Weather or not

CRAZY snow! I thought last year was snowy but this is crazy. The Premera MLT campus is closed today, but I'm still working at home doing some teleconferences and programming a questionnaire. It snowed much of the weekend here in the Valley (and in the Big City of Seattle). Plus, we had some major wind-action as well with 50-60mph winds and 75mpg gusts. Thankfully, all of the trees in our neighborhood stayed upright.

Saturday was actually the best day of the week to go out in the car, so I took off for downtown Seattle to get some shopping done, but most importantly, to get to my hair appointment at Mode. I love my stylist, Molly. She and I click and I think she enjoys me as a client as I let her do some fun things with hair. So, I'm sporting a chic asymmetrical bob, flat ironed out, with BRIGHT red on the top and dark underneath - it blends beautifully. In fact, I have a picture that Jerill took because we are using this pic as my ski-pass pic...

Poor little Hybrid... the car hasn't been driven in a week now. I did brush all the snow off it after taking this picture as I felt bad for it. In this weather, I'll be relying on my Honda CR-V to get in and out of our driveway! The CR-V does great in the snow actually and I'm very comfortable driving it in this weather.

Poor Hybrid

Here's our main backyard

And our house, all snowy

Lucky has been having a hard time getting around in the deep snow (about 9 inches now and over a foot in some drifts!). He gets stuck and then starts to get a little panicky. I've been carrying him out to the road where it's not too deep. Mattie is in heaven with the snow; however, she gets really snow-bally and then melts out in the house. Scott gets little snow-balls stuck in his paws but that's really all that he has happen to him.

I groomed everyone this morning - brushed and trimmed Lucky and Mattie and brushed Scott out too. They all seem to enjoy their grooming times now - Mattie doesn't snap and growl anymore... she seems to go to her "happy place" and even gets a little cuddly.

Challenge

I was just given a blog-challenge from www.deltabluez.blogspot.com.
Basically, Here are the rules of the challenge:
1. You get selected
2. Go to the 6th folder and get the 6th picture
3. Post it and spill the beans
4. You pick someone else

Well, it turns out that my 6th folder in my generic PICTURES folder is "Mattie & Kuro Movies." And, in there were only 4 movie files, so I chose the last one, which is 50 seconds long and titled, Mattie, Kuro and the Bee.

Mattie, Kuro & the Bee: Kuro is Diane Pagel's (my herding instructor) gorgeous Scottish bred Border Collie (he is nearly 1 year old now, and probably 7 or 8 months old in this video). We took care of Kuro for a few months in the Summer while Diane underwent some health events. We LOVE Kuro and, as you can see in this video, so does my dog Mattie, the Smithfield Sheepdog. Mattie and Kuro would play like this for at LEAST 45 minutes every night that we had him with us. In this particular footage, you can see Kuro taking a bit of a whoopin' from Mattie, and his desperate attempts to find his magical "Busy Bee" in the basket of dog toys which, I seem to think, he believes will stump and confuse Mattie and make her go away. Or, he was inspired by the pest control "Rid-Ex" commercial on the TV, playing in the background. Kuro is one smart cookie!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4x4mkAH5IA&feature=channel_page

So, we are having some significant snow event right now - about 6 inches of snow has accumulated thus far (probably will end up being around 9 inches by tomorrow morning). It has been very cold for over a week now. The ground outside is frozen - I don't believe the dogs have ever experienced Perrma-Frost before (well, maybe Scott has since he lived in Canada for 6 years). I've been feeding my wild birds and squirrels a variety of breads and seeds today - it disappears in about an hour. Very hungry little forest creatures!

I took a glamour shot of Scott out in the snow today...

Here Scott is running up our sledding hill yard...

Mattie & Scott

I want to get my skis out. Yes - I got a limited snow-skiing pass this year, it's my very first one ever. I have skied probably 9 times now in my entire life, and 8 of those times were over 10 years ago (excluding Cross Country). I do have my own equipment now and a great support team comprised of Jerill, Andy, Amy, Liz and Laird. I just realized I really should be getting in shape physically actually in order to not hurt myself up there!

It's my father's Birthday today so we are going to the Casino Buffet for dinner - Snow or not, nothing will keep Pops away from all-you-can-eat crab legs and prime rib!

Perspectives 1

I'm not one to complain, too much. Sure, I have a tendency to whine a bit and my voice will go into that screechy tone once in awhile, but there are some things that just demand a good bitching. For instance, let's take neighbors who let their little, ratty dogs start barking EVERY morning at 6 a.m. including weekends. What is up with that? Doesn't it bother them to the point they will try to get their dogs to shut up? When my dogs bark in the house it bugs the crap out of me and they get a correction. Shame on those neighbors who let their cougar-bate sized dogs run around unsupervised and letting them bark, chase people, bikes and cars and bark at ME when I'm in my own freaking yard.

Now, because it snowed this weekend, let's get started about the drivers around here.

Has anyone ever heard of "keeping a safe distance between you and the car in front of you?" Why do retard drivers cut into that space then? In situations where I'm around these types of morons I tend to always have the same fantasy - it's about me behind the wheel of a 1987 Ford LTD Crown Victoria coupe and just running, no... make that drifting carelessly, into people who really deserve it. Cutting me off in a snow storms tells me you want to get hit hard. So, in my magical Ford LTD (did I mention it would be baby blue) I would be safely nestled within 3 tons of steel - while you, in your rattle-trap 4Runners, X5s and Dodge Ram pickups (the last of which may pose a bit of a challenge for the LTD) would heed the power, the stability and the sheer, raw brutality of "Baby Blue" - so aptly named.

See in the picture below how it doesn't even fit in the parking spot? The LTD may be ugly but it is a very awesome piece of machinery I have to say and it's super comfortable. I've actually driven a late 80's LTD before so believe me, I know what I'm talking about when I say the car is totally kick-ass...

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.org

The snow storm at our house pretty much sucked. We didn't get too much snow compared to the lower valley or even in the Eastgate / Seattle area. I drove the Hybrid into work today and we did just fine.

Herding News: Saturday morning I had my 2nd herding trial ever. The drive to Long Branch, WA was tedious given the snow storm, fallen trees I had to drive through (wishing the CR-V had brush guards for that!) and the stupid idots who follow too closely, but I made it on time. I ran Scott in Pro-Novice and in Ranch again. And, my trainer was also at the trial (she is in what's called the "open" class - where the experienced handlers go with their experienced dog. Scott is an "open" dog, and I'm the novice handler, so that's why we're in Pro-Novice classes). Anyway, Scott and I didn't do so well - we got fourth out of five dogs running. My trainer went over where I went wrong though and we'll be working on that stuff for the future. But get this, after my trainer ran her own dog, Tess, in the open class (and she didn't do so hot), she let me run Tess in Pro-Novice. I haven't worked with Tess in months but she is an excellent, forgiving dog who knows her work. So, with Tess, I got first place! And, I ended up beating my trainer's own score with her own dog! It was surprising but felt very nice to win something! Now, I just have to start winning with Scott since he's technically my dog now.

Oh Christmas Tree...

Tis the season to decorate the tree! Jerill and I picked up our Pagan symbol of Christmas on Sunday at the Christmas Creek Tree Farm just down at the end of our road. It wasn't snowing on us this year like it was last year, but it was still good times. We finished dressing the tree last night. However, I continue to make little additions here and there. We got a small-ish tree this year (about 5.5 feet) and put it on a table. This is the ideal situation for households with dogs who like to jump up at windows and knock stuff down. It's also cheaper than a 6' or 7' one and who, other than my loyal readers, is going to know that I've got a short tree? Jerill and I had a 10 footer in our condo in Bellevue and we vowed to never get one that big again (it was cool though).

Our Tree...

Of course you can expect our tree would include ornaments that best represent our animals. So without further adieu...

Here's Lucky "muck-lucks" Thorpe

And George, the brilliant orange cat

And, Gigi Super Kitty

And, since they don't really make any Smithfield Sheepdog ornaments, this sheep ornament will do for Mattie

So, I'm looking forward to this weekend. First, it's supposed to snow, BIG TIME this weekend. I'm excited. I won't be driving the Hybrid to work tomorrow, simply because I will not take any chances of it snowing on my way home from work. Not that I can't manage in a front-wheel drive car, BUT, I have a AWD CR-V at home just itchin' to get some snow action. Plus, gas is so freaking cheap right now, it's not a big deal to let the Hybrid chill for awhile (literally). Then, on Saturday, when it's really supposed to be a white-out, I have a sheep trial in some place called Longbranch, WA. I'm trying to convince Jerill to let me take his Audi Quattro since it has those heated seats and all.

Does anyone know when How the Grinch Stoel Christmas is going to be on TV? I love the Who's song "Fah Who Fore Azz." I did just eat a significant amount of Divinity candy (it's like nougat with nuts in it and it's delicious). I'm on a total sugar buzz right now - just in time to make dinner!

Thanksgiving and then some

Well, this 2008 Thanksgiving came and went. Jerill was in Michigan visiting his family (2 brothers, 1 sister and 1 mom) for the week so I had the place to myself with exception of the 5 animals of course.

Thanksgiving Eve I went to the Winstanley's home for cocktails (Jack and Coke is THE drink of the season). Then on Thursday I picked up my parents in Jerill's new car and headed to my sister's house in Redmond for a traditional turkey feast. I have to say, our food was really great this year. My sis makes an excellent turkey, mom does great pies and roasts and I bring the veggies. I have a great recipe for Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup which replaced our traditional sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows. 4lbs of butternut squash, cubed. Assorted cinnamon, nutmeg and paprika. Pour on the syrup. Bake in a big pile on a baking sheet (with parchment paper) and viola, a tasty alternative to sweet potatoes.

Friday was the only day I really got to "sleep in." For those of you who really know me, this means I slept till about 8:00 a.m. I tinkered around the house and then headed off to the farm to pick up Scott the dog and do some practice runs with him. Practicing REALLY helped me as my trial on Saturday went great - I got 2nd place in my Ranch course (out of 10 competitors). And while I was running a non-compete round in Pro-Novice (me being the novice and Scott being the Pro) I ended up scoring in the middle of the pack of participants. I'm really starting to get it and I like to trial. The people have been great so far. You'd never guess, really, who out there are herding sheep with dogs anymore. People of all walks of life do it!

I picked Jerill up from the airport on Saturday night. I was driving my mom's giant pickup truck that she lets me borrow for trials (I had four dogs with me). It was a little freaky as I'm not used to driving anything that large in traffic, but I managed to pull through. I guess I'll need to get used to a truck anyway since I'm getting one in the Spring. And, it's not like Jerill's new car is a "compact" vehicle by any means - it weighs as much as a truck and drives like a tank.

So, now parked next to my beautiful 45mpg Civic Hybrid sits a 2005 Audi Allroad. It's black, it's comfortable and it's got heated seats in the front and the back. The car actually has a lot of cool features to it - far more than the Hybrid does. However, Jerill is only getting 16/22mpg. Of course, while Jerill was in Michigan, I drove it everyday and thoroughly enjoyed the heated seats, moonroof and, although I'm pretty good with a map, the navigation system. I haven't come up with a good name for it yet, but it JUST pulled into the driveway! Time to address those meatball subs I promised to make for dinner!