Monday was President's Day so I wore my T shirt that said "I miss Abe". I took Sophie to the Nursing Home. I did know someone there too but I didn't recognize her in a wheel chair.
In the evening I went to see Kathryn Harris portray Harriet Tubman.
I got a call that a member of our Amvets post had passed away so I quickly ordered some flowers for the post online. Instead of using the recommendations listed in the online obituary, I ordered flowers online from County Market and they even delivered. They were just as good for half the price.
We had a short notice between Jerry's passing and the visitation so I had to act fast.
Tuesday
Wednesday evening I took Amber to rally practice.
Thursday I went to yoga, then took Sophie to practice, then on a nurshing home visit, and then in the evening CWV.
Friday I helped with tours at the Lincoln Tomb. The busses are starting to pick up.
Friday I finished a session for Trick Dog in the evening. Next is the expert level tricks and they are getting harder.
Saturday morning I left early for St Louis to be part of the George Washington Birthday Ball at the old courthouse. This is the same day as the Mardi Gras parade so traffic tripled along with construction. But it was a beautiful day. Here is an overhead view of the grand march. I'm behind Shirley in the red dress.
Here I am center right doing a Spanish Waltz
A woman said I looked just like Mary Todd Lincoln. I jokingly held up my fingers showing her she's "that much taller than me".
Here is the group photo:
This is a dance with one man and two ladies and then the man behind will rotate forward.
I left a little early so I could attend a veterans event at Trinity Lutheran Church in Auburn by the Black Tigers Honor Guard.
They have an event on the 22d of every month for veterans. The 22d was chosen because there's an average of 22 veterans per day committing suicide.
Sunday morning after church, I took Amber to the nursing home. We didn't stay long because there was no staff to sign my documentation nor was Amber in the mood to perform so I left withing 20 minutes. I fixed a pot roast in the crock pot from my son when he came to do laundry. His dog Mo has a limp going on. Sunday evening I took both of my dogs for rally practice.
Having trouble with the blue tooth connection on my hearing aids.
Monday I went to a funeral for a member of our VFW post.
Tuesday, I went to our Womens Overseas Service League luncheon and I gave them some heart pretzels. Then I took Sophie to the groomer. It took longer than usual because there were plenty of other dogs she was doing when I dropped Sophie off. In the evening I went to a church discussion on the saints.
This was a fun time! — attending Lincoln birthday dance at Old State Capitol State Historic Site.
I'm fanning myself at the bottom of this pillar and standing out the dance so that the children can join us for a memory of Lincoln's Birthday ball.
This is called 9 Pin Quadrille. A single person without a partner is in the middle and she dances with each gent and his lady partner goes to the center one by one holding hands in a circle. When there's 5 ladies circling and the music stops, we rush to accompany a gent sort of like musical chairs. The game can get rough.
Rose, Kay, Richard and Stephanie
This dance is called Lucky 7 because the seventh person is our new partner.
It was snowing during the dance and some couples had a rough travel home to the Peoria area.
In the evening I went to our Amvets meeting. Many other events were canceled because of the slick driving conditions. Below is a video from the Old State Capitol's Facebook page that yielded the dance to the school kids that visited. I am at the bottom of the pillar with my fan. Yep, as cold as it was outside, dancing heated my body and I needed my fan.
Thursday was yoga, open dog practice at 11, then the dog club members went to lunch at the new "Sangamo Brewing" pub, and then Sophie went on a dog visit and then in the evening was the last night of Agility 103 class. This is the rally bragging wall for 2019 at the club. Notice the hook on the wall for tethering a dog? Well I pinched my finger in it Thursday night.
There's Amber's plate on the board.
Thursday evening the lock was frozen on the shed at Capitol Canine Training Club so there was a course with a teeter from the other room and hoops instead of jumps. The staff set up a challenge that seemed to puzzle a lot of us on how to maneuver a sharp turn jump around at card #1. We had right away make a sharp turn around to #2 with a distracting and tempting tunnel entrance facing opposite the #1 jump. All of us handlers were afraid of how to lead the dog through #1 to #2 but everyone got that and the bigger problem was not crossing on the teeter. Amber had no problem going over the teeter. In fact she jumped the start line for play to head for it. I had to call her back. She missed a few hoops which bothered me but the trainers didn't scold me for that as much as they insisted on a pause at the end of the teeter in the yellow zone. They call this "two on two off" for a slow dismount. Personally, I want to fix the hoop problem because I see a lot of videos of teeters without the two on-two off pause but a lot of penalties for missing an obstacle.
There are tie outs on the club wall and I pinched my finger in the darn d-ring clamp. I got a black spot on my finger.
Friday it was 2 degrees and only a few showed up at morning exercise so we had a little fun with it. Here is Britney and Ann doing a little Valentine's Day Zumba.
The frozen ground affected the dog walk. They both tried to hold back and walk on 3 instead of 4.
Friday afternoon I helped drive a female Air Force veteran that is down on her luck to her appointments. I don't know how well her future is but at least I'll try.
Friday evening I took Amber to trick class. Our homework assignment is to learn a handstand.
Amber already uses the command "behind" for something else so I will use the command "feet up". However, my agility instructor thinks the handstand is bad for an agility dog in opposition to my trick dog trainer. I don't understand because part of agility practice is backing up on a low platform but just not as high as a wall.
Saturday I went to the Illinois State Military Museum for a reenactor swap meet. I got to downsize 2 of my dresses and one bonnet.
On the right side of this photo is a clothing rack in front of my table.
This is Don Werner a die-hard reenactor that portrays WW1 through Vietnam era.
This is an old dog tag machine. It still works but takes longer than the modern one next to it (on the right off the photo). I makes mistakes though like putting a letter over another letter. They had a whole cup full of mistake print tags.
Loved this little guy all dressed up in an airborne uniform.
Saturday evening I watched "Marriage Story" on Netflix. It was sad. I got the VFW post authorities to request banning two people form our VFW Facebook page as an administrator. We had enough of their negative comments and the 2 kept forcing the issue that their late father was a member and liked the old ways of Bingo and dancing. Those old programs are no longer profitable and even cost to maintain and were dropped. We added the popular karaoke and the daughter complained on Facebook about it. Her constant criticism was getting too hard and she kept throwing in that we disrespect the father. As admin, I had to execute: BANNED! Children of veterans do not inherit a say in how the post handles its affairs. In fact, the old WW2 veterans had a vendetta with the Vietnam veterans and caused the VFW in Springfield to split into another post. We are all veterans and want to bury the ax.
Sunday morning I was a Eucharistic minister and afterward I took Amber to the nursing home to do a trick show. They seemed to be amazed with her tricks and in particular, go hide in the suit case. There was a man that was tall man in a ball cap with a deep voice. Amber seemed afraid of him. I had him give Amber a meatball bit. That's not too unusual because she also was afraid of a snowman when we went for a walk. Reaction was about the same for both. I fixed dirty rice and ham and peas for Sean and I for lunch. Then I fixed a pineapple upside down cake. Still felt guilty over the pineapple cake that flopped for his birthday. This recipe may have been low calorie but not so great still.
Sunday afternoon was a lot nicer. I think it got up to 45. After a walk I took Amber over to the club. A member was setting up a teacup course for practice. Well we had teacup agility at 3pm. Amber was bad. I know I need to make a practice tire jump. She won't go through it. Then at 5PM, I changed dogs and Sophie practiced rally. Some at the club still hadn't met Sophie since Amber needs most of the taming. One commented on the activity level between my dogs. Yep!
Monday morning I was awoken by rhythmic paws and heavy breathing by my side. I'm sure she was dreaming. Agility perhaps.
"I wish I knew the names of all the stars" Conagher
Last Sunday and Monday we had temperatures in the upper 50s and 60s. Tuesday we had snow.
I had started a new session of agility. I mentioned to Lisa Schmitt the problem that I had last Thursday with Amber nipping at me and she gave me some clues as to what I was going wrong. Before she told us to "deliver the treat" but for Amber I must toss the treat and give permission to "get it". In the evening I went to a small discussion group at church on the saints. It was held 6:30 to 7:15 which gave me time to catch the Capitol Canine Club's general membership meeting in progress that started at 7PM
I skipped exercise to go to New Salem for a book discussion. Besides they gave volunteers a copy of the Witnessing History video that I had a cameo spot.
I really liked the video because it explains the complicated sociology-economic impacts of Lincoln's pre-presidency.
Wednesday the snow began to fall followed by cancellations of dog practice and Legion Riders meeting. However, I still went to the visitation of John Evans who died in last week's airplane crash.
Before I left, I got my electric snow blower out. The snow blower stopped from what looked like a stick at first but was really a nylon covered wire that got tangled in the blades. It took some de-tangling. I was concerned because I didn't think there was a place to have my machine repaired. However, it did work and I got to finish the job.
When I got to the visitation, the parking lot was full and I spent an hour and 45 minutes in there. My Apple Watch gave me an award for standing achievement.
Thursday morning I went to yoga but we had a substitute instructor. At 11 I took Amber to open practice and there were only 4 of us because of the weather so we had some great quality time. Then Sophie went on a visit at 2 and then I had Amber's agility 103 class. She did pretty well. As cold as it was, I did get heated up running the course in a sweat shirt.
Friday I took Amber on a trick visit to the nursing home. Before I left I gave her a bath. Amber's wire hair seems to be a little more wash and wear than Sophie. I took her to the dryer and she didn't seem to mind it after a roll around in the towel and couple of shakes. Being brushed (by a stranger) is part of the AKC Canine Good Citizen exam. Now a funny thing happened. Sophie tapped me on the leg wanting a brushing too. So I did and she rolled over on the floor for the brush too. She's learned to go hide in a suitcase last week and I was able to haul her props to the nursing home in it. During her visit, she kinda tuckered out after a half hour. But in the evening she had her trick class and was able to revive her energy. She was really food motivated by then. Now I'm working on rolling up in a blanket.
This little girl once had the devil in her. She is a fighter and I'm and exorcist.
Saturday I went to a meeting at the Capitol Canine club to discuss helping at the upcoming trials. Looks like I got roped into manning a table next September for Pawsapalooza.
Sunday morning I went to a Memorial Mass with the Catholic War veterans at St James Parish. The priest was so overly pleased to recognize our post at Mass. Here is a group photo taken 2/9/2020
Memorial Mass at St James parish:
L -R Dale Smith, Dennis KIRCHGESNER, Rose Connolly, Fr Raphael DeMorena, Pat Noel, and Joan Garvert
In the evening I went to rally practice and then watched agility on TV. Watching the agility masters brought me even more questions.
Last Monday, I didn't have a dog visit to worry about after senior fitness class, I stayed for Pilates. In the evening I went to a short meeting of the Veterans Assistance Commission which was basically a vote approval for the new superintendent. I still took minutes.
I usually walk the girls together. One night, I walked Amber separately and she kept heading for the garage because going solo meant going to training. So funny
Tuesday I took Amber to a make up agility class. We had to cancel a class in December. In the afternoon, my much awaited chimney inspection happened. I explained that I saw some installation come out last spring and called it in but without a rush job. There was a chimney fire in December only 2 blocks away, that made me nervous. I had to wait a long time for an appointment. He said my fire place was fine but did fix some little thing and didn't charge me.
Wednesday I went to the Interveterans Council of Sangamon County. New officers were sworn in.
Thursday I went to my Yoga class, open dog training at the club followed by lunch at the Chatham cafe, then Sophie went to the nursing home and closed the day with Agility 103 class with Amber. Once again, I'm frustrated at Amber but one of the helpers said Amber is frustrated too because she started biting me and biting a cone. I cried myself to sleep over Amber biting and nipping at cones. After walking, I put her pull toy dog on her collar so she’ll get used to it following her in order to move on to trick class Friday evening. When I came home from the gym, she chewed the cord off. She also has to stop scratching me for attention. Eye contact wins attention.
Oh, and when I pulled into the gym parking lot, I saw a low flying bald eagle over PowerWorks.
I thought it was about time to knock out some of those so-called "winter projects". Here's the the Brown Taffeta Bustle that I've been wanting to alter for at least 3 years. I paid $350.00 + $23.00 Postage. It would normally sell for $550ish.
I have been experimenting with expanding the bust and found a panel. Initially I was going to leave the open cleavage until I looked at bustle era on Pinterest. Many in this era had a high collar and I found a blouse at the Goodwill at the right time!! As you can see, something seems missing without the bow. Looks like it's bare without the bow. I had tried a connection of black lace and it was poor. However, I did put it back on in a different way for symmetry. Without a connection between the collar, it really looked like a cheesy expansion.
I decided to add this contrasting lace piece from my stash as a finishing touch (without trying it on so to show you it's on my dress form). It's the same piece I had tried with that open cleavage look only then it was behind and not turned over like this.
I think the only thing left is perhaps a hem guard since this fabric if very fray-able. It's silk.
Here are the "before" photos tightly corseted in 2017 and too long in the skirt. Got it closed then but couldn't move much.
Here's the original description
~ 1880's Taffeta Bustle Dress ~
Consists of 2 Pieces, which are Bodice and the Skirt
The Patterns that I used to create this Ensemble was drafted from
Original 1880's Patterns that were Popular during this Time....
The Fabrics that I used to make this Dress are all Taffeta. The Color
is a Brownish Copper Tone. One Fabric is Embroidered, while the other
Fabric is Solid. I also used Black Taffeta Fabric for the Collar, the
Cuffs, & the Contrast Black on the Skirt. The Trim that I used is
Metallic Gold Venise Lace ..
The Bodice is made from the
Embroidered Taffeta Fabric... It is lined with the same Taffeta Fabric,
& it is Boned in the appropriate places. It closes at the center
front with Black Decorative Buttons
This Bodice will fit a BUST
MEASUREMENT up to 34 & 1/2 inches & a WAIST MEASUREMENT up to
28 & 1/2 inches, while wearing a Bra or a Corset,, or whatever is to
be worn Underneath ----- so Please take your Measurements while you are
wearing whatever Under Things will be worn.
The Skirt is made
from the Embroidered Taffeta Fabric & the Solid Taffeta Fabric.. It
is Trimmed to coordinate with the Bodice ..
The LENGTH measures 40
& 3/4 inches, with a 1/2 inch double hem... There are 2 Rows of
Ruffles at the Bottom which are made from the Embroidered Taffeta Fabric
.... The CIRCUMFERENCE is 94 inches, which is set on a 1 & 1/4 inch
wide waistband that closes at the center back with a Hook & Bar.
This Ensemble is shown on a dress form with the Measurements set at a
BUST of 34 & 1/2 inches & a WAIST set at 28 & 1/2 inches.
The Skirt is shown over an Under Bustle Petticoat support ... ** THE
UNDER BUSTLE SUPPORT IS NOT INCLUDED **
Amber completed her trick dog advanced title Friday night. I guess now Amber and I are one-to-one between her poor performance at our Agility 103 class on Thursday and her advance trick class on Friday. I got her to jump between my circled arms (not without a treat thrown to the other side) and hide in a suitcase. Amber could get in a box but the suitcase with a lid was a step up. Command is "go hide".
Saturday I went to yoga in the morning and in the afternoon I took the girls to New Salem for what I call a "cabin fever" walk. Oh I had a registration form to drop off also.
Sunday I fixed Jambalaya with sausage for lunch. I needed some vegetables so I added a can of diced green chilies. I also had cornbread. Finally success in the kitchen after so much waste.
After Sean left, I couldn't think of a better time to go see the movie "1917". I don't watch football and it has gotten out of hand. I got back in time to see JLO doing pole dancing and dry humpin' during half time.
over PowerWorks.
