A Very Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a very Blessed New Year. This year has brought many joys and trials. Hopefully we learn from the trials and hang on to the joys. We are all very blessed to live in this wonderful country and to have so much. I feel very rich to have my family, my dogs, and my wonderful friends.

May the spirit of Christmas be with you for the entire year. May God bless each and every one of you.

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Puppy Day!!

Well, it was puppy day, but I didn't start with the puppies until after I cooked up some yummy Christmas treats with my boys. We made fudge and then two batches of English Toffee today. MMMMM I can't wait to start gaining all the weight back that I lost over the summer!!! I think Christmas is a way to have 25 methods of eating sugar and butter!!! But it is so good. Every year I think I will cut down on the goodies that I make, but every year my children remind me of how Christmas would be ruined if we don't do exactly the same way every year. Tradition seems to play a big roll in what makes a holiday successful. The only problem with that is that most of the traditions involve me working!!! But i do admit I love to cook with my boys. It is a time we can enjoy each other. Makes it all worth while.

The puppies here are Knuckles, Bruce, Leo, Meepo -- My boys named them!!!








Well once the baking was done then we all bathed the remaining 6 puppies. Because it is Saturday the AOAC litter turned 10 weeks today and the Sable litter turned 8 weeks today. So we measured everyone and then took pictures. I redid the sable boys' ears as well. It was a busy day. The bigger blue girl went to a pet home yesterday and 2 of the sable boys will go to their new homes tomorrow so I will be down to only 4 puppies. It will be nice in some ways, but I miss the little guys when they are gone.

I'm growing out two of the AOAC puppies for now. They are so much fun. They are sired by the gogeous BISS CH. Sea Haven Chasing Moonbeams, ROM X BISS CH. Lacewood Bi Starlight. My beautiful girl that finished in 10 shows and took a specialty BOB over 6 specials for her second 5 point major in 1 day. Earning 10 points in 1 day is a really special thing to do!!! Here they are
This is Jamie. I don't know what her registered name will be yet. Any ideas? Maybe we need a contest!!!

This is Miss Traci. She has moved in and taken over my house. She already things she runs thinks around here. She will be Lacewood Traces of Moonlight!!!

I feel very lucky to have these babies. I have loved Chase for so long. Hope you all enjoy them!!!

Funny Bird

We have an African Grey parrot at our house. Her name is Chiku, which means Chatter in an African language. She puts a unique perspective on things. She talks up a storm and makes up her own phrases from the words she knows. It is really almost scary to hear her talk. She can imitate me being on the phone. She beeps to dial the numbers, then says hello, or she rings just like the phone and then says hello. Then she'll say "uh huh, ok, yes, I see, ok, oh my gosh!, uh huh, alright, bye bye" then she'll beep to hang the phone up. I know exactly what I sound like on the phone now. I know this is funny for everyone that hears it, but it is a little disconcerting to me to hear her imitate my phone calls!! She knows how to say several of the dogs' names. She yells at "Brock" for barking. "Brock!!!, NO BARK!!!" she yells. She calls Draco. Today she learned Kari's name.



She loves the puppies and if you bring a puppy in where she is, she'll say "Look at the puppy, it's such a cute puppy", "Look at the cute, cute puppy, Chiku". If the puppies start to cry she will join in, she sounds more like a puppy crying than the puppies do. Sometimes I come running to see what is wrong with a puppy and it is just Chiku doing her puppy imatation. She also barks very well. Most of our dogs are bark softened, but not Chiku, she barks better than most of the dogs.



Now the funny part is she changes the things, we teach, her to her own liking. For instance we taught her to say Peek-a-boo. She changed it to Chika-boo. (she can say it properly but she prefers to always put her name in everything she can). My husband taught her to say "What's up doc?". Well Chiku's version is "What's up Brock?". She has been saying "Merry Christmas a lot for the Christmas season. She actually learned it last year, but picked it up again very fast this year. Richard, my husband has her saying "Merry Christmas, ho ho ho". Well, she has a new version after today. Now it is "Kari Christmas".



What a funny little bird. She certainly keeps things interesting around here. Everyone I talk to on the phone spends more time eaves dropping on what Chiku is talking about than what I am talking about. She entertains everyone. I have even had people from businesses I am talking to break out into laughter and ask me if I have a bird. She starts a lot of conversations about birds. If you want to be entertained just call sometime and she'll surely put on a show for you. Until then--- Kari Christmas to all and a very Happy Chiku year!!!!

Darling Puppy -- Good cause

I have been just a bit sick today with a terrible cold. Haven't felt well all week, but it finally caught up with me and I spent most of the day in bed.

The puppy in the first two pictures are Sven. He is my son Jaron's favorite puppy. He has carried that puppy around since the day they were born. Not long ago a family picked Sven out and he will soon go to his new home. I'm sure it will make Jaron sad as he loves this puppy, but the puppy is going to a really good home and will be a surprise for a man that has cancer. Hopefully he will add joy to a family that is facing difficult times right now. He is an adorable puppy with a darling little personality to go along with his cute looks. For the last week or two Jaron has been putting Sven in this Santa hat and carrying him around. Sven seems to love the attention and just pokes his head up over the top of the hat and watches the goings on. He is so patient with all the attention he gets. Since Sven might leave to go to his new home tomorrow (weather permitting) we thought we would snap a few photos of him before he left. While we were taking photos of Sven we decided to take some of a few others. We had a good time and the dogs seems to enjoy all the attention. All except Kari, the bi black dog in the Santa hat. I think she thought it was pure foolishness.

It was a fun day playing with puppies and recovering from my cold. I hope Sven's new family loves him as much as Jaron does. If they do he will be one lucky sheltie!!

Snow Day!!

The puppies have all been used to being able to go outside and play for several hours during the day. It has been so nice outside. Well the snow has arrived and I have 9 very unhappy puppies in the house right now. I decided to let them go out and see for themselves. They had a blast until they started to get cold. The snow was coming down very hard so they only got to stay outside for a short time. It is cold and miserable. Poor little things are just sad. One of the little brown boys has been howling waiting to go outside again. Hopefully the snow will stop and they can spend a little time out this afternoon. I was actually surprised at how well they did in the snow. They played in it and ate it. The brown boys are only 7 weeks old and the AOAC's are 9 weeks old. I think given the choice they would take the snow over being locked in the house. When it stops snowing it will be a little warmer I think.


I have been dreading the day that they can't have time outside, but hopefully everyone will get to go to their new homes soon where they can play in the house. It is just impossible to have 9 puppies running around my house. They are very good to go potty outside as long as they get taken out every hour or two. They are so funny to watch, isn't it cute how they just take what ever comes their way and are happy with it. I think I need to be more like that. One puppy is already gone to her new home, it is hard to see them go really, I have really enjoyed these little guys.






They all think they are so grown up. Many of them can go up and down the deck stairs. They are really turning in to quite the little pack. So cute and playful. They all want all the attention. It has been a fun adventure. As I look outside now, there is about 4 new inches and still snowing. Guess their next adventure into the snow will be even deeper, although I shoveled the deck before I put them out this time.

My Old Little Man

This is "Brock" Ch. Starfall's The Enchanter, CD. -- In the late 1970's I had shelties and had a dream of owning a dog nice enough to put in the show ring. For a variety of reasons, the most important of which was to raise my family, I got out of shelties for a number of years. In 2000 I decided that I needed to have shelties again, I just missed them too much!! So I began a search for a very nice dog. It is really hard to find anyone that will trust someone that has never finished a dog and that they don't know with a nice dog. I was met with a very cool reception by most of the people that I contacted. Then I found an ad for puppies and the ad said the person was an AKC judge and had owned shelties for a lot of years. I called on the ad!! That was Janet Nahikian of Starfall shelties. She was nice enough to listen to me and then to offer me Brock. I promised her that if there was any way I could finish him that I would. When he arrived at my house I was thrilled. He was so cute and so pretty. I was in heaven. That began the second round of my sheltie career. I had always had AOAC's and that is still where my heart is. Brock remains my soul little sable guy, but I could not love him more.

He is turning 9 years old in less than a month. He has started to develop arthritis. Last night he was in so much pain from the arthritis that he could hardly put weight on one of his front paws. I tucked him in bed last night between myself and my husband so he would have a comfy place to sleep. When I tried to move him over just a little bit he cried out from his painful joint. This morning he is doing better and not even limping, but it is hard to see this little guy start to show signs of age. He is still the beautiful little puppy to me.

The pictures above were taken by Shannalee when Brock visited her house for a few days. They were taken a couple of months ago. I was so thrilled to see the pictures. He has really held his quality over the years. In fact, if anything he gets better as the years go by.

So this is my tribute the darling little dog that made all of my recent passion for shelties possible again. I love you little man. I hope you have a lot of years left to lay by my side and run our house!!!

Gratitude

I must be in a very reflective mood. Since I started writing this blog, it is in the back of my mind all the time thinking of what might be a good thing to share. The last few days I have been thinking a lot about gratitude. I keep thinking to myself "that isn't a good thing to write about", but then something else happens and I realize just how grateful I am for things in my life. I think sometimes it is easier to be grumpy about the things that we don't have or about things that happen to us, than it is to be grateful for what we have and for those experiences that help us grow. I have not exactly had the easiest life growing up, but I am grateful for each of those experiences because I learned so many valuable lessons from them.

We live in unpredictable times. I have a hard time listening to the news because it scares me to see what is happening in our world. But I am grateful for 7 beautiful children and a husband that has always been able to provide for us. I am so grateful for my dogs and for the opportunity that I have to have dogs that are as nice as I have. I'm grateful that I have had the opportunity to live in this exciting world when technology is just exploding. I don't think there has ever been such an exciting world as the one we live in. I love to see all the new technologies.

I'm especially grateful for friends and the rich blessing that they are in my life. I see so many of them struggling with trials and my heart goes out to them. I just feel very blessed right now.

The picture is of my husband and two of my boys at Arches National Park here in Utah. Such a beautiful world that we live in!!

The US Mail

My Mother used to work for the US Mail, so don't think that I am just trying to rag on the postal service, but I am often puzzled by them.

I can't believe some of the things that show up in my mailbox. I have had nearly shredded mail that I have sent out returned to me. One of those pieces of mail was years ago. My house payment never arrived to pay my payment. It did come back to me about 6 months later in another envelope ripped in half and only half of it was returned. (the half with the return address on it!). Another time someone sent one of my boys a whole bunch of stamps that had been used. They were stamps from all over the world and there was a lot of them in an envelope. The envelope arrived in my mailbox torn open and stamps just tucked in to this open envelope. I have no idea how many of them escaped. I often get letters in my mailbox addressed to someone else with a completely different address. It makes me wonder how many of my pieces of mail get delivered to someone else. I once had a piece of mail delivered that was post marked almost a year before. I have no idea where it had been all that time!

Today, however, we received a piece of mail that I have never seen before. My sister in law had sent a card (with a check no doubt) to my son that just got married. She mailed it before the wedding so that he would have it for his wedding day as she could not come. Well, it arrived today 3 weeks after the wedding. Stamped on the outside of the envelope was the phrase "Found in a supposedly empty piece of equipment"! This was a rubber stamp that is obviously used for just this purpose.

I guess I found it rather funny that this happens enough that a stamp had been developed for just this occasion. I would think that it would make more sense to take steps to fix the problem rather than develop a stamp for it. I find the same humor when I see a sign on the road that says "bump" or "rough road". I wonder why they would take the time to make a sign when it seems to me that a little tar to fill the roughness would be easier.

Now I'm sure there are reasons for all of these situations that I'm just too naive or uneducated about to understand. I still get a chuckle from them, however. All except the missing house payment -- THAT ONE WAS NOT FUNNY!!!!!

Puppies, Puppies

I have the most beautiful litter here at my house right now. I'm so excited about these puppies. they are by the beautiful BISS Ch. Sea Haven Chasing Moonbeams X BISS Ch. Lacewood Bi Starlight. It is exciting to have these guys here and watch them grow. The hard part is deciding what is best for each of the puppies.

I saw Chase when he was still showing in the classes in California. He was a young dog that did not have a name for himself yet. I fell passionately in love with him the first time I saw him. I have wanted to find a girl that I considered good enough to send to him to be bred. Shannalee sent her beautiful Stinky "Ch. Akadia Totally Intoxicating" to him and was sweet enough to let me have a beautiful blue boy from that litter, but wouldn't you know, he went oversize!! So I was still left hoping to find a girl nice enough to send to him. Well, Luci finished fast and came in season so I decided to drive to San Francisco to breed her to him. That was about 25 hours of driving round trip plus the time there to breed her 3 times. So, you can see, I want to keep my favorite. I think I have decided to keep one of the blue girls. She really interests me. I have considered keeping one of the black girls too, but that is still up in the air. I have pondered on this and worried about it so much that it has made its way into my dreams ----

I dreamt that Tom Coen and Pete C. and Kim A (Laureate) and several other top sheltie breeders were at a party with me. (when I dream I go for the best!!!). I had the two black girls with me and I went up to Pete and Tom and asked them which of the girls I should keep. Tom was just about to tell me what his pick was when I stopped him. I told him that I didn't want Pete to hear his answer, that I wanted his answer to not be influenced by Tom's answer. So, I went to get yellow sticky notes to have them write down their answers. (I guess my dreams can be very specific). When I got the pad of sticky notes, everyone at the party decided that it was a game and they all wanted to play. So I passed out sticky notes to everyone so that they could write down their choice for which black girl to keep. I just gathered all the sticky notes back and was so excited to finally get to see the answer when -- my husband made a noise and woke me up!!! I was devastated that I would never know the answer to my question. Too bad that Tom and Pete and Kim live so far away, or I think I would take the puppies to see them so that I could finally find out the answer to the question!!! LOL

I have had a great time watching this crew grow up. They are as charming as they are beautiful. There is nothing better than puppies to make life worthwhile. I'm pretty sure that I am just puppy struck right now. But I think I'll just enjoy it while it lasts as they are grown and gone way too soon.

Success?????

The feeling of being successful in an interesting thing. I think it is one of those things that we are always striving for and just when we feel it is in reach the definition changes.

I remember not too long ago when success for me meant that I could own a dog that could win points at an AKC show. That was such an exciting thought for me!! After that happened for me, I felt like to really achieve success I would need to finish a dog. The idea of owning a champion dog dominated my daydreams and desires. I remember when just being around a champion would make me feel like I was in the company of greatness. (I know I was a little naive). I would be star struck just to be able to pet a champ. When I finished my first champion, my appetite was certainly whetted, but I still didn't not feel successful. I felt that I needed more to achieve that elusive goal. I wanted my first home-bred champion. I would lay awake at night and dream of finishing my first home-bred champion. Again, after I accomplished that dream, my definition of success had still not been fulfilled. I started to have bigger goals. I wanted to place at that national. Oh that was was the dream that would be so life changing. I know others that have many placements in a single national specialty show, but I was sure that one placement would be enough to satisfy me. This year that dream was realized. Now, I have always had a dream that I was sure could never be fulfilled. I dreamed of having one of my dogs go BOB in a sheltie specialty or best in show. Now that was a goal I could dream about forever and never achieve. I knew that achieving that one would for sure make me feel successful. Well, again this year, that happened. Luci, BISS Ch. Lacewood Bi Starlight went Best in Specialty over 6 specials at the tender age of 19 months. She was shown in her first show as an adult that same morning for a 5 point major, and then in the afternoon at the second specialty of the day, she went WB again for another 5 point major and then Best in Specialty. I not only get to be around this dog and pet her, but I get to live with her sleeping with me if I like. What could be better than that!!!

You'll never believe this, but I still do not feel all that successful. I have had successes, and I am so grateful for those successes, but my desire to do more has not even started to be sated. As I think about it, maybe that is a good thing. If we felt that we had achieved real success after our first small success maybe we wouldn't reach for the stars. The greatest successes I have had in showing dogs, have come when I least expected them. I have been overwhelmed with joy at each one. I feel so privileged to have been able to have the successes that I have had. It is very humbling to look at my beloved little dogs and realize the joy they have given me both in the ring and out of the ring. I am so blessed!!!

But now I am looking forward to success some day. Maybe I will be lucky enough to achieve that success before I come to the end of the road. I don't know if anyone else feels this way about their successes. But here is to a future of success for all of us!!!

PIES -- MMMMMM

My parents were divorced when I was quite young. When i was about 15 or 16 my Dad told me one day that he missed his mother's Lemon Meringue pie. He said all he could ever find was lemon meringue pie that was made out of pudding. I asked a few more questions and found out that he wanted lemon meringue pie made from scratch with lemon juice and thickened with corn starch. That began my search for the perfect recipe. Well, come Thanksgiving, which I have made for my family since I was about 15 or 16, I made Daddy a lemon meringue pie from scratch. It was quite a hit and Daddy was so excited to have this pie. It fast became a tradition to have lemon meringue pie for each Thanksgiving.

This year is no different. I planned to make 2 lemon meringue pies and I thought it might be fun to do 2 lime meringue pies this year too. Well, the word got out to my kids that I was only making 2 lemon pies. Yesterday they came down for an intervention to tell me that I was totally nuts and that I had to make at least 4 lemon pies. I could make all the lime pies I wanted but they wanted their lemon pies. My husband has decided that his favorite pie is cherry pie, so if I did not make at least 2 cherry pies, then I was not administering to his needs. Well my favorite is French apple and apple is also my son's favorite. So the tally for pies for this Thanksgiving is 10 made by me. 2 lime meringue, 4 lemon meringue, 2 cherry, 2 French apple. My niece is bringing a key lime and my sister in law is bringing 2 pumpkin pies. That is a total of 13 pies. I believe we are having 16 people come for dinner!! So if anyone out there would like a piece of pie I think we could spare a piece -- LOL.

I had a great time today making pies. One of my sons kind of likes to cook and spent the day helping me make pies. It is a lot of fun to have the one on one time with him. He is 19 and just fun to be around. It is amazing to me how important holiday traditions are to my children. I never understand their improtance when the children were little, but as they have grown up they have refused to let me change the traditions. Those are the things that bind families together.

I think making pies is worth all the love it brings!!!

Puppies Puppies

I love baby puppies. You can learn so much about life from a baby puppy. They are so excited to see and do and learn everything. I have 2 litters right now. One of the litters is 6 1/2 weeks old and the other one is 4 1/2 weeks old. The puppies in the older litter are just so alive!!! They play and fight and bark and grrrr. I take them out in the front yard and it is as if they are saying "yeah look at all the toys out here". We still have leaves falling off the trees and the puppies are so excited to find all the leaves and carry them around. Wouldn't life be great if we were all so excited to see and learn and do everything?

The other thing about baby puppies that is so much fun, is that they are so excited to see everyone that comes to see them. They don't care what you look like or if you have ignored them or just put their ears up etc. They greet you as if you were their very favorite person each and every time they see you. You can't help but be bouyed up by them as they make you feel so loved. I love going in to see these guys and get my face kissed all over and my ears bitten. I can't think of anything better than puppy breath!! Wouldn't the world also be great if everyone was so loving and excited to see you as a baby puppy is?

Yup, I think we can all learn a lot from baby puppies!!

In the Beginning

I guess there needs to be a beginning for everything. I have sworn since the first day that I learned the word blog that I would never do one, but you know how it is when you use the word "Never" in a sentence, it is a sure thing that the comos will try to prove you wrong.

I started this a week ago or so and I got my first "blog" all written out. I decided that since everyone else is so good at making their blogs beautiful that I would try to add a picture to mine as well and make it look beautiful. Only thing is that when I added the picture it dropped the words. That pretty much did it, I was too frustrated to continue so I gave up. Well today Shannalee asked me why I hadn't done any more than put a background on my blog so I decided that maybe I would write something.

I have to admit that it is a little intimidating to write this blog after looking at some of the beautiful blogs that are out there. I dont' know if I have anything to say that is all that wonderful. I do know, however, that there is a lot of conversation that goes on inside of ourselves. I think sometimes the most important things we say are the things that we say only inside of ourselves. Maybe it is good to try to put some of those things on paper.

My son got married a couple of weeks ago!! It was a great wedding. This is my first child to get married. I was so excited to be the Mother of the groom. I don't think I could have been more proud of anything than I was of him at that moment. He chose a beautiful girl to marry. She is beautiful both inside and out. I am proud of his choice. They came to be a few months ago and asked me to make their wedding cake!! I was so happy that they would ask me to do something that important, but I was also scared. I haven't made a wedding cake in 10 years and I have only ever done about 5 of them total. This one was to be made of rolled fondant which I have never done!!! I told them yes, we some reluctance. I have to admit that I was kind of excited to do it, but so scared that it wouldn't turn out to be what they wanted. My other son and I spent 12 hours frosting and leveling and putting the cake together the day before the wedding only to have it begin to colapse. I was just panicked, but I took the tiers apart and waited until the reception to add more dowels and cardboard to put it all back together. I think it looked pretty nice considering that it was a total amateur job. Once it was put together and looking alright, the rest of the wedding was so much fun. I was delighted to be there and see how happy they both looked.

Life is about those people that touch your life. Families and friends. The times that life is the best are those times that we take to spend time with those that we care about. I must say that I count my dogs in the family and friend category too. There is so much unconditional love from them. Does life get better than a day like a wedding of one of the people you love most in the world. Seeing them happy and in love. It was probably one of the most rewarding things I have ever experienced!!!