:Ask…and you shall receive!
Posted: June 23, 2008 Filed under: Apso Aficionados, FFT Lhasa Apsos Leave a commentThanks for the Iris photos Vickie and Shellie. Here’s what Shellie had to say about Iris…
ok, so we affectionately lisp once in awhile when referring to the tibetan princess…she is actually more of warrior princess (she would love to play really rough with all the other furry kids and they with her!). it’s not always easy being so beautiful…wasn’t it charlie’s angels that used to call for hot rollers after every take? iris tolerates the fussing, but she’s got a truly little guardian personality.
I do believe Shellie is referring to the file names on the photos she send. Irith! This one is titled Irithwaits…
Here she is winning her first point, right?
Taken by Vickie during our Seward trip…
:Iris wins a 3-point major!
Posted: June 21, 2008 Filed under: FFT Lhasa Apsos Leave a commentIris is leaping with joy…again! Yesterday she won a 3-point major! Best of all, Shellie was showing her. Way to go ladies!!!
If someone has a similar photo of Shellie leaping for joy, please send it to me. 🙂 Shellie, although I love this photo of Iris…it’s the only one I have. At least currently cataloged…
Last weekend, being efficient, utilizing the system learned these past months in my Library of Memories class, I made a huge mistake. I did some reorganizing of photos directly in My Pictures and managed to corrupt the catalog (database) I’ve built in the past two years using Photoshop Elements. The beauty of that program is ‘tags’. When new photos are added, I ‘tag’ them and when I want a photo of….let’s say Iris, all I have to do is hit the Iris tag and up comes all of Iris’s photos, along with the exact location of the actual photo. Really slick! Unless the idiot operating the software forgets all reorganizing of photos must be done using said software. If you don’t, the software gets its revenge!
Live and learn. And learn again. And again. That’s my motto.
:Run fast, run happy…The Last Run
Posted: June 19, 2008 Filed under: DRambles on Black Mountain 2 CommentsAfter reading about Lisa in the AKC Gazette, I watched The Last Run.
Miss Diva, MAD, Bronze-TM, AX, OAJ, CGC
Greatly moved by this performance, the joy of watching Diva perform in the agility arena, the knowledge that Lisa died from Leukemia after an eight year battle with —DAMMIT IT ALL! — breast cancer, I wanted to share this with all of you.
Live outloud. Sounds like that’s how Lisa lived her last years. That’s what Chris is determined to do. She golfed nine holes last week. Carol often says, “are ya gonna die dying or are ya gonna live dying?”
Kay, Rick and Chris’s mom, battled to the very end, even when it was hopeless. It was years ago. Her choices were very limited, especially at the stage her cancer was diagnosed. Because she wanted to live, she chose to undergo chemotherapy with Taxol, first generation Taxol. It was miserable. She would tell you her choice was to do everything she could in an attempt to live. From my perspective, the cure was worse than the cause.
My dad battled cancer for five years. He lived without a voice, with a trach tube all that time. Every three hours – 24/7 – the tube had to be cleaned. He had good days. He loved his grandkids. He spent lots of time with them. Again, the choices for treatment weren’t like today’s choices. Like Kay, he chose every treatment, even when he was done with the battle. Did he realize he had a choice? Did he do it so his family would know he tried all the options?
Mom….well, she simply didn’t go to the doctor. I’m convinced she absolutely chose how she was going to handle cancer. Perhaps, like Lisa, she believed she’d received and given all this live had to give and take. She was dead 10 days after being diagnosed with cancer. She finished teaching her last session of obedience class on a stool. And died two or three weeks later. In some of her last words she asked the nurse how Schatzie was. Schatzie was a schnauzer mom groomed. Mom’s life revolved around dogs. During her funeral, in the limo from the mortuary to the cemetary, I turned and looked out the back window. The road gently rolls in that section of highway. For as far as I could see, the line of cars went. Our family is a very small family. The family members were in the limos. These were people whose lives mom had enriched through dogs.
Watching Lisa run Diva, I thought about how live is ‘rich’. I thought about how dogs and people we’ve met because of dogs make our own lives ‘rich’. I knew I wanted to share this video, this last bit of Lisa’s ‘rich’ live with you. I contacted her friend Terry, asking permission to use Diva’s photo and Lisa’s letter on this blog.
She responded:
Debby, so sorry to take so long to get back to you. Lisa was pretty incredible. She never let the fact that she had cancer keep her from enjoying life. Agility was a large part of that enjoyment. Yes, you may use this picture. What is the URL for your website? 🙂
STREEK ON!
Terry
www.cmstreek.com
April 11, 2008
To all of my fellow agility competitors and friends,
Last Tuesday I was admitted to hospital, for eight years I have fought breast cancer. I have been diagnosed now with AML Leukemia and have been given approximately three weeks to spend on this wonderful earth. I have chosen not to do any more chemo as I believe I have received and given all this life has to give and take.
With the help of my dear friends in Dallas we were able to talk the Dr’s into springing me out of hospital today. Tomorrow at the Dallas Agility Working Group’s trial I will run my darling Chinese Crested Diva for the last time – it wont be pretty, no one will be able to guess who’s handling style I will use and I don’t even know myself – just staying on my feet will be an achievement and to run with my very best friend and to be among friends will be enough to give me the energy I need to get through the day.
I am thrilled I will also get to watch the veterans parade and to pay tribute one last time to all the great dogs that have helped form this sport that I so love.
If you want to do anything for me pray that Diva and I can achieve a super Q, it is all we need to become ADCH together, but even if we don’t get it – I know I am blessed to share what time I have with my dogs and my friends.
Please wish Angela Lancaster all the very best with my dogs in the future, she is going from the cheesiest Yorkies to a couple of naked Cresteds and I know my dogs will continue to be well loved and respected and they will be in the agility ring again at some time to play.
Many thanks for all your love and support over the years, I am indeed one of the lucky ones that get to say thanks in ‘person’ before my time.
Remember this weekend to enjoy your friends, dogs and should success come, enjoy and embrace it, if it doesn’t never forgot the love of this game and the friendships we have forged. Thanks to everyone who helped me with my journey I sure do appreciate you all.
Run Fast, Run Happy
Lis Kristof
:Chandra’s day…
Posted: June 17, 2008 Filed under: Gompa Lhasa Apsos 5 CommentsTalk about the ultimate multi-tasking day! Yesterday, during the day – DURING THE DAY!!! – Chandra whelped her puppies. One female. Three males. It appears they’re all sired by Keeper because they’re all sables. DNA profiling will be the proof.
We knew the exact date she’d ovulated because of a progesterone test. Based on this Dr. Hess told us Chandra’s due date was June 16 – June 18, which is 61 to 63 days after ovulation. Ah! The wonders of modern canine reproductive science. I’m getting addicted the more I experience the knowledge it offers! Dr. Hess saw four puppies when Chandra was ultrasounded. Chandra whelped four puppies. Dr. Hess saw three puppies when Nagpo was ultrasounded. She whelped three puppies. Nagpo wasn’t progesterone tested, so her due date was determined the old-fashion way…counting 63 days from when she accepted Keeper. Chandra whelped at 61 days. Nagpo appeared to whelp early. Based on the old-fashion method, she was due four days later. Of course, I should have known she’d whelp the night following those four days of dog shows!
Chandra (Panchen x Garma) lives with my friend Bobbie. Bobbie had been tracking her temperature three times a day the past week. Her temperature dropped to 98 degrees Sunday afternoon. She was nesting. We made arrangements for Bobbie to call me, no matter what time of night, if Chandra went into labor. I had my supplies packed, everything ready to go. All I had to do was jump out of bed, throw on my sundress and drive about an hour and a half. I told Bobbie puppies are usually born during the night. With that temperature drop, I didn’t think Chandra would wait until Monday night. On the other hand, I’ve sat up many a night waiting for puppies, only to have them born the following night. So, we made the above arrangements.
After a night of bizarre dreams – surely brought on by the possibility of the puppies imminent arrival – I phoned Bobbie first thing in the morning and told her to bring Chandra to me that morning. Chandra began labor on the trip to Evergreen and whelped her daughter at 11AM. In the daytime!! Her brothers followed and by 1:30PM all had arrived into this realm safe and sound. It was quite a day!
Garma, Chandra’s dam, also lives with Bobbie. Bobbie had so much wanted to witness the birth of Garma’s puppies, but sometimes reality and wants are two very different things. She had given up a trip to see her brother because of these puppies. No matter how I tried to let her know I didn’t mind caring for Chandra and her puppies, she simply wouldn’t go on that trip. I’d offered other ideas – like waiting until next season to breed Chandra. Nope. Bobbie insisted Chandra and her puppies were top priority. She hasn’t seen her brother in years, so I was feeling a bit ?? guilty. That it worked out for Chandra to be surrounded by all the Ladies in Her Life….well….it was grand. Grand! Garma came along and rested in a crate next to her. Bobbie sat with her the entire time. I multi-tasked, grooming client dogs three feet away, a handy bucket of warm soapy water to wash up as each puppy was delivered. Now, this might all sound crazy to you, but it worked wonderful! And, Chandra is well acquainted with my grooming shop. She loves to come see me! Her puppies were born in the same crate she stays in during her grooming days every six weeks.
When I got home last night, Rick wondered if I could train all the mothers to deliver during the day. Don’t I wish!!!
:Summer Crafts 101…
Posted: June 16, 2008 Filed under: Apso Aficionados Leave a commentAs I mentioned, I’ve been wanting to share Kathy’s Summer Crafts – 101, as she called it. Her initial email has sparked a number of childhood memories, summer memories. Therefore, “back when a smoke was a smoke and groovin’ was groovin.” Not that I smoked. Nor was I one of the groovey kids. I was a bookworm. very poor at sports, other than Dodgeball. Remember how teams were picked on the playground in elementary school? The teacher chose captains and then roundrobin style, the captains selected their players. I was always second to last, right in front of the girl with polio. At 13, I found a competitive arena in which I could succeed. Dog shows!
Well, we all have our own stories. Julie, long ago, told me she was determined to finish the Championship on a dog because she’d never completed anything in her life. I’d say she’s gone well past that goal, possibly discovering she can, indeed, finish a project. Maybe that should inspire me to finish at least one of my many projects!
Onward to Summer Crafts 101… compiled from several emails from Kathy.
Remember Brownie Day Camp or Vacation Bible School and all the neat
things you made with popsicle sticks or plastic woven lanyards? This
is my tribute to the “good old days”! And I can even wear these
necklaces to celebrate our lhasa apsos!
Would you please share your own favorite handmade/purchased fun lhasa
apso momentos–anything from fine art to funky and tacky…I love
tacky–as you can see! Smile!
Kathy
Debby,
Love your bronze apso memory!! Sure, share the fun necklace photo in
the blog–maybe others will do likewise.
http://www.momsminivan.com/extras/situpon.html
Sit upons link above but we used plastic lacing…did you?
We drove over 6 passes and the Slumgullion Pass nudged the above
memory of my Uncle Russ making Slumgullion!! I had no idea where the
name came from!
SLUMGULLION
1 lb. ground meat
1 med. onion, diced
1 lb. can tomatoes
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 c. macaroni, heaping
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
In a large skillet, cook ground meat and onions. When meat is done, drain excess grease.
In another pan, cook macaroni. Crush the tomatoes and add them along with the sauce, macaroni, salt and pepper to the meat and onions in the skillet. Let the whole mixture simmer until some of the juice from the tomatoes cooks away. Feeds 3-4 people.
This recipe has been in my family for years.
slum·gul·lion (slm-glyn)
n.
A watery meat stew.
[Perhaps slum, muddy deposit in a mining sluice + dialectal gullion, mud (perhaps from Irish Gaelic goilín, pit).]
I took a 99 cent photo key ring and turned it into the necklace below
with cut-out photo of my apsos, a butterfly charm, and a collage for
peace on the flip side. Pony beads work great–my old eyes can see
to string them!!
Kathy
Kunza at FleetFire Timbers 