Does Gibson really think...

that he can dig out of his crate if he tries hard enough?

He rarely does this in a wire crate, but seems to think the vari-kennel crate in the bedroom is fair game (thereby also interfering with my sleep!). Oh, and he's already destroyed one of our soft-sided crates doing this. Seriously, Michael went to fold it up one day and found he could see white carpeting through the "floor".

What gives puppy??

No time to blog

Well, we have been on the road showing 3 weekends in a row.  This coming weekend we are traveling to visit family.  I have simply been too busy to blog! *throws hand over eyes in dramatic gesture*

That being said, I do have some small brags.  Watson has taken BOB each of the last 2 Sundays.  Two weekends ago in Des Moines, he had a small win on Sunday over 2 girls, one special and one out of the classes.  We had quite an adventure getting to and from Des Moines, but we are glad we went.  Thanks, Laura, for getting him ready and showing him so nicely!

You can see my amateur photography of this event including pics of Watson as well as pics of some of our dog show friends here.

Yesterday in Grayslake, Watson went BOB over 2 other dog specials and 1 bitch special.  No class dogs entered at that show.  Made our weekend!  Thanks, Kylie for handling Watson to such a nice win at this event.  He looked great!

Gibson had his moment on Saturday, when he went WD for 1 point toward his AKC championship.

Photos of Watson and Gibson at the Grayslake event are available here.

We enjoyed seeing the very nice Clumbers (and Field spaniels) entered at these events!  Also sending a shout out to our friend Jenni (and kids!) with the Sussex in Des Moines!

Not feeling too clever today...

But I know the reading public is insane with curiosity about the status of my decaffeination experiment.

I am pleased to report that my plan is working.  I have managed to have no caffeine at all at the office or at home.  So far, my only breakdowns, cave-ins, what have you, came at fast food restaurants on the road.  It is hard to order a combo meal minus the soda, and I just can't get excited about diet anything.  Some places have OK (and caffeine-free) root beer...everywhere else I am making an exception to the no caffeine rule and allowing myself a cola.  But hey, I'm still cutting over 2500 calories/week out of my diet.  That, and cutting out the sugar, are the main goals!

On a completely unrelated topic, we had a lovely time in Des Moines, Iowa last weekend.  Watson went BOB on Sunday, which is always nice.  Also, we met up with a friend whose family was along w/ her.  Had a blast meeting her family.  She did well in group, and I always enjoy seeing friends win, so that capped the weekend off nicely.  Watson managed to get really messy when I pottied him before group on Sunday, necessitating about an hour's worth of work.  As everyone knows, this is purely human error.  I will have to be more careful about how & where I exercise him in the future - and perhaps acquire some additional "outfits".

I got quite a few pics of Watson and our friend w/ her Sussex spaniel.  Will try to post them in the next few days...

Grayslake here we come this weekend...

Not feeling too clever today...

Day 3

I see the NaBloPoMo theme for January is "change."  Time for some positive change here, I hope.  Like keeping in better touch with old friends.  Returning our Netflix DVDs promptly so as to get the most out of our account.  Keeping up on the laundry.  Blogging a little more (and a little better).  And definitely - kicking the caffeine habit.  Again, these are not Resolutions.

Day 3 is almost over, and I'm feeling happy that I refused to indulge myself and stuck to my plan today.  A small victory, but something.

On the keeping in touch thread, I also found over the last couple of days that my high school has an alumni directory.  It is published in hard cover - $60!  Of course, it is comprehensive, but do I really care about the guy who graduated in 1949?  Probably not!  You can pay a smaller fee - about $40 - to access it online, but then you have to pay an annual subscription fee.  Grrr... Also, I seem to be connecting with people on FB to the point where I can get contact info for most anyone I want to find that I haven't found yet.  Perhaps you can tell that I'm on the fence about buying the directory?

Well, directory or no, I am excited about finding old friends in the New Year.  And kicking the caffeine.

Day 2 of the New & Improved, Caffeine-Free Me

Well, I decided yesterday that I must ditch the caffeine once and for all.  Really, it isn't the caffeine so much as the sugar (or rather, high-fructose corn syrup), but since I take my caffeine in the form of cola rather than coffee, they are, unfortunately, inseparable.  And since I came to this conclusion, this is not in the nature of a "New Year's Resolution" but rather just a completely unrelated stab at personal improvement.

If my plan is wildly successful, I'll be raving about my strong will and self-discipline and, if it tanks horribly, I'll probably be figuring out how to edit this post so that it is as if I had never said anything.

We have a busy January coming up, so if I'm lucky, I'll be too busy to notice.  Seriously, I have tried this before, and once the headache stops, I don't really care so much about having more caffeine.  It all boils down to a bad habit.  

So this is Day 2, and it's almost over.  Almost time to go back to normal after the craziness that begins right around Thanksgiving each year.  So Day 3 will begin a 5-day work-week, too.  Work days will be the biggest challenge, since the caffeine is free and readily available, thus making strong will and self-discipline all the more necessary.

Wish me luck.

Happy New Year!

We rung in the New Year with some "Gomeroke" (not really sure of the spelling).  We had dinner at Brocach, a local Irish pub, which had advertised live trade, so we were quite excited about that.  However, mid-way through dinner we learned that there was no Trad, but Gomeroke instead.  Allow me to explain.  The Gomers are a local cover band who provide a sort of live karaoke.  It was not un-enjoyable, though I was glad to be one floor up and at the back of the room in a booth with high walls - would have been too loud otherwise.

When we got home, ca. 2 am, the dogs apparently thought I was having too much fun sleeping.  Shortly after I feel asleep, both Watson & Gibson started crying.  I ignored them - after all, they had JUST been out.  Bad idea.  Woke up a bit later to more crying and to notice Watson had barfed his dinner up on the bedroom floor.  Not sure what that's about, but he obviously doesn't feel well!

So, I spent the too-short first night of the year napping on the couch in between letting him in and out and listening to the dulcet tones of Gibson in the bedroom, where they no doubt annoyed Michael as well.

Hope Watson is feeling better soon...think I'll try for a nap later!

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year and, perhaps, started the year with more sleep than I.