Val Pup: Fancy Girl 7 weeks

This is the show hopeful girl from the Ch Lynphil Solstice x Laureate Valrhona litter. We're going to call her Laureate Godiva. Haven't decided on her call name yet.
We used to take photos of our puppies on the ground, but now we usually just have our puppies on the table. I stack them and quickly remove my hands from the photo. We'll sometimes use a feather or a squeaky mouse to get their attention; but often anything that squeaks scares them rather than make them lift up. We never use food to get their attention at this age as they get too excited and won't stand still.

Today was cold, and this little one was shivering, so she needed a bit of a lift! She is very stylish...

She is marked as pretty on the opposite side; I call it dutch rabbit markings...tri-factored sable with a shawl collar and an even blaze.

Val Pup: Red boy at 7 weeks

This puppy has had my interest from the beginning.
Not only is he beautiful, he has the most outgoing temperament.

He isn't small; so we'll be watching his size closely...fingers crossed! For now, we're trying out the name "Owen". We'll see if it sticks.

LuAnne and I

We are thankful LuAnne at 13 1/2 years of age is still going strong. She is perky and bright and she doesn't look or act her age! Once again I'm posting her baby picture to show just how little she has changed...

Reminiscing: Morgan and Shelagh

When I was sixteen years old, I worked for my Mom and my friends parents one summer cleaning house. I think I made about $2 a day and put it in a shoebox. I loved counting all my money, as I had a goal in mind; I was going to buy a dog! I researched the breeds and decided I wanted a big dog, one that would jump up and slurp my face...something our Sheltie Dusty couldn't do (being too small, and too dignified to do any face slurping). So we went to a local breeder and chose a male puppy, which I named "Tristan". Sadly Tristan was killed on the road at a year of age, and I was absolutely distraught. My parents where very upset also, and so we called the breeder, Margaret Bocking, and she was very gracious to let us have Tristan's litter sister...this was special to me, as they had been born on my birthday.

So Shelagh (pronounced Sheila) came home and we loved her from day one. She was so sweet, and much easier to live with than her brother had been, so it eased the grief of losing him. She was a quirky girl, was afraid of vacuum cleaners and if riding in a car, she had to travel up front on the floor on the passenger side. It didn't matter where she started, or if there was someone sitting up front...they had to move their legs to let her curl up in front. She didn't like to see where she was going, and would stress pant the entire time. She loved squirrels, and could hear mice under the snow and would pounce on the snow. She loved to hunt...it was instinctual. Her registered name was Ch Grianan Keltic Shelagh, CD (dog world award).

One of the conditions of sale was Shelagh had to be bred and the breeder had the pick puppy back. I was able to choose the sire and raise the puppies and it was a real learning experience! Margaret chose a puppy as her pick, and I chose "Morgan" as one I'd like to keep. She is shown finishing here in 1983. Her name was Ch Grianan Morgan...as I didn't have a kennel name at the time. I did register a kennel name with CKC for my second litter, and that kennel name was Spiritrock.

I had this photo in my bedroom at home. Shelagh doing her "Bambi" impression!

Both Shelagh and Morgan passed away the same year (1986)...the year we bought our first home. We wanted another dog, but didn't have a fenced yard at that time (a necessity with the Gordons). So in 1987 we got our first Sheltie show prospect, and the rest as they say, is history.

Mush

It always tastes better on the far side of the bowl!

Val pups at 4 weeks

We finally had some sunshine, so I took some snaps of Valerie's pups. This isn't an age where I usually take pictures of babies, but here they are nonetheless. Pictured are male #2, the little one in the litter female #2 and female #3.
The little girl...

The boys...

Male #2, female 3 and female 1

Female 1, male 2 and female 3.

Holiday catch-up

I didn't have an opportunity to post pictures over the holidays, so I'm finally sorting through some of the photos...this was a low light picture taken at my Dad's over Christmas. Dad and Gisela always have their home so beautifully decorated...it is very festive. We on the other hand are minimalists! Some pine cones on the dining table, an ornament tree (from Pier One) and some ornaments set out in bowls, and we're set. No Christmas trees for us. Too many years planting real spruce trees at our other home to ever want to cut one down.


While we where there I asked Pete to snap a photo of the painting of "Fannie". I painted this for Gisela and presented it to her Christmas 2006. Fannie had passed away that year, so it was an emotional moment. I used to get very creative over the holiday and many times gave paintings to family members. Now, not so much...gift cards this year (easy peasy).

For New Years we went up to Mont Ste-Marie and spent a great evening with Georges and Sylvie, and a great group of their friends and family as well as their two dogs, Mousse and Milou. Mousse is the little terrier mix in front. He's a character and scrappy like most terriers. Milou is still a pup, and full of beans. A real sweetie. We stayed over and went for a lovely walk on New Years day.

Mousse is wondering why we've stopped...he's already through the gate.

Sylvie and Georges have a wonderful property. 170 acres of woodland and meadows. It borders two rivers with 1200 foot frontage on the Kazabazua river. In the background, an abandoned farmhouse on top of the hill on a neighboring piece of land.

Here is the river, all frozen over. There isn't a house in sight; it is peaceful and so very beautiful.

For New Years Eve dinner Sylvie made Cipaille...a French tradition (pronounced sea pie). It is made with pastry and six different wild game meats. Being hunters they supplied the game...caribou, venison, moose (and three other meats). We had fun guessing what they were. We guessed things like racoon, possum, gopher! hahaha. Actually, she put chicken, pork and something else so it wasn't too gamey for us. It was delicious.

We had a lovely holiday, enjoyed the company of our family and friends. Hope everyone else did too.