Hows about this for cute?!

This is one of the puppies from my CH. Akadia Just Priceless and BIS CH. Iona I Can Shine litter. This is the little girl that I call brown leg girl.

I had to share this cute little kissy face picture with y'all. Man,, hard to resist.

Its gotta get better

oh,, I guess I am having one of those days.
I talked to dad this morning. He just isn't doing any better. He sounds so down and not himself. Is it weird for me to say I miss my dad? I do.. I know he is still alive and trying to get better but I miss him. I miss the weekly calls, the sharing of photos, being able to just talk about this or that and knowing that he was there.
Since he has been in the hospital, he hasn't had a computer and he is very weak so talking on the phone is hard. He has a hard time holding the phone to talk.
I guess I am just having one of those days of reflection where I am realizing what dad means to me. I came across one of his emails in my inbox the other day when I was cleaning out my email. I couldn't bring myself to erase it. One of dad's great joys was sending jokes and his photos he had taken. I miss that so much
I just need a good cry. I will be better soon.. I pray that dad will be too.
thanks for listening to my woes,, friends.

Update on Dad

Talked to Dad last night. It was a hard conversation since Dad was having a bad night. He is still having very hard days. I wish there was more I could do for him. Having him in Kentucky and myself in Idaho is difficult. I know he is getting bored in the hospital (about a month now) and perhaps a bit depressed. I sure love my dad and wish I could be there with him.

Picture above is him on Christmas day with Betty, his love.

Please still keep him in your prayers. There is a hard road ahead for Dad,, I think he can do it.

thanks friends.

Pictures again,, can't help it

I have been picture happy lately. This happens every winter when I don't have shows and it gives me an excuse to groom the dogs and make them beautiful.

So here are new photos of Lacewood The Star Trooper, aka "Chip". He is by BISS CH. Sea Haven Chasing Moonbeams ROM CC and out of BISS CH. Lacewood Bi Starlight.
Chip is 12 wks now.

Also pictured is Akadia Little Gothic Girl, aka "Silly" and Akadia Totally Intrepid, aka "Deakon". They are littermates from the BISS CH. Aynsworth Silver Moonlight ROM and CH. Akadia Totally Intoxicating litter. They are 11 months old.

Silly is the black one and Deakon is the blue.

Thought I would share.

Bell puppies

I thought it might be nice to share the pictures of the Bell puppies born on Jan 1st.

These babies are sired by CH. Starfall The Enchanter CD who is owned by Tricia Harris of Lacewood Shelties. "Brock" is her token brown dog and he is a very nice one at that. An old basic Barwood pedigree, his lightness of skull is what drew me to him for this breeding. He has remarkable lack of depth to his skull with smooth, very flat cheeks that transition into his backskull making for the perfect wedge. His topskull has the "corners" that I look for and that Bell needs as well. He also possess the beautiful three corner eye that Bell really needs. He is a nice moving dog, with proportionate bone and sufficient coat. Beautiful color too. Top all this off with a wonderful temperament and I thought the match for the breeding was a very nice one. He is also an older dog (9yrs)with no health issues, and clear health screening tests.

So.... the resulting litter. They have to be some of the prettiest new borns I have had. I am very pleased with them. Oh,, and I got such red little babies too. I am loving that. They were pretty large puppies when born and are the best little eaters. They eat and eat till they cry cause their bellies are about to burst!

So here they are,, 2 days old.

A day of loss and another day of babies

Today was one of those days that we dog owners all hate to see come. The day when we as owners have to decide what step to take in an old dogs life. There comes a point when they are so gone that we have to make that decision that we all don't want to make.

Today was that day for us and "Hailey". Akadia Windabrae Helvetica,, born just short of 15 years ago and made her decent into the spirit world today.

Just 2 days ago,, we had her grand babies born here. Akadia HellsBells, (Hailey daughter) gave birth to 5 puppies. 4 girls and 1 boy sired by CH. Starfall The Enchanter CD.

There goes the old adage of "when God closes a door, he also opens a window".

"Hailey" was an incredible little dog. For us,, my husband and I,, she was an important part of our relationship. You see,, when we first started dating,, "Hailey" was just a baby. I would go to my friend's house to take care of her (she was a bottle raised puppy) and Derek would come with me. One time while preparing her food, I was in the kitchen and I left Derek and her in the livingroom. I came back with her food and couldn't find Hailey anywhere. Derek sat on the couch not saying a word. I asked him where she was and he didn't say any thing. I then noticed that his hat was off his head and across the room. All of a sudden the hat moved. She was so tiny that his hat completely covered her. We had a good laugh about that one.

"Hailey" always had a remarkable temperament. Very showy and ready for what ever you dealt her. She was an upbeat little spirit right till the end.

There are many wonderful stories and memories associated with her. Derek and I have spent the day recalling them, shedding some tears and feeling so very enriched by that little dog.

In my mind,, I see glasses held high,, smiles on faces and a special toast made to the little brown dog that contributed so much for us. " A toast to "Hailey",, so special, so endearing, and forever in our hearts". Godspeed little one.

Steel and Flames

Have to share the photos I took of Kohlman today. I had him and Butters all groomed up intending to get photos of them and when I went outside it had began to snow. So I ended up putting them on the front porch for the photos. They turned out very nice.

Kohlman is an easy dog to shoot. He baits and holds a pose so well. I think he got that from his sire,, CH. Denian Deuce's are Wild, the dog I showed last year to number 5 sheltie for owner Karen Ferraro. Deuce would bait and hold his stack till given a signal and sometimes hold it so long that he would finally just bark at me as if to say,, "come on,, give it up!". What a show dog.

Kohlman has that certain something about him. He is as stunning in person as in his photos. On top of that, he has a remarkable temperament. Pretty much bomb proof. What a dog. I can't wait to show him.
He was awarded best expression and best outline and best rear at the Tom Coen virtues match this last August. He is pictured here at 13 months old. I would say he is coat factored!!

Enjoy the photos of Akadia Chandelle Steel and Flames.

Christmas, Snow and Puppies

Christmas went over with no major special or disappointing items. We got up to a lot of snow,, 7 inches overnight. The roads headed into town were horrible and not passable without a four wheel drive. We made tracks into my sister's house to meet with the family.

Once there we were greeted by the menagerie of kittens she has been fostering. If you look back in November's posts at the "Taking Moments" post, you can read about them more. This Christmas was fun for them. My sister left all the wrapping paper and boxes down for them to play in and it was GREAT fun watching them. Here are a couple of shots of them after they were all wore out.

The snow was pretty bad and has hit such a point that the fence is almost buried now. The fence is 5 ft tall and the dogs are going right over it. Thankfully,, this is an internal fence and not border fence.

Found time today to take pictures of the Ch. Price and Ch. Jewelee babies. They will be 3 wks old on Sunday.

Brown leg girl:

Star girl:

Tiny girl:

White head girl:

Gorgeous boy:

Strange events

Derek and I were deep into getting our Christmas tree up and strung with lights. I had chicken wings and french fries in the oven and Bell, Nicky, Boots, Nanette and Chip were all present to help us in this task of tree decorating.
All of a sudden the dogs in back started barking. This got Nicky going and Derek was annoyed. I told him there must be a good reason that Sarg,, the german shepherd was barking like crazy. I looked out the door and he was going beserk at the window well. I ran out in my socks and peered there and saw a tan cat. Well,, Sarg was about to kill this cat. It was scared to daylights. I grabbed Sarg and pulled him off and then proceeded to pull him to the door. The shelties, I figured, would not hurt the cat. Sarg was yelling the whole way ( a GS thing) and I opened the back door and screamed for Derek. He came and got Sarg and I raced for a flash light. I went back outside and found the cat again, still in the window well. He hissed at me and was so frightened. I then realized that I was going to have to get all the shelties in the house in order to get the cat calmed down. I was still in my socks,, with no coat too. I ran to the door and Derek and I got the shelties in. I quickly put on boots and a coat. I then returned to the cat. I knelt there in the snow for a good 15 minutes talking to him and trying to work up the courage to reach out to him. Being a groomer,,, I have been bit by cats before and it is NOT GOOD!
I finally reached out and he did too. He sniffed my fingers and then I heard him purr.
I then carefully and slowly reached further to pet him. He liked it and didn't bite. YEAH!
Ok,, back into the house to get a towel to pick him up with.
Back to the cat I put the towel over him and picked him up. He relaxed in my arms and I took him to the fence and put him over it. He immediately jumped back over and ran to the window well again.
I haven't ever seen this cat down in the big shop. I would occasionally see him this last fall but he never came close to being touched. So I wasn't sure if he knew about the water, food and heat down in the shop. There is a cat sized hole in the door for the kitties to come and go.
So I yelled for Derek again. I asked him to meet me around at the backyard and get the cat over the fence and we would take him down to the shop.
He came around grabbed the cat. I went through the house and out the front to meet him. The cat had jumped away from Derek but ran right to me. I picked him up again and then we headed to the shop.
When we got there,, Farrah was there,, as usual, and he was glad to see her. I put him down at the bowls. The water was out so Derek ran and got some more. The poor kitty sat there and drank and drank. He was very dehydrated. Enough so, that he didn't even care about the food. We made sure he was ok then Derek and I returned to the house and our tree.
In thinking about this cat, it is pretty amazing that he lived through the ordeal of Sarg. Sarg hates cats,, but really there was no other way for the cat to let us know he needed help. If he had been out in front of our house I wouldn't have seen him. I wouldn't have heard him,, his little voice all quieted by his lack of water. The only way,, was to get the dogs barking so that we would go see what was going on.
I do believe that some things happen for reasons. I can't help but think that on this Christmas Eve,, that God helped this kitty be realized by us and we were able to help him.
After inspecting him, he has frost bit ears,, now turning black. Probably from the past few days of really cold weather. He is skinny,, but otherwise alright.
I hope he stays in the shop. He will get what he needs there as long and I can provide for him.
Merry Christmas little kitty......you had an angel protecting you tonight.

Rays of light

click on photos to see full size

Today when I got home, we got a rare glimpse of the sun. It shone through the clouds and made a beautiful ray extending right up to the sky, all gold and stunning.

In the sky just out from the sun was the neatest thing. It was like a sideways rainbow created by the crystals of snow in the air as the sun hit them. The wind was blowing and swirling the crystals around making for a sparkling blanket along the top of the snow and in the air. It remained there for about 20 minutes,, long enough for me to run and get my camera. I am sure there is a technical term for this,, when I talk to dad next,, I bet he knows. At the moment it was happening it really made me feel like something special must be happening somewhere,, it was like a spiritual thing almost. Very special....

It was a bad day for weather. I left for work this morning and promptly got stuck in my own yard. 3 or so feet of snow and even my suburban in 4 low was having a bit of a time. We hired out at the grooming shop a gentleman to plow the snow. Our customers couldn't even get in to drop off their dogs.

In the photos here you will see how the snow is all the way up to the top of the fence on one side. The side that is lower is where the dogs pack it down and we have shoveled. The wood fence we have is a 4 foot divider fence and the other chainlink fence is a 5 ft one we keep there to prevent the dogs from going out to the big yard in the winter. Boots discovered how to walk right over it this morning. He thought he was very clever!

Jewelee's puppies are sure getting cute. They are up on their feet and marching around and we are hearing the occasional bark burst out from them. I have one tiny girl that, so far, seems to have a lot of personality. The boy is stunning,, very rich color and pretty face. There are two girls that are quite nice,, one I call "Star" and the other is "Brown leg girl". There is another girl,, "white head girl" that is in the middle. She might end up small,, but right now you can't tell much. I hope to get photos soon for everyone to see. They are very pretty puppies.. I am pleased.