Cardi Claus Reminder!

Everyone agreed to have their treasures in the mail by December 1, which is this Wednesday!

If for some reason you have encountered a roadblock beyond your control to meet the deadline, be a peach and let me know at cardibloggerholidayxchange "at" gmail.com and I will let your giftee know what is going on.

I know everyone is looking forward to seeing what goodies Cardi Claus has in his magical crate this year, so be sure to post pics on your blogs so we can all enjoy in the fun!

Expanding Scout

I included Spencer in the pic for comparison.  He is 38 lbs, she is 36.  She was 31 before the breeding.

About three weeks to go.

Baby Bumps

Scout is filling out more every day. Her coat is thick and luxe, and her nails are growing like crazy.  I don't want to stress her by doing something about them, so I just listen to them clicking on the floor.  So far pregnancy agrees with her.

Not sure when her due date is, but I'm guessing somewhere between Dec 17 and 22.  She had a fast cycle - she started showing season on Sunday, October 10.  It's possible she started on Saturday and I missed it, but she was at daycare on Friday, so I know it was no earlier than Saturday.

I took her to the vet on Tuesday, Oct 12.  Her progesterone was low, but the swab showed more cornified cells than un-cornified.  I took her to her rendezvous with Chase on Wednesday, Oct 13, and Cheryl and Susan did AIs between Oct 14 and Oct 20.

First Puppy Pictures!

Puppies at our house for Christmas!  Doc didn't do an exhaustive search and count, but there are three there for sure.  We will go back in a few weeks for an x-ray to get a count.

Babies on board?

Tomorrow we go for an ultrasound to see if we have pups in there.  To me, she seems to have all of a sudden lost her girlish figure and her signature tuck-up.  Stay tuned to see what we find out.

Matchmaking Completed!

If you signed up for Cardi Claus, you should already have your giftee's name and info in your mailbox.  If you have any questions or need more information, let me know and I will sleuth it out for you! 

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for Cardi Claus!

Be sure to sign up by 6pm EST tomorrow (Monday) for Cardi Claus!  We've already got a great group of old and new friends who are excited to find out who they will be putting surprises together for!  Feel free to blog, FB or email to others who might be interested.  Details here.

I have been a bit out of touch for several days.  Work deadlines, one of those birthdays that ends in "0" and trying to get the cave finished up and the rest of the house in shape for the Thanksgiving onslaught has kept me hopping.  Also stopping every few minutes to ask Scout, "Are you pregnant?"  I will probably go for an ultrasound the end of next week, because she's not saying much- altho she did throw up a couple of days ago, which is very unusual for her.

Should we let Cardi Claus out of the dog house again this year?

Anyone interested in playing Cardi Claus again this year?  If you missed it, last year we had an ornament/goodie exchange.  A bunch of folks let me know they wanted to play, and I had fun playing matchmaker.  The idea was to share a little holiday cheer with a blogger friend - we had packages that went all across the country:

So - if you are interested in playing this year, there are a few rules.  Unfortunately, last year there were a few players who signed up, and even received packages, but didn't hold up their end of deal.  So, if you want to join in, please commit to following these few rules:

1.  Email me at cardibloggerholidayxchange@gmail.com with your name, address, and a little about you and your pack.  Have your email to me by 6:00 pm on Monday, November 15. 

2.  I will email back to you the name and info of your Cardi Claus pal no later than November 17.  I will try to mix things up so that the person who receives your name is not the same person that you will play Cardi Claus for.

3.  Ok - here's the big thing, so big I am going to bold and italicize:  You commit to getting your Cardi Claus package in the mail by Monday, December 1.  This will ensure that everyone gets to enjoy their Cardi Claus booty during prime celebrating time!

There is no upper or lower limit on what you decide to do as far as gift giving.  The fun in this is sharing fun and holiday spirit with another friend across the miles. 

Have I left anything out?  Let's play!

Feel free to re-post.

Happy Birthday, Pumpkin!

My girl Scout is 5 years old today.  She is spending the day doing all the things she loves best - rolling in the leaves, chasing squirrels, and barking.  And ignoring me everytime I ask, "Scout, do you have puppies in there?"

Happy Birthday to the other members of the trio of terror, Grace and Moira!

Spencer, GN

Actually - it's Caduceus Spencer Batrille CD HT RAE3 OAP NJP GN.  Finally.

Spence has come up with so many ways to make life interesting on this GN journey.  Who could forget the Stop Drop and Roll at the Specialty?  And then his Golden Retreiver impersonation the next day?   The Death March in the hot summer sun in Newnan?   Diarrhea in the ring in Louisville (Spencer, not me). DO NOT DRINK THE WATER IN LOUISVILLE). The lovely run the next day, until he decided to walk across the broad jump. And recently, anticipating the recalls and forgetting about the fronts and going straight to the finishes.

Today we did a little drill work before going into the ring to remind him what "wait" and "front" means, and it paid off well on his drop on recall.  When I put the dumbbell in his mouth on the next exercise and walked across the ring for the recall, I was high-fiving myself in my head - the rest of the exercises were a piece of cake.  I get to the other side of the ring and turn around, and . . .

THE DUMBBELL IS ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF THE LITTLE STINKER - HE HAD SPIT IT OUT.

The judge told me to come back and give it to him again - I assumed that we had NQ'd at that point.  He did the rest of the exercises just fine, and after the long down, I started collecting my stuff to head back to my setup.  Then I hear the judge say, "Hey look, #183 got 183 points."  I look down at my armband - I am #183.  I turn to the judge and said, "Are you sure?  After he spit out the dumbbell??"  He said yes - we lost points, but it was not an NQ. 

We'll take it.

That Miracle-Gro is something!

The other day I reported that we were watering and fertilizing this:

And look what is in the cave now:

Obviously, I have not made much progress this week on the ceiling, and time is catching up with me.  Handsome floor man will be here Monday to do his thing, and I have to spend the weekend playing Trophy Chair at my club's obedience trial. 

The Lady is a Tramp

You hope you raise them right, and then they do things like this.  With a guy whose last girlfriend is 3000 miles away, about to give birth at any moment.

Scout and Chase (Am/Can CH C-Myste Baledwr Pursuit of Happiness, CD HT RN CGC TT) have been making whoopie for the last week.  And if we're lucky, we'll be having Christmas puppies at our house, or as Penni calls them, Scouchas.

Here is the pedigree for the potential puppies.  This combination should generate herding maniacs and in-your-face goofballs - lawd help us if there are any red bitches in this litter.  But - we're not going to count our puppies before we know things took!  Stay tuned!

Spencer's Portrait

Love it!

Cave Update

Things have been going on in the cave, and the end is in sight.  In the last post I moaned over the color of the countertop - I had hoped for a dark charcoal gray, but ended up with brownish-greenish mud.  Kathy M came to my rescue (Thanks again Kathy!), and taught me all about the difficulties in selecting neutrals and about lighting and color bases.  I spent a good bit of time last week trying out new shades, not getting happy, and finally realizing what I wanted was not so much dark gray, but really not-quite-black. 

The fiber optics guys got me all set up with by big screen tv - ok not that big, but we are fertilizing and watering and hoping it will grow.

I also finally settled on flooring - that has been an interesting experience.  I'll save the reveal on what I decided on until it's in.  Handsome floor man says he may be able to get me installed later this week, but more likely first of next week.  That's fine - I want to paint the drop ceiling supports and get the new ceiling tiles in before the floor comes in.

Love it when Management Steps Up

As I mentioned before, Spencer sees his role as command and control.  However, while Scout is away for a few days visiting "a friend," he doesn't mind taking a frontline position.

Scout Art

Claudia Hammer is an artist from Louisville KY, who I met at the Louisville shows this spring.  She shot some pics of Spencer and Scout, and this is a painting she did for me of Scout - haven't seen the Spencer painting yet.  Love that tongue!

Cave Transformation - Paint

Today was paint day. And the thought of the day: Grey is frustrating. I'll get to that later.  Here is the before picture, looking toward the end of the room which will the big tv area. Try to ignore the pile of furniture and the couch-load of stuff recently collected to go to Goodwill.

And here is the after - and the grey frustration.  See how brown the countertop looks?  Sherwin Williams call this "Thunder Gray,"  and the paint chip looks gray, but in this room it looks brownish gray.  Tomorrow I am going to pick up a sample of the flooring and how it looks in this room.  It looked just like the paint chip in the store.  If they look ok together, I'll probably keep this color - otherwise, I may be re-painting the counter top.

Also, right now this room is lit with awful florescent lighting.  Lamps will provide lighting down here later, which I hope will improve the color balance.

New furniture will be a black leather sofa with chaise and a side chair of some kind.  Something modern and fun.

Here is before looking to the back of the room, which will be sewing/dining area.  Note that the wallpaper border is gone - both layers of it.  That was a job.

I went with a contrast on the brick, same taupe as under the countertops. The new ceiling tiles are also going to be a taupe-y color.  The shelving unit in the back is going to be painted - stay tuned to see how that turns out.  The antique sewing machine is not staying down here - it will move up to the new guest room upstairs.

Hopefully next week will bring new floors and I can start moving into this room.  Fiber optics guys come next Friday to hook up the new big tv.

The Front Yardigans

Dogs and hoomans are thoroughly enjoying our new fenced front yard and the lovely fall weather. We have fallen into a habit of ending the day with time together out there. Everyone has their role.

We call this one -"the tip of the spear." Always at the top of the yard, always on watch for whoever comes our way.

Meanwhile, this one hangs back in the comfy seat. He sees his role as "command and control."

And this is our ever-watchful sentry, with his seasonal decor.

I always wondered if they would eat until they exploded

Apparently not.  There were about 4 cookies left in this 4 lb bag of Canidae treats and crumbs all over the floor in two rooms.

Somehow Spencer (I'm sure - I can't imagine Scout doing this) opened this wood cube box enough to pull the bag of treats out.  I think he must have used the powers of his mind to do it, because I can't figure out how a short guy with no thumbs could do it otherwise.

I wish he would use those powers for good and at least dust and sweep up the dog hair before he does these things.  He knows I am going to make a picture of it and share it with you all.

Who loves L&O?

I am a long time "Law and Order" fan.  I love to watch the old episodes on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and sometimes catch a repeat with dinner during the week.  I hardly ever watched any first run episodes on NBC - I watched the reruns on cable.

Several years ago I read an article in the weekend section of the Wall Street Journal that watching reruns of L&O was the secret vice of a huge percent of 35 - 50 year old women.  The author suggested to the reader to bring it up at any gathering of baby boomers (back then 35 year olds were baby boomers) - he bet that at least half the women there would fess up to being L&O addicts.  I tried it out a few times, and I was surprised at how right he was.

Anyhow, I just read that beginning this Sunday night, BBC America will start running the first season of "Law and Order - UK."  The scripts were adapted from original US episodes.  This Sunday's episode is from the Ben Stone era.  I have set the DVR, because I will be watching Mad Men when it comes on, but I look forward to seeing the crown prosecutor and the defense counsel talking trash in the changing room while donning and doffing their barristers' wigs.