Happy Christmas

Wishing our friends, all over the world a very Happy Christmas, from both of us here at home - where we have NO snow - yeah!

Gosh, has it been that long?

Its been over a month since I wrote to my blog - I guess I use Facebook more and more these days, but some people only read my blog - so here is a recap of what has been going on in our lives in that time.
We went to Australia at the beginning of November, to visit my parents for a week or so. Unfortunately on the way over, our upgrades did not clear on United and so we were relegated to the "back of the bus" and boy is that a long flight (14 hours from San Francisco to Sydney) plus you have to add on the flight from Portland to SFO as well as the Australian domestic flight from Sydney to Coolangatta (great word that!) about 24 hours in transit in total - and we finally arrived at my parents apartment around noon - so still had several hours to stay up, before heading to bed.
During our stay with my parents we were able to squeeze in a dog show in Brisbane, and also enjoyed some of the local seasonal fruits (mangoes, Lychee's etc) and several of the wonderful fresh (SweetLip, John Dory, Barramundi, and lots of fresh prawns and Morton Bay Bugs - a type of local crayfish) The weather was unseasonably cool and although we walked along the beachfront most days, it was never hot (so much for Global warming!)
After that we headed for Melbourne, where we were judging a dog show - however on the morning we were to leave (at 6am) I realized I had lost my Australian passport - I was able to get on the plane with my US drivers licence and upon arrival in Melbourne attempted to replace my lost passport. This I discovered is not easy, especially when all your ID proving documents are in the USA - I was able to get a longstanding friend - thanks Ray - to sign that I was, who I said I was, and after 2 days at the passport office finally got a "limited, 1 year" passport issued to me. To turn this into a real passport, valid for 10 years, I have to appear in person in the embassy in Washington DC, with proof of ID - fortunately I have a judging assignment in January, in the area, so will do it then.
Having wasted a lot of time getting the replacement paperwork done, we were finally able to head to the Yarra Valley wine area and enjoy a day or so wine tasting and relaxing. On the Thursday night we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at a highly rated restaurant - well highly rated by others, not us after our experience. We booked for 7pm dinner and arrived to find 2 other couples in the restaurant - not busy, but then it was mid week and a fairly pricey set menu. By 7.30 we had still not received our wine, that arrived about 8 pm, along with some bread and the appetizer arrived about 8.15 - it was really boring waiting - and all we had to do was look out the window at the grassy area, where there were some bunnies cavorting around - this was a bit weird as the appetizer was rabbit tortellini...fortunately by the time it arrived, it was dark outside and we could no longer see the rabbits! By the time the meal was complete it was about 10pm, and needless to say we had not enjoyed the evening and the tip reflected this!
On Friday it was time to drive to Morwell where we were to judge a dog show, we took the scenic route and passed by a country property my parents had owned in the mid 60's, which was then, way out in the country, now its in the middle of the outer suburbs...
The dog show was very enjoyable - except on Saturday when it rained most of the day (David was not judging this day so he stayed dry) I discovered my raincoat was not even water-resistant (let alone waterproof!) I was drowned - but at least it was a warm rain! I gave a Saluki the group. On Saturday night, while we were in bed, the heavens opened, but miraculously by Sunday morning it was sunny and dry (and the football ground on which we were judging had perfect drainage) I even got a little sunburnt!! David judged the hounds this day and put up a lovely young deerhound, which was not there the day I judged.

After the show, we drove back to Melbourne and spoilt ourselves at the Marriott in the city, and had a great Italian dinner in Carlton (famous for great Italian food - and it did not disappoint.) Let me say it was amazing how expensive Australia has gotten, with the US dollar being almost on par with the Australian $, did not help - but we estimated than since our last visit 12 months ago, prices had gone up 25% - its now just as expensive as Scandinavia - no bargains in Australia, any more.
Home flight was better as we were upgraded to business class - yeah! We were than just home long enough to say hi to the dogs, do some washing, before heading out to Paso Robles to judge. It seems the rainy weather was following us - as again Saturday was very wet - and again David was not judging this day (see a pattern here?) however, I really cant complain, as I was inside all day! The next day was drizzly but not horrible and the last day was dry but cool - or cold (for California)
We then came home and relaxed and had a quiet Thanksgiving.......

Its time to head south

This past month has been spent judging and showing.I have been in Boise Idaho (where I was miserable with a bad case of the 'flu) followed by a couple of days at home, trying to get over the 'flu, then a drive to California for Del Valle and the Beagle Specialty then I spend a few days at home before heading to Australia to visit my parents. I am so ready for Sun, Mango's and reef fish...
We had a show today and Sophie won a group 2 - a nice start to the weekend

I have been busy

Annica and I traveled back from Vancouver - gosh was it almost 2 weeks ago... the time has gone by in a blur.
Anyway we stopped in Everett and visited the Boeing Future of Flight and spent a fascinating morning there touring the factory - its well worth the visit if you are passing through.

Then we went to Pike Place Market in Seattle - could not miss the flying Salmon show (although business was a bit slow and so not many fish being thrown) We had lunch there and then drove home.
The rest of the stay in Vancouver/Portland area saw us shopping, visiting the Columbia Gorge and Multnomah Falls and the Bonneville Dam and hatchery, Powells bookstore and more shopping.

Then it was time to get ready for the National Beagle Specialty being hosted in Vancouver, just 12 miles from home. With only one dog to show, it was a fairly relaxing show with lots of time to socialize with friends. The weather was perfect, with NO rain - yeah!
One week later, all the visitors have headed home and we are relaxing at home.

Canada

After judging on the weekend in Washington, on Sunday evening I headed for Canada to collect Annica and bring her back to WA to attend the National specialty. My trip through Seattle was easy ( traffic wise) but the wait at the border was about 50 minutes.
Today Annica and I toured Vancouver but it was a bit damp and drizzly however we saw the main things and had great time. Tomorrow we head for Seattle...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Lazy Sunday

What to do on a lovely sunny day? We had read about a local railway line Chelatchie Railway that would be making one of its few runs on Sunday from a town nearby - so of we headed to Yacolt, from where the train makes its run – however when we got there, there were only a handful of people waiting to get on itso we changed our mind - it had been a very pretty drive.
So… plan B.
There are a couple of vineyards in our area (what area these days does not have some?) so we decided to go to the one closes to home – The Rusty Grape – somehow, not the name I would have chosen – not the best mind picture – but nevertheless, it was time to test it.
My goodness what a surprise, they have built a really nice tasting room, and patio where they show movies outside during the summer, and have music concerts occasionally and also hold special events. The wine was nothing outstanding, but overall an enjoyable afternoon.

It's been a while

Somehow I seem to have left updating my blog to the end of the pile these days. What with Facebook and email and working on upgrades to 2 websites I manage, as well as having spent a whole week at a judges institute...time has flown by.

Many will remember at the beginning of our summer, which started very slowly and really has not progressed too fast (unlike the rest of the US and the world it seems) I planted some upside down tomato plants - well eventually they blossomed, and bore fruit and now just this last week, have started to go orange (just 3 of them!) so we still have a way to go - and I still have blossoms on the plant, which I am sure will never bear fruit, before the first frost. Anyway, we may have a few tomato's, soon... the yellow flowers are Marigolds, which I am told keep undesirable bugs away.

Pictures from Waukesha

This is a picture of the BEST part of my ring - the other pictures I took, did not really show how bad it was...

Ouch!!

I am in Wisconsin judging. I arrived here Thursday as I was judging specialties for min pins on Friday. Minpins were in the morning and I had some lovely dogs- in the afternoon it was old English sheepdogs - now, the fairgrounds had had a lot of rain in the past few days and so I had a ring full of straw and this was not ideal for hairy dogs, however the temperatures were mild and the clouds kept it pleasant.
Now saturday was a different story - we had more rain overnight and this was the day i had the ring from h**l, most of the ring was mud covered with straw - not ideal for an entry of over 50 white dogs (Samoyeds!)
but we persevered. Early in the morning the bugs were bad (Mosquitos) but later in the day a wasp went up my skirt and stung me... And as those who know me well are aware, I am allergic but in the middle of the ring there is not much I can do - other than take some benadryl.
24 hours later my thigh (where I was stung) is swollen to the size of a diner plate and is hot and itchy, and so it will remain for another week or so.
Today - Sunday was very sunny, humid and HOT. More good dogs and a beagle goes Best in Show, a good day.
I will happy to return to the moderate temperatures of home tomorrow




- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

It's warmed up

Super warm day here - summer finally arrived... it was 93 today (33.8 C) expected to be warm then down to the 80's for the next week - we all appreciate the air-conditioning!! But its not humid, so really quite bearable and there was a fairly strong warm breeze. And after our slow start to summer, its a change to have t-shirts on.

I think summer is finally here....

We finally seem to have our summer - the days have been in the high 70's and low 80's and no rain. The summer fruits are appearing and I bought some beautiful sweet Rainier Cherries today. We had a dog show last weekend with our new girl - Sophie and she won a group placement. A good start. This week we have been catching up on mowing - the grass has been going crazy. No shows this weekend, so just time to laze around and enjoy the weather.

My recent travels

I have been remiss in my latest postings, the only excuse - not enough hours in the day for travel and posting and judging....
After Canada I headed out to Louisiana, I went in early so that I could spend some time with my friend Alyce and get to see her new house (she moved in about 6 weeks ago) Its a fantastic property Alyce, I love it and it will be a great home for you and the Beagles. While in Lake Charles we went sightseeing. I was really surprised at how big the Lake is.
We also ate very well - Alyce's sister joined us and we wnt to a local Crawfish restaurant where they had live Zydeco music and wonderful Crawfish.
Apparently I was so capable at peeling the Crawfish, Alyce made me an "honorary Cajun"!! The great food theme continued over the weekend at the show, with the most wonderful home cooked Judges Lunches...yummy! Fortunately the show was in an lovely air-conditioned facility as it was 93 degrees and VERY humid, but we were all oblivious to this until we walked outside - then POW, it really hit you.
But it was a great weekend, but boy its good to be home for a while and to sleep in my own bed - nothing beats HOME

Almost out of Canada

I just had a few breeds to judge today and only about an hour scheduled judging and a start time of 9.30 AM for me.
Now I was the lucky judge as we had torrential rain overnight and many of the judges started at 8.00 when it was still teeming. By the time I got to the grounds it had stopped raining and then I discovered I was inside! Who knew there was an inside ring... The building could have housed all the rings, instead all the rest were outside under water. I asked the superintendant why the did not move inside and he said they only do that if the weather is really bad!!
Oh well - such is the life of a dog show judge.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Ah...life is good tonight

I have checked into the Marriott Courtyard hotel and have all the modern conveniences I enjoy - which includes my own ensuite bathroom - no more walking down the hall.
Last night the club took all the judges on a relaxing river cruise from 6.30pm - trouble was it was a liitle boring, with only weeds and camp grounds to look at! Oh no, I forgot the one water skier who took a tumble beside the boat when he was showing off. The onboard catered dinner... Well what can I say, other than it was not in the same league as the lovely breakfast we had at the B & B.
Tonight, Saturday, we ate at the B&B where some of the other judges are staying and it was quite good.
We have been fortunate that it has only rained overnight and although humid there has been a breeze and cloud cover.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

It's Thursday...so it's Toronto

After arriving here at 12.30am this morning I headed for the hotel and had a great nights sleep. Got up this morning and took a leisurely trip South, checking out a shopping mall or 2 on the way.
I travelled about 1 1/4 hours to the rustic town of Caledonia (where the show will be held this weekend)
Along the way I was amused by some road signs - I am easily amused- the wild lion park was next door to the nudist resort...
I found the showsite and then continued for another 30 minutes south along a scenic river parkeay ( this means undulating green countryside) to the quaint (circa 1906) B&B where the kennel club has me staying. It has some modern conveniences (wireless Internet) but bathrooms are shared with the other 3 males judges!
However it's not raining today but it's humid even though there is cloud cover.
So I am now off to the best restaurant in town - specialty pizza and wings...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Southern california

Just spent a great weekend in LA judging at the Mission Circuit. The dogs were top quality and super supportive exhibitors - it's been a while since I have heard so many people cheering for fellow competitors- good to hear
The weather was super in the mid 80's. Company was enjoyable and we shared several meals with friends.
So this morning we fly home to I believe, rainy Washington... Then tomorrow I leave for Canada


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Planting time

I decided to try growing tomatoes and strawberries at home this year - using the upside down method - so I bought the plants and the dirt etc and the holder...and ran into problem #1, the holder is not strong enough, nor stable enough to support the containers - so had to hang them from the garage (see photo above) as a very temporary solution until I find something more substantial today.

Utah

This weekend I am judging a show in Logan Utah. It's a super showsite (or it would be if the weather was good) but the weather gods were not smiling on us today - the overnight temperature was 30 degrees and a predicted high of 46 today. So as we started this morning it was raining and then we had hail then it stopped for a while and the sun came out - then it all repeated, but eventually the sun won out and it was actually a nice day. Tomorrow is predicted to be nicer........


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Pictures from Poland

All the pictures in the album below were taken by Erik's new owner - Kate, or a friend- I never even needed to power my camera up!
As you can see we had good company and lots of food... It's back to salads for us for the next few weeks.

Link to pictures




- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Photos

Perogies



- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Poland ( Day 2 - Friday )

Kate collected David and I and took us to explore the "old Warsaw" which we walked all day and the weather was perfect - a mix of cloud and sun, just perfect for sightseeing. There were lots of beautiful churches and many statues of famous Poles - Marie Curie, Chopin and Copernicus....
In the eveing we went for a typical meal of perogies - filled with various savory fillings - yummy. David sampled some local beer which also got a thumbs up


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Poland (day 1)

The flight from Seattle to Frankfurt on Lufthansa was great- my standby upgrade to business cleared (which was a good start) my seatmate was a German gentleman who now lives in USA but who had spent his youth, working for the Snowy Mountains Authority in Australia building the huge hydro electric scheme in the 60's. Lots of interesting chatter....
A change of planes and terminals in Frankfurt (and Erik successfully made the transit also) we then flew onto Warsaw where "Kate" - Erik's new owner met us. She had met David an hour earlier when he arrived from Copehhagen, after returning 2 beagles back to Gold Line (Thanks Annette for letting us have Thomas and Susan for a while)
Kate left us at the Marriott to freshen up while she took Erik home to let him run and be fed. A few hours later she collected us and took us to her home, where she had prepared a typical Polish meal. It was great, she took many pictures (I will post links later) Erik had settled in very well.
we then returned to the hotel for a great sleep


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Details, Details....

The weather has been rather damp and windy and so the grass is growing like crazy and its far too wet to cut it - sure hope it dries off soon, so we can cut it before we go away.
Next week David is taking Thomas and Susan, our 2 Danish beagles (on loan from Gold Line Kennels) back to Annette in Denmark - Thanks Annette, for letting them come to the USA to stay with us. We enjoyed having them. And bit later I am flying to Poland to deliver Thomas' son to his new home - he grew too big to show in the USA, so he is Europe bound.
David and I will then spend a few days in Poland, with Erik's new owner, showing us some of Warsaw.

Lewiston, Idaho

We are off to Lewiston tomorrow, for a 4 day weekend cluster of shows. With only one dog to show, and late judging times, it should be a very restful few days - might even get to see the Snake river (pictured above)....so watch this space.

Weekend in Georgia

I headed off to Atlanta last Wednesday for a 4 day weekend of shows - judging. It was held at the Georgia National Fairgrounds - which is a super location for a show - lots of air conditioned buildings, acres of grass and events for everyone - Lure Coursing, Agility, Obedience and Conformation. Great company, great dogs and just a super time was had by all.
We had dinner each night at Henderson Village, which is a collection of 19th century homes and cottages situated on 18 bucolic acres in the heart of Central Georgia and located at what was once a thriving stagecoach intersection.
They have this wonderful restaurant "Langston House" there, where we had a superb meal each night, with different dining companions each evening. The restaurant was full mainly with dog show people each night. Its well worth the trip, if you are in the area.

All the shows were well organized and the North Georgia Hound Show, was very well run and it was my pleasure to judge many lovely hounds - my placements were

Our New Toys

As regular readers of the Blog will remember, I have expressed dismay with our GPS unit - so we bought a LOWER priced TomTom, to replace the Garmin and you know what, it works better - satellite access is almost instant and not once has it led me astray, I LIKE it.


This week we decided to get a new sink, as I was fed up with the old sink staining and being hard to keep clean, so we got this cast iron sink, which has a low center divider - this makes it look huge. Whilst shopping we saw that you could now get a garbage disposal to use with a septic tank and so we bought that also.
The amazing thing is how quiet to garbage disposal is, you have to really listen to know that it's running. This is not my experience with the ones in many other homes.
So we are very happy with our new purchases.

Videos from Spain

I have finally put together some of the video from our trip to Sevilla, Spain.
We spent one afternoon wandering around the Alcazar which is an old palace surrounded by magnificent gardens. You can read more about the Alcazar here


Then I have finally managed to upload the edited video and hopefully everyone will be able to see it. Click here
this is followed by a continuation of our exploration of the grounds and other rooms. I really magnificent palace and so well preserved. Second part - click here

There is more to come - but will leave that for another day...........

Home Again and feeling great!

Its good to be home. Spain and England were wonderful and we really enjoyed the trip. I am just starting to work on sorting out all of the photos from the trip. The pictures actually go quicker than the videos....so we will start with the photos. We have a few from Sevilla and then the rest are from our day tour to the White Village town of Ronda, which took us to a couple of wineries along the way (I don't think they do great wine in this area!) and then some pictures from our walk through Ronda.

An upsetting night

For David, an unpleasant night as he got food poisoning and suffered! Don't know what caused it as we ate the same thing- except I did not eat the olives....
So while David recouped this AM I took the open air tourist bus around Sevilla and got to see more of this beautiful city.
We then flew back to London this afternoon and are overnighting at the Marriott at the airport before returning home tomorrow.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Ronda and Tapas

Last night we went out for Tapas to a recommended bar, which was full of locals and had no English menu - so this challenged us a bit and the Spanish phrase book was working overtime - fortunately we arrived at 7.30 and the kitchen did not open til 8, so this gave us 1/2 hour to work on the menu and everything we ordered was delicious - from the razor clams to the mushroom torte.....
Today we took a personalized tour to one of the "White Villages" - Ronda - this was about 1 1/2 hour drive SE of Sevilla. It was a lovely drive on a super day. Our first stop was a wine tasting at a small boutique winery - the wines were young and I think they still have a way to go before they are top notch. Then we drove on to the outskirts of Ronda and visited vineyard #2, the wines were better here and even included Pinot Noir.
Then in Ronda we went to a Tapas bar for lunch - WOW - stunning food, beatifully cooked and presented. We had salmon ceviche, soy noodles and Iberian ham, asparagus and manchego cheese, Russian potato salad, curried chicken on skewers and a glass of wine ( the best today)
We then walked off lunch in the town, which is spectacularly perched on a hillside (pictures will be posted on my return home)
Late in the day we drove back to Sevilla.

Sevilla, Spain

This morning we did a guided walking tour of the town with a local, recommended by Rick Steves, she did an excellent job for 2 hours. We then grabbed a coffee and tapas before doing a tour of the Alcazar and the cathedral. Pictures to follow, back to the hotel to pickup email, charge iTouch and relax before heading out on tapas tour.
Tomorrow we have a day tour planned with a tour guide.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

Heathrow airport

Just had lunch - Spinach salad -nice to have some veggies after the meat and fats overloads of the past few days
On to Sevilla....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

End of 4 days in England

Beagles were judged on Friday, the entry was about 225. This lovely bitch pictured above was best bitch- we tried, unsuccessfully, to buy her - but understandably her proud breeders would not part with her.
We watched Best in Show tonight and the winner was the veteran Australian bred vizsla a worthy winner
Tomorrow we head to Seville, Spain for a few days vacation. Will hopefully be able to find Wi-fi and blog




- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

We are packed

Well we head off tomorrow to Cruft's dog show, in England. Beagles show on Friday. Carrie is house-sitting for us in our absence - Thanks Carrie! The dogs will all enjoy being spoilt by her.
We look forward to seeing all of our friends from around the world in Birmingham. Swing by the Beagle ring and visit.
After Cruft's we are going to Spain for a few days - watch this blog.....

Not as nice as Yesterday...

But I am not complaining. The day started nicely and all the dogs were lying on the deck, here is our 14 year old whippet (she demands a soft bed!)
The beagles are happy to just lie on the deck. By the afternoon, we had some sprinkles of rain and its all clouded over. I guess the weather man is trying to prepare us for Europe!

A Beautiful Saturday

On a spring day, with temperatures that reached 72 degrees, this afternoon, it was time to go for a long bike ride, mow the lawns and generally enjoy the day. This was the view from the end of the driveway - you can see all the trees with blossoms - we have had such a mild winter, everything is flowering.
I just hope the weather can be as nice next week when we head to England for Crufts and follow that up with a few days in Spain (Seville)

It had to end

The fantastic weather of the past few weeks - today is cloudy and drizzly.
Still I am enjoying a break at Starbuck's and have discovered a new App for my iTouch which enables me to very easily post to my blog using their free Wi-Fi while enjoying my double tall non fat latte.....life is good!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iTouch

No Excuses

(View of Mt Hood taken from Sandy, while we were driving around Oregon this week)

I have been very negligent in updating my blog recently - no particular reason just a combination of things to do, along with superb weather, which have lead us to do many more things during the day and then being glued to the TV watching the Olympics, into the small hours of the morning, for the last week.
Last weekend, we had a dog show and just had Thomas and his son Erik entered. The entry of beagles was tiny (5) - Thomas won the breed both days and got a group placement on Sunday. Erik won a single point, but it was good training for him, if nothing else. The weekend was really enjoyable as we had a chance to have dinner with friends (Tracy & John) who we have not seen since they moved to Idaho and another friend (Kathy) - it was a great restaurant in Albany and superb company.
I took the opportunity to play with my new Flip video camera (just a tiny thing about the size of a cell phone) and it does a respectable job. I wanted to practice before i went to Crufts next month, so I new how it worked.
Sunday was Valentines day - we were done early at the show and so went home and had a nice bottle of wine and a home cooked meal.
This week, in between a lot of driving around greater Portland, collecting and delivering things we have managed to squeeze in some outdoor exercise (bike riding for me and walking for David) - somehow I enjoy this much more than hitting the stationary bike at the gym! And then of course lawn mowing.....
And now its the weekend again - no dog shows this weekend, but the good weather continues - its was 62 degrees today - I LOVE it.

GPS frustrations

We have owned 2 Garmin GPS and it seems that we are unhappier with the second one, more than we were with the first one. Why? Well the most recent one a Garmin Nuvi 760, seems to take up to 5 minutes to find a satellite connection, even when you are outside with no tall buildings or trees around you and then sometimes takes you places you don't want to go...What do I mean?
Well despite having recently updated the maps (like a month ago - and that's another story - the update successfully brought my computer to its knees, and I had to do a full restore!) I was still lead through the parking lot of a shopping mall to a hotel (despite the shopping mall having been there for at least 10 years.) Then last week in Florida we are on the turnpike with supposedly about 50 miles before our exit, when suddenly I am told to "take ramp on right" and so being a good follower, do as I am told, once on the new expressway I am told to go 3 miles and then "take ramp on right" and in effect do a U turn and go back to the turnpike I was on before .its moments like this that almost cause us to throw the device out the window.
So today we decided to go to Fry's and look at a new GPS, we decided to change brands and selected a Tom Tom with USA and Europe Maps included (handy for future travels) After purchasing it we went out to the car, unpacked it and decided to set it for the nearest Starbucks, before heading home. Well for some mysterious reason it was set on Polish as the base language and no matter what we did it remained with Polish on all the buttons and labels, we were able to change the spoken commands to English, but not the icons. Now the problem with Polish is that it was not even easy to guess what the labels said...so after about 15 minutes of pushing and entering all variations we could think of, we took it back into the store and asked for "expert help" - the bad news was that 1/2 hour later nobody could change it to English, so we asked for and got a full refund. So we will apparently keep on trying to get from A to B, with a minimum of errors with our Nuvi.

More Road Signs

Seen on someone's travels (but not mine) I got a laugh out of them and so thought I would share...


And I guess the folks in Vancouver BC are a bit confused about what a deer looks like!

Florida

Having spent 2 days at the dog shows in Portland we flew to Tampa on Saturday as we were both judging on the final day of the 10 day Florida circuit. An early start, through Denver and then on to Tampa and collected the rental car and drove north to Brooksville, where the cluster is held. This group of clubs have purchased their own grounds (and actually had a mortgage burning ceremony the previous day!) The grounds are huge and filled with motor homes and have all sorts of amenities including an ATM. The judges were spoilt with excellent meals, cooked to order breakfasts and lovely tasty lunches, all provided in a tent with artificial grass underfoot and heaters, should they be needed. Fortunately the fact I had taken my raincoat, meant that the weather was lovely and got up to about 65 - there were a couple of sprinkles of rain, but they quickly passed. The quality of the dogs was good and there were not many absentees, either.
On Sunday night we drove to Orlando, as we were planning to spend the day at Disney World, but when we got up on Monday it was rainy and overcast, so we decided to have a lazy day and cruise the outlet malls.Then in the late afternoon we decided to go to Celebration - which is a planned community (built by none other than the Disney corporation in the 1990's) and have a look and have dinner there. It was a very nice area with lots of amenities around a central lake.
On Tuesday we drove around the area and then it was back to Tampa, so we were close to the airport for an early flight out Wednesday morning. We decided to go for a drive to a restaurant, west of Tampa on the Intracoastal waterway - and we chose the Salt Rock Grill and had a great meal of Stone Crab Claws
I followed mine with Grouper and David had Tuna - delicious - we love our seafood! Today was a long day, with lots of airline food...

Last weekend was good!

We left home on Friday and it was pouring rain, but by the time we had driven to Puyallup Fairgrounds the rain had eased and there was a hint of blue in the sky. We checked into the really bad motel close to the show site (its the last time we will stay here) then went over to the grounds to exercise and feed the dogs. We had 3 dogs were were showing - Thomas, his son Erik (at his first shows) and Susan (Thomas' sister)
On Friday night, our friends from Canada - Jenn and Jan joined us for Dinner at Olive Garden and we had a great time catching up on all the news.
Saturday we were spoilt with afternoon judging, which was really nice. Jenn showed Erik for me and he performed well and won his class.

Erik moving

Susan was WB, but as she needed a major (and the major was in boys) today was not her day to finish. That night we went to a local Italian restaurant and we had a party of 8 - Janet and Jo joined us (they are photographers supreme and took wonderful pictures of the show and the dogs)

Susan's win picture

Sunday we had early judging and this was Susan's day - she is now a Champion -Yeah...she can return to Denmark in glory, later this year.
We had a Monday show - Thomas won the breed and Erik was Reserve Winners dog. So overall a great weekend with superb company.
We have a few shows in Portland this weekend, just Thomas is entered. Then we are off to Florida - Disney, here we come....

Weekend in Palm Springs

We left Portland under cloudy skies and arrived in Palm Springs to sunny skies and it was the start of a weekend of perfect weather. This is a shot of our hotel - The Embassy Suites in Palm Desert, from our room at dusk on Thursday night. The Hotel has a wonderful Happy Hour (or 2, actually) each night, which is great for socializing and enjoying the company of friends. We found a new Italian restaurant, just near the hotel had a great meal before turning in early, as we had 8am judging.
Friday we had a hound show and we just showed a puppy and despite some challenging behavior from him he won the points - it was a humbling experience - not all Beagles are well behaved, but I have seldom had one who has been quite as out of control as he was - he was happy though! That night we met up with some local friends Jim & Betty, who have one of our beagles and we were taken to their local Mexican restaurant. Very good Margarita's. Saturday was another early start, but the puppy did not win this day or Sunday - oh well - one of 3 was good.
We decided to go on a tour of the San Andreas fault and the Joshua Tree National Park on Saturday afternoon - the tour was in a Hummer - a new experience - and perhaps in retrospect not a wise decision - as it was open air and very windy and by the end of the afternoon, very chilly. The driver was very knowledgeable and told us a lot about the area we were going to. Some of the things we saw were interesting and some were a bit exaggerated! The literature indicated we were going to the San Andreas fault and would walk across a bridge over the fault.- Well the bridge was some wooden planks over some water oozing up from the Oasis and as the fault was a mile wide at that point, it was a bridge to nowhere.... just from one dry spot to another (not quite what I had envisioned)

Then the Hummer took us (7 on the tour) up an old Gold Mining trail into the Joshua Tree National park - it did give you an appreciation for the difficult terrain that a Hummer can navigate - but did we need to do it for 2 hours...with only minimally changing scenery - and zero padding on most of the seats - probably not! However I did get some good photos - see below

We flew home on Monday and its back to the rain! But Thursday and Friday should be dry, before what promises to be a wet weekend of dog shows.