Ocala, FL

I just returned from spending a week in Ocala, FL with my Mother. While there, I think we have reached a decision that it is time for Mom to go into a progressive/assisted living facility. Since January, she has fallen 5 times and had 1 fender bender. I have also noticed that she gets confused quite easily. I think losing Dad has really taken a toll on her. I have many good memories in this house and I will be very sad to see it sold.

My husband has often said that it is easy to mark different phases in life based on location. Knowing where my Mother is headed, I have a simple question. Can I please skip this phase?

Here is Mom with her grandson Brent (sporting a broken collar bone) and sweet, adorable great-granddaughter Kylin.
I decided to take Rush with me to Florida so that he could see what it is like to be an only child. I had no idea that he is such a Mama's boy. He would not go outside without me. He also followed me around the house and would not let me out of his sight. Some of his behaviors remind me a lot of his mother, Dixie.
Dixie hates water and will make a big circle around the pool when we take her to Ocala. She won't get anywhere near the edge. After all, you never know when; "That water may just jump up and pull you in!". While Rush is not scared of water, this is the closest that he ever got to it. I think if I had brought Jenna, she would dive right in.
Here is Rush displaying a nice, pool-side, free stack.

Just Because It's Tuesday

I haven't taken pictures of my flowers in several weeks. The irises are gone, but now my day lilies are blooming.

So just because it's Tuesday, I thought I would play with my camera.
Here are a few pictures of my favorite peach colored day lilies.
Wait a minute, do I see a nose in the corner of that picture?
I think I do. Is it one of my favorite, flower sniffing, dirty nosed, black colored corgis??? Yup, that's Jenna.
And look, there's my other favorite black corgi, Rush!
What a pretty boy. :o)

Photo Hunters

When I saw the topic of the week at Photo Hunters was "Emotions", I immediately thought of this photo.

It is of my young son, Brent. He was not too happy about getting his picture taken that day. I always thought his little meat lip was cute.

They Flipped

Results from day 2 of the hottest dog show on earth: Rush and Lacey flipped from yesterday. Today, Lacey took Reserve Winners Bitch on a 4 point major. Rory took Best of Breed both days. BTW, if you ever go to this show, contact me on where "not to stay". The hotel was extremely expensive, the vanity was falling off the wall, I walked around in flip flops the whole time because the floor was scary and . . . . . . . . there were roaches in my room!

The Hottest Dog Show On Earth

When I say hot, I mean HOT! This was an outdoor show and we had a noon ring time. Afterwards, as I was leaving the parking lot, my truck thermometer said it was 104. The news that night said with the heat index, it was a record breaking 110. Melt. I think this really is the hottest show that I have ever done. But I told my hubby, that if this show was moved to October or November, it could possibly be my favorite show. The drive here is gorgeous. The mountains, forests and rivers are very pretty. Oh, the results: Rush took Reserved Winners Dog on a 4 point major. Lacey took 1st in her class. Interesting, the Winners Dog was also a Fudge puppy. Judge Joseph Gregory was really nice and said Rush was an outstanding puppy and that he would be a great dog when he grows up. Now to cool off back at the room. We have an 8:00 a.m. ring time tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be a somewhat cooler.

What a Shock!

Here is my entry for Photo Hunters . The theme today was "Bad Hair"

Brent gave Mike a hand working on the A/C. He was standing under the return vent when I snapped this shot.

Off To The Show

I've given bathes. I've done nails. I still have to load my truck. I am off to North Carolina with both puppies. There are 4 point majors in both genders. I am hoping to get a piece of it. I am always amazed at how much stuff is neccessary to take when going to a dog show. I don't remember packing this much gear when my boys were babies.

Rush says . . . "I'm not sure I want to be a show dog."

I Won't Quit My Day Job

I decided that I wanted to take a new picture for the front page of my website. I loaded my camera, my dogs & one willing/unsuspecting son into my truck and headed over to a local park. I thought we could snap a few photos and be back home in a matter of minutes. How difficult could this really be? My dogs are fairly well trained . . . . or so I thought.

Boy, was I wrong. They lay around the house all day long and don't move for hours. I had no idea that when I really wanted them to sit still and not move, they would be unable to do so.
After taking a dozen pictures of Dixie not looking at me (she was sure that she was going to fall into the water) I decided to try a different spot.

This location did not work out much better. They kept trying to leave and check out the fountain.

They actually posed themselves for this picture but I was hoping for something a little better. I thought I would try one more spot.

At this point, I really began to wonder "What was I thinking?"

I decided to quit with this shot and call it a day.

After 90 minutes and approx. 100 photos, this turned out to be my favorite picture of the day.