Friday, December 26, 2008

It's a Hat Christmas!!

I did it! Well almost. This year almost everyone got a knitted hat from me. I'm still working on Alix's hat, but I have already made her 2. :)
I barely finished all the hats on time but I did it. Brandon's was the last to be finished on Christmas Eve.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the gifts. Some may be too big, but they're original :P
Here's a family photo of everyone sporting their new hats. Alix is wearing one that I had originally intended for my brother, but it turned out a bit too small. Brandon was lucky enough to win the extra hat.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Alix's First Birthday!


Yesterday was Alix's first birthday. Her mom and dad had a nice little party for her in the afternoon. Alix got some really nice jewelry and some cool new toys. Alix did seem to like Great Grandma's wrapping paper the best though :)

Alix was not a big fan of her birthday cake. She got pretty upset when we put her hands in the cake. She doesn't like to get dirty. She liked eating her cake with a spoon though.

Hard to believe that Christmas is only days away. I don't feel like the Grinch, but I don't really care too much for the holiday. My mood seems to get worse each year. I miss Jay and our life together and the holidays make me miss him more.

Oh, well.
Hope you all have a nice holiday.

Friday, December 12, 2008

A Pack of Wheel Watchers :)

Ok, so I have to admit that I am a BIG fan of Wheel of Fortune. I love the show. I've watched it since the beginning. Last year when I went out to California with my Grandma I made sure we attended a taping of WOF! It was GREAT! Grandma really enjoyed it too. So this week is Pet Lovers Week on WOF and I decided that I need to get a picture of my girlz watching the Wheel. So here is their picture. I haven't sent it to WOF yet, but I am happy just to have proof that they love WOF as much as I do :)



My girlz humor me so!

On the knitting front. I am still on my hat trip, although progress has slowed down. I'm afraid that the hat I have made for my brother is probably too small for his head, so I'm making him a different one. I'm sure that the smaller hat will find a home with someone in my family.

I am also working on an Einstein jacket for Alix. And by "working" I mean that I take it to knitting with me on Thursday nights. I haven't gotten much done in a while.

Not for sure what I've been doing with my time, because I am not getting ready for Christmas either. I'm really not in the mood for Christmas. About the only thing that I am even excited for this Christmas is seeing Alix enjoy her 1st real Christmas. Last year she was only 5 days old. I don't think that really counts.

Agility is going really well with Brindi and Cosmo. Both of them are enjoying the cooler weather. Brindi is really doing good. And Cosmo is starting to get some focus too. I really enjoy our weekly classes.
Hope you all have a nice weekend.
I am going to see Santa with Alix tomorrow. That should be entertaining.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Vote for us!

Hello All,
I have entered the Pack & Pride in a holiday photo contest with Johann the dog. Just click on Johann's name and it will link you to the photo contest page!

And you can vote as often as you like!!! So vote for us ALOT!!!!

Here's the picture I submitted. It's labeled Davis Dogs & Cats.




Thanks!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Howlidays

We hope you all have a Happy and Healthy Howlidays!













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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

All About Brindi

I just got some pictures from the photographer that was at our most recent trial. Here are some pictures from that weekend.

Enjoy!




Monday, November 24, 2008

My Weekend



I had a nice weekend. Saturday morning we had agility practice. Brindi and Cosmo had a great class. It was SUPER cold, but the dogs enjoyed it. After the class I visited my Mom while she was babysitting Alix. I got there right when Alix was eating lunch. :)



Sunday my sister and I went to see "Twilight" with a group of ACE friends. The movie was ok, I suppose. I wasn't that impressed. Anyway, I enjoyed hanging out with Alix, Amanda, and Brandon before and after the movie. Alix has really gotten the hang of crawling, she can move FAST when she's on a mission.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Another hat


I've finished another hat. This one is for ME! It a Jayne hat. I really love it!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Help around the house

I think this is HILARIOUS!!!
This is probably the only way my animals would help out around the house.

Monday, November 17, 2008

On a hat trip

I am currently having a great time making hats. I made Alix a modified "Jayne" hat. This was a super fast project. And fun too. Here's a picture of Alix modeling her new hat. That's Brandon's hairy arm in the picture :)

I am making other hats in attempts at possible Christmas presents, so there won't be any pictures of those projects until after the holidays. Bummer, I know.

I've also been working on a quilt for Alix. I started it early summer, but never really got into working on it. Now it's almost done. I think I did all the work for this in one day. I just need to decide on the binding. I bought some tie dye purple cotton fabric and some satin binding, I just need to pick which one I'll use. Decisions, decisions! Here's a picture of the quilt.

The weather around here really sucked this weekend. We didn't go to agility class Saturday. The weather was just too bad for me. I'm sure the girlz wouldn't have cared too much about the rain and cold!

Yesterday was kind of nice. I got out and picked up leaves in the back yard. The girlz got a kick out of the leaf blower. And Darby loved hiding her jolly balls in the pile of leaves. That dog is OCD about balls!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween

Ok, I've been accused of being a Halloween Grinch. Is that really possible? I just don't enjoy having the dogs react to the doorbell. I have not trained them to "ignore" the doorbell. Oh, well. Perhaps I am a Halloween Grinch. :)

I have finished yet another hat for Alix. :) It's a cookie monster hat. I delivered her newest hat to her this morning. Gosh, she's about the cutest baby EVER! I know, I'm totally biased, but seriously look at her. :)


Hope you have a Happy Halloween, but don't ring my doorbell and expect anything except to be barked at by 4 scary dogs :0
Does Bah Humbug apply to Halloween?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Remembering Jay

Happy Birthday Jay!!


I would have loved to throw you a 50th Birthday party today! Everyone would have had a great time!



I miss you and love you forever,
Kristie

Thursday, October 23, 2008

monkey love

Thought this was too cute!

dog
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Monday, October 20, 2008

What a weekend!


I had a really great weekend! Brindi did too! We entered a UKC agility trial this weekend out at our trainer's. It was a lot of FUN! This is the first UKC trial we have entered in. Each day there were 2 trials, made up of 3 categories. I entered Brindi in AG1, which has most of the standard agility equipment and a couple of unique pieces of equipment, and AG2, which has more unique equipment. The categories are a bit confusing for me. :)

I can see improvements in every run me and Brindi have. Small successes like getting 3 obstacles in a row are HUGE in my book. She ran well Saturday, and then Sunday morning she ran with drive like I've never seen. She won second place in the 2 AG1 trials that morning. And those were Qualifying scores too! So she won 4 ribbons! Plus she earned 2 legs towards her AG1 title. I think she has to have 3 legs before she earns a title in UKC. I'm still trying to learn all about titling in these venues too. Lots to learn! Brindi did pretty good on her remaining 2 runs on Sunday. No "Q's" or placements but she ran well and we learned a lot. I really enjoy playing this game with her, and I think she likes it too!


On the knitting front. I have finished an Elmo hat for Alix. I dropped in on her Sunday to give her the hat. I think she likes it. I know it's a big hit with her mom and dad. I think Alix likes the hat better when it's not on her head though. She likes to look at it and smile. !!!! She's so CUTE!!!



Hope you all had a good weekend. I'm actually looking forward to next weekend. I actually get to sleep in! No agility trials. I do hope we have practice on Saturday though!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Brindi's first "Q"

We had a GREAT weekend at the trial in Princeton. I can honestly say that I think Brindi and I are becoming a better team. The weekend started off too early for me though. The walk thru for Touch and Go started at 7 am and all classes (Novice, Open, and Elite) walked at the same time. I am NOT a morning person. I am even less of a morning person on the weekends, even when the weekend is full of dogs and fun. :) So, I got to the trial a little late and by the time I had my stuff set up (crate, chairs, mat) the time for walk thru's was over. So, I had to watch the Elite, Open, and other Novice handlers to learn the course. I don't recommend that. Brindi did well considering I wasn't prepared. I think she finished 7th of about 10 dogs. Then we had a lot of time to watch other runs and hang out with some really cool people and their dogs. I am new to the ACE club and still meeting members. They are a great group of people. :)

Brindi and I were entered in 3 events for the day, and the last 2 were the very last 2 of the day. Regular agility 1 and 2. I was more prepared for those runs. Brindi did great in both runs. She finished 5th in round 1 and 4th in round 2. We gained a lot more experience and had a great time too. (oh, and she got a ribbon for placing 4th :)

After those runs, we headed home. It was about 5 pm when we got home. Brindi and I were both dog tired. :) The girls at home were just raring to go though. So we played a while and then calmed down for the evening.

Bright and way too early Sunday morning we headed back to Princeton. This time I brought Cosmo along to help cheerlead Brindi. Walk thru's began at 7 am again. Luckily for us the first events of the day were Regular agility 1 and 2. Regular agility has different obstacles for different levels, so the Elite group walked and ran their courses (both round 1 and 2), then the Open group walked and ran both their courses, and then it was time for the Novice group to walk and run their courses. We're in the Novice group. Brindi was ready to go and have a good time playing this game we call agility. We had 2 great rounds of regular agility. I was very impressed with the way she ran. I am starting to see some real improvements in how we work together and ways to help me be a better handler. And Brindi is doing much better taking sequences of obstacles. It's really cool to see improvement. Brindi placed 4th in round 1 and 3rd in round 2. It was great. Our next run would be just about the last run of the day. I had her entered in Tunnelers. So we got to spend the afternoon cheering on the others running. I'd say Tunnelers is Brindi's most favorite class. She LOVES tunnels. She is a true Tunnel sucker! She has a hard time passing up tunnels. So Tunnelers is AWESOME! Brindi didn't let me down. She even put wheels on. She had speed like I'd not seen. Our friends watching had never seen it either. It was AWESOME!! Brindi did great. I even baubled and almost sent her to a wrong tunnel, but she listened to me when I called her back. She did GREAT!! That was her best run ever. Some of the people we have trained with came up and told us how well we had done. I even heard the judge cheering for us. It was very COOL. And I swear Brindi was smiling while she ran.

And when the results were posted Brindi had gotten her first Qualifying score!!! I am still very new to agility and haven't really learned all the ins and outs yet, but a "Q" (to me) means that she met the course time. So she now has 10 points toward her NADAC Novice tunnelers title. :) She earned a purple "Q" ribbon and she also placed in 2nd, so she got a red ribbon for that. I cried and my agility friends were there with hugs and congratulations for me and Brindi!



It was a GREAT weekend.

Friday, October 10, 2008

50th post - Fitz the dog whisperer

First of all I want to say that the following blog is TRUE!

From the name of my blog you can probably guess that I have dogs and cats. I have 4 dogs, 3 cats, and a turtle. They are my family, they are who I take care of, and I enjoy my life. The dogs are usually more entertainment than the cats. However, I have a cat, Fitz, who must think he's a dog. He comes running to me when I call his name. He is sociable and cuddly. Alley and Evie would never stoop so low.

Here is a picture of Fitz and Gracie,one of our buds from Indy.


Ok. So I have been doing the dogs dinner times different lately. 3 out of 4 of my dogs are overweight, and the 4th dog is on different food than the others. I feed them twice a day and they are very eager to eat when its time. I have also been making them sit by their stands and wait for me to fill their bowls. I gather the bowls and measure out their kibble and they are to sit and stay. I try to mix it up so that sometimes Cosmo (special food dog) gets fed first and sometimes Darby gets fed first. I am trying to teach Darby to have an energetic response when I say "ok" (for her agility training). So I put her kibble in her stand and tell her to "wait". For some reason this causes Sadie and Cosmo (on the other side of the kitchen) to scramble (on linoleum) over to see what she's "waiting" for. This causes me to yell at them to get back, sit and stay! After that I return to Darby who is waiting (with drool falling out of her mouth) and tell her "OK". This causes Sadie and Cosmo to lose their minds once again. I tell them to get back, sit down, and stay. All the while Brindi is being good and staying at her station. I feed her, then move to Cosmo, and then Sadie. Well the other night Sadie was having some problems understanding me and she kept breaking her stay. So I kept sending her back, telling her to stay, etc. I even walked her back to her spot and reminded her what I was asking her to do, when all of a sudden Fitz jumps up on Sadie's back and bites the back of her neck. He's like "Would you listen to her so she will shut up!". I have never seen anything like this before. Sadie is my lab and is so submissive she bows to puppies. She just laid down when Fitz did this. It was weird.

Anyhow, we are still working on keeping Cosmo and Sadie in their spots at dinner time. Maybe with Fitz's help they'll learn soon.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Busy weekend ahead

Brindi and I have an agility trial this weekend. It's a NADAC trial and will be held in Princeton. I really like the NADAC trials, they are a lot of fun. They offer a wider variety of classes, they have standard agility, tunnelers (nothing but tunnels), Touch and Go, weavers, jumpers, and a new class called hoopers. I think Brindi likes running NADAC too. The last NADAC trial we went to had hoops instead of jumps in the Touch and Go class. She really liked that. Brindi is not a big fan of jumping yet. This weekend she's entered in 2 rounds of standard agility each day, touch and go on Saturday, and tunnelers on Sunday. It's bound to be a fun weekend!

Knitting helper


One day about 5 years ago I came home to find my sweet Sadie in a similar situation. My house looked like a spider web of yarn. It was too funny!
Of course I learned a valuable lesson. I now keep my projects under lock and key :)

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Afternoon with Alix

Alix spent the afternoon with me and the Pack & Pride. I watched her while her Mom and Dad worked on packing up their apartment. Yep, they closed on their house yesterday! Woo hoo! Congrats Amanda & Brandon!! Can't wait to hear how the cats love their stairs and I know Rufus is going to love having his own back yard. Alix has become a little motorboat. It's hilarious! Here's some video of her antics.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Agility

Brindi and I had a very busy weekend on September 20th and 21st. We entered a NADAC agility trial in Princeton. We are new to the world of agility so I am constantly learning or trying to learn what each venue offers. NADAC offers 2 rounds of traditional agility, tunnelers, touch and go, weavers, jumpers, chances, and hoopers. I entered Brindi in one round of agility, touch and go, and tunnelers for Saturday and Sunday. We had a great time. The trial was hosted by Agility Club of Evansville (ACE). We are also some of the newest members of ACE. They are a great group of people. Very friendly, helpful, and fun! Saturday everyone was supposed to wear their pajamas. There were both dogs and people dressed up in their pjs. Not me or Brindi though. I didn't have a chance to go out and get some pjs for either of us. Oh well, I think Brindi might have bitten me if I would have made her wear pjs. :)

Sunday was "Q for the Cure". A lot of people wore pink and tie dye for the occasion. I didn't have any pink but wore my trusty agility tie dye shirt. The group also held a half pot drawing. With half of the proceeds going to the Komen foundation. As it ended up the other half ended up going in my pocket as I held the winning ticket. :) That was cool!

Brindi really enjoyed the weekend. Her fave was the Touch and Go class. There was contact equipment (her faves), tunnels (another fave), and hoops. Hoops were new to us, but she liked them because they weren't jumps. :) Because of her height she has to jump any where from 20 - 24 inches. She's a little over weight (we're working on that) so it's harder for her to jump those heights. So for her to go into an agility ring and not have to jump she's in heaven. I definitely caught her smiling this weekend. She had such a good time Sunday morning that she actually won a ribbon! She got 3rd place in Touch and Go. It was great! This is the first thing she has won. It really was AWESOME. I can tell that we are coming together as a team and it's amazing how much more fun it is.



Brindi had a wonderful weekend and is almost all rested up from all the excitement. I am raring to go again. I can't wait for practice this weekend.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Cosmo update


Well Cosmo is hopefully on the mend now. She went through 14 days of antibiotics and had a relapse with her uti. The evening of the September 16th, which was the 14th day, I had to take her to the Emergency Vet. She was whining, moaning, and shaking. And of course trying her darndest to urinate constantly. Poor pup! A few hundred dollars later we left the E-Vet and headed home. She had gotten a shot of antibiotics, a bag of subcutaneous fluids, and a new prescription for antibiotics. On the way home she also lost her dinner while sitting on my lap. I thought I was going to hurl too. OMG. I've seen and done a lot, but until then have never had anyone up chuck on me. So when we got home Cosmo sat outside while I cleaned out the Pilot. It was a horrible night!
I had decided that she was going to her vet's office for the next day. I wanted them to get samples and try to figure out what's going on with her. Plus, I didn't think she should be unsupervised for the day. She really felt horrible. Her vet did an ultrasound and luckily didn't see any stones. He took a sample and sent it off to be cultured. We are still waiting for the results of that but she appears a bit peppier and happy. Although she still tries to pee alot.
I am hoping that she is feeling good this weekend so she can go back to agility practice. She LOVES to run the courses.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Back from the zoo and remembering


Monday September 15th was the third anniversary of Jay's passing. I also lost Taylor (our Aussie pup) the same day. I had special plans for the day. Alix and I were going to go to the zoo and then we were going to go to the mall. I have not been to the zoo since I was very young. I can honestly say I didn't like the zoo when I was a kid. It seemed cruel to have the animals pinned up like they did then. I still have a hard time with zoos. Even with all of their attempts at making the zoo a more natural setting for the animals it doesn't seem right to me. So, anywho. It was the first time for Alix to see the zoo and my first time in a long time to visit the local zoo. I must say that they have made some vast changes since I was there last. Still not a big fan, but that's just me.

We had a nice day and Alix did notice some of the crazy monkeys at the zoo. I would guess that her faves were the Francois Langur monkeys and the Cottontop Tamarins. They were all wrestling and generally having a good time. My fave was the baby langur monkey. TOOO CUTE!!!

We stopped and sat at a bench on a way out, where Alix had a bottle. A peacock showed some interest and was trying to see if we had anything to offer. Nope, sorry. But it got close enough to keep me on my toes. Birds (any kind) make me nervous and scare me. Irrational fear of birds is right up on the top of my list!

After the zoo, Alix was pretty much done for the day. I got her back into her car seat and we then drove to the mall. Out of the car seat and into the stroller and she barely woke up. She slept through my shopping experience. I haven't been to the mall here since I was a senior in high school. I always hated malls! So, I went in looking for some Birkenstocks, found them, bought them, and we were out. Back in her car seat we headed to my house.

She loves dogs. Of course. :) And my dogs love her. So we spent a little bit of time visiting with the dogs and then she got back in her car seat and I took her home.

We had a very nice day. And a lot of firsts for this Aunt. I had never driven her anywhere. I had to borrow the Alix-mobile, but it was nice. I've not driven a jeep before and my sister has a nice one. Then I had to learn about putting her in the car seat, removing the car seat, and then had to learn how to manuever the stroller. :) It was a day full of new stuff and we both survived :)

Our day together started around 10 am and ended around 5 pm. Whew! What a day. But it was GREAT to spend the time with Alix and see some animals.

Alix also got a new stuffed monkey toy and a zoo t-shirt. Lucky chick. Brindi tried to steal her monkey, but I made sure that Alix got her toy back. It's kind of an honest mistake really. Brindi has a toy monkey, named Tug and they look kind of similar. Alix's is grey, while Brindi's is brown.



After I took Alix home, I had to run home and get Darby ready for her agility class. I had just enough time to get a water bucket and some treats and we were off. Luckily we live only a few minutes from where our agility class is held. Darby had a great time and is picking up the agility stuff pretty quick. It was just her second class and she is doing pretty AWESOME. :) In my opinion anyway :)

So, I had been non-stop going since about 7 am when I got up until about 8:30 pm. Had to get some chores done around the house and stuff before I went to bed.



Thanks to Ike (without power Sunday until 10:30 pm) I had some quiet time on Sunday to remember Jay and our life together. He was my best friend and I miss him so much it hurts. I still feel him with me. Whenever I need a sign he provides one. It seems like his rosebush will bloom right when I miss him the most. I am thankful for that. I am very lucky to have done so much with him. We have numerous photo albums of places we went and things we've done. It's great to have those to look back on. I am sure that he is with Thomas and Taylor and they are having a great time at the Rainbow Bridge.



I miss you Jay,
Love Always,
Kristie

Hopefully someone will find mine!

cat
more animals

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Fido Walk

Brindi and I attended the Vanderburgh Humane Society Fido Walk this morning. It was a very nice day. Hot, but nice. I got to meet up with some of my knitting buddies and their pooches. It was a fun day. Here is a picture of Brindi at VHS.



I am starting to feel a little more human now. Just left with a very bad cough. It should be fun trying to survive our 2 hour agility class tomorrow morning. That should help clear out my lungs. :)

I'm still working on the crochet-along, sort of. I have been ignoring my sock though. It's just too small and tedious.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Crochet-Along with a cough

Hello,
I have been down and out for a while now with a sinus infection turned evil. It's now moved into my chest. X-rays are ruling out pneumonia. That's great but I still feel like crap. I spend most of my nights coughing and hacking. It's gotten so bad that a couple of the girls head into the guest bedroom at night. I mean it's pretty important for them to get a good nights sleep right. :)

Anyway. I've been working on my Lion Brand Crochet-along a little. I have completed one each of the 3 blocks that this afghan requires. Only 27 more to go. :) I can see that a big problem is going to be that these blocks are different sizes. One is a lot bigger than the other 2. Hopefully this will be an easy fix. We'll see. Here are pictures for ya.




And I'm off to bed. Cough, cough, cough, hack, hack, sneeze!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Sinuses!

I've been down and out for about 2 weeks now. The sinus infection has moved from my head to my chest. Hooray. I only hope that this stuff clears up soon.

Good news. Cosmo is starting to feel better. She still has tons of antibiotics to take, but it looks like they are working for her. :)

Darby starts her first agility class tomorrow. That should be fun. She needs a job that doesn't include bringing me a ball or frisbee to throw. I can't wait to see what she thinks of this agility stuff.

Sadie and Brindi are doing well, as are the cats.

I'm working on a crochet-along with Lion Brand yarns. I am using Vanna's Choice for the afghan. 3 different blocks, 3 different colors. They are linen, toffee, and taupe. I am also working on a little bit of knitting too. Funny how much time you have to knit or crochet when you're under the weather.

And I'll of course leave you with a picture of me and Alix. :) Her first tooth is finally almost in! Woo hoo!


Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Happy Birthday Brock!


Today is my brother's 31st birthday. Happy Birthday Brock!

We had a really nice get together at Mom and Dad's this weekend. It was great to see everybody again!