Teddy is 1 today!

Happy Birthday, Ted-monster!

Staying motivated

Yes, it's been a long winter. The temptation is to stay in hibernation, curl up on the couch with the pups and a good book; not to mention a box of chocolates. But, how will I be ready for spring, the outdoors, and fewer layers of clothing if I slack off??? I keep telling myself to get moving! Get up from my desk. Go play with Tango - five minutes of heeling exercises mixed in with a few downs will do both of us good! Maybe a few Crate Games. Even if I didn't have access to our great practice ring, I could do this at home. And this afternoon, a few minutes of weaving. And then maybe some "Stay" exercises. Playing and training with my dog for just a few minutes at a time is a great way to break up the day, get some practice in for him, and get me out of my chair! That way he'll be tired tonight when I'll be nodding off in my chair. And maybe Tango and I will be ready for competition one day.
-Fran

Spring Fever

We've got it bad. It was almost 60 degrees yesterday! No record but it sure felt good. The snow in the back yard is almost gone. There are still hills where the biggest drifts were, and I almost took a header last night on the ice. (Tango found a stick. I was chasing him. It was fun.) Hopefully it'll be gone before the snow they're predicting for Monday.

To divert ourselves, Hope and I started measuring the Land Cookie's storage areas - cabinets, drawers, etc. We also started making lists of all the stuff we're going to need. We're planning on going to the RV Show in Rosemont this weekend. I'm sure we'll see lots more stuff we'll need! Many area campgrounds have booths, so we'll see which one looks like the best candidate for our first camping foray.
-Fran

Tough life

Dax was pooped after her agility lesson yesterday afternoon. Rough afternoon at the office. And yes, our dogs are too spoiled. - Hope

Aftermath

Sorry for not posting last week as I usually do on Fridays. After the blizzard we got more snow, bitter cold and an explosion. Tango loves all the snow - he and Teddy have been trying to explore the yard, but the snow is over their heads (by about a foot) so they're sticking to the paths we've trodden down for them. Ceilidh and Dax hate it, and Roc doesn't care much. He's not much of an explorer, though, so he's perfectly happy to stay where the others have gone.

Last Friday Tango and I made it into work, after digging my car out of the garage. I was settling down to work when the power went out. Followed by the fire alarms sounding. I put my coat back on, put Tango back into his crate in the car and called our landlord from outside. Harley said, "Something blew! I'm coming back to the building." That didn't sound good. Three fire trucks and an Incident Command car arrived in short order. It turns out that there was an electrical short in the Fire Pump room, three doors down from our shop. We can still see where the explosion blew up the pipe against a brick wall. Fortunately no one was hurt. I took Tango back home and tried to work from there until our power came back, about six hours later. Since then things have been mercifully quiet. And a thaw is forecast!
-Fran

Dax and Tango hard at work

It's really hard to get any work done at the office when the dogs are being so darn cute. Dax (French Bulldog) and Tango (Brussels Griffon) were being particularly adorable today. - Hope

Blizzard's wake

Living in a winter wonderland

And working in one, too.

Our little corner of the blizzard