Looking Back at 2011

With 2012 in full swing, it's time to take a look back at the highlights of 2011.

It was a busy year for us filled with a good balance of work and play.Lots of time spent in the office for us both, but we certainly got our fill of busy weekends, lazy weekends, and time spent with family and friends.

The theme for this year seemed to be the year of the dogs. We had over 50 show, field and hunt test events that the boys competed in. We also covered thousands of miles traveling between Eagle Creek, Oregon and our house in Snohomish for training and of course all over Washington and Oregon for events and to drop doggies off at their respective handlers. We were also blessed to meet and make many new friends through our dog activities who share our interests.

Some highlights of the year for us included:

• Ben and I celebrating 12 years together and 9 wonderful years of marriage
• Ben buying his "big boy toy"-- a New Holland Tractor
• Hosting a couple of parties at our house including the first annual Ugly Holiday Sweater party
• Loki turning one and Odin turning three
• Loki getting his Junior Hunter title and 2 points towards his field championship
• Odin getting 9 points towards his show championship including one major win (only need one more major to finish, were soooo close...)

We wrapped up a wonderful and eventful 2011 with a fun filled evening spent with Stacey at the Everett Silvertips game and then a quite evening at our home to watch the ball drop and to ring in the new year.

We can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us. A few things we're already eagerly anticipating are Loki being a part of the Western Futurity event in both field and show in April in Madras, Oregon, finishing up Odin's show championship and working on his Master Hunter title, celebrating our 10th anniversary with a trip somewhere, and a wine tasting weekend with my best friend this summer.

Happy New Year!

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!