Gandalf!



Who's NOT Happy!










These taken in very low light with my new lens. I think I will like this new lens.

A lot of random shots in Scottsdale.

This is Trip's yearbook picture.



Speck and his twin Rev (who wanted NOTHING to do with him ;-)




Judy and Oreo in the Semi's ;-)



Tiva tried dock diving (she was VERY brave)



And Speck's reward for keeping his head in gamblers. GOATS!



Aliens alive and well near Shasta



The rest of the set can be seen here.

First of all, I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed to not be in the finals of anything this year. Have I told you I *hate* being sick? I have also come to a couple of realizations over the week. More on those later.

Alphie was MR. Cheeky this week. But really wouldn't want it any other way. He was running fast and furious, it's really too bad that I couldn't think quickly enough to really do him justice. He only had one really bad run (snooker) but since I didn't really think about his opening while walking, it's not really his fault. He did finish in 3rd place in European Jumpers on Sunday (took me 3 tries to run that right ;-)

Emma. I was quite disappointed to not get into any finals with Em. I went to Scottsdale with the intention of making the PNS and PSJ finals with Emma and hopefully do well in those. In my mind, this was her last USDAA nationals and I wanted to go out with a bang. However, I think that if she's running well next summer, I will be taking her and Speck next year. She ended up in 6th place in Team Standard and ran well in all other team classes.

And Speck. Speck was such a super star this weekend, he ran really well in all his classes (when I was mentally there). Ended up in 12th in Team Standard (even with a spin after the teeter) and ran with very competitive times in the other classes. He didn't E in any class and just was such a good boy. On Saturday, we were in ring 6 and he finally remembered that the goats were out in the field (He remembered them from last year), but kept his head in the game, so his reward was to go herd the goats. He did a phenomenal job with the goats. Jorgen has done a very good job with him getting him to be less sticky to their heads. What a good boy. And in dock diving, he was jumping 18-20 feet. He's running to the edge of the dock and we are working on jumping higher. If we can swing it, I will enter him in Dock Diving competitions this year. And as time permits, I will enter Speck in Novice-Novice and Merckx in Pro-Noivce USBHA competitions this year. I will also start herding again with Em and Meri.

Other than a sore butt, the trip back was pretty uneventful. I had a lot of time to reflect on the future and what I need to do next. It was good to see Jorgen, Meri, Merckx, Strider and Gandalf. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed, even if all the dogs insisted on sleeping with us. It was nice to have another day off yesterday, and I spent most of it cleaning as Jorgen's parents are coming for a 3 week visit. I also bought a Shark Steamer, and I LOVE it for cleaning. Cleaning the dog room is so much easier since the floor dries so quickly.

I have pictures to post, but that will be later on this week. I think some of them came out well.

Back to work today ;-)