September 2008Monthly Archives

Another Flyball Tourney Over

Got back from the flyball tournament today. It was fun. I will be looking up our results and posting about them soon, either here or on the new blog I set up for our flyball team.

It was great, Chase did awesome as usual, though he tore a gash in his shoulder at one point, not sure how. I think it was in the trailer but I’m not sure. I need some steam cleaners or a little vacuum for the trailer and van, if I’m going to be doing this for a while. Chase bled a bit in the trailer, poor boy. We are going to take him to the vet tomorrow for a check. It’s nasty looking, but he doesn’t act in pain, and I did clean it out.

Muffit got to do some box practice on Sunday on a real team! He was an alt and did some warmups. He did great! I am so amazed that he is so much better at tournaments than he is at practice. I have to think on that some.

Tatum also had a great time and she’ll post about it on her own blog soon. I’m dead tired, and going to head to bed early!

Cynthia

September 15, 2008

Flyball

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Building a Crate Platform

Well, I am still recovering from my host’s hard drive failure. TatumTot.com is back online and almost 100% though I lost some comments. My other sites are coming up. This one isn’t 100% yet, mostly because I haven’t had the time to repost the individule posts I had to get off RSS (thanks Margaret!).

Anyway, I didn’t spend my entire weekend rebuilding the server… I spent some of it building a crate platform for the minivan!

Actually, my husband built it (isn’t he handsome?) and I helped. This shot of it in the van it’s only primed, not painted. I’ll finish painting it this week and then I’ll use it for the flyball tournament this weekend. Woo Hoo I’m excited! Levi’s big narrow side by side RV crate came yesterday, so it’ll go on the platform. I hope my other two come before I leave, but I’m not sure they’ll make it.

There’s a ton of room underneath for stuff, and I don’t think I’m going to have another one towards the front of the van. I guess I need another picture from the front to give you a better idea.

I’m excited, I like my minivan. Had a hitch installed yesterday too so I can pull the trailer down next weekend. After this trip, it’s my last with the dogs.. then I go on a Caribbean Cruise end of October! I’m excited! Maybe I should check out Mediterranean cruises too for my next trip!

Cynthia

September 9, 2008

Daily Posts

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Major Server Crash

My host, Steadcom, had a major server crash yesterday. Well, hard drive crash, rather. They lost a great deal of data. I am restoring from my own backups… I have backups from the end of August, as you can see by the prior post. But between then and today my data has been lost.

I still like the host… and will be getting better at backing up! For now I have to restore all my sites and I’ll be doing that one at a time. Starting with data.

Sorry for the delay!

Cynthia

September 4, 2008

Daily Posts

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Chase and Agility

Well, we had a fun agility weekend. We didn’t Q at all… I only ran Chase, as Levi is on a break because the June trial he was refusing about 80% of the obstacles. And I want to make sure he’s feeling better before I run him again.

So anyway Chase did good. His Mom (me) didn’t do all that great. I haven’t taught him major call offs and tight turns and wraps that he would need in AKC. So he didn’t Q, but he did a great job and we had a lot of fun. I’m going to try to run him in some other venues like DOCNA and ASCA next year, to see if maybe I can handle him better in those since the courses flow a lot more than the AKC courses.

ZoeThe highlight of the weekend was Zoe! Or, I really need to say, MACH Zoe! Woo Hoo! I’m so excited that my friend Marie and her sheltie, Zoe, got her MACH on Monday. We were getting nervous, too, since she didn’t get a Q at all on Saturday or Sunday. And they only needed one more double Q for that MACH!

So on Monday we all cheered when Zoe qualified in Standard in the morning, and then in the afternoon for Jumpers… the judge almost raised her hands for a sheltie spin, but didn’t, and the whole trial breathed a breath of relief and then Marie got her MACH bar and ran around the ring. It was awesome!

It was a great, fun weekend all in all. Last agility trial for a while. Which actually will be nice. I have flyball in a couple weeks, and then I’m going on a Cruise to the Caribbean in October, that’ll be fun too!

Cynthia

September 3, 2008

Daily Posts

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Virtual Sports

You know, I have said for four (or has it been five?) years now, ever since I started doing agility, that we need to have holodecks like in Star Trek where we can practice in an authentic competition environment. I would so love that. Train there, work through all the distractions… but maybe that’s one of the whole points of agility, that you never can really train for a competition environment. Not unless you have fun matches to go to, where you trial. Around here we might have one or two a year, if we are lucky. We didn’t have any last winter.

Even though I have not found a virtual agility game, I have found a virtual football game. I used to watch a lot of football when I was in High School, and the other day I was thinking I would, sometimes, like to do so again. This game is an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) which are my favorite kind! So if you want to know football superstars, or be one yourself, you can download it this fall and play.

My cousins back in Chicago played soccer when they were younger, so it’s kinda in the family, too. And if you are new to soccer, or you know all about it, this game looks like fun for both!

So until a virtual dog agility game comes out, this might be fun!

When Tatum Came A Year Ago

Well, it’s been a year. Can you believe it? It’s been a year since Tatum joined our home. Of course at first I didn’t think she’d stay. I was going to place her in a loving home. But I couldn’t let her go. And still, even a year later, I’m overjoyed that she is still with us and she is doing so well!

Looking at my pictures from when I went to pick them up, I see that I didn’t get any of Tatum! You can see her butt in the first picture, towards the top left, peeking out from behind my friend Marsha who came and helped me pick them all up from the airport. These pictures are from September 1, 2007.

I remember the first time I saw her.. I came home from dog camp (everyone was so awesome taking care of these collies while I was gone!) and I walked in the door and she barked at me like mad! But she settled in quickly and at home was comfortable and confident. Though when I took her out, for a few months after, her tail would tuck and she would be very afraid.

Houston Collies 3This is the Tatum I met when i got home from camp. Spunky and full of spit and vinegar.. at home at least. And now when I take her out, she’s very confident, her tail is up, and she is a spitfire! I adore that girl. I have not been working with her on agility and obedience as much as I should… as much as I want to. It’s time to start. She should be much farther along than she is. I do wish I lived down in Richfield with my friend Marie, then I’d have someone to push me and equipment to train on!

Tatum flew in on September 1, 2007, she was boarded for a couple days, then my husband picked her up. I met her on September 8, 2007, and fell in love with her.