Saturday Morning Post

It is early Saturday morning in Utah -- the day we fly to Washington DC, much to my consternation. As I was relaying my fear of flying to one of the hospice patients, she pointed out that I was not afraid of flying but rather I was afraid of crashing. This is so correct, and reminds me of the importance of perspective. As long as the plane flies, I am not afraid -- I need to remember that.

Last night we enjoyed a little puppy party with Rainey (aka Toronto) and Joan, Liz, Sam and Tara (aka Geneva), and our most dedicated non-berner puppy friend, Cali (aka Cali ;). I thought you might enjoy seeing pictures this morning...

All Zoey wanted to do was play a nice game of fetch but like Sydney, Tara had to spoil the fun. Here they are in a standoff.



And then the snatch...


The fight...


Tara gets reinforcements...


And finally emerges victorious!


We were really struck with how much Tara and Sydney look alike -- here is Syd...


And here are the sisters...


...sharing a kiss.


And cute Rainey


I hope you have a wonderful weekend and think uplifting thoughts for me (as in lifting the plane up!).

Picture Perfect!

This morning is so lovely that I had to take a few pictures just to document that what I am saying is true -- this is a beautiful place!

The sun is just coming up -- so this is the east view taken from the front yard with Asia, Zoey and Syd playing.


This is also taken from the yard but is facing more southeast -- our property ends at the start of that pond. It is a wonderful area for wildlife down there.



This is a southern view with my jumps up to practice agility with Cadi and utility with Halo.


And finally, this is the western view -- my favorite. This is what I see when I look out the kitchen and dining area windows.




Camp Montana is open and ready for visitors! Have a lovely day :)

Summer Evening and Plane Scared

Montana is really an amazing place. We live in a valley called the Bitterroot, and there are mountains on two sides of us. A river runs through the middle of the valley, and really -- it is just incredibly lovely.

I am enjoying my last Saturday here for a couple of weeks. Next Saturday at this time I hope to be safely landed in Washington DC where we are going for Part 1 of the Jake/Cassie wedding. I H-A-T-E to fly and have felt dread about it for weeks -- sigh. But what can I do?? I am resigned to my fate, whatever that is -- if only I drank...

So we (hopefully) arrive in DC on Saturday with Jake, Cassie and her parents. The first ceremony is on Wednesday and then we hop back in another one of those @#$% airplanes and go back to Utah (I hope and pray) where Thursday includes a wedding breakfast for immediate family, another ceremony, and a very large reception (thank goodness we have the groom!). The Montana branch of the family (Galen, dogs, cats, and me) will then come back up to this beautiful valley.

Do you have any recommendations for "must see/do" in DC? I would love to hear them!

In the meantime, here are some pictures from our relaxing Saturday in Montana where our feet on firmly on the (lovely) ground...

This is Asia working on her gardening.


Seriously -- how cute is this puppy?! This is, of course, Sydney, doing what she does best -- looking adorable.


Here is my Bernese Mountain Retriever, Zoey -- look at how happy she is to be playing fetch with her ball!


Zoey wants to know if you still think she has big ears?


Or light eyes?


I hope you are enjoying a lovely June weekend, free of airplanes and other scary things.

Zoey's Response

Here is Zoey's suggestion for a picture:



I told her that she really does not have big ears or light eyes but is just so beautiful that we are trying to find the perfect look!

I have decided to send two pictures (#1 and #2) from the original set and the flower picture to the guy designing the ad and let him make the choice since none of us seem capable (and Zoey's suggestion is not appropriate!). I will share our concern that the flower picture seems to make her eyes look lighter than they are, and let him know that the #1 picture got the most votes. We can all be surprised together at what he decides!

If you did not check out the baby bear pictures at Lynne's blog you definitely need to do that as they are adorable!! http://www.rickandlynne.com/lynne/

Let's all refrain from sticking our tongues out today -- unless someone really deserves it! If caught, you can say what my daughter did when she was little and I caught her sticking her tongue out at me, "I'm a snake" ;)

What a Tough Crowd!!!

Okay, so the yellow flower picture was not a big hit -- how about this one (with the leash photoshopped out)??



Thanks!!! We will get this right eventually :)

Let's Try Again!

The voting for the Zoey pictures was so even between three pictures that I was prompted to try again -- I want a picture that is a WOW picture for almost everyone who sees it. So, how about this one? Is it a "WOW!" or "Keep Trying"? Cast your vote -- please :)



Thanks!!!!

Word of the Day

I may have mentioned that I was going to work very part-time for a local hospice -- well, their regular social worker abruptly quit about three weeks ago and so I am now working there more than very part-time. While it adds a wrinkle to the already wrinkled fabric of my life, what a blessing it has been to once again work with the dying. There is nothing like sitting at the end of life to remind us about the things that really matter -- and more importantly, about the things that really don't.

The work has reminded me that the life I live now will one day be my past. Some of the people I work with have no regrets and look back on the past with the satisfaction of a life well lived, and others feel differently. It has made me consider how I can live life backwards, or mindful that I am creating my future self's past.

One thing I have been reflecting on is a definition of success. I have never been one to care much about money, status or "stuff", and so I have been thinking about how I will define whether my life is successful or not -- do you ever think about that? The cool thing is that we each get to define "success" for ourselves, and it is perfectly wonderful if your definition is different from mine. What matters is not that we share a definition of success, but that we celebrate whatever another considers successful.

And with that, I share what I consider a successful weekend even though no titles were earned. Cadi and Asia were both in the Montana tracking test today. Yesterday I spent the day with one of the judges plotting tracks -- I was a tracklayer for the TD part of the test. It was pouring rain and I went through two sets of boots and clothes, and was still chilled to the bone. But today was nice -- overcast, cool and no rain. And the scenery -- it was simply breathtaking.

None of the nine dogs entered in the test passed. There were five entries in the TDX portion and I had two. Asia was first and she made one wrong turn but otherwise ran a stunning track -- I was SO proud of her. It was not an easy track but she gamely went through woods, over logs, and up the mountain to find all of her articles.

Then it was Cadi's turn and in my mind, I saw her in the crate in that pool of blood after her surgery. I remembered that panic and being just convinced she would die. And then I was looking at her as she barked and pulled on the tracking line, anxious to get going, in the most beautiful place -- and I knew that no matter what happened, I had all the success I needed at that moment. No title could ever represent greater success than just being able to enjoy that piece of time with that superb dog in such an amazing setting. Yes, we failed to get the TDX -- she made one mistake -- but we succeeded in so many more important ways today.

This is me and Cadi on our track -- I know it is hard to see but look at that scenery!


Driving home yesterday I stopped the car to get this picture of a bald eagle -- isn't it majestic?


And after I had finished today I saw this bird, and thought how appropriate it was to see a bluebird of happiness right after I had finally gotten a chance to run a TDX track with my sweet Cadi-Bug.


I took some other pictures in the yard this evening -- here is Mrs. Maize.


And this is Halo.


At the test today, someone commented, "there is a lot of her" about Asia, our plus-size model. She is not fat at all and is, in fact, in great shape but yes, she is definitely not petite. Maybe we should call her, "Amazon Asia"? ;)


These are some pictures of our very not Amazon-ish Sydney. Doesn't she have a lovely head for being just six months old?








Zoey thinks she is a retriever. She will happily fetch for as long as one is willing to throw, and she nicely brings whatever it is back. She doesn't require a treat for this -- her eyes just light up when she sees I am going to throw it yet again! Here are some pictures from our game tonight. In the first one she is escaping from Syd, who was chasing her -- in the second picture you can see why she might want to avoid Sydney!









Thanks for visiting us. I hope you are able to feel successful in your life, and if not, maybe it is time to re-evaluate how you define success... The tracking test could be seen as a failure -- I choose to see it as a wonderful success. The word of the day -- perspective :)

Cast Your Vote!

Although the Specialty did not go as planned, the reality of Zoey's accomplishments there has really settled on me lately -- she was the only 6 - 9 month bitch that placed under all three judges, and her classes were huge. In addition, she earned her TD at seven months old -- all at her very first Specialty and indeed -- her very first show.

Since I started breeding I have been committed to not sacrificing working ability for beauty -- or beauty for working ability. Too many breed for one or the other, and I think that is unfortunate -- it is possible to have excellent working berners who actually look like a berner is supposed to look :) And so we are particularly proud of young Zoey and are doing an ad in our breed journal, The Alpenhorn. The ad will run in the Specialty edition and the goal is just to introduce Zoey and brag in a not braggy way about her first Specialty :)

Will you help me pick which picture to use? I have created a poll and named each picture so you can vote for the one you think is best.

Picture 1


Picture 2


Picture 3


Picture 4


In other news, we have reached an agreement with the oil change place. I have been very impressed with them -- they really stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for what happened (employee greased Kim's brakes because he is a cop). That is a relief to have that on the way to settlement -- we sign papers next week.

Thanks for your help with the ad!

Got Glitter?

I had a request for Glitterati pictures and just happened to have received some recently so thought I would share. Let's review the litter names and who/where they are now:

Sydney - Sydney (with us)
Geneva - Tara (moving from Illinois to Utah soon with Liz, Sam & the mobile pug)
Ireland - Mika (California girl with John & Kristine & Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Vic)
Jamaica - Zaida (Colorado with Barb & Keith)

Hudson - Ruben (Arizona with Kay & Sue)
Toronto - Rainey (Utah with Joan & Pradip)
Sutton - Murphy (Montana with Gail & I apologize but I am blanking on the very nice Mr. Gail's name)
Whitby - Cooper (Oregon with Jennifer & Ralph)

These pups are now six months old -- can you believe it?! Some are of the faster maturing version and others -- like Sydney and Ruben -- do not resemble the stocky puppies they were at eight weeks, but they will!

We have had a couple of health issues -- Murphy had surgery for entropian, Rainey has had a limp that does not appear to be an elbow but may be OCD -- he is on rest to see if that helps. As we all know, Cooper had surgery for a foreign body. On the positive side, the litter has exceptionally good temperaments :)

It is very hard when puppies are not perfect -- another reason that breeding these dogs is just not as easy as it might seem. There is just a sinking feeling when you get the word that there is something not right, and you just wonder if there was something that was missed or something that should have been done differently. Since I made the choice to create these lives, I feel personally responsible for each of them -- and therefore issues that come up feel like a personal failure.

But perfection does not exist on this earth and so all we can do is our best -- right? The lack of perfection is not an excuse to stop trying, but rather to re-double our efforts to do the right things, but still bad stuff will and does happen -- sigh. Well, even though not really perfect I still think they are, and certainly you will agree that these are adorable baby berners...

Here is Ruben, our litter Rock Star -- growing into a tall, skinny puppy before he fills out to become that stunning dog we know he will be.


Here is Mika on her favorite (expensive) chair -- only the best for our babies!


And here is Cooper enjoying the Oregon summer.


And yes, we have internet again and slowly we are unpacking and creating a new normal. When I look out the window towards the west I think to myself, "I am living in a Robert Duncan painting"!

I hope your life is also a work of art :)

Yesterday I made a list of all the stressors in my life over the past six weeks, and also all the blessings for which I am grateful – the stressor list was considerably longer than the blessings list. This explains why I keep looking for that balance or equilibrium that seems to have just disappeared.

Did you know that even good life events rate high on stress scales? I suspect it is because all change requires adjustment, and changes of all kinds result in loss. When we have periods in which we feel like we are in some zany life batting cage, and curve balls are coming at such a rate that we cannot even hope to get a solid hit, it seems appropriate that we want to just throw the metaphorical bat at the stupid pitching machine.

But I am reminded of what my Uncle Bill said a few days before he died. He was a huge softball player and baseball fan, and had been hoping for a miracle that would make that @#$% pancreatic cancer go away. Instead, that cancer slowly took over a wonderful life but it never beat Uncle Bill.

As I sat with him just days before his death, he shared his perception that we have to be like a good pitcher and change our game when what we are doing isn’t working for us anymore. And so he changed his hopes, and his new plan for the miracle was that he could die peacefully and in his sleep; he did. A good player in life needs to know when to change things up.

Somehow that seems appropriate to remember during this whacky time of changes. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed all the time when the curve balls seem to be coming from all directions, but that is not especially helpful. And so I am thinking today about how to change up my game – I cannot change a lot of what life pitches my way, but I can control how I swing at it – so can you.

One of my recent challenges is internet at the new house that worked for just a day –I need access for my work and I also do most of my communication via email so this extended lack of access is a hardship. A technician is coming to the house today and so hopefully I will soon once again have reliable internet access without having to go to work. And have you ever noticed that a minor hassle seems much bigger when it comes with a lot of minor hassle friends?!

What is not a hassle is living in this wonderful house in an incredibly beautiful valley – here are some more pictures…

Halo enjoying a bone in the new yard...


Halo in the yard.


Girls having fun in the yard.


On Saturday I went tracking with Cadi and here is a picture of the audience :)


Asia on the porch with her grandma Abra's High In Trial trophy from the 2001 Specialty.


Sticks are a big hit at our new house. Yesterday I noticed Zoey had bad breath and finally thought to check her mouth -- she had a stick fully wedged along the roof of her mouth! This did not deter her from chewing more, as you can see...


Zoey and Syd


Look closely -- this is Zoey AND Syd.


More of our yard.


Sydney enjoying the new yard.


I hope you are having a delightful day and wish you a Jubilant June!