Monday, November 26, 2007

Holiday Field Trials ("trial" being the key word!)

After a week full of very mild winter weather - a cold front decided to sweep through in time for our field events. ICK. The Lone Star Borzoi Club's ASFA trial was the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was overcast but in the mid to high 30s, with a brisk north wind to top it off - at least it was dry. Nothing like trying to do paperwork while it keeps attempting to escape the table (I had on my Field Trial Secretary hat). I was also very rusty since I had managed to avoid performing in the FTS capacity for a while - but I pretty much just got stuck with it this time around. Got through the trial ok - but it remains to be seen as to whether or not I survive getting the trial records ready to mail in to ASFA. At this trial we only ran Magik - the ever-creative Magik, who is still in disagreement with the course designers. She tends to be a better 2nd day runner - so we were hoping for a less Picasso-esque performance at the next day's Regional. We did bring the Monkee-kids for practice - Wulf, Buster and Faina all turned in promising runs, with Wulf showing the most interest in killing the bags at the end. Peepers was a huge disappointment - I was expecting much more after Victor told me how well she did at earlier practices. She failed a certification - and had a pooper of a practice run after that - quitting after the first turn. Harli was a mess too - and then we had to catch her. She has apparently been speaking to the Pharaoh Hounds about how to avoid being caught after a run.

Saturday morning arrived much too early...as did the rain. And roll call - an hour earlier than the day previous. We had 3 entries for the day - Solo, Monkee, and Magik. We weren't really expecting anything all that competitive from the girls - but Solo was another story. Despite a nice performance from him in an attempt to win a trophy for the bench champions (it was our region's invitational trial) - he received some dreary results to go hand in hand with a dreary day. It's a bit upsetting to see a dog that did not finish the course in finals before I had already picked up my runner in the course, score higher than one that did. Granted it was due to a tumble about 3/4 of the way through, but still, it took a long time to get to the finish, and not in working style. But oh well - there's always next year (or maybe when Solo's a veteran ).

Sunday I opted for a day at home while Victor attended the trial. I had had enough of the cold and wet (I don't like to be cold, nor do I like to be wet...both - forget it!) He just took the ever-creative Monkee (she and Magik share their opinion of course designers) - and she opted to go back to her enormously creative state, although she had shown an inclination to follow much more than usual at the Regionals.

Our Thanksgiving

We had a somewhat untraditional Thanksgiving...in terms of the food at least. Certainly we thought of those things for which to be thankful for, of which, despite any daily grumblings, are a-plenty. We were tied close to home for the holiday since our club (Lone Star Borzoi Club) was hosting a lure trial the next day and there were other trials the rest of the weekend, including the ASFA Regional Invitational. After ticking through the logistics - it just wasn't feasible to leave town for the day.

Not being much of a homemaker or cook (I'm an "open-box-add-water" kinda gal) I could not bring myself to cook a turkey for just Victor and myself. Since we had a huge package of stew meat in the freezer, the day before feast day I googled up a recipe for a Spicy Beef Curry Stew. I didn't exactly follow the directions to a "t" - except for the spices used, and they were multiplied to fit with the quantity of beef (4.3 lbs - I said it was a HUGE package!). I set everything up the night before and through the night the house filled up with exotic spicy scents.

Towards lunchtime I just threw some sweet potatoes into the oven to bake while Victor and I took to the yard to attempt some photo updates. We brought out the lure toy for the Spells pups to play with. Ascensio, Nox, "Whitey", and Boy #2 are really wanting the "bunny" - closely followed by Pest and Monkee's daughter Faina. QiQi also got into the midst of things - although we hadn't been able to get her interested in a race practice at the beginning of the month when we attended GIT's LGRA meet.

After the hour-long (or more) photo session, we returned into the cozy temps of the house for our late holiday lunch. We ordered "Evan Almighty" on pay-per-view as our entertainment. That was about as close to a holiday movie as we could get - and I couldn't talk Victor into watching "Mr. Brooks", and teased him with the idea of ordering "Hostel" (no thank you!). The stew turned out pretty darned good and the meat was falling apart in the slow cooker. We topped it off with a low carb, crustless pumpkin cheesecake.

We then prepped for the trial the next day - but definitely an easygoing and somewhat relaxing day. Thank goodness for that ;)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Special Delivery

Solo got a lovely little delivery in the mail - an invite to WESTMINSTER! As of October 31 he stands at #4 in the breed rankings, so he is guaranteed entry at the Garden if I send it on in. Which I did today! I am so excited that our "Ubergoober" has done so well his first year out as a special - and so young too! He just loves to show and meet folks! I figured this isn't going to happen to me that often...so what the heck....we're gonna go again this time! We had already made ground transportation arrangements for him - and now I will be making flight arrangements for me. The last thing I need to do is drive around in a downtown setting - I would likely get arrested! I just hate downtown environments and cannot understand how folks can live like bees in a honeycomb with not a blade of grass in sight!

Looks like Sara may come with me so we can see Solo strut it out at the Garden. I am excited, nervous...and actually quite frightened of being completely overwhelmed being in that atmosphere.

Flareon Under the Knife

Flareon had to go in for surgery this morning. For a while now she has had what we "affectionately" called...."the BOOB". It had first come up shortly before her pregnancy, and we (and the vet) took it for a lipoma on one of her breasts. She had her pups, and that particular breast was functioning fine in terms of the milk department - but when the milk bar went away after Lars and Zander were weaned..."the boob" remained. A dangly item which looked odd when we put racing silks on her. It seemed that one thing after another (financially) kept us from getting her in for its removal, the last event being the death of the Astro van's transmission. Nothing like driving a conspicuous, over-sized, bright blue van (aka the Zoibus) to work on a daily basis.

We finally got to take her in today for her "breast reduction surgery" (one must keep a sense of humor at times) and also opted for them to remove a little black mole on her left hip that made me a bit nervous. When we were searching for that mole, we came across what I originally thought was a callous from her choice of wanting to lay on the tile entry in the house. I got a call at work from Heather (the tech who petsits for us) saying that Dr. Lindsley was concerned about that "bump" and that she wanted to know if I would like it taken off. After learning that I had never given a vaccine in that area - they opted for sending it to a histopath for a diagnosis. It was hard as a rock. So I am a bit worried about that outcome - hopefully I will know something soon and it won't be a cause for further concern.

As to "the BOOB" - yup.....it was a lipoma. A big'un too and all contained on the outside with no "issues"...and apparently a brief source of entertainment at the clinic after its removal. No lasting effects or malignancy - hurrah!

Flareon is now resting [un]comfortably in the living room, dressed in an old McLane t-shirt (I guess it serves a better purpose than burning it as I curse that company) to keep any drippage off the carpet and/or couch. She has started to stiffen up now that the day has worn on and she's obviously not feeling her best. She's had her pain meds for the day - but something tells me we are going to get the drama routine in the morning, although she's normally a very stoic girl.

Cute Puppy Fix!

Victor gets a smooch from Sassi's daughter after her photo session

Took the 5-week-old stack pix of Sassi's pups - what a batch of stubborn little heathens they are! They wanna be seen - but they have issues with behaving! Into everything - nothing is safe!

The new pictures are posted in their online album HERE.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Victory in the Hound Group!

The BCOA Trophy Supported Entry at the Cypress Creek Kennel Club all-breed dog show was a stellar event for us. The trophies created by Margaret Lucia were absolutely wonderful - and I was thrilled that the results allowed us to bring some of them home!

Bugg, seemingly always odd-Borzoi-out (the judges either give her the class, or completely ignore her, it seems), came away with her first points by being awarded Winners Bitch! Bonus - bling! A lovely etched glass piece!

Arthur was the only veteran entered (at 9 1/2 years of age) - so his wins were by default...but not the compliments. His efforts were rewarded with an etched treat jar and vase (Sweeps and Regular classes).

Then there was Solo - last, but certainly NOT least! Solo went Best of Breed in excellent company. I could really appreciate many of his competitors. Our breed judging was scheduled at the beginning of the day...and we ended up being the last group scheduled - so that made for a looooong day, which was eased by a group of us visiting a favored Mexican restaurant (Los Cucos) down the road for lots of good food (and drink!). The wait was certainly worth it as Solo WON the Hound Group! Such a thrill to see him do it! The judge was Prof. Doug Taylor - who finished Sassi's championship (with a Major from Bred-By), as well as having awarded Duri a major (again from Bred-By).

The highlight (for me at least) in the BIS competition was watching Solo react to the Pekingese there. He was first in line, and the Peke was last. He did fine after the first go-round because Jeanie (who was handling him since David's Sharpei, Lashes, had also won her group) was keeping him occupied with tasty items from her pocket we had warned her that he might find the Peke an enticing "toy"). But on the last go round when she came to the end of the line, there were the ears. He had sighted the Peke! He was all about it, and it finally took off to do its last little go-round and Solo got back to business after a little pinch on the head. But it was so funny. David did win Best in Show with Lashes - she's already broken the record for Shar-pei BISs, but it's great to see her get more as she's a nice girl and just wags and wags her tail in the ring.

Here's hoping all our pictures turn out nicely!

Friday, November 2, 2007

Pupdates!

Duri's and Sassi's litters are doing great. I've posted pictures online at the Gryffyn's Aeyrie web site.

Duri's litter at 8 weeks of age - HERE (starting from the last picture on the page)

Pumpkin and a brother



Sassi's litter at 2 weeks of age - HERE (starting from the last picture on the page)

little boy 3

Web Site Update - Kyrov Borzoi

Amy's site for Kyrov Borzoi has received a "facelift". Many of the original graphics are still being utilized - but it has had the frames layout removed and instead utilized a CSS layout - although tables were still utilized within the content area. It certainly "freshened"up the site's look.

Take a look HERE.