My Week

Burr.  The deep freeze came.  This year I didn't need to put plastic film on my new living room window. 

Tuesday I went to the Womens Overseas Service League luncheon.  Amber's Canine Good Citizen Advanced title came in the mail that she passed on Dec 30th.

Wednesday I had lunch with Michael from work.  He got me caught up on the changes at the office and realized he can retire in 5 years and needs to get his act together.   Then at 5pm I took Amber to rally practice.  At 7pm I went to the Veterans Assistance Commission meeting. I am the secretary and I do the roll call and take meeting minutes.  Big changes are coming with the hiring of a new VAC superintendent and there will be a committee vote. So few veteran posts are sending in their delegate appointments including my own American Legion Post that I represent because my alternate hasn't been named.  People like myself that are in multiple posts can only represent/vote on behalf of one post.  In other words, it's the same old folks that are already active and already spread thin by attending meetings.

Thursday evening I took Amber to agility.  I was surprised to walk in and see all the obstacles.  So were the dogs that formerly went through tunnels but that night they went in and turned around and came out the same way they went in instead of the length.  Amber did better than some but she did a turnaround once as well.  We were taught the course in three segments and then put them together for the end of class.  I swear I must loosing my mind because I couldn't remember what we did after the second segment and had to pause to piece them together.

Friday we had an ice storm in the afternoon-evening.  Amber had a therapy dog visit doing tricks at 2PM and it was just starting as we left.  I recorded some of our tricks because the evaluator has something like an evaluator special for January and thought if these extra tricks would advance her to the next title it might be a win-win.  You can see her trick page here:
https://ivetret.blogspot.com/2019/11/trick-dog.html
I had Friday evening plans for a church potluck at 5pm and trick class at 7pm but both were canceled because of the ice storm. 

Saturday was so cold that I stayed in, well most of the time.  I did take the dogs for an early morning walk but then the temperatures really dropped and the wind picked up.  I did a little bit of indoor training: Sophie for beginner rally in June and Amber for her agility class.  I brought my weave poles inside and was amazed at her performance.  The hard part will be to do this on command with her own initiative at a distance among other obstacles.  Most dogs will avoid the weave and go for something easy.

So I did some research on the family tree and discovered that my great grandfather,  Gustav Arnold, Came to New York in 1888 and was naturalized Oct 2, 1895. It took 2 months by boat. Imagine the boats that never made this dangerous trip to America.  He probably did not speak English.  He came so not to join the Kaiser's Army. His parents probably encouraged him to leave for his life.  Now I must learn the history of the region and what they were so afraid of.   He was a rug weaver.

In the evening I went to the awards banquet for my canine club.  Amber and Sophie were mentioned in the program but plaques were given out to those that paid for the extra.  I felt that my certificates and ribbons were good for me.   I wore my fox fur hat.  I got it last summer on eBay and those hats are usually expensive.  I always wanted one like my sister got at the ski show and I've also seen them at rendezvous reenactments.

I had partially installed new windows last November and I must admit that I am comfortable with out butting up plastic film.  On the other hand, the sliding door between my sun room and the back yard that I usually leave a crack open for the dogs to access the yard seemed to have a problem opening/closing with the weather change.  The wind was so strong that the inner doggie door flap was waving.

Sunday was busy.  I went to Mass at 10Am at the Cathedral with the Catholic War Veterans, then we had breakfast at a Pancake and sausage breakfast at St Joseph the Worker Parish.

 Dale Smith, Rose, Fr Rankin, Leon Scott and Pat Noel.

Then I went to see Annie Get Your Gun at the Hoogland Center for the Arts with two other women veterans: Linda and Marylin. It was a wonderful show and the singing was great.  I believe Linda knew a cast member from the Navy club too. Such a nice way to get out in the January doldrums.


On my way home I needed gas before picking up Sophie for beginner rally practice at the Capitol Canine Training Club.  Timing was tight between these events.  Whew! I think Sophie can knock out a few kinks in her rally performance before the June trials.

Monday morning I got up way too early.  I couldn't sleep thinking about the VAC minutes and follow up on a cousin whom we last knew he was in hospice.  So about 4:30 in the morning I got up and couldn't sleep and found his obituary online.  

I took a little nap on the couch to catch up on some sleep and woke with just enough time to make my gym class.  I was dragging in that class.  When I got home, Donna down the street called wanting to know if the girls could come play with Luna.  She is dog sitting a little shitzu.  I explained my schedule so Amber and Luna had some rough play time while Sophie went to Regency Care followed by my dentist cleaning.  Donna told me she took a brush to Amber without any fear.  I explained that that was a part of her Canine Good Citizen test and was glad to hear that.  Amber was pretty tuckered out after her mini vacation.

Sad part is that the winter projects I had planned for indoor weather are being ignored due to hibernation.

I watched a movie on Netflix ~  The King.