Christmas Day in the snow ...

Christmas Day in the snow ...

12/25/2008 11:00:43 AM

Well, it's Christmas Day and it is still snowing, the snowflakes are bigger and coming down faster than ever!  At least it isn't too cold outside, just -1 degree centigrade, last week it was down to -16 degrees centrigrade so that is an improvement!

Mike & Linda were due to join us for Christmas Lunch today but, due to the weather and awful driving conditions on the roads, we've decided to postpone until the weekend, when the weather is supposed to get warmer and bring rain and with it flooding. 

We are all getting a little fed-up of the snow, the roads in our area aren't too bad. In fact the snow plough/gritter was out this morning clearning in front of our house,  however, I don't think that it managed to get up the hill as it was soon back again.  The dogs enjoy the snow but now that it is getting deeper (approx 1 foot drifting to 2.5 feet), it is more difficult for them to get about, we have to stick to the roads otherwise little Sky just sinks up to his belly!  We are feeding the birds and Kohl believes it is his duty to check on the feeders every time he goes outside which makes for a very snowy/wet poodle.

Here are some photos of the yard ... we haven't ventured any further!

Notice how much more snow there is on the gazeebo from earlier photo ...

 

It certainly is very pretty

Looking down our drive towards Bruce & Sylia's house.  We did manage to get out into Redmond on Tuesday 23rd, the roads were horrific in town, it look us 1.5 hours to get home from Redmond Town Center.  We were due to go out to Benaroya Hall in Seattle to a Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols but by the time we got home, we were done with driving for the day.  As you can see, the truck was almost abandoned on the drive ...

More magical snow scenes ...

Monday night we noticed that Sky was getting a little cramped in his cat crate, he is very good about waking us in the night to let him out to pee, so we decided to upgrade him to the crate that we originally bought for Kohl (he grew out of it!).  Initially we brought it into the family room and Ghost decided it needed to be inspected, Sky however thought it was fine as it was and started tugging on the towel that Ghost was sitting on ... it was rather comical and although I took a couple of photos, you had to be here to appreciate the scene ...

OK, I'm leaving ...

Here is Sky earlier in the day ...

Cuddling with Mummy ...

Sky in the snow ...

Sky in the snow ...

12/19/2008 10:53:32 AM

We had been hearing all week about how the Pacific NW was going to have an artic snap with snow coming down from Canada.  Schools were closed on Wednesday in preparation for the snow, I went to work as usual, the roads were clear of both traffic and snow/ice.  It did rain a little but in the afternoon the sun came out and we still hadn't seen any snow!

Yesterday morning we woke to a smattering of snow and I was all for going to work, the radio announced that one or two schools were closed and several more were starting late.  About an hour later the situation had changed dramatically, it was snowing heavily at home, the roads were disasterous, including SR520 and SR202 (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/localnews2008535804).  Novelty Hill road was closed completely and we could tell from the cameras at http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/mycommute/default.aspx and http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/routelist.aspx that it was not a good idea to travel.

We both worked from home yesterday and I took these photos of the yard ...

Here are some photos of Sky enjoying the snow ...

 

Although not snowing this morning, the roads are still treturous and the forecast is not good, see http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_121908WXB_snow_friday_DS.791e64ef.html andhttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/392939_snow20.html. We are once again working from home and Kohl and I have cancelled our visit to Evergreen Hospice again ... we missed last week as we were collecting Sky, yes, we've had him for a whole week now!

Snow and Sky

Snow and Sky

12/14/2008 9:57:59 AM

Well, it looks like we made the right decision by not going out last night, as already mentioned, Stephen was asleep soon after 10pm and we woke this morning to about and inch of snow (less than predicted) and freezing temperatures.  Not only is it very cold (below freezing) but it is also windy, apparently the weather is coming from the Arctic via Canada and it's going to get colder!

 

While Stephen took Kohl out for his morning walk, I played with Sky and even took him outside in his new colar and leash for a walk around the porch, after we've had coffee we'll take him a bit further and video his first steps ... ah.

The new addition makes it home ...

The new addition makes it home ...

12/13/2008 10:17:41 PM

We didn't make it down to Oregon last Sunday (Dec 7th) as it wasn't convenient for the breeder, we rearranged our visit for Tuesday (Dec 9th).  Kohl had a 'sleep over' at Canine College on Monday so that we could get an early start Tuesday morning.  We left home at 7.05am, the weather was dry and the roads clear so we had a really good trip down.  We stopped in Starbucks in Centralia (exactly half way) for morning coffee and picked-up some sandwiches.

We arrived dead on 12.30pm to see the puppies.  Kim had fewer dogs than when we last visited (4 years ago) and had placed Kohl's dad in a pet home where he is doing therapy work.  Kim had 2 adult females, Eddie (Sky's dad) and a 6 month old puppy.  She also still had Sky's mum on lease. 

We looked at all 5 blue boys while we were there:

1. Butt spot
2. Backspot
3. Tail spot
4. Ear spot
5. Head spot

We were soon able to narrow down the puppies from 5 to 3, ear spot and head spot weren't as bold as the others and weren't really what we were looking for.  Our trainer told us to look for the most obnixious puppy, the one that play attacked the others and came to visit with us but was also bold enough to leave the group and go exploring on his own.


We took lots of video and also some photos, I haven't yet figured out how to upload video, but here are one or two photos of butt spot from our 2 hour visit.
I  

 

During the visit we also had the opportunity to meet Eddie (dad) and Opal (mum), both are lovely dogs so we're expecting great things from the puppy we choose.


We travelled home debating the merits of each puppy and wondering what our trainer, Laurie, will make of them!  Wednesday was quite hectic for Stephen downloading viedos from the camera and converting them into a format we could burn to CD for Laurie to view before she went out of town for the weekend.


Thursday, Stephen got a call at work from Laurie advising that she would choose back spot from the litter, Stephen had a list of pros and cons for each of the shortlisted puppies (back spot and butt spot).  We told Kim that we wanted to take one more look at the puppies before making our final decision ... we had to be quick, she had folks coming on Saturday to pick their puppy.  We decided to take the day off work on Friday, drive down and collect back spot.


Due to the time of day and the necessity of having Kohl with us this morning to take to the groomers, we decided to take him with us.  As it turned out, the weather was so bad that lying in the back of the car for most of the day was proably comparable to lying in a run at Canine College (definitely warmer!).  We stopped as we had done previously in Centralia and arrived at 3.30pm right on schedule.


This time we just focused on 3 puppies, butt spot, back spot and tail spot.  However, Kim soon removed tail spot as it was getting confusing!  We were now down to two: butt spot (our pick first visit) and back spot (Lauire's pick).  After careful consideration and advice from Kim, we decided to bring home butt spot.  He has nice confirmation but has a few white hairs on his chest and under his chin (the breed standard says that the dog must be all one color), Kim thinks they will disappear by the time he's 6 months.  Also, as she was tidying him up for us to bring home, she told us that she thought he might turn out to be black rather than blue  ... oh well. Learn more about the difference in coat colors here: http://arpeggiopoodles.tripod.com/poodlecoatcolors4.html.  We left just before 5pm with Sky (and Kohl) for the long journey home.


The journey was horrible, driving rain and then snow just north of Tacoma.  It was so bad at one stage that we seriouslly didn't now whether we were going to make it home :-(  Luckily it warmed up to above freezing and by the time we were nearing Seattle, it had turned back to rain.  We didn't get in until about 10pm, the animals still had to be walked and/or fed.  Needless to say, we didn't get to bed until late.


Sky slept in one of the cat carrying crates and woke me twice during the night to let me know that he needed to pee.  He was very good and did his buisness as soon as I took him out of the crate, however, it took him about 20 mins to settle down once he was back in the crate.  He got very cross and frustrated at having to be in there on his own!  This morning when he woke and I brought him downstairs, he peed and pooped almost immediately.  Althought it's going to take a while to housetrain an 8 week old puppy, he wants to be clean and is willing to please so I don't think it will take too long (I hope not anyway!).


This evening we were planning go to see the PNB production of the Nutcracker in Seattle, I purchased the tickets some time ago and yesterday lined a good friend up to pet sit.   Linda arrived for pet sitting duties with the news that it was snowing and that the temperature was around freezing.  As we were already changed and ready to leave we decided to go ahead with our plans but as we started driving down the road we discovered that both the snow and the temperature were both still coming down :-(  So as not to endanger ourselves, or Linda (who would have to drive home later this evening), we decided to turn around and abandon our plans for the evening.  We were thankful that we got home safely with our new boy yesterday and didn't want to risk getting stranded in the bad weather this evening.  So, we came home and played with the puppy in the knowledge that Linda got home safe and sound.


It's late now, everyone is asleep Stephen and two cats on the sofa, Kohl on his blankie and Sky in his ex-pen so I think it is time for bed!

More puppy news ...

More puppy news ...

12/2/2008 9:54:20 PM

We have heard from the breeder again this evening, she took some photos today.  She has narrowed down 3 agility contenders from the 4 blue males that meet our criteria, here's what she has to say about them ...

Right now I am leaning to "tailspot" as a top contender.  I mark the babies with whiteout rather than leave a colored collar on, it just seems safer and is an old habit. 

I also like buttspot (who has a small white spot on his chest that will fade to one or two hairs as an adult)

and backspot. It will be fun to get your impressions!

We are travelling down to Oregon on Sunday to see the puppies for ourselves!  Lots more photos and possibly video too after our visit.

Moonstone Maybe Tomorrow NA NAJ

Moonstone Maybe Tomorrow NA NAJ

11/29/2008 1:46:51 PM

CONGRATULATIONS to Kohl and Stephen for gaining two new agility titles on Friday November 28th, 2008!!!

Yesterday, we set off early in the morning for Trails End Arena near Olympia (our state Capital) so that Stephen and Kohl could compete at the Evergreen Afghan Hound Club Agility Trial.  As it was our first time at this venue, we arrived nice and early, only one of Stephen's follow classmates was there, it was good to see a friendly face and have someone to walk the course with :-) 

The first event was jumpers with weaves, Stephen was pleased to find the course very straight forward and Kohl found it so too.  Although he was slow, you can see for yourself in the video I took by clicking here, he only had 3 penalty points, got a score of 97 and was placed first!

We had to wait some time for the standard agility class, by which time we knew the JW result and the pressure was on to get a 'Double Q' (two qualifying scores at the same show on the same day).  This was their last opportunity to compete in Novice A, due to the win earlier in the day, moving forward they would now have to complete in Novice B.  Stephen maintains that this was the most difficult course they have had to navigate, yet he and Kohl did a great job.  They lost some time on the table when Kohl was slow to go into a down and Kohl hesitated at the last jump, which the judge decided was a refusal butthey did it!!!  With a score of 90 in STD this guaranteed that they would get a 'Double Q', Two First Places and get Two New Titles  ... I am very proud of them both!

More puppy pics

More puppy pics

11/10/2008 5:02:18 PM

Kim sent through some more puppy photos to Stephen yesterday evening.

Learning to play

Beginning to walk

Blue puppies

 First haircuts just around the corner

BTW, Kohl and these puppies share the same grand-sire, Macho so I guess they are half-cousins.

More agility results ...

More agility results ...

11/8/2008 8:04:02 PM

Today I was allowed to accompany Stephen and Kohl to Argus Ranch to see them compete in the Sno-King Agility Club Trial.  We didn't leave home until after lunch and had a good trip down.  Several of our friends were there competing and we had time to catch-up before the first event.  My boys did well in Jumpers with Weaves, they qualified with a score of 89 due only to time penalties. It was good enough to earn them first place 

Kohl did extremely well in Standard Agility too, if only his handler hadn't sent him into the weave poles on the wrong side (weave poles must be entered with the dog on the left of the first pole ... Kohl was on the right), they would have qualified and probably won 

Now Stephen's looking for other shows to enter 

New addition ...

New addition ...

11/5/2008 8:05:52 PM

As some of you know, we have been thinking about getting another standard poodle for some time now.  We both enjoy competing but Kohl really doesn't have the enthusiasm (work ethic as our trainer puts it) for obedience or even rally.  The only way that Stephen can get him motivated for agility is with a tennis ball and he cannot take that in the ring with him!  Kohl is a wonderful companion, easy to live with, gets on well with other dogs and is a great therapy dog (he and I are Delta Society Pet Partners) but the time has come to look for a "real" competition dog to compliment Kohl.

Stephen contacted Kohl's breeder on Monday (Nov 3rd) and following a scurry of email, I sent a deposit off today (Wed Nov 5th) for a puppy!!! 

The litter was born on Sat night/early Sun morning of Oct 19. Dad is AKC Ch Moonstones Evening Edition and Mom is Marsan's Diamonds And Opals (a Rogue daughter).  There were 11 altogether: 5 dark boys 3 dark girls 3 light boys.Two of the boys are creams, the other is ice white. We have put a deposit on a blue boy. Confused by the colors?  This web site shows them well:http://arpeggiopoodles.tripod.com/poodlecoatcolorsoverviewofallcolors.html.

Here is a picture of a couple of the puppies:

This is more recent (2.5 weeks old and eyes open)

Here is a photo of Opal, for more info see http://marsanpoodles.com/

and this is Eddie, for more info see http://www.kimberlykoopman.pages.qpg.com/moonstonepoodles/

Here's the pedigree for anyone who is interested 

http://poodlepedigreecom.nationprotect.net/pedigree.asp?ID=346776