Tater Tuesday :)

All the following pictures were taken in 2005 when Tate was 3 years old.

Tate laying among the apple blossoms......

This is Tate & I tracking in one of the gorgeous fields surrounding Thunder Bay......

The following 3 pictures were taken at Kakabeka Falls. The falls were only 20 minutes from us. Brad, Tate & I would go there almost every weekend for a walk......

Famous

This picture of Kort is one of my favourites! It was taken by Amanda.
Someone decided they liked it as well & "stole" it from my blog , put the Assistant Branch Manager slogan on it, & then it went viral!
I have been seeing it pop up on business sites, breeders Facebook pages & American Rescue organizations! When I see it I alway write them to say who he is, at least they will know whos dog he is, his name & who took the picture.
At first I tried asking people to take the picture off, but that didn't work, so now I just enjoy seeing Kort be a famous face :)
That is the risk we take for using the internet I guess.

Tater Tuesday on a Wednesday :)

January in Thunder Bay 2003, cold & snowy......

Tate's First Portrait......

Tate begins competeing in Agility, still his favourite thing to do 10 yrs later :) ......

Halloween 2003......

Mystery Fun Day!!

Every year Wendy plans a Mystery Fun Day for us. We do not know where we are going until the day of the experience. Sometimes these days are relatively tame, & I am a happy girl:) For instance we went to the Calgary Zoo once, I was very happy at the zoo :) Our 1st Mystery Fun Day had us going rafting, I was bounced from the raft while going down a small "hill" of rapids & dragged along the rocks....near death experience #1 :)
Yesterday we found out we were going dog sledding!!! at Adventure Source Tours in Fernie BC.
This is how Wendy told us, they were as good as they look !......

I was very excited, even offering to be the one of the first to mush instead of riding in the sleds with our guides, mistake #1....


The dogs start off with a rush, the terrain at the beginning was not flat, rather very bumpy & uneven, I made it a short way & fell off the sled for the "first" time......
I caught up to my team & we were off again. I managed to stay on for about a minute, this time the sled actually tipped & while trying to hang on to it the dogs dragged me on my belly....is this supposed to happen ? hmmmmm.... I have a lovely bruise from this graceful experience.
Up I get again, I'm a good sport, then we reach a hill that goes straight down, yup, you guessed, off I come again ..sigh....
Wendy stays on!!!......

Kira almost makes it!......

Okey dokey, we are up & running again & we come to a hill, this time it goes straight up, because it has been a warmer winter the snow is kind of sticky so we have to actually help the team up the hill....I get half way up & I can't breathe :( Then I start to feel dizzy, awesome, I stand on the brake of the sled & bend over the front, trying to breathe, Amanda notices as she is in the sled behind me & asks if I'm ok.....well.... maybe I need a rest, ya, good thinking Jo. Wendy comes to relieve me of my mushing duties, takes one look at me & grabs my arm as I am wavering sideways, she tells me I am white. Great, I'm gonna die on the mountain, at least I'll be among nature when I go :) Near death experience #2
I manage to get to the sled, & Shawn,( the gorgeous, young Shawn with the pearly white teeth :) bundles me into the sled, hurray I'm gonna live !!!.....




So off we go again & I get to enjoy the gorgeous scenery & conversation with the gorgeous Shawn :)

It was a truly wonderful experience & I'm happy to have had it. It was wonderful to be out with my friends , laughing & enjoying life....


Would I do it again, not until hell freezes over LOL!!
Wendy promises senior friendly activities for me from now on, & I am grateful, more then she knows!

Some of the awesome dogs......








Thanks Wendy for the awesome adventure !!!!!

A Valentine

An Amanda original that I forgot to post on Valentine's Day......
Tate, Kort & Perkins ♥

A Seriously Long Video :)

Here's another of my famous videos, very long, & probably very boring . I had fun making it though, hopefully you will enjoy watching it but I won't be offended if you don't cuz I'll never know LOL!!

Tater Tuesday :)

Tate turned 1 year old in 2003......
We celebrated the big day :)

First a run in the park with his new toy ......

Then a stop at Robins doughnuts for a Robin's egg, we did this every night on our walk :) ......

Then home for a Birthday cupcake :).....

Tate's first show as an Open dog, Winners Male all 3 days :)......

Tate becomes a Canadian champion, July 2003, 18 months old......

Another Littermate :)

While in Calgary on Saturday I got to meet the owner of another one of Kort's littermates! There were 11 in the litter so you can imagine I don't know where they all are.
This littermate is a sweet girl who goes by the name of Celine,
here are some pictures of her......

Tater Tuesday :)

Proof that he used to enjoy laying on the grooming table to be brushed :)......

3 point major at his first show, Winners, Best of Winners, over the Open dogs !......

3rd place in Puppy Sweapstakes at his first show ......

Back in Thunder Bay after a big storm, 8 months......

Drumroll Please........

The official video.... WE ROCK !

Calgary Scenthurdle

NO NONSCENTS....left to right
Donna Epic,& Swift, Amanda & Pixel,Jolene & Kort,Tina & Jethro, Amanda (boxloader), Kim & Bosley, Sarah & Gyp......



We are home from out first Scenthurdle meet of the year & OMG we rocked!!!!!!
You have to understand how huge this was for us, in the past year of racing we have either placed dead last, or second last, never higher. Last night we lost only 2 races all night & out of the 7 teams entered we came in second place!!!! We even beat the top standing team once , whoo hoo!!!!
We have all worked so hard & we have a wonderful group of committed people.
I would also like to add that even when we were losing last year, we ALWAYS remained positive & upbeat & good sports, never did we get down. We were the same last night, win or loose we are always happy. At one point last night we skipped back to our places , all except Amanda who killed herself laughing instead! I am just so proud of us !!!! We were all giddy & we can't wait for our next race in Red Deer! We ended our night with each of us downing a shooter, which I might add gave most of us instant heart burn LOL!
Thanks to our team captain Amanda, who has pushed us to become better & for not giving up on us !!
PS there is video so stay tuned for that !
Thanks also to Sarah for taking the awesome pictures!

Kort on a misson !......


Kort at the box,
Kort Kort he's a sport, he is very very smort :) that's the Kort song LOL!......

This and That

Not much happening in my end of the world these days, at least not much to talk about :)
I do have some good news, Joanne was in for her brachy yesterday,( internal radiation ),& her oncologist said her tumor has shrunk !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hurray !, I hope Joanne can beat this!

Other then that I have been doing obedience with Kort, last week at practice I was very happy with his retrieve over the high jump, he was enthusiastic, actually anticipating the retrieve, but I did not correct it, that can come later when he can take a correction without wanting to die LOL!
His drop on recall is good but we need to get him dropping immediately, right now he takes a couple of steps forward first, Kim sent me some ideas that I want to try out for that.
We did a 1 minute out of sight sit & he aced it but got up on his down, he never gets up on his down, there were alot of distractions that night so I'm not too stressed about it.

We are going to Calgary on Sat. morning for our first Scenthurdle meet of the year! I am looking forward to getting away for the day. Amanda & I are leaving early so I cam watch the Collie Specialty.

So that's pretty much my life right now :)
I leave you with a couple of pictures of my family ......

My mom. brother Brian & sister Debra......



My mom, sister Joanne & sister Debra......