Palm Springs

We are off to Palm Springs , California tomorrow - where the weather for the next few days will be in the mid 70's (23 Celcius) I'm judging Thursday & Friday and then we will enjoy the other shows on Saturday & Sunday as spectators. It will be pleasant enjoying the fine sunny weather.

No news

Its been very quiet here, with mainly doing laundry and catching up on email and paying bills. The snow has all gone and we are back to mild temperatures.

How do you eat this?

While we were in Australia, David saw a fresh Pomegranate and wanted to try one - as he had read of the great health benefits of them. Well we bought one, and then I read online how to prepare it - however it was messy (read stained fingers) and the end result was very bitter. So David thought that he would go back to juice - however they all have too much sugar in them, so he passed. Then today while I was in Costco replenishing the larder I saw this
and so I bought them and you know what, the seeds are pretty nice - in fact we had them, instead of cranberries to go with our belated Christmas dinner. And someone at Costco had done all the hard work.
Driving around today was a bit of a challenge - we had to return our rental car and getting out of the street was the hardest part of all, as a plogh had come through yesterday and scooped a whole lot of snow onto the side of the main road and as only a couple of people live on our road, there was not much of a path out. However we made it and all the rest of the roads were fine, as the traffic had made them clear. It then gently rained all day, melting a lot more of the snow - and with temperatures in the 40's predicted for the next week, all the snow should soon be gone.

Pictures from the trip

Saw these signs on our travels - a speed hump, a pedestrian crossing and not sure about the 3rd one?
David saw this jacket and wondered about it for showing at the Top 20!

This is the photo of the Crown Plaza bathroom in Singapore - taken from the bedroom!

Memories of the weather we left behind in Australia (the view from my parents apartment)
And the reality of the weather we returned home to....

Christmas Day

Its been a very long Christmas day - by the time it is all done, we will have had about 40 hours of Christmas day! (Thats what happens when you fly east) Our day started at 5am in Singapore and then we travelled to Tokyo, San Francisco and then finally home to Portland airport. The reindeer must have been smiling on us, as the airport was working, flights were all on time and despite the large amount of snow on the ground, and heavy snow falling as we drove home, we made it. The dogs were thrilled to see us and everything was in good shape - except for one smoke alarm which wont stop "cheeping" - its now disconnected pending a permanent fix.

Timing is everything

Readers of my blog over the past few weeks will remember we went on the Singapore Flyer (a huge ferris wheel, here in Singapore) well the big news this morning is the rescue of many people from the Flyer yesterday afternoon (see photo above)
A power disruption left more than 100 passengers stranded above ground in the world's biggest observation wheel for about six hours, forcing some to abseil down to safety.
A few lowered themselves in a sling-like device on a rope from one of the observation capsules before the Singapore Flyer eventually began turning again to allow other trapped passengers to get out.

I guess we had a good experience...

Now we are trying to see if the weather in the US will allow us to get home without problems - off to United to get the latest update on plane schedules. Would prefer to spend Christmas here, rather than in the airport somewhere!

Ah...the words you like to hear

While we were waiting for our 7 hour flight on Singapore Air this morning, our names were called to the desk and we were told the flight was overbooked and so we had been upgraded to Business Class!! Yeah! (The benefits of being a top level flyer, when they need someone to upgrade, your name is at the top of the list) Now we were about to experience the world renowned service of Singapore Air (which has won just about every top airline award - for service, food, wine and general hospitality over the years) I have to say that we had flown down to Australia in economy, and their economy product does not differ from any other economy service.
However I can report their business product is magnificent. From the little things like hot towel service (4 times) to real towels in the toilets, very attentive service and wonderful food and drinks. You could get any of 8 different teas or 4 different sorts of coffee at any time, or cappuccino. Then as it was a day time flight, leaving at 10am, our meal was Brunch and we decided to sample Singapore Carrot Cake which was absolutely delicious - a fried rice and radish cake, with shrimp and egg accompanied by a sweet chili dipping sauce. Our final meal was a delicious curried duck, so we are now very well fed. One of the few times I can actually say, the airline food was excellent
Our hotel the Crown Plaza at the airport is just 7 months old and is also very nice - it must have been designed by someone who must actually stay in hotels! It has 2 sitting chairs (its amazing how many hotels only have 1) and it also has room for 2 people to put their suitcases on a rack, instead as so often happens, there is only one rack and the other person has to use the floor. However the bathroom is interesting - with a bit of a lack of privacy - as there is a glass wall between bedroom and bathroom (the wall does have some painting on the glass, but you can still see the person in the tub!)
So now we will spend 36 hours in Singapore where its a humid 95, before returning home.

Our Favorite Things

This picture represents one of the things that we will miss, as we get ready to leave Australia tomorrow - its a bowl of fresh fruit salad that we enjoy every morning. Other things we will miss are the beautiful weather and my parents. Still it will be good to get home again, and I am sure there will be several dogs who will be thrilled to see us!

Hopefully our flight to Singapore will be more enjoyable than our last flight from Melbourne. And we also get to try the brand new Crown Plaza at the airport in Singapore and maybe do some electronics shopping in Singapore.

A day on the beach

While many of my blog readers are battling snow, windstorms and power blackouts - we have been on the beach enjoying beautiful weather. This morning there was a major Surf Lifesaving competition on the beach with teams competing for $200,000, so this is serious business! On the beaches which are patrolled by lifeguards, it is only permissable to swim between the flags and there are lots of signs with interesting instructions to be seen. Then there are lots of healthy looking bodies in the competition (David said the girls expose more skin than the models in the windows of Victoria's Secret!)Many people head to the beach to watch and eat a typical Australian lunch of freshly caught prawns (shrimp) or calamari. Its a hard life but someone has to do it!! We come home soon - hope the snow is all gone and there is not much clean up to do.

Photos from Sydney/Melbourne Trip

Queensland again

We flew from Melbourne on Thursday afternoon back to Queensland. We left Melbourne and it was overcast and about 65 and the forecast for Surfers Paradise was 90 and thunderstorms. After we boarded the plane in Melbourne we had to sit on the plane for a while, at the gate while they refueled - they had not been able to refuel earlier as there were thunderstorms in the area and the union has an agreement that all workers cannot work if there are thunderstorms in the area (it was not raining or anything) so after we sat there for 10 minutes the air hostess came along and told us to all UNDO our seatbelts as it was a rule, nobody could be strapped in during refueling (I can only presume this was to make a quick evacuation if you needed to!) However this is the first time I have ever been asked to do this and I fly 100,000 miles a year. What was even more surprising was that we were never told to fasten the seatbelts before taking off. The 1 1/2 hour flight was O, but extreemly bumpy coming in to land as there were thunderstorms in the area and we had to circle for 30 minutes or so - still it was better than being diverted somewhere else and being bussed back.

Today is HOT and humid, lots of sun - the beach looks gorgeous from the window.

Casino and Theater

When we woke up today it had been raining and was overcast, so we decided to stay inside today. Just across the road from our hotel is the Crown Casino so we decided to try our luck...now we are not exactly "high rollers" and usually play the 1c or 2c slot machines..so off we headed with our $1 each stake and 2 hours later emerged with $64 - which was a very good return - despite all the warning signs above the machines which state "remember the machines always win, eventually".
Then we went to the afternoon matinee of Wicked which was a bit noisy but otherwise enjoyable.

Sightseeing

Today we went to an exhibition of Peter Allen memorabillia and the Racing museum - both very different but great

Melbourne

Well access to computer networks have been almost impossible over the last few days - even though staying at Crown Plaza Hotels, their internet access is either very expensive or patchy or both! So now I have just 1/2 hour free in Melbourne, so will post a synopsis of the weekend. I have some pictures, but no way to upload them until I get back to my parents computer at the end of this week. We met Leanne and Christophe and went out to dinner with them on Friday, then went to dog shows on Saturday and Sunday - thank goodness it had stopped raining by then. Saw some beagles and met lots of friends and a the night show on Saturday, partied with peel and eat prawns (shrimp) and a lovely sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand - thats the way to enjoy a dog show and who cares who wins!
Sunday was another lovely day (weather wise) and we again renewed friendships with many people. Sunday night we found a lovely Italian restaurant near the airport and then this morning flew to Melbourne - where its cool - about 60 degrees (I know this is warmer than the most of the US currently - but this is mid SUMMER in Australia) so about to go shopping for a long sleeved shirt and some socks!

rain, rain and more rain

We left Queensland in rain and arrived in Sydney in rain and that was the pattern for the rest of the day and evening. Fortunately this morning there is sun and a breeze which hopefully will help to dry out the ground before the show starts at 4pm today. There are 22 beagles entered so look forward to seeing more friends.

Sydney

David and I fly to Sydney for the weekend to meet up with Beagle friends Leanne & Christophe - Beagelee and Afghan friends, Stuart & Wendye - Calahorra and going to a dog show, which is an afternoon/night show (a common occurrence in this hotter climate) however showers are predicted...

Sightseeing

As we are in Queensland, where the state slogan is "Beautiful one day, perfect the next" we felt that we should go and see some of the countryside (or Bush, as its called) Today was 85 degrees and sunny, not a cloud in the sky - so we headed off to O'Reilly's Along the way, we saw a lot of the Flame Trees, shown above. We had lunch at the lodge and then went on a walk in the tropical rainforest, saw some pretty birds.

This is a Bower Bird

Then the Lorrikeets were being fed
And one landed on David's hat...

Australia (the movie)

Yesterday we went and saw Baz Luhrman's Australia starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Guess what! We enjoyed it. We did agree with most of the negative criticisms though. It runs long. The bombing of Darwin seems tacked on. The sweeping epic quality matched with The Wizard of Oz is a bit silly. But, still, it's a fine film experience. If Luhrman had cut the cattle stampede, I think the film would have been better as a lot of the problems with the film are in that scene, ie Aboriginal magic. However, the landscapes are immense and beautiful. The love story is fine. The villains are just evil enough. Jackman is gorgeous and Kidman is natural and believable. The script is over-reaching, but still interesting story-telling with moments of real humor and tenderness.

Fish

This is the sort that we eat (not the other way around) Above are Moreton Bay Bugs, which are a local crayfish type, a favorite of ours.

then here is a picture of the Pacific ocean not far from my parents apartment (well maybe about 20 miles) there is just miles of beach and sun and its wonderful.

Fruits of the season

One of the advantages of being in Australia at this time of the year, is being able to enjoy all the tropical fruits. Pictured above is a Rambutan, they are sort of like a Lychee, and have a subtle taste. When combined with my other favorite - mango, we have the start of our wonderful daily fruit salad breakfast - also included are passionfruit, local pineapple, peaches and nectarines.

Pictures from Travels

Having finally uploaded the pictures from my phone, I now have them in an album below - and even discovered a couple from our stay in Munich!
In the album are photos of Singapore and our time with the fishes. Then I also have the Christmas tree from the Conrad hotel we stayed at - the whole tree is constructed of Teddy Bears (and I have a close up of a bear) Then Jellyfish from the Aquarium.
From Munich a beer coaster of the pub we went to and a picture of my wine served in a small stein (a first for me!)

Arrival in Australia

After a 7 hour flight we arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm at the Brisbane airport. We touched down with no problems, but apparently the baggage handlers dont work in wet conditions - so everybody had to wait 1 hour for the luggage to be offloaded...just as well thei baggage handlers dont work in the Pacific Northwest - they would never get any work done.

Fish Reflexology

You won't believe how we started today... We went to a spa for a fish reflexology treatment. This is where you immerse your feet in a pool and lots of hungry Turkish Spa fish eat all the dead skin off your feet. It tickles and I was amazed that David enjoyed it, but he did. I have photos but need to get to my parents computer to upload them - after the nibbling was completed we all got a 20 minute foot massage- then we were ready for the rest of the day.
More details in 24 hours or so , as we fly to Brisbane tomorrow on Singapore Airlines

Singapore

After flying for 20+ hours ( through Seattle and Tokyo ) we arrived in Singapore,which is the height of efficiency and although we arrived at 1/4 past midnight within 20 minutes we were through immigration, had collected our luggage and were waiting for a taxi, for the 15 minute ride to the Conrad hotel. Just 1hour after arrival in singapore I was in bed!!
Today we went on the Singapore Flyer a brand new huge ferris wheel (for tourists) followed by a trip to the National Museum - both were fascinating and both had digital headphones which told you what you were looking at - technology is great!
Now we will relax, then have an early dinner and turn in early also as our full day tour leaves early tomorrow
Hopefully it will be drier tomorrow as today was very wet but was 87 degrees so not unpleasant.

Packing complete

Well we are ready to head off tomorrow to Singapore for a few days, then on to Brisbane. I will post while we are away.

Travel and Technology

As we get ready to head to Singapore and then on to Australia its’s time to charge up all my electronics. So what do I take with me when we travel…my iTouch (which provides me with videos for the flight, games, for when I am bored and Wi-Fi connection so I can get email on the road) all in this small package. And you can leave it in your handbag going through security

Then I have to have all the right chargers and adaptors – I like my iGo charger as I can use one charger, with different tips to charge Nokia cell phone and iTouch.

Then I like this adaptor from APC (which is small and flat - unlike many other brands, and very ingeniously constructed.
To keep my iTouch charged on the plane I also have an empower kit which, plugs into the airline in-seat power (which hopefully will be working) the one disadvantage with this is that it gets VERY hot, so you can only run it for a while. So I do carry supplementl battery power for the iTouch, so I can watch my movies on the nearly 20 hour flight (with layovers in Seattle and Tokyo)
When we arrive in Australia we will buy a local SIM card for our phones, and they are very generous with minutes and we can even call back to the USA, at a cheap rate.
So my carryon does get a bit full with all these electrical accessories – which sometimes causes a search at the airline security checkpoints.
The good thing, I am not bored, nor out of touch for too long!

Signs.....

A dry spell?

Car Park full???

Stockton, California

This is where David & I were judging last weekend. The organizers were kind to me, as I judged inside each day in the morning and then moved outside in the afternoon when the weather was gorgeous. David was not so lucky, and it was pretty chilly and foggy in the morning (hard to see across the ring, I was told) We came home on Monday night and have been able to relax for a few days before getting ready for our next trip, we leave at the beginning of December.

Photos from Genoa

Thanks to one of the other judges, who had his camera with him (Jeffrey Pepper) here are some photos of the beautiful city of Genoa

Dog show in Genoa

Last Sunday was the all breeds show, I was judging just all the poodles - and my goodness they not only divide them by size (4 sizes) but by color also. Which meant in an entry of 35 or so there was not a lot of competition in some of the varieties. But as usual there were some very good ones and some not so great. I finnished judging in time to go and watch the beagles be judged and as I was all finished I could socialize with the exhibitors - some of whom we had met before and others who were new to us. The main winner of the weekend was Paola Nuciari and you can see photos of her BOB/Group winning girl on her website. Other exhibitors were Paolo & Sara of Dell' Etruria ; Graziella Cava of Hera Bay who had made a VERY long drive, just to come and meet us! and Gabriele Vadi of de Fonti Posca . The judging panel was also full of Beagle people as there was Marion Spavin from Britain Dialynne; and Joachim Eberhardt of Germany also a beagle breeder from the past.
There are only a couple of photos on the website for the all breeds show - more to come apparently, so check back if you are interested.

Genoa

I am not sure why Genoa is not covered in great detail in all the guide books, as we loved it and would be happy to return again and probably will, perhaps in Spring or Autumn, when there are more things are available to see and do, as a lot of the tourist cruises end with the end of the good weather. Although I have to say we had fantastic weather the whole time we were there, which did help us to enjoy the city. We stayed at the Hotel Bristol, An elegant turn-of-the-century palace in the centre of Genoa famous for its staircase.

The street outside the hotel has large colonnades on either side with mosaic tiled pavements, which apparently represent each of the 4 seasons, and there were all the designer stores and boutiques, for window shopping.
Saturday say me judging the Purina Pro Plan Cup (obviously was sponsored by Purina) to help promote the breeding of better dogs in Italy. The breeders were able to enter up to 2, of the best dogs of their kennel and as judges we had to grade them on 5 parts – head, structure, movement, coat & condition, and overall quality – each part had a possible score of 100, so overall they had a possible high score of 500. The dogs were never judged against each other. There were 3 different judges for each dog, one from the USA, one from UK and one FCI, the organizers totaled the scores for each dog and the highest scorer was BOB, and went onto the group, where again there were 3 judges and this time we just graded each entry out of a possible 100 – and there were 3 placings. At this point I guess I did not play the game the right way, as I judged them as to the quality I saw in front of me, but obviously in some cases the judges marked some dogs very low (or high scores) to undermine the results! Then for Best in Show ALL the judges gave their rating out of 100 – this was very hard to do, as you just looked at the dogs from the other side of the ring and I don’t see how you can be legitimate on grading a Pekinese from 20 feet away! So I think they need to make some changes to the system overall. However it was a fun day and I enjoyed it. And it is a day and scheme full of potential, but needs some tweaking, to get it to be fairer.

Photos here

It was interesting to see breeds that I had not seen before – Czechoslavakian Wolf Dog

Spanish Mastiff

and the lovely Russian Shepherd

Home at last

Today was a loooong travel day - we left Munich at 9:15 this morning (00:15 Brush Prairie time) and arrived at our house at 9pm tonight. With only one layover in Washington DC. The dogs were thrilled to see us arrive home, tomorrow is a day for catching up on chores (including telling more about the trip in tomorrows issue of the blog).

Freising

We got out of Genoa successfully (no airline strike) and just in time as the weather turned overcast and drippy. We are now near Munich staying in a lovely town - Freising, it is cloudy but dry (and chilly)
We are about to go out to dinner.
One of the other judges who took a lot of photos of Genoa will share them with me and I will post them, when they are received.

long days

Saturday and Sunday were very long, busy days - judging and official dinners. And I only have my iTouch to write on, which is tedious- so longer report when I have a real keyboard and computer.
The other news is a potential airline strike..and so need to make sure we can get to Munich .

Genoa

Today was spent walking around the old town, exploring the pedestrian malls, full of wonderful shops filled with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and cheese,nuts and herbs. We passed some palaces and churches but did not linger anywhere as the wind was strong and chilly. No rain, though. We went to a restaurant that was recommended as featuring typical Genoa cuisine - we had an antipasta of local fish followed by ravioli filed with pesto with a walnut sauce - for David and I had pasta with pesto - yummy!

Rain

it was raining when we left Portland and it's raining here in Munich, where we have a couple of hours to wait for our plane to go to Genoa, where the forecast is for rain.
And I have discovered that the breed I am judging is Poodles...

Packing again

Who is this above...it's Christopher Columbus and we are heading to his birthplace on Wednesday...Genoa, Italy. Our flight takes us through Dulles and Munich and then onto Genoa where we are staying at the Bristol Palce Hotel I am judging for Purina and they have chosen this very classical hotel as our home base. What breed am I judging? - "Barboni" Not sure what this looks like , then watch this space!

This is what it's all about.

This is one of the 2 rosettes Herbie won.

What an Exciting weekend!

On Saturday Herbie shown by David (bred by Carrie) won Best in Show and became the first red/white male in the history of the breed to win a BIS...then he surprised us all by winning BIS again today - making it Back to Back Best in Shows - definitely a first, no other Red/White beagle has won 2 Best in Shows before in the USA.

Unfortunately neither Carrie nor I were at the shows to witness this historic event - where were we...well we had gone to a Rick Steves day of lectures about travel to Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovinia, Slovakia, Poland, England and then we attended his slide show and talk on his recent visit to Iran which was really interesting.

Today is.....

Election day in the US.........

but

in Australia it is Melbourne Cup Day which is Australia's most famous Tuesday. At 3.00 pm on the first Tuesday in November, Australians everywhere stop for one of the world's most famous horse races - the Melbourne Cup.
It's a day when the nation stops whatever it's doing to listen to the race call, or watch the race on TV. Even those who don't usually bet, try their luck with a small wager or entry into a 'sweep' - a lottery in which each ticket-holder is matched with a randomly drawn horse.

The winner this year is shown above on the inside rail - his name is "Viewed"

Oh yes, there is also a very big dog show held in Melbourne on this day also - and all judging ceases while the race is run.

New puppies

Another halloween litter for us (that's 2 years in a row!). Terri PC is raising the litter for us (and is a co-breeder on the litter) We have 7 puppies and there are 2 boys and all are tricolored. You can watch them as they grow up by going to this page

Its getting close...to halloween

Sunrise

This was the view from our deck this morning, a preview of another superb day - with temperatures in the mid 70's.
Another dog show - with great results. Both Mister & his sister Sera became champions today - Woo Hoo.....

Another lovely fall day

We showed today, but it was oh so leisurely - our ring time was 3 o'clock, so no early rising, and the show is just a short 1/2 hour from home. I showed Mister and he won 4 points and so needs just 1 more point for this championship title - so we have our fingers crossed for tomorrow.

We have been having the most spectacular weather, with warm (60's) sunny days, and cooler nights and we have all (dogs & humans) been enjoying it. Have not been doing anything in particualr, but have been indulging in our other addiction - Jigsaw puzzles... and this is the one we are currently working on - its a real challenge as all the pieces are unusual and irregular shapes and the colors very similar.

Home Again

As usual, did not get to see much of the town that I visited (Springfield,IL) but the downtown area in which I stayed, was very nice and I did do some walking around in the afternoon/early evening but it is a shame I did not get to the Lincoln Library, as I was told it is worth a visit.
Still it was good to come home and see all the dogs - and David again and to sleep in my own bed tonight. I arrived home to spectacular weather - and the flight along the Columbia River this afternoon was just spectacular, with splendid views of Ranier, Adams and St Helens.

Off to Springfield

Tomorrow I am off to Springfield, Illinois, to judge shows for 4 days. hopefull I will have some spare time to see something other than just the fairgrounds. The photo above is of Lincoln's house where he lived prior to becoming President - its supposed to be open to the public.

Saturday Brunch

David and I went to Brunch today at a restaurant on the Columbia River - called Salty's. They do a very nice buffet with all sorts of seafood, so we had plenty of shrimp, mussels, oysters (just David), crab .....well you get the idea. It was a glorious fall day, nippy but not a cloud in the sky, and beautiful views of the river.

Get Well Soon, Carrie

Our dear friend Carrie had surgery today to remove part of her stomach, she has been battling cancer for the last year and hopefully this surgery will remove all the cancerous tissues and send her into remission. Our thoughts are with you at this time...be strong and we will see you soon.

The picture above is of Santorini (one of Carrie's favorite places)

Photos

Thanks to Miikka Toivola for the photos above

Estes Park and home.....

The National Sweepstakes were on Wednesday and Bob was handled by our friend Anne and he was 2nd in the 9-12 puppy class, then Terri PC showed Mister and he won the 12-15 month class. In the bitch classes Anne showed Sera to a 3rd place (she was beaten by her sister – Abby, who was having a great time and won the class). We finished showing early this day and a group of us, including Pia & Knud from Denmark and Liz & Barry Friedlander went to a Wine and cheese restaurant, where great conversations and merriment was had by all. It’s really great to meet up with all of our friends at least once a year.
Thursday: All the 15” were judged today and Bob won the 6-9 class, Mister was 2nd in BBE dogs and was beaten by the Winners dog and Mister was RWD. Sera won the BBE class. Herbie made a couple of cuts but did not progress further.
Another night where all of the international guests accompanied us to a night on the town, which was enjoyed by all.
Friday was 13” judging, and a rest for me, as we had no entries. I actually got to watch some of the judging…. In the evening we headed to a wonderful restaurant overlooking Estes Park. Then we packed up all the dogs, our belongings and made ready for an early departure on Saturday. We said farewell to all of our friends from around the US and overseas.
Saturday: We drove to Layton, UT where we stayed at a very nice, dog friendly Hampton Inn, the weather had changed and when we got up on Sunday it was POURING down rain, so Carrie & I got rather wet. We then drove through the day with just a couple of stops and got home around 8pm. All the dogs and humans were VERY happy to sleep in their own beds that night.
Monday: Unpacking, washing, drying & shopping filled most of the day. I also squeezed in a trip to the Vet, to get Burt his Health Certificate as he heads to his new owner, Will Finnell in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

To Estes Park

On Thursday 25th September, we (3 people – Carrie, David and myself) and 5 Dogs (Herbie, Mister, Burt, Sera and Bob) piled into the car for the 1300+ mile journey to Colorado. Our first day of travel got us to Twin Falls, Idaho

where we stopped overnight and tried to get the dogs into the routine necessary for a long trip. The weather was lovely, not too hot. An early start Friday (pretty much the order of the day for the next 10 days!) saw us heading to Salt Lake City, where I attended the Akita National Judges education, while David and Carrie relaxed.
Saturday we drove to Estes Park and passed through some beautiful scenery on the way to the hotel.

We arrived at about 5pm and settled us and the dogs into the hotel, before heading out to dinner. We were amazed at how many tourists were in town also, fortunately this appeared to be a weekend crowd, as it was less populated during the week.
Monday started the week of showing with the Rocky Mountain Beagle Club Sweepstakes in which Bob won the 9-12 class, Mister won the 12-15 class and Sera was 4th in the 12-15 class (her sister Abby) won the class.
This was followed by the regular classes for Rocky Mountain Beagle Club and Bob was 2nd in the 9-12 puppy class Mister won the Bred By class and went on to win 15″ Best Bred By Exhibitor. Sera was 2nd in Bred By (her sister Abby again won the 12-15 class.) Herbie earned an Award of Merit
Our friends from Europe – Annica and Anne & Miikka joined us for Dinner on Monday along with Oleg from Maryland. Anne chose the wine and a VERY good choice she made!
The weather was just lovely, in the 70’s during the day, so great for walking, and we had some spare time and walked down to the lake, saw some Elk up close (pictures to follow soon, from my friends) and lots of deer near the hotel. The altitude unfortunately affected some people (Estes Park is at about 7500 ft) with a couple being hospitalized, our group of friends, was thankfully unaffected.

More to come……

It's that season again

At this time of the year all our dogs go crazy over the blackberries - and go to great lengths to enjoy the crop, its amazing the positions they can get into, to get that berry you would swear was out of reach.

Geoduck

This weekend David and I went to shows in Shelton, WA (it's about 15 miles NW of Olympia) a charming town with a nice showsite, if the weather co-operates - and it did pretty much - except for today when, after being cloudy, but fine all day, it decided to pour when the Hound group was in the ring.
We went out to a couple of good restaurants, following recommendations by the locals we knew and we even tried a local specialty, which is a mollusc (see photo above) this is a Geoduck (pronounced Gooey-duck) This was the first time we had had it, and it was beautifully prepared and tasted a bit like Calamari - it was good, I would have it again - not sure I would tackle it at home though!.

Italy, Genoa to be specific

I have received an invitation to judge the Purina Pro Plan cup in Genoa on November 15 this year. I am not quite sure exactly what is involved in this task, but I guess I will find out soon enough!. The link to the website about the show is here
Purina Pro Plan Cup 2009 and then click on Pro Plan cup 2008 and then Giudici to see the other judges invited, its quite a panel. This should be a great experience. I am not sure that Novemebr is the best time to see Genoa, but who cares, its Italy...

Despite the fact summer is drawing to a close, we still are having fantastic weather and Mt. Hood often looks like this when driving around town. We said goodbye to Team Beagle this week, who were staying with us, while their owners cycled from Seattle to San Diego, way to go guys!

Dog Shows

David did better in Colorado,than I did in Eugene - Herbie got a Group 3 today and I did not win any more points with Burt.
At least I got home early enough to mow the lawn, which has been growing fast with our stunning weather - 80 today and not a cloud in the sky.

Here is a picture of my BISS winner from the Danish show (this picture was taken at another show.)

The dog is Ch Cannon Bear's Spinning the Wheel.

We are really crazy dog people - we got home late on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday morning David drove off to Colorado with Herbie to shows over there, and I drove down to a set of 4 shows in Eugene, Oregon. I had early showtimes Thursday & Friday, so I stayed down there, but the weekend times are more civilized, so I have come home for the night. Tiny entry - just 2 class dogs, so far "Burt" has won 2 singles, he now has 12 points.