True Colours - Grapple

Whew, this week's colour challenge was really hard. And it didn't help that I've had a really bad cold the past few days so I haven't felt like doing much at all.

Thank goodness for dog toys is all I can say.  And you'll understand when you see my selections.

First though are some close-ups of the bouquet one of my sisters sent for my birthday.

Next up, since we didn't find anything else, are some of Beckett and Tucker's toys.

 The Frisbee was Tucker's and was one of the few toys he actually played with; now it's Beckett's favourite indoor Frisbee.

Beckett waiting for a game of Frisbee.

Stuffed Bones

One of the local agility clubs used to give a stuffed toy for each dog entered in their trials. You got to choose the toy you wanted; so once I chose these two for Ceilidh and Tucker. As you can see they have not been played with much, they've been at the bottom of the toy box so even Beckett hasn't touched them much at all. Does that say my dogs have too many toys??

One thing I found this week, is that it is hard to photograph purple. The purple colour often looks blue, like the bone in the picture above. The bone really is a very light shade of violet with purple dots on it but it doesn't look that way in the picture.

Underdog to Wonder dog

I watched a show on Animal Planet this afternoon for the very first time; it's called Underdog to Wonder Dog. It's about a rescue group that takes dogs with behavioural problems, trains them, and finds adoptive homes for them.

On today's episode, the dog they rescued was a three year-old bi-black Shetland Sheepdog named Chase.  Chase was an absolutely frenetic dog when the rescue coordinator went to the shelter to see him, jumping up and down in the kennel and running around like a maniac outside. He had been brought into a shelter by his family who they said he was just too much trouble. Luckily this shelter and rescue group decided that Chase needed a second chance but that in the shelter he never would get adopted.

Chase reminded me of both Ceilidh and Beckett at the same time and I wonder what they would have been like if they didn't have an outlet for some of their energy.

The home they found for Chase was on a horse ranch but before they could adopt Chase to the family they had to make sure Chase would be good with horses.  At first it didn't look good, Chase did exactly what his name said he chased every animal that moved, sheep, horses. But with a lot of patience they trained Chase to do his job, stay on his spot when told, to be calm around horses and to always come when he was called.

Chase looked like a different dog when he was finally introduced to the rest of the family. I thought, boy, I wish I was Chase, to live on a horse ranch; that would be a dream.  And then the rescue coordinator came on at the end of the show and said in life not every story has a happy ending. I thought,  no, they weren't able to keep Chase. But it was worse, a few months after being adopted, Chase was struck by a car and sadly died. They dedicated the show to Chase and the family who had adopted him and missed him so much. They filled the last few minutes of the show with pictures and videos of Chase with his new family.

I was surprised at how much I was affected by a little dog I never knew but then again maybe it wasn't so surprising as it made me think of losing Ceilidh.  At least Chase got to live with a family who actually loved him if only for a little while.

True Colours - Sing Me the Blues

This week's colour isn't just one colour but a range of colours.

I thought it would be difficult to find the range of colours in just one object but it didn't turn out to be that difficult. Many pieces of art work that have sky in them will have this range of blues.

My sister and I went to Toronto on the weekend to see War Horse with our youngest sister and my Dad's half sister.

We stayed with my Dad's half sister and it was at her place where I found my first two selections. The first is a graphic representing the ski resort at Canmore, Alberta.

Canmore Ski Resort

The second is a glass pitcher and gazing ball that were on a shelf in her kitchen. The pitcher when put up into the light looks all one shade of blue but when it was sitting on the shelf it appeared to be darker on the bottom.

Glass Pitcher and Gazing Ball

From my own things, I found a little oil lamp that I was given for my birthday one year. It's never been lit and probably never will since an inquisitive little black dog knocked it off the coffee table and it now has a hairline crack in it.

Oil Lamp

Lastly, I did look to the sky. My sister and I had taken the train to Toronto. Our return trip was on a warm sunny spring day and as we passed by Lake Ontario, the water and sky almost became one, filling our view with many shades of blue.

Lake Ontario - view from the train

War Horse was awesome by the way. If you ever have the chance to go see it, it is well worth the money.

Jump your Bones

Tucker and Beckett received their surprise Jump Your Bones dog treats from Tibby today. They received a sample of Roo Bites and Tuna. They never had Roo Bites before so we opened them first. Tucker gobbled them right up, Beckett wasn't too sure about the first piece but in the end was looking for more. We saved the tuna treats until after supper.

Can we open it NOW!!

Why does she have to take more pictures?

Are you sure there aren't any left??

Beckett and Tucker would sure like to thank Tibby and her Mom for sending such wonderful treats.

True Colours - Apple Green

Well, I can't say that its early spring here. We had quite a bit of snow last week so it's still very white but hopefully it will begin to melt soon enough as it is supposed to warm up later this week.

This week's colour is apple-green. Most of the items I found were kitchen items or at least found in the kitchen.

Salad bowl and green cutting board

From right under Beckett and Tucker's noses, their water bowl. I used to have a water bowl for each dog but found that they liked to share. Now there is one bowl upstairs and one downstairs.

Tucker and Beckett's water bowl.

The next selections are from my dining room which is painted with two shades of green. You can see the colours of the wall in the dining room in the pictures below. The upper colour is very much a spring or apple green. The art tile is a Christmas gift I gave to my Dad; he loved bird watching.

Ceramic art tile

Pear and Apple Salt and Pepper Shakers

And now for the twist, I didn't have any green apples, only Gala apples which are mostly red so I didn't want to buy any more so I took my picture in the grocery store with my Smart phone and e-mailed it to myself. Isn't technology wonderful? 

How do you like them Green apples?

Q - less, not this time

This weekend Beckett and I trialled again at AARF. The weather was warm but extremely windy and since we had snow during the week, it made for very sloppy conditions so other than for pee breaks we didn't go outside much.  We had five runs, two Masters Standards, a Masters Gamblers, a Steeplechase and a Masters Jumpers.

First up was a Masters Standard. Beckett ran just awesome; we were in sync for the whole run except for one little bobble. I didn't tell him to "Go tunnel" while he was still in the chute so he curled back towards me as he came out and then began to spin which gave us a refusal on the tunnel. It was the first time we were not eliminated in a Master Standard though and I was very happy with a 5 fault run especially since he was nearly 10 seconds under time.

Next up was our Gamblers event, I didn't much like the opening I had planned. It had us trying a mini-gamble right off the start line. Beckett wouldn't send out to a tunnel so I ran the mini with him hoping he would pattern it and do it the second time. No luck and he even flew off the teeter the second time around. The main gamble was a jump, tunnel, weave, jump combination. Beckett got the jump and the tunnel, they were nearly right on the line so no reason for him not to get them but he wouldn't stay out to the weaves. As I called him back to send him out again to the weaves, I said "tunnel" and guess what he did. Even the judge said, "Well you said tunnel".

Next was our second Masters Standard. I think he was still wound up from the Gamblers. I'll let you make your own opinion on how that went.

Masters Standard - March 2012

The next event was Steeplechase, where there are no refusals and weaves are judged at the Starters level. Luckily for us this Steeplechase had two sets of weaves and not two A-frames since we usually run out of time when there are two A-frames. Beckett ran fairly well, a few spins, one missed weave entry and a little pokey coming down the frame.  The standard course time was 50 seconds, Beckett ran it clean in 47.41 seconds. Good thing he was clean as even 5 faults would have put us over time.

The last run of the day was Jumpers. It walked nice except that there was a lot of places were you had to rear cross. I knew that if they weren't timed perfectly that Beckett would spin and maybe incur a refusal, so I tried to walk it putting in a front cross wherever I could. The course time was 47 seconds and Beckett ran it in 37.53 for his second Q of the event and his first Masters Q. Now we can say he really is a Masters level agility dog.

It was a long day and a long drive home. But both Tucker and Beckett enjoyed Beckett's winnings when we got home, two very large milk bones.

Shoe Fairies

Do you have shoe fairies? I do! I started noticing a few weeks ago that every once in a while I would find a shoe from the front hallway down the hall. A couple weeks ago, I noticed that one of my slippers had been moved. They are always left upstairs in my bedroom. Then just last week, one of the shoes from my shoe rack in my walk-in closet was moved off the rack. Those shoe fairies were sure getting brave. And it's always only one shoe or slipper.

This week, I came home and what did I find in my walk-in closet but a roll of toilet paper that had been kidnapped, assaulted, ripped apart and left for dead. Boy, those shoe fairies were starting to get mean.

But then, I thought maybe it isn't shoe fairies. So then I thought, well who could have done it.  Sit back and watch the Who Dun It - The Toilet Paper Caper.