Coveys of Quail

Yesterday, on advice of our trainer's wife we packed up the truck and headed over the mountains to the Scotch Creek wildlife area in Omak to try our luck at some quail hunting. Weather was good with the sun shining for the most part and no snow.

We decided to head out with Odin to do some initial scouting of the area and to see what we could find. After making our ways about 2 miles out from where we parked Ben and Odin walked up on a covey of ~8 quail that quickly scattered. We tracked their path for a while before heading off in search of more. After more hiking and Odin working hard we decided to head back for lunch and to get Loki.

After lunch we headed off in a new direction with both Odin and Loki hoping that they would work together rather than just chase each other or take off like last time we tried to run them together. This time we took a new approach and sent each off in their own direction which seemed to work well. Ben decided he wanted to take his chances with hiking up the draws to see if we could find any other coveys and sure enough half-way up the first draw Odin and Loki flushed a covey of ~10 quail. Ben took 2 shots and ended up with getting one quail. The boys and us hiked the 6 more draws before deciding to call it a day to make the 4.5 hour trek home.

We'll be back to Scotch Creek next season for more hunting for sure.

Merry Christmas!

I hope this holiday season finds you surrounded by those you love, safe, warm and happy. We're off for a day filled with both ,my and Ben's families, presents and yummy treats.

 

Merry Christmas!

Just Loki!

Loki and his wonderful handler Terri Erickson showing off their first win together. Loki went winners dog at the Greater Clark County KC show on December 10th for his first show point.

First Show Point!

This past weekend Loki had an adventure as he headed to the Greater Clark County KC show with a pro handler, Terri Erickson for a round of shows. This was the first weekend he went to show with the intent to win and earn his first show points rather than being there to help Odin out. We decided to have Terri who shows Loki's dad Sam take him into the ring rather than have me stumble my way through showing him since his chances of winning were good since there would only be two class dogs each day this weekend.

We're happy to report the weekend was a success and Loki won Winners Dog on Saturday for 1 point and got Reserve Winners on Sunday. Looks like we have another show dog in the house :)

Tree Time

We've finally have the house in full Christmas spirit complete with tree, stockings, snowmen and nutcrackers. We still haven't decided if this year we will decorate the house with lights since we live so far off the beaten path and you can't see the house from the street but we'll figure that out this weekend.

Hello December

I'm still trying to figure out where 2011 has gone as I cannot believe it is already December and how quickly another 30 days have flown by. But seriously, where did November go? Where did the past 11 months go?

December brings what I call the month of festivities since there are three birthdays in my family (including my own), Christmas, New Years and of course holiday parties (work and friends). Throw in a dog show or two and things are busy all month long!

Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving! We wish you a fabulous day full of delicious food, lots of fun and plenty quality time with family and friends.

In honor of Thanksgiving, it seemed appropriate to share a few of the things I'm thankful for, so here goes:

• our home- it may not be perfect or always clean, but in the last year that we have lived on our 5 acres in the 'country" this house has become our home. it's filled with lots of love, wonderful memories and the it's place where we happily start and end each day together.
• Odin and Loki- rain or shine, early or late. They are always there to happily greet me. While they keep us insanely busy as we cart them to their various activities and shows we are grateful for their unconditional love, comedic ways, cuddles and for the joyful presence they bring into our lives every single day. 
• the hubby- a supportive, loving, generous, and caring husband.  Nine and a half years of marriage under our belt and it's been the been a great ride so far.
• wonderful family- they're very supportive and willing to help out, and we're able to see them almost any time we want.
• a great job- with the economy the way it is and so many people out of work, we are grateful for great jobs that we like going to each day. 

Gratitude!

As the holiday season fastly approaches and brings joy and chaos it is always good to take a moment to remember that life may not be perfect, but it sure is good (or at least mine and my hubby's is) and that we have a lot to be grateful for.

Happy Halloween

Saturday we had a fun filled day of Halloween festivities starting with a dash to the costume store to get Ben and I costumes since we were heading out that night with my best friend to Redhook Brewery's Haunted Brewery party. I lucked out and found a Gangster costume for Ben and a Flapper girl costume for myself. Stacey was going as an 80's girl so we were all set for a night of dancing and haunting. We also got the the boys to  leave their hats on long enough to take their picture together. We hope your Halloween is filled with whatever treats make you happy, whether that be candy or milk bones.

Fill In the Blank Friday

I haven't posted a Fill In the Blank Friday for quite a while since things have been crazy busy so I thought I would take a couple of minutes and do one this week. If you want to play along you can check out the little things we do blog.

1. When I was a kid I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up.

2. As an adult, my dream job would be exactly what it is- working in advertising, managing clients needs. 

3. W hen I was younger I wanted to be just like my mom.

4. The childhood Halloween costume that I remember most was when my mom made my sister and I care bear costumes.

5. My favorite childhood toy was hands down Cabbage Patch Dolls. I think I have 4 or 5 of them along with tons of clothing for them.
6. The time I got into the biggest amount of trouble when I was a kid was when I ...I honestly can't remember. I was a pretty good kid and I never go in a huge amount of trouble. Boring, but true .

7. I get daily inspiration from blogs that I read and friends.

Loki's Pheasant

This morning we headed out to Crescent lake with Loki for some hunting/running him in the field since he isn't a broke dog and tends to run to big. On two prior hunting attempts with Loki he ended up getting lost in the field and Ben had to pull the GPS tracker out to find him.

We decided to head out after the main hunters would be done for the day to increase our odds of having him listen and hunt with us and we got lucky as he was in the mood for both. After about 30 minutes of working we stumbled across a series of trails that we decided to give a try and to our surprise Loki found a pheasant. While he didn't retrieve it which was not a surprise since we have never worked on that with him, Ben was able to go over and collect it and decided to head back to the truck since the rain was starting to move in.

Yeah for Loki since this was his first pheasant and hopefully not the last this season.

First Pheasant

Saturday, Ben, my sister's boyfriend Brian and my youngest sister Tammy headed out with Odin and Loki for a day of hunting since the weather was nice and Odin  would be heading off to his show handler the next day. They headed to Crescent Lake first and after running both boys came up empty handed. After relocating to Cherry Valley they had a little more luck and Brian was able to get a nice sized pheasant with Odin on their last pass through the field. Here's hoping this won't be the only one for the group this season.

Brian and Odin showing off their pheasant.

Jam, Jam and More Jam!

You could say that this has become an obsession of mine lately. With all of the blackberries that have been available around the property I have been eager to continue to try and perfect my jam recipes. Prior to this attempt I had never considered doing any jam making let alone anything that involved canning. I have been trying all different kinds, and even attempted to remove the seeds from one batch.

I think it is safe to say that everyone will be getting jam this holiday season since I have made a total of seven different kinds including- blackberry peach, blueberry peach, strawberry rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb blackberry, strawberry blackberry, blackberry raspberry and of course plain blackberry and everyone that has tasted the jam says it's YUMMY!

A Day in the Life

A few friends of mine who's blogs I read regularly have been posting their typical daily schedule --- and I thought it was a fun idea and decided to do it myself.

5:15am: 1st alarm goes off - I hit snooze.

5:22am: 2nd alarm goes off - I hit snooze.

5:30am: 3rd alarm goes off; Loki wakes up and starts barking; get out of bed and let Odin and Loki out to potty

5:45am: make Ben's breakfast and pack Ben's lunch; play with the dogs

6am:. Head into the shower

6:10am: Kiss hubby bye; blow dry my hair and get ready for the day

6:50am: make breakfast (oatmeal and yogurt) and play with the dogs

7am: pack lunch; put dogs in their kennel with treats

7:30am: leave for work

8:30am: arrive at work (Sr. Project Manager at GLG); drink coffee

8:45am - 12:30pm: write / answer emails, attend various meetings, update project trackers / documents

12:30pm: eat lunch while continuing to work

1pm: continue emails, meetings, etc

5:15/5:30pm: head for home

6:30pm: arrive at home; change into comfy clothes

6:45pm: take Odin and Loki for a walk with Ben

7:30pm: make/heat-up dinner; feed the dogs

8:30pm: relax on the couch while catching up on TV, Facebook, blogs, email or play/snuggle with the dogs

10:30/11pm: lights out and asleep before head hits the pillow

Pool Time

Sunday we had Ben's dad over with his dog Lacey for a play date since Loki was still on the road with our trainer at field trials and he was was getting bored of being home by himself . Since it was sunny and warm we thought the dogs might enjoy cooling off in the pool. Lacey wasn't sure of the pool at first but once she saw Odin playing in the water she was all for it.

Jam Time

We are reaping the benefits of having TONS of blackberry bushes lining our property these past couple of weeks with bucket fulls of ripe delicious berries. I spent about 1/2 hour on Sunday picking just the ones in front and on one side of the house and came back with almost 10 pounds worth. With this many berries and more riping everyday I got a little creative on what to use them for and attempted to make jam for the first time ever.

After scouring the Internet for a good recipe for strawberry blackberry jam with no added sugar I found one that sounded good and decided to give it a try. After washing, mashing and chopping blackberries and strawberries it was time to attempt the jam process. I decided to use the hot water boil method since I didn't have a caner. After the jam cooked and jars were filled with the sweet purple liquid into the hot water bath for 10 minutes.  According to the recipe if the lids "popped" when they came out of the water bath after 10 minutes the jars were sealed properly.  

While I haven't tried it yet, the jars "popped" when they came out of the water bath and after cooling it looks like jam. Hopefully it will be yummy and I may even try to make some more for Christmas presents this year since I have enough berries to make a couple more batches of jam.

Dogs, Horses and Lots of Sun

This weekend we packed up and hit the road for Madras, Oregon to the Boyce Corral Crooked River National Grasslands for the Oregon Brittany Club fall field trial. The drive to Madras from our house is about 6 hours and takes you through the Mt. Hood pass over to  We got lucky and didn't have any road closures due to the wildfires in the area but did have a lot of smoke to contend with at times. Upon arrival in Madras we were greeted by upper 90 degree weather, sunshine, good friends including our trainer and his wife and our boys who we hadn't seen in two weeks. Odin of course was super excited to see Ben and didn't stop "talking" all weekend even though it drove us all crazy.
Friday night we headed back into town for Mexican food and the OBC awards dinner. It was great to spend an evening celebrating the achievements of fellow club members and their dogs. A handful of awards were given out including a couple of thank you awards for members that have given endless hours of support to the club and events. After dinner we headed back to Sonny's motel where it seemed like everyone without a horse trailer or camper who was attend the trial was also staying there and best part, they had a pool.

Saturday morning we headed back to the grasslands for the start of the trial which was being run on horseback and had 8 different stakes that would be run over the three days. Loki would be running in Open Derby again and Odin would run in Open Gun Dog. Both boys would be handled by Chris since this trial was going to be run on horseback and neither Ben or I are skilled in the art form of riding a horse, carrying a starter pistol and controlling a dog all at the same time. Ben did get the opportunity to ride Chris's horse Kip so that he could go out on Loki's brace which ended up being at 2pm in the afternoon and in 95 degree weather. He had a good run overall even with it being really hot but went bird less which meant he was out of contention for placements since no bird = no placement in this game. After all 6 braces ran it turned out that only one of the 12 dogs found a bird so we didn't feel too bad. That evening we had a wonderful potluck with deep fried turkey, salads, lots of goodies for dessert and Reggie's special margaritas.

Sunday we were back around 10 to see the boys and to hang out with everyone since Chris was judging the Amateur All Age Stake and running Odin in the afternoon. We got to hang out with Tina and their new puppy Patch in the camper which was nice since it was even hotter and the smoke was blowing in. We didn't have great hopes for Odin's run since it was so hot, he is carrying some extra weight for show and is still in show coat but Chis and Ben mounted up and headed out with him for his brace and were back in less than the 30 minutes since Odin wasn't wanting to be a gun dog and Chris pulled him since even if he finished he wouldn't have placed.

After a round of goodbyes to Loki who would be staying with Chris and Tina for another few weeks for more events we packed up Odin and said our goodbyes to everyone and hit the road to make the trek home. We definitely had a good time this weekend and are looking forward to learning to handle the dogs both on and off horses when we start prepping for next season in January and coming to more events next year as we pursue field championships for both Odin and Loki.

Dog Days of Travel

Our house has been a little on the quiet side these last couple of weeks since the boys, Odin and Loki, are on the road. It started with Loki being at the trainer for a week and a half for horse back camp where he got to learn all about running with and being handled by a person riding in a competition. After camp he was able to come home for a whole 3 days before taking off again.

While Loki was at horse back camp in Oregon, Odin headed home with his show handler in Moses Lake last week to get ready for the Rainer Sporting dog show and the Olympic Kennel Club shows in Enumclaw this past weekend. After the shows on Sunday the boys both headed home with the trainer for another two weeks to get ready for two more field trials. After that, Odin hits the road for three weeks of shows with a new handler and Loki may come home depending on where he is point wise.

Looks like it's going to be quite for a few more weeks around our house and the hubby will be lonesome without his buddies.

Blueberries

One of the benefits of having acreage is that there is space for lots of planting beds, fruit trees and our favorite-blueberry bushes, even better mature blueberry bushes. We have three bushes that line the edge of our planter boxes and with all the warm weather we have been having we have lots of blueberries to enjoy. This has translated into lots of blueberry treats in our house including blueberry pie, blueberry pancakes, blueberry coffee cake and of course our fav, blueberries with ice cream.

5 Point Major

Yesterday we had the Rainer Sporting Dog Show for the boys at the Enumuclaw Expo Center. Odin had been dropped off to Kevin and Diane the prior weekend to get prepped for this show and the accompanying shows this weekend so I only had to get Loki ready which was nice.

While the show didn't pull majors for dogs since only 5 were entered it did pull a major for females since 12 were entered which was still good for Odin's chances to get one of the two major wins he needed to finish his championship. Odin and Kevin looked great together in the ring and the grass is always a little forgiving so i was hopeful. Up first the class stage where Odin was against one other dog in the Open class. After a look over by the judge and a couple of times around the ring Odin came out with the first place. Onto the winner's round where he was up against the Bred By and the 12- to 18 mth class winners. Luck was on our side again as Odin walked out with the Winner's Dog purple ribbon and 2 points. Now he was onto the Best of Breed round to try to pick up the females major.

Odin and his handler getting the very
importantt look over.


A few more times around the ring, a few more once overs by the judge and the winners were selected. Odin and his handler walked out with the Best of Winners which gave Odin his first major win and one that was worth 5 points.

Here's hoping luck is on our side this weekend as we head back to the Expo Center for the Olympic Kennel Club shows and an opportunity for Odin to get his second major win and to finish his championship.

Good Laugh

INSTALLING SUMMER.....


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Refinement

Its no secret that every person, and every family encounters its fair share of challenges. Because everyone has their own struggles I choose not to dwell on mine/ours (or at least I try) and I certainly don't choose to air those struggles over the Internet. That being said, I think there is much wisdom to be gained through sharing our stories. So without over-sharing, and most of our closest friends and family know that about the very strained / almost non-existent relationship within my husband's family and us due to ongoing hurt, disappointment and lack of respect our extended family has shown us over the last nine years. Certainly something that many of us have encountered in one way or another. Through these experiences, it has surprised me to learn how conflicted not only I am but we as a couple still are after all these years over making decisions on how to deal with them especially at extended family functions.

Once again we are faced with the challenge of finding a solution to this as we have Ben's extended family picnic coming up in mid-August. Last year we decided not to go for a couple of reasons, we had a dog show for Odin, Ben's brother and his wife had just had a baby and we are forbidden to see the baby per them, one of the cousins was also pregnant and the biggest reason was that at the prior year's event there was a fight between Jon and Ben that caused the whole family who never needed to know abut the issue to be involved and we were very embarrassed not only for what had happened but that our side of the family could not be respectful in someone else's home and get along even if that meant avoiding being in the same room for one day.

So here we are again, deciding to go to this years picnic and get to see everyone who we haven't seen in a year or pass on it and ensure that the drama is not brought into the hosting family's home.

This morning though, I found the blog Sanctified Pearl. K.C. wrote today about sea glass and how it is that something so beautiful can only become that way through the pain and struggle of hardship. She wrote:

"I see my life (and the life of my friend) as a little piece of beach glass. We aren’t always sure how we will survive different circumstances in our lives. We think we will break under the constant crashing of disappointments, hardships, and trials. But, if a piece of discarded trash can become something beautiful and valuable, I have to believe my Creator is doing much the same with me. He is refining me. Smoothing the rough edges. Softening the exterior that can cut and be dangerous. He values me and with the break of each wave, I am becoming more of who I was created to be. And you are too."

I wanted to 1) save this for another day as a reminder of the refinement that is happening in my own life and us a couple and 2) share this with anyone else who might stumble across this post because I truly believe that we can learn and grow by cautiously opening our hearts to each other. 

9 Years!

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary! In some ways it seems like just yesterday that we met, fell in love and got married. In other ways, when we think about all that has happened, the places we've gone, the adventures we've shared it seems like we've been together forever. They say marriage takes work and if that is the case, this is the easiest job we both can imagine most days :)

While were not always on the same page, joined a the hip, or seeing eye-to-eye, in the end, we always find a way to work it out. And at the heart of our marriage is everything that matters: love, trust and respect.

We both feel very thankful. Thankful to have a partners like each other in this crazy thing we call life. We very much look forward to the years ahead….

2 Points!

We headed down to Sauvie Island which is located on the Columbia River between Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR yesterday for the Willamette Weimaraner Club's field trial with Loki and his littlermate Jake who would be competing in his first field trail. The boys were both running the open puppy class and would be handled by their trainer this weekend so were just the doggie transport :)

Jake was in brace 1 of 4 and had a strong run for a dog who had never been in a field event before. Loki was in brace 3 and was braced against Kaiser, a Weimi that he ran against the weekend before when I handled him. Chris was feeling confident that he was going to win the event since he had been contending for 1st place at the last two events but one thing for sure when your dealing with dogs, especially a Brittany nothing is certain since it all depends on their attitude that day. After a long wait at the starting line which burned some of his energy up, Chris and Loki had their 15 minute run and showed their stuff. Loki as usual ran big and even decided to go for a swim (it was hot after all) during the run.

We all speculated on how he did while we waited for other braces to run and the judges to come in for lunch as all handlers and owners do. When the judges finally came in for lunch and placements were awarded Jake ended up getting 4th place which is great for his first event and Loki got his 1st place finish and earned his 2 puppy points towards his field championship. This win ended what has been a successful trail season for Loki since he has been in 5 field trails and placed in all of them- a third, 2 seconds, a fourth and now a first.

Congrats to Loki on a great trial season and we look forward to next year!

Happy Long Weekend!

I hope you all have big and exciting plans for the 4th of July weekend.

We have so much I'm looking forward to:

Friday night pet sitting - Loki's brother Jake is staying with us

field trial for both Loki and Jake at Sauvie Island, OR tomorrow-- hoping Loki gets first and his puppy points

making a fire and s'mores

dog show for Loki

backyard bbq

training with Chris

And the one thing that I'm not looking forward to...

not getting to sleep in even one day this weekend due to 8:30am events both Saturday and Sunday and a four hour drive to our trainer on Monday :(

 Hope you have fun celebrating the 4th with your family and friends.

838/ 2 days = A Weekend

This weekend Ben and I covered a total of 838 miles for dog events which meant a lot of time spent on the road, not a lot of sleep, copious amounts of caffeine and most importantly spending lots of time in fields, but at least it was sunny and warm. You might be asking yourself  what would cause us to do this, well we enjoy doing these activities with our dogs and seeing them grow in their abilities and of course spending time with our friends who are also into doing dog activities. If we had kids we would probably be those parents that were running their kids to all their different activities/play dates but since we don't, we have dog activities.

Saturday was the craziest day with Ben and I heading in separate ways, each with a dog. Ben was heading to Koopman Farms in Oakville with Odin for his Master Hunter test at the Puget Sound Vizsla Club's (PSVC) hunt test at the lovely hour of 4:30am since he had the first brace of the day. I had the luxury of getting to hit the road a little later at 6:30am with Loki to head to the Northwest Pointing Dog Association's (NWPDA) Field Trial which was being held at the Shillapoo Wildlife Area in Vancouver since we were in brace 1 of open puppy.

Ben and Odin were braced with our friend Andy and his Irish Setter Chase so it made for an interesting run since both Odin and Chase have been having some struggles this season. Andy and Chase had a very short run and took themselves before he every got to the bird field. Ben and Odin did a little better and at least got to the bird field before they had issues and were eliminated.

Loki and I were up for an adventure as I was handling him in the field trial for the first time ever since our trainer wasn't able to be at the event. While I had thought that maybe I would see if another handler would run Loki for me I decided and ultimately knew that I would never hear the end of it from our trainer and the other guys who we see at each event so off were were for 15 minutes of what everyone said would be a fun time. After making our way through 5ft tall grass, blackberries and thistle, a few hiccups with the run and some cuts (on me not Loki) we were done with our run. When the judges stared to announce placements and withheld 2-4th in the open derby I knew we weren't guaranteed to get a placement unless we earned it and were happy to walk away with our 4th place finish in open puppy. While Chris would have been able to get the 1st with him since Loki was on and running good I am happy with our 4th place since I did myself.
                                        
Sunday, we both headed back to Koopman's with both Odin and Loki since they were both running in their respective classes. Odin and Ben had a much better run but and made some improvements in areas before Odin decided he knew better and headed straight for the bird field since he knows the course too well and punked Ben so they were sadly eliminated from the test. Since Odin is going to take a while to finish his Master Hunter title (average for people is 2-4 years to accomplish it) we decided that Ben should run Loki and get his final pass to finish his Junior Hunter title. Ben and Loki had a good run despite Lok's running very big and on the edge of the field for the most part, but he did find two birds and got his pass. This last pass completed the 4 he needed to get his Junior Hunter title.
                                        
Now he's back to field trials in pursuit of his puppy point before he hits 15 months old in August while Odin and Ben continue to work on master hunter.

Junior Hunter

Yesterday Ben and Loki wrapped up his hunt test season by running in his last junior hunter test at the Puget Sound Vizsla Club's hunt test at Koopman farms. As usual Loki ran big and on the edge of the fields but had two good points and handled well for Ben which resulted in him getting his 4th and final pass to earn his Junior Hunter title.

Pending AKC confirmation, Loki will get a title after his name and will now be know as- Lacey Mtn's B Campbell Little Jester, JH "Loki"

Double, Double.

This weekend we headed to Koopman Farm in Oakville, WA for the Washington Brittany Club (WBC) and German Shortharied Pointer Club of Washington's (GSPCW) doube, double hunt test event with Odin and Loki. We entered the boys in one event each day since we didn't want to over-run them and we were also not eligible to run in one of the WBC's events since Tina Tewes who is our trainers wife was a judge and it would cause raised eyebrows if we ran under her and passed. 

Saturday when we arrived our first order of business was to connect with Chris and determine where Odin was in his his honoring skills since he had spent the last three weeks with the trainer working on this. We decided that since Odin has been having some tough tests lately and had been listening to Chris lately he should run him and Ben would have  fun run with Loki since the grounds were less than ideal for the test. What should have been a fun run for Ben turned out to be a little nerve wracking since he only had one point at the very end of the 15 minute test and ran much bigger than Ben would have liked but they had fun overall and most importantly he got a pass. Odin sadly didn't have a positive run and had one of these freak situations that you can't really train for happen with a bird and bombed his Master Hunter test.
                                       
Sunday we were up bright and early to make the 2 hour trek again to Oakville (why didn't we stay the night south?) since Loki was running at 9:30am. Since we were on the same course as the day before we decided that it would be better for Ben to run him again and hopefully have some fun before running Odin. Since the other course required the dogs and handlers to be driven to the starting line I didn't get to see it again but when they came back, Ben was happy and reported that he had been offered to collar Loki before time expired since the judges saw everything they needed from him and he had two points and the judges wanted to give the other dog a chance to point a bird. Needless to say Loki earned his 3rd leg towards his JH title. Ben had a decent run with Odin that afternoon as well with him actually doing an honor and he showed signs of improvement in some areas.
                                          
Next up is another round of hunt tests this weekend for Odin and Ben who will be back at Koopmans both Saturday and Sunday and one last one hopefully for Loki to finish his JH Sunday after already being in a field trial on Saturday with Chris down in Vancouver, Guess it's gonna be a busy weekend with lots of driving but at least we have both boys home again.

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing our two fathers, Howard & Gary, and all of our friends who are dads lots of joy and celebrations with their families today.

Going to the birds

Ben's pigeon loft residents arrived this weekend...all 15 of them. Yes, that rights we now have 15 homing pigeons living in the loft and so far they are eating and drinking and seem to be acclimating well.

Last night Loki got to finally see the new residents since he has been hearing and smelling them since he came home and boy ways he curious. He ran around the loft a couple of times, pointed the birds and generally was quite perplexed that he could see them but couldn't get to them. Based on his reaction to the pigeons we can only imagine what Odin will think when he comes home on Saturday.

Almost First

It is definitely the season for field trails and hunting activities since we headed to Vancouver again (Sauvie Island is still under water) for another early morning FT. This weekends event was being put on by the Oregon Wireharied Pointer Club and was worth 1 point in the open puppy class since there were seven puppies entered. Loki's run was great for the first 12 minutes according to Chris but a little less than perfect for the last 3. Chris reported that he wasn't surprised by this sicne all puppies have at least one less than stellar run and wasn't sure if he would place this weekend.

When the placements were being announcned and the 4th place finish went to another dog we all figured he was out of the ribbon placements but to all of our surprise he ended up getting a second place finish and Chris found out from the judges that had it not been for those last 3 minutes he would have been first. We were all just thrilled that even with the less than stellar ending he was still able to finish 2nd. Up next are another round of hunt tests to hopefully complete the Junior Hunter title and then back with Chris for a week of prep for another trial at the end of June. 

Chris Tewes of Double Gun Ranch and Loki showing off his
2nd place finish in open puppy at the OGWPC FT



The Toy Arrived

The toy, I mean tractor was delivered yesterday morning and Ben couldn't be more happy. As expected I came home to him running driving around the yard with it and finding anything that he could pull out of the ground with the bucket to use it. Thankfully we have lots of blackberries and brush that can be cut back to keep him entertained for a while.

Baking Ben

One of the great things about our new house is that since it was older it already had a very large garden area with 4- 4' x 12" raised beds, onions, blueberry shrubs, and rhubarb. Since we never had the space at our old house since we were happy to see the space for growing a garden.

Over the last few weeks our rhubarb sprouted up from very small stocks to very large stocks so Ben decided that it was time to harvest some. After a few minutes alone in the garden he came back with an armful which was way more than I was expecting and needing for a pie which is about the only thing I know to use rhubarb in other than jam.

Ben decided strawberry rhubarb pie was in order since I had bought strawberries earlier and got busy with washing and chopping the ingredients.  After a quick look through the cookbook we found Betty Crockers rhubarb pie and modified it a little sincee we were adding strawberries. After making a mess of almost every mixing bowl in the kitchen the pie was ready for baking. An hour later when I pulled it out I was surprised to see that it hadn't exploded all over the oven since Ben loaded the pie way above the crust. Guess Ben can make the pies from now on since this one tasted great.

Yeah For Loki!

This past weekend Loki competed in his second field trail in the open puppy class with  his trainer Chris Tewes of Double Gun Ranch. The German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Oregon (GSPCO) walking field trial was supposed to be held at Sauvie Island but due to flooding they moved the event to Vancouver Lake.

There were 8 under 15 month old puppies this weekend in the open puppy class at the triall so he had some good competition and his brace mate ended up being one of the dogs he was braced with at the hunt test a couple of weekends ago. The weather was also on the warm side so this was the first time he has run in an event in 70+ degree weather which can make a dog sluggish especially when they have lots of fur like he does.

We are happy to report that once again he is proving he is a great little hunter at 12 months old since he placed 2nd in the group at the trial. Here's looking forward to this weekend's field trial and hoping for a first place finish with points :)

Boys and Their Toys

The one thing I have learned over the year's is the men never really grow up and still are little boys at heart but now their toys cost a whole LOT more. This weekend Ben proved this as we headed down to Brim Tractor in Sumner to look at you guessed it, tractors.

Ben has been talking about needing a tractor to maintain the 5 acres of fun that we bought back in October before the ink was dry on the papers but decided to wait a while to make sure he really needed one and could justify the cost. For those of you who have never bought or would ever need to buy a tractor a brand new one can be more expensive than some cheap cars. So after making it through the winter and all of the snow we had without one and after doing plenty of research on John Deere's, Kubota's and New Holland's Ben finally decided that he wanted a New Holland tractor, so we headed to Brim to look at the model he had landed on and to discuss the details. After about an hour of discussion between Ben and the salesman, a walk around the lot looking at the different models and features available Ben is now the owner of  brand new 2011 20hp, hydrostatic 4x4 New Holland tractor and two New Holland hats.

His new toy gets delivered this Friday after work so I am sure he will find a use for it right away even though we mowed the lawn this weekend. 

Our Little Bird Dog

This weekend we headed down to the Shillapoo Wildlife Area and Vancouver Lake for Loki's first round of junior hunter hunts. Since he hasn't been out in the field for any real hunting exercises outside of training and the field trial he was in which there are no birds planted in the open puppy division, Saturday was his real opportunity to show his hunting abilities. This was my first attempt at running in a hunt test and handling him in a field without the help of Ben or Chris so we were not surprise that we didn’t get a pass since neither of us really knew what we were doing and the judges didn’t see his one and only point. Also since Loki’s brace mate was also a puppy and had caught a bird at the end of the test they both decided to play chase which didn’t help either.

Sunday we headed back out for another try at earning our first junior hunter leg. With some solid advice and guidance on how much to talk to Loki during test versus letting him run and work on his own we were off for our 15 minute run. During the test he came upon 2 different birds and was able to hold very nice points which allowed me time to call point, get an acknowledgement from the judge, get to him and flush the bird. Not to shabby for a young dog who isn’t broke yet. When the time expired and all was done we were pretty pleased with the run and headed in to see our scores.

To get a pass you have to have a minimum score of 7 on the 4 different areas that they are grading. Loki received scores of 9’s and 8’s across the board which means he earned his first hunt test ribbon and more importantly his first junior hunter leg. One down, three more to go till he has his JH title. Look’s like he’s turning out to be a good little bird dog after all!

Ben's Latest Project

One thing Ben wanted when we got our second Brittany, Loki was to have enough property that he could have a pigeon loft and do training with birds at home rather than having to always go to our trainer who is in Eagle Creek, Oregon- a 4 hour drive, each way. While we really like our trainer and what he has done for Odin and Loki there was something about having his own birds that appealed to Ben. So after doing some research and then some more, talking with Chris about his bird lofts, pricing out materials, some more research (if you know Ben this is how he does things- lots of research before starting any project small or big) construction finally began.

The final result after the last two weeks of hard work is an 8' x 12' foot loft that any pigeon would be happy to call home. Now I guess it is time to get the birds and bird supplies.

Happy 1st Bithday Loki!

Today our little monster, Loki turned 1. This past year with him has been wonderful and challenging since he joined our family while we were selling out house. He is becoming Odin's best friend and quite the show and hunting dog as well. He also brings life to our house and joy to our lives.

Kudos for Loki

This weekend Loki competed in his very first field event- the Oregon Brittany Club's walking field trial in Madras, Oregon with our trainer Chris Tewes. He has spent the last three weeks with Chris prepping for this event and on Saturday was in brace 1 of 3 braces for open puppy.

While we didn't get to see him personally run in the field trial sicne we were at another event with Odin, the update from Chris was that Loki had a good run, handled and listened well and there were some high points (good running, pointing and holding the point for a few seconds) and low points (chasing his brace mate which is allowed in puppy, chasing tweety birds) during the run but overall has great potential to be a field trial dog and we should look at continuing to have him in the events.

We also got our other piece of good news from Chris that Loki had gotten a 3rd place finish in open puppy at the event which was huge for him since he has never been in a real field event before or run with a brace mate. Looks like we have field trail dog in the making and are now looking forward to the next field trial in June for him.

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing our moms and all of friends who are mother's a very Happy Mother's Day.

Enjoy your day!

Cinco de Mayo and Birthday Celebrations!

Cinco de Mayo is always celebrated in our house since it is also Ben's birthday. Since he has a soccer game the festivities will have to wait until this weekend.

Happy 34th Birthday Ben!

94 Years Young

This weekend we celebrated my grandfather's 94th birthday by having a family dinner. With everyone's busy schedules it is rare that we can all get together but we made it work and he enjoyed having everyone together for the afternoon and getting lots of goodies.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a nice Easter holiday!

Good Times!

This weekend we headed down to Albany, Oregon for the Chintimini Kennel Club dog shows with Odin and Loki for another round of showings in the pursuit of finishing Odin. While we came up short with Odin this weekend and the major on Saturday broke we did have a few highlights.

Saturday after we finished the show we packed Loki up since Odin was staying with his handler for the weekend and headed over to Sherwood, Oregon to visit our college friends Alex and Carissa Gran and their 8 month old daughter Emily. We hadn't seen them in quite a long time so it was great catching up and finally being able to the meet Emily in person. She's is very cute and full of energy but did super well at Red Robin while we had lunch. After a few hours of visiting and a break in the rain we decided to head back to Albany to the motel so that we could let Loki out of his crate and to relax.

Upon our arrival at the motel we were greeted to the sounds of at least 50 barking dogs since every motel in Albany and within driving distance of the fair grounds was booked for the dog show. This was lok's first time in a motel and it provided to be quite interesting for him since he was fascinated by the mirror that he could see himself him and since he could hear other dogs barking he was cure that the dog he saw was someone else. Also since this was a new space he had to sniff out every nook and cranny constantly. Luckily for us he went right to bed at bedtime with no problems event though the walls were paper thin and we could hear the dog in the next room snoring all night long.

After a long 5 hour drive home Sunday with two people and two dogs packed in the Jetta and a stop at Cabela's were were home and happy to have Odin back with us for a few weeks before the last round of shows before they get a break and head into the field for the hunt test season in pursuit of their respective hunter titles- Master Hunter for Odin and Junior Hunter for Loki.

Welcome Spring

...you've been dearly missed!

With today being the second day of Spring and the weather being sunny and warm, there are a few things I am so looking forward to over the next three months:

• Getting to train the boys in sunshine rather than rain ( I won't lie, standing in a field all day in the rain working dogs with birds is NO fun)
• The smell of flowers on my  daily walk with Odin and Loki
• Blooming cherry blossom trees on my drive to work
• Opening the sunroof for the first time in months
• Green trees lining my yard
• Being able to start opening the windows and enjoying a breeze throughout the house
• Leaving to go to work when it's light out, and returning home while it's still light
• Putting my peacoats away and knowing that soon, I won't have to wear a coat at all!
• The need to wear sunglasses
• Attending Sounders games

But most of all, Spring means anticipating the arrival of Summer (my favorite season), and all the fabulous things it brings

It' Soccer Season!

Tuesday night we headed to Qwest Field to watch the Seattle Sounders vs. LA Galaxy for the MLS First Kick of the 2010 soccer season. The Sounders have been fortunate to host the first game of the season for the last three season so while the weather was cold and wet it was great to see the team back in action.

We upgraded our view this season by moving to section 106, row l which means we get a much better of the play field and to be a part of the rowdiness that comes with Sounders soccer. It was also nice to see that Tammy (my little sister) can see all of the action since that was a bit of an issue last season for her in our old seats.

While the Sounders suffered a 1-0 loss to the Galaxy and we were thoroughly soaked at the end of the night we are definitely looking forward to this season and the addition of teams in Portland and Vancouver for the Northwest rivalry.

Dog Handler Debut

This past weekend we headed to the Seattle Kennel Club dog show with both Odin and Loki for another round of showing. Odin had spent the week with his handler, Kevin Chestnut in preparation for the shows so we were looking forward to seeing him and bringing him home for a few weeks before the next round of shows.

We had hoped that this would be the weekend we would finish Odin's championship title since this weekend pulled major's on both days and that is what Odin needs to finish. Sadly Odin took third in his class both days and will now be heading to shows in Oregon in April in pursuit of his major's.

This weekend was also a big one for Loki and me asI made my dog handler debut. I've decided to give dog showing a whirl and show the little man myself. Saturday we did quite well for my first handling experience and took 1st place in our puppy class despite my missteps with stacking him for the judge. Sunday we took second place since Loki was a little wild and wound up for no reason other then he's a puppy.

Next up is the Peninsula Dog Fancier's Club show in Bremerton on the 27th for Loki's next show so we'll see how that goes and then both boys are headed to the Chintimini Kennel Club shows in Albany on April 2nd & 3rd.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope you all have a festive, fun, and safe St. Patrick's Day!

Mr O Turns 3!

It is hard to believe our little puppy is now 3 years old, which according to this site, is the equivalent of 28 years old in human years. Geez, he is getting old!
This year has been filled with lots of highs for our Odin. He started competing in hunt tests and even though he didn't achieve his Senior Hunter title he did great and proved he is a great bird dog. He also started working on his show championship and currently is two wins away from finishing and becoming Champion Odin. Odin also got to take his first airplane ride to Rapid City, SD where he got to go hunting in snow drifts and a blizzard. But best of all he got to become a "big brother" to the newest addition of the family Loki in July.

We celebrated Odin's birthday by being in the Seattle Kennel Club dog show and then came home and took a nice long nap. This evening he got to have his birthday treat- a milkbone with peanut butter.

Happy Birthday O!

Back to the Field

We were up bright and early Sunday as we headed out of the house in the snowy weather to officially kick off the training season in preparation for the spring/summer hunt test season with a trip to Eagle Creek, Oregon to Double Gun Ranch for training with Chris. We were lucky and the weather seemed to get better as we got closer to Oregon and ended up snow free even though it was cold and windy.

Since it was only Ben and I that made the trek we were able to get about 3 hours of straight training in with the boys. We were able to get Odin out pointing and holding birds which nice to see that he hadn't lost his touch or skills after having the last few months off and being in the show ring. We worked with Loki on his hearing and his pointing planted birds. We aren't working the retrieving or too much with planted birds with Loki right now since he is at the skill level needed for the junior hunter level so we used the most of the day to work with Odin since he is going for his master hunter title. 

Loki pointing a planted bird

 We were also able to get some work with Odin on honoring another dog's point since this is an area we had a lot of trouble with last year during the tests. Hopefully with some more work on this skill we will be able to replicate it during a real test this year.

Odin honoring Jazzi"s point



Onto another weekend of training and seeing the boys evolve into good little hunting dogs.