Sorry about the lapse...

OK, life got ahead of me there for a bit. There's a lot to catch up on so I may put Spain off for a day or so. Anyone know how to shrink a movie? I have a great one from when we were in Morocco and saw the snake charmer (who put a viper around Jacob's neck) but it's 19 MB. I'd love to upload it for you, I just don't know how.
About a week or so ago Kaylee decided that her puppies needed to start eating something more substantial and on one of her walks, she paused for a second, dove into the snow and came up with a soon-to-be-very-dead bunny. On the one hand it was very upsetting and I had to wake someone up to dispose of the body (there are some things I just don't do, especially at 7 in the morning). On the other hand, I had to admire how she located the bunny even though it was under a ton of snow and caught it just like that.
I've updated the website with photos of Kaylee and Delceg's puppies at http://nuthatch.virtualave.net/kayleedecegpups.html and put up some pics of Shiraz and Mac's brood as well - http://nuthatch.virtualave.net/shirazmacpups.html I've named them all after liqueurs since their mother is named for my favourite type of wine and their father for my very favourite single malt scotch.
I also finished my first scrapbook. It reeks of me - lines are crooked and off-centre and you can tell I possess the artistic abilities of a five year old (and not a very talented five year old at that). Thankfully, it's recipient, a lady I work with who is leaving the branch, took it's intentions to heart and ignored my lack of skills and poor sense of colour. I took pictures os you all can criticize to your heart's contents and hopefully make some constructive suggestions as well. I did have a ton of fun doing it although Dad mentionned it was probably the most expensive idea I had come up with in a while. Anyway, here it is.









































In other news, I have started taking Lindsay to handling classes. Lindsay owns Gryphon, one of Becca and Delceg's puppies, and has decided she'd like to learn to show dogs. Always appreciative of someone with longer, more graceful and significantly better functionning legs than mine, I have taken her up on it and we're attending classes together. Our first class was last night and I'm very pleased to be able to say she is a natural. I have high hopes for her come April when I start showing in Canada again.

Anyway, that's more than enough for now. Talk to you later.

Puppies & Spain

Shiraz’s litter is doing well. So far so good. Kaylee’s litter has moved up to the living room and is having a ball. They’re a really fun bunch. I like having only six in a litter as they are much easier to take care of for both me and their mother and you have more time for each one than you do when you’re trying to cope with ten plus puppies. I need to get some pictures of both litters.
I’m thinking that I’ll start my Spanish adventure next in here. I promised to do a website as we have tons of photos and I actually kept notes of where we went, etc but I just can’t seem to find the time so perhaps I can do this instead.
I went to Spain last July with my nephew, Jacob. The idea grew out of my realization early last year that, since Jacob was getting older (he turned 17 last July), he wasn’t going to want to come back and spend summers with his grandparents and aunt every year. Instead he’d do normal teen things – get a job, earn some money, girlfriend, maybe go away to school, etc. I was worried that the coming summer would be our last one together and I decided that I wanted to do something with him that he would always remember.
I can’t really explain how I feel about Jacob other than to say that I love him and his brother Alex more than anyone else in the world and words don’t really describe the emotion very well. So, this was really important to me. I would end up promising Alex that I would do the same with him when he was old enough (he’s 13 now).
Why Spain? Years earlier when I had more money Joanna and I had discussed doing a driving tour of Spain. As Europe goes, Spain is on the less expensive side and it had the added appeal of being close enough for visits to Gibraltar and Morocco. I’m not sure if I’ll ever have enough cash to go to Africa so the possibility of even a day trip was a not to be missed one.
After that it just became a matter of doing the booking. We would start in Madrid, move down to Jerez (pronounced Heref in Castilian) where we would stay in an apartment, and then on to Granada before heading back to Madrid and then home with tons of day trips along the way. We would be staying in hotels in Madrid and Granada and the apartment in Jerez. In retrospect, it would have been nice to be doing an apartment the whole time as it was easily our favourite place we stayed.
I spent weeks learning how to drive standard as automatic cars are not easy to rent in Europe and are usually much more expensive. By the time we left I was bearable at it but you wouldn’t want to be behind me in heavy traffic.

Like sands in the hourglass these are the Days of Our Lives...

Mojo:

I didn't lie, here's the pics I promised. They were taken by Jay and as you can see he's one great photographer.






Now on to my regularly scheduled wit...

The highlight of he day was certainly Shiraz's decision to have her puppies early. She started at 9:30ish this morning and finished at 4:30pm. All eleven puppies are doing well - 8 girls and 3 boys :) I'll post some pictures soon. Time really does pass like sands in an hourglass when you have to work and you sit there waiting for puppy updates. Mind you it doesn't pass much differently when you're sitting in the whelping box most of the time. There are those busy birthing moments and then the lull in between while you twiddle your thumbs and the mother shreds the bedding. Oh and the heat gets to you, making you perpetually long for a pillow.

In other news, Joanna is coming for a visit in April. I had hoped to go to Jacob's graduation but for reasons unknown the ceremony is in late May and I can't get more time off in May. I'm already taking 6 days off so I can manage things here at the house while Mom & Dad are in Scotland & Ireland. I'm going to look at the schedule in July & August and see if I can plan a visit for then. Who ever heard of having a graduation ceremony before school ends?? Does this mean they have to pass you if you've graduated already and then fail to show up for the rest of the semester??
Jacob has taken on a new job at a pizza place and is really excited about working there and learning to make pizza dough. Me, I'm thrilled he actually has a job he likes.
Finally in the extra exciting and totally shocking category, we have Dalwhinnie in Wildwood, New Jersey this past weekend. These were her first US shows and honestly I wasn't expecting much. Sarah was sure she could show her and I was just as sure this was not going to fly. For those of you who have never met Dal, I affectionately refer to her as my wingnut babe. Tons of energy and not a calm bone in her. Not to mention that she isn't particularly fond of people she doesn't know. These are not the makings of a great show dog. So, what does she do? She goes BW on Sunday and today she went WB (there was no WD) and BOS. Who'd a thunk?