Just a Little Springtime Note

What a difference a new transmission makes! And again, I am so grateful for the extended warranty. We did not pay for that warranty -- the car dealership gave it to us when they found out Kim is in law enforcement, which was very nice of them at the time and even nicer now :)

Spring is trying hard to arrive here on the mountain, and we are seeing hints of green. It is definitely warmer and almost all the snow is gone. The area I call the Training Facility is completely clear of snow and so I have my agility equipment up, and have been practicing that and obedience there as well.

The fast trip to Utah was fun but as usual it has taken me a few days to settle back in up here -- I told Marti it is like ripping off the band-aid every time I come back from Utah. I am happy here in Montana and am glad that this is where I am staying, but leaving Kim and things so familiar is still hard.

Specialty training is going well -- as well as it can go under the circumstances. I still struggle with wanting to have perfect obedience work with Cadi, which is just not reasonable given the training conditions up here. It is that whole acceptance thing again, and learning to maximize what blessings we have rather than try to fit what we want into our lives. And so obedience and to an extent, agility, are just challenging here, but tracking is superb.

Yesterday I discovered hundreds of acres of open land just five miles away with no fencing or "no trespassing" signs -- I thought I had it good before but now I recognize that this is indeed my year for tracking :) That does not mean we will pass -- the passing rate on a TDX test is something like 15% -- but it is a good feeling to go in knowing that one is as prepared as possible, and I will have that this year. Both Cadi and Asia got in the TDX test at the Specialty, and we are tracking almost daily. Zoey is in the TD test and is also doing very well. This new land makes it even easier to track multiple dogs in a day -- I told Kim that I hit the tracking jackpot :)

Pictures! Let's start with this adorable one from Jennifer of Cooper (Whitby) and her two little ones. How cute is that?!


I gave some baths this weekend and took some pictures of fluffy girls -- this is Zoey.


These next two are of Asia.



This is another one of those cuddle-bug pictures! This time it is Sydney and Faith, who are very good friends :)


Thank you for being our very good friends -- I wish you were all going to the Specialty with us :)