![]() A better shade of green June 12th, 2009 |
My garden has had an equally rough start to the season. The frost on June 2nd took out a few cucumbers and a couple of yellow squash plants - This past weekend I replanted the cukes but the garden store was out of squash seedlings - so I need to decide if I go back tomorrow (before the weekend rush) or wait and see if the remaining 4 plants will be able to produce...For whatever reason my tomatoes (which I don't eat and grow only to gift and feed to the boys) and peppers are going like gangbusters. Some mini tomatoes are starting (no not cherry/grape - literally mini tomatoes - growing to be big tomatoes) and I noticed my pepper plants are thinking about fruiting. Perhaps they are doing well BECAUSE they've had a chance to acclimate without getting burned in what amounts to be 15 hours of sun in my plot.
![]() One of the boys after their bath and groomings. Teller (left) and Murphy (right) June 14th, 2009 |
Since the boys couldn't swim this weekend I took advantage of some marginally warm temperatures to bath and really brush them out - Murph has been hanging onto some serious clumps of winter undercoat - he probably feels much better now that it's combed out - even if it did mean having an outdoor bath.
![]() Balance June 17th, 2009 |
Despite the photographic evidence to the contrary...Teller contemplates the balance in his life...the need to keep his nice and the naughty in perfect balance - ying and yang. Absence of naughty leads to unrealistic expectations. Absence of nice leads to an absence of cheese. It's very existential.
In other news I entered three days of obedience at the Scenic Cluster so that gives us four weeks now to be ready for open obedience - not a lot of time for a green dog who's been more or less just playing agility all spring. Fast and distance is pretty much the anti-heeling isn't it :-) So I happened to run into Amanda at Waggles who was kind enough to tape a quick training session for me this week - We've got some more work to do - I'd like to see better halt/sits in the heelwork - he's forging into them and offering me some crooked sites. My footwork is a mess - I'm going to have to suck it up and go practice footwork in the street without my dog. Its somewhat humbling to do so - and my neighbors look at me like I have two heads...It's for the greater good though - I don't want to cost us points in the ring. Over all the forging that plagued us in the fall (in Novice) has improved, his attention has improved as has his animation. I love the fronts he's consistantly giving me now - he's RIGHT there. Too bad his handler hasn't improved!
So what's next? Well two agility trials in July in addition to the obedience weekend. Two of those three weekends are within 5 miles from home so we'll be able to keep things pretty low key I think...Then I'm going to enter a local NADAC trial - the same one where Teller debuted last year - It's a nice chance to get six runs in a day - get some contact work - work some distance and weave entries and then come home, swim in our own pool and sleep in our own beds...