Friday, September 25, 2009

Finally Friday!

It's Friday night and I'm sitting in the hotel room, watching the Sox get beat by the Stankees. Jon Lester just took a wicked hit to his knee and I can see our chances for the post season going down the toilet!

We arrived on Tuesday...but it feels like ages ago! Truman did great in his first two events--he got qualifying ribbons for both of them. He didn't place, but all Sandy asked of him for this whole trip was a Q ribbon and he got two of them right off the bat! His next two runs--in touch and go he may have gotten Qs in too, but no one can tell us the course time! We know he didn't have any faults--but he may not have made the time.

Today he was obviously tired when he ran his Regular runs....I saw him run this AM and he was poking. He just ran the second one and Sandy said he was pooped and he started getting silly. She and he are glad we are not staying for the weekend events, three days is plenty for both of them. The weather has been hot and sticky and that has effected him also. I don't think sleeping in a strange bed helps either.

Anyway, he has exceeded our expectations and we are very proud of him. He is 1o years old after all and he is competing against much younger dogs. He had fun and now he wants to go home. We all do. We will hit the road tomorrow and travel back to see Cindy in VA. again.

Tonight Dana and Keith are coming over in a few minutes and we'll go out to Legends....a steak house around the corner. We've had some new food experiences here....we got Sonic to-go last night; I found a good Mexican place---the burritos and guacamole was great and we got KFC yesterday.

Today I tried a barbecue joint down the road. Their "sauce" was like vinegar....I guess that's how the locals like it. I know that different regions have different tastes in sauces---tomato based in Texas and mustard based in the Carolinas...this sauce was like vinegar. The pork was good and Sandy said the beef was good...the potato salad was awful; the cole slaw decent; and the "corn bread" was more of a johnny cake and not a good johnny cake!

The hotel breakfast is the best. They have all kinds of stuff...today I had a hard boiled egg and got Sandy cheese danish. They had microwave grits, which I tried...not as good as mine.

I did pretty good in the heat. Today I had to break-down and take my Five Hour Energy drink. It helped me keep going. I even got to go for a swim...finally, in the hotel pool. The water was so warm and relaxing...I hope I don't fall asleep at dinner!

The puppies (Bub and Rocky) are asleep on my lap. Well, Bub is on my lap and Rocky is lying next to me on the couch. It feels very nice.

OH! I almost forgot! Sandy got a phone call on her cell phone today....from the Waterford Animal Control Officer...letting her know that he "had her dog." LILY! She's staying with Frank and Jean while we are gone. Frank had let Nami in the house and Lily was asleep in the yard. He came out ten minutes later and she was GONE! They searched for her for two hours. I called Jean and told her that Lily was at the pound. Jean was hysterical with worry and I know exactly how she feels. I've had that feeling many times thanks to Lily's propensity for escaping. She had gone through the invisible fence and went up Vauxhall St Ext and was at Greentree--a good distance away. Someone must have seen her and called Animal Control. He called our vet--the name is on Lily's tag and they gave him Sandy's cell number.

Jean and Frank picked her up and last we heard she was laying about the house like nothing happened. Dopey dog! All's well that ends well.

Nighty night!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Tennessee TITANS!

We arrived in Tennessee yesterday and Truman ran today in two rounds of jumpers...one of his favorites. He got two qualifying ribbons, so he and Sandy have already fulfilled their goal for coming down here.

We traveled three days to get here. The first day we stayed in a nice Best Western in PA...Harrisburg. We passed through the Delaware Water Gap, where we have not been in years. Day Two we traveled down through W. VA to Dublin VA....near Cindy Vasko's house. We called Annette along the way, after we passed through her old town of Berkley Springs W. Va. We reminisced with her for a bit...good times and bad.

Cindy came over to our hotel and we had a wonderful visit. On our way home, we'll be staying in the same place and she's going to come to visit again. I think we have convinced her to come north for a vacation sometime soon. I really hope she does.

Day Three on the road, heading to Tennessee, Rocky started barking. We laughed and then had to tune him out as he kept it up for a LOOOOOOOOONG time. That is his one vice...the barking. We made ourselves go to our "happy place" to blank him out. The poor guy, he isn't used to traveling and it was making him anxious and nuts!

Fortunately, the medication we got for Bub and Rocky worked and there was no vomitting on the trip. We hope this continues on the way home....we did bring extra pillows for them and extra covers for the pillows--we have pillows in their kennels--that's what they lie on.

Tomorrow Truman runs two rounds each of tunnelers and touch and go.....two of his absolute favorite events. I think he is being very "business-like" down here. He knows what his job is and he is bent on doing it. He made excellent time today, despite the fact that the course is on sand that hadn't been packed down yet.

The runs are in a huge indoor arena where they display Tennessee Walking Horses. We rented a horse stall to house the dogs/kennels and all of our stuff. It is pretty cool in there, we have their fans going--there is electricity in the stall. I brought my laptop to the stall because they have wi-fi at this site, but it doesn't reach the stalls. That's okay, I read my Kathy Griffin book....almost finished it this afternoon.

Now I am pooped. Had Mexican food tonight, from a restaurant down the street, to-go. I need to take a shower and hit the bed. The dogs are exhausted....all the new noises, people and dogs going by the stall has tired them out.

I have confidence that Truman and Sandy will do well tomorrow. I'm filming their runs and stay to see other dogs run. There are several folks we know from trials in New England and we even have a Team New England t-shirt that they made up for us. I'm listed as "kennel help." Another title to add to my name!

Okay, enough of this.....Nighty NIGHT!