A Princess in Atlanta

Look at this cute Fairy Princess that Mom and I visited in Atlanta over the holidays. Grandad Richard certainly agress she's a Princess!



The Princess in a more relaxed, reflective moment.

Dog days in the Valley

Char and Abby putting on a "heeling" demonstration at the Relay for Life Dog Walk held in November at the Blue Ridge Community College.



Haley and Abby kickin back during a break in the action.




It's back to work for Abby (Haley was saving her place int he shade). Easy to see why Abby was voted in the top 20 in the APDT Level 2 Rally Obedience class. Look at how attentive she is to Char. If only SOME OTHER dog we all know and love paid that much attention.




Congrats again to Char and her girls! Keep us posted on the medal count Char

Anyone having problems blogging?

To all regular bloggers: If anyone is having problems posting a comment or a new post, please let me know. It looks like everyone who is a regular is doing ok. However, Blogspot has changed to a new design and evidently "some" are having problems. Let me know if you are and I'll try to get it corrected. In the meantime........blog away!!!

Happy Birthdy to Win!!

When Dad and I got to the doctor's office the morning of Jan. 10, 1976 Dad dropped me off at the front door and went to park the car. The doctor took me in immediately, checked me out and said, "You are going to have a baby in about 15 minutes. Hurry up, I'll meet you at the hopsital".

I went to find Dad and told him we needed to get to the hospital right away. He said, "Do you want to walk over there or do we have to drive?" I kid you not!! His first thought was worrying about finding a good parking spot in the Hospital lot (located a block away)!! Of course, I said "DRIVE and make it quick!!!".

Win, you have made life interesting ever since. Happy Birthday!

In my defense, I was thinking ONLY of mom when I suggested we walk....knowing that the hospital was just across the street. As it turned out, I'm glad we drove (no, I did NOT find a primo parking spot), because 'lil' Win showed up only minutes later. It's been a "long strange trip" one, that I'm STILL beaming about.... and so the road goes on. Happy Birthday Win!! (um, I did try to call you early this morning) You're a special one!

Abby & Char go National!

Let's all give it up to Abby (and Auntie Char) for their selection into the National ranking of top obedience teams in the country! Way to go you two. The following is the announcement from Auntie Char....

I just found out last night that Abby and I made the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) National Rankings for 2006- We were ranked the #20 team in APDT Level 2 Rally Obedience for the year! The top 20 teams in each category qualify for special awards-so we JUST made it! We didn’t even go to very many trials, but her scores were so high (including 3 PERFECT scores) that it was enough to qualify in the rankings for the entire year-a total surprise for me!!

Haley almost made it too-but she had one lower score (an ‘off’ day) which pulled her average out of the rankings. Well, she might make it for 2007!

Now I need one of those “honor roll” bumper stickers- “My dog is nationally ranked with APDT”!

Love, Char

PS: Happy Birthday Auntie Char!!!! (added today-1/8/07)