Goals and Little Boxes and a New Blue Table

The second week of the semester and of Specialty Training is ending, and both are going well. I did not get all boxes checked off this week (just most of them) but I am happy with the progress given limitations of weather and terrain. Zoey's tracking is going very well, and Cadi also did a great job on a long track this week. Halo's utility work is coming along nicely and Maize enjoys doing the weave poles that are still quite snowed in. Asia got to track this week also, and she did a super job and had a lot of fun, and Sydney is 100% reliable with her house training. I think things are going well, and tomorrow starts a new week and a new schedule.

I like goals but I also recognize that one can be a success even when all the boxes do not get checked. A friend of mine doesn't like having specific goals because she feel badly when she doesn't meet them, but I think goals are important. They give us a vision to work towards, and it is okay if the path to a goal is not a direct one or a fast one. It took me 13.5 years from the time I started at a community college, seven months pregnant with my second child at the tender age of 20 (!), until I finished my Ph.D. and I only took one semester off (after my mom died). College is naturally broken down into steps -- and so each class and each semester represented very observable progress. I think I just got in the habit of seeing things that way -- in segments that when you put them together become something more then you ever imagined you could do :)

And so the goal represents the vision or the place I want to be, and then I break down how to get there and chug along one step (or one page) at a time. In that way, I do not feel overwhelmed (usually) and it is really amazing how much gets done if you do just a little bit every day. You know what they say -- the longest journey begins with a single step!

But sometimes we misstep, don't we?! This morning I got up to discover that I had accidentally left Asia out all night! My girls are never out at night or when we are not home, but I just did not notice she wasn't in when I went to bed. I got up twice to take Sydney out but I take her out the front and Asia was on the side deck (it is part of a fenced yard). My other dogs would have let me know about my mistake but Asia is not that way -- she patiently handles whatever and I imagine she thought, "well, this is a little strange but I guess I am supposed to sleep outside tonight" -- and so she did! I felt terrible but she survived her ordeal, and I will more carefully count noses before bed in the future!

And speaking of noses, I think Sydney has an especially cute one -- and it matches the rest of her. She is 100% house trained now -- crazy fast!


This is our sweet Mrs. Maize, grandma to Sydney. She is 8.5 years young.


Karma likes dogs and other cats, and here she is hanging out with the Head Feline Puppy Nanny, Noah -- that is Sydney giving her opinion about Feline Puppy Nannies sleeping on the job!


Our big excitement today!!! A new grooming table!!!! I had to go and pick it up from the UPS place as our road is still not okay unless one has four wheel drive -- and so my van is still at the mailboxes three miles away :) But isn't the grooming table lovely?? That is Girly, the cat I found at a Greyhound station in California over seven years ago, testing it out.


And here is sleepy Halo...


A couple of you have asked about Faith and here she is -- she is doing just great :)


Cadi got the tracking line and started a four way tug session with it. Can you pick out Cadi, Faith, Zoey and Sydney?


In this picture -- also of the tug session -- you can really see Faith's gray puppy coat -- look at it in contrast to Zoey.


I hope your goals include a fine day, which lead to a fine week and a fine month and so on... Thanks for visiting and for your comments.