Update on the hounds

We haven't had too much to brag about regarding the hounds lately, mostly because we just haven't been running them that much. I got some great news in my email the other day that Lobo has finished his LCM 6! We're extremely proud of the Little Buddy!

Fun stuff

A lot has been going on. We went out to Cartersville this weekend for the annual CHASE Veteran's day trials. For the first time since 2001, I was not FTS or FTC for a CHASE trial. I had a great time being an exhibitor and a judge!

We only ran the whippets this weekend. Carmela did well on Saturday and placed 3rd after we forfeited a 1-2-3 tie. Everett and Lobo were the only FCh Whippets on Saturday (btw, where the hell are all the Whippets????), Everett placed 1st and Lobo 2nd. We ran Lobo and Everett only on Sunday with an entry of four. Everett took 1st and BOB and Lobo finished 3rd. Great results!

Not only did we run all breed trials both Saturday and Sunday, we ran a Rhodesian Ridgeback Specialty on Saturday after the all breed trial. This was successful with an entry of 14. Even tunning the two trials, we were finished by 2:00 in the afternoon!! Sunday we finished about 1:30!!! Something to be said for having a smaller trial! Congratulations to Woody and Jennifer for doing such a great job!

My friend John is going under the knife tomorrow for a heart valve replacement and triple bypass. We wish him the best!

Karen's stuff finally arrived about a week and a half ago. The moving company that she used is a rip-off. First, they exceeded the estimate by a factor of 6, secondly they arrived five hours late to load the truck, thirdly, taking over a week to get her stuff to her and not giving her a status on where her stuff was (there was a genuine fear that her stuff had "disappeared), finally they broke a lot of her stuff. They dropped the fridge and damaged one door so badly it will have to be replaced (this is a $1700 stainless steel fridge), her toaster oven was crushed, one of her recliners is destroyed, the speedo housing on the bike is broken, and many things are just plain missing. For all her trouble, the moving company is offering her $.60 per pound of damaged goods. The nerve... I hope she is able to sue this company and recover every bit of money she has lost.

More about the bike... I have it now and it is great! Thought I was going to need to get a battery for it, but a long slow charge has brought the battery back to life for now. I got the bike running last week, got it insured and registered and even went and got my motorcycle learners permit! Went for my first ride Friday afternoon and had a blast! Didn't ride very far, really, but it was a lot of fun. Can't wait til the weather warms up!

Denial doesn't work

UPDATE 12:30: R got Lobo up to Dr. Toby's and he confirmed what I thought. Torn muscle along the chest. Can't be surgically repaired since it's paper thin. He's putting a drain in now and Lobo will be home in a bit. Not sure about the long term prognosis...

We were supposed to be headed to Lawrence Kansas this weekend for the Whippet National lure coursing trial. Everett and Lobo both turn 5 this year and still run quite honestly and can really hang with the younger dogs. We figured that we really needed to get them to the Nationals this year...

That was before we ran them at SEGC this past weekend in 90 degree heat over way too parched ground. Unfortunately, Ev took the corners off two of his pads and Lobo took the stopper off both front feet. To make it worse, Lobo has a muscle issue in his chest that we can't figure out. He's going to the vet today so she can give it a look.

So, as much as we've all been looking forward to this weekend, especially running with all the great competition, we're just not going to be able to pull it off... We'll miss seeing y'all and really miss seeing the dogs go head to head.

We're still planning on the II this year with the Whippets, so get ready for that!!!

More...

You might notice that I've added a couple of columns to the right side. Music and books. The lists are a bit short right now as I haven't had time to sit down and compile the books I've read in the past couple of years. Music will be a bit more current, keeping up with what I listen to day to day. I'm a firm believer that social networking is the best way to expand musical tastes and experience different genres of music. So, if you have any recommendations, please let me know!

Updating the dogs. Sweeney is just about ready to get running again. His toe looks really good and he's finally not showing any lameness. He's been free running the backyard for a couple of weeks now with very good results. Not sure what's up with Lobo. Talked to one of our friends and she thinks it might be a slight tendon rupture. He's not very lame, even when he is. Right now I think we'll just let him rest a bit. No reason to push too much! Everett is doing well after his collision with Zydeco last Saturday at the Regional. That was one nasty wreck! Everett got thrown into the air ass over tea-kettle! He had the wind knocked out of him, but luckily that was the extent of his injuries. He finished 4th in the Regional.

Everett continues to amaze me. In St Louis, he finished his LCM 8 on Saturday, got first Sunday and took first on Friday before the Regional. So, he has 2 firsts and 100+ points for his LCM 9. I'd like to get that finished this year, just depends on how much we do. I know we'll have the end of year, but beyond that, maybe just ACC. We'll see.

SLASH

Last weekend Ruthanna and I made the trip to St. Louis for the SLASH field trials. Thanks to Karen Frederick and all the folks from SLASH for having me up to judge. It was a great time!

The boys did really well! Everett went BoB both days over 20 Whippets. Lobo took 4th both days. The run of the weekend for me was Lobo's final run on Saturday. After having a not so great prelims run, Lobo went out and nailed the course in finals, getting the highest score for any course for the day. Way to go Little Buddy!

The field at Purina is really nice with a lot of terrain, making it challenging for the dogs. They really had to pay attention in order to do well.

I really enjoy getting to go to other parts of the country to see how our dogs compare with dogs we don't see all the time. Region 7 is usually a hotbed of Whippets, but there are still plenty of really good dogs in other parts of the country and it's good to see what else is out there. I think Everett really earned the BoB's he got this weekend and defeated some really nice running dogs.

Another Dan Gauss pic!

That's Lobo.

Thanks to Dan for this great picture! Once again, thanks Dan!!!