What I Have Been Up To...Hmmmmm

Well...quite a bit actually :)

Day 121: Breakin' out the rubber! Awwww Yeah Baby!!

Contacts that is :) Get your minds out of the gutter. This past weekend we decided to get the dogwalk resurfaced. Which IN THEORY seemed simple (doesn't everything??) Thinking to myself that attaching the skins to the wood would be the hardest part of the project...how wrong I was :) Turns out it was the horrible task of taking off the old wood. Apparently when we put the wood on, we were thinking this dogwalk needed to last through a nuclear bomb...screws every 6 inches (what were we THINKING)...yeah...I am going to officially call myself a dumbass...we tried all the normal stuff...and finally...

Loretta and the husband went all Jerry Springer on that damn thing...drills, saws, hammers...you name it...lots of blood, sweat and anger...I know both of us were cussing at one point. The husband was bleeding and we were both soaked through with sweat...of course we had to pick the ONE day that Minnesota weather decided, ya know, it's MAY 6th...maybe winter is done...and instead of spring, lets just get RIGHT into summer...

But dammit, don't tell me I CAN'T do something...it causes EXTREME tunnel vision...that's how Lynn has a running dogwalk...

16 days later (or so it seemed like it...) the frames were off...in actuality it took FOREVER, like 7 hours or some ridiculous crap like that. Don't mind the giant gallon jug of Diet Snapple...I was thirsty, it was hot. Why bother drinking out of a little glass and being all proper. Between that and the hose I was well hydrated :) Some people might find it odd that us "country folk" drink out of the hose. Well, I'm not sure what you do with YOUR hose...but ours is pretty clean...just sayin'...

The dogs were all out during this time...hanging around in the yard, beating each other up, NOT harassing the sheep (EVEN!!!!)...and I saw Gator, he had found himself a used water bottle (we call them white trash puppy toys because they find them in the ditches on hikes when we don't want to have to look for toys in the wilderness) and he was all cute, playing with his toy :)

I got diz bottle...

So I thought, HOW ADORABLE and got my camera out...and took pictures of him on and off with the bottle all day.
Thinking how cute he was, and how inventive he was...and that he was like, the best dog ever. He's my Tator Salad, SOOO cute, OMG...ADORABLE...OMG...
Picture me smiling at him while taking pictures...awwww :) Warm and fuzzy feelings abound :)

Then...I realized that there was more than one bottle...6 in fact, in the yard. Some still half filled with water...some empty. As I glanced to my left, to where the 6 pack of water USED TO BE...I put 2 and 2 together.
Gator...you're an ass...
I then took all the bottles and put them in the recycling...damn dog, doesn't he REALIZE how expensive bottled water is? Does he realize that I...nevermind. He'll do it again...makes me wonder if he had an lookout...Zip...

ANYWAY...

So at the end of the day we had new wood on the frames...and we decided to leave the lovely task of gluing crap for Sunday...why not?

Here is everything in the green room...rubber skins out on the equipment to make sure everything fit well...it did...or so far :)

Sunday, we sort of got a slow start going...noon I think we started in on this. Probably due to the fact that Saturday was SOOO long...and well, lets face it. We both like to ignore things we don't want to do...I think like most humans right?

First off---the contact cement you use to glue the skins on is the strongest thing I have ever smelled. It's as if you dunked your head into a giant vat of acetone...and then breathed in all that volatile liquid. It's vile...super vile. I'm surprised, upon opening the can of it my contacts (thinking eyeball here, not agility) didn't immediately vaporize and adhere permanently to my eyeballs...

In Missouri we would say "That'd knock a dog off a gut wagon"...which, now that I think of it is pretty nasty. I mean, I think I would have to BEAT my dogs off a gut wagon. And I don't want to ever SEE a gut wagon...EVER...I digress...

AND...since the temperatures needed (according to the glue manufacturer) to be no colder than 65 degrees...we TRIED to not open windows...that lasted about, oh, 30 seconds. Or the time it takes for your nose to start burning and you start leaking blood out of all orifices (ok that last part was a joke). At least I think so...no issues like that...YET...

FYI, the glue still worked...not saying it would work if it was 32 outside...but it was 55, and the contacts turned out just fine.

Here comes the part where being married to the person you are working with can be a real PITA :)

NORMALLY I am a driver type of personality...but insert agility ANYTHING and I become an analytical freakazoid...example--getting the wood off the dogwalk...hammer + saw + Loretta = DONE! Rubber contacts + Loretta = LONG LONG time...And, with this task, the husband wanted to get done. I wanted it PERFECT. I won...I think mainly due to the fact that the fumes were killing his brain cells at such alarming rates he lost the entire "caring" center of the brain that day.

Day 122: I feel like Alton Brown...

Landscape pavers!!! Cook meat on them in the oven (cover in tin foil of course)...use them for their actual use OR, use them to help glue skins!! WOO HOO...thank you Alton, you taught me well.

So we got the skins on...perfectly I might add (I can see the husband rolling his eyes from here)...then did the trimming, which the husband wanted NO part of...he trimmed wrong, I have to look at that for the next several years...any argument at ANY time could be stopped with a "You remember when you over trimmed the rubber contacts on the dogwalk 22 years ago!?!?!? REMEMBER THAT!?!??!"....not saying I WOULD do that, but...lets face it, I AM female...I get it. Plus...after 2 days of working side by side, I think neither of us wanted to be in a room, with sharp cutting instruments...and our spouses :)

So trim away I did...soooo pretty...so neat :) Happy!!!

I swear the fumes from that cement have somehow permanently damaged both of our bodies...IF we ever wanted kids it probably wouldn't happen after this. The chemicals have probably preserved my ovaries to a state much like those "pigs in a jar" that you see in science class.

But it was SOOOO worth it :)

Day 123: You're Jealous...I Know...

TA DA!!!!!! Bitchin' rubber contacts...

I'll admit...the hardest part was just replacing the wood...and it felt really good to get something accomplished that was a pain in the rear.

The dogs ran on it last night and WOW, they were instantly happier :) Lynn loves running on rubberized surfaces...she will really crank it up :) Speaking of running...MY dogwalk times are getting faster!! WOO HOO!! I was able to get some front crosses and pushes off the dogwalk last night. INSANITY...turns are going great, she is getting it, something clicked and she is really getting it :) DW's are now in the 1.3-1.4- second marks...RUN STEWIE RUN!!!!!

Timing on turns is for sure getting better and better. The rubber DW even last night has helped turns. Lynn feels like she can really dig in and turn at the bottom. I'll have to get some video...but after many hours of lessons yesterday, I didn't feel like it...you'll just have to take my word on her greatness :) This weekend's trial will be interesting. My goal, support her DW, run straight and fast...turns we shall see when she is confident. What I am STARTING to see with her is...even if she is not confident...she will STILL put one foot down...as in actively tries to be right. This tells me if she bails it isn't anything naughty. Just she's worried about new DW's in new places. So...I'm gonna run :) And we will worry about things when she gets more experience.

Baby dogs are always interesting to bring out...I have to say in regards to training, Lynn had has the least (ok well NOT counting the RDW)...so she is going to make mistakes. And I am OK with it...she has matured a lot the past 4 months...so I am excited to get her back out again and see how things are progressing :)

Now the bad things...I got sick...yes again. This time it was not respiratory related...but lets just say it wasn't much fun. The dogs luckily were very understanding and took the time to sleep in bed with me during my comatose couple of days.

And sometimes they would move to the couch....just for a change of scenery.

How sad that Even had given up...no chance of movement from the momma...

And the blank stares...hoping at some point I would arise and all would be unicorns and rainbows again. Which of course happened...but, at first things were a bit slow going.

I would get up, and go to the kitchen for a glass of water...they would ALL run to the patio door...excited to go out...nope...not yet. I would head toward the bathroom and they would ALL run to the front door...hoping...nope not yet. This went on all day Monday and Tuesday am...until I felt somewhat human.

Surprisingly...the dog that stayed with me the entire time? Even? Who would have thought it? She wouldn't leave my side...what a good pup!

Usually, it's her mother...but apparently Zip was busy with her new baby...

Day 123: Rare...

WOW...I never knew Zip carried the blue/pink/polka-dot gene!!! It's a female...I'm asking $10,000.

Today she is torn, baby or toy, baby or toy!?!!? Sometimes she is laying on it like in the above picture...sometimes she has it in her mouth, tugging with Crackers on that same toy. I assure you she never did this with her pups :) PROMISE!