agility trials this coming weekend - outdoors, with forecast of rain and chilly temps. Doesn't that sound like fun? It's my birthday this weekend and I'm thinking JJ could give me the gift of passing his final Open Jumpers course and moving on to the Excellent Jumpers class. Are you listening JJ? No, he's sound asleep, snoring in his dog bed.

Thank You

A sincere thank you to everyone who sent me comments or email on my loss of Fame. I'm sorry I haven't replied to each of you individually. Honestly, it's still too hard. Having bred/owned/trained/exhibited Pembrokes for 30 years, you'd think I'd be beyond this, but I'm not. Fame was so young, so full of potential, so wanted to enjoy life. It hurts so bad that she never got the chance.

What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

- Crowfoot

Fame

Kantishna Remember My Name
8/25/2007 - 8/16/2009

Fame, I will always remember your name. You will live forever with me. You were so very, very special.

Time For Prayers

I know I've asked before, but it's time again for many prayers and positive thoughts for my Fame.

Fame started to agglutinate this evening. This means her hemolytic anemia is active again. It had been under control since her terrible crisis back in December of 2008. In December her HCT was 12. That's so near death I don't even want to think about it. This evening, her HCT as 21.3, or maybe it was 21.7, I forget, I was so upset. So we started Fame on loads of pred again along with cyclosporine. Tomorrow we will start antibiotics and some kind of human medicine (sorry, forgot the exact name) to help her stomach cope with all the prednisone she will be on. Tomorrow we will also decide if she needs a blood transfusion or not.

I've already been warned by many knowledgeable and insightful people that the second, or Lord help us, third or fourth time around, battling this disease is much more difficult with not a very positive outcome. I'm willing to fight for Fame as long as she is willing and able to fight. Please send us your best.