The blizzard trial is over

First, let me say how eternally grateful I am we did not get the 10 or 18 or 22+ inches of snow our neighbors in northern Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota received. There should be a law against that sort of thing.

The entire state of Iowa was under a blizzard warning this morning. I wasn't too excited about getting up before the butt crack of dawn and driving 30 miles in the dark through a blizzard, so slept a little later, waited until sunrise, added a couple of extra layers of clothes and drove 30 miles in the daylight through a blizzard. 

It wasn't all that bad. I had the highways pretty much to myself, so I drove right down the middle of them, equal distance from both ditches that way.

We only got a couple of inches of snow and even though the wind was screaming with up to 40 mph gusts, it didn't have much material to work with. The roads were snow packed and no doubt slick. I never went fast enough to find out. Got to the trial just as my Standard walk through was starting.

Many folks clearly had chosen to cut their losses and went home last night. Even some of our local exhibitors didn't come back today either. Can't blame them at all. Thanks to all the wonderful folks who jumped in to fill empty worker spaces. Agility people are the best. Or maybe they just wanted a job to keep their minds off the drive home. The blizzard warning was replaced by a windchill advisory around noon. That means windchills at minus 20 or lower. That is seriously unnecessary if you ask me but no one did.

Phoenix ran wonderfully all three days. I was an idiot handler here and there (so what's new) but Phoenix didn't seem to mind. One thing I've learned from him at agility trials is that he never, EVER, thinks he's wrong. He is quite sure that whatever he does on the course is exactly what he was supposed to do. That's one of things that makes him so much fun. I'll post video in the next few days. 

No Qs for us today but I feel like we ended the year on a really good note this weekend. Of course Phoenix doesn't know the agility year is over but human nature being what it is, I have to look at the calendar and mentally wrap up this year before launching into 2011.

Right now, it sure feels good to be home, safe and warm, my dogs sleeping by my chair, the Farmer watching football on TV and the wind howling around the house. This cold spell has settled in to stay for awhile.

Men in pink, and other stuff

I'll get to the men in pink in a second.

Today was the second day of the ICDOC agility trials in  Cedar Rapids. True to form, we had a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow throughout the day with the promise of a blizzard warning beginning at 9 p.m. tonight and lasting through 6 p.m. tomorrow. I made it home okay on dicey roads this afternoon, the jury is out about the return trip in the a.m. 

Club members and lots of other exhibitors wore pink today to honor a member who was diagnosed with breast cancer this fall. She's doing great. We had a raffle of weave poles and jumps with proceeds going to the Susan B. Komen Foundation. 

Real men wear pink as evidenced below. From left, Bill, Jeff, Terry (now known as Saint Terry), another Bill, Vern, Don and another Terry. I've never seen any of them wear pink before. I'm pretty sure I won't see any of them wear pink again.

Phoenix has had a great weekend so far. Friday he ran great in Std. and finished his MX. Dropped a bar in JWW but otherwise had an amazing, beautiful run. Today was a repeat: great run to Q in Std. and great run but dropped one bar in JWW.

Since I know everyone is fascinated by other people's dogs' personal quirks, I'll share this little treat. Phoenix rarely throws up. Like never since he was a puppy. Seriously. In the last almost 4 years, I think he's tossed his cookies twice.

So imagine my surprise when I was sitting here, typing away, and he trots up to me, arches his back, opens his mouth and hurfs up some very weird looking slimy stuff. No advance warning, no drama, no endless pre-launch noises . . . just, HURF. Here ya go. And then he trotted off.

Inspection revealed . . . drum roll please . . . a variety of toy parts. Well. Yuck.

Phoenix had indulged in some unauthorized toy consumption a few days ago. I'd been doing very thorough poop inspection since then, which revealed various furry little scraps of this and that. Honestly, the only thing more unpleasant than poking through poop is poking through poop in the pouring rain just a few degrees above freezing.

His deposit (on the dining room carpet, of course) revealed various furry BIG scraps of this and that. He ate more than I thought. I'm grateful they had been churning around in his tum, not trying to pass on through. Pretty scary, several friends have had dogs with bowel obstructions from eating inappropriate things and that's not an experience I want to have.

Time for supper and an up-date on the weather. And a hot shower, ibuprofen and mug of cocoa. Tomorrow morning and its decisions will come soon enough.

Still undecided

The meteorologists are still undecided about the track of this weekend's storm. That means we could see from 1" to 8" of snow on Saturday. I'm not holding my breath. The only thing they all seem to agree on is that it's going to get freaking cold and windy Saturday night and Sunday with air temps below zero, compounded by windchills.

You should see the stack of stuff I have piled up to take to the trials. How can one person and one dog need so much stuff for trials that don't even involve an overnight stay? Blankets, vests, crate covers, boots, my Carharrt bibs . . .

I even broke out Phoenix's coat, just in case. Yes, he has a coat. It's even been custom designed, since Phoenix removed what he felt was an extraneous buckle. He was right. It didn't do anything, was just there for looks. He thought his coat looked better without it. Who am I to argue with Malinois design principles.

The whole dogs-in-coats thing is new to me. After years of Shelties and Tervs, I was accustomed to furry dogs who loved the cold and snow. Then as Connor aged, he lost muscle mass and his fur thinned. I bought him a coat. He loved it. He always was my "dress up" dog. He loved to wear things and preened and pranced. Silly boy.

I figure Jamie would probably bite me if I tried to put him in a coat. (Actually, he wouldn't. He would just get that pathetic, woe-is-me look on his ever-patient face.) If ever there was a dog who didn't need a coat, it's him. At age 11 1/2, his thermostat is perpetually stuck on high. He pants in January. Good for him. Some days I am jealous!

Then Phoenix entered the picture: 53 pounds of solid muscle (and a very hard head) without an ounce of fat. It didn't seem right to ask the Skinny Little Dog to spend much time sitting in his crate in the van or semi-heated crating areas at winter trials when it was really cold. So I bought him a coat.

I'll have to take a picture of him in it. It's really quite stylish and I think he secretly enjoys wearing it.

Good luck to everyone who is running in our trials this weekend and safe travels to all.

Snow? No-no-no!

Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't following you.

In my case, I'm paranoid about the weather.

Which is a total waste of time because I can't do a darn thing about it. Like the song writer said, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

Just not this weekend.

The Iowa City Dog Obedience Club's agility trials are this weekend. Our trials have the questionable honor of being known as the Snow and Ice Trials.

With good reason. I think we've managed to have at least one day of seriously ugly winter weather each weekend for the last five years. It's not like we plan this sort of thing. We have our hands full planning and running the trials, let alone trying to orchestrate the weather. Although, if that were possible I would happily serve as Chief Weather Steward. Clear and safe travels for all!

Last year, a big snowstorm rolled in Sunday afternoon. The year before that, there was freezing rain on Saturday afternoon and evening and I didn't even try to drive home. The Belgians and Connor and I bunked with Marsha and Brian at their place just a few miles from the trial site.

Phoenix pooped behind their couch and Jamie very casually hiked his leg on a door frame. (Talk about the houseguests from hell. I swear my dogs are housebroken in spite of all indications to the contrary.) Connor just laid in front of the fireplace and didn't move. He was the perfect houseguest. Oh, and Phoenix chased Marsha's IGs around the kitchen. Did I mention Marsha and Brian moved to the other side of town the next year? Clearly, they weren't taking any chances with me coming back.

In keeping with our snow and ice tradition, something is brewing for this weekend. Here's the current forecast for Dec. 10, 11 and 12:

National Weather Service, Quad Cities, IL:

"A stronger storm system is then expected to follow for the weekend, bringing the potential for some accumulating snow to the region Saturday into Saturday night. At this time it appears mainly light to possibly some moderate accumulations over the region. However, there still remains uncertainty with the track and intensity of the storm, which will have an impact on precipitation type and amounts. As a result, be sure to stay tuned to later forecasts and statements regarding the potential for accumulating snow this weekend. Despite the uncertainty with the track of the storm, there is growing confidence that windy and bitterly cold conditions will settle in by late in the weekend and early next week. This is likely to be the coldest air of the season thus far."

Maybe they're wrong? Ya think? In Iowa? In December? Snow? Bitter cold? What are the chances?

And why is it that when you really wouldn't mind having a snow day, that's when the predicted storm system fizzles out into nothing, but when you have serious plans, that's the storm system that arrives as advertised?

Enough rhetorical questions. Stay tuned for further developments.

Monday musings

My mind is all over the place today. It's the sort of day where my biggest concern is deciding if I should eat Leftover Casserole A for dinner and Leftover Casserole B for supper or vice versa. The fact that I managed to pack up little boxes of both Leftover Casserole A and B this morning, then actually remembered to take them out of the fridge and bring them to work with me is nothing short of amazing.

Don't laugh. I KNOW you've packed lunches and left them at home before. Hate that.

It's deadline day at the newspaper and casserole really is the least of my concerns but food is, as always, a very high priority for me.

Another priority is staying warm. I abandoned my happy state of denial last night and reluctantly admitted that winter has really and truly arrived (the first below 0 windchills of the season) and I am really and truly screwed. It's the first week in December and I'm already pulling out the big guns: last night I went to bed wearing a long-sleeved T, flannel pajama pants (red, with little dogs on skis, really, they are adorable) and fuzzy socks. I had the heating pad on high so I could thaw my poor cold toes.

WTF am I going to do when it gets REALLY cold? We've got a good 4 months of cold weather left and I'm already reacting like it's already Threat Level Red when it comes to staying warm.

By February, I'll be waddling around like Nanook of the North, so swathed in layers of polar fleece and down I'll barely be able to move.

And Phoenix will probably think I'm wearing a bite suit. Game on!

Cookies, cats & unemployed malinois

I love the holidays, really, I do but things are a little insane right now. My work hours are all over the place and it seems like the hands on the clock are spinning double time. Things should settle after this weekend, at least where work is concerned.

Phoenix is disgruntled. Poor little dog. He's not getting any attention.

No. I take that back. He's getting plenty of attention (Give me that $#@!-ing sock!) but he's not getting any work. Seriously. He's getting trained about once a week whether he needs it or not and believe me, that's not enough. He's starting to invent jobs for himself. Anyone who lives with creative, intelligent, high-drive, easily bored dogs, you know what I'm talking about.

This morning I baked sugar cookies. Phoenix helped. He was in charge of anything that fell on the floor. He was very bored. I take sugar cookie security very seriously. So did he.


He helped me frost them, too. He sat by my chair, put his head on my leg and drooled. For 45 minutes. Really, a little malinois fur in the frosting adds that special, festive touch, don't you think?

Later in the morning, I went on the Amana Christmas Haus Tour to take photos for the paper. It was kind of fun. It really made me appreciate our house, warts and all. And it made me want to come home and clean and de-clutter. Some of the homes were so filled with "decor" I wonder if the people who live there actually LIVE there?

This is Jenise and her cat Walter. They were on the haus tour. Well, their haus was, they were hosts. Jenise used to work at the newspaper office with me, about a million years ago. Then she got smart and left. Now she and her husband have a business in Amana. They live above their shop, which is located in the ground floor of a 150-year old "küche haus" or "kitchen haus," from Amana's communal era.

Walter was very cool. He wore a Christmas tie for the occasion and thought he was all that. Check out his paws. He is a polydactyl cat. He has extra toes on each foot. Ernest Hemmingway had polydactyl cats. There. Now you've learned something new today. Walter is from northeast Iowa, however, not from the Florida Keys where Hemmingway's multi-toed cats are found. There's a story there, if Walter would ever like to tell it.

Another annoyed animal

In addition to the angry 3-legged mouse, who hasn't been seen since Sunday night, I've managed to completely honk off Jamie.

It's not my fault.

Jamie spent most of last week throwing up, which earned him a trip to the vet yesterday. Of course, the minute I made the appointment, he quit throwing up. Go figure.

We kept the appointment anyway. After 45 minutes and $130 worth of blood work, the vet said he was totally normal, or as normal as Jamie ever gets. His temp was normal, there was no swelling, hardness, tenderness or pain in his abdomen, no diarrhea, normal stools, no parasites and his blood work was all totally within normal ranges except for his white cell count which was abnormally low but has been all his life.

She sent me home with some Pepcid and instructions to give him one 30 minutes before each meal. He may have some doggie version of acid reflux or it may just have been a weird thing that will go away on its own. If it doesn't, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Things went well last night: pill, wait 30 minutes, supper. Evening meals at our house are a hit and miss affair, one never really knows when they will be served so the dogs have no great expectations.

This morning was another story.

Our morning routine is much more formulated: up at 5:30, dogs outside, dogs back in, dogs eat breakfast, bring me their bowls and I get on my treadmill for 30 minutes of bonding with the early news.

This morning, we got up at 5:30, dogs went out, dogs came in, Jamie got his Pepcid and I got on the treadmill.

Jamie: Hey, lady, what about my breakfast?

Me, firing up the treadmill: You have to wait.

Jamie: Starving. Can't wait.

Me: You can wait 30 minutes.

Jamie: Want breakfast NOW!

Me: Sorry. That's life. Deal.

Jamie: I'm going to eat a sock.

Phoenix: I'll get you one!

Me: You are such a drama king.

Jamie: You hate me.

Me: I do NOT hate you. Let the medicine work.

Phoenix: Here's a sock!

Me: Put that down!

Jamie: I will eat this sock. You'll be sorry.

Me: For the love of pete. Where did you get that sock?

Phoenix: Laundry hamper's open. There's more. I will get more.

Jamie: This sock stinks. You hate me. You won't feed me.

Me: I will feed you when I'm done walking.

Jamie: Walk faster.

Phoenix: Here's another sock, two gloves and some underwear.

Me: WTF?

Phoenix: You LIKE it when I bring you things. I can tell. I will bring more.

Jamie: I will sit here and stare at you with the Evil Belgian Eye of Doom until you get off that walky thing and get my breakfast. See? I am staring.

Me: You are both insane.

Jamie: Old Belgian mind trick. Get. Off. The. Treadmill. Feed. Me. Now.

Phoenix: Here's another sock, one house slipper, yesteday's paper and a TV remote.

Me: Oh dear Lord. I still have 15 minutes to go.

Jamie: Staring. Staring. Staring. Look at me. I am pathetic.

Me: Yes. You are.

Phoenix: Here's an LL Bean catalog, three socks, a bra and some long underwear.

Me: I bet other people's dogs don't do this.

Jamie: I bet other people don't starve their dogs.

Me: I am NOT starving you!

Jamie: I don't see YOU missing any meals.

Me: You are not missing a meal. It's just delayed.

Jamie: I want to talk to the manager. This place has lousy service.

Phoenix: Here's a boot, an Iowa Farmer Today, the towel off the stove and your weather radio.

Me: Seriously. Other people have NORMAL dogs.

Jamie: Dr. Walker says I'm normal. I heard her.

Me: Dr. Walker doesn't live with you.

Phoenix: Here's a bath towel, two coasters, a mouse pad, a bottle of honey and an ink pen.

Treadmill: BEEP!

Me: TG

Jamie: I'll be in the kitchen, hurry!

Phoenix: Wow. Sure is a mess in here. Just sayin'.