It's been raining, raining, raining... so boring! So, I watercolored an idea I've had for some time - I call it "Backyard War"... the RRs and the squirrels go at it.
Posted by kalaharirr
at 5:43 PM CST
rushedFinally back from Jackson, finally back from Covington, finally finished my shopping! Now if Sizzle would just go out of season, everything would settle down to normal before Taffy and Lulu come to stay while their owners are out of town. At least Guy will be happy to have playmates.
I'm busy working on a design with RRs and lions for Carrie Branaman's woodworking. I sure hope it turns out nice and isn't too complicated for her to do. If it works out, we'll be selling them on the JustRidgebacks.com website soon!
downThe day before Thanksgiving I was hit squarely with a cold... good thing I didn't have any plans for anyone but me! Thursday morning, all I managed to do was get up, take a bath and go back to bed. 
I'm some what perkier now...I need to be for all that's going on! This week I have a bunch of orders for JustRidgebacks.com - Yea!
Taffy is coming to stay the week -<sigh> (Taffy is a rescue who was/is such a basket case that she cannot go stay at the kennel when her owners are gone, she comes here, but it causes a lot of upheaval... oh, well, we'll get through it)
I'm getting a door and a "window door" put in my living room at the end of the week - a left over hurricane damage thing that's GOT to be done.
On Sat and Sun, I've got Diva and Darla in the agiilty trials in P'cola and we haven't practiced in two weeks..... I have GOT to drag myself out to Animal Barn and at least practice the weave poles.
And, of course, the weather isn't co operating... rain scheduled for the next two days! Bummer!
a-okCheck out Gail, Kona, Diva, Guy and me on YouTube. My first attempt at making a video. Gail and I went over to Animal Barn and practiced agility. Our dogs are at different levels.
We did a lot of things, but could only video those that didn't require two training partners.... like Guy learning to jump through the tire or go down the dog walk, etc.
a-ok"Three Bags Full" that's the name of the book I've read. I'm a mystery "cozy" kinda of reader and this was right up my alley. Now, I usually don't gush over things like this, but it was so charmingly written I just had to get the word out.
The "detectives" are sheep. Yeah, you heard me - sheep. They try and try to solve the mystery of why their shepherd is dead, but they are handicapped by their "sheepness" - it keeps getting in the way. So funny!
Check it out at the library.... even if you don't know anything about sheep, you'll never think about clouds the same way again, either.
specialI had to post a photo of the two necklaces created by fellow Ridgebacker, Liz Druitt. Liz is a multi-talented gal who has taken up creating fabulous bead creations. Each one has a special something in it for the person getting the necklace.
These are two she has created for me. In the one on the left, the focal point are two pinecones from Cameroon. I love pinecones and have a collection of them. The greenish looking beads are commonly called African Jadite... appropriate for a Ridgeback owner! The light brown ones are bone beads - a total African feel to it, but casual, too.
The second is Bali silver, fresh water pearls with tiny blue stones to set them off. She made that for me to wear with a red, white and blue dress. Sets of my grey hair making it look silvery.
I'm hoping she'll begin to make a business out of this as everyone who sees them is impressed - as well they should be!
I took two of the girls and Guy the pup and we went over the bay to Gail and Bill Thompson's house. The lovebugs were so bad that we could only enjoy the outdoors by going on the beach, the water or way out on the boat dock.
This was Guy's first adventure in the water, but he seemed to enjoy himself. The bay doesn't get deep until way out towards the boatdock,so the dogs were able to cavort around the kayak without swimming along.
Even Kona, Gail and Bill's RR, got into the water. She seems to have more confidence around the water after swimming a couple of times wearing her life vest.
a-okMy Memphis buddy, Joanne Gaines, was visiting today and she took these two photos of Guy out in the front yard. Looking pretty good for 7 months old.
I never decide a dog's name in advance of meeting and getting to know them. Just as none of us would decide to call another person by some name we like... We wait for them to tell us what their name is.
Take Diva, for example. I tried several names for her until finally one day, it just popped into my head. Boy, talk about a dog aptly named! Same thing with Sizzle. She went through several names before she liked one.... and she grew up to fit that name, too. Sometimes it's by their actions and sometimes it just pops into my head and when I say it, the dog reacts as if they are thrilled I finally figured it out.
We had a litter of pups, one female in the bunch of boys. They were a rowdy bunch and soon gained the name of "the little rascals". The little dark haired girl of the bunch became "Darla". She was a cutie and ruled the roost.
Then she went to her new home and the people named her Karma. For several reasons, she came back here at around a year of age. I didn't care for the name Karma, it didn't fit her,but she was used to it, so it stayed. But Karma was never a happy acting dog.... oh, she had spurts of acting happy, but she never seemed happy all the time and would stand around with a hang dog look on her face and in her body language.
Finally, this week, in a dream, she said she wanted her orginal name back. So, when I woke up, I started using that name - Darla. What a difference! She comes faster, she cuddles more and more, she's more playful than ever..... She's happy that people finally woke up and used her soul name again and she can be her true self.
I REALLY believe that dogs know their true names and will grow up to fit those names if we can just pay attention to what they are trying to tell us. I also think that if they don't like their names, they will be rather unhappy in life. I think if someone changes their true name to something they don't like it is bad karma.
mischieviousTerry sent these cute photos... she was letting Scout wear a lead around her neck and practicing "comes" in the house. What she didn't count on was the "kitty hazard".
