Early Spring by the Creek

While it is still cold, the birds, waterfowl and assorted furry critters have returned to the creek.  It was like a super highway of action on the weekend.  Three male wood ducks chasing a female, the mallards, a pair of herons and two very large beavers.

The very skittish blue heron stayed briefly until it spotted movement on our deck.

There were two of them, something we don't see very often.  They are usually very territorial, so we wondered if they were a breeding pair.

The mallard giving a beaver wide berth.  We watched the beaver chase off some ducks earlier...grumpy fellow.

You can sort of see the flat tail in these photos.

They have been very visible this year and we're hoping they haven't decided to take up residence on that little island. I'm not the biggest fan of our national animal as they are very destructive to our trees.  Move along buster, move along!

From the Archives: BISS Am/Can Ch Krystalyn Windswept

Reminiscing.  I got chatting on Facebook about fronts and I pulled out a photo of Wendy and realized that her birthday would be tomorrow...It is hard to believe but Wendy was born 24 years ago on March 23, 1987 and passed away Jan 3, 2002.  She was bred by Yvonne DeFreitas and was co-owned and lived with us for many years. 

She is pictured second from right with her littermates at 11 weeks old.  I was wanting to see baby photos of her as I was saying to Pete that our little "Sushi" reminded me of Wendy in black.  I have to say from seeing her pictures that thought is confirmed.

I scanned this from the Pacesetter as I didn't have the original, but I wanted to show her body at that age.  She looks so typical of the line at that age...not much fluff, but lots of promise. This Pacesetter issue (Sept-Oct 1987) was my second issue I ever received and I was captivated by these photos. The group photo above was in the issue as well, and on the next page was a young future Can Champion Cahaba Krystalyn Dream West (Chelsea) and underneath her photo Krystalyn The Right Stuff.  We were able to purchase Chelsea and The Right Stuff was the sire of our foundation bitch, Am/Can Ch Krystalyn Just An Illusion ROM/ROMC (Holly).  I had zeroed in on the look I wanted and am so grateful that Chris Lynch and Yvonne DeFreitas were generous enough to share these beautiful bitches with us.

Wendy at six months, taking her time to mature.  Her beautiful finish of underjaw was evident as a baby and lasted all her life.  Her top skull flattened and she had a beautiful lean skull.  Her angles where a little upright at this age...but her body would develop and by the time she was two she had won a Group 1st from the classes and was ready for her National debut.

We were present on this exciting day in California at the ASSA National in 1989 to witness the beautiful, now more mature 2 year old Wendy take WB under Sandy MacIntosh and go on to win BW and AOM under Ron Lackey.  Yvonne is pictured behind handler Emily Snyder.  Pepper Power is presenting the trophy. 

Winning an Award of Merit under judge Barbara Linden in 1996.  She had a plush fitted coat all her life until she was spayed and then it got long!  I love how sound she looks here...it is one of my favorite show photos.

 

And Wendy's last show was the National in Tucson 1998.  She won a huge Veterans bitch class under Sandy MacIntosh (who had awarded her WB at ASSA nine years earlier) and went on to win BOS under Judy Kelsey.  She looked glorious and had been beautifully groomed and trimmed by Kathy McFall.  We are forever grateful to breeder Yvonne DeFreitas for sharing her with us.  She was so correct and is still the type we strive to produce today. 

Inception 16 weeks

Laureate Inception (Finn) and six other puppies went on a road trip last week and descended on my friend Brenda for the weekend.  We had a wonderful visit and I hope her neighbours have forgiven her for the noise!  Finn (who we nicknamed Finn McFluff) acquired another nickname from Brenda of "tub of love" as he is just so laid back and relaxed (and loves belly rubs).  We went to handling class with five puppies and they all did really well.  They were great travellers; I can't wait to start showing the crew (in my new Van...whoop).



Finn is holding his promise and along with his lovely temperament, he has a really good front assembly and beautiful profile and expression. 



Finn, aka Finn McFluff the Tub of Love...he makes us smile.