My Week

Tuesday morning I went to Camp Butler to help clear wreaths from the graves.  It was cold but were we elated to see a school bus of kids show up for some community service and it went real fast.

Amber learned "wipe your paws" at Tuesday evening's trick drop in class.

Wednesday I had lunch with Michael and he told me about his job interview and the
in the evening snow.  I went to a photo shoot at church for our directory.  Sure we have our family photo taken last October but this photo shoot was for ministry volunteers.

Thursday morning dog club's open practice time was cancelled due to the ice storm.  I did have evening agility class.  I took a fall  on a turn by the tire jump.  My knee swelled up. 

After examining my goals, I realize I need to buckle down on some of the winter projects I've put off.   I finished the alternations on a bustle dress bodice that's been waiting over 2 years now.  Now to hem the skirt this week for sure.  I needed to learn how to make a button hole on my new machine and found it on youtube.  The written instructions were confusing.

So Friday I finished the bodice to my bustle dress.  Now to hem the skirt.  Only problem with that is the circumference flaring so there will need to be some tucks.

O boy, I like retirement but I've been offered a small job with tours for school groups as a local guide, not that I interpret all the places here but local intermediary between sites and chaperones only a few months but $200 day.  http://springfieldwalks.com/

Thursday we had a rain/snow mix.  Amber had a therapy dog visit.  In the evening agility class was frustrating.  Amber didn't go through the tire obstacle.   She can move faster than I can and communicate the commands.  I took a fall on practice with my tennis shoe to the rubber matting a fall.  I sat the retake out.   She gets 3 out of 9 obstacles correct.  This video was taken by a classmate after we pieced together smaller steps.  This was after my fall.

Now this is odd because Sean slipped on his icy steps the following day.  Then Alan had a skidding accident on a clover leaf turn on an icy road.  He was on his way to a Yellow Ribbon event.

He spent 3 hours on this but he said it reminded him to be humble.  I'm glad he's okay but shaken up.

I have been a lousy cook this week and tossing out what I cooked or had leftover too long.  I burned potatoes and then decided to go out to eat.   I went to a new restaurant called the Yummy Crab.  Expensive but then it's seafood. 

Sunday I was the first reader at Mass.
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/2020/20_01_26.mp3

Then I took Amber to the nursing home to do a few tricks, and gave the residents a little change from watching movies. I thought this was a precious moment.  (I will not show faces).  Amber is slowly beginning to enjoy this.  She was shy on her first visits.

In the evening I took Sophie to open members beginner rally practice.  Why should Amber have all the fun.  I don't expect Sophie to get to the level that Amber is based on speed and her poor eyesight but she could easily do rally novice.  I don't think I've seen other fluffy dogs like her doing it.

Sophie

Sophie the Pekingese Therapy Dog

Sophie has achieved her AKC Canine Good Citizen and AKC Therapy Dog Excellent. 

#ActiveVisitingTherapyDogs#TDINursingHomeVisits

Sophie found a new lap to sit on at the nursing home. pic.twitter.com/7iTqvlfKZE

— Therapy Dogs Int TDI (@TherapyDogsInt) October 31, 2019

Sophie made TDI's Twitter page.  Here's the direct link.

https://twitter.com/TherapyDogsInt/status/1189946189413834752

Sophie's visit on Dec 26 was on the lap of a lady who had a photo of her on her stand.  She could see Sophie between visits.  How flattering. 

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.

My Week

This week brought the winter doldrums.

Tuesday evening I took Sophie with me to the Capitol Canine Club meeting.  These meetings can last 2 hours.  She behaved nicely and there were other dogs there too.  She wanted up on the lap of the man next to me like the good little therapy dog that she is. Sophie brought smiles and one lady even thought she was a new dog since I've been working so much with Amber.  Amber has been my training subject with many ups and downs.  Marge suggested I get Sophie more involved but I never thought of her more than a therapy dog.  After some thought however, maybe she can be more.

Wednesday I loaned my Grim/Dean book to the DAR registrar.  She's been trying to finish where the last registrar left off on my connection to the Revolutionary War.   I've exhausted the search.  I mean really exhausted.  I did get my grandmother's death certificate and her mother's as well.  Death certificates verify the names of their parents.  I would like to fix the markers for my fraternal great grandparents; Vincent and Anna
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183795972/vincenty-kapuscinki

Then I did a little shopping.  I found these balance disks for $1.99 less my senior discount.  As you can see, Amber took right too it.  There's a bit of a wobble to this but great for conditioning, especially for older dogs.  So when Sean brought his dog over, we had Mo try them and I could see him struggle but at least he tried really hard.  Our club is offering a 1/2 day seminar on conditioning for $100 which I think is too much.  I pay that for a 6 week class.

In the evening we had our AmVets meeting.  I left feeling pretty depressed after that because our membership chair wants to step down because of his health and our Sergeant at Arms is stepping back for 2020 because she is "Giving up Amvets and all toxic things for 2020."  Our post is loosing members and I fear we may have to fold.  This gave me a lot of stress.  I envisioned the sequence of steps on closing our post and turning our funds over to the state headquarters.  I fear the worst.  Younger veterans are not joining.

Thursday I lost my gym key fob when the ring broke on my key chain.  I looked everywhere and that added to my stress.  It found it in the drive the following day which would have been hidden under a parked car in my earlier search.  In the evening I took Amber to her Agility 103 (of 5) classes.  She did pretty well but on the tire she took a short cut trough the angle under the tire.  We were also learning a new way of "switch" directions and I wish I would have recorded that for study purposes because it was a hard concept.

Friday I stayed after our senior circuit for yoga and tried out my new cork yoga mat.  Patti passes out Yogi tea and home made sourdough bread.

In the evening I took Amber to her advanced trick class.  I was really disappointed with her focus.  Sniffing and sniffing and not listening to me.

Sean's birthday was Saturday.  I made a pineapple upside down cake that was a disaster.   Sean seemed to prefer that to a richer type of cake but this pineapple upside down cake up had not cooked thoroughly.  We were under a weather watch for snow and ice so we met up with Alan at a Mexican restaurant in Lincoln IL which was a nice half way point. We beat the storm by going for lunch. I gave him a new quality harness for his dog.  He needed a strong harness for that strong animal. I got home in time to attend a 2PM genealogy meeting at the library and it was snowing when I got out of the meeting. The snow started at 3PM just as the hourly report predicted.  I walked the girls while the snow was still light and decided to try out the saw I got for Christmas to make this agility ladder. 

It was a wet slushy snow. By 9:30PM, Amber alerted me to a man shoveling my drive. It was Johnathan from the American Legion. I went out in my robe to thank him. It was still coming down but little did I know that it was the last snowfall for this particular day.  We had 3".  As I recall, last year we had to cancel the birthday gathering for snow on Sean's birthday also.

Sunday morning I went to church.  Mass was sparsely attended in part because of the snow and that many would be going to the confirmation Mass at 1PM.  Hence the Christmas trees and decor remained for the bishop's visit.  As father explained in his sermon, this is the Sunday for the Baptism of Jesus, the end of Christmas and beginning of ordinary time.  After that I took Amber to the nursing home to perform her tricks.  As I was signing out, there a was a guest at the front desk admiring Amber and said she had a similar looking dog she got in Quincy and wanted to know what breed she was.  I told her that Amber is a border terrier mix per her adoption and AKC PAL.  She showed me a picture of her dog on her phone and said she was a Norwich terrier mix with longer legs than Amber.  Both dogs have an unusual curled tail.  I just showed her one trick before we left since Amber's skateboard was on top of the box of performance props.

In the evening I took Sophie to rally practice.  I would have never envisioned this fluffy butt doing rally.  There's just a few new tasks that she needs to learn to get a rally title.  I might have her ready for June.  She needs to learn to "go to front" and "go behind me" to finish position.
I survived this week.

My Week

Happy New Year

Last year's goal of becoming an evaluator for Therapy Dog International was met with disappointment.  I committed to this goal by completing the only missing requirement: which was one year dog training experience.  I intended to accomplish this missing checklist item by adopting another dog as a training subject.  After 14 months of training Amber, I applied and I was turned down.  In the process of training, I had to experience dog trials which are very addictive.  In other words, I apply and pay to take a tests, and when a title is obtained and still have another at the same event paid for, you can bump up.  Then I look forward to the next time trials are open so I can finish that level since it takes 3 trials to get a title.  This year's goal is to finish off where I left off with Amber's titles.  So far she has titles (suffixes), AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC), AKC RN (Rally Novice), AKC RI (Rally Intermediate),  AKC TN (Trick Novice), DMWTD NTD (Do More with Your Dog ~Trick Novice), DMWTD Intermediate Trick Dog (ITD), AKC Canine Good Citizen Advanced (CGCA) most recently this week (see below).

Monday night I took Amber to the Capitol City Canine Club to test for AKC Canine Good Citizen Advanced title.  We passed but I was sweating her jumping and sniffing.  She out shined the other dog that took the same test that night in my opinion.  Had I been the evaluator, I would have failed the jumping on the visitor.  On the other hand, the evaluator had a very wimpy evaluation of the "leave it" portion.  We were to walk close to a silver dog bowl with a mesh cover over a sealed package of cheese balls.  I've practiced for this under much stricter conditions.  

Tuesday morning exercise warmed me up but leaving the gym proved a difference when I walked out into the cold air.   I was going to celebrate New Year's Eve with some friends that I had dinner with last year.  I really enjoyed their company because it got me home at a reasonable hour.  However, my hostesses's mother passed away on the morning of Dec 31 cancelled those arrangements.   So this was how I spent New Year's eve.

I was about to walk the girls and before I got to the end of the front yard, fireworks!   Resulting in panic back to the house.  Amber has not been a willing participant in her late night mini-walk at 9PM since.

New Year's day I went to Mass for the Solemnity of Mary and then watched the dog show. I was tickled to see the Pekingese win best in show.  Wasabi doesn't look anything like Sophie.  Sure she's been nicknamed "fluffy butt" but that doesn't hold a candle to Wasabi's fluff.

Thursday I went to Yoga and I mentioned that Amber got her CGCA.  I told her that I was trying to teach Amber "say your prayers".  She said that her King Charles Spaniel can do "nameste".

I attended a presentation Tales from the Vault: new fashion exhibit sneak peek
https://newschannel20.com/news/local/tales-from-the-vault-new-fashion-exhibit-sneak-peek

Saturday I did the "Widows and Orphans" program at the library for the local DAR group.

Sunday I was the first reader at Mass.  Listen here:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/2020/20_01_05.mp3
I wore a skirt and sweater that I hadn't worn in years.  Not since I was working.  The elastic really needs replacing and that goes for the slip.  I like this nylon slip because it has less static than the newer satin slips.  Nothing I hate more than a skirt that is sticking to static cling.  I don't even trust the sprays. I got a lot of compliments on these rags.  Note this was in the grocery store and I am still wearing my dog treat bag.   Amber waited while I shopped,

After that I took Amber to the nursing home to perform (AKA practice) her tricks.  I am slowly making progress on getting her head down to say "prayers".  Her head is down in prayer.

Then at 1pm I went to "yoga and wine" through my gym, PowerWorks.  This was held at 3Sixteen Wine Bar.

At 5pm I took both of my dogs to rally practice at the club.  I tried Sophie for the first time after Marge hinted that she never met my other dog.  I never imagined Sophie doing rally work.  She did okay because she knows basic commands but there are a few things to add like "call front" and "go behind around".  I think she could do beginner and intermediate rally but I wouldn't expect her to go advanced because it's off leash and she's partially blind.  This is quite an eye opener and a new appreciation for Sophie.  The pekingese are not known for this kind of trial as a rule.  I wonder what the reaction will be when I bring her to the ring.

  Illinois Min Wage jumps from $8.25 to $9.25 (12% increase) on the first of January.