The fridge has been fixed for 24 whole hours, the icemaker is making ice that does NOT form a really ugly ice sculpture, and I am no longer worried that I'm going to accidentally prepare a lovely Food Poisoning Surprise for dinner. This afternoon I went to Publix and bought frozen things and fresh produce without wondering if they'd survive. It only took a freaking month. Oy. But it's working fine and normally now, and may it keep going another year or two, preferably until I am fed up enough with the stove and dishwasher to do a general appliance overhaul. So, that should be the last of the Fridge Bitching (she says as she knocks wood).
In far more entertaining news, I learned the other day that the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship is this weekend, right here in Orlando! I texted Girlmama, and she was totally up for it - she's decided it's time for Delaney to start her formal Crazy Dog Lady education. So we are going on Saturday. The Boston Terriers will be in the ring bright and early, like 9:30ish, and I thought we probably wouldn't be able to get there for them (the Labs are in the ring at a ridiculous for us 8:00 a.m.) but Girlmama says she can hustle and we will make it in time for the Bostons. Then the Golden Retrievers are at a decent hour, and the French Bulldogs (my other lusted-after breed) will probably wrap up our day - they are in the ring around 1-ish. This will all depend on Miss D's tolerance and the crowd level of course, but I'm thinking we can get in, see what we want to see, do the Meet the Breeds, wander the vendors, watch some agility and obedience, and get out after the Frenchies are judged in the early afternoon, while the people just dropping by for the afternoon are arriving. I haven't been to a show of this size in decades, and I'm just tickled that Orlando will be hosting it for the next few years. My frustration with the televised dog shows is that they only show you the group judging, which is of course the big moment for the winners in the ring, but to me the fun stuff is the breed judging and agility and obedience trials. The breed judging is educational and amazing - tomorrow there will be SIXTY-FOUR Boston Terriers in that ring! And for me there is NOTHING cuter than watching itty bitty Chihuahuas or Yorkies showing off their obedience skills, or an unlikely agility dog do something amazing.
One of my MANY regrets of the awful last decade was that my husband's cancer derailed Murphy's budding agility career. He was a natural in dog school - when introduced to the equipment, like the agility teeter-totter, a lot of the bigger dogs just froze (the biggest dog in the class didn't just freeze, but tried to wrap his legs around the board and cling to it until he was lifted off - he was terrified but we had to laugh a little because he looked like a cartoon character). Murphy's turn came and he amazed me - he didn't hesitate at all, just trotted up this strange new thing with his usual confidence, but he didn't weigh enough to make it tilt when he reached the middle! He was stuck at the midpoint until the instructor put a hand on it to get it moving, and he just trotted down and straight off the end as if he was born to do that stuff. Unfortunately, life intervened and we never got around to starting serious agility training.* It's a shame, because he really enjoyed his exposure to all things agility.
Anyway, for me there is nothing cuter than a micro-dog doing those big dog things. I hope we can catch a bit of that before the crowds drive us off, but dammit, we will at least get there for the Bostons in the ring!
*Okay, wow, that didn't sound kinda cold and creepy at all! What I was saying is that the great shitstorm of awful took not only the big and obvious things, but even these minor fun things like taking the dog to agility training. I don't think I would have understood me if I hadn't written it, but that's what I meant. Murphy didn't do agility, but became the devoted sidekick of a wheelchair bound cancer patient, giving him huge comfort and reason to wake up and focus each day, and then took his natural confidence on the road to visit both my parents and other patients in nursing homes, and handled the role he was drafted to play like he was born to that, too.
I get it.
ReplyDeleteI was looking at French Bulldogs, but they seemed to be so disease and BigProblem prone that I figured I shouldn't even think about them. True or False? Also, my price range is somewhere near zero, so that didn't help any.
Frenchies are expensive, which is why I have my little Frenchie-looking Boston instead. As for diseases, that's where dealing with a serious breeder comes in - they do genetic testing on their dogs. Of course, stuff like Murphy's condition can't be screened with a genetic test, so even the best breeders can't screen out everything, but that's part of why some purebred dogs are so expensive.
ReplyDeleteI knew what you meant sweetie - and I agree, GreatShitStorms take everything - like Katrina did. I'm just so glad it didn't take you.
ReplyDeleteNo, it definitely did not sound cold and creepy, it sounded like reality. That is what happens sometimes to our well thought out plans, and to hobbies and interests, when they are bulldozed by some uncontrolled force of nature.
ReplyDeleteThere is a new inmate in out asylum, our local freebie paper has an adopt a pound pet page, which I always look at, but this time we fell, and heavily. Fred is a (pedigreed) rough coated Jack Russell, ten years old, and in the pound because of the death of his 'boss'. He has settled in beautifully, and is a laugh a minute. Real Terrier temperament, but sweet natured and as mad as a cut snake. Gets on well with old Ace, the Italian Greyhound.
Gae, in Callala Bay
Oh wow, Gae, that's great! At 10 Fred is just in his energetic middle age in little dog years (Murphy is going on 12 and not healthy, but don't tell him that) and a JR will keep you laughing!
ReplyDeleteTo give the older (12) Ace some peace and quiet at breakfast, we put Fred's serve of dry food in a 'treat ball' and let him chase his breakfast all over the house. Our vet has seen Fred (for a dose of Kennel Cough) and assures me he is as fit as a flea, no health problems showing yet. It would have been a horrible shame for him to have been put down, or possibly even worse, spend the rest of his life in a pound type setting. He was born to run a household!!
ReplyDeleteGae, in Callala Bay
Murphy is just a wonderful little guy, and Sophie,too. And, no that part of the post didn't sound creepy, but like it was, an absolutely horrible time to live through.
ReplyDeleteGlad the fridge is fixed! Whar an ordeal!