Monday, October 27, 2008

LSBC's First Specialty Show



Ten years ago tomorrow, the organizational meeting of the Lone Star Borzoi Club took place. The past ten years has seen LOTS of hard work, including fun matches, A-matches (for licensing requirements), a handling seminar, ASFA lure trials, the hosting of several BCOA trophy supported entries, an auction to raise funds for a rescue or 22 Borzoi near Houston, TX, and assisting in the hosting of the 2005 BCOA National Specialty Show (in Mesquite). In February of this year, LSBC received licensed status from AKC and this past Saturday was the club's first Specialty Show. It was held in conjunction with the all-breed cluster hosted by the Travis County Kennel Club.

Our dogs managed to earn us some nice bling - trophies created by Redbird Adams, Royale Russian Hounds, including original artworks. Royal Russian is part of the foundation behind our friend Sara's Chataqua kennels, which is part of the foundation behind Gryffyn's Aeyrie. Here's a brief rundown of how our guys did...

Sassi - Best of Opposite Sex
Solo - Award of Merit
J/T - Best Bred-by Exhibitor
Burni - Best Veteran in Sweepstakes
J/T - Best of Opposite Sex in Puppy Sweepstakes

Nox won her 12-18 month class; Faina was 3rd in a large Bred-by Class and won her Sweeps class; Burni made the cut in Best of Breed, then became invisible, but showed fabulously for an approaching 8-year old. For the life of me I cannot remember how Nox and Pumpkin did in their Sweepstakes classes! We were so busy juggling dogs and trying to keep up!

Can't wait for the pictures!

Duri's Expecting

Duri's breeding to Achilles has taken! Her pregnancy is confirmed via a relaxin test, so we hope to be welcoming puppies in mid-November!

We will take an x-ray the weekend before in order to get a count and will post once we know it. Her first litter gave us some exciting youngsters - so we are hoping for more!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Lotsa Nerve (HSUS Holds Out Its Hand, Again)

A fundraising plea from HSUS' "Whining Wayne (Pacelle)" was recently shared on a pet laws list I am a member of. Here is a portion of the text:

I just got this message from Jennifer Fearing, the YES! on Prop 2 campaign manager, who’s working around the clock to get Proposition 2 passed. And, to be perfectly honest, we’re facing a severe shortage of funds to keep our TV ads on the air next week.

Read her message to me below and then please, give whatever you can to help us finish this fight.

?????????????????

It's a darn shame that "truth in advertising" apparently doesn't hold true for fundraising by these types of organizations. HSUS has over $100 million in its coffers and they're saying they can't afford some TV time??

If you believe that...I have a lovely beachfront home available for sale in Kansas!

Want to get more informed about HSUS and other animal rights terrorist orgs, check out the newly updated "Seven Things You Didn't Know" at the CCF web site and the information on HSUS at the ActivistCash web site.

Dont' let yourself get swindled!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

New Hope for the Field

Last weekend Victor went down to Hutto for the Alamo Area Whippet Club's coursing trials - they held both ASFA and AKC events each day. Peepers had already gotten a JC leg earlier this year and she finished up her Junior Courser title on Sunday, so she's now WindnSatin Peek-a-Boo, JC! I'm so happy she's decided she will make turns - she used to blow off a course after the first or second turn!

On Saturday, Nox started off gangbusters...but Victor said the lure op was getting the lure too far out and he finally dumped her at a sharp turn about 2/3 of the way through the course. She didn't get passed. On Sunday she did get her first leg...so hopefully she will wrap that up next time.

Pumpkin declined - she's all about the LGRA lure and did well at the NOTRA practices we had...but she didn't want to play this time around. Shugah hit the first turn and then her ADD kicked in - hopefully the light bulb will turn on, although she is amazingly empty-headed, especially for a girl! I expect it of the boys - but not the girls!

Speaking of the boys, we are going to need to start practicing some of them and see where their heads are at in relation to field events. So J/T, Wulfie, Buster and Lars may be heading to some local practices here soon!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

New Title and New Beginnings

Solo had been entered at the Fort Smith, AR shows this past weekend. After a series of minor mishaps combined with the nasty weather Saturday morning (and the show committee debating on whether to cancel Saturday's show), Jill made the decision to come home after having been on the road for 3 weeks.

Well, we took our lemons and made lemonade...and took Solo along to WindyGlen for the NOTRA meet after having spent a nice Saturday there. And today, Solo earned his needed point to finished his Oval Racing Champion title!

Also, his daughter Nox (out of Duri) had nice practices the previous Saturday at the GIT meet and ran on the following Sunday in her first meet and earned her first point. Saturday at Windyglen she earned a bit more towards her GRC. Peepers (bred by Mary Childs and Susan V) also practiced and ran the previous week and ran Saturday as well and earned her first GRC point, but we're going back to some training for her, as she had a bit too much interest in one of her yardmates (Demi) - although the second program's finish was beautiful with her and Nox running shoulder-to-shoulder and heads straight while crossing the finish.

Pumpkin (Nox's sister) practiced during the GIT weekend and showed more promise than ever, so we had her along this weekend as well and on Sunday she learned to run with a muzzle on and we also did a test run with her sister Nox (to see if they would play nice with each other, which they did) and today, she and Nox were introduced to the oval (practice) and did very well.

So we're excited to have some new, young racers to work with in the coming months!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Book Nook - The Innocent Man / Sharp Objects / Blood Memory

Sharing some more books that I enjoyed recently...

I've found one really nice side effect from carpooling these days - I can read!! Lately there just hasn't been enough time to enjoy books, so my payoff for having to stay anywhere from 30-60 minutes later than my schedule (now that "summer hours" are over) while waiting for Victor, is that I can read in the car (once I get past my chauffeur's "gun it-then-brake" method of [rush hour] driving which can give me killer carsickness). I also tend to work on various contract projects while at the office that extra bit.

I zipped through this one, beginning during my shift as a mid-track foul judge at GIT's race meet (to pass the time between races). Mesmerizing, and also a bit frightening, when considering the outright deviousness of law enforcement (both police and lawyers) and the ultimate injustices perpetrated upon a once-hailed school athlete and a passing friend of his. The escalating inhumane treatment of an obviously mentally ill man further adds to the sadistic behavior of not only the prison guards, but all the way up to those litigating the case against their chosen suspect.

I snagged this book thanks to a Barnes and Noble gift card and a sale they were having on trade paperbacks (of which the Grisham novel above was also from). Chosen because it involved a damaged main character (a newshound who was a cutter) thrown into the midst of smalltown murders. This was another book that I was able to breeze through fairly quickly, keeping me interested enough to stay up a bit later than the norm. This was a debut novel and I look forward to more from this author (Gillian Flynn).

Oh my - this was a VERY rewarding impulse buy from our trip to Costco to pick up a big load of dog kibble. I always find it super-hard to get by their book tables, and this one caught my eye. It's a thick sucker too - 800 pages - but still a fast read. Like "Sharp Objects" this is another dysfunctional family, another damaged protagonist, another small town, and more gruesome murders to solve, although the main character in this one is an alcoholic with impulse control "issues" and is involved in forensics (and not a reporter). There's some interesting plot twists and the ideas on repressed memory were interesting. I think I am going to have to pick up Iles' first novel featuring Cat Ferry!

Now I am well into yet another book - will post about it upon its finish. It's not even a bloody crime book either . I think dog lovers will want to check it out!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

New Words to Add to Your Vocabulary

Got one of those viral emails sent to spread a little good cheer. Although the introductory premise is incorrect (the "Mensa Invitational" is apparently imaginary, although the Washington Post has something called the "Style Invitational", check out this link for an intro). The idea - take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are the results...

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

10. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's, like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic fit(n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

And the #1 pick:
17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

I do believe that some of these I need to use!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Where's Mine??

Ya know, the more I think about it, the madder I get! Where's my great big debt-erasing handout from the federal government?? The less-than-great decisions I've made in life are nothing compared to the fat cat moneygrubbers that are asking for a bailout from Uncle Sam!

I keep chipping away at my credit card bills (not to mention the gas cards) and paying my debts. I give up a LOT of other extras so that I can participate in the dog hobby that has become the main portion of my life, day in and day out. I have cut out attendance at several show clusters or performance events that I normally attended thanks to the high price of travel and trying to stay afloat. We are in dire need of a new automobile but cannot even begin to budget for it right now - a '93 gas-sucking Suburban that's about to kill off its second transmission and whose brakes are grinding badly; the 2000 Astro with 193K miles on it that couldn't pass inspection last week and is now in the shop likely needing a catalytic converter, among other things; the mother-in-law's "not-so-Grand Am" with a leak in the intake manifold and is now completely dead; and then the Sprinter that runs on the ever-more expensive diesel fuel and doesn't really fit in either of our job's parking lots.

So handing out big money to HUGE corporate businesses that made bad business decisions (while maintaining golden parachutes for the higher ups) kinda chaps me.

Next thing you know, Exxon will be knocking on the government handout door because they don't think they're making enough money, although it feels like financial rape every time I pull up to a gas pump.

I think the following letter from Michael Moore pretty much sums up how I'm feeling at the moment!! Here's an excerpt - the link to the full text follows:

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.


Link to the full article:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=235

Late Weekend Update

Two more pups left the nest this past weekend - "Scooter", now known as "Griffie" from Duncan/Josi's litter left for WI with his new family, the Olsens. They are soft sculpture artists and showed me some pictures of lovely Borzoi creations! So lifelike! And they used Borzoi hair brushings to complete the detail - it was beautiful.

"Beast" (Isaak/Serena) is now known as "Ajax" and left with the Lynn and Doyle Wall Saturday evening. He will be co-owned with Mary, who has VooDoo from us (and we have Peepers from her!) and is currently keeping Kandi's daughter Blondie company down in Cypress, TX.

"Mo" is still hanging out here with our definite keepers, Shadow and Fanci (Isaak/Serena) and Sunni and Lola (Duncan/Josi). There's just something about him that makes me not want to let go of him just yet! Smudge is also still here as I await hearing from who I thought was going to be adopting her.

As to out other activities - Gazehounds in Texas (GIT) had their first race meet of the season (LGRA) just down the road in McKinney! We took some youngsters to practice and then Sunday worked with Peepers and Nox on box training, and entered them in the Sunday meet. I was pleasantly surprised that Nox wouldn't back off when things got tight, and she had some nice push throughs when things got tight. I guess her stubborn streak may pay off! Peepers is fearful of strange dogs, so we had a nice crowd for her to work her issues out with since the other two dogs that were running don't give off aggressive vibes, and one of them makes Solo look very serious as he is yet another friendly goober. In the third program she did get the courage to pass him and come in third (behind the meet winner and Nox).

We also had some promising practices with Pumpkin and Shugah, although Azchyl, who had seemed so promising back in the spring, was not very excited in anything at all. Hopefully, it was just a result of the pushing-90 degree temps.